Family
"Reyna, come say hello. This gentleman is going to be your new father."
My name is Reyna. It was the name my late father had given me. I was not yet ten years old when Mother remarried. Young as I was, even I could tell this was no ordinary second marriage. If anything, it felt as though the man had taken us in — a penniless mother and her child, with nowhere else to turn. I never learned the full story of what had passed between the two of them, but I could read it in the careful deference of Mother's every word and gesture.
A mother and daughter who had been drowning in poverty and despair found themselves, overnight, living in a grand manor.
"So you're Reyna. From now on, this is your home. Make yourself comfortable."
He stroked my hair with a kind smile. Thick hands. Countless scars. It was the kind of face that would have frightened me on the street — but the character I sensed in him was not the sort that harmed people. It was the sort that protected them.
"This is my son, Dale. He must be three or four years older than you."
"......"
The Dale I met that day wore a rather sullen expression.
He must hate us.
No boy would be fond of a stepmother who had taken his own mother's place. That was what I believed.
Time passed, and I kept quietly to myself in the manor. Then one day, a voice carried in from the backyard.
"Dale! Raise that arm higher — keep it straight!"
I crept closer and peeked. The man and Dale were training with swords. The moment I saw the blade, the image of my father being cut down by an assailant flashed through my mind.
"Ugh...!"
I screamed without meaning to. Hearing it, he came over at once.
"Are you all right, Reyna?"
"Yes..."
He must have read the fear in my eyes.
"Is it the sword that frightens you?"
"......"
Instead of backing away, he came toward me with the sword still in his hand.
"You mustn't be afraid any longer. If you are a daughter of House Ironhart, you will overcome this."
"......"
A daughter of the house...
Without thinking, I took the sword he held out to me.
"Heavy, isn't it? Even so, that's a practice blade — it's on the lighter side. Come here. Let's train together."
"......"
As if spellbound, I followed him and practiced swordsmanship alongside Dale. When he saw me handle the blade, the man broke into a broad, unguarded smile.
"You've got talent. You don't look like someone picking up a sword for the first time. I can scarcely believe it."
It was the first praise I had ever received in my life.
"......"
From that day on, I found myself waiting for those training sessions every single morning. Whenever I swung the blade and the sweat ran down, a strange peace settled over me, almost without my noticing it.
"Reyna. Your rate of growth is excellent, but... there's too much killing intent in your sword."
"Isn't killing intent a good thing?"
"In combat, you have to be able to master your emotions. Killing intent and composure — you need to call on each when the moment demands it."
"......"
Dale, by contrast, was remarkably cool-headed and composed. His skill was outstanding, but I always felt that if I just pushed a little harder, I could catch him. Strangely, that little bit more was always just out of reach.
Don't tell me... he's holding back for my sake? No. That can't be it.
Time went on, and once our skills had reached a certain level, we began attending swordsmanship exchanges with the children of other houses. One day we had a practice bout with the young masters of a great ducal family, and we beat them soundly. They were bitter about it, but the gap in ability was obvious.
Just as we were about to leave after that easy match, I happened to overhear them talking behind our backs.
"Not bad stamina for a bunch of country bumpkins! Doesn't change the fact they're a third-rate knight house! A family like that could vanish tomorrow and nobody'd even notice next to ours!"
They were pouring out insults about our family as if taking out their frustration. I couldn't stand it. I charged in, and Dale shouted after me.
"Don't!"
"They're insulting our family and you want me to just sit there!? I'll break every last one of their legs!"
I grabbed a wooden sword and beat them black and blue.
"Guh...! You think you'll get away with this!?"
It escalated into a clash between houses. Fortunately, he managed to settle the matter somehow. Then, furious, he summoned Dale and me.
"What in the world possessed you to do such a thing!? And you still think you'll become knights after this!?"
It was the first time I had ever seen him truly angry. I was trembling with fear when Dale stepped forward.
"I did it. All of it."
"That's not—"
"Stay out of this."
Dale shoved me aside, almost roughly, and absorbed every word of the scolding himself. For some time afterward he endured punishment after punishment. He even went without food, bearing every last scrap of the blame. But he never said a single unkind word to me.
Guilt-stricken, I snuck food to him.
"I'm sorry..."
Dale, who had always worn such a cold expression, smiled at me instead.
"......"
The way he wrapped me in that warmth and accepted me as true family — I couldn't help but be moved. I gathered every ounce of courage I had and opened my mouth.
"B-Brother..."
"That's right. You've had a hard time of it, haven't you."
Dale smiled the way a kind older brother would and stroked my hair, and I threw my arms around him and held on tight.
Family... I have a family now.
From that day on I threw every door of my heart wide open, and we spent happy days together.
But those happy days did not last.
"Reyna, I need you to listen carefully. Try not to panic."
"......?"
"......!"
After that, everything changed. The household's fortunes went into a steep decline, and every last servant left. Dale set aside his training and threw himself into the role of head of the family, struggling to hold the house together by any means he could find.
I couldn't bear to watch from the sidelines. After a great deal of agonizing, I spoke up.
"Brother, I want to quit the sword training."
But Dale was firm.
"No. You have a gift for the sword. Letting you throw that away would be a sin against our parents. I've already submitted your application to a very famous swordsmanship academy. You have to pass that entrance exam."
"But..."
"Don't worry about anything else. Your dream is the only thing you need to think about."
"......"
Dale had given up his own life to support mine. So I clenched my teeth and threw myself into my training, and I earned my place at that prestigious academy.
But I soon learned that my true rival was closer than anyone.
Whenever people looked at me, they started whispering.
"That's the daughter of House Ironhart? Their former head, Lord Nicholas, was a truly remarkable man. And I hear his eldest son is every bit as exceptional."
"That's right, I heard that too. Dale, was it? They say he inherited his father's abilities to the letter."
I was being compared — always — to no one other than Father and Dale.
I am myself. I am Reyna!
To strip away that family label, I trained even more furiously, like a woman possessed. And the more I grew, the more it felt as though I couldn't even catch their shadows.
Inferiority.
It stabbed me to the core — but it was also the engine that drove me forward.
I did all of this with my own ability. Why does everyone only talk about my background!? I'll stand on my own. I swear I will.
Of course I was grateful to Dale, who paid every last coin of my tuition and living expenses. But the desire to earn recognition beyond the family's reputation only drove me harder. Whether it was thanks to that blood-soaked effort or not, I graduated at the top of the academy and, in a stroke of glory, earned a place in the Royal Knights.
"Dame Reyna. Are you aware that you are the youngest recruit in this order's history?"
Rumors of a genius swordswoman spread like wildfire, and everyone placed great expectations on me. I worked myself to the bone so as not to disappoint them, and I thought nothing but a rosy future awaited.
But then—
"The D-Demon King's Army is invading! Several nations have already fallen!!"
As the Demon King's Army began to run rampant, a blood-red storm of war swept across the world. And yet I felt the opposite of fear.
This is a heaven-sent opportunity. I'll show everyone what I'm truly capable of.
I threw myself into battle against the Demon King's Army like a woman possessed. But fighting monsters that weren't even human... the carnage was beyond anything I had imagined. Comrade after comrade fell. A bleak, suffocating despair was all that remained to wrap around us.
Then one day, a familiar voice cut through the wreckage.
"Reyna. Don't give up yet."
"Brother...?"
"You're not the kind of girl who quits here."
Dale had come for us, laden with thick armor and a heavy shield.
"Reyna, listen carefully to what I'm about to tell you."
"......?"
"From now on, you focus on nothing but your offensive abilities."
"What are you talking about?"
"Don't worry about defense. I will protect you, no matter what. With your talent, if you pour everything into attack, the results will be extraordinary."
"......"
Dale volunteered to stand at the very front, offering up his own body. And I did as he said — I poured every ounce of my ability into offense, and my attack power soared. Watching the monsters get cut down without mercy, something fierce and bright rose in my chest.
I can do this...!
Courage began to well up inside me. And so the Hero Party formed with Dale at its center, and at last we began to wrest victories from the Demon King's Army. People everywhere started to reclaim their hope.
"Hero!!"
"It's all thanks to Lord Dale!"
"Hero—!! Thank you so much!!"
But...
"......"
Why is everyone only calling Dale's name?
What about me?
I'm swinging my sword until my arms are about to fall off!
I'm an elite knight of the Royal Knights!
The more the Hero Party's fame grew, the more every eye, every word of praise, poured onto Dale. Even the fellow knights who fought alongside us started singing his name.
"Man, Hero Dale can take any attack you throw at him."
"An iron wall. A complete iron wall. That's why the rest of us get to attack so freely."
As they praised him, jealousy crept up on me before I even knew it was there.
"So what if he's good at defense? He can't even attack!"
"You think so...?"
"Think about it. What's the point of blocking forever? If you can't land the finishing blow, you crumble in the end."
"That's true, I guess."
"Dale doesn't know how to do anything except hold a shield."
"Yeah, it does seem that way."
"Besides, we can win just fine now even without Dale's defense, right?"
That was how I drew the other knights' attention toward myself. And by relentlessly reporting my own exploits to the officers, I climbed the ranks of the order at a rapid clip.
Then, on the day I finally pinned on the captain's insignia, Dale spoke in a voice I had never heard from him before.
He left, cold as ice. My subordinate knights were uneasy, but I told them not to be.
"Don't worry. We're fine without Dale. He was never necessary to begin with."