Arcana Online
After sending the bear back and walking together on foot, Lara kept talking about the things she’d experienced over the ten years she’d spent doing business.
“You got bored of the sea and came up onto land?”
“That’s right! It’s hell over there. Every single day is just wasted away doing nothing, you know?”
She said that when she first came ashore, she’d been cheated more times than she could count and gone through all kinds of hardship.
And someday, she told me, she was going to build a merchant group under her own name.
“I’ll cheer for Lara’s dream.”
“R-really?”
“Yep! It’s a gift for our friendship.”
I pulled a magic stone from my inventory and handed it to Lara.
She stared at me blankly, then accepted the stone and used it.
Honestly, I’d been worried she might just tuck it into her bag without using it at all, but...
Lara’s body glowed under the effect of my skill.
The light faded, and she looked up at me.
“Thank you.”
“Friends help each other, right?”
“Friends...?”
She stopped where she was and just looked at me.
When I asked what was wrong, she fidgeted with her fingers and stole little glances at me.
She said this was the first time she’d ever had a friend.
That made me laugh, so I held out my hand, and she took it.
“Me too. It’s my first time having a friend.”
“Re-really!?”
In this world, Lara was my first friend, too.
As we talked about this and that, a village finally came into view in the distance, but I couldn’t go in.
There was a warrant out for my arrest, so if I entered the village, they’d catch me for sure.
I said goodbye to Lara in front of the village.
“See you again next time.”
“If you ever need anything or need help, call me anytime!”
I left Lara waving behind me and set off down the road.
There was still time before my appointment with the angels, so I was thinking maybe I’d travel around the empire’s territory for a while when I heard something racing toward me from far away.
I thought it was a bear and looked up, but it was a splendid carriage approaching instead.
The huge carriage, drawn by four black horses, came to a stop in front of me, and out stepped the person inside.
It was the old man I’d seen in the alley before.
“The old man from the alley!”
“It’s been a while.”
He greeted me so politely I nearly jumped out of my skin.
He’d definitely said he was a duke, hadn’t he?
“You really don’t have to do this!”
“When I meet my benefactor, this much is only proper.”
He smiled brightly at me and told me to get into the carriage at once.
When I hesitated, the duke let out a hearty laugh.
“I know you’ve got a warrant out for your arrest.”
“You knew!?”
“If it’s that problem, I’ll take care of it.”
The duke said it with a smile.
“Come to think of it, I haven’t introduced myself properly. I am Adonis Ether, head of the Ether ducal house of the Avalon Empire.”
“I’m Yuna!”
I climbed into the carriage behind the duke, and it started moving slowly.
The moment I sat down, he turned to me and spoke.
He said he’d come to repay a debt.
“I wanted to repay you for saving me before.”
“I only helped because it was the right thing to do. I wasn’t expecting anything in return, so it’s fine.”
“That is impossible.”
He was firm about it. He said that if you owed a debt to the Ether ducal house, you repaid it a hundred times over—such was the family’s law.
And with a smile, he added that grudges were repaid a thousandfold.
[WARRANT REVOKED.]
As the duke had promised, the warrant hanging over my head was lifted.
“I’d like to invite you to the Ether ducal house. Do you have other plans?”
The angels still hadn’t arrived for me yet, so I figured I’d be fine.
“I think I’m okay. Oh, and I do have an appointment in the middle of all this, so don’t be surprised if I suddenly disappear.”
“It would be better if you could at least say goodbye before you leave.”
“I’ll try.”
If you traveled from a village near the border to the capital by carriage, it would take days on end, but using a gate made things different.
Gate
A magical tool that could move you from one city to another in an instant.
The empire, with its vast wealth and military power, had installed gates in every city, as well as in the border villages.
Using one, we entered the imperial capital in the blink of an eye.
Thanks to the duke’s influence, all the troublesome procedures were skipped, and we set off for the Ether ducal house.
The great capital was the very model of a military empire, with soldiers roaming the streets everywhere you looked.
It wasn’t unusual to see ordinary citizens greeting the soldiers in uniform with respect and gratitude.
“The treatment of soldiers is pretty good here.”
“There is no country where the people who protect its citizens are not respected.”
“Haha...”
The carriage raced ahead, passed through a massive iron gate, and after about five minutes its speed gradually slowed until it stopped in front of a huge manor.
The door opened, and when I took the knight’s hand and climbed down, I found countless people standing at the entrance.
Were they the servants who’d come out to see the duke off?
Once the duke stepped down, everyone bowed their heads and greeted him.
“Welcome home, my lord.”
“It’s cold out. Hurry inside.”
Escorted into the manor’s lobby, I found myself looking at a grand interior that was both stately and magnificent.
Following the duke as he headed straight for the master’s wing, I went into a room on the second floor and found a beautiful sword on display.
“One of the two swords that symbolize our Ether ducal house. The Demon Sword Gram.”
“Amazing.”
“It has the exact opposite nature of the Holy Sword Durandal that I carry with me, so throughout our family’s history, one of the two swords has been chosen and wielded by a single heir.”
Was it really all right to display such an important sword like this?
“What if someone steals it while it’s sitting here?”
“That cannot happen. If the blood of the Ether ducal house doesn’t flow through you, you can’t even lay a hand on it. And only those who pass the head’s trial are chosen to wield it.”
Every time someone said things like that, a traitor usually turned up later and stole the thing anyway...
He told me to sit comfortably on the sofa, so I did.
As if he’d been waiting for that, a servant soon came in at a knock and set a variety of snacks and tea on the table.
“It’s not much, but make yourself at home.”
“Thank you!”
They looked like enough to collapse the table legs, and he called it not much.
As expected of a ducal house, things really were on another level.
I picked up one of the chocolate-studded cookies from the front and took a bite.
The moment it hit my mouth, it was soft and moist...
“I-it’s so delicious!”
“Eat as much as you like.”
It wasn’t until I’d stuffed myself with snacks that I realized where I was, and my face burned hot with embarrassment.
The duke watched me and laughed.
“Watching someone enjoy their food like that reminds me of my granddaughter.”
He seemed to fall into memories as he told me this and that.
“They say old people get talkative, and it seems that’s true. You should rest today. We’ll continue tomorrow.”
With those words, I followed a servant who guided me out of the room and toward my quarters.
After touring the elegant manor with the servant’s guidance, I stepped into a room that looked like it had been made for a young girl.
Everything was covered in pink, and dolls were piled up in one corner.
Was this a room for his daughter or granddaughter...?
I sat on the edge of the bed and stroked our Yongyong while I sorted out my thoughts.
The angels wouldn’t be coming for a few more days yet, so what should I do with my time until then?
“Is there anything you want to do?”
“Kkyu-ung!”
Our Yongyong said he wanted to wave a red flag and shout for revolution.
Ugh, was this my skill’s influence too? Our sweet, innocent Yongyong had changed.
While I was petting Yongyong, something else suddenly came to mind.
I hadn’t checked the community today.
I opened the blue window, logged into the community, and checked the incident board... but what on earth was this?
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