Four Days
Four Days
While Eldmia was still on his third day of academy life, getting kicked in the shin by Ragnis.
Esmue was having a once-in-a-lifetime conversation with Eselua.
"Big Sis. You absolutely have to go with him."
"G-go with him?!"
When Eselua had first heard that Esmue had come to visit, it hadn't seemed like a big deal. After all, Eselua was the one who reported every incident to Esmue. She'd thought that, as usual, it was just a calculated pretense—maintaining a careful distance to make it look like all the siblings were engaged in the usual rivalry before the coronation was actually more comfortable. She figured Esmue was using work as an excuse to see her face in person for the first time in a while.
Which was why, before she could even offer a welcoming embrace upon entering the room, she'd frozen involuntarily at the sight of Esmue's face, more serious than anything in the world.
"Eselua."
"Y-yes. Big Sis Esmue."
But when Esmue had blushed through her serious expression and broached the subject, it was Eselua who became more serious than anything in the world.
"...H-how does one make a good impression on a man?"
"Big Sis, could you please sit down for a moment and tell me about this in detail?"
If it were up to her, she would have spared no means or method to hold an extended conference with all their siblings about this unprecedented event, and even that wouldn't have been enough—but the person Esmue was talking about was none other than Eldmia Ega.
It was truly a battle against time. Given the nature of Esmue's position, Eselua was certain that if she missed this chance, creating another point of contact would never be easy. That was exactly why she'd raised the topic, but the fact that Esmue was already blushing just from hearing it made Eselua feel like the world was going dark before her eyes.
"Yes. What do you think you lack most, Big Sis?"
"Time... is it not?"
Even in a situation like this, she was as brilliant as ever.
"Correct. Time. You'll have to handle the aftermath today as well, so realistically even if we count from tomorrow, you only have four days. Up until now, Sir Eldmia has reportedly not left the residence Marquis Bende provided after academy hours, but that's likely because he's been exhausted from incidents piling up practically every other day. Big Sis, you must make use of not only his time within the academy but his remaining leisure hours as well to grow as close to him as possible."
A rootless commoner? A foreigner? What did any of that matter? The person in question was someone who, though it was called a sparring match, had even beaten the Hero Zeke himself. And Esmue was a genius whose equal could only be found in history books.
There was no one in the entire Empire with the standing to pass judgment on the partner she had chosen for herself.
"St-still, if I push too suddenly, won't he think I'm an easy woman...?"
Even if it seemed that swordsmanship and romance had both been excluded from her talents... it was clear that once the first button was properly fastened, her genius big sis would handle everything on her own just fine. Eselua barely suppressed the urge to smack her own forehead and quietly shook her head.
"This is not the time to worry about such things. Margrave of Levien's gaze when she looks at him is far from ordinary, and his earring—that's a high elf's protection charm, isn't it?"
"Uh, uh-huh. So it is."
"I subtly inquired with Margrave of Levien, and she said Sir Eldmia is the sole survivor of a village that vanished during a Demonfolk invasion when he was young. The one who has fed and raised him all this time is that very elf."
A long-lived species could never be underestimated. Whatever reason had led to that relationship being maintained, elves were not a race that continued to see a child they'd raised as a child once that child grew into an adult.
"Entiere was shocked when she saw it, so I asked her this and that and found out—apparently, it's something normally only done for a lover. He seems completely unaware himself, but the reason the elves currently at the academy don't even approach him and actively avoid him is entirely because of that."
The Blue Vine clan was a particularly aggressive tribe even among elves, and Entiere's explanation was that one wrong move could get your head lopped off in a love feud. Of course, that was only an issue that applied among fellow elves.
"In other words, you already have two potential rivals, Big Sis—and both of them have spent far longer with him."
"...I see. This is no time to be picky about hot or cold water."
"Yes. The war has already begun, Big Sis."
Fighting spirit flared in Esmue's eyes, which had been showing a rare hesitation—then guttered out again.
"B-but still, if I cling to him like that after only a day, won't he find it a bit off-putting...?"
"Big Sis. Among the stories Zeke told me, there is one called Romeo and Juliet."
Eselua gripped Esmue's shoulders firmly and looked her straight in the eyes as she spoke.
"The protagonists of that story locked eyes and fell for each other in a single day, and over the span of five days they experienced great events, fell in love, and ultimately met a tragic double suicide due to their families' feud."
"Th-that's quite a dreadful story."
"The point of the story is! That falling in love in a single day is by no means strange, is it not!"
Having confirmed that Esmue's flame had rekindled, Eselua was greatly satisfied.
"First, I must begin with Rudra."
"I'll help as much as I can!"
And so Eldmia's third day of academy life came to an end,
and the fourth day began.
◈
Eselua genuinely loved Siegfried, but sharing her family's love lives was a separate matter.
That was why Siegfried had to face the scene unfolding before him without any warning, and right then the world felt profoundly unfair to him.
Of course... whether he was qualified to feel that way was another matter entirely.
"Hey, you shit. Forehead. You treat me like absolute garbage and now you're messing with me?"
"I have never treated thee like garbage."
"Forehead, do you really want to get your ass kicked?"
"Please stop being so petty and show some manners, Sir Hero. Even between friends, there are lines that must be observed. How is it that someone who isn't even a friend can be so utterly shameless?"
"Th-that is so! Truly, Eldmia, thou art most excellent at speaking what is right!"
As Esmue clung to Eldmia—who was nearly 40 centimeters taller—with her arm linked in his, insisting he escort her, beaming and blissful as she desperately held down the corners of her mouth that kept trying to curl up toward her ears, Siegfried couldn't help but clutch the back of his neck.
[You already have a lawful wife and even a concubine, so why exactly are you looking at those two's romance with such distaste? You don't even feel any lust toward that girl, do you?]
Ah, fuck, 'cause Forehead's pissing me off.
[Hey. This isn't about whether I'm dating or whether I'm turned on by her. Do I give a shit who Forehead dates? If her dating someone could just reduce how much she grinds me down, I'd go bow to the guy and call him my brother if I had to.]
The fact that he hadn't said he'd treated everyone around him like garbage was the bare minimum of conscience he possessed.
Did they call her the Iron-Blood Princess for nothing?
In the nearly four years since reincarnating, he'd spent his time at the academy, frequently visited the imperial palace, and met Esmue face-to-face countless times, but he'd never once seen that little runt so overjoyed she looked like an actual little kid. Every time he'd seen her, she'd looked like nothing but a born tyrant, so ferocious he'd half-suspected she was a polymorphed dragon whelp. Though admittedly, she was so damn good at politics that calling her just a tyrant was a bit tricky.
It was true that he felt sorry for the tiny thing, already working day and night to solidify the Empire's stability and growing hysterical, but it was also true that seeing someone who wasn't even a hero go berserk with genius-level talent in every field made him want to mess with her for no good reason. What he had an issue with was the Empire as a nation, not the person Esmue—she didn't really have any flaws.
In fact, every time he went out on various dispatches, he'd check whether Esmue was involved and take a jab at her at least once.
Sure, maybe that had stacked up some karmic debt, but still—wasn't the temperature difference between her treatment of Eldmia, whom she'd only met for a single day, and himself so far beyond imagination that it was just too much, no matter what?
[I don't think it's too much at all.]
[Come on, man. I've helped the Empire and helped the imperial family! I'm just not related by blood—how am I any different from her older brother?!]
If Eldmia was the type to give his cute little sister an extra rice cake, Siegfried was the type to steal the one she already had. He'd gone through life treating her like a snappy little sister to tease, but feeling the treatment be this starkly different...
It felt, it felt unjust.
[...By your people's common sense, isn't it normal to take better care of the person you like than your own older brother? Far from being unjust, considering your past behavior, I think it's perfectly reasonable.]
[...Fuck.]
Even his spirit had beaten him with common sense. That was Siegfried.
"Did your expression turn foul because you were talking about something with your spirit again and got thoroughly cursed out?"
"How do you already know me so well after only a few days?"
"It's revolting, so please stop your bullshit."
"What? Bullshit? Hey, Forehead. Did you hear that? Your prince just cussed me out."
"Thou deservest a little cursing. In the course of my duties, profanity slips out constantly—what of it that thou makest such a fuss?"
Though she pretended to answer calmly, the fact that she didn't even object to the word 'prince' and instead blushed made it feel like his internal organs were twisting to death. In the midst of that searing pain, Siegfried had a belated realization.
Ah! I've become the communal punching bag for these two, the medium through which they're deepening their bond!
"In that case, I'm fucking out of here. Adios, you bastards!"
"What nonsense are you spouting again on the way to the same class? And what is 'adios' supposed to be?"
"'Tis a farewell greeting of unknown origin that the Hero occasionally tosses out."
In the end, Siegfried had to endure being double-teamed and cursed out by Eldmia and Esmue on top of already being bitter about being separated from his women and attending different classes from the very first period.
"I'm the Hero! The Hero! Dote on me a little!"
"You truly seem to have turned into a complete brat since I last saw you. I am deeply concerned that Eselua may have indulged your every whim and spoiled you."
"From the vibe, it sounds like nothing more than nonsense. I don't think he literally means he wants to be adored."
"Oh? How canst thou tell?"
"It's less creepy."
Siegfried thought to himself. Perhaps the only person who could put an end to this situation was Margrave of Levien.
The first period felt unbelievably long that day.