Check It (4)

Before the fight with the man, Calian had regarded Sia with a smile on his face, but now his gaze had become quite fierce. Sia's eyes were filled with fear and they both spoke at the same time

"Luca did. I don't know,"

"What did you steal?"

When their words overlapped, Calian stared at Sia, so he spoke again,

"Yeah. I don't know,"

"You didn't know?"

"Not me,"

"Those guys were saying you're a -"

Calian stopped talking in the middle of his sentence and held a hand to his temple. He understood the problem now.

Without turning his head, Calian called the best person to deal with the situation,

"Lord Hertz,"

"Yes, your highness,"

Arsen, as a mage, was the smartest person here. He came straight to Calian upon being called,

"He's answering me before I even ask my questions," Calian said, frowning at Sia.

Only when Arsen thought back to Sia's words so far, did he realise what Calian meant. He let out a soft 'Ah!' sound.

Calian didn't want to deal with the weirdly speaking elf any longer and said,

"We'll find out how he's doing that later. It looks like Lord Rauchel is going to interrogate that man from before so Lord Hertz, I'll leave sorting out what the elf is saying to you. Between the two of them, we should know what's going on. Until he departs, you'll be incharge of conversing with him,"

It was from this moment that Arsen's thorny path began.

—

They were back on the road and Arsen was still trying to clear things up with Sia,

"Yeah,"

"So what you're saying is, you don't know anything about it,"

"Don't know,"

"In addition, you don't know what the stolen object is?"

"No,"

"Also, you are a…"

At the sound of the conversation that wasn't quite a conversation, the knights lowered their heads and from time to time, their shoulders would tremble. They couldn't laugh to their hearts content so some of them wanted to cry.

The only one who could act however they wanted was Calian, who would occasionally chuckle softly.

[I feel sorry for the mage]

Kiriye, who saw Hina's sign language, smiled slightly.

A while later, Arsen, who had noted down everything he had learned from Sia, motioned towards Yan, checking it was alright if he could approach Calian with his report. Yan checked with Calian and nodded, before slowing down his horse and falling back to keep pace with Kiriye.

Arsen came to Calian's side to deliver the story,

"It means the spirit of a crouched horse. My mother's tree gave it to me,"

"The child's name is Ciarus Tian Eureha, he is a 12 year old elf,"

Sia, who had been riding with Arsen added. Arsen fell silent for a moment before adding an awkward,

"…is what he says,"

"Carry on," Calian replied briefly and Arsen continued,

"As you're aware, the answer seems to come quicker than the question -"

"Lord Hertz,"

Stopping the horse, Calin turned to look at him and Arsen lowered his head,

"Yes, your highness,"

Calian raised a hand and pointed at Sia,

"Do it in order,"

Arsen stopped talking because he became nervous for a moment, he thought about what it meant to do it in order and realised he should report it in order of what Calian had tasked him to find out from Sia.

Trying to shake off the idea that Calian seemed to be strangely strict with himself, Arsen replied,

"I apologise. First of all, we do not know what the stolen object was. This child wandered around with another elf named Luca and sold wooden sculptures. The other elf, Luca, was chased by a group of people who attacked him saying that they had something unusual – it seems he might have been the one to steal it."

So he was saying that he didn't know how or what Luca might have stolen. It was indeed surprising to find out that an elf might have stolen something but Calian simply nodded,

"As they were chased, they ended up getting split up – and that's when he met us, your highness,"

Kalian's head nodded once again.

"And as for the reason why he answers first, I was not able to find out the details. It seems his mouth just opens on its own and he cant help it, but it's difficult to understand the child's explanation accurately, I apologise,"

After hearing Arsen's words, Calian looked at Sia. As Calian opened his mouth to ask a question, Xia replied,

"Not to that extent,"

He had wanted to ask if the child had foresight, but since he already had his answer, he just nodded. He looked briefly at the man who was tied to a horse with Yuran and another knight. He had fainted during treatment due to blood loss and had yet to wake up so they hadn't been able to ask him any questions so far.

"Is there anything else?"

"No, your highness,"

In the end, they hadn't been able to learn anything. Arsen said his greetings and went back to his place in the formation and Yan returned to his position by Calian's side.

"Will you be looking into this matter yourself, your highness?"

They still had a long way to go on this journey, so Calian shook his head,

"I don't think we should get tangled up and stop here – we'll leave this matter with the Latran territory's Lord,"

"Yes, your highness. Then what would you like to do with the little boy? I heard that his home was in Hiriska Forest,"

Calian's expression became a little awkward. Hiriska Forest was too long of a distance for the Lord of this territory to send his own soldiers to escort the boy – instead, of all things, it was located near the Seigfried estate.

So what was he supposed to do with a child that had gripped the hem of his clothes?

"Even if it's not to the entrance – we can take him nearby the forest,"

"Yes, since it won't be dangerous for him now – I'll make sure to let him know he can be relieved,"

Even if their journey was long and busy, they could still drop off one elf kid on the way.

Calian nodded silently.