To the Imperial Capital (3)
"So what's it going to be? Are you coming with me, or not?"
Karina's question drew a wry smile from Sien.
"Do I even have a choice? From where I'm standing, it doesn't look like it."
"That's not true. If you don't want to go, you don't have to. Have you ever seen me force anyone?"
"...And if I told you I didn't want to go?"
"Then I'd have to come up with something besides handing over the money. Though whatever I think of might end up costing you more than just coming to the banquet with me. Keep that in mind. My original offer is far more advantageous for you."
"Haaah..."
She wasn't wrong. Every word of it was true. Karina was proposing they attend the imperial banquet together in exchange for a substantial sum of funding — and if you really examined it, Sien stood to gain even more from the arrangement than Karina did.
An invitation to an imperial banquet was not something just anyone received. Only those who had distinguished themselves with great merit, and earned the recognition of the world, were granted such an honor. The privilege of bringing additional guests along was rarer still. An invitation stamped with the imperial seal was a treasure in its own right, for it meant the Emperor himself had given his personal consent.
There's no denying it's a good opportunity.
The Lichtenauer family had lost both its head and its heir in a single blow. The glory that had seemed eternal was beginning to fade, and dark clouds had gathered over the future of a house once renowned as a family of swordsmanship. The nobles throughout the Empire would surely have heard the news by now. They would write Lichtenauer off as finished, and treat them accordingly. Some might even scheme to bring the family under their own thumb.
The Fiore family's reaction alone has already been far worse than before.
If Lichtenauer were to appear at an imperial banquet, that alone would be enough to turn the tide. It would show that they still stood firm as a renowned swordsmanship family. For Sien, the imperial banquet was an opportunity far too good to let slip away.
"...Let me ask you just one thing, Karina."
"I already know what you're going to ask. Why am I treating you like this, right?"
Sien nodded slowly.
Simply because they were friends, or because Sien was a child of her own kind — those reasons alone could not account for how far Karina was going. For a merchant guild, money was everything, just as honor and power were everything to a noble house. And yet this guild was offering an enormous sum, and asking only that Sien accompany her to an imperial banquet in return. Even wanting to take it in good faith, Sien couldn't help but tilt her head. She needed to know the reason, at least, if she was going to put her worries to rest.
"Please be honest with me. Truly, honestly."
"Truly? Can't I just give you some nice-sounding reason and leave it at that?"
"No. I want to know for certain. Why you're treating me so well."
If this had been the old days — if she had still been merely Sien, the young lady of Lichtenauer — she would never have pressed so far, never have risked such rudeness. It would have been a grave discourtesy toward a friend who was looking out for her. But the situation now was entirely different. She was asking this as the head of the Lichtenauer family. Why the kindness was being offered, and what exactly was being asked in return — she needed to know that before she could take Karina's hand, or refuse it.
"I'll ask again. Can't we just let this slide nicely?"
"No. Please be honest with me, Karina. I'm asking you as a friend."
The tone was polite, yet utterly serious. Karina scratched her head at Sien's words.
"Haa. Fine. But don't you dare be disappointed."
"If I were going to be disappointed, I wouldn't have asked."
"...Well, there are two main reasons, roughly."
"Good. Tell me both."
"The first is what you'd expect — a judgment as the head of a merchant guild."
"So it has to do with money?"
"More precisely, it's about investing boldly in something that could become money."
At the word investment, Sien raised one eyebrow. Was there something in Lichtenauer worth investing in? Swordsmanship didn't exactly generate profit. And beyond that, the family had nothing else to offer.
"Investing in what, exactly?"
"You."
Karina pointed straight at her.
"...Me?"
"Yes. Sien Lichtenauer. The expectations I have for you as a person — that's the investment."
"I don't understand what you mean."
"Your future, and the future of Lichtenauer under your leadership. I have a positive assessment of both. Things look difficult and precarious right now, but who knows what later might bring? So I'm putting some money in early. When the time comes, don't forget us — look after the Legram Merchant Guild, all right?"
Sien's expression grew even more peculiar. What part of her, exactly, was Karina placing such expectations on? She thought and thought, but could find no answer. The amount of funding being offered was staggering — enough, by a rough estimate, to cover their current shortfall. To offer that so readily meant Karina's expectations were enormous. And Sien did not believe she was anyone so exceptional.
"You don't have confidence in yourself right now. But I can see it. It's a merchant's eye, and also a demon's instinct."
At Karina's words, Adel reacted — just barely. But it was so fleeting that neither Sien nor Karina noticed.
"...You keep saying things that are hard to accept."
"That's how investment works. You don't pour it into what's already visible — you pour it into what isn't. That's why it's dangerous, and that's why the returns are so great when it succeeds!"
Karina grinned and spread both arms wide. Sien looked at her friend and allowed the corners of her mouth to lift, just slightly.
"And when you lose, you lose big."
"Ugh. You don't have to emphasize that part."
"Is that so. Anyway... thank you for being honest with me, Karina. I don't rate myself that highly. You, on the other hand, seem to think quite a lot of me."
"Trust me. Someday you're going to soar. It'll be hard now, and exhausting — but someday. For certain. Without fail."
These were not empty platitudes. The conviction in her voice, the unwavering look in her eyes — Karina was laying out her true feelings with everything she had.
"...And the second reason?"
"The second is obvious. You're half my kind. A kinswoman who'll have it even harder and more painful than a full-blooded demon — the one who needs help the most."
The demons had suffered a crushing defeat in the war against the demonic beasts. The number who had barely escaped with their lives and fled here was vanishingly small. Because of that, demons felt an exceptional affection for their own kind. Even without any personal acquaintance, Karina was doing everything she could to help Sien simply because she was the daughter of a fellow demon. That, too, was part of it.
"I'll say this now — it's not cheap pity. If that's what you were thinking..."
"No. I don't think that. If it really were cheap pity, I would have noticed first."
"You would have. You're not so foolish that you couldn't even tell that apart."
The Sien that Karina had known had been a crybaby and a coward, yes — but she had clearly felt something glittering hidden inside her. And Karina wanted, somehow, to draw that glittering thing out into the light.
"So? What's your answer? Accept, or refuse?"
"I'm not so foolish as to turn down an offer this good."
"That's an accept, then. Thank you, Head of the Lichtenauer family."
As if she had just closed some enormous deal, Karina beamed and shook Sien's hand.
"Ah, by the way — the man standing behind you. Is he your knight escort?"
Had she only just started paying attention to Adel? Karina pointed at the young man who had been standing quietly behind them the entire time.
"He's an escort, but he's not a knight."
"What does that mean? An escort, but not a knight?"
"He's an attendant. Not a knight yet."
"An attendant? An attendant is handling escort duty? For the family head, no less?"
Karina had met any number of nobles over the years. The escorts they brought with them had invariably been formidable knights. Protecting the master of a house was a weighty responsibility, and so it fell to those with experience and maturity. But the young man at Sien's side looked, at most, to be in his mid-twenties. Age itself might not matter all that much — but the difference in experience that came with it was unavoidable. An escort was a position you proved yourself in through ability, was it not? Lichtenauer had plenty of knights. Why would an attendant be serving as escort? She simply couldn't understand it.
...It's not as if she picked him for his looks. So what is it?
Gazing at Adel's rather delicate, handsome features, Karina couldn't quite shake her concern.
"There's a reason for it. Don't worry. His skill is certain."
"...Well, Lichtenauer's affairs aren't really mine to fuss over."
Even as she said it, Karina kept tilting her head.
An attendant? He's really an attendant? That one?
She was the head of a merchant guild now, spending her days locked in battles of wits over money. But there had been a time when she was a warrior, fighting the demonic beasts in battles that left blood on the ground. And so Karina had seen it at a glance.
That escort knight — no, that escort attendant. Behind the noble, delicate face, he carried a chilling presence that put even her on edge.
"Then stay here tonight, and we'll leave together tomorrow. How's that?"
"...Yes. Let's do that. If you'll excuse me, then."
Karina beamed at Sien's answer. Even so, she didn't forget to study Adel.
I think I'd better look into him a little.
Thanks to the lodgings provided by the Legram Merchant Guild, the people of Lichtenauer were able to rest in comfort. Ordinarily, Adel would have gone to his quarters as well. Instead, he was currently walking the streets of the Imperial Capital with his hood pulled up.
"This way, Adel."
"Yes. I'm coming, Lady Sien."
He followed behind his liege, who likewise had her hood drawn up as she wandered the capital. The reason these two were walking the night streets of the Imperial Capital was, of course, entirely Sien's doing.
"Come on, Adel."
"Pardon?"
"The Imperial Capital is most beautiful at night."
"...Is that so?"
"Yes. So hurry up. You said this was your first time in the capital."
It wasn't his first time. If anything, he had never once left. But Adel couldn't bring himself to say so.
"If the other knights tag along, it'll be a hassle to move around. Come on, follow me."
Faced with Sien's insistent request, Adel had finally given in. He was grateful for her thoughtfulness toward him — and he had seen the sparkle in her eyes. He knew she wanted to walk the night streets of the capital herself. And so Adel had followed behind her without a word of protest.
"Here, Adel."
Perhaps because she had spent time in the central regions after leaving Lichtenauer, Sien guided him with complete ease.
"Now, if you stand here, you can look down over the entire Imperial Capital."
Sien pointed ahead and looked at him. Just as she said, the panorama of the Empire's capital, blazing with radiant light, unveiled its magnificent form before the two of them.
"Well? It's beautiful, isn't it?"
"...Yes. It truly is beautiful."
It was the first time. The first time he had ever seen the Imperial Capital glittering like this. He had spent all those long years inside the capital, inside the Imperial Palace — and yet this view was something he had never once laid eyes on.
Fight. Kill. Eat. Rest. Sleep. That had been everything.
Sometimes the Emperor would shove him in the back and tell him to take a break, but Adel and his comrades alike had simply kept their heads down and focused on their work. They had believed it was the only way to vent their rage and hatred — the only revenge they could take for the comrades who had gone before them.
"There's even more spectacular stuff down below."
Unaware of what was going through Adel's mind, Sien simply took hold of him and headed for the streets of the capital.
"If you go this way, there's a road with countless lanterns hanging along it. If you see that, you'll probably..."
Her words trailed off, and her steps slowed. Wondering if something was wrong, Adel looked at her.