PRINCESS HENRIETTE WAVED FROM INSIDE HER PURE-WHITE CARRIAGE.
“There she goes…you sure we shouldn't tag along?”
“It is not up to us. Besides, I was really her guardian in name only. If anything, we should be more worried about ourselves without Her Highness.”
“I feel like you always say that. Am I the only one who ever worries about the princess? That's so weird.”
“Spend enough time with her, and you may understand…”
Before Kyouka's arrival, small excursions like this were a regular occurrence for the princess. Many invitations were put on-hold or refused outright due to the chaos brought by the arrival of a Traveler in her domain, but she could not neglect these invitations forever, lest they draw unwanted suspicion.
Normally, Rena would've accompanied her, but she had to watch over Kyouka for the time being, and there was no reason for them to join her in socializing with minor nobles or giving the royal family's blessing to new construction projects in neighboring boroughs. Personally, Kyouka would not have minded observing the more mundane activities of a princess, but she didn't want to get in the way either.
The low rumbling of thunder in the distance heralded the arrival of rain. Over the past week, the sky got progressively heavier and darker. Now, even the midday sun could only manage to shine a dull, gray light on the earth. Kyouka held out her palm to check for raindrops.
“Can you just chill for like another day? We kinda have stuff to do, you know, places to be?”
“I believe magic to forestall bad weather does exist, but I doubt it is performed by simply asking the sky like that.”
“Eh, it was worth a try. We—I should go change.”
“Change? What for?”
The other day, a letter arrived at the mansion addressed to Kyouka. It was from Conand. He sent an invitation to everyone who had taken part in Lily's search for her funeral.
“Look, you're always in black anyway, but I need to go change.”
“Okay? But what does that have to do with anything?”
“Wait—seriously?”
Kyouka, sensing a problem, asked for a rundown of the local funeral traditions, and sure enough, not once did Rena mention the attendees having to wear black.
“Huh, so funerals here are a lot more subdued. It can get pretty elaborate on Earth.”
“You realize there is not just one way to do it, right? I have attended funerals for people of all social classes, and each was different.”
Of course. Because I've benefited from special treatment thanks to being under the princess' care, it's easy to forget that social divisions in this world are taken a lot more seriously for the rest of the population.
“It is just as well that our customs differ from Earth's, then, as there shall be no alcohol consumption here.”
“Urk! Will you give that a rest!? That was a fluke. Yeah, they must've given me the wrong order…”
In the days since the incident at the tavern, there was no end to Rena's teasing. Due to Kyouka being an extreme lightweight, they almost got into serious trouble. While Rena brushed it off, assured in herself that those thugs posed no real threat, Kyouka still felt bad about having to get bailed out due to a mess she made.
Not that she would ever admit that, since Rena just kept treating it like a laughing matter at her expense. Of course, she sensed on some level that Rena acted that way on purpose precisely so that she wouldn't have to feel apologetic.
“Is it normal to wait a few weeks?”
“Hmm…hard to say. It depends on the preparations, travel time for the attendees, and other such considerations. In this case, however, I suspect he simply needed time to sort his feelings.”
“Yeah…that makes sense.”
“Woah…”
Kyouka carefully examined the curious item handed to her by the coachman who dropped them off at the cemetery.
“What's it made of?”
“Miss Kyouka, I am not an umbrella-maker. Some type of marine animal hide, perhaps?”
Yeah, I can imagine that. It's got a roughness to it. Still, aside from the handle being made out of wood, this looks almost exactly like the real thing.
“Hey, thanks for coming!”
Conand came out to greet them. The dark shadows under his eyes betrayed the quiet suffering behind his seemingly cheerful disposition. Alright, Kyouka. If that's how he's chosen to cope, then you can't show a sad face either!
“It's been a while! We're not late, I hope?”
“No, no, this isn't a formal kind of event, anyway. Rena, what's with the outfit? That takes me back…”
“Oh, my regular clothes got scuffed up while doing chores, so I had to dig this out of the closet. Happens all the time.”
“Yeah, yeah, of course.”
He guided them to Lily's grave. There, between gravestones of all sizes and shapes jutting out from the earth, Lily's name, date of death, and a crudely-drawn image of a cat were engraved on a stone plate.
“I don't know when she was born, so…”
Kyouka never saw the body, so this grave was her first time coming face-to-face with physical proof that Lily was really dead. Her own near-death experience against a monster had served to numb her emotions.
It had been easy to distract herself from thinking too hard about the little girl's cruel fate and her own powerlessness, but now, it was right in front of her. Rena put a hand on her shoulder, and showed a rare, gentle smile.
“Shall we give you a minute alone?”
Kyouka held back the tears. She'd already decided not to show Lily's brother, who was trying to keep it together himself, a sad face.
Come to think of it, you were the first person I had to save, huh? I thought my job as a Traveler wouldn't start until we found out about some world-ending catastrophe, but really, it began the moment I got here, and I failed right away.
She shook her head, then turned to Conand.
“I'm really sorry.”
He was caught off-guard by her directness.
“No, no, Miss Kyouka—I should thank you. We were practically strangers, but you really cared.”
“If it's alright, can you tell me more about Lily and you?”
He paused in thought for a moment, then he looked at Rena. She nodded, albeit with a hint of apprehension.
“Okay, you got it.”
Conand's earliest memories were of growing up in a rough town at the outskirts of the Astre Kingdom with his mother. Every now and then, Rena would check in on them, though he would not find out why she was so concerned about them until he was older.
Because he had visible elf features, the neighborhood kids excluded him; he could not understand why. Still, craving attention from his peers who avoided him for being different and his mother who had no time for him because she was always working, he became a troublemaker.
He would play pranks on the neighbors, taunt stray dogs, and get into fights with other kids who wouldn't play with him. Unfortunately, his plan worked. Even if it was in the form of getting mad at him, he did actually get more attention from people.
The only one who could rein him in was Rena. It should have been beneath the captain of the town guard to deal with the antics of a child, but when he got in trouble, she would often be there, trying to talk some sense into the boy.
His faux-sibling relationship with Rena was his greatest support in those days, but that in itself caused its own problems. Despite both of them being elves, the way others treated them was night-and-day. In his eyes, he was seen by others as a pest if they bothered to see him at all. Rena, on the other hand, was respected—even feared.
There was one incident burned into his memory. Rena accompanied him home after getting caught messing around with a neighbor's garden. This wasn't unusual, but when he got home, his mother was focused on sewing—one of several jobs she rotated between.
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She lacked sleep, so she had to really focus to stay awake, but as a consequence, when Rena came with her son and tried to tell her what he'd been up to, she just brushed them off. It wasn't really a big deal, Conand recalled with a bitter smile.
It shouldn't have been a big deal, but at the time, something snapped in the young boy's mind. He erupted into a tirade of insults against his mother, blaming her for giving birth to him and accusing her of being just as bad as the townsfolk who treated him like a nuisance.
Most regrettably, he said he wished his mother had been an elf like Rena instead of a filthy human like her. His mother, shocked and speechless, broke down in tears. Rena had witnessed the whole thing. She offered to have Conand stay the night with her so they could all calm down and talk after sleeping on it.
“Truth is, I didn't need that. I knew right away that I had made a mistake. I wanted to say sorry right then and there, but part of me was so mad that I just retreated into a shell, so I left mom there—crying all alone.”
As Kyouka intently listened to Conand's story, she feared he would say that that was the last time he spoke with his mother, but surprisingly, when he went home the next day after spending the night at Rena's place, his mother was waiting for him with a smile.
From that day forth, their relationship became much more cordial. They carefully acted out the roles of mother and son, but an intangible wall had been erected in their hearts. Never again would either of them direct an angry outburst towards the other, for better or worse.
“I strongly believe that we missed our one chance to have a real talk. After that, it was like there was a silent agreement for us to not interfere in each other's lives.”
“I admit, I started visiting you less often because of how cold it felt inside that house…”
“I don't blame you, honestly.”
When Conand was around twelve and had finished basic schooling, they moved to try to find work in a bigger city. By that point, Rena had all but stopped interacting with the two, so she didn't see them off or anything. She just noticed they had gone one day.
“What happened to you after you left? You never wrote.”
“Sorry, I didn't keep up my writing practice…”
As an adolescent, Conand got involved with some unsavory business. The only crowd he could fit in with were troublemakers like himself who only cared about what he could do, not what he looked like. The problem was, 'trouble' meant something completely different in the big city.
He didn't elaborate on the kinds of things he did, just that he wasn't proud of them. Eventually, he'd grown so emotionally distant from his mother that when she moved away without telling him, he didn't try to look for her.
That was until he got a letter from his mother that came all the way from his place of birth in Empire territory. All it said was that she had reunited with his father and that he had a baby sister—Lily.
It had been a few years since he last saw his mother, and many years since he last felt any familial bond between them, but something about that letter spurred him to action. He made the long journey out of Astre and back to the birthplace which he had no memory of.
When he arrived, his fears were confirmed—his mother had died. It was illness, the neighbors said. He asked where his sister was, and they didn't know, but told him about his father's whereabouts. When he finally met his father face-to-face, it shocked him to his core.
“You see, my father's ears were short and round.”
Huh!?
“…What do you mean?”
“He wasn't our kin, Rena.”
“But your mother—”
“Yeah, that's what I thought. She really had us fooled.”
“I-I don't understand…”
Conand's mother had been an elf, like him. The Empire had a much larger overall population, and that included elves. To protect her from discrimination, her parents carved her ears to look human. His father only found out after seeing his son's ears. That's why he abandoned them.
“And that's why Lily isn't one of us. She had a different mother.”
“So that's how it was…”
“How did she end up in your care?”
“Oh, uhh…dad just saw her as a burden, yeah. Since mom's letter mentioned her, I just kind of felt some responsibility, you know?”
“Yes, I suppose that is quite commendable.”
“Sure…yeah, I get it.”
Something bothered Kyouka. It felt like Conand's story got dramatically less detailed by the end. It's not really my business though, is it?
A short while later, an officer from the town guard arrived as a representative of the dozens of men who participated in the search.
“Thank you for coming, Sir. I already appreciate all the help you did.”
“Think nothing of it, lad! I have kids of my own, too, y'know? An older brother and a little sister, so it felt personal. Even then, I was only a small part of the team, and we failed ye in the end…”
He seems nice. Maybe they sent their friendliest guy? The officer, who looked to be just young enough to not have gray hairs yet, had a sturdy build and sharp features, but kind eyes.
They exchanged pleasantries and the man paid his respects to Lily's grave with a salute. Incidentally, leaving flowers wasn't customary in these lands because flowers had a strong association with medicine and alchemy as opposed to art and decoration.
Believing there would be no further arrivals, Kyouka thought they would be going home soon, just in time to avoid the rain because clouds now hung very low in the sky, and the sound of thunder in the distance was near-constant. Suddenly, a rumbling unlike that of thunder reached their ears.
“Ah, that must be him. Took him long enough.”
Him? The clattering of hooves heralded the arrival of about a dozen roughly-dressed men on horseback, the bright yellow of their hand lanterns piercing through the cloudy evening darkness.
“…Friends?”
“No, no. That must be the Druid and his companions. I invited him to perform the funeral rites of our ancestors. It's a religious tradition from before our kind left Sylvania.”
“Oh, cool.”
Wait, elf traditions? For a human deceased? I mean…sure. As the rain started to fall, Conand went down to greet the new arrivals, but Kyouka felt that something was off.
“Miss Kyouka, your umbrella.”
“Yeah…”
A tall figure carrying a wooden staff stood out from amidst the men. Raindrops fell with increasing intensity, obscuring her vision, but Kyouka couldn't take her eyes off the towering silhouette. Why does he feel familiar?
With lanterns in hand, the men walked up the path to the cemetery, forming ranks on either side. Conand accompanied the tall man as he walked up the middle. Kyouka searched her memories to no avail. There's no way I would forget someone like that if I'd met them before, so what is this feeling?
An indescribable wrongness made her chest tighten with anxiety. As the towering shadow loomed closer, a flash of lightning illuminated the man's features: a tall and lanky frame draped in an animal pelt, long and greasy-looking blonde hair, a wide smile that didn't reach his beady eyes, and the distinctive ears of an elf.
Rena subtly got in front of Kyouka, as if shielding her.
“Hey, do we know this guy?”
“Unfortunately…”
“Good evening, mourners, and thank you all for coming! I am known as Balor, and I am but a humble apprentice of the old ways. Please allow me to perform the rituals of my great ancestors!”
Through the heavy downpour, a voice dripping with contempt wormed its way into Kyouka's ears. She did not know who he was, but something inside her strongly rejected his very existence.
The smell of wet earth lingered after the downpour. The heavy rain lasted only a few minutes before petering out to a light drizzle and, ultimately, just a few lonely raindrops. But the air remained damp and sticky, the ground muddy and slippery.
“An acquaintance of yours?”
“Sort of? Why? Do you know each other?”
“I'm not sure…”
Kyouka couldn't ignore the ominous feeling she got just by looking at the supposed holy man, Balor. She tried to subtly tease out information from Conand, but to no avail, and although Rena clearly knew something, there was no opening to consult with her without drawing unwanted attention.
Balor's entourage stayed with the horses, the man himself being the only one to actually step foot in the cemetery. He looked down at them with a smile, completely brushing off their negative reactions. Kyouka couldn't tell if he recognized them, but if he did, he wasn't feeling very chatty about it.
“Please, brother, lead the way so we can begin the ritual.”
“Uhh I think we should go…”
“Yes, Miss Kyouka and I—”
“Nonsense! How often does one get the chance these days to partake in the living practice of our ancestors' way of life? Come, join us. I insist.”
“Y-you don't have to stay but—it would mean a lot to me.”
Despite the pleading look in Conand's eyes, Kyouka was still inclined to leave, but out of the corner of her eye, she noticed Rena momentarily glance towards their carriage. Then, she noticed what was causing Rena to hesitate.
Crap. Those guys have the carriages surrounded. Is that on purpose? Okay, this guy may be creepy, but he hasn't actually done anything wrong. What if it turns out to be nothing? It's not worth starting a fight over a hunch.
With a split-second of eye contact, Kyouka and Rena understood that they had come to the same conclusion: play it safe and stay for now. The town guard officer was casually making small talk with the men standing by the horses. Is he trying to read their intentions, too? No, I'm just overthinking it.
With the girls' agreement, Conand led them back to Lily's grave. Balor stood behind the stone plate to face the three like a dark priest and stabbed his wooden staff into the soft earth. Now that she could get a closer look at it, Kyouka could see strange symbols engraved into the dark wood.
“Is that an enchanted object?”
“I doubt it. While you could theoretically put an enchantment on almost anything, it is a costly process, and most wood is not sturdy enough to justify that. Besides, engraving is merely the first step of enchantment. You must then fill the markings with a different material, usually molten metal.”
“…And you always tell me not to ask you stuff because you're just a fighter.”
“I see no contradiction. Naturally, I have seen my fair share of enchanted weapons.”
Damn, she got me there.
“Pardon me, but I presume you are not familiar with the ancient ritual?”
“N-no…”
No choice. Might as well humor this weirdo.
“And how did you come about this knowledge? The Feyr left no written records.”
Rena, on the other hand, made no effort to sugarcoat her words, but the just smiled confidently.
“You are correct, sister! Because of that, many of our kind have gone astray, but that shall soon come to an end.”
“How? Through your Brotherhood's fraudulent teachings?”
He laughed in her face.
“Fraudulent? I assure you, that is impossible. After all, our Archdruid, the founder of the Fomorian Brotherhood, is a first generation.”
Rena's eyes widened in shock, then narrowed in confusion, and finally sharpened in anger in the space of a second.
“Enough with the lies! The first generation are all gone! I know they are—”
“And how exactly do you know that? Please, enlighten us!”
“Guys, please stop! This isn't the place for arguing. Rena, please, just give him a chance.”
“Yes, yes, listen to your brother Conand here! He is wise beyond his years, sister Rena. Besides, if it's really all just smoke and mirrors—what's the worst that could happen, eh?”
Conand put a hand on Rena's shoulder, and she backed down for the moment.
“Sorry, that was insensitive of me.”
“Now, where was I? Ahh yes…the ritual. Funeral rites are a relatively simple affair, provided the necessary reagents have been assembled.”
Reagents? Assembled? What the hell is this guy talking about?
“You see, we believe the gods fashioned our kind out of earth like a sculpture. The proof is that a corpse left alone will become part of the soil in due time; therefore, we offer up our prayers so that our dearly departed may return in peace to the font of life.”
Huh, that's surprisingly normal. I'm pretty sure some people on Earth have those exact beliefs. Maybe we misjudged this guy.
“Now, brother Conand, lend me your hand.”
Conand walked over to the Druid's side and stuck out his palm. Balor then produced a bone-white dagger from his cloak.
“Calm yourselves. This is but a ceremonial implement, not a weapon. I shall now use this to draw blood from the deceased's kin. No need to panic, now. Are you ready, my brother?”
Is this really necessary? Conand looked back at the two of them, but there was no fear in his eyes. Instead, they saw something unexpected—resolve.
“…Do it.”
The jagged, misshapen knife glided over the skin on his palm, splitting it open like a butterfly unfurling bright scarlet wings. Why does the cut have to be so big!?
“Hey! That's too—”
But although he winced in pain, he did not cry out.
“It's fine…I'm fine.”
“Okay, brother, you know what to do. Now, complete the ritual and change your fate!”
Before Kyouka could raise another word of protest, Conand grabbed the staff with his bleeding hand and thrust it deep into the mud.
What in the—
《RAISE THRALL》