The man's voice trembled severely.
His outward embarrassment was so clear that anyone could admit that Ulrich had hit the nail on the head.
Roberta didn't know who Banares was, but she was certain that this man was hiding his identity and using Count Bellido as his proxy.
So the man opened his mouth to make some excuse, but soon realized it was futile and sighed deeply.
"I never thought I'd be exposed in the end, after no one recognized me until now. Yes, I am Bailen, Duke of Tolemancha, descendant of the Great King Banares."
Duke Bailen asked in an incomprehensible tone.
"How did you know?"
"You resemble Banares."
"Resemble?"
Ulrich put his arm back on the armrest of the chair, propped his chin, and looked at Bailen. Roberta thought that he seemed to be comparing him to someone in his memory.
"No, maybe you're quite different."
As he muttered to himself, Bailen frowned. The lord's unchanging attitude, even after he revealed that he was a member of the royal family, must have irritated him.
"What do you mean by resembling?"
He raised his voice and asked again.
"How do you know what Banares looked like?"
"I saw him in Carbonihar."
"You saw him?"
Bailen scoffed, saying it was absurd.
"I heard that you are just over 300 years old. You would have had to be born hundreds of years earlier to see him, so how did you see him?"
"I stayed there for a while."
Ulrich took his fist off his chin and continued.
"Back then, I wasn't Ulrich of Ditmarsken, but another name. Moreover, I didn't stay as long as I have here. Just very briefly, several times. I met Banares then."
"You met him? You mean you faced him directly?"
"Yes, directly."
Roberta heard someone among the guests inadvertently mutter that it was absurd. They looked displeased, as if they had heard nonsense.
But Bailen was different. Roberta saw his expression change. The person who should have frowned the most, instead erased his expression, lowered his voice, and asked.
"Were you using your current name back then?"
"No, it was another name."
"Then what name? When you met him."
Roberta also pricked up her ears.
The lord's other name? Perhaps it was a clue, whether she knew it or not. She didn't think the lord she knew would have lived normally under another name.
"My memory is hazy. As you know, it was too long ago. Besides, I had to change my name often back then. I used several names even in front of Banares."
At the word 'several,' Bailen quickly asked.
"It doesn't matter. Tell me anything you remember."
Ulrich narrowed his eyes and tapped his temple with his right index and middle fingers, and after a while, he recited the names one by one.
Garian, Rainier, Stein, Lüsse, etc. Roberta tried to find a connection by comparing them with her memory, but there wasn't even a hint of familiarity.
But Bailen was different. He gasped as the names began to be listed. His pupils grew larger as if something rose from within and struck him.
Bailen's face, which had shown embarrassment when he started talking to the lord, was covered with suspicion, and now it was painted over with astonishment.
"...Afterward, I combined Rosen from Rosenburg and Stein from Braunstein to make the name Rosenstein. I thought it was a pretty good name, but the two regions didn't get along very well. Thanks to that, I had to change it quickly. And the next one would be the last."
"······."
"As far as I remember, the name I used when I met that kid, Banares, is the last one in terms of time. This name was used while I was briefly under a local aristocrat—"
And as Ulrich's name came to an end,
"Laurent."
He called the name before anyone else.
Ulrich stopped talking for a moment and looked at him.
"Yes, I added a fairy-like title before the surname. So the full name is Laurent de Villeneuve. It was the name I used while briefly under the aristocrat of the Villeneuve region."
A pale face was looking at Ulrich.
"You were... Laurent."
His voice also trembled.
"It's just that you got a few names right. I thought it was a coincidence..."
"Too many to be a coincidence. Don't you think?"
"Yes... no."
Bailen said again.
"I see."
"Did Banares tell you?"
"Yes. He was my grandfather."
"Grandfather?"
Duke Bailen's tone changed.
"Indeed. Now everything makes sense."
Ulrich muttered and gestured for him to continue the story.
"He said that you had many names. So when he taught me about you, he started by teaching me many names. The names you just listed."
It couldn't be helped back then, Ulrich said.
"I couldn't stay in one place for long and had to keep moving. I had no choice but to change my name every time. Rather, I should say I was lucky to have met that kid, Banares, several times."
"I thought it was a bit of a far-fetched story at the time... but in the end, his words were correct. He said that someone with a long time will surely meet someone else with a long time."
"You've heard a lot about me."
"Yes. I've heard a lot."
Really a lot, Bailen muttered.
"Did Banares leave any words?"
"He left things. Saying words change."
"I see."
Bailen looked at Laurent, no, Ulrich, who was holding a teacup.
"What was your relationship with him?"
"Relationship? I took care of him for a while. Just for a very short time."
Ulrich was about to continue, but he smiled wryly when he saw Bailen's expression was quite serious. His eyes were filled with anticipation, as if he were listening to some secret history.
"It's not the kind of relationship you're thinking of. I'm not the kind of person who wanders around without principles. If I were, Banares would have revealed it too."
Besides, it would have been embarrassing for each other, he added.
"...I see."
"Did you think I was your great-grandfather or something?"
"I can't say I didn't."
Ulrich smiled.
"Then, what should I call you?"
"Now I am Ulrich of Ditmarsken."
Bailen nodded.
The six guests sat back in their seats. An awkward atmosphere continued for a while, and the conversation stopped. But soon, Bailen took a short breath and brought up the reason they came, the topic that started the conversation.
"There's nothing more to reveal about me, is there?"
"Didn't you reveal that you had Banares as your grandfather?"
Roberta frowned as she listened to the conversation.
Bailen, he revealed it himself. Banares was a human who lived hundreds of years before Ulrich of Ditmarsken became a lord. How old would he have to be to have such a person as his grandfather?
A human who can live that long, or rather, a human who claims to be living, she had only seen one so far. But now there were two?
"A human with dragon's blood, it's been a long time."
However, the other one was not human.
She realized that only after hearing Ulrich's mutter.
"What are you planning to do by meeting Narbakayani?"
"Well, I want to talk to him first."
Talk? Roberta tilted her head. It seemed like a modest goal considering the risk of entering the Ice Peninsula. Bailen glanced at her and said.
"It's natural you don't understand."
And looking at Ulrich, he asked, "Isn't that right?"
"You didn't have a separate family."
"I had a few wives, but... you know."
Ulrich said, 'I see,' and picked up the teacup again. And while gently stirring the teacup, he explained to Roberta, who didn't understand the conversation between the two.
"Roberta. The half-elves are called Gallua, the half-dwarves are called Mannium, and there are many other words to refer to half-breeds. Then, do you know what the descendants of humans and dragons are called?"
Roberta shook her head, saying she didn't know.
"Was there such a word?"
"I don't know either. I don't think there ever was in the first place."
There wasn't?
"What do you mean?"
"A word to refer to a group can only be created if there is a group. But dragons don't form groups, and the descendants of dragons can't create groups."
As she was about to ask why, Bailen answered first.
"Because we are mules."
He smiled. It was a bitter smile.
"Priest, mules cannot produce offspring. We, or rather, I, remain as individuals even if I want to form a group. It's as if the same fate was given to the descendants as punishment for an arrogant race choosing self-destruction."
He continued. People are such strange animals.
"They want to stand above everyone and enjoy everything alone, but on the other hand, they are bound by everyone. And they are strangely bound by blood. Even if rules bind others and define them as family, their hearts ask whether they are of my blood."
Bailen tilted the teacup.
His face was distorted, but Roberta didn't think it was because of the scent of the Songhwa tea. He was frowning, but he was also smiling subtly.
"But I am a mule, and my mother turned to dust hundreds of years ago. My mother's siblings, as well as the closest clan, have now become more distant than strangers."
He looked at Ulrich and asked.
"You know, don't you? What I'm talking about."
Ulrich didn't answer and tilted the teacup.
"Some may envy the blood flowing in my body. Gallua and Mannium can hardly live past 300 years, but I am destined for a long life comparable to that of fairies. But what good is it? There is nothing I can leave in this world."
"It's not just blood that you can leave behind."
"Maybe."
He smiled at Ulrich.
"That's why we are left behind because of you."
"Bailen."
"But I am different. I am not as strong as you."
"If you meet that child? Do you think that will resolve your feelings? You're wrong. You are human. Dragons are a race that doesn't form groups, so how do you think they will treat humans who aren't even of the same race?"
The two stared at each other in silence.
The person who broke the silence was Ulrich.
"I see."
Roberta looked at the lord with a surprised expression.
"Are you going to become a half-wit?"
He was frowning. It wasn't a big frown, just small wrinkles that a stranger wouldn't pay much attention to if they saw it.
But she had never seen even that kind of expression before.
"I thought you would know."
Bailen leaned forward from his seat, respectfully put his hands together, and said to Ulrich.
"That is why I am looking for Narbakayani, my father. Although I have never seen my father, he remembers my mother, and his blood flows in me."
"······."
"Ulrich, no, Laurent. Won't you help me? Just as you helped my grandfather... please have mercy on me. What is impossible for you, from what I've heard?"
Ulrich leaned back in his chair and closed his eyes.
"Roberta, have you gotten used to the cold?"
"Yes. To some extent."
"Then it won't be easy."
The question was clear. The lord was telling her. He will be the guide, will she join him?
"······."
She turned her gaze to the window of the drawing room.
It wasn't even noon. If you look at the distant part of the window, you can see a huge mountain covered in gloomy clouds. That place, visible even from this far, is the range of Kaldorekai, the mountain range that crosses the Ice Peninsula.
If she goes with him, she will have to cross that place.
Can she cross it? What about after crossing it?
The monsters the lord showed her will be waiting. Frankly, she didn't want to. It's not something a Priest should do, and it's also extremely dangerous.
But she said she would go, she replied to Ulrich.
Why did she do that? She couldn't clearly state the reason either. When she was next to this strange lord, she sometimes acted unlike herself. And that time happened to be now.
"Tell Bernhardt to prepare. You'll have to dress warmly. It's a really cold place."
Ulrich got up from his seat and immediately called the servant to order him to pack his bags. And Roberta turned around and followed him out of the drawing room.