November in Nanao is early autumn, when a hint of chill just begins to set in.
Mists rise more frequently over the Leibo River at the break of dawn each day.
This vast and hazy scenery always reminds Colin of scenes from his time on Blackstone Island.
Withdrawing his gaze, he stepped back into his room from the balcony on the second floor.
"Good morning, master."
Renee, as always, waited at the door.
"Good morning," Colin replied, smiling.
After a pause, Renee continued, "Lord Hosone has come for a visit, he is currently waiting outside."
"Hosone?" Colin expressed some surprise.
"The young lady from last evening is Mr. Hosone's daughter," Renee explained, sensing Colin's confusion.
"I see," Colin nodded with sudden understanding, then added, "He's come quite late."
"In fact, Lord Hosone must have arrived very early but only knocked on the door at dawn," Renee supplemented.
This morning when she had gone to open the door, she noticed that Hosone's shoulders and hair were damp with dew and mist, undoubtedly standing outside for a long time.
"Is it because he was afraid of disturbing us?"
"It seems so."
"Hmm," Colin nodded noncommitally.
He was somewhat surprised in his heart.
He hadn't expected that the girl who had delivered the newspaper yesterday would turn out to be Hosone's daughter...
After rescuing the girl and the knight and returning to the villa last night, he had instructed Renee to make some basic inquiries about them.
Meanwhile, he had eagerly seized the opportunity to test the intimidating influence with the materials that had been delivered to his doorstep in the cover of night.
It had to be said, the only downside of these experimental materials was the absence of a Wizard.
Other than that, commoners, Basic Level Knights, Intermediate Knights, Advanced Knights were all represented.
A night of testing had proved very beneficial to him.
Because of this, he was busy until around four in the morning before returning to his bedroom for meditation, and the rescued Wensy and her companion had long been pushed to the back of his mind.
He had also forgotten to listen to the information Renee had gathered.
Now, on reflection, the knight last night was clearly responsible for protecting the young lady… which already underscored the special nature of her identity.
Colin smiled, not dwelling on it further.
For him, as a First Rank Wizard, the so-called "battle" of the previous night was more like picking up a package that was conveniently delivered while he was out.
"Let Hosone come in directly," Colin decided after a moment's thought.
Normally, he would have planned to eat breakfast before meeting Hosone.
However, given that Hosone had already been waiting outside for half the night, Colin was also curious about what had transpired last evening, so he decided to meet Hosone first.
"Very well," Renee nodded in acknowledgment and turned to walk downstairs.
A few minutes later.
Renee brought Hosone to the outside of the study.
Hosone stood in front of the study door, straightening his collar, his weary expression now somewhat composed.
This morning when Renee opened the door, in fact, he had already been reassured from her that his daughter was unharmed, so his anxious heart had been temporarily put at ease.
His coming here now was mostly to express gratitude towards Colin.
Creak, Hosone took a deep breath and entered the study.
The warm rays of the early autumn morning sun slanted through the glass window.
Behind an elegant dark brown desk, a strikingly handsome youth, resembling an Elf, sat calmly in a large leather chair, watching him attentively.
The warm yellow sunlight that fell upon him seemed to frame a vivid oil painting.
Hosone was momentarily entranced.
Logically, he had seen Colin before and had prepared himself, so he should not have been thrown off balance.
And even if Colin was exceptionally handsome, he was just an attractive young man.
Apart from some men with particular predilections, Hosone, a middle-aged man, should not have been affected.
Yet, from Hosone's perspective, the impression he got from this meeting with Colin was entirely different from the last.
It was an indescribable feeling.
Indeed, Hosone felt that it was not exclusively due to Colin's handsome appearance.
It was more like… a sort of mysterious charm that had suddenly manifested itself.
He felt as though seeing Colin was like meeting the reverent parish priest from his home village, dating back to when he himself was a little boy.
He hardly dared to look directly at him!
"Lord Nade,"
Hosone was stunned for a long while before he finally snapped back to reality.
He paused, trying to shake off the inexplicable feeling within and continued:
"Thank you for your help last evening; I can hardly imagine the despair of losing my beloved Wensy."
Though Hosone was striving to overcome the strange feeling within him,
he failed to notice that his words had unconsciously become more respectful, and some of the emotions he normally kept in check were more noticeably expressed.
"It was nothing," Colin smiled.
He was not at all surprised by Hosone's current demeanor.
This was another effect of the intimidating aura he had discovered yesterday.
When applied at a lower intensity, it filled those subjected to it with a mix of awe and a strange sense of kinship.
According to the description from last night's experimental subjects, it was like facing someone they held in the highest regard.
Of course, this was just one of the clever uses discovered last night.
'Hmm… perhaps this intimidation could also be called a Knight Aura,' Colin mused on a whim.
Although it wasn't necessarily something that all Advanced First Rank Knights would develop, it was, after all, something that manifested in the process of becoming an Advanced Knight.
So such a nomenclature seemed to have nothing wrong with it.