The Place of a New Beginning
In the end, Ariel, who had received a relentless barrage of forehead flicks from Edgar, spent the entire day making soft weeping noises while letting her bangs fall forward to hide her reddened forehead.
“Cheee, you’re not doing this because you’re interested in Shuri, are you?”
“She’s sitting right next to us, so stop saying weird things, you idiot.”
“I’m not an idiot! I only said it because she already has someone, so don’t even think about touching her!”
Oh ho, she had someone? Whether Ariel fumed or not, Edgar’s eyebrows twitched with amusement at the interesting phrase that had slipped into the conversation. After all, there was nothing quite as entertaining as someone else’s love story. And since they would soon arrive in Hespania, it was the perfect topic to pass the time.
When he turned toward Shuri with a sly, half-lidded gaze, Ariel shook her head as though she had given up on stopping him. It was no wonder Shuri let out a high-pitched “Eek!”—his expression looked positively sinister.
“I’m curious. You’re saying you already have a lover?”
“Not already—she’s a year older than us, you know?”
“Outsiders should stay out of this. I’m talking to Shuri.”
Edgar neatly ignored the unnecessary noise coming from the side and began digging into Shuri’s love life.
“I-it’s not really that interesting of a story… It just sort of became this way because we’ve been close since we were young……”
“Really? It was like that?”
Although Ariel had heard that Shuri had a lover and even knew who it was, she had never heard the full details of their relationship. She glanced sideways at Edgar sitting across from her, then suddenly stood and demanded they switch seats.
“Why switch seats all of a sudden? We’re almost there.”
“Shut up. If I say switch, we switch!”
“What a spoiled little brat……”
Edgar sighed and gave up his seat. The moment he did, Ariel’s eyes—which had looked utterly indifferent, as if she couldn’t care less about someone else’s romance—completely transformed.
“Ahem. So, Shuri, you and this person have been friends since childhood?”
Though flustered by how her mistress was leaning in so eagerly, Shuri nodded and continued in her gentle, polite tone.
“Yes. We also share the common ground of serving the same family. Our parents are somewhat acquainted as well.”
“His name was Ronan… right? The gardener’s son.”
“Yes, that’s correct. He has a quiet and calm personality, but he’s taken good care of me ever since I was little. We used to run around the mountains and fields together too.”
Ariel, who could relate to much of Shuri’s story, kept nodding and became deeply absorbed. After all, childhood friends who had grown up together were bound to share such memories. Even she had spent her early years running around everywhere with that sullen boy currently picking at his ear over there.
“I preferred staying indoors. But even though Ronan was calm, he loved playing outside. He would always drag me along and show me all sorts of things.”
“Wow, he sounds wonderful. Unlike a certain someone who stays cooped up in the mansion and gets dragged around by a girl.”
Ariel deliberately turned her head just enough for “someone” to hear. A small wrinkle formed between the brows of Edgar, who had been listening quietly.
“Are you saying that for my benefit?”
“Who knows? I didn’t mean it that way. Did it hit a nerve?”
She stuck out her bright red tongue with a loud “Bleh—” and openly provoked him, but Edgar simply sighed as if he would let it slide this time and sat back down. Causing a scene inside a moving carriage was never a good idea.
Watching Edgar barely swallow his irritation, Ariel lifted one corner of her mouth in mild amusement, then suddenly grabbed Shuri’s hand.
“Shuri, tell me more once we’re back at the castle. I’ll behave better from now on. All right?”
“Y-yes……”
Fortunately, it seemed she held no lingering resentment from earlier. Shuri had been anxiously wondering if revenge was coming, but seeing Ariel smile so brightly put her mind at ease. Perhaps it meant the man named Edgar held that much influence over her.
With a jolt, the carriage came to a stop just as she finished the thought, and a voice outside announced their arrival.
They had finally reached Hespania, the heart of the North. The carriage door opened, and an icy wind rushed in like a tidal wave.
“It really is cold in Hespania.”
Even Edgar, who had a high tolerance for cold and had dressed warmly, found the air bitterly chilled. Ariel was already shivering from head to toe and quickly wrapped herself in the blanket Shuri handed her.
“Mother, why did we get off here?”
Realizing the carriage had stopped at the village outskirts rather than the castle, Ariel voiced her confusion.
“Well, I thought it would be nice to show Edgar around Hespania.”
“Hmm… I think it would have been fine to look from inside the carriage……?”
“That wouldn’t have any atmosphere. If my daughter is struggling too much, shall we head straight back to the castle?”
Hespania was enormous, befitting its title as the heart of the North. Walking from the entrance to the castle without a carriage would take an eternity. Edgar, pitying his shivering childhood friend, suggested they head straight to the castle since he was fine, but Ariel stopped him.
“Ugh, I’m all right. I can ease it a little with magic anyway.”
Besides, Hespania had one hidden characteristic unique to the city. With that in mind, the cold wouldn’t last long. Ariel pointed down the road with her chin, urging them forward.
Once the decision was made, Helene asked Shephy to take the carriage back to the castle. When she asked Shuri, the maid chose to remain by Ariel’s side. Having lived her entire life on the outskirts of Hespania, this level of cold didn’t bother her at all.
“Whoa…!?”
The moment they began walking, Edgar staggered on the snow-covered ground. Thankfully Ariel caught him, or he would have landed hard on his backside.
“You idiot, watch your step.”
“Sorry. I didn’t think about it.”
While Ardenum was colder than most regions, it wasn’t a place where snow piled up year-round. It couldn’t be helped that the thought hadn’t occurred to him. Still, the snow wasn’t deep enough to reach his ankles or make walking truly difficult, so Edgar quickly adapted to the snow-covered path.
But why isn’t snow piled on that spire?
As he walked, Edgar tilted his head at a tall spire in the distance. Though it was far enough to appear hazy, he could clearly see that—unlike the other structures—there were no snow remnants around the building. For some reason, there were also very few footprints in the area they were walking. In a metropolis like Hespania, he had expected crowds everywhere. This was quite unexpected.
“What are you looking around at like that?”
“There are fewer people. Is it because we’re on the outskirts?”
In cities this large, the central districts where the ruling powers resided were usually the most developed, while the outskirts tended to be dense residential areas for commoners. Yet strangely, even here on the outskirts, there were no buildings that seemed fitting for that purpose. It felt almost like abandoned land.
At Edgar’s muttered question, Ariel exchanged glances with Helene, and the two of them burst into quiet laughter. For an outsider visiting Hespania for the first time, this was probably the natural reaction. Though in recent years Hespania had become widely known, so newcomers rarely showed such fresh surprise.
Ariel found his puzzled expression rather charming and considered leaving him in suspense a little longer, but she couldn’t ignore Helene’s gaze. She began to explain.
“Have you never heard about Hespania’s special trait?”
“No, I haven’t.”
“Sigh, listen carefully. In Hespania there is a mana orb called the Symbol of Domination.”
The Symbol of Domination. Did it have some connection to the Mana of Domination passed down in the Robeheim family? At the intriguing term, Edgar’s ears perked up and he focused intently on Ariel’s words.
“This is also a story about Elgrun, the first head of the Robeheim family.”
“That’s ancient history.”
It was a tale from at least six hundred years ago—closer to legend than history. Still, history had always contained some degree of exaggeration.
“Although the immigrant tribes are now running wild without knowing their place, during Lord Elgrun’s time he reigned as ruler of the North and drove them out.”
“I know that part.”
“When he defeated the leader of the immigrant tribes, he obtained a mysterious sphere containing a strange power. At first, no one understood its ability.”
The tribal leader had surrendered it as the price of defeat, claiming it was more precious than life itself. In the end, Lord Elgrun passed away without ever learning its true nature.
“Then the second head, Lord Schwartz, inherited the position. One day he absentmindedly poured his mana into the sphere……”
“And that activated its power?”
“Exactly. It turned out the sphere would only activate for those possessing a special mana—and that special mana belonged to the Robeheim bloodline.”
Only then did everything click into place like puzzle pieces. It could only be activated by those with the Mana of Domination. It was the trophy Elgrun had claimed after conquering the North and becoming its true ruler. That was why it was called the Symbol of Domination.
“But what does that have to do with Hespania?”
“You’ll understand soon enough. Try not to be too shocked.”
Ariel cut off the explanation with a snort. Just as a question mark seemed to float above Edgar’s head, they turned down a side path and an unexpected sight unfolded before him.
The spire he had seen earlier was now closer, along with the buildings around it and even the roads. It was as if the snowy landscape from moments ago had been an illusion. The area now looked like an ordinary city, much like Ardenum. The air was still somewhat chilly, but it no longer cut to the bone. There were far more people walking about, and their clothing was surprisingly light for residents of Hespania.
“What is this?”
“Amazing, isn’t it? This is the power of the Symbol of Domination.”
Ariel grinned at his blinking eyes and continued.
In other words, the Symbol of Domination kept by the Robeheim family could transform the climate of a specific area to resemble that of other regions. It was the very reason Hespania had been able to flourish as the heart of the North, untouched by the bitter cold that plagued the rest of the region.
“Then the outskirts we passed through earlier……?”
“Unfortunately, that area lies beyond the Symbol of Domination’s reach. It’s where even among commoners, those in the most difficult circumstances tend to live.”
In the past, the Symbol of Domination had protected a far wider range with absolute power. But as time passed, its strength gradually weakened, resulting in Hespania’s current form. Suddenly shrinking the city would leave no immediate way to relocate those living on the outskirts, and if the barrier continued to shrink, such makeshift solutions would no longer suffice.
When Edgar’s expression grew complicated after hearing the harsh reality, Ariel strode over, grabbed both his cheeks, and stretched them playfully.
“Who taught you to make a face like that? There’s no need to worry about it.”
She had vowed that once she became head of the family she would find a solution, but she had no intention of pushing that burden onto anyone else—even the man she trusted most. When Edgar frowned and complained that it hurt, she finally released him and walked ahead with her hands clasped behind her back.
Then, turning around between the roadside and the tall buildings, she gave her friend a slightly coy smile and offered a belated welcome.
“Anyway, welcome. To Hespania.”