Blood Wind's Alukinon
Kino Wentos.
A character who appears in the latter half of the novel Child of Yggdrasil — one of Princess Aine's subordinates, and a member of the mage corps.
She was established as the younger sister of Kyou Ventus, who had shown up early in the story, but most readers' reaction amounted to a vague who was that again?, and the novel itself mentioned her exactly once before moving on. She never spoke a single word about her own older brother.
At any rate, there would naturally be some differences given that this was a future point in the timeline — but the original Kino Wentos was, in the truest sense, a cold-blooded soldier. She followed her superiors' orders and stood opposed to the hero's party. A cool-headed beauty who clashed with Allen and his companions without a shred of mercy, cutting them down one by one with formidable magic and close-combat skill, driving them steadily into a corner.
That was the Kino Wentos of the original novel.
But, well...
I have, for the record, put considerable effort into constructing an excuse for myself.
After I came to this world, in the childhood years that followed those late nights — the elation, the raw excitement of having actually learned and mastered something called magic. That rush relapsed a certain illness I had once suffered and then been cured of.
The shame I'd felt after recovering from it the first time — that blanket-kicking, 3 a.m. cringe — was obliterated by the sheer shock of magic, this unknown wonder, crashing into me.
How terrifying, this thing called culture shock!
And then I went and completely mastered Wind Cutter, an efficient and thoroughly difficult spell, and in exchange the condition worsened.
But! If it had ended there, it would have been nothing more than me kicking off my blankets in the middle of the night.
"What're you doing, big brother?"
Right. I proceeded to display my unhinged, spectacular idiocy in front of my still-young, still-innocent little sister.
"Wow! That's so cool!"
And the fact that her purely admiring reaction made me so happy that I let the condition deteriorate even further — that was a problem too.
And so, after more than a year of being thoroughly irradiated by my influence, my little sister had become—
—a magnificent, towering monument to dark history.
Looked at a certain way, it might be all the more terrifying precisely because it can be cured.
This disease called chunibyo.
...And so, for those reasons.
Even when I managed to forget about it for a while, the moment the evidence of the crimes I committed back then appeared right in front of my eyes like this, the damage was no joke.
A critical hit, straight to the heart.
"W-well then, let's get going."
"Aaagh!! Aaaaaagh!!"
Stop it! Don't you dare drag out any more of my dark history!!
Whether it was because I'd shouted so loudly, the last part didn't seem to have reached Riel. That said, she was looking at me with a distinctly odd expression, probably on account of the sudden screaming.
More importantly, that eyepatch she was wearing right now looked an awful lot like mine.
Why does she have the thing I sealed away in the deepest corner of my room the moment I so splendidly graduated from my youth...!
"Mm... what a... distinctive little sister you have...?"
Riel offered the words carefully.
That she'd settled on "distinctive" was, if nothing else, because this was a fantasy world where magic existed and chunibyo did not. Of course, even accounting for that, the behavior was still weird.
"She is, isn't she? Ha... hahaha...!"
Just laugh for now.
"Haha... hahaha..."
My hand clamped down.
"W-wait a moment! O blood of mine, to handle me so roughly...!"
"...You can catch up on everything in the carriage. We're leaving. Now."
"That's not—! Ow!! Big brother! That actually hurts my neck, so could you let go and just—!"
I grabbed the cape at the nape of Kino's neck — she was still holding some vaguely plausible pose — and dragged her toward the carriage.
I didn't want to do this to my cute little sister. But I wanted even less to let this child's dark history accumulate so much as a single additional page.
Consider it a prophet's advice, Kino.
And so that someday, when she'd grown into the magnificent beauty from the original story, she might be able to forgive this brother of hers. Even a little.
"Thou as well — it has been some time, my retainer!"
"It has been some time, Lady Kino."
Inside the carriage, Phyllis was exchanging words with Kino for the first time in a while. Come to think of it, Kino had always been rather fond of Phyllis.
Phyllis was one of the only two people in the count's household who could treat Kino in that state as if nothing were out of the ordinary — the other being Mother. Father would wear a bitter smile at Kino's behavior, Astar would stare at her with a blank expression, and I had no choice but to simply endure the internal damage.
"And thou art...?"
"I'm Riel Ignis."
Riel, seated across from Kino, offered the greeting first. She beamed and gave Kino a simple noble's salutation.
Even talking with Emilia, whose face she'd at least grown somewhat used to, had taken a fair amount of time — and yet here she was, conversing with Kino on a first meeting as if it were nothing. I was a little surprised by that, but I swallowed the comment that had been about to leave my mouth.
Was her condition improving, at least to some degree?
"R-right...?"
"I shall specially permit thee to address me simply as 'Kino'!"
"Yeah... nice to meet you...?"
See that?
Most people couldn't keep up with that energy. Mother and Phyllis were the strange ones.
The internal damage seemed to have settled somewhat, so I took a sip of the warm tea I'd kept in my waterskin.
"And so, O blood of mine."
"Hm?"
Kino suddenly turned the conversation on me. I hadn't finished swallowing the tea yet, so I answered with little more than a noise in my throat.
"Is this crimson maiden thy new companion?"
"Khack!! Khh—khh!"
It went down the wrong way.
No, it had come so completely out of nowhere that I couldn't help it...
Look at that. Riel was so startled her face had gone a shade of red indistinguishable from her hair.
"Khack... hhh...! What are you even saying all of a sudden, Kino!"
"Kyou and I are still just friends!"
"Hoh. 'Still' — meaning thou intendest for that to change someday?"
"Auuughaaah...!"
Riel's face was scarlet as she started making strange little noises. Kino was watching her with an expression of genuine interest.
This was clearly going to need some managing, so I glanced at Phyllis, who was sitting beside Kino. Phyllis nodded, then leaned in and whispered something into Kino's ear. Kino whispered a few words back, and after a brief exchange...
Kino broke into a wide smile and nodded.
"I see! So that's how it is!"
"Yes. That's how it is."
"Then of course I welcome it! Once more, I look forward to knowing thee, O Crimson Maiden!!"
"Uh... yeah...? Thanks...?"
Unable to follow the turn the conversation had taken, Riel shook the hand Kino offered her with a thoroughly bewildered look on her face.
Honestly, I had no idea how any of that had been resolved either.
I gestured Phyllis over and asked her.
"Phyllis, what exactly did you say to Kino?"
"......"
Phyllis was silent for a moment, then spoke.
"That's a secret."
"......"
What on earth did she tell her?
Baron Walter Edwin, who governed the barony, was working through his duties with the help of his son, Valencia. There was a great deal of material to sort through — the territory's revenues, the funds required for its upkeep, the sums to be allocated for investment.
Fortunately, this month's income had been decent, and they had managed to turn a larger profit than usual.
"Father, about the reparations to be sent to Ventus County..."
"Fortunately, the Count said we may pay in installments as our means allow. Set aside whatever we can spare."
"Yes, sir."
Of course, they had not forgotten to account for the reparations. It was a sum they could not possibly pay all at once, but if they endured a dozen years or so of hardship, it seemed somehow manageable.
Valencia, who had been making entries in the ledger, spoke up as if something had just occurred to him.
"Come to think of it, it will soon be time to lift Liliana's confinement."
"Hmph."
The daughter he had sent to offer an apology had instead gotten her former fiancé caught up in a duel and injured. Upon hearing that, Baron Edwin had flown into a rage, dragged her home by force, confined her, and notified the Academy of the fact.
It had been a month's confinement, but it seemed the time to lift it was approaching.
The baron's feelings were complicated. In his heart, he did not want to send his daughter back to the Academy — but he had promised to release her after a month.
The Edwins had already committed the extraordinary act of unilaterally breaking off the engagement, and the cleanup afterward had been a fiasco as well. The baron's fury had been considerable.
It was then that a knock sounded at the study door.
"What is it?"
"My lord, the young lady wishes to see you."
"...Show her in."
Liliana, the daughter he had confined to the estate. She had shown no inclination to leave her room for the entire duration of her confinement. And now, suddenly, she had come out and asked to see him. A faint bewilderment touched the baron's eyes.
The door opened, and Liliana entered.
The state of the daughter he had not seen in some time was dire. The hair that had once held a healthy sheen was dry and lifeless, and exhaustion sat heavy in her dull eyes. Having not set foot outside her room at all, her skin was pale to the point of looking bloodless, and her body seemed to have grown slightly thin.
It was enough that the baron, who had been burning with anger toward his daughter, briefly forgot that anger and felt something like pity.
"Father..."
"...Yes. What is it?"
Even her voice held no vitality at all.
"Is this about the confinement? We were just discussing that, as it happens."
"......"
"You may return to the Academy, if that's what this is. In all honesty I would rather oppose it, but if that is your will..."
"No, Father. That's not it."
Liliana cut him off. She met the baron's gaze, smiled weakly, and spoke.
"I want to leave the Academy."
"......"
"There's no reason for me to attend."
"Is that so."
Liliana meant it. She no longer wanted to go to the Academy.
There had certainly been a time when she had wanted to remain there no matter what it took, so long as she could be with Allen. But then, somewhere in the course of those nearly four weeks trapped in the house, unable to see him, passing the days in misery — her heart had simply gone still.
A reason she had to be with Allen, even if it meant going that far...
...what had it even been?
She had turned the thought over in that quieted heart of hers, and then she had simply stopped. It was over. That was the only thought that came.
She couldn't tell what had happened to her own feelings. But there was one thing she was certain of.
It could not be undone. That much, she knew without a shred of doubt.
"Liliana."
"Yes, Father."
"Have you any interest in going to the Magic Tower?"
"Pardon?"
A question surfaced in Liliana's eyes at the sudden remark.
"Word came that the Magic Tower would like to receive you."
"The Magic Tower...?"
"You have little mana, but your talent for handling it was always exceptional. It seems the Tower has taken the measure of that gift."
It was that talent alone that had originally been recognized, that had tied her to House Ventus, and that had eventually progressed as far as an engagement. The Magic Tower had acknowledged her gift for mana manipulation as well, and a recommendation had even been submitted.
He deliberately did not mention that the recommendation had come from Count Ventus. He had a feeling that if he said so, she would refuse to go to the Tower as well.
"As you know, once you enter the Magic Tower, you cannot leave until your education is complete."
"......"
"If you have the talent, two or three years may suffice — but the Tower is also a place that produces people who fail to achieve greatness even after nearly a decade. Of course, if you don't wish to go, I won't force you..."
"No."
Liliana shook her head, then spoke with a faint smile.
"I'll go to the Magic Tower."
"...I see."
My home, which I had not visited in some time — the mansion of House Ventus.
Being a residence inside a fortress, it was a rugged building that favored practicality over ornament. Even so, it was fairly large, with a handsome garden, and behind it a greenhouse that Mother tended — it had everything one could want. I was confident that in terms of inner substance, at least, it would not fall short of most ducal or marquis households.
Of course, all of that was thanks to the enormous revenue the county brought in. How enormous? Mother's greenhouse wasn't even particularly necessary, and Father had still thrown money at it on the grounds that it was for the wife he loved.
In the drawing room of that mansion, I sat facing my parents. Riel sat beside me.
"Welcome home, Kyou."
"Yes, Father."
The black hair he had passed down to me, brown eyes, a face that — scars and all — could reasonably be called a handsome middle age. And above all, a large man packed with muscle, approaching in formal attire.
Behind him followed a woman who wore the same green-silver hair as Kino.
My father, Count Kilian Wentos, head of House Ventus. And his wife, my mother, Countess Silvia Ventos.
"We've exchanged letters any number of times, but it's been so long since I last saw you in person, Kyou."
"I'm glad to see you're in good health too, Mother."
Mother approached with a gentle smile and drew me into an embrace.
Mm. Being held in Mother's arms really does feel good, doesn't it. There's even a scent a little like flowers...
Ahem. Ahem...
Mother released the hug and turned her gaze to Riel. Father did the same. Riel dipped her head with a faintly nervous expression.
"I-it's a pleasure to meet you! I'm Riel Ignis, second daughter of House Ignis!"
At the sight of her, my parents smiled with genuine warmth.
"Haha, no need to be so tense."
"We've heard a great deal about you in letters. And from Eve as well."
"Y-yes...!"
Mm. She was nervous, all right.
Only, the "nervous" Riel was displaying right now seemed to be of a different quality from the "nervous" she showed at the Academy. If what she showed at the Academy had been closer to a pathological seizure, this was more like... ordinary nerves?
Was Riel's condition improving after all?
After the greetings and Riel's introduction were finished, Riel followed Phyllis toward the guest rooms to unpack. Briefly parted from her, I remained in the drawing room with my parents.
Mother spoke.
"Miss Riel is a good child."
"She is. She's very kind."
A brief silence. Mother broke it again.
"What do you think of her?"
"Well, I think she's kind and a good person, of course."
"Then, hypothetically speaking..."
"Mother."
Having a fair idea of what she was about to say, I cut her off.
"It's only been about a month since the engagement was dissolved."
"...That's true enough."
"And it would become a matter to be discussed between our houses. House Ignis isn't in any normal state right now."
I turned the conversation toward House Ignis. Mother had of course heard about the duchy in letters, and Father would have heard it from her in turn. That wasn't all. With Eve staying in Ventus County alongside Her Highness Princess Aine, they would have heard it from Eve as well.
Father, who had been listening to our exchange, spoke up.
"I've heard about the state of the duchy as well. An absurd situation."
"You've met Duke Ignis before, haven't you, Father?"
"I have. More than ten years ago now, but yes, I met him."
Father trailed off with a murmur of, he didn't seem like the sort of man who would...
Well, given that even the Duke's whereabouts were unknown at present, there wasn't much point in discussing him.
"That's why I want to meet the Duke together with Riel. I heard he met with Princess Yuril briefly not long ago."
"So you came to see Princess Aine in order to meet Princess Yuril, is that it?"
"Exactly. So Princess Aine is here, then?"
I appreciated how quickly he followed.
I needed to meet Princess Aine and ask her to arrange a meeting with Princess Yuril.
"Her Highness is staying at the mansion, but she took the entire knight order and mage corps out with her for group training."
"...She hasn't changed at all."
I let out a wry smile at Father's words, a few old memories stirring.
"Well, she should be back before dinner, at least. I'll make something delicious tonight, so eat first and then have your talk."
"You'll be cooking it yourself, Mother?"
"Our eldest son has come home. Of course I should."
Mm.
Fair enough. Coming home meant eating Mother's cooking.
"So you wait with Miss Riel in the meantime."
"Understood. But where's Astar? I haven't seen him."
"Astar is with Her Highness and her company."
...Oh my God.
I offered a small, silent prayer for Astar. Princess Aine's training was no joke.
"Well then, I'll head to the guest rooms."
"Go on. Phyllis and Kino will likely be with her, but having you there will put the girl at ease."
"Yes."
"Kyou."
I nodded and was about to leave the drawing room when Father called me back.
"I've heard the circumstances. Look after that child."
"...Of course."
To get from the drawing room to the guest rooms, I had to pass through the front hall by the entrance. I was just about to call a maid and ask which guest room Riel had been shown to when a commotion suddenly broke out from the direction of the front door.
Wondering what it was, I looked toward the entrance. The other servants turned their eyes that way as well.
Thud-thud-thud-thud-thud-thud-thud-thud
A sound that did not bode well at all.
...Should I dodge?
I gave up on the idea almost immediately. Instinct told me this was not something you could avoid by getting out of the way.
She'd said she'd be back around dinner. She'd come back awfully fast.
BANG!!
The door burst open — as a manner of speaking, that is. It was a door built sturdy enough to withstand a raid, so it didn't actually explode. It simply slammed wide.
What came through it was a woman.
Long, dazzling golden hair. Sharp violet eyes. She wore sturdy armor, and yet an innate dignity radiated from her all the same.
She glanced around the house, and when her eyes met mine, she grinned.
"I heard you'd returned, so I came to see — don't tell me you came out to greet me?"
"...Pure coincidence, Your Highness."
"Haha, you loveless brat. Can't you show a little more fondness for this senior of yours?"
"Commander Garrett dotes on Your Highness quite enough as it is."
Aine Guine Palajinia.
Second Princess of the Kingdom of Pallazinia, a magic swordswoman who stood at the vanguard, commanding several orders of knights and mages.
To me, she was a senior fellow disciple — one who had trained under the same master, Count Ventus.