Chapter 260
"Wha- No, Young Master!"
Cellinne raised her voice for the first time.
It was a flustered yet reproaching tone.
But Yurik paid no attention and began eating his own meal.
In the dining area where the atmosphere had turned cold, everyone was just watching Yurik and him.
He, who suddenly had the plate he was responsible for disappear, quickly stood up.
"I'm fine, so everyone please eat well."
"Wait, Adonis! Yesung!"
Cellinne called out, but he shook his head and left the dining area.
Behind him, he could hear Cellinne vehemently protesting to Yurik, asking 'why are you doing this to the child?' What should he do about this?
After taking a big loop around the campsite and returning, the meal had already finished.
Dirty utensils and plates were piled up in the pot.
Thinking he should wash them at the stream he had seen earlier, he picked up the pot.
But soon someone snatched it away from beside him.
It was Bailies.
"What are you trying to do?"
"They got dirty, so I was going to wash the dishes."
"Never mind. What's someone who couldn't even eat going to wash... get lost."
He walked away grumbling while carrying the pot.
Having his task suddenly taken away, he stood there dazed, when next Evana approached with a troubled face.
"Sorry. The Young Master isn't usually like that. I don't know why he's acting that way either. Are you hungry?"
"No, it's fine. I wasn't hungry to begin with."
He had only spoken honestly, but a pitying expression crossed Evana's face.
"Wait a little. Bailies will wash those, so don't worry and just sit."
"Mm."
"It's the first time I've seen Cellinne get that angry at the Young Master. She seemed very shocked too. Anyway, rest a bit."
She forcibly sat him down in front of the dying campfire.
From his perspective, it was actually better since he didn't have to endure the discomfort in his stomach.
As he sat there, he saw Cellinne running over hurriedly from far away.
In her cupped top, used like a basket, round berry-like fruits were rolling around from somewhere she had gotten them.
Cellinne, who landed almost sliding in front of him, grabbed his hands.
He looked at the fruits that had instantly piled up in his hands, then looked at Cellinne.
"What's this?"
"You couldn't eat anything earlier. I'm sorry I couldn't stop it then."
"It doesn't really matter..."
"Who says it doesn't matter when you couldn't eat! You need to fill your stomach at every meal to have strength."
No, it really didn't matter.
But she made a tearful face and grumbled to Evana, saying 'I don't know why the Young Master is acting like that.'
Rolling a fruit with his finger and putting one in his mouth,
A taste more sour than wild strawberries with a faint sweetness burst on his tongue.
Come to think of it, it had been quite a while since he had consumed food.
From the seaside Theem'dra until living with Eibon.
There had always been people beside him who needed to eat, and there was no need for him to step forward and consume their share of food.
It was just one nameless fruit, but as he savored its taste for a long time, rolling it in his mouth,
Cellinne, who was talking with Evana, suddenly asked.
"Did you fight when greeting the Young Master?"
"Are you asking me?"
"Adonis, tell me honestly. Did you make the Young Master dislike you? What happened in that short time?"
"I just greeted him normally. I didn't do anything else in particular."
At least in this era.
Yurik had liked him a lot since childhood.
But that was as far as it went.
He hadn't seen him since meeting with Eibon,
And it was natural for him to come to dislike him because of what happened then.
Since he was the one who had done things deserving of hatred, he didn't particularly care whether Yurik took his plate or not.
Rather, he even thought that now, when Yurik disliked him, was more stable.
Why was that? Was it because Yurik had disliked him from their first encounter in this world?
It was strange to live a life where one became accustomed even to hatred.
While he was having various thoughts only in his mind, Cellinne let out a deep sigh.
"I don't understand the reason. He's not usually like that."
"If that's not his original personality, what was the original Young Master like in Cellinne's opinion?"
"Uh, well."
She put her index finger to her cheek and quietly fell into thought.
It was a pose that would warrant scolding if anyone else did it, asking what they were doing, but when Cellinne did it, there was no sense of discord at all.
"In my case, well, no, the Young Master took me in. Do you know about 'Rom,' Adonis?"
"Rom?"
"People who haven't obtained kingdom citizenship, and among them there's an ethnic group called Rom. They're a kind of nomadic people. They say they're people who couldn't make it to present-day Hyperborea when the land of the ancient Acheron Empire split in two."
"Ah."
"We travel across the eight kingdoms selling skills, songs, and dances. Hundreds of songs and thousands of stories, beautiful appearances are talents inherited by the Rom. But conversely, there are also many accidents that happen because of this."
"That... must be hard to live."
"I was trying to cross from Vanaheim to Aquilonia when I had trouble, and our Young Master helped me a lot then. Even though he was a complete stranger, he showed kindness."
"From Cellinne's perspective, he would seem kind."
"Right? Usually he treats us without formality, so I think he's a good person."
Cellinne looked at him again, puzzled.
"Why did he act like that to our cute Adonis today?"
"I don't know either. The Young Master might be more moody than expected."
"Ugh. From what I've seen so far, that's impossible."
Evana silently patted the back of Cellinne, who was holding her head in worry.
Watching that scene, he barely steeled his wavering heart.
*
In the middle of the night when everyone was asleep, at dawn.
Bailies was sleeping with his back turned over there.
But as soon as he quietly got up, a question flew over.
"What is it?"
"I was going to relieve myself."
"......"
Perhaps he was asking sensitively because there was a tent used only by Evana and Cellinne on the other side.
He threw off the blanket he had temporarily received and carefully went outside.
The lamp hanging in front of the tent across the way was out.
Then what about Yurik's tent?
When he glanced over, that one was also out, so he felt relieved.
Going toward the grass, when he had gotten some distance from the campsite, he immediately changed direction.
His purpose was to leave this campsite.
There was no grand reason.
He didn't like seeing Cellinne suffer being caught between him and Yurik.
She was also someone who had been good to him.
If Cellinne would continue to suffer because he was there, it would be better for him to leave.
Yurik probably had no particular desire to keep him here now either.
He should be grateful that he wasn't being killed.
He thought he should go straight to a village.
He had seen a main road while coming to the campsite.
It seemed like people traveled on it to some extent, so if he walked along the road, he would see something.
When he got to where people lived, he planned to earn some money and look for information about Eibon or Aphoom-Zhah.
Eibon was a great mage and had many disciples, so wouldn't there be at least some records about her?
And he also had to check on the request he had made to her...
-Rustle.
His feet reflexively stopped.
There was definitely no one chasing him from the campsite.
Even if they had heard his footsteps, they would have thought he was in the grass.
A beast? A demonic beast? Was he in a dangerous situation now?
As he stood there stupidly due to the ambiguous sensation, something whitish slowly approached from between the trees.
That was.
"Who are you? Reveal your identity while I'm asking nicely."
It was an old man holding an enormously large axe.
No, an old man?
The white hair and completely grayed beard were definitely those of an elderly person.
But the sharp eyes, broad shoulders, and thick forearms supporting the heavy axe were hard to consider as belonging to the elderly.
It was a moment when his long-held stereotype about 'old age' was shattered.
The axe-wielding old man was emanating an intense aura as if facing a dangerous beast.
And from behind such an old man, someone walked out and added.
"I'd also like to ask how you came to be here. The excuse of simply being lost won't work."
The man wearing a monocle had a slender build but was also not to be underestimated.
Behind his gently smiling face, he definitely felt there was something.
As an unexpected figure appeared, he was gaping when the axe blade glinted and he came to his senses.
"I am lost, but I was looking for a way out."
"Let me ask again. A way out, you say?"
"The way to the main road."
"If you mean the way out of the campsite, that's completely the opposite direction."
"...Really?"
How embarrassing. He had thought it was this way, but it wasn't at all.
When he turned toward the direction the man with glasses was pointing, the old man warned.
"Try moving one more step from there. Your legs will fly off."
"No, but you just showed me the way."
"Even if you're going, shouldn't you state your name before going? Or do you have circumstances you can't reveal?"
Did he really need to give his name?
He didn't know who these people were either, so unilaterally providing information seemed a bit much.
Somehow he hesitated to speak readily, so as he watched quietly, the old man smiled as if he had figured everything out and said.
"You'll have to come with us. If you behave quietly, I guarantee we'll at least ensure your life."
Wait, that's what police say when arresting prime suspects!
The moment he decided he should run away no matter how difficult, words continued as if they had expected this.
"Instead, the moment you move to run away, the young man's head and body will bid farewell. What will you do? Your future is bright, wouldn't it be a waste of your remaining days?"
...Dying wasn't scary,
But he had many things to resolve, and wasting time dying and coming back to life was exactly what he hated most.
In the end, he followed as the two people led him.
The man with glasses in the lead, he in the middle, and the axe-wielding old man behind him.
Even if his steps slowed a little, the chilling sensation poking from behind urged him on.
The place where the three of them arrived was.
"The campsite?"
"We've finally arrived."
Ignoring him, who was shocked at returning to the starting point,
The old man strode forward, flung open a tent, and shouted.
"Bailies! You bastard, lying around sleeping every damn day!"
"Ahhhhh!"
"Not knowing there's an assassin skulking around here and sleeping, are you an idiot? Are you an idiot? From today, change your name to Beidiotlies!"
At the old man's booming shout, not only Bailies but Evana and Cellinne crawled out of other tents with sleepy faces.
Cellinne rubbed her eyes, then saw the old man and the man with glasses and shouted.
"Dardin! Grandpa Walter! When did you arrive?"
He had heard these names somewhere before.
Instead of the old man who was verbally beating up Bailies, the man with glasses smiled and said.
"Just now. Have you been well? There was a suspicious person wandering around nearby, so we caught him while we were at it."
"Suspicious person?"
"Here."
The man pointed at him.
When he awkwardly waved at her, Cellinne looked back at the man as if she didn't understand the situation.
"That person?"
"We brought him for now, but after clarifying his exact identity, whether he's an assassin or not, whether he was sent by forces trying to threaten His Highness the 3rd Prince—"
"Dardin! Wait, stop stop! Yesung doesn't know anything, so if you say that!"
"His Highness the 3rd Prince?"
Cellinne screamed and he asked back.
The man called Dardin looked back and forth between him and Cellinne. He rewound the story he had just heard.
3rd Prince? His Highness the 3rd Prince of Aquilonia?
If there was someone among these people suitable for the status of 3rd Prince,
No matter how he thought about it, there was only one candidate.
And that person was.
-Rustle.
"What's all this commotion in the middle of the night?"
Everyone's gaze turned in unison.
In the sudden silence, only Yurik, who had just emerged from his personal tent, was frowning irritably.