Chapter 93: Irons in the Fire (3)
We heard the detailed story from Sebastian.
First of all, this fire was not an accident.
It was arson, intentionally set by soone.
And that soone.
“…A devil, appeared.”
Was a devil.
“A devil… Sebastian, what is that…”
According to Sebastian, a while ago, the ‘Wall’ had sent an official request for support to the Irons family, saying that the movents of the demons were unusual.
In response, the two young masters, that is, Miki's older brothers, the eldest son Gabriel and the second son Raphael, had gone on an expedition to the Wall, and for a while, only the head of the family── Miki's father, Johannes── was left in the mansion.
And as if aiming for this, a devil had suddenly stord into the mansion.
“He… called himself, a corps commander of the Demon King's army.”
“…!”
Corps commander.
As soon as he heard this, Miki turned to us in horror.
From his expression, the other companions also seed to be thinking the sa thing.
“Don't tell …!”
But, this ti it wasn't Luce.
“It was the 5th Corps Commander of the Demon King's army… a man nad ‘Etian’.”
“E-Etian……?”
When his prediction was wrong, Miki looked even more confused.
“Lord Johannes… as always, bravely fought against that devil alone.”
The fire in the mansion was the aftermath of that battle.
To be precise, it was closer to Etian deliberately setting the fire.
“In the anti, I was evacuating the servants who were left in the mansion under Lord Johannes’s order, but…”
He said that while going back and forth to the mansion several tis, he had noticed sothing strange.
“Lord Johannes, who was clearly fighting the devil… along with that devil, had suddenly disappeared from the mansion.”
Without a trace.
The two who had been fighting a fierce battle had disappeared, as if they had never been there in the first place.
Of course, it was a story that was not easy to believe.
“What is that, what…”
The fact that the mansion he had returned to after a long ti was still burning, that it was the work of a devil, that the devil was even a corps commander of the Demon King's army, and that his father… had disappeared without a trace while fighting that corps commander.
“It doesn't make sense……”
Miki, who was very confused, suddenly seed to have a sinister thought.
Because of that, he swallowed once, and then cautiously brought it up.
“Sebastian, don't tell … my father was caught in the fire……”
“That's impossible.”
But Sebastian firmly dismissed that possibility and shook his head.
“I kept looking around the mansion, but I couldn't find any trace of Lord Johannes.”
Then this ti, he said with a faint smile, as if to reassure Miki.
“Besides, you also know well, Young Master, that he is not soone who would die by being caught in a fire like this.”
He was right.
Johannes would have surely just endured a fire like this and walked out.
“…Yes. He surely would have.”
Sure enough, Miki also imdiately nodded his head in agreent.
With a lighter expression, as if a burden had been lifted from his heart.
In fact, for a being who was a corps commander of the Demon King's army to suddenly cross the wall and cause such an incident in the middle of the large city of Tiaria… if you think about it, it was a little, strange.
But since the target of the attack was the Irons family, if it was to weaken the enemy's strength—through assassination, etc.—it was not completely incomprehensible.
So everyone probably didn't feel any doubt about that part yet.
Of course, the reason Etian had targeted this place was not that.
“M-More than that, Young Master!”
At that mont, Heidi suddenly approached Miki and said, holding his one hand with both of hers.
“Are you okay?! You're not hurt anywhere!?”
“Yes, I'm fine, Heidi. Thanks to my companions…”
Miki seed to think that she was only asking about the incident of entering the mansion just now, but what Heidi wanted to ask was not just that.
“Where on earth have you been all this ti?! You disappeared without a word…!”
“Ah……”
Only then, did Miki seem to recall his own situation, which he had forgotten for a mont because of the bigger problem in front of him.
“Do you know, how worried everyone was…?!”
That is, the young master who had run away from ho.
“I-I'm sorry, Heidi….”
Perhaps thinking that he might disappear again, Heidi started to cry again, not letting go of Miki's hand.
Miki, who was flustered to see Heidi, was trying to soothe her, and before long, mages ca to the mansion.
Because large fires that could not be put out by just bringing water were usually suppressed with the help of mages.
Only after seeing the fire in the mansion completely suppressed by them.
“……Um, everyone.”
Miki looked at us and cautiously opened his mouth.
“There’s sothing I need to tell you….”
As if the ti had co to talk about his ‘secret’, which he could no longer hide.
***
In that case, we couldn't go to a pub to rest as usual.
It wasn't a story to be told in a noisy atmosphere with many listening ears.
So.
“Please co in, everyone!”
“Pardon the intrusion, Heidi.”
We decided to stay at Heidi's house.
Of course, there was the much larger residence of the head butler, Sebastian, but it was decided to be given to the servants who had lost their place to sleep today, those who lived in the mansion.
But this place, too, was quite spacious for the house of an ordinary commoner maid.
The Irons family was in many ways a model of a knightly family.
Although they were nobles, they always tried to maintain a simple life as long as it didn't compromise their dignity as nobles.
Instead, they were very generous with the remuneration for the servants who served them.
“Huh? It's Miki Brother-ah!”
“Miki Brother! Where have you been all this ti!?”
To the extent that they had even prepared a separate house like this, not just a lodging, for Heidi, who had to take care of those several young children who ca running as soon as we entered the house, as a single head of the household.
“Ahaha. Have you been well, kids?”
As soon as they saw Miki, the children were very happy and surrounded him, almost clinging to him.
For reference, Heidi was a ‘human’.
Therefore, her younger siblings were also all human, and the height of a few of the children was already similar to Miki's.
Nevertheless, Miki's appearance, taking care of them, was just like an eldest son taking care of his close younger siblings.
In short, they already looked like they were practically a family.
Just by looking at this, the two were not just in a relationship of a young master of a mansion and an employee.
Well, if they were already like family with the younger siblings, it ant that this was definitely not the only ti he had visited this house.
“Not bad, kid.”
Perhaps that's why Ibi was chuckling and kept playfully nudging Miki's shoulder with her elbow.
“I thought you were a good boy, but you’ve been doing everything, you little rascal.”
“Uh… yes?”
But Miki, who didn't even understand the aning, tilted his head.
“You two seem very close?”
“Ah, yes! Heidi was one of my few friends of the sa age. So we often played together since we were young.”
So when I asked to clear up the misunderstanding (?), as expected, Miki answered confidently as if he had nothing to hide.
“Then you’re like childhood friends.”
“What, that's what it was?”
At that, Ibi imdiately showed a reaction as if she had lost interest, but she glanced at Heidi, who had been strangely quiet from a while ago, and crossed her arms, saying, “Aha…”.
After that, we first had a simple dinner with Heidi's family, which we had missed because we had missed the ti.
And after playing with Heidi's younger siblings, who were very interested in Miki who had co after a long ti and us who had co with him, until they fell asleep.
“……Now, I have no choice but to tell you.”
Miki cautiously, brought it up to us again.
“As you all know……”
Then, gulp, he seed to pause as if swallowing once, and before long, he continued as if he had made up his mind.
“…I am a mber of the Irons family.”
Then he began to look at us with sowhat worried eyes.
At that, we.
“Uh……”
As you can see from the fact that even Ibi couldn't easily continue her words, frankly, we were at a loss as to what to say.
“I'm sorry… for hiding it all this ti…!”
“…….”
Not only Ibi, but everyone, was at a loss as to how to react and were looking at each other's eyes.
It was an expression that said, ‘You were hiding it…?’.
Frankly, he had been so obvious about it, he might as well have said it.
No, actually, co to think of it, he had said it.
The silence that had been going back and forth for a while was broken by Heidi, who had brought us tea.
“That's right, Young Master! Why on earth did you leave the house without a word?!”
“That’s……”
At Heidi's question, which had suddenly recalled the question she had forgotten due to being caught up in the atmosphere, Miki trailed off, as if it were hard to speak.
But that was also for a mont.
As if it were a story he had to tell us anyway, he opened his mouth again with difficulty.
“…My father told , I was a ‘failure’.”
“……!”
At that mont, Heidi covered her mouth.
“Th-That’s…”
She wasn't the only one who was surprised.
Especially Lily, as if to empathize with Miki's feelings upon hearing those words, squeezed her eyes shut.
“Of course, he didn't say it in front of , I happened to overhear it.”
At those reactions, Miki continued with a bitter smile I had never seen before.
“That word… I couldn't deny it. Not only compared to my father or my brothers, but even as an ordinary knight, I couldn't even do one person's share properly… as you know, I was a half-pint knight who couldn't even handle a single weapon properly.”
So he left ho, Miki said.
“If I stayed in this house, I felt so pathetic.”
Saying that he was not worthy of being called an Irons.
“Ah, so…”
Hearing that, Ibi seed to understand why Miki had been reluctant to say the na Irons from the first ti they t.
“Such……”
anwhile, Heidi, who had heard the reason why Miki had disappeared without a word, was making a very sad expression.
“And even outside, where I went for training, I realized painfully. That without the na Irons, I am just a halfling who can't even handle a weapon.”
No one would hire Miki.
The ones who did hire him, like those thugs, all had other intentions.
“But then, I t you all.”
Miki continued.
“You all accepted , Michael, as a knight, not as an Irons. …You respected , who couldn't even handle a single weapon because I was afraid of harming other living beings, and said that I was fine just as I am.”
It was then.
“To you all, I have a request to make…!”
Miki suddenly got down from his chair and knelt on the floor.
Then.
“Together, please find my father…!”
He bowed his head to us.
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