The day after receiving a letter and a request form from Doldos, Father and I headed to the royal castle where Ars was located.

After Ars confirmed it, the crest on the request form was undoubtedly belonged to the authentic Schafalbach family crest. By the way, when I asked him how he knew, he said that genuine noble family crests have a unique magic imbued in them that can be discerned through sensing it.

Once we knew it was authentic, we wasted no time and began preparations to go to the neighboring country. While we could have used teleportation magic with the help of Ars or Fia, we felt hesitant about it, so we decided to travel by carriage this time.

When I informed Leticia that we wouldn’t be able to go on adventures for a few days, I received an unexpected response.

“May I come along too?”

“Huh? But, this is a personal matter, so we won’t be able to do any sightseeing or anything like that.”

“That’s not what I meant. As a fellow party member, maybe there’s something I can do to help?”

I was glad to hear her say that. I thanked her and decided to have her come along with us.

However, it felt awkward to have her come along without any particular reason. So while looking for any request we could handle on the way to Leblanc, we found one that was perfect. It was an escort mission for Leon, who was returning to his hometown. Leon’s hometown was slightly off the path to Leblanc, but not too far away.

As a result, the four of us, me, Father, Leticia, and Leon, left the town together. After two days of traveling, we arrived safely in Leon’s hometown, a village.

“Thank you, Lark-kun, Leticia-san, and Guldo-san,” Leon said as he got off the carriage and ran into the village to express his gratitude.

I’m glad we arrived safely. Now, it’s time to head to Leblanc.

After seeing Leon off, we continued to ride the carriage, and six days after departing from the capital of the Recommetys Kingdom, we arrived at the capital of the Leblanc Kingdom. Considering that we stopped by Leon’s village, we were traveling at a pretty fast pace. I suppose it was because we applied body strengthening magic to the horses and used holy magic to heal them at night.

We entered the capital and headed to the Schafalbach family mansion, guided by the map enclosed in the letter. By the way, we left the carriage in the guild’s care. Soon, we arrived at a grand mansion exuding a solemn atmosphere.

“It looks like this is the place,” I said while comparing the map and the surrounding terrain.

“Hmm, as expected of an illustrious noble family, their dwelling is quite impressive,” Father commented, looking impressed as he gazed at the mansion.

“Wow, I’ve never been inside a noble’s mansion before,” Leticia said, sounding somewhat timid.

Anyway, let’s go inside.

There was a gatekeeper in front of the mansion, so we showed our adventurer’s credentials and spoke to him, “Excuse me, I’m a person named Lark Voltoris,” I spoke up.

“Ah! You are the one who came on behalf of Mariela-sama… Please come in. Thank you for coming,” the gatekeeper said, his eyes teary. He kept bowing even after we passed through the gate.

As we entered the premises, an elderly gentleman was waiting in front of the mansion. Was he a butler of the mansion?

The butler introduced himself as Chive, the head butler serving the Schafalbach family. We also introduced ourselves to him.

Chive then guided us into the mansion and through a luxurious corridor. Finally, he stopped in front of a room at the end of the hallway and made a graceful gesture, knocking on the door three times.

“Lark-sama and his companions have arrived,” he announced.

We received a reply from inside the room, and the butler opened the door, motioning for us to come in.

Inside the room, there was a young man and an elderly couple, totaling three people sitting on the sofa.

I didn’t know anything about the young man’s background, but the elderly couple was probably my grandparents who had said they wanted to meet me. None of them had silver hair. Indeed, silver hair seemed to be rare even among the Shafalbach family.

“Ah!”

As soon as the people inside saw me, they all looked surprised.

“He looks just like Marie…”

It was the elderly woman who was probably my grandmother who muttered those words.

Marie…was probably my biological mother’s nickname? Since my mother’s name was Mariela.

“Please, have a seat over there.”

We were told by Chive to sit on the sofa directly opposite the elderly couple and the young man.

After Chive left the room, the elderly woman spoke first, “…Let’s introduce ourselves. I am Nora von Shafalbach.”

“I’m Dil von Shafalbach,” a kindly looking old man said after.

Finally, a young man bowed, introducing himself, “I’m Kelly von Shafalbach.”

On our side, we introduced ourselves in order of Leticia, Father, and then me. After the greetings, the elderly woman who called herself Nora continued to speak while staring intently at me.

“I’m your grandmother. Dil here is your grandfather, and Kelly is your uncle…can I call you Lark-kun?”

“Yes, that’s fine. Um…Nora…Grandma.”

After hesitating for a moment, I called her that, and my grandmother shed a tear.

My grandmother quickly wiped away her tears and looked at me with a serious expression. “Thank you, Lark-kun. First of all, I have to apologize to you for one thing…for the ten years from when you were born until you were kicked out of the house, we couldn’t offer any support, and we caused Marie and Lark-kun to suffer…I’m really sorry,” she said, bowing her head.

My grandfather and uncle sitting next to her also bowed their heads at the same time.

She then continued to speak, “We actually tried to go get you right away when we found out that you were suffering unfairly, but we received a letter from Marie saying ‘We’re fine now,’ so we just watched from a distance…But then a few months later, Marie passed away, and even though we tried to bring you back to our house, those wretched people interfered…” her voice trembled, to which my grandfather comforted her.

He consoled her, saying, “Nora, don’t push yourself too hard… I’m sorry. We also went straight to plead with the Larque’s family for help, but they kept insisting that ‘nothing was wrong.’ King Leblanc also didn’t move too actively to avoid trouble with Recommetys.”

My grandparents were completely disheartened. To cheer them up, I spoke in as bright a voice as possible. “It’s okay. Right now, I’ve been living happily together with my stepfather.”

Hearing my words, both of them smiled. My grandmother bowed her head again to me and Father. “Thank you so much for taking care of Lark and raising him so well. We really appreciate it, Guldo-san.”

“Well, at first I was just doing it because I was asked, but now I’m happy to have become a real family with him,” Father replied politely.

The uncle who was sitting next to my grandparents spoke up, I’m sorry, but who was the person you were asked by?”

“An adventurer who registered with the guild I work for many years ago. He said a child with a letter he wrote himself would come soon, and to take care of him.”

“… Excuse me, but can you tell me the adventurer’s name and appearance?”

“He asked me to keep his name a secret… But he had silver hair like Lark’s.”

Upon hearing Father’s words, the uncle’s face showed surprise. “Could that person be named Idel?”

After a little thought, Father nodded.

So my benefactor’s name is Idel.

Even though we couldn’t get any information about him no matter how much I asked Father, it was lucky to learn about him here.

Right then, my grandparents stood up energetically and said, “Idel!?”

From their reaction alone, I could assume that my benefactor, Idel, was somehow related to the Shafalbach family.

By the way, the only person who seemed to be lost in the conversation was Leticia, who had nothing to do with it and was sipping her drink little by little. I might have been sorry for bringing her to the estate.

My grandparents took a deep breath and sat back down.

“Do you know about Idel?” Father asked back with a frown.

Then, my uncle began to speak slowly, “… Idel is my and Marie… no, Mariela’s younger brother. We have a bit of an age difference, but he’s the second son of the Shafalbach family.”

“Huh? But his family name is ‘Farley,’ right?”

“‘Farley’ is the name of my family before I married into the Shafalbach family.” Instead of my uncle, my grandfather answered.

So, it was a false name?

Then, uncle explained more about Idel, “Idel was a child with amazing talent. He probably thought that he had no reason to stay here after Marie, whom he was attached to, got married and left for another family. Idel left home as soon as he turned 15.”

Afterward, Father murmured, seemingly understanding, “Come to think of it, he first came to the guild when he was 15… I thought he was oddly dressed in neat clothes, but was he a noble?”

“Guldo-san, do you know where Idel is now?” uncle asked, but Father shook his head apologetically, “I don’t know either. He disappeared about two years ago saying he had a request from his sister, and I haven’t seen him since.”

“His sister’s request… Could it be that Idel is with that noble?”

Uncle gasped, and at that moment, the door to the room suddenly opened, and a man with silver hair and blue eyes like me, my grandmother, and grandfather walked in.

“Idel!” my grandparents, uncle, and Father all exclaimed in surprise.

“Quiet down, everyone.”

The person himself, called by his name, frowned, then walked towards me, “Hmm, you’ve grown up… I didn’t have time to talk to you then, but it’s good to see that you’re alive.”

I had never expected to meet my own benefactor in a place like this… No, it’s not completely confirmed yet.

“Um, you’re the person who saved me, right?”

“Hmm? Oh, come to think of it, I was hiding my face at the time, and you immediately fainted at the time, so there’s high chance your memory was not clear then… Yes, it was me who saved you from being exiled from your home. Well, I did it because my sister asked me to, and I couldn’t abandon my cute nephew.”

“…I couldn’t thank you back then, so I’m sorry. Thank you again for helping me,” I bowed my head to express my gratitude.

“I said it wasn’t me who saved you, but rather because of my sister’s request, right? Oh… now that I think about it, your original name was lost because of that da*n bast*rd. I’m sorry, but could you tell me your current name?”

“Lark. Lark Voltoris.”

“I see… Lark? Wait, Voltoris!? Guldo, did you adopt this child!?” Idel shouted, turning towards Father.

“Before that, why are you here!?” Father stood up and punched Idel instead of answering.

“Ow! That hurts, Guldo!”

“It’s not terrible. More importantly, explain yourself. Your parents and siblings want to hear it too!”

As Father gave the signal, my teary-eyed grandmother approached Idel. “Idel… What have you been doing since you left home?”

“Um, what do you want me to say? There were many reasons, but mainly I was leveling up and learning new skills to become an adventurer and travel the world. When I was finally ready to set out on my journey, I received a letter from my sister. In the letter, she wrote that she had an incurable disease and didn’t know what would happen to her child if she died.”

It seems that my mother knew that I was in danger before she passed away.

Idel continued the story, “I snuck into the mansion to take my sister back with me, but she refused. She said that leaving without permission would cause an international incident. However, they already knew about her illness and had been neglecting her. In the end, I couldn’t get permission to leave the mansion. And then my sister passed away…”

“I see… That’s unfortunate,” said Idel’s father, patting his son’s shoulder consolingly.

Idel made a face for a while, but suddenly smiled, “Well, that’s why I’ve been gathering information to get revenge on those bastards for the past few years. I found out that Lark had been expelled, so I rescued him and left him in Guldo’s care. After that, I’ve been getting back at those guys until now.”

“Is that so?” Idel’s father’s face twitched a little.

Idel stopped his creepy laughter and turned to me, “However, you look just like my sister. Are you really a boy? Oh, wait. I need to apologize to Lark. I was too busy with my revenge, so I left the Silver Dragon in his care. I’m sorry.”

“Huh? Ah!”

So, Idel is from the Shafalbach family, just like me. It was him who asked Shafal to make a contract with me!

“What’s going on, Idel?” Uncle approached Idel. Even both of my grandparents looked confused.

The Shafalbach family and the Silver Dragon is related… Should I show them and explain?

I concentrated my consciousness and summoned Shafal onto my hand. Recently, I had become able to bring him outside. The summoned Shafal lay stretched out on my hands, fast asleep.

“Haha, that majestic Silver Dragon has become so small. I should have laughed at him when I made the contract,” Idel laughed.

Did Shafal hear Idel’s laughter?

The dragon’s eyes opened, “You are the one who refused my request!” Shafal looked squarely at Idel and yelled.