Chapter 32
Volkov Line.
The permafrost region at the northernmost tip of the continent.
It refers to the front line that holds back the armies of frozen, twisted monsters pouring out from there.
“It’s been a long time, Count.”
“Why aren’t you calling me by my name, like at the gate?”
“Because establishing dominance from the start is important.”
It was called the Volkov Line because the Imperial walls holding that place belonged to House Volkov.
That was why they were the Volkovs, the proud blue wolves.
“Haha, Young Lady… no.”
And when House Volkov maintained that front line,
much of the credit went to the Duke of Volkov’s cherished only daughter, who was also a Sword Master.
“Since you will become the next duke, perhaps ‘Young Duchess’ would be more appropriate. Lady Aishirel Volkov.”
“Please feel free to call me whatever you like.”
“Ha, hardly ‘feel free.’ I’ll accept your consideration.”
Aishirel Volkov.
She was the young lady standing directly before Delphord, with her white hair twisted up and golden-and-purple odd eyes.
“The North must be doing well enough for its Sword Master to leave her post… so there’s no trouble on the northern front for now.”
“That is why I came down—to fulfill what we promised.”
She was a sword genius who had earned the title of Sword Master at the youngest age in history: eighteen.
She had received the title after cutting down ten thousand ice monsters with a single greatsword,
and it was a tale every knight-in-training yearned for.
“Father.”
“I don’t believe there’s any reason for me to be called that yet.”
That had been thirteen years ago.
That’s right. Aishirel was…
“To me, the young lady looks less like a daughter and more like a youngest sister─.”
“Watch your tongue.”
Thirty-one years old.
She was a full thirteen years older than the eighteen-year-old Akion!!
“You should remember that House Volkov has given Enersis ample assistance in the Noble Council.”
Thirteen years earlier, Delphord had been under political pressure closing in from every direction.
“And you were in desperate need of money.”
At just that time, House Volkov had been elevated from marquis to duke—and was suffering from financial difficulties.
“So we were both in need, is that what you’re saying? Very well. Let’s move on.”
Enersis needed political backing.
Volkov needed money to maintain the northern front.
And so the two families held an engagement ceremony.
Delphord had thought that giving them a child with no magical talent was good enough,
while the Duke of Volkov and the precocious eighteen-year-old Aishirel had thought it enough to receive money from her prospective husband’s family.
“Then let’s get to the point.”
And now, it had turned out to be a masterstroke.
“Father. I have no intention of breaking off my engagement to Akion. And I would like to hold the wedding as soon as possible.”
The Duke of Volkov and Aishirel had become geniuses at investing at rock bottom.
Suddenly, there were incandescent lights, turbine pumps, boilers, and so on.
Thanks to the artifact-grade magical tools Akion had developed, the Grand Duke of Volkov’s reputation had soared to the heavens.
“In the letter I sent about a year ago, didn’t I declare that I was unilaterally breaking off the engagement?”
“Moreover, this was done without the agreement of both parties. My father was extremely displeased by the matter.”
Delphord had known this too and had broken off the engagement early.
Naturally, he had continued providing financial support to soothe the displeased Volkovs.
- BANG!
“Father. Please reconsider. Grand Duke Volkov was so furious that he even considered coming down with his knights.”
Did they think Volkov would simply sit still after that?
The strides Enersis made after the unilateral breakup had been astonishing.
Turbine pumps, electric heaters, boilers, ceiling fans, and so on… How many state-power-level magical tools had come out of Enersis?
Those who didn’t know assumed they were products of Enersis, but nobles who had dug into the rumors knew they were all Akion’s achievements.
“Therefore, this is an ultimatum.”
Both Aishirel, who had devoted her entire life to her family, and the Duke of Volkov could not help but see red.
If a man like that came as a son-in-law… the ducal house’s future would be radiant!
“Count Delphord Enersis, please fulfill the contract. Bring out Young Master Akion.”
That was why the Sword Master had come down in person.
To demand that they hand over her man.
Whether love was involved in this engagement was another matter; his value was unquestionably immense.
Thus, Delphord had heard Volkov’s official position.
He let out a deep sigh,
“I’ll say it again: I refuse.”
and drew a line in the sand.
Aishirel also twisted the corners of her lips into a menacing smile.
- Rattle, rattle….
The teacups began to shake.
Because the Sword Master’s mana was winding around the count’s study.
Anyone sensitive to mana would have foamed at the mouth and collapsed from the killing intent mixed into it.
- Creak!
But Delphord was also a veteran who had run across battlefields.
He responded impassively, as if challenging Aishirel to try him.
“Oh, Father. I told you, didn’t I? An ultimatum─ a notification.”
“Are you going to make me repeat myself two or three times? Didn’t I say no?”
It was obvious the count valued Akion as well… but how could he be this stubborn?
Aishirel wondered if she needed to push harder in this contest of wills when
“Akion feels the same way. He said marriage was still too soon and asked to postpone it.”
“Hmm?”
Unexpectedly, it turned out Akion had been the one to refuse the engagement.
For Aishirel, who had lived by devoting everything to her family…
“Are you saying your child refused the head of the family’s command?”
“Mm. And I decided to respect him.”
It was absurd.
Well, in the aristocratic culture here, one often had to obey the head of the family without question.
If you didn’t like it, you could always abandon the family name.
But he had called it off because he didn’t want it, and the head of the family had actually accepted that?
“Father.”
“Mm.”
“Have you perhaps developed a doting-parent streak late in life?”
“No….”
It was an understandable misunderstanding.
Thinking this wouldn’t do, Delphord rose from his seat.
“It would be better for you to see it yourself. Come along. I’ll show you Akion’s workshop.”
“Pardon?”
He meant to show her the appeal of Akion’s workshop.
*
- BOOOOM!!
“The pressure tank burst!!!”
“Which idiot didn’t check the pressure gauge properly?!”
The place was currently in chaos.
One of the tanks regulating fluid pressure inside the workshop had burst, turning everything into a mess.
“……Count?”
“This happens often, so don’t worry.”
Of course, accidents like this happened all the time in Akion’s workshop.
Delphord merely told her to watch calmly.
“Hahahaha!! Serves you right, Hermione! Why did you boast that you were more accurate than the pressure gauge?!”
“You jerk, shut up! Big Sis!”
“You damn brat?! I’ve told you a hundred and forty-five times to call me Big Brother!”
“You’re our father and mother’s daughter too, aren’t you?! And you only call me Big Brother when there’s something hanging down there!!”
For starters, a silver-haired man who looked like he belonged to Enersis and a silver-haired woman were bickering.
“Oh dear, oh dear… I have to submit this to Young Master by tomorrow….”
“We have equipment prepared as a spare. Keep at it….”
Craftsmen with dark circles hanging down to their chins began painstakingly assembling something again.
Watching the whole process, Aishirel’s impression was,
“It feels like a market street at daybreak.”
“I can’t deny that. Heh-heh.”
What kind of chaotic mess was this?
Of course, she didn’t mean it negatively.
“Gasp! Father!”
“Ahem, Father. Have you been well through the night?”
“I saw you fighting. Just make yourselves comfortable.”
Surely Juan Enersis was the legendary bastard reputed to have taken every woman in sight outside,
and Hermione Enersis was famous for entering the academy at the top of her class and being cold as ice.
“Ah, ah! Then please say something to my sister! Tell her to stop scolding me!”
“This is the hundred and forty-sixth time I’ve told you to call me Big Brother, you bastard.”
“Whoa, whoa! Did you just call me a bastard to my face?! Sis, seriously─ Ow! Fine, fine, so stop pulling my hair!!”
And yet the two of them were squabbling with the kind of genuine sibling antics one would expect from blood siblings.
“We have a guest. What are you doing?”
“This brat insulted me first!”
“He refuses to acknowledge that I’m his older si─ Eek!”
“Good grief. Fine, argue in moderation.”
Wasn’t the entire Enersis family rumored to be cold and composed?
They seemed so human?
Aishirel became even more confused.
“Ever since Akion let his talent flourish, Enersis has been filled with energy.”
Yet none of them showed any negative emotions.
“Geez… You need to do something nice for me before I’ll call you Big Brother….”
“I know, so wipe your tears with this.”
Even the two siblings who had been fighting like that began taking care of each other while grumbling,
“Tomorrow’s a holiday… no, no, wait, isn’t it payday!”
“That’s right. Being able to do the research we want and get paid for it is truly a blessing!”
Those craftsmen with the dark circles were brimming with hope as well.
Was all this thanks to Akion?
Aishirel, who had devoted everything to her family, had never cared for such an inefficient situation.
“So this is all thanks to Young Master Akion.”
“Mm. The only thing that boy ever asked of me was to postpone the engagement. For the sake of the boy who gave me my family back—and as his father—I had no choice but to call off the engagement.”
But something.
Something was just a little….
“I had already realized the ducal house had no intention of calling it off. In exchange, could you postpone it for a while, until Akion says he’s all right with it?”
She was just a little envious.
Had she ever spent such cozy time with her father and mother?
Of course, they were close compared to ordinary commoner or noble families,
but most of what they talked about was related to the family.
“This is a glorious occasion for Volkov! Hahaha!”
“Hohoho! I’ll be able to boast about it to the other ladies at the next Noble Council meeting!”
In short, it could all be summed up in one sentence.
She wasn’t quite jealous enough to say so. Well, perhaps she was a little. Anyway.
And at that moment,
“What’s going on? Why did the thing you were assembling earlier get smashed?”
“Gasp, Young Master Akion!”
The central figure who held it all together, Akion, had finally appeared.
“……Oh my.”
Not as the cute little boy Aishirel had seen thirteen years ago, but as a tall, handsome, silver-haired man.
As the daughter of a grand duke, Aishirel had seen every man the nobility called handsome,
but her heart had never stirred even once….
“What brings you here, Father…?”
“I came to attend a lecture.”
‘He grew up better than I expected….’
Looking at Akion, she found herself dazed for a moment.
The looks of a man thirteen years her junior were more her type than she had expected.
“So you came to visit. Who is the person beside you?”
When his intelligent blue eyes turned toward her, Aishirel gave him a slight smile.
“She’s a guest. She’s a Sword Master from House Volkov.”
“Ah, could she be my fiancée…?”
Only then did Akion notice her, and he immediately adopted an extremely polite posture before greeting her.
“Nice to meet you. I’m Akion Enersis.”
“Nice to meet you, Young Master Akion. I’m Aishirel Volkov… but you may call me Big Sis Aishirel.”
She had heard people call him a mad young master, but who knew?
To Aishirel, he seemed like a polite and dashing young man.
Her heart began to pound even harder.
Just as she thought this might be the first time her heart had moved for something other than her family,
“Yes, Big Sis Aishirel. This is sudden, but would you agree to call off our engagement?”
“Huh.”
“Hahahaha─!! You crazy bastard, Akion!!”
She had been rejected.
with Delphord laughing as she called him Father.
* * *
“Damn brat…!”
And so, one week later.
Thanks to Count Enersis’s full magical support, Aishirel returned to the Volkov territory in an instant.
“Attention! Attention! We welcome the return of Young Lady Aishirel!”
“We’ll move your luggage for you!”
“Wait. See what’s loaded over there? Put one of them in my room.”
“At your command!”
While fuming and unable to contain her anger,
Aishirel recalled the day she had received a dismissal that was not quite a dismissal.
“Calling off the engagement was a joke. Still, this is only our second time meeting, isn’t it, Big Sis Aishirel?”
“But you and I are already engaged─.”
“But marriage means spending eternity together. Making a lifelong vow when we don’t know each other… I think it would be too cruel to both of us.”
Akion, who should have cared more about preserving noble blue blood, had pointlessly put human feelings first.
“I think we should get to know each other a little better.”
“You aren’t rejecting me because I’m older, are you?”
“Huh? How old are you, Big Sis… Eek, thirty-one?! I thought you’d be four years older than me at most?!”
“Ahem, I do look a little young.”
He certainly had a way with words!
He had committed the despicable act of wildly shaking the heart of a cool-headed Sword Master.
“Well, if we’re going to be married, what does age matter?”
“Mm-hm. Exactly.”
“But right now, there are so many things I want to do. More precisely… I want everyone’s lives to become more comfortable, so I want to focus on my research.”
And then he casually handed her a gift.
“My lady. What is this…?”
“It’s a gift from Akion Enersis.”
After the wooden box was moved to her room, Aishirel carefully opened it.
“I heard the North was terribly cold. So take this with you….”
“He said all I had to do was put a mana stone in here, and
…
.”
It was an electric heater.
The moment she inserted a standard mana stone as Akion had instructed,
- Bzzzz~
“Haaah…….”
“My goodness. How can a single standard mana stone produce this much heat…!”
Warmth flowed out, enough to burn anyone standing in front of it.
All the attendants nearby looked as though they might be burned by the heat.
“Could you think of this as a substitute for me?”
“Hmph, calling the heat of a mere lump of iron warmth and all….”
Those were Akion’s words as he demonstrated how to use it at the time.
“But, my lady. This really is warm….”
“I know.”
Asking her to regard the warmth it emitted as him.
Aishirel thought it was complete nonsense.
- Bzzzz~!
- Whoooosh….
But the North was a frozen wasteland cold enough to kill even in summer.
For the Volkov people who lived there, this electric heater was the best gift imaginable.
“I’ll pack plenty for you, so please distribute them to my father-in-law, mother-in-law, the attendants in the mansion, and the places where the people of the territory live together.”
“This many…!”
“It would be sad to catch a cold, wouldn’t it? We should live warmly.”
On top of that, he had given her plenty of electric heaters to distribute to others.
Aishirel knew how expensive these electric heaters were,
so she knew how great the value of Akion’s generosity was.
“……Hmph. It is warm, though. Considering you gave them all away like an idiot.”
Whether from the heat melting her body or from embarrassment, Aishirel’s cheeks flushed,
“Head Maid, put together a list of gifts worth sending to Enersis and tell me what you come up with. And these—since I’ve stacked them in the warehouse, have them installed in your quarters too.”
“My goodness! So Young Master Akion gave us that many? Hehe, the servants will be thrilled!”
She began selecting gifts to send to Akion while thawing her frozen hands.