“Is there really any point in getting us to attend this meeting?” Gaius asked. “Besides, can you even bring outsiders like me and Isabelle into it?”
“Well, I think you should at least get to know Queen Hyperion and Archduchess Gaia. The two of them have been asking me about you ever since the Human God died,” Reinford replied. “It’s as if they care more about you than me recently.”
“Hmm? What’s so interesting about me?”
“Are you screwing around with me, O murderer of the Human God?” Reinford raised a fist and waved it left and right. “Just because the Great Divide fell doesn’t mean that you’ve stepped out of public consciousness. Many are still wondering about the person who slew the Human God.”
“Well, they did interact with me briefly during that time,” Gaius mumbled.
“That doesn’t mean that they don’t want to talk to you now,” Reinford replied.
He rolled his eyes. “I can make a few educated guesses as to what requests they might have for me. What, register my participation under their name? Maybe be an honorary citizen?”
Reinford laughed nervously. “Well, why not get some food first? This banquet is full of my county’s cultural dishes, so…”
Gaius eyed her, but the seafood-laden tables were really alluring. Clams, oysters, prawns, lobsters…all kinds of seafood were sitting around.
“So much seafood,” Isabelle muttered.
“We’re a county whose specialty lies in the treasures of the ocean, so that’s to be expected. In a way, we’re an oddball, since the other holdings are actually more pastoral.”
“Isn’t that a good thing? You can freely control the prices of seafood and make lots of money,” said Gaius.
“Let’s just say that there is plenty of legislation here that prevents me from doing so, and leave it at that,” said Reinford. “Anyway, you should really try the Reinford-brand clam chowder soup.”
She motioned at a bubbling cauldron that was giving off an alluring aroma.
Swallowing some saliva, Gaius shook his head. “We’ll go with you first. Might as well get some of the dull stuff out of the way before we move on to demolish your banquet.”
“Dull? Real courageous. I didn’t expect anyone to actually dare call the queen or the archduchess dull, but one sees something new every day, I guess.”
“Well, it was equally shocking to me when I woke up and saw that you’ve stopped with that entourage of yours,” said Gaius. “A total overhaul of your image. Now that was really surprising.”
Reinford glared at Gaius, and then drew a sword. “Do you want to throw down? Huh?!”
A soprano chuckle came from high up. “Come now, my little daughter. Isn’t it rude to draw weapons on a guest? Besides, he truly has a point.”
Everyone looked up. There, at the highest point of the main hall, was a couple. Like the countess, both of them had blue hair, and it was evident from first glance that they were clearly her parents. Both of them were descending slowly, although Gaius didn’t quite understand how they were able to appear up there in the first place.
To be fair, this was Orb, so some mysteries would probably remain as mysteries forever.
“Dad? Mum?” Reinford eyed their descending forms. “What are you two doing up there?”
“Waiting to make a majestic entrance, my cute daughter.”
Her father said nothing, choosing to chuckle mysteriously instead.
“Who are your adorable guests, Alice?”
For a moment, Gaius didn’t quite get who the woman was referring to, but as it turned out, that was probably the countess’ given name.
“Alice, eh?” Gaius repeated.
“That’s Countess Reinford to you, Gaius.” The countess sniffed. “My name sounds so cutesy. I don’t like it. My parents have a very odd naming sense and everything.”
“How impolite, daughter of mine!”
While both sides exchanged jabs, Gaius took a step back. Isabelle had a wistful expression, and if he didn’t get it wrong, she was probably thinking about her own family from before the Second Extermination. What did it feel like, to love and squabble with one’s parents? Gaius didn’t quite know, but as he took stock of the pensive light in her eyes, he could make a few educated guesses.
It was, regretfully, a feeling that he would never have.
In silence, he watched Isabelle relive her own past, with the small squabble with the Reinford family as an acoustic background. The three had devolved into bringing out past, amusing incidents that were targeted at their own shameful history, deeds that could probably double as blackmail material.
Trying to remember them as best as possible, his gaze alternated from the countess to Isabelle. The latter, in particular, had a gentle smile on her face, and Gaius had a feeling that what she saw was an entirely different scene altogether.
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Unfortunately, all dreams came to an end.
A needle-sharp pain assailed his chest as he saw the wistful joy vanish from her face, replaced by sorrow.
Patting her head in silence, Gaius felt her quiver twice, overcome by emotion. He could make a rough guess at what she was feeling — Isabelle had realised that she would never have a complete family again.
Even though she had reunited with her mother.
Gaius sighed and rubbed her cheek. “I’m here.”
“Mmm.”
“There’s no going back to change things,” said Gaius. “Cherish the rest of your family and look forward.”
It didn’t take long for her to snap out of it, but there was still some lingering sadness by the time the three Reinfords were done airing all their dirty laundry in Gaius’ presence. Unfortunately, it was then that they realised that Gaius and Isabelle — who were outsiders — actually in their presence, and they began to turn into varying shades of a fascinating crimson.
Rare was the sight of a family turning pale and embarrassed as a singular, collective entity, but the Reinford family had opened Gaius’ eyes. The little family of three — unless, of course, there was a sibling tucked away — had been so engrossed in their little squabble that they hadn’t quite noticed Gaius and Isabelle there.
Personally, Gaius thought that they had probably forgotten him, but the cause wasn’t all that relevant now. What was actually relevant were the three sets of eyes that were busy wondering how they should deal with the leak of sensitive information and embarrassing histories, and he didn’t quite like the look of that.
Faced with their reddened, glowing eyes, he did the only thing he could think of, and let out a snore. Fortunately, Isabelle was facing away from them, something Gaius had done when he saw her in a contemplative mood, and he could only hope that she would play along.
“Gaius?” Isabelle asked.
He pretended to stir awake. “Sorry. Fell asleep.”
“You fell asleep?” Isabelle eyed him.
“It’s not my fault if hugging you is great for my psyche,” Gaius replied. “Right, where are we?”
“We’re in the Reinford Palace, and…right, what are we supposed to do again?” Isabelle asked, tilting her head.
Someone cleared their throat. “Surely you didn’t think that could fool us, did you?”
Gaius glanced at the countess, who had her hands on her hips. It was an expected result; only fools would fall for that. Shrugging, he said, “Hey, at least I tried. But to be honest, I stopped paying attention halfway through. I can’t really remember what odd things you guys do, and I’m quite sure that nothing’s more embarrassing than having an entire entourage bringing a student to school anyway.”
“Exactly my point!” Her father nodded. “See?”
“You should have persisted beyond the point of shame, my daughter.” Alice’s mother chuckled. “Beyond the sensibilities of mortal minds lie the greatest of rewards. Onwards the intrepid traveller moves, beyond mortal body and beleaguered mind. Past imaginable boundaries like unimaginable rewards.”
Gaius tried to parse what she said, but for some reason, he couldn’t quite grasp it. The same went for Isabelle, but she didn’t seem that perturbed. Before Gaius could ask her why, Countess Reinford snorted.
“Mum, you already spent ten minutes exposing my embarrassments with normal speech. There’s no point in returning to the masquerade now.” With overblown dramatics, she shook her head. “How disappointing.”
“Don’t go exposing your mother’s shortcomings before guests,” said her father. “And well…I think we should introduce ourselves too, lest we make ourselves into an even bigger laughingstock.”
“Well, at least you’re aware,” the countess muttered. Turning to Gaius and Isabelle, she waved her arms carelessly at them. “These two are my parents. My mother’s the Duchess of Thors, while my dad’s the Duke of Kobury. Of course, they also intend to offload those titles to me once I graduate, much like how I became a countess to begin with, so you can treat them like air.”
The couple spluttered.
“Daughter, is that what you think of us?!”
“My heart, it hurts!”
Waving her hand airily, Reinford turned back to Gaius. “You can call them Duchess and Duke Reinford; don’t think too hard about it.”
Isabelle stifled a smile. “Is that really alright?”
“In the first place, once they pass down Thors and Kobury to me, I’ll unify them as the third grand duchy of the Western Holdings, and it’ll be the Archduchy of Reinford,” said the countess. “Second of its kind. Yay.”
Gaius took a look at the couple, who was smiling widely. “Well, someone’s lucky.”
“Tell me about it,” said Reinford. “They’ll toss all the duties to me, and then explore the world like a certain couple I’m talking to right now. How lucky.”
That wasn’t what Gaius meant, but by the peeved look on her face, he had a feeling that bringing that up would just result in a long lecture by the countess. “Anyway, that’s my mum and my dad. They’re really unremarkable. You don’t need to care about them.”
Her parents’ smiles stiffened, but the countess’ back was facing them.
“They’re your parents, though,” Isabelle said.
“True, but they’re intending to make me sign papers and hold court for the rest of my life. I think dissing them here and there’s quite the lenient punishment.”
Isabelle clamped her mouth shut with that reply.
Satisfied, the countess pulled out a Display and fiddled with it. “Alright, the Queen and the archduchess are free now.”
She cleared her throat. “I, countess of the County of Reinford, formally invite a cordial invitation to the Lost Star, slayer of the Human God, and his beloved over to the Court of Hallows as an honoured guest.
“Nice and all,” said Gaius, “but ease up on the formality a bit, will you?”
“And get a talking too by Queen Hyperion? I think not.” The countess rolled her eyes and turned to her parents. “Dad, mum, go draw circles in a corner. I’ve important business to do.”
Surprisingly enough, the two obeyed her words, vanishing into parts unknown. Gaius, however, didn’t quite understand why a duke and a duchess wasn’t going to join the meeting or whatever in the Court of Hallows, and he posed that question to Reinford, who snorted.
“They’re slackers. Official business, for them, is a good time to flirt and touch each other under the table,” said the countess.
“We didn’t need to know that last bit,” said Isabelle.
“Really? I’m afraid you two might go down in their footsteps, though. Granted, no one would find out, unless you two overdo it and there’s someone else in the same terminal, but…”
“But?” Gaius asked. “And what do you mean, terminal?”
“I suppose it’ll be easier if I show you myself,” the countess mused. “Come. Follow me.”
A few maids entered the hall as she led Gaius and Isabelle through a rather modest door.
“We’ll have the banquet later, so don’t go disposing of the food,” said Gaius.
“I’m afraid that we might need to cook a new one, rather.” Reinford shook her head.
“Why?” Isabelle asked.
“Well, dad and mum like seafood. And they also have what seems to be bottomless stomach, like a certain person’s little sister. But enough about them for a bit. We’re here.”
She gestured at a set of double metallic double doors, guarded by four maids armed with a rather nice assortment of weapons. A second after her arrival, the doors slid open, and a cloud of mist wafted out, making Isabelle shiver.
Gaius eyed the interior of the room, which had lots of little cabins inside. Other than a low hum, the entire place was silent, leaving little to the imagination.
“Welcome to the Hallowed Chamber, an essential infrastructure in every single holding on the West.” She grinned. “Follow me in. I’ll teach you how to use it.”
Exchanging glances, Gaius and Isabelle walked into the room.
The two doors slid shut behind them in silence.