Emilia Silvrate
"Ah... I... um... that is..."
Emilia stammered, her gaze drifting unmoored. Panic had robbed her of every coherent word.
Well, I already knew she was a beastfolk — but she would have assumed I had no idea, so of course she was panicking.
"Don't worry about it. I'd more or less seen it coming."
"I... I see."
"More importantly, I need you to get ready to evacuate. Quickly. We'll join up with the other villages and head for Ariandrod Fortress."
"Yes!"
I'd known rather than merely guessed, of course, but I could hardly say that out loud.
Emilia ran off toward a group that was presumably her family, and I went to help the households lagging behind in their preparations.
A knot of unease still sat heavy in my chest. Those strangely behaving monsters we'd run into on the way here would not leave me alone.
"All personnel, evacuation preparations complete!"
"Then we move out. There may be monsters in the area — stay on high alert!"
"Understood!!"
Emilia Silvrate had been born into a warrior household of the Silver Wolf Beastfolk.
Unlike her older brother, who had come into the world before her, she possessed next to no aptitude as a warrior. As a beastfolk she still enjoyed physical abilities well above a human's — but even that was not enough to let her call herself a Silver Wolf warrior with any honesty.
Her aptitude for magic, on the other hand, was extraordinary.
Among the soldiers dispatched from Ariandrod, an aging mage had seen that gift for what it was. Unfortunately, there was no mage in the Silver Wolf village who could teach her. It was not merely that other beastfolk tribes lacked such instructors. Among the Silver Wolves — a people who produced nothing but formidable warriors, generation after generation — a child born with a high affinity for magic was historically unheard of. Emilia was the first.
The mage sent from the fortress could not remain in the village indefinitely. Before he left, she had managed to scrape together the fundamentals — but for Emilia, the fundamentals were nowhere near enough.
"What about the Academy in the royal capital?"
The suggestion had come from Emilia's mother.
But beastfolk, the Silver Wolves included, were not exactly welcomed in human society. In the northern regions where they lived, going down into a town might earn them a few curious stares. Anywhere else, they said, it could be bad enough that people refused to treat them as people at all. That told you everything you needed to know.
The thought of it filled Emilia with dread. And then there was the cost.
Because Emilia's family were warriors, they lived reasonably well off the materials they took from monster hunts. It was a sum that all but the poorest of nobles could have managed with a little strain — but for Emilia's household, prosperous as they were among the territory's common folk, it was a heavy burden.
That problem, unexpectedly, resolved itself almost at once.
A Silver Wolf child with a high aptitude for magic. Now that's an interesting story.
Count Ventus, receiving the soldiers' regular reports, had taken an interest in her. He had always been a man who spared no expense when it came to discovering and supporting talent. He readily covered every cost of Emilia's Academy education — with the condition, of course, that she one day put those blossoming gifts to work for the county.
Practicing the basics of magic, living among her family, Emilia came of age and departed for the Academy. She had heard that the Count's eldest son — the very man whose family was sponsoring her — would be attending as well, but she had never met him. She told herself that if their paths ever crossed, she would have to thank him.
Arriving in the royal capital for the first time, having never left the North, Emilia was giddy with excitement. Unfamiliar sights, crowds of people — her heart was full of anticipation.
The Academy's headmaster was not a man who discriminated harshly against beastfolk, and he made arrangements so that she could attend. She had to hide her ears and tail, yes — but Emilia threw herself into Academy life and steadily honed her magic.
That happy stretch lasted all of a month.
Emilia did not have a single person she could call a friend. When everyone else was forming their little groups, she had been too busy concealing what she was. By the time she looked up, she had already missed her chance.
The clusters of noble girls were out of the question from the start. There was another group with a fair number of commoner girls mixed in, but something about them gave her an instinctive sense of wrongness, and she took to giving them a wide berth. If she could not even join the small circle of commoner girls in an Academy dominated by nobles, then Emilia's days there were destined to be lonely ones.
Then, one day, a duel erupted in the middle of that quiet Academy life. And among the names of the combatants was one Emilia recognized.
Kyou Ventus...
None other than the young lord of the Count's house was one of the two fighting. Come to think of it, they were in the same class. Emilia, who had been so consumed by her own troubles, only then remembered her resolution to thank him if they ever met.
The duel ended in the opponent's disqualification. Someone else's mana had aided the other combatant — that was the reason given. Emilia, sensitive to mana, had felt it too, though she could not have said whose it was.
The young lord left the grounds with a light injury, supported by other students. Emilia considered going after him, but in the end she stayed where she was.
Slap!!
She turned toward the sharp sound. A crimson-haired girl had just struck a blue-haired one with everything she had.
That would be Riel Ignis, and... who was the other one?
She remembered the name of Riel Ignis, a high noble, clearly enough. The other girl she could not quite place. She would later learn that it had been the young lord's former fiancée — but a former fiancée was not someone Emilia felt any need to remember, and she promptly forgot her.
After the commotion of the duel, the quiet Academy days resumed. Emilia still had no friends.
She reached the day of the outdoor practical without having made a single one, and when the time came to form teams, she was left standing alone. The other person left by himself, and thus paired with her, was Alan Ludwig.
He was popular — always surrounded by girls. Why he had ended up alone was a mystery. And he had, without a doubt, been the young lord's opponent in that recent duel. A man who dragged girls around with him wherever he went, and who — fatally — was on bad terms with the Count's son, the heir of Emilia's benefactor. Her impression of him was a poor one, as a baseline.
"Um... Alan, is it really all right for you to party with someone like me? There are plenty of people who'd switch, if you wanted..."
"No... I told you, it's really fine."
Please switch.
His impression was already bad, and there was a strangely unpleasant feeling about him that made her want to keep her distance — but he showed no sign of wanting a different partner. Friendless as she was, all Emilia could do was hope he would trade with someone. He didn't.
The scent coming off him, something like flowers, was genuine torment to Emilia's beastfolk senses.
Then a four-day break arrived. Whether it was the lingering effect of that floral scent or not, Emilia felt thoroughly out of sorts. She had no friends, and therefore no one to go out with. She thought she might as well pay a brief visit home, and boarded a train bound for the North.
Little Lake — a city sitting between the Bruen Marquisate and the North. From there, a carriage would take her into the Count's territory, and home.
She stowed her luggage in the cargo hold and climbed aboard. When her fellow passengers boarded after her, she glanced their way — and started. She knew both faces.
"Ah... you're both in my class, aren't you...?"
None other than the young lord of the Count's house, and the daughter of a ducal family. People who stood as high as the heavens had taken seats in the same carriage as her.
"Emilia Silvrate...? What are you doing here?"
Oh? He knew my name.
The thought flickered through her mind, and she explained that she was on her way home. Ah — the young lord was returning home as well.
As the carriage rolled north, Riel Ignis — the Duke's daughter — struck up a conversation. They had always sat far apart (though with the change of seats, Riel was now behind her), and both of them were the quiet type, so they had never spoken. But the girl Emilia talked with for the first time was bright, lively, and full of energy.
"So Emi's hometown is in the Count's territory!"
"Yes — though even if it is the Count's land, it's just a small village in the forest."
Before Emilia knew it, Riel was even calling her by a nickname. Emilia's a bit long — can I call you Emi? she had asked, and Emilia had nodded before she could think.
She felt a little dazed, and yet, for reasons she couldn't name, she didn't mind talking with her at all. Was this what it felt like, she wondered, to talk with a friend?
"The one who paid for my Academy tuition is Count Ventus."
"Kyou's father?"
"Yes. So I wanted to thank him, but..."
The young lord sitting beside Riel had, at some point, fallen fast asleep.
"I don't think that's happening right now."
"Ahaha..."
It couldn't be helped. The thanks would have to wait.
When Emilia arrived at her home village, the people there welcomed her with open arms. She showed them the magic she had learned, introduced the summon she had contracted — and for the first time in a long while, she felt at ease.
Home really is the best, she thought.
And yet, even as she thought it, the face of Riel — the girl she had talked with in the carriage — rose in her mind.
We promised to go back to the capital together.
To her own surprise, Emilia found herself looking forward to Academy life a little once again.
But the next day, the village bells began to clang in a frantic alarm, announcing an emergency. Soldiers came running, issuing evacuation orders to every household.
Emilia's father and older brother, both warriors, rose and gathered their gear. Emilia packed alongside her mother.
Ah — that's right! My student pass!
She had left her student pass at the checkpoint when she entered the village, just in case. Emilia hurried to the checkpoint, collected it, and was about to head home again when she saw a familiar back.
"Huh? Kyou...?"
"Emilia Silvrate. So this was your home village."
Hearing his words, Emilia realized — too late — that she had not hidden her ears or her tail.
"Ah... I... um... that is..."
"Don't worry about it. I'd more or less seen it coming."
"I... I see."
Come to think of it, he was of the House of Ventus. Of course he would be someone who understood beastfolk.
"More importantly, I need you to get ready to evacuate. Quickly. We'll join up with the other villages and head for Ariandrod Fortress."
"Yes!"
Emilia ran straight home. She finished her preparations and joined the column of refugees.
Among the Silver Wolf evacuees, the warriors declared that they would take part in the escort themselves, and fell in with the soldiers. Emilia naturally tried to join the escort as well — but her father and brother stopped her.
"Emilia, you're still a student. Leave this to us."
"I'll protect you no matter what. I need you to look after Mother."
Faced with the two of them so set in their will, Emilia could only nod.
"Everyone! Move out!!"
At the great voice from the head of the column, the refugees began to move.
Wow... looking at them all together, that's a lot of people.
I had somehow managed to get everyone as far as the first village we'd come to and join the groups together, and the sight of the combined refugee column pulled that thought out of me. The refugees themselves numbered barely a hundred, if that — but adding the escorting soldiers made for a considerable force.
"If the column looks organized, we move out."
"Yes, sir! Everyone! Move out!!"
At that, the refugees formed up and began to march. From here on, we had to escort them all the way to Ariandrod Fortress.
Monsters did appear along the way, but never in great numbers. By now, Father's unit would have sortied from Ariandrod Fortress to hold the rest of them back. While he kept the monsters occupied, I had to get these people inside the walls as fast as possible.
We marched for hours.
"Young Master! The fortress is visible in the distance!"
As we emerged from the forest, a fortress came into view — crude in its construction, yet magnificent in its scale. Another few dozen minutes and we would be at Ariandrod Fortress. Voices of relief rose among the refugees.
Inside me, though, the unease still lingered — leftover from those monsters and their unnatural behavior.
"Right. Let's pick up the pace!"
The words had barely left my mouth when I felt it — the sensation of something watching me. I spun, startled, and scanned the surroundings. There was nothing there.
The refugees started moving again.
Was I so on edge I was hearing things...?
The thought had only just formed when—
I jolted as if I'd been struck — but a soldier's report drove the voice straight out of my mind.
"Young Master! A monster pack is approaching from far off!"
"What...?"
A horde that had to be counted in the hundreds was coming this way from the distance. Not from the direction Father's unit had gone — from an entirely different direction that hadn't been reported at all. And every last one of them was a monster from some other region, not the North.
Oh, you've got to be kidding me.
"Move! Faster!!"
I snapped the order at the refugees, urgency flooding my voice. But there was no getting around it: the difference in speed between a column of evacuees and a pack of monsters was stark. I had to make a decision here.
"Everyone except the minimum force needed to escort the refugees — and the refugee warriors — assemble on me."
"Young Master, surely you don't mean..."