“Hup! Hah! Yahh!!”

“Good try! Come on, slice and dice!”

(Nightmare again last night…)

“Dowaryaaaaaa!!”

“I like that energy! But watch out for openings.”

(Eight straight uninterrupted years of nightmares.)

“Whoa!? Ack–!”

Thud!

“Great effort, great effort! You almost got me that time!”

(I always see Laila… It never feels better either. Her eyes… It’s always her eyes. That madness.)

A young girl looks up with frustration at a boy holding the tip of a wooden sword at her neck. His eyes tremble for a moment before crinkling as he smiles. The two of them are wearing heavy protective gear in a wide indoor training area with one armed and armored man at each entrance, their personal knights.

“This is the longest you’ve ever lasted. Giving up so soon, Cal?”

“N-No, I’m not done yet, Alec. Once more!”

Regaining her composure, the girl, Calista Ironhill, raises her sword once again. The man at the door to her back watches her training carefully. As her personal knight, he has been offering her advice to overcome her opponent’s combat tactics. Unfortunately, her opponent is the family’s young combat genius, Alaric Ironhill, her twin brother.

Both personal knights were overcome with mixed feelings after getting to witness the extent of Alaric’s inborn talent. Alaric’s personal knight pays attention to his movements, wondering if he can gain insights that might even aid his own development. He sighs in slight embarrassment at the very thought however.

(Incredible every time I see it… He’s able to control his footwork, center of gravity and momentum like that even though he’s only 12. What was I like at that age? The young miss too has such potential.)

Within three minutes, Alaric wins again, his sword aiming at his sister’s back right where her heart would be.

“You’re doing amazing, Cal.”

Calista looks up at her brother with narrow eyes while taking off her gloves and helmet. She then throws them directly at his head while he’s in the middle of shedding his own. Orion automatically dodges even at this close distance which makes Calista feel even more…

“H-Hey! What was that for? I was giving you a compliment!”

“Hmph!” Calista blushes in embarrassment and marches off while Orion’s personal knight walks up and whispers into his ear. 

“After facing such an overwhelming victory, perhaps you, young master, should be slightly more boastful and less magnanimous, it appears like you’re talking down to your opponent without even viewing her as someone to be serious against when facing.”

“What, really? Hmm…”

(I guess that makes sense. For a twelve year old, she excels in everything and what she needs more than anything is confidence in her own strength. With her aptitude as well…)

Shaking his head at his own inability to handle strong-willed children, Orion calls out to Calista, wiping the slate clean.

“Hurry up, Cal! We’ll go eat now! After training like this, you need some high protein foods! Meat, fish, and if you’re late, I’ll be eating your share!”

“No fair! Don’t eat without me!”

After changing out of his clothes and taking a well-needed shower, Alaric, formerly the godslayer Orion, waits for Calista to return while sitting with his personal maid, Rubedo Gilfoyle. The table in front of him displays a veritable feast of delicious exotic meat and fish dishes. His personal knight, Tarsin Hilba, waits by the wall, adjacent to the entrance.

“Where did the chefs get the produce and meat for today’s dishes?” Alaric asks, looking cautiously at some of the unfamiliar dishes in front of him.

“Young master, the produce comes from the Ironhill family plantation and the beef and chicken comes from Prelic’s second layer. Although, the fish we have today isn’t from the Kiure river but brought in by a merchant caravan. There’s been a downgrade in the taste of the local seafood recently so the chefs decided to choose a different vendor this week.”

(...I know it’s been eight years since I regained my memories, but she doesn’t know that. Since I was six, Rubedo’s been talking to me as if I were an adult. That should be weird, right? Or is that just how it is for maids who raise noble children?)

“Oh! Wow, this all looks delicious!”

“Aha, you finally came, what took you so long?”

“It’s rude to ask that of a lady… though I’m surprised you didn’t start eating without me.”

“What do you mean, Cal? You really thought I’d start eating without you? I’d never do that.”

“Oh… Well, thank you.”

Alaric looks at Calista, who has a small smile on her face. Recently, she’s been going through a rebellious phase but she’s never tried to distance herself from her brother. It looks to him as if she’s just having trouble expressing herself. He’s honestly glad she can display rebellion outwards, especially in this household.

(She’s truly innocent. If not for the Viscount and mother, I wouldn’t be so worried about what kind of person she’d turn into. If I’m not here to take care of her and teach her about how to be a responsible person, who knows what kind of catastrophe would emerge later on? The only thing to nip in the bud is her over-reliance on me…)

The twins sit and eat their meals happily, large amounts of food disappearing before the astonished, though well-restrained, expressions of their personal maids. With the daily sword training and mana training Orion holds, proper nutrition is key to continued growth.

“After we eat, I’m going to go see the horses,” Orion says.

“Why? Today’s not one of our riding lesson days.”

“I just wanted to help the stablehands take care of Tilda. It’s easier to bond with her if I’m around her more often too. You don’t have to join me, I can go myself and–”

“No! I-I’m coming too!”

Within the hour, the olive-haired twins go to the Ironhill stables. The man on stable duty, a 20-something man named Timothy, is moving bales of hay.

“Come on, let’s help him, Cal.”

“Y-Young lady Calista, it would be better if you didn’t–”

“No, I want to help! My horse is here too!”

Easily sidestepping the worries of her personal maid, Calista grabs a pitchfork and starts moving hay along with Alaric, not just feeding their horses but feeding all the other horses in the stable as well.

The stablehand looks terrified by the sudden intrusion of the two noble children but manages to remain calm. After gathering the hay to feed the horses, Orion starts brushing Tilda, his midnight Fresian breed, while Calista imitates him with her own brown Fresian, Holtis.

After two hours spent in the cool spring breeze, the two children finish up their care activities for their horses with fruit, a salt lick and a sugar cube. Alaric and Calista eventually change out of their outdoor clothes and make their way to dinner.

(Time spent doing meaningful commoner labor… She even talked with Timothy. More of that every so often is good… but still, she can’t just stay cooped up here.)

“Cal… have you ever wanted to leave the house and go visit the city Father rules?” Orion asks with a sly smile on his face. Calista can tell that today’s dinner won’t be very peaceful. She answers hesitantly.

“...Of course I have, but mother would never–”

“Don’t worry about mother, I have a plan in mind. Though, for it to work, I need you to play along with me, alright? Pay close attention to how I act, you can figure out how to deal with mother with some of those hints. Don’t fear her, sister. Don’t fear her.”

Calista wavers for a few seconds but soon clenches her fist in determination. If her brother has a plan to get the both of them a little freedom, then she’s all for it. Even if it means confronting their mother.

(Commendable courage, Cal. I have my own battle to face as well… Talking to Mother is… Ugh. Dinner is my least favorite meal.)

—

“Mother, Calista wants me to accompany her into the city. Could we get your approval?”

The atmosphere freezes at the dinner table. A gorgeous woman with shoulder length, bright-green hair, wearing a dark blue, luxuriously woven and embroidered dress looks over at Alaric. He chews his food calmly without looking directly at her. The woman’s golden eyes, matching the color of Calista’s, stare daggers at him and then at his sister.

Meanwhile Calista herself looks at Alaric, betrayed, shrinking inwards at her mother’s glare.

“...Alaric, why would Calista wish to go into the city?” 

Rather than asking Calista herself, she asks Alaric, already assuming that this is one of the ploys of her troublemaker son. Calista feels some of the burden fall off her, sighing in relief. He smiles warmly, making sure his voice has no trace of venom.

“Well, actually, she’s already been thinking about her coming-of-age ceremony! It’s three years early but she wanted to get a deeper understanding of fashion than the tutors, or even you, could directly provide. After all, several of the aristocracy’s past trends have been set in advance by the styles of the wealthy commoners.”

“Hm…”

“I also suggested that she visit a jeweler as well in order to find the right necklaces. Some merchants have materials and gems that are rare even in the rest of the Everhart kingdom, let alone Prelic. At least, that’s what Rubedo has told me.”

He gestures to Rubedo who looks nonplussed and his mother nods in approval.

“Intriguing… However, why should Calista go into the city when we could simply have our staff bring any of the dresses and jewelry that she would need?”

“She wishes for the variety that only traveling merchant caravans and their franchises can provide. Of course, if you would like we could bring those traveling businessmen into the estate and–”

“My, your sense of humor certainly isn’t lacking tonight…”

Alaric subtly smiles at the restrained disgust on his mother’s face, so easily manipulated by her distaste towards non-nobles. She views commoners, no matter how individually wealthy and influential, as a type of bug. All of the maids directly serving her and the first wife’s children are daughters of barons, baronets or loyal knight families. 

(All of them are like this, including father, the first wife and our uncles. It’s why I have to force interactions between Cal and the commoner stablehands and gardeners… Come on, Mother, the only choice now is to let us go out with an entourage to visit the city ourselves. Just say yes and stop dragging this out.)

Orion is looking carefully at the expression on Calista’s face that verged on panic. He makes eye contact with her, signaling for her to calm down and prepare for their mother to question her. She nods, taking a few deep breaths, working hard to suppress the terror she felt in her mother’s presence.

“Hmm… So, tell me Calista. Is what your brother telling me accurate?”

“Absolutely, mother, I-I have been worried that my grasp of fashion is inadequate.”

The two children hold their breath as their mother contemplates their proposal.

“Well…”

—

“So… to go outside I'll have to shop for clothes and jewelry?”

Calista asks this question as she lies in her bed while looking up at the gilded ceiling of her and her brother’s bedroom.

“...Don’t you think you should be sleeping in your own bedroom at this point?”

“Y-You’re dodging the question!”

“Don’t worry about the shopping, I’ll pick everything out anyways, we’ll hardly spend an hour for that. Then we’ll visit the Horizon Field market… there’s souvenirs, delicious, unique food that mom won’t let us eat, sweets, desserts, even… a magic shop filled with dolls, music boxes and–”

“I’m not a little kid. I’m not happy to visit a toy shop for dolls and music boxes… at all…”

“We’ll end the day with a visit to the place where the Kiure river splits up into tributaries. That’s in the second layer where the wealthy commoners live. A boat ride… isn’t out of the question.”

“Wha!? Really!?”

“If you want. Although by the evening, you might feel too tired so we’ll see. The market is–”

“I won’t! I won’t get tired!”

“Haha, good! Come on, go to sleep then.”

As the excited Calista tries to sleep, Alaric thinks about how Calista was during dinner. During dinner, whenever their mother even glanced at Calista, she… looked terrified. It’s moments like those that he’s deeply yearned for even a fraction of his full power back.

Orion wants to tell Calista anything that could wipe that fear away.

(But… it’s beyond my power to easily solve a traumatic childhood where someone as ruthless as Clementine Ironhill is your mother.)

The chance to defy the family is not now and it wasn’t then when he hadn’t even hit puberty. But… he will still offer his support to his sister right now while he can, just like then. Alaric’s friendship and warmth is all he can give and it's all she can receive.

Until the day of reckoning for the Ironhill family.

“I love you, Cal.”

“...I know, big brother. I… love you too.”

“...You don’t have to be so embarrassed to say it, you know?”

“...Hmph.”

(When the time comes, you will understand the power in your hands and you’ll sleep soundly at night without needing me around. I don’t have the power to save you and I… never did. You must save yourself, Cal. You must save yourself.)

—

The next day, Orion wakes up early in the morning, around dawn. He gets out of bed and leaves his bedroom without alerting his sister. He goes not to the room of his maid as usual but to the room of his personal knight.

“Hey, Tarsin, it’s time.”

Orion sees the appearance of the tall, well-built, bright-blue haired man, wearing armor unbefitting a noble’s escort, a sword sheathed on his waist. His amber eyes look at Alaric with a hint of worry.

“Do you have clothes for me as well?”

“Yes.”

Tarsin shows Orion the clothes that he should wear in order to blend in as a commoner. He goes to a hallway washroom to change into a beige dress shirt, black pants, brown leather boots and a gray cloak. When he returns, Tarsin hands him a belt with a sword in its attached hilt.

Orion takes out the sword and looks at its clean surface.

(Good. It shouldn’t be necessary but still, good… I’ve been feeling so aimless ever since I woke up. But today… Well, I suppose I can remind myself about why I can’t be complacent in this new life. There are things in this world that are wrong. Things that only I can change. Only me.)

“Young master, are you sure you–”

“Sigh, don’t keep repeating yourself. We’ll be back before noon. I already told Rubedo that we’re going out for a morning errand and mother won’t say anything to me if I go out first without Cal.”

“...Very well.”

Without any more fanfare, Orion starts walking while Tarsin follows. Quickly and quietly so as not to make any noise.

Orion will return for Calista later, for their day out together. But, he has to take advantage of today in his own way too. For now, he and Tarsin prepare to head out for a special event being hosted in the city today.

A public execution.