Ch#165
A few days later, in the basement of Astie's Mansion.
"Then, let's begin the executive meeting."
With the opening declaration, six people gathered around the round table.
"Let's look at today's agenda first."
Nordics, who first checked the agenda,
"Let's get through it quickly and end it. I can't breathe the same air as that guy for even one more minute."
Veil growled, glaring at Tese tan diagonally across from him.
"......"
Basto and Aleric sat calmly amid the situation.
"Ha."
Tese tan let out a sigh as if the situation was ridiculous.
And finally, Tie, who was stuck right next to Tese tan, was the star of the show.
"Now that we have more members, it makes sense to increase our siege volume."
Veil spoke first, eyeing Tie with dissatisfaction.
Aleric immediately replied.
"Increasing siege volume doesn't necessarily raise mana stone yields. Efficient sieges are what matter."
"Why are you picking a fight from the start? Ah, trying to establish discipline from the first executive meeting?"
"......This is a meeting. Isn't it natural for members to voice their opinions during a meeting? Don't get emotional."
"Wh-what? Ha! Emotional?!"
As Veil shot up from his seat, Basto grabbed his arm and pulled him back down.
Basto, sighing, asked Aleric.
"Do you have any other ideas for efficient sieges?"
Aleric nodded.
"Divide the siege teams into three. They can rotate, making it easier to conserve stamina."
Basto nodded.
"Good. Then we need to think about how to allocate personnel."
"How about organizing the new members' combat tendencies first?"
"Yeah. The association assembly has been postponed for a while, so we have some leeway for now......"
Centered around Basto, Nordics, and Aleric, the meeting progressed quickly.
One hour later.
"Alright. That should be enough, so let's wrap it up."
Basto stood from his seat, ending the meeting.
Tese tan rose as if he'd been waiting, thinking,
'......The whole hour.'
During the meeting, the Necromancer King had stared at him without rest even for a moment.
His left cheek, where her gaze had been fixed, felt tingling.
As Tese tan tried to flee up the stairs,
"Wait."
Basto stopped him.
Turning his head, he saw Basto's stern face.
"We have somewhere to go together in three days. Clear your schedule just in case."
Tese tan's brow furrowed.
Somewhere to go together.
'As expected, a weird group.'
Agavert seemed to go on some kind of outing every week.
Otherwise, mercenaries rarely gathered for anything besides sieges.
'A mercenary group run by a freak like the Necromancer King—how weird can it get.'
Tese tan nodded roughly.
He had no desire to follow along to some bizarre gathering, but refusing would obviously cause trouble.
Veil would throw a fit, and the Necromancer King would pester him again.
"......"
Even now, the Necromancer King was looking at him with sparkling eyes.
Tese tan quickly turned away.
And hurried up the stairs.
Aleric followed behind.
Only Veil, Basto, Nordics, and Tie remained in the basement.
Veil grumbled as if it was absurd.
"Didn't even ask where. See, that's why you don't take in black-haired beasts. Would a guy who stumbled in by chance care what our mercenary group usually does?"
The place they were heading in three days was none other than Luminen Mansion.
Agavert had been holding informal meetings with the Luminen family every week.
Since they were in the same boat, avoiding the emperor and the Church's eyes, they needed to share at least what each was doing weekly.
Of course, after Tie got a communication orb, they could exchange news via orb, but
"Hee hee. Clan Leader will say good job when he hears Tie gathered lots of members. Right, Brother Veil?"
Tie liked Luminen Clan Leader and the three young lords too much to not go in person.
"Good job my foot. With Clan Leader's personality, he'll just yell about picking up such a rude stray."
"Brother Veil, you're so mean! Clan Leader doesn't yell!"
"He does yell. He just smiles gently at you. How strict he is with us. To some kid he doesn't even know."
Veil lightly pushed Tie's forehead.
Tie let out an 'ehwoo' sigh and shook her head.
Time passed quickly after that.
Agavert began new siege methods, efficiently utilizing the increased members.
And during that time, something very, very sad and hollow happened to Tie.
"H-Hueeng......"
"Tie, don't cry. When you cry, it makes me want to cry too!"
Selina was leaving for the Northern Continent with her parents.
Tie wiped her falling tears and hugged Selina.
Selina sniffled and rubbed her eyes.
"Selina, hueeng, you can't forget Tie? It's a promise...... H-Hueeng!"
"Why would I forget you! I'll contact you from the Northern Continent too, so check the communication orb!"
"Yeah! I'll take it even to the bathroom and bath time!"
"......You know not to drop it in water, right? Water corrodes the core stone and breaks it."
Tie nodded her puffy eyes.
Selina sighed and patted Tie's back one last time.
Then she stepped out the entrance with reluctant steps.
Tie stared at Selina walking away outside the door, hiccuping.
Then she realized her neck muscles were stinging and whimpered.
"B-But, hic, Selina grew so fast......?"
When they first met, their eye levels hadn't been much different.
Today, it felt like there was a big height difference that hurt her neck.
At Tie's words, Raoul, who had been watching from a distance, paused.
He narrowed his eyes and looked at Selina exiting the garden gate.
"......It's not just that Lady Selina grew a lot."
He slowly shifted his gaze to Tie.
Tie, holding onto the entrance, was still at the height where her head barely reached the door handle.
'Strange. Wasn't she like that when we first came to the mansion?'
He approached Tie, pondering.
And quietly looked down at the top of her head.
Tie's height still didn't even reach his waist.
Precisely, it just barely brushed the long tassel on his scabbard...
Raoul's expression turned serious.
It wasn't his imagination.
'Compared to the last measurement, she hasn't grown at all?'
The reason he remembered Tie's height was thanks to Luminen Clan Leader.
In the past, at Clan Leader's house, he had said Tie seemed to have grown a bit.
That day, returning to base, Tie had excitedly demanded the members measure her height.
Unable to stand it, Raoul had measured as representative,
'It was exactly this then too.'
Tie's height was precisely at the end of his scabbard ornament.
Basto approached.
"What's going on."
Raoul startled, then glanced at Tie.
He took Basto up the stairs to the second floor.
"Well, it seems the leader's growth has stopped."
Basto's eyes widened.
"Growth has stopped?"
Raoul nodded toward the first floor.
Tie was still stuck at the entrance, sniffling.
"I noticed with Lady Selina. Their eye levels suddenly seemed so different."
Basto closed his mouth.
"Of course, Lady Selina might have grown a lot recently, but...... I think it's the leader who hasn't grown......"
Basto stared blankly at Tie.
He recalled when Lillia was four.
As Raoul said, kids that age grew noticeably even with brief neglect.
About half a handspan a year, perceptually...
Basto's eyes calmly sank.
