In front of the main gate of the duke’s residence, three carriages were lined up. Delina had come outside to see the children off. The children following her paused momentarily, exchanging glances.

“?”

Delina looked back at the three people behind her who were conversing. Then, Bansen stepped forward.

“What’s going on, why is everyone like this?”

“We just decided the order of farewells.”

“Farewell order? Weren’t we all going to say goodbye together? Why decide an order?”

Delina blinked at the mention of a farewell order. She had thought everyone would simply say goodbye together. Without any response to Delina’s words, Bansen handed her a box he had been holding.

“Open it.”

When Delina opened the box, there were two guns inside. Her mouth dropped open.

“What is this?”

“They’re improved guns. One fires bullets and the other emits fire, both with minimized recoil. They’re lighter, too.”

“Really?”

At those words, Delina excitedly picked up the guns. They were indeed smaller and lighter than the previous ones.

“I’ve already told my sister, so if you need to repair the guns, go to the Viscount’s house. They’ll fix them well. My sister was very interested when she heard about the gun mechanisms, so she might even modify them more than I would.”

“What about you? You’re not coming back until you become an academy professor?”

The process to become an academy professor was said to take decades. Delina asked worriedly, but Bansen was relaxed.
“I’d need to become an academy professor to read all the books there. It’s by far the most extensive source. It could help with various experiments, too.”

“…….”

“It’ll probably take a few years to read all the books there.”

At the statement that reduced the decades-long process to just a few years, Delina quirked a corner of her mouth in incredulity before accepting it.

“True, you could probably do that.”

“Yeah. So you should take care, too.”

“Sure…huh?”

Delina questioned the statement, wondering if she’d heard wrong. Take care? It was a phrase she would never expect to hear from Bansen. After a moment’s pause, Delina nodded, as if she had realized something.

“Right. Test subjects are valuable.”

“…….”

“Don’t worry. I also want to live up to 120 years, so you take care as well.”

“….Fine.”

It seemed his experimental spirit wouldn’t fade even while he was far away. Bansen smiled oddly at her words.

“Looks like it’s my turn now. Shall we go?”

Noah walked up to the two of them and spoke. Bansen raised an eyebrow but then stepped back without another word. Delina looked puzzled at Noah’s statement.

“Did you set a specific time for farewells too?”

“Yes, it’s by appointment.”

“Really? Are you going to place a deposit too, why…”

Delina abruptly stopped talking. She knew she would be at a disadvantage if she mentioned money in front of this guy.

“Why stop talking? Afraid I’ll bring up debts?”

Noah seemed to catch on to Delina’s thought and narrowed his eyes.
“Don’t worry. I’ll offer you indefinite interest-free until I return.”

“……Well, I’m tearfully grateful.”

How much would the interest be if it were added? The size of a continent?

Delina wasn’t sure whether to be relieved that there was no interest. She let out a hollow laugh when something climbed on her head.

“Chirp!”

“You…!”

It was a monkey. The monkey that had climbed onto Delina’s head scurried around her body as if asking for play. Delina barely managed to send the monkey back up the tree.

“I’ll play with you later, so stay put there!”

“Chirp chirp!”

At Delina’s words, the monkey happily jumped onto another branch. Noah laughed at the scene.

“It looks like you two are friends now?”

“Yeah. Well, he still plays tricks, but it’s better than before. His molting is over, so now he’s completely silver.”

Since it was a mutant, it was no longer gold like other golden monkeys but silver. However, that was no problem for Delina.

“But now that his fur color has changed like that, he looks somewhat similar to you.”

“Are you saying I look like a monkey?”

“The fur is silver, that’s why it looks similar. Also, I didn’t want to keep calling him ‘monkey,’ so I gave him a new name.”

“What is it?”

“Since you gave it to me, I named it after something you really like.”

“……”

“Exactly, Gem!”

At the name ‘Gem,’ the monkey shook its body back and forth. Delina also made a confident face as if she had named him perfectly, but Noah’s reaction was curious.
“Don’t I like gems the most? What’s your point?”

“…So you don’t like money and gems the least?”

As if she had heard that a person could live without breathing, Delina’s eyes seemed confusedly shaken. At this, Noah chuckled.

“Well, I do like them.”

“…”

“Yeah. ‘Gem’…good name. Take good care of it.”

“Mm-hmm. You take care too. Who knows how many years it’ll take?”

“I’ll come home now and then, but I honestly don’t know when it’ll all end.”

Though she spoke with a smile, Delina knew. The place Noah was going to wasn’t very safe.