Chapter 14: Granting An Audience

As always Giliath demands your power stones!

*

I could recognize that face from anywhere.

This little girl still in the gentle woman's arms is without a doubt, Estelle Bright. The main protagonist of Trails in the Sky. One of them anyways!

You heard me right. Trails is one of few games out there, at least for its first story arc, to have not one, but two protagonists! The other one isn't here right now.

He should be a little kid around my age located in a tiny little village surrounded by winding mountains, deep within southern Erebonia and near its border.

A little village called Hamel.

The same little village that will spark the flames of war, the Hundred Days War.

But right now, that village is still on the map. I likely won't have any chances to head there before that event takes place, unfortunately. But we'll see.

While I was surprised to see another major character so early on, I was taken for another spin. All of us saw Colonel Bright suddenly approach me, only to kneel down. Even I was taken aback by this action of his. A glint of light streaked across Giliath's eyes, acting as if he understood Colonel Bright's implications by doing this.

"It is of great pleasure to meet you for the first time, Your Highness. This may be our first meeting, but there is no doubt in my mind that you are Her Highness's child. I welcome you to Grancel Castle.", Colonel Bright said, welcoming us with a formal tone. It was as if he was addressing a member of royalty.

And once Colonel Bright directed that toward me, I knew. I know I said any doubt was torn to shreds previously, but this a thousand times confirmed any lurking suspicions I still had.

I belong here. I received a strange sense of nostalgia, even though I've only been alive for almost two years.

I took a moment to shift my eyes upward at father. His gaze responded to mine and our eyes met. He didn't say anything, and simply nodded. Yet this nod was all that I needed.

I gazed at Colonel Bright next, who was still kneeling. I ignored him altogether, and proceeded to step forward. The white falcon Sieg easily sensed the subtle change in the air, and it took off into the skies. Brushing past Colonel Bright, I approached the gentle-looking woman. In particular, the little girl in her arms.

However, doing this seemed to anger Captain Richard. A visible mark of anger appeared on his forehead.

"Hey, you bast---!?", Captain Richard tried to yell. Obviously at me of course. But Colonel Bright turned around and shot a death glare at him. He sensed Colonel Bright's cold gaze, one that he rarely uses. It's much more effective than simply commanding a soldier to "stand down".

I disregarded Captain Richard completely, and continued approaching the woman. Once we were close enough, I questioned the little girl.

"Who are you?", I asked. She simply blinked her eyes at me.

"Who am I? Who are you to have daddy act like that?", The girl asked back. I wanted to chuckle at that comment, but I kept my cool.

"I don't know. This is my first time meeting him.", I said, shaking my head.

"Hehe, you're weird! You don't know daddy?", The girl asked, giggling. Well I knew, but from their view, they didn't know that I knew. I knew very well who Cassius Bright was. But it's not like I could share that knowledge, right? So I simply shook my head, acting as if I really didn't know.

"I don't. I haven't been here before. So who are you?", I asked. Hearing that, the little girl became angry.

"It's impolite to ask who a girl is before introducing yourself first you know!", The girl retorted, yelling back at me. My cheeks twitched, but she wasn't wrong.

"You're right. I'm Naoto Osborne. It's nice to meet you!", I said, introducing myself to them.

"Naoto, huh? Now that's better. I'm Estelle. Estelle Bright. It's nice to meetcha!", Estelle said, introducing herself to me. I smiled, and she giggled again.

To think I would meet another person of Trails' main cast of characters...

This is turning out to be quite an interesting gathering, isn't it?

"Hahaha!", Colonel Bright spoke out with a sudden laugh, causing us to look at him again. He ceased his kneeling, and stood back up. He approached his wife, who was the gentle-looking woman before me. I bet he didn't expect me to ignore him, only to introduce myself to Estelle now, did he?

"You sure are a curious one. As expected of being a son of General Osborne."

"That's only natural. Naoto here has already shown a keen interest in learning.", Giliath replied. A feeling of pride swelled inside his chest as he said that.

'Now's not the time to show me off like that, old man. I guess it already did happen though...', I retorted, keeping my thoughts to myself.

Colonel Bright then turned around, and stood next to Lena. His eyes landed back on us. His happy demeanor vanished completely, and his gaze turned serious. All of a sudden, he bellowed, and issued a command. This command caused all the soldiers clad in green near us to scramble.

"Second Lieutenant Schwarz, do a full perimeter sweep of the castle, and set up a barrier for the next two days. What you are seeing is confidential and this must not be leaked to the public. Enhance the city's perimeter, and make sure no guards slack off during the funeral's celebration. I do not want any mishaps to occur until it concludes. If more important guests like General Osborne here arrive, they are to be checked in at once. Understood?", Colonel Bright said, issuing the nearby soldiers a command.

"Ha!", Second Lieutenant Schwarz replied, saluting the man. She then turned toward her fellow soldiers. "You heard the man. Scatter at once and report back to me once the perimeter has been set up!"

"You should at least keep one or two soldiers to protect you, Colonel Bright---", Captain Richard tried to say, snapping out of his daze. He realized what had just happened. His worry was sound. Colonel Bright's new command would cause all the soldiers here to disperse, leaving the commanding officer out in the open, and susceptible to danger.

"I will be fine, Captain. You are to stay at Second Lieutenant Schwarz's side and oversee this operation. You are not to utter a single word of what you just witnessed. It must not escape the confines of these castle walls. Understood?", Colonel Bright said, causing Captain Richard to pause. It was very rare to see his commanding officer so serious, and so out of the blue.

"At once, Colonel.", Captain Richard said. He had one last look at me, keeping himself silent as he brushed past my side. 'Really, just who in Aidios's name is this child...?', Captain Richard thought, only to recall how serious Colonel Bright was behaving right now.

Both Alan Richard and Julia Schwarz were under direct command of Cassius Bright, so the two knew they couldn't go against his commands. He could only remain quiet and join up with the rest of the soldiers to begin their patrolling. The two took their respective squads, and pulled away from the drawbridge.

"Schree!", Sieg said, flapping his wings. I saw the bird have one last look at me before it sped off after Julia.

I was considering playing a prank on Alan Richard as he departed, but I decided against it. I was referring to using my Vermillion Eyes on him. I was very curious to see where his stats currently laid.

You heard me right. On top of having a holographic minimap directly placed inside my head, I can view the stats of other people! I tested it out in secret, of course. I refrained from using my Vermillion Eyes, however. Now was neither the time nor place to do so. It's more of an ace up my sleeve, if you get my meaning.

I'll test my stats out one of these days in my near future, but I'm just letting things run its course for the time being. Father brought me here to likely introduce the other half of my supposedly new family. One half being tied to Giliath Osborne, while the other half belongs here, at Liberl's royalty no less. Cassius Bright mentioned Her Highness. I don't think he's referring to Princess Claudia's mother. I recall Her Majesty the Queen having a sibling of her own. No longer alive, unfortunately. She had implications during childbirth to give birth to me.

Where does that place me, exactly?

As I thought that, Giliath smiled.

"Good work, my son. An Osborne does not cower in fear. They tackle their problems head on.", Giliath said to me. Was that supposed to be a praise?

"Your dad is weird too.", Estelle replied, not understanding a single word of what Giliath had just said. She's almost two like me, but at the end of the day, she's a little child. One who wasn't reincarnated here.

Still, that caused Colonel Bright to let out a big laugh. He turned his head to look at his daughter.

"Hahaha! The man you call weird Estelle is one of Erebonia's brightest minds. In fact, he's a good rival of mine.", Colonel Bright said to her.

"Rivals we may be, but we are part of two very different families. I understand you've your duties to uphold, but it would seem you've brought your family along so you can introduce them to Her Majesty.", Giliath said. "Or was I wrong to assume that?"

"No, you're right on the mira, General.", Lena said, taking her turn to speak this time. "I did not expect to encounter one of my husband's rivals here today, but it is nice to see you nonetheless.", Lena said, keeping a smile on her lips. She had been quiet until now.

"Indeed. We'll have an audience with Her Majesty later. I suppose bringing in one more won't hurt. Plus we can go over more sensitive topics then.", Colonel Bright said, before shooting a quick glance my way.

"Permission granted, Colonel. I look forward to our conversation.", Her Majesty suddenly said.

So in the end, we're going to have an audience with Her Majesty the Queen.

It all falls back to me...huh?