If I were the only one, I would have laughed, but Alseid coughed for a moment as if to hold back his laughter.
Then, he casually revealed the shocking fact.
"He hasn't arrived yet."
Shion and I shouted in unison.
"What?"
It had already been almost a month since Theodore left.
No matter how many Sword Masters led dozens of soldiers, what if they were unlucky enough to meet a monster?
What if the monster he met without that luck is a very terrible and big one?
Alseid said carefreely.
"I looked at the sky last night, and Theo's star was bright."
Are you talking about anything else?
You're not an astrologer!
Garcia Sythrill, the astrologer, prophetess, and protector of our castle, had been stranded in the Tower for a year and had not returned.
According to Garcia, there is a fatal flaw in the defensive wall of the north wall, which is not easily resolved anyway.
I stomped my feet in agony.
"Dad, it's so much! Theo... you can't let him go alone! My brother..."
What would you do if he got hurt?
I finally stopped talking before I could say anything about the ominous assumption.
Then I quickly encouraged myself.
'Theo's star is bright, so it'll be fine. Garcia has never been wrong...'
Shion quietly held my hand as if to calm me down.
Then he said what Alseid probably wanted to say.
"He's not alone. Aaron, the leader of the Knights, followed the Knights with dozens of horsemen..."
However, judging by the blurred ending, Shion was on the verge of crying.
Alseid soothed us.
"I'm going to send Kai back. I'll let you know as soon as Theodore arrives, so don't worry."
"Dad..."
I wanted to see him more, but Shion pulled me by the hand.
We greeted each other and walked out of the master's room.
As soon as the door closed behind me, Shion called to me.
"He can't worry about us; in fact, my father is worried too."
Then he looked at me with a sullen face and frowned.
"Do you want to go down the slide?"
It was a secret code to hide in the playroom and do various things.
I wheezed and looked out at the long hallway.
"The one who arrives at you will persuade the escort knight!"
Then I shook my short limbs and ran away.
"Shion will be able to catch up with me in no time, but there is a high probability that he will concede victory."
***
After a while, Caliph received a call from his father and headed to the master's room.
Alseid's expression was not as bright as it was in front of the children.
"It's going to be fine, Father. It's different from Theodore's personality, and it's easy to get distracted."
"Yes, I know..."
Alseid thought a little and added.
"But I think there might be a food problem."
"Oh..."
"I have to send a latecomer. You also went on your first patrol of the North Face when you were Theodore's age, so I'm definitely not as relieved as you."
"At that time, the defensive wall was tronclad, so there was no problem. These days, I'm worried about the north wall."
"Mmm..."
Caliph added.
"If you allow me, I'll go to the latecomers."
Alsaed let out a weak sigh.
"Gather forty horsemen from the 3rd Division and take a group of scouts."
Then he added a word to Caliph, who was about to step down.
"Oh, I think we will temporarily station the 4th Division in Stone Age."
Caliph's face hardened once again.
"Is the situation so bad?"
Alsaed replied with a slightly cracked voice.
"Not very good. Your uncle ordered you to stay at home after sunset."
"...Shall we postpone the patrol of the North Wall for a while?"
However, he shook his head at Caliph's question.
"No. I can't put Theodore's work off. But I don't want my children to know.x
"Oh..."
Caliph's small brothers and sisters grew up in front of him.
The children are worried and waiting for Theodore.
If they hear that he is looking for him for fear of danger, they will be very scared.
"It will take time to pack food, and it will be difficult to move without the children's knowledge. Shion is the same, but Liana doesn't look at it normally."
"Hmm."
"Would You Rather..."
Calipj spoke again.
"I'd rather say I'm going to scout Stone Age. The children don't know about it yet, so they won't think about it."
"...I will leave it to you."
But Caliph didn't know.
It had been a long time since Shion had seen his uncle Philip, and he missed him immensely.
***
"Please take me with you, brother!"
When Shion demanded it more confidently than before, Caliph hesitated.
"He's a smart kid, and if he knew the situation, he would never be so stubborn."
But he didn't want to talk about it.
They didn't want to let people know that Stone Age was infested with pirates and that the people were in danger.
Caliph was used to playing the role of a protector for younger siblings who are younger than him, and as a guardian, he only wants to show good things in the eyes of children.
It has been a year since Garcia, who left for the North Wall, has not returned.
Calipj fully understood that the second child, who had left for the same place, did not return, was a huge burden on Shion's heart.
For Shion, who grew up without a mother, Theodore meant so much.
Shion continued to beg him.
"It's been a long time since I've seen my uncle. They always pass through the Stone Age, but I'm not! I'm always stuck in Halias!"
Shion's tone grew harsh, and Liana interrupted him, pursing her lips.
"Uh, brother Shion! You told me that I was always good to be with Liana..."
"That's not it..."
Calipj was grateful that the youngest had intervened and blurred the subject.
He smiled and said,
"I'll be back soon. I took you to the Stone Age, but what if Theodore comes back in the meantime? Theo will be disappointed in a bit."
Theodore, who had not yet arrived at the Tower, insisted that he would not return soon, and Shion stood up with a disappointed face.
The cute youngest child quickly followed him.
"Liana will get it!"
Pretty guys.
Caliph sighed as the ground went down, thinking of Theodore.
"Theo, please contact me..."
In fact, he believed more than anyone else in Theodore, who would be skinned even if a monster came out, but reality and faith were different.
If Stone Age had known that there would be such a mess, his father wouldn't have sent Theo to the North Wall.
***
"Liana, hurry up!"
I'm suffering a lot because of him.
I had asked him to write a letter to Philip Halias to soothe him, who had been depressed the day before, and he had finished the letter in the early morning breeze.
"Haam.... do you have to go already?"
"Of course! I'm sure he'll leave right after breakfast. You have to hide the letter before that!"
Eventually, we hid in the wagon and clung to a leather belt tied to a large wooden chest.
"Hah, it's hard..."
I finally untied the belt and opened the heavy lid.
Roughly imported or high-end goods... In other words, I thought it would contain something like a gift from Alsaed to his brother.
What was in the chest was beef jerky.
More precisely, jerky and biscuits.
"Why biscuits? Do you know enough to eat in the Stone Age?
When I asked Shion, he tilted his head as if he didn't understand.
"Well? Most of these things were military rations. Did you make a lot of them in our castle and send them to other places?"
How can you make a lot of jerky in Halias?
It's hard to raise livestock!
However, I couldn't help but know about Halias' situation that Shion didn't know.
I let go of my thoughts and focused on what I had to do.
"Can I put a letter in a box with food in it?"
"But..."
Shion looked down at the large chest and sighed.
"I can't put it down."
Yes...
We have been working hard for a year, but our height is still barely touching the waist of Calipj.
Sometimes it seems that Caliph is still growing.
I couldn't help but put the letter on the jerky and whined as I closed the lid, when I heard a voice from outside.
Shion cried out.
"Hide, hide!"
I lowered myself in a hurry. But I heard the sound of a crunch lock being lammed.
"Hey....?"
And before the situation was even completed, the carriage began to move.
"What is it?"
We didn't have to hide anymore, and we had no reason to hide our spirits.
The horses were running wild back and forth, and our wagon didn't even have windows.
The sound of horses' hooves was tremendous.
So I closed the door tightly and couldn't hear the horseman talking to the kids inside.
I couldn't stand still, so I knocked on the door and shouted.
"Hey, let's get off! We're on here!"
However, after knocking on the carriage alone for a long time, I saw that Shion was giggling and laughing.
"...brother?"
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