Chapter 44

"Hmm, hm hm."

A damp, briny smell crept up from the waterlogged floorboards.

But Lloyd's expression didn't shift one bit.

He hummed a bright little tune, fingers flipping lightly through the menu.

"Spicy clam stew, braised mixed fish, a seafood skewer platter, fried shore crab... hey, can I order the stir-fried noodles too?"

"Go ahead."

When Mikhail answered without a shred of hesitation, Lloyd grinned with satisfaction.

He shot his hand up to flag down a server, then rattled off six items to the person who came over.

"Th-that many...!"

The server's eyebrows twitched with mild surprise at the sheer number of dishes, but seemed to decide there was nothing to lose.

Without a word of complaint, they jotted everything down and hurried off toward the kitchen.

"—And two beers, please."

Mikhail called after the server's retreating back, adding one more item, then looked at Lloyd.

Lloyd sat with his chin propped in his hand, looking Mikhail up and down before shrugging.

"You sure you should be drinking?"

"It's just one beer."

Lloyd gave a lazy nod and left it at that.

He turned his gaze to the table and picked up a piece of semi-dried fish, chewing it with gusto.

Mikhail watched him for a moment before speaking.

"Not too fishy for you?"

"I'm way past the age of being picky about food. Besides, I can chew and swallow just about anything without a problem."

Lloyd answered breezily and reached for another piece of fish, working it between his teeth.

A sliver of silence passed.

After swallowing, Lloyd crooked the corner of his mouth and spoke to Mikhail.

"Gotta say, I'm surprised though. I figured a pampered young master like you would hate places like this, but you don't seem bothered at all."

Lloyd kept his smile spinning, but there was a subtle sharpness at the edge of his eyes. He was testing the waters.

Mikhail held Lloyd's gaze for a moment, then let out a deflating scoff.

"It's fun. Too much to look at to think about anything else."

Lloyd pulled his smile a fraction wider and laughed without a word.

Then, just as quickly, the sharpness in his eyes dissolved.

"Well, fair enough. Like you said, it's hard to let your mind wander in a place like this."

His voice was smooth as ever. Lloyd shrugged once and swept his gaze around the room.

His eyes drifted past the rough language and raised voices filling the tavern's interior.

Clatter.

The food arrived before long. A red clam stew and two beers landed on the table.

Mikhail ladled out a portion of the spice-fragrant stew, slid it in front of Lloyd, and spoke.

"Thanks for the gift. Those three days weren't boring, thanks to what you sent."

Lloyd's face lit up with a smile as he nodded.

"Oh, the puzzle?"

"Yeah."

"Glad it killed some time for you. I grabbed it in a rush, so I was a little worried you might not like it."

Lloyd scattered a soft laugh and spooned some stew into his mouth.

Mikhail did the same, swallowing a bite.

"......"

Once the heat lingering on his tongue had mostly faded.

Mikhail took a sip of water and opened his mouth. He wanted to get a read on how the main storyline was progressing.

"Lloyd, there's something I want to ask."

"Hm?"

"The free mission period that starts in a week. Have you found a team to partner with?"

Lloyd looked at Mikhail with the spoon still in his mouth and smiled.

"Nope."

Mikhail's brow twitched and his spoon stopped mid-motion.

"...No? Why not? There's got to be plenty of people who'd want to team up with you."

"Well, sure... I've got no interest in partnering with anyone mediocre, but actually putting a team together and managing it sounds like a pain. So I actually brought it up with Ethan—figured I'd quietly slip into his group."

Lloyd tilted his head and tapped the beer glass in front of him.

"But he said he couldn't give me a straight answer just yet. Said he needed to finish talking to someone before he could decide anything."

Mikhail swallowed the exasperated sigh that nearly slipped out and muttered.

"Always so dramatic."

"What?"

"Nothing. Wasn't talking about you."

Mikhail replied to Lloyd, then reached for his beer and tipped it back.

He felt the liquid slide down his throat, settling the restless buzz in his chest, and thought.

Well, it doesn't matter. I know exactly what to say to get Ethan moving in the right direction.

Mikhail set the half-finished beer on the table.

He met Lloyd's eyes across from him and spoke.

"Lloyd, I have a favor to ask."

"Hm?"

The sudden request made Lloyd's eyebrows quirk with curiosity, but he seemed willing to hear it out first.

He nodded without comment.

"What is it?"

"Pass a message to Ethan for me. Tell him to come to the outskirts of the dormitory tomorrow evening."

Instead of answering yes or no right away, Lloyd studied Mikhail's face.

He let a thin thread of silence pass, then tilted his head to one side and spoke.

"Before that, there's something I want to know."

Mikhail nodded.

"Go ahead."

"Are you done trying to butt heads with Ethan?"

Lloyd's voice carried a gravity it had never held before, and the gaze that locked with Mikhail's held a keen, probing edge.

Mikhail closed his eyes, then opened them, and answered without hesitation.

"Yeah. For now."

This time it was Lloyd who fell silent. A flicker of scrutiny passed through his sky-blue eyes, as if weighing the truth of the answer.

But Mikhail simply held the gaze in silence.

Lloyd was someone who valued a single moment of quiet over ten spoken words. There was nothing more to add.

A stretch of time passed like that.

"—Hmm."

The standoff ended with a soft scoff. Lloyd eased back into his usual relaxed air and smiled.

"All right. I'll take your word for it."

His tone was noticeably lighter. He raised his right hand in a casual wave and laid on his usual charm.

"I'll pass the message along, so don't worry. If you two are looking to get along, I'm all for it. Pointless feuding just wears both sides out. Not fighting in the first place is better for everyone. And besides..."

Lloyd trailed off for a beat, leaning deep into his chair, and fixed his gaze squarely on Mikhail.

The sky-blue eyes that had been casting their usual gentle light took on a single, deeper shade.

"I think your little brother would be pretty happy about it too. Don't you?"

Mikhail said nothing. He only narrowed his brow slightly and stared back.

Lloyd held the look in silence, but soon cracked a grin and shrugged.

"Oops, family matters might've been overstepping."

He was pulling back a step. Mikhail smoothly let the tension drop from his expression, easing the mood.

He had no intention of damaging a reasonably good relationship. There was already a mountain of things demanding his attention as it was.

"Well, either way. If you're looking to get along with Ethan, I'm all for it. Setting everything else aside, it's a good thing when classmates don't have bad blood between them, right?"

Clatter.

Right then. A fresh round of beer arrived on the table.

Lloyd's hand moved as if he'd been waiting, lifting the glass beaded with condensation.

"A toast. To smoother relations between classmates. To the free mission period going off without a hitch. And..."

Lloyd paused briefly, then crinkled the corners of his eyes.

"To the great northern heir's next grand achievement."

Mikhail stared at Lloyd's grinning face. Then he drew out a small sigh and raised his own glass.

Clink.

Cold glass let out a bright, ringing cheer. The beer glasses moved straight from the collision to both their lips.

---

It was around the same time. The sunset streaming down from the distant sky was painting the tall blades of grass a deep red.

...But through it all.

Someone was trampling through the dense undergrowth.

Rustle. Rustle.

Julien Leventia.

He was walking toward the most deserted corner of the campus, a massive bag strapped to his back.

"Hah... haah."

Julien stopped, gasping for breath. He raised a trembling hand and wiped away the sweat pouring down like rain.

The ancient relics he'd swept up a few days ago—even though he hadn't packed half of what he'd gathered—pressed down on his back with crushing weight.

His shoulders throbbed as if they might pop out of their sockets at any moment.

But... I can handle this. Besides, something good happened today. Right?

Julien steadied his breathing, hung a smile on his face, readjusted the bag, and pressed forward again.

Rustle. Crunch.

With every step, what filled Julien's mind was the offer Mikhail had made him earlier.

The free mission period, starting soon.

One simple sentence—team up and work together.

"Heh..."

A laugh escaped before he could stop it.

Every time he replayed that moment, the voice proposing they partner up, another helpless grin leaked out of him.

An unfamiliar sense of satisfaction swelled warm in his chest. Julien tilted his head back, thinking of a scene from the past.

"......"

He closed his eyes and his vision flooded black.

Darkness blanketed his senses, pulling his consciousness away from the present beneath his feet.

Julien followed the thread of an old memory. His mind leapt across countless stretches of time, traveling back to somewhere far away.

Before long, from a moment he'd once encountered in the past.

The silhouette of the great mage who governed the North took vivid, unmistakable shape from the depths of his memory.