The problem was that hovering required mana, so we couldn’t use it for very long. It was dangerous to use when other people were around too, so we chose to make the rest of the trip on horseback. Security seemed tighter than usual. The events at the lake must have been reported already.
“Alan, over there.”
The moment I dismounted, Chris ran up and put his hand on my shoulder, pointing at the crowd awaiting us. Standing next to our father was a well-muscled elderly man. He was tall and broad, and his hair was the exact same auburn as mine.
“Is that grandfather?” I asked.
“Yup. He’s come home.”
I hadn’t just inherited my grandfather’s hair color—my height, athletic ability, and talent for the sword were likely all from him too.
“Good work. None of you are injured, are you?”
Our parents ran over the moment they noticed us. They must have been worried.
“No, we’re fine.”
“The viscount and his associates, and those men from Stark, have all been thrown in the dungeon. We’ll make sure to interrogate them very thoroughly,” father assured us.
“How about we have them live the rest of their lives down there?” mother suggested.
“No, that would be a waste of tax money,” father said. “We’ll strip them of their ranks and place them in forced labor.”
They’d tried to kidnap Deir, after all. They’d never be able to live normal lives again. If they tried to run, who knew what the Spirit King would do to them? I was amazed their plan had been so lacking in thought.
“Is it really that strange for spirits and spirit beasts to think and act for themselves?” Deir asked.
“I’ve personally never heard of it happening outside of Belisario,” I told her.
“Maybe if people don’t communicate with them properly, they think they’ll get in trouble if they don’t wait for commands.”
That made sense. I’d thought that the spirits had been acting of their own volition because they were worried about Deir falling over so much, but it was true that she’d been speaking to them a lot too.
“Oh my, so this is Deirdre? What an adorable little girl.”
“She really is just like a fairy. Is this a spirit beast? How wonderful!”
Grandfather and grandmother came up while we were talking. Grandmother had the usual Belisario platinum blonde hair and gray eyes. I could see her resemblance to our father.
But even though she’d finally gotten the chance to meet her grandparents, Deir barely reacted. Instead, she was clinging to our mother and looking up at our parents with a troubled expression.
“Who are these people?” she asked. “I don’t know them.”
“What? Oh, of course. You’ve never met them before. This is your grandfather and grandmother, Deir,” mother explained.
“Grandfather? Grandmother? Why have I never met them before? I’m already four.”
Ahhh, Deir’s angry. Our grandparents had come back to witness my and Chris’s births, and yet they hadn’t come back to see Deir in the four years she’d been alive—of course she’d be upset. They both looked a little caught out, having their granddaughter turn her nose up at them.
“I don’t remember anything from when I was born, so even I’d struggle to view you as my grandparents...” I added.
“I feel the same way,” Chris chimed in. “I sometimes wonder if you find our cousins much cuter than us, and that’s why you’re always willing to go to your hometown and not here.”
“That’s not it at all!” grandfather desperately reassured him. “The northern nomadic tribes of the Kingdom of Duchamp are working to build a new country, so I just intended to help them out a little...”
“This is why I said I wanted to hurry home to see our grandchildren’s faces!” grandmother declared.
Oh no, the couple have started fighting.
“Ahhhhhhhhh! Mother! Father! What were you two even doing playing around like that after shoving everything onto my brother?!”
Even our aunt was joining in now. Our aunt was a little like Deir—neither father nor grandfather could win against her.
“We weren’t playing around,” grandfather protested. “Oh, of course! I have souvenirs. I’ve brought plenty of souvenirs!”
Deir had almost been kidnapped just a short time ago, yet we were already back to business as usual.
“Why is it so peaceful?” I couldn’t help but ask.
“There’s nothing wrong with that. You were the real standout today, Alan,” Chris praised me.
“You were amazing,” Deir added.
Suddenly, I realized that no one seemed to care about the color of my hair anymore. The new staff all being informed helped, but there were just so many other things for everyone to think about that the color of someone’s hair really didn’t matter by comparison. It also helped that a lot of people had heard the rumors about us siblings before even meeting us.
“Alan, let’s go to the training field together tomorrow,” grandfather suggested then. “Show me your fire spirit sword.”
“You and grandfather really are alike.”
For some reason, when Deir said that, I felt neither particularly happy nor particularly upset.
“It seems you were a little late coming home, grandfather.” I couldn’t help but say it somewhat accusingly.
“Huh? What do you mean by that?”
“Oh, nothing in particular.”
“H-Hey, August, why are my grandchildren treating me so coldly?”
“It’s your own fault.” Father shrugged.
Perhaps that was for the best, though. Being seen as a hero’s grandchild would mean that I was just piggybacking off my grandfather’s accomplishments. “The prodigy” and “fairy princess” were titles that Chris and Deir had acquired through their own merit.
“It’s amazing that you’re able to control your sword spirits at will,” one of the knights told me.
“Please tell me how to create a fire sword too,” another said.
I wasn’t trying so hard merely for recognition, though. Rather, it was probably because I wasn’t just seeking attention—because I was trying this hard for my own sake—that I’d managed to get stronger.
“I don’t really want knowledge of how to use sword spirits to spread too far, so please keep it a secret for now,” I warned them. I didn’t want to stand out, after all.
“Are you planning to focus on gathering information as always?” Chris asked.
“You can be the intelligence gatherer of Belisario,” Deir piped up.
“You can’t say something like that out in the open.”
“Then what about the sword spirit master? Or the flame swordsman?” she suggested.
“Definitely not.”
“Deir, your taste in names is so bad,” Chris stated bluntly.
“What?!”
I was happy enough for people to hear about Alan of Belisario and know who I was. I didn’t need some fancy title. Besides, I was starting to like this auburn hair of mine.