"Well... Oh...?"

　Ray wakes up and remembers that he was sleeping there for the first time.
　Last night, after returning to the Duke of Cellebel's residence after the disappearance of Celestan's house, I waited in my room in the hope that I might be summoned for some reason."

(Is this the so-called falling asleep?)

　Watching a book lying on the floor, Ray thinks with his half-worked mind when he wakes up.
　The books on the floor were borrowed from the library in the Duke of Kelebel's residence.
　Naturally, if it had been dirty... specifically, I would have had to pay for it if I had been sucking at a book or something, or, in some cases, breaking a page half asleep.
　Fortunately, however, the book had fallen on the floor and Ray had not been smeared or torn.
　Still, when I was half asleep when I dropped it on the floor, I turned the page... suddenly I was knocked on the door of my room.

"Excuse me, Mr. Ray. Are you awake yet?"
"Ah... I'm awake."

　The voice was not so loud, but it must still have been heard at the other end of course.
　Soon the door opens and Miranda appears.
　Miranda is a little relieved to know that Ray is in front of her.
　Ray was obviously different from what Miranda knew when she came to wake him up last night, so he must have been anxious to be the same today.

"What do you do for lunch?"
"... lunch? Not breakfast?"
"Yes, it's already afternoon. It's been a long time since noon."
"I see,"

　Ray muttered a little regretfully.
　That's probably because I missed Georgima's breakfast.
　No, if you're already well past lunch, you're missing lunch as well as breakfast.
　All dishes prepared by Georgima and her disciples have a taste that can be called exquisite.
　It was a big blow to Ray that he missed two meals of the food.
　However, Miranda, who doesn't understand Ray's feelings, opens her mouth, wondering how he looks shocked.

"Ray? What's the matter?"
"Huh? Oh, no. It's nothing. So? Did you come to wake me up because I think I'm going to wake you up?"
"That's true, but your husband is calling you, if you're awake. He said you don't have to push yourself too hard if you're sleeping. What would you do?"

　In this case the husband Miranda uttered was Liberte, Duke of Quelevel.
　I can't ignore the fact that it's happening when the lord of this mansion calls me.
　Moreover, Liberte is not just a nobleman, but a father of Elena.

"No, it's all right. I'll get ready soon, so wait a minute."

　Ray quickly gets dressed and leaves the room with Miranda.
　...and I checked again the book that lay on the floor when Ray woke up, but there were no scratches.
　It was only natural that Ray was relieved again.





"Thank you for coming. Did you sleep well last night?"

　In the room guided by Miranda, besides Liberte, there were two people involved in yesterday's incident, Elena and Arla, and Liberte's wife, Arcadia.
　The reason why Elena's errand boy, Yero, is absent is because he doesn't like formal talk.
　Ray nods with a smile as he sits on the sofa recommended by Liberte.
　Usually, most of his smile would be hidden in the hood of the Dragon Robes."Her smile looks normal now, partly because she's taking off the hood.

"Yes... or rather, I slept a little too much, and I was really sleeping until just now."
"Huh? Then did I force Miranda to wake me up?"
"No, I was up a little while before Miranda came."
"It would be a great help if you could say so. ... Well, I called Ray here again because he wanted to hear more about yesterday's incident from both Elena and Arra, but we can understand exactly what happened if we heard it from many people."

　Though Arla did not go to a space with a meat cocoon, Liberte says with a little regret.
　Arra looks apologetic at Liberte's appearance... before Arra says anything, Elena opens her mouth.

"Father, I'm sure we've already talked about it. And maybe because Arra was looking into the papers, she found out a lot about it."

　A touch of blame in the tone probably meant protecting Arla.
　... indeed, since he came back to the estate last night, Ray had handed over the papers that had been in the mystery ring, which contained many important points.
　There was no documentation of the relationship between Celestan and the Black Wolf they were looking for, nor could there be any documentation of Gaiska's employment of the Black Wolf.
　But there were some papers of interest to Liberte as Duke of Quelebel, if not a substitute.
　It was a document which contained certain details that some of the aristocrats would be stared at by Liberte.
　I couldn't get the document I wanted, but I succeeded in getting another one.
　The mere removal of those documents from the vanished estate is undoubtedly profitable.
　At least, it would be more than enough compared to the fact that the house disappeared without doing anything.

"Oh, no. I don't blame Arra either. Well, thank you for bringing out so many papers in that situation."
"...that would be a great help if you could say so."

　Arra, sitting next to Elena, bow apologetically.
　At Arla's appearance, not only Elena but also Arcadia cast blame on her, Liberte opens her mouth misleadingly.

"So, yes. Was it a lump of meat that Ray saw? Tell us about it."

　Rey nods to Liberte's words and says what she's been through.
　Unlike Elena, the explanation was not very straightforward, but Elena supplements the lack of such an explanation.

"Well. Red armor of the Flame Emperor? I knew that Ray could use such skills, but when I hear from someone who actually uses them, I should say yes."

　Words from Liberte's mouth also give Ray a little surprise.
　But if you are in the position of Duke of Kelebel, you may well know the Red Armour of the Flame Emperor, which can be said to be Ray's secret.
　What's more, I used it on Elena's side, so it wouldn't be strange if the information came out of it.
　Originally, he was treated as an inner hand, but his red armor was not a hidden skill.
　... in the first place, if it's a skill you have to hide, you should try not to use it in public, but Ray doesn't seem to care that much about it.

"Well, shall I say thank you?"
"I don't know... Anyway, I understand Ray's story. In this case, we've got a lot of things involved."
"No. In this case, I guess I'm the one who got involved. I never thought Geiska would employ a black wolf."

　After a few minutes, Liberte gets to the point."Well, let's get to the point of calling Ray this time,"

　Ray's expression is somewhat serious.
　It was because I had such doubts about what kind of things people would say.
　In front of Ray's eyes, Liberte rings a small bell.
　Then, within ten seconds of it, the door was knocked.

"Sir, I brought you what you told me."
"Yes, go in,"

　The words opened the door and the butler appeared.
　Ray thinks he's seen somewhere, but recalls that he was the man at the Libertes' table at the end of the year party.
　one of the most competent men in the service of the Duke of Kelebel
　Two men entered the room with wooden barrels to follow him.
　They were apparently powerful, muscular men, but their faces were quite red.
　the condition of clearly doing one's best in the present situation
　Such two men put wooden barrels on the floor slowly and politely to avoid damaging the floor in such a situation.
　Ray did not know exactly how far he had carried the wooden barrels, but from the look of it he was certain to have carried a considerable distance.

(With wheels... like carrying tea, carts? If you bring them in... oh, no. They look pretty heavy in this way, and if you think about that, the cart will break even if you try to carry them, or even if they don't break, the weight will leave tire marks on the floor.)

　Liberte opens his mouth with a smile as Ray looks at the wooden barrels carried by the two men.


"Ray, this is your reward,"
"Reward?"

　For a moment, Ray didn't understand what was being said.
　The strong feeling is that it was only for his own good that he stormed into Celestan's.
　There's no reason for me to get paid…
　Judging by Ray's appearance that he is mistaken, Liberte opens his mouth before Ray says anything.

"I'll tell you, this ore has absolutely nothing to do with yesterday's affair. ... Don't you remember that you said you'd pay for the mock battle?"
"... oh, come to think of it,"

　After thinking a little about Liberte's words, Ray finally remembers.
　Come to think of it, I had promised you that I would get wind‐magic ore as a reward.
　Liberte looks a little dumbfounded when she finally sees him remembering what he said.
　Two barrels of wind‐mongering ore... That's a good amount of cash.
　For the Duke of Kelebel's Liberte, that amount of money is not so great, but for an ordinary adventurer it might be worth a hundred bucks at a stroke.
　For Ray, however, Liberte is both his client and Elena's father.
　He was a man who had provided himself with many facilities, and, to be honest, he had no choice but to pay for the wind‐mongering ore.
　Still, Ray is impressed by the fact that he has prepared more wind ores than he expected.
　Liberte, however, is not acting this way out of goodwill alone.
　His relationship with a notorious adventurer is nothing short of friendly, not to mention his daughter's lover.
　That's why, knowing that it was a reasonable expense, we prepared wind ores in this way.

"I seem to have forgotten... Promises are promises. Get them right."

　If you say so, Ray can't say no.
　It was also true that he had forgotten about the wind-magic ore, but if he remembered it, he would naturally be attracted to it.
　Unlike the Red Armour of the Flame Emperor, another deep arm... no, given that little is known about the Red Armour of the Flame Emperor, it is generally thought that it is Ray's deep arm or trump card.
　What will happen if wind‐mongering ore is used for it.
　Ray also wanted to try it out, but if he used it, it would naturally decrease, no matter how many barrels there are.
　That being the case, we couldn't waste it.

(Even so, you'll need to try it out and see how it reacts. I don't want to use it in real life when I have time.)

　It was only natural that we wanted to see what exactly wind-mongering ore... well, what we could call an additional effect.

"Thank you. Then I'll be glad to receive this."

　Say so, get up from your couch and reach for two wooden barrels on the floor.
　The next moment the barrel of wood disappeared, almost as if it were a dream or a vision.
　The men who brought the wooden barrels look dumbfounded.
　The wooden barrels of wind‐magic ore that we had worked so hard to bring to this point had disappeared the next moment.
　That's probably why it was impossible not to be surprised.