→ Worry (1) ←

Confess your feelings.

Vera made that resolution, but he didn’t immediately put it into action.

Some things needed to be settled beforehand, and Vera’s personal desires were also involved.

The first issue to be resolved was to talk about future plans.

It was imperative to discuss it now that the identity of the ‘Crown’ and its owner was revealed.

He shouldn’t make unnecessary fuss at this moment and risk jeopardizing their goal.

As for Vera’s personal desire.. it was none other than that.

He had to think about ‘how’ to confess his feelings.

Needless to say, Renee was always the one who faced her feelings head-on.

He was the one who constantly drove her away and upset her.

Therefore, simply saying, ‘I can accept the Saint’s feelings now’ would be disrespectful to Renee.

It didn’t mean that he wanted to impress her with a luxurious gift or honeyed words.

At the very least, he wanted to confess in the right atmosphere.

They were in the Cradle of Death where darkness lingers, not to mention it was inside a reception room of a dreary old castle. Wouldn’t anyone assume that it wasn’t a good place to confess one’s love no matter how hard you think about it?

The entire group, Jenny, and even Hodrick gathered at the reception room.

Vera, occupied by such thoughts, only stared at Renee.

‘What the Saint likes..’

Bizarre food. Violence. Strolling around.

Vera frowned at the words that flashed through his mind.

‘..No.’

No, not those. There should be more fitting keywords for confessing.

Such as the scent of flowers, a warm atmosphere, or music with a low echo.

Vera met with a dead end while thinking about it.

Obviously, he never had this kind of struggle in his life.

It wasn’t that he had no experience with women.

No, to be fair, he had an amount of experience that most men would envy.

After all, he was the boss of a big organization whose power spanned the entire region and even stretched to half of the Empire.

It would be strange if he didn’t have any experience with women.

However, Vera was speechless when it came to relationship experience.

‘..’

There was none.

Zero experience.

Romance was never a genre that suited Vera’s life.

If there was a guy whose life’s sweetest words to women were, ‘I like you today’, it was Vera.

Vera’s expression turned grim.

Renee, who had been talking, asked Vera, who got lost in his thoughts.

“What do you think, Vera?”

Vera winced, and his head jerked up.

“We should leave the Cradle as Sir Hodrick suggested, right?”

Renee, the only person oblivious to Vera’s state until just now, asked seriously.

The others only sighed or shook their heads when Vera, who had been living in his own world, finally had his chance to speak.

Vera, whose face turned stiff from shock, replied to Renee as naturally as he could.

“Yes, I think that is the best course of action.”

“Hm, I knew it. I wanted to say goodbye to Maleus, though..”

[Please rest assured because he is not the type who gets bothered by such things. In fact, I am afraid he’ll be angry with you for not leaving. I am sure that one of the reasons His Majesty is taking hold of Alaysia for this long is to buy you some time to leave.]

“..Yes, I suppose so.”

Vera stopped brooding when he roughly grasped what was happening through Renee and Hodrick’s conversation.

‘..Let’s set it aside for now.’

It’s not like I’m going to find the answer by mulling over it now, so let’s look into it slowly.

More than that, let’s focus on the conversation at hand.

Vera adjusted his posture and fixed his attention on Hodrick and what he said.

Annalise, in Jenny’s arms, clicked her tongue and whined quietly.

[Rot in hell, you fucking piece of shit.]

She uttered a quiet protest that was audible only to Jenny, who was holding her.

At that, Jenny, who had been dazed up to that point, flicked Annalise’s forehead and spoke.

“No bad words.”

She also whispered as not to interfere with the discussion.

***

The next destination was decided right away.

It was the Archduchy of Oben in the north.

It wasn’t because they had business to carry out in the Archduchy.

Simply put, they were having a stopover in the Archduchy.

Why take a roundabout route instead of finding the destination directly?

There was only one answer to that question.

“..We are finally going there. The Dragon’s Nest.”

Because they were headed to the Dragon’s Nest, one of the forbidden areas on the continent.

The reason for the journey was to find ‘Locrion, the First Dragon,’ who was believed to be there.

They needed to know exactly what the Crown of Rebirth was and what it was used for, but Maleus—the person who could tell them—was bound to the palace.

The envoy needed someone else to answer their questions, so ‘Locrion’ was picked as their target after a long and tedious discussion.

In the old castle garden that was covered by dried grass, Vera nodded at the words Renee said while stretching her back.

“Yes, of all the ancient species we’ve encountered so far, he is the only one relatively reasonable.”

Vera said as he looked back on their schedule.

Their departure was set to two days later.

They were leaving the Cradle and traveling north to reach the Archduchy of Oben. Upon arrival, they needed to obtain permission from the Sovereign Lord to enter the Nest.

That wasn’t all.

There was one more person to meet there.

Vera was lost in thought when Renee, who was stretching, abruptly turned her head and asked.

“Ah, by the way, what kind of person is the Archduke?”

The last hero Vera has yet to meet in this life.

She asked about Hegrion, the Archduke of Wintertide in the Oben Archduchy.

After giving it some thought, Vera shook his head before answering.

“I’m not quite sure. First, my memory is not entirely accurate. Second, I only have memories of fighting him.”

Indeed, the reality was like that.

First of all, he suspected that it was a manipulated memory.

Also, in his altered memory, he could only recall a handful times of them clashing swords.

Vera creased his eyebrows as he tried to rekindle his memories, and added shortly.

“According to my memory.. he had the greatest amount of aura among the heroes in the previous lapse.”

“Um, is he that strong?”

“It depends on your standard, but he was a person worthy of the title of hero. Besides..”

His cloak, the masterpiece White Mane.

The thought of it made Vera frown.

“..He owns an item that is painful to deal with.”

The national treasure of Oben, crafted by offering his body to the Spirits of Winter.

The world’s smallest fortress, shielding its wearer from all magic and physical harm.

Thinking about how his sword had bounced off that cloak, Vera vented his annoyance, and Renee responded with a soft laugh.

“I see that Vera is very competitive.”

“Pardon?”

“Well, that’s just what I thought.”

Suddenly, a thought crossed her mind.

It was about Vera’s attitude when he dealt with someone or situation up until recently.

Looking at him now, it just struck her that Vera became a very competitive person after his return.

“It’s a good thing. It means you have a desire for improvement.”

Vera was a little perplexed as to why Renee asked such a vague question out of nowhere, but he quickly brushed it off.

In the ensuing silence, he gazed at Renee quietly.

A thought that crossed his mind during the pause.

‘..Does the Saint like ambitious men?’

He had qualms about Renee’s taste.

Even though he tried to push such thoughts far away, they kept returning to his mind every single time.

Once again, Vera failed to dismiss his swirling thoughts, and his face turned grim upon realizing that his mind was wandering further away from the main issue.

‘I really..’

..Have no idea at all.

He thought he knew a lot about Renee given the time they had spent together so far, but he couldn’t think of a way to confess that would make her happy when the time actually came.

‘I don’t think she likes fancy stuff.’

She was the type of person who hated being the center of attention.

Not to mention that she hated a noisy atmosphere.

Wasn’t she the kind of person who enjoyed relaxing in a garden?

‘But it’s too simple..’

He wasn’t content with it.

Still, he wanted to make at least minimal preparation.

As it was a once-in-a-lifetime moment, he wanted to create beautiful memories that would live on in Renee’s memory forever.

He couldn’t help stressing over it, even though Renee would have accepted him regardless of how he confessed.

It wasn’t just about confessing and being accepted; rather, it was greed driven by a belated realization of love to create moments that she would treasure forever.

However, as someone far removed from anything related to romance, Vera couldn’t come up with a solid answer. After much contemplation, the conclusion he reached was to ‘seek advice from someone with experience.’

***

Clank—!

When swords collided, one of them bounced off the other.

Hodrick gasped in awe as he realized how quickly Vera’s sword had reached his neck.

[Impressive. This one is the most unique Intention I have ever seen.]

In their final duel before leaving, Hodrick had finally faced Vera’s Intention head-on. He could only marvel at it.

[It must have taken a long time to forge such a sword. Congratulations. You have completely surpassed me.]

Hodrick spoke as he picked up the fallen sword from the ground. After he had done so, he belatedly realized that Vera was looking at him with an odd expression and he cocked his head.

[What is the problem?]

Vera’s expression seemed as if he wanted to say something.

His obvious expression may have piqued Hodrick’s curiosity enough for him to ask, so Vera stuttered briefly before replying with much hesitation.

“..If you don’t mind, I’d like to ask you something.”

[Hm? Please say it.]

Vera’s lips quivered, but no words came out.

After a few moments of scowling as if pondering something, Vera spoke.

“..Um, I need Sir Hodrick’s advice about something.” historical

He sounded very awkward.

Hodrick tilted his head and leaned into what Vera was about to say.

Vera’s nervousness heightened due to Hodrick’s behavior, and he blurted out the question he had been contemplating before seeing Hodrick.

“Isn’t Sir Hodrick married?”

[Hm? Yes. I still love my wife even after hundreds of years.]

“Right, so I want to ask you something.”

[Hurry up and tell me. Don’t be vague and keep me on edge like this.]

Hodrick urged him.

Vera was taken aback, but he quickly clenched his fists and compelled himself to speak.

“H-How did you propose to your wife, Sir..?”

Vera slurred the end of his sentence as he struggled to contain his growing embarrassment.

However, what was said couldn’t be taken back.

Vera’s question sparked off nostalgic feelings to Hodrick, and he answered happily.

[Propose..! Oh my, this reminds me of the past!]

Is he trying to confess?

Hodrick chuckled when he witnessed his junior facing the pivotal moment of his life.

[Certainly, I find myself unable to refrain from giving advice. Speaking of how I confessed..]

Hodrick then continued.

Vera, who was listening to Hodrick with eyes and ears wide open, felt that he became increasingly puzzled the more he listened.

“..Did you say ‘serenade’?”

[Indeed! I went down on one knee in the middle of a flower bed in my wife’s hometown and performed a serenade solely for her! I still clearly remember my wife’s reaction at the time. She covered her mouth with both hands and trembled in joy.]

Vera shut his mouth tightly.

There was a question on the tip of his tongue, but he didn’t say it.

..Vera wasn’t so insensitive as to ask, ‘Wasn’t your wife shaking in embarrassment?’ to the person he went to for advice.