Striding in a little less elegance than he usually would uphold, (though his lengthy robes made him no less so) Hamae reached a small stream of water and came to no quick halt, rising off of one foot to come over it.

‘Had I known you were in such good shape, my lord, id have invited you to sparr with me much sooner.’

Kayaras followed from behind at a similar pace, but didn’t struggle in the slightest to reach his trained lord. Having been exhausted countless times taught his body well, even if it hadn’t been used for it’s intended purpose in a while.

Yes, a breath of fresh air and free reign is exactly what he needed after being cooped up in that estate for so long.

‘I’m afraid I don’t have as much free time as you do.’

Hamae continued.

‘Not that i’d wish to spend any spare moments clashing swords with a shirker.’

Kayaras had nothing much to say to that.

The further and further they ran, the clearer a distant waterfall had come to be. Clear water, clear river.

The two men came to a stop by the edge of the riverbed.

‘From here? What are we doing?’

His noble did not reply, crouching instead with a gloved hand on the wet soil. To observe the water? To pluck a cattail from its stem? Kayaras would never know. This noble was hard to read.

Nevertheless, kayaras stood standing by his side and kept his gaze on the large waterfall that guided the rivers water, along with pebbles of all sorts, down its steep path.

It cascaded beautifully, heavy in its course, but beautiful. Very much so.

He smiled a rare smile for a careless man such as himself at noticing these captivating details.

Then, he shifted his gaze over to his lord on the ground, still curious as to what exactly Hamae was examining with such focus.

‘Kayaras,’

‘Yes, my lord?’

Hamae stood up and fixed his clothes with the hand he hadn’t placed on the ground, turning his head to face the other.

‘I plan on searching the area for a few hours. Will you stay or go?’

‘I have no objection to staying, my lord!’

He may have spoken in a little more excitement than he intended, but anyway, there was no chance he was returning to the estate after just now realising how good the air smells (mind you, the estate isn’t really as cramped as he makes it out to be).

Having shown more eagerness to spend his time boring outside rather than working on something useful, Hamae, understandably, looked at kayaras disappointed and unsurprised. Well, it’s not as if this behaviour was new. Don’t look at him like that!

The noble sighed and looked away. He supposed it was on him for giving the man a choice.

‘Very well. Get to searching.’