By Zephyria 
Until the mansion was completely repaired, we decided to stay at a nearby inn. Most of the servants returned to their quarters, and only Abyss, Sakira, Kyle, and I moved.
Fatima was to remain and oversee the repairs of the mansion.
“Aska, this way, please.”
As I was about to leave the mansion, Abyss called out to me. He reached out his hand, perhaps to support me as usual, but Kyle stepped in between.
“……”
“……”
A heavy silence fell between them. I couldn’t see Kyle’s face because he was wearing a hood, but they seemed to be glaring at each other. I didn’t want to get caught in the middle and become exhausted, so I quickly went to Sakira’s side.
“Don’t you remember who he is?”
Sakira, who was leading us a few steps ahead, glanced back at me as I approached and asked quietly. I tried my best, but I couldn’t remember who he was, but just in case, I thought about it again.
Still, I couldn’t remember.
“No.”
“He doesn’t seem to be lying. And his identity is certain.”
“I know. When I talked to him, he seemed to know a lot about me.”
I hesitated for a moment whether to talk about the intimate contact I had just experienced.
But more than that, I was curious as to why I had such a sensitive reaction to the name Kyle. Would he answer if I asked? I remembered that I had been avoiding it with various excuses, so it was difficult to ask easily.
Sakira, who was watching me quietly, adjusted the coat on my shoulder and said.
“There are many things I haven’t told you, but it was all for Aska’s sake. I was worried that your health would worsen again if I said something unnecessary.”
“……”
Just hearing it would make my health worse again? Things must have been very bad before I lost my memory.
“Were you upset?”
I shook my head at the worried question.
“Not really. I was wondering why you didn’t tell me. I knew I wasn’t an ordinary person.”
I didn’t know if I was just a rich person or a nobleman with a title, but I couldn’t be a normal human being if I had been married and divorced dozens of times.
“That’s true. You can’t even change your clothes by yourself.”
Sakira laughed. I felt embarrassed and just laughed along. It wasn’t because of the clothes that she noticed, but when I thought about it, it was strange.
It wasn’t because I was sick, but I really only knew how to hold a spoon. If I were a commoner instead of a nobleman, I would have starved to death long ago.
“I’ll tell you everything while we eat. Now that we have to live in the city instead of a remote place, you have to be careful about your behavior. Abyss and I were discussing when to tell you anyway, since we came out of the mountains.”
Oh, am I finally going to hear about my identity? I’ve been curious for a long time, but I wasn’t very excited because I had a rough idea.
“How can he act like that when he’s been serving Aska?”
I heard Abyss’s voice from behind. They were still fighting. Kyle didn’t answer, and only Abyss was talking unilaterally.
“Aska!”
Then someone called me. I reflexively turned my head towards the sound and saw a person I had never seen before rushing straight towards me. I hesitated at the rapidly closing distance, but the unidentified man passed me and stopped in front of Kyle.
“How can you cancel the schedule so suddenly like this? Don’t you have any business ethics?”
“How did you know I was here?”
The muscular man with blond hair and blue eyes kept shouting at Kyle with an angry expression. I was more confused by the name I had been called a moment ago than curious about the man who had suddenly appeared.
“I guess his name is Aska too?”
I asked Abyss, who had come to my side. Abyss and Sakira seemed as embarrassed as I was.
“Then what is Kyle?”
When I asked again, Sakira hurriedly whispered.
“Please don’t say that name out loud if you can help it.”
“……?”
Of course I wouldn’t say it if you told me not to, but I wondered why she was so shocked. Then something flashed through my mind.
I looked back and forth between Abyss and Sakira and asked.
“Is that my name?”
They didn’t answer, but I realized from the way they looked at me that it was the right answer. Now all the questions were answered. So that’s why I was so surprised when he said his name was Kyle.
The questions were answered, but new questions arose.
I had forgotten my own name, but why did I only remember those three letters?
“……”
For some reason, my heart was pounding, so I groped around my chest and turned my gaze. Kyle… no, Aska and the man were still arguing.
“Everyone’s gathered and we’re just about to leave, but you’re just going to slip away like this?”
As I stared at the muscular man who was getting heated up, he turned his head towards me as if he felt my gaze.
Was he someone I worked with at the guild? He said he quit his job, so it seems like there was some trouble because of that.
As I continued to meet his gaze without thinking much, Abyss subtly blocked my way. Aska also stepped in between.
“Let’s move first.”
Sakira said carefully as she led me away, but I felt a little sad to leave like this. I hesitated for a moment, then grabbed Abyss’s shoulder, who was blocking my way, and asked the man.
“Are you hungry?”
“What?”
The man asked back at the sudden question. I heard Abyss groan next to me before I could even finish my sentence.
“If you haven’t eaten yet, come with us.”
So we all headed to an inn called ‘Blue Desert’. I think Sakira’s acquaintance was the owner.
It was quite a large place, but it seemed like we had rented the whole place because there was no one else there. I wasn’t very hungry, but I was curious about their conversation, so I sat down at a table on the first floor.
Aska, Sakira, and I sat on one side of the six-person table, and Abyss and the muscular man sat on the other side. There was another brief argument because they didn’t like the seating arrangement.
“Is that the person you were looking for?”
The man leaned back and whispered to Aska as if he was whispering, but it was so quiet inside that everyone could hear him. The man, who was surprised at himself for saying that, gave me an awkward smile.
“Let’s introduce ourselves first. I’m Andrew. Sorry for the late introduction. I’m a Magical creature researcher.”
Not a monster, but what is a Magical creature?
“Magical creature researcher?”
“Yes, I’m a fool who was tricked into finding a new unexplored Ruins and quit my perfectly good job. Hahaha.”
I stared at Andrew, who was laughing self-deprecatingly, and then turned my gaze away. Was Aska hiding something from him? I couldn’t guess what he was thinking because I couldn’t see his expression because of the hood.
“What are you talking about?”
I nudged Aska with my elbow and asked.
“It’s a long story. And I didn’t trick you.”
“Isn’t he someone you used to work with?”
While I was having a short conversation with Aska, Sakira and Abyss finished introducing themselves to Andrew.
Sakira said that she was running a trading company, and Abyss introduced himself as being in charge of guarding the trading company. Finally, Andrew’s gaze reached me, but I had nothing to say.
Sakira explained on my behalf, as I was troubled because I couldn’t reveal my name or identity.
“This person is a guest of our trading company.”
“If you need to hide your identity, I’ll pretend I don’t know either. These days, many high-ranking people hide their identities and go on adventures. I understand.”
I was grateful that he created a plausible situation for me.
But I kept hearing about adventures and Magical creatures, so I asked with a puzzled expression.
“Why do high-ranking people go on adventures?”
“Isn’t it human nature to want to explore the unknown? It’s dangerous, but curiosity always overcomes fear.”
“What kind of curiosity?”
Andrew’s eyes widened as I tilted my head.
“Why, curiosity about Magical creatures. There have been so many since that incident. What, have you been living in some mountain valley?”
How did he know? I was about to ask if it was obvious, but I stopped myself. He didn’t directly tell me that I had to hide my identity, but judging from my past actions, it seemed like I had been moving in secret.
“I didn’t know because I wasn’t interested in that kind of thing.”
“No, how can you not know this much even if you’re not interested? Actan would know even more.”
I still had many questions, but I couldn’t distinguish between what I could say and what I shouldn’t say, so I tried not to talk about myself and continued the conversation.
“What do you mean you quit your job?”
“It’s just as it sounds. Exploring Ruins takes quite a long time, and I can’t take a vacation for that long.”
“Oh, so that’s why you quit? Then you must have been a researcher affiliated with the guild.”
At my question, Andrew said as if he was wronged.
“I was going to quit this year anyway because I was on a contract, but isn’t this too much? I already sold my house to leave…”
Ah, this is a bit… Even I thought it was too much. As I stared at him with a sullen expression, Aska sighed.
“That’s why I gave you the penalty. I told you the location, so go find it with the people who gathered.”
“That’s right! Is that as easy as it sounds! Where am I going to find a Wizard!”
I asked Andrew, who was shouting angrily.
“How do you two know each other?”
“Just at the guild… How do you two know each other?”
He was scolding me and getting angry just a moment ago, but now he was asking with curious eyes.
I hesitated for a moment and then made up an excuse.
“We’ve known each other for a long time.”
Then Aska, who had been quiet, asked gruffly.
“Is that why you brought him all the way here?”
“You said you didn’t want to talk.”
“I can tell you what I’ve been doing and where I’ve been. Why are you trying to hear about my information from someone else in the first place?”
There was no way I could get a proper answer if I asked the person himself what kind of person he was. I didn’t think he would answer honestly, and he didn’t seem to have any talent for explaining…
I couldn’t tell him honestly, so I asked him any question I could think of.
“Then tell me what your favorite color is.”
“What?”
“Your favorite color.”
“Are you a kid? You’re asking all sorts of strange things.”
I had the urge to take off his hood and check his expression right away at his grumbling voice.