NOVEL NEXT #64
#64
As soon as they entered the mansion, Merheim, who was examining newly purchased items with a paper in hand, quickly walked towards Jersian upon spotting him.
“Young master, I have something to discuss with you regarding the request you entrusted to me earlier.”
“…”
The entrusted request referred to the handwriting analysis of the letter. Jersian, who had just returned from horseback riding, handed his gloves and coat to a servant while glancing at Kain standing beside him. Kain, quick to read the situation, nodded and said,
“Don’t worry. I’ll wait on my own.”
“…Alright. Call me to my office when the conversation is over.”
Jersian replied with a slightly awkward expression. He hadn’t hoped for Kain to leave, but it seemed Kain had sensed his true feelings even in that brief moment.
As he entered the opposite corridor with Merheim, Jersian glanced back. Kain Starchis was still standing firmly in place, intently watching their direction.
“…”
Jersian sighed as he took in the sight. He thought he shouldn’t reveal deep internal information to Kain. Knowing such things would only endanger his life. But Kain Starchis himself wanted to know. These two conflicting thoughts battled in Jersian’s mind.
“Young master?”
“…Yes?”
“Ah, I called you several times but you didn’t respond. Shall we bring him along as well?”
Merheim asked, pointing at Kain, who was the focus of Jersian’s gaze. Come to think of it, they had stopped in the middle of the corridor while walking with Merheim. I must have lost my mind. Jersian rubbed his brow with his fingers and shook his head.
“No.”
No. After regaining his composure, Jersian walked quickly down the corridor again.
The path to his office felt unusually long today.
As they entered a deserted corridor, Jersian quickly asked, as if he couldn’t wait any longer.
“How was it?”
“Is it alright to tell you right here?”
When the cautious Merheim asked again, Jersian nodded a few times.
“Yes. Just tell me briefly if the person we compared matches or not.”
If spoken like this, even if someone who knew nothing overheard, they wouldn’t know what the two were talking about.
Merheim took out a small note from his pocket and respectfully handed it to Jersian. Jersian received it and answered with a stern face.
“…I see. What’s the possibility of it being someone else?”
“They say it’s 99% impossible.”
Merheim answered simply. According to the handwriting analyst, the writer’s individuality was strongly present in each letter written. For someone else to imitate that handwriting, they would have to naturally incorporate all those elements into the sentence without missing any, which was deemed absolutely impossible. They even wrote an opinion stating this.
Jersian looked at the opinion in his hand for a moment before handing it back to Merheim.
“…We might need it later, so keep it in a safe place for now.”
“Yes, young master.”
Leaving Merheim in the corridor they had been walking through, Jersian swiftly turned around and headed towards the corridor where he had been with Kain earlier.
His long legs moved incessantly, taking large strides.
“…”
He felt a sense of urgency, as if he had left something important behind. As he turned the corner of the corridor and saw the mansion’s lobby, he spotted Kain Starchis standing in exactly the same place they had parted earlier.
“Kain.”
As Jersian called his name, Kain’s green eyes immediately locked onto him. Life seemed to breathe into Kain’s face, which had been frozen like a doll in the middle of the corridor.
“Let’s go to my office.”
Kain quickly walked over to Jersian. He asked with a very curious look,
“Are you already done with your business?”
“Yes.”
Although it was regrettable for Merheim who had been waiting all this time, Jersian thought it was good that he had finished their conversation quickly. The two headed towards Jersian’s office together.
* * *
“Hunting… competition?”
Kain Starchis frowned as he responded. To Kain, hunting was a barbaric act of hurting or killing meaningless creatures, practiced only by humans on the continent. They’re holding a ‘competition’ for such a thing? Just how evil can humans become?
‘…As expected, he dislikes it.’
After confirming Kain’s reaction, Jersian scratched his chin needlessly and said,
“I’m not particularly fond of that competition either.”
In fact, this statement contained a slight lie. Jersian had preferred to focus on the hunting itself rather than building relationships with other nobles, which was the essence of the hunting competition.
However, it was true that he didn’t like the hunting competition itself, so it wasn’t a complete lie. Thinking this, Jersian observed Kain’s reaction.
Fortunately, Kain didn’t seem to detect the reality.
“If it’s hosted by the imperial family, you probably don’t have a choice.”
“…That’s right.”
Jersian nodded slightly as he answered.
“It will be held in the Whinicer Forest near the imperial palace. Preparations are already underway, so just tell the servants if there’s anything specific you want to bring.”
“Whinicer Forest…”
Kain wasn’t familiar with place names given by humans. Jersian looked at Kain with a ‘hmm’ and then suddenly stood up, walking briskly to his desk.
Does he suddenly have urgent business? Kain Starchis remained seated, watching Jersian move.
Jersian pushed aside the documents and unfolded parchment on his desk with a swish. Then he took out a large rolled-up paper from one side of the office wall and unfolded it.
“Come here. I’ll show you.”
Jersian called Kain while leaning on the desk with both arms.
“Ah.”
So he wants to explain it to me. Kain immediately got up and quickly crossed the office.
“Alright.”
As he met Jersian’s red eyes, which were waiting for him to come right next to him, Kain thought to himself how cute this was. Whenever Kain was curious about human culture or place names, Jersian would explain like this, trying to make it as understandable as possible for an elf.
However, befitting someone who had spent his life giving orders to others and receiving only clean answers, he seemed a bit awkward when it came to teaching someone.
“This part is the Whinicer Forest.”
Jersian explained, drawing a large circle with his finger over an area represented as a large green zone on the left side of the continent.
“If you look at this side of the forest, you can see it’s connected to the imperial palace like this.”
“Ah, it’s a much larger forest than I expected. Certainly a region I’ve never been to.”
Kain Starchis said with interest as he looked down at the map.
“I think the climate and the native flora and fauna must be very different from the forests of Fiokhim. Is that actually the case?”
“…”
At that question, Jersian’s finger, which had been confidently stretched out over the map, hesitated in its movement. Jersian’s red eyes turned to Kain, who was leaning his upper body slightly with curiosity.
“Flora and fauna…? I’ve never paid attention to such things before… I’m not sure.”
Seeing Jersian’s troubled expression, Kain Starchis tilted his head slightly and asked again.
“Hasn’t the hunting competition been held in the Whinicer Forest every year?”
“…That’s right. Anyway, among the humans participating in that competition, there won’t be any participants interested in flora and fauna like you.”
“Hmm, I see.”
Kain nodded and pointed to the opposite side of the continent map, which was large enough to cover the entire desk.
“The Fiokhim mountain range is drawn here too. The contours of the mountains are quite accurate.”
“Well, of course. Fiokhim is practically an inaccessible zone for us. It’s an important element on the map.”
Inaccessible zone. The area beyond the Fiokhim mountain range was such a place for humans. As if to indicate that one shouldn’t cross here, permanent snow that never melts clearly defined the boundary at the mountain peaks. Even now, with advanced technology and magic, humans didn’t dare to attempt crossing that place.
But it wasn’t that not a single human had ever crossed that boundary. Occasionally, there were people with a strong spirit of challenge or those who climbed the mountain by mistake.
However, among the humans who crossed that boundary, no one was ever known to have returned to the human realm. With no knowledge of what happened to them, whether they lived or died, crossing the Fiokhim mountain range became synonymous with death for humans.
Kain Starchis’s long index finger pointed to the area beyond the Fiokhim region.
“…This part here is completely blacked out.”
The right end of the large continent was colored black, with the Fiokhim mountain range as the boundary. It looked as if black ink had been poured over it. Jersian nodded as he confirmed where Kain’s finger was pointing and said,
“It’s an unknown territory to us.”
They say there was a time long, long ago when humans, elves, and all the animals and plants in the world lived together in harmony. Beyond the Fiokhim mountain range, in what is now a blackened dark area.
Humans were driven out of that place. Helping each other and living peacefully? Jersian thinks that such expectations shouldn’t have been placed on humans in the first place. Unknown territory. Maybe it’s better that it remains just that. Of course, as Marchioness Elmerila said, the empire hasn’t given up its greed yet.