An unusual guest was staying in the annex of Margrave Lune’s primary residence. He was originally from this city, but he’d sold his former family home and now lived in the royal capital. The annex was the most convenient location possible to do the work he’d been commissioned to do by both the crown prince and the margrave—work that no one else in the entire Kingdom, or even the whole of the Central Provinces, could accomplish. It was why he, Baron Kenneth Hayward, had come to Lune in the first place.
One day, a messenger arrived bearing a letter from his father, who acted as his official representative in the capital whenever he was away.
Kenneth frowned after reading it. “This is...” he began.
He understood the unpleasant content, but he couldn’t immediately come up with a counter strategy. He knew with certainty, however, that this was definitely not something he could afford to ignore.
Raden, Kenneth’s subordinate and trusted right-hand man, noticed his boss’s troubled expression. “Director, is something wrong?” he asked.
“Raden, I’m going out for a bit. If anyone comes looking for me, tell them I went to see someone who can help solve a problem that has arisen within my estate.”
With that, Baron Kenneth Hayward left the annex.
✦ ✦ ✦
The Golden Wave Inn was one of Lune’s first-class establishments. It served as reliable lodgings for a certain A-rank adventuring party based there. Abel, the leader and an A-rank swordsman, often read books in the inn’s dining room. Today, a certain alchemist approached him while he was doing exactly that.
This alchemist didn’t have an affinity for water magic.
“Kenneth?” Abel said, surprised by his friend’s appearance. “Why are you here? Aren’t you supposed to be in the capital?”
“Hello to you too. I’m here at His Lordship’s behest. But don’t worry about that. I have something I’d like to discuss with you.”
Although he was an A-rank adventurer and one of the best swordsmen in the Kingdom of Knightley, Abel wasn’t a noble. Kenneth Hayward, on the other hand, was a legitimate baron, albeit a new one... In other words, he was a nobleman. Despite their difference in social status, they were both members of the royal capital’s drinking club, the Alliance of Second Sons.
It was their friendship that’d spurred Kenneth to come to Abel for advice.
Kenneth handed Abel the letter, which the swordsman read.
“A wyvern showed up near your manor?” he asked. “And your father sent this?”
“Yes,” Kenneth answered with a nod. “My parents can handle the day-to-day issues without my input, but this is decidedly not day-to-day. They could request aid from the guild, but I’d only be informed after the fact. As you well know, a wyvern requires a large-scale extermination team. So far, only a sighting has been confirmed, meaning there’s still time...which is why I’m asking for your advice.”
If the wyvern had already attacked, his parents and staff back in the capital would have immediately requested assistance. In the Kingdom, a manor was like a small village that a baron acquired upon receiving their title. Except this village also came with several dozen households... While it was standard for manors to maintain a garrison, most never did. Even if one employed a few people, their role was maintaining public order rather than fighting powerful monsters. They were the equivalent of modern security guards in gated communities.
“I know that a wyvern hunt requires at least twenty adventurers of C-rank or higher, with a large number of magicians. It’s impossible to gather that many people from the manor, but requesting help from the nearby guild will take time too.”
Kenneth frowned. Wyvern hunts usually meant casualties, even with the appropriate manpower, which meant adventurers were usually reluctant to take on such jobs. His mother and father, whom he left in charge of the manor, also knew this. No wonder they sent a letter to him asking for advice.
“Yeaaah, this is a pickle. Wait. I just remembered something. A wyvern appeared in the south a little while ago, right? A few folks I know happened to be there at the time and managed to take it down.”
“That actually happened in the village of Ahzone, which is north of our manor.”
“Really?” Abel asked in surprise.
“Yes. My parents had been receiving complaints about sheep and cows frequently disappearing there. So we asked the adventurers’ guild in Acray to conduct a search, since the lord of the territory in which it lies is apparently difficult to reach. The cause turned out to be a wyvern.”
“Those things eat anything when they’re hungry, and they’re already fierce just as a baseline. Definitely best to deal with this one before it starts hunting humans.”
After hearing Kenneth’s rundown, Abel thought he should take action fast. Then, he had an idea.
“Kenneth, I have a plan. Come on.”
The two left the city on foot. After a while, they arrived at a large farmhouse.
“Isn’t this—” Kenneth began, nostalgia written all over his face.
“Yup, your old place.” Abel nodded with a smile. He approached the three front doors and knocked on the rightmost.
“Come in!” a voice called from inside.
Abel opened the door and they stepped in.
“’Scuse us.”
“Thanks for having us.”
Kenneth looked around. “Goodness, this brings back memories.”
The owner had bought and displayed a lot of new furniture, but he still recognized some from when his family had lived here.
The homeowner, Ryo, emerged from a room in the back. “Wow. What are you two doing here?” he exclaimed in surprise.
He was used to seeing Abel, who came to visit quite often, but Kenneth was a first. Ryo’s shock made sense, of course. Baron Kenneth Hayward was an alchemist at the Royal Center for Alchemy in the capital city, and he wasn’t just any run-of-the-mill alchemist. No, he was a genius, considered a national treasure, and that meant he rarely left the capital. Why, just before Ryo had left for Twilightland, Kenneth had allowed him to study one of the Federation’s captured artificial golems at the Center.
But why was he in Lune? Ryo had a hunch.
“Kenneth, Abel summoned you, didn’t he?! He probably told you something like ‘Now that I’m an A-rank adventurer, you can congratulate me with a box of cakes!’ What an arrogant swordsman...”
“The hell I did! And like I’d ever do something like that! Besides, what kind of jerk asks someone to come out all the way here from the capital for something so trivial?”
“Well, you’re a swordsman who doesn’t operate within the boundaries of logic, Abel, so it’s entirely possible.”
“Stop confusing me with yourself!” he snapped back.
Kenneth chuckled as he listened.
“Anyway,” Abel continued, “I only just learned that Kenneth was in Lune. And the reason I brought him here is ’cuz you’re the only person who can solve his problem.”
“What? Me?”
“What? Him?”
Ryo and Kenneth tilted their heads in unison, both confused.