Chapter 14
Aetherna, the heart of the Empire.
Lucia's steps were light and graceful as she strolled through the bustling district.
Whenever she passed by, pedestrians hurrying about stopped in their tracks.
Some dropped what they were carrying, while countless others became so distracted that they bumped shoulders with passersby.
Lucia continued on her way without even sparing them a glance.
The men's awestruck reactions had become an ordinary part of her daily life.
'You've changed so much.'
She looked around the streets, struck by a strangely fresh feeling.
Internal-combustion vehicles traveled along the smoothly paved roads.
Beyond the shopping district, telephone bells rang, replacing magical communication orbs.
Firearms hung from the waists of the uniformed law-enforcement officers.
Paved roads and communication facilities existed only in the capital, making them luxuries, but they were proof that the times were changing rapidly.
Lucia entered a café with a splendid exterior on light footsteps.
Ding-a-ling—The bell rang.
The subtle scent of coffee and a gentle classical melody.
Guided by a server, Lucia moved to a pleasant terrace.
Someone was already seated there. Azeline, the youngest daughter of House Rosenthal.
"You got here early, Azeline."
A wide-brimmed hat and a mesh veil concealed her face, but Lucia recognized her instantly.
Lucia smiled brightly as she took a seat in the armchair across from her. Then she lifted the hem of her dress slightly to show it off.
"What do you think of this dress? This is what I'm planning to wear to the upcoming Founding Festival. Isn't it pretty?"
Light chatter between close friends.
At times like this, Azeline would usually make a huge fuss and shower her with praise.
But Azeline said nothing now.
"What's wrong? Did something happen?"
Lucia's gaze fell on Azeline's hands. The hands gripping the teacup were trembling faintly.
At last, the moment Azeline removed her veiled hat arrived.
"Azeline, you!?"
Lucia instinctively covered her mouth with both hands.
"What happened? What on earth happened to your face!?"
"Luciaaa.... Sob! Sniff.... A-Astin...!"
Large tears burst from Azeline's eyes.
She lowered her head as though collapsing onto the table, then began to tell her story amid sorrowful sobs.
A tale filled with lies and exaggerations about how her fiancé had coldly cast her aside and retaliated against her.
As she listened to the voice steeped in grief, Lucia clenched her fists tightly.
"How, how could he do something like that to his fiancée?"
Lucia had heard about Astin from Azeline before.
He kept giving Azeline burdensome gifts, obsessively harassed her every day, and even banged his head against things whenever she refused to go on a date with him.
Rumors that he was materialistic, vulgar, and violent had spread throughout high society.
She had refused to believe it, but that wastrel had finally done it.
"That's why I asked you to meet me, Sia. As you can see, I look hideous like this... Sob! I don't think I can go to this year's Founding Festival. People will point at my face and laugh at me...."
Beating one's former fiancée was an act that violated basic human decency, regardless of their personal relationship.
Lucia asked in a voice that had gone cold.
"Is Young Master Astin coming to this year's Founding Festival, too?"
"Mm-hm. I heard he's going to attend as his family's representative."
"Don't cry, Azeline. I'll go to him and make him pay."
This was not a simple empty boast or momentary bravado.
Lucia, the star of the Empire's high society and the flower of the Academy.
Behind her stood a succession of influential figures capable of turning the Empire's political landscape upside down.
The Crown Prince, the future sun of the Empire; the second son of a grand ducal house, renowned for his overwhelming might; and even the Tower Master's foremost disciple, who led the Ivory Tower.
Every one of them held a blind affection for Lucia and would die for a single word from her.
Quite apart from all that, Lucia herself was a prodigy of unparalleled talent, a daring woman destined to make waves.
If Lucia put her mind to it, socially destroying one Astin would be child's play.
"Sia, you're really, really the only one I have. Thank you. If it weren't for you, I really would—sob!"
"Don't cry. It's all right. I'll take care of everything."
Lucia gently stroked her back with a sympathetic expression.
She failed to notice the corners of Azeline's mouth rising behind her hands.
'She'll be more useful than my brothers.'
Astin von Cardenos.
The leash that would tighten around that arrogant bastard's neck was slowly and surely being pulled taut.
***
"Oh! It stood up!"
"That's three people already."
"If you keep at it, there's nothing you can't do. A stubborn, dogged spirit can accomplish anything."
The second day of coin training.
Compared to getting not a single success on the first day, having three people succeed in one day was a tremendous leap forward.
"You worked hard. Here, have some water."
"Haha, thank you, young lady."
Celine handed out ice water and even wiped the sweat from the knights.
Those guys aren't harboring ulterior motives, are they? Something about it is strangely irritating.
"You've got good mental fortitude."
A satisfied smile tugged at the corners of Hendrickson's mouth.
It had been two days since I had heard Hendrickson call anyone 'youngsters these days' or 'little brats.' That, too, was tremendous progress.
"Are you going to have your younger sister make a ring, too?"
"I'm considering it."
I drank some water as I carefully observed Celine.
She was the girl who had made a coin stand upright on her very first try.
Her abnormal potential wasn't limited to the domain of nothingness—that is, the Solar Ring.
Mana calculations and arrays likewise followed the same principles as controlling one's energy sense.
Her ability to concentrate her senses into a single point, along with her fine control.
It was obvious that she would show tremendous talent in artifact creation as well.
'Her talent is overwhelming, and her own interest lies in that direction too.'
Rather than forcing a sword into her hands, it would be right to support her wholeheartedly in the path of magic.
In truth, I had anticipated some of Celine's potential.
Based on my experience killing her myself, the danger posed by Celine, the Witch of Cardenos, was arguably Seventh Rank.
Setting everything else aside, Luna was the only one I had to avoid. That path led to becoming a puppet of an Outer God.
"Y-Young Master."
My thoughts were interrupted. A servant approached hesitantly.
"The head of the family has summoned you to his office at once, Young Master."
"Father did?"
He must have been racking his brains in the Council of Elders to clean up the mess. Had the report already been completed?
"All right. Tell him I'll wash up and go."
I stood and turned my head.
Vrrrr— I stared fixedly at the furry mass.
"What? What? What's with me?"
Hendrickson desperately pretended not to notice me. He wasn't even sulking, which was unlike him.
He must really not want to see his former disciple.
*
"Sir Hendrickson has arrived. More precisely, I'm the one who brought him in as a military adviser."
The head of House Cardenos's study.
Father stared at me without a word.
After maintaining that silence for quite some time, he finally spoke.
"I heard."
He tossed out the short reply.
"Nothing else to say?"
"...."
"We haven't seen each other in a while. Why don't you two catch up?"
"...."
He had never been a particularly talkative man, but this was deliberate silence.
I swallowed a sigh that was barely about to escape.
"Shall I put him up in the annex for now?"
"Do as you please."
Father seemed unwilling to say anything more about him, either. What was wrong with those master and disciple?
Their average age was sixty. They were at an age when expressing emotions was particularly difficult.
"Have you finished preparing to leave?"
At this point, Father got to the main subject.
"A spirit carriage will arrive at Cardenos tomorrow. You know what day it is, don't you?"
"The Founding Festival. It's in four days."
I casually angled my gaze.
"What is there to prepare? I just need not to go looking like a beggar."
Like a certain smelly someone.
Father let out a faint sigh before speaking.
"The Founding Festival comes only once a year. Dress and groom yourself as well as possible before you go. Once there, do not forget to maintain your dignity. Do not cause a disturbance as you did before, and do not let yourself be distracted by women. Remember the string quartet and the minuet. Think of it as a rehearsal. I ask for nothing more than that."
You're asking for quite a lot.
I understood Father's concerns.
It was not an ordinary high-society gathering but the Founding Festival, a banquet attended without exception by every prestigious noble in the Empire.
Azeline probably wouldn't be able to attend looking like that, and I doubted those three brothers of hers would come either.
They would be sharpening their claws as they prepared for the final battle with Cardenos.
That was what Rosenthal was like. Something about them was vaguely unsettling.
Rosenthal could wait. There was something else that concerned me.
'I'll run into Lucia if I go, too.'
In romance-fantasy novels, the Founding Festival was a huge event for the protagonist.
It served as a special ennoblement ceremony, a national auction, and an imperial commendation ceremony, with a debutante ball bringing it to a grand finale.
The debutante ball was, on the surface, where young ladies approaching adulthood picked someone to dance with.
In reality, it was an eventful ball for choosing a future spouse.
『"Lady Lucia! I've been waiting for this very moment. Please dance with me!"
"Lucia. If I could be with you, I'd gladly walk into a pit of fire. The moment I first saw you, I learned what love was."
"A young lady's beauty shines brighter than ten million gold coins. No matter what jewel I bring, your eyes will shine brighter."
"Miss Sia. When I see you, my heart burns like a flame, like a single blossoming flower. Please take my hand."
Lucia hesitated as she looked at the four men.
The Tower Master's disciple, the second son of the Northern Grand Duke, the head of a great merchant guild, and the Crown Prince of the Empire.
Which of them would be the man to win her choice?
It was the moment when everyone's attention in the hall focused on Lucia's feet.』
I know. I saw the whole thing.
Naturally, she picked the Crown Prince of the Empire.
Among the many candidates, the Crown Prince was the main male lead. He would become the next Emperor of the Empire, after all.
The rest could be considered trophy male leads.
-When you return, seduce me.
"...."
-Make me love only you. It's the dream I couldn't fulfill in this life.
Why did that bitch have to say something like that at the very end?
I don't know. Whatever. My original goal is to save the world.
Bringing Lucia over to my side was part of that process, but I had more important things to worry about for now.
***
"...."
I remembered falling asleep in my bedroom.
I felt myself floating as I looked around.
It was a dream.
That meant this was a lucid dream.
A crude cot stood in one corner.
At the center was a large wooden desk covered with operation maps and piles of documents.
There was not a single luxury to be found. Only practicality for the battlefield filled this space.
It was familiar. This was a commander's barracks.
"Hey—"
Like a ghost, I looked down on 'Astin' from an observer's perspective.
Astin was crouched against the wall. He gave a lazy wave toward someone.
The dim lamplight flickered. The shadow gradually grew and writhed.
Lucia was approaching Astin.
A scorched, bloodstained uniform. A longsword that had tasted blood and oil. A left eye covered by an eyepatch.
I had thought it was simply a dream, but it seemed to be an afterimage of a memory.
Lucia flopped down into a seat beside Astin.
"Another deserter popped up."
"Who?"
"Hexon. That lunatic."
"Huh? That bastard said he'd protect my back even if he died."
"He's a homo. I guess he meant it in a different way."
The Lucia I knew had always been like this.
Someone who never lost her pointless jokes even on a hellish battlefield. She was far removed from the reverse-harem protagonist of a romance fantasy.
"You really know how to talk like shit. Damn it, I'll beat the crap out of you."
"Look at you. You're going to hit a woman, too?"
"To me, you're not a woman, you bitch."
"......Seriously."
A faint, bitter smile spread across Lucia's lips.
Tap, tap. She pointed at her eyepatch as she spoke.
"Hey. Don't stay over there. I can't see your profile. Come around to the other side."
"Do I really have to see your face when we're talking?"
"Come over here so I can feast my eyes."
"You are handsome. It's a shame to let a face like that rot in a war zone."
"Ah, just don't come over. Get lost. Look at this moron putting on airs."
"Listen to that foul mouth. Are you really Lady Lucia, the star of high society?"
"Wow. How long ago was that?"
Lucia burst into laughter, a bright sound entirely unsuited to the battlefield.
Astin laughed along and casually asked her.
"You crazy bitch, star of high society. Be honest—you regret it, don't you?"
"Regret what?"
"Getting involved with all those men."
"Why ask about something obvious? I don't know what I was thinking, letting the world get this far."
"You should've stopped being so boy-crazy, then."
Whack!
"Ghk!"
Astin rubbed his side. Lucia withdrew her elbow and glared at him.
"Hey. You keep saying I'm boy-crazy, but that's a misunderstanding, you know?"
"Bullshit."
"I never once clung to those men. They clung to me. I only ran away because they were so damn obsessive."
"Either way, it's a reverse harem, you bitch."
"You keep saying things I don't understand. I... man? Was it 'man-crazy'?"
"Man-crazy."
"Right. Man-crazy, reverse harem, whatever. What do they mean? They're bad terms, right?"
"They're good terms."
"Don't bullshit me, you asshole. When have you ever said anything nice to me?"
Ugh, never mind.
Lucia tapped the floor with her heel. It was a habit that appeared whenever she got sulky.
Lucia was always the first to become unable to stand an awkward atmosphere. She had always been that way.
"There's one more thing I regret."
"What is it?"
"Keeping my useless chastity intact all this time."
"Are you insane?"
"Hey. Have you ever done it with a woman?"
"You really are insane."
"We might die soon, so let's be honest. Hmm? You haven't done it with a woman either, I know it. Don't you want to?"
Lucia gestured toward the cot with her chin. That was only the beginning.
She brought her clenched right fist to her mouth and rocked it back and forth. At the same time, she pushed her tongue into one cheek, making it bulge.
"I could do it with someone like you. Couldn't you?"
"......."
"Better to die by my hand than be killed by those black things. I'll make you die of pleasure. That's a good death, isn't it?"
"I'll kill you, too."
"Oh?"
"Where did I leave my pistol?"
"......You can't even take a joke."
Looking back, perhaps it hadn't been entirely a joke.
Lucia reached into her clothes and pulled out a cigarette, placing it between her lips.
She lit the cigarette with a flame produced at her fingertip.
"Hey. Turn your face away and smoke."
"Ahh— I want to have sex."
"Just get out of here."
"Okay. I won't ask for that much. I should've experienced proper love. I've never even kissed anyone."
"Don't be ridiculous."
"I'm serious. I really want to cling to a man, too. Kiss a man I love, and have se—Heehee...."
Smoke curled thickly upward.
Lucia removed her eyepatch and traced the eye that had turned dark gray.
"You know, sometimes I wonder whether I ever truly loved those men."
"Why? Is love difficult when there are so many men?"
"It's just... Those men loved me blindly. I think I mistook their giving me love for meaning that I had to love them back just as much. But people's hearts aren't that simple."
"Love is difficult, huh."
"I think that's why. I received too much from them, so it became a burden. And once it becomes a burden, it isn't love."
"Are we really going to keep talking about this?"
"And more than anything."
Lucia let out a deep sigh.
"When all those men died, I wasn't all that sad."
"......."
"Even on the day the Crown Pri—His Majesty the Emperor died. Of course I was sad. But it was the sadness I felt over the deaths of my comrades. I guess I didn't love them, did I?"
"His Majesty must be crying in heaven."
"I know. But what can I do? This is how I honestly feel."
Thump. She placed a hand on Astin's shoulder.
"But I think I'd be sad if you died."
As soon as Astin heard the words that followed, he was left dumbfounded.
After looking at each other for a moment, Lucia covered her mouth and giggled.
"Pfft—Look at that vacant expression. You actually took me seriously, you idiot?"
"Damn it."
"Did you get your hopes up? I'd be sad, but it would be the same. I'd be sad because you're my comrade. My comrade~ Can you hear me~"
Starting with a hum, Lucia puffed out her chest.
"High mountains—deep valleys—you know it? The one you taught me."
"I never taught you that. You heard it however you wanted."
"Silent mountains and rivers—the snow-covered front... We... march on—"
After that, Lucia sang every military song that came to mind. They were all songs she had heard from Astin, and all were new to her.
Song rang out through the barracks where only the two of them were present.
Her crystalline voice and the majestic military songs were a terrible match.
Whether she knew the songs or not, Lucia sang them all the way through with gusto, even adding vigorous staccato.
*
"......"
I woke up.
Daylight had broken.
I looked out the window as I listened to the sparrows chirping.
-Knock, knock
"Come in."
The door opened, and a butler entered.
"Good morning. You rose early, Young Master. More importantly, a carriage has arrived from the imperial capital."
"The Founding Festival?"
"Yes."
"Time sure flies."
It was time to go.
It was time to meet her, too.