Maybe it was obvious. Perhaps it wasn’t. Regardless, the very first person to come and greet Riley and Nainiae for their return from the trip to Rainfield was none other than Ian, the old butler.
“… Ah.”
It seemed he was wondering around the garden all this time. His white hair headed toward Riley, who just stepped into the mansion’s entrance.
“I’m here.”
“We are back.”
Riley raised his hand to greet others lightly. Nainiae lowered her head to greet others respectfully.
At that moment, Ian’s eyes were starting to fill with tears.
“Hup. Kuhup… Kuhuhup!”
“…”
Ian’s reaction was exactly as expected. Riley peeked a smile and opened his arms.
“Young Masterrrrrr!”
Riley was sick of hearing that during the summer. Maybe it was because Riley was away for so long… Riley opened his arms because it was so great to see Ian.
“Yes. I’m back home.”
“Do you know how worried I was?”
When Riley opened his arms, Ian poured out tears like waterfall. He ran toward him and hugged him.
“I think it would be weirder if I didn’t know it.”
Riley hugged Ian as if Ian was his own child. Riley casually turned his head and looked at the three members of the Lightning Boulder mercenary group who were walking toward the entrance of the mansion.
“That is…”
“… the Mercenary Hero?”
“Really…”
In Riley’s arms, Ian was crying like a little girl. However, his shoulder, his back, his arm… With his white hair, his hardened physique indirectly explained how many battlefields he fought in.
“Stop crying so much. Get a grip.”
Ian was pouring tears and runny nose. Having heard what Riley said, Ian barely got a hold of himself and cleaned up his face. Ian looked beyond Riley’s shoulder.
“… Who are they?”
“They are guests.”
“Guests?”
“That’s right. They are here to see you.”
“Young Master, by any chance…”
A man, a woman, and a boy… They were each wielding a different weapon. Ian could tell with the first glance that they were mercenaries. The look on Ian’s face became serious.
“That’s right. They are mercenaries.”
With Riley’s introduction, Nara brought out the pouch that contained the bone powder of his father’s remain. Nara looked like he might be smiling. It could have been that he was crying. It was a strange look. Nara tilted his head side to side.
“Mercenary Hero. It’s a great honor to meet you. I’m…”
The boy’s emotion was running wild. His eyes suddenly changed to a sharp inhuman shape. Noticing this, Ian remembered seeing it before. Ian’s eyes became wide.
“Basilisk?”
Ian said it as if he couldn’t believe this. Nara nodded and answered,
“… Yes.”
* * *
“… I see.”
Ian asked Nainiae to do his work for the moment. Ian mumbled in a bitter tone.
“Garf… in the end, he was killed by that dark mage…”
In the garden, on a table for tea, Ian had the Lightning Boulder mercenaries and Riley sit with him for a tea. With his thumb, Ian fiddled with the cup’s handle and said,
“This is the reason why I hate mages. Mages took away people so easily… The people who were precious to me.”
Ian added that he doesn’t hate Nainiae. Ian put his hand toward the urn that had the bone remains of Garf Basilisk.
“I don’t know how Garf introduced me to you, but I think I should make certain for you to know this.”
Ian couldn’t bring himself to touch the urn. He lowered his head and said,
“I’m retired, but I’ll put my title as the Mercenary Hero on the line to say this. A Basilisk named Garf was definitely a great father.”
Nara tightened his grab on his hand that was laying on top of this thigh. It wrinkled his pants.
“Nara, you should be proud of him.”
“…”
The Mecenary Hero that Nara admired was praising his father.