Surprisingly, it didn't take long for the silence characteristic of the night to take over my room tonight, yet, not long after it took over, the knocking on the door came to interrupt it.
Licia: "Uhm... sorry, Miwen... It was real quiet, so I thought maybe it was over..."
Miwen: "I guess we are, right Claire?"
Claire: "mhmmh..."
It was pretty much impossible to tell what she said as the pillow muffled her voice, but in the state she was currently in, I doubt she'd have anything against Licia coming inside the room.
What's unexpected though is that Licia came right after we had stopped, almost as if she was listening the whole time. But by adding in the stains on the floor everything became clear.
Licia: "... so...why is she like that?"
Face down, grabbing a pillow that covered her mouth, Claire's whole body seemed limp, looking way more defeated than she did after our first round. It was hard to even hear the mumbles coming from her, a stark contrast to her usual high-energy self that lets everyone know what she wants at all times.
Miwen: "Turns out she's pretty weak."
Claire: "...am...not!"
Miwen: "Right, I guess sensitive fits better."
Even though she was like that she still found the energy to complain, but no matter how hard she tried, there's no denying what's in plain view.
Licia: "Well, it must've felt pretty good since you guys are done so soon..."
Miwen: "Yeah, I'd even like to do more, but..."
Claire: "...! Get away from my ass! ...Licia... save me..."
Just the thought alone was enough to make her turn around in an instant, and even beg Licia for help, as if her prior state was but an illusion. Sadly, I didn't get to try all that I wanted, but I'll be looking forward to it next time I have a chance.
However, the way Licia was glaring at me upon hearing what Claire said gave me second thoughts...
Sensing that my life was in danger, I decided to change subjects as quickly as possible.
Miwen: "Well... since you're showing such an impressive recovery, can you stand up a bit, just so I can change the sheets... ?"
Licia: "...it is fine though..."
While tidying things up a bit so that we could rest, I thought I heard Licia say something, but due to it being very faint, I couldn't quite figure out what it was about.
Miwen: "Guess we can continue from where we left off now..."
Claire: "Sure..."
Licia: "Huh? W-wait-"
Miwen: "C'mon, you join too."
Licia: "Eh? No, I-"
As soon as we began dressing ourselves again she figured out I was talking about something else. But leaving it ambiguous was definitely worth it as Licia's blushing face was quite the reward.
Claire: "So, where was I ?"
Miwen: "I'll be honest, I only got that you were a duke's daughter..."
Claire: "That's because you already knew that! ...Guess it can't be helped then... I'll go over from the start, so pay attention this time, alright?"
It was hardly my fault that I couldn't listen to her as she spoke through the pillow the first time, but I thought bringing that up would only cause trouble.
Before Licia came inside the room, Claire said she felt it was appropriate to do the same as she did and tell me her story. So, the two of us got back in bed to listen attentively as Claire recounted the events that led to her death
I was always curious about it, but she prefaced her story by saying that it wasn't nearly as interesting or tragic as Licia's. This left me with an unpleasant feeling, it was as if she was underplaying her own life for some reason, but I knew I shouldn't come to any conclusions before hearing her.
Claire: "Back then, I was the daughter of the most respected family in all of the Lunaria Kingdom. My father was known as 'Lunaria's Sword', and for years led our territory's army to victory against neighboring countries, conquering so much land in the name of the royal family that a time came when our duchy didn't border any foreign nation..."
Licia: "Uwah?! That's incredible."
Claire: "It is! All throughout the land, there wasn't a single man capable of defeating him in a duel, many knights conceded before even facing his blade, and the heat alone that his sword emanated was enough to silence an opponent."
He really seems extremely strong, but I don't know if the vast amount of territories he conquered is such an impressive feat.
First of all, from what I could see last time, an army can easily use magic as artillery, so if they can overwhelm their opponent in firepower, the time a siege would otherwise take can be drastically reduced.
What's more...
Miwen: "Why didn't he take the conquered territories for himself?"
Claire: "Our duchy was already pretty big as a result of the close relationship between the royal family and ours, if we grew even more, the balance of power might've been at risk... The royal family might've become fearful of us... or the other nobles of Lunaria could start a coalition against us to prevent our interests and cripple our land..."
I see, by giving the territories to the royal family he actually achieves way more than controlling them directly. Aside from the negatives, he also might've boosted his reputation amongst other nobles, as well as his relationship with the royal family.
Claire: "Our troubles with the borders diminished greatly too, which led to stability and made our citizens pretty happy... It also gave him time to 'enjoy the sweets of life'... which was mostly done by spending time with mother..."
I was about to give in and admit her father's prowess and brilliance, but what she just said was so reminiscing of herself that I might've grasped her father's true nature that even she might not know.
The thing is just how much it reminds me of the way she's always up to fight and win as quickly as possible... just so that we can end it early and she can have more time to laze around.
Looking from the outside, you could see her as an overachiever who is always putting in a lot of effort, but the truth is that her accomplishments are actually just a side effect of her doing her best in order to get home quickly and do nothing at all for as long as she can.
The situations are details are different of course, her dad wants to be with her mother and Claire wants to be with the TV, but...
Wait. Did I just make a big mistake by sleeping with her?
Claire: "Well, since he spent so much time with mother, by the time I was eighteen, she gave birth to his heir... and then she had another son... since I also had an elder sister I guess mom was also pretty strong in her own way..."
....Yeah, I might've made a mistake.
Miwen: "So then what happened? I mean, things seemed to be going pretty well for your family..."
Claire: "You could say that, but for me, it was a pretty bad turn of events."
Miwen: "...Why?"
Claire: "Father thought for sure a boy would be born during mom's second pregnancy, and he engaged my sister with another noble's son in exchange for an alliance with their rich family... but it turns out I'm not a boy, so..."
Miwen: "He was left without an heir..."
I don't know how much he got from that alliance, but it was a huge gamble on his part, and he lost big time.
Since there's such an age gap between her and her brothers, I'm guessing this all happened while her mother was pretty young, so he might've been counting on the fact that she could still give birth to many children, but...
Even if he was right, if by then he started having to fight at the borders, he wouldn't have had much time to be with his wife, which must've put pressure on them, making everything harder for both.
Thankfully she managed to give birth to a son though, so I guess his gamble did turn out alright in the end, though it looks like it was a pretty close call.
Claire: "Well, since sis was engaged, I had to be designated as heir. So, from an early age, I trained under my father to inherit the land and silence all opposition... luckily my Gift was pretty strong, so I managed to acquire quite a reputation for myself, even more so when I pulverized a large stretch of a forest to get rid of some bandits."
Licia: "That's how you got your nickname?"
Claire: "Yeah! I discovered their hideout, so I left the forest and shot a pillar of flames towards them. That ended up separating the forest on two sides and leaving the soil completely scorched. They had to remake a bunch of maps because of that. Amazing, right?"
Licia: "Uh... In a way, yeah..."
It's amazing how little self-control she had. Hopefully that place wasn't important for business, or else the merchants and her father would be at her throat. At least she opened up a path for a road though, so it might've been a happy accident.
Miwen: "What did your father say about that?"
Claire: "He said I did a good job sending a message and that no one would dare challenge me after that..."
I guess it helped cement her position, at the very least, she showed the strength necessary to protect the territory and her position. But her father should've most definitely warned her about the lack of control she displayed.
Claire: "Having heard the rumors about my prowess, the royal family put me to use in the army several times. For each time I'd burned down a fortress they would compensate me handsomely, so I kept doing it and even got knighted by the king..."
Can you guys please stop to motivate her? She really needed to learn a bit of self-control. Just think about the hardship of having to build these fortresses again. And I'd be willing to bet that she didn't lift a finger to help in that.
Miwen: "Seems like you were doing good for yourself."
Claire: "At the time I've also thought like that, but looking back, it wasn't... that good..."
Miwen: "...How so?"
Claire: "Even though I was gaining recognition, I was stealing the life meant for my sister. And well, discipline wasn't really my thing... I've learned it with time, at least enough to follow orders and behave properly as the duke's daughter... but whenever someone wasn't looking I'd just go back to slacking off..."
Welp, there goes any ground I had for criticism, seems like I'm also enabling her.
On the flip side, it seems like she was really forcing her behavior back then, and I like that she can be more true to herself now... even if her true self is akin to a sloth.
Claire: "Father would also scare off any boy and wouldn't let me attend any party if there was a male attendee, hearing sis talk about her marriage and how much her husband loved her kind of got me curious about such things... it didn't help that the few friends I had would always talk about their nightly experiences, as if that was the only fun they ever had..."
This explains her attitude towards the whole situation, maybe when Licia told her what she wanted to do, she saw a chance to try it out as well...
Claire: "I can't really complain about this time too much, it felt right... but when my brothers were born... I... felt like I had lost my purpose... now that my family had a proper heir, there was no meaning for me to prove myself, and I wouldn't be good even as a substitute since not long after another boy would be born..."
I can kind of understand how she felt, it's a good thing overall, and it's not anyone's fault, but... in one fell swoop, she lost everything she had dedicated her entire life to.
Miwen: "...Must've been rough..."
Claire: "A little... I felt a bit lost and ended up working way harder to distract myself... but one day, both my brothers were kidnapped, and thus... the final act of my life began."
...odd.
There's something odd with this.
Miwen: "...How were they kidnapped? Wasn't your father super strong?"
Claire: "He was away due to a council meeting with His Majesty. Two maids who worked at the mansion were paid to kidnap them by an underground organization. Their plan was pretty elaborate, it would've been extremely hard to prevent it without knowing about it in advance."
Even if I were paid to, I'd rather take the money and run away than risk facing Claire and her dad at their prime. I mean, even if I got caught running away, facing this underground organization sounds way more feasible.
Licia: "To kidnap two kids from such a distinguished family..."
Even Licia seems to agree that It's pretty gutsy to mess with that family, but I guess the money was so exorbitant that they didn't really think about anything else.
Claire: "We searched for days until our leads pointed us to two possible locations, so I decided to take care of one myself and sent almost all troops to search the other one... the problem was the fierce resistance I encountered in a sacred forest that stood between the borders of the Lunaria Kingdom and two other powerful nations..."
Ah, now I see where this is going...
Claire: "Eventually I received the news that my brothers were found, but we ended up ambushed as we were preparing to leave. They surrounded us, cutting off our retreat path...and one by one, everyone I brought with me was killed, until only I remained standing..."
She took the path with the higher chance of success... on a frontal assault, she wouldn't need help, thus she could separate her forces and guarantee both sites.
But she overestimated her own strength... with no one to help, completely alone, ambushed, and against opponents stronger than expected, it's no wonder that her life came to an end...
Claire: "With no other way out, I ended up burning yet another forest to the ground, this time though, I lost control and ended up destroying everything in sight..."
What does she mean it wasn't as tragic, this girl went through a...
Wait, what?
Miwen: "You won? Just how many people were you facing?"
Claire: "Uhm... about one hundred, give or take a few men."
Miwen: "...How many men did you bring with you?"
Claire: "We were six, me included."
What the fuck? How strong was she back then?
I guess the location helps due to her fire powers, but there were one hundred people there, c'mon.
Miwen: "...Then how did you die?"
I don't get it, how do you even kill this monster anyway? One hundred guys had her surrounded and it still wasn't enough to take her down. Does anyone even stand a chance?
Claire: "...You see...that forest was pretty special, it was a gift from the Gods. My world got it as a reward for doing well in a Divine Event..."
I see, so it took a God to kill her, I hate to admit that it sounds cool to die facing a God. I didn't take her for such a battle junkie, but I can see how she'd be satisfied if she met her end while facing the pinnacle of power.
Miwen: "So did a God get mad and descend to punish you ?"
Claire: "That would've been cool, but nah. The forest was really important for the church, being their object of faith, holy site, or whatever. They decided to take action against me and created a hunting squad composed of the church exorcists, divine executioners, and strongest holy knights. They also pressured the three countries to join as well."
Miwen: "... Were they the ones who killed you?"
Claire: "Yeah... I tried going home for help but... You know, disinheriting and denouncing me was the best way to protect the family so..."
Fuck you, father-in-law, why did you decide to be a little bitch now of all times?
Your daughter gave up her entire life to fill a position she didn't want and didn't fit, all because of you, and yet when she needed you the most, you couldn't even stand by her side?
You should've at least tried to hide her.
Claire: "My sister was kind enough to help me though, and managed to get me a carriage in secret to some far-away place... but, I ended up being found and had to engage in battle... This time, their coalition had at least 50 men from what I was able to see..."
It felt like the end of her tale was coming soon, she was starting to recount it more vividly than before.
Claire: "It's not that impressive number-wise, but they were all knights, respected adventurers, or had high positions in the church, so I didn't really stand a chance... I managed to take about five down I guess, but, yeah, I ended up being overwhelmed..."
Licia: "That's... I'm sorry..."
Claire: "No need to be, Licia. I did what I thought was right, and faced the consequences, I don't really regret it... though, there's one thing I feel strongly about."
Miwen: "That being...?"
Claire: "You know the wolf girl? When she first set foot in the dungeon, her first reaction was to look for a gate that connects to her old world... but... I... when I came to this world, some part of me didn't want that... I thought it was because I was satisfied with how things ended, but..."
She starts to look down as she talks, her head turns to face away from me.
Claire: "...the more I think about it now, If I ever went back to my old world... I guess I'd thank Dad for everything he has done for me, and ask him to visit me sometimes, but I wouldn't really want to come back... since I think I found the place where I belong..."
She had a great impact when she came here, and I ended up promising a bunch of things to her... I know about the responsibility I hold over those I'm bringing to my side, and I want to do my utmost for them, but... I didn't expect that I was already doing something so meaningful for her... hearing those words coming from her was very surprising in a very good way...
The girl wanted a place to call her own, where she felt needed and irreplaceable, where she could be happy while being true to herself...
So to her, what she has found here embodies more what home is than the very home she had when she was with her family.
Miwen: "You know it's not fair when you act all cutesy like that..."
Claire: "Hm... Hnm..."
To bring an end to the night, headpats for a girl that tried her best felt appropriate. Licia seemed to be understanding of that, so she turned away, but she also deserved her share of headpats for being a good girl, so in the end, I went to sleep while feeling the weight they carried on their minds.
And while I didn't like the way she undermined her own death, or how she didn't think of it as tragic and was instead satisfied with it...
There was something else in her story that neither my heart nor my head could come to terms with... something just didn't add up. The feeling that there was something fishy just kept coming back until I fell asleep.