The Past — Lumina and the Mercenary

The Past — Lumina and the Mercenary

The Valkyries had successfully escorted the rogue mercenaries to a small southern Shurulian town by the name of Kurth. The local mayor didn’t even have time to exchange the most basic of courtesies before they were back on the road to the Holy City.

“That’s it?” Sagius said incredulously as the carriage rocked. “You want us to cook in Shurule. You know we’re from the same group as those guys we just left behind. Everything’s just gonna be wiped away?”

Sagius and his eleven men, lacking the hardened mentality necessary to take a life, missed the relative comfort they had enjoyed with Luciel.

Lumina recognized the need to remain pleasant and said honestly, “No. You are not being entirely acquitted.”

“Then why are you taking us to the Holy City?”

“Because Luciel is a merciful S-rank. Personally, I would count my blessings. The penalty for assaulting a man of his rank would normally be death. Or would you rather have joined your guildmates in their cells?” Sagius shook his head vehemently. “I thought not. Now, there is a reason the Valkyries in particular were sent to escort you. Ostensibly, it’s for surveillance and to ensure no one tries to, shall we say, ‘silence’ you.”

“Ostensibly? So there’s another reason?” Sagius asked.

“You are to open a dry eatery,” Lumina said. “And you will be obligated to regularly provide free meals to needy citizens within the capital.”

“How is that a punishment?”

“This is a life sentence. I find that sufficiently punishing, don’t you?”

“I mean...”

It felt too easy, like they were getting off scot-free.

Lumina looked away and said, “The capital is a beautiful city. But its people are never happy, always angry, and always struggling. I’ve never liked it,” she confessed. “I’ve never liked the finality of it all. Never changing. Until it did, a few years ago.”

“How so?” he asked.

Lumina found herself at a loss for words for a moment. “When Luciel came, my regiment started returning from deployments to smiles. Cheers. Applause. The town started to improve, and the people were happier. I liked it.” Sagius was silent. “But only a year after his departure, the city began to regress. Into the place I detested.”

Sometimes, events would change the tide ever so slightly. When news came in of the dragonslayer, of the new member of Yenice’s council, of the scuffles and scrapes he survived, the hate would dissipate. But only briefly.

“You want us to cook for Shurule,” Sagius repeated.

“I’m not so naive as to expect it to fix everything that’s wrong, but the people might live fuller lives on full stomachs. Perhaps without the fear of where the day’s meal will come from, some will be able to smile.”

Sagius shut his eyes and said quietly, “Your wish is my command.”

After dinner that evening, Sagius asked Lumina to join him away from the others to discuss something in private. It took some convincing, but the two soon moved to a rocky outcrop, where Sagius took a knee once he was certain they were alone.

“Luminalia Arcs Francisque,” he said. “I am overjoyed to see you again, my lady.”

“It’s been a long time, Sagius,” she sighed. “Stand. I assume you brought me here to speak, not to kneel.”

“Yes, my lady.”

“I have a mountain of questions, but why don’t you begin with explaining to me what you’re doing as a mercenary?”

Lumina had been away from home in Blanche for well over a decade, and when she’d become a knight of the Church, she had taken an oath to avoid all contact with her family. There really was no end to the things and people she wanted to hear about.

“Soon after you left, the marquis demanded compensation for the annulled betrothal.”

“What sort of compensation?”

“A third of the Francisques’ holdings,” he said.

“A third? That’s ridiculous.”

“Even so, the family could not disobey the faction.”

“How are they...” Lumina cut herself off. “Never mind. Inappropriate question.”

“Otherwise, the family is well, my lady,” he answered anyway. “Lady Emelia is engaged to a man of the Meinrich earldom. A powerful family within the faction, if you recall.”

“Sister,” Lumina repeated quietly.

“Rest assured, it is out of mutual love. No one has been made a victim of political convenience.”

“Good,” Lumina said. She had never taken the time to consider just how much strife she had unconsciously caused her own blood.

“If I may return to your initial question, my own home was included in the territory ceded to the marquis. However, what the Francisques ceded was land, and only land. They did not relinquish their people.”

“Oh, father,” Lumina sighed.

“There was overpopulation and not enough farms to feed so many mouths. Those who were able had to leave in search of work, either as an adventurer or as a mercenary.”

Lumina was speechless. She had often deplored the class she’d been born with, but never before had she despised being a paladin to this degree.

“I may have chosen my company poorly,” Sagius continued, “but I do not begrudge the Francisques, nor you, my lady.” Lumina exhaled. “And I am proud to see that your kindness and generosity is unchanged.”

Finally, the Valkyrie felt the coldness in her heart thaw somewhat.

“But I will say, an S-rank healer is quite the man to fall for, my lady.”

Lumina jumped and shouted, “P-Pardon?!”

“Luckily, I believe I have a firm grasp of his tastes. The quickest way to a man’s heart is through his stomach, you know.”

“There are quicker ways than that, Sagius,” Lumina said, mimicking a chest blow with her fist.

Sagius looked at her. “I’m talking about cooking, my lady.”

“Hm.” She thought for a while. “Wait.”

Sagius was grinning from ear to ear. “I have experience as a teacher, and Lady Emelia has had much success.”

“I will consider it.”

“If you wished it, Lady Luminalia, I would return to my chef’s duties.”

“I will provide the necessary capital and ingredients. You need bring only smiles,” she replied.

“Your wish is my command.”

The Valkyries arrived safely in the Holy City several days later. In their report to Captain Catherine, Lumina stated that the apprehended men were not mercenaries, but in fact chefs, and that she wished to hire them. When pressed for her reasoning, she explained that she simply wanted to make the Holy City a brighter place, like before Luciel’s departure.

Catherine was hardly surprised and gave the ambitious girl her full support.

Some time later, one of the many vacant lots in the slums of the Holy City was converted into a restaurant. The reincarnated owner of Commedia Artifacts, Rina, was never one to let a business opportunity slip by and supplied a plethora of magic kitchenware, selling herself rather highly as “Saint Weirdo’s favorite store in the capital.”

On opening day, the Holy City enjoyed its first food bank.