It was the day after I came back to the Royal Capital. Today, I decided to drop by at the Knight Order''s central garrison since it had been a while.

    "You''re finally here, huh, smelly brat!? Sure, you''re just a temporary member, but why''d you go missing without even notifying, for damn''s sake!? What do you take us for, a rest house!? All the preparation I had made to make good use of you ended up for naught!"

    I was immediately spotted by Master Dew whose eyes were red like a hell demon''s. Don''t tell me he was drinking again, or maybe it''s sleep deficiency? But man, look at his audacity to brazenly declare his intention to make me work like a bull. See, I totally saw that coming and that was why I ran away. So, I ignored him.

    "Oh heavens no, master! May thunder strike the audacious one who dares to disturb everyone, no way would I commit the same folly. That''s why I decided to take my exit quietly...... Ah, could it be some unnecessary concern from my side? Pardon me, but I have to visit Kiana-san for archery practice---"

    "Did I say you can leave, huh?"

    I tried to retreat, but the Master''s claw dug into my skull.

    "Masking your whereabouts so cleverly is quite a way to show your concern, must I say. Dew-san even asked the intelligence department to look for you after running out of patience, but even they gave up. The only thing they knew was that you went to Robles with your friends for explorer stuff, but there was nothing after that. Where in the world did you go?"

    The cleft-chinned Dante-san asked from the sideline with a bitter smile.

    Fufufu.

    That day after coming back to our dormitory in the evening, I changed into civilian clothes, put on a hat, and left the dormitory under the darkness of night, boarding a direct train to Cosrael that same day.

    I bet no one would have thought in their wildest dreams that I would leave for another journey right after finishing one on the same day. My intuition was alarming me continuously that ''I would be in trouble in a lot of ways'' once the news of me returning spread out.

    The last thing I wanted was a caravan of guests at my tail on my trip to Solcoast. Well, once you''ve seen the other side of society, being careful becomes a habit.

    "Of course, I was on vacation! I wanted to eat seafood at any coast, so it was a long trip to Count Serdos'' territory but oh boy, I can still recall the taste of my wish! After that, I happened to hear about the hot springs, and since it was on the way, I thought why not and then---"

    Just as I was explaining, I felt the grip of my Master over my head increasing with each word of mine.

    "......And then, that was a joke. I was actually on a quest to broaden my horizon--- ack, it hurts, Master. My head is seriously going to get crushed at this rate!!"

    "For crying out loud! Now if I don''t see any improvement after your so-called training, believe me when I say I will crack open that skull!

    Your first task is to check out the police reshuffling program, followed by meeting with the R&D folks about the magic tool ?Spreadsheet? or whatever. After that, check out the mountain of documents at my desk, sheesh they really don''t know to give my poor bones some break, and then follow Dante at night for a 3-day expedition! The 6th legion requested backup.

    The main goal of the expedition is the extermination of a pack of Dark Wolves; it won''t take more than half a day with your support."

    ......You know what, why don''t you change the name of this place to Hell''s Workspace?!

    ◆◆◆

    As a condition for him to accept me as his pupil, I appealed that I could also take some of the workload off of him in exchange.

    But at some point, the little help had transitioned from minor tasks to almost becoming his proxy. It was no less than torture to go through the pre-modern era''s desk work, so in the end I took some liberty and taught the others just a bit of modern business secrets on how to get things done swiftly.

    It was almost the norm for capable people to be swamped with work, but when the same work became the blindfold that prevented them from performing their duties, they should have realized their error then.

    So what was originally a mere idea conceived to reduce Master''s burden spread like wildfire among the entirety of the Knight Order, and even the entire kingdom following the eagerness of the whole bureaucratic bunch. And as the originator of this reformation idea, I was often summoned in meetings despite being no more than a provisional member of the Knight Order.

    As if that wasn''t enough, I was often made to run errands on missions where my detection magic was useful as a replacement for Master who couldn''t distance himself from the capital. Good grief, did they forget I was just a temporary member?

    Apparently my detection magic was one of the best in the Knight Order, though it was far cry from Master''s, but anyway, the other legions who heard of the rumors also started making requests, asking me if I was free to join them on wide area subjugation missions.

    Those missions were hardly befitting of the status of my Master, the commander of the 3rd legion, so instead they directed their attention to me since I was an easy fish to summon as a temporary recruit and a student.

    It wasn''t hard to imagine that my summer vacation would be ruined for good if I stayed idle without coming up with a strategy. I was here to learn from my Master, not to become his second coming!

    "Oh my, the hot springs of the Serdos territory, huh? Do you mean Ment Village?"

    I was so engrossed in my thoughts that I didn''t notice the arrival of Justin-san who inquired about my vacation with a grinning face.

    "Woah, when did you get here, Justin-san? Speaking of, I didn''t see Parch-san anywhere either, is he out patrolling? Otherwise, it''s hard to think that that person would waste the chance to tease me.

    Ah, right. So you know Ment Village? Man, that was quite a beautiful village, they had the best bath I have visited in my life!"

    In response to my carefree reply, Master and Dante-san reflexively stared at each other, which was followed by silence.

    "Parch-san is out to cull the number of monsters with third-years in tow. It''s the time for the third-years of the Royal Academy to come and join the Knight Order temporarily for first-hand experience. We might be the 3rd legion, but even we have as many as eight interns. Well, they''re guests in the end for now.

    It''s also the best time to give them a radiant demonstration and experience and show the brilliance of the Knight Order.

    By the way, considering it''s you, I bet you must have visited the village as a civilian rather than a member of the Knight Order, eh? Did you find yourself becoming acquainted with someone or hearing some weird rumors?"

    Justin-san asked with his usual grinning mask.

    No wait, did he just say those third-years were guests? Recalling my initial time here, they went too gung-ho though......

    "Nah, it was just a simple trip. All I did was take an escort request, dip into the hot spring, and then make my way home. I didn''t hear anything of particular concern.

    Ah, but my client happened to be ruffians, seemingly members of the Rose Family... I don''t know why, but he was acting quite chummy and even asked to visit him when I had free time in the capital. Of course, he smells trouble and looks like an outright villain, so there''s no chance!"

    When I gave a clear-cut explanation, Justin-san genuinely burst out in laughter.

    "Ahahaha! You really are amusing, Allen. That''s one heck of an interesting vacation you had.

    Perhaps it''s only you who would jump to take on a shady request voluntarily to Ment Village after the sightseeing in the Serdos territory. Indeed, your pattern is as enigmatic as you are. I do wonder just how far you had seen through the charade while wearing that dumb expression, huh?

    ......It''s quite a situation now, isn''t it, Dew-san? Rose has finally shown its Achilles heel with Allen''s action."

    In response to Justin-san, Master sighed, scratched his head with an ''argh, what a pain'' expression, and crossed his arms as he said.

    "......Give me all the details, smelly brat."