We're On a Trip - 4
There had been a minor disturbance that nearly left Irina's mental state beyond any hope of recovery, but thanks to a heart as vast as the sea itself, she managed to let it pass without incident. I keep bringing up the sea, but what am I supposed to do when that is all there is to look at right in front of me?
All the more reason to reflect, then. Of all the countless things I could have chosen, I picked lemonade? That can only mean I unconsciously dragged that whole incident back up. I really am a complete lunatic.
"Brother. I think I am getting seasick as well."
"Give me a break. Two of you is too much."
Even in the middle of everything, Luise threw out a half-joking complaint after seeing me holding Irina, but mercifully it stayed a joke. If anything, she only looked at Irina—still cradled in my arms—with open worry.
I felt guilty for fretting her over nothing. If she ever learned it was not seasickness but a full mental collapse, what face would she make? That is a secret I will have to take to my grave.
"O-Oppa. You can put me down now. I am fine."
"We stay like this until we find somewhere decent to sit. Forcing yourself to walk will only make it worse."
Irina seemed to share the same guilt, enough that she asked first to be set down. Of course I refused.
My conscience is already hurting.
I was the one who started the whole mess with her while she was just standing there quietly, and I was the one who scooped her up. Now I am supposed to put her down because people might stare? That would be far too self-serving. Staying glued together like this is the right call for now.
For a second I even wondered if coming to the sea had been a mistake, but we were already here; there was no undoing it. Better to make only good memories today and overwrite Irina's black history completely.
"Ah, look—they are selling squid over there too?"
Luise's completely innocent remark made Irina flinch in my arms. I felt it.
...Erasing it entirely might be impossible, but I would try my hardest.
We had come all the way to the sea, yet without swimsuits prepared we could not actually go in the water. Still, the ocean had its own charm even if all you did was stroll the sand and take in the view, so I was not especially disappointed.
Truthfully, given how oddly modern this world had become, renting swimsuits nearby would not have been strange at all. In fact I spotted several places that seemed to offer rentals—
"It would be improper for a noble to share items that commoners also use. Some nobles consider it a loss of dignity, and the commoners who would use them afterward feel awkward for no reason."
Seeing Luise refuse so gently, I could not push any further. She was neither fussy nor particularly status-conscious; if even she reacted that way, it was less a matter of face and more a matter of simple common sense.
Moments like this always reminded me that I was a transmigrator. I had thought I had adapted reasonably well, yet every time I started to forget, the gap in everyday assumptions smacked me in the face.
"Of course, plenty of nobles simply never rent other people's things in the first place, so it never becomes an issue."
"That is true enough."
Luise smiled softly at my awkwardness.
Thank you—she even comforted me...
"Still, it is a little disappointing. We came all the way to the sea only to look."
"Did you actually plan on going in the water?"
At Luise's teasing little laugh I absently brushed the scarred area. The wound whose lingering remnants still refused to heal completely.
I accepted it. Even if I had had a swimsuit, I would have stayed on the shore and watched.
"Besides... it feels a little wrong to enjoy ourselves too much."
"Hm?"
Irina's quiet addition made me tilt my head.
Wrong? Today was the time Mar and Beatrix had yielded as an apology, was it not? What was the problem with enjoying that time?
"Luise and I... well... compared to the others, it feels like we sort of pushed our way in, you know? We have not known Oppa as long, and we have fewer memories..."
Irina forced a smile, yet the longer she spoke the more clearly her spirits drooped. Even Luise, it seemed, shared the thought; she carefully lowered her gaze.
My heart lurched. That they had been carrying such thoughts without my ever noticing—and that I had left them to it long enough for the idea to take root.
Of course, as Irina said, I had first met the two of them only last year. Compared to Beatrix and the section chiefs I met right after the Great Subjugation War, or Margeta whom I met two years ago, the timing was relatively late. Meeting late inevitably meant fewer shared memories; that much was natural.
But meeting late and thinking of course we should feel awkward for meeting late were two entirely different matters. This was a question of self-worth and standing.
I neglected them.
The thought sat heavy. These connections were more than I deserved; they had chosen to yield to one another and stay by my side together. I had sworn to treat all six of them without lack or regret. If the wives were fine and the husband alone created discord through carelessness, how could I ever lift my head?
I tried to be as fair as possible...
Regrettably, it seemed to have been nothing more than an attempt. I had not even managed to share information about the wound fairly; Luise and Irina had been horrified. Before that, too, any number of things I never noticed must have quietly worn them down.
In truth it was only natural. To give the two who had arrived later real security, I needed to show deeper interest and affection—something mechanical fairness could never achieve. Distributing ten each from a pile of fifty and a pile of ten still left a gap of forty that could never be closed.
No—had I even managed mechanical fairness? Had I ever shown the kind of love that would let any of them feel secure?
"They yielded with such good intentions, so if only the two of us enjoy ourselves too much—"
Before Irina could finish, I pulled both her and Luise close by the waist. We happened to be sitting side by side on a bench, so the height was perfect.
"Hyeek!"
"O-Oppa?!"
They each reacted differently to the sudden closeness; I paid it no mind.
"Do not think of it as yielding. Today is time Mar and Beatrix legitimately owe you after their mistake."
Now that I knew what was in their hearts, I could not simply sit still. Moments ago they had said they felt like interlopers because they had fewer memories—yet they were hesitating and feeling guilty about making new ones together. It was an absurd contradiction, and that absurdity itself showed how thoroughly their spirits had been crushed.
The idea that this time had been "yielded" to them also needed correcting. I had thought of it as yielding too, but that was only my way of expressing gratitude toward Margeta and Beatrix for admitting their mistake without shamelessly covering it up. What Luise and Irina meant by "yielding," however, was closer to a superior graciously bestowing a favor.
That was unacceptable. Absolutely not. Marriage order might determine the order of wives, but there must never be a hierarchy among the wives themselves.
"So we are going to have more fun than anyone else and then go home. That way I will never hide anything from the two of you again."
"...You hid things too, Brother."
Luise's faintly sulky voice shut my mouth on pure instinct.
My greatest enemy was past me. That bastard—every time I tried to say something half-decent, the karma I had already piled up grabbed me by the ankle.
"I saw them selling clothes earlier."
After a brief silence I stood, still holding both of them around the waist. If words would not win, action would.
"I will buy you new ones."
"Huh? What?"
"Um, Oppa? Why are you runni—"
With that one-sided announcement I charged straight into the sea. Whatever clothes you were already wearing when you swam counted as a swimsuit, did they not?
I got scolded a little afterward—but we still managed to play with smiles on our faces.
I had ordered the Audit Department Chief to submit a report on the World Tree incident last night; the report itself arrived at dawn. Judging by the timestamp, he had written it right before bed and sent it off immediately.
With any ordinary report I might have assumed he had dashed it off out of laziness, but this particular incident required the swiftest possible reporting, so I accepted it. If he had spent days or weeks "explaining thoroughly," I would have been climbing the walls.
Of course, receiving it quickly did not mean my insides felt any better.
I am going insane.
The moment I woke, habit made me check the communication orb; the Audit Department Chief's report was waiting. The instant I read its contents I had no choice but to close my eyes again. I half-wondered whether accumulated fatigue was making me see things.
Naturally it was not a hallucination. It was simply content that no sane framework of thought or knowledge could possibly comprehend.
"Your Majesty. Are you well? Your complexion has been poor since morning."
"There is an important matter on my mind. I am not tired, so do not worry."
The shock from the morning still clung to me through lunch. Bi, dining with me, asked out of concern, so I could guess how my face looked without needing a mirror.
What in the world...
I answered her with a smile, yet my head was anything but clear.
...During the Great Subjugation War, a wound inflicted by a Heaven-Defier became infused with the power of the Eternal Blue Sky, deity of the nomads. The fragment was vast enough to contain the god's own will. Through contact with a surviving fairy, brief communication with that divine will became possible; by the god's will, the power was transferred into a tree long tended by the elder of the elven race...
The report contained only the necessary information—and at the same time, information I could not begin to understand.
A god? Divine power had settled into the Audit Department Chief? He had suddenly communicated with that power? He had moved it into a tree? And as a result the World Tree had revived?
I could not make sense of a single word. This was not the familiar irritation of listening to a half-baked excuse; this was the feeling of common sense itself refusing to process what it had been given.
A god, all of a sudden.
Confusion reigned. After the Religious War the Dawn Church had triumphed and most gods had fallen silent; Apels's oppression of the non-human races had severed contact with the few that remained; and after the final suppression of the Twilight Cult, no other heresies were left. Only Enen still existed on the continent as it stood today.
In that situation, the World Tree had suddenly revived through the power of another god. How was one supposed to accept this? Or rather—should one believe it at all?
Of course gods were beings beyond human common sense. Between an accidental incident caused by the whim of such a divine existence, and the possibility that the Audit Department Chief had simply gone mad and filed a false report—if I had to choose, the former was more likely—
"If ranking is determined by the order of marriage, then by marrying all at once, everyone becomes the first."
...
Hm.
Come to think of it, he already had a history of madness. The latter possibility had just risen considerably.
I will have to report this to the Retired Emperor as well.
My head throbbed even harder. Any matter involving the non-human races required a report to His Retired Majesty. It would be absurd for the Emperor of Creplofen—sworn friend of the non-human races—to remain ignorant of the World Tree's revival.
Yet I myself barely understood the affair; I had no idea how to present it to him.
...Fortunately, he is unlikely to treat it as a problem.
His Retired Majesty was relatively lenient toward Imperial Counts, and merciful toward wounded veterans who had devoted themselves to the Empire. The Audit Department Chief fell into both categories, so there was little chance of a cold glare.
Moreover, while the process was incomprehensible, the result was beneficial to the Imperial House and the Empire. His Retired Majesty would likely ponder a moment, then simply nod and move on.
Yes. I would report it as it stood. If he raised questions, I could grill the Audit Department Chief then.
There is no need to summon him specially.
The anniversary of the end of the Great Subjugation War was not far off. The Audit Department Chief would come to the Imperial Capital for the memorials held then anyway.
There was no reason to call in a man who would arrive on his own if left alone.