Please!　Your........help me with Sora!


　In front of Ishka's house.

　When Lars saw my face, he shouted and bowed his head deeply without hiding from others.

　The person who was sitting on the wall bowed his head, and from the side, it was a kneeling position.

　I couldn't help but be confused by the suddenness of the situation.



　Frankly speaking, there was no way I was going to listen to Lars' request. But this is the first time I've seen Lars in such a state of weakness, and in that respect, I was curious as to what had happened.

　Speaking of interest, I'm also curious as to why Lars is alone.

　The reason Ilaria wasn't there was probably because she hadn't returned from Melte village yet. But why was another person, Miroslav, not present?


　I invited Lars to my home to find out.

　The house was quite dusty from being away for a while, but Lars paid no attention to the dust, repeating his earlier words in a frustrated tone.

　I asked Lars about the situation, and the following is what emerged.




　Lars, Miroslav, and the three adventurers who had joined the party on a temporary basis. In total, our party of five headed to Mount Skim after I had left for the village of Merte.

　Lars and the others were busily climbing the mountain while I was meeting up with Priest Sela over there.

　The goal was to exterminate the Gryphon. The client was some countess.

　Well, I didn't need to hear about this situation from Lars to know about it. That's because he had received a report from Miroslav before.

　The question is what happened to Lars and the others who headed to Mount Skim with the five of them.



　-- In conclusion, it seems that Lars, who arrived at Mount Skim, turned back just before the area where the gryphon dwells.

　The cause was Lars' injury.

　It seems that he was on guard for the night with Miroslav when someone ambushed him and knocked him into a coma.

　When Lars woke up, he wasn't injured, but his strength was severely depleted and he was in no condition to fight.

　Mount Skim is a den of demons that ranks alongside the forest of Titis. It's probably because the undead monsters that roam the mountain have drained the life (energy) of the undead monsters - well, even if it's not limited to the undead, the same thing can be done with other monsters and even human magic.



　Anyway, after realizing the situation, Lars was stunned.

　It was partly because he had lost the power to fight the griffon, but even more so because he realized that he had already been taken down the mountain and put on a carriage back to Ishka.

　While Lars was unconscious, the others had descended the mountain with Lars in their arms and returned to Ishqa - with only Miroslav remaining on Skim Mountain to look out for him.



　I reflexively frowned.

　I guess I felt "accused" at that, and Lars opened his mouth to bite me.


'I told you to go back at once!　But....


　Lars, who was flabbergasted, immediately made a look of disapproval.

　The three new members who joined the group did not follow Lars, the leader.

　Because the three members were apparently more like helpers hired by Miroslav to eliminate the Gryphon than new members of The Falcon Blade.

　They put the orders of Miroslav, their de facto employer, ahead of Lars, who was the formal leader of the group, rather than Lars. In other words, the order to "protect Lars and return to Ishka".

　From them, Lars was given a letter.


'Here's the letter...'


　With that, Lars produced a piece of paper from his pocket.

　On it, in Miroslav's handwriting, were words of apology for being so selfish, that he didn't want to endanger you after you fell, and that he wanted you to wait for him in Ishqa, as I would surely take care of the Gryphon.

　Reading this, Lars couldn't hold out for arrows or shields and tried to turn back on his own, but this action was blocked by the others.

　The three of them, under Miroslav's orders, tried to force Lars back to Ishka as he tried to return to Mount Skim.

　One against three, and Lars, who was in a diminished state of physical weakness, was unable to resist, and was taken back to Ishka against his will.


　Upon arriving back at Ishqa, the new members quickly disappeared, leaving Lars in a state of disarray. Their contract with Miroslav was only until they returned to Ishqa, and it was probably none of their business what Lars did when he returned.

　Naturally, Lars immediately tried to return to Mount Skim.

　However, his physical condition still hadn't recovered, and this would make it difficult for him to deal with the lower-ranked demons that appeared around Ishka. It was impossible to climb Mount Skim again in such a state.

　Lars tried to recruit others to accompany him, but with the request for the Falcon Blade in decline, and the destination being the summit of Mount Skim, there was no adventurer who was willing to help.

　I asked the guild for help, but the guild was very reluctant to help.

　Miroslav could have gone back if he wanted to, but he chose to stay on top of the mountain.

　It doesn't matter if you were left behind after being attacked by a demon, if you stayed of your own volition, it is common sense for adventurers to assume responsibility for life and death afterwards.

　Nevertheless, the familiar faces of the receptionists, such as Liddell and Parfait, are said to be working, but preparations are said to be slow in progress.


　It took Lars four days to get back to Ishka from Mount Skim. If you include the time it took for them to descend the mountain and all the things that happened after they returned to Ishqa, then almost ten days had already passed since Lars and Miroslav parted ways.

　That's how long Miroslav was left alone in the mountains, and Lars was growing impatient like he was losing his mind.

　It was then that I heard that I had returned from King's Landing.

　There's no way to hide the sight of Crow Solas, so my return is on the tip of people's lips, even if they don't like it.

　When Lars heard that, he came to my house, "to shame," as he said, and that was the chain of events.



◆ ◆ ◆



　Lars's request was, as expected, "Take the wyvern and drive me to Mount Skim.

　The goal was to rescue Miroslav.

　I thought that he might even ask me to help him defeat the Gryphon, but he didn't mention that.

　When I turned to look at him, Lars shook his head with a disdainful look on his face.

　Lars bit his lip as if he regretted saying that - his decision to insist on clearing his name had brought about the current situation.


　Looking at Lars, his eyes narrowed just a little.

　Lars must be thinking that Miroslav stayed on Mount Skim by himself because he wanted to be useful to him (Lars).

　This isn't a crazy idea. If one knew what Miroslav had said and done during his years of being close to Lars, one would have thought so.


　--But is that really true?


　It's not like "Miroslav's heart is no longer set on Lars, but on me! I'm not going to argue with you.

　I have no idea what is in Miroslav's heart. So far, Miroslav has been acting in my favor, but it's quite possible that they are just a stepping stone to mock me.

　But even with that in mind, Miroslav's actions this time around seemed unnatural.


　How would he eliminate the Gryphon by himself? Even if he was able to defeat it, how would he bring back the corpse?

　Since it was for the purpose of taxidermy, if the face was scratched or the corpse was rotten, it would greatly affect the correctness of the request. Even if they had done their best to eliminate the gryphon, they might end up making a lot of money from it.

　There is also the question of what they are doing with their food and water.

　A more fundamental problem is that even if Miroslav fulfills his request alone, it will not help to clear Lars' name.

　His reputation as the "Falcon Falcon Falcon Falcon" may be restored, but Lars' reputation would be further diminished if he returned to Ishqa, leaving Miroslav alone.

　It's hard to believe that Miroslav, in his single-minded focus on "the good of Lars," didn't notice these problems.


　--In fact, it's more likely that he did everything to further damage Lars' reputation.


　In that sense, it could be said that Miroslav's aim has already been achieved.

　So there's nothing wrong with rejecting Lars' request here and saying, "Yes, it's over. As I said before, I have no obligation to do what Lars asks of me. Rather, it's something I would rather point and laugh at.

　I've been thinking about this for a while now, but then the words crossed my mind.


I'm sure you'll be able to find a great deal more to say.


　That was Lars' voice the first time I met him.

　As soon as I remembered that, my throat naturally stopped laughing.



　I owe Lars a debt of gratitude for recruiting me into the Falcon Falcon Blade.

　It's a debt of gratitude that I've dismissed as no longer having to worry about it since it broke down when I returned from the Lord of the Flies' lair a few days ago - but to be honest, I was concerned about it. Like a debt without a reminder.

　So I felt like I should take this opportunity to pay it back.


　Of course, I wasn't going to stupidly and honestly take Lars to Mount Skim.

　In the first place, Lars wouldn't be able to withstand the flight of a wyvern in his current state. For what it's worth, just riding in the Clow Solas is quite exhausting.

　So, I was the only one heading for Skim Mountain. Lars may be unwilling to do so, but Lars' goal right now is not to eliminate the Gryphon, but to rescue Miroslav. As long as we get Miroslav back safely, there's nothing to complain about.

　In fact, I wouldn't even listen to them even if they were complaining.

　In addition, I'll get to know Miroslav's true intentions over there and clarify our future relationship.

　Thinking about this, I slowly opened my mouth.