Chapter 440: Release
“Such a comfortable seat…”
Haulon fidgeted, unable to settle down.
He was sitting in a chair placed beside the fireplace, looking around the room while the table had been pushed aside to lay out bedding. I was preparing tea—well, Forest Note was taking care of that.
“Don’t be surprised, don’t be surprised…”
Haulon was visibly tense, his shoulders stiffening.
As he spoke, Forest Note placed the tea in front of him, a subtle smirk playing on his lips before he turned to me, bowed, and vanished.
“Why is a Spirit making tea?! Just like that!”
“Well, it’s modeled after Note, so it can’t be helped.”
Great Sage, get a grip! He should have already met Forest Note before.
“Ugh. This House is overflowing with Spirits, shining like a beacon, and the furniture is made by the Earth Folk, plus there are familiar faces sprawled on the floor…”
Haulon began to mutter.
The Great Sage sure talks to himself a lot.
“Haah! Fine, I’ll switch gears!”
He took a sip of tea and straightened his hunched back.
“First, the people on the floor are sleeping due to exhaustion, right?”
“Yeah.”
Their wounds were healed, so it must be fatigue.
“It was a request from Anoma, right? It was initially addressed to Balmoa, so there must have been considerable danger. They must know that Dean and Chris have Spirit Swords, so it could be a hunt for a Demon Beast that can only be defeated with a Spirit Sword. Well, the specifics depend on the Covenant. I wonder how far the confidentiality extends…”
As he spoke, it seemed he was organizing his thoughts rather than asking me questions. Dean and Chris were openly discussing their Spirit Swords to build their reputation.
“What did Retze and Note say as their first words aside from greeting you?”
“Retze asked for evacuation, and Note asked why we were here, I think?”
I recalled.
“…Is it okay to ask where this place is?”
“Deep within the Demon Forest.”
Haulon pressed his fingers to his temples.
“Ugh. I had a feeling, but why do you have a House in a place like that…?”
“Because I built it? It’s fun, like a secret base.”
It’s the coolest, or rather, coldest place in my House. I sometimes come here, stoke the fireplace until it’s blazing, and enjoy reading while watching the snow from inside.
Rishu seems to love running around in the snowy garden, and I sometimes watch him from indoors. Animal tracks in the snow are so cute.
“So, if Retze knew about this place, did anyone else ask you for something or warn you?”
He was determined not to hear my explanation.
“Retze told me to hide my face.”
He glanced at the Lord’s daughter.
“Oh, so you haven’t shown your face to her yet? Should we just carry her to the city while she’s still asleep?”
Haulon gazed off into the distance.
“—That would be a rather rough solution, but it might not be a bad idea.”
The Butler stirred awake!
Forest Note appeared silently, adding more tea.
“…”
The Butler wore a subtle expression.
“It seems it was really tough if you couldn’t wake up even when I was nearby, huh?”
Though she asked casually, Haulon’s fingers were lightly tapping the table.
Annoyance? Impatience? He seemed a bit restless.
“Dealing with that many Demon Beasts was quite challenging. Even those who summoned them seemed surprised.”
The Butler mentioned that some had summoned them only to be attacked.
“Oh, so even Adventurers had enemies?”
Haulon feigned surprise.
“Yes.”
The Butler smiled quietly, looking troubled.
“We’ll discuss the details later. It’s troublesome, but I’ll prepare a ritual to break the Covenant—how severe is this Covenant? Depending on the situation, we might need an environment akin to the Temple…”
Haulon sounded exasperated.
Speaking of which, I had entered a Covenant at the Guild, so I couldn’t talk about the request. I noticed a glowing band of letters wrapped around the Butler’s chest, similar to the one that had been attached to Az before.
“Is this it?”
I peeled it off with a rip!
“Lord Jean?”
“Is there an invisible Spirit around me?”
The two seemed unable to see the band.
“With this, the Spirit’s Covenant should be lifted, right?”
Probably, hopefully.
“What?”
“The Covenant has been lifted… is that correct?”
“Yeah.”
The two froze in place.
“…Um, could you try talking about the request now?”
“It’s scary if I can actually speak…”
Haulon and the Butler whispered to each other.
“For now, let’s remove it from everyone.”
I gently lifted the bedding from the nearest Dean and ripped it off. Next was Chris, then Ash, and finally Retze. Retze stirred slightly, but there was no sign of anyone waking up.
“Wait! While we’re hesitating…”
“Lord Jean…”
The two wore expressions like “Ah, ah, ah.”
Before they could stop me, I quickly peeled it off.
“Huh?”
The Lord’s daughter stirred.
“What? This is scary!”
Haulon shrank back.
“There are… breasts…”
What should I do? Touching them would be a bad idea, right?
“That’s to be expected…”
“Lord Jean, Ash has them too…”
“Even men have them…”
I tried to sneak around to avoid touching, but this felt like some kind of fetish, which was uncomfortable. I’m not Dean’s Fire Lizard, after all.
“Why is it that despite everything being off, you’re reacting normally to that?”
“Why indeed…”