‘Just make sure you carry out the mission. Whatever the result, simply keep Yeriel cooped up in the territory.’
......Yeriel recalled the vision recorded in the artifact—the one she had seen once before, or rather, the one Eunuch Jollang had shown her.
‘She is petty in every little thing she does, so it is surely nothing to worry about, but add surveillance to the mission list as well.’
At the mansion in the imperial capital, Decurain spoke of the mission while gripping a wine glass. In the corner of his vision, Ganesha’s red hair swayed.
The conversation they shared was perhaps......
‘That child doesn’t have a single drop of the Yukraine bloodline in her, does she......?’
Yeriel looked upon that time. She stared at the dark scene.
Ganesha was spouting words Yeriel knew nothing of, and Decurain sat in silence, as if turning away from her.
‘......Is it truly acceptable to do this?’
Outside the frame’s window, wind blew in from the night sky. The curtains fluttered softly, and faint moonlight shone upon Decurain.
In the shadows, his face held no expression.
It was still a face that betrayed not the slightest hint of his inner thoughts.
‘But the Professor was the one who commissioned us first. A biological...... distinction between you and your sister.’
Yeriel’s heart, which had momentarily stopped, began to beat again. That pulse spread as though wringing her entire body dry.
Their conversation, the situation within this frame, was gradually, painfully understood.
‘......’
Decurain still said nothing.
It would have been good if he could say something—anything. But he simply remained still, as if sunk in deep contemplation.
“Ah......”
Yet Yeriel could not possibly remain calm like Decurain. Her thoughts could not continue for long. They kept breaking off, as if severed.
Her legs trembled feebly, and her head tingled as though cramping.
‘Did I not have my subordinate inform you of this three months ago?’
Yeriel’s vision blurred and dimmed. An indescribable emotion surged through her heart.
A whirlpool she neither wanted to know nor could accept. Within it, every image of her childhood self, her mother’s face, and her father’s voice were tangled together.
“Biological distinction.”
Yeriel muttered blankly. Words that utterly denied her past, her self as a Yukraine.
She was as dazed and confused as if her soul had fled, yet her mind moved instinctively.
The reason demonic energy did not affect her positively—or rather, the reason her throat still prickled and her lungs still burned—
was because she was not a Yukraine.
“......”
Yeriel felt the world drifting away from her.
Her ears rang, and the ground beneath her feet swayed.
The precarious footing seemed about to collapse and swallow her whole at any moment.
Then.
‘......Yes.’
Decurain opened his mouth.
In an instant, Yeriel returned to the world, exhaling a trembling breath as she watched him.
‘Even so......’
Until that moment, she had been able to endure.
It was her spite—the days she had lived abandoning herself and prizing nothing but house and territory above all—that had supported her, allowing her to stand firm.
......But.
‘Yeriel is still Yeriel.’
Those words of Decurain. A voice dry as though crumbling, yet faintly trembling.
As if to say no reason was needed.
“Uh......?”
The mere resonance of that single phrase was enough to shatter someone’s heart.
Enough to burst the dam of emotion.
“......This.”
Slowly, Yeriel felt her body tilting.
Her hands and feet, too difficult to support, flowed downward of their own accord.
‘Yeriel is still Yeriel.’
Decurain’s hoarse voice.
Layered atop it, another warm voice.
‘Just as you are still Yeriel...... I too am still myself.’
Words that Decurain’s unconscious had honestly conveyed to her.
All of it was like ripples rising upon a lake.
Drawing forth certain memories from within Yeriel’s heart.
......The Dephalem Forest near Hadekain, in the western reaches of the Empire.
The day she had accompanied him on the Church’s requested “demonic energy purification mission.”
‘Why! Why am I not allowed to?!’
Me, shouting furiously inside the returning carriage.
‘You’re noisy.’
Decurain, berating me coldly as always.
‘We didn’t even go all the way! It wouldn’t have been dangerous!’
‘You are a hindrance.’
Yeriel recalled the situation step by step. She replayed the words she had shot back in protest.
‘I’m a Yukraine too, you know? If the enemy is a demon, I can be more than useful!’
‘Don’t act foolish. Those in charge do not step to the front lines.’
To my own self, proudly boasting that I too was a Yukraine......
‘Furthermore, if by any chance you participate in a battlefield going forward, know that our promise will be considered never to have existed.’
Decurain had threatened me so.
‘How long do you intend to act childishly? Conduct yourself befitting your station.’
No, it had not been a threat.
‘Show proper dignity and composure.’
He had been trying to protect me from the Yukraine bloodline......
Yeriel’s memories shifted once more.
Decurain’s voice echoed faintly by her ear.
It was what Decurain had said in Jollang’s artifact.
‘If that child attempts anything foolish...... you should know what must be done without me having to say it.’
Finding out that she was not a Yukraine, not a blood child—the “foolish act” she might commit if she ever learned of it.
The meaning behind Decurain’s words...... Yeriel finally understood.
‘Why did you have to......’
A voice heard then. Yeriel rose blankly and looked at the frame again.
Before she knew it, Ganesha had left, and Decurain wore a face that looked somehow sorrowful.
He gazed at the wine glass, muttering in a low voice.
‘It was a truth you didn’t need to know.’
Yeriel bit her lip. She forcibly suppressed the tears threatening to burst forth.
“......Why.”
She simply muttered and rested her head against the frame.
“If this is a truth I didn’t need to know......?”
His words that Yeriel was still Yeriel.
Could it be that bloodline or pedigree had never mattered to him from the very beginning?
Yeriel lowered her head. Her fallen hair covered her face.
“Why......”
What could be the reason?
Since when, and to what extent...... had this man called Decurain,
for the mere reason of calling me his younger sister, even though not a drop of our blood is mixed......
Clack—
At that moment, there was a sign of life. The “real” Decurain had returned.
“......!”
Yeriel hastily inserted the key into the frame. She could not let Decurain see this memory.
Click-click-click!
Forcing her hands that shook like mad into submission, she somehow desperately twisted it—and the entire frame subsided.
Clack, clack.
Immediately after, Yeriel stood frozen stiff in the middle of the hallway.
Clack, clack.
From the darkness beyond, Decurain was approaching.
“Yeriel.”
He called her name.
A tone that seemed somewhat angry, yet endlessly cold.
“I will ask later the reason you stole my diary.”
But Yeriel was not afraid.
Now that she knew his heart.
She had truly done something deserving of being scolded tens or hundreds of times.
“For now......?”
Tap—
Decurain approached close. Yeriel pressed her forehead against his chest.
Tap-tap-tap.
She knocked against it like a woodpecker, about three or four times.
Decurain, frowning, spoke.
“What are you doing?”
“......”
Yeriel tilted her head up sideways, glaring at him. Misunderstanding her gaze, Decurain scolded her in a strict voice.
“Lower your eyes.”
“......”
I could say nothing, and this man continued to pretend he did not know.
Did he intend to keep it a secret like this for the rest of his life?
“......”
He had said, “It was a truth you didn’t need to know.”
I still did not know his heart as he muttered those words. Perhaps I would not know for a long time.
—But.
There are moments when the heart matters more than the truth.
Thinking thus, that moment is right now......
It must be right for me to pretend I do not know as well.
Yeriel barely moved her trembling lips.
“......We need to go find the vassals.”
“Take these.”
As if he had been waiting, he handed over three notebooks. Each was a notebook with a vassal’s name written on it.
“You should be able to find them easily if you look.”
“......Yeah.”
Yeriel read the notebooks and distinguished their memories. As she walked down the hallway, Decurain followed right behind her.
“Why are you following me? Is there a memory you want to hide or something?”
“Your words are short.”
“......Hmph.”
Yeriel, pouting her lips, set off to find the vassals together with Decurain.
Her heart hurt as though it would burst; she still felt as if she were not in her right mind; her head was hazy as though shrouded in poisonous fog; yet still...... she looked at Decurain.
“......”
Walking side by side with him, how fortunate that I realized even now, Yeriel thought.
Of course, she definitely did not feel like she was about to soar~. Neither Decurain nor she had such agreeable personalities as to break down walls and become affectionate in an instant.
Rather, she thought that from now on was the true beginning.
There was much she needed to know, and much she needed to strive for.
Decurain.
Just as he looked at her, just as he had accepted her as she was......
She too needed to become someone worthy of that heart.
So that she could be of help to him.
Suddenly, Yeriel spoke.
“Hey.”
“......”
For a moment, Decurain stopped dead in his tracks. He glared at her as if he would kill her, but at the words that soon followed......
“Decurain...... brother.”
He seemed somewhat flustered. He furrowed his brows and replied.
“......Did a thunderbolt strike you?”
“Puhaha.”
Yeriel forced a laugh, and Decurain shook his head.
“Let’s go. Let’s find them quickly.”
“......”
The conversation quickly died down. An awkward silence wedged itself familiarly between them.
In truth, it was only natural.
They were siblings who were not even close; there would not be so many topics to chatter about together.
Merely......
Clack, clack.
Click, click.
Different footsteps echoing in the hallway.
Dress shoes and flat shoes.
Decurain and Yeriel.
The two of them, just as before.
Were walking while maintaining an appropriate distance.
* * *
77th floor of the Magic Tower at the Imperial University.
“......?”
I, having returned from the diary, discovered a piece of memo paper on the desk.
It was the note I had left for Ifrin. A “Message Paper” with the content: “Explain to outsiders that I am in the middle of research, but if I do not return within three days, request reinforcements. Just in case, keep this paper on you.”
——「 Paper 」——
◆ Information
: It was ordinary paper, but it was granted a special transmission function by the 「Hand of Midas」.
◆ Category
: Paper
◆ Special Effect
: Intermediate Message Paper (傳書紙) function.
[ Hand of Midas : Level 3 ]
────────
If one connected this Message Paper to another paper through magic and wrote something on the Message Paper, the same content would be transcribed onto the other paper.
That was why it was called a “Message Paper,” but......
“Did this fool leave this on the desk?”
I shook my head, picturing Ifrin’s clueless face.
I put the diary from the desk into my inner pocket and stepped out of the office.
Ding—!
At that moment, the hallway elevator arrived.
“Huh? You’re back?”
Inside, Ifrin was slurping on some kind of smoothie. Durent and Allen were with her too. Their arms were full of food.
“Welcome back, Professor! You’re back!”
“......”
“Professor, isn’t it not time yet?”
Ifrin pointed at the hallway clock. Then, muttering that about fifty-two hours had passed, she looked up at me again.
“I was planning to contact you in about twenty more hours. I already told Lady Yulie. Just that you’re immersed in research in the lab~ or something like that.”
“......”
She seemed to have done what I asked with some diligence.
When I nodded, she hesitantly held out the smoothie.
“......Would you like some? They say it’s made with milk. It has a strange taste.”
“No need.”
“Yes~ Then I’ll be going. I have a lot of research to do too.”
Ifrin shuffled back to the [Teaching Assistant Laboratory], slurp-slurping on her smoothie.
“Professor~ but where did you go? The opening festival starts today!”
“Lots of famous people have come, apparently.”
Durent chimed in after Allen’s words.
“Opening festival?”
“Yes! There’s so much to see~”
I looked out through the glass window of the Mage Tower. Sure enough, the festival seemed to be in full swing. After all, some sort of balloons were flying around like airships.
“Oh, right, Professor!”
Allen, a hot dog in his mouth, pulled a document from a folder.
“Hewe you go (Here you go).”
I took it and saw that it was a “List of Course Applicants.”
“We had an incredible number of applicants for this advanced lecture!”
“Is that so?”
“Yes!”
The document itself was special paper produced on the Floating Island. Like a tablet PC, it was cutting-edge technology that contained hundreds of pages’ worth of information on a single sheet.
“……Hm?”
As I skimmed through the names, I furrowed my brow. For starters, I understood Grand Prince Creto. But……
“There is a cat here.”
A red-furred munchkin. Truly, on the paper was a photograph of a red-furred munchkin, along with its age and history.
It was, quite literally, a cat’s résumé.
“Ah, I thought that was a little strange too, but the Imperial Family requested it. Apparently the cat learns magic too?”
“A cat, you say?”
“Yes. Fascinating, isn’t it?”
“Oh……”
“……”
Letting Allen and Drent’s comedy routine go in one ear and out the other, I flipped through the list. Magicians personally selected by the Floating Island, magicians affiliated with the Mage Tower, professors of the Mage Tower, and so on……
For now, I placed the document in my briefcase.
“Where is Yulie?”
I had been away for about three days, so she must have been worried in her own way.
Allen and Drent grinned and said,
“She’s probably watching the Knight Grand Tournament~”
“The Knight Grand Tournament.”
“Yes~ It’s in G-Frame Hall at the center of the university!”
* * *
The Knight Grand Tournament (騎士大戰).
As the name implied, it was a great battle between knights.
Not only in the Empire but across the continent, it was one of the most famous, promising, and fervent sports, and at present, the Knight Grand Tournament known as the “Imperial Reuter League” held the greatest prestige.
“Ooh……”
Yulie sat in the knights’ section, waiting for the tournament to begin.
Today’s Knight Grand Tournament for the opening festival was no different from an exhibition match of the “Reuter League.” Accordingly, the roster of participating knights was dazzling.
“Oh! Yulie~ Long time no see?”
“Ah, Goher. Good to see you.”
Her friends from school approached one by one. Warrior Goher, Knight Palein, Archer Seimi, Senior Gwen, and more……
Yulie exchanged warm greetings with them, who were still active in the Imperial Knights or in other knight orders of the Empire.
Gwen smiled slyly and said,
“Yulie, you’ve got a healthy glow these days~”
“Ah, do I?”
“Is it because Deculein is buried in his research? I hear he hasn’t even been coming home lately.”
“Yes, well……”
The moment Yulie answered like that.
“So you enjoyed my absence, is that it?”
A sharp voice drifted in from somewhere. Yulie and the knights flinched and turned that way.
It was Deculein.
Dressed in a suit, he tilted his head slightly and looked over Yulie’s classmates. The knight beside Yulie tactfully vacated his seat, and Deculein sat down there.
Yulie hurriedly corrected what she had just said.
“N-No. It is not that I was glad you were absent, but that I did not have to pay attention to the escort itself—”
“Enough.”
“No—”
“Oho—!”
Just then, a booming voice rang through the entire hall. Not only the knights in the knights’ section, but ordinary spectators as well looked toward the owner of that magnificent voice.
“So Deculein and Yulie are sitting together, are they?”
Zeit von Brugang Freyden.
He was clad in armor, as though he was participating in today’s exhibition match.
—We greet Sir Zeit!
At that instant, almost every knight sprang to their feet and paid their respects. It was the distinctive etiquette of knights: bowing their heads at an angle while placing a hand over their chest.
Zeit let out a hearty laugh and gestured for them to sit, and only then did the knights take their seats. It was a fragment of the status carried by the name Zeit.
“Deculein, I did not know you had an interest in the Knight Grand Tournament……”
Zeit said as he loosened the muscles of his body.
Shoulders as broad as the sea, a thick neck, a waist packed with core muscle.
That knight’s body, reaching 2 meters and 10 centimeters, looked as though it could easily fit three grown men inside it.
“Khuhuhuhu. Since you’re here, watch closely.”
Zeit laughed loudly. But that smile was very different from usual.
Eyes sharpened wide with excitement for the battle soon to come. An aura flowing unconsciously, overwhelming the very space itself.
“What sort of knight the man who will become your brother-in-law…… truly is.”
He was the strongest knight, who despite being a margrave had been bestowed the title of “king.” A warrior whose name would remain forever in the history of the Empire.
Below one, above ten thousand [一人之下萬人之上], the King of Winter, Zeit.
“……Yes.”
I had merely come looking for Yulie.
“I will watch carefully.”
“Hahaha. Good. Look forward to it.”
It seemed I had found my way into quite the spectacle.