19 – 19. The Frontline Brat

Carriages, past the ramparts, move under the soldiers’ guidance.

Knights of Helmund, bustling, shifting gear, being shown their lodgings.

Amidst this,

a small girl, pigtails bouncing, strides forth, leaving all behind.

Her steps, as confident as if the place were her own, lead straight to her brother-in-law.

“Isaac!”

“Sharen… you really came.”

When he’d heard Sharen was coming, a little surprised he’d been.

The brat wasn’t one for volunteering to a battlefield, it seemed.

But looking at Sharen now, Isaac knew he’d had it completely backwards.

*Came for the fun of it.*

This girl’s mind was even more untethered than he’d thought.

The crisis of the Great Swarm, and here she was, treating the Maliduan Wall like a picnic, a jaunt.

Sharen, her words tumbling out like a waterfall, it seemed, she’d been storing it up.

“Where are you staying, Isaac? Is there space next door? I need to order the maids about but it feels mean, I can’t just do it all willy-nilly.”

“……”

“It’s better if you’re nearby when I’m here. I’ll have errands to run, you see!”

The fact that she considered him more comfortable than her hired maids, made him raise an eyebrow.

He exhaled, the thought of his time at Maliduan Wall just becoming more tiring.

“Hey, runt.”

Silberna, who’d been watching beside Isaac, arms crossed, eyes narrowed.

“This is a battlefield. If you’re going to act like a child, you can get out of here now.”

Isaac, biting his lip.

Barely managed to stifle a laugh.

Sharen, on the other hand, eyes wide, waves both arms, letting out a holler.

“Whaaat?! Do you even know who I am? I’m Sharen! The second daughter of Helmund!”

“Silberna, eldest daughter of Caldias.”

“Caldia-“

Sharen, about to retort, freezes mid-sentence at the name.

Eyes rolled, mouth agape, she checked with Isaac, and at his nod, Sharen, all awkwardness, coughed and stepped back.

“Kelsi, what is it? Jeez! Why you calling me all of a sudden!”

“Nobody called you, Sharen,”

Isaac corrected her, and she flushed, lips jutting out.

“B-but you did! Helmundt’s got good ears, y’know! You, you did call, Kelsi, right?”

She looked behind her, but only a gust of wind answered, nobody stood near.

Sadly, Kelsi, her personal maid, was too busy with luggage to cover her mistress’s embarrassment.

“……”

Sharen tucked her lip inside her mouth, silent for a beat.

Silberna added right away, “On the battlefield, command structure is paramount. If, in the future, you’re going to carry on like that, pick up a sword right now. If you win, I’ll hand you the command.”

“Oho?”

She hopped, spinning around to face them both again.

Her pigtails slapped against Isaac, every move bursting with life.

“You’ll give me command if I win? You sure about that?”

“Absolutely.”

Silberna uncrossed her arms.

She gripped the spear resting on her shoulder, stepping forward–

“Ha!”

Sharen, with a mocking smile, stepped back.

“Fine! Let’s see you try!”

“……”

“You underestimate Helmundt?”

Sharen took another step back.

“You think I’m all cute and young, so I have no skill, huh?!”

She can sure walk backwards well.

Isaac thought.

“Didn’t you hear from Isaac?! The blooming beauty of the Rose clan, the rising star of Helmundt!”

“……”

“The Rose Princess, y’know!”

“What was that?”

He’s drifted so far, his voice barely carries now.

Silberna, too, has long since retreated back to her window, arms crossed tight.

“Nuh-uh! I’m tired from the road today, and the air is chilly, it’s cold! And… I need to tend to my blade! Too bad!”

“…….”

“…….”

Sharen’s back now pressed against the carriage they arrived in.

The absurdity of it all has the two of them staring blankly, until Sharen, mortified, lets out a yelp.

“S-stop looking!”

Huffing, she stomps toward the luggage hold to retrieve her greatsword.

“Ouch! Who smacked me on the head!”

She bursts out, face crumpled and desperate, apparently having been whacked on the back of the head from inside the carriage.

“Waaah!”

She ends up clutching the back of her head with both hands, seeking out Kelsy.

“What was that, just now? Is she really Rianna’s younger sister?”

Silberna, still looking lost, like she can’t quite parse the situation, asks Isaac.

“…….”

Isaac’s gaze is fixed on a maid, the likely culprit behind Sharen’s head-smack.

A woman with her hair piled high, her face entirely hidden by a mask.

“Isaac?”

“Huh? Oh, sorry. What did you say?”

“She’s a peculiar girl. The complete opposite of Rianna, right?”

“She’s certainly…distinct.”

At Silberna’s prompting, Isaac snaps back to focus, replying while his gaze keeps flicking back toward the carriage.

But the mysterious maid has vanished.

‘Could it be…’

A subtle suspicion settles over Isaac, as he continues his conversation with Silberna.

* * *

“……”

Evening meal.

Isaac, in his room, reviewing his ‘sparring log’.

Each day, the tireless training pushing him forward, step by step, yet he whipped himself harder still.

‘To accept defeat as merely a lack of stamina is to accept the unacceptable.’

When his leg was lost, becoming crippled, effort was like pouring water into a leaking jar.

But not now.

Even a little, but with relentless effort, he agonized each day to fill the jar called Isaac to the brim.

“Haaam.”

A yawn from behind him.

Isaac slowly turned his head and saw Sharen sprawled on his bed, reading a book.

“…When are you going?”

“Hmm?”

Without taking her eyes from the book, Sharen answered, popping a cookie into her mouth.

“Didn’t I say Kelsi was still tidying my room? Besides, it’s not like it matters since Isaac’s alone here, right?”

“You looking to get on my nerves?”

At Isaac’s words, Sharen stared blankly at him. Then, with a dry laugh, she slammed the book shut and stood up abruptly.

“Isaac’s gotten so big, hasn’t he? What happened to your wits, they’ve all flown out the window while you were out there?”

Sharen clenched her fist, glaring.

The way her hair rippled showed she was quite serious.

But Isaac, not backing down, rose from his chair and replied.

“Sorry, but as you know, I’m getting divorced in a month. You know what that means? No need to bow and scrape to you anymore.”

“Ha! Bow and scrape? Isn’t ‘crushed by power’ more fitting? Or is that a northern joke? Because it’s really not funny.”

Their gazes met.

A tension hung thick, where it seemed neither would yield.

Surprisingly, it was Sharen who backed down first.

“Tch! You know, you’re only alive because of Father!”

Sharen gathered her book and snacks to leave.

“What are you talking about? Did the Head of the Household say something about me?”

“Yeah! He said not to mess with you for no reason, since there are eyes on us from the outside!”

“……”

“To treat you with the proper respect befitting my older brother-in-law, Ugh, that’s why I hate leaving the estate.”

Sharen, grumbling, was about to leave the room when she stopped, hand on the doorknob.

“Hey, Isaac, can I ask you something?”

“Asking? You? Me?”

Sharen’s face was quite serious.

Isaac, never having seen her like this before, waited in silence, and she spoke carefully.

“Star cookies. Where do you buy them?”

“……”

The taut tension snapped immediately.

“No! The star cookies you buy me! I’ve asked around everywhere, but I can’t find anyone who sells them.”

“Haah.”

“I’m serious! Do you know how hard it was for me because I wanted to eat them? My hands are shaking! You didn’t put something in them, did you? I think I’m addicted!”

“Are you nuts.”

Isaac sighed.

Star cookies were the snacks Isaac brought whenever Sharen said she wanted something sweet.

“Tell me quickly! I’m gonna finish this Grand Cluster quickly so I can go buy them!”

Watching her hop around and rush him, Isaac asked, dumbfounded.

“You actually asked around trying to find them?”

“The next village! The one after that! Nearby cities! I searched everywhere, but they don’t have them! There were no star cookies!”

“Of course not.”

Because.

“Milly bakes them.”

Sharen’s eyes narrowed at Isaac’s words, and she answered petulantly.

“Milly? Is that a shop name? Where is it? Tell me everything.”

“Milly, the cook. She’s in the Helmont kitchen.”

“……Huh?”

“Milly said she felt sorry seeing me go get your snacks, so she started baking them herself. She made them often, because you liked them.”

“S, so that means.”

There was no need to search surrounding villages like a rat hunt, no need to bother Isaac and come all the way to the Malridian wall.

“I could have just eaten them at the mansion?!”

“Yeah, that’s right.”

Isaac, with a cruel truth, spoken so lightly.

Sharen crumpled, sinking to the floor, pounding it in frustrated outrage.

“Aigo! Me, me! Why did I even come all this way-! Aigooo!”

‘Is it really worth crying over?’

Watching Sharen wail in earnest, it was clear, a child was still a child.

Seventeen, yes, but even for that age, Sharen was undeniably immature.

Amidst her ruckus,

the door bursts open roughly.

Silberna stood there.

“…”

Silberna, just wanting a little chat, had come looking.

But Sharen’s tantrum, echoing down the hall, seemed to have ignited her temper anew.

“Is it you again? Can’t you be a little quieter? You’re not the only one staying here. There are other nobles, too.”

Silberna, for the record, stayed elsewhere.

“Show a little consideration for the nobles sharing this space. As if these rooms weren’t cramped enough with everyone so close together.”

Her own bedroom was the size of three of these rooms combined.

“Ah, khm! It’s, it’s just a moment of excitement!”

“…”

Silberna, arms crossed, glared back.

Her comfortable attire made her bust even more prominent; Sharen’s eyes flickered at it before she yelled out.

“I’m leaving!”

Huffy, Sharen stomped past Silberna, then turned her head sharply towards Isaac.

“Already bringing other women into your room?! When I get back, I’m going to tell big sis everything!”

“Hey!”

Isaac, shocked, called out after Sharen, but she was already running, escaping as fast as she could.

And then.

“Already?”

Silberna, sensing something off in that last remark, cocked her head, asking.

“Haah, no, it’s nothing.”

Isaac, brushing it off, settled into his chair.

“What brings you here?”

Asking why she’d come at this hour, Silvarna stared down the corridor Sharen had just left, then quietly closed the door behind her and spoke.

“I’m leading the scouting party starting tomorrow. It seems the Great Swarm beasts are beginning to stir.”

“……”

“And so, Isaac,”

Her voice heavy, like she’d wrestled with the words, Silvarna made her request.

“Would you be willing to join my command?”