The Forest Race Clonne

Chapter 57

“That idiot is not in his room!”

“Oh, he’s not here? I thought he must have gone home.”

“Ugh, where did he run off to? Just wait until I catch him!”

It was Kalph’s voice. It seemed the group from Dras Village had returned.

“Lord Kalph, shh! It’s still early morning.”

“So what? It’s my house, it doesn’t—oh, right, we put Sei’s room here, didn’t we?”

“Yes, please keep your voice down. You’ll wake him. Let’s talk outside.”

“Hold on a second. Could Syran maybe…?”

Shortly after, the door creaked open, and Lord Kalph entered the room. He cautiously peeked inside and quickly spotted me awkwardly sitting up. Our eyes met, and a look of confusion crossed his face.

“Oh, you’re awake? Sorry, did we wake you?”

“No, it’s fine. I was about to get up anyway. Have you just returned?”

“Yeah, we made it back. The sun’s only just come up. You can sleep a bit more if you want—”

Suddenly, Lord Kalph’s expression turned serious as he quickly approached me. He ripped the blanket away, revealing the boy who had been hugging me while sleeping. Lord Kalph’s eyes flared with anger.

“I knew it! Syran, you bastard!”

At that moment, familiar faces burst into the room.

“Ah! Lord Syran was here?”

“Oh, Sei, good morning!”

It was Talis and Irei. As I greeted them awkwardly, they too noticed the figure clinging to me. Their wide-eyed expressions mirrored my own sense of disbelief.

“Why is Lord Syran in that bed…?”

So, this boy is Knight Syran.

Accepting the undeniable truth, I looked down at the sleeping figure. Even in the dim light, I had mistaken him for a child, and in the daylight, he looked even younger. He seemed to be around thirteen years old in human terms.

‘His growth must have stopped far too early.’

It was surprising that someone so small was a knight. At the same time, I understood why I couldn’t pull him off me. Thankfully, it wasn’t due to my lack of strength.

“Wake up, Syran! Are you not getting up right now!?”

“Ugh, nooo. I want to sleep more…”

“Sleeping more, my foot! If you want to sleep, go to your room! Why are you being such a nuisance in someone else’s room?”

Lord Kalph smacked his back lightly. But the more he tried to pry him away, the tighter Syran clung.

“How long has he been like this?”

“I’m not sure exactly, but he came in around dawn. I think he entered the wrong room.”

“Ah, I’m really sorry. That must have been really uncomfortable.”

“No, it’s fine.”

“Fine, my foot. Wait a bit. I’ll get him off somehow.”

Lord Kalph sighed and then his expression turned calm. In a deadpan tone, he spoke again.

“Hey, Syran. You can’t be doing this right now. Do you know what news I just heard?”

“…”

“Asuka is coming back.”

The effect of those words was immediate. Syran’s tightly shut eyes flew open and the weight was suddenly gone. When I looked up, Lord Kalph was holding the wriggling boy by the scruff of his neck. It seemed he had caught him just as he tried to flee from the bed. (Irei and Talis, watching from the door, clapped in admiration.)

“See, that always works.”

“Let go! Let me gooo!”

“Ugh, stop wriggling and just stay still. Get a hold of yourself.”

“No! I’m leaving! That jerk is coming! I’m not meeting him! I’m not meeting him!”

“He’s not coming, he’s not coming. I was just messing with you to wake you up.”

At this, Syran’s frantic movements stopped. He looked up at Kalph, breathing heavily from agitation.

“Really not coming?”

“Yeah, dummy. If he were coming, I’d be dancing around, not sitting here waking you up. Now get up properly.”

“…Damn, why would you joke about that? That’s really mean, Kalph.”

“Who told you to sleep in someone else’s room? I’m so embarrassed because of you.”

“Someone else’s room?”

“Well, is this your room?”

Not seeming to remember anything from last night, Syran looked around in confusion and finally noticed me, a blank expression on his face. The eyes that met mine were a clear pink.

“Who are you?”

“Oh, nice to meet you. My name is Sei.”

“Who’s that?”

I was momentarily at a loss for words at his blunt question. Kalph, clearly exasperated, shoved Syran’s head down.

“How many times did I say a new family member was coming! His name is Sei!”

“I don’t remember.”

“Of course you don’t! Do you remember anything properly?”

“But why is his hair black? It’s not even winter yet.”

“Why do you think! He’s an Aesang!”

“He’s an Aesang?”

“If you’re going to act like this, then just give up being a knight! Why did you even become a knight if you’re going to drive me crazy like this, huh!?”

“Oh dear, calm down, Lord Kalph, calm down.”

“Lord Kalph might get a stroke at this rate.”

Irei and Talis hurried over to calm the fuming Kalph. Meanwhile, Syran, oblivious to the fuss he had caused, glanced around again.

“Where’s Rafiel?”

“What?”

“Where is Rafiel?”

“What are you talking about? Why would Rafiel be here?”

“I met Rafiel.”

“What nonsense are you spouting now?”

“I’m serious. I hugged Rafiel and slept together. Rafiel even patted me on the back.”

All eyes turned to me at those words. Feeling awkward under their suspicious and shocked gazes, I responded hesitantly.

“He must have mistaken me for someone else in his sleep.”

“…Ah, of course. Syran is nothing if not consistently wrong. To barge into someone else’s bed and cause this kind of mess… How do we even apologize for this? I’m really sorry, Sei.”

“It’s fine, really.”

Seeing the direction this was going, it seemed even Syran understood what had happened. Looking disgruntled, he fixed his gaze on me.

“So it wasn’t Rafiel but you?”

“Yes.”

“Don’t lie. It was definitely Rafiel. But you look nothing like Rafiel. It couldn’t have been you.”

“But it really was me. I’m sorry.”

As I calmly apologized, Syran bit his lip in dissatisfaction. Lord Kalph sighed and pressed on his head again.

“You don’t need to apologize, Sei. Syran was the one causing trouble. Syran, you need to apologize for mistaking someone’s room and disturbing his sleep.”

“Ow! It hurts! Stop it! You always pick on me, Kalph!”

“Are you proudly spouting nonsense because you sold your conscience? If you’re going to say that, why bother doing such hateful things in the first place?”

This place is noisier than I expected. I thought Knights were supposed to be authoritative and strict, but reality was far from it. As I blankly watched the bickering scene, someone lightly tapped my shoulder. It was Irei and Talis. Following their gesture to come with them, I got up and left the room. Only after they carefully closed the door behind us did they both let out a deep sigh.

“Ugh, whenever Lord Kalph and Lord Syran start arguing, there’s no end to it.”

“They should at least change the venue. What were they thinking causing such a commotion in someone else’s room? You’ve had a rough time, Sei.”

“I’m fine.”

Talis then smiled with a peculiar expression.

“Is that response a habit?”

“Sorry?”

“I feel like you’ve been saying ‘I’m fine’ continuously. It seems like you’re holding back just because you’re still unfamiliar and awkward around us. Don’t. Once you start accommodating this kind of behavior, it’ll never end. If something bothers you, clearly say so.”

“Oh… I really meant it; I’m fine.”

Their gaze on me deepened, seemingly not convinced. Talis soon grinned and tousled my hair.

“Our new youngest sure has a deep soul. The older brothers need to pull themselves together, huh?”

“I don’t understand what you mean.”

“Oh, don’t worry about it. Your older brothers will handle everything, so our youngest doesn’t need to bother with a thing.”

I was genuinely confused. Looking at them in bewilderment didn’t yield any clearer explanation. Irei only scolded Talis for mentioning the age difference so shamelessly.

“You’ve lived over a hundred years. Do you really want to call a kid who isn’t even twenty your younger brother?”

“Oh, come on. Even if it’s in the three digits, it’s not like the first digit has changed. Surely up to a hundred years apart, we can still be friends!”

…A hundred years apart? Imagining a newborn calling the Duke of Rouster “older brother” made me instantly weary, so I dropped the thought and changed the subject.

“More importantly, did you manage to resolve the issue you went out for?”

“Hmm? Ah, well…”

“I don’t know whether to call it resolved or not.”

Talis’s expression darkened as he responded. The mood had clearly shifted, but it didn’t seem to be heading in a positive direction. From what I could gather, the damage to the village of Dras was severe. The most distressing part was that all the abducted children had been returned as corpses.

“I never imagined that even with Lord Kalph’s intervention, not a single child would be saved. The pursuit didn’t even take that long—less than an hour.”

When monsters capture live prey, it’s usually for storage purposes. They tend to keep them alive for a few days before killing them. Given these habits, this situation was certainly unusual. And with the victims being children, the clan’s grief and shock were immeasurable.

“I’m truly sorry.”

“Yeah, that’s what I mean. Something about this feels off in more ways than one. It’s not even winter when food is scarce, yet a horde of monsters suddenly invaded. The scale of the attack was unusual too. It feels like something deliberate was behind it. Just last month, the Nina race’s village was attacked as well.”