~Chapter 07~
Ered claimed to be a close friend of Sertien’s father.
Unlike me, who was shocked, Sertien, who was naturally friendly, ran up to Ered with a smile.
“Wow, Uncle!”
“Good! Unlike someone else, you’re quite cute.”
Even though Ered didn’t act like it, he was still a prince. If he was friends with someone Ered considered important, that person had to be of very high status too.
Ered seemed to notice the confusion on my face and spoke to the knight, who had been standing quietly by his side.
“Hmm… I’d like you to take the child somewhere else for a moment.”
“Understood.”
The knight was Ered’s bodyguard.
I wasn’t very familiar with him, but I knew he was always exhausted from dealing with Ered’s behavior.
The knight turned to Sertien, who was excited about meeting another “uncle,” and said,
“Shall we go over there for a bit?”
“Okay! Hey, Mister, Are you my uncle too?”
“Uh, well…”
The knight looked a little pitiful at that moment.
He would have to deal with all of Sertien’s endless questions until Ered and I finished talking.
Unlike me, who felt concerned for them, Ered casually waved his hand and said,
“Be careful. There are a lot of shady people around here!”
“You seem pretty relaxed. Like you said, this place is full of dangerous people. Wouldn’t it have been better to keep them with us? Why did you send them away?”
“You were just staring at me, clearly wanting an explanation. Don’t you want to know who his father is? Since Sertien believes you’re his mom, imagine the chaos if we talked about this right in front of him.”
“…Do you know who his mother is too?”
“Make up your mind—do you want to know about his mom or his dad?”
“To be honest, I wasn’t interested in either, but…”
“Because of what I said earlier?”
“Yeah, that’s part of it, and also, Sertien keeps following me around. People keep saying he looks like me, so I’m starting to wonder if his real mom looks a lot like me.”
At my words, Ered raised an eyebrow and replied,
“‘Sertien’? Since when did you get so close with him that you’re using a nickname? You’re acting like a real mom now.”
“Please stop teasing me. So, whose son is Sertien? Even if I’m not that curious, we need to find his father when we return to the palace.”
“Well, once we’re back at the palace, his dad will probably show up on his own. There’s no way he’d stay quiet if his son disappeared like this.”
For some reason, Ered seemed to be avoiding giving me a direct answer.
Even though he had said he’d tell me, it felt like he was hesitating for some unknown reason.
Why?
However, he didn’t seem like he would keep it to himself forever, as he finally spoke after a brief pause.
“Well…”
Just when I thought my curiosity would finally be satisfied, a loud explosion came from the lower floor where Sertien and the knight had gone.
The building shook, and Ered, myself, and everyone around us looked around in shock.
Some people even fell to the floor from the force of the tremor.
I quickly stood up.
“What was that?”
“Sounds like an explosion… That’s unusual. I’ve never seen anything like this happen here.”
Ignoring Ered’s muttering, I rushed downstairs.
Ered, startled by my sudden movement, followed after me, shouting,
“Wait! You don’t even know what’s going on! Why are you rushing like that?”
“Sertien just went down there! Something must have happened! We have to check!”
As I reached the stairs, I could smell smoke and something burning.
I paused for a moment, staring at the thick smoke. Suddenly, Ered, who had caught up to me, covered my mouth with his hand and said,
“Don’t breathe in too much. There’s a fire.”
As he finished speaking, I could see the red glow of flames at the bottom of the stairs.
The knight who had taken Sertien downstairs was feeling uneasy.
Dealing with Ered’s antics was enough trouble on its own.
Now, suddenly, he was playing babysitter.
The knight, who had never looked after a child before, had no idea how to handle Sertien.
‘I hope they finish their conversation quickly…’
Just as he was starting to feel more and more frustrated with Ered, Sertien, who had been staring at him with wide eyes, spoke.
“Mister.”
“Huh? What is it?”
“Are you a knight? What do knights do? Is that what you’re wearing, knight clothes?”
Bombarded with questions, the knight, overwhelmed, started looking for a way to keep Sertien quiet.
That’s when he noticed the inn’s dining area on the first floor.
The restaurant sold snacks, and he figured if he bought Sertien something to eat, it would keep him occupied for a while.
This trick had worked before with his nephew.
The knight hurriedly said,
“Do you have a favorite snack?”
“A favorite snack?”
“Yeah, like jelly or something.”
“Oh, I love chocolate chip cookies!”
“Really? I’ll buy you some. Want one?”
“Really? Yay!”
Excited by the mention of chocolate chip cookies, Sertien fell quiet, and the knight led him toward the dining area.
‘I wonder if they even sell chocolate chip cookies here. I hope they do…’
Worried that they might not, he arrived at the restaurant only to find it in chaos.
“I’m telling you, the food made me sick!”
“But sir, there’s nothing wrong with our food.”
Sensing that this was going to turn into a hassle, the knight stopped in his tracks.
Sertien, who had been struggling to keep up with his short legs, saw what was happening and clung to the knight’s leg, a bit scared.
“If you keep causing trouble, I’ll have to call a knight.”
“What, you think that’s how you should treat a regular customer?”
The person causing the disturbance was clearly drunk.
It wasn’t uncommon for drunk customers to create chaos in places like this.
The bodyguard of Ered took a step back, thinking he would calmly call the city guards, but it seemed the situation was more serious than expected.
“What kind of shop treats its customers so rudely?” shouted a drunken man.
A scream echoed as the drunk pulled out a dagger from his coat.
There was a real chance of bloodshed. The bodyguard urgently turned to a middle-aged woman who was watching nearby and asked, “Excuse me, could you take care of the child for a moment?”
Like a trained professional, the bodyguard quickly subdued the drunken man and spoke calmly, “I don’t know what this is about, but you should calm down. If you swing that knife, you’ll be severely punished.”
“Who the hell are you?” the drunk retorted.
“I am a knight of the Imperial Army. If you cause any more trouble, I won’t stand by and watch.”
The mention of the Imperial Army seemed to make the drunk hesitate for a moment.
But he was so drunk that nothing could scare him.
“A knight? What does a knight even do? And now you’re getting in my way? Let me go!”
The man thrashed around, and the dagger flew out of his hand toward the kitchen.
The bodyguard’s heart sank as he watched the dagger fly. If it hit someone, it would be disastrous.
But what happened next was even worse than someone getting hurt.
The dagger flew straight into a large tank, and the knight felt a chill down his spine when he saw where it landed.
The dagger had lodged itself in a gas tank.
Without thinking, the knight shouted and quickly moved to shield Sertien.
“Everyone, get down!”
Then, with a deafening explosion, the area was engulfed in red flames so intense that they could barely see.
The coachman was driving the carriage as fast as possible after being told they were in a hurry to reach Reed.
‘What is he thinking? Why is he suddenly heading to Reed?’
The coachman pondered the person inside the carriage.
Despite the sense of urgency in his words, Latryne’s face showed no signs of worry or emotion.
“…”
Staring out at the rapidly passing scenery, Latryne was deep in thought.
Fortunately, the commander of the knights had already headed to Reed in search of Ered.
If Ered was in Reed, Latryne knew exactly where he would be.
Having a close personal relationship with Ered, Latryne was familiar with the places he frequently visited.
The question was whether Commander Litya would be able to find Ered.
If necessary, Latryne planned to explain the situation to Ered and help him find both Litya and Sertien.
‘But why did Sertien go with the commander…’
The thought crossed Latryne’s mind.
Though not certain, Latryne couldn’t help but feel a bit uneasy, wondering if Sertien had missed his mother.
Sertien was naturally friendly but wasn’t the type to follow just anyone blindly.
“We’ve arrived.”
“Thank you.”
Either way, since Sertien was being taken care of, Latryne made up his mind to express proper gratitude.
Thinking that, he stepped out of the carriage after the coachman’s announcement.
The sun was setting, as it was nearly evening.
As Latryne entered the city, he followed his memory to find the inn that Ered frequently visited.
But the closer he got to the inn, the more he noticed something odd—the atmosphere was growing increasingly chaotic.
People were filled with fear.
Most of the townspeople were running in the opposite direction of where Latryne was headed, as if trying to escape something.
Approaching the inn, Latryne saw smoke rising and the inn itself engulfed in flames.
