CHAPTER 2
The Person I’ve Met
1
The united territory of the Heavenly Empire was known as the Empire for short. Its capital city, Yunmelngen, a metropolis that boasted the highest population in the world, was divided into three sectors.
Sector One was home to government affairs and research institutions, where those who carried the greatest authority gathered to discuss politics—including the Eight Great Apostles, who oversaw the Senate and made decisions on all matters regarding the Empire.
Sector Two was the residential zone. It was where 70 percent of the city’s residents lived. The world’s most prominent business district sprawled out next to it, attracting many tourists from the neutral cities to come visit every day.
Then there was Sector Three, the military base. Located here were manufacturing plants that fabricated the weapons designed in Sector One, along with facilities inside the extensive grounds to test them out, plus barracks for the Imperial soldiers.
“Sleeping here in this room is kind of nostalgic…”
Iska was at the very back of the first floor in Building 03, in what had been his personal room since the age of twelve. He’d been sprawled on the floor, looking up at the ceiling, since noon. He preferred sleeping on the hard floor over the soft bed, perhaps due to all the time he’d spent camping outdoors as a soldier.
“…And yet, I can’t fall asleep at all.”
He felt exhausted, but his mind was still raring to go, unlike his fatigued body. It had been two days since they’d been in the Nelka forest. He had only a brief time to rest until his next operation, but he knew he couldn’t sleep.
“I’m an astral mage. Your Empire calls me the Ice Calamity Witch.”
The reason for all this was the Ice Calamity Witch, Aliceliese. At least, that was the only reason he could think of.
Each one of her attacks had been on a scale that rivaled a natural disaster. She’d single-handedly overrun an Imperial base, and he understood why the Eight Great Apostles exercised such great caution when dealing with her.
“…Maybe that’s why.”
Ever since her mask had come off and exposed her face to him, he couldn’t get the image out of his mind. She was an astral mage fit to be the Nebulis Sovereignty’s trump card—with a charming, breathtaking beauty straight out of a fantasy. He guessed she was about the same age as him.
“Nope, no good. I need to think about something else!”
Any more daydreaming was going to dull his thoughts. He would be getting orders for his next task before long. In order to focus, he really needed to rest his body.
“Iska, are you here?” It came from the interphone.
That was when he heard a young voice coming from behind the door.
“Captain Mismis?” He opened the door.
Just as he expected, it was the petite, baby-faced captain.
“I was wondering what was going on with you, Iska… Look, you’ve been holed up in your room this whole time. You haven’t come out at all, so Nene has been worried sick about you, too.”
“I’m fine. I just haven’t been able to sleep well.”
“But, Iska, something’s clearly been on your mind since we got back. I can see it on your face. You keep staring into space, looking at the wall.” Mismis peered up at him with anxious eyes. “Um, ah, I…don’t usually get a chance to act like a proper captain around you, so I thought I’d come to see if you need someone to listen to your troubles, ’cause you’re my subordinate. Sometimes you just need to talk it out.”
“You came all this way for that?” He glanced down at Mismis and noted that she was in her civilian clothes, which was unusual.
She was dressed casually in a shirt with a cute kitten appliqué and a childish three-tiered skirt with frills—probably because it was her day off.
But she had indeed come to visit him, even though she should be resting, too.
…There really is…no one like her.
Her skills as a soldier weren’t great at all; her grades and exam scores had barely made the minimum cutoff. But the reason why Iska and the others wanted to work under Captain Mismis was for her empathy. She noticed the fluctuations of her subordinates’ moods and reached out to them faster than anyone else.
She was charming in a way that made people want to follow her.
“See, I knew it. Iska, I thought you had a complicated expression on your face!”
“Do I?”
“Yeah, you totally do! Think of me as an older sister and tell me everything! Come on! But, well, I imagine it’s about the events that transpired in the Nelka forest.” The captain looked up at him intently. “Did something happen?”
“…I can’t get that fight out of my head.”
“You mean where you faced the Ice Calamity Witch? The battle ended in a draw, right?”
“…I was fighting for my life.”
He still hadn’t even figured out who was winning. It had become clear that neither of them could have stopped the other through sheer strength. They had been looking for openings in their opponent’s moves. It felt like the psychological warfare of a first-class strategy board game, a battle of wits.
Whenever he’d caught himself thinking he had an advantage, he’d soon become anxious that it was a trap. Iska had never met an astral mage like that in all his previous experiences.
But—was that really the reason for his insomnia?
“Oh, and—”
“And?”
“…No. It’s nothing.” He pushed his partial sentence to the back of his throat.
The true identity of the Ice Calamity Witch is a really pretty girl. Those were the words he couldn’t say.
…Anyway, that’s not the reason why I can’t sleep…I think.
…Plus, it would be embarrassing if Captain Mismis starts thinking I’m weird for saying that.
“Iska, I wonder if there’s a scar on your heart.”
“You mean a trauma?”
“Yeah. You endured intense combat, and now your heart has been hurt from fear and the pain of your wounds. It’s not uncommon among soldiers in the Imperial military. And you were facing that Ice Calamity Witch, so it wouldn’t be that strange…”
It was the first time he’d ever encountered an opponent powerful enough to make him think he couldn’t win. The battle might have planted that seed of fear in him.
Mismis’s analysis was reasonable from an objective perspective.
But was that all there was to it? Was that really the reason? Iska was vexed by the feelings whirling in his chest. He couldn’t grasp their true identities.
“Hmm. I wonder how we can address this. If the symptoms are bad, you would need to see a doctor.” The petite captain crossed her arms, looking troubled. “In my case, I just eat barbecue and get a good night’s rest when I’m anxious—then I feel right as rain. Wanna go get some grilled meat?”
“No, I’m not really in the mood…”
“Okay, that’s fair. I do think you’ll heal naturally with time, but it would be great if we could do something to get your mind off things for at least a little while… Oh, right! Iska, come here! Come here!” From her spot by his door, Mismis suddenly turned her back on him and started jogging. “I have something special for you, Iska. Come with me.”
Building 01 of the Imperial barracks.
Iska opened his eyes wide in front of a door with a cute-looking rabbit sticker. “This is your room, right, Captain?”
“Yep, yep. My room’s kind of messy, but come in.”
In the living room, there were stuffed animals all over the warm-toned carpet, and on top of the table was a cup with a puppy print.
“Your animal collection has gotten bigger.”
“Hee-hee-hee. What do you think? It’s cute, right?”
“Yeah. Um…but that’s kind of… I don’t know how to put this…”
He was trying to talk about the thing that was hanging off the ceiling, where she’d been boldly letting her laundry dry smack-dab in the middle of the room. Iska tried to make his words as vague as possible, averting his eyes.
“I can’t keep my eyes off that.”
“What? What can’t you—? N-noooooooo!”
She frantically waved her hands in front of Iska, desperately trying to cut off his line of vision. She’d forgotten her panties were drying in the room—the underwear of a lady in the prime of her youth.
“N-no, Iska! It’s not what you think. I was just curious! All my friends have gotten themselves boyfriends, so I wanted to try something new, too. It’s normal for a girl to want to test out a slightly more daring pair of undies sometimes. That’s just how it is! Don’t get the wrong idea!”
“I really don’t get what you’re trying to say.”
“…A-ahem. Anyway.” Mismis quickly squirreled away her underwear. “About our convo earlier. I feel like staying cooped up in your room won’t do you any good. What you need to do is get yourself outside. That said, ta-daa!”
She held up a ticket that’d been on her table.
“Here, go to this and feel better.”
“…The opera? It says The Woman Knight Beatrix’s Blighted Love.”
“Yup, yup. It’s performed every year in the neutral city. I really like it, so I bought ten tickets and saw it nine times, but I think I’ve had enough of it this year. That’s why I’m giving this to you, Iska.”
“What? But when am I supposed to—?”
“Do it before the next mission. Why not go tomorrow?” the captain proposed with confidence as she puffed with pride. “Oh, it’s wonderful. I’m sure it’ll be a much-needed break. This is an order from your captain.”
“…So it’s an order now.” Iska stared at the ticket in his hand and nodded.
White steam floated from the surface of the tub, which was filled to the brim with milky, hot water from the jowls of a lion-shaped basin filler. Flowers of all colors danced around various herbs in the water.
The giant bathtub could hold upwards of twenty people. Next to it, an ice bath was on standby, and a sauna full of piping hot steam was situated in the back of the room.
…Plink. The attendant approached on the wet tile.
“Lady Alice, are you still soaking in the tub?”
They were in the royal palace of the Nebulis Sovereignty.
The bathroom echoed with the sound of Rin’s voice, and Alice opened her eyes as she lifted her face from the surface of the water.
“Why don’t you come out? It’s past your bedtime.”
“…I’m not sleepy.”
“The same as last evening, too. Normally, you would be too tired to even have your meal once you returned from the battlefield.”
“It’s just that I can’t sleep.”
The bath bubbled as she sank back into it.
Could it be because she’d gone to the Nelka forest? She’d mounted an assault with Rin and destroyed the power generator—just as her mother had ordered as the queen of Nebulis.
She’d executed the maneuver perfectly. There hadn’t been a single mistake.
…So what in the world is this feeling?
…Why can’t I get that swordsman off my mind?
She knew that was the reason behind her sleepless nights.
“Is it that soldier named Iska?” Rin stood barefoot at the edge of the bathtub in her usual housekeeping uniform. “You’ve been pondering over that swordsman’s background since even before we got back to the Sovereignty.”
“…I wonder who he is.”
He was a boy about her age. Based on his appearance and mannerisms, he seemed young, but during battle, she could describe his movements only as fierce. He’d had piercing focus and an inhuman athleticism as he had dealt with Alice’s attacks and cornered her. And while she’d experienced a fight against a formidable Saint Disciple in the past, that had been the first time she’d felt dread. There was no telling when his blade might have sliced through her neck.
“I am having others look into his past, but it may take several days at least.”
“You’ve done more than enough. Thank you, Rin.” She absentmindedly watched the flower petals floating on the water’s surface as she nodded. “But that sword.”
…There’s no way. The sword just looks similar.
… I mean, my benefactor wouldn’t be in the Empire of all places.
“That’s right—it’s just a coincidence.”
“I’m sorry?”
“I-it’s nothing!” Alice quickly waved her hand, flustered that Rin had heard her thoughts, which had snuck out of her mouth.
“Are you hurt? I can’t believe an Imperial weapon would run wild in a neutral city…”
“But don’t worry. I severed the wheel that maneuvers the frame. This thing won’t be able to move anymore.”
The memory was stained with the color of sand. She remembered sparks sputtering out intermittently and a dense cloud of dust.
There was the swordsman who’d helped Alice after she had been attacked, caught up in the commotion caused by an Imperial weapon. He was hidden under a veil of dust, and his voice was muddled, but she remembered the swords that glinted in his two hands.
One was black steel and the other white. These diametrically opposed blades looked exactly like the swords that swordsman had been holding.
“…”
In the bath, Alice put her hand to her ample chest, the sight of which made Rin jealously call her an early bloomer.
There, she could feel her heartbeat, pounding in a way that was puzzling even to her.
It beat faster: Ba-dump, ba-dump, ba-dump. Instead of settling down, it pounded with more force.
“Ugh, what’s wrong with me? This is no good! I need a break!”
“Wait, Lady Alice, you’re splashing water on me! Geez…please don’t stand up so fast. You got my clothes wet.”
“That’s right—I need a break! Now that that’s decided, Rin, let’s prep for tomorrow!”
“…My clothes…” Rin pouted.
Alice gave her order, then quickly made her way to the dressing room, furnished with an entire wall that was just a mirror. She rushed over to the shelves and stretched her hand out to an accessory case.
“That’s right. This is what I needed.”
“Lady Alice, please don’t walk on the floor without drying off. You’ll slip and fall.”
“I won’t fall. I’m not a kid.”
“And still you choose to run like one. Here. If you don’t wipe yourself off, you’ll catch a cold.” Rin held a towel in her hands, holding it up to Alice’s dripping golden hair as she tenderly started wiping away the moisture.
“Hey, Rin, look.”
“The Woman Knight Beatrix’s Blighted Love? …Really? You made another reservation for the opera without telling me?”
After Rin finished taking care of the princess’s head, she dried Alice’s body, wiping the water dripping from the nape of Alice’s neck to her back with the towel.
Rin had been born into a family that had been serving the royal family for generations. Though it was her duty to attend Alice, Rin was a year younger than Alice, making Rin one of the only close friends Alice could joke around with.
“It was such a pain getting this ticket. I had to apply to the lottery four times to get seats next to each other.”
“…I understand. I’ll accompany you.” After she finished drying Alice, Rin dramatically sighed. “But are you sure you can do this? That swordsman saw your face very recently.”
She meant the Imperial swordsman Iska and the recent incident when Alice’s headdress had fallen off midbattle, letting him see her concealed face.
With her identity revealed, there was a fear that the Empire might dispatch an assassin. Alice had been momentarily nervous when the topic had come up before.
“It’s fine. The more I think about it, the less of an issue it seems, really.”
While the Empire regarded astral power as evil, Nebulis embraced it and far outpaced them in research. One thing they researched was the difference in astral powers among individuals.
There were multiple types of astral power dwelling in each person. However, Alice’s astral power was even warier than most others, able to sniff out potential threats. When it sensed danger, it would automatically take defensive action. She had enough power to protect herself from a large-scale weapon of destruction, so she didn’t feel the need to fret over one or two run-of-the-mill assassins.
“I’m not scared of the Empire’s hit men. I have astral power, and if nothing else, I have you, Rin.”
“…What a convenient time to praise me.”
“It’s the truth. Plus, I never wear my headdress whenever we go into a neutral city, right? Let’s just go in our normal clothes.” She fanned the tickets pinched between her fingers. “The curtain call is before noon, so we’ll want to leave the royal palace before sunrise.”
“Then I will prepare the sand bird. We must get going early in the morning, so please go back to your room, Lady Alice, and sleep. I will take the tickets for safekeeping.”
“Hey! Rin, what are you doing?!”
“It’s so that you don’t lose them, Lady Alice. Moreover, please get some underwear on already. Or are you parading those around to show off?”
“I-I’m not showing off!”
Rin looked enviously at Alice’s breasts, which seemed to bounce eagerly as they moved, and Alice turned her back to her in alarm.
“Please also inform the queen that you will be going out. You got into trouble for leaving without permission just the other day.”
“…It’s such a pain.”
“Let me hear you say it.”
“…Fiiiiiine.” At her attendant’s strict tone, Alice let out a small sigh.
2
Two years prior, on the day Iska was heading back home after receiving his unit assignment, he discovered that his master had up and disappeared.
More specifically, he boldly up and left right in front of Iska’s eyes.
“The two of you—you and Jhin—were the only ones who didn’t run away from me.” For his parting words, his master imparted Iska with a touch of irony. “Well, I guess two is more than I expected.”
This was the strongest Imperial swordsman, Crossweil Nes Lebeaxgate—also known as the Black Steel Gladiator. Back when he’d been the head Saint Disciple protecting the capital, he’d scouted boys and girls all over the Empire to find and train his successor—well, more like screen them.
Nearly half the candidates dropped out after half a day of training, and by the end of the day, 90 percent of them were gone. Three days after that, their numbers halved again. That continued for a year, then three years, then five years, until the only ones remaining were Jhin and Iska.
“Iska, weren’t you the last candidate I brought on board?”
“Yes.”
“I’m going to be honest: Among all the candidates, you were the one who was the most…”
“Y-yes?!”
“…Hopeless.”
“Geez, you don’t have to be that honest!” The boy haggardly collapsed in front of his master.
But the ebony-haired man, cloaked in black from top to bottom, spoke without reservation. “I scouted those who had the most promise and went from there. Meaning the last candidate would obviously have to be the most hopeless.”
“…Well, I guess, but—” The boy puffed out his cheeks, unsatisfied by his answer.
The master had just handed Iska his pair of swords and now looked down at them pointedly.
“But you could have phrased it differently.” Iska sulked.
“You were the one most like me. That’s why I didn’t expect much from you.”
“—”
That was a truth, and this was the first time Iska had heard it.
His master—usually expressionless and tight-lipped, a person who’d normally give him listless looks—had voiced his “true feelings.”
“Don’t let these astral swords out of your hands.”
“Of course. They’re mementos of my precious master… Hey, ouch!”
The master punched Iska. Don’t call them mementos. Who said you could just kill me off in your fantasies? That’s what he seemed to say.
And there was one last thing. “Those swords are the only hope for the rebirth of the world.”
“…Huh?”
“The astral swords will serve you. Now that you’ve touched them, they’re locked, meaning only you can wield their power. That’s why I’m giving you this responsibility.”
He’d been given the role of ending the century-long war between humans and witches.
The master had told him: That’s your mission—as the Successor of the Black Steel.
The sun scorched the earth, casting down a harsh heat that toasted the yellow sand until it was cracked and dry—leaving the whole region a vast desert spotted by a few sparse weeds. Attempting to walk barefoot on the scalding ground would have caused burns, even if it was for less than a minute.
Those were the Vishada wastelands.
A single ATV raced down the expansive desert roadway at a reckless speed.
“Iska, wake up, wake up. We’re almost at Ain.”
“Huh? Already?”
Nene shook the sleepy passenger from her spot in the driver’s seat, causing Iska to rub his eyes. He could recall events up until the point when they’d left the capital before sunrise, but the scene around him now was wholly unfamiliar.
“It’s almost noon. We’ve already been on the road for nearly six hours, after all. You were sound asleep no matter how much I tried talking to you.”
“Sorry…”
“No worries. It’s been a while since I’ve seen your sleeping face,” Nene crooned happily. “Plus, you said you couldn’t really catch any z’s ever since we got back from the Nelka forest anyway.”
“Yeah… I was dreaming about my master. I was remembering the time when he worked Jhin and me to the bone—a distant memory or, I guess, a nightmare.”
“You mean Mr. Cross?” Nene asked as she gripped the handles tight. “That must really take you back. You haven’t seen him in your dreams for a long time, right?”
“It must be because it’s the first time I’ve used the astral swords in a while. He told me to take care of them, but I let the Eight Great Apostles confiscate them from me. I was so relieved when they gave them back.”
He looked down at the pair of swords leaning upright against his seat.
The ATV was headed to a piece of land that belonged neither to the Empire nor the Nebulis Sovereignty.
On the world map, these wastelands were designated as a wildlife zone for animals to run rampant. There had even been reports of a gigantic dragon sighting in the past. The roadway was safe, but it wasn’t a place where many would feel comfortable drifting off.
“Ughhh, what a failure. Why did I have to sign up for a shift right when you wanted to go out, Iska?” Nene released the steering wheel with an incredibly deep sigh.
“Jhin’s busy helping out at a firearms workshop, and Captain Mismis is on a shopping trip, right?”
“Yeah, I guess, but I wanted to hang out with you at the neutral city, too, Iska,” whined the girl with the ponytail, plopping her head down on Iska’s lap.
Apparently not even bothering to keep her eyes on the road, she used her legs to maneuver the steering wheel as the car sped down the highway.
“Nene, you’ve got to look where you’re going. I mean, driving with your feet is…”
“But it’s been so long since I’ve seen you, Iska.”
“Has it really been that long?” He looked over to Nene.
…I guess she seems more mature now?
…She’s gotten taller, and I feel like her face looks a lot more feminine, too.
A year of puberty had done wonders for her.
While Iska had been imprisoned, the young girl had matured into a woman. He imagined that if she let her hair out of her ponytail, she might have looked even more ladylike.
“Ngh.” Nene grunted to get up and shook her ponytail, unsatisfied. “Damn…we’re already here. Maybe I should have driven slower.”
They caught sight of Ain, a neutral city that’d developed out of an oasis in the vast desert, and reached the entrance, which was enclosed by a gigantic wall.
“Thanks, Nene. I’ll get on a loop bus when I head home.”
“Okay, gotcha. I’ll see you later, Iska!”
“…Yeah. Now then, where was that theater?” Iska watched the ATV drive away in a cloud of dust, then turned to the city streets.
Neutral city was the generic name for places that refused to choose a side in the century-long conflict between the Empire and the Nebulis Sovereignty.
“A neutral city, huh? It’s been a while. I wonder how many years it’s been?”
He found the theater, magnificent and proud, on the main road lined with buildings of all shapes and sizes. There was an impressive and elegant concert hall carved out of wood. And next door, a comparatively new opera house, constructed with modern design elements.
“It’s as packed as always.”
The fine arts bloomed in this city, which had accepted all sorts of artists who loathed the war between the Empire and the Nebulis Sovereignty—painters, musicians, poets, sculptors. Here, they’d developed a melting pot of culture.
Most of all, the neutral city Ain was known as the place for opera.
He watched the scores of musicians performing on the streets as passing tourists listened.
“—Oh, shoot. It’s already time for the show!” Iska scrambled along the main street with his ticket clenched in his hand. “It was the third building down, I think. Crap! It’s gonna start soon!”
He stumbled to the modern white entrance of the opera house.
“Can I still come in? Oh, I just barely made it? Phew. Thank you!” He jogged through the quiet hallway and into the performance hall. “…Pardon me. Just me coming through.”
Iska slowly opened the door and entered the hall. The performance was just about to begin. It was pitch-black in the theater. He relied on the faint emergency lights at his feet as he looked for his empty seat.
“A seat on the second floor in the very front row. Wow, leave it to Captain Mismis. She’s particular even when it comes to choosing where to sit at the opera.”
In the inky darkness, he couldn’t really see the faces of the guests around him, but they were women in affluent-looking clothes or aristocrats who’d stealthily come to the show with their families from a certain city.
“With that, please enjoy The Woman Knight Beatrix’s Blighted Love.” The announcement echoed through the hall as the curtain rose.
In front of several hundred onlookers, the opera began.
“Farewell, my Beatrix. I cannot live alongside you.”
“…Yes. Fare thee well, Azel. The next we meet, it will not be at a church as this evening but on the battlefield.”
In the middle of the stage, the actress performed the lead role of the eponymous knight, and the orchestra passionately accompanied the tragic tale with their performance.
“…Ahhh. I get why Captain Mismis likes this so much,” Iska murmured to himself among the enthralled audience.
The knight’s way of life was elegant and charming, her tragedy infectious. At that point, the other guests around him had been taken in by Beatrix’s sorrowful circumstances, empathizing with her cause. He could feel they were moved to tears and watching with bated breath.
Among them, Iska was feeling oddly disillusioned for some reason.
“Oh, Beatrix! I can’t believe you’d fall in love with a knight from an enemy kingdom… You’re choosing the road of a forbidden romance—unrequited, no matter your love for him. How could anything be more tragic than this? This is too much! Why would God allow this…this horrible fate…? Sob!”
Iska seemed to have been seated next to the weepiest girl out of all the guests in this theater. By the end of the story, she’d become overwhelmed with emotion, crying so hard that her handkerchief couldn’t dry her tears—and Iska couldn’t concentrate on the stage anymore.
“You idiot, Azel! What kind of man are you?!”
“Shhh, you’re being too loud, Lady Alice. Everyone else is watching quietly.”
“B-but…”
“Come on. What happened to my handkerchief? I gave you mine after you soaked through your own.”
“…That one is sopping wet, too.”
“You’re crying way too much!”
The girl started to wipe her eyes with the back of her hand. The theater was too dark to see her face, but Iska deduced from the sound of her voice that she was probably a teen. That seemed to be the case of the person sitting next to her, too.
“Um, here you go.”
“What?”
With a stifled voice, Iska had offered his handkerchief.
…I mean, aristocrats love it when guys give their handkerchiefs to mysterious damsels in distress. They eat that shit up.
…And it’s not that weird. I think.
He couldn’t bear to ignore someone in need, especially when they were right next to him. But this was also a pragmatic move. If she kept up her wailing, he wouldn’t have been able to pay attention to the performance.
“I haven’t used it; it’s completely clean. Um, I thought you’d be in trouble at this rate.”
“…”
She must have been reluctant to take a handkerchief from a stranger. But she desperately needed to stem her stream of tears somehow, so the girl hesitantly reached out her hand.
“Thank you so very much.”
Hmm? That voice.
He felt like he recognized her voice from somewhere, but he couldn’t quite place it, especially because the pitch was strained. He might have just been hearing things. He quickly came to that conclusion and decided to redirect his attention to the ending of the opera.
When the curtains closed, applause rippled across the hall and lingered for a while in the darkness.
“Ugh… Sniffle, poor Beatrix!”
“Lady Alice, look. It’s over now. Please at least wipe away your tears before the lights come on.”
“B-but…”
The girl pressed the handkerchief to her eyes as she stood up, then bowed her head to Iska, who was still sitting in the next seat.
“Uh, um… I’m so sorry. I’ve made your handkerchief all soggy. Please let me reimburse you. Rin, please make arrangements to present the highest quality velvet available to him.”
“What?! N-no, it’s fine! That handkerchief was super-cheap.”
“No, it’s not a matter of price. You gave it to me when I was in such an embarrassing state.” With the handkerchief gripped in both hands, the girl shook her head earnestly.
“Um, please let me thank you again,” she muttered sincerely.
She took a step forward.
In that moment, the theater lights came on.
“Thank you for the handker…”
The glittering lights of the chandelier exposed her bright golden hair and sweet face.
It was the Ice Calamity Witch, Aliceliese.
The girl wringing the handkerchief in front of his eyes was the very same person he’d faced in an all-out battle a scant three days before in the Nelka forest.
“…Huh?”
“Wh…? Wh-wh-wh-wh-wh-what are you doing here?!” The princess of the Nebulis Sovereignty jerked her skirt away from him.
Instead of the royal garb cloaking her during their battle, she had come to the show in an unremarkable, plain dress. It could have been found at any clothing store in any city. She was the spitting image of a noble daughter secretly sneaking out.
“I see. You tailed me. Fine, then let’s settle this right—Mggghhh?!”
“Lady Alice, you can’t! This is a neutral city!” The attendant, Rin, had pinned Alice from behind. “Any and all conflict is forbidden in this city. It doesn’t matter who you are. That is the law here. You could run into the murderer of your parents or an officer from an enemy country, but if you lay a hand on them…”
—1. Any conflict whatsoever is forbidden in the neutral cities.
—2. In accordance with the aforementioned clause, the first to act will be considered the transgressor.
—3. Embrace all culture and enjoy the fine arts.
Those were the common rules in every neutral city.
“…I know. I know I’ll become an enemy to all those cities for breaking the rules if I lay a hand on him here. It would be a serious issue.”
Alice brushed aside Rin’s hands and bit her lip.
“But I can’t believe I’ve been watching this opera next to you. That must be why I couldn’t settle down.”
“Uh, it seemed like you were way too invested in the show. I mean, with your bawling and all.”
“—Ngh?! I—I was just sweating out of my eyes! Forget what you saw today, you hear me?!” Alice’s footsteps rang out as she backed away.
“Lady Alice, you’ll gather too much attention if you speak that loudly.”
“Ugh, enough already!”
When the girl with flaxen hair finally realized the eyes of the other guests were on her, her face flushed even more than it already was from all the crying—making it blotchy and puffy.
“I’ll be taking my leave now. Farewell, Iska!”
“…S-sure. The same to you?”
She gathered up both ends of her skirt, bowing courteously.
“Lady Alice, what do you think you’re doing?”
“Huh?! Uh… D-don’t get the wrong idea, Rin! It’s force of habit!” When Alice realized she’d accidentally given Iska a greeting fit for the royal palace, she turned red to the very tips of her ears and sprinted up and out of the hall.
He was left alone in the theater.
“Geez, I was more surprised by you than you were by me…”
He placed a hand to his chest where his heart hammered away and breathed out, long and hard.
3
“…I felt like my heart was going to stop.”
“That should be my line. I was worried about what I’d do if you caused a scene.”
They had rushed away from the hall and parted the gathered crowds to go outside, spilling into the main street.
Alice finally calmed her fluttering heart. “He’s not following us, right?”
“He’s not. That swordsman didn’t take a single step as we left the hall. Come to think of it, we should have expected this to happen.”
Especially in this neutral city, which wouldn’t side with the Empire or the Nebulis Sovereignty. In exchange for freely entering and leaving the city regardless of nationality, they had to accept the possibility of running into someone they recognized.
“…Still, I can’t believe he was in the seat next to us.”
“He’s already seen your face. It’s not as though another soldier has recognized you. The possibility of running into friend or foe is unavoidable in this city.”
“R-right! …Let’s calm down and go eat.” Alice closed her eyes to set aside her rambling thoughts, then walked briskly down the main street. “I’m sure there is a famous pasta place nearby. I researched it and everything!”
“You really love your pasta, Lady Alice.”
“I would be fine eating nothing but that for a whole month.”
“It’s not a matter of whether you’d be fine with it or not. I won’t allow such a thing.”
“Don’t be such a tyrant. Look, it’s over here.” Alice took Rin’s hand and bounded to the north.
They passed through the town square and turned a corner into an alley, where they were greeted by the sign for the pasta restaurant.
“I’m very sorry, but we’re right in the middle of the lunch rush.” A waitress in an apron bowed her head apologetically at the two of them. “I can seat you immediately if you made a reservation or if you’re willing to share a table…”
“I don’t mind. Come on, Rin, over here.”
The pair sat side by side at a four-person table.
“Let me pour you some water, Lady Alice.”
“Thanks, Rin. I was just feeling thirsty.”
Alice was parched. Her throat was completely dry from bawling her eyes out at the show. When Rin passed her a glass, she immediately brought its rim to her lips, just as the waitress brought the other person to the table.
“Mr. Iska, thank you for making a reservation. Please make your way here.”
“Bwehhhh?!” She spat everything out.
For the first time in her life, Alice spewed water from her mouth like a squirt gun.
“Whoa?!” The boy backed away from the table, startled. “What’re you trying to do?”
“That’s what I want to sa— Cough… Urg, w-went down the wrong way… Ugh… Wh-why are you here of all places?!” Alice put her hand to her mouth. Her eyes welled with tears, but she glared at the young Imperial swordsman nonetheless.
“You brute! Not once but twice! So you really are following Lady Alice!”
Of course, Rin couldn’t stay silent this time. She stood up from her seat and put her hand to the dagger hidden under her skirt.
…If I pull out my dagger, I’d be breaking a taboo in a neutral city.
…Wait. The prohibition on violence is worded as “the first to act will be considered the transgressor.”
If that Empire swordsman attacked them first, Alice and Rin could lawfully claim self-defense, meaning they would be allowed to launch a counterattack without reservations.
“Um, I think there’s been a misunderstanding.”
“Don’t play dumb. No doubts. No skepticism. I know exactly what you’re trying to do.”
Iska raised both of his hands to show he had no ill will.
Rin jabbed a finger at him. “When we parted ways at that opera hall, you were going off someplace else. Why are you here at this restaurant? If you have an excuse, then speak now!”
“This is the closest eatery to the theater. Plus, it’s famous. I’m also the one who reserved this seat in the first place. You guys came after that, right?” Iska replied frankly.
“…” Rin froze in place. “…What do you think, Lady Alice?”
“He made a good point. But you can’t let your guard down, Rin. We can’t be careless.”
“Geez, I can’t help but overhear if you just talk in front of me like that. Anyway, I’m unarmed, as you can see. They kept my swords at the checkpoint by the gate.”
With his arms still raised high, Iska twirled in front of them to drive home his statement.
They couldn’t see anything that resembled a weapon. It seemed he was doing his very best to prove that he didn’t intend to fight them.
“…Fine. I’ll believe you for now.”
The boy pulled out the chair across from where Alice and Rin sat.
“Lady Alice, are you sure about this? We may be in a neutral city, but we’re still sharing a table with an Imperial soldier.”
“Withdrawing here will make it look like I’m afraid.”
If rumor spread of the Ice Calamity Witch fleeing the scene, it would give the Imperial soldiers more ammunition against her, and she wouldn’t be able to face her own subordinates in the Nebulis Sovereignty.
“A-anyway, let’s eat…,” Alice muttered as she reached for the menu on the table.
Iska’s fingertips brushed against hers as he tried to read it at the same time.
“Eep! S-sorry!”
“…Uh, n-no, it’s my fault… Sorry.” Iska shrank back as he withdrew his hand. “……Go ahead.”
“……You should go first. I’ll let you have it. You reached for it, didn’t you?”
“……Yeah, to hand it to you.”
“……Th-that’s what I was doing!”
They ended up making a compromise: They left the menu in the middle of the table, where Alice and Iska looked at it from the sides, sitting across from each other.
…The only problem is that our faces are too close.
…I mean, what am I thinking? We’re just looking at a menu.
She couldn’t help averting her eyes from him. It wasn’t as though she didn’t have male relatives, but none in the royal palace was close in age to her. She wasn’t used to this situation.
“Um.”
Alice reflexively went into high alert when someone suddenly spoke to her. “Wh-what is it?”
“Have you decided what you want?”
It wouldn’t have been strange if the young Imperial soldier had declared, I’ll tear you from limb to limb right here and now, but instead he was looking at her with mild-mannered eyes, talking to her rather demurely.
“…Right. I guess I’m ready.”
“Yes! Be right there!” A seasoned waitress ran through the restaurant toward them. “And what can I get for you?”
““I’ll have a plate of your salmon and zucchini pasta with fresh cream sauce. Please make it ben cotto, or well-done, and keep the portion on the small side. After the meal, I’ll take a cup of black tea with one sugar cube,”” Alice and Iska recited together.
They’d asked for the exact same order, harmonizing with each other as if a beautiful melody.
“…Huh?”
“…What?”
Did I just say that out loud? They’d so perfectly been in sync that for a moment, Alice doubted who had even spoken.
And sure enough, Iska had the same confused expression.
“You’re like two peas in a pod. Did you come here together?” asked the waitress.
““No!”” Once again, their responses overlapped perfectly.
“Lady Alice, compose yourself.”
“You don’t have to tell me, Rin. I know. Just for today. That’s it. It’s really only a coincidence of a coincidence of a coincidence!”
Alice inhaled as deeply as she could without the boy noticing.
…It’s fine. I’m calm.
…We’ve got the same taste in shows and food, but that doesn’t mean anything.
They collectively suffered through the awkward silence until their food came.
“Whatever. The food’s here. Let’s eat while it’s hot.” Alice twirled her pasta with her fork—then she stopped and snapped her face up.
A small spark of curiosity flitted through her head. She had something she wanted to confirm about this enemy soldier, especially since they’d continued to coincidentally align with each other.
“Do you like pasta?”
“…Are you talking to me?” His reaction was delayed. He hadn’t expected her to ask him anything.
“Who else would I be speaking to?”
“Yeah, I like it. Well, it might be my favorite food. I love it with a cream sauce, but I think it’s good even when you flavor it with nothing more than salt and pepper, too.”
“Oh. You get it. It’s so simple but so delicious.”
Whenever Alice would ask Rin that question, her attendant’s answer was always the same: “Please don’t be picky and just eat.” When she talked to the retainers at the royal palace, the best response was, “That’s nice.”
For the first time in her life, she felt something about the reply from her enemy: She was having fun. When she spoke to Iska, she felt her heart leap in excitement.
“But when the weather is this hot, I can go for a plate of cold pasta salad,” she countered.
“Yeah, that’s good, too. If they have sweet tomatoes at the market, I’ve just got to make it.”
“Right? Cold pasta with tomatoes is so delicious. I like it, too! I could eat it every day when it’s hot in the summer—”
“Lady Alice, you’ve stopped eating.”
“……Oh,” Alice whispered when Rin cleared her throat to admonish her.
The boy was not only a soldier from the enemy country, but he’d also seen her face. On top of that, he was a skilled fighter who could have matched a Saint Disciple in battle.
She’d forgotten all about that.
“I-I’m sorry. I’ve interrupted your meal…”
“S-same…”
They bobbed their heads at each other, bowing before returning to their quiet lunch. But as soon as they thought that, the young attendant let out a muffled whisper after she quickly finished her meal.
“It’s common sense to cook pasta al dente, you amateurs.”
““Ben cotto is definitely the right way!”” Alice and Iska spoke at the same time again, as Rin let out a sigh in resignation.
4
The stars on the black dome overhead glimmered with innumerable constellations, as if it were an overturned jewelry box. High above, shooting stars seemed to stream toward the horizon line. Alice had no doubt in her mind that the view of the night sky from the royal palace was the most beautiful sight in the world.
But she turned her eyes away on that night.
“Keep the events of this day buried deep inside you, Lady Alice.”
“…”
Alice listened to Rin’s words as she lay facedown on her bed.
“Normally, we would need to report this to the queen. I mean, we came across a soldier from an enemy nation, after all, even if we weren’t engaged in battle.”
“I thought you were the one who said we couldn’t fight in the neutral city, Rin.”
“I never thought we would sit down with him for a meal after our encounter at the opera house.”
They were in the royal palace in Alice’s room, which was called “Sion, the Jewelry Box of Bells.”
Rin stood along the wall as she spoke to Alice in an unusually emotionless voice. “Luckily, we didn’t let any secrets of the Sovereignty slip during our conversation today. If I wasn’t confident about that point, I would have needed to inform the queen—no matter the circumstances.”
“…I understand that.”
That boy was a loyal dog of the hated Empire, the people who’d persecuted her ancestors and condemned them as witches and sorcerers. Iska was one of those feared beings. But why couldn’t she shake off this unsettling feeling?
“Oh, this.” Alice looked at the plain handkerchief next to her pillow.
He’d said it was a cheap thing that could be bought anywhere.
“I missed my chance to give it back…”
She’d borrowed this handkerchief at the theater. But she couldn’t just give it back after she’d used it to dry her tears. That said, she hadn’t known what to do with it regardless and brought it home.
“It belongs to a soldier of an enemy country. It shouldn’t be a problem even if you toss it away.”
“…But.”
“That’s why I asked for you to please forget what happened today. The swordsman, this Iska, is an enemy. He’s not just your enemy, Lady Alice, but the enemy of tens of thousands of people who are just like you.”
Rin turned her skirt up. By the time Alice realized that, Rin was already gripping the dagger that she used for self-defense.
It was quick, instantaneous.
On top of that, she’d also fished out a delicate metal needle as thin as thread, some steel string, and even a small set of explosives. Under her housekeeping uniform, Rin had hidden countless secret weapons, some of which even Alice didn’t recognize.
She was a master at martial arts—a genius. That was one of Rin’s many faces.
“Oh, the sage at the training tower was so disappointed that his student had become nothing but an attendant. I mean, you’ve mastered all his techniques—from the way of the sword, spear, archery, even torture. He said you had the talent to become a martial artist for the Sovereignty.”
“He had a bad habit of letting his mouth run when he was drunk, too. Plus, I can’t envision a single case where I would win in a fight against that swordsman Iska—whether by sword or physical combat or even if I used my astral power to its limits.”
“Really, Rin?”
“That’s right. I even think the sage would have been in peril during that battle.”
Shrnk. The two daggers had made a high-pitched noise as they returned to their sheathes.
“I believe you understand this the most, Lady Alice, out of all of us. You revealed your ice flower—which you hid from the Saint Disciples—in a fight against a single soldier… That swordsman is a monster. When you eventually challenge the Empire, he might be your greatest obstacle.” Rin seemed frustrated.
But it wasn’t unwarranted. Rin had found an opponent she couldn’t stand a chance against, even as Alice’s personal guard. She was resentful of her own uselessness when it came to this situation.
“That’s why you need to forget about today, even if there’s something you have in mind. That swordsman is possibly the most concerning threat to the Sovereignty.”
Heeding Rin’s advice was probably for the best. Even in Alice’s eyes, Iska’s power had been extraordinary. On top of that, he was still in his teens: If he continued to gain experience and training over time, she couldn’t even imagine what a terrifying opponent he would become in the future.
…But the vibe he gave off today…
…It didn’t feel like a bloodcurdling terror at all.
Rin had insisted it was only natural that he wasn’t eager to fight her, since they were in a neutral city. But Alice had a different perspective of things. She thought he hadn’t held any feelings of hostility at all; he hadn’t been holding back or covering up a secret desire to get her. He really didn’t have any intent to engage in combat at all.
…Plus, my astral power didn’t react to him.
…And it usually tells me when my subordinates dislike me in the slightest.
Her astral power hadn’t even remotely seen him as a foe.
More importantly, she’d let down her guard momentarily after they’d seen the show together and shared a meal. That was actually the biggest problem of all, now that she’d become aware of it.
She couldn’t remain emotionless about it, leading her to hesitate over whether or not she should throw away his handkerchief.
“…But I think you’re slightly to blame for this, too, Rin.”
“Meaning?”
“Back there, you said making pasta al dente is common sense, and I ended up sympathizing with Iska, and it was super-weird.”
“I was only speaking the truth. Pasta is best al dente. I won’t accept any differing opinions.”
“You’re so stupid!” Alice threw the pillow in her hands at her attendant in the distance and curled up under her terry-cloth blanket.
Sector Three of the Imperial Capital. Building 03 on the first floor.
In one of the rooms, Iska was lying flat on the ground and staring up at the light on the ceiling.
“…I can’t sleep.”
His eyelids were heavy, but even as he waited with his eyes closed for hours and hours, his consciousness wouldn’t subside in the slightest.
Was it nerves? Or excitement?
…Neither.
…It must be because I saw that.
He’d seen Alice’s breadth of emotions—from going to see the exact same opera to enjoying a meal together with an Imperial citizen—even though she was the one feared by the entire Empire as the Ice Calamity Witch.
“Lies, lies, lies.” His lips murmured no louder than a zephyr. “The whole thing about her being a monster who doesn’t bleed or cry? All lies. I mean, look at how much she cried. Even mages are just normal people.”
He recalled her bare face.
Oh, if only those who feared mages in the Empire could watch her bawl her eyes out. How many would seriously call her the Ice Calamity Witch then? Especially when she was such a dainty, delicate girl?
He might have been from the Empire and Alice from the Nebulis Sovereignty, but they weren’t different at all. They were both human…
“…Ugh, why can’t I fall sleep?”
“…Ugh, why is it so difficult to sleep?”
They spoke at the same time: A boy and a girl grumbled to themselves in the Empire and the Nebulis Sovereignty—two countries that were far, far apart.
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