Chapter 79: Communication (5)
"Kuh...!"
Dionil wore a face filled with extreme dissatisfaction. He finished signing the document with trembling hands and then shouted loudly, unable to contain his anger.
"...Then I shall take my leave! Executive Officer!!"
He fumed, spun around abruptly, and slammed the large office door shut as he left.
"Hmph." Grantel let out a small sigh and turned his head towards me. Then he held up the signed report. "The signature is complete. As requested, this confirms the additional dispatch of Young Master Enoch to Young Master Dionil's mission."
"Thank you."
"Perhaps it is I who should be thanking you." Grantel closed the documents on his desk with a thud and added. "In the Empire, the Main Houses hold a high position. The breaking or non-fulfillment of a direct descendant's contract could potentially bring significant dishonor to the entire family."
"I am aware."
"Furthermore, the other party to this contract is the Imperial Academia. As an institution directly sponsored by His Majesty the Emperor, it is not good for any problems to arise with the contract." He expressed his gratitude respectfully to me. "However, thanks to Young Master for providing additional support for the mission this time, we have averted the worst. You must be tired from just returning to the family, but I am grateful for your assistance."
"I merely received the task I wished to do."
"Is that so?" For a moment, a faint smile, as if finding it commendable, formed on the corners of Grantel's lips.
However, he soon returned to a serious demeanor and added with a worried tone. "However, there is also a somewhat concerning aspect."
"Concern?"
"First of all, as Executive Officer, I granted temporary approval for the additional personnel because the situation was urgent. However, I sincerely hope that this operation proceeds without any hitches."
I tilted my head and replied. "I have no intention of causing any hitches."
"No, this is about Lord Dionil." Grantel shook his head. "Due to what Young Master Enoch did to Lord Dionil four years ago. It won't be easy for him to let go of the accumulated resentment."
For a moment, my eyes narrowed slightly.
...The Enoch of the past, huh?
After hearing a few more cautionary notes in the office, I came out into the corridor, and it was already lunchtime. The bright midday sun was streaming into the fortress corridor. Sirocco followed along behind me, her short skirt hem fluttering as usual, walking barefoot. Matching the energetic pace of the girl with perked wolf ears, her red hair danced and rippled, reflecting the sunlight dazzlingly. Naturally, the gazes from around the fortress poured towards the lively and beautiful Beast-kin girl.
However, Sirocco, who still didn't seem to care about such things, suddenly turned her head abruptly, looked up at me, and thrust her face close. "Hey, when are we having lunch? I'm hungry."
"When we get back to the room, Lien will bring it."
"Really?" Sirocco's eyes sparkled with anticipation. "Hehe, then I'm looking forward to it! It seems like there are a lot of things here that taste much better than in our tribe's village~?"
"The food is quite tasty. I guarantee it." Indeed, the meals Lien had brought so far were never unappetizing or bland. Based on my experience eating them until now. Whoever's skill it was, the taste and variety were all exquisite.
Sirocco briefly turned her gaze towards me and asked. "So? In the end, why did I come to this office or whatever? I didn't even do anything, if it was like this, I would have just lazed around and waited for lunch."
"It's for courtesy."
"Courtesy?" Sirocco stared intently at me with a puzzled expression.
I answered simply. "Because there are still many people here who don't have a good impression of the Beast-kin. Rumors don't disappear overnight, you know." In fact, if I had left Sirocco in the room, I wouldn't have known what else she might have done besides suddenly breaking the door with a high kick, which is why I brought her out... But there was a more important reason. "At least if you are going to be active in the Main House, you should generally know that you are not a person who attacks people or is utterly wicked as the rumors say."
In short, it was about improving perception. Sirocco tilted her head innocently.
"Huh? Is that so?"
"Yes. Just like before, I have no intention of letting the Empire's citizens dislike you or the Beast-kin without reason."
"Hmm~ What's this, you." Sirocco looked up at me with a slightly saucy look in her eyes, then chuckled and said. "You're unexpectedly kind? When you first came to our village, you looked really grumpy, you know."
"Unexpected? I looked like that?"
"Of course! When I first saw you, you looked really bad-tempered? You didn't talk much, you were just cold, and you always spoke only briefly."
Somehow, as I listened, I felt like I might laugh. To think others see me like that. I replied lightly without much thought.
"Thanks, but my personality isn't exactly..."
But when I was about to continue the next sentence, a strange sense of disconnect suddenly pierced through my mind.
─My, personality?
My steps halted abruptly for a moment. Come to think of it, what was 'my' personality like? It was so natural that I couldn't recall.
Swish.
Suddenly, for no reason, I raised one hand and looked at it. Perhaps the boundary between the original Enoch and the 'me' of now was already blurring.
Or maybe... Is this what possession is like from the start?
***
The view of the room I returned to was the same. Almost nothing was in the large room except for a desk and chair, a dining table, and a bed. It was practically empty. But the atmosphere of this room, which would normally be filled only with silence, was somehow completely different from before. That's because─
"Aaaah! Bell peppers!!"
Sirocco's high-pitched scream rang out. And in the next moment,
Whoosh!
A bell pepper flew through the air, drawing a gentle curve.
"...Bell pepper?" Enoch, who was sitting at the table eating lunch, reflexively reached out and caught the flying bell pepper slice with a 'thump'. He grabbed it because something was flying at him, but... What is this, why a bell pepper? He raised his head and looked reflexively in the direction it came from.
"Ugh! I really can't believe this!"
There was Sirocco, looking down at something in front of her with utter contempt. Enoch held out the bell pepper he had caught and asked. "Is it your hobby to play catch with food?"
"It's not my fault!" She confidently puffed out her chest, then declared, "It's the soup's fault for having bell peppers in it!" I held out the bell pepper in my hand to her and replied simply.
"Because it's vegetable soup."
"Waaah! I hate vegetables! Especially bell peppers and eggplants, I really really hate themmm!!" Sirocco drew her head back as if running away from the bell pepper in front of her eyes.
I asked with a slightly bewildered look. "You. Did you do this even when you were in the tribe village, by any chance?"
"Hehe, of course! If something like bell peppers appeared on the dining table, I would definitely, absolutely not eat it!" Sirocco said proudly with a triumphant expression for some reason. I asked with a slightly wry tone.
"Is that something to be proud of? Then what do you eat?"
"Meat!" Sirocco said that, wagging her tail. "And I hate vegetables, but I like them moderately except for bell peppers and a few others. Eating is fun, isn't it?"
Sirocco had already eaten almost all the other food on the table, like meat and bread. But looking at it, her way of eating was quite extraordinary. Sirocco licked her lips as if finding it delicious, then poured a generous amount of honey from a glass bottle onto the bread. She then grabbed it with her bare hands and shoved it into her mouth.
...Just with her bare hands. Naturally, her hands and chewing white cheeks were covered in honey, but she didn't seem to care about that at all.
Watching her, Enoch asked a quite common-sense question.
"Aren't you using a fork and knife?"
"Huh? Do I need to?" Sirocco replied with an obvious expression. "I heard our tribe's warriors also eat like me after hunting nearby animals when they go out to subjugate Magical Beasts? They said they don't need utensils."
"You didn't see it yourself, you just heard it?" She swallowed the bread and added. "...Ah, yes. I've always gone on Magical Beast subjugations alone since I was little. It was the most efficient way. Hunting is the same." Sirocco said, bowing her head slightly, and brought her hand, which was still dripping with honey, to her mouth.
Lick. She lightly licked the honey off her fingers with her tongue, then suddenly looked straight at me and asked.
"How about you?"
She held out her hand with honey on it towards me. Her slender finger stopped just in front of my mouth.
─How about me, she asked?
As I stared blankly at her finger at the meaningless question, Sirocco tilted her head slightly and asked. "How is it? Don't you want to eat it? This is super sweet and delicious?"
"......"
So. Was this Beast-kin girl in front of me asking me to lick her finger? I looked at her with a slightly wry expression for a moment.
"─?"
When our eyes met, Sirocco just tilted her head as if asking if I wasn't going to eat it. Looking at that innocent gaze, she probably didn't have any ill intentions.
...Perhaps.
Just as I was looking at Sirocco's finger, from which transparent yellow honey was dripping, with a wry expression.
Swish.
Someone from beside me grabbed her wrist. And then wiped off the honey with a napkin. Sirocco turned her head towards that direction and perked up her ears.
"Lady Sirocco."
A voice as transparent as ice echoed in the room. It was Lien, who had been serving the meal. The dazzling midday sun brightly illuminated her silver hair, which flowed down to her waist. Lien, dressed in her usual maid uniform, said calmly to Sirocco.
"The accommodation provided by the Main House has been prepared."
"Huh? Accommodation?"
"Yes. Mages who come here usually stay in the family for long periods for dispatch duties, research, or exchange." Lien glanced at the wide view of the Elsyde Fortress spread out outside the window and said. "Therefore, high-class lodging facilities are also equipped within the fortress for long-term residency. The Follower Families of the direct descendants are no exception."
Sirocco slightly drooped her ears at those words.
"Then, you mean I can go there alone?"
"Yes, of course."
"Ehhh, that's annoying~" But unexpectedly, Sirocco didn't seem very enthusiastic and turned her head sideways. "Besides, even after coming all this way, I don't want to be alone."
Saying that, Sirocco flopped onto the bed, spreading her arms out, and fell onto it. Then she raised one hand into the air. "Okay, I've decided. I'm just going to sleep here!"
At those words, Lien's eyes narrowed slightly. "Of course, since the accommodation has been assigned, where you actually reside is technically not a problem according to the rules. But the accommodation would surely be a much better room than this place?"
...True. I also nodded. As Lien said, a Follower Family member of an Elsyde direct descendant would be provided with very luxurious accommodation. I seemed to remember that the interior and service were comparable to that of a decent 5-star hotel. So, it wouldn't even be comparable in comfort to this room, which was simply spacious but empty.
However, Sirocco was adamant.
"Hmph, well. It's my choice where I stay, isn't it?"
She sat up, then thumped her tail on the mattress while sitting on the bed. "I liked this place. So shouldn't I just stay here? And, above all..." Sirocco glanced this way and added with a saucy look in her eyes. "There's someone I want to beat here."
I tilted my head expressionlessly. Seeing her still acting like that without getting tired of it, what she said about definitely beating me... she must have been quite serious. Perhaps the spar had been quite a stimulus unexpectedly.
"Young Master, what shall we do?" Lien's cold, clear blue eyes briefly looked at me. Was she leaving the final decision to me?
I let out a small sigh and said. "Alright, then."
"Okay! It's decided, then?" Sirocco smiled with satisfaction, hugged a pillow tightly, and yawned. It seemed she was going to take a nap on the bed just like that. Indeed, a moment later, soft breathing sounds were heard.
Her life is really easy, isn't it?
I looked at Sirocco with a slightly bewildered expression, then slowly got up from my seat. Lien, who had been standing upright as usual beside me, cast a glance this way.
"...Training ground?"
"Yeah. There's nothing else to do until the next mission anyway." I slung the black cloth bag over one shoulder. Then I turned my head back and asked. "By the way, I didn't expect you, who said we should be wary of Sirocco, to allow her to stay here."
Lien nodded with an emotionless expression. "It will be safer to keep her where I can see her."
Indeed, that wasn't wrong. If I sent Sirocco alone to the accommodation building where other people were staying, there was no telling what else she might do there.
Thump, thump, thump!
Just then, a loud presence was suddenly heard from outside. And then, almost simultaneously, the door to the room was flung open.
"Lord Enoch!"
The butler I had seen in Grantel's office rushed into the room, exclaiming.
"Lord Enoch! It's an urgent matter!"
His expression was clearly one of panic. He seemed to have rushed here in quite a hurry. I tilted my head.
"Urgent matter?"
"Yes! It's a message from the Executive Office!"
At his words, I had a premonition of something unusual. Sirocco, still lying down, perked up the wolf ears on her head once, then slowly opened one eye and turned her gaze towards me.
Amidst the tense atmosphere in the room. Grantel's butler shouted loudly.
"An urgent rescue request has come from the Academia Expedition Team that was conducting a preliminary investigation in Rhodes!!"