At night, loud, noisy sounds suddenly rang out in the quiet mansion.
Caelus paused in his reading of the history book, then walked out of his room to the balcony, where he saw a man with red hair, wearing leather armor and a long sword at his waist, walking over unsteadily with a flushed face and a wine bottle in his hand, cursing and muttering strange things.
Caelus looked at this middle-aged alcoholic man. In the haze brought on by his drunkenness, the man seemed to see glimpses of the past, which provided some relief for the accumulated pain in his heart. However, because he was not completely dead drunk, he still maintained a shred of sober awareness of reality, causing that newly risen hazy beauty to shatter once again.
This was also why he kept muttering and cursing. He ignored the servants and returned to the mansion, then randomly pushed open a room, walked in, and fell onto the bed in a deep sleep.
"A complex person, one with a heavy past."
Caelus remarked. Perhaps he could go find Reinhard tomorrow to ask about it. Given the man's facial features and the same hair color, he must have a blood relation with Reinhard.
The next morning, a servant in the mansion knocked on Caelus's door. After receiving a response, they said that Reinhard invited him to join him for breakfast.
Caelus sat at the dining table, with Reinhard sitting opposite him. Though he did not know why, as the host, Reinhard did not sit in the head seat.
"Caelus, did you sleep comfortably last night? Was there anything lacking in our hospitality?"
"I'm fine. By the way, who was that alcoholic man in the middle of the night?"
"It seems he disturbed you. I apologize on behalf of my father."
"Father... It seems your father has gone through many setbacks in the past, to the point of becoming what he is now. I know it might be a bit impolite to pry into someone's past, but I personally am quite curious about many people's stories. So, may I ask about him?"
"...I'm sorry. Regarding my father's matters, as his son, it's not convenient for me to reveal too much. If Caelus is curious about it, you can ask him yourself. Of course, my father is still fast asleep right now, and it's not a good time for guests."
"Alright."
Caelus knew he could not go to the person involved to ask about past psychological trauma. However, regarding the past of the current Sword Saint's family, he should be able to learn a lot of information by seeking out those noble members.
It just so happened that one of the royal candidates was a local high noble named Crusch. He could go check there.
"I'm very sorry, I won't be able to spar with you in the coming days. Even though I was the one who made the request, I'm unable to fulfill it. I truly apologize."
One reason Reinhard shared breakfast with Caelus this time was to express his apologies and to state that all of Caelus's future expenses in the Royal Capital would be handled by the Astrea family.
"Additionally, thank you for the information you provided, Caelus, which allowed me to find Lady Felt. To be honest, she is indeed the final royal candidate, and she might even be a princess who went missing years ago. The information you provided is too important. As the Sword Saint family loyal to the royal bloodline, I must provide a reward for this. Tell me, Caelus, what kind of reward do you need?"
"No need. This was the reward for your promise to help me find traces of the Witch Cult. No extra payment is necessary."
"How can that be? Helping you find the Witch Cult is a favor I'm giving because I've made a new friend in you. It's a separate matter from the reward for this case."
"In that case, for the coming period, I will act within the Royal Capital as a friend of the Sword Saint Reinhard. As a Traveler, whenever I reach a new place, I record its past history and listen for unknown secrets. Therefore, I need a legitimate identity to gather information."
"No problem. In fact, you are already my friend, so there's no issue with using that title."
"That's good enough. I don't really want much else. This is sufficient."
After finishing breakfast, Caelus parted ways with Reinhard. The latter had many things to attend to, the first being to find a way to get Felt to cooperate and participate in the Royal Selection. After all, Felt had been strongly refusing to participate and was being extremely uncooperative. In this situation, Reinhard had no good solutions and could only patiently guide her step by step.
Upon leaving, Caelus received directions from Reinhard and found the residence of the other royal candidate, Crusch.
Strangely enough, when he visited and gave his name to the servant as a friend of Reinhard, the servant who received him looked at him with a peculiar expression. Then, the one who came to see him was a burly, white-haired old man.
"You are a friend of that Sword Saint, Reinhard?"
The old man sized up Caelus in front of him and asked.
"Yes. Is it possible that I'm not welcome here? I can feel a slight rejection from you."
"No, I'm not targeting you. I just don't particularly like that Sword Saint. Please follow me."
Inside the mansion's study, Caelus met Crusch, a woman with green hair who looked exceptionally heroic.
When this woman saw Caelus, her expression visibly froze for a moment, then became extremely strange, even carrying a hint of terror.
In this world, everyone had a certain probability of receiving a blessing from the world at birth, which people called a Divine Protection. The abilities brought by Divine Protections were varied and strange, but the vast majority were not of much use.
The Divine Protection Crusch possessed was called the Divine Protection of Wind Indication. She could hear and perceive the wind, and through this, she could use the wind to judge whether a person was lying and, to a certain extent, harness the wind for combat.
When she heard that someone had come to visit and claimed to be a friend of the Sword Saint, she intended to meet this person. She could distinguish whether someone was lying, so she could clearly see whether this was a lying madman.
But what was extremely eerie now was that the wind in this room was telling her that the place where Caelus stood was empty. There was absolutely no one there.
Even though the person was standing right in front of Crusch, the wind told her there was no one there, not even any objects.
The intense conflict between her ability's perception and her visual sight caused Crusch to be somewhat startled.
Even with the incredibly powerful Sword Saint Reinhard, her wind might not be able to overhear him, but it could still judge that a person truly existed there, rather than being like now, where even the wind could not feel his presence.
Was this person... human or ghost?
(To be continued.)
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◇ One bonus chapter will be released for every 200 Power Stones.
◇ You can read the ahead chapter on Pat if you're interested: p-atreon.c-om/Blownleaves (Just remove the hyphen to access normally.)