139 - Spirit's Beloved Child 1
The fever went down after three days in bed. But I was confined to my room for another four days until the cold was completely healed, so Hermine's lessons resumed a week after returning to the city of Grenore.
I was enjoying the lessons after so long, and during the break the conversation turned to Ethelbert and Dietfried, whom I had met in Lagarette. It seemed Hermine had also struggled with Dietfried. She chose her words prettily, but if you summarized the content, it was like "being made to teach an infant who has just had its diapers removed." Dietfried really seemed to have been raised spoiled rotten with no proper discipline at all.
...That definitely will not do Diet any good. They should fire the whole lot of servants.
Especially since I had just heard from Alf about this country's nobility the other day, I grew worried about Dietfried's future. If things continued without changes to his environment, under this country's noble system, Dietfried would likely never be recognized as an heir to the throne.
...Not like his chances were good to begin with, right?
Alf had only briefly explained it, but Hermine taught me a bit more about royalty and the Royal Peerage. Roughly speaking, those with Royal Peerages were also counted as royalty, but royals without a Royal Peerage (excluding minors) were apparently treated as the king's possessions. Not as people, but as things. To put it crudely, it was like "those who do not work shall not eat." As if to say they had no intention of feeding princes and princesses who did not earn a Royal Peerage and work for the country, they were mercilessly married off to vassal houses or foreign lands. And basically only up to the king's grandchildren were counted as royalty. In Dietfried's case, as the current king's grandson, he was counted as royalty, but with insufficient education, his chances of obtaining a Royal Peerage were currently very low. They would probably need to replace the servants, improve his environment, and train him properly while there was still time.
...Well, maybe he could just go marry Basilia-chan?
We only had an acquaintance-level relationship, but after hearing that nobles and royalty were not such easy positions, I grew a little worried. Still, there was nothing I, being in Grenore, could do for Dietfried.
"...You said that kings are slaves of the country, in front of Former King Ethelbert-sama?"
"Even I realize that was not an appropriate way to speak to royalty."
It was a slip of the tongue meant as a check on Dietfried, on the level of "I do not want to bow to someone I cannot respect even if they are royalty." When I calmed down and thought about it, my word choice was way off. I could speak somewhat politely, but I still did not have the education to converse smoothly with royalty and nobles. That was why I had made a poor word choice.
As I reflected on my words and actions, saying "I look forward to your continued guidance and encouragement," signaling the end of break, Hermine made a troubled face and uttered an ominous statement.
"...I am certain there is no mistake that Ethelbert-sama has taken a liking to you."
"Huh? Why?"
Normally speaking, it was just the idle talk of a slightly cheeky child. It should not have been the kind of thing someone who had been king would pay attention to.
"If it reaches the ears of His Majesty the current King, they might wish for you to become the next king's queen."
"What is that? That is impossible. I am just a commoner child."
Hermine is too scary spinning such ominous words. I want to live peacefully and leisurely as a commoner. No noble relatives or royal brides for me, thank you.
"The belief that a king is a slave to the people is the conviction of Ethelbert-sama and the current King Christoph-sama. Since none of Christoph-sama's children share this conviction, there is currently no one designated as the next king in our country."
It seemed they were aware that many royals had strong eccentricities. So apparently they were selecting successors from among the Royal Peerages, thinking that if they let someone with similar tendencies succeed them, that person would become a king who prioritized the people. Unfortunately, there seemed to be no Royal Peerage with tendencies similar to the current king and former king so far.
"...If there is no suitable person among those with Royal Peerages, those people might think they should seek this quality in the spouse instead."
If they placed me, who shared the same motto, as a spouse, they could manipulate things somewhat from the king's side. A king's wife had no power to involve herself in politics, but as one who stood beside the king, it was possible to influence his thinking. Even if the next king was somewhat concerning, putting a trustworthy queen by his side would be fine. That was what they might think, Hermine said.
"I did not mean anything that big, sensei. Really, I just meant something like I do not feel like respecting royalty I cannot respect or do not look down on the people just because you are royalty..."
"A person who can say that knowing the other party is royalty is itself precious, you see."
Apparently, it was normal for commoners to resign themselves to the idea that superiors could treat inferiors however they wanted. I had only been able to say it because I could not really feel Dietfried was royalty at that point, but it seemed I really should avoid getting any closer to them.
"You do not seem to want to return to nobility, but I think you are suited for it."
Hermine smiled quietly, implying that I would not look down on those beneath me. Her trust was ticklish and made me happy, but I had one clear future goal now.
"...Got it. Before Leo retires and becomes a Merit Peerage, I will find a nice commoner husband."
"That will be difficult finding someone that aniki could approve of, I would say."
There was no way Leonardo, who doted on his little sister, would let her marry someone who would make her struggle. At minimum, he would want a man with equal or greater financial means than himself, and the same would go for martial prowess. He would surely demand a partner superior to himself in all respects.
I nodded with a wry smile at Hermine's words, thinking "I agree," and this time break time truly ended.
I had planned to finish it in Lagarette, but what with being made to play with Dietfried, getting kidnapped, and various other things, the embroidery I planned to give Aurelia was delayed. Still, it was not work with a deadline, so there was no need to rush.
As I was leisurely embroidering in front of the living room fireplace during my free time, Kalisa came to tell me I had a visitor. It seemed the guest had already been shown to the reception room, and I was guided there too.
"Huh? The guest is Nils deshu ka?"
The people on the other side of the door were Nils, a familiar face, and a black-haired woman I felt I had met somewhere before.
...Um? Who was she again?
I could tell she was someone I had met before, but I could not immediately recall who. As I furrowed my brow and started thinking, Nils reintroduced the woman to me.
"This is Arabella-san, who researches folklore at the Menhishumi Church."
"I met you, young lady, at the Menhishumi Church at the start of autumn. Did you forget?"
She winked playfully, and finally the face in my memory overlapped with the woman before me. When I had met her at Menhishumi Church, she had been dressed casually, but today she was neatly dressed for visiting the Fortress Lord's residence. That was probably why I had not recognized her immediately.
"Umm... you are the big sister who let me into the library when I had free time because I could not attend lessons thanks to Teo, deshu ne."
"That is right, the big sister from that time."
Arabella, who emphasized the words "big sister," might actually be at that sensitive age where she cared about such things. I was offered a seat with the suggestion to finish Nils's business first.
"So, what is Nils's business deshu ka?"
"I have come to deliver a total of twenty-seven volumes: volume six of The Knight of Itsurateru that you were looking for before, and books whose presentation copies were delayed due to wartime and postwar administrative backlog."
He asked me to check and receive them, so I called Bart. Even though I was the master of this residence when Leonardo was away, I was still a child. It would be better to involve an adult in matters requiring verification and responsibility.
"...As listed, all twenty-seven volumes. Received and confirmed."
Bart said he would put them away in the study and took the box. That concluded Nils's business.
"So, Arabella-san, what business do you have with Leo?"
"Huh? It is not the Knight Commander I have business with."
"It is not deshu ka?"
I tilted my head in puzzlement. What business did she have at the Fortress Lord's residence then? The residence was located at the edge of the city. It was not the kind of distance you could just walk from the Menhishumi Church near the center as a casual stroll.
"...First of all, I offer my congratulations on your safe return, young lady."
"Did you know I went to Mandez?"
"Safe return" ... did she know about the kidnapping in Lagarette too? Arabella had been sitting with proper posture like a proper adult big sister, but her expression changed at the name Mandez.
"You were taken by spirits and went to the city of Mandez, young lady!?"
As Arabella suddenly lunged forward, Kalisa moved. She swiftly came to my side and pulled me close, creating distance from Arabella. Meanwhile, Nils was holding Arabella back, desperately pulling her arm to get her to sit back down.
"Arabella-san, please calm down. The young lady is frightened."
"How can I be calm! Do you have any idea how far it is from Grenore to Mandez, Nils-kun!? And even then, she should normally have returned to her own home's fireplace!"
After shouting at full volume that she had never heard of such a case, Arabella seemed to come to her senses. She plopped back down in her chair, and as if her previous agitation had been a lie, she smiled elegantly with a look of innocence.
"...This year's Divine King Festival was in an uproar over the Fortress Lord's little sister being kidnapped."
Apparently Hermine and the townspeople had searched everywhere, and the Black Knights had secured key points like the city gates and set up checkpoints. Even when the sun rose I was not found, and when the sun set I still was not found, and the whole city was in an uproar.
"That is... I really caused everyone trouble..."
I wanted to crawl into a hole. Back then, I had just really wanted to see Leonardo and thought I would return to him.
...Father and Mother tried to stop me too.
As I naturally thought that if I had caused that much trouble, I should have just obediently returned to Grenore, I suddenly realized something.
...Huh? Did I choose where to return to by my own will?
Since Leonardo and the others said I had been "taken by spirits," I had accepted it as such, but when I tried to remember the details, I could not recall anything from that time. And yet, things would suddenly come to me unexpectedly like today. It was not that I had forgotten, just that I could not remember.
"I will have to go apologize and thank them later. Would hugging each of the Black Knights be enough thanks?"
The Black Knights were fine for now. Their base was Grenore Fort, so they were neighbors. Even if I needed to thank all of them, they were gathered in one place so I could manage.
The problem was the city residents who had helped search for me. I did not know who participated or to what extent, so even if I wanted to go around thanking them, there were limits.
"I think you can pay them back by working at the Recollection Festival."
"Work at the Recollection Festival deshu ka?"
I wondered how to thank the residents. When I asked Arabella about it, she grinned with a mischievous smile and suggested labor.
"Is there something I can help with?"
"There is, there is! Actually, that is what I came to ask about today."
"Ask about?"
When I asked what it was, Arabella straightened her posture. This woman Arabella seemed to have a habit of straightening up when making a formal request, even though her natural speech was boyish.
"As compensation for lending out the Menhishumi Church's treasured 'Spirit's Beloved Child' during the search for you in this commotion, I would like you, as a fellow 'Spirit's Beloved Child,' to become the spirits' eyes and ears at the Recollection Festival."
"Seirei no chouji... deshu ka?"
Just from the words, I could roughly guess the meaning. I had heard somewhere that reincarnators were not disliked by spirits due to their origins, and so spirits occasionally blessed them with good fortune. That must be what Arabella was talking about.
...Huh? How does Arabella-san know I am a reincarnator?
I broke out in a cold sweat wondering where the secret had leaked, but it seemed I had jumped to conclusions. "Spirit's Beloved Child" apparently just meant a child favored by spirits. In my case, since I had been taken by spirits, it was judged that they favored me enough to snatch me away. That was the whole reason.
"Even if I say work at the Recollection Festival, it is originally something like a duty of a Spirit's Beloved Child. You do not have to think of it stiffly. Just sit in the prepared seat and participate in the Recollection Festival for the day."
"You really just sit there all day, so there is nothing difficult to worry about."
I felt a slight sense of dissonance at Nils's strong assurance that preparations for hydration and shade were in place for sitting long hours. His words seemed to carry oddly personal experience. As I stared up at Nils, he seemed to realize I was puzzled. Looking slightly embarrassed, he told me it was work he did every year.
"Nils, you are a reincarnator deshu ka!?"
I hurriedly covered my mouth at the words that slipped out. I had said something incredibly bad just now.
"Reincarnator!? Where did that word come from...!?"
Nils, standing with his mouth agape, and Arabella, whose eyes were gleaming, were quite the contrast. While Nils blinked owlishly beside her, the clearly excited Arabella reached toward me. I reflexively buried my face in Kalisa's chest to hide.
"Young lady, where did 'reincarnator' just come from!? What relation do spirits' beloved children and reincarnators have..."
"I do not know! I do not remember! That person told me!"
Overwhelmed by Arabella's intensity, I ended up telling everything I remembered while still hiding my face in Kalisa's chest. The young man I had met in that mysterious world had said that spirits disliked humans of this world. Instead, they did not dislike souls brought from elsewhere, and sometimes lent a hand on a whim. Which meant humans who could receive spirits' blessings might originally have been people from another world.
"That person! In other words, a human! A human who can be with spirits, that means the main figure of the ancient Penitence Festival, ■■■■■!!"
...Huh?
The words coming from the excited Arabella were momentarily unintelligible. I timidly lifted my face from Kalisa's chest and looked up at Arabella. The Arabella who had been shouting with such force she nearly lunged at me was now staring at the ceiling. She was still babbling some theories and hypotheses at high speed, but occasionally words I simply could not catch mixed in. From the context, it seemed to be a person's name.
"Arabella-san, who are you talking about?"
I quickly gave up on getting an explanation from Arabella, who had already entered her own world, and quietly asked Nils, who was just wearing a troubled smile as if used to this. At my question, Nils looked even more troubled.
"Even I cannot catch the name of the person Arabella-san is talking about."
"'Even' you?"
I thought that was a strange way to put it, when suddenly the room grew quiet. As we both turned to face the person who had been making all the noise, Arabella was smiling sadly with a calm expression, as if her earlier excitement had been a lie.
"That is one of the characteristics of a Spirit's Beloved Child, see. Whether they do not want their beloved children to know anything, spirits make sure the name ■■■■■ never reaches a beloved child's ears."
When she said even trying to write it down to teach it did not work, something came to mind. There had been a painting with a title that looked like it had been unnaturally painted over at the gallery in Lagarette. I had not been able to read that painting's title, but I felt like Kalisa could read it normally.
"The Menhishumi Church is a gathering place for seekers of knowledge. What I particularly want to know is what happened to the world in the past. I want to know the truth."
Arabella said that a Spirit's Beloved Child, who had spirits as allies, saw a different breadth of the world than those without blessings. Since she herself had no spirit's blessing, there were limits to what she could investigate.
If I remembered anything else, she wanted me to tell her anytime. Saying that, Arabella quietly left as if drained.
[Author's Note]
Ran out of time. Could not get as far as I had planned.
Typos and errors will be fixed another day. I have corrected the ones I found.