A little more than half a month after Miroslav joined the Sword of Blood and Smoke, a messenger from King Horus, the capital city of King's Landing, came to ask for the Duke of Dragnaut.

　The message said that it was time to send Claudia to you.

　At first, I nodded my head when I heard this.

　Not even a month has passed since the battle with Jijinbo. I felt that it was too early for him to make a decision to let go of his beloved daughter.


　The answer to my question is Miroslav, the daughter of the Sauzaar Chamber of Commerce based in the capital.

　Miroslav carefully told me about the rumors that the Chamber of Commerce had gathered in the capital.

　According to the rumors, the turmoil caused by the incident has subsided only in the city, and a storm is still raging in the palace.

　The wedding of Crown Prince Azar and Princess Sakuya of the Ad Astera Empire has also been stalled.

　The spearhead of opposition is the anti-imperialist nobles. It is said that some of them are planning to revive Azar and Claudia's once aborted engagement.

　Duke Drugnoth is probably trying to get Claudia out of such political stagnation, Miroslav said.


　When most people hear that an unmarried princess (Claudia) is to live in a bachelor's house, they associate it with a future marriage. It's a de facto betrothal.

　It's not normal for a duchess to marry a mere adventurer, but many would be convinced if they found out that the adventurer was the dragon knight that is rumored to be in charge.

　........From the side, I'm in line to be the son-in-law of the Dragnaught duke family, aren't I?

　Well, well, well, that's just "from the side", it doesn't mean that they are really engaged. Besides, if my presence will be a shield to protect Claudia, then this should be called an honor.

　There isn't a boy who doesn't admire a knight who protects the princess.　

　If the radical anti-imperialists might even send one of their assassins to you, but if that happens, all you have to do is eat the assassin. Yeah, no problem.



　That's why I was preparing to welcome Claudia into the fold, but there was one thing that bothered me.

　For the past few days, demons have been appearing more and more frequently in and around Ishka.

　The Adventurer's Guild has been struggling to keep up with the situation, and my clan has received several requests for help.

　Each time I brought along Lunamaria, Miroslav and Seal, as well as a sparrow to gain experience, to kill the demons, the number of attacks increased, not decreased. This pace of appearance was clearly abnormal.


　Many of the monsters and magical beasts that appear are species that live in the forest of Titis, and it seems that something strange is happening in the forest.

　The demons are also appearing on the road connecting the King's Capital and Ishka, and at this rate, the carriage that Claudia was riding in could be attacked by the demons.

　With this in mind, I decided to get on Klau Solas and head for the forest of Titis.

　I was hoping to avoid the possibility of a big fish that could drive the demons out of their homes, just like the previous basilisk.


　In addition, I decided to replenish Jiraiyaokusu's fruit in case of emergency.

　According to the sparrow, Jiriah Okusu should only bear fruit from spring to summer. It would be better to harvest them while they can be harvested.

　As I was thinking about this, the sparrow spoke in a subdued voice.


I have a favor to ask you, Sola-san. I would like to ask you to do something for me.

Yeah, that's good.

"...?　I haven't said anything yet, okay?

I wouldn't refuse a sparrow a favor, no matter what it was.


　When I responded with a serious look on my face, the sparrow blinked a couple of eyes and then smiled as if annoyed.

　I meant what I said, but the sparrow seemed to take it as a joke.

　I'm a little depressed, but I try to deal with it with a smile, as an older man would.

　Despite my conflicting feelings, Sparrow opened her mouth.


"If you're going to pick up the Jiriah Ookus fruit, I'd like you to take me with you.

Hm?　The Titis Forest is dangerous - and I don't need to tell the sparrow that, do I? Is there something on your mind?

"...I want to see the village once, sir. I'm curious to see what the house looks like.


　Hearing that, I faintly raised an eyebrow.

　The village of Kamuna, where the sparrow lived, was adjacent to the rotten sea generated by the basilisk.

　I used fire to burn down the rotten sea, so the houses in the village should almost certainly have been burned down as well.

　The sparrows were there at the time, so they must have been aware of that - but I understood the desire to see for myself what had happened to the place where I was born and raised.

　The reason he hadn't spoken out about that thought until today was probably because he had some reservations about not wanting to get me in trouble.

　I'm sure the sparrow couldn't sit still when she heard that the forest had changed. If you make a mistake, you may never be able to return home again.


I'm sure you're not the only one. And just so you know, Crow Solas is not a very comfortable ride.　Are you okay?


　When I told him the fact that he must be in a bad mood if he asked, the sparrow pulled her lips into a tight knot, made a fist and nodded, "I'll do my best. Cute.


''Geez ... guffaw!　Then that's good!　Just like you're holding on to me tight!

Yes!


　The sparrow responded to me by raising her voice in a panic as I was about to say something strange and raised my voice, but the sparrow responded in a loud voice with a small nod of her head.



◆ ◆ ◆　　



　So I straddled Clow Solas with a sparrow and we came to the top of the cliff where the Lord of the Flies' nest was located.

　On the way, I was almost distracted several times by the size of the two bulges I could feel on my back, until I saw the forest of Titis.

　Now that I was standing on the cliffs, not an ounce of wooing was present in my mind.


'....this again...'


　Looking down from the top of the cliffs, there were no significant changes in the forest scene. For example, there was no obvious change in the sea of rot that stretched as far as the eye could see.

　And yet, there was something very strange about it.

　The reason for this is the sound. A low, earth-shaking roar rises from the entire forest. In response to that sound, there were roars that seemed to belong to demons from everywhere.

　The sometimes mournful cries mixed in with them are probably the voice of an object that has been defeated in a battle between demons.

　Regardless of their homes and territories, the demons called demons and the demon beasts called demon beasts seemed to be running around in the forest. As soon as they encountered the other demons, they immediately attacked them - otherwise they wouldn't be in this state.

　A state of frenzy. Such a word comes to mind.

　Even when the basilisk appeared, it hadn't reached this level of state.

　A sparrow standing next to me huddles up to me. The sparrow that had been living in the depths of the forest for a long time seemed to be in an unusual situation.



　It's a shame, I thought to myself inwardly.

　To be honest, I didn't think Titis was this crazy. If it were just me, I could handle it, but the sparrows are dangerous.

　I took the easy way out, since this is a request from a girl who rarely asks me for a favor, but I should have left the sparrow for Ishqa.

　I'll take it back to Ishka now - that's when I thought it was a good idea.


　A soft touch enveloped my left hand.

　I looked over and saw that the sparrow was holding my left hand with both hands. With a pleading light in its pale red eyes, the sparrow silently appealed to me to take it away.

　After a few seconds of silence, I let out a small breath.

　There was no way I was going to win against these eyes.