"Mmm...", A soft, yet seemingly tired voice suddenly struck the inside of a rather cozy cottage home. Presently a wooden fireplace could be seen lit not too far away, which both gave a feeling of warmth and light to the rest of the room, considering it was well into the night.
The drowsiness the voice had came from was the same brown haired girl wearing twin tails who appeared at the garden terrace alongside Cassius a year ago.
Another year had passed since Liberl declared the return of their Crown Prince. Bringing surprise to many, he had made his first official appearance to the public. And since then, another full year had passed.
It was now the year 1197 of the Septian Calendar.
This brown haired girl, who now seemed to be eleven years old, could be seen sitting at her dinner table with dinner set. Two plates could be seen but across from the girl, the chair was empty, which made her alone.
"Daddy's really late tonight...", The brown haired girl uttered softly as she listened to the crackling of the fireplace nearby in silence.
"I even got a message from the Guild saying he'd be home today too...", The girl continued to say to herself. Taking the time, she hopped down from her chair, only to walk toward the back window and gazed out of it.
"...And Schera's gone traveling around the kingdom on some kinda training...", The girl said, only to reveal a hint of annoyance in her eyes but also contained boredom. "I'm sooo bored! Should I do some more staff training before dinner?", The girl wondered to herself.
Unexpectedly, the girl's attention was drawn to the front of the house the moment she heard the door click open, before an older man's voice spoke out.
"Hey! I'm home!", The voice said, which caused the girl's eyes to become excited as she turned around.
"Daddy!", The girl replied, happily running towards the front door, only to see a tall brown haired middle aged man now inside the entryway. Upon a closer look he had a thin mustache, and was the same middle aged man who appeared at the garden terrace a year ago.
This house belonged to this man, and it was both the girl's and man's home.
However, upon immediately greeting him, the girl's attention was drawn toward what the man was carrying. It was a rather large object hidden away in a white cloth wrapped around it.
"Sorry to have kept you waiting, Estelle ", The man said, seeing the girl in front of him now. "Did you take good care of the house while I was away?"
Hearing the man ask that, the girl giggled a bit in confidence before responding.
"Hehe. Of course I did.", The girl replied with a giggle. "Surely you didn't run into any trouble or get injured while fighting those bad monsters, did you, daddy?", The girl asked with a hint of worry.
"Nope! As you can see, I'm fit as a fiddle.", The man responded in confidence as well.
"But that's beside the point. You see Estelle, I brought you a present.", The man continued to say.
"A present? Perhaps it's a new fishing pole? Maybe some sneakers? Or is it related to my training!?", The girl named Estelle asked excitedly with a smile.
The moment the man said that, he let out a sigh.
"Maybe I raised you wrong, Estelle...", The man said a bit downcast. "Aren't little girls like you supposed to like clothes and jewelry?"
"Pretty clothes are nice and all, but they get dirty too quickly.", Estelle retorted back. "And jewelry can break easily while you go play outside with it on.", Estelle continued to say.
"Anyways, what's with that big ol' blanket, daddy?", Estelle asked, drawing her gaze to the wrapped object the man was currently holding.
"Don't tell me THIS is it?", Estelle continued to ask, still looking at it.
"Well, aren't you a sharp one?", The man replied. "Why don't you come here and have a look?", The man asked Estelle.
After saying that, the msn slowly unraveled it, only to reveal a black haired boy sleeping, who currently had bandages wrapped and seemed quite injured.
"Whaaa.....?", Estelle tried to say, only to have her mouth stay open in shock seeing the boy before her.
"...", Estelle tried to say again but couldn't find words this time.
"Well, here you are.", The man said, ignoring Estelle's reaction. "Quite a handsome boy, don't'cha think?", The man asked.
"Wh-Wh-Wh...", Estelle stuttered a bit in shock.
"Why is my present a BOY!?", Estelle exclaimed.
Hearing Estelle raise her voice like that, the nan asked her to quiet down.
"Don't make such a fuss or you'll wake him up.".
"Wake him up? You mean he's still alive?", Estelle asked, confused. "Seems pretty dead if you ask me.".
"I've already treated his wounds, so his condition should be stable.", The man explained a bit. "In the meantime though, he will need to rest.", The man continued to say.
"I'll go put him in one of our beds. Could you boil a kettle of water over the stove for me as I do, Estelle?", The man asked.
"Okay!", Estelle happily said.
Several moments later, deeper into the night.
Estelle and the man could now be seen in front of a spare bed they had, and the black haired boy could be seen sleeping peacefully.
"Man he sure is a sound sleeper. He almost looks my age too.", Estelle said in wonder. "I haven't seen black hair like this either.", Estelle continued to say.
"He definitely does have a nice shade of black hair.", The man also complimented. "He even has amber eyes to go with it.", The man continued to say.
"Hmm...", Estelle began to wonder. She then turned around and looked at the man. "That's nice and all, but it's about time you fess up.", Estelle continued to say.
"Fess up...?"
"Yeah. Who exactly is this kid, daddy?", Estelle asked. "He looks so hurt too. Why bring him into our home?", Estelle wondered. As if she had remembered something, Estelle suddenly asked something.
"You didn't betray mommy, did you, daddy?", Estelle asked.
The moment Estelle asked that, the man let out another sigh.
"You've been picking up useless words again, haven't you? I bet it's from Schera too.", The man retorted.
"Yup! That's right!", Estelle happily said, not denying him once so ever.
"For Aidios's sake! She's definitely going to get an earful from me later. All she does is get me into trouble nowadays.", The man said, groaning a bit.
His demeanor then became normal again after he retorted that.
"I actually met this boy while on business.", The man explained a bit. "I don't even know his name.".
"Bracer business, right?", Estelle asked.
"Eh, something like that.", The man answered vaguely.
At this time, the two suddenly heard the boy's eyelids flutter a bit.
"Oh, it looks like he is waking up.", The man said.
"Eh?", Estelle asked, turning around again.
"Mmm...", The boy said, slowly waking up, revealing his amber eyes. It currently did not contain much life in them.
"Wow! His eyes really are amber!", Estelle said in surprise.
"...Where....am I...?", The boy suddenly asked.
"Awake now, aren't'cha?", The man said. "Welcome to my humble home. It ain't much, but your safety is guaranteed here, so please just try to rest for now.", The man said.
"What are you trying to pull...?", The boy asked, looking at the man.
"Huh?", Estelle responded in confusion after hearing that. Yet the boy ignored her and continued to speak.
"You must be out of your mind. Why didn't you just leave me there to die...?", The boy asked, not showing much life in his eyes.
"Now that is not a question I cannot answer for you.", The man answered. "If I say, "It just worked out like that.", will that suffice for now?", The man asked.
"Don't screw with me, Cassius Bright! Do you have any idea what you're getting yourself involved in...?", The boy tried to retort.
"Hey!", Estelle suddenly shouted at him. She then suddenly jumped up and kicked the boy a bit. "You're shouting quite a lot for sometimes who's supposed to be hurt!", Estelle continued to yell.
"Running your mouth like that is gonna open up all the wounds daddy tried to heal!", Estelle retorted in anger seeing the boy behave like this.
Finally realizing Estelle was there, the boy looked at her.
"And who are you supposed to be?", The boy asked.
"I'm Estelle! Estelle Bright!", Estelle said.
"She's my daughter.", The man called Cassius said. "Didn't I tell you I had a daughter your age?", Cassius asked.
"Now that you mention it...,", The boy tried to say. "W-Wait just a moment, don't try to change the su--!?", The boy tried to say, only to receive another kick from Estelle.
"Quit yelling!", Estelle yelled out at him.
"All right already...", The boy tried to retort. "Don't jump on me like that, these wounds won't heal any faster if you do.", The boy continued to retort.
"I don't hear you yelling again, do I?", Estelle asked.
"Look, if you keep doing that the wounds will--?", The boy asked, only to get interrupted again by Estelle.
"Do I hear...YELLING?", Estelle asked again.
Hearing that, the boy let out a defeated sigh.
"Just forget it..."
"Might I offer you some advice? It's better not to argue with Estelle while you're in this house.", Cassius said with a smile. "Even I wouldn't stand a chance against her.".
"Yeah, I can see that...", The boy said slowly, nodding his head.
"By the way, aren't you forgetting something?", Estelle suddenly said.
"Eh?"
"You name? You know that thing everyone calls you? I told you mine already, it's impolite if you don't say yours.", Estelle said.
"It's the logical thing if you ask me.", Cassius also said. "It'll only be a detriment if you continue to hide it.", Cassius continued to say.
"Fine. My name is...", The boy started to say. "Joshua. That is all.", The boy said, introducing himself as Joshua.
That's right, this was the first time Joshua Astray would encounter Estelle Bright, the only daughter of Cassius Bright.
Hearing the boy finally introduce himself, it brought a smile to Estelle's face.
"Good! Nice to meet'cha, Joshua. Like daddy said, please rest here so your wounds will recover. I'll go reheat our dinner!", Estelle happily said.
Seeing Estelle start to leave the room, Cassius actually looked toward Estelle, and suddenly called out to her.
"Wait a minute, Estelle. Before you go do that, I actually have another present for you.", Cassius said, which immediately caused Estelle to come to a running halt halfway across the bedroom.
Hearing this, Estelle slowly turned around, giving Cassius a deadpan look.
"...It's not another boy, is it?", Estelle retorted Cassius.
The moment Cassius heard that, he let out a defeated sigh.
"Haha, of course it isn't. Come on, you can trust your dad, right?", Cassius said, bringing a smile to his face after saying it.
"What is it then?", Estelle asked with curiosity in her eyes.
After Estelle asked that, Cassius went into one of his shirt pockets, only to pull out a rather fancy letter of sorts, sealed with Liberl's official emblem. Estelle immediately drew her gaze to what Cassius was now holding.
"A letter?", Estelle asked.
"That's right. Now that things have calmed down, Liberl's Crown Prince and Crown Princess are deciding to hold a birthday bash of sorts to celebrate their tenth year, even if it's a tad late. And I just happened to get one of their invitations.", Cassius said, revealing a small grin, waving the letter around a bit.
"Liberl's Crown Prince and Crown Princess...", Joshua uttered softly to himself, only for a certain figure of a person to appear in his mind.
"Kloe and that brother of hers are throwing a birthday party!?", Estelle asked excitedly.
At this time, Estelle suddenly felt something click inside her head as if a lightbulb had suddenly turned on.
"Ah!", Estelle exclaimed, as if she finally remember something.
"What is it, Estelle?", Cassius asked with interest.
"I finally remember who that boy was! He's the boy who was brought to play with Kloe and me by that scary guy a few years ago, right?", Estelle asked, feeling confident.
The moment Cassius heard Estelle blurt that out rather bluntly, he spat out a breath of air, only to cough a bit after.
"Did Estelle really just call that Chancellor a scary guy?", Cassius uttered to himself, only to shake his head a bit.
*
Here is the first chapter of Vol 4!
I do not have much planned before MC and Kloe start attending Jenis while Estelle and Joshua become bracers, so there may be another timeskip.
Giliath demands your power stones!