The Star-Chasing Eagle (2)
Meanwhile, while Yohan was busy turning Mihelrn upside down and dealing with every last threat,
utterly unaware of what he was doing,
Karalin stood within the royal castle of Fralbert, risen like the sun at its zenith.
“Oh my, I’m home…”
A clichéd thing to say, yet the familiar ceiling above her felt like a long-awaited return.
Though it had been only three months, the night just past had felt like years since she last came home…
Perhaps thanks to the alcohol, she had fallen into a deeply satisfying sleep that seemed to stretch on forever.
“…Ugh, my legs.”
Of course, a stubborn hangover still clung to her, stabbing at her thighs.
Even so, it had been the most comfortable rest she’d had in recent memory.
Her skin glowed like ripe fruit, plump and radiant, despite receiving no special care.
Or rather, perhaps it was because she had been thoroughly pampered in every way the night before.
“Ugh, aaaaagh…! That’s right!”
She scrambled up.
The moment the thought struck her, Karalin dashed to the vanity beside the bed and stared into the mirror with her disheveled hair.
“………It really left a mark?”
The bruise on her pale nape.
…There was no question who had left it.
The instant she saw the mark, even though she had boldly declared, «You won’t remember any of it.», the experience had been so shocking that the lines replayed vividly in her mind, one by one.
‘That coat’s too big. It looks like someone else could slip right in.’
‘I like you too. I love you…’
‘I love you, I love you— Yohan…’
Every single one of them had come from her own mouth while drunk and senseless.
“……….”
Goosebumps rose across her entire body.
She tiptoed back to the bed with careful steps…
Then flopped down.
She yanked the blanket over her head in one fierce pull.
Her whole body burned as if she had caught a fever.
Had she really gone outside in thin clothes, trusting that Yohan would come for her, and caught a cold?
No, this was simply embarrassment running wild.
The fact that she had done those things at all.
She didn’t know where she had found the nerve, but remembering how she had stood before him last night and declared he wouldn’t remember a thing made the back of her neck tingle unbearably.
She knew, didn’t she?
She had always been terrible at acting.
If things continued like this, it was only a matter of time before Yohan realized she remembered everything.
The man’s warm breath against her cold cheek.
His clumsy kiss when she clung to him without resistance.
And the wild pounding of that boy’s heart he hadn’t tried to hide once she was in his arms.
All of it came rushing back, vivid as ever, even with her face buried beneath the blanket.
“Ughhh……”
And every last bit of it…
Every single thing…
“It’s all your fault, Yohaaaan…!!”
He had played the part of the perfect attendant, acting so proper and restrained,
then asked with that calculated probe whether she wanted him to stay that way forever.
He had given the perfect answer—that he wanted to remain by her side as her companion.
And then, as if reading her desires like a book, he had said he would cling to her side to obtain what he wanted…
He had even claimed he had never seen anyone more beautiful than her in his entire life.
“Seriously, it’s ridiculous. Since when did I become so weak to compliments…”
Yet.
What was funniest of all was how, after hearing such blatant words, she didn’t feel the least bit displeased. Instead her cheeks lifted in a helpless smile.
Her toes curled with embarrassment.
Her grip on the blanket tightened so fiercely that the fabric tore with a loud rip.
Riiiip—.
“I swear I will never drink like that again…”
Even as she said it, a smile spread across Karalin’s lips.
The word «companion» had a rather wonderful ring to it.
The people of Mihelrn.
To send them to the royal castle, the castle’s troops were needed.
And to summon those troops, either I or Hawk would have to return to Fralbert.
Since we currently held Grespara in custody,
the remaining person needed to stay and watch the situation while guarding the surroundings, didn’t they?
However.
Who did they think I was?
I was a knight of the esteemed Grand Duke’s household, one who concealed outer strength with inner grace.
There was one more option available to me here.
I took out the sheet of paper I always carried in my breast pocket—the one bearing the royal crest of a tiger and violet.
It was “paper mulberry parchment.” I set it alight.
Watching me, Hawk asked only one thing.
“Your Excellency, what is that?”
“An emergency beacon used by the royal family. It’s not that grandiose. You simply apply a heat source like this and—”
Whoosh—.
The moment I spoke, the paper burst into flames.
Then, with a brilliant flash—!
It shot into the sky like a firework and exploded with a dazzling light even visible in daylight.
Since Fralbert was close by,
there was no way they could miss the signal.
The royal mobile unit had a duty to rush to the location the instant they saw it.
Commonly known as… an emergency deployment.
Therefore, anyone who saw it would immediately go on high alert.
They would arm themselves heavily and race to this village without question.
Clop, clop—.
Clop, clop—!
Sure enough, before long the loyal Giant God Unit’s First Mobile Squad came galloping up the mountain path, their horses tearing up the earth.
“Lord Steel Knight!”
“Wait, what in the world is this tragedy?!”
“Are you unharmed, Your Excellency?!”
I calmly explained the situation in as much detail as possible to the men whose faces had filled with horror at the sight of the devastation.
“…That’s how it happened. In any case, the culprit has been captured. I will handle her myself. As for all of you who came here, I would appreciate it if you could safely escort the villagers.”
“Understood! You’ve worked hard, Your Excellency! We will take every single resident to the capital without fail!”
However.
There was one exception among those they would take.
“Yes. But… would it be all right if I took this child who cried herself to sleep into my care for now?”
“Huh? Who is the child?”
“She lost her parents because of this incident. The village chief said she has no relatives nearby, so she’s become an orphan with no one to look after her.”
“Damn it… poor thing.”
“…And after hearing her cry and beg in my arms, I simply couldn’t ignore it.”
“……May I ask the reason?”
I gently stroked Anella’s hair and said,
“She said she wanted to see me.”
“Pardon?”
“Before all this happened, she apparently wanted to come to the capital to congratulate me on my brief homecoming and see me. To me it was a small, insignificant meeting, but to this child it was the greatest wish she had carried her whole life.”
“……….”
“I don’t fully understand that feeling. After all, I’m no one special. So I wondered if it was really necessary. But if such a pitiful child’s wish is that simple, then surely I can grant it with a small effort on my part.”
Besides, that wasn’t all.
“And… it reminded me of the old days.”
“…From when, sir?”
“…The winter when everything began, I suppose. …Never mind. Forget it. I don’t even know what I’m saying anymore.”
The military officer who appeared to be the squad leader didn’t seem to fully understand what those words meant…
But it didn’t matter to me one way or the other.
I simply stored every detail of the incident I had uncovered in Mihelrn inside my head,
then returned to the royal castle together with Hawk.
Bwoo—.
For some reason, the news that I had rescued the survivors and was returning to Fralbert must have reached them first.
The castle gates stood wide open,
and they greeted us with a triumphant trumpet fanfare that would make anyone’s shoulders square with pride.
However.
Even hearing those sounds did not lift my spirits.
The drinking incident from the previous night had been truly spectacular,
but no matter how I thought about it, I regretted drinking. If I had known this would happen, I never would have touched a drop.
If I hadn’t,
perhaps I could have headed out a little sooner and altered the course of events so that a tragic fate like Anella’s would never have occurred.
‘…It could have been Vincent instead of Grespara who fell from the meteor. This hypothesis is nothing but reckless hindsight, of course.’
But what had already happened could not be changed.
With a heart heavy with resignation and mourning, I returned the salute of the castle’s sentinel,
then strode confidently toward the main gate—
only to notice Hawk hesitating beside me.
He looked utterly awkward, unsure whether he should follow or not.
Though his face was hidden by the mask,
I didn’t need to see it to know.
His face below must have been deathly pale.
Almost like a young maiden’s.
“What’s wrong with you?”
When I asked, curious about why he was acting that way,
a very honest answer came back.
“……Well, Your Excellency. You may already know, but—”
“This is the first time in my life I’ve ever entered a royal palace.”
“So what?”
“…So what? What kind of response is that? I’m trying to tell you I’m so nervous I don’t know what to do with myself!”
“………Haha, so that’s why you’ve been fidgeting like a dog that needs to shit since earlier.”
“Of course it is!”
“Stop thinking about it and just prepare yourself properly. Due to certain circumstances I won’t be able to meet His Majesty the King, but you—who contributed to capturing the witch in this incident—will undoubtedly be summoned and praised, so…”
“Damn it, if I’d known this would happen I would have just killed Grespara on the spot and stayed far away from the castle.”
And at that moment.
As if she had heard of our return,
a familiar voice rang out from the corridor leading to the guest reception room.
“──Senior!”
Although she had drunk heavily the night before,
unlike the rest of us who were still suffering,
my fierce junior was up and about in perfect condition, proudly displaying the vigor of a northerner.
It was the poisonous potato, Hilken.
“Yeah, have you been well?”
When I returned the greeting, she gave a bright smile and saluted.
“I’ve been well—! Last night was really amazing, thanks to you.”
“Don’t say things that can be misunderstood. You mean I drank well at the banquet, right?”
“Things that can be misunderstood…? Ufufu—. Senior. You have no idea what I saw.”
“What did you see…”
But.
While we were having this trivial exchange,
“……………!!!”
The blue-haired young man behind me,
who had been restless ever since entering the castle,
now began twisting his entire body, making his discomfort blatantly obvious.
He looked as if he had witnessed something he shouldn’t have.
‘Ah, right. This bastard Hawk…’
The moment I sensed the reason for his behavior,
“Um, by the way, Senior. Who is the person behind you…?”
Hilken, noticing someone behind me, asked with a strange look in her eyes.
“Me? I am merely a visitor who followed Lord Steel Knight here. Please pay me no mind.”
Hawk tried desperately to dodge the question, muttering that he was just a passerby, but—
“Let me introduce you. That’s your brother.”
Clack—.
When I casually reached out and pulled off his mask,
Hawk’s face turned bright red as he glared at me.
“Y-you—!!”
“What’s the problem? It’s not like you can’t meet your little sister.”
“W-we had a tearful farewell! I made it sound like I would never see her again, and yet you—!”
“Farewell? Ah, you mean when you deliberately acted cold and abandoned her so she wouldn’t walk the path of a vengeful spirit like you? Come on. That was quite a while ago now. This unexpected family reunion is a joyous occasion. So why don’t you catch up a little?”
“But, but…!”
“I think you wanted to see her too. Or am I wrong?”
“……….”
“If not, then never mind.”
“Y-you can’t just throw that out there and take it back!”
And then.
My junior, who had been hopping furiously in front of me…
froze solid the moment she saw him.
Her mouth fell open as she stared at Hawk’s face.
“………B-Brother?”
“…Hilken.”
“B-B-B-B-Brother?!”
At last,
she sprinted toward him with all her might…
Thud—.
“Kuh, kuhhek—.”
She drove her fist hard into his solar plexus, then leaped into his arms and began planting kisses all over his cheeks.
“Brother, I—I… do you know how much I wanted to see you—! Hic, huuuhk!”
“W-wait a second, Hilken. I just got punched in the gut…”
“Never mind that! I’ve got a lot of pent-up sibling kisses to give. Come here.”
“Urk…”
True to their reputation as a suspiciously close pair of siblings,
their reunion was exceptionally passionate.