Chapter 133 - <6>
"Constanze Lucina. She is my youngest sister."
With a face that looked like he'd been cast into the depths of hell, Franz introduced the girl who was gripping his arm and refusing to let go. The girl who had been introduced didn't bow or even glance at the people around her; she simply stared at Franz, looking blissfully happy.
They were in the tavern that the Saradio Guard Corps had been rampaging through earlier. Now, it was completely tidy and had even been cleaned from corner to corner. The guard corps, ordered by Constanze to fix the shop, had frantically cleaned and tidied up.
The sight of the men frantically cleaning and repairing under the high-handed girl's orders was a spectacle, a perfect picture of comicality.
The guard corps was now out restoring the village market. They had learned that the man they had been dealing with, Ritz, had been present at the Lucina residence fire incident and had been Jin's superior officer, and had turned pale and apologized to Ritz. On top of that, Franz's appearance had thrown them into a state of chaos.
In that situation, the guard corps, who found it hard to stay there, had jumped at Ritz's suggestion of "go fix the market and apologize" as if it were a lifeline, and had fled the tavern, which must have been a very uncomfortable place for them.
To ensure they didn't run away or cause further trouble, Ciela was monitoring them using spirits.
So, in their place, the ones currently gathered in this tavern were the village chief, Thomas Merite, Karl, Ciela, the four of them, and the central figure of this commotion, Constanze, and her direct guard, Jin—nine people in total.
It was now just lunchtime. Deni and her son were in the kitchen, preparing lunch. For the time being, the shop was reserved for them for the duration of the afternoon.
After pushing the served food into their mouths in an awkward silence without anyone speaking, the conversation in this strange situation finally began after tea was served. To break the overly quiet situation, Edward deliberately spoke up.
"I didn't know you had siblings. Are there two of you?"
Edward looked at Franz with a wry smile. Even though it had only been about an hour since his sister appeared, Franz was utterly exhausted.
"No. There are five of us."
"Five?"
"Yes. Three older sisters, me, and Constanze, five of us."
"So you're the only boy among them."
"That's right."
He had heard from Ritz and the others that Ville Lucina was desperate for Franz to succeed him, and now he understood why Ville Lucina was so obsessed with Franz.
For a lord with that much wealth, it would be natural to want to pass it on to his children. If it was his only son, he would become desperate. But unfortunately, the son in question seemed to have no intention of inheriting it.
"We all have different mothers, but unfortunately, we share the same father."
In the silence, Franz muttered this, looking truly disappointed. Ritz, who had nonchalantly taken his usual spot next to Anna, burst out laughing at this.
"But you really don't look like your father, do you? Neither you nor her."
"That's so true, isn't it?"
As usual, Anna cheerfully agreed with Ritz's words. Ritz looked back at Anna with gentle eyes.
"I hate to admit it, but my dad and I still look more like father and son, don't we?"
"Yeah. Your voices are similar."
"Really?"
"It's true."
In their usual trivial conversation, there was something, an indescribable, deep spiritual connection to be seen. At Ritz's fleeting but undeniably sincere expression, Edward narrowed his eyes.
Have I gotten old? He felt that such peaceful moments were incredibly precious. It was like seeing a fleeting, intangible moment from his own past life.
He looked up from the two of them and noticed. Jin was staring intently at Ritz with dark eyes. Edward instantly judged that his gaze was not friendly at all. As he continued to observe him nonchalantly, Jin, perhaps noticing his gaze, abruptly looked away.
What was he thinking? Since he hadn't heard anything about Jin from Ritz, he didn't know what kind of relationship the two had in their unit. He didn't know, but he could guess from the look in Jin's eyes that it wasn't a good one.
Even though he was Ritz's former subordinate, Edward, who had coordinated with them during the war, was well aware that in a place like a mercenary unit, the hierarchy was based on strength. Even in a relationship between a subordinate and a superior, it wasn't necessarily built on complete trust.
Besides, the man named Jin had left the mercenary unit. It would be safer to ask Ritz about the character of the man named Jin later. This man was definitely not to be underestimated.
As Edward was sizing up Jin, a high-pitched voice flew into his ears.
"Hey, you, old man over there."
Constanze pointed a sharp finger. The person she was pointing at froze for a moment, then slowly pointed to himself.
"Old man... me?"
"Yes, you."
"...Old man…"
Constanze was merciless to the lightly shocked Ritz.
"Well, you look like you're over twenty, don't you? From my perspective, you're an old man."
Anna, gently patting the dejected Ritz's arm, asked in his place.
"Um, Constanze, how old are you?"
"I'm nine."
"Um... you're very mature."
"Yes, thank you."
Listening to this, he couldn't help but smile wryly. Anna probably meant to say that she seemed mature for a nine-year-old, but the meaning had been completely lost. Besides, from a nine-year-old girl's perspective, anyone over twenty was an old man. He himself would be a grandfather.
Even though he was sitting at the same table, Edward, who seemed to have completely disappeared from Constanze's line of sight, was watching them with a detached objectivity. In times like these, it was best to be a bystander. He was also concerned about Jin's actions.
"My age doesn't matter, does it? I'm not satisfied with my own age either. Being a child is so tedious."
"You think so?"
"I do. I have to go to bed early, I have to go to school, it's really boring."
Constanze said this with a strange seriousness. But that excuse was also childish and funny. A smile inadvertently appeared on Edward's lips, and perhaps noticing it, Constanze pouted with a displeased look.
"I'm telling you, that doesn't matter."
Leaving the confused and impressed Anna behind, Constanze turned back to Ritz.
"To get back to the point, what I've been hearing is really rude of you. You're just my brother's attendant, yet you act so high and mighty. Besides, there's no way my brother and that toad look alike. Where are you looking? Your eyes are such knotholes that a family of squirrels could live in them!"
Ritz, who had been subjected to a barrage of words, didn't get angry or exasperated, but wore a smile of余裕. It was probably because he was starting to find it amusing to observe the mask of an adult that this girl was desperately trying to wear. Ritz had a habit of wanting to tease children who were trying so hard like this.
"By 'toad,' you mean Ville Lucina, right?"
"That's right. My father. Would you mind not lumping my brother in with that ugly toad?"
It seemed that Franz wasn't the only one who detested being related by blood to his father. She, too, seemed to not even want to think about the fact that she was the daughter of that toad.
"And my sisters are just as bad. How can they sweet-talk and beg that toad for things? It makes my skin crawl. They're such children."
Franz's sisters were older than Franz, so they must be well over twenty by now. They probably looked about the same age as Ritz, or even older. And yet, she called Ritz an old man while calling her own sisters children. It was interesting. The breakdown of logic in this area was childish.
"The only one I can trust is my brother, but he went and left home. That was cruel of you, brother."
Constanze looked up at Franz with teary eyes, but there was no expression in Franz's eyes. In fact, he didn't move a muscle. He was probably at a loss as to how to react. Besides, Franz was unable to understand human relationships once they became a little complicated.
After a while, Franz let out a heavy sigh and finally lifted his downcast face.
"Contze."
Franz called his sister that. It was apparently a nickname. Constanze's eyes lit up with joy as she looked up at Franz.
"Yes, Brother."
"I left home six years ago."
"I am aware of that?"
"You must have been three years old then."
"And what of it?"
Constanze tilted her head, truly not understanding. After looking at Franz's bitter face, he turned his eyes to Ritz, who was smiling wryly. Anna, like Constanze, didn't seem to realize what Franz was trying to say.
Franz, who probably wanted her to understand, let out a small sigh and turned back to Constanze.
"How can you declare that you can trust me when you were only three?"
It was a perfectly natural question.
"That's right. A three-year-old is just a little bigger than a baby, after all."
Anna nodded deeply in agreement. Anna, who had looked after children at the orphanage, was knowledgeable about farming and child development. As Anna said, there was no way Constanze could remember her brother, with whom she had only lived until she was three.
But Constanze answered with her chest puffed out proudly.
"Brother Franz is my idol. There's no way I would forget him."
With a logic that was difficult to understand, Constanze puffed out her chest. That completely illogical reasoning seemed to be firmly protected within her.
"My father's presence is already a nuisance in the city. If you were to颯爽と take control of Saradio, I'm sure it would develop into an even bigger city. No, only you can do it, Brother."
Constanze's eyes were serious.
"Contze believes in you, Brother!"
Though it was just a guess, she might have been raised with some help from Franz. Even if it was only until she was three, the stronger the feelings, the more the trust born from conviction would grow to an immeasurable extent.
Edward glanced at Ritz. A prime example of this was Ritz. About forty years ago, when Ritz had collapsed from exhaustion, Edward had saved him, and Ritz had placed his absolute trust in him, fighting alongside him and risking his life in the civil war.
Even adults had this tendency, so for someone as young as Constanze, that conviction must be unshakable. What's more, for her, who had been left behind at the age of three, she had never even been given the opportunity to see the real human being, Franz, for who he was.
Even Franz, who didn't realize this, seemed to understand the futility of explaining it to her in a roundabout way, and decided to refuse her directly.
"I have no intention of returning."
"Why is that?"
"I have no intention of ever entering the Lucina family again. I don't need honor or money."
"..."
"There must be plenty of people who want to succeed the Lucina family. That man can do as he pleases, whether it's taking on a son-in-law or whatever."
"Brother."
"If there is no one to succeed, then he should just return the position of autonomous lord to His Majesty the King."
As he said this, Franz glanced over at him. His gaze contained the question, "I'm not wrong, am I?" so Edward gave a slight nod.
Currently, the position of autonomous lord was left to each district to decide who would hold it, whether through a hereditary system or an electoral system. However, if the position was returned to the king, the district would become a district under the direct control of the king until a new autonomous lord was appointed and approved.
If a major conflict arose in that district and the lord was the cause of it, or if some kind of corruption came to light that the city could not handle, the Kingdom Army's special investigation unit, the Kingdom Army Inspectorate Department, would be deployed, and the autonomous lord could lose their position.
Franz, having witnessed firsthand in Faldina, where there was no autonomous lord, how a new lord was decided by a single word from the king, had probably come up with those words.
"I don't want that. I don't know what kind of person the king is, but I'm sure he's a worse person than you, Brother. I absolutely don't want a lord decided by someone like that. I want you, Brother."
At Constanze's firm declaration, Ritz couldn't hold it in any longer and burst out laughing. Edward could only manage a wry smile. The king who had just been called a bad person by a nine-year-old girl was his own son. Franz shot a light glare at Edward, then directed his misplaced anger at Ritz.
"Ritz, that's rude to His Majesty."
"Ah, my bad, my bad. I just couldn't help but laugh when I compared you and Gerald."
"..."
"To her, Franz is a paragon of virtue, but Gerald is still better."
"Of course. I'm... not even close to His Majesty's level."
It was simply a matter of age and experience, Edward thought, but he crossed his arms and remained silent. He knew that if he said anything, Franz would definitely retaliate. Besides, in a few decades, there was a possibility that the king would indeed become, to use Constanze's words, "a worse person than Franz." He still didn't know which way Greig would turn.
"And what are you?! For a mere hired mercenary, how dare you speak to my brother like that? Stay out of it!"
Constanze yelled emotionally at Ritz. But Ritz just shrugged his shoulders with a faint smile and didn't even stand up.
"Besides, why are there so many outsiders here? My brother and I are having an important conversation, so get back. You too…"
Constanze's small index finger pointed at Anna. The tip of her finger then pointed at Edward, Karl, and Thomas.
"You too, and you, and you!"
To the emotionally shrieking Constanze, Franz delivered a sharp, single phrase.
"Shut up, Contze."
In an instant, the room fell silent as if water had been thrown on it.
"Ritz, Anna, and Edward are my companions. I... am the baggage they are carrying, not the other way around."
Franz said this dispassionately, with no ups and downs in his voice, keeping his emotions in check. There was no self-deprecation in his voice; it was clear he truly believed he was everyone's baggage. But upon hearing this, Constanze froze, her expression contorted.
"Wha—"
"And they are the protectors of this village. Who is the one out of place here? It's you, isn't it, Contze?"
"Brother."
"Don't harbor any illusions about me. I have no interest in Saradio. And naturally, none in the Lucina family either. Do you understand what this means?"
"I don't!"
Constanze plugged her ears as she said this.
"I don't want to understand!"
But Franz didn't stop talking.
"In other words, my parents and siblings have nothing to do with me anymore. I don't need such things."
In the renewed silence, Constanze clenched her fists tightly. Her whole body was trembling slightly. Was it anger, or was it despair? To her, Franz delivered the final blow, unknowingly.
"Go home, Contze."
Franz was unapproachable, falling silent and turning his gaze from Constanze to the window outside. The standing Constanze, for a brief moment, showed the expression of a girl her age. Her face suddenly contorted.
She was desperately holding back tears with a face full of deep sadness and despair. The only one who didn't notice was Franz. Ritz and Edward, of course, noticed, and there was no way Anna, who was sensitive to the sadness and pain of others, would not have noticed.
Perhaps feeling their gazes, Constanze quickly returned to her usual strong-willed expression, but she seemed to have lost control of her emotions, as a single tear escaped.
"Franz, you have to talk to her more!"
Anna stood up, shouting this loudly.
"You're siblings, aren't you? I think that's too cold."
But it seemed that Constanze wasn't the only one suppressing her emotions. The person whose name was called, Franz, slammed his hand on the desk and stood up.
"So you're telling me to go back to Saradio?"
"I'm not saying that!"
"It's the same as saying it."
"No, it's not. I'm saying you should talk more! You should talk properly, you're her older brother, aren't you?"
"I've already abandoned my home."
To the desperate Franz, Anna took a deep breath and then, suppressing her emotional tone, showed a mature, gentle concern.
"Even if you've abandoned it, you're still siblings. You have to talk and understand each other."
But to that Anna, Franz directed a cold gaze. He glanced at Constanze, then quickly looked back at Anna.
"The idea that you can understand everything just by talking is an illusion."
"That's not true."
"It's not. Do you think that no matter what, no matter what it is, you can just talk and the other person will accept it?"
"...That's…"
"There's no way they would. In the end, everyone is a stranger."
"Franz…"
"If you were in a situation where you couldn't understand the other person, you would also separate that person from your own emotions, wouldn't you?"
The place Franz had struck was Anna's most painful part. Anna carried the pain of having been unable to understand and save someone before. The girl she couldn't save, her name was Jinny, if he remembered correctly. She was one of the robbers who had entered the treasury.
"In the end, strangers are strangers. It's impossible for one person to completely trust another. You know that, don't you? So please don't stick your nose into other people's problems."
After saying this, Franz, too, realized that the words he had just spoken to Anna were quite harsh and fell silent with a start. It was a habit of his to string words together emotionally and then regret it later.
In the awkward silence, Ritz quietly stood up. He gently wrapped his arms around Anna, who was looking down and biting her lip, unable to say anything back. His gaze was directed at Franz, but there was no blame or anger in it.
"Are you two satisfied?"
In front of the endlessly calm guardian, the two of them relaxed and let out a heavy sigh.
"Franz, what you're saying is logical. But there are things that can't be measured by logic alone. I can understand what you mean by 'in the end, strangers are strangers.' Unfortunately, I know it all too well."
Anna, still in Ritz's arms, looked up at him with a worried expression as he spoke dispassionately but as if admonishing them. He winked at her, then smiled.
"But you know, it's because we're strangers that we can stand between people, right?"
Franz nodded, still looking down.
"You trust me, her, and Ed more than your own father, at least, don't you? In that case, how about trying to accept our opinion for once?"
"How?"
To Franz's small question, Ritz replied with a bright smile.
"Hey, Contze. What kind of equipment did you bring?"
Constanze, who had been stunned by the sudden exchange between the brothers, looked up with a start at being called by her nickname. As if not wanting her childish expression to be seen, she roughly wiped her tears with her hand and put on a sullen expression. But she didn't seem to have the energy to argue with Ritz and answered honestly.
"I thought it would take time to find you, brother, so I have a tent for setting up camp. We also have plenty of food."
"That's convenient. Then you guys can live outside this village for a while."
At his casual but outrageous suggestion, Constanze's eyes went wide. But Edward could see Ritz's intention.
"...Why?"
"Just do as I say."
After saying this to the bewildered Constanze, Ritz turned to Franz and Anna.
"Well then, let's head back to my place a little early."
Then he casually called out to the back of the shop.
"Debbie, thanks for the meal. It was delicious."
"Thank you, Big Bro Ritz."
"Yeah. I'll drop by again."
"I'll be waiting for you."
He gave a small wave to Debbie, who came out smiling and wiping her hands, and gently patted Anna's head.
"Alright, let's go."
He gently ushered the two, who were just as bewildered as Constanze, out the door. It was likely a judgment that it was wiser not to provoke Franz any further. Once they left this place, Ritz's precious Anna would also calm down.
Of course, he left the explanation to those who remained inside, to the one who could completely read his line of thinking.
"Well then, Ed, I'm counting on you."
"...So you're pushing the after-care onto me, are you?"
"Yep."
"It'll cost you."
"Mm. Put it on my tab."
With a wave of his hand, Ritz left the tavern.
He felt a gaze and subtly looked for its source. It was Jin. Jin had been watching Ritz's retreating back. A faint smile played on the corners of his mouth. It seemed something was definitely up.
As he was thinking this, Karl tapped him on the shoulder.
"Um, could you please explain?"
"Ah, my apologies."
Edward once again urged everyone to take their seats. After making sure everyone was seated, he opened his mouth. Constanze's gaze was fixed straight on him. He gently accepted it, calmly clasped his hands, and spoke to Constanze.
"Once Franz has calmed down, I will try to arrange for him to speak with you again, so for now, please wait outside this village... That's the plan."
"Eh...?"
It was unexpected, and Constanze's eyes widened.
"I can't say if it will be tomorrow, the day after, or a week from now, but if you stay in the vicinity of Merite, I will have Franz speak with you again. If you return to Saradio, that opportunity will likely be gone."
"..."
"I believe the choice is yours, Constanze."
With a bewildered, innocent expression, Constanze looked up at Edward. Seen this way, she was truly a girl of her age. And one who, like Ritz, had a sense of having nowhere to turn…
It was then that Edward first realized. The reason why Ritz had not been firm with this girl at all. This girl was the same as Ritz. Instead of showing emotions like loneliness, pain, or sadness, she was spouting these arrogant words.
In the past, Ritz had a tendency to become emotional quickly to hide his loneliness. Ritz, sensing this, had given this girl another chance. So that she wouldn't make a mistake by not being able to honestly convey her feelings to the other person, like he had.
"You wanted to talk to Franz, didn't you?"
"..."
"Then you should just speak honestly about yourself, without mentioning Saradio or the Lucina family. Understood? This is your last chance."
When he prompted her for a reply, Constanze's face tightened and she looked up at Edward.
"I'll wait. If I can talk to my brother, I'll wait outside this village forever. My guard corps won't enter the village either. Is this acceptable?"
"Of course."
Constanze nodded with a firm expression. This girl was a quick learner.
"I'll keep my promise. So, old man."
"What is it?"
"Bring my brother to me."
"Yes. I promise you that."
After confirming Edward's reply, Constanze quickly stood up.
"Then I have no more business here. Let's go, Jin."
"...Yes, my lady."
The called Jin stood up with something like an ingratiating smile plastered on his face. He followed Constanze, who strode out the door.
"Jin."
Edward called out to his back.
"What is it, Your Majesty?"
Jin replied with a smug, thin smile. He, too, was from a distant eastern country from Yuresla, and had been in this country for over a year. It wouldn't be strange for him to have investigated and learned that Ritz Alster was not just a mercenary, but a hero of the civil war. And about Edward as well.
"What are you thinking?"
He questioned in a low, hushed voice, and Jin smiled servilely. In his eyes was a light that could not be underestimated.
"Nothing... in particular."
"Nothing... I certainly hope so."
Without hearing Edward's mutter, Jin disappeared beyond the door.