The next morning.
Vikir pushed himself out of his shabby bed in the tavern.
He had declined the offer from Highsis last night to come and stay in the fortress's guest quarters.
He'd already paid for the room yesterday.
As he descended the creaky wooden stairs and stepped onto the first floor, where the guards from last night stood guard in front of the tavern and saluted in booming voices.
"'Salute!"
"...I am not from the Morg family, you do not need to salute."
"Sir Vikir, you are the hero of Red Salt Castle, and we have not forgotten how you saved our lives in the depth two years ago, so we salute you from the bottom of our hearts...!"
That's where Vikir decided to give up.
He would have to get used to the salutes and words of honour that will follow him from now on.
He couldn't afford to feel awkward all the time.
Just then, one of the waitresses from last night rushed over and handed Vikir a bag.
"Hey, there's..., if you don't mind, I thought I'd give you a snake for your travels ...."
It was a skewer of the best cuts of beef, some herbal antiseptics, and dark coloured beer in a cold glass bottle.
When the guards saw it, they sighed deeply.
"What in the world has happened to that woman?" they said.
"How can Nancy, the cold wind of the tavern, the epitome of rudeness, be so kind..."
"I guess she's suddenly awakened her spirit of hospitality ."
" What a cruel world. Looks are all that matter."
But Nancy wasn't the only one who had changed.
Ding, ding, ding, ding, ding.
As soon as the sun rose in the morning, three steeds approached Vikir's tavern.
The three horses were followed by numerous other carriages and servants.
Riding on the horses at the forefront were the three flowers of Morg.
Morg Highsis, Morg Midsis, and Morg Lowsis.
For some reason, they looked different than they did yesterday.
For starters, they no had fairer skin, red lips, darker eyebrows, and more defined features.
They looked natural, as if they weren't wearing makeup, but they were actually wearing heavy makeup that took an extreme amount of time, money, and effort to put on.
On top of that, they were wearing formal outfits, that they would never normally wear.
Afterward, Morg's three sisters who greeted Vikir dismounted from their horses.
Even the notoriously ill-tempered Highsis said "thank you" in a gentle voice to the servant who helped her to her feet.
Vikir said to the triplets.
"Is it okay to travel unarmed in wartime?"
It was an innocent question.
But they answered with a glint in their eyes.
"I am armed."
"I am also fully armed. It's called 'combat readiness'."
"Ho-ho-ho, although my sisters' makeup is more like camouflage than armour."
The youngest of the three sisters' expressions stiffened at her sisters's comment.
"What? Camouflage, that's referring to the face you hid with your brush~"
"I only hid my face, what about you sister? You covered the outline of your chin altogether. you also made your nose really stand up with shading, but what? That's almost like a civil engineering."
"Okay, move your bangs out of the way kid, so I can play soccer on your forehead."
As the three Morg suddenly began to argue with each other, the air around them began to swirl with magical power.
Despite their smiling faces, the air around them was growing chilly.
However, their fight was quickly interrupted by a single word from Vikir.
"Have you contacted the Baskervilles?"
Highsis was the first to raise her hand and answer.
"Yes, I sent an owl just yesterday to tell them that Mr. Vikir has returned."
Slowly, his title changed from "sir" to "mr".
It was Highsis's way of trying to be more respectful.
Vikir, of course, wasn't phased at all.
"All right, then. I'll go by myself from here."
They were still in front of the tavern. He just meant he's going to make the trip alone.
The three sisters were openly disappointed.
"Are you sure you don't want us to accompany you ...?"
"It's a long way to the fortress border."
"The roads are complicated, and you could get lost."
"I'm sure you're busy, but it's okay."
"we are not busy! we are not busy at all!"
"We're so bored we're sleeping all the time these days! The barbarians are quiet, we're not busy at all."
"Why don't you just come with us, we'll show you the sights and give you some advice..."
"No, thank you. I'd appreciate it if I could just borrow a horse."
Vikir clapped his hands and thought to himself.
"When I return home, I'll have to report that Morg's men are playing around.
Such disloyalty is unforgivable, sleeping around while borrowing someone else's land.
Then. Highsis came up behind him, pulling a pale white horse.
Only it's ears were dyed pink.
"This one is my favourite, his name is Poppy, and I've had him since he was a baby. When you're riding him, you're also riding me... No, no, please think of it as riding with me, eh, eh."
"Sis, didn't you buy that horse in a hurry at the market last night."
"Yeah, yeah, yeah, I picked the best one I could find, and I pushed the stallholders hard, but it was a real deal~"
Highsis grits her teeth and menaced at her siblings.
Whatever.
Vikir climbed onto the horse.
Until then, the three sisters had been arguing over who would lead Vikir to the edge of the Red Salt Castle's boundaries.
Then.
"..., I have a question for you."
Vikir turned his head.
Meeting his gaze, the three sisters stopped moving for a moment and stared up into his face with blank expressions.
It was as if they were mesmerised.
But Vikir's next words brought them back to reality.
"Where is Camus?"
Camus. Camus Morg.
Hearing the name brought the three sisters back to reality as if a bucket of cold water had been poured over them.
"That, that, that's right. That's right, there was Camus, ugh."
"... We're gonna have to look all over the place, aren't we?"
"That's why I told you not to do that, sisters!"
The three sisters gasped, realising what they had just done.
Then Highsis answered Vikir's question.
"If it's Camus, she's entering closed-door training."
"...closed?"
Vikir repeated, and Highsis shook his head, filling in the blanks of what could have happened.
She had heard that after Vikir's disappearance, Camus had organised a search party and spent years searching the Depths of Black and Red Mountain.
But after failing to recover Vikir's body, let alone save him, Camus abruptly stopped searching and entered into a closed-door training session.
And what he heard from Morg's three sisters was startling.
"She's separated from Uncle Adolf."
Highsis said, sounding surprised herself.
I heard that Camus has changed a little since the time he stopped searching for Vikir.
She had lost much of her brash personality and spoke less.
Then, out of the blue, She announced her withdrawal from the "Light Side".
Since Camus always followed Adolf like a parent, who was her uncle and the leader of a light faction, the Morg family was shocked even from within.
However, Adolf did not express any official comments about this incident.
He just silently watched Camus, who had defected, joined the "Dark Side", which stands at the opposite end of a "Light Side".
"... The Dark Side."
Vikir frowned slightly.
There are two factions in Morg.
The Light Side, which uses magic to achieve results both internally and externally.
And the Dark Faction, which is less publicly visible, but deeply researches and develops magic within the family.
Members of the Light faction travel in and around the clan, slaying monsters and constructing buildings.
Members of the Dark Side, on the other hand, generally don't travel outside of the family.
Instead, they study a particular field or genre of magic in depth, and through countless trials and errors, discover and recreate new magic.
It's the difference between a practitioner and a researcher.
'The current leader of the Light Faction is Adolf Morg , and the leader of the Dark Faction is Snake Morg."
Snake Morg. He is an archmage who leads the House of Morg and holds the title of Marquis of the Empire.
The same rank as the patriarch, Respane Morg, and a distant relative of hers, he was not known to the public.
The only thing that comes to mind is his reputation as being incredibly pompous and stubborn.
... Of course, Vikir, who had lived through the Age of Destruction, was familiar with the man known as Snake Morg.
"This is unexpected."
Vikir frowned.
Before the regression, Camus and Snake had never gotten along.
But somehow, in this life, Camus had suddenly joined hands with Snake.
Since Morg's party is composed of one delegate, 20 senators, and 400 representatives, Camus would most likely have been a senator.
Maybe she wasn't even a senator at all.
Vikir hesitated a moment, then spoke up.
"Can you deliver a message to Camus?"
Highsis nodded as if it were obvious.
"Sure. It's a favour from a friend."
"Okay. Then I'll ask you to keep it short."
Vikir nodded, and all three sisters took out pens and paper, ready to dictate.
But what actually came out of Vikir's mouth was very simple and short.
-When you get a chance, let's meet face to face.
...?
Is that it?
Weren't they supposed to be reunited after two long years?
The three sisters, Highsis, Midsis, and Lowsis, stood in place in a daze.
Turning to them, Vikir added, as if it had just occurred to him.
"Oh, and. Be sure to leave the dark Side."