Bonus Story: The Kids

“Yaaa!”

Whack!

“Ow!”

A woman who seemed to be around twenty or so struck a young girl around twelve or thirteen with a wooden sword, driving her to her knees. The girl looked frustrated, but had no choice but to accept the results, considering the vast difference in their skill levels.

“You are not ready. I can’t accept your request at this time. You must improve your skills.”

“Yes...”

The girl’s shoulders drooped, then she moved to the corner of the training area, making space for the others.

“Next!”

“Yes!”

A boy who seemed to be about fourteen or fifteen stepped up to the center with a wooden sword in hand.

“You requested a higher allowance, yes? Then I will face you wielding the wooden sword with only my left hand, and with my pinky finger raised, without moving a single step. If you can touch me with your wooden sword just once or force me to take a step, I will consider it your victory. Do you accept?”

“Yeah!”

Then, their fierce duel began. No matter how skilled the woman was, she couldn’t get a good grip on her weapon with only her left hand and her pinky raised, and her restriction of being unable to move meant she was wide open to attacks from behind... Or so it seemed.

Whack!

“Your allowance will remain as-is! Next!”

The boy was sent flying back several meters with a powerful blow to his abdomen, then rolled to a stop at the corner of the training area. The woman’s attendants worried about her inflicting injuries when they no longer had any more of the Goddess’s potions left, but she shot back that anyone who couldn’t handle it was useless to her and continued her training.

That meathead... the attendants spat internally with a bitter expression.

It wasn’t as if there was some unbridgeable gulf between the woman and her attendants. In fact, they revered her from the bottom of their hearts, and would sacrifice themselves without hesitation to protect her. But for some reason, the woman had a tendency to communicate with her physical body rather than through the language of this country.

It wasn’t as if she said nonsensical or stupid things. She was always fair, considerate of the people rather than desiring her own gain, and was a respectable knight, aristocrat, and member of the royal family. If only she didn’t have muscles for brains...

To be clear, she wasn’t stupid. She had as much wisdom and knowledge as anyone else. However...

She possessed such extraordinary strength that it outweighed all of her other features. It was that simple. Her attendants couldn’t help but try to give her candid advice or internally voice their complaints.

The children she was training so aggressively that they risked serious injury weren’t soldiers or knights in training, but the master’s children. Moreover, they were also the son and daughter of the very woman who was dishing out such unreasonably harsh training. The woman known as Fearsome Fran, the great hero and guardian of the kingdom.

“Fran, the attendants have been complaining about you. They think you need to be more considerate of the children’s safety...”

“What nonsense is this?! Then who, exactly, do you suggest should protect Lady Kaoru when she next graces us with her presence?!” Francette raised her voice in response to Roland’s words.

Francette was relatively mild-mannered and obedient out of consideration for Roland most of the time, but she refused to yield an inch when it came to certain topics. Especially when it involved Kaoru or the children’s upbringing.

“But our children are strong enough already. Even our youngest, Lilith, defeated the guard captain during their training drills last time. He ended up getting depressed and tried to resign...”

Lilith was still an eleven-year-old girl.

It seemed that Francette, who had received one of Kaoru’s overpowered potions before she had learned self-restraint, had gained the blessing of youth and a powerful body that changed her at the genetic level. Although it was only a fractional change, those powers had been passed down to her children as well.

No, it could be that they were normal kids, but they ended up like this because Fran made them go through unreasonable training since they had learned how to crawl... I’m sorry! I’m sorry, kids! Especially my daughters!

Roland had tried to stop her, but it was no use.

“I will teach the children everything I know, and that’s final!”

“What? Including how you stop enemy blades between your fingers or destroy ballistae and catapults by throwing a big rock at them?”

“Yes, and?”

Roland could only remain silent by way of reply. Fran was the only human that could do that...but he didn’t dare say it out loud. After all, how to raise the children and how to serve Lady Kaoru were the two things that Francette would never back down on. If he talked back to her on those topics, he would get a lecture that lasted until morning and silent treatment for an entire week. Roland wanted to avoid that at all costs.

I’m sorry, kids... I’m so, so sorry!

“So, can your son defeat my daughters in a mock battle?”

“That’s impossible! Please! There’s no way!”

Roland’s younger brother, King Serge, shook his head violently at Roland’s ridiculous request.

“Then can you beat Francette?”

“Urgh...”

Luckily, Francette already had feelings of respect and adoration for Roland when they had first met. Moreover, since she was just a humble knight and he was the king’s brother at the time, he was like a mixture of an idol and the imperial family in modern Japanese terms. There was no way they wouldn’t end up together once they had fallen for each other.

Serge’s son and Roland’s daughter were the crown prince and a young lady of a ducal household, respectively, so they were similar in terms of status. However, that also meant that Roland’s daughter was in the upper echelon of society, and so she didn’t have a blind sense of admiration for the crown prince.

A crown princess would need to deal with stifling restrictions and a great number of duties, and it wasn’t uncommon for young noble ladies to be averse to the idea of committing themselves to such selfless devotion. This was a form of self-actualization that had suddenly become widespread for some reason about twenty-five years ago.

When it came to a noble or royal family member’s marriage, their parents simply needed to order it, and that was that. But considering Roland and Serge had each chosen to marry the woman they loved, they couldn’t bring themselves to force their will on their children when it came to choosing a marriage partner. That was why they had been providing places where they could meet others, in hopes that they would fall in love naturally. However...

“I have no interest in any man who is more foolish or weaker than myself.”

It was completely normal for a woman to have certain standards for their potential marriage partners, and there should have been plenty of men who could meet those standards. That is, unless it regarded Francette’s daughter...

“Then what am I gonna do?!”

“Don’t ask me!”

Serge didn’t have the answers, but it was he who wanted his eldest son and Roland’s daughter to marry more than anyone else. That meant Serge should be the one who had to find the solution, but...

“Your daughters will never get married at this rate. Are you okay with that?” Serge asked.

“Urgh!”

It pained Roland to hear it, but it was true; there were very few men out there who could meet the prerequisites for his daughters. There might be expert swordsmen out there, but they tended to be middle-aged or older, and likely with a family already.

“This is bad...”

“It sure is...”

“What do we do...?”

“Say, kids. Don’t you think that marrying a man who’s weaker than you and protecting him would be an interesting way to live?” Roland asked his daughters one day.

“Not in the slightest.”

“Do you mean you and Mother, Father?”

“Sh-Shaddap!”

“Say, kids. Don’t you agree that a man’s worth isn’t necessarily in his strength, intelligence, or administrative abilities?”

“Not in the slightest.”

“Are you making excuses for yourself, Father?”

“Sh-Shaddap!”

“Say, kids. Don’t you think the crown prince is quite a respectable young man?”

“Not in the slightest.”

“He is weaker than us women, and a wimp. Oh, are you trying to set up a political marriage, Father? Even though you fell in love with a common female knight, then granted her noble titles so you could marry her...? Or could it be that you intend to make more friends who can’t stand up to Mother so you have someone to complain to...?”

“Sh-Shaddap!!!”

It seemed it would be a long time before Roland’s...or more accurately, Serge’s...wish would come true...

“Fran sure doesn’t age...” Roland uttered quietly to himself in his room.

Francette had reverted to the body of a sixteen-year-old when she drank that potion at twenty-seven. She was now a fifty-two-year-old with the body of a forty-one-year-old. However, she didn’t look a day past her early twenties. It wasn’t that she hadn’t grown or gotten older, but she was clearly more youthful than anyone else. Her skin was positively radiant too...

Roland was now in his fifties, and couldn’t help but smile at the sight of his wife’s youthful appearance. He couldn’t deny that he wished he had his own youth again, but that was his greed talking. As long as he had his eternally young, strong, and beautiful wife, and his adorable children, he couldn’t ask for anything more.

His kids were all small for their age, and he had worried that they weren’t growing fast enough at first, but he was no longer concerned. He had eventually realized that it wasn’t that they were growing slowly, but that they were getting older at a slower pace.

The kids were a product of Francette, who had superior physical abilities, and Roland, who was a member of the royal family. There were plenty of people who wanted a part of that bloodline in their own families. Not just locally, but from those outside of their country as well.

To those people, most of their bloodline’s value came not from Roland, but Francette. After all, she was the great hero who had saved not only her own country, but every living being in the entire continent.

She had managed to convince Celestine to heed her words, a feat that would have been impossible for any silver-tongued swindler or bard. She was pretty much a living god and had carved her place into history as one of the greatest people to ever live. She was the trump card of all of humanity, and could stand against Celestine herself.

Forget being “blessed by the Goddess.” She had become a goddess herself. A beacon of hope that protected humanity from Celestine’s evil will. Such was the strange situation Francette found herself in.

In any case, it was pointless to think about just how many people sought after her genes. Only Serge wished for his and his brother’s children to marry for Roland’s bloodline rather than Francette’s. It was his fault that Roland had lost his path to the throne, and his older brother had conceded the crown to him despite being wiser and much more suited to be king. He wanted his brother’s genes to be in the royal family’s legitimate line. It was Serge’s one and only wish.

Roland understood this, which was why he chose not to oppose the idea. However, he wouldn’t allow anyone to force his daughters to do anything against them or make their lives miserable. Never.

But Roland also understood there was no need to worry about such things. After all, Fran was their mother.

“Fearsome Fran.”

Make her angry...and the world would burn. No hero would dare do such a thing. Even a demon lord plotting world domination would run away barefoot before Fearsome Fran.

“Well, I’m sure things will find a way to work themselves out... I’ll just be careful not to oppose Fran...”

Fortunately, Francette wasn’t against the idea of her daughter and the crown prince getting married. It was unclear whether her stance was out of a desire for her daughters to be happy, or because having her daughter in the center of the royal family would give her an “in” to mobilize the country if Kaoru ever showed up again. It would be completely unnecessary if so, considering she already had greater influence than any king...

But, thinking ahead to after her eventual death, it might be a good idea to train someone from the religion that the orphans had started, the Order of the Goddess Kaoru, so she could send them into the royal family as the queen dowager and pass down her teachings across generations.

Francette wasn’t one for scheming, but she had no qualms against conspiring when it came to matters regarding Kaoru. She was the type who thought that any evil deed was acceptable as long as it was in the name of justice.

It was a country where the kindhearted king ruled, the wise older brother supported him, and the fearsome one had authority over all. The country where Saint Kaoru had once lived, and the Eyes of the Goddess, a small-scale business of national importance run by the blessed children of Nagase, were located.

It seemed this country would be prosperous for a long, long time.