Chapter 98

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"Ha, finally made it..."

I looked back at the distant path we had just traveled.

I thought that the traces of our journey, extending from this carriage, must still be visible. Then, I turned my gaze to the large building towering before me.

It was the castle where Esyque lived.

--- Yes, in short, we had arrived at the capital where Esyque and the others were waiting.

"..."

After the long journey, Lily, unusually tired, had fallen asleep on my lap as usual.

And as a bonus, she was even holding the hem of my clothes.

Looking around a bit, I saw that True and Aura were also sleeping, leaning against each other.

"... Heal"

I cast a recovery spell on each of them.

According to what the aunt had told me, she had already informed Esyque about my recovery magic, so there was no need to change it to something like "Refresh."

When I first cast the recovery spell on Lily, she seemed to feel good and a slight smile appeared on her sleeping face.

True and Aura were the same, and it was clear that they were also tired.

Having successfully alleviated their fatigue, I turned to the aunt with a slight sigh of relief.

"Are we getting off soon?"

Based on what I had heard beforehand, the aunt was supposed to drop us off near the castle, so I asked for confirmation.

"Yeah, that's right. I need to return the carriage, you see."

The aunt turned to me and said this.

Surprisingly, it was the aunt herself, who was the king's relative, who was returning the carriage.

It was already quite something that she had driven the carriage for us, but the fact that she was even doing this made me think that she was indeed similar to Esyque, though I didn't say it out loud.

"Thank you very much."

After being let off the carriage, we each thanked the aunt.

She said it was no trouble and headed in a different direction to return the carriage.

We watched the carriage until it was out of sight, and once it was completely gone, we turned around and headed towards the castle entrance to enter.

We were stopped by the gatekeepers along the way, but after briefly explaining the situation, they let us through, apparently having received some communication from Esyque.

"... Wasn't it this way, right?"

Unlike last time, there were no maids around, so we slowly made our way down the corridor, following our previous memory.

"Oh, it's Lord Anest and company."

We encountered a maid who seemed to be cleaning the corridor.

"Ah, hello. Um, I want to see the king..."

At that moment, I noticed something about Aura and the others.

Probably because of the long time in the carriage, their clothes were slightly dirty.

I didn't mind, but girls are usually sensitive to such things.

"... I was wondering, could we borrow some clothes? We need three sets."

"Ah, yes. Please, this way."

I asked the maid, looking at the three behind me, and she seemed to understand my intention and started leading Aura and the others.

"I'll go see the king first, so please take care of them."

I thanked the maid, who turned around and bowed, then immediately resumed leading Aura and the others.

"... Well, let's go."

I turned around and started walking down the familiar corridor alone.

"Um, wasn't it here...?"

After walking for a while, I stopped in front of a familiar door.

Unlike a regular door, this one was slightly decorated, and it was the room where Esyque had taken me before.

"Then, I'll just go in."

Thinking I needed to tell Esyque that I had returned, I opened the door without checking inside.

"..."

As expected, the room was dimly lit, reflecting Esyque's tastes.

I was speechless when I saw what was inside the room.

In the room stood the "Black Savior."