A familiar question was raised for the umpteenth time, as one could expect from a traveller like him.

”Are we there yet?”

Only the thuds of his ball echoed inside the carriage as an answer. His sister was huddled in her seat and had a book propped up on her knees. He gave her a hard stare but her attention was still with a copy of Aria. He caught the ball in his hand and considered knocking the book out of her hands.

But maybe not.

At the other end of his sofa was their butler, Gus who was enraptured with a parchment he had unfurled a few hours ago.

"Gus?"

He had more chances of this guy listening to him, mostly because he was expected to.

"Oh!"

The older man blinked and rolled up the parchment.

"Forgive me, it seems we draw closer to the land of Nyx, a few more days. Once we reach it—"

"Where's our next stop?"

He sighed and sunk in the cushions. He was itching to go out and stretch his legs. Not to mention he had been tossing around the ball he had gotten from the Avem village for a couple of days already. Even he was growing bored of it.

"Well, we shall be arriving at House Flores tonight."

Gus answered him with a small smile.

"...That's not in our domain, are we taking a detour?"

Rhine lowered her book by a fraction to gaze at the butler. Hyde frowned, because she had clearly ignored him earlier and more importantly—

“We don't have time for that! I don’t mind travelling long distance, but we’re clearly delaying ourselves!"

He didn't want to stop at another noble's dwellings—it meant he had to smile, laugh and engage in polite conversation. He involuntarily shuddered. Disregard the fact that they were on their way to meet the Zourian Royal Court.

"Your mother instructed that we take our lodgings there, and your father agreed as a chance to restock on our supplies."

Their butler insisted with a well-practiced smile.

"Geez."

He grumbled. It didn’t matter whether or not their parents had joined them during the journey—they still held a final say—because Gus and everybody else followed them.

"...if I may be so bold, does not sir Hyde go often to Flores Household?"

He stared askance at the butler, the guy never asked questions like that. The last thing the butler asked of him was whether or not he'd like a glass of lemonade...and where did that end up for him? Him getting attacked in the forest!

"Not really. How come?"

He frowned and stared at the butler. Why did Gus ask him this? If he went there often, who would he even visit?

"They're our relatives, stupid."

Rhine spoke up and shook her head, wordlessly calling him other nasty things for sure.

"...I knew that!"

He felt his face go hot. Of course he knew it, he really did. Somewhere in the back of his head, maybe.

"All this time, why do you think we're often approached by them or mistaken as a Flores?"

Rhine gave him a sharp look to which he answered with a shrug.

"Just because we have red hair, and they have red hair doesn't make us all related."

That makes sense right? Anybody could have red hair!

"Yeah, I'm assuming one of us is truly adopted."

Rhine sniffed and returned to reading her book.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

Hyde frowned, until a loud cough erupted from the butler's way.

"Before we diverge our path, it happens that we can also stop at this Verona village before we change territories."

"Finally, I need to walk around."

He sighed.

"...I can't help but agree, shall we stay for an hour or so? I'm sure the soldiers and our horses could use some rest."

Rhine smiled and had placed her book on her lap, a winning smile if he could give it any points.

Hyde frowned, his initial plans probably backfired. Tom isn’t approaching Rhine anymore, but she seemed to have taken much of a liking to the soldier that I asked to keep an eye over her… what-his-name again. He sighed and tossed his ball over Rhine's head.

"You're going to chitchat with—"

Rhine barely flinched or even moved at all.

"We have similar tastes in books, and they're more pleasant to talk with than a certain someone."

The ball bounced back his way. Hyde ducked.

"You mean Tom?"

It still hit him in the back of the head.

"I meant you. Please don't act so stupid, brother."

"You keep calling me one so why can't I act as the idiot you say I am?"

Rhine closed her book and sighed aloud, "You know, Sir Gus? Hyde was much cuter when we were younger. Now he's just a buffoon."

The butler chuckled and Hyde felt his face heat up. He wasn't cute!

"And so were you!"

"Why thank you, I know I'm cute."

She wasn't making any sense with her rebut, but all it took was a flick of her hair and she had finished the conversation. Girls. The carriage slowly skidded to a stop.

"Well then, I shall be going. See you guys in an hour."

Rhine moved out of the carriage before he could even say a word. Between the two of them, the social one now seemed hard to figure out.

* * *

Hyde approached his group of friends. They were glancing around the nearest sights but not moving a couple feet away from the carriage. He fought back a snicker. It seemed like their last incident back at Wren wasn't forgiven yet. He waved at them.

"Heey! How are you guys doing?"

"I'm quite well, thank you for asking. It seems that we're making great progress aren't we?"

Cedric nodded in greeting before sipping some water from his pouchskin. After that, the young man smiled brightly. The only person who could look so satisfied for quenching his thirst.

"I estimate a couple more days—not exceeding a week if my geography lessons serve me well."

He shrugged at the soldier's estimate, Cedric was wrong for once. He wasn't secretly gleeful about it though, he eyed his friend. He was simply doing his duty of informing.

"Yeah, but we'll be taking a detour to Flores territory for resupplying—ack!"

A certain someone had made themselves comfy on his back.

"Oooh! I always wanted to visit the place~"

Jamie's plate of armor wasn't doing any good to his weight. For a petite boy, he weighed a ton.

"You do?"

He tried to get the younger man off of him, and it was a lot harder than he expected. Cedric chuckled but considered Jamie's response.

"Well it's said to be a centre for green magic that even elves could appreciate."

"I wanted to see their greenhouse! Rumors say they keep garden pixies in—"

Hyde finally got the boy off his back and noticed Tom looking right past them. He wasn't jumping into the conversation like he often would do.

"Hey? Are you looking for my sister or something?"

"...to Flores territory?"

His friend muttered more to himself than anyone else.

"Uh yeah, since I'm apparently related to them."

He shrugged it off with a sheepish smile.

"Sir Hyde, I don't mean to be rude but did you recently figure out that all by yourself?"

Cedric raised a questioning brow at him.

"Rhine said the same thing as you!"

He grumbled and averted his gaze. Nobody mentioned it to him! Another one of his mother's secrets.

"Well, it was kind of obvious that your father married from another noble family."

Frank pointed out as well. That made it hard for him to not rub his face.

"Huh...even you?"

He could have excused Cedric for keeping up with news from fellow nobles, but now it seemed he was missing general knowledge. Rhine was being kind by just calling him an idiot earlier.

"Well, red hair is a distinctive trait for the Flores family while the Falcon family is known for their white hair."

Frank explained, but it felt like rubbing salt on his wounds.

"Odd color choices huh?"

Jamie giggled and elbowed him at the side. He winced. They really should consider taking off their armor or switching to leather ones instead.

"It's like premature aging, lucky you didn't get the white locks eh, Hyde?"

"Yeah… weird."

Tom chuckled but it seemed to be out of habit. It didn't sit too well with him. He frowned and glanced at the captain who was talking to the older soldiers. He couldn't get all of them out of the captain's watchful eyes… but he could make an excuse.

"Gus, I'm going to look around for some caricatures! I'm bringing Tom with me, bye!"

* * *

Unlike the village of Wren, this village… well it was almost like a town. The buildings were made of cement and the road was smoothly paved. If Hyde could ever compare it to a town that he previously visited, he'd say that Verona village was more of a town—but he's never been in a town before.

"What exactly are you looking for, Hyde?"

His friend stared at him for a moment, it was able to pull his attention away from their new surroundings. He coughed and averted his gaze.

"Frankly speaking, I really don't need anything… maybe a puzzle? Some kind of toy?"

He sighed and ignored the people looking their way. Mostly girls. It was probably because Tom was wearing his armor, it caught too much attention. Anyhow, he sighed and met his friend's quiet look.

"Hey, anything bothering you?"

Tom chuckled in a way that sent girls around then gaping like a fish.

"What's with all that concern, have you fallen for me or something?"

"Quit with the jokes, you're just not energetic as you always are."

"I have my days, you should be more worried if Jamie suddenly decides to be sad and not me."

Tom tucked his arms behind his neck and glanced around.

"This village seems nice and peaceful, thanks to your family's or your father's leadership… the villages are quiet and safe."

Hyde blinked for a moment before reluctantly looking around. Really look around this time. He didn't only look at how this particular village was more wealthy than say Wren, for both were part of their domain. There was something else. It was the atmosphere around them. It was how people could look at them with awe for walking in the same streets as them but at time same time be completely at ease despite all of that.

Some even smiled and nodded their way.

"...Yeah, I guess I kind of understand why he was busy before and busy until now."

"Hmm?"

Tom didn't say anything else, but it was enough encouragement for him to continue and explain himself further.

"Well, you know the Demon War as much as anyone, he was pretty much as important as the Hero."

The two of them turned at a corner. Was it him or Tom that was leading the way? The street sign they had passed through said they were heading to the trader's market.

"Do you ever ask your father about that time?"

"Well, our tutor already discussed it in our history lectures."

He shrugged in response. There was no need to mention that he wasn't too keen to ask his father about it like some fanatic or devotee. His father had fulfilled what his role required of him as a Marquess.

"Yeah, I guess that makes sense. You don't bother your old man a lot… but he's pretty much a legend you know? So I thought you'd be spouting stories your pop told you when he was fighting off demons!"

Hyde rubbed the back of his neck.It shouldn't have been a surprise that his friend looked up to his father as well.

"But why, is there anything you wanted to know? It ended when we were pretty young, can't we just move on and enjoy the peace?"

"Oh, well I was just curious about how the villages survived... every person who could pick up a weapon fought during that time you know? Whether you were old or young, experienced or not… you had to go. Who protected the villages?"

Hyde shrugged. He could answer that without asking his father at all, he did pick up some lessons. Or rather his tutor lectured ad nauseam.

"They fought in the battlegrounds at the land of Heres, I don't think any villages got harmed at all when soldiers were already risking their lives."

"That's where you're wrong, the House Fauns got wiped out that time along with other villages."

Hyde paused and recalled something like that… but he probably ended up napping or escaping his tutor that time. Still, his friend was impressive.

"...you're pretty well informed."

"I wouldn't be able to talk with Rhine if I don't know a thing or two."

"Hey!"

The two of them laughed until Tom cleared his throat,

"Remember the time at the forest when you were attacked?"

"...what of it?"

"You lost your dagger that time right? It's a chance to buy a new one."

Tom motioned to the street in front of them filled with multiple shops, stores and a large crowd. It was a bazaar.