Sheryl Tusin Ogatorf
Sheryl Tusin Ogatorf
Fourteen years old, was it? Her face still had a definite youthful look, but she was quite the beauty.
Her eyebrows, thick but even, suited her sharp eyes well, and the bold red eyeliner—seemingly her only makeup—provided a striking accent against her pale face. It wasn't hard to guess that she'd grow up into a woman with a fierce, stunning look. Height-wise, she seemed a bit shorter than Asilie?
More than anything, she was awfully forceful for someone who'd just kicked both doors of someone else's room off their hinges. She'd kicked them so hard that her voluminous skirt kept fluttering long after the doors flew open.
Hm.
Come to think of it, it was her own house, so calling it "someone else's room" was a bit off. Anyway, the girl who'd shown tremendous nerve at first meeting and introduced herself as Sheryl Tusin Ogatorf didn't stop at that bizarre behavior; she tilted her head and continued speaking.
"Who are you."
Unlike the maid behind her who was asking with her face why the hell I was sitting in the bathroom like that, Sheryl folded her arms and demanded my self-introduction as if that were a trivial matter.
That alone made it pretty damn clear she was no ordinary person. Was this the power of puberty? Or were all geniuses just like this? Was this why Lord Ekaf had worried about his daughter with such a deep sigh?
Countless questions surged up, but something boiled more fiercely than all of them.
At first I couldn't identify what it was, but when it quickly took shape and settled inside me, I nearly let out a deep lament.
It was indignation.
That's right! The moment I heard her self-introduction, I couldn't help but tremble like some bit-part extra who'd had his only line stolen! How dare she make that kind of self-introduction in front of Eldmia Ega?
In the end, I shot up on the spot, boldly folded my arms, looked down at her, and declared:
"I am Eldmia Ega!"
There was a strange bastard standing on the bathtub in someone else's guest room, loudly declaring a rivalry with a girl a head shorter than him.
And that bastard was me.
Just as my self-loathing was about to overtake my annoyance, the girl's thick, blocky eyebrows twitched. I didn't miss the fiery emotion flashing in her subtly wavering violet eyes.
That alone told me.
This one was feeling the same displeasure as me!
"You're the guest my father brought?"
"You're Lord Ekaf's daughter?"
Something... something was happening.
Without even meaning to, even what we wanted to ask was the same. That alone made it clear that our mutual displeasure was skyrocketing.
It was obvious. We were staring straight at each other while both our expressions steadily soured.
"You're infuriating!"
When even our final shout turned out identical, I realized. And I could tell for certain that the girl had realized it too.
That the sky didn't need two suns. Our gazes clashed in the taut tension, and without either of us going first, we lunged at each other like beasts to tear each other's throats out.
Today... one sun would fall to the earth...!
◈
Where was this?
The Ogatorf family drawing room.
Who was I?
The fallen sun. Eldmia Ega, reduced to a pathetic little wimp.
I could admit that the similarity between us had suddenly kicked off a stupid contest of pride, but beating up a fourteen-year-old over it was absolutely out of the question.
In the end, Sheryl beat the hell out of me until a crowd of maids rushed in to stop her. When they tried to hold her back, she grabbed my hair instead and yanked hard enough that I thought she might pull it all out. Apparently I'd slept longer than I realized, because Ekaf returned not long afterward, finally put an end to the mess, and had us dragged straight to the drawing room.
To put it precisely, we'd both been dragged to the drawing room, but only Sheryl was standing and getting scolded while I was sitting comfortably, just listening to the father-daughter conversation.
I was innocent since I'd only gotten beaten up!
"I truly don't understand what this is supposed to mean."
Ekaf's face, which had remained impeccably composed through six days of marching and vigilance, was finally beginning to look haggard.
It made sense, really. I wasn't the one who'd asked to be brought here—he'd proposed it, I'd accepted, and he'd brought me—and then suddenly his daughter had pummeled the kid. All sorts of thoughts would be running through his head.
"There can't be two suns under one sky."
Shockingly, those words didn't come from my mouth but from Sheryl's. At this level, the similarity in thinking surpassed creepy and crossed into uncanny territory.
The difference was that I was mentally over thirty while she was fourteen. In any case, that kind of boldness and fanciful thinking seemed to be part of what gave Ekaf headaches. From the perspective of someone who'd had a similar idea without showing it, I figured she simply had a strong sense of self-worth, but there was no way to know yet.
"Haa... is there really no way to fix that personality of yours that pays no heed to consequences?"
At Lord Ekaf's deep sigh and remark, I unconsciously recalled what Ragnis had said back at the Ogwen camp and ended up crumpling just like Sheryl.
"I'm sorry."
Even the apology that slipped out without thinking was the same, and once again we glared at each other, but knowing we had to get through this situation, the standoff didn't last long. It was truly a fleeting moment, so Lord Ekaf hadn't noticed and was simply flustered that I'd apologized too.
"Ha... huh? No, there's absolutely nothing for you to be sorry about."
Ultimately, after a lecture that was half-forced, starting with Sheryl apologizing to me, Lord Ekaf formally introduced me to the household members. Naturally, all the normal people and I were able to finish our bright greetings without any particular negative reaction, and the same went for Lord Ekaf's wife and the mistress of the house, Lady Raviel.
That Sheryl alone was the problem. Like a doppelganger with an astonishing synch rate, differing only in gender and appearance. Huh? Well, then it wouldn't be a doppelganger, I suppose.
Other things mattered more for now, so I held back, but sooner or later we'd have another battle over which of us was the one true sun.
"Even so, that's a bit..."
For now, persuading Lord Ekaf was the priority. Completely ignoring Sheryl, who sat beside him still as a doll with its strings cut and did nothing but glare at me, I continued.
"I cannot impose as a guest upon Lord Ekaf, with whom I have no connection, while also asking to be educated. I would like to be employed as a servant."
"Your attitude is admirable for someone so young, but employing the benefactor and friend of the Margrave as a servant of our house... hmm..."
After finishing all the greetings, I was talking with Lord Ekaf for a while, steering the conversation this way and that, working hard to persuade him to write up a labor contract.
It was a passionate self-promotion to secure a job.
The moment I brought it up, Lord Ekaf naturally refused without a second thought, insisting on treating me as a guest while also taking care of my food, clothing, shelter, and education.
But that wasn't what I needed. Knowledge and a foundation that would let me survive on my own even without full support were more important. There was certainly plenty to learn through simple education, but there were even more things I could only learn right now.
In that regard, Lord Ekaf's mansion was perfectly suited as a new workplace. Being a noble's mansion, the wages were high, and I'd be able to clearly understand the perspective commoners had toward nobles and vice versa.
Above all, my life's goal wasn't to become a knight, so the education Lord Ekaf offered was nothing but meaningless knowledge to a commoner like me.
Once I became a wandering adventurer, I'd rarely use most of what formal lessons here could teach me anyway. Instead of wasting time on rote instruction I didn't need, it was much more useful to work as a servant, pick up etiquette and customs in broad strokes, and spend the rest learning practical know-how and how the world actually worked.
Was that all? In my case, I could even freely participate in the household knights' training. Under normal circumstances, that was only possible after starting as a squire and working for years.
I could work when I didn't need to train and skip work whenever training took priority. It looked like an absolute dream job.
More than anything, I was certain there were things I'd never learn in my whole life without a mansion like this.
It was a great house bearing the title 'Tusin'. Nobility of a completely different rank—I doubted I'd have even gotten a glimpse in my entire lifetime if this absurd connection hadn't formed.
Staying as a guest would leave learning opportunities scattered everywhere. Other people might not care, but I absolutely couldn't let that slide.
"If you put it that way, I truly can't refuse any further. Very well. But I will make certain the Margrave is informed of these terms."
Smiling as if he genuinely couldn't understand, Lord Ekaf ultimately agreed. In the end, my speech, focused on the theme of not settling for comfort and wanting diverse experiences, delivered with sincerity, had gotten through.
"Thank you for accepting my unreasonable request."
"If your mind ever changes, do let me know."
Naturally, that would never happen. Unless I gave up on revenge and decided to go home.