After saying goodbye to Sofia at the knight's headquarters, Garnett and I decided to go back to our home for the time being.

　As soon as we arrived home, Garnett sat down on the sofa and let out a sobering thought about the exchange with Ulysses earlier.

I'm sure you'll be surprised at how sensitive he is. I'm sure that the ship that you call up with your skills was very successful in the battle of neutral city (Asropolis), so I don't think there's anything to be worried about now.
'That was a rescue mission on a lake with calm waves. It was pretty rough when we first got on board, but ...... as expected, things are probably different when you're in the middle of enemy lines on a single ship.

　As is often the case in any field, what may seem easy or ordinary to a third party may not be so difficult to an expert.

　Some people who bring requests to the Adventurer's Guild are often unaware of these gaps in perception and misjudged the difficulty of their requests, and are often confused when the disproportionality of the request fee is pointed out during the acceptance process.

　For Ulysses, this would be the role he played in the neutral city (Asropolis) and the role he is required to play in the diversionary operations to the third level.

Well ...... that's it. I don't understand that attitude when you're feeling the pressure of the operation. Are you able to sympathize with that?
'I don't even remember being expected to do much when I was mainly an adventurer, to the point where I felt pressured to do it. But I've seen a lot of my peers who were like that, I've seen a lot of peers who were like that.
Hmm. There were a lot of young people in the Silver Wing that I was involved with, so maybe it's because they don't remember the dead guy.

　Garnett repeated that it was an emotion he couldn't relate to, but he didn't deny that Ulysses felt that way, and he seemed to be convinced that this was the case.

I'm sure he's trying to train himself, but there's nothing I can do about it when it comes to the ship. I'm not going to be able to say that this is a sword fight or a fist fight, but I could help you.
"The other sea-related knights are Chandler's Akabane Knights in charge of the south and Mark's Shijitsu Knights in charge of the east: ......

　Chandler is more of a combat specialist than Garnett of some sort, and I don't remember hearing of him having mastered the art of shiphandling.

　And when it comes to Mark, a fledgling who became an official knight at about the same time as me, he's even less of a hope than Chandler.

I don't think either of them are going to be of much use to Ulysses." ......
No, no, no, I don't know, maybe they both know how to run a ship.

　Garnett's manner of saying that didn't sound like he was serious about it for some reason.

　Well, it's not a bad thing to reaffirm the skills possessed by the knights.

　The skills in this case are not limited to the so-called skills, but are skills in the broad sense of 'actually able to do this kind of thing' that are not listed in the documents.

　For example, even if Mark also hasn't mastered the s-(ki)l(l) related to ship operation, perhaps he has been trained in the knightly order to learn the ship handling skills and can at least help move the ship.

　Just having an assistant who can be entrusted with simple tasks instead of handling all of the ship's controls alone would help ease the burden on Ulysses.

　As I was thinking about this, Garnett flipped his body around while sitting on the couch and looked at me as he leaned ventrally against the backrest.

'...... what's wrong?'
No, this isn't part of the Order's business.
I know what you're thinking. You got something to say, just say it.
Hmm, well, be my guest. I was talking about when Travis took Leila earlier, that was your take on it.

　Garnett said that Travis had invited Leila to join him by quoting almost verbatim what I had told him.

　It was quite awkward, and there was a pause where he dredged up memories at every turn, so Garnett immediately guessed that I was taking it.

Well, it doesn't really matter. It's not that important, it's just that Leila was not all right either.

　...... Garnett's gaze didn't seem to matter much, but that didn't seem to be what Travis told me in response to my reception, nor did it seem to be in response to Leila's delight in it.

　If anything, it was more about the rest of the story I'm about to tell - the rest of the story.

One of the stories that came up was about a friend of mine who left his girlfriend and then spontaneously disappeared because she was in a relationship, that's you, right?

　That Travis guy, how he even spoke as it was.

　Garnett was smirking over his back, but that was just his mouth, and his eyes were looking at me with an entirely different set of emotions.

It's not a problem. It's just that I was born too late. It's not just a matter of time before you get to the point where you'll be able to see the difference.

　With that outfit, Garnett was flapping his feet from side to side.

　Where is the figure of the valiant Silver Winged Knight?

　It's a gesture of extreme carelessness both physically and mentally, not likely to be shown to the peers and colleagues of the Silver Wing (over there), but it's a gesture of extreme carelessness.

But, hey, what's the saying, what happens twice will happen three times?　No matter how much of a reason you have for not being treated like that for a long time, right?
"...... Okay, okay, okay. I lose.

　He walks behind Garnett, who sits backwards and forwards on the couch, and drapes himself over Garnett with his hands in the backrest.

　Sometimes it's good to forget about your duties and spend time like this - because soon, you may not even have time for that anymore.

　Watching Garnett's satisfied smiling profile up close, I sincerely believe that.