Chapter 112
While we were asking Wickhart all sorts of questions about his fiancée, Opa-san, a voice called out, "Oh, Brother, are you ignoring me?"
When I looked over, I saw a girl who looked a lot like Wickhart glaring at him with her hands on her hips.
"Sorry, sorry. Don't be so angry. This is my younger sister. Cecilia, say hello."
"I'm Cecilia Hogbeck. Pleased to meet you."
Even as she greeted us, her gaze remained fixed on Lapilia-sama.
"You must be Lapilia-sama! I've always wanted to meet you! Please tell me all about yourself!"
Lapilia-sama looked somewhat flustered under Cecilia's starry-eyed gaze.
"Y-yes. I'm glad to meet you too, Cecilia-san."
"Please just call me Cecilia! Now, come this way! I'll brew some tea right away!"
Just when I thought Wickhart would come to her rescue, he said,
"Actually, my sister is a huge fan of Lapilia-sama. At one point, she even gave our parents trouble by saying, 'I want to go to the battlefield too.' I'm sorry, but please humor her."
Lapilia-sama gave a wry smile in return.
"Hey, what about us?"
"You should admire us too."
The twins, oddly competitive about such things, crowded around Cecilia, who was backing away and stammering, 'Huh? Huh?' They flanked her on either side.
"If it's battlefield stories..."
"We're the impressive ones."
they declared.
"I'm interested in hearing about the twins too, so let's chat for a bit. Since we're here, you two come along as well. But Wickhart, make sure you spend some quality time with Opa-san." She then left Wickhart and Opa-san behind and followed Cecilia.
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That night, the conversation at dinner revolved entirely around the twins' and Lapilia-sama's experiences on the battlefield. The time we'd had over tea had been nowhere near enough.
At times like this, I'd think parents would want to hear about their son's exploits, but with what happened involving Haksha, perhaps it was better not to bring it up.
Once the conversation had reached a stopping point, Cecilia suddenly asked, "How long will all of you be staying?"
"We're planning to stay for about four days, counting today," Wickhart replied.
"Four days? That's awfully short. Usually, we stay for seven leisurely days." His sister puffed out her cheeks. Smiling at her, Wickhart gently explained:
"We're going home after inspecting Riese Fortress."
It had originally been Lapilia-sama's assignment. She told us, "You all should stay here and take it easy," but the twins became interested, and Wickhart offered to pay his respects to Thor-dono because he regretted that Thor-dono had been abruptly reassigned on his account. So we were all going together.
"Ehhh... I suppose it can't be helped. What are we doing from tomorrow onward?"
"It depends on the weather, but tomorrow we'll head to Haksha."
When Wickhart said the name, I sensed a slight tension pass through the room—or rather, among his family.
Wickhart seemed to sense it too and deliberately continued in a brighter tone.
"As I said in my letters, I've already made peace with no longer being a knight commander. To be frank, I wasn't suited to leading people. I feel sorry for those who died because of me, but I'm satisfied with my current position as deputy commander of Roa's unit."
Even so, Cecilia still looked slightly dissatisfied at Wickhart's words.
"Is Roa-san really that capable?" she asked, eyeing me skeptically.
"Roa's pretty capable."
"Yeah, he is."
Surprisingly, the twins were the ones to answer right away.
"As the Yuimei twins just said, we might have lost the battle at Zetta this time if Roa hadn't been there," Frein added.
"Then is he a promising future general?" Wickhart's father leaned forward, eager to hear more.
From there, the conversation shifted to the Zetta Plain. It wasn't exactly the sort of topic one would discuss while eating, but they were a family of territorial lords. Perhaps they were simply made of sterner stuff; everyone continued eating without a care.
The twins and Frein did most of the storytelling, making it as entertaining as possible.
Everyone listened with shining eyes when they reached the part about the ruse Wickhart had pulled off by putting himself on the line.
Wickhart and I felt awkward. Hearing other people recount our own exploits was deeply embarrassing.
Lapilia-sama, who had joined the battle at Zetta partway through, also listened to the three of them with interest. Drew was spacing out, but he was still eating, so I decided to leave him alone for now.
Even after the meal ended, the story of the battle on the Zetta Plain continued, and everyone remained engrossed in it until late into the night.
At last, when the story finally ended and everyone seemed ready to turn in, Cecilia came over to me.
"Roa-sama! You were absolutely magnificent! I was deeply moved!"
"Ah, yes. Thank you."
"So... is there someone special in your life, Roa-sama?"
"Huh?"
"May I volunteer to be Roa-sama's partner?!"
"What?!"
Behind me, Lapilia-sama wore a bitter expression for just an instant.
But I never noticed it.