Interlude: A Myriad of Love
“...ilde?”
“Hilde? Hilde!”
“Wha—?!” Hildegard, First Princess of the Knight Kingdom of Lestia, yelled out in response to her brother’s voice suddenly permeating her consciousness.
“B-B-B-Brother dearest, why must you scream out of nowhere?”
“It wasn’t out of nowhere!”
“You know how many times I called you? It’s like your mind is somewhere else and you just can’t concentrate, right?”
“Are you dissatisfied that I took the throne?”
“Preposterous! I was just thinking about something.” While Hilde grew flustered at her brother Reinhard’s remarks, the council room was enveloped in snickering.
They were in the council room for the knight order, the symbol of Lestia.
Currently, the knight order was separated into twelve squadrons with Hilde serving as squad leader for the third. Incidentally, Hilde’s brother was serving as the squad leader of the first squadron.
In the land of Lestia, the king serves as the head of the knight order. This tradition came from the first king who proclaimed, “They who are worthy of being known as king must stand on the vanguard, protect their subjects, and lead them to glory.”
The man who stood as the head of the knight order was the father of both Hilde and her brother, the king, Reid Yunas Lestia, though he would be resigning soon.
And the current prince would inherit his throne.
In other words, the new head of the knight order would be Reinhard.
The purpose of today’s council was to determine who would fill the gap left by him as the new leader of the first squadron.
“Engrossing yourself such that you lose sight of your surroundings is both one of your strong points and flaws. Though, it was inappropriate to bring up such a topic in this setting. Please change topics.”
“Sheesh... No need to tell me.”
“Well, I won’t go as far as to inquire into what you were thinking.” Reinhard, nonchalantly as if nothing happened, shifted his gaze to the list of new candidates to be the head of the knight order.
Hilde sensed that Reinhard knew what she was truly feeling and became a bit embarrassed.
She cleared her throat, and with new found guise of composure, followed her brother’s example and turned her gaze to the list of candidates.
For a short while she listened intently to the squadron heads’ recommendations, but her eyes wandered to the sword at her hip.
There were only three crystal swords in this land. Her father had another and her grandfather the last. Its ability to cut struck fear into people’s hearts. It was seen as either a blade of the gods, or a sword from the pits of hell. Even Holy Sword Lestia, the sword which had been passed down from generation to generation through the royal family, paled in comparison.
The event from that time popped into her mind from the depths of her memories. The memory of the boy that valiantly appeared when she was attacked by the monsters that were immune to both sword and magic. The boy that saved her from the brink of despair.
As she recalled the event, her chest began to warm.
First came the feeling of relief from being saved. After he went off on his merry way, she gained the desire to grow stronger in order to wipe away the feeling of incompetence that developed due to her weakness. At the same time, she developed an interest in the kind of man the boy was.
She found it very fortuitous that she was able to listen to the story of the grand duke of Brunhild from a merchant that she’d encountered on the way back to the castle.
Hilde didn’t just hear of his strength, but also his disposition. And so, her interest increased.
Slaying Dragons, exterminating Golems, and ending a coup, indeed his force was one to be reckoned with, but there was more. His philanthropic activity ranged widely: he offered rare materials to aid in the reconstruction of the Mismede town that had been ravaged by a Dragon, and created institutions so that the common man could learn to read.
Hilde began feeling a sense of aspiring to be like that boy blossom inside her.
“...ilde. Hilde? Hilde!”
“Wha—?!” Yet again her brother’s voice yanked her out of the sea of contemplation. Reinhard’s expression formed into one of frustration, which was to be expected since this same sequence had played out twice already.
“I apologize.” Hilde shrank and spent the rest of the council meeting in a state of discomfort.
“Ah... I sure messed up.” Hilde sighed. This had been happening nonstop recently. She couldn’t cheer up at all.
Though Hilde knew why it was happening, she had no idea what to do about it.
“Ah?!” Hilde heard a scream nearby.
“Ohohohoho...” A hearty laugh echoed from the same direction as the scream.
“Oh, Grandfather.” If you heard a woman’s scream in this castle, there was an eighty percent chance that it was the work of the former king. Hilde figured that the scream most likely came from a new maid that started just the other day.
And just as she expected, the previous king, her grandfather, approached Hilde from across the hallway with cane in hand. He was in such great condition that he didn’t even need a cane, but he insisted on maintaining his image.
“Hello, Hilde. You look a tad down in the dumps.”
“Please leave me be...” The girl wanted to yell at her grandfather, express her suffering. Express that, unlike him, she had real fears to contend with, but she also didn’t want to lash out.
With no energy to hang around her unreasonably cheery grandfather, Hilde trudged past him.
“Hey now, hold your horses. A letter just came from the guild.”
“From the guild...?” Her grandfather was one of the only two in the world: a former adventurer of the highest rank, Gold. He had deep ties with the guild, and was able to acquire information here and there.
“Don’t be startled. Yulong has fallen.”
“What?! Yulong did?!” Hilde raised her voice. He told her not to be startled, but how couldn’t she be?
Yulong, Empire of Heaven. The only nation in all of the east that could rival Lestia.
Hilde wasn’t too fond of the land of Yulong.
Predicated on the reason that Yulongese merchants tried to deceive people. Many of them seemed to believe that the fooled were at fault and idiotic.
And they had no concerns about telling such short-sighted lies. When a Yulongese person was caught committing crimes, they rarely admitted fault.
Say for instance you were to catch a thief. They would tell you that the shop they stole from was asking for it. They behaved as if those they harmed were the assailants and they themselves were the victims. Even then, they still got on their high horses, quibbled in the most obnoxious ways, and still had the audacity to say others were at fault. Hilde was upset by how self-centered they were as a people.
And their homeland knew of these deeds but wouldn’t attempt to lay a finger on them. They simply pretended not to see. There were far too many government officials receiving bribes from the merchants, so they didn’t think it was immoral.
Their logic was that everyone else did it as well, so what was wrong with doing it? Since others were getting away with it, they may as well do it themselves. They reasoned that they’d rather take advantage than be taken advantage of.
Thus, Lestia refused to engage in trade relations with the merchants or their government. No matter how sweet the deal may have seemed, they’d vowed to always decline their offer.
The Shady Land. That was the essence of Yulong.
That very Yulong had fallen. Yulong was in fact actually a military state. It relied on its overwhelming numbers to crush smaller neighboring countries.
They would do anything to achieve victory. Assassinate, betray, and ambush, all was fair to them in love and war. The people of Lestia held the concept of ‘fair and square’ in high esteem, which gave them another reason to not be able to accept the Yulongese.
“Who were they attacked by? No way, are you telling me it was Xenoahs?”
“No, that’s incorrect. They were not taken down by another land. You should know as well. It was the Phrase.”
“The Phrase!” Hilde would never forget those crystal creatures. The monsters that disgraced her for her lack of power.
“The news is that there was a swarm of thousands of them that attacked Yulong. Amongst their ranks was one that was about as big as a castle and the mysterious light it expelled from its mouth decimated the capital Shenghai.”
“Unbelievable!”
“Indeed. Now I’m going to get to the main point. Someone exterminated the entire swarm that eliminated the city. The grand duke of Brunhild. It seems that he found a relic from an ancient civilization. It was some kind of army of giants that he activated and used to exterminate the swarm.”
“Are you serious?!” Hilde raised her voice louder than that time just a little while ago. And that was because he had mentioned the man who’d been on her mind for the longest time. It was an unavoidable outcome.
Hilde heard everything from her grandfather from start to finish. The grand duke of Brunhild cooperated with other lands that he had amicable relations with and formed an alliance that led to the defeat of the invading Phrase.
In addition, he didn’t expect any collateral from Yulong or steal any land.
Just as expected from His Highness the Duke. Hilde was really impressed at his incredible ability to shoulder a country at such a young age, but adults seemed to have dissenting opinions.
“Personally, I think it’s frightening for a single man to have such power. If the duke is so inclined, he can wipe a country or two off of the face of the planet. Even our very own land of Lestia. Hilde... what did you think of the man in question when you met him?” The former king shifted his gaze over to Hilde. With a hint of hesitation in her voice, Hilde told him how she really felt from her heart.
“I felt that he was a polite man with an upstanding personality. He doesn’t hesitate in lending out a helping hand to those in need... Rather, he does it as if it were the obvious thing to do. That is my opinion of him.”
“I see...” She’d only met him once. The conversation they had only lasted a few minutes. How could she say she knew anything about him just from that? She realized that her speech was just her desire for how she wished he was.
“I have the faintest idea of what kind of relationship we should form with the Duke. Some say that the invasion of the Phrase was all orchestrated by him so he could clean it up himself. A one-man show. Others say that they saw him summon them.”
“That’s ridiculous! That’s obviously a lie! You know that’s the kind of tactic Yulong always uses!”
“Indeed. I also suspected the same thing. They’d use this as an opportunity to appeal to the world of them being victims of the Duchy and demand reparations and his giant warriors. That land is the same as ever, blackmailing and extorting.” The former king whispered as he stroked his white beard. Lestia had met a similar fate in the past. The Yulongese claimed that five hundred years ago, Holy Sword Lestia was stolen from them. Though it went without question that Lestia paid them no heed, such rumors were frustrating for various reasons.
“Whatever the case may be, we must decide on a course of action. And so... I shall be making my way to Brunhild and meeting with the duke himself to determine what his true intentions are.”
“Whaaaaaat?!” Hilde gasped as her eyes shot wide open. The reason for her surprise was, of course, not the fact that the former king of Lestia, her grandfather, was going to head toward Brunhild, but the childish, egotistical thought that it wasn’t fair that she was getting left out.
“I’m going too.”
“Huh? Well, that’s...”
“I’m going to go too! I’m going to go speak with father about this!” Hilde ran to her father, the king, without listening to her grandfather’s response.
“...So, you’re saying that you accompanied the preceding king against his will, you did? Is that summation apt?”
“Well uh... Yes... Something like that, I guess.” Hilde forced a smile in response to Yae as she drank her tea.
A tea party was hosted at the castle terrace to deepen their friendship with Hilde, who was the most recently engaged girl.
Of course, the attendees other than Hilde were Yumina, Elze, Linze, Yae, Sue, and Lu. Their fiance Touya was absent.
Gatherings with only these ladies happened rather frequently. While they served to deepen bonds, they also discussed how the other fiancees were doing, as well as exchanged perspectives on Touya.
“Touya gets strangely aggressive when I leave him alone.” Such was Yumina’s position.
“Speaking of which, is it okay for you to be here? Didn’t you say you had an official position in the knight order?”
“Yes, though there’s no need for concern. I made my replacement the candidate who got rejected when brother dearest’s replacement was being chosen.” Hilde responded to Elze’s question with a smile. She was no longer a knight of Lestia, since she decided she’d serve Brunhild... Or rather, she’d chosen to be Touya’s personal knight.
“Alright. Hilde can reside here. Though, I would really wish to reside here too...” Sue spoke with a pout as she petted Kohaku, who was sitting on her lap. Yumina chimed in, addressing her cousin.
“Sue. My uncle would be quite upset if you left home. Stay home a while longer, alright? You can come here whenever you wish, okay?”
“That is true... but I always end up thinking of Touya when I’m over there. I’m somewhat worried, but I think it’s fine since Yumina is here. Touya’s kind of a dunce.” Though they thought that sentiment was quite harsh, everyone except for Hilde nodded deeply in agreement.
Nobody had the slightest clue what he’d get into if they took their eyes off him for a second. He’d become acquaintances with some strange fellows, get himself involved in something totally absurd, or build something incomprehensible.
Even though his antics didn’t result in a large quantity of victims arising, Hilde could feel her heart getting weaker and weaker each time he startled her.
“When was it again? When he made that weird box that washed clothes?”
“Oh... the washing machine? It just crumpled up all the clothes.” Elze and Linze spoke of a strange contraption Touya had built. According to him, he miscalculated the amount of wind magic that would produce the optimal rotational strength. Using too much wind magic to generate the magical blade was the big mistake.
“Recently he made this weird hair blowing contraption that he calls the dryer. It was definitely a blunder, though...”
“It blew fire like a Dragon in a rage would, it did.” Yae let out a sigh at Lu’s impression. If Touya were there, he’d likely make the excuse that it was difficult to balance wind and fire magic.
“How does someone get that kind of idea?”
“Well, we are talking about Touya after all.” While Elze wasn’t too happy about Yumina’s response to her, she more of less agreed with the sentiment.
Everyone other than Hilde probably shared the same opinion.
“Sorry to interrupt, but as the newest member I would feel most obliged if you would listen to my question.”
“That’s fine. What is it?” Elze reached for a potato chip as she replied to Hilde, whose demeanor could be best described as stiff. This meeting also functioned as Hilde’s welcome party. Everyone intended to answer all questions that they could.
“How would you fine ladies describe Touya’s parents? Since I became his fiancee, I think it may be suitable to introduce myself...”
“Ah, about that.”
“The truth is, we’ve never actually met them ourselves.”
“Really? D-Did his parents happen to pass away...?”
“I don’t believe that’s the case... but I’m not too certain since Touya doesn’t seem like he wishes to speak of his family matters.” It was obvious from Linze’s facial expression that she was troubled. She felt a bit left out from the fact that she didn’t even know his family’s structure despite being engaged to him.
Even if she tried to get information out of him, she was met with a troubled face, and he evaded the topic. Linze and the others understood that rather than not wanting to say something about it, there was some hesitation that kept him from talking about it.
Upon hearing this, Hilde suddenly came to a realization. Since he had such overwhelming power, it wouldn’t be strange for him to be estranged from his family. Great power could bring about great misfortune.
“He doesn’t have the best relationship with...”
“Wrong answer! It’s not that his family hates him. The situation’s just a wee bit complicated. Explaining what’s going on to you all would just be kind of hard is all. Just wait for him to be ready to talk about it.” All members present, including the tiger, were startled to the point of basically jumping out of their seats at the sudden voice.
“D-D-D-Dear sister Karen?!” Touya’s sister, Mochizuki Karen, found an open seat next to Lu, reached out for the potato chips, and began stuffing her face.
“When did you get here...?” Hilde wasn’t able to hide her surprise at the fact that Karen went completely unnoticed. She was sitting back and relaxing as if she’d been sitting there the whole time, but rest assured, that seat was empty until just a second ago.
Hilde thought that she may have used transportation magic. It wouldn’t have been odd for her to have similar abilities to her brother.
While Hilde had such ideas race through her mind, Karen sent a grin her way.
“There’s no reason to rush, you know. He should tell you about it before long if you take the time to get to know him slowly.”
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