What's wrong?　If you want to order weapons, you'll have to go to the store.

　I observe the three knights surrounding me as I direct my unimpeachable words at them.

　All three of them can't see their faces at all due to their helmets.
　For now, what I notice is that the three of them are of varying heights, large, medium and small, respectively.

　One is about the same as me and one is a head taller than me.
　The remaining one, on the contrary, is shorter than me and not much taller than Sylvia.

You're the Luke of the White Wolf Forest. We're from the Silverwing Knights.

　The little knight cut in with a rough, unknightly tone of voice.

　He was still a boy, or maybe he was still a boy, but his voice sounded like he hadn't even finished changing his voice very well.

　If he had only heard his voice without looking at his armor, he might have mistakenly thought the girl had spoken to him.

'You do understand why you were stopped, don't you?
You know what?　I have no idea.
Come on, man, don't play games with me!

　A knight of normal height pushes off the shoulder of a smaller knight who tries to grab him.

'Wait, Garnet. If I let you speak, the conversation would be fatally complicated.
Shut up!　Felix!
This mission is under my command, sir. Would you like me to report it to Lord Carmine as a violation of your orders?
Oh, ......, it's none of your business.

　As an outsider, I didn't understand the exchange, but the little knight was apparently ready to put the contraption away.

　This time the knight called Felix stepped forward and took off his full-face helmet, revealing his true face.

''My name is Felix of the Silver Wing Knights. I have something important to discuss with you, I would like to take a moment of your time.

　He's a young man with a slightly feminine but neat face.
　I have an atmosphere that seems to be many times more communicative than a knight like Garnett.

''Just to make sure, what happens if I refuse?
'I'm sorry, but this is official business, and in that case it can be a bit rough.

　The content of the remarks was a threat itself, but the way he said it sounded really apologetic and I didn't feel like rebelling.

　Rather, I even felt pity for the position of a knight who can't even refuse a troublesome task.

''...... I understand. For now, please go to the store to continue the conversation. You've been making a bad show of yourself since a while ago.

　The townspeople are looking at us from afar, wondering what's going on.

　I'm just getting used to the town, but I don't want to start a strange rumor.

Then I will do that. Please show me around.

　On the way to my shop, I pass by the Spring Wakaba Tei.

　There, Sylvia was just cleaning up the storefront.

''Eek!　Mr. Luke, what's going on!

　Sylvia stopped cleaning with a surprised face and rushed over to me.

　I'm sure that in Sylvia's eyes, it looked like I was being surrounded by knights and being taken away somewhere.

I'm not sure if it's a good idea. I'm about to ask you what you want. I have a feeling it's not a very good errand.

　I gave him a small shrug.

　If it had been for a moderate reason, Garnett wouldn't have yelled at me like that.

　I have no idea what happened, but at least it means I'm someone worthy of blame for him.

'...... Wow, I'll follow you!　That's good!　I'll go tell your mother!
Hey, hey, you don't have to go to ......

　Sylvia withdrew into the inn before she could stop it.

'Mother!　I'm off to Luke's!　Huh?　No, no, no!　It's not like that!

　...... Something else, his mother said something strange to him again.

　Felix gave me a troubled, affectionate smile and dutifully waited for Sylvia to return.










　Afterwards, I decided to take the knights to their home/armory as planned and get the details from them.

''Huh?　Is it just the two of you?

　For some reason, Felix and the large knight were the only two people who had come into the shop.

'I have Garnett on guard outside. It's going to make the conversation more complicated.
Thank you.

　That's certainly true no matter what you think.

　You can't help but wonder why they brought someone like that over there, but I'm sure they have their own reasons.
　For example, he's the son of a high ranking member of the Order.

　For now, I suggest you sit down in a chair at the dining room table and talk to him.

　Felix, who looked like a representative, sat down in front of me, but the big knight was adamant about being seated, and took an upright position behind Felix.

　Finally, Sylvia took a seat in an empty chair.

'XO Felix. May we allow a civilian to sit with you?
'Yes. Since we're going to have to go through this, I'm going to ask her to be a witness for Mr. Luke's side. You have brought the witness agreement with you, haven't you?
Yes, sir.

　The large knight took out two documents with the same text and placed them on the table, and Felix explained their contents.

'It's an agreement not to divulge the contents of our story without permission, and an agreement to testify in a judicial forum if it happens. It is not magically enforceable, but any violation will result in legal punishment.
'You okay, Sylvia? It sounds like a pretty serious 'story'.

　Since it's official business, he's very prepared.
　It's not mere chit-chat, and they intend to stand around and not show any legal gaps.

　The text of the document is perfect and fair, and it seems that they have absolutely no intention of cheating or setting us up.

　However, at the same time, I can feel the resolve to not show mercy, even to a girl like Sylvia, if the situation arises.

''I understand. I guess I should just write my name down.''

　With a serious face, Sylvia nodded her head in a serious manner, taking my concerns aside.

'By the way, why do you have two pieces?
We'll take one back with us and leave the other one with you.

　Sylvia signed quickly and handed one of the documents to Felix.

　He was about to ask her if she was sure she was happy to agree, but before he could, Sylvia made the first move.

'It's okay. I'm not a kid anymore either.
...... I hope you don't mind.

　It's not uncommon for someone around Sylvia's age to be on their own.
　That's the same age I left home to become an adventurer in the first place.

　As expected, I'm not a guardian or anything, but I may have been too overprotective.

''Luke-dono of the White Wolf Forest. May I start with a simple question?

　As our conversation came to a conclusion, Felix finally broached what seemed to be the main topic.

'I understand that Luke-dono was hired by the brave Falcon's party. What was your impression of the party members?
Impressions ......?
'I am aware of the reasons that led you to take a leave of absence from adventuring. Please give me your honest impressions.

　Don't tell me it's something to do with a brave man?
　For example, those guys did something wrong, so they're going around asking the people involved what's going on.

'The ...... Falcon was overconfident in some ways. They were so proud of themselves that they would make mistakes, and each time they made a mistake, they would use the massive amount of skills they were blessed with to fix it.

　The result of doing this kind of thing over and over again is the mediocre mistake that led to my banishment.

　Kicking the warding stone away in my sleep is out of the question, but putting it in the right place and thinking I'd put it back is also out of the question.

　Up to that point, he had been able to make up for the mistake by gobbling up his skills, but there was nothing he could do about it until the loss of food.

　Of course, he'd given her advice many times, but he wasn't the kind of guy who would listen to her honestly.

''I don't have a good impression of the female swordsman, Julia, either. It's more like she's a hipster who affirms all of the brave men, or she's a brave man's 'special', and she's got a nose for being a brave woman's 'special'. Oh ...... I was only strict about the brave man's female relationships.

　Falcon and Julia were childhood friends from the same township, and apparently they were so-called lovers.

　However, perhaps because of his preference for heroic colors, Falcon wanted to seduce a woman in some way, and it was common for Julia to interfere with that.

'So if you ask me who Bran the White Wizard can't forgive for ...... leaving behind, it's the hero and this guy. I've always thought he was a nerve-wracking guy, but I didn't expect him to cut others off without hesitation.

　Right after I lost most of my food due to the brave Falcon's mistake, it was Bran who suggested leaving me behind and trying to save money.

　He and the brave party are the only ones who really can't help themselves.

　If he said, 'I can only make one of the brave party hurt,' I would be deeply troubled by the brave guy and Bran.

'So, I'm the last one... ...... How can I say it?'
'You're Miss Noir, the Black Wizard. Is there something difficult to discuss?
'It's the opposite. I wasn't very impressed, and I can't think of anything to talk about.

　Felix looked surprised, but this wasn't a lie or anything.

'He was a guy with little assertiveness anyway, almost like he was at the mercy of his sister ...... Bran. I got the impression that that guy was the only irrelevant stranger who was in the same place before he was bitter and spiteful.

　In contrast to her sister's feelings for Blanc, her sister's feelings for Noir are quite flat (flat).
　It's not as if they left a positive or negative impression.

　Noir was such a non-existent guy.

　In fact, I even felt pity for him, thinking that if he had relatives like Bran, his character would be warped.

　If someone said, 'I can make all but one of the brave party hurt,' I would exclude Noir with an immediate response.

　...... I didn't know that twin sisters could make such a different impression.
　I think we can even laugh about it now that we've found peace.

'Well, thank you very much,'
By the way, what's the point of this story?

　When I tried to ask for something more in-depth, Felix preened with a tired look on his face, "Yeah, well," and then said something I hadn't expected to hear.

''The brave Falcon's party ended up not returning. Our Silverwing Knights have been entrusted with the task of investigating the cause of it.