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“Snow is here!”

As Belle watched the snowstorm swirling from the sky, she was so excited that she bounced around in every direction.

After a long time of not having fun, she seemed so joyful that she moved like a puppy with her arms and legs flailing about.

Still, every now and then, she would stand up on her two legs and gaze at the sky, making me realize how much she had changed since we first met.

Back then, she was just an adorable puppy, but now, she had an air of personhood about her, like a beastfolk?

I rubbed the frozen, slightly hardened doll mask with my hand and watched Belle play.

Haha.

Why hadn’t I summoned her earlier when I knew she would play so well?

I thought I might have been a bit too lazy.

From now on, if I ever get out of Rondan, I need to summon her and let her loose like a yard dog.

Bang!

Just as I was pondering this, a cold sweat trickled down my back due to what unfolded before my eyes.

Belle was playing around but tripped and fell, creating a rather large crater around her.

What was scarier was that despite such a strong impact with the ground, Belle didn’t seem to be in any pain at all.

“Uh-oh, there’s a hole in the ground.”

Huh.

Hmm.

How can you casually say that?

“Belle.”

“Wuh?”

“I’ll play with you more often from now on. I’m sorry.”

“Wuh?”

She seemed to be puzzled about why I was apologizing, which made me feel relieved.

…Is it because she’s a puppy? As long as I comfort her, she easily moves on from what happened in the past.

Right, a pup getting angry is the scariest thing.

Was what I said simply making her happy?

She cheerfully ran to me again, licking my cheeks furiously.

Suddenly, I remembered that dogs tend to leave their scent on what they consider theirs.

But that thought seemed irrelevant, considering she was already licking me when we’d just met.

As I petted Belle’s head while smiling, she panted happily.

…She still looked like an adorable puppy.

While I was playing with her, I heard murmurs coming from somewhere.

In this snowstorm, there were only two possible reasons to hear a human voice.

Since either outcome wouldn’t be good, I hugged Belle with one arm and hid behind a rock.

“…?”

Belle looked like she wanted to say something, but as soon as she heard the distant voices, she zipped her mouth shut.

She fixed her gaze on the direction of the sound, and I could see two figures walking closer.

“Damn it, I know it’s for safety, but people just roll us around too much.”

“Hey, how can we survive if we don’t keep watch? It’s already chaotic because of those Rondan folks.”

With a bit of eavesdropping, I could easily deduce they were Candles.

To think Candles still wander around this area.

It would be far better to head closer to Gerun instead.

“We can’t just lump it together with Rondan. The knights there don’t care as long as you don’t ride the train.”

“Oh right. Who was it? Leydan Tanton? That guy is the problem.”

Wait, why is my name suddenly being mentioned?

I was planning to subdue them right away, but now I was intrigued by what they were saying, so I decided to listen in for a bit.

“Oh, Leydan Tanton. Right. I heard he obliterated the whole group of Hunter followers, right?”

“They say he’s killed the most in this war. He even uses Outsiders.”

“There’s no one crazier than that guy who wants to shove Outsiders into himself.”

…Is this just simple gossip about me?

Since it seemed they had no interesting information left, I was about to take Belle and head out.

“Oh, by the way, speaking of Leydan Tanton, did you hear that?”

“What is it?”

“There’s talk that guy is from another domain?”

“Ah, that. Apparently, that’s true.”

“Really?”

…Now I was finally hearing something interesting, so I stopped in my tracks.

Belle was whining more and more as playtime kept slipping away, but I tried to calm her down by petting her head.

Yet, her usual purring still didn’t fade, making the conversation a bit ambiguous.

“…from … They say they are looking for him greatly.”

“What? The world’s …?”

“…hero, they say. Sacrificing his life for…”

“Huh, but how…”

What?

What hero are they talking about?

I couldn’t hear anything because of Belle, so I gave her a nudge, and she finally fell silent for a moment.

But it seemed like the important part had already passed as the two Candles shrugged their shoulders.

“Well, either way, right now he’s just a madman.”

“It seems he was thoroughly brainwashed by the knights. It’s not good like this.”

I couldn’t hold my impatience any longer and stood up, startling the Candle who then stumbled and landed on their backside.

It was a ridiculous sight, but that wasn’t what mattered right now.

“…Wait a second.”

“W-What? Why is Leydan Tanton here?”

“We need to run…!”

“Wait! Tell me what you were saying earlier!”

This might be a crucial moment where I could learn about my past.

Understanding what ‘Leydan Tanton’ had been up to could clarify my path moving forward.

With that thought in mind, I slowly approached them, but Belle suddenly jumped out and began barking at them.

“Woof! Tell the human, woof!”

Was she trying to help out?

But those were just ordinary Candles.

The outcome was obvious once they stepped into the domain of the Elite Outsider.

“…Outsider?”

“Oh, please, save me. No!”

“Don’t look, no, don’t watch, no!”

“Nooooo!”

…I was pulling my hair in despair at the scene of the Candles, now incapable of recovery due to mental corruption.

Meanwhile, Belle, blissfully unaware, simply wagged her tail.

#

After wrapping up my walk with Belle, I slumped onto my bed in the branch’s room, feeling utterly drained.

I had missed a fine opportunity to learn about my past due to my carelessness.

For a moment, I felt anger at Belle, but if a being like her, being an Elite Outsider, could understand our vulnerable situation, that would indeed be peculiar.

It was my negligence.

A sigh escaped my lips in regret.

I thought of venting to Asti, but she was sound asleep in the room, so I hesitated to disturb her.

What can I do? I guess I’ll just have to sulk alone.

“I’m sorry, human….”

No, it can’t be helped.

I’ll eventually find a way later.

After calming Belle down, I checked that no one was in my room and called for Lia.

Had she been in a deep sleep? As soon as she appeared, she stretched and then shot up in the air.

It was time for the routine I hadn’t been able to do while being busy.

“Lia, we have to do that.”

“Okay!”

Thanks to the vessel filled with Outsiders, Lia could now speak freely.

So she responded soundly this time.

Watching Lia return to my pocket, I wondered what I had her do.

I needed to get that dandelion the Gardener had given me to photosynthesize.

Despite her mentioning some great reward, the growth rate was so slow that I felt cheated now just nurturing it.

Still, growing plants turned out to be unexpectedly enjoyable, but I felt a little regretful since I hadn’t done it much recently.

By the way, considering I hadn’t been able to photosynthesize for this long, it wouldn’t be dead, would it?

If it died… then I’d be left with nothing to say to the Gardener.

Unlike my worry, Lia emerged from my pocket with a rather serene look.

In her two hands, there was a pot.

Oh, thank goodness it wasn’t dead.

Right, being a plant given by an Elite Outsider, it should hold on well enough.

While I was zoning out thinking about such trivial things, I was quite startled.

What’s this?

Why is the flower already blooming?

When I last checked, the buds had just fallen off, preparing to bloom!

Lia noticed my gaze and looked at the flower, her eyes wide in surprise as she saw the fully bloomed dandelion.

“The flower is blooming!”

“Y-Yeah? How did it bloom?”

Did Lia manage it in bits and pieces?

Even if that were the case, it didn’t make sense for it to bloom without the warmth of the hearth.

Oh well.

Even if it wasn’t the yellow dandelion I had expected, but rather a white one, it still looked rather pretty seeing it bloom like this.

If I had a phone, I would have taken about three pictures right about now.

That was a bit regrettable.

Thinking about that, I took the pot from Lia and placed it in front of the window.

This made the room feel a bit more refreshed from the dull atmosphere.

Plus, maybe because it was a white dandelion, it gave off a brighter vibe too, which was nice.

The Gardener had a great sense in flower selection.

And perhaps thanks to the warmth from the hearth?

The flower seemed to be growing brighter and brighter.

Hmm.

But somehow, it feels a tad too bright.

“L-Leydan…!”

At that moment, Lia called out my name in surprise.

When I registered that, the light emanating from the dandelion began to engulf me.

“Aaah!”

A blinding glare that felt like it would blind me wrapped around my whole body,

and with that, I lost consciousness.

 

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