2. Eliarnes Eustetia
2. Eliarnes Eustetia
"Happy 15th birthday, Eli. May Arisa's blessing always be with you."
"Yes, thank you."
Don't need a chimpanzee's blessing.
I put on the bright, polished smile I'd spent the last five years practicing until my teeth ached, and accepted the gift box my father handed me.
Every gift my father had given me so far had been perfectly suited to my appearance—that is, Eliarnes Eustetia's appearance.
Truly horrifying—no, adorable—dolls.
Starting with a small bear, then a dog, a cat, a sparrow, a rabbit, a sheep, a horse, a cow, a lion, an eagle, an elephant, a dragon, and so on.
Dolls that got more and more magnificent and enormous as time went on.
Well... I know why it turned out that way.
Probably because of the way my face went stiff every time I received a cute gift.
When I got the doll that looked exactly like a real lion, past the cow stage, I laughed because it was so absurd.
I didn't expect it to be the same size, too.
The eagle doll I got next must have had some kind of magic on it, because it stuck to the ceiling and flew around every morning.
The elephant doll was the size of a bed, and it suffocated me.
The dragon doll is in the backyard.
Well... it's not like I only made disgusted faces up until the dragon—an actual warehouse-sized dragon doll—showed up.
When I got the lion doll, it was a little funny, so I laughed out loud.
...Maybe that was the problem.
Anyway, I smiled as hard as I could to look as pleased as possible, but my parents' eyes just saw right through the fake smile.
Which means they'll see through the smile I'm wearing now, too, but what can I do.
I'm just not the kind of person who can hide their feelings.
Still, it's not like I genuinely hate it.
I mean, well. If I had to say... I'm grateful.
Because I could feel my father's agonizing in the dolls that kept getting bigger and bigger.
Though I can't say I'm completely happy about it, either.
Anyway.
Looks like it's a doll again this time.
The size and weight are exactly doll-like.
Hoo. I held my expression firmly in place so it wouldn't crack this time either, and untied the knot.
The ribbon, soft as skin, slipped loose, and the neatly folded lid opened on its own.
And what I saw was.
A doll with pink twin-tail hair, wearing a cute little dress.
But.
This.
No matter how I look at it.
"...Is this me?"
It's me... I mean, how I look right now.
It's Eliarnes.
"Uh, hmm. It is. What do you think?"
What do I think.
I, ah, shit.
Should I tell the truth?
Do I really have to say with my own mouth that it's ugly as hell?
Where the hell did this crappy doll even come from?
Did he get scammed?
Did he get scammed, realize time was running out, and just hand it over because he had no choice?
No way. There's no tailor alive who'd dare scam the Duke of Eustetia.
Then what the hell is this hideous chimera?
Wait. Does this actually look pretty to my father's eyes?
Is his eyesight messed up because he's got chimpanzee blood?
Seriously?
...Then, as a dutiful child.
I should tell him the truth.
No matter how much money he has, if he keeps ordering dolls from this place, it'll be a waste of money.
"The person who made this has absolutely dog—"
"Papa made it himself."
"—shit, I mean, incredible skill? Only you, Father, could capture me this well!"
Good lord, the doll is so cute.
"Ah, haha! Look at these adorable little lips!"
"...That's the nose."
So it is. That's the nose.
Then the lips, the lips. There aren't any.
No, they're under the chin.
Uh, hmm. Okay.
"Ah, ahaha! And this arm attached down here—oh, the seam came loose. No. Uh, shit. The arm ripped. Uh, uhh?"
Riiip.
"Oh."
"Huh..."
The Eli doll's arm, torn to shreds, dropped from my hand with a plop.
My father's jaw dropped with a plop, too.
My mother, standing beside him, was shaking her shoulders, barely holding back laughter.
My father hung his head low, his face deathly pale.
God, how pitiful.
"Uh, um, I'm sorry. I'll ask Sara to mend it."
"No, Eli, you don't need to be sorry. It's this foolish father's shoddy workmanship... And. Yes, well, it would be best to leave the mending to Sara."
"...Still, I like it."
"Thank you..."
His shoulders, trembling faintly, made my father look even more pitiful.
I'd gotten rid of all the other dolls, but I'll have to keep this one on my bed once it's fixed.
The moment the Eli doll's arm tore off, the atmosphere turned awkward. My quick-witted mother patted my father on the back and walked over to me.
"Eli, happy birthday. May Arisa's blessing be with you always, wherever you are."
What my mother handed me was a long box.
It was about the same height as me, barely over 140 centimeters.
And.
It was incredibly heavy!
It's not like I'm weak.
After five years of nonstop training, I should be stronger than most kids my age.
Even if my arms and legs are still soft.
Anyway.
It's incredibly heavy even for me to lift?
Could this be?
I stared at my mother with sparkling eyes, and she nodded.
I immediately set the box on the ground and tore off the cumbersome ribbon. Then, I took a moment to catch my breath.
And flung the lid open!
"Oh?!"
My eyes flew wide open.
"Oohoho, what do you think, Eli? Do you like it?"
I nodded my head vigorously.
And as if that wasn't enough, I answered brightly.
"I love it."
I couldn't help it.
Inside the box was.
A pitch-black wooden sword.
A wooden sword is, literally, a sword made of wood.
But a pitch-black wooden sword like this isn't common.
Sure, you could get this look by painting and polishing it, but this weight—the way it sits perfectly in my hand—can't be faked.
A weight far too heavy for a wooden sword.
But a perfectly balanced center of gravity.
And a pitch-black blade that seems to swallow all light. The texture is rough and lacks luster, but it looks incredibly tough.
I'm certain.
This is a wooden sword made from northern old-growth wood.
The kind I used to use.
The kind my past self used to favor as a training sword.
With this, the training that's shown no results so far will start showing results in no time.
And that's not all.
If it's northern old-growth wood, it should be able to withstand my Mana, which has shattered all kinds of weapons.
Thump-thump—my heart pounds hard for the first time in a while.
I want to run to the training hall and swing it right now. I want to beat the hell out of that scarecrow standing there blankly.
Fidget, fidget—I fiddled with the hilt of the wooden sword, pouring that feeling into my hands.
"Do as you like, Eli. But could you take it easy and come back today? I want to sleep with you for once."
Nodnodnod—
The moment permission was given, I sprang to my feet and dashed off to the training hall.
Beneath the pink twin-tails fluttering with the scent of cherry blossoms, the Eli doll's stuffing fell pathetically.
Except the doll was squeezed tightly between me and the wooden sword.
Crushed between my chest and the wooden sword, the Eli doll's face looked like it was crying.
*****
A solemn atmosphere hung over the Eustetia Knight Order's training hall.
Knights clad in armor engraved with the Eustetia family's symbol, the scales, stood in rows, sweating cold sweat.
"Eli has headed to the main house's training hall."
A voice that weighed down on the room.
The Duke of Eustetia's voice carried a power that overwhelmed the Eustetia Knight Order, known as the Empire's Spear.
And so, the knight order—the commanders of each knight order—could do nothing but swallow dryly, unable to say a word.
"She ran off with the wooden sword made from northern old-growth wood that Julie gave her, wearing a bright smile. The one saving grace is that she took my gift with her, too."
Silence.
"Surely none of you have shown Eli swordsmanship, or explained anything of the sort to her."
At those words, the knight order—
the knight commanders—could not say anything.
They couldn't help it.
No one here had taught Eli anything like that.
And more than that, whenever Eli's footsteps approached the knight order's training hall, the entire knight order would set down their swords and put on a warm, friendly atmosphere.
Of course, Turius knew that fact, too.
How much the family's knight order cherished Eli.
He knew better than anyone how much effort the knight order had put in for her sake.
And yet, the reason he had summoned the entire knight order was.
Simply.
Because he wanted to vent.
Neither Turius's wife Julie, nor his lovely daughter Eli—
no one in the household seemed willing to listen to his lamentations, so he had gathered the knight order.
But the knight order did not understand their patriarch's sorrow.
However, there was one person here who did grasp Turius's intent.
"My lord. As a fellow family member, and from a third party's perspective, may I offer a word?"
A man not wearing the Eustetia Knight Order's armor, dressed in ordinary clothes with an old sword at his waist.
He was not a member of the knight order, but he was stronger than anyone here.
Turius Eustetia's younger brother.
And the vice commander of Nameless, the organization that handled the Eustetia family's and the Empire's dirty work.
Kerion Eustetia stepped forward.
At the same time, the grimly frozen atmosphere of the knight order cautiously began to loosen.
Turius nodded to Kerion.
Kerion took a step closer and opened his mouth.
"Didn't you say that Eli's change in demeanor began after she read the fairy tale book containing the stories of the Heroes—the stories of our family's founder?"
"That's right."
"I believe she has come to admire the Heroes in that fairy tale book. After all... we are the descendants of Arisa Eustetia."
"Huh... That's right. Yes. That's entirely possible. Eli is a Eustetia, too."
The name "Hero" carries an image of human perfection in just two syllables.
And the Eustetias are the descendants of the last Hero, the Weapon Master, Arisa Eustetia.
If that's the case, then.
The change from "Mama" and "Papa" to "Mother" and "Father."
Her reluctance to bathe with Julie.
Her preference for rough, tough shirts and pants over cute, lovely dresses.
To some extent, he could understand.
But.
But!
That reason alone could not justify her growing distant from him.
She'd stopped acting cute.
The kisses she used to give him morning, noon, and night had vanished.
The sight of her patting his shoulders with her small, weak hands—that, too, had completely disappeared.
Turius still remembered.
When he had asked for a kiss on the cheek.
That contemptuous gaze he received.
The way she had slowly, slowly edged away.
The distance she kept, never coming within five meters after that.
The pain, like a stake driven through his chest!
He would never forget it, even in death.
Kerion read Turius's miserable, pitiful inner thoughts.
And so, he continued.
"And if you consider that she has also entered puberty, I believe it's entirely plausible."
At those words, light dawned on Turius's face.
"Huh. Puberty. Right. That's what it is. Eli's age is exactly at that stage, too."
"Indeed. So, in my opinion, my lord, you need not worry too much."
A faint light dawned in Turius's heart as well.
Puberty.
Right.
If only time passes, just a little more time.
Even if it's not like before, he would be able to see that lovely, bright appearance of the past again.
Turius engraved that thought in his mind.
And recalled Eli's smile as she giggled on his back.
And that adorable voice that said she loved Papa more than anyone in the world.
*****
"Heh, what a pain in the ass, seriously."
Meanwhile.
Alone in the empty training hall, Eli spat on the ground—ptui!—and let out a curse in a thick voice.
Because a part of the northern wooden sword had chipped after only a few swings.
Fortunately, the chipped area wasn't that large.
It was truly just a small part, so it didn't affect the weight much, and there was no problem swinging it.
But in this state, it would shatter to pieces before even fifteen days were up.
Of course, if it broke like that, I could just ask for a new northern wooden sword.
But I didn't want to.
Because it was a gift from my mother.
"Ha, the bastard who made this is no good. Selling this crap for that kind of money? Ugh, what a piece of shit. I ought to track him down and break every one of his fingers. Haa..."
She didn't throw the wooden sword to the ground... no.
Eli carefully set it down on the floor, then plopped down onto the ground as if she didn't care at all about getting her clothes dirty.
"They keep yapping about an era of peace, an era of peace—did they really get so soft from all that peace that things turned out like this? Even an ordinary wooden sword wasn't this bad. The world's gone to shit, I tell you."
Over the past five years, Eli had searched through all kinds of books and materials. Through that, she had been able to fill in the 400-year gap to some extent.
But the whereabouts of her former comrades—
Paulo, Luna, and Arisa, including the traitor Kaloso—remained unknown.
Especially Arisa.
As the founder of House Eustetia, she had thought information about her would be easy to obtain, but it wasn't.
She couldn't find information about her anywhere. Not from her father, not from her mother, not from anyone connected to the Eustetias.
Not even information about the chimpanzee's husband.
Of course, she couldn't learn whether Kaloso was alive or dead, either.
Because she couldn't find the original text said to contain the complete story of the Heroes.
However, she had learned the most important thing.
That the Demon King had not died.
That he had not died, but was sealed somewhere in the Demon World, still alive and breathing even now.
That the Hero Party—
Ronan Luzarak's comrades—
had failed to subjugate the Demon King.
"What's so damn fun that you've been hiding for 400 years, you bastards?"
Eli let out a deep sigh, got to her feet, and grabbed an ordinary wooden sword.
"At least you, Arisa. If you're going to be my ancestor, shouldn't you show your face once in a while? Are you sulking because I always called you a chimpanzee?"
Then she swung the wooden sword at the 140-centimeter scarecrow standing there staring blankly at her.
"Whoever it is, just let me catch them. I'm going to beat the living shit out of them, I swear."
That damn fairy tale book.
The fairy tale book that goes around calling me a chimpanzee.
Leaving that thing as it is really pisses me off.