Intermission: Larouza’s Determination, Erza’s Oath

Intermission: Larouza’s Determination, Erza’s Oath

My kind, cheerful mother was my pride and joy. She supported my busy father, but she still made time to nurse me and parent me. She introduced me to magic and martial arts in our nature-rich domain, where we spent most of the year. When the weather was mild and sunny, she would make us lunches from scratch and take me by the hand to go picnicking.

When I was seven, my little sibling began to grow in my mother’s belly. All three of us anticipated the birth. There was no doubt that our family would only grow happier.

When the time finally came for my mother to go into labor, I was saying a prayer with my hands clasped when my father uncharacteristically ran into my room, his face blanched.

“Larouza, hurry to your mother!”

“O-Okay!”

I rushed to my mother’s bedside. Her face was pale white, her breathing labored.

“Mother?”

“...Larouza. I love you more than anyone... Remember that...my darling Larouza...”

She let out a thin breath, and her soul passed into heaven. My father began to cry, and in my dumbfounded shock, I noticed that our head maid Martha was holding a little baby. I approached her softly and slowly.

“Young Larouza... This is your sister.” Martha, with tears in her eyes, crouched down so I could see the baby.

My sister looked so small and fragile, and she had the same black hair as me. Her eyes opened slightly as Martha rocked her. Her black eyes glittered like the starry sky, just like our mother’s.

I began to cry. My tiny sister would live without ever knowing her mother. I’d had the chance to experience our mother’s warm, gentle love, but my sister would never know that motherly love again.

“Waaah, ahhh...” I clung to my father and sobbed.

With my mother gone, my father worried for me and stayed with me as much as he could when he was home. He ate with me and read to me before bed, just like my mother had done.

“Father, please read to Serephione tonight instead of me.”

“Larouza, it’s okay. You don’t have to try so hard as an older brother. Serephione is still a baby, so she wouldn’t understand anyway.”

My father would tell me “You’re so kind” as he gently stroked my head. But I wasn’t. I just felt guilty. I’d had books read to me every day without fail since the day I was born.

My sister was raised by Martha and Enrique, and she grew into a lovely black-eyed little lady. She was low-maintenance, kept a low profile, and spent her time quietly in her room. Although I adored my little sister, whose features resembled mine in so many ways, I couldn’t take the initiative to play with her. I had already gotten so many things that my sister hadn’t and wouldn’t get; I felt crushing guilt whenever I looked at her.

At that point in time, our father was in a lower position, and his work had been increasing due to his sharp mind, so he wasn’t able to come home very often. Ultimately, he’d had no choice but to take the position of Minister of Finance, leave our domain, and stay in the capital indefinitely.

After he came home from his long absence, he explained to us that we were going to move. At that, Serephione said, “Father, you can leave me here. I don’t want to burden you.”

Our eyes opened wide. We hadn’t known my two-year-old little sister could speak so well. And what she said... That she was a burden...

“How could you think that...?” Father hastily scooped up Serephione from her little chair and held her close. “Of course you’re not a burden, my Serephi. Don’t say things like that!”

She tipped her head to the side with innocent eyes, just like our mother’s.

“But...I’m not useful for anything. I’ll just stay here and be a good girl and listen to Martha. I won’t do anything bad.”

She was too smart—she’d reached a sad conclusion unbefitting a two-year-old.

“Oh, Serephione! Your mother put her life on the line to give you to me! ...No, it’s not that! Serephi... I’d be hopeless without you, my Serephi. Please, come with me! Please!”

“But...”

As our father wrapped Serephione in a tight hug for the first time, she wore a bewildered expression.

After we moved to the capital, our father started to take my sister on walks while holding her hand when he could find the time. I was relieved. He would invite me to come along, but I would decline and say I had to do homework. I wanted her to feel loved by our father, and I had no idea how to act around her.

I’d wanted to give her affection so she would never get the wrong idea that she was a burden again, but up until now, I’d hogged our happiness for myself and left her by her lonesome. I didn’t know how to start acting like an older brother at this point. The more I’d thought about it, the more grim my face had become, and Serephione avoided me by staying in her room.

“Mother...what should I do...?”

But then the situation took a sudden turn.

I at least wanted to have the magic and fighting skills to protect my sister from anyone, so I was putting in serious effort to obtain them, but it wasn’t enough—until, at last, I’d developed a weapon of my own.

On that snowy day, I’d developed a weapon that was sharper and easier to throw than a knife (my sister told me later that it was a “shuriken”). I coated it in poison and a numbing medicine I extracted from shivir grass and gave it a test throw, aiming for the big camphor tree in the yard.

My thoughtless action had almost hurt my sister who I was meant to protect, and the holy beast was badly wounded in her place. The holy beast wordlessly rebuked me, and I finally apologized for all the mistakes I’d made up until then. My sister forgave me—she told me she loved me.

Even so, Serephione had been chosen by the holy beast at only three years old. She had even healed his wound within moments, whereas his natural auto-purification abilities hadn’t been enough. My sister wasn’t just as cute as a fairy, she was also amazingly talented. I’d expect as much from my dear sister!

Then Serephione said she wanted to be a knight in order to keep the Granzeus family at peace and to accompany Lou, the holy beast, on a journey. On that night when the four of us slept together, when Serephione was already fast asleep, I discussed her ambitions with our father. Lou’s eyes were closed, but an ordinary person like me couldn’t tell if he was really sleeping or not.

“Father, why do you think Serephione suddenly wants to be a knight?” I asked. “And what is this journey she’s talking about?”

“A spiritual pilgrimage, perhaps? She must have discussed something with Lou. But Serephione is only three. As I said before, we have to start by training her body and mind. Also, if Lou’s existence is confidential, then that makes their contract and Serephione’s abilities confidential as well. It will be hard to find a tutor who can keep the secret...but it’s the sacred beast’s idea. I’ll try to find someone. Until then, you’ll be her teacher. I trust that you’ll do a good job.”

My father grinned at me as he patted both my head and Serephione’s at once.

“Okay!”

“We can raise our dear Serephione together. You did well today, Larouza. I love you.”

“Father...I love you too. Good night.”

As the weather got warmer and the snow melted, I taught Serephione the basic physical conditioning that I had learned as a child. It was harder than I had imagined to teach and guide another person. It was good experience for me as the future successor to the earlship.

I didn’t have to fear my sister anymore. I could just pamper her. My sister had already tasted hardship, and she was a smart girl. She had a holy beast at her side too. Nothing would lead her astray. I could pass on what my mother did for me to my sister.

Our slightly-tanned Serephione was my treasure. I couldn’t do as much as the holy tiger, but I wanted to aid her as much as I possibly could.

I swore to my late mother that I would support Serephione for all my life.

◇ ◇ ◇

On an afternoon where the daffodils had bloomed, yet spring was still far away, I, Erza Trundle, received a letter from the man I most detested. The sender was Count Granzeus, the man who was unable to protect my precious only daughter, Liruphione, after he had stolen her away.

I considered crumpling it up, but then I remembered seeing my beautiful Liruphi standing at my bedside where I’d dreamt last night, and I sighed. This was the first time he’d contacted me in the six years since Liruphi’s funeral... It had to have been an emergency.

While my family, the Trundles, was part of the nobility, we had no court rank. We had been a warrior family for generations, and though we’d often received court titles for our achievements, we placed little importance on titles. The Trundles placed the most weight on honing our skills until we were satisfied; we would find a master we could respect and support them for life. Once we had established a master, we would fight dauntlessly for their sake. Even when we faced death, we had no regrets.

My husband, Geintz, chose the king as his master, made it through numerous battles with him, and rose to the rank of General.

We’d met as commander and aide-de-camp in the Second Battle of Burlage. I had successfully secured some victories after graduating from knight school, and I was making it in the world. However, I bonded with him, my superior who had courted me so passionately and seriously, and I decided to leave everything behind to marry him.

The gods blessed us with a daughter like a little flower: our treasure, Liruphione. While her appearance and soft demeanor embodied femininity itself, she was still a direct descendant of the Trundles. Even as she danced gracefully in a dress, she absorbed my skill with the short lance and my prowess in military advising, as well as my husband’s swordsmanship. We treated her with tender, loving care.

Liruphione fell in love with the heir to the Granzeus family, a magical family that opposed the warrior Trundle family, at the height of the war. Liruphione laughed as she declared that she had truly lost everything to the Granzeuses, and that if she were to swear to a lifelong marriage, there was no better option than Sir Granzeus, who was stronger than her and kind as well.

In turn, Granzeus vowed he would make Liruphione happy, no matter what. He vowed to protect her.

My husband and I were disappointed that we couldn’t adopt our son-in-law into our family and live together, but we respected our beloved daughter’s decision.

But then my daughter lost her life in childbirth. They already had Larouza, so what were they so greedy for?!

Without seeing the child our daughter had given her life for, my husband said to the count at the funeral, “You broke your promise. The Trundle family will never forgive you as long as we live.” With that, we cut off ties.

Our master had long since crossed over to the underworld. Less than a year after our daughter’s death, my husband followed her due to complications from a cold.

“Mother, I sincerely thank you for heeding my wish and visiting our humble estate.”

Count Granzeus knelt before me and greeted me with the utmost deference. I nodded coolly.

I’d decided to meet with him, and I’d mobilized all of my past connections to find out as much about his current circumstances as I could. I’d learned that in the past several years, the Granzeus family had become distant from society and was in an isolated state.

Have they become weak at social interaction without my daughter? Are they a bad actor in noble society? I’m not exactly one to be talking, though, isolated Trundle that I am.

The other thing was that, while she had Granzeus blood, the child was Magicless, even though she was the daughter of my talented Liruphione... Frankly, I was disappointed.

Why did my Liruphione have to die for a Magicless child...?

“Please come this way, Mother.”

Granzeus beckoned me to the window. The yard of the estate, isolated from the outside world, was larger than I had expected.

There she was, in the middle of the vast lawn.

“Liruphione...”

My Liruphione had chestnut-brown hair. This black-haired girl couldn’t have been Liruphione. But still...I could only see her as the daughter I had longed for all this time. Her eyes sparkled black just like my husband’s and daughter’s, proof that our Trundle blood ran strong in her. Her sky-blue dress suited her well. I raised my eyebrows at it being ankle-length, though.

She spun a ring around her wrist and then threw it high above her head. At the same time, she and...a shadow? Something that was too fast for me to make out jumped after the ring.

“Huh?”

She leapt as high as the third story of a building, and the other thing caught the ring. They exchanged kicks for a moment, and then at once it touched down to the ground. Then, as if she had given up in the middle, she made a vortex of wind around her, dropped her speed, and touched down on the ground lightly, one foot at a time.

How did she use wind magic? Wasn’t she Magicless?

As I observed her actions, perplexed, the thing from before came up to her feet. She picked it up and hugged it, then began to speak to it affectionately.

My entire body began to tremble. Sweat ran down my back. I hadn’t felt this fear since I had come close to death from being stabbed in the stomach on the battlefield.

When I’d once escorted a research team to an imperial tomb in the western desert, I’d seen this exact thing carved into the wall—an incarnation of a god.

“Serephione is too much of a tomboy. I don’t know what to do with her.”

I turned back at Granzeus’s voice. He examined my expression with a serious look on his face. This certainly wasn’t a trivial matter.

“Why...is his holiness the Guardian Tiger of the West here?”

“So, you can see the holy guardian beast...”

Granzeus sat me down and gave me a chronological explanation. He told me how Serephione was even wiser and more beautiful than she had been as a young child, and how the holy beast Lou had discovered how remarkable she was at the age of three and had made a contract with her. He said he’d been teaching her magic, and he claimed her skill had surpassed even a top-level magician. He explained that Lou had decreed that the two of them would go on a journey in the future and that she had to go to knight school to prepare for it, which entailed deliberately getting Magicless on her magic exam. He said that since Larouza had entered the magic academy, nobody was around to teach her the martial arts. He told me Lou’s existence, the truth of his contract, and Serephione’s talent all had to stay secret within the family, and that this prevented him from hiring any outside tutors.

“...Why are you revealing such an important secret to me?”

“Serephione is your granddaughter. We’re family, even if you don’t keep contact with me.”

I was silent.

“Serephione’s current weapon is a short lance. Larouza has drilled her on it, just as Liruphione drilled Larouza.”

So, just as I drilled Liruphione...

“I’m biased as her father, but I think she has considerable skill. However, the Trundle method of short lance handling isn’t a frontal attack style. I think it may be a disadvantage in knight school.”

The holy beast had chosen Serephione—my grandchild. She was learning the way of the short lance. Joy began to well up all throughout my body. How foolish and shallow I’d been to be disappointed in her until meeting her today!

There was a knock on the door, and at the same time, a girl entered the room, led by an unfamiliar butler.

She took my breath away. Her eyes were like stars twinkling in the darkness of a warm spring night. Her jet-black hair was tied into a high ponytail, and vitality emanated from her well-balanced body. Her lovely ankles were visible, a must-not for a lady. Was it so she could move more easily? Frighteningly, the holy beast’s tail was curled around those very ankles.

A holy beast and a young maiden. An unusual wave came off of the tiger, turned to a ring of light, and surrounded the two. It was a scene straight out of a myth.

As a matter of course, I approached the holy beast, got down on one knee, and assumed the obedient pose of a knight.

“It is an honor to make your acquaintance. My name is Erza Trundle. I am the mother of Serephione’s mother. I am visiting today at the invitation of Isaac Granzeus, Serephione’s father.”

The holy beast stared at me as if evaluating me. Having lived to this age, I’d committed my fair share of dirty deeds and mistakes. The biggest of those mistakes was how I’d dealt with the girl in front of me right now, looking at me with wide eyes and covering her mouth with both hands. I felt like crawling into a hole.

I dipped my head even lower. My mouth was as dry as sand.

I couldn’t tell how much time had passed. Something soft then touched my head. When I looked up, the holy beast was gently patting my head. Then he lightly climbed onto my grandchild’s shoulder. Had he...given me his blessing?

“F-Father?”

“Serephi, speak to your grandmother.”

“Um, grandmother, Lou would like you to sit down.”

Serephione took my hand and led me to the couch.

Have children’s hands always been this small? Not only that, her hands were hard. Her palm was callused from grasping her lance, as though it had blistered and healed many times over. She sat down next to me with the holy beast still on her shoulder and spoke to me with sparkling eyes.

“Um, nice to meet you, grandmother! I’m Serephione!”

“...”

“This is my first time talking to a woman other than Martha!”

“...”

“My big brother told me that he would protect me since girls are weak! So I’ll protect you, grandmother. I mean, you’re so nice, and you smell good too. What was that, Lou? Grandmother, Lou says he’s glad to meet you too.”

I couldn’t take it anymore. I scooped up Serephione along with the holy beast in a hug. Her slightly-elevated body heat penetrated into my limbs. Had I...really been this lonely? I couldn’t bear to let go of this warmth.

When I looked up, the holy beast’s endlessly clear, sky-blue eyes urged on my determination. I quietly nodded.

“Nice to meet you, Serephione. I’m your grandmother. Just as you will protect me...I, too, will protect you and the holy beast Lou to the extent of my ability. I offer you my loyalty, my life, my everything.”

I, the last remaining Trundle, had finally met my master at this age.

When I glanced over at Count Granzeus, he was smiling. I, the former top military advisor in the kingdom, had played right into this man’s plan. Of course... This is the man who had chosen Liruphione, after all.

“Serephi, first of all, forget that way of holding the sword. Hold it with one hand like this! Pay attention to the joints and muscles in your shoulder!”

“Okayyy!”

“Observe Lou’s right shoulder, torso, legs, and timing, and strike in turn! Don’t drop speed!”

“This sword is heavy, grandmother!”

“It’s supposed to be! Okay, next! Deliver a roundhouse blow to my side, then drive your dominant hand in with the grip and knock my weapon out of my hands. The image is what’s important! Repeat it until it becomes muscle memory!”

“Hiyah!!!”

“Too slow!”

Swoosh!

“Agh...”

“S-Serephi!”

“Grandmother, is this comb a different color from your hair? It’s so sparkly and pretty!”

“He he. If you twist it like this, a needle comes out. You can use this to protect yourself from foolish men if the time comes. You can even coat the needle with poison. Speaking of which, just one drop of the Marre bee’s venom can kill. Your mother kept this on her when she was a bachelorette. Put it like this, and twist the hair at the back of the neck... There! How lovely!”

“Wow! I get to match both you and my mother? Thank you, grandmother!”

“I can’t believe Liruphi had such a dangerous comb...” Count Granzeus grimaced.

I took up training once again so that I could accompany my two new masters when they went on their pilgrimage someday.

My dear husband, my dear Liruphione, it looks like I’m not going to be joining you for the time being.