Gold strands of hair escaped from her hood and shook in the air as Kristina walked beneath the moonlight. Eugene stared at Kristina’s back as he followed her.

Every dragon has a reverse scale[1]. Although she hadn’t shown anything on the surface, when he had mentioned Anise earlier, Kristina’s smile had faltered slightly. Eugene licked his lips as he felt his heart pounding from the tension.

“Um, I’m sorry,” Eugene decided to apologize for now.

At this, Kristina, who was still walking ahead of him, shrugged her shoulders and laughed, “What’s with the sudden apology?”

“It’s just, well…” Eugene hesitated. “I think I might have been a bit too careless with my earlier question.”

“There’s no need to feel that way. Weren’t you just asking because you don’t know me very well, Sir Eugene? Having seen Lady Anise’s appearance, it was only natural for you to have some doubts about me,” Kristina said as she turned her head slightly to look back at Eugene. “Also… don’t you have quite a lot of interest in the heroes from three hundred years ago, Sir Eugene? That only makes it more understandable that you would have such questions.”

“A lot of interest?” Eugene repeated curiously.

“There are a lot more people paying attention to you than you seem to be aware of. As the foster-child of the main family… that alone would have made you stand out, but your talents, Sir Eugene, are such that even Aroth’s high-brow Tower Masters were forced to recognize you, no?” Kristina asked as she looked forward once more.

As she regained her previous speed, she continued talking. “...While Hogani may be part of Nahama’s territory, it has also been designated as a holy site by the Holy Empire. Every year, many believers make a pilgrimage to that holy site. Naturally, this means that the Holy Empire has many eyes watching that holy land.”

“...,” Eugene silently processed this.

Katrina confessed, “It might be unpleasant for you to hear this, but I was already informed of what you were up to during your stay in Hogani.”

“That’s not enough to piss me off. I had already noticed that I was receiving a lot of attention while I was in Hogani,” Eugene replied with a snort.

Eugene and Laman had stayed together in Hogani for less than a week. In that short span of time, Eugene had indeed felt a great number of eyes watching him.

There hadn’t been any hostility in those gazes, so he hadn’t bothered to evade them. Since there had also been that matter with Amelia Merwin hanging over his head, Eugene hadn’t wanted to kick up a fuss and draw her attention. As such, he had left his watchers alone, but he had kept up constant vigilance while...