「—By the way, what’s the other mission?」

    「What are you talking about?」

    「Like I said, there’s another mission, right? The one you were ordered by His Majesty in absolute secrecy」

    「Me?」

    「Don’t feign ignorance hyapu!?」

    Valeria almost slipped off a wet rock at the moment she raised her voice, and she let out a short scream.

    「…I told you to watch your step many times, right?」

    Valeria, who was instantly grabbed by the arm by Dimitar and narrowly avoided falling down into the mountain stream, took a big deep breath and pressed her chest.

    「Don’t change the subject. You were given another mission by His Majesty, right?」

    「It’s not me. It’s you」

    「Huh?」

    Valeria and Dimitar had been pushing their way deep into the mountains since about one hour ago. No particular light could be seen except for the small flames that they each had lit on their fingertips. As though the dark-coloured luxuriant greenery had absorbed all the sounds, the two people’s talking voices didn’t become echoes and come back.

    Squatting down at the side of the trickling mountain stream, Dimitar thrust his hand into the water.

    「—You simply thought this was a royal visit that also served to pacify the citizens, but the government is thinking of a little more dangerous matter」

    「Dangerous matter?」

    「Misappropriation of the military budget and selling weapons through illegal channels; there were questionable rumours of the Romarikku’s prefectural governor like those before」

    「Really?」

    Valeria was reminded of the prefectural governor’s face and tilted her head to the side

    「It seems that His Majesty wants to investigate the true state of affairs in detail, but because he rashly granted him significant authority since long ago, it’s slightly hard to use force. —However, if it’s the Dominas who had come for the royal visit, she can probably infiltrate the heart of it. Though there’s no guarantee that he’ll show his true colours during our stay, just the fact that people from the capital are staying in the town hall will keep him in check. In short, your other mission is to pay close attention to the prefectural governor」

    「But you know, the prefectural governor surely doesn’t—」

    「He doesn’t seem to be a person who would do those kinds of things at all, is it?」

    Valeria nodded at Dimitar’s words.

    Even though the man named Gavrilo Alija Dzeco came across as a dandy if he straightened up his back and kept silent, each and every action of his really looked like that of a minor character, or rather, a timid small-timer. Even if the prefectural governor wasn’t a good person, he’d be a petty villain at the most; he didn’t seem to be a person who would be involved in such a large-scale crime at all.

    「You can also look at it as the prefectural governor’s worldly wisdom」

    Lifting his right hand up from underwater, Dimitar smiled.

    「At present, the “Margrave” of Romarikku is an existence that governs the second largest land in Ahmad. He possesses much more power than the king of a small country of that extent. Tentatively, the right to command the army is held by the commanding officer dispatched from the capital, but even so, his influence is still big. Naturally, the capital is always on its guard against him. —Therefore, he might be behaving like a small person on purpose so that people won’t have excessive doubts about him」

    「Are you saying that all of that is acting?」

    「Who knows. It might be natural, or it might be calculated. If it’s natural, then the matter of the rumoured embezzlement of the military budget is really a mere rumour, or there might be another mastermind」

    「…Well, if he’s really so timid, even if there’s any wrongdoing internally, it’s impossible that he’d pursue the issue—」

    「That kind of thing is inconsequential. It’s not our job to ascertain that. You should just make yourself pleasant to the Romarikku’s citizens properly and pay close attention to the prefectural governor with a radiant smile」

    Dimitar put his hand on his knee and stood up, then looked up at the upper stream of the thin meandering river.

    「…We’re going upstream a bit」

    「Here?」

    「It seems that Courtois-jiisan’s acquaintance also picked up the lump of argental on the side of a shallow mountain stream like this. …If that’s the case, then there’s some possibility that the vein is exposed somewhere in this mountain」

    Murmuring in a low voice, Dimitar held Valeria up in his arms.

    「Hey—!? I, I can jump by myself!」

    「It’s fine to jump lightly and repeatedly, but you’ll be too conspicuous」

    Dimitar lifted Valeria up onto his shoulder and slapped her bare thigh. Valeria’s cheek twitched.

    「W… what, you’re so rude!」

    「Being too conspicuous is the truth, right? Your magic crests shine quite brightly, after all. —I’ll say this in advance just in case, but I’m not disparaging you」

    「U—」

    Being told that in an unnatural manner, Valeria couldn’t retort instantly at all. Simply put, the brightness of the magic crest was considered to be proportional to the strength of one’s magic power. In other words, the intensity of the brightness of the magic crest signified the level of one’s ability as a magic warriorMarefikos, so Dimitar’s words certainly weren’t disparaging Valeria. Feeling that she was being praised for her high magic power on the contrary, Valeria’s spirit was dampened, and she couldn’t complain.

    「…In the first place, with these thick, luxuriant trees and poor footing, there’s no guarantee that you can land safely. It’ll be troublesome if you carelessly slip and break your bones」

    「If that happens, I’ll heal them by myself」

    「It’d be good if there’s time to perform treatment at leisure though. …Bigelow’s people are said to be wandering around this area」

    「Bigelow’s? Why?」

    「There’s no diplomatic relations between Ahmad and Bigelow. Of course, since a proper highway isn’t laid out, they can only pass through such mountains secretly in order to come and go between both countries」

    「Through this kind of mountain?」

    「Yes」

    While carrying Valeria on his left shoulder as though she were a log, Dimitar started walking heavily on the rocky area along the mountain stream. Holding the sword in his right hand in a reverse grip and thrusting its tip into the foothold, he climbed towards the summit safely.

    「—Anyway, this means that there’s some possibility that “merchants” who do that sort of guilty business will be wandering around this area. I don’t want to run into that sort of guys during the mission. It’s His Highness’s instructions to still keep the matter of argental secret from the people of Ahmad」

    「Speaking of which, what kind of metal is it? And what does it look like—」

    「It reflects light and shines with the seven colours of the rainbow. Well, it also depends on the purity though… and since you’ve specially come along with me, you look at your surroundings attentively too」

    「Rainbow-coloured… rainbow-coloured, huh」

    Valeria held the small flame up over her head and surveyed her surroundings.

    In the hushed mountain in the dead of night, where there was only the sound of water trickling and not even the chirping of birds, perhaps due to the branches and leaves of the trees covering the top of their heads, the starry sky could hardly be seen. If she was thrown out into this mountain alone, she probably wouldn’t be able to know her own location immediately.

    「—Are you cold?」

    「Huh?」

    「You’re shivering」

    「I, I’m not cold in particular—」

    「If that’s the case, is it the urge to urinate?」

    「You’re wrong!」

    「I see」

    Dimitar was looking downwards at his steps fixedly. Although walking up the wet rocky area, where moss had grown here and there, was probably much more troublesome than he had imagined, Dimitar neither complained nor whined. Although it was too late now, Valeria was thinking whether she was simply just increasing Dimitar’s burden.

    However, she also couldn’t return by herself from now. It’d be reckless for Valeria to move alone in this mountain, at least until dawn broke.

    「—Ah」

    At the moment, Valeria, who had drawn back her head remorsefully, noticed that something was shining sparklingly on the rock surface on the right.

    「What’s the matter?」

    「Over there! Something shone just now!」

    Dimitar lowered Valeria on the spot and squatted down in front of the rock surface that the girl had pointed at.

    「…How is it?」

    When Dimitar had scraped and removed the mud and moss, he gazed fixedly at the bare surface of the rock. Valeria held the light up high and stared at Dimitar’s hand over the boy’s shoulder.

    Just as she thought, it wasn’t a mistake in vision. A metal, which flashed the weakly flickering flame back and showed a glittering radiance, was sticking to the surface of the rock.

    Dimitar scraped it off with his sword and held the chip he was holding up to the light.

    「I don’t fully understand the details since I’m not an expert, …but this looks like it. This might be a rock containing a large quantity of argental」

    「So, what should we do after this?」

    「For the time being, we’ll bring this fragment back and get the chief engineer to examine it. In addition, if it really contains good-quality argental, then next is carrying out a trial digging in this area」

    「Eh? We’re returning?」

    Valeria surveyed her surroundings hurriedly. There wasn’t any special landmark on the side of the mountain stream situated deep in the mountains that could serve as a mark. Once they returned, they probably wouldn’t be able to find their way here ever again.

    Thereupon, Dimitar changed the way he held his sword and suddenly struck the rock surface before his eyes.

    「W, what are you doing?」

    「Leaving a mark」

    Following that, Dimitar cut down a few trees growing in the vicinity.

    「—If we come up along the mountain stream to this place, we’ll probably notice it even if we don’t want to. In any case, it’ll probably be my role to lead the way in the event of the trial digging」

    Dimitar, who had finished marking the spot, kept the sword in its scabbard and looked back at Valeria.

    「Now then, we should return soon」

    「This feels… anticlimactic somehow」

    「Is it too easy?」

    「Un」

    As violent fights always followed her around whenever she was on a mission, when the job was finished so peacefully in a short time, though she wouldn’t say that it was boring, she somehow felt as if she hadn’t worked.

    「It’s best that nothing happens at all. —We’re going」

    「Hiah!?」

    Dimitar lifted Valeria up on his shoulder again, then jumped on the rocky area along the mountain stream and started to descend.