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“How about this! The mana efficiency’s better than it was twenty years ago! I wasn’t lying when I said I could bring it back into active service, was I?”
“Yeah! As expected of you, Marsh! This is good, no, more than good. It’s more than enough!”

Papa Howard, clad in his personal, custom-made gear, was putting it through its paces in the training area.

With the knight order’s departure scheduled for the next day, Papa Howard had said he would show off his serious equipment. Hearing that, I had come along to watch.

He wore almost entirely black gear, casually swinging a black-bladed two-handed sword. And then, someone flew through the air.

Ahead of him, Sir Kyle, who was also wearing heavy armor, went tumbling end over end. One could even see white smoke rising from Sir Kyle’s body.

(Uh, is he okay? Is he alive? Huh? Ah! He moved!)

Papa Howard’s armor was a form-fitting leather suit, molded tightly to his body.

The design emphasized every muscle, with shoulders shaped like rising flames. It reminded me of the armor worn by Dhṛtarāṣṭra and Vaiśravaṇa of the Four Heavenly Kings, an appearance that evoked an oni-god capable of trampling even demons beneath his feet. The interlocking black and dark gray coloration suited the Gray Iron Demon name perfectly.

Between the layers of leather, high-purity Magic Steel had been embedded.

Magic Steel, processed metals like mithril or orichalcum with high mana conductivity, could be laminated with Demon Beast hide to drastically increase both durability and magical efficiency.

Papa Howard had said that the leather itself came from a high-threat Demonic Beast he and his companions had defeated long ago, back when he was still young.

The armor’s name was Ultimate Ouroboros.

Just the name alone screamed extremely dangerous monster, loud and clear.

And then there was the sword. Even from here, it was longer than Papa Howard himself, who, himself, stood 190 centimeters tall. Easily over two meters in length.

The grip alone looked about fifty centimeters long. At the pommel was a slim, anchor-like ornament, with a small magic gem embedded at its center, glowing faint blue.

The thick guard curved like an inverted bow, its ends jutting toward the blade like sharp claws. Intricate magic inscriptions, almost decorative, were etched into it.

The blade itself was wide, maybe one and a half times the width of a normal longsword, but because of its length, it didn’t look crude or clumsy. Still, the blade was thick. The total weight had to be enormous.

This was a sword passed down through the Cloud family, known as the Grand Divider. In my game-based mental scale, I’d call it mid-tier D-rank gear. Since the Knight-Commander and Sir Kyle’s weapons seemed closer to low-tier D, this was probably the strongest weapon I’d seen since coming here.

At the base of the blade, the ricasso, the unsharpened section, magic sigils glowed blue. That glow spread across the entire blade, bathing it in pale light.

The magic inscriptions carved along the leather armor also lit up, forming glowing pathways that traced Papa Howard’s body.

Every time he swung the sword, clean blue arcs of light filled the air.

Papa Howard was just too cool!

Normally, I would’ve been losing my mind right now. Like, seriously hyped. But today… Somehow, I was calmer than usual.

“Fuuuu…”

Papa Howard slowly exhaled.

As he did, the fighting aura rising from his body diminished. The glow of the blade and armor faded, dissolving into the air.

“Marsh! Sorry for pushing you so hard. Thanks, this really helped.”
“Ha! Glad you liked it, Boss Cloud. It’s been a long time since I had a job this satisfying.”

Papa Howard sat down on a bench at the edge of the training area. Marsh moved behind him, talking as he worked around the shoulders of the armor. With a sharp gushing sound, steam vented out, and the leather armor split open front and back. Marsh removed it piece by piece, exposing Papa Howard’s bare upper body.

Yeah, okay. I don’t even react to stuff like this anymore. After seeing that magic-powered-armor deployment earlier, this kind of mechanism didn’t even faze me.

Off to the side, I noticed Sir Kyle being dragged out of the training area by other knights.

(He’ll be fine… right? I don’t think he’s injured… Although… now that I think about it, ever since that party night, I haven’t really seen Sir Kyle standing upright much. Why is that?)

Thinking about that, I handed Papa Howard his usual towel. “Thanks,” he said, smiling as always.

“…You’re serious about this, aren’t you, Boss?” Marsh muttered as he inspected the removed armor.
“…Yeah,” Papa Howard replied, wiping himself down.
“You were supposed to be retired.”

“……”

“…Roland’s Black Rock?”
“…It’s about time I took it back.”
“…Gilbert too?”
“Yeah. Conrad as well.”
“…I see.”
“Don’t worry about it, Marsh. You still have plenty to do here.”

“……”

“Sorry, Marsh…”
“Just make sure you come back.”
“…I will.”

After that, neither of them said another word.

As mentioned just now, Gilbert was going with Papa Howard as well.

Yesterday, while Mama Sonia and I were organizing Papa Howard’s luggage, Gilbert came by and declared that if Papa Howard was going, then of course he would too. He formally took his leave from Mama Sonia. After that, we packed together, and Gilbert took charge of carrying the baggage.

The other name mentioned, Conrad, was Lombard and Aria’s grandfather, the retired former head of the Brook family. I’d met him many times. He was an incredibly energetic old man who claimed he still chopped down trees every morning. When Conrad said he was going too, the Brook family naturally tried to stop him, but he refused to listen.

I didn’t know all the details, but it seemed Papa Howard, Gilbert, and Conrad used to be on the same team long ago.

Listening to the conversation just now… I wondered if Marsh had been part of that team, too.

Before I knew it, it was almost time for afternoon tea.

Miss Elrose and Anne-Marie were likely already finished preparing it. Taking Papa Howard and Marsh was part of my job now.

I needed to get Papa Howard changed quickly and wait for Marsh to finish cleaning up.

Tonight was the farewell banquet before departure; this was the last chance to relax.
I wanted to give Papa Howard and Mama Sonia as much time together as possible.

Soon enough, while helping Papa Howard change, Anne-Marie came to call us. Tea was ready. I guided them both to the tea room.

Tomorrow was departure day. Today, at least, I wanted Papa Howard to spend his time peacefully.

◆◆◆◆◆

Though it was only a few days until the second Red Moon of the season, Amukham mornings were still bitterly cold. The sun had only just risen. It was a little past six in the morning. The sky was overcast, no sunlight to be seen, and every breath came out white.

Even so, the clearing before Station One felt hot with the sheer number of people gathered.

In thirty minutes, the investigation team would depart. Mama Sonia, Miss Elrose, Anne-Marie, and I had come to see them off. Besides us, Village Chief August, the Three Houses, and many others connected to the village were present.

Knights who had finished preparing were steadily gathering in the clearing. Seeing them fully equipped like this, I realized their armor wasn’t uniform.

Some wore lighter armor. Their weapons varied too, greatswords, spears, massive tower shields that screamed defense, and even staff-like rods that looked meant for magic specialists. There was a lot of variety.

Those departing began forming up into their respective teams.

The knight order was organized into five-person squads, ten squads total.

The advance force was Squads One and Two, joined by the unit commander, Magritte, eleven people total. Squad One’s leader was Djimon, and Squad Two’s was Raisa.

(…Will they be okay? They probably will. I’m not worried.… Okay, maybe I am, but just a bit!)

The main force consisted of Squads Three through Six, twenty people, along with Knight-Commander Cedric Meyers and his deputy, Sir Kyle.

And then…

“Sir Seiwashi, wait up! You’re going too fast, Sir Seiwashi!”
“Hmph! What are you doing, Miss Joseline? You spend far too long eating! Time waits for no one!”
“You’re the one going too fast! Besides, the food here is way too good!”

“You’re as frantic as ever, Seiwashi, and your assistant too. Can’t you slow down a bit?”
“You’re too slow, Nosori! Has senility finally caught up with you?”
“And you’ve been complaining about your back lately, Morris! Your body isn’t keeping up anymore, is it?”
“That’s because I’ve been crawling through narrow tunnels lately! It’s got nothing to do with age!”