Evening. Noie returned after exterminating a whole string of dragons that had resumed their activity during the cool hours before sunset.
During this season, overtime after dark was inevitable, but since they took long breaks during the heat of the day, her total working hours remained the same as usual.
Dropping the dragon blood and meat onto the ground as she always did, Noie headed toward the standby station while lightly wiping down her armor.
Normally, she would be filled with the desire to go home quickly, but lately, she didn’t want to. She wanted to see Argusta, yet she was 『scared』 of him calling her by a different name.
Lutte came running toward Noie, noticing that the hair on top of her head was drooping sadly as she walked.
「Captain!」
Because Lutte was running in thin clothing, something was tossing about violently at her chest. Noie watched the impressive sight with a blank expression.
「It’s an emergency, Captain!」
「Yes.」
Noie nodded, though she didn’t quite understand. Lutte skidded to a halt in front of her, grabbed her shoulders, and shook her back and forth.
「Argusta-sama collapsed at the castle!」
「…」
The hair on top of Noie’s head, which had been swaying softly, suddenly stood bolt upright. In that instant, Lutte, who had been gripping Noie’s shoulders, nearly tumbled forward as she lost her support.
Noie had literally vanished.
-0-
『At the castle.』
Relying only on those words, Noie began checking every room in the castle.
She moved so fast that there was “almost” no one who could even see her.
But Noie did not stop. She searched the rooms… and began to feel at a loss when she couldn’t find him.
Then, from the highest point, the spire, she spotted a certain building.
It was the place where she had lived during her time at the castle.
The place where she had lived together with Argusta.
She leapt down, kicked off the ground, and dived into the building.
It was a familiar place.
Without hesitation, she dashed through the corridors and entered a specific room.
A dim light illuminated the interior with a soft glow.
On a bed, not the one she used to use, but one two sizes smaller, someone had been laid to rest.
「Arg… sama…」
「Whoa there.」
A large man caught her with all his might as she tried to rush forward with the momentum of her entry. It was Halfren.
「Arg-sama… Arg-sama…」
「Calm down, Noie. Stop. Are you serious?」
Perhaps only the Ogre from the Empire could stop her when she moved with such terrifying force. Even Halfren, who took pride in his monstrous strength, was pushed back in the blink of an eye.
「Arg-sa…」
Noie, tears streaming down her face, looked at his features and suddenly froze with 『fear』. He was lying there with a face as pale as a sheet.
「Good grief. Don’t wake him up.」
「…What is wrong with Arg-sama?」
「The doctor says it is likely a lack of sleep and exhaustion.」
「Lack of sleep?」
Both were words she wasn’t used to hearing.
Because of that, Noie tilted her head while tears continued to overflow.
Halfren gave a light chuckle and patted the head of the girl who seemed so small from his perspective.
The girl he had found that day, broken and discarded, was now weeping for someone she held dear.
As he watched her, a shred of unease still lingered in his mind.
He knew her true nature, she was a “Dragon Slayer” to the core.
「I heard you two… have been fighting?」
「?」
「I was told you haven’t been going home with Arg lately.」
Whether she understood his words or not, Noie began to look around restlessly, appearing troubled.
Halfren offered her a chair, seeing her react with the simplicity of a small child.
She moved the chair to the side of the bed and gazed at his face before opening her mouth to speak in a small voice.
「Arg-sama is strange.」
「Strange?」
His little brother was essentially a weirdo. That was Halfren’s honest opinion.
However, Noie continued, looking as though she were on the verge of tears again.
「He calls me by a different name. When he is sleeping… he uses a different name.」
「He calls you that?」
「Yes.」
She gave a small nod, and a tear rolled down her cheek.
Drawing from his own experience, Halfren could only think, 『That is the one thing you absolutely must never do.』.
There are moments when one’s guard is down, upon waking or in a sudden daze, where a man might slip and say another woman’s name.
How many times had he been punched or dragged through a scene of carnage because of that?
Having learned through painful experience, he had since made it a point to choose partners with completely different characteristics.
「That is why I am scared. I am scared of Arg-sama.」
「Because he calls you by another name?」
But she shook her head from side to side.
「Because he won’t tell me.」
「Tell you?」
「Yes. Arg-sama always says… 『I won’t know if you don’t tell me.』. So, if he doesn’t tell me, I won’t know.」
「I see.」
Halfren ruffled her hair with a large hand.
His brother’s wife was not in the wrong. She was faithfully following the rules she had been taught.
It was his idiot aniki, who wasn’t following his own advice, who was at fault.
「Noie.」
「Yes.」
「It is okay to be angry.」
「…Angry?」
Halfren gave a firm nod as she turned her tear-streaked face toward him.
「You are strictly following what you were told. But this idiot is not.」
「…Yes.」
「In this country, it is perfectly fine to complain to an idiot who acts like that.」
「Complain?」
「That is right.」
Ruffling her hair once more, Halfren gave Noie her instructions.
「When this idiot wakes up, tell him this: 『Apologize if you want to be forgiven.』」
「Yes.」
「Once he apologizes, ask him next, 『Why do you call me by a different name?』」
「…Yes.」
「Once he gives you the reason… well, forgive him then. Just give him a hug and a kiss.」
「…………Yes.」
Halfren chuckled, sensing that she had reached the limit of what her memory could hold for now.
「Seriously, just what woman did this idiot mistake you for?」
「I do not know. But he said… Ailro… something.」
Upon hearing Noie’s faint memory of the name, Halfren realized the truth.
There was no member of the royalty who did not know that name.
The 『Witch of Spell Formations』, the one who used the hideous and atrocious magic known as the Lowest Formula.
「I see. He mistook you for Islerose, then.」
Looking down at his brother, who was sleeping peacefully despite his pale complexion, Halfren vowed to make him cry later.
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