Something had changed while I was away.

Something that had made my father think of such mad strategy as the path we needed to follow.

There was a part of me that considered a third party being involved, someone that was manipulating everything behind the scenes.

But back then I could not think of someone like my father being manipulated.

After all, his mind and heart did not waver even after experiencing the bloody chaos that is the Draconic Front.

He was a good King and a good man.

So, I really wanted to believe that he must have had a reason.

I wanted to put my trust in him, even if I had threatened him with my own authority.

I wanted to believe in him.

Not only as a son, but also as a Knight.

But then there was Ulthane and what he hinted at...

He was loyal to the Kingdom, but my impression of such loyalty was that of someone loyal to the place that let him do as he pleased in the battlefield.

It would not have surprised me if he betrayed a superior just so that he could get a better position and even more freedom to do whatever he wanted. 

Thus, giving someone like that control over a bigger position or a Knight's Order was nothing but a foolish act.

My father must have known that and yet everything pointed in that direction.

Of course, I was not planning to stand with my arms crossed and do nothing about it.

Not at all.

I remember being deep in thought as we went to my personal quarters, pondering about the steps I was going to take and even then, my paths were limited.

As such, I focused on what I could do.

First, I was going to assess the state of the other orders and see if they knew about that new order without breaking my promise with Licht. Second, I planned to try and obtain their support against my father’s suicidal strategy, even if I did not need them for exercising my authority.

Lastly, I needed to talk with my brother and Miss Hilde.

After all, it was difficult for me to imagine them not opposing such strategy with all the effort they had put in developing the Kingdom and the Capital.

But, even then, I needed confirmation.

"My Prince, I am sorry to bother you when you are deep in thought, but we are almost there."

"It is not a bother Eric; I was just making a clear list of what we have to do. We have a severe and limiting lack of information that needs to be dealt with. Was I too naïve in not leaving some of our members to keep an eye, as they say, on everything here?"

"I do not think so, Prince Erevain. After all, we have never encountered a reason to suspect our surroundings and the people within them. It is something that is still difficult to process, even for me. Furthermore, leaving to subjugate the mutated manticore with less members would have proven to be more difficult. Kristoff’s imprudence notwithstanding.”

"Indeed, there is no use thinking on what ifs, for what is done is done. At that moment that was the right course of action. This time shall be no different, we shall deal with it as we do with everything. With our utmost effort."

"Yes, Prince Erevain. We will!"

As we discussed such matters, it did not take long for us to leave behind the last set of stairs and step into another large hallway, and there, at the end of it, a black-haired young woman in maid’s clothing waited outside of my private quarters.

It is tradition for a member of the royal family to have at least two attendants.

One who is a general assistant and another one who is a bodyguard.

Although, that tradition stops being enforced when the one being guarded surpasses the combat capabilities of the one guarding them.

In my case, that young woman was the one who had acted as my bodyguard until I was strong enough.

At a glance, she looked like any other human of the same age as mine, but she was not human.

She was a half-ogre.

She would look the same even if my hair lost all its color due to age.

But most importantly, she was a gentle young woman, one who would gladly provide assistance to anyone who asked, and she would do so with a smile on her face.

She was caring, energetic, honest, direct…and many, many other things.

She was my childhood friend, my first friend, my sparring partner, my rival, and more.

She was Mary.

I trusted her the most, that was why she was the one guarding both my quarters and a very important person to me.

She welcomed us with a full smile, just like she would always do.

"Welcome back, My Prince, Eric."

"We are home, Mary."

"Big Brotheeeeeer!!!"

"...!"

And that time there was someone else who welcomed us, someone who could not wait any longer inside my quarters and jumped out to hug me tightly. All as her obvious accomplice, Mary, giggled.

She was someone who was a very important person to me.

She was a little girl with checkered white and black hair.

My little sister and the princess of the Kingdom, Euphemia.

___________________________________________________

"So, why are you not in school, Euphy? Do not tell me that you escaped from class just to come see me."

After we entered my quarters, I found out that Mary had already prepared some tea and a light lunch for all us.

We immediately partook of it, despite the circumstances and tried to enjoy it as best as we could.

Of course, Euphemia enjoyed it the most, as she happily listened to my brief recollection of the battle against the manticore while she ate.

She…she really found my stories quite enjoyable and was always eager to hear them, even those that were heavy in nature, she would take them in as the necessary parts of life.

'Be it happy or sad, I want to know', she said that to me once.

Even so, she was still a child, one that would get startled when questioned about a bad deed.

"N-No, o-of course not, Big Brother! Hmph! How could you think like that of your lovable and cute little sister?!"

She was always like that, pouting and acting as if she was offended just to try and hide her guilt.

Meanwhile, Mary would use the chance to tease Eric, which generally involved treating him like a little kid, feeding him and rustling his hair.

"Then, do tell me how you are here?"

"D-Do you promise to not be angry and pat my head before I tell you?"

In any case, my little sister was also quite smart and knew very well that I could spoil her even more than Licht due to her age and she would make use of that at every turn.

‘Goddess, I have been blessed with quite the troublesome siblings.’

That is what I thought at the time as I felt part of the tension in my heart vanish.

"I promise to not be angry, but I will only pat your head after you answer me."

"I suggest you take that deal, Euphy. Erevain is quite scary when angry, right?"

Having finished with teasing Eric, Mary interjected in her usual nonchalant manner as she giggled.

Still, it was fine for her to say such...things...and use our first names.

As I mentioned before, our relationship with her was deeper than just Master and Attendant.

With Euphy even viewing her as an elder sister.

A fact that was reinforced with her always assisting Euphy in her little schemes, such as the one of that day.

Naturally, I already had an idea as to what happened, but Euphy needed to take responsibility for it as well as someone else.

"See? He is already lightly glaring at me. Scary~. So scary~."

She was not scared.

She was having fun, but she was also doing so to help Euphy admit what she did.

"...! B-Big Brother! Do not make that s-scary face! It was my plan! Please! Do not turn Mary into stone!"

She said so with tears in her eyes.

It...was indeed painful to have a face that can do that to one's siblings but...

Turning Mary into stone?

That was not something I could do.

So, I wondered why my sister believed something like that and I reached the obvious conclusion.

Mary had been telling her strange things again.

Something that made me want to speak with her in private at a later time.

"Do not worry, Euphy. I am not turning Mary into statue or something similar. I can assure you."

I smiled at her while cleaning off her tears as I tried to reassure her, and it worked.

"Brother Licht was rambling on about a lot of things while walking in the halls and-and...he then said that you were coming back today. So, I sneaked out of my room when I sent Charles and Sistina for treats before I had to go to school and then…I ran here. I-I asked Mary to let me hide inside...she said yes...but! But! I was the one who did it! Mary is innocent, yes?!"

She really tried her best to protect Mary from whatever verdict I was to reach, all as she looked at me with her big silvery eyes, which were trembling.

There was no way for me to be harsh on her.

Still, I had to do my duty as her brother.

"Yes, and I am happy that you wanted to see me so much, to the point of going through all those tribulations, but you need to apologize to Charles and Sistina. Making them run around the palace looking for you, like they are probably doing now, is not good, Euphy. Understood?"

I patted her head after that.

"Yes, Big Brother...heheh...I love you..."

"I love you too, Euphy."

Heh…there is no doubt that she was my sister since she managed to outrun her two attendants with ease while also sneaking around the palace.

After all, she did enjoy playing hide and seek with Mother.

____________________________________________________

Shortly after we finished with our lunch, we heard someone knock on the door.

It was Charles, one of my little sister's attendants.

He was there to pick her up and take her to the rest of her classes.

But before she left, she pulled my hand and looked at me with great concern, which took me by surprise.

"Big Brother..."

"Yes, Euphy?"

"Brother Licht is trying way too hard...he needs to rest..."

"Indeed, but do not worry about that. I already made him promise to take some time to rest and not to overwork himself."

"But...but...there is something worrying him. I could see it when he was rambling in the halls...he was saying something like 'everything needs to go like this or else...' and 'no, no, it needs to be perfect or I will not be able to...'. His eyes were scary but desperate too...as if it were something that scared him. Big Brother..."

Back then I speculated that my Father’s mad strategy was weighing down on my younger brother too and so, he needed to rest with even more reason.

But my priority then was Euphy who needed both comfort and reassurance.

That was natural for a child like her and it was even more natural for me to comply.

After all, it was my duty as her elder brother.

"Euphy, I will take care of Licht. I promise that I will help him deal with whatever it is that is worrying him. You have my word."

“Thank you…”

She hugged me so tightly then…

She was so little but at the same time she was so strong…

I could not let anything happen to her.

I needed to protect her future and everyone else’s from what was coming.

Such was my conviction.

‘Please Goddess, watch over me as I do so.’

__________________________________________________

"I see. You will have to forgive me, Erevain, but...what is your father thinking?! Is he mad?!"

After Euphemia left, we told Mary everything and her reaction went as expected.

Even with her referring to the King as mad.

"I am still lacking in information to reach such conclusion, but I do understand why it gives that impression."

"What are you going to do now, Erevain? You are aware that after you told him all of that he will be wary of you, right?"

"Indeed, that is why I am telling you to be vigilant and careful. I cannot ask you to do anything else since it would be a predictable and foolish move on my part. I even hazard to guess that you were put under surveillance from the moment all of this started to gestate. In any case, I am planning to summon all the members of the Swords of Dawn to a meeting where I shall inform them of the situation. But I plan on having two people know beforehand so that they can collect more information."

"Hmm, that is good. Then I will sharpen my senses so that I can ‘casually’ overhear things while I do my rounds here. If I find out something important, I will contact you, My Prince. Also, don't worry. Those idiots following me do not know of the full extent of my capabilities. They might think I am just standing there, but I can hear them quite clearly despite their active skills."

Mary would always refer to me with my title instead of my name whenever she was serious.

It is also worth mentioning that she was worthy of being a knight, just as Eric, but she decided against it, with her reason being that she did not want to leave Euphy without her elder sister.

"Mary...please, take care. We do not know what is happening, do not do anything that could put you in danger."

"Aw, are you that worried about me, Eric? I'm so moved that I could kiss you! Come here!"

"Wha—?! Unhand me! S-Stop!! Do not kiss my forehead! Aaah! Why did I say that!"

"You are so cute!"

Witnessing such exchange filled me with nostalgia once again, even in front of the unknown.

Still, I could not forget the danger in which we were in.

"Mary, one last thing. If something happens to me—"

So, I tried to tell Mary my most important request, but her finger stopped me from voicing it.

"Yeah. I will take care of your dear little siblings. You don't have to say it."

"Thank you."

__________________________________________________

And so, four days passed.

After a conversation with Miss Hilde deepened my suspicions, I could no longer trust her.

I also gave Allegro and Luca the task of collecting information about my father's strategy, the new Knights’ Order and the state of the possible involvement of Ulthane in it.

Meanwhile, Eric and I met with those in charge of the other orders, gauging their willingness to support my decision in revoking my father's orders, all under the pretense of preparing to deal with the Draconic threat that was approaching.

The response was positive even with the Royal Knights.

Thus, with all of that done, there was only one thing left.

Summoning all the Swords of Dawn to our headquarters and take a course of action.

But when we were in the middle of that meeting someone interrupted as they opened the doors with haste.

"Elder Brother!! Elder Brother!! It is terrible! The expeditionary force...! Its approaching Ryze Village!!"

"Calm down Licht!”

“But…!”

“You are the advisor to the King, a Prince, and my dependable brother. You are not one to be easily shaken. Breathe."

Even as I managed to get him to do as I said, his eyes still showed the desperation and dread that filled him, and it took him a few minutes to somewhat recover.

But that was enough, for we needed to know more about the news he had brought so abruptly.

"Good, now to the matter at hand. The route they had taken was supposed to be one completely free of villages on their way. Yes?"

"I-It is as you say, Elder Brother. But one of the scouts under my supervision just arrived and he reported to me that they are at a day's distance from the village. It seems they took a detour for the sake of arriving even sooner to the Capital..."

"And the village is on the way…”

“…yes.”

“What are the King's orders on this matter, Licht?"

His answer would have been crucial in how I was going to deal with father but…Licht shook his head, which surprised me.

"Telling you was my priority, after what he thinks of doing I..."

For moment I could see concern, dread, and desperation in his eyes, but it disappeared as he seemed to have made up his mind and hardened his heart.

"I ask of you this Elder Brother...go to Ryze village and help them! I will make sure that Father sends reinforcements while we prepare a proper strategy. And if not...I will do it myself."

Licht was clearly pained by his own request, but his eyes were full of determination.

Meanwhile, my knights were just waiting for my orders.

They were already prepared to go into the battlefield even against a Dragon Lord.

All while knowing very well of our chances against it.

That is how they were and still are.

And I knew very well what I needed to do.

I knew it in my heart.

Thus, with a prayer to Miss Nerinne, I made my choice.

"We ride to Ryze."

_______________________________________

And that was what sealed my fate.

 

 

To be continued...(cue ultra kawaii design of Euphy!! Plus, Nendo figures promotion images!! Only for $199.99!! Plus taxes! Plus shipping! And limited quantities in sites we know have bots!)

Holy Fact: Ogres in Arte are more like the Oni than western Ogres. Still, there are some differences unique to Arte's Ogres that shall be seen when the time comes.

Here we have Mary:

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