The Wheat Fields of Ignis
"The wheat fields are full."
"Yeah. It's almost harvest time, so everyone must be busy."
The Ignis Duchy in the southern part of the kingdom was the kingdom’s largest granary, responsible for more than sixty percent of all the grain consumed by its people.
Nearly all the wheat used to make the bread that the kingdom’s people ate as their staple came from this duchy.
As a result, the scenery outside the train window was almost always filled with wheat fields and windmills.
The farther the train sped, the smaller the fields visible beyond the windows became.
"It looks like we're almost arriving," Riel said.
As she had predicted, a city appeared in the distance.
Brimton City of the Ignis Duchy.
It was not a capital-sized metropolis, but as the representative city of the duchy, its scale was still impressive.
People stood in line before the city walls.
If we had taken a carriage, we would have joined that line behind the others, but since we had come by train, the train had already entered the city along the tracks.
"This is convenient. The Ventus County never has trains, so we have to go through checkpoints every single time."
As the lord’s only son, I could probably pass quickly, but I still had to set an example for the lower ranks, so the line was always there.
In contrast, once we boarded the train, we had already been checked at the station, so we could head straight to the platform inside the city.
Then we would be checked again when we got off. That was it.
It was no different from having to wait, but it was far faster than lining up at the gate and going through a checkpoint.
When we stepped out of the station and looked at Brimton City, it appeared quite ordinary at first glance.
The one unusual thing was that soldiers had been replaced by knights on patrol. Since I had already been told about it in a letter, I felt no strangeness.
"Everyone, this way!"
Hearing a loud voice, I turned around. A knight was waving at us, standing behind the carriage.
It was one of the knights from the unit I had often seen on my journeys to the north with Princess Aine and her guard.
"We came to greet you since you have almost arrived."
After the knight spoke, Riel, who had been looking around, said,
"Hey, sister didn't come?"
"Ah, Lady Eve is currently in the north, so... I doubt she will arrive much later."
If she was in the north, that was the complete opposite of this Ignis Duchy.
If we had sent a message at the same time, she would surely arrive later.
"Then let's go. Her Highness is waiting for us."
Andrew had been lost in thought in his room for a long time.
When I arrived here and heard from Princess Aine about what had happened at the ducal mansion, I was deeply shocked.
I had even gone directly to the hospital where the servants were sleeping.
"Willie... Ellen..."
There were also a few servants I knew.
According to the doctors, at first they had only dazed like they were insane, and recently they had quietly lost consciousness like they were asleep.
Because of that, they hadn't eaten properly, so they were hospitalized while receiving intravenous fluids.
The soldiers had been transferred to hospitals in other cities because there were too many of them, and they had heard the same thing.
As I looked at them, Andrew realized something.
The current state of the servants and his mother's condition were extremely similar.
"Could it be... that this is the work of the fairies too?"
Andrew immediately returned to the mansion after thinking that, and had been locked in his study almost all day.
His purpose was to gather literature about fairies.
The late Duke Ignis, who had not gotten along well with the Church, had collected books on fairies that the Church had marked as forbidden, and they were neatly arranged in one corner of the study.
Thanks to that, he had clearly known that fairies could cause simple manipulation in human minds or inflict mental damage.
Perhaps what he had endured for years was also this, he had been thinking.
"Lord Andrew, are you there?"
"Ah... yes."
Alicia was the one who opened the door in response to Andrew's answer.
She carefully looked around the room, then entered after making eye contact with him.
"Right now, your sister has arrived at the mansion."
"Really?!"
At Alicia's words, Andrew shot up from his seat.
The cute little sisters he had not seen once since leaving several years ago came to mind.
His big sister Eve and his small sister Riel.
Eve had joined the magic unit and worked under Princess Aine, and was currently searching for their father in the north.
Riel was currently attending the academy in the capital.
If she had just arrived, she was probably Riel, distance-wise.
"Riel..."
His small, adorable little sister.
The appearance of Riel he had met right before we parted came back to him.
She had spoken very little, and had always lived cowering like something was scaring her.
When he thought she was now old enough to attend the academy, it was overwhelming.
"She was probably unloading her luggage when we left earlier, so she should already be inside the mansion by now?"
"Thank you. I'll go right now."
Andrew left his room and ran down the stairs.
The open main gate of the mansion came into view.
The Ignis family’s characteristic flaming red hair was visible.
He had grown quite a bit since the time we parted, but the appearance from his childhood years still remained on the girl.
"Riel!!"
He called her name loudly, and the girl startled and turned around.
The girl’s red eyes met his, and her small mouth opened.
"...Brother?"
Andrew ran to the little sister he had not met in years and hugged her tiny body tightly.
"Waaah!"
Riel let out a small scream.
The young man with hair the same bright red as Riel’s, that was probably her brother Andrew.
He called her name and ran over, then tightly embraced her in his arms.
"Riel...! I'm so glad you're doing well!"
"U... um... b-brother?"
Riel seemed a little dazed.
That made sense. After all, Riel had almost no impressive memories of her brother.
"Hey... brother?"
"Y-yes! What's wrong?"
"H-huh... it's kind of embarrassing, so would you mind letting go...?"
Realizing what state he was in, Andrew released his embrace with a face red enough to match his hair color.
Thanks to that, he could properly see her face. It was a gentlemanly young man with slightly long hair the same color as Riel’s.
He would probably cause a lot of commotion if he went out to a party or something.
"Um... sorry. It's been too long..."
"It's fine, I understand."
"Yeah. Thanks. ...um?"
Andrew’s gaze turned toward me.
I was thinking this was probably the right timing to say something, when Andrew’s mouth opened.
"Those in the back... is it Phyllis?"
Ah, I had seen Phyllis behind me, not me.
I almost felt embarrassed for bringing it up.
"It's been a while, Lord Andrew."
"Yeah, you seem to have made it safely."
"Eh?"
The knight startled at Andrew’s words and let out an awkward sound on his own.
Well, thinking about it, when Phyllis was expelled from the mansion, Andrew had already left the mansion with his parents.
Perhaps he hadn’t known that Phyllis had been expelled.
Phyllis seemed to have reached the same thought, so she changed her expression that was about to break and said,
"No, I’m currently working for another family."
"...Really? Then why are you here now..."
"That’s..."
Phyllis sent a glance my way.
Following her gaze, Andrew’s eyes also turned toward me, and realizing that it was my turn to speak, I extended my hand to Lord Andrew.
"It’s my first time meeting you, Lord Andrew. I am Kyou Ventos."
"Ventos...? The Ventos Count’s family?"
"Yes. The sister of my..."
I hesitated on how to describe my relationship with Riel.
But we hadn’t even confessed yet, and we weren’t dating.
I definitely felt love for Riel, and I thought Riel probably felt the same, but...
What if it wasn’t?
"...We’re academy friends."
I felt Phyllis’s gaze from behind, and Riel looked at me with a slightly disappointed expression.
Was it okay to say it confidently without thinking about the aftereffects?
As I thought that and turned back toward Andrew, I felt a faint killing intent in his eyes as he looked at me.
...He seemed to have a lot of trouble ahead.
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