Chapter 374

The next day.

I met Ivan Holmes.

I was greatly surprised, but the guy had a calm expression as always. Ivan Holmes placed his hand on his chest and bowed his waist with a formal attitude.

He merely chuckled glancing at me, who was sitting side-by-side with Ruben in the seat of honor, as I half-raised my body in surprise and sat back down, then tried to stand up again and sat down.

“You… No, no. Why are you here, Ivan?”

“Haven’t you heard the news? I came for work combined with my honeymoon, the person here is my spouse.”

“…Gasp.”

The man who had been standing silently with his head bowed next to him looked at Ivan, startled. I looked at that man blankly. I had only heard words that he was big, big, but this is…

I blinked my eyes a couple of times, then thinking it was impolite, I offered a greeting first.

“Nice to meet you, I am Michael Ehrenhart.”

“…Yes, I am Sienna Bikoff.”

I turned my gaze back to Ivan.

It had already been three years in number since I graduated from the Academy. The child, who had passed the age of majority a long time ago, remained the same in height and appearance, but his originally white skin was slightly tanned. Did his complexion improve, did he gain a little flesh. The impression that used to be like a scrawny dry branch seemed to have become a bit gentler.

Originally, when meeting a merchant, Ruben was supposed to mix words instead of me, but Ruben was also flustered facing an unexpected situation. When I subtly looked back at Ruben, the child smiled affectionately and raised his body.

It was plainly visible that the smile was a fake smile armed with sociable politeness, I was utterly bewildered.

When Ruben approached Ivan and requested a handshake, Ivan received that handshake with a composed attitude.

“It’s been a long time. I should have recognized it right away upon hearing the name, but I couldn’t think your surname would have changed by succeeding a peerage. Should I call you Baron Bikoff now, not Young Lord Holmes?”

“Yes. Well, since I left the capital as soon as I received the Baron title, it is natural that you two wouldn’t recognize me. I don’t mind.”

“How did you know we were here?”

The moment the two boys, no, young men let go of their clasped hands, Ruben threw a pointed question.

Cold water was suddenly splashed over the glad feeling of meeting Ivan after a long time. Leaving me, who couldn’t say a single word out of embarrassment, Ivan Holmes, no, Ivan Bikoff answered without even a slight waver.

“I have been submitting a written opinion regarding the relevant agenda to the Imperial Nobility Almanac Observation Department since the latter half of last year. Since there was no contact the whole time and then a person was hurriedly called, I thought whoever it was, a high-ranking person had come.”

“Is that all?”

“I had also heard from Shaden that Michael was on an overseas trip, so I also had a feeling of ‘just in case’. Until I entered here, I was half in doubt too.”

“I see.”

To me, Ivan was a pale white boy who carried around a chunk of meat on his back at every camping class.

It feels like just yesterday the guy handed me a booklet on how men have sexual intercourse with each other calling it sex education, but when did he become such a neat adult exchanging pleasantries with Ruben. Anyway, other people’s children sure grow up fast. Astounded and fascinated, I couldn’t take my eyes off him.

We walked down the corridor following Ruber’s guidance.

We entered the reception room prepared in the room next to the inner room we were originally in.

In the first inner room we were in, Ruben and I sat side-by-side with two chairs on a three-step high platform. Two plain chairs placed at a low position were their seats.

However, in the room we moved to, the position of the sofas was more horizontal than the inner room we were in just before. There was just one wide table between the sofas prepared so that two people could sit facing each other.

Fitting the politeness of treating a guest, Ruben offered them to sit first. Ivan pulled his spouse to sit first and then took a seat. Ruben and I also soon took our seats. Still surprised and not knowing what to say, I was just blankly looking only at Ivan’s face.

Then Ruber gently wrapped and grasped my hand to help me gather my senses.

The child asked.

“Right, I heard you have a story to tell regarding the mermaid disturbance in the Indus Gulf.”

“Yes, that’s correct.”

“What is the reason you didn’t describe the detailed story in writing?”

“Information changes in real-time, and it would be useless to blabber away while there is no listener. If there was no person to listen even after I left this place, I was planning to keep my mouth shut for the rest of my life.”

“If so, it would have been fine if you hadn’t submitted the written opinion from the beginning.”

“Don’t I possess a peerage of the Cieron Empire as well? I must do what needs to be done.”

“…”

Ruben didn’t press and ask anymore. He just smiled bitterly, adjusted his posture, and politely apologized.

“…I’m sorry for pressing you. [Read on RanaTranslations🌸] Circumstances have become somewhat complicated right now, so I had no choice but to be vigilant.”

“I know.”

“…You know?”

The one who asked this time was me. What on earth is he saying he knows? Ivan looked straight at me, and explained without hesitation in a voice similar to when he recited the suspicious booklet once upon a time.

“There must be a circumstance for you two, who should be in the Widro Duchy, to have come to Palmir without a formal entry procedure. [Read on RanaTranslations🌸] Seeing that there are no words offering to call Benjamin or Marianne even after seeing me, it seems you are separated from your group members as well.”

“…Ah.”

“But I think anything beyond that is not a matter I should come into contact with, so I don’t specifically want to pry. May I first tell you the story about the things I saw and experienced?”

“…Sure. I permit it.”

Instead of flustered me, Ruben returned the answer. This guy, acting like he plainly sees through people’s inner thoughts hasn’t changed. While I originally knew Ivan Holmes was a clever guy, I somehow felt awkward and coughed dryly a few times.

With his spouse, who didn’t say a single word, sitting next to him, Ivan began his explanation with a serious face.

Unlike how many people in the Cieron Academy had a somewhat more open perspective on same-sex marriage, among the commoners in the capital, it was a common occurrence to taboo unions between the same sex.

After holding the wedding ceremony and Ivan and Sienna started living in the same house, it seemed bad rumors circulated among some workers belonging to the Eldos Merchant Guild, Sienna’s main family.

Sienna Bikoff tried to solve the problem by punishing the workers, but Ivan was different.

Saying he would press down their pride with his own ability, Ivan requested to go on a honeymoon first.

The reason he specifically chose Yulan was because the current home base of the Eldos Merchant Guild was the Cieron capital. He said it was his thought to open a trade route with the Yulan Kingdom, the closest foreign country down the Saras River.

“I don’t know if you know, but on a first trading journey, it is usual to pack more items to give as gifts than items to sell. Because there were many items to scatter to local influential people, we chose the sea route rather than the land route to reduce transportation costs. It was a safe route coming down along the Saras River, passing through the Indus Gulf, and reaching the Sombre Port adjacent to Palmir.”

“…”

“However, as soon as we reached the Indus Gulf, a bizarre singing sound could be heard.”

“…Singing sound?”

“Yes, a mermaid’s song.”

“How… were you certain of that?”

“I saw an island. A large, wide golden island that originally shouldn’t be in the Indus Gulf. The sailors were all bewitched and steered the ship in the direction where the island was seen, and I, who possessed a magic defense artifact, was not bewitched. Thanks to that, I suffered quite a bit knocking down all the sailors.”

“…Ivan did?”

“Yes.”

“Ivan did?”

“…Yes.”

What? Why?

It was that kind of expression.

But how could he knock down people with those thread-like fists? When I stared at him with suspicious eyes, Ivan clicked his tongue and told the truth.

“Of course my spouse helped too, thanks to being within the area of influence of my artifact.”

“Ah.”

“Thanks to that, I even steered a ship for the first time in my life… It was fun. The same thing repeated twice, and fortunately we arrived safely at the port, but… Still, isn’t it exceedingly suspicious. In my spare time doing my main job, I collected some related rumors.”

“Out of your way?”

“Doesn’t everyone from the Academy have that kind of habit?”

Watching Ruber immediately agreeing to those words, I felt like wondering if I was the one who didn’t come from the Academy. Since I can receive help thanks to that, it is a good thing for me, but the entire time I felt like I was bewitched by a ghost.

Ivan continued speaking.

“There are currently not many trade ships heading from Cieron to Yulan. It has been a long time since most ships gave up trade due to the obstruction of the Yeldiders Duchy.”

“Do you perchance know the timing as well?”

“It should be roughly 4 or 5 years ago. Because it was around that time the Valentia Duchy started building ships saying they would pioneer a trade route through the South Sea.”

“…How could Baron Bikoff come riding the Saras River?”

“I have a somewhat wide network.”

That shouldn’t be true. When I watched him with suspicious eyes, Ivan Bikoff corrected his words without even applying saliva to his lips.

“I sold my younger sibling a bit.”

“…Mm. Right. Anyway, so… Are you saying you were able to not be bewitched by the mermaid’s song using a Mana defense artifact? Then by any chance…”

“No. From what I see, it seems closer to spirit magic rather than magic.”

“Spirit magic?”

“Because while confirming with my naked eyes a phenomenon shaped in such a mighty and clearly visible form, I never once saw a shape resembling a magic circle. The golden island I confirmed twice lasted about 34 minutes the first time, and about 26 minutes the second time. The island that appeared before five verses of the song ended disappeared immediately when the ship distanced itself beyond a certain distance.”

“…”

He was counting that too.

Because Ivan requested writing instruments be provided, I wrapped the notebook, ink, and pen that were on the other side of the reception room with Qi and pulled them over. Ivan just raised an eyebrow once and that was it, but Ivan’s spouse next to him was startled out of his wits, so I too was pointlessly startled along with him.

It seems it’s his first time seeing such an art.

Feeling pointlessly awkward, I coughed dryly a couple of times and held out the notebook.

Ivan, with a pen deeply dipped in ink, drew the coastline of the Indus Gulf and stamped dots corresponding to each port. And he wrote a number for each port. I had thought for some reason he came empty-handed, but it seemed he packed it all in his head.

“Except for some wealthy ones, the small ships among Yulan’s fishing boats did not survive. Although the stranding points are unknown, I could at least know from which ports they departed and didn’t return. This bizarre phenomenon started from Yulan’s westernmost Idel Port, and continued to near the downstream of the Saras River in the Cieron Empire, the easternmost part of the Indus Gulf.”

“…”

“Even though 30% of Yulan’s fishing boats disappeared over three years, the kingdom remains silent. This is probably…”

“…Something abnormal occurred with the divine relic?”

“Yes, I am thinking like that. For leaders to still not step forward in a matter like this is certainly strange.”

Ruber buried his body deeply in the sofa and fell into thought. I quietly peered at the map Ivan drew. I imagined what Ruben would ask first. The extent of damage? The amount of damage? Or a method to find the most recently disappeared fishing boat? Ruben’s neat voice was placed on the table.

“So, what should I give as Baron Bikoff’s share?”

Huh?