Boyhood (2)
While Edwin's delusions ran wild, Serifina's little head was overloaded too.
Regression? Second playthrough? Spirit language is way too hard…
The only thing that wasn't hard was this one fact.
This scruffy little boy was Lord Edwin the Spirit!
Serifina was the proud young lady of a ducal house. Even after turning the little ladies of other noble families into her subordinates, she had never made a single friend.
Her terrifying older brother had taught her that "young ladies from lower houses aren't of the right station, so they can never be friends."
But if it was Lord Edwin the Spirit, he was more than qualified to be Serifina's friend.
"Edwin! You're my friend!"
And so Serifina declared it with absolute confidence.
She was a little excited—this was her first friend ever.
Watching Serifina smile so smugly that it almost looked sneaky, Edwin was half-convinced.
They never really showed what Serifina was like before her mother died, but a person's innate nature doesn't flip to the complete opposite. Even in the original, Serifina never made friends. The noble young ladies hovering around her were all just subordinates.
You could say she was born with the arrogance befitting a ducal daughter.
And yet she takes one look at me—someone she's never met, dressed way more shabbily than any noble she usually deals with—and declares me her friend?
She even got my name right without me introducing myself.
She had to have known about me beforehand. The odds she's a regressor are sky-high.
Looks like first-round me successfully saved the Duchess and got taken into the Erhardt Ducal House.
Or… maybe she didn't believe me, the Duchess died, and we ran into each other by chance afterward and got close.
She must have failed at something in the first round and regressed.
So what should he do now?
What's there to even think about?
He had been planning to help Serifina anyway.
"If that is what My Lady wishes, I would gladly become your friend."
"Hold it!"
A knight stepped between Edwin and Serifina.
"Lady Serifina. You would make friends with this filthy brat who crawled out of god-knows-where? Even the daughters of count houses aren't of sufficient rank to be your friends—this commoner trash is even less qualified!"
Edwin was impressed.
That's sound logic.
In romance fantasies, the imperial crown prince, the next heir of some ducal house, or the master of a magic tower would fall in love with a commoner girl or some nobody from a minor baronial house and completely ignore status.
Was that the kind of thinking a proper high-ranking noble should have?
You needed someone like this knight, drawing a hard line between ranks.
But Serifina's thoughts, it seemed, were different from Edwin's.
It wasn't just Serifina.
The maid who had been nodding along with a pleased expression, and even the Duchess with her deeply moved face, both glared at the knight.
"No!"
"What do you mean, no?"
"Edwin isn't dirty. He's handsome!"
"…"
Ah. So she's not a regressor?
It's just that this is a romance fantasy world, so looks are the actual plot armor. Looks matter way more than status or something.
The knight's mouth fell open and he froze solid.
"Th-then… are you trying to make him your friend because he's handsome?"
"No!"
"It's not that either…"
"Edwin is just my friend! He was mine from the start!"
Diary = Spirit = Friend = Mine.
A perfect logical circuit.
The problem was that the knight could not understand Serifina's logical circuit.
In truth, no one except Serifina herself could understand what was going on inside the little lady's head.
Not even the Duchess of Erhardt, who resembled her most, nor Edwin—who had watched Serifina's entire life through the game and collected dozens of endings.
So she is a regressor after all?
I don't know… Whether it's the game or reality, the character called Serifina is just too hard to understand. There's a reason that review asking "How the hell did they code the protagonist's AI?" got so many upvotes.
Serifina stubbornly dug in her heels while the knight descended into confusion.
Before the pointless standoff could drag on any longer, the Duchess stepped in to cut it short.
"Sir Sero."
"My Lady Duchess."
"You were the second son of a viscount house, were you not?"
"That is correct."
"And a son of a viscount house… is talking back to the young lady of a ducal house? To the daughter of the lord he serves, no less?"
"…!"
The knight's face went deathly pale.
"Earlier, and now again. It seems you have no grasp of your own position whatsoever. I cannot tell whether you keep contradicting me and my daughter out of loyalty… or because you look down on us and are simply being defiant."
In an instant, the entire area was swallowed by silence.
Unable to withstand the Duchess's pressure, the knight bowed his head and trembled violently.
Edwin screamed inwardly as well.
No wonder she got hit by a bunch of mercenaries even though a ducal knight was escorting her.
Did this Sir Sero get his pride wounded and abandon the Duchess? He offered perfectly reasonable advice, only for a woman with flowers for brains to treat him like dirt, so he got sick of the idea of serving a master like that forever.
Normally he'd have to grit his teeth and endure it, but then the mercenary ambush event just happens to trigger? Maybe he decided this was the perfect chance to get rid of a stupid master and find a more sensible one…
Normal people just can't understand someone with a romance-fantasy brain.
Come to think of it, this knight Sero looks a lot like that knight who showed up as one of Pingchang's subordinates in Asagon. Did he scrub his identity?
Nah, he just looks like a mob character, so maybe it's just a resemblance. Still, putting him on the watch list. I need to avoid any danger this knight might cause.
What the Duchess just said could become a death flag. Death flags must be dodged at all costs.
"That's not true!"
"No!"
Edwin and Serifina shouted at the same time.
Their eyes met in midair for a single fleeting moment.
The Duchess and the maid, noticing the exchange, both wore strange expressions.
Their timing is really perfect. Is this a bond the Spirit Lord arranged for them?
My Lady is the one chosen by the Spirit Lord. Someone like her wouldn't help a boy she's never met for no reason, and they wouldn't be this in sync either. Could this child also be chosen by the Spirit Lord?
Those were the respective thoughts of the Duchess and the maid.
The two women quickly reached a conclusion.
Serifina and Edwin shared a truly special bond!
Unaware of the two women's misunderstanding, Edwin scrambled to dodge the death flag.
"A knight's virtue is to protect noble ladies. When a suspicious child like me suddenly appears, of course he should be wary. Of course, I may not fully understand the ways of the nobility and could have caused a misunderstanding. If my words sounded insolent… I will gladly accept any punishment."
Having finished speaking, Edwin straightened his back just enough that it did not look arrogant.
Everyone who saw the posture—balanced one step into confidence and one step into humility—was impressed.
The Duchess, who knew proper etiquette, was especially moved.
It was different from the noble etiquette she knew, yet it was clearly distinct from a commoner's bearing. There was a refinement about him that made it impossible to believe he was an ordinary commoner.
"Oh… Might you be the son of some noble house? Or perhaps the heir of a fallen family?"
What is she even talking about now…
Crap! I wasn't commoner-like enough!
Romance fantasy characters turn into absolute idiots when it comes to romance, but when it comes to etiquette their eyes are sharper than an eagle's.
The problem is that this body I possessed is a genuine commoner… I only learned etiquette in my past life because my sister dragged me into some weird club.
My actual sister has never been useful for anything in life.
Serifina's little head tilted to one side.
Sisters aren't useful?
She wasn't Edwin's sister. She was his friend.
So of course she was very useful.
In other words, Serifina had to help Edwin!
"I think so too! Edwin is definitely a noble!"
Serifina. What exactly are you basing this cuckoo nonsense on? What family of nobility am I even supposed to be from.
Is my hidden identity going to get revealed in the future or something?
Bad Edwin!
Serifina pouted.
She had helped him—why was he complaining?
"Hmph! Edwin is not a noble!"
"…"
Everyone was left speechless for a moment.
Then one of the soldiers who had gone out on reconnaissance returned.
"Sir Sero! It's an emergency! We heard the sound of clashing blades in the forest and went to look—mercenaries were fighting Hans! Even after Hans revealed our identity, the mercenaries ignored him and kept attacking!"
"What? What happened to Hans?!"
"Kh… I tried to help, but when Hans saw me he shouted that it was already too late, that he'd buy time and I should go… so I barely made it back…"
The soldier was on the verge of tears.
But everyone's gazes left the soldier and turned instead toward Serifina and Edwin.
Lady Serifina was right!
Did the Spirit Lord truly send a warning through Lady Serifina?
To think spirits actually exist in this world.
Hans's death is unfortunate, but this works out. Now I can persuade the Duchess…
"Everyone, listen well."
The Duchess held Serifina close as she spoke.
"Withdraw at once."
"Yes, My Lady!"
Not a single person raised an objection.
The process of beginning the withdrawal went so smoothly that even Edwin was thrown off.
I haven't even done anything yet and everything's already working out this well.
Thud.
There was a sound of someone collapsing. When he looked, Sero had dropped to one knee.
"I dared to doubt My Lady… I am truly sorry…"
"Hmph. As long as you know."
"You said your name was Edwin. I apologize to you as well. You risked your life to come warn us, and I suspected you."
Whoa, his attitude flipped this hard?
The Duchess smiled.
"Then let us take our little one's friend along with us."
"Pardon?"
The maid spoke as well.
"It is a bond the Spirit Lord has connected for them. Of course we must take him."
"…The Spirit Lord?"
"That's right!"
As the three women launched into a conversation he could not follow, the drained Edwin had no choice but to write in his diary.
Spirits?
That was only background lore even in the original. Why are spirits suddenly coming up now.
…No idea. Maybe the regressed Serifina did something.
Anyway, I've joined the ducal house, so the first goal is complete.
Next goal: avoid Serifina's older brother.
That guy is insane.
Having read the diary, Serifina tilted her head.
What does "insane" mean?
It was a word difficult for a carefully raised little lady to understand.
As I thought… spirit language is just too hard…