NOVEL NEXT Book 6: Chapter 9
The Struggling People
Royal Sorcery Academy that should be a safe place got attacked by evil race and became closed temporarily. The eyes of the adult were moved away from the academy in order to search the whereabouts of the princess. There the crown prince Ervan, the first queen candidate Clara, the second queen candidate Carla……and a viscount daughter who wasn’t even a high ranked noble were causing a chaotic conflict to happen behind the scene.
It resulted in something that surpassed even the purpose of the evil race that risked their life in their plan to kidnap the princess to decrease the national strength of the kingdom in the next generation. A thin dark cloud was starting to spread over the kingdom.
There were two boys walking inside the academy during that situation.
Boys──it was a bit misleading to call them like that. Fifteen years old was considered as adult in this country. These two who turned fifteen years old this year were legally adult, but student typically was still treated as boy.
But too much mana caused them to physically grow quickly and now they had the appearance of 17 years old youth. This was the reason why in the tale that was called [otome game], the “heroine” was the only one who had [conspicuously childish appearance] that caught the crown prince’s attention.
Even inside that otome game, these two would give admonition to Ervan and the heroine(main character) about their relationship, but at the end they would stand back and overlook it. However that was simply because they had seen the growth and the disposition of the heroine, Alicia and recognized her.
But that wasn’t the case at present.
That girl──Alicia Mercis who called herself “Licia” was an incomprehensible girl who always tried to casually step into other person’s heart. The two boys harbored strong wariness toward her.
The two had tried to admonish Ervan in this real world just like in the game’s tale. However, Licia had already cajoled the deep part of Ervan’s heart──by wholly accepting his feeling of inferiority as a “woman”. He rejected the good advice of his two friends who were also the candidates to be his aides in the future. It ended with the two boys becoming distant from Ervan who became even more dependent to Licia.
Originally the two wouldn’t abandon Ervan even then. Through that it would also be possible that they too would end up getting corrupted by Licia who acted and spoke like she knew everything.
But, at the same time due to their encounter with a girl called “Aria”, the two became able to have more realistic thinking than their story self.
For good and bad, the girl called Aria was a fierce person. Her existence could either become medicine or poison. If the boys hadn’t encountered her before enrolling into the academy……if the crown prince didn’t draw a line with them as a friend, they might end up like the royal brother Amor and Nathanital, unable to bear with Aria and reject her as a poison.
But, the two who were able to accept the girl’s way of living weren’t [dreaming boy] who could be swept away by temporary emotion. They were able to have a wide field of vision so they could make a decision based on the situation of the whole kingdom and international state of affairs.
That was exactly why, in order to wipe out the current chaos, even if they had different personal preference, the boys──Mihail Melrose and Rockwell Dandall concluded that Princess Elena and Aria were needed.
.
「……Do you think she’ll honestly tell us?」
「I heard that Miss Carla takes a liking to Miss Aria. Perhaps she might let out something slip if it’s us, her fellow students in the academy who talk to her instead of the palace’s noble.」
Mihail replied to the words of Rockwell who was walking at his side with those words while frowning.
The noble house that drew in evil race into this country was still not found.
To be more accurate, the low ranked noble house and underworld organization that acted directly had been found and dealt with, but the one who gave order to those people was still not found.
They were able to form a list of suspects that consisted of dozens of nobles. Rockwell’s heart became gloomy when he found that the name of his one year younger little sister, Clara was also in that list.
Since enrolling into the academy, Clara had been preaching the danger of the viscount daughter Alicia Mercis.
Her doing something like drawing in evil race in order to eliminate Licia who was constantly near royalty sounded like a gamble with bad odd, but such thing was possible for Clara who had obtained the Gift of “Future Prediction”. Rockwell wanted to believe in his little sister, but at the same time he also understood that it would be pointless to investigate Clara because of that Gift.
In addition Carla Lester’s name was also among the list of suspects.
She was tentatively arranged to be a crown prince’s wife just like Clara. It seemed unlikely for both of them to be suspect seeing their young age, but Carla had been known among the nobles as a dangerous individual in her young age of thirteen. Currently she was sentenced into a house arrest inside the academy after destroying the holy church’s chapel in the capital.
Originally she should be given a more severe punishment, but the holy church that was the damaged party in this case decided to overlook Carla, and trying to capture Carla that once burned a rank 6 monster to ash would require a company of 1000 knight and a lot of damage in the process, so the king made such decision.
And even before that, the internal situation of the country would become even more chaotic if she got removed from being a queen candidate. The current king who caused this current state was unable to cut off the faction of Count Lester. As the result the kingdom could only pass down a light punishment like house arrest.
Behind the scene, there was the secret agreement between the king and Carla that he would close his eyes to her doing to some degree, but the number of people who knew about that was limited.
Currently Carla was obediently accepting the house arrest, but someone dangerous like Carla might still cause something whimsically. Because of that there was no noble who wanted to get involved with her by choice.
But Mihail and Rockwell thought that it was exactly because Carla was such a dangerous individual that she might be able to obtain the clue for Aria’s whereabouts as a fellow dweller of the same world.
In fact Carla really had such information, but the noble who got dispatched from the palace couldn’t possibly pull out that information from her, but it might be possible for them who were genuinely thinking of the two girls who went missing.
「Mihail, can you lower your head toward Miss Carla?」
「……Yeah. Even if that’s impossible for my grandfather the prime minister and your father the supreme knight commander, as a single man kneeling for Miss Aria’s sake won’t be an expensive price to pay.」
The figure of the pink haired girl flashed at the back of Mihail’s mind.
Mihail knew that Aria’s impression toward him wasn’t the best because of their bad encounter and how he didn’t even hold a candle against her, even so his feeling as a man who wanted to support her who continued to fight solitarily had become stronger compared to before.
「Oi, Mihail. I myself want to save Miss Aria but, do you understand that rescuing her highness Elena is our highest priority?」
「I know that. But you know──」
「No, you don’t understand. She is worthy of respect as a warrior, but it’s Elena-sama’s existence that is a necessity for returning this country back to normal. That person’s wide outlook and nobility, they are worthy for me to offer my sword to……」
「”Elena-sama” you say, Rockwell, you……」
Mihail’s eyes widened when he heard the words that Rockwell interrupted him with.
Rockwell was a knight who was too upright. He would only use the name of the person who he had entrusted his heart to. Mihail unconsciously let out his mutter after realizing the feeling that Rockwell was hiding. Rockwell who realized the meaning of Mihail’s gaze to him gasped in surprise and covered his mouth with his hand. It hid his blushing face just for a bit.
「……You got a complain?」
「Nope.」
Mihail grinned at Rockwell’s question.
There was no logic to people’s feeling for others. Rockwell in the story hid his true strength and only thought of Elena who was serving as the crown prince’s assistant as a cousin, but now that he was putting a distance from Ervan, the figure of the princess who was doing her duty as a royalty looked like the figure of a king who he should serve to him. It made him wished to support her as a knight.
Both boys didn’t think that their feeling toward their respective target would be rewarded, but the two wordlessly bumped their fist with each other while continuing to walk side by side.
「Let’s go.」
「Yeah.」
They left behind their personal feeling for the time being and put on the face of a noble who was concerned for their country.
In the story the two were friends who opened up with each other, but they drew a line somewhere between them as noble. But the two right now had grown mature from meeting with girl who attracted their heart. From learning each other’s feeling, they became close friend that surpassed the connection of their houses and they walked together for the sake of their objective.
***
More than a month after leaving Claydale Kingdom, there was a beast and a silhouette that seemed to be a woman on its back, running along the border of Selrayce Kingdom that was uninhabited by human. They had just passed through a dangerous forest where rank 5 monsters were prevalent.
「Nero. Let’s stop here for today.」
A woman with skin that was like glamorous obsidian who seemed to be in the prime of her youth in a glance──Serjura spoke up those words. Then the jet black mythical beast called Nero stopped running even though it looked dissatisfied.
<──move──>
「You still want to continue moving? This animal is really not gentle at all with the elderly.」
Her way of speaking sounded like a grandma, but Serjura was a dark elf and her mental age was around 30 years old just like her appearance suggested. She wouldn’t be like this if she was living among dark elves or having connections with a lot of humans, but until now Serjura only got involved with very few humans and she had watched them getting old, so even her way of speaking and mentality were also changing along with their growing old.
But change came even in her life. Decades ago, a human woman barged into Serjura’s home and became her disciple. Her many remarks that could even be called as odd delusion were a source of headache for Serjura, even so she didn’t hate that badly behaving disciple’s presence.
That disciple said that she would become adventurer after learning some sorceries for several years and ran away. After that she also returned back several times, but six years ago she stole Serjura’s book and medicine before vanishing. She never saw her again since then.
But, two years after that idiot disciple was gone, a girl called Aria who was clad in abnormal atmosphere appeared.
According to her, her life was targeted by that idiot disciple however she turned the table on her.
Serjura was exasperated by the last moment of that idiot disciple which was just like her. At the same time she also felt sad for her passing. But it wasn’t Aria’s fault by all means. If Aria would inherit her teaching, she would accept her as a new disciple and trained her so that she at least wouldn’t die. That was what she felt.
While leaving with Aria who was like that, a new feeling started to bloom inside Serjura.
Aria had strength that was unthinkable for a child. She also had courage. But she was just a kid whose purity inside got twisted to another direction because of that idiot disciple’s fault.
The gap between what she knew and what she didn’t know was too wide. Aria knew the meaning of killing another person when she was just barely seven years old, and yet she didn’t even know the meaning of a kid acting spoiled toward adult.
That was why even though Serjura was giving her harsh training, she also treated Aria like a child as an adult. Even Aria who was like a beaten up stray cat gradually opened up her heart, and Serjura felt like she was having a daughter, something that she had given up before somewhere in her heart.
None of them expressed it into words. But a bond as “family” was forming between them.
Then, what could a “parent” do for the sake of the “daughter”?
<──march──>
「You’re saying that you can still continue? I’m amazed you can say that in such state. Stop arguing. We’re stopping here for the night.」
In order to pass through the dangerous monster habitat, Serjura and Nero kept moving until this area practically without any rest. Especially Nero who had continued to run without stopping and also had to fight against rank 5 gryphon, goblin lord, and the like. It wasn’t unharmed from that.
Nero called Aria [moon]. For Nero who had lived in solitude until now, Aria’s existence was something close to the moonlight.
But, was it possible for mythical beast and human who were different even in their way of living to be able to establish an emotional bond with each other? Currently the two were in a cooperation with each other but, Serjura was wary toward Nero as a woman who was worried for her daughter, while Nero had never opened its heart toward any other being than Aria.
Even so it seemed that it had no intention to ignore the opinion of Serjura who was Aria’s family. Nero agreed with her calm judgment about its state of health and took a rest.
.
Both sides took care of their own meal. Serjura caught a wild bird and grilled it on fire. Nero too hunted a young doe and devoured it. Their relationship was one where they didn’t even talk with each other unless it was necessary, but although they were inside a forest, the decent meal and rest after so long caused the two to loosen their vigilance with each other just for a bit.
「……You, why are you going this far for Aria?」
Serjura asked the question casually. Nero whose eyes were closed after finishing dinner slightly cracked open its eyes.
<──no──>
<──moon──>
「Ha? You don’t know why? You’re saying that you yourself don’t know what you’re doing?」
<──mean──>
<──wrong──>
「It’s not that you don’t understand, but you don’t understand the meaning of my question?」
<──yes──>
<──moon──>
<──just──>
「You’re saying that it’s only natural it’s for Aria? That right there. That’s what I’m asking about what you mean.」
<──thou──>
<──fool──>
「Wait a second」
<──moon──>
<──I──>
<──same──>
「Aria is the same like you? I never raised that girl as animal!」
<──son──>
<──no──>
「Someone like you isn’t even the same race with her. Just what do you know about Aria?」
<──all──>
<──know──>
「Haa!? You know everything!? Don’t jest-」
<──fool──>
One woman and one beast stood up slowly. They glared at each other inside the forest at night with the fire illuminating them.
「Looks like we need to settle this between us huh……」
<──right──>
And then Serjura and Nero had a heated debate about how much they knew about Aria. The two who had accumulated exhaustion through their journey until now fell asleep on top of each other when dawn arrived. Their departure ended up getting delayed for one whole day.
.
(What a mystery……)
She left the evil race army, then she secluded herself in the country of human that she was enemy with, then she took disciple……one of them died because of a stupid reason, but the other surly disciple looked up to a dark elf like her as though she was a parent, so now she was travelling with a mythical beast toward the evil race territory that she had been avoiding, in order to save her “daughter”.
The figure of that surly disciple that she had been watching ever since she was little overlapped with a certain “girl”.
(……Aishe)
Her only blood related family. A little sister who was far younger than her…….
After losing her parents, Serjura became a warrior of the evil race army in order to provide for her little sister. After that she rushed through numerous battlefields, sometimes she even got acquaintanced with her enemy. Serjura who was losing sight of the meaning of the fight entrusted her little sister to a married couple who she was friendly with. She then faked her death in the battlefield and left the army.
If Serjura stayed with Aishe, her little sister might copy her and joined the evil race army as warrior. In fact, Aishe who was starting to grow up from infant into girl was looking at her big sister who got called as “War Demon” of the evil race army with strong admiration.
She must have grown into adult around this time……. Serjura earnestly prayed that her little sister at least spent a life that was disconnected with fighting.
***
「New information and formal request came from Margrave Melrose. From now on we “Rainbow Sword” will head out of the country on ship in order to search for her highness the princess.」
Inside Dalton’s mansion in the capital, Miranda, Feld, and Viro, the members of rank 5 adventurer party “Rainbow Sword” were gathering.
But, the youngest member Aria went missing together with Princess Elena who she was guarding. They were planning to search for them even if there was no request from the kingdom, but the leader Dalton chose to accept the request in order to obtain accurate information and concrete support rather than going off on their own, which would limit their action.
「We’ll depart from the capital tomorrow. A ship that belonged to Margrave Melrose should arrive for us in the harbor city east from here. We’ll get on it and head to Carlfan Empire.」
The location of Elena and Aria who vanished due to teleportation still hadn’t been found even now. But, Margrave Melrose’s relative, the prime minister brought them that information as the information with relatively high chance of correctness.
The source of the information was kept secret but, that information was something like this.
.
『Doesn’t matter if it’s from sorcery or dungeon’s secret treasure, if it’s space teleportation and the caster die in the middle of activation, the possibility is high that the teleported target fell midway. If that girl is along for the ride, I think they’ll be able to go home no matter where they end up but, if there’s still no contact from the until now, then perhaps they fell at the desert on the way to the evil race country? Anyway I recommend searching from Carlfan Empire that is close to the evil race country toward the direction of the evil race country.』
.
The girl who gave that information didn’t consider the possibility of “death” which was the likeliest possibility. She talked as though to declare that they were alive.
In actuality the girl who was giving that information had full grasp about the secret treasure and even the destination of the teleport. She didn’t have even a shred of doubt that Aria would definitely return if that was all she was facing.
That girl whose mental state was far removed from ordinary person gave the information she had because of a personal reason. She simply wanted to hasten the time of her reunion with Aria.
It was an uncertain information but, in regard to the dungeon’s secret treasure “Gem”, the analysis of the sorcerer guild and the royal sorcerers were in accord. The royal family couldn’t send a search party to foreign country solely based on that information, but an adventurer party that was outsider but also a related party to this case could be used. In the end the king used his personal fund to make this request to them.
Each member started moving along with Dalton’s order. Among them Feld went to the room that was assigned to him in this mansion to take a great sword made of magic steel. He tightened his grasp on it.
「Aria……」
For Feld, Aria was a reliable comrade, a cute junior, and also a charming member of opposite gender until he noticed her actual age, but right now she was someone who was like a little sister to him.
Viro had told Feld about a certain matter.
It seemed he was staying quiet until the dense Feld noticed it himself, but apparently Aria was using a steel knife that belonged to Feld.
It triggered his memory. Some years ago, while Feld was on his way to take the great sword of magic steel that he ordered from Galbas, he encountered a homeless orphan in a forest alongside the highway.
He mistook the child as a monster, then he taught the child the way to survive though it was only for a short time. After that Feld gave the knife that he used to dismantle monster to the child in exchange of the knife he broke.
That knife was also Galbas’s creation. Galbas who realized that thought that this too was fate at work and it became the impetus of him giving the knife of magic steel that he created to the child.
For Feld it was a memory that he had almost forgotten, but apparently Aria was still using that knife even now.
Thinking back now, perhaps Aria’s relaxed casualness with him until now was because she thought of him as someone who could be trusted──someone like a family from the start.
That small homeless orphan who he thought as a boy had grown into an eye-popping beautiful girl, so Viro told him that it couldn’t be helped that he didn’t notice, but Feld felt pathetic that he couldn’t do anything for that girl who was like family to him when she was in danger.
「I’ll find you for sure……Aria.」
.
While Feld was renewing his spirit, Aria’s other master who was also his acquaintance was──.
「……what to do」
Viro was at a loss. Of course he had no objection to go to save his beloved disciple Aria as her respected master. Not only that, he was the one who knew her the longest in the party. It was him who took the initiative to run around everywhere gathering information.
Viro was walking with heavy footsteps toward the new house he bought in the capital.
It was a small place compared to Dalton’s mansion, even so it was the type of building that was generally called as [manor]. It had the size that was sufficient for a low ranked noble to live there with his family and several hired servants.
「I’m homee……」
Viro had been living with a woman since several months ago. She was a receptionist of the adventurer guild who he had been acquainted with since some time ago. She suspected him as a kidnapper when he brought the still small Aria to the guild. Viro fell in love with her from that cold gaze and spent several years to win her heart.
Viro was still young in adventurer standard, and yet he chose to accept the black ops’ invitation and retired because she demanded him to have stable job and salary.
Viro was weak against woman and he had financially supported lady of the night (prostitute) several times until now. He was unthinkably tight with money for a first class adventurer. Even this residence was bought by borrowing money from Dalton. Right now he was completely whipped by the woman he was living together with.
「My, you’re home early today.」
「Yeah, I’m home, Mary.」
A pretty woman with long hair wearing a white apron appeared from the back.
The woman was still working as receptionist. She was home because she used her piled up paid leaves to exercise her cooking ability for the sake of Viro who was recently busy with his work.
How would she react if he told her that from tomorrow he would be gone for several months going to foreign country? Obviously she would be in a bad mood and sent a cold glare to him.
Viro didn’t hate getting looked with scorn by a charming beauty, but he didn’t like making them seriously angry. His heart wasn’t so vast that he could also accept getting his life targeted seriously even if it was by a beautiful girl like Aria.
But, there were times where a man had to firmly make a decision for the sake of his beloved disciple.
That time is now, Viro told himself to fire up himself.
「Mary, listen to me.」
Viro was sweating while telling Mary about everything that he had kept quiet until now and what he would do from now. Mary’s cheerful gaze instantly turned freezing until below the freezing point.
「What’s the meaning of this?」
「No wait Mary, as her master I──」
「That’s obvious!」
She got angry just like he imagined. Viro thought that Mary was angry because she couldn’t spend her holiday with him, but he was wrong with the direction of her anger.
「Eh?」
「Why did you keep quiet about Aria-san to me!? That girl is still 13 years old!」
「No, I also think the same but……」
「Geez, you’re really an awkward person. I’ll cool for you right away, so wait there. Eat a lot then go and bring back that girl safely.」
「Mary……」
The end result was that he got forgiven, he got fed with delicious food, which made him happy. But he felt that somewhere inside Mary, Aria got higher priority than him. He was shoveling food into his mouth while feeling like he couldn’t accept it.