Chapter 54

When he came to, he found himself being carried on a broad back. In front of his line of sight, he could see the tassels on the shoulder swaying. The familiar uniform belonged to the Knights of the Guard.

As he raised his body to look ahead, he saw short, indigo hair.

"Are you awake?"

"Deputy Commander..."

Kain was being carried by Fabian, the Deputy Commander of the Knights of the Guard.

"Where are Prince Al and Irvalec?"

"They're here."

"They're here."

A response came from below. Looking over, he saw two people walking beside Fabian. To avoid getting separated, Irvalec and Alundilano were holding hands. Kain, now awake, was put down, and in his place, Alundilano was carried on Fabian's back.

According to Fabian, he had immediately noticed that Alundilano had slipped out of the castle.

"When I met up with Kain, I thought it might be another kidnapping of the Crown Prince."

He grinned. It was clear from Kain's disarray on the carriage that Alundilano had followed him without permission. The circular carriages don't go very fast, so he had been able to follow on foot. However, he had lost sight of the three of them in a narrow alley after they got off.

"I was really worried, thinking they might have been kidnapped or had an accident."

After that, he heard an explosion in the forest at the edge of the capital and rushed there. Upon arrival, he found a crater-like depression and Kain, who had fainted, being dragged by Irvalec and Alundilano. Fabian was suspicious about why the boys, who he had lost sight of in the city's alleys, were in such a place.

"Why were you in such a place? What were you doing?"

"There was a ruin that Irvalec and I found. It was connected to a hidden passage from an abandoned house in the city, and we thought it would make a great secret base."

"A secret base? Wait, you said a hidden passage?"

"Yes. We found it by chance while walking through the city during a visit to the orphanage. I thought it might be dangerous, but a hidden passage is exciting, isn't it? I decided to explore it a little, and at the end of the passage, there was a dilapidated ruin."

"So, it was to be a secret base?"

"Yes, a secret base. Deputy Commander, didn't you have a secret base?"

Kain had visited the orphanage several times before. When he brought Alundilano there recently, Fabian was with them, so there was no reason to suspect anything, and it wouldn't be a problem if investigated. He had also followed the orphanage children when they went to the city for alms, so it wasn't a lie to say he had walked through the city with the children. It was just that Irvalec knew about the passage, not that they had found it.

"Trying to make it a secret base is good, but it's not. Since it was a ruin, it could collapse at any time, so you shouldn't play in such places."

"Where would be a good place?"

"Like setting up a bed on a tree with boards, or making a base in a field of pampas grass and reeds, tying the heads together to make a roof... something like that."

"I see, so that's where your secret base was, Deputy Commander."

"It's just an example. I didn't say I made one there. ...So, what happened at that secret base? What was that explosion?"

"There was a strange device in the ruin, something I had never seen before, like a magical tool or a cursed item. Out of curiosity, I touched it, and it activated, causing an explosion. I and Prince Alundilano quickly cast a defensive spell to protect ourselves. ...Well, we ended up collapsing from magical exhaustion."

Kain scratched his head, lowering his eyebrows in embarrassment. As they walked, they reached the edge of the forest, and a carriage was visible on the road beyond the trees. It seemed Fabian had arranged it.

"You involved Prince Alundilano. I'll need to hear the full story later. But since Kain was also unconscious, you can rest today. I'll send you back in the carriage."

"Thank you. To be honest, I paid for Prince Al's carriage fare on the way there, so I didn't have enough money for the return trip. This is a relief."

"Even though you're the son of a duke?"

Fabian raised one eyebrow skillfully, showing a sarcastic expression. Kain lowered his eyebrows and exaggeratedly shrugged his shoulders.

"If you want something, you can ask for it. But because of that, I don't have money. In terms of the amount of money, Irvalec has more."

He sometimes receives pocket money during festivals, but Kain uses it all for Dian, so he hardly has any left. He even borrowed the carriage fare from Irvalec this time.

Just a few steps from the carriage, Fabian stopped. He turned and looked Kain in the eye.

"That place was a ruin, right? No one else was there, right?"

Looking at Kain with a serious expression, Kain smiled.

"It's a secret base, so no one else was there. It was deserted."