Chapter 93: Irons in the Fire (3)

We heard the detailed story from Sebastian.

First of all, this fire was not an accident.

It was arson, intentionally set by someone.

And that someone.

“…A devil, appeared.”

Was a devil.

“A devil… Sebastian, what is that…”

According to Sebastian, a while ago, the ‘Wall’ had sent an official request for support to the Irons family, saying that the movements of the demons were unusual.

In response, the two young masters, that is, Miki's older brothers, the eldest son Gabriel and the second son Raphael, had gone on an expedition to the Wall, and for a while, only the head of the family── Miki's father, Johannes── was left in the mansion.

And as if aiming for this, a devil had suddenly stormed into the mansion.

“He… called himself, a corps commander of the Demon King's army.”

“…!”

Corps commander.

As soon as he heard this, Miki turned to us in horror.

From his expression, the other companions also seemed to be thinking the same thing.

“Don't tell me…!”

But, this time it wasn't Luce.

“It was the 5th Corps Commander of the Demon King's army… a man named ‘Etian’.”

“E-Etian……?”

When his prediction was wrong, Miki looked even more confused.

“Lord Johannes… as always, bravely fought against that devil alone.”

The fire in the mansion was the aftermath of that battle.

To be precise, it was closer to Etian deliberately setting the fire.

“In the meantime, I was evacuating the servants who were left in the mansion under Lord Johannes’s order, but…”

He said that while going back and forth to the mansion several times, he had noticed something strange.

“Lord Johannes, who was clearly fighting the devil… along with that devil, had suddenly disappeared from the mansion.”

Without a trace.

The two who had been fighting a fierce battle had disappeared, as if they had never been there in the first place.

Of course, it was a story that was not easy to believe.

“What is that, what…”

The fact that the mansion he had returned to after a long time was still burning, that it was the work of a devil, that the devil was even a corps commander of the Demon King's army, and that his father… had disappeared without a trace while fighting that corps commander.

“It doesn't make sense……”

Miki, who was very confused, suddenly seemed to have a sinister thought.

Because of that, he swallowed once, and then cautiously brought it up.

“Sebastian, don't tell me… my father was caught in the fire……”

“That's impossible.”

But Sebastian firmly dismissed that possibility and shook his head.

“I kept looking around the mansion, but I couldn't find any trace of Lord Johannes.”

Then this time, he said with a faint smile, as if to reassure Miki.

“Besides, you also know well, Young Master, that he is not someone who would die by being caught in a fire like this.”

He was right.

Johannes would have surely just endured a fire like this and walked out.

“…Yes. He surely would have.”

Sure enough, Miki also immediately nodded his head in agreement.

With a lighter expression, as if a burden had been lifted from his heart.

In fact, for a being who was a corps commander of the Demon King's army to suddenly cross the wall and cause such an incident in the middle of the large city of Tiaria… if you think about it, it was a little, strange.

But since the target of the attack was the Irons family, if it was to weaken the enemy's strength—through assassination, etc.—it was not completely incomprehensible.

So everyone probably didn't feel any doubt about that part yet.

Of course, the reason Etian had targeted this place was not that.

“M-More than that, Young Master!”

At that moment, Heidi suddenly approached Miki and said, holding his one hand with both of hers.

“Are you okay?! You're not hurt anywhere!?”

“Yes, I'm fine, Heidi. Thanks to my companions…”

Miki seemed to think that she was only asking about the incident of entering the mansion just now, but what Heidi wanted to ask was not just that.

“Where on earth have you been all this time?! You disappeared without a word…!”

“Ah……”

Only then, did Miki seem to recall his own situation, which he had forgotten for a moment because of the bigger problem in front of him.

“Do you know, how worried everyone was…?!”

That is, the young master who had run away from home.

“I-I'm sorry, Heidi….”

Perhaps thinking that he might disappear again, Heidi started to cry again, not letting go of Miki's hand.

Miki, who was flustered to see Heidi, was trying to soothe her, and before long, mages came to the mansion.

Because large fires that could not be put out by just bringing water were usually suppressed with the help of mages.

Only after seeing the fire in the mansion completely suppressed by them.

“……Um, everyone.”

Miki looked at us and cautiously opened his mouth.

“There’s something I need to tell you….”

As if the time had come to talk about his ‘secret’, which he could no longer hide.

***

In that case, we couldn't go to a pub to rest as usual.

It wasn't a story to be told in a noisy atmosphere with many listening ears.

So.

“Please come in, everyone!”

“Pardon the intrusion, Heidi.”

We decided to stay at Heidi's house.

Of course, there was the much larger residence of the head butler, Sebastian, but it was decided to be given to the servants who had lost their place to sleep today, those who lived in the mansion.

But this place, too, was quite spacious for the house of an ordinary commoner maid.

The Irons family was in many ways a model of a knightly family.

Although they were nobles, they always tried to maintain a simple life as long as it didn't compromise their dignity as nobles.

Instead, they were very generous with the remuneration for the servants who served them.

“Huh? It's Miki Brother-ah!”

“Miki Brother! Where have you been all this time!?”

To the extent that they had even prepared a separate house like this, not just a lodging, for Heidi, who had to take care of those several young children who came running as soon as we entered the house, as a single head of the household.

“Ahaha. Have you been well, kids?”

As soon as they saw Miki, the children were very happy and surrounded him, almost clinging to him.

For reference, Heidi was a ‘human’.

Therefore, her younger siblings were also all human, and the height of a few of the children was already similar to Miki's.

Nevertheless, Miki's appearance, taking care of them, was just like an eldest son taking care of his close younger siblings.

In short, they already looked like they were practically a family.

Just by looking at this, the two were not just in a relationship of a young master of a mansion and an employee.

Well, if they were already like family with the younger siblings, it meant that this was definitely not the only time he had visited this house.

“Not bad, kid.”

Perhaps that's why Ibi was chuckling and kept playfully nudging Miki's shoulder with her elbow.

“I thought you were a good boy, but you’ve been doing everything, you little rascal.”

“Uh… yes?”

But Miki, who didn't even understand the meaning, tilted his head.

“You two seem very close?”

“Ah, yes! Heidi was one of my few friends of the same age. So we often played together since we were young.”

So when I asked to clear up the misunderstanding (?), as expected, Miki answered confidently as if he had nothing to hide.

“Then you’re like childhood friends.”

“What, that's what it was?”

At that, Ibi immediately showed a reaction as if she had lost interest, but she glanced at Heidi, who had been strangely quiet from a while ago, and crossed her arms, saying, “Aha…”.

After that, we first had a simple dinner with Heidi's family, which we had missed because we had missed the time.

And after playing with Heidi's younger siblings, who were very interested in Miki who had come after a long time and us who had come with him, until they fell asleep.

“……Now, I have no choice but to tell you.”

Miki cautiously, brought it up to us again.

“As you all know……”

Then, gulp, he seemed to pause as if swallowing once, and before long, he continued as if he had made up his mind.

“…I am a member of the Irons family.”

Then he began to look at us with somewhat worried eyes.

At that, we.

“Uh……”

As you can see from the fact that even Ibi couldn't easily continue her words, frankly, we were at a loss as to what to say.

“I'm sorry… for hiding it all this time…!”

“…….”

Not only Ibi, but everyone, was at a loss as to how to react and were looking at each other's eyes.

It was an expression that said, ‘You were hiding it…?’.

Frankly, he had been so obvious about it, he might as well have said it.

No, actually, come to think of it, he had said it.

The silence that had been going back and forth for a while was broken by Heidi, who had brought us tea.

“That's right, Young Master! Why on earth did you leave the house without a word?!”

“That’s……”

At Heidi's question, which had suddenly recalled the question she had forgotten due to being caught up in the atmosphere, Miki trailed off, as if it were hard to speak.

But that was also for a moment.

As if it were a story he had to tell us anyway, he opened his mouth again with difficulty.

“…My father told me, I was a ‘failure’.”

“……!”

At that moment, Heidi covered her mouth.

“Th-That’s…”

She wasn't the only one who was surprised.

Especially Lily, as if to empathize with Miki's feelings upon hearing those words, squeezed her eyes shut.

“Of course, he didn't say it in front of me, I happened to overhear it.”

At those reactions, Miki continued with a bitter smile I had never seen before.

“That word… I couldn't deny it. Not only compared to my father or my brothers, but even as an ordinary knight, I couldn't even do one person's share properly… as you know, I was a half-pint knight who couldn't even handle a single weapon properly.”

So he left home, Miki said.

“If I stayed in this house, I felt so pathetic.”

Saying that he was not worthy of being called an Irons.

“Ah, so…”

Hearing that, Ibi seemed to understand why Miki had been reluctant to say the name Irons from the first time they met.

“Such……”

Meanwhile, Heidi, who had heard the reason why Miki had disappeared without a word, was making a very sad expression.

“And even outside, where I went for training, I realized painfully. That without the name Irons, I am just a halfling who can't even handle a weapon.”

No one would hire Miki.

The ones who did hire him, like those thugs, all had other intentions.

“But then, I met you all.”

Miki continued.

“You all accepted me, Michael, as a knight, not as an Irons. …You respected me, who couldn't even handle a single weapon because I was afraid of harming other living beings, and said that I was fine just as I am.”

It was then.

“To you all, I have a request to make…!”

Miki suddenly got down from his chair and knelt on the floor.

Then.

“Together, please find my father…!”

He bowed his head to us.