SML Ch 71

Chapter 71

It did not take Reynald long to descend the stairs and step into the front courtyard. As he opened the door with careful silence, he immediately caught Volant’s voice carrying on toward the clockwork doll.

“Mm. So, you see, I’ve been hesitating all this while whether to ask or not….”

The clockwork doll was seated on a special “question chair” the villagers had cobbled together. It was raised high enough that even a small doll could meet a man’s eyes when conversing. Thus even with the tall Volant, the creature could look at him directly as they spoke.

Reynald carefully edged forward, trying not to be noticed by either doll or boy. His first intent was to slip straight across the yard to speak with Arun, who he knew was concealed on the other side. But that plan soon faltered—because he ran into someone unexpected.

Alex.

“…!”

“My lord?!” Alex silently mouthed, startled, then quickly grabbed Reynald’s arm and pulled him behind the pillar where he was hiding. Plainly he wanted to avoid Volant noticing them.

Lowering his voice to a whisper, Reynald asked:

“What are you doing here?”

“I wasn’t trying to spy! It’s just—ah, well, I happened to come at the same time wanting to ask a question too. But, um, why aren’t you asleep, my lord?”

“I meant to—but then I saw Prince Arun skulking out here in the yard, looking troubled.”

“…The prince? Out there? Oh—so it is!”

Alex’s eyes went round at the sight of the direction Reynald pointed. From their current pillar, Arun’s tall frame was half hidden by a tree; it was unlikely he even knew Alex was hiding nearby.

Frankly, the situation was somewhat comical. Reynald had to fight down a rising chuckle, while Volant remained oblivious, still speaking earnestly to the doll.

“You know—setting aside the others—don’t you think there must’ve been some special reason I was chosen?”

[……?]

“The princes, well, they’re royal by birth. Reynald is remarkable the more you see of him. Alex—he hides more than he lets on. But me? I’m just another villager.”

Volant’s voice was calm and laid-back as always, yet the question itself brimmed with solemnity. Naturally so—no one would seek the doll in the dead of night for trivial queries.

“Couldn’t it have been anyone? Any villager passing the test, whatever it is?”

[X]

Even from some distance, Reynald saw clearly the doll’s arms lift to form an emphatic X. Alex, brow furrowing in worry, muttered softly:

“Was Volant actually troubled by things like that?”

Hmm… I doubt that’s it.

Alex seemed to think it was mere inferiority complex. But Reynald knew Volant was no such creature—he’d never flinched from speaking his mind even before royalty. No, Reynald suspected something else was troubling the lad. Perhaps…

“…So it wasn’t just random, huh? Then I’ve another question.”

[?]

“Could the coming events have something to do with me personally? …Wait—don’t answer yet. Let me phrase it better first.”

The doll smacked Volant sharply on the head, as though irritated by his pickiness. He merely rubbed the spot with a hand, voicing no complaint. Instead, he spoke again, this time in a voice heavy with steel.

“It’s not about me. It’s about that masked murderer—the one who killed my family last year. …You know who I mean, don’t you? The voice in the labyrinth read my memories, so surely you too learned something.”

[O]

“Good. Then—is that murderer tied somehow to the coming incidents?”

[O]

The change in Volant’s tone was chilling—so cold Reynald nearly shivered. Yet the doll’s answer came lightly, almost carelessly: a raised arm, a circle.

Volant exhaled a deep sigh. Reynald immediately understood. Volant held no resentment about his own ordinariness—but he had long suspected roots of “selection” might lie in those linked to him.

So even that, tied in… it hadn’t occurred to me.

That masked figure, thought long gone, might yet be entwined in this scheme. Volant pressed on, hesitant.

“…The serpent in the lake—the Orthros one. That man said he was fleeing eastward, far across the lands?”

[O]

“So that part wasn’t a lie. Then… he went east, but he’s coming back?”

[O]

“And when he returns, will he harm people here?”

[O]

“…Can I stop him?”

For once, the doll gave no circle, no cross. Its arms lowered, head tilted—no affirmation, no denial. The silence left Volant uneasy, a groan escaping.

“…If the answer’s no, just say no. Why look at me like that?”

[…….]

“Not something I can do alone, is it? I’d need others’ strength alongside mine?”

Still the doll offered no sign. Shoulders falling, Volant sighed in defeat.

Doubtless, he never expected otherwise. That murderer had wielded powerful warded relics, had slain the Orthros Serpent single-handed—what Reynald’s group had barely dragged down with poison. For Volant to best him? Unthinkable.

Yet perhaps the lack of an outright “no” from the doll stung his pride—or something else entirely. After a pause, he muttered softly, almost guiltily:

“…I hate to trouble Sir Reynald any further. He’s already done so much for me. What if my problems only dragged him into danger again…”

Reynald startled quietly. He hadn’t imagined those words from Volant. Indeed, they echoed thoughts he himself had once held—when he charged recklessly to rescue the princes from the Swine Forest, determined to shoulder risk alone. That time, it had been Volant who stayed his folly. And now here was Volant himself, speaking with the same hesitation.

Was he beginning to distance himself from Reynald? Or…something else? Reynald was pondering when—

“I wouldn’t think that way, Volant.”

“…Prince Arun?”

Suddenly Arun emerged from his hiding place, striding straight toward them. Volant’s eyes went wide.

“Y-you startled me! Since when were you there? Don’t tell me you heard all of that?”

“I—er—it wasn’t deliberate! I came to pose my own question to the doll, but you were already here, so I thought to wait my turn!”

Reynald couldn’t help flicking a glance at Alex, who ducked his head in embarrassment as if caught.

No, it isn’t that excuses are always the same—it’s just that there are so very many skulking questioners tonight.

Volant, cheeks reddened, rose to his feet.

“I understand. Well then, I’m done—please, go ahead.”

“…Even so, as I said before, I hope you won’t think that way.”

“What way?”

“That these troubles are yours to face alone. That you must not lean on Sir Reynald.”

Arun said this calmly as he sat beside him. Volant, hesitating, nodded in small motion. After a long moment, Arun’s plain words followed.

“It seems you’ve grown strongly attached to him. Perhaps that, in truth, is why you fear so much.”

“Ah.”

Reynald blinked inwardly. Why in the world bring that up here? But Volant, instead of rejecting the suggestion, flushed crimson, speechless.

The clockwork doll, meanwhile, sprawled idly across its chair in some odd pose—quietly enjoying the sight of the two.