At the news that Ravista's House Head was approaching, the other two looked down the mountain with the same tense expressions Turan had worn moments before. Maysa was the first to speak.

"The head of a great house... You don't think...?"

"Who knows? I don't think so, but..."

That was the only answer Turan could give to the suspicion that some divine being might be possessing the visitor. Given that Lida had gone to the trouble of searching for White Elves, her house did not seem capable of tampering with souls, but he had to consider the possibility that they had used some other method.

Solif muttered, looking rather sick at the thought.

"... Should we run?"

"We haven't done anything wrong. That would only make us look more suspicious."

If the wizard he presumed to be Ravista's House Head had been as overwhelmingly powerful as Arabion's, Turan would have fled for safety's sake. Fortunately, that was not the case. Together, the three of them might not win a fight, but they could more than manage an escape. Besides, Ravista's bloodline abilities were suited to survival, not particularly to combat. It seemed better to take a little risk and gather information.

With that decided, the three replenished the mana they had spent practicing magic. Meanwhile, the two nobles coming up from below met Aicul and spoke with him. Judging by the way Aicul pointed in their direction, he seemed to be telling them that there were visitors up the mountain.

When Lida reached them a short while later, Turan was startled by the appearance of the person beside her. The owner of that immense mana was a delicate-featured boy who looked no more than fifteen or sixteen.

Lida spotted them as well and waved to Turan, calling out.

"Why, if it isn't young Turan!"

"It's been a while, Lady Lida."

"A while? It's only been three or four months at most. For someone like me, that's as recent as last night!"

It was still hard to get used to Lida speaking like an old woman with that youthful face and voice. Just then, the boy beside her gave a small cough, as though reminding her not to forget him.

"Ahem."

"Ah, you two haven't met. This is Turan, from... where was it again?"

"Kalamap."

"Ah, yes! I must be getting old. Things keep slipping my mind. This is young Turan, from Kalamap City up in the northeast. A wandering noble, yes. And this is Osel Ravistas, my younger cousin."

"I'm Turan."

"Mm."

Turan greeted him calmly, pretending not to know who he was. Osel received the greeting with a solemn expression, then frowned and gave a slight bow when Lida poked him in the side. Apparently, they too intended to conceal the boy's identity as Ravista's House Head.

As soon as they were close enough, Turan heightened the Holy Relic's senses and examined the symbols within their bodies: clasped silver hands, and a staff entwined by two white snakes. They were the symbols of the Purifier and Healer bloodlines, respectively.

'Ravista's House Head doesn't have a third bloodline...'

The sight allowed some of the tension to leave Turan's shoulders. It meant the boy before him was probably just an exceptionally powerful wizard, rather than someone possessed by a god. How he had amassed such tremendous mana in that case remained a mystery.

Then Lida looked at the two standing behind him and asked,

"I see you've made more friends. Would you introduce us?"

"This is Sol, and this is Misha. They're both in circumstances similar to mine. We got along, so we decided to travel together."

Sol and Misha were the aliases the two had decided to use from now on. Considering the purpose of an alias, entirely dissimilar names would have been best. But that often meant being slow to respond when called, so they had chosen existing names that sounded reasonably close to their own.

"It's a pleasure to meet you."

"Lady Lida, isn't it? My friend Turan has told me so much about you. You really are beautiful!"

Unlike Maysa, who merely bowed as she greeted her, Solif offered easy flattery and acted as though they were already friends. Evidently pleased by his affability, Lida laughed cheerfully and waved a hand.

"Flattering an old woman won't get you anything! Now, Aicul tells me you've been staying here for a few weeks. Did you come to enjoy the hot springs?"

"Yes. If our presence is an inconvenience, we'll leave right away."

"Not at all! It's a gift of nature, after all. Whoever uses it has as much claim to it as anyone. Only..."

For some reason, Lida looked at them with a hint of concern.

"Do you have purification magic tools?"

"No, we don't..."

"If you plan to keep using the hot springs, get one each. As you know, the monkeys use these springs often, and the creatures have a nasty habit of shitting while they're in the water. Not that we'll catch anything, of course, but it's rather unpleasant, isn't it?"

When Lida added that she always used purification magic before entering the springs, every member of Turan's party froze solid.

Having unsettled them all with that shocking revelation, Lida glanced at Maysa's face and looked as though something had dawned on her.

"Come to think of it, you were looking for sulfur because you needed an antidote, weren't you? That young lady certainly looks very unwell. But didn't you say she was a noble?"

With the regular feedings over the past several days, Maysa's weight had increased by almost half, but by ordinary standards she was still horrifically underweight. Of course, going from a skeleton scarcely distinguishable from a corpse to merely a sick young woman was tremendous progress in itself.

It would be awkward if Lida offered to treat her, so Turan gave a small cough and changed the subject.

"The sulfur wasn't for May—Misha. She's just a little thin. Did you and your cousin come to bathe in the hot springs, Lady Lida?"

"Indeed! I've been so terribly busy these past few months that I desperately needed a rest. And my cousin here grew up practically confined to the main house, with scarcely a chance to venture out. I thought I'd take this opportunity to introduce him to Aicul as well."

"Speaking of your cousin, how old is he? He looks quite young..."

A flash of displeasure crossed the face of Osel, the boy Turan presumed to be the House Head. Perhaps he disliked being told he looked young or childish. Then Lida caught both of Osel's cheeks and stretched them.

"Now, now, I told you not to scowl. Keep frowning like that and you'll get wrinkles."

"I wish I would, Cousin. My face lacks dignity as it is."

Osel's words were muffled by the grip on his cheeks. They looked so much like a sister and her much younger brother that it was difficult to imagine a god dwelling inside him.

A moment later, rubbing his released cheeks, Osel addressed Turan's party in a haughty tone.

"I turned one hundred and thirty-two this year. Whatever my appearance may suggest, I am old enough to be a father to any of you, so I shall dispense with formalities."

One hundred and thirty-two. That made him more than twice the age of Solif, the oldest among them. Yet he was also far younger than Lida. Perhaps the claim that he was her cousin was a lie, or perhaps there had been a considerable age gap in their parents' generation.

Having declared his age, Osel began talking with Aicul, apparently losing interest in them. That gave Turan the chance to ask Lida the question he had in mind.

"Has anything happened around Shiraf Marsh lately? I understand there was quite a commotion in the South Sea not long ago."

What Turan wanted to know was how House Baraha was searching for Solif. Considering that he had last been seen in the South Sea, they might consider Ravista a possible refuge.

"Let me see... Has anything happened? Ah, someone did come from House Baraha in the east recently."

To his surprise, Lida brought up exactly the information he wanted, almost as though she had been waiting for the question. Solif visibly flinched beside him, and Maysa jabbed him in the side to settle him down.

"What brought them all that way?"

"Apparently, no less a person than the heir to their great house betrayed them and fled. They think he's most likely hiding somewhere in the South Sea islands, so they've sent wanted notices to every house bordering those waters. They insist he must not be killed, but captured alive so they can absorb his mana."

"Capturing the heir to a great house, not merely killing him? An ordinary house would have no hope."

The Baraha nobles sent to capture Solif had themselves been powerful enough to wipe out several ordinary houses with ease. Even killing him would surely require more than a dozen houses to join forces. And even then, he would most likely defeat them one at a time.

"In return, they're offering a rather fine magic tool merely for information on his whereabouts, and an actual Holy Relic for capturing and delivering him. That offer is probably aimed at the great houses as well. Are you interested?"

"Not particularly... Do they have a portrait or anything?"

"We received one, but I haven't looked at it. I could get it for you if you like."

"No, I was just curious."

Turan stole a glance at Solif as he answered. He had expected that even if Baraha pursued him, they would keep it quiet as before and secretly contact only a few great houses. Apparently, they had instead launched a widespread manhunt. That would make it difficult for Solif to show his real face anywhere near the South Sea.

'Should I let Solif use this mask for a while?'

He would lose the ability to read bloodlines, but he could simply borrow it back whenever he needed to. As he considered that, something else occurred to him, and he asked another question.

"Have you heard anything about me, by any chance?"

"You? Have you done something?"

"Yes. I did wipe out a pirate crew in the South Sea."

Considering that the pirate crew had been a front for House Baraha, there was a very real possibility they knew Turan had rescued Solif. But Lida merely laughed at the notion and shook her head.

"Do you have any idea how many pirates there are in the South Sea? Rumors like that never reach us. That's for our subordinates to handle."

"I see."

In other words, House Baraha had placed only Solif on its wanted list, not Turan.

'Did they decide I was just some small fry with no real connection to Solif? I'd be grateful if they did...'

Then again, the only person who knew how powerful a wizard Turan was would be Tasan of the Red Whale Pirates, at most. As long as he kept quiet, Baraha might consider Turan just another of the countless wandering nobles, and the pursuit force's annihilation after failing to capture Solif a mere coincidence.

Of course, he would probably have to search Baraha's main house to learn the full story. For now, simply learning that he was not wanted was a substantial gain.

'That reminds me, I should visit the Red Whale Pirates sometime. I need to know whether they sent the people on that island home properly.'

It was a bit of a detour, but visiting them after stopping at the library seemed like a reasonable idea.

* * *

After talking a little longer, Turan told Lida and Osel that his party would be leaving. They, too, planned to stay near the hot springs for a while, and it would be troublesome if they happened to see a wanted poster bearing Solif's face during that time.

Lida felt uncomfortable, as though they were driving Turan's party away, but Osel seemed pleased to be rid of the unwelcome guests.

In any case, the encounter had revealed one important fact: Ravista was most likely not in the grip of a divine being.

Rather than immediately flying off on Vije, Turan's party traveled on foot toward the northwest of Shiraf Marsh, continuing to focus on practicing magic and restoring Maysa's health. Once he judged that she had gained enough weight, Turan put his second plan for her recovery into action.

"Come on, push harder!"

"Aaaagh!"

At Turan's command, Maysa screamed, her face bright red, and struggled to push her legs outward. She was performing the secret physical training regimen Turan had once practiced under Haram, with some of the techniques Solif had learned at House Baraha incorporated into it. Turan and Solif served in place of the training magic tools it required: one supported her back while the other pressed firmly against her legs to provide resistance.

When she panted with exhaustion, Turan ordered her firmly, just as Haram had once ordered him.

"No resting yet. One more!"

"I really can't anymore..."

"Doing one more when you really can't is what helps. Come on!"

"Aaaaaagh!"

As Turan had experienced himself, this physical training was agonizing enough to make a person feel they might die, but its effects were undeniable. A noble's body naturally strove toward an ideal form under the influence of mana. As soon as flesh filled out what had been nothing but skin and bones, it turned to muscle, strengthening her body.

Of course, her frame had never been particularly broad, so a robust physique like Haram's or Solif's was probably beyond her. But even the physique of an ordinary adult woman would allow her to display quite useful physical abilities with the aid of her immense mana.

After three or four weeks of traveling north while concentrating on Maysa's rehabilitation, the marshes finally gave way to wilderness. Returning to the western wilderness after a fairly long absence, Turan narrowed his eyes slightly.

"Let's go straight there from here. I'm a little uneasy."

"You did say you fought some army, didn't you?"

"I did. I left no traces, but... you never know."

He thought the side House Valtas belonged to had probably won the war by now, but he would have to reach Orem to know for certain. Turan's party boarded the swing Vije carried and gazed down as they flew over the wilderness.

"Everything looks rather deserted."

"Still, there are quite a few people on the roads. The war must be over."

Vije remembered their previous visit to the library as well, so they reached Orem City directly, without losing their way.

"Hey, you! Wash yourself before you come in!"

"Oh, come on, I'm not that dirty..."

"Get moving unless you want a beating!"

Watching the peddler and the policeman bicker, Turan let out a small sigh of relief. Orem City's atmosphere was just as he remembered.

"This place hasn't changed."

"Really?"

"Yeah. Looks like they won the war. It's better that it hasn't changed hands."

After passing through the gates without difficulty, the three headed straight for the palace where the lord resided. Turan had been alone before and had slipped into the library, but that was not an option this time. Unless they intended to force their way in, they would need permission.

"Is that the library?"

"That's right."

"It's so tall..."

Apparently this was Maysa's first time seeing Orem's library as well, and she exclaimed in admiration. They soon arrived at the lord's residence, where Turan waved to the knight guarding the entrance.

"Hello, it's been a while. Your name was—"

"Ah, noble one! Welcome!"

As luck would have it, the guard was the knight Turan had first encountered at the library, so there was no need to display his mana. Following him inside the residence, Turan's party soon met Orem's new lord.

"A pleasure to meet you. You are... Turan? Marvin has told me about you."

Orem's new master, Gillon Valtas, was the nephew of the previous lord, Rug, and the older brother of Marvin, with whom Turan had once gone hunting. He said he had inherited the position after Rug lost his life toward the end of the recent war.

"My condolences on the passing of the former lord."

"Thank you. Your kind words ease my grief a little."

Despite his words, there was not a trace of sadness on his face. Turan did not bother asking what had happened to Izella, the former lord's daughter. Whether she was dead or alive, merely showing an interest in her might displease the lord before him.

Unlike the former lord, who had readily granted entry in hopes of having the monkey monster hunted down, the new lord wanted money in exchange for use of the library. Perhaps the war had left his territory impoverished.

Turan had more than enough gold and silver anyway. He offered a suitable handful of gold coins, secured permission, and headed for the library with his two companions.

"Welcome, noble ones."

"Here is our permit."

"All is in order. Please enter."

Turan entered to the knight's courteous greeting and called loudly for the librarian as soon as he confirmed the door was shut. Experience had taught him that voices inside did not carry out, so he had no reason to hold back.

"I'm back, Elder!"

"I don't think I can see him."

"Neither can I. Damn, what a shame. Meeting an ancient spirit and not being able to see or hear him myself."

Given his interest in ancient lore, Solif seemed all the more disappointed. Both of them looked at Turan as if urging him to introduce them, but he shook his head.

"No, I can't see him right now either. He must have gone upstairs for a moment."

He was normally always on the first floor. Had he found something he needed to look up? Turan and his companions waited on the library's first floor for several minutes, but the librarian did not appear.

"... Elder?"

Turan's voice echoed hollowly through the library.