"When you left, I checked the house and found this, wouldn’t you know."

Yuder opened the box the old woman handed him right away. Inside was a very old wooden doll meant to ward off misfortune. It bore the same significance as the one found in the Duke of Peleta’s bedchamber, but this one was far cruder and clumsily carved. At its center was a faintly etched symbol.

"This is..."

"Your grandfather gave it to us as a token of thanks when he brought you to this house. We kept it in our room all these years, and strangely enough, since then, no one in our family’s ever gotten sick or injured."

Then, with a gentle look in her eyes, the old woman whispered kindly.

"I thought it might mean more to you than to me, now that my days are numbered. Would you take it?"

Yuder fidgeted with the doll for a moment before giving a small nod.

"...Yes. Thank you."

"My goodness, we were actually thinking of coming to see you again. It must be fate! Don’t stand out in the cold—please, come in."

As Yuder was caught in a whirl of unspoken emotion, Kishiar suddenly leaned in with an arm around his shoulder and called out brightly. In the brief moment since the knock, he’d tidied up the table and even used a transformation artifact to alter his appearance.

"Hm? You were planning to come see me again? Why?"

It would sound odd to say they wanted to ask more about what happened when Yuder’s grandfather first came to the village, but Kishiar was the kind of man who could spin even such awkward matters with natural grace.

"While going over the things you gave us, Yuder and I ended up talking about the past. The more we spoke, the more we realized what a good man his grandfather must have been. Just imagining what hardships he went through to bring a child all the way here..."

"Yes, that’s right. He truly was a good man."

"I’m sure there were many things that happened after he arrived here—things we can’t even begin to imagine. But without your help, ma’am, today might never have happened. It must have been difficult back then, wasn’t it?"

"Oh, heavens. You’re trying to flatter me again, aren’t you? But really, I didn’t do much at all."

"How could you say that? It’s never easy to help a stranger, especially someone seriously injured. I imagine your family must have had concerns too."

"No, that’s not..."

It hadn’t been more than a few minutes since they invited the old woman in and served her warm tea, but Kishiar had already succeeded in drawing out the information they wanted.

"When he first came to the village, I wasn’t the one who found him—it was my son. I only gave the brief version earlier because it’s not a very pleasant memory..."

Her son, who had been returning from the mountain with goods, discovered a blood-covered man near the village entrance looking like a bandit. At first, he truly thought he was a bandit, but the man had no weapon in his hands.

Clutched desperately to his chest was a small cloth pouch, and in a dazed voice, he asked where he was, what day it was, who ruled the land.

"At first, my son tried to avoid him because he seemed completely out of it. But once he realized what was inside that pouch was a baby, he brought him to the village. We didn’t learn the full story until later, after the man had recovered somewhat."

"..."

Yuder and Kishiar exchanged glances. They didn’t need words to understand what the other was thinking.

Kishiar, with his usual poised smile, picked up the thread of conversation again.

"I see. It’s not uncommon for someone who experiences a major trauma to lose awareness temporarily. Your son must have been very startled... And did he tell him where he was?"

"Of course. What else could he do? The man was extremely shocked at first, but after sleeping it off, he seemed to regain some clarity. Even then, though, he kept asking strange questions for quite a while. People found it unsettling."

"Strange questions?"

"Things that anyone should know. Like, who the local lord was, where His Majesty the Emperor lived, who the current dukes were, whether there were monsters around here... That sort of thing. Ha!"

She laughed, saying that was all she could remember, but Yuder couldn’t laugh along. As she finished her tea, the old woman’s gaze drifted toward the pile of Grandfather’s belongings that Kishiar had neatly stacked off to the side.

"Have you finished looking through all that?"

"Everything except the cloth that looks like a table cover."

"Table cover?"

She chuckled when she saw the folded cloth.

"No, no. I definitely know what that is. That’s the cloth he used to wrap you in when he brought you here."

Yuder was momentarily at a loss for words. Even though he’d already heard that he had been brought wrapped in a cloth, it hadn’t occurred to him that this could be it. When he looked toward Kishiar, the man seemed calm—he had clearly already guessed as much.

"So, did you find what you were looking for in the bag?"

Since she was curious, Yuder explained about the notebook, the papers, and the badge.

"Heavens. There really was a badge? It’s a good thing you didn’t just toss the whole thing."

She clapped in amazement.

"Well, I’ll be heading out now. My family would worry if I’m too late."

"Let me escort you."

"No need. I may be old, but I can manage this much on my own. I didn’t come here to burden you, especially when you’re about to leave."

She firmly refused their offer and stood up.

"I heard the lord might be coming here tomorrow. If you don’t want to run into him, you’d best leave early. Take the third path down—the one opposite the village. And... don’t worry. I won’t tell anyone what I saw or heard here today."

With a final look at Yuder and Kishiar, she turned and left. Yuder watched her retreat into the darkness, then bowed his head in farewell.

Back inside, they sat again with the wooden doll placed between them.

"So Grandfather really was... in a serious state of memory loss when he arrived."

"That’s what I think too."

Kishiar picked up the wooden doll from the table. His red eyes scanned the faint engraving at the center with great care.

"This isn’t a typical pattern for longevity, prosperity, or health. Perhaps it’s a regional symbol?"

"No. I’ve never seen it before either."

"Then it might be part of a magic circle used by mages."

"Mages engrave those into things?"

"At Helrem’s house, one of the dolls had a segment of a monster-defense spell circle she created in her youth. Mages sometimes engrave meaningful spell formations onto things—this might be something like that."

"I see."

"It’d be good to show this to some mages when we get the chance."

"I’ll ask Inon as well."

He wasn’t a mage, but few people were more knowledgeable about magic than Inon. He might be able to identify the strange symbol.

Yuder tucked the doll into his coat. As he looked around the home they were about to leave, it felt very different from when he first returned.

This house that had always felt like it would be here forever. A place filled with memories of a grandfather he thought was just a simple man.

But now, it felt as if secrets he never knew about were hidden within its walls.

Why did Grandfather raise me?

He had no blood relation to the baby. He had been gravely injured, on the verge of collapse, yet still protected that child with all his might. Was it just human kindness and a sense of duty?

There was no way to know. Yuder could never begin to guess the weight of that choice.

It’s time to head somewhere that might give me even a fragment of an answer.

Yuder stood up. He reached his hand toward the red eyes that had been watching him all along.

"It looks like we’ve finished everything we needed to do here. Let’s get ready to go."

Unlike when they arrived, they now had much more baggage. Kishiar wanted to bring all of Grandfather’s books and the ledger, Yuder’s old chair, and all sorts of miscellaneous things he had set aside to give him.

Of course, they couldn’t take the chair right away, so they agreed to bring it back later. Even the books and ledger were too much to carry in one trip, so they only packed a few. Kishiar filled a box—like the ones they had used to bring up provisions from Peleta—with items from Yuder’s home, wearing a look that mixed regret with satisfaction.

"I could carry everything, but because of what people might say, I have to cut back. It’s heartbreaking."

"Even if you make that face, the answer’s still no."

The man, his lashes lowered like a forlorn flower, let out a wistful sigh.

"I should’ve brought the enchanted storage pouch."

"You mean the one you used when you raided that warehouse in the west?"

"No. There’s one even bigger than that. It can hold furniture. Not very durable, but in my hands..."

Just how much were you planning to loot? Yuder decided not to ask any further.