An Encounter with Grandmother…
That woman had her soft, brownish-blonde hair tied up, and she was gazing at me with gentle, orange eyes.
If she was Mikhail-san’s grandmother, she should have been of a considerable age, but perhaps due to being a high-ranking noble with high magical power, her appearance was still only around forty years old, and her features… closely resembled my deceased mother.
“…Oh, my apologies. Calling out my deceased daughter’s name, how could I?”
“No…”
To the woman who smiled sadly with a troubled expression, I didn’t know how to respond and just shook my head slightly, a strange atmosphere drifting between us.
“…Cecilia. Are you alright?”
As if sensing the mood, the Margrave spoke with concern, and the woman called Cecilia looked startled and bowed her head to him.
“Belt-sama… I am truly sorry.”
“No… As long as you are both safe, that’s all that matters.”
Saying that, the two embraced as if to confirm each other’s safety, then they quickly shed their husband-and-wife demeanor and put on the faces of high-ranking nobles.
“For now, I want to hear what happened. Tell me everything up to this point.”
“Understood, Belt-sama.”
“Mikhail! You lead the household staff and deal with the enemy! I will report to His Majesty using the Long-Distance Communication Device!”
“Yes, sir!”
At the Margrave’s command, Mikhail-san tensed up… and yet, as if sensing something, he gave a fleeting glance of concern towards his grandparents and me before dashing off towards the castle walls. After seeing his grandson off, the Margrave turned back to me, his expression like he had just tasted something bitter.
“…Aria. Help Mikhail.”
“Yes!”
The Margrave also gave me instructions, and Cecilia-san, who began walking towards the mansion with Belt-sama, watched Mikhail-san leave with a worried expression, then glanced back at me several times as if reluctant to leave.
“…”
That person is Mother’s… But now is not the time to think about that.
I watched the two, who might be my “blood relatives,” enter the mansion, then chased after the other one… who might also be a blood relative, rushing up to the castle walls.
But, there—
“—[Magic Shield (Shield)]—!”
Pariiin!!
I instantly parried the magical attack aimed at Mikhail-san with my [Magic Shield (Shield)], but due to its unexpectedly high power, the [Magic Shield (Shield)] shattered, creating a sound like breaking glass—an auditory hallucination—and Mikhail-san, whom I had protected, widened his eyes.
“Aria!”
“I’m fine.”
Was that attack offensive magic? But it wasn’t elemental magic; it was non-elemental Magical Element. Still, it was different from a Battle Art.
“So you’ve brazenly come all this way to interfere, adventurer woman!”
A different group from the unit currently attacking here appeared, and a cloaked man riding a horse at their head shouted that. I couldn’t make out his appearance. But, this voice is…
“…Amor?”
Prince Amor. No, by the time the Margrave arrived here, he should have become the former Prince Amor.
Amor, who had been attacking from the rear, had reached this place. If our arrival had been just a little later, we might have run right into him.
Amor spotted me standing on the castle wall, broke away from his group on horseback alone, and soared into the air with his horse as if to leap over the unit that had been attacking earlier.
Is Amor’s horse enhanced…?
“You alone, I will not forgive! You alone, I cannot forgive!”
“Try me.”
To intercept Amor, I also leaped from the castle wall and soared into the air.
“!?”
As if to catch me off guard, Amor’s left arm extended. A momentary chill. With a bad feeling, I avoided taking it, kicked the air to change my position, struck his arm with my Rope Weight Type Pendulum, and aimed for Amor’s neck with my General-Purpose Type.
Gakin!
Amor’s sword in his right hand struck down my Pendulum. Amor, whose extended arm was hit, lost his balance along with his horse, but even as he fell, he began to gather non-elemental Magical Element in his retracted left arm.
That magical attack from before!
“—[Critical Edge]—”
The flash of my Battle Art, [Critical Edge], tore through the shockwave of Magical Element and assailed Amor. But Amor forcefully pulled the reins with sheer arm strength, using his horse as a shield to evade the Battle Art, and then fell to the ground.
I failed to finish him. I instantly switched my focus, using the Scythe Blade Type Pendulum I had hooked onto the castle wall as an anchor, I ran horizontally along the wall, releasing my Rope Weight Type Pendulum to shatter the ladders of the knights who were trying to climb it.
The knights, devoid of will, couldn’t react instantly unless directly attacked, and fell from the shattered ladders to the ground without putting up any decent resistance.
“You fiend, how dare you do that to His Highness!”
However, a knight with will mixed among them, who saw me knock Amor down, swung his spear at me from atop a ladder.
“—[Pain]—”
“Giga!?”
If he’s conscious, then [Pain] will work.
Kicking away the screaming knight, I snatched the spear from his hand, plunged it into the heart of a nearby knight, shattered all the surrounding ladders, and then swung back up onto the castle wall like a pendulum.
Oooooooh—…
Gasps of awe unintentionally escaped from the Melrose soldiers at me, who had crushed the enemy commander and their siege methods in a mere few seconds of battle. But it’s not over yet.
“Damn yooouuu!! Adventurer womaaaan!!”
Amor, thrown to the ground, let out a voice filled with resentment. It seems he holds some grudge against me, but having his attacks focused on me is just what I want.
Still, to fall to the ground with his horse and have no injuries, has he also become Undead? More than that, I frowned at the “face” peeking out from his torn hood.
“Have you given up on being human too?”
“Insolent whelp! I have transcended fragile humanity!!”
The left half of Amor’s head had transformed into a writhing mass of small insects. That was… one of those things among the Undead, wasn’t it? His left arm is probably the same. I don’t know what would have happened if I had taken Amor’s attack back then.
I had a vague premonition when he started creating Undead, but it seems he really has abandoned his humanity.
He was always an emotional man, but now, I could only sense Madness in Amor’s eyes.
From our brief exchange earlier, with Amor’s current physical abilities, he could have probably breached the castle walls and wreaked havoc single-handedly.
What was his reason for not doing so? Was it to use the people in the mansion as bait to lure out the Margrave, or has that transformation and Madness diminished his intellect?
Or is there some other significant reason…?
“Men, begin the attack! Drag that woman down from there!!”
“Oooooooooh!!”
At Amor’s cry, the Undead of the Second Order of Knights raised their voices. But as expected, Amor himself didn’t move, leaving the castle assault to his subordinates.
Should I also make a move immediately? If I defeat Amor, the Undead will probably stop moving. Even so, I can’t take on a hundred Undead and that Amor all by myself.
There are people I must protect behind me. If I start fighting recklessly, I’ll put them in danger.
If I cooperate with the Melrose knights, I might see a way out, but even though I’m the princess’s guard, can they cooperate with an adventurer like me?
“Layton-jou!”
Just then, a guard knight who had been with the Margrave appeared and called out to me.
“The Margrave’s wife wishes to speak with you. Would you please come?”
“…”
Now that I’ve destroyed the siege ladders, I have some time. Still, if I leave this place, I’ll be in trouble if something unexpected happens.
“Aria, please go. I think… it’s probably necessary.”
“Mikhail-san…”
As I looked back at him, Mikhail-san nodded quietly. When I glanced around, the eyes of the Melrose knights and soldiers had regained a little vitality, and they nodded as if they knew something.
“Please go. We will hold this place.”
“…Understood.”
Entrusting it to their pride, I headed towards the mansion with the knight who had come to fetch me.
The Melrose mansion, which I was entering for the first time, felt dim, perhaps because the magical lights were kept to a minimum due to the ongoing battle.
“This way, please.”
For some reason, the knight treated me with more courtesy than one would expect for a mere adventurer. Guided by him, I proceeded through the mansion and was led to a place in the back.
It wasn’t the prime minister’s office or a reception room. If I had to say, it seemed like a place used by the family. The guiding knight withdrew, leaving me there, and as I looked around the room, my eyes were captivated by a large “portrait” hanging on the wall.
This “woman” is…
“—That child is my daughter, who left home over fifteen years ago.”
Cecilia-san’s voice came from the entrance. I had noticed her entering the room, but I couldn’t take my eyes off the portrait.
A woman with “pinkish-blonde hair” lightly tied up. That person… was a little younger than in my memories, a little older than I am now, and she was gazing at me gently.
“…Mikhail-san also loved this painting. When he was little, if we couldn’t find him, he’d always be staring at this picture.”
Just like I am now…
Cecilia-san came to my side when I didn’t reply, and we looked up at the painting together.
“The women of Melrose, be it Belt-sama’s elder sister or his aunts, they were all strong individuals. They were the kind of people who would guide everyone and give them hope.”
Cecilia-san began to speak in a slow voice, as if reminiscing about the past.
“I loved their free way of life, something I couldn’t achieve myself. That’s why this child too, to fulfill her own desires, readily cast aside her status and position and took flight. She also had free ‘silver wings,’ didn’t she?”
A free way of life. Some people might condemn it, but she taught me that it wasn’t mere selfishness; it was always for someone else’s sake.
…My mother, too, despite being a candidate to become queen, stepped down for the sake of her friend who would become queen, descended to live among the common folk, and ended up with my father, with whom she shared a deep bond.
“A little while ago, there was talk that this child’s daughter, who had been missing, was found. But… I couldn’t think of that girl as my granddaughter…”
“…Why?”
When I finally managed to speak, a silence fell, as if time had momentarily stopped.
“…Well. I didn’t feel a ‘connection.’ Is such a vague reason it? More than that, that girl wasn’t like a ‘Melrose.’ And that child, and Belt-sama’s elder sister, they both had very beautiful pink hair. The same color as the ‘Rose of the Moon’… And you do too.”
“…”
When I turned back at those words, Cecilia-san was gazing at me with tear-filled eyes, as if enduring something… and she gently embraced me.
“I…”
“You don’t have to say anything. Belt-sama also said it. That you are already an individual with your own thoughts. That if anyone tried to bind you, you would likely spread your wings and disappear somewhere…”
“…”
The Margrave of Melrose. I realized for the first time that even he, with whom I had always kept a certain distance, had been watching me with such thoughts.
I sought freedom to escape the “Fate (Game)” that That Woman desired. For freedom, I sought power, and I obtained the strength to defy “Fate.”
Fate has begun to change. There are no longer any shackles here to bind me.
Perhaps I don’t need to pretend anymore. But… even so.
I still have an opponent to fight.
There’s someone I must settle things with.
There are people I’ve decided to protect.
“…Ah.”
When I touched her slender shoulders and pulled away from her, Cecilia-san let out a small sound.
I took out the amulet pouch that Mother had given me from my chest, took Cecilia-san’s hand, and gently pressed it into her palm.
“Not yet…”
“Yes…”
“Someday, surely…”
“Yes.”
To my clumsy words, unable to fully convey my feelings, she—my “Grandmother”—nodded quietly and squeezed my hand back tightly.
“…I’m going now.”
Releasing that warm… gentle hand, just like Mother’s, I turned my back on her to head towards the battlefield, and a small voice called out to my retreating figure.
“Take care. …Alicia.”
When I finished talking with Cecilia-san and stepped outside from the entrance hall, the knights, soldiers, and all those who could fight from the mansion were there to greet me, kneeling on the spot.
What are these people doing…? Before I could ask, Mikhail-san appeared from among them, his eyes reflecting me with a “comprehension” different from before.
“Aria. This is an official order from His Excellency the Margrave. The First Knight Order has already departed from the Royal Capital under the command of His Majesty the King and Her Highness the Princess. We are to hold out here until their arrival, but… after all this, we can’t let it end like this.”
There were already not a few casualties on the Melrose side. I could see the anger in the eyes of the knights and Mikhail-san.
“Everyone here will follow the orders of you, who possesses the most power in this place. …Will you do it?”
“Understood.”
That was my intention from the start. Without any particular pressure, I nodded back to Mikhail-san and started walking, and the knights and soldiers cleared a path and followed after me.
“We will strike down the rebel Amor and his army!”
“””Hah!!”””
In their voices responding to my words, I could feel a vitality, a spirit that went beyond merely acknowledging a temporary commander.
The conclusion has not yet been reached.
The ending will be at the graduation party.
Next time, the perspective will return to Dandole’s side.
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