Three days had passed since I started living in the Kingdom of Leblanc. The first day was spent making rounds and greeting those I’d be working with, and from the next day on, I began training within the castle grounds.

Well, even though I call it training, it wasn’t too exhausting. It was mostly about confirming our movements within the party and discussing tactics. Once we finished, I’d occasionally join Leticia for a bit of swordsmanship practice or teach magic to Asura. It was a fairly light routine.

Also, I wanted to check on how Recommetys was faring, so I’d use the teleportation magic of Asura’s attendant to send Noir to Recommetys and monitor the situation. This was a strategy capitalizing on Noir and I sharing our vision. I was initially worried about the summoned beast being so far away, but surprisingly, it worked out well.

However, this surprised Leticia, a fellow academy graduate who also possessed a summoned beast. She said that normally such feats are impossible.

So today, as I was thinking of sweating lightly at the training grounds, I was addressed by an unfamiliar voice.

“Excuse me, Lark-sama. Would you mind joining me in a mock battle right now?”

“Hm? Ah, sure, that’s fine.”

The one who challenged me to the mock battle was a soldier from the Kingdom of Leblanc. Ever since I started living here, soldiers and magicians often challenge me to mock battles. I wondered why? And when I asked Asura, he responded like this:

“Well, everyone in the castle knows about you to some extent, isn’t that why? For example, your Father being the Guldo-sama is well-known, right?”

“I see…”

After the mock battle ended, the soldier bowed his head in gratitude.

“Phew… Lark-sama, thank you for accompanying me!”

“No problem, I’m always available if you need an opponent.”

“I’m glad to hear that. Now, I must return to my duties.”

After saluting, the soldier left, and Asura came to the training ground in his place.

“Good morning, Lark. You’ve been having mock battles since morning, huh?”

“Yeah, it’s a good exercise. More importantly, Asura, how is your magic practice going?”

“Of course. I’ve even reached level 2 with the “Incantationless” skill.”

“That’s impressive.”

As I said this and stretched, suddenly Noir shared his vision with me. What I saw was my and Father’s house, surrounded by a group in white suits.

“…”

“What’s wrong, Lark? Did you see something unpleasant through your summoned beast’s eyes?”

“Yeah, there are guys in white suits loitering around my house. Fortunately, Father should be at the guild at this time, and even if he were attacked at home, he should be fine.”

“That’s true. After all, your father even fought with a dragon,” Asura said this with a broad smile, then raised his voice as if he remembered something. “Ah, that’s right. Breakfast is ready, so I came to call you. Let’s go, Lark.”

I nodded with a smile, and together with Asura, I returned to the castle.

After breakfast, Leticia, Rin, Asura, and I gathered in one of the vacant guest rooms to discuss our future goals as a party.

“So, is it okay if we aim to raise everyone’s Adventurer Rank to D this year?” When I asked, everyone voiced their agreement. One goal set, I continued, “Next, after we raise our ranks, there was a suggestion to challenge the dungeon, but as I’m still a student and have the shop to manage, I want to put that on hold… Is that okay? I want to focus on the shop during this year’s long break…”

As I hesitantly voiced my thoughts, Asura, Leticia, and Rin each agreed in turn.

“You’re busy, Lark, it can’t be helped.”

“That’s true. Besides, it’s dangerous for just us to go to the dungeon, let’s hold off on that until Lark-kun settles down.”

“I also agree with Lark-san‘s opinion.”

I was relieved they agreed. I really do have good companions. The discussion continued, and in the end, we decided on “raising our rank and stats, learning new skills, getting used to those skills, and perfecting our coordination as a party.” It feels similar to before, but the basics are most important, right?

◇

Several days later. Currently, Asura, Leticia, and Rin were out of the capital to subdue monsters. As for me, I was on house-sitting duty at the castle.

“Sigh… It’s nice that everyone gets to go out…”

“It can’t be helped, Lark. Just the other day, those from the Holy Kingdom finally started appearing in this country too.”

Currently, I was in Diblo’s private room, venting my frustrations.

“Those from the Holy Kingdom are quite persistent, aren’t they?”

“Well, I can’t say I don’t understand their feelings. After all, I’d want to keep your powers close at hand too, if it weren’t for Arus’s interference. Your powers are quite incredible, after all.”

“…The Holy Kingdom doesn’t want my power, though…”

“Hm? Did you say something?”

When I mumbled in a small voice, Diblo made a puzzled face.

“No, it’s nothing,” I said.

I said that, and sipped the tea that was served to me. Over the past few days, I had been to the divine realm several times to receive reports from Samady. I couldn’t help but mention something I remembered from those times.

At that time, Samady and I had this conversation.

“As far as I’ve investigated, it seems that the god of the Holy Kingdom is more interested in your knowledge than in your power, Lark-kun.”

“Knowledge? Are you talking about knowledge from my previous life?”

“Yes. Lark-kun possesses a vast amount of knowledge about Earth, far more than any previous reincarnates. It seems she wants to use that knowledge to enrich her life, rather than just the Holy Kingdom.”

What a troublesome god indeed…

“Speaking of which, Lark-kun, hasn’t Shafal-sama returned yet?”

I was brought back from my recollections of my conversation with Samady when Diblo asked me this.

“Not yet. It’s been quite some time since he left to bring his minions… well, I think he’s probably slacking off somewhere, taking a nap. The guy’s been sleeping more and more recently.”

“That’s unfortunate. I also want to meet Shafal-sama soon,” Diblo said this, finished the remaining tea, and we spent the day in casual conversation.