Guided by Mena, Nozomu was led to an extraordinarily luxurious door.

According to the middle-aged maid who guided him, this was one of the guest rooms in the mansion.

Nozomu himself had stayed at the mansion once before, but the door in front of him was larger and more massive than the room he had stayed in that time.

"Master, I have brought him here."

Mena, who had guided Nozomu up to this point, knocked on the door.

"Oh, let him in."

In response to the Lord's voice coming from inside the room, Mena reverently opened the door.

As he was ushered through, Nozomu's eyes were met with a spacious room that befits the luxurious door.

However, the furniture in the room was decorated in light colors such as white, giving the impression of simplicity, unrelated to gaudiness or elegance.

What caught Nozomu's eye more than anything else, was the sight of Victor at a table in the corner of the room, making tea.

"E-, eh?"

"I'm sorry, Nozomu-kun, but you'll have to wait a little longer. The tea will be ready in a minute."

"Please sit down on this sofa and wait."

Nozomu sat down on the sofa provided in the room, as Mena urged him to do so.

Victor didn't seem to be bothered by Nozomu's perplexity and continued to happily make tea. He poured steaming hot water into the teapot. He put more tea leaves into the teapot and poured hot water from a slightly higher position. Victor watched the tea leaves swimming in the teapot with satisfaction.

Eventually, Victor began to pour the warmed tea into the teacups with his accustomed hand.

Nozomu did not know the details of how to make tea, but Victor's movements seemed very refined.

After Victor had finished brewing the tea, Mena appeared from the back of the room with a round tray. The tray was lined with cookies and other confectionaries and smelled sweet and savory.

"I'm sorry to call you all the way here. I was hoping to have a chance to talk to you face to face."

"No, no, it's my pleasure. Thank you for inviting me tonight ..."

"As I said before, there is no need for a formal greeting, I am the one who has to entertain you."

Victor placed a cup of tea in front of Nozomu and himself, followed by Mena, who placed a plate with tea confectionaries between them.

Nozomu took a sip of the tea as Victor urged him to do so.

The mellow aroma filled his mouth. To be honest, Nozomu felt that the tea tasted better than the tea he had just had at the salon.

"Well, it's my secret hobby. I'm proud to say that I'm quite good at it. Unfortunately, Mena doesn't often let me brew her tea ..."

"To brew tea without a maid ... It could affect my master's dignity..."

"But isn't it the fact that my tea tastes better than Mena's?"

Victor's words made Mena's eyes go wide, but he watched her with amusement as he held back a laugh.

"... Even so, it's still a matter of my master's dignity."

"Such trifles are not necessary this time. Besides, I was especially indebted to Nozomu-kun for the incident with the Waziart Household. As the head of the family, I myself should at least offer him tea, don't you think?"

The way he teased others with a good-natured smile was somewhat reminiscent of Irisdina.

The first time Nozomu saw that, he thought, "Well, this is what she meant by mischievousness". Nozomu understood it somehow.

"Now then. It's fun to make fun of Mena, but I'm afraid of what's to come, so I'll stop here. I have something else to talk about. It's about the secret agreement between our Francilt Household and the Waziart Household."

Nozomu straightened his posture and turned his attention to Victor's words.

"I was so surprised when I found out about the situation through a letter from my daughter. I myself had not been told about the secret agreement with the Waziart Household. I had scoured the past history of the head of the Francilt Household to see if there was some mistake, but I still couldn't find it out, and it was not until I dug up the personal belongings of my ancestors from their graves that I finally discovered that the secret agreement was true."

According to Victor's story, the secret agreement had been passed down from one generation to the next in secret.

However, the secret was lost when Victor's grandfather died in an accident before passing the secret on to the next generation, and the subsequent heads of the family were unable to learn about the secret agreement.

In the end, the grave of the head of the family at the time of the secret agreement was dug up and his personal belongings were found which confirmed the secret agreement.

"Those girls are the last treasures my wife left behind. When I learned of this secret agreement, I was even angry at my ancestors for forcing their descendants to clean up their own mess..."

Victor's face, which had been smiling a good-natured smile earlier, turned indignant.

However, he immediately put on a mysterious expression and looked straight into Nozomu's eyes.

"I read about you in a letter from Irisdina. You saved the life of my daughter, whose soul was almost taken from her. I thank you not only as the head of the Francilt Household but also as a parent. Thank you very much..."

Victor bowed deeply towards Nozomu with the utmost gratitude.

A great nobleman bowed to him and gave him words of gratitude. The fact that this would never have happened under normal circumstances perplexed Nozomu.

"N-, no, I'm the one who's been saved by Iris and the others..."

"But even so, if it weren't for you, someone would have been sacrificed. And that sacrifice might have been my daughters. Then it is only natural for me as their father to bow and thank the benefactor for saving his innocent daughters."

Victor bowed deeply to Nozomu and did not raise his head. Nozomu seemed to be in a daze and slurred his words.

Nozomu, a minor citizen, could not bear this situation and accepted Victor's words of gratitude with a panicked look on his face.

"I-, I understand! I will properly accept Victor-sama's gratitude!"

Just before Nozomu could say, "Please raise your head", Victor already raised his head and smiled.

"I'm glad to hear that. And as a thank you, I'll deliver a roomful of goods to your dormitory later ..."

"Please don't!"

If he did such a thing, what kind of face should I put on when I go to school tomorrow?

Nozomu could picture himself walking back and forth in his room filled with gold, silver, and treasures while being talked about by the other dormitory students.

In the first place, Nozomu had no idea what to do with such a large sum of money, even if he was given it.

Victor, on the other hand, had the same good-natured smile on his face as before, but he was holding back laughter at the corners of his mouth.

Nozomu, realizing that he was being teased in the same way as Mena had been earlier, looked as if he were biting a bitter bug, but Victor smiled even deeper and continued his story.

"Irisdina says that you are quite a master of the katana technique. Not only during the special general training but also at the martial arts garden..."

Next, Victor spoke of the events that took place during the combat training with Jihad at the Martial Arts Garden.

He began to describe how the magic barriers used in the martial arts garden had almost been shattered, how it had taken several weeks to repair them, and the amount of damage that had been done.

As for Nozomu, who was involved in the turmoil, the content of the conversation made his blood draw from his face.

The repair costs alone were enough to feed Nozomu for the rest of his life.

"N-, no, that was mostly damage caused by Jihad-sensei ..."

"Hmm, I heard that not only fighting against Jihad-dono, but you were also fighting with a handicap?"

"Uu..."

Nozomu tried to somehow divert the conversation, but Victor firmly blocked his retreat.

There was no denying it.

It was a fact that Nozomu was so encouraged by the support of his friends that he did not hesitate to use techniques that he had avoided using at school.

Of course, for Nozomu, too, it was essential to "get serious" in order to face the school life that he had been running away from until now.

However, when asked if he had thought ahead, Nozomu was at a loss for words.

"Fufu. Well, that's enough. If I tease you too much, Mena might get angry with me again."

Nozomu suddenly looked behind Victor and saw Mena, who had been waiting, turning a stern gaze at her master's back with a blank expression on her face.

"Victor-sama, what are you doing teasing our guest that we owe him a debt of gratitude for?

"Hm, hmm! Have you been offended? ..."

As for Nozomu, he was left astonished by the behavior of the great aristocrat, who was too unexpected.

Receiving an absolute zero stare from Mena, Victor straightened his posture. The air in the room, which had been loose at the time, seemed to tighten up a bit.

"... Mikagura style, huh? It was hard to believe that in a place like this on the continent, one could come across a master of the prestigious sword technique of the East. No, it's not a sword technique, it's a katana technique."

"Do you know it?"

"Yeah. I have a certain amount of experience with sword technique, though only to a limited extent. However, I don't know much about the art of Mikagura-style itself..."

Victor's words about swordsmanship made Nozomu take another look at the great man in front of him.

Victor's body was moderately toned, and his hands were covered with calluses, which he had formed when he swung his sword.

However, the calluses didn't seem to be too hard.

His posture when he sit was straight, but his balance was slight to the right. It was probably true that he had a certain amount of experience with it.

However, Nozomu was more surprised that Victor knew the Mikagura style than that.

"But I know Shino Mikagura's fame very well. My father used to talk about her. She is a lovely, pure, and beautiful swordswoman."

"Pure? Beautiful? I wonder who she is..."

It wasn't surprising that Victor knew about Shino. Nozomu had a similar conversation before.

However, when Nozomu heard anecdotes and rumors about his master from people who could be called great figures, Nozomu couldn't help but feel a sense of unease.

To him, his master was a selfish, inflexible, and crazy old woman who loved to torture her disciples in their training.

But despite Nozomu's dubious expression, Victor continued to ask questions.

"How long ago did you meet your master, Nozomu?"

"As I told Jihad-sensei before, I met shishō in my first year, so roughly two years ago."

"Hmm...."

Viktor began to ponder after hearing the story about his master.

There was silence for a while, with only the sound of the wind coming in through the window.

"Um, so why did you call me here in the first place?"

Nozomu boldly asked Viktor why he was the only one invited here.

Victor shrugged his shoulders and took a sip of the tea he had brewed.

"As I mentioned earlier, your name was written on the report I received from Irisdina. It was written in detail at that time, especially I feel grateful to you for saving my daughter."

It was the same answer as he had heard earlier. But Nozomu wondered if that was really all there was to it.

Before he knew it, Victor's mouth had lost the teasing smile it had earlier, and he turned a serious gaze on Nozomu.

"I was also surprised to learn about you. Despite the handicap of Ability Suppression, you defeated an S-rank vampire, overturned the gap in abilities in the special general training, and defeated the Abyss Grief twice. As expected of a "Dragon Slayer" ......"

"~ !?"

*Dragon Slayer*

The moment those words were uttered from Victor's mouth, Nozomu's entire body froze in an instant.

Silence once again flowed between the two.

However, unlike before, a heavy atmosphere filled the luxurious room.

The pressure on his entire body was exactly the same as on the battlefield.

In Nozomu's mind, his consciousness switched, his heart beat faster, and his body naturally prepared itself for battle.

"... was it Jihad-sensei who told you about me?'

In the midst of the tense atmosphere, Nozomu suddenly broke the silence and asked Victor a question.

If Irisdina and the others had not told him that Nozomu was a Dragon Slayer, the only other people who knew were Jihad and the others.

Victor, too, answered Nozomu's question without changing his expression.

"I didn't hear about it directly, but I watched the training you did with Jihad-dono and the others from a distance by magic and was roughly informed of it in a letter."

Without any particular attempt to mend the situation, Victor simply told Nozomu that Jihad had informed him of Nozomu's secret.

Why had Jihad revealed Nozomu's true identity?

Nozomu put that question to the back of his mind for the time being.

"I see, so the gaze I felt during the training was yours ..."

Nozomu said he had noticed his gaze. Victor's eyes widened at these words that were uttered with conviction.

"Hoo, you were aware of it?"

"I wasn't sure that I was being watched. I just felt somewhat uncomfortable..."

On the other hand, Victor, who had a look of astonishment on his face, exhaled deeply and rested his weight on the backrest.

"It was more than I expected. With that kind of power, no wonder you were able to drive back the butler of the Waziart Household."

"I didn't do anything much. Iris, Tima, Mars, and the others worked hard to buy me time so I could save Somia-chan."

Victor cut in, and Nozomu quickly cut in as well.

What Nozomu said was a fact, if it had not been for Mars, Tima, and Irisdina, Nozomu's help would never have arrived in time.

Moreover, at that time, Nozomu was hesitant to use his power in front of anyone other than his master.

If it had not been for Mars and Tima's hard fight and Irisdina's earnest cries, he might have continued to hesitate until the end.

"Of course, I understand your point. But if you had not been the Dragon Slayer, there might have been casualties among you. In that sense, Irisdina's words were true."

In the midst of the tension, Nozomu gulped and swallowed his spit.

The sound of swallowing his own spit was echoed very heavily in Nozomu's ears.

"In fact, when Irisdina informed me by letter of your battle with the butler of the Waziart Household, I had a feeling that you might have some abilities. But negotiating with Waziart Household took precedence over confirming this."

Raising his body, which had been resting on the backrest, Victor leaned forward to look into Nozomu's face.

"At the same time, I became interested in the friends my daughter had hidden from me."

Victor said he was interested, but Nozomu was skeptical that there was something more in his eyes as he stared at him.

But Nozomu could not understand what he was thinking.

Although Victor still had the same smile on his mouth as before, it was as if he was looking into the bottom of a dark well.

"...... So, what are you going to do after you find out I'm a Dragon Slayer?"

"What would you do if I said I would make it public?"

At that moment, the tension that had been drifting from Nozomu's body suddenly reached a critical point.

The existence of a Dragon Slayer had not been confirmed for several hundred years. Moreover, the Dragon Slayer is currently located in Arcazam, where the interests of many countries are intertwined.

If Victor were to make it public, honestly no one knew what kind of situation would arise.

Will Nozomu be feted as a savior and sent to the front lines, or will he be detained and treated as an experimental subject?

At the very least, he would not be able to be with his current friends.

The next thing he knew, Nozomu had forgotten about his and Victor's position and was staring at Victor with a piercing glare.

"I'm just kidding. I can't make it public. If your identity is made public, the secret agreement with the Waziart Household had to be made public as well. There is no need to do unnecessary things because we have been able to put an end to the conflict with the Waziart Household."

Victor's smile disappeared from his mouth, and he said that he had no intention of making it public without putting any facial expression.

However, Nozomu's suspicions that once arose would not be easily dispelled.

"Moreover, if we were to make such a thing public, it would inevitably plunge the city into further turmoil. The chaos caused by the appearance of Abyss Grief is finally coming to an end, and exposing your true identity would be a burden to Jihad-dono. If that happens, it will also hinder the operation of the academy. That is not what I want."

Upon hearing these words, Nozomu recalled that the person in front of him was one of the key figures in the establishment of the Solminati Academy and that he was still providing significant support to the school until today.

According to Irisdina, the mansion that Nozomu and the others were visiting now will be donated to the school after their graduation.

It was hard to believe that someone who would provide that much support would betray the school.

Besides, considering the atmosphere at the dinner earlier, he really loved his daughters.

At the very least, he would not do anything to betray his daughters.

"Fuh~ ..."

Nozomu took a deep breath once to calm his impatient mind.

The blood that had been rushing through his entire body slowly subsided, and the tense atmosphere somewhat eased.

"... Speaking of which, how did the matter with the Waziart Household come about?"

"I can't go into detail for the sake of both parties, but for the time being, we have reached an agreement."

Victor said so, but he firmly distanced himself, not wanting to go into details.

Nozomu felt as if there was a huge wall separating them.

"Now let me ask you. What do you use your power for?"

"... What do you mean?"

“You came to this town for a purpose, didn't you? I'm sure there are a lot of things, right?"

A purpose. When told this, Nozomu started to think back about the power he had taken.

This power is indeed immense. It is difficult to use and control, but when it comes to "annihilation," there is no other power that can match it.

Nozomu has been saved by this power many times. But to tell the truth, Nozomu had been tossed around a lot by Tiamat, and the image of a great disaster lingered in his mind.

Perhaps that was why. The purpose of using this power was not particularly clear to Nozomu.

"... Well, especially right now."

Victor looked at Nozomu with serious eyes.

Nozomu felt that Victor's eyes were somehow denouncing him.

"Dragon Slayers have been absent from the stage of history for the last several hundred years. Not only does it have power, but its name alone holds great potential. Depending on how it is used, it could open up many paths. But ..."

Victor stopped speaking once and stared at Nozomu.

He has an intimidating look that was hard to believe that this was the same person who was making tea with a smile on his face just a few minutes ago.

"At the same time, your existence is extremely dangerous. The power of the dragon you have taken in is still uncontrolled and unstable. At one point, there was a real danger that you could be going out of control, weren't you?"

"......You really know your way around, don't you? After all, you didn't just see my training, but you also heard about me directly from someone."

"Even after knowing the danger, what are you going to do with that power?"

Ignoring all of Nozomu's words, Victor once again asked Nozomu a question with a gaze that would not tolerate any falsehoods.

The look in Victor's eyes was like a silent pressure that he would not tolerate any falsehoods. Nozomu's eyes widened involuntarily at the oppressive sense of intimidation.

"I...."

What do you use that power for? Nozomu did not know what to reply to that question.

The purpose of supporting Lisa's dream had already been completely destroyed once. However, he didn't want her to give up on her dream.

But if he were asked if he would follow her dream, he felt something stuck somewhere in his heart.

What did he really want in the first place?

To settle his relationship with Lisa. Not to destroy it, but to rebuild it anew. For this reason, he had decided to face the past.

"A...."

He thought about it and realized something, and Nozomu felt a sudden rush of blood.

"There is no more reason for you to remain at this school. You have been trying to clear up your past all this time, but I never felt that you had any intention of dealing with your own future."

Yes, all that Nozomu had done up to now was "dealing with the past".

Lisa and Ken. He had only struggled to put an end to the distorted relationship between Lisa and Ken.

He had no clear vision of his own future.

"You see only the past and the present, but not the future. You are like a ship floating on the sea. If you can't even solve the problem of your childhood friends, you're not going to be satisfied..."

“........”

He couldn't argue with that.

Nozomu vaguely thought that once the past was settled, he might be able to move forward.

Even now, he couldn't clearly envision his future self.

Therefore, all Nozomu could do was continue to accept Victor's harsh words.

"Excuse me. It's about time ..."

In the tense atmosphere, Mena broke into the conversation between the two.

"Good grief, is it that time already? I'm sorry, Nozomu-kun, for putting you through all this. I still have some business to attend to, so I'm sorry, but I'm going to take my leave now."

"... I understand. We're going back to the dormitory too."

"Is that so? Well, I had a lot of fun today. I've learned a little more about you as a person."

"No, it was a valuable experience for me too. I probably won't get to put my sleeves on such expensive clothes again."

"It's up to you in the future. Being young is full of possibilities."

“..........”

Was it consolation, or provocation?

Nozomu quietly left Victor's room while receiving such words on his back.

"Oh~, Nozomu, what's wrong?"

"... Mars? What are you doing here?"

As Nozomu left Victor's room, the figure of Mars, accompanied by a young maid, flashed before his eyes.

"The maid called me and brought me here. She said she wanted to thank me for the vampire incident before. You too?"

"Well, yeah"

Nozomu remembered that Mena had mentioned earlier that Victor wanted to thank the others regarding that incident with Rugato.

"Fuu~~"

Mars looked at Nozomu's face who was deep in thought and gave him a meaningful look.

Mars shrugged his shoulders as if to say "It can't be helped".

"Well, I don't know what you're thinking about, but don't think too much about it, because if you do, you'll just end up hovering around the same place like a rat chasing its own tail."

"Haa... You're so rude so suddenly."

"Heh~! Isn't it too late for that?"

"Mars-sama, it's about time ..."

"Yeah, I understand. Jeez, I'm not used to being addressed like that."

Nozomu exhaled deeply once as he watched Mars heading toward Victor's room, who was mumbling and complaining. He must have been taken care of.

While scratching his head, Nozomu remembered Victor's words.

"A purpose, or perhaps a dream? ..."

Thinking about what he had lost, Nozomu turned on his heel and returned to his friends.

Thanks to Mars' clumsy concern for him, his sinking mood cleared a little.

However, the wedge that had been driven deep into his chest remained even after the party was over, and in the end, Nozomu could not give an answer to Victor's question after returning to his dormitory.

===============================

After Nozomu and the others returned home. Victor was sitting on the sofa in his room, sipping a glass of wine he had brought with him and thinking about the young man he had met today.

Night had already fallen and the town was asleep.

The young man who, in his opinion, was still immature. Not in body, but in mind.

In addition, the situation surrounding him was complicated.

It could be said that he was calm now, but there were countless unseen pitfalls around him.

And he had the power of a gigantic volcano. Frankly, there were too many concerns.

Under such circumstances, how would he position himself as the head of the Francilt Household? In a room filled with the silence of the night, Victor was lost in thought.

The purpose of Victor's invitation to Nozomu this time was to get to know him as a person.

Although the time spent talking with Nozomu was only a few minutes, for Victor who had accumulated a great deal of experience in the social circles of the aristocracy, even in that short time, he had a pretty good grasp of the character of Nozomu Bountis.

Nozomu himself was not a bad person. In fact, he was a so-called good person.

He did not ask for any compensation for his accomplishment in repelling Rugato. Although he held Victor's secret that could shake Victor if he wanted to, he showed no sign of using it as a bargaining chip.

On the contrary, he even praised the achievements of his daughter and her friends. He was the type of person who lost money because he was too good-natured rather than a good person.

He was a much more likable person than the aristocrats who never knew what they hid in their backs.

Nevertheless, from Victor's point of view, he could not approve of Nozomu Bountis on that basis alone.

Although he was not a bad person in terms of both personality and ability, it was also true that the current Nozomu would not be acceptable if he were to accept Jihad's request.

"Master is also in the wrong. To test him in that way..."

"Mena ..."

Behind the master, who was deep in thought, a female maid, who could be said to be his confidant, appeared.

The maid appeared and looked at her master with a somewhat dismayed gaze.

"Sure, the current Nozomu-sama does not have a clear purpose. However, master's words about "drifting ship" are a bit vague, and it's hard to say that they are right on target."

Although Victor used the expression "drifting ship" to describe Nozomu's inner thoughts, he did not clearly point out the cause of why the ship was drifting in the first place.

Was it because the rudder was damaged and the ship was unable to set a course, or was it because the ship had lost speed due to the loss of sails, or was it because the ship had lost its nautical charts and other navigational tools? ......

"You think so?"

"Yes. Otherwise, he would not have thought to clear up the past in the first place. He would have just run away and spent his days in a carefree manner and buried himself in his ordinary daily life. However, Nozomu-sama is different. He has his own clear principles of action and makes his decisions based on them. It's just, that the direction is facing the past at the moment... I am sure master is already aware of this."

In this sense, Nozomu Bountis is a "ship that has lost its destination".

It is not that the rudder is broken, or that he has lost his way in rough seas.

“............”

Victor did not respond to any of the maid's words. He just sipped the cup in his hand and poured the sweet and sour liquid down his throat.

But the silence itself spoke eloquently of his answer.

In order to grasp the personality of Nozomu Bountis, Victor poked at what could be called Nozomu's weak points.

What came to light as a result was his instability.

It was something that Victor himself expected to some extent, given the presence of his friends who support him and his conflicts with his childhood friends.

His lack of a sense of long-term purpose. And he had a "hesitation" hidden in the midst of it all.

Although the presence of his friends had somewhat disguised his hesitation, it was still slowing him down.

The fact that he could not answer Victor's question was proof of this.

"But if yo-->>

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