Episode 40: Elmia is a Worrywart ②
◇◇◇◇
“Reporting! Barbat, stationed near Pekion Village, has suddenly begun advancing north towards Fort Ronchant with half of his troops!”
“What did you say…?”
“And Lord Sharka has departed to pursue Barbat. The operation name is…”
Another Military Official from Sharka’s unit brought further news.
The contents of which only served to complicate the situation further.
“Father, I will go to my brother’s aid!”
“Absolutely not!”
“My brother is about to go and defeat Barbat, what are we supposed to do if we don’t go to his aid now!”
Elmia pressed Radnock, her father, with a determined expression.
Incidentally, Sharka had conveyed that reinforcements were unnecessary, but Elmia didn’t believe a word of it.
“…Sharka must have something in mind. I don’t understand the meaning of this ‘Appointment Operation’ or whatever, but with Getrude by his side, he shouldn’t be doing anything too reckless.”
Radnock, as someone who knew a part of Sharka’s abilities, trusted him to some extent, but Elmia did not.
She had been told that he was releasing Intimidation towards the enemy army running far away, and she thought her brother had gone mad.
“Operation? My brother doesn’t have any plans. When my brother gets a bee in his bonnet, he’ll do anything to protect Ortenos. Even things that disregard his own life!”
She remembered six years ago.
It was shortly after Elmia’s mother, Elena, had been killed by someone.
She had come across her brother trying to sneak out of the castle alone in the middle of the night.
When she asked where he was going, he just smiled vaguely and evaded the question. Even when Elmia cried and begged him not to go, he left without stopping.
The next morning, she saw her brother carrying his favorite staff, which was disproportionately long for his body, acting as if nothing had happened. She remembered feeling relieved and angry at the same time.
There were no visible injuries, so he got away with it, but she somehow knew that her brother had done something bad.
It goes without saying that the sudden disappearance of her brother, who was her emotional support at the time, cast a large shadow over young Elmia’s heart.
“Calm down, Elmia. Sharka isn’t foolish enough to do that.”
“No, my brother will definitely do something. It’ll be too late if something happens.”
Her brother had always been somewhat detached and had done things that no one else would think of, for better or for worse.
She was worried that he would do something reckless this time, just like six years ago.
If she could, she wouldn’t have let him go on his First Campaign.
Considering that her brother sometimes went on eccentric rampages, she wanted to keep him in a cage for the rest of his life, but she couldn’t do that in her current position.
“…No, that won’t do. I can’t send Elmia, who has deep ties with the Lanecki Family.”
The marriage with the Lanecki Family had been formally established since Radnock’s generation.
Therefore, Radnock believed that Elmia was truly important to the Lanecki Family, and as long as Elmia was there, House Ortenos could survive.
“But…”
“If it’s reinforcements you need, I’ll go. Elmia, I’ll entrust you with the protection of Ortenatris.”
“…”
Elmia looked like she was about to run off as she was, so Radnock had no choice but to volunteer first.
He judged that the risk of sending Elmia out was higher than the risk of suppressing Elmia, the next head of the family.
“The unit’s formation is complete. We can head for reinforcements at any time.”
“Understood, I’m coming now.”
Radnock was about to lead the reinforcement unit to Sharka’s location.
However, Elmia stopped him.
“Father, please let me go too.”
“Enough, Elmia!”
“I am not just a ‘princess to be kept in a cage’, Father.”
“Ugh! That’s, Princess Illumina’s…”
Princess Illumina, the founder of House Ortenos.
She was a heroine who walked between the Imperial Family and the Lanecki Family with an exquisite sense of balance, and established House Ortenos without being absorbed by either.
For the people of House Ortenos, it has a special meaning when the words of Princess Illumina, who is said to be her spitting image, come out of Elmia’s mouth.
“I am the next head of House Ortenos. I don’t want to be a princess who is afraid of Naia’s invasion and just sits and waits.”
“Mmm…”
Radnock was daunted by Elmia’s strong, determined eyes.
He realized that behind it was an unwavering determination, and he held his head in his hands.
“…I understand, I’ll allow you to come along. But only until Sharka is rescued. I won’t take any more risks than that.”
Radnock didn’t have the courage to reject Elmia any further here.
He instantly calculated that creating a fatal discrepancy with Elmia would not be in Ortenos’ best interest.
Thus, the two of them would head to rescue Sharka.
However, what was unexpected for Radnock was how much Elmia was so insistent on rescuing Sharka.
It would be natural for a younger sister to worry about her older brother, but it was still too much to directly oppose the head of the family’s wishes.
Radnock’s chronic stomachache was warning him that this was a situation to be concerned about.
This was because some of the numerous complaints that had been sent by Elmia’s fiancé, Zirga de Lanecki, which could be taken as impolite suggestions, were beginning to ring true.
Problems related to ‘aristocratic obsessive love’ are always present because Elmia is a member of the main family.
This problem always spreads to family feuds, so it is classified as the most delicate category for aristocratic family heads like Radnock.
It was a factor that could ruin a noble family to the point that the head of the family would pray for domestic safety, saying, “Please don’t let it happen in our family.”
Therefore, the fact that those two are too compatible is quite bad.
Radnock’s face was distorted by stomach pain to the point that he forgot that he was Stella-Class when he thought that in the worst case, it could develop into a situation where he would have to confront Lanecki.