Leaving Helene at the ancient castle to receive maid training, Sno turned and returned to Backlund. Backlund was clearly much quieter than it had been a month ago, not only because there were no longer any strikes in the streets, but also because the aristocrats, the class with the most leisure time, had all departed.
Although the social season and hunting season were merely customs developed from tradition, Loen's nobles gladly upheld those traditions to demonstrate their distinction from ordinary people.
Even though many nobles struggled just to maintain their family estates and found it difficult to scrape together travel expenses, they still had to preserve their "dignity" to remain part of that circle, hiring enough servants and spending far more than an ordinary vacation would cost traveling back and forth between their estates and Backlund.
Sno walked along streets whose air quality had improved by more than a little when a youth carrying a doll approached him...
Oh, no, it was Xio!
"Mr. Panredax, you're back in Backlund?"
Xio, who was carrying the Gluttony Marionette home, suddenly noticed that face handsome beyond human measure. She immediately stopped, greeting him with both nervousness and delight.
"Mm, looks like you've been doing well lately?" Sno's gaze swept over the Gluttony Marionette, and the corner of his lips curled upward slightly. Xio nodded gently, then said somewhat impatiently:
"Um, the arrow..."
"This isn't the place to talk. Let's discuss it at my house."
Sno gently shook his head, interrupting Xio as she reached for the arrow. He led the girl, who was clearly already twenty-four but looked barely fourteen or fifteen, toward his home.
"..." Xio had wanted to say something, but forcibly held it back. She followed Sno through West Borough until they reached that costly mansion.
"Lit... meow!" The moment