Published: September 4, 2025
This is not from Satou’s perspective.
This story takes place about eight years before the main story (with the latter half set four to six years prior). It’s been a while since we’ve had a third-person narration.
Correction made on 9/15.
“Ringlande!”
The voice of a young girl echoed through the spacious private room.
“Ringlande!”
The girl, as if venting her dark feelings inside, slammed the cushions she held in both hands against the back of the sofa.
“Riin, Gruuan, De!”
With the limited strength of a young girl’s arms, only a soft poof sound was heard; not even a single feather from the waterfowl stuffed inside the cushions flew out.
She probably didn’t get much exercise normally, because after swinging the cushions around for just a few minutes, the girl was already out of breath.
A restrained boy’s chuckle leaked out at that moment.
“Who’s there!”
The girl’s anger, which had been subsiding with her heavy breaths, flared up again. After all, before she started throwing a tantrum, she had ordered the maids in the room to send everyone else away.
“You’re mad, aren’t you, Sera?”
Suppressing his laughter, the boy who stepped out from the shadows was the girl’s older brother, Tislard Ouyugok. The name Sera had been shouting all this time was that of their mutual elder sister.
“Brother Tislard! How rude to enter without making a sound!”
“I’m sorry.”
The boy deflected Sera’s angry outburst like a willow branch swaying in the breeze and smiled gently. Though only ten years old, he gave off a slightly mature impression.
“Why are you calling out to Sister Rin again and again? Did you hear some gossip from the chatty maids?”
Having been hit on the mark, Sera puffed up her cheeks and looked away with a flushed face. Though she rarely showed childish behaviors, they were not uncommon in front of her brother Tislard.
“Hmph, it’s the usual stuff—
‘Hey, did you hear? Lady Ringlande revived lost magic!’
‘Are you still talking about such old news? This time, she led the holy knights underground in the Labyrinth City and defeated the floor master! They say she even got a lightning Demonic Sword as proof!’
‘Wow, those labyrinth Demonic Swords cost hundreds of gold coins, right? Amazing!’
—that’s what they say. And at the end, they say, ‘Compared to that, Sera is just ordinary.’ Don’t you think that’s meddlesome? I already know all that! Only a sister who has a genius elder sister understands how tough it is to be the younger one with a genius sibling!”
The boy smiled wryly as he listened to his sister imitate the maids’ voices. He had just overheard his butlers and maids telling almost the same stories, but from his own perspective. That was why he had come all this way—to console a sister who must be going through similar feelings.
But it was purely to comfort his sister. He wasn’t so soft-hearted as to wallow in self-pity. Such weakness would prevent him from inheriting their grandfather and father’s vast domain or dealing with the seasoned nobles of the realm.
“Sera, stop comparing yourself to Sister. She’s special. She’s a prodigy who stands shoulder to shoulder with the likes of King Ancestor Yamato and the Sage King Zara who revived the realm. Comparing yourself to a giant tree and lamenting your own short height is pointless.”
“Ugh, I know! It’s not about logic!”
It wasn’t something you’d expect a seven-year-old to say, but Sera, much wiser than other children her age, fully understood her brother’s words. Still, her young heart refused to accept it.
“If you frown too much, you’ll get wrinkles between your eyebrows, okay? If you end up disliking the boy you like in the future, don’t blame me.”
“Hmph. Then I’ll just make you my husband, Brother!”
Though her retort was a little cute to be called a spiteful remark, Sera still rubbed her forehead with her fingers. Even at her young age, her maiden’s heart was growing steadily.
◇
“Baptism?”