The Hero King, Reincarnate to Master the Art of War (LN) - Volume 1 - Chapter SS

Extra: The Talisman’s Ward

Rafinha’s jaw was half-slack as she took in the sights of the capital. “Wow, there sure are a lot of people here. Way different from Ymir.”

“It sure is,” Inglis said.

With a few days left before they were officially inducted into the knights’ academy, the two were exploring the capital.

“Even the streets are wider. So many people, so many shops...”

“Rani, quit gawking like that. You look like a tourist.”

Leone sighed at the mountains of snacks in the pair’s arms. “I don’t think Rafinha staring is the biggest problem here, to be honest. Even if her mouth wasn’t hanging open, that mountain of food would attract more than enough attention.”

Inglis and Rafinha had bought everything they saw that looked tasty. They were carrying so many things that it was hard to balance them all. That, surely, was far more gripping than any amazed expression could be.

Rafinha grinned. “Oh, that won’t be any problem, Leone. Right, Chris?”

“Yep.”

“It’ll be gone soon,” the two announced in unison.

“What?! But you’ve got so—”

In the blink of an eye, Inglis and Rafinha devoured their snacks, crunching and gobbling everything up.

“See? All gone!” Rafinha beamed.

“It was delicious.” Inglis rubbed her stomach.

“You two really amaze me sometimes...” Leone, shocked, couldn’t find any other words.

“All right, Chris, onto the next place! Their food looks tasty too!”

“Yeah. And we’ve still got money left.”

“All right! I want to try every restaurant in this city!” Rafinha picked up her pace, starting to leave Inglis and Leone behind.

“Rafinha almost seems like...a little boy sometimes,” Leone commented, pausing mid-sentence as she weighed her words.

“She’s still young,” Inglis said.

But that was one of her charms. To Inglis, Rafinha was practically the granddaughter she’d never had.

“Huh?” As Inglis watched Rafinha march forth, from the corner of her eye, she noticed a little girl glumly staring into a shop window. Her eyes were full of tears.

What’s going on here?

“Hold on a second, Leone. You too, Rani,” Inglis said to get their attention.

Rafinha was the first to speak to the girl. “What’s wrong? You can tell me—I’ll help out. What’s your name?”

“Wow, she’s fast,” Leone said.

“That’s Rani for you.” Inglis walked next to her, a bit proud of how Rafinha had grown up.

The little girl sobbed between breaths. “I’m Ettie. This shop sells magicite charms. I saved up my allowance to buy one for daddy. He’s going somewhere far away and I want him to stay safe, but...” She kept crying. “They’re all sold out...”

Magicite was, as the name implied, a gemlike stone that grew on magicite beasts. However, only parts of their bodies were magicite, and those parts tended to fade away and crumble as the beast died. Only rarely did some stay intact as magicite. According to rumors, the wearer of a polished magicite pendant—or similar jewelry—wouldn’t be attacked by magicite beasts. Since it was rare, dangerous to acquire, and said to be a safeguard against the beasts, it tended to be extremely pricey.

“Ettie, can you tell us how much they cost?” Leone asked gently.

“Um...” Ettie paused and then gave them a low number. This shop’s charms were probably fake.

Still, that wasn’t any real problem. Magicite itself was nothing more than an abandoned shell. It held no real power of its own. It couldn’t compare to the power of a young girl’s pure wishes—at least, people believed those wishes contained a special kind of strength.

“You’re a good girl, Ettie. I bet your dad will be really proud of you just for trying.” Rafinha patted the girl’s head.

“But... I can’t go home without one...”

“Hey, Rani, do you have any magicite?” Inglis would have given Ettie some if she’d had any on her, but they’d fought plenty of magicite beasts since leaving Ymir. Maybe Rafinha had picked some up along the way.

“Huh? Me?”

“Yeah. I don’t have any, but I figured maybe you could give her some.”

“Aha ha ha, well, ummm...”

“Really, Rani? If you have any, you should just give it to her. This isn’t like you.”

The more Inglis pushed, the more Rafinha resisted. Inglis found it all so strange. What was she hiding?

At the same time, Rin clambered into Rafinha’s pocket.

“Eeek! W-W-W-Wait, Rin!”

Rin emerged, clutching a wooden box in her paws. It fell to the ground, and once the top popped off, it revealed an unpolished yellow chunk of magicite.

“Aha! I knew it! But why were you hiding that?”

“It... It’s from back then—back when we were eight...”

“When we were eight?”

“Don’t you remember that one time, Chris?”

Rafinha launched into a trip down memory lane.

◆◇◆

Seven years before, when Inglis and Rafinha were only eight years old, Inglis had visited Rafinha’s room in the castle, only to find her pale in the face and sobbing.

“Rani? What’s wrong?”

“Waaaaaah! Chris!” Rafinha immediately latched onto Inglis’s arm.

“Whoa. What’s wrong?”

“Um... You have to keep this a secret! Don’t tell anyone!”

“Okay.”

“I lost my warding talisman...”

“What?!”

The warding talisman was a magicite-decorated pendant that had been made for Rafinha when she was born. It was a tradition in Ymir to make a talisman from a piece of magicite found that year for newborns that would protect them from harm. When they turned fifteen, the talisman, its role complete, would be returned to the earth. It was a precious thing, normally kept safe and secure, but children were expected to wear it at birthday celebrations and other ceremonies—and Rafinha’s birthday would be soon. She needed to have it.

“We should tell everyone so they can help—”

“No! If we do, they’ll know it’s gone! Mom and Dad will get really, really mad!”

“I guess, but...”

“Let’s try to find it without them noticing! You’ll help, right?”

“Okay...”

Inglis and Rafinha searched Rafinha’s room, to no avail. Moving on, they tried Inglis’s room and the nursery, but still they came up with nothing.

“It isn’t anywhere,” Inglis concluded.

“Wh-Wh-Wh-Wh-What do I do?! Wait, I know! What if I borrow yours, Chris?”

“They’re different colors. I think people would be able to tell.” Inglis quickly shot down Rafinha’s plan. After all, her talisman was red, and Rafinha’s was yellow.

“Maybe if we save up our allowances...”

“Magicite’s pretty expensive. We probably wouldn’t be able to afford it.”

Rafinha sobbed.

“Maybe we should tell them what happened, and apolo—”

“No!” Rafinha angrily shook her head.

I wonder what’s up? I know the talisman is important, but Rani isn’t usually this stubborn. “But why? This isn’t like you, Rani.” Inglis patted her head to calm her down.

“Mom and Dad always tell me I should be more like Rafael or you! I don’t want them to think I’m a bad girl!”

Inglis listened in silence. Rafinha was still a child, but children had their own worries. They had more to themselves than being cute. Rafinha’s goal wasn’t particularly admirable, but still, Inglis was inclined to help her. I really do go too easy on her sometimes. But realizing it and being able to avoid it are two different things. 

“Okay, Rani. I understand. I’ll try to do something, so—”

“Really?! Do you have any ideas?!”

“Yeah. It’ll be fine, don’t worry. But it’s getting late. You should head back to the castle.”

“Okay! Thanks, Chris!”

Inglis walked with Rafinha back to the castle. “Don’t worry, okay? Anyway, goodnight.”

“Yeah! Goodnight, Chris!” Rafinha soon fell into a peaceful sleep, reassured by Inglis’s words.

The next morning, Irina, half-panicked, shook her daughter awake. “Rafinha... Rafinha! Sorry, honey, but you need to get up!”

Rafinha yawned. “What, Mom?”

“Do you know where Chris went? She walked you back to the castle yesterday, right?”

“Yeah.”

“Did she say anything to you? We haven’t been able to find her anywhere since last night.”

“Whaaaat?! Chris is gone?”

“Please, please, tell me if she said anything at all unusual! I don’t know where a center of attention like that could have disappeared to!”

“Umm... I dunno...” Rafinha shook her head. She was too afraid of what would happen if she told the truth.

As Irina questioned her, the hubbub spread. Some knights organized a search party, as others, and the merchants, were asked if they’d seen the Prism Flow recently.

Wherever Inglis had gone, it wasn’t in Ymir. A search party combed the surrounding countryside, but as the sun set, they called off their efforts for the day. Rafinha was beside herself with worry, and thought she’d be up all night, unable to sleep.

Tap, tap. Tap, tap.

There was someone just outside her window. As she peeked out nervously, she saw what seemed to be a light-haired wisp floating there—but it was Inglis, perched neatly but precariously on her third-story windowsill.

“Ah! Chris! Are you okay?!” Rafinha immediately swept the window open.

“Shhh! Quiet down or I’ll get caught.”

“Okay...” Rafinha sobbed. “You’re back... I’m so happy you’re back.”

Inglis smiled at her. “Yeah. I’m back, Rani. And I found a replacement piece of magicite.” It was the same vivid yellow as the old talisman. Inglis had found the Prism Flow, hunted a magicite beast, and returned with its magicite.

It was rare for magicite beasts to leave behind magicite at all. Hunting a specific color within that was a daunting task indeed. Inglis had wanted to finish it overnight, but even she had needed a whole day.

“I’m a little bit late. They’d be mad at me if I came back with a magicite stone, so I wanted to give it to you as soon as I could.”

“Thanks, Chris!”

“This way, they’ll never find out. Anyway, I’m going home.”

“Okay!” After a pause, Rafinha caught Inglis’s sleeve. “Wait, Chris!”

“What’s wrong?”

“This is my fault! I don’t want it to be my fault the grownups are mad at you! So even though I shouldn’t have asked you to hide it, I’ll tell them everything and apologize!”

“I guess. Yeah, that’s probably for the best. But I was bad too, so I’ll apologize with you.”

“Okay!”

And thus, the two came clean to their families.

The two daughters: “We’re so sorry!”

The two fathers: “What were you thinking?!”

The two mothers: “Honey, please calm down!”

In the end, Inglis and Rafinha were sent to sit in the storeroom overnight to think about what they’d done.

Bonk!

As Rafinha rambled around the room, she bumped into a shelf. “Ah! There it is!”

Rafinha’s warding talisman was in plain view.

“What’s it doing here?” Inglis asked.

“I-I guess I took it off because it was getting in my way while I was looking around here?”

“All the things you could be doing, and you decided to clamber around a storeroom? You’re such a tomboy sometimes, Rani.”

“Sorry, Chris...”

“Well. I guess we don’t need this magicite anymore.”

“That’s not true! You went out and got it just for me! I’m keeping it for the rest of my life!” Rafinha smiled as she tightly gripped the magicite—the one that Inglis had found just for her.

◆◇◆

Inglis clapped her hands together as the memories came flooding back. “Oh! The magicite from then? You didn’t bury it with your talisman?”

“Of course not! I said I’d cherish this for the rest of my life!”

“Then what do we do? That’s the only magicite...” Inglis couldn’t think of any other way to help Ettie.

“Wait,” Leone cut in. “It sounds like that magicite’s pretty important to you two. It’s important to be kind to other people, but your own memories are important too.” Then she pulled a purple piece of magicite from her pocket. “Here, Ettie. You can have this.”

“Th-Thanks so much, lady!” Ettie said excitedly.

“Don’t worry about it. Now, I want you to take good care of your dad, okay?”

“Yeah! Thanks again, lady! Goodbye!” Ettie waved and ran off home.

Rafinha brushed her palm across her brow in relief. “You’re a lifesaver, Leone! I was really in a bind.”

Inglis nodded. “Yeah, thanks. You’re sure you’re okay with this, though?”

“Yeah. I picked it up off a magicite beast—that’s all. But I’m glad I did.” Leone grinned.

“It feels great to do some good! I bet it’ll make the food even tastier! Let’s go, Chris!” Rafinha warmly tugged at Inglis’s arm, closer to her than ever.