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Densetsu no Yuusha no Densetsu (Light Novel) - Volume 1, Chapter 2: The Hero and the Beauty’s Chance Meeting
Volume 1, Chapter 2: The Hero and the Beauty’s Chance Meeting
This chapter is updated by NovelFree.ml
Dawn had not yet come for the back alleys.
With killing intent looming behind him, Sion was putting a plan against certain death into place.
“Now, how should I break this stalemate?”
Sion’s whole body was tense. If he relaxed even a little, he was worried that he’d die.
“What’s the best way to break this stalemate?” Sion wondered aloud in a groan.
His enemies were strong. It was obvious from the damage their first attack had done. If he could catch them with his magic and bring things to hand-to-hand, he could overwhelm them.
He’d win if it was a one on one fight. But it was six versus one.
They had the skills of six separate people, all of whom were likely professional killers, judging by their lack of hesitation in aiming for the vitals with such nasty attacks. Sion would never be able to get the drop on them, and he wouldn’t be able to win with a frontal assault, either.
So what should he do…? Was he going to die?
“If I can manage to hold on until dawn—”
His words cut off, and he stopped dead in his tracks.
Soon, the black-clad men caught up to him.
Seeing Sion, stopped dead, they all opened their mouths to jeer.
“Heheh… finally gave up, did you?”
“And only after giving us all that trouble.”
“Fuhehe. I’ve been lookin’ forward to this.”
Sion wouldn’t turn around to face them. Without saying a word, he narrowed his eyes.
“Hey, are ya so scared you can’t even look at us, or what?”
Sion’s lips finally parted. “Me, running…? Why would I run from you? The future king cannot die here,” he said, like he was just talking to himself. He finally turned around to face his pursuers, and spoke detached, disinterested words. “It’s just as Ryner said. If I’m to become king, there’s no way I can die here. I can easily kill bastards of your caliber… no, bastards the caliber of my brothers who sent you.”
In contrast to his dull tone, Sion lowered his posture and readied himself for a fight.
The men smirked, judging Sion an idiot. “You still wanna go? It’s pointless, playboy!”
Their immoral laughter echoed through the alleyways as they drew thin, long knives. But Sion didn’t mind. As he slowly gathered power within, the curtain opened on their battle.
Sion closed the distance between himself and one of his pursuers and made to strike him.
However—
To prevent Sion’s fist from connecting, two other men rushed over and thrusted their knives into where Sion was running.
Sion abruptly stopped.
The raised knife of the man on the left changed aim; he pinned the arm holding the knife down and kneed the other man in the stomach, who fell with a guttural sound.
One down.
Sion felt a strong killing intent radiating from behind and crouched. But he was a second too late. A knife tore completely through his shoulder.
“Sh…”
Fresh blood sprung from the wound as a sharp pain raced through his body. But if he let it get to him and stopped moving, he’d surely die.
Sion rolled back to put some distance between the enemies in front of him, stood, and began to draw a magic circle. But before he could even finish, two men flung their knives towards Sion. “Like I’d let you do that!”
Sion abandoned his magic circle in an instant. He hit one knife down and away, and grabbed the other. Now he had a weapon.
But in that time, one of the men in black had completed a magical circle, as if whether Sion had a knife or not was trivial from the start.
Sion looked at it and groaned. It was a thunder-strike spell called Lightning Flash, the same spell Kiefer had used against Ryner recently in their practicals. But it was impossible to compare this one to Kiefer’s - of course the skill of the user mattered too, but if a practitioner of Roland’s magic fired a spell not with the intent to practice but with the intent to kill, it had an overwhelming destructive ability.
If he took this spell head-on, he’d be turned to charcoal…
The man recited the spell’s incantation. “What I wish for is thunder… Lightning Flash!”
An intense light was born in the center of the magic circle. As soon as he saw it, Sion threw his knife into it. When it hit the magic circle, the lightning that’d accumulated in the center raced through its metal; it kept going without losing moment and pierced through the man’s shoulder.
“Gyaaaaah!!”
He was violently struck by his own lethal lightning spell, its effects coursing through his entire body. He fell flat on his face.
Sion checked to be sure, and smiled meaningfully. “Two down… guah!!”
He was hit hard from behind and collapsed on shaky knees. With damage like that, he couldn’t stand.
“Sh, shit,” Sion mumbled. He turned to look at his assailant. It was the man he’d hit in the gut before, who he’d presumed fainted.
“Hyeh hyeh. We’re not just here to play, you playboy. We’re all here to kill. You’ve gotta finish what you start too, see?” He picked up a knife off the ground with an undignified smile. “You gave us lots of trouble, so I’ll take my time and make sure you can feel it.”
He swung his knife up—
Sion froze. His mind was too shaken to force his body to move how he wanted it to.
A single thought ran through his mind, freezing it cold. Was he going to die in a filthy back alley like this? Him?
He couldn’t believe it. He was really an idiot…
He watched the knife as it was lowered. It seemed slow.
Slowly.
Something very strange appeared at the man’s side.
Something long and thin, like a wooden needle, pierced the hand that was forcing the knife towards Sion.
“Gyaaaaahh!!?” His hands jerked away, taking the knife with. He brought his hand to his face to stare. “The hell is this thing!?”
A woman’s clear voice resounded. “A dango skewer. Can’t you tell by looking at it?” She spoke matter-of-factly, like she was wholly disinterested in them.
She looked at Sion and his assailant. They gulped.
She was unbelievably beautiful. She had long and sleek blonde hair atop almond-shaped blue eyes, and wore a strangely tasteful and clean blue and white martial arts uniform. For some reason, she wore a sword at her hip.
In her hands… were two more dango skewers. She opened her mouth every now and then for them, but because of how extraordinarily expressionless she was, it just made them look gross…
But… how to put it. Regardless of her expressionlessness, she had a mysterious aura. She might be able to settle this.
She studied the tense situation, and for some reason, her face suddenly reddened. “Are we in the age where men brazenly attack other men? How bold.”
“What!?”
Sion and the men’s voices harmonized splendidly.
The strange spell surrounding them wavered. “You’re the asshole that threw this skewer, aren’t you?”
The beauty nodded without much thought. “Yeah. Since I already finished eating that one.”
“The hell does that mean!?” The man shouted, indignant. “You think you’re done here? Think again. Prepare yourself, heheheh. We’re gonna do you senseless. Right?”
He turned to his friends who all nodded, smiling inappropriately. “C’more,” one said. “Let’s have a go.”
She unsheathed her sword, never letting go of the dango in her other hand.
“Wh-what the hell’re you doing?” One of the men yelled at her.
“Let’s fuckin’ murder her!”
The men who’d been holding Sion down all at once lept to attack her.
“Run, idiot!” Sion screamed at her.
In the next moment, her form disappeared.
…No, she didn’t disappear. Her movements were just so fast that they were difficult to detect.
A moment later and her sword flashed. The four men lay face down on the ground, defeated.
A dumb sound left one of the men who’d been holding Sion down’s lips. “Huh…?”
All Sion could do was stare in dumb amazement. Because he’d seen it. Seen her quickly stab her sword straight through each man’s vitals, one after another, all while chomping down happily on her dango.
…No. It had nothing to do with whether she was fast or not. Without concentrating, her form itself was invisible.
The girl who’d so easily taken all those men turned back to him. Her long, golden hair followed, a curtain behind her, as she studied him with those expressionless eyes. “You want me to keep going? Sorry, but there’s no way this precinct would accept that kind of crime for an assignment. If I kept going, then…”
She flung a dango skewer she’d finished towards the men.
“I’ll kill them,” Sion said.
The effect was instantaneous.
With a shriek, the men put distance between themselves and Sion, then turned tail and ran.
Dumbfounded once again, Sion let them go.
The woman…
The woman easily drove off six men who’d overwhelmed Sion so. She never even stopped eating.
He couldn’t comprehend it. He was the number one student in both physical and magical subjects in The Roland Empire’s Royal Special Military Academy, and yet… this girl of sixteen or seventeen…
Those men would’ve instantly defeated him if she hadn’t come.
She was undeniably a monster. A beautiful and swift monster… or otherwise…
The woman suddenly looked up at the sky. “Dawn’s already coming,” she mumbled.
Enticed, Sion looked for dawn. Certainly, the sky was brightening.
The night… was over.
The night that’d prepared him for death.
“I really didn’t die,” Sion said, a meaningful smile finding its way onto his face.
He didn’t die.
God didn’t kill him here. The fact that he’d lived was god’s will.
The one god used to carry out his will… was this here woman.
By chance, the clouds split and the morning sun filtered down upon her. Her sleek hair shone in the light.
It wasn’t the form of a monster.
What he was seeing was a goddess, or perhaps an angel…
---
The following day, just past noon.
Ryner had been sleeping, the same as always. He was in a classroom of the Royal Special Academy, and even though Kiefer was forcing him to stay in his seat, he’d been unable to keep his eyes open through four classes, three breaks.
Whether the teacher was asking him questions, getting mad at him, or giving up on him, he couldn’t keep his eyes open.
Well, that was pretty normal though…
It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say his attendance would be nearing zero if not for Kiefer.
Well, whatever.
Ryner rose from his death-like sleep for lunch break. He stretched his limbs out as far as they’d reach and rubbed his sleep filled eyes. “Mm… morning already?”
“It’s the afternoon!” Kiefer said, intent to meddle. “Jeez, Ryner. If you don’t start taking things a little more seriously, they’re gonna expel you!”
“Nn? No way. ‘Cause I’m gifted…”
“Where’s that self-confidence coming from? Anyway, hurry up and eat. This lunchbox’s pretty heavy,” Kiefer said. She plopped a lunchbox down in front of him.
“Mm?”
Kiefer didn’t realize it, but in that moment, a strong killing intent from their male classmates drifted over.
Ryner had been careless and gone without food since before last night’s ordeal. So Kiefer took the opportunity to make him something.
“How is it? Good?”
“Yup. It’s good.”
Kiefer’s smile seemed to sparkle. “Really? I’m so glad!”
It was about then that their male classmates swore to themselves that were gonna come kill Ryner.
It was a normal and peaceful lunch break, until Sion entered the classroom.
In his usual refreshing voice, he spoke to Ryner and Kiefer. “Hey, you two. Close as clams, aren’t you!”
Kiefer’s face reddened. “W… hey… Sion, what’re you saying? ♡ Geez, Sion. We’re close because we’re friends. Yup, friends… right, Ryner?”
She looked at his, imploring. But he didn’t say anything. His eyes were closed, almost like he was meditating.
Or… sleeping.
“Hey, why’re you sleeping again!?”
“Mh!? Oh, I was sleeping.”
“Don’t give me that!! You were sleeping while eating! Aren’t you a brave one!”
“You don’t have to go so far to praise me…”
“It wasn’t a compliment! I was being sarcastic!”
“Oh. Right, sarcasm.” Ryner nodded his understanding. He yawned, and then finally noticed Sion.
In contrast to Ryner, his silver hair was well-kempt and styled, his golden eyes lively.
“Oh, so you lived.”
Sion smiled bitterly. “Couldn’t let them kill me. More importantly, you’re safe.”
“No, I’m not… Kiefer’s been making come to class all morning. If this keeps up, I’ll soon be dead…”
Of course, Kiefer hit him for saying that.
Sion smiled and nodded in satisfaction. “Well, as long as you’re safe. I’d better let the two of you be.”
As he made to leave, Kiefer once again became flustered. “I-it’s not like that! Right, Ryner?” She turned to him for confirmation.
But he was already asleep again…
“Are you kidding me!?”
Sion caught her hand before she could lower it on Ryner, and looked at him with a kind expression, then back to her. “Kiefer. Ryner really didn’t sleep much at all last night.”
“Huh? Really?”
Sion nodded. “He kept me company through a rather unsophisticated task last night, so do you think you could let him sleep a little longer?”
Kiefer fell silent. Her usually bright face turned uneasy. Her clenched fist changed into an open hand that patted Ryner’s head.
“Eh?” Sion said, surprised.
“Even so, you’re sleeping too much!” Kiefer said strongly, angry. “I don’t know what kind of rusling around you were doing with Sion yesterday night, but that means he didn’t sleep either, right? But I don’t see him sleeping! Show some restraint!”
Kiefer’s tolerance for joking was thin as usual.
“Geez,” she said, stern in face and tone. “You should’ve said it was like that from the start… Then I… Ryner, you idiot…”
Sion smiled. “I should head out.”
“Ah, yeah. What should we do about today’s meeting?” Kiefer asked.
“I won’t be able to come, so I’ll leave it to you.”
“Okay. I’ll go tell everyone.”
“Thanks,” Sion said and left the classroom.
---
Awhile later, Sion was at a dango shop. Because the goddess had demanded dango.
Sion smiled wryly as he recalled last night. He’d been captivated by her beauty then, when the light hit her and made her beautiful, expressionless face shine…
As he recalled, she looked his way and spoke flatly. “If you do a favor for a dog, they’ll never forget it as long as they live.”
“Huh?” Sion said reflexively, without understanding what she was trying to say in the slightest.
Without caring at all for his confusion, she continued. “For example, say a dog is drowning in a stream. I save it. What do you think happens then?”
“…Well…” Once again, she didn’t get what he was trying to say. So he continued. “Does the dog return the favor?”
“That’s right. The dog doesn’t forget, and delivers Wynnit Dango’s Recommended Set 4 to me. It’s a clever dog, knowing that it’d get to me if he said that he needed to deliver it to the Eris beauty.”
Sion was astounded that she could say that with a straight face. It was just another surprise to go with her miraculous strength and beauty…
She gave herself a self-satisfied nod. “That’s how it is.”
But what was it like!?
She didn’t give him the chance to ask before she turned on the heel of her foot to leave.
So Sion bought the Recommended Set 4.
He didn’t even know the Eris’ address. But he didn’t need to. As soon as he wrote the name, the employee knew exactly where it was.
The Eris house.
The protection of Roland’s king was entrusted to their extremely noble name.
They were also known as the swordsman’s clan.
As they were exempt from drafts due to their duty to guard the king, their name wasn’t one of military fame.
Part of their fame was their nobility. They were said to be the strongest.
A massive dojo was enclosed within their gates. It was just another sign of their status.
Sion had only just come in, and their extremely noble status was already so painfully apparent…
He looked up at the estate itself. It was solemn stone, completely void of any ornament or humor.
“I see,” Sion mumbled to himself. “This is a place that has nothing to do with third-rate nobility like me.”
He was really a poor excuse of a noble. Sion smiled. It wasn’t to ridicule his own background, and it wasn’t out of embarrassment. It was, in fact, rather shrewd. Prideful.
He understood that he was in a delicate position. He’d never even seen his brothers who were always sending assassins his way - to them, he was just the child of a low-born woman. As a result, Sion didn’t exactly like them.
Sion wasn’t in a position where he could assemble a circle of nobles. There were numerous reasons for this.
First: to put it simply, rather than thinking he was distinguished, nobles found Sion intolerable.
Second: to become a true noble, he would need the support of the nobility as well as capable personnel that he didn’t have.
Third and finally: if Sion made an effort to assimilate into the nobility, they may become aware of his true ambitions. His brothers would become cautious if they realized what he was after. That’d be bad. They’d open fire on him while he was still unable to defend himself.
His brothers were different from Sion. From the moment they were born, they possessed a horrible power, the likes of which was only second to the king himself.
Because Sion and his brothers were children of the Roland Empire’s king.
But Sion was born powerless because of his mother’s low status. She’d been a passing fancy of his father’s; all in all, she was nothing more than a joke to him.
Every time the nobility’s mouths opened, it was to say those words.
“You low-born mutt!”
At the time, his mother had a husband. But the king fell in love with her at first sight, and despite her protests, stole her away. She concieved Sion and then was soon thrown away…
In the end, she was just a low-born mutt to him.
In her anguish, she committed suicide. Nobody attended the funeral of a single dead dog.
That’s why Sion didn’t know the faces of his father or brothers. All he felt from the moment he was born was their hostility, loathing, and killing intent.
But Sion thought that was fun. Wasn’t it interesting? He’d like to see them try and kill him. Sion would try and crush them, too. He’d pull them all down to his level.
For that, he needed more power.
Political power. Military power. Things that are clean and things that are dirty.
He needed more, more, more.
Sion ran his eyes around his surroundings once more. A huge, refined estate that housed the nobility was neatly set within castle-like walls.
He was in noble territory.
Territory of the nobility who sought to kill him.
Sion wasn’t afraid. He’d come here on purpose to gather power.
Information he’d gathered before he was invited in swirled around his head.
According to the noble directory, the beautiful woman he met yesterday was Ferris Eris.
“Ferris… Eris,” he said, testing the sound of it on his mouth. She too was nobility, but he wanted her. He’d never seen something as pretty as her.
A massive gate towered before his eyes: the gate to a single, mythical name: Eris. Generation after generation, they retained the name of the strongest swordsmen.
Just what lay beyond this path…?
Sion knocked on the gate without hesitation. “I’ve come with a delivery for Miss Ferris Eris.”
Without caution or even a sound, the gate opened.
A neat garden was arranged along the path to the dojo. That was normal. Of course there were nobles that lived more simply as well, but something like this wasn’t of note.
Even so, Sion’s expression stiffened.
For some reason, he felt a deep, heavy darkness spreading across the path.
Sion was to pass through a dojo so large that he couldn’t see the other side’s walls. It was massive, completely empty of people, and completely silent… and yet it struck him as distinctly grand.
The butler who’d guided him inside spoke. “Take off your shoes inside the dojo,” he instructed. “Pardon me.” With that, he nodded and turned to leave Sion, flustered as he was, trapped inside.
“Ah, er, you see, I came to see Ferris… but it seems that no one is inside here. What shall I do?”
“Lord Sion Astal, guests visiting the Eris family for the first time are to meet with the current head, even if they wish to meet with Lady Eris. Come, enter the dojo.”
“Huh? But there’s nobody—”
In that instant, a powerful presence appeared within.
“Wh—?”
It was different from anything Sion had ever felt before.
An animalistic bloodlust…? No, it wasn’t that. Perhaps it was more fitting to say it was the bloodlust of a demon.
Either way, it was by no means human.
The whole dojo was chilled by its presence, like everything before it was entirely transparent, and yet it was so quiet that Sion felt if he just whistled it’d disappear completely.
Sion was frozen in place, his mind jumbled. He couldn’t force his eyes to look around the dojo. Just what was waiting for him…?
“Here is the family head, Lady Ferris’ elder brother.”
When he raised his head, Sion saw a lone man sitting neatly on the floor, even though there’d been no one there when he’d checked a moment ago. There was no mistake.
No…
Sion understood. He’d been there from the beginning. Sion just didn’t see him. If this man didn’t want to be seen, Sion wouldn’t see him.
To completely hide one’s presence and form must be an ability of the Eris family.
“Sh…”
Cold sweat ran down Sion’s spine.
He looked at the man sitting properly before him. His blond hair was the same golden color as Ferris’, though it wasn’t long. His eyes were calmly closed, and his face was unrealistically well-balanced and harmonious in structure. He was of course wearing a blue and white martial arts uniform. An air of tranquility surrounded him.
He was a bit older than Sion - twenty, perhaps?
To the untrained, he may appear as a quiet but altogether pleasant young man.
But… this man, despite his apparent serenity, set off danger signals in Sion’s mind by his voice alone.
“I apologize for the late greeting. I am Lucile, the current acting head of the Eris family. You are… Ferris’ friend? Mm. You appear to have brought her a gift. She’ll be pleased.”
Flustered, Sion corrected his posture. “Ah, yes, though I wouldn’t be so hasty as to call us friends. I’m Sion Astal. I was saved by Ferris last night…”
“She saved you? Ah, so she’s completed her assignment.”
“Assignment?” Sion repeated.
Come to think of it, Ferris had said something about that: Sorry, but there’s no way this precinct would accept that kind of crime for an assignment.
“What exactly do you mean?” Sion asked.
“Nothing in particular,” Lucile said. “She seems to have a lot of free time, so I ordered her to eliminate crimes like assault and obstruction within a certain period of time.”
“E-eliminate…?”
Lucile nodded easily. “Exactly, Sion. We’re doing things a bit out of order, but welcome to the Eris home. You’re an interesting person. I see. Sure. I welcome you. You may see Ferris.”
“Huh? Interesting? I don’t really understand, but you seem to like me…?”
Lucile smiled sweetly. And yet, beyond that smile… a sudden bloodthirst sprouted and enveloped his whole body.
It faced Sion.
“Ghh…”
It was an unthinkable pressure. Sion felt as if he’d be killed by it alone if he relaxed. His knees jerked under it as they fought to keep him standing. If he fell, he’d certainly die. He couldn’t move, down to his fingers. If he moved, he’d be killed. There was no mistake.
He’d be killed by Lucile, smiling friendly as could be without ever opening his eyes.
“See… you really are interesting,” Lucile said. “Have you realized what kind of face you’re making?”
“Wh-what do you mean?” Sion half-whimpered, face forcing its way into a scowl.
Lucile’s tone had returned to how it’d been originally - a window to his true character, perhaps…
Lucile continued to speak, horribly cheery. “You looked at me and smiled. You understood that I meant to kill you if you said something that bothered me, and when you did, you looked at me and smiled. Aren’t you scared? Of course you are. You’re terrified of me. You fear the overwhelming presence of death. And yet, you feel something else as well. What might it be? Just what might it be…”
Lucile stopped speaking for a moment, as if to consider it. Then he continued.
“Ah, it’s that you want me. No, it’s that you want everything. That’s the sort of eyes you have. You want this country’s…”
“Wh…”
Sion uttered it without thinking. Lucile had seen through everything.
Just what was he…
But if he knew, Sion would seriously be killed here!
In the first place, the Eris family functioned as the king’s guard.
Sion shuddered at the overwhelming, impending sense of death. The pressure he was feeling was an ill-omen from start to finish.
Lucile stood, that same smile still plastered to his face.
Sion was terrified. He couldn’t move in the face of Lucile’s power.
Slowly but certainly, Lucile drew closer.
“No. What you wish for is farther along your path than just that. Much, much farther. Shall I kill you now? Or shall I let you live? I wonder which. To kill, or to let live. Everything is within the palm of my hand… ha, hahaha, ha.”
He was smiling. Always smiling.
Sion couldn’t move.
Lucile raised his hand. For a man’s hand, it was thin and delicate.
Sion’s death was written inside that hand. It brushed against the nape of his neck and lifted his chin…
And then.
“Hey.” It resounded through the dojo, exactly as Sion remembered - a flat but pretty voice. “What’re you doing with my dango?”
Ferris.
In an instant, the smile on Lucile’s face vanished. He turned to face her. “Ferris. Sion from yesterday came to see you. He brought you dango.”
“I know. But what were you going to do with him?”
“Hm. There are lots of things two men can do together, Ferris. Do you really want me to tell you about it?”
“Wh… t-two men,” Ferris repeated, blushing.
“…It seems it’s better if I don’t tell you.”
“H-hey!” Sion said. “Isn’t she misunderstanding something?”
He’d finally freed himself of his nerves. Lucile’s bloodthirst had vanished, like it’d been nothing more than a lie from the start.
Sion’s entire body was drenched with sweat, except for the line from the nape of his neck to his chin that Lucile’s fingers had touched.
Lucile seemed entirely different now. He was wholly serene and spoke in a quiet voice, nothing but a whisper against Sion’s ear. “You lived. That must be your power. So I won’t raise my hand against you again. Go become friends with Ferris. Because we lost our parents young, I’ve had to be strict with her.”
Lucile then turned to Ferris.
“Ferris, you’ve completed your assignment as I asked. I think it’s about time I give you another assignment. Shouldn’t I?”
“Brother, I think that lately, you think it’s funny to have me go on assignments over just about anything…”
“What are you saying, sister? This is part of the Eris family’s training. Or do you not believe me?”
“…What would happen if I said I don’t?”
“Maybe you’d die.”
“…”
Just like that.
Just like that, he said such a thing to his sister.
Ferris stared at Lucile, expressionless as always. “You seriously just said that.”
“I’m always serious.”
“……So? What’s my next assignment?”
Lucile pointed at Sion. “Starting now, you’ll be helping Sion for awhile. It seems like you’ll be able to do lots of training around him.”
Sion reflexively talked back. “Huh? That’s a little…”
“What? You’re complaining?”
“No, but…”
He’d wanted Ferris to join him, and just like that, Lucile saw through him and gave her power to him, even though he’d never even asked…
But what did Ferris think of it?
Sion studied her expressionless face.
She stared at him with pretty eyes, then heaved a sigh. “Can’t be helped.”
And so, Ferris became Sion’s ally.
---
Sometime later, Sion was led to the garden.
In the instant Lucile had said he was going to meditate, his form wholly disappeared. It was frightening.
Ferris wasn’t surprised at all. “Old man, take him to the gardens. I’ll be there in a bit.”
And so he was situated on a garden bench.
He looked around the carefully arranged garden. It was pretty.
The warm sun filtered through the trees and hit his face. He could hear a stream nearby, and every so often, birds chirped as they went about their days.
It was relaxing, like being at home. He could fall asleep.
Perhaps it was because he didn’t get enough sleep last night, or perhaps it was because of his mental battle with that monster Lucile earlier. Either way, he was horribly tired.
He closed his eyes.
Then—
“You’re the one who’s been bullying my sister and hiding her dango! Hand it over, or I won’t forgive you!”
Sion’s body jerked awake. He looked in the direction of that yelling. There, he saw Ferris holding the hand of a girl of six or seven donned in frilly dress. With just one look, the fact that she still retained her innocence was apparent. She had the same pretty blonde hair. She looked like she’d grow up to be beautiful, too.
She was in all likelihood Ferris’ little sister. That’d mean Ferris was the sister she’d spoke of, so…
Sion smiled wryly. “Me, bullying you?”
Ferris ignored him. “See, Iris. That sadistic face. That composed, innocent act. You mustn’t become an adult like that.”
The girl she’d called Iris nodded, taking it all in. “I saw. I definitely saw. And of course Iris knows he’s hiding the dango. It’s in that package he has. It’s a package from the dango store. Iris knows all about it.”
“Remarkable, Iris. That’s right. He stole my dango and told me that if I wanted it, I’d have to help him. What do you think?”
“He’s the worst!”
“That’s right. The worst. When someone wants a favor, what should they do?”
“Go to Wynnit Dango! Even a dog knows how to buy dango!” Iris answered without hesitation.
Though Ferris was as expressionless as ever, she somehow seemed satisfied as she nodded. “See, Sion. Even a child understands. So what do you think you’re doing?”
Sion sighed. “Will you be happy if I buy another set?”
Ferris shook her head. “Make it two. ‘Cause it’s too much trouble for just me to accompany you. Iris can help too. Your problems involve those guys who attacked you before, right? I alone am not enough to follow them while otherwise helping you, so Iris enters the picture. Iris, will you help me out?”
“Yeah! I’ll help out! ‘Cause if I don’t do what my sister says, God will get mad and twist all my limbs off!”
All Sion could do, hearing the radiantly smiling Iris say such gorey things, was shrug his shoulders. “But wait. I’m fine buying you the set, but are you really going to have such a small child help you?”
“Mm? Got a problem with it?”
“Well, if you think about it normally, yes. There is a problem. First and foremost, it’s dangerous.”
“Dangerous… hmm.” Ferris thought about it for a moment, then patted Iris’ head playfully. “Iris, this mean guy thinks you’re an idiot.”
“Huh!? Really? Why, I!”
“He says you still wet the bed.”
Iris went pale. “Seriously!? W-w-w-w-w-why does he know about that!?”
“Bad people are good at finding people’s weaknesses. So what’ll you do, Iris? What do you do to people who learn your secrets?”
Iris’ face turned dangerous.
Sion grimaced. “You mean I’ll be… erased!?”
“Yup. Get him.”
“Yeah!”
Iris charged at him with unbelievable speed.
“Wait a—”
Her approach was blinding fast. She lifted off the ground by her small feet, then swivelled in the air to hit him with a roundhouse kick.
Sion stopped her foot from connecting and jumped back in the nick of time. He stared fixedly at her.
Iris was unbelievably nimble for a kid.
“Are you kidding me,” Sion mumbled.
“What do you think?” Ferris asked, triumphant. “She was able to reach you with martial arts alone. Don’t you think she’d come in handy?”
“Sure, why not,” Sion easily agreed. “I’ll accept Iris’ help.”
“Mm. Iris, stop. He understands that you’re a grown-up now.”
“Huh, really? Iris really doesn’t w-wet the bed or anything, you know.”
Sion smiled awkwardly and nodded. “I understand that. Because you’re already all grown up, right?”
Iris smiled brightly and gave him a big nod. “Yeah!”
In contrast to her cheeriness, Sion sighed. A girl as childish as this could kick straight to the bone… He’d be no match for her.
The direction he was advancing didn’t involve war. He didn’t need battle strength, strictly speaking. But he needed a holistic skillset at hand.
“I’ve understood who you are since earlier, Iris, but I’d like to take some time to introduce myself properly, since you’ll be helping me out from now on.”
And so he explained his situation. The fact that he was the illegitimate child of a rather noble name. He explained that despite having never even seen their faces, god knew how many of his brothers and sisters wanted him dead. That he wanted to ascertain who his enemies were.
He didn’t tell them everything. There was no way he could. To reiterate, they were the Eris family tasked with guarding the king. He couldn’t tell them about his true lineage and the quarrel between himself and his siblings - the king’s children… there was no way.
Even if Sion himself was one of the king’s children…
Anyway, it was irrelevant. The people coming to try and kill him weren’t his actual siblings. They’d never dirty their hands. The ones hiring the assassins were likely nobles who grovelled at his siblings’ feet…
“Anyway, if we can just figure out their whereabouts…”
Once he finished, he looked to the Eris girls. Iris was playfully cuddling Ferris by her left arm.
“So that’s what you want us to investigate?” Ferris asked.
“Can you do it?”
“Mm. It’ll be hard. You barely have any info for us. You’re a secret scouring pervert, so I guess you just don’t want to tell us which noble name. Your siblings will kill you if you don’t do anything… which means…”
Ferris nodded to herself.
“Starting tomorrow, we’ll be watching you and every suspicious person you cross paths with. Iris will be in charge of monitoring, so she’ll be watching you from now on, in the morning and afternoon and evening and when you’re on the toilet and when you’re in the bath and when you’re in bed… heh. This’ll be a good chance for Iris to learn about what animals men are… and then she’ll realize men are hopeless and become my slave… hehehe.”
“A slave is the number one best kid, right, sister? Iris knows, because Iris is your slave!”
Iris sure said some scary things.
Sion forced a smile. “Well, anyway, let’s try that and see how it goes.”
That was the start of his plan.
