Volume 17, 3 — Summer Nights Mistress(1/4)
In Grendan, someone opened his mouth to begin saying the words 'so hot'.
Though the sunshine wasn't that strong in the first place, it was very humid, because the air that was able to pass through the filter had the unsuitable portions discharged outside the filter. Though the air exchangers extending under the city would discharge moisture and heat, in the humid heat brought by this summer season, it was hard to say if it could perform at one hundred percent efficiency.
In other words, it was very hot and stuffy here.
"Ah~ How hot~"
Even opening the window to let wind flow into the room didn't disperse the humidity in the room. Even though it was clearly night, one would feel that even the wind that brushed by felt sticky, increasing one's perspiration.
....However, the sounds of complaint weren't from someone inside the room.
"....Why would you be here?"
Leerin, who had been concentrating on studying, put down her pen, turning the chair to face backwards.
Over there was Alsheyra's listless figure.
This was Leerin's room in the Eutnohl house. Leerin who had lived in the orphanage was living here alone, studying in the vast room that she didn't know what to do with.
....However, Alsheyra had somehow appeared in the room.
She definitely hadn't notified the family members beforehand. The bitter expression of Minse who was her uncle and householder appeared in Leerin's mind.
But, the queen completely ignored Leerin's thoughts, and did whatever she wanted like usual.
"Hey, why don't you turn on the air conditioning?"
Alsheyra lazily lied on the sofa, fanning her chest while asking.
The remote for the air conditioner was by Leerin's side.
"Because it's a waste that way. The room is so big, how can I turn on the air conditioner just for myself?"
"Leerin's so thrifty. On this side, wouldn't it be nice to live an elegant life like royalty? If the people on top aren't happy, the people underneath can't be happy either."
"It's enough if Your Majesty does that. The Eutnohl family is already poor enough, we don't need to do something like that. Might as well say that Your Majesty should also be thrifty in your personal life."
"Even including air conditioning expenses?"
"Correct."
"Ah, I live in the palace, so it doesn't seem like anyone pays air conditioning fees over there."
The people who worked in the palace numbered many, and the number of people who came to the palace to handle affairs were also many. That was a place that couldn't go without air conditioning.
"....Then, why have you come here?"
Leerin pulled the topic back, asking once again.
"Nn? Because I'm idle?"
"....Your Majesty?"
"Ah, no, no. It's that, that. How should I say it? It's that! I'm actually very busy, but for now I have some time, or perhaps I should say I can't tidy up the thoughts in my head. In the end, it's a kind of idle where I want to drink a cup of tea with you."
Her surprised look made Alsheyra flustered, so Leerin sighed, and opened her mouth to press on:
"The reconstruction of the city has largely come to an end, but the problem of the reduced reserves of resources still hasn't been solved."
"Yes, yes, yes- I know-"
"....Ah, but if the city doesn't return to a mine, we won't be able to gather other resources."
"Right right, it's all Grendan's fault, who asked it not to go to the mine, huh. If that guy went over to the mine nicely, my toiling could be cut in half, you know!"
"Even if you complain about that to me, I also can't do anything.... Moreover isn't Grendan Your Majesty's Haikizoku?"
The topic had just come to this, so Leerin voiced the question that she had had doubts about before.
"Nn.... honestly, it is my Haikizoku, but originally this city belonged to Saya, and it seems like it was sheltered by Saya after it had lost its way, and entrusted to her the functions of the city."
"Oh...."
Saya was the entity that had created this world, and was the prototype of the autonomous cities. Strictly speaking, she was not an Electronic Fairy. The autonomous cities had been born into the world according to this prototype, and the Electronic Fairies were the beings produced in order to regulate them.
"So it's not the same as the Zuellni girl from before, it's not firmly attached to my body."
The Zuellni girl from before meant Nina.
Though this way of expression had some problems, Leerin understood Alsheyra's meaning.
"If Grendan's original role has been given to Saya to control, then why would he help Your Majesty?"
"You call it help, but maybe if the kind of thing from last time hadn't happened, I wouldn't even need it. Wanna see it, my Kei power is very strong, even a Heaven's Blade would be endangered."
"Heaven's Blades can't completely bear your strength?"
"Nn~ I never tried seriously, but I think it probably couldn't. So when I use my whole power, I usually use up Dites like consumables, but Heaven's Blades can't be discarded, right?"
"Nn, that's true."
"So I asked Grendan to make an imitation Heaven's Blade, perhaps something similar to a Heaven's Blade, so that I could use it."
"I see, that's what it was."
The appearance of Alsheyra back then casting from her hands the spear that Grendan had made really left a deep impression.
"What, what? Are you interested in me?"
"Obviously not."
"Hmph!"
After the sound of knocking and Leerin replying, Eldein's face peeked into the room.
"Your Highness, we've come to supply you with tea...."
Speaking up to there, Eldein suddenly stopped speaking. After seeing Alsheyra in the room, his whole face stiffened.
"....Hm, I didn't scare him away, I guess that's progress, right?"
Alsheyra spoke mischievously. A similar situation had happened before, and back then Eldein had been very surprised, even dropping the things in his hands everywhere.
"Your.... Your Majesty...."
"Though, speaking of you, you're supposed to be a bodyguard, but now you've already become Leerin's servant."
"Uh.... I haven't thought of that."
Eldein who looked a bit weak in the first place showed a worried expression, looking to have no trace of being a Military Artist.
"....Hm? Since that's the case, why don't you just serve as Leerin's personal attendant altogether?"
"Huh? Huhhh?"
"Your Majesty, that's very discourteous."
Eldein's extremely surprised expression made Leerin open her mouth to correct the Queen.
"Really? Being a personal attendant isn't bad."
"That's not the important point...."
The queen hadn't moved, but also hadn't moved her gaze from Eldein. She once again asked:
"What do you think?"
"Huh? Ah...."
"Do you want to try being Leerin's attendant? Or do you not?"
"Eldein, even if she's Her Majesty, you don't need to be polite."
"Why? Isn't that good? Working to guard the princess, doesn't that get your blood boiling?"
"What are you saying?"
"Ah, I.... No, I don't mind being an attendant of Your Highness. Please allow me to take this job!"
Eldein stood up straight and said this, surprising Leerin, while Alsheyra showed a cunning smile.
"See, that's what he decided."
"Eldein...."
As Eldein seemed to have been fooled by the Queen, Leerin could only feel a headache.
"What are you noisy about?"
Just then, Minse walked in.
"Hi."
"........Even if we're relatives, running into someone else's house whenever you feel like it isn't very commendable."
Facing Alsheyra who had raised her hand in greeting without remorse, a bitter expression appeared on Minse's face.
"Aha, isn't it good this way? Now you know about another security vulnerability."
"....Meaning that the vulnerability you can exploit, other people can also exploit?"
"I can think of about ten or so names, I guess?"
"If they think of rebellion, that means that Your Majesty is too little-known, it has nothing to do with Leerin."
"Hmph! Minse is being mean!"
"The situation has been the Queen bullying her subordinates."
Leerin unconsciously paid attention to Minse's reply, thinking in her heart that she had learned something new.
However, regardless of what Minse said, in the end everyone still were being led by the nose by Alsheyra, and the room became a clamorous mess, and the time flowed by noisily.
Up until the Eutnohl head maid, wearing her sleeping clothes, angrily charged in shouting, "It's time to sleep!", this commotion continued on.
◇
"Hahh- really...."
After being shooed away, Alsheyra turned her head to look at the entrance of the Eutnohl house.
The door that had been closed by the impatient maid looked as if it were still vibrating. Alsheyra showed a wry smile, her gaze moving along the surrounding wall, and then along the entire mansion.
She was searching for a presence.
She confirmed the building, courtyard, and the surrounding walls.... there were no unfamiliar presences, and Alsheyra let out a sigh.
Lintence should be somewhere. Though she couldn't immediately read his presence, the presences of his steel threads were spread all over.
"Oho, not bad...."
Not being able to instantly find someone's presence made Alsheyra show a happy expression. It wasn't too much to say Lintence was the strongest Heaven's Blade, but even he couldn't oppose Alsheyra.
When they had first met, before the two of them had been able to begin a great battle suitable to their strong powers, Alsheyra's fist had struck the bridge of Lintence's nose, almost shattering his body and mind and ending everything.
The two people had such a difference in power between them. But, this difference of power had gradually narrowed over the years.
"By now, we should be able to play for a while, huh?"
Perhaps, might she lose?
Even if currently, Alsheyra still had a landslide victory in terms of brute force. However, if her attack were evaded once, it would be hard to say what the battle would become.
This possibility made Alsheyra somewhat happy. From her birth, Alsheyra had never once lost in battle. Because her strength was far too great, her opportunities to enter the battlefields had been almost zero, and she had lived like that up to now.
She knew many Military Artists who were addicted to combat, but completely couldn't understand their pleasure. Because she had only experienced battles that she couldn't possibly lose. Moments of life and death were impossible for Alsheyra.
"Ahh, but there was some good fun before."
That creature seemed to have been called Durindana.
Durindana had killed Tigris and Delbone, and destroyed the city where she had grown up. Though Alsheyra couldn't forgive it, from another perspective, that battle allowed her to raise her strength to its limits, and had also given her an excited feeling she had never had before.
Alsheyra wanted to once again experience that kind of battle. To Alsheyra who didn't experience any kind of stimulation during battle, and for whom it was too late to escape from the burden of fate on her back, the battle with Durindana was her first stimulating battle.
If her opponent became Lintence, could she experience that kind of feeling?
She wanted to try it out.
But, she feared it was a battle that couldn't be carried out.
Because of the coming battle, the more fighting power they had, the better.
"It would be good if it's a war of that level."
The emotions of Alsheyra as she anticipated the next battleground overcame the desire to fight with Lintence.
At the least, it wouldn't be weaker than Durindana, right?
But, regardless of how strong the enemy was, as long as her own strength became stronger, the outcome would be the same as before. Then, she had to do this.
Leerin's existence was like that.
If Alsheyra's body was the reappearance of the bodies of her Military Artist ancestors, then Leerin was the continuation of the ancestors who had first possessed a different special power.
If the opponent was a huge enemy related to the creation of the world, then this side also had to obtain this kind of strength that could oppose that enemy.
"It's that easy."
Alsheyra had been born for this objective, so she could only do this. In the first place, she couldn't say that she didn't want to do it, and she was helpless even if she did say it. Moreover, she also knew that if she didn't do it, no one else could.
To put it simply, this was the biggest reason that she didn't feel that she was carrying a heavy burden.
"Ah.... that's how it is."
Alsheyra casually walked on the road back home, while unconsciously thinking about that situation. But, she suddenly observed something.
"Damn, shouldn't this actually be a big discovery?"
As her body gradually accepted this fact, Alsheyra's mood became more and more excited.
By now, she was no longer calm.
She immediately took action.
Once she returned there was work waiting for her, so she walked slowly on the road. However, that appearance wasn't depressed. Alsheyra moved at a speed faster than the wind, running to the origin of the presence that she had detected in a moment.
"....What are you doing?"
Alsheyra appeared suddenly, but Lintence who was lying on the roof didn't show a trace of surprise.
"I noticed something amazing!"
"What thing?"
Lintence completely ignored the Queen's excited voice, moody as usual.
But, the Queen wouldn't care about that.
"It's really incredible!"
"I'm asking you what it is."
Lintence was still lying down, not at all a posture for listening to others, so Alsheyra grabbed the clothes covering his chest, unconsciously making him stand. Though Lintence's expression was displeased, he didn't oppose being moved by her.
"Wasn't I born in order to oppose this fate?"
"....Seems so."
"In order for the body of the Military Arts ancestor to reappear, the people in the first city endlessly merged the blood of strong Military Artists. They removed impurities, filtering things out and resulting in the being that is me, so I'm obviously a strong Military Artist. But I'm so strong that I can't enter battle. Once I get serious, I'll end up destroying the city before killing the filth monsters, how miserable."
The meaning Alsheyra wanted to express wasn't communicated to the other party, and Lintence only distorted his face in a surprised expression.
"However, in the battlefield before, I realized I can be useful for the upcoming situation. As long as I use the right method, I can fight in a situation where I won't destroy the city, and I know what I can do."
"Hm."
"You understand? I have been created for one purpose. I'm not dissatisfied with that, and I also believe that's how the world works. Even if I'm only one Military Artist, I have to fight with filth monsters, because that's the extent of the burden I carry. So, I don't have any problem with my life being the final weapon."
"I understand.... then, what exactly do you want to say?"
"You still don't understand?"
"Who would, isn't it just something you're thinking inside your heart?"
"Hmm? Ah, yeah, that's right. Then I'll tell you, do you want to hear?"
"If I said I didn't, this conversation couldn't continue, right?"
"Then, what if I said....................I won't tell you?"
"Enough, just say it."
Seeing Lintence's impatient attitude, Alsheyra was quite satisfied.
So, she decided to tell it to him without further ado.
"Once this battlefield ends, I will have lost the meaning of my life."
"What do you mean?"
"Isn't that how things are? Because I was born for a single purpose, which was to fight on that battlefield. If the fight ends, then I'll no longer be useful. How surprising, is the truth really that surprising?"
"....Are you seriously saying that?"
"Huh? What, could it be that you already knew? What a liar, Lin's brain can't be that good, right?"
Alsheyra was truly surprised.
She had lived to now for that battlefield. In order to reach her goal, she grew up without hesitation, fighting to be able to extend her life. The feeling of her great strength, already enough to be eligible for a Heaven's Blade, gradually increasing made her feel the moment coming.
Though she still was anxious about having not completely reproduced the ancestors' body, in terms of fighting power, her strength was already full to a degree where she couldn't hope for it to increase further.
However, before the fight with Durindana, Leerin had appeared. Leerin only had the body of a normal person, but was still involved in this fate. This was not only sad, but also made Alsheyra feel partially angry. However, Alsheyra also felt excited that the moment where she could finally exert all of her ability was gradually approaching.
At the same time, she felt lonely.
She had never understood the meaning of this loneliness.
"I had thought that I would even become tense, but I never would have thought there would be nothing of the sort. I feel lonely because of my task being finished. I wouldn't have thought that I would be a bit reluctant to carry out my mission. Don't you think that's very surprising?"
"Were you scared?"
"Of course not!"
Her having this kind of emotion was far too funny, and Alsheyra almost laughed herself to death.
She didn't laugh because she was sorrowful or ashamed, only because she single-mindedly thought that this was ridiculous enough to laugh at. She wasn't able to calmly step back and analyze her current emotions.
"The person who has alll~ways been on top posing will come down, and then things will end. Once I think that after things end I won't have to use Military Arts, I inexplicably feel happy or mirthful, and my emotions also become excited. Ahh, I don't know what I should do."
Alsheyra thought that Lintence would feel surprised at her endless laughter, but never thought that he would put away his surprised expression and look at her seriously.
"....What is it?"
Though her body itched after her laughter ended, Alsheyra opened her mouth to ask that because of Lintence's response.
"Do you hate not being able to do anything that much?"
"Nn- how should I describe it? I'm not too sure."
"I didn't know your feelings would come to such a conclusion about the result, but answer something for me."
"What is it?"
"If both of us survive, fight with me."
"Ah- that might not be bad, okay."
"The loser has to listen to the winner, how about we add that rule?"
"Of course! Though, to think that you would say such a thing."
"Then it's decided."
"Hmmm? Then before then, I should properly think about what kind of punishment game I should make you do."
Alsheyra felt that Lintence had used this method to interrupt her topic, but she had just recently thought of fighting with Lintence, so she openly received this proposal.
"It won't end in an instant this time?"
"Of course."
The two smiled at each other. Alsheyra's heart was floating. She didn't think she would lose, but she wondered about what thoughts were in Lintence's mind.
The strange loneliness that she had just felt had been dispersed.
"....So, why are you looking for me, Kanaris?"
Her mood was obviously this good, but a presence bringing an annoying premonition stood behind her.
"....Your Majesty."
"I should warn you beforehand, don't meddle in the problem this time, okay?"
Kanaris had the blood of the Three Royal Families, and the royal guards were also composed of members of the Rivanes family that was close to the royal families.
"I understand."
Kanaris replied this way, but her face had a bitter expression.
After announcing Leerin's royal inheritance, the hostility of the outside relatives of the Three Royal Families began to focus. At the time, Alsheyra had first advised Kanaris as well as the three uninvolved Heaven's Blade successors that she had asked to act as Leerin's guards, telling them not to meddle in things.
"This is my family matter. I remember that I said before, though I have put you by my side, I don't know if I can trust you completely. If you become my enemies, even I might not be able to forgive you, right?"
Before mentioning other Heaven's Blades, Kanaris' loyalty to the throne was undoubtable. However, if a blood relative or brother became involved in this problem, it was unknown how the situation would play out.
If it were someone like Minse who attempted to assassinate Alsheyra , she could laugh it off, but if it were a conspiracy against Leerin, that was another matter.
Kanaris lowered her head, unable to bear Alsheyra's gaze.
"I'm very sorry, but Your Majesty...."
"....What is it?"
Kanaris' attitude made her worry.
"What did you do?"
The one who said this was Lintence.
"Lin....?"
"The contact with the steel threads extending to the mansion has disappeared."
"Huh?"
"They weren't cut, they disappeared. What did you do, Kanaris?"
"........"
Kanaris stayed quiet.
"....Disappeared?"
Lintence said that the steel threads hadn't been cut. In other words, the steel threads extending to the mansion couldn't relay any information.
"Lintence's steel threads lost their function?"
Were there Military Artists who could do such a thing? If it were some special power that didn't have any direct relationship with fighting power, then it could have passed under Alsheyra's spies.
However, was that really the truth?
If it were like that, how could Alsheyra explain what she felt?
Alsheyra obviously focused her consciousness on the Eutnohl residence, but hadn't caught the presence of anyone, why was that?
Not only the guards, she couldn't even feel the presences of Leerin and the others.
No, it wasn't only that.
She couldn't even sense any presences from the nearby area either.
"....Kanaris?"
Facing Alsheyra's questioning, Kanaris remained silent. She calmed her breathing, enduring the pressure that Alsheyra gave off, while maintaining her silence.
No, that wasn't right.
"Normal Military Artists can't do something like this. Kanaris, what's going on?"
She had to quickly go to the residence - that was what her mind thought. The current time wasn't one for talking with Kanaris, she had to immediately go to that place to confirm whether Leerin was safe....
Alsheyra obviously thought this way, but her feet didn't move.
"........"
Lintence who stood nearby was the same.
"Please forgive me, I could do nothing, no one could resist it."
Kanaris endured Alsheyra and Lintence's gazes, while saying this with a pained voice. The attitude that she expressed showed that the situation hadn't been her own actions.
"Leerin!"
Alsheyra felt sticky sweat from her entire body, moving her gaze from Kanaris who was blankly standing still, loudly shouting out Leerin's name.
◇
The room seemed to have settled down, and Leerin let out a breath.
Leerin understood the Queen's reasons for worrying, as she would periodically come to visit her, but the way she did so really had problems. Sneaking into the room while concealing it from others wasn't okay.
"....Before when I wanted to sleep, I would notice her already lying on the bed."
Leerin muttered while tidying up the things on the table. Right now it was already past the time for studying, and she also didn't have the mood for it. Tomorrow she would have to attend class, so it was about time to sleep.
"Um...."
That voice made Leerin turn her head, and standing in front of her was Eldein, who didn't know what to do.
"It's already very late, why don't you go sleep."
"Ah, yes. I understand."
Minse had already returned to his room, and only Leerin and Eldein were left in the room. Eldein had originally started working as a guard monitoring the room from outside, but when he had become closer to Leerin, he had started working as Leerin's bodyguard like now.
"Then, I'll be in the next room on standby as usual."
"Sorry to bother.... Ah, right."
Just as Leerin was seeing Eldein out of the room, she thought of something.
"Is there something?"
"The stuff back then, was only because Her Majesty likes teasing people, you don't need to be too serious about it."
"Ah, the attendant thing...."
"Right right."
Leerin nodded her head.
"Though there are truly Military Artists charged with protecting the palace, they're almost all from the Rivanes family.... Though it's not too good to speak this way, I don't think it's an easy position, so you don't need to take the initiative to work in that kind of place."
Eldein was a Military Artist that Minse had picked to act as Leerin's guard, and though he normally looked a bit dull, he was definitely a strong Military Artist.
Leerin thought that way, but....
"That........"
Eldein who had stayed silent listening to Leerin speak, interrupted with an extremely troubled expression:
"Am I a cause for worry staying by Your Highness' side?"
"....Huh?"
The unexpected question made Leerin look at Eldein in surprise.
"....Ah! No, I wouldn't feel very annoyed or anything like that, but...."
"If I won't make Your Highness worry by staying, would you please allow me to serve as your attendant."
"But...."
Even if he were a normal Military Artists, she knew it would be an easy job.
Leerin who had grown up as a normal citizen knew that when the citizens on the streets criticized the palace, they always would first bare their blades at the Military Artists guarding the palace.
They were the useless weaklings that protected the strongest Queen, who wouldn't ever receive injury.
"I know what everyone calls the palace guards."