Chapter 37. None or once (2)
“None.”
When asked out of nowhere whether he had ever hunted a snake, Slayman answered without any hesitation.
“Do you want to try it?”
After savoring and swallowing raw oysters for the first time in a long time, Kalyan looked quite satisfied and asked once more, and this time, Sleiman answered coolly.
“I have no thoughts, prince.”
“All right.”
It was an extremely simple answer and an equally simple response.
If my pretty little girl smiled cutely and asked me if I’ve ever caught a snake, even though I’ve never caught a snake or an earthworm in my life, I would have to say yes first of all. If I told her so firmly that I hadn’t twice, my little heart, like a crystal ball, would be embarrassed. Alan, who was glaring at Slayman with a look as if he was going to get hurt or not, let out a short sigh.
So, just because I was going, I was thinking why would you want to use Siegfried, who seems to have a lot of muscles in his beliefs.
“Prince.”
Slayman, perhaps aware of Alan’s feelings, opened his eyes like this and spoke with red eyes that seemed to be expecting an interesting answer.
“Siegfried does not hunt. I don’t know if you can step on a snake that is trying to bite you, but wouldn’t there be a need to go out and hunt something that poses no threat?”
After that, Slayman turned his head from Kalian and looked at Alan. Alan just ignored my answer because he was looking at me as if he thought my answer was cool. I was holding back the words that I was glad I didn’t throw the fireball.
Calian slowly chewed a lamb steak topped with mint jelly and opened his mouth with a relaxed expression.
“Siegfried, who wields a sword stronger than anyone else, but does not stand up and protects himself with a strong shield, and does not hunt.”
And a guardian of strong faith who has lived for 500 years solely to protect the Cispanian territory.
I sincerely respect their unwavering beliefs. I still had no intention of hurting their beliefs. but.
“Aren’t you ignoring the fact that you have already been bitten because you have never hunted before and have no need to, Lord Siegfried?”
I was saying this because I felt that only those who had never hunted snakes but had no intention of doing so had crossed the line. Aren’t they just watching the poison without even stepping on it because it doesn’t cause any harm?
Slayman burst out laughing as he looked at Kalian.
Sleiman laughed for a while, ignoring Alan’s fierce look, and said as if it was fun to Calian, who was quietly waiting for his laughter to end.
“When I first met him, he was just a kid spewing fierce anger in all directions, but when he came back just a few months later, the strange person whose body was filled with auras was none other than the prince. The well-bred, corrupt prince was spewing out some very creepy acts. “You probably have no idea how surprised I was.”
Slayman, who could not believe that this was from a prince who was weak enough to interest Jan, was using a sword technique characteristic of the Secretian knights with a level of murderousness that was terrifying.
“I don’t know exactly who it is, but how interesting it is that someone who clearly has secrets belonging to Secretia somehow warns about snakes!”
Slayman, who said this, let out a loud laugh again. He didn’t even ask why a knowledgeable person from Secretia would hunt Devlan, but just laughed. And only after a long time had passed did he stop laughing.
Slayman continued speaking after wiping away the tears that had formed from laughing excitedly.
“Anyway, I understand what you mean. Is the Bird of Secretia here?”
“Probably, if I remember correctly.”
Didn’t Bern also hear about Siegfried? Moreover, in Bern’s memories, the birds that landed on Siegfried’s land were never discovered.
“There may be Crown Prince Secretia’s birds, but it is also very likely that King Devlan’s birds are mixed in.”
Nothing would have changed just because it was now.
If Slayman had caught the bird hiding in his land, it would have been conveyed to Calian, either through Chase or Jan or Dmirea.
“Even if you are still not interested in snake hunting, I would like you to find and catch some birds. Is that also hunting for Siegfried?”
It was the last request I made with the intention of not forcing it any further if Slayman said he didn’t like that either.
After drinking all the wine left in the glass, perhaps because he needed to think, Slayman poured another glass and quietly opened his mouth.
“The Duke was worried because there were many birds flying within the castle.”
Calian also remembered that when Calian first came here, many birds flew up with the news to inform him of the auspicious phenomenon of a dazzling light flowing from Sispanian’s nest.
“It’s not because of the prince’s request, but because the Duke shouldn’t have to worry about matters here, I’ll catch at least a bird.”
Now Sleiman was giving a justification.
Whether it’s for yourself or your beliefs. He said he would grant Calian’s request not just for the prince, but for Dmirea, who decided to help the prince. They didn’t care whether Secretia’s treasurer was in Siegfried’s land or not, but they said they would give it a try citing Dmirea as the reason.
“If I come across a snake skin while catching a bird, I will tell you, prince.”
Siegfried’s help ends there.
I won’t be able to stop Devlan from reaching out to Calian or provide direct help in Calian’s plan to catch Devlan, but I will at least catch the birds living in Siegfried and investigate. And in the process, if anyone with a connection to Devlan is identified, I will also inform Calian.
“I understand, Lord Siegfried.”
Calian, who decided to be satisfied with that much help, nodded obediently. Dmirea may not have known it, but she had no intention of requesting intervention that would go beyond the line she had set for Slayman.
“Then go in with the ball first. We’ll be up soon.”
“Yes, I will. I was unable to spar at the banquet on His Majesty’s birthday due to lack of energy. It’s a shame that I can’t even say let’s have a sword fight at this point, but there’s no benefit in having a sudden meeting that continues for a long time. Today, really. “I see. If I had known this would happen, wouldn’t I have scheduled a date for the banquet to celebrate His Highness’s birthday?”
He almost died after attacking Teilan, and after that, he went on a hot spring trip with Serie, so he couldn’t aim his sword at Calian. Calian laughed at the shamelessness of someone who had forgotten that and had just grabbed the blade.
Soon, after emptying all of the newly poured wine, Slayman got up first and went back.
Calian watched for a moment as the huge peacock squeezed through the narrow door of the bar, and with a look on his face as if he had never spoken of something so serious, he began happily eating raw oysters again.
Allen, who had a face quite similar to that of Hina or Plantz watching Lucy eating beef jerky, asked, as if she was full just by looking at Calian like that.
“Prince, do you plan to catch Chase’s birds as well?”
Calian responded by slightly pointing a finger that was not wearing anything.
“No. When I get back to the palace, I’m going to tell you to stop biting for a moment. There’s no need to catch even harmless birds. Well, from my perspective, I’m saying it’s no harm.”
From Lemain’s perspective, it would make no difference whether it was Chase’s bird or Devlan’s bird. Whatever it is, the fact that Kairis’s information is being transported overseas is the same.
Alan, who was more concerned about whether he might have caught a sharp piece of shell in the raw oysters disappearing into Calian’s mouth than about the harm the birds might cause to Lemain, whether they were harmful or not, asked one more question.
“If that big elephant had experience hunting snakes or was interested in it, what did you originally want to ask for?”
“I didn’t think about it.”
Calian, who had eaten the last raw oyster, placed his hand in the stew and answered.
“Because he wasn’t the type of person who would try to help me that much in the first place.”
Calian gently pushed the potatoes out of the stew, found the beef underneath like a ghost, picked it up, and continued speaking.
“If you tell them to catch a bird from the beginning, they probably won’t listen. If you try to ask for something bigger and then tell them something small, they’ll think it’s no big deal.”
Isn’t this the person who didn’t care even though so many birds flew out of the territory?
“Actually, I only found out after hearing what the duke said a little while ago, but I think Demirea was also worried that there might be too many ears in Siegfried’s land. The third prince suddenly came to the duke, who did not take action despite the duke’s concerns, and asked for a new threat. Even if you ask them to catch you, there’s no way they’ll grant you right away.”
That’s why the snake story was brought up first.
After rejecting something bigger, you are bound to accept something smaller.
“… There’s a reason for that. I brought this up to check whether the thoughts are still the same and to make Lord Siegfried feel that the current situation is not as easy as he thought. Please help me because my thoughts were wrong. “If he had offered to give it to me, I would have asked for anything, but he still refused.”
After hearing this, Alan said with a soft smile.
“Our prince, who is it that you don’t say in vain like this?”
“Because I take after my father, who is good at using magic.”
Alan, who almost lost a circle or two he had built up in his heart at the lovely answer he gave with a cute smile, opened his mouth again.
“I didn’t hear you clearly. Please say it again.”
“Because I look like my father.”
“one more time.”
“Father.”
Since he didn’t know when he would be able to say it again once he entered the palace, Calian continued to say the same words without hesitation. As if I were a really foolish little son who ate all the meat he liked and kept acting like that until he returned to the palace.
* * *
‘Oh, I’m sorry, Prince, Vice Commander. As you said, I couldn’t do any of the work that the Vice Commander was unable to do because he was busy guarding Lord Bern.’
Because of the crazy blue wizard, who was protecting his swollen stomach thanks to Calian, who gave him a lot of money when he pressed the button, and his pride thanks to Calian, who looked after him reliably, Plants barely finished work and returned to his room until almost midnight.
When Arsene said that, the undereyes were so dark that I knew he wasn’t lying, even though he said he was being sarcastic. So I couldn’t get angry and just got irritated.
“Prince.”
Reric, who had been told to go back first, was standing in front of the Plants room in Chermil Palace with a restless face.
“what.”
“Um… a little while ago…” After
eating deliciously with Plants the day before, he was smiling all the time until this evening, but then something happened and his face turned as gray as his hair the color of ripe grapes. I remained speechless.
It’s obvious even without looking at what happened.
“Okay. Go.”
Plantz let out a short sigh and said in his own way, ‘I understand what the situation is, and it’s late, so you can just go in and rest,’ and then went into the room.
I saw a scene that I felt I had become reasonably familiar with, but that I would never get used to.
On the terrace, illuminated by a magic lantern instead of a thin moonlight, there was a black back of the head and a cat’s butt like a full moon sitting at its feet.
“…… under.”
The guy who went down first was wrong, right?
Similar to how Kalian blamed the guy who made the beer, Plantz also blamed himself for simply setting a precedent. Then, he walked to the desk in front of the large bookcases across from the bedroom, took out a ring from a drawer, and then went outside to the terrace.
Calian, who was quietly looking down at Lucy, who was sitting at his feet eating dried meat, who sat at his feet as if it were his own room and brought two bottles of carbonated water, spoke first.
“You’re late.”
“So you are.”
Since the bubbles in the carbonated water were still rising, it must have meant that Calian had not been here very long.
So, Plantz’s words were a question of whether you came even though you knew it was late, and also a question of whether you, too, have finally returned.
“It happened because I was in a hurry and because there was some distance between me.”
Calian, who clearly understood Planz’s two words and gave an answer, held out his hand.
Unlike inside the room, when I stepped out onto the terrace, which was not affected by the temperature control magic, I could definitely feel the heat. Plantz, who was frowning in the heat of the night without a breath of wind, put the ring down on the table. It must have been said that the ring was urgent, so he handed it over to me first.
“I think you’ve talked to him more than me. Have you become closer to Prince Chase now?”
“It barks as soon as it comes.”
Plantz, who responded to the joke-like remark, took a sip of carbonated water with green grape juice, and Calian smiled, pulling up his lips.
It was sweet.
It was clear that it had been prepared by a spoiled servant who only cared about his master, who drank drinks so sweet that it upset his stomach.
“Master, you’ve come to a good visit.”
“okay.”
Plantz, who answered without asking anything else because it probably meant that nothing much happened, drank carbonated water again. It was too sweet to be eaten at night, but it was refreshing so I just drank it.
Kalian, who had been looking outside for a while on the terrace with not a breath of wind, stood up. Anyway, I didn’t come up to have a friendly conversation, so I decided to come down because I got what I deserved.
Calian, who had avoided Lucy sitting on the floor and walked towards the terrace railing, had his eyes focused on Plants for a moment. Plantz frowned again while looking at that and immediately spoke.
“it’s okay.”
So this time too, as always.
“yes.”
Instead of saying thank you, Kalian gave a short answer and smiled slightly before returning to his room. He left behind the sweet carbonated water he had only taken a sip of.
