Expecting to Fall into Ruin, I Aim to Become a Blacksmith 118

It turned out that the news of my returning to the Helan territories was temporarily taken care of by Prince Arc. You disappear for 3 years, and all of a sudden a prince would do this kind of thing! Although such news was not supposed to be pa.s.sed along so rapidly, it seems that i can expect to need to proceed with caution from now on.

Depending on the situation, it might be impossible to talk about that as well. If that happens, I plan to give Prince Arc a piece of my mind.

In any case, for now I've got some time in my hands.

I can't do much about my lost memories, so from now on, I'll make a lot of new ones. For instance, how Prince Rahsa was cheerfully calling out to me, and the time spent together today with Prince Rahsa and Lady Iris.

"Why are you so curled up?"

Oof. Lady Iris had rapidly fired that off at me while we were having breakfast together. I must have looked as if I was withering. Of course, I have been eating nothing but salads recently, so my mind has changed completely into one of an herbivorous animal.

"I'm just a bit nervous being around both Prince Rahsa and you, Lady Iris."

"We used to hang out together all the time, I've never seen you with that kind of att.i.tude before."

"Is that so? Well, it somehow feels easy to talk with Prince Rahsa, but as for you, Lady Iris, wouldn't you say that we live in different worlds? Things like being together with you like this give me the chills."

"Lady Iris, huh? Pfff, how funny!"

Lady Iris must have found my way of addressing her to be rather strange, but she stopped laughing after a while. Prince Rahsa soon came along for a visit, looking somewhat pleased with himself.

"You might not remember this, Kururi, but when I was attending the school of n.o.bles, it was you who always helped me and were closest to me. Even though we were from different social standings, you would always come to me without hesitation."

What do you mean 'going to you without hesitation, even though we were from different social standings'? Am I an idiot? Was I such a reckless man?

"That was tremendously rude of me. Please forgive me for behaving like that."

"What do you mean? I was the rude one. I was out of line…"

Lady Iris' humor was cut short. It must have hit her somewhat late.

"Hey, call me just Iris again, like you used to do."

"Ah, me too. Just Rahsa, like the old times."

Drop their t.i.tles and just call them by their first names, huh? Of course, it's not something unthinkable. But the resistance is still big.

Especially with Lady Iris. I might be able to calmly do such a thing if it were Prince Arc, but Lady Iris is in a completely different level. How should I put it? It gives me the creeps just thinking about it.

"… Iris and Rahsa. Nice to meet you."

"Hoho, nice to meet you."

"Pleased to meet you too, brother!"

Ah, I'm glad. I was able to say that naturally. At any rate, this way of addressing them… might not be that bad.

"Where should we go today? I know of some places that you might like to visit, Kururi."

"Ah, me too! Certainly, there are many places that you'd definitely enjoy to see!"

I'm going to happily consult with them, but there already is a certain place I want to go. Rather, I'm very interested in going there.

"Umm, it might be a little different than the fun places you two might suggest, but could I make a suggestion of my own?"

"Huh? Certainly! You must have completely forgotten about the whole kingdom, so anywhere is fine."

"In that case, there is something that's got my interest. You know, it's about those dragons that Rahsa and the knights were riding."

"Oh."

It seems that the existence of those dragons had naturally vanished from their minds. Otherwise, I guess they would have mentioned such fascinating things earlier.

"That, huh? Princess Crossy from the neighboring country sent them to the Kudan country, where it is legally permitted to breed them. Which reminds me, they were introduced two years ago, so did you not know about them, Kururi?"

"That's right. I hadn't explained this before, because their existence is common knowledge nowadays. Those were dragons that were improved by Vaine, who has recently become Princess Crossy's close a.s.sistant. They had shown their grat.i.tude to you, brother, by entrusting them to our country."

"Hmm. Crossy and Vaine, hun? Could it be that I used to know both of them?"

"Oh, that's right." "That you did."

Both Iris and Rahsa seemed depressed. It appears they've forgotten that I've forgotten.

"Both of them were our friends at school. For some reason, they had to return to their country, but we had quite the deep relations.h.i.+p back in the day."

Iris explained this with deep feelings.

I've even been an acquaintance of the princess of a neighboring country! Just what kind of life I had been walking? I wonder if it hadn't been a life risky enough to be sent flying, were I to take one false step?

"Huh? Come to think of it, weren't you able to manage a Ride Dragon the other day?"

Was he talking about that time when it ran away from Rahsa and the rest? That was desperate, was it not?

Besides…

"More or less. It followed my directions when I pulled out this sword and started waving it around."

I showed Iris and Rahsa the sword I had hanging on my waist, still on its scabbard.

It was the first time they've seen it since I last crossed swords with Rahsa.

"It's a sword made out of dragon scales, right? Perhaps that could have something to do with it?