Landing in a clearing of a snow-covered forest, Turan observed Meisa descending opposite him.
The first thing that caught his eye was that her body, which he had thought couldn't get any thinner, had become even smaller and more diminutive.
And another thing...
'This is incredible, truly.'
Thanks to the Mimicker holy relic's ability to detect magical flow, Turan could tell that almost everything she wore was a magical device.
Earrings, necklace, clothes, bracelets, rings, shoes, and even several trinkets that seemed to be in her pockets.
While Ferga, befitting a Zahar heir candidate, had two or three magical devices, this was on a completely different level.
It must be the difference between someone who could become an heir and a confirmed heir.
Keeping about ten paces between them, Meisa looked at Turan with what seemed like interest and spoke.
"It seems like it's been just two or three months since I last saw you, but you've changed a lot in that time."
"Have I changed?"
"Yes. Quite significantly."
Compared to when they met at the Berk mansion, where Turan had looked like a boy trying to act mature, now he gave off a more mature impression.
It was a change that came from bearing the responsibility for dozens of lives on the ship, and then thousands in Kalamaf City.
"I can't tell. More importantly..."
At that moment, Bize, perched on the bag pole, pecked his side with its beak as if wanting attention.
It immediately came down to the ground and wrote in the snow.
[Who?]
Usually it didn't interrupt when talking to others, but was it perhaps jealous of the seemingly overly familiar atmosphere?
Turan calmly introduced the person and the bird to each other.
"This is my close friend, Miss Meisa. Meisa, this is Bize. My family."
Calling it a pet would be insulting to this intelligent black eagle, and calling it a friend wouldn't fully capture their soul-bound relationship, which was closer than that.
Hearing Turan's words, Bize puffed out its chest proudly while looking at Meisa.
"Family?"
Meisa showed surprise before smiling as if amused.
"Could it be a soul-bound magical beast? This is my first time seeing one smart enough to write..."
"Yes. It's probably much smarter than most people."
"Where did you form this bond?"
"We met while traveling. Bize chose me, and we formed a soul bond through the beast tamer bloodline's mediation."
There was no lie in Turan's words.
He just didn't mention that the place they met during travel was Komad Port in the Enril Desert, and that he had bought it with money.
"How romantic. I wish I could meet such a companion too."
As Arabion's heir, she could easily obtain a powerful magical beast if she wanted, but in truth, most magical beasts were quite troublesome to take around everywhere.
Even Tilly couldn't be brought indoors because it was much larger than a normal horse.
Magical beasts both small and useful like Bize were rare.
"But what brings you here? Any other time would be one thing, but this isn't a good place for traveling right now."
To Meisa's question, Turan answered honestly.
He told her how he had recently happened to visit a city called Kalamaf during his travels, and somehow ended up becoming the city's ruler.
There was no need to keep it secret since she would learn about it anyway if she went a little further east.
After he told her everything about the western threat that had annihilated Kalamaf's wizards, she nodded as if understanding.
"I see..."
"Do you know something about it?"
"Yes. This might be our responsibility, in a way."
According to her, over the past few months, Arabion's army had been eliminating dark elves and thoroughly excavating and destroying their underground kingdom.
During this process, a few dark elves had survived and fled east, and among them was one powerful necromancer.
"You said Kalamaf's wizards disappeared about a month ago? Then it must be that one's doing. That's around when it fled east. It probably wanted to replenish its undead. Seeing how only those who invaded this far were killed and the Grey Zone is safe, it seems it hasn't left this area."
Now he understood why Meisa, who should have been beating down dark elves in the west, was here.
The war had ended in Arabion's victory, and they had come here to exterminate even the last remaining stragglers.
"Why didn't they flee further east?"
"They're probably in league with the dwarves, hiding in their territory, I suspect."
"Dwarves? You mean the blind dwarves?"
Turan recalled the World Tour Journal he had read in the past.
The story of blind dwarves who hid in mountain passages that only opened once a day and ate people.
Come to think of it, this Grey Zone was the setting for that story.
Though Turan himself had never actually seen any dwarves while traveling around the area.
"Yes. According to legend, the dwarves' dwelling places in the mountains are so deep that even the gods couldn't fully eliminate them. Anyway, it's fortunate they haven't gone further east. Due to circumstances, it's difficult for us to enter the Grey Zone."
"Is that because of Zahar?"
"Yes, that's right."
The Grey Zone, where Arabion and Zahar had once waged war.
Since Arabion's large forces passing through there would itself be seen as a major threat, it seemed the Arabion army couldn't enter the Grey Zone and was busy searching just around its borders.
While they were deep in conversation, Turan sensed a wizard flying from far away and turned his gaze.
Meisa noticed this fact a step slower, suggesting she probably had a magical device with functions somewhat similar to the Mimicker holy relic.
The Arabion noble who arrived shortly after was a middle-aged man who appeared to be in his forties.
"Why are you here, Uncle?"
"You were taking too long to return to camp, so I came looking. This is too close to the Grey Zone. It's not good to stay alone for long."
Given the title "Uncle," he was probably the Arabion family head's brother.
Judging by his magical power being similar to Turan's level, he must be among the upper ranks of Arabion's powerful figures.
However, the atmosphere between uncle and niece didn't seem particularly good for relatives.