You Were Told to Leave

Lunch.

The wild boar, roasted crisp. I tore off a piece the size of my palm and bit in — rich, wet juice flooded across my tongue.

Every corner of my mouth drenched in something warm and sweet.

Then the salt hit, sharp and clean, deepening the whole thing.

“Long live His Majesty the Emperor.”

“Long live His Majesty.”

Garul and Heinkel recited it like scripture. Roderic nodded along.

They were praising me — praising Sirik — because I was the one who had pushed the policy of supplying salt to the inland regions.

Salt had once been a luxury good, a commodity a handful of merchants monopolized for enormous profit.

But sodium was an essential nutrient, and essential for seasoning food too.

I had nationalized the salt supply so that even common people could eat it freely.

Thanks to that, even out here in the mountains you could dunk your meat in salt without a second thought.

“The sauce is excellent too.”

“Rigen, wipe your mouth while you eat.”

“You picked a good wine.”

The four of us — me, Roderic, Garul, Heinkel — ate with complete abandon.

Four grown men throwing themselves at a meal cleared things fast.

Eat the meat. Get thirsty. Drink the wine.

“This wine, what is it? It’s incredible!”

“Hey, that’s a seven-million-won bottle. Everyone else is savoring it and you’re on your third glass. I’m keeping count.”

“……That’s two months of my salary?”

“Right. You’re docking your own pay next month.”

“What?”

My exchange with Garul drew laughter from around the table.

Garul went red with embarrassment. I waved it off.

“Drink, you idiot. You used to put it away like water and now suddenly you’re bashful? I’m joking.”

“B-but something this expensive……”

“Drink it. Expensive or not, it exists for people to drink. Brother, you too, pour yourself a proper glass.”

“I’m fine. I shouldn’t overdo it while I’m still healing.”

“In that case, Heinkel, you sing.”

“……Pardon? Why?”

“Because Brother doesn’t want your wine. Someone has to liven this up.”

I laughed, then paused and glanced to the side.

Amelia was folding away the handkerchief she had used to wipe my mouth.

“Amelia, aren’t you eating?”

“Why aren’t you eating?”

“I ate while I was preparing everything.”

“Don’t lie to me. I was watching the whole time. You didn’t put a single thing in your mouth while draining it.”

“Just watching Young Master eat fills me right u…. Mmph.”

I had already pushed a piece of meat into her mouth.

Amelia chewed and swallowed without a choice in the matter.

“Young Master, that was so sud…… Mmph.”

She started to speak and I fed her another piece before she could finish.

Amelia shot me a look, but what was she going to do? It was already in her mouth.

She ate it, quietly, without further protest.

With my stomach settling into contentment and the exercise growing on me, I turned around and sat cross-legged in front of her, smiling.

“……”

Amelia covered her mouth with both hands and chewed with great dignity.

She was bracing herself for me to do it again.

“Young Master, I am perfectly capable of feeding myself.”

“We’re all eating together. Why are you the only one running cleanup the whole time? I’ve got it from here, just eat.”

“That is my job……”

“It breaks my heart watching my mom go hungry. Tell those others to help themselves, and let me look after you for once.”

I picked up the knife and carved out the best cut of the boar — the chest — and piled it onto Amelia’s plate.

She looked deeply conflicted, then nodded.

Done.

Stomachs full. Wine flowing.

Pleasantly drowsy, I lay down in the garden and watched the others.

Garul and Heinkel had each rolled up a sleeve and were arm wrestling.

Pure strength, no magic.

“HRAAAH!”

“Nnnngh.”

A dead heat, with Roderic playing referee.

Full stomachs and a few drinks in — naturally they were going to do something stupid.

That was just how men worked.

I lay with my head in Amelia’s lap and watched the whole spectacle with quiet amusement.

“……”

A hand came to rest against my hair.

Amelia said nothing. She simply stroked my head, slow and easy.

Her full wolf tail draped itself over me like a blanket.

“So this is retirement.”

“Pardon?”

“Just, this. This is it.”

What I had always wanted.

Eating good food. Laughing and talking and lounging without a care in the world.

Simple, if you put it that way.

But it was exactly the kind of time that Sirik Karakas had never been able to have.

“Amelia, did you eat enough?”

“More than enough. I’m so full I can barely move.”

“Then let’s stay like this a little longer.”

I stayed with my head in her lap and curled an arm around her waist.

Like a cat pressing into warmth.

“Young Master.”

“Mm.”

“……I was so worried.”

“I know. I’m sorry.”

“I’m just relieved you’re safe.”

Amelia’s fingers moved through my hair, light and gentle.

This felt good. I really had turned into a cat.

“Sorry for scaring you. And thank you for worrying.”

A small nod.

Amelia took my hand in hers and whispered softly.

“As long as Young Master Rigen is safe, that’s all I need. Please be more careful from now on.”

“I will. There’s still some left to deal with, but……”

The people who had been drawn in by the scent of the Crocell affair — they had to be handled. Left alone, they would tear everything apart.

Then there were the explosives that had been smuggled out of the imperial military — that needed to be traced.

And my body. This heart. That required its own investigation.

And beyond all that……

I counted through everything still ahead of me and found no end to the list.

But unlike in my previous life, it didn’t feel suffocating.

“I won!”

“……I should mention that I’m actually left-handed. At last, the moment has come to show my true strength.”

Drunk nonsense drifting to me from somewhere nearby.

And the warmth holding me close.

That was enough.

If every day could end like this, I could work as hard as anyone needed me to.

“……”

My eyes began to close.

Amelia pressed her lips gently to the back of my hand.

The way a mother kisses her child to sleep.

Tenderly.

Rest well——

Footsteps.

Getting closer.

I registered them, but felt no alarm.

This was Librata. The eldest and the youngest were eating and drinking in the garden. Nobody here would have cause to say anything.

“Get up, humans.”

A sharp, cutting voice.

Unpleasant.

Only Count Librata had any business addressing Roderic and me without honorifics — and the count didn’t carry himself with that kind of pressure.

Garul and Heinkel’s laughter cut out.

“I said get up. Do humans not understand speech? Ears open even if you can’t read — or should I start with the ankles?”

A hard surge of irritation.

I opened my eyes.

Silence.

The faces of Roderic, Garul, and Heinkel had all gone still.

“Mm.”

Roderic pressed a hand to the ground and began to push himself up. Garul and Heinkel moved immediately to help him.

The thigh wound made even standing difficult.

“Sit.”

The word came out of me before I had thought about it.

Roderic, Garul, and Heinkel all looked at me.

So did the other set of eyes — I could feel them.

I said it plainly.

“All three of you, stay seated. Garul, watch the others and stay out of it.”

“……”

Garul read my face and settled Roderic back down without argument.

Heinkel and Roderic kept their eyes on me.

“What’s with this one?”

“It’s a human.”

“A human talking back? Have you lot ever seen that before?”

I exhaled and got to my feet.

Amelia moved to steady me. I said quietly,

“Go and stay with Roderic.”

“Yes.”

She stepped back without another word.

I rolled my neck and looked around.

The grass. The remains of our meal scattered across it.

Some boar still left — Amelia had said she’d use it for soup tonight.

And in front of me: five unfamiliar faces.

Four men and one woman, every one of them with pointed ears.

Elves.

“Hey, what’s with this human? He’s looking right at us.”

“Not lowering your eyes? I’ll gouge them out.”

“By the look of them, young ones with no manners. Figures.”

I clicked my tongue.

Charging in as a group, no restraint in sight.

You saw this often with young elves who hadn’t been out in the world long.

“……What? Did you just call us ‘ones’?”

“Hey, Patrick, seems like you’re not respected around here.”

“I don’t like this human’s eyes. Let’s just take care of him.”

They were cheerfully murmuring among themselves.

I said evenly,

“If a group of elves has shown up out of nowhere, I assume you’re here to investigate the Crocell affair. We’d been told tomorrow, so you’re a bit early. In that case, shouldn’t you be the ones apologizing first? That’s the elves’ way, isn’t it?”

“What?”

“You’re obviously new out here. Still keyed up. I’d like to end my day on a good note, so go back and bring an adult.”

“……”

The five exchanged looks, then erupted in loud laughter.

“Pffahaha! Go back, he says! Send him back, Patrick, he’s talking to you!”

“You’ve lost your mind. Who are you?”

The one who appeared to be leading them — an elf with the tips of his hair dyed black — turned on me. Patrick.

“Rigen Librata. Youngest son of this house.”

“Oh, you’re a noble? Thinks that makes him something, does he.”

“Not lowering your eyes, human?”

“Mm.”

My patience was beginning to thin.

One of the elves sneered.

“Think being a noble means you’ve got some rank? Patrick here is a second tier elven warrior, understand? Show some respect.”

“Elven second tier, that means……”

By human standards — a genuinely elite fighter.

Capable of a magic blade. Plenty of reason to be proud.

But the way he was carrying himself was sloppy.

There was a ceiling to how much these ones had actually seen.

While I was sizing them up, the elves went back to talking among themselves.

“This human really thinks he’s something. Who does he think he is, the emperor?”

“Oh right, isn’t Librata one of those twelve-house things? Is that why he’s playing emperor?”

“Sirik Karakas? What’s so great about that? Just a human, and a dead one at that.”

“……”

Librata was a house under elven patronage.

Was that what these ones were banking on, behaving like this?

A plan for sorting them out and managing the fallout had already taken rough shape in my head.

My stomach was full. Might as well get some light stretching in.

That was when Patrick abruptly gathered magic to his fist and stepped forward.

“Warning. Stop looking at me like that.”

“That’s just what my face does when I’m watching something pathetic. And you, cut that magic right now.”

Drawing magic the way Patrick just had, using it as a threat?

That was the equivalent of pressing a loaded gun to someone’s head.

Under imperial law, I could end him right here and call it self-defense.

The law was exactly that.

“I was going to give you a light lesson in manners. But you’re making this more complicated than it needs to be. Drop it, or you’ll regret it.”

“And if I don’t?”

“I’m the youngest son of this house, locally famous for being an absolute menace. You’re about to find out firsthand what it means to deal with someone who has no sense.”

Patrick let out a short laugh.

A smirk — just one corner of his mouth pulling up.

He turned his body sideways, and then——

“Filthy humans. Who told you to talk so much?”

Thud!

Patrick’s foot kicked out and sent a spray of dirt flying.

It landed on the leftover boar.

The meat Amelia had set aside so carefully, saying she’d use it for tonight’s soup — now buried in grit.

Food that was fit to eat a moment ago — ruined.

“You just follow whatever we tell you. Parasites leeching off the elves, where do you get the nerve to——”

“So you came here to get hit.”

The five elves wheeled around all at once.

The Roar.

There were two ways I used it.

To hold my own people together.

And the other —

“Then let’s see how you handle being hit without a shred of courtesy.”

— to pull every enemy’s eyes onto me.

All at once. So I could take them apart.