Chapter 6: The Plains of Grief(2)

MISTERLP

While watching Aisha cry like a child, Carla smiled dryly. "If she feels

that strongly about him, Master is a lucky man."

"It's a heavy love," Halbert said, spinning his shoulders in circles to

loosen up his body. "In an it'll-crush-you-in-one-hit sort of way. Wait,

don't we get any backup? You sent a messenger kui to the castle, didn't

you?"

"It seems the best they can manage is to put up a safety cordon and

keep the general populace away from this whole area," said Kaede. "They

must be relying on us to work something out on-site. They can't let people

who don't know the situation into a place where the future second primary

queen may do something to embarrass herself."

Halbert's shoulders slumped. "You make it all sound so easy. They

don't know the suffering we go through out in the field."

"Whining will get us nowhere," said Carla. "Focus on the matter at

hand for now, Sir Halbert." Though she was just as beat up as he was,

Carla seemed full of life for some reason.

"Hey... Why are you so energetic?" Halbert asked.

"I can feel the warrior's blood inside me seething for the first time in a

long while. I've done nothing but maid work lately, so I've been getting

close to forgetting I was once a military woman. Oh, don't you fret.

Compared to the humiliation of being forced to wear that sexy costume"

(designed by the utter sadist, Serina) "and play Miss Dran" (the evil

female commander who appeared in the tokusatsu program Overman

Silvan, now airing to rave reviews all across the Kingdom of Friedonia)

"in front of a Jewel Voice Broadcast crystal, this is nothing!"

"...You've got it hard, too, huh."

For Halbert who had, until just recently, been forced to do descent

training as part of the dratrooper unit that Souma had proposed, he

couldn't help but sympathize with another person being run ragged by

their superiors.

Looking at the two of them, Kaede shrugged her shoulders in dismay.

"I think that's enough of that silly conversation, you know."

"Don't call it silly! This is important to us, okay?!"

"I'm telling you, now isn't the time! If you let your guards down...

you'll wind up dead, you know."

"Augh, geez!" Having been warned, Halbert looked at Aisha, who had

her greatsword at the ready. "Whatever! Let's do this!"

Halbert and Carla kicked off the ground, charging toward Aisha.

Halbert and Carla's battle had only just begun.

◇ ◇ ◇

"...And that's how we got to where we are now," said Tomoe.

"Just how much of a rampage did she go on to leave Hal and the others

in that state?" I asked.

"They tried to avoid troubling the villagers, at least, by leading her into

the fields near the village and fighting there. But it was still scary, with

explosions like there was a war going on."

"What, you were the one who left all those holes in the ground?" I said

jokingly, with a look at Aisha, despite not having meant to. But Aisha was

deliberately looking away and pretending she couldn't hear me.

When Aisha was let totally loose, she caused changes to the area's

topography? I thought of her as a loyal dog before, but when she took it

this far, she was more like a weapon of mass destruction.

I'll contact the castle and have them fill the indentations back in, I

thought.

For the time being, we waited for Hal and the others to recover, then

went up to the four-person room where they were staying. I introduced

Naden to everyone.

"This is Naden Delal, a ryuu from the Star Dragon Mountain Range

who I'm going to be forming a contract with. The contract is one that is

premised on us getting married, so she's planned to be my second

secondary queen. Naden, this dark elf warrior is my future second primary

queen, Aisha. The little mystic wolf girl is my honorary little sister,

Tomoe. The other three are my vassals, Halbert, Kaede, and Carla."

Carla was actually my slave, but explaining all the details behind that

would be too time-consuming, so just calling her my vassal was good

enough.

Naden turned to everyone and bowed her head slightly. "I'm Naden.

Nice to meet all of you."

"Ohh, Madam Naden, is it? As fellow queens, let's work together to

build up His Majesty." Aisha shook Naden's hand in a friendly manner.

...Huh?

"I was pretty sure you were going to be opposed to it...?" I asked.

"Hm? Why would that be?"

"No, it's just, you almost tried to kill the envoy from the Star Dragon

Mountain Range, didn't you?"

"That was because they just went and took you away!" Aisha explained

with a snort. "I was angry at the Star Dragon Mountain Range because

they took my sire away from me. But Madam Naden bought me my sire

back. I have every reason to be grateful to her, and none at all to be

angry."

"I don't really get the basis for that reasoning..."

"People who take your food are bad people," said Aisha. "People who

bring you food are good people."

"It's that simple?! And, wait, I'm like food now?!"

Well, considering how devoted Aisha was to eating food, I didn't feel

bad knowing she loved me just as much. I was a bit worried that my

second primary queen was becoming more and more like a puppy, though.

"So... you don't want to hog all the food to yourself, then?" Liscia

asked Aisha.

What kind of question was that?!

Aisha gave her a blank look and tilted her head to the side quizzically.

"Hm? Rather than hog the food to myself, won't it taste better if we all eat

together as a family?"

Liscia laughed. "Ahaha! I'm glad that's the kind of person you are,

Aisha."

"???"

Liscia smiled as a bunch of question marks floated over Aisha's head.

I feel bad saying this when they had such a harmonious accord going,

but it was a bit chilling that I was being treated like everyone's food.

...Well, it was better than them drawing daggers at each other, at least.

While I was thinking that, Tomoe introduced herself to Naden. "I'm

Big Brother and Big Sister's adopted little sister, Tomoe. It's a pleasure to

meet you, Naden."

"Nice to meet you, too. You seem like a cute girl with a good head on

your shoulders, just like Liscia was telling me."

"Hee hee! Am I really?"

"Yeah. It feels like a real perk, getting a cute little sister like you!"

"Eek! That tickles!"

Naden hugged Tomoe. Naden was petite, but still much larger than the

eleven-year-old Tomoe, so the younger girl fit in right against her chest.

Now then, with everyone's introductions out of the way, I explained

the flow of events so far to everyone who'd been left holding down the

fort. I told them about the reason Madam Tiamat called me, and the storm

that she (?) was worried about. That, and about how Naden was a special

kind of being called a ryuu.

"That's my sire, always sniffing out talented individuals wherever he

goes!" Aisha declared.

She'd chosen a weird thing to be impressed with. What was I? A pig

sniffing for truffles...?

Anyway, once they had heard everything I had to say, Carla was the

first to raise her hand.

"I understand that Liscia is able to come with us now, but the limit on

the entourage you bring with you to the Star Dragon Mountain Range was

five people, wasn't it? Doesn't that leave us with one too many?"

"Yeah... About that, I was thinking I'd leave Tomoe here in the

village."

"Wha...?" Tomoe was dumbstruck when she heard she'd be left behind.

I felt guilty seeing the look on her face, like that of a kid whose field

trip just got canceled because of rain, but her safety really did have to

come first.

"Now that we have the unknown element of the 'storm' in the Star

Dragon Mountain Range, I can't bring Tomoe with us anymore," I

explained. "Pathetic as it is, I'm in a position where I have to have others

protect me. There could be a situation where they can't protect both of us.

Nothing can be allowed to happen to me, but if anything were to happen to

Tomoe, I wouldn't be able to keep a level head."

"...I understand," Tomoe said, being the reasonable girl that she was,

but the way that her ears and tail drooped communicated her

disappointment all too clearly. "I'll wait here for you and everyone else to

come back."

I patted Tomoe on the head. "Even when this matter with the Star

Dragon Mountain Range is settled, I intend to keep traveling until the

number of marriage proposals I receive at the castle dies down. I want to

try visiting other countries, too, and I'll definitely bring you with me, so

I'd like you to be patient for now. That's a promise."

"Okay... Big Brother."

When I wrapped my pinky finger around hers to seal our promise,

Tomoe's ears and tail perked back up just a little.

Once everyone was relieved to see Tomoe taking it a little better, Liscia

asked, "I understand what you're saying, but are we just going to leave

Tomoe alone in the village like this? I'm a little worried."

"It's okay," I told her. "Though they haven't shown themselves,

members of the Black Cats have been deployed to this village. So she

won't be alone."

"Really?"

"Yeah... Inugami."

The door to the four-person room opened, and a man wearing a black

dog mask entered. This was Inugami, a member of the clandestine

operations unit called the Black Cats, and the leader Kagetora's second-incommand.

Inugami came to stand in front of me then dropped to one knee. "I have

come at your behest."

"Indeed," I said. "While we are away in the Star Dragon Mountain

Range, I want the Black Cats to look after Tomoe."

"By your will."

"Also, Inugami, as for you personally, instead of watching her from the

shadows, I want you to stay by Tomoe's side and give her someone to talk

to. Your face is not widely known by the common people. You are

permitted to remove that mask while you're in this village."

"...Understood."

With that, Inugami removed the black dog mask he was wearing to

reveal the face of a male beastman with a wolf's face. When he saw that

face, Hal shot up from his chair.

"Y-You! You're Beo—"

"Mind your tongue, Officer Halbert," he said sharply. "I am only

Inugami."

"..." Hal looked to me.

No, he could look all he wanted, but I wasn't about to give him an

explanation. The only ones familiar with Beowulf were Liscia and Hal

who had been in the Army, after all.

Looking at Inugami, Tomoe tilted her head to the side. "Are you a

mystic wolf, too, Mr. Inugami?"

"No, my people call themselves the gray wolf race. Because our faces

aren't human, after all."

"But we're both fellow wolf people, right? Let's be friends, please."

"You are too kind, Little Sister." Inugami bowed his head to Tomoe.

They were a gray wolf and a mystic wolf, two races with outwardly

similar appearances, and their ages were twenty years apart, so anyone

looking at them would see them as a father and daughter. Despite that,

they were in a weird position where the father was bowing to his daughter.

Well, it looked like they'd get along, so it'd probably be fine.

With that all sorted out, I turned to the others. "Naden will be taking us

to the Star Dragon Mountain Range. If we left now, we'd arrive in the

middle of the night, so we'll be setting out first thing tomorrow morning.

Plan accordingly."

"Then are we staying in this village tonight?" Kaede asked, and I

nodded.

"That would be what it means, yes. Let's see, as for how we'll split up

the rooms..."

"Let's get one room for two and two rooms for four," Liscia said before

I could get any further. "Halbert, Kaede, Carla, and Inugami will take one

room. Naden, Tomoe, and I will take another. Souma and Aisha, you take

the two-person room."

"Can we?!" Hearing she'd be sharing a room with me, Aisha wore a

full-face smile.

I couldn't argue with that face, so I whispered to Liscia, "Erm... Are

you okay with this?"

"You had her worried sick, so be sweet to her for today, at least."

"...Okay."

I didn't know what to say. Liscia was shaping up into a lovely woman,

one suited to her role as the first primary queen.

It wasn't just Liscia, I guess. Juna, Roroa, and even Aisha had each

grown with every passing day since I met them, and they were all growing

more attractive. I was sure Naden would probably be the same...

I needed to grow, too, to make sure they wouldn't desert me.

That night, Aisha and I ended up sleeping in the same room.

"You had her worried sick, so be sweet to her for today, at least." I

remembered what Liscia had whispered to me.

...She's right, I thought. I caused her a lot of worry this time, so today,

I'm going to be really sweet to Aisha. I'll do anything I can for her,

whatever she wants.

I was prepared to do that, but...

Aisha had a surprising request.

"This is all you want? ...You're sure?" I asked.

"Yes! This is the best, sire."

So now I was sitting on the bed, while Aisha lay sideways with her

head resting in my lap. In other words, this was a lap pillow. What Aisha

had asked for was a lap pillow, and a head pat. Even just patting her head

like she'd asked, and running my fingers through her hair, which was

currently down, was enough to get Aisha's face to melt. It was kind of cute.