Resolve

Allen, who had been standing by right outside the door like normal, immediately rushed in.

The first thing he saw was the maidservant, who had fallen on her back and had both hands clapped over her mouth. The second thing he noticed was that Cecil was nowhere to be seen. The third thing...was that the window was open.

He rushed over to the window and peered outside. 'Did she escape from this window?! But this is the third floor! Shit, she's nowhere in sight.'

"What is all the commotion?!" Sebas roared, having rushed over in response to the maidservant's scream.

After hearing her explanation, Sebas then promptly ordered all the staff to go and search for Cecil. Even the Baron and Baroness joined in, but no one found the slightest trace of her. Allen combed through every inch of the mansion, going even so far as the stables, but to no avail. He decided to return to her room to speak with Sebas, who was still at a complete loss.

"Sir, if milady is nowhere on the grounds, she just might have gone out into the city. May I have permission to go search outside?"

"Good idea, I'm counting on you!"

After having received his permission, Allen rushed out of the mansion.

'Where is she?!'

When Allen had looked out of the window earlier, he had already sent out eight Bird Es into the sky, making sure to do it in a surreptitious way, of course. Now, he was Sharing with all of them, Hawk Eye activated, and had them scouring the city.

'Why does this city have to be so huge?! Please don't be inside a building!'

Perhaps due to its previous status as a hub for mithril mining, Granvelle City was quite sizable. What's more, since Hawk Eye could not see inside buildings, Allen could only hope that Cecil was somewhere outside where he could see her.

After sometime he spotted a young girl with lavender-colored hair crouched on the ground, hugging her knees in an alleyway several turns off of the main avenue in the business district.

'Found her!' Allen finally felt relief washed over him. He had been restless for every moment since Cecil went missing quite a few minutes ago.

As Allen hurriedly made his way over to her, he realized that the vicinity appeared to be a slum area. The air was damp and foul.

When Allen approached, Cecil's shoulders jolted. She slowly lifted her head. "Allen...?"

"Yes, milady."

After excusing himself, Allen slowly sat on the ground next to Cecil. There the two of them sat in silence for a while.

"...Didn't you come here to bring me back?"

"No, I did not."

"What? Then why...?"

"I am your personal manservant, Lady Cecil. When you go on an outing, it is my duty to accompany you."

Over the past few years, Allen had visited a lot of different places throughout Granvelle City in his capacity as Cecil's personal manservant.

That included shopping trips, events that Cecil had to attend as the daughter of the feudal lord, and at times, simple walks that had no particular purpose.

According to Allen, this situation was no different from all the other times before. The answer was so unexpected that Cecil found herself at a loss for words.

"Lady Cecil, I see you have a wound on your leg. I have some herbs with me. Please excuse me as I apply it."

Allen reached over with a Leaf of Life to heal the gash that Cecil had likely gotten while escaping from the mansion.

"Huh?"

Cecil exclaimed softly in surprise at seeing her cut disappear in a matter of seconds. Then the two returned to sit in silence. After a while, however, Cecil's stomach growled. She pressed her hands over her stomach, blushing slightly in embarrassment. She had not had anything to eat since yesterday.

"I'm afraid this is all I have on me, but would you like some, milady?"

Allen held out some molmo, dried jerky, and dried potatoes that he had retrieved from Storage just now.

"Where were you keeping those?" Cecil asked, giving him a weird look. However, her empty stomach won over her curiosity, so she did not press the matter.

While Cecil was engrossed with wolfing down the food, Allen continued keeping an eye on the vicinity, using Hawk Eye to ensure there were no hoodlums approaching their location.

'Hmm, it'd be a problem if someone picks a fight with us here—Hm?'

Allen's thoughts were interrupted by the sound of Cecil's sobs. Now that her stomach was filled, what happened in the dining hall yesterday had probably come back to mind. She repeatedly mumbled, "I don't want to die" in a small voice.

'I've never tried consoling an eleven-year-old girl before, but looks like now I don't have a choice.' Allen thought helplessly.

"Lady Cecil."

"What?"

"What do you think about not returning home and running away from this city with me? If memory serves me right, the magic ship should be arriving tomorrow, but if you prefer, we can travel by land too. There are many other fiefdoms in this country, right?"

"What?!" Cecil lifted her head to look at Allen's face in surprise. Not only did he not try to talk her out of running away from home, he was even pushing the idea himself.

"You can forget your family. We can travel through so many different countries and visit so many different places. Imagine how fun it'd be!"

'Though we'd be seeing a lot more monsters than we in do cities. I just happen to need someone who can deal ranged damage.'

The word "monster" usually carried the connotation of death, so Allen glossed over it with the word "places." As it so happened, his Summons could only fight in close quarters, so it would expand the breadth of the strategies he could take if someone like Cecil was to fight together with him.

"That's impossible!"

"It's entirely possible. If it's money you're worried about, I have plenty of it." Allen started producing gold coins one after another.

"That's... Huh?!"

"Another option is to return to the mansion first and wait it out for one more year. Next year, we'll both turn twelve and can register as adventurers. We could wait until then."

"B-But the Academy..."

All this time, Cecil had grown up being told she would be going to the Academy City when she turned twelve.

"I mean, you don't have to go, right?"

"I don't..?"

"Even if someone tells you to go, if you don't want to go, then you don't have to go. What do you want to do, Lady Cecil? It's your life. It's your choice."

"What do I want to do..."

All Allen wanted to do was help Cecil see that she had a lot more options than she thought. The young girl fell silent as she mulled over what this meant, and Allen waited patiently for her. Perhaps it was the first time she had truly thought about what it was that she wanted to do.

About an hour later, a commotion started approaching along the main avenue. Apparently, the search for Cecil was kicking up a notch. The sound of voices calling her name reached all the way down the alleyway to where she and Allen were.

"Allen."

"Yes, milady?"

"I'm returning to the mansion."

"Understood."

"Give me a piggyback ride."

"Of course."

Allen turned around and knelt down, and Cecil clambered on. He then started walking out to the avenue.

"Allen."

"Yes, milady?"

"Thank you."

"Anything for you, milady."

Cecil bashfully buried her face in Allen's back shoulders.

As soon as Allen emerged into the main avenue, his eyes met with a knight's. He informed the man that he had found Cecil, then turned to head straight back to the mansion.

Word seemed to have gotten around, as when they were about halfway home, they stopped seeing knights running about.

It took quite a while to walk all the way back, but the mansion finally appeared up ahead. The Baron and his entire family were waiting outside.

Slightly before reaching them, Cecil asked Allen to let her down. The Baron rushed over and enveloped her in a hug. "Cecil!"

"I'm sorry for causing such a commotion, father."

"It's fine. It's fine, really."

"He's right, Cecil. You don't have to shoulder this all by yourself," the Baroness added, tears of joy streaming down her face.

The Baron grabbed both of Cecil's shoulders and looked her straight in the eyes. "I almost have everything ready. I'm so close."

"Huh?"

"The first mithril mine is going to be reopened very soon. I'm planning on offering a portion of the mining rights to the Royal family in exchange for exempting you from your duty.

"I promise you, I'll successfully negotiate it. So you have nothing to worry about. Nothing at all."

Perhaps this was what the Baron had been trying to tell Cecil yesterday.

'Ohhh, so that's why he was really pushing so hard to get the mines up and running.'

Ever since the day that news had come of the White Dragon moving away, the Baron had seemed somewhat desperate about resuming mining operations. As it turned out, he was clinging to it as his ticket for saving the life of his beloved daughter.

"There's no need, father."

"What?!"

"I, Cecil Granvelle, shall carry out my duty as the daughter of House Granvelle, just as my brother, Mihai Granvelle, did. I will no longer run away from it."

With a quivering voice, and resolve in her crimson eyes, the girl proudly declared what it was she wanted to do.