By the time Regnejee had returned to the central spire that day, Curte's room was cloaked in darkness. She herself had no need for light to begin with, so the faint glimmer was only to signal her presence to Regnejee. At that specific moment, however, she was having dinner with Taren.
Immediately after entering the room through the window like usual, Regnejee stopped in midair.
"Don't move," he snarled.
There was a presence in the room. A presence he knew wasn't Curte's. "Move, and I'll kill you."
"It's me," a familiar voice replied.
Dakai the Magpie—a knavish and enigmatic Visitor who had long worked as Taren's right hand in the shadows. Regnejee despised him.
"No need to steel yourself for a fight—c'mon. I'm mid-investigation, see.
Miss Taren gave me permission."
"I don't remember giving you mine. Nor do I plan on being buddy-buddy with a foolish swordsman like you."
"Swordsman, huh? Ha-ha-ha! What a coincidence. I don't see myself getting along well with a wyvern like you, either."
Within the dark room, Dakai made a show of putting both hands in the air. Naturally, he was capable of switching to the offensive even in a pose like this. This man of superhuman ability was capable of controlling every part of his body, down to his two bare feet, as sublimely as the tips of his fingers and faster than the high-speed Word Arts invocations on which Regnejee prided himself.
Dakai blurted out a question, his eyes still not directed at the wyvern's. "Do you know about the diary?"
"…Diary?"
"Are diaries not that popular in this world? You write down a daily record in a notebook. Did you know Curte was writing in one of those?"
Regnejee knew. She had mentioned recording her memories together with
Regnejee.
"Not at all. So that's what these minia fools do to pass the time." "Really? Seems like Curte truly enjoyed herself with it, though."
Dakai didn't move but instead used his eyes to indicate a book sitting on the desk. He had been reading it moments prior. Regnejee settled on the window frame and glared at Dakai and the book.
"What is that?"
"There are no letters written in here. Holes punched open in set intervals so you can read what's written by passing your hands over them. Your little princess put down the time you spent talking together, the weather outside… What are we gonna do if she actually marked that stuff down in here? You didn't think she could record that stuff, either, did you?"
"..."
How could she write down words when she couldn't even see…?
After the wyvern troops had finished their sorties, Regnejee always returned to this room and chatted with Curte. Since she was completely blind, he would tell her the time of day and what the scenery outside looked like.
The days they sortied and the times they returned to their nests. If the enemy's forces acquired information of that magnitude, they could then extrapolate the time needed to counter their aerial defense network.
"That said, you're not careless enough to talk about the full extent of our forces, right? Aureatia's side should have scouted that information out already. There must be a main culprit they dispatched here to set up this scheme."
"What about it?"
The wyvern leader's anger intensified. With his heightened intelligence, he picked up on what Dakai was implying—the true identity of the informant Dakai was investigating.
"Just try…laying a hand on Curte. I'll cut you into nine pieces." "Whoa now."
Dakai gave a weak laugh and turned a sidelong glance toward Regnejee. "You feel like you have a chance against me?"
"Fool."
Regnejee spread his wings, and with the action came a loud buzzing
sound, decidedly not wyvern in nature.
He observed the Visitor before him. He had no weapon in either of his raised hands. Regnejee considered if his Thermal Arts incantation would be faster than the man's hands reaching for the enchanted sword on Dakai's hip.
No…
He couldn't glean Dakai's true intentions from his expression. When it came to acts of deception and exposing the truth, there was no greater monster in the New Principality of Lithia than the man in front of him.
"Say, Regnejee, there's a question I've had for a long time. That flock of yours… What's up with it anyway?"
"…What about my flock?"
"Your flock got wiped out by the True Demon King once before, right? The same time Curte lost her eyesight… That was just four years ago. How did your flock grow so much in just four years?"
"What would a minia worm like you do with that information?"
The man was always in long-sleeve black clothes. It was possible there were assassin's projectiles hidden up those sleeves and Regnejee had simply never seen them before. Cheap tricks Regnejee could easily deal with from an ordinary soldier could prove lethal if executed by Dakai.
For example, Dakai's bare feet seemed to be floating slightly above the carpet. If he was hiding a tiny wood chip or something similar under them, he might use it to pierce Regnejee's throat before the wyvern could fly away. A projectile hurled with Dakai's leg strength, even a tiny splinter of wood, was capable of becoming a deadly weapon.
Even before any of that, though, Regnejee's perception of the man's reaction speed was that it would always surpass his own. If Dakai could touch the hilt of his enchanted sword with his fingertips before Regnejee finished his incantation, then his response would be impossibly fast. Thus, the wyvern contemplated using his final trump card then and there.
"You…"
Seeing Regnejee open his mouth, Dakai slowly lowered his hands. "Calm down. I don't plan on doing anything yet. Not to you or to Curte." "If you want to interrogate Curte, then I'll be there as witness."
"Ha-ha. Look, there's no point to that anyway. Any spy who's given everything to set up a plan this daring isn't going to disclose a thing, no matter what we do—"
The bandit shrugged.
"And even if someone tricked her into doing this, it's not like she saw
who it was."
Waving his hand behind him, Dakai disappeared. It was as if he'd melded into the night.
Left behind, Regnejee silently looked down at Curte's diary.
Glancing over the cover, he recalled the image of the young girl's smiling face, happily relaying the contents of the journal back to him.
…I won't throw it away.
The flock he led had been turned into a military force and could no longer return to life in the wild. They needed the New Principality's protection.
His responsibility for his flock's survival? Or his sole source of tranquility in the world?
I'm making the right choice. Always.
Soup simmered with beans, wheat, and a variety of spices. Freshly smoked horse meat. Piping hot rice porridge. Raw vegetables in a fruit-and-honey dressing. And finally, white wine obtained from the faraway Itarky Highlands.
Taren the Punished was not at all the type of general who enjoyed the finer things in life, but when it came time to share a meal with her adopted daughter, she always made sure to prepare a repast more befitting her station.
Gourmet food was one of the joys Curte could still appreciate, even having lost her eyesight.
"And then…when Regnejee went to leave, his legs got caught on my shawl. Isn't that awful? I mean, I couldn't even see where it went. I spent so much time searching my room."
"Quite a disaster indeed. It's Regnejee, after all. I'm sure he was brazenly defiant about it all, too, yes? Just forgive him."
"Oh, I know. Tee-hee."
Taren carved up and distributed the smoked meat to Curte's plate. Curte
noticed and skillfully cut the serving with her fork and knife before bringing it to her mouth.
Taren didn't particularly mean to dote on Curte, but whenever she watched the girl's everyday behavior, her table etiquette, manner of walking, the way she went up and down the stairs or got into the bath, her heart filled with admiration.
Curte was a girl with an exceptional memory. When it came to memorizing and reproducing the things she was taught, it wasn't an exaggeration to call her ability to absorb new information superhuman.
She had been able to recover from the True Demon King's terror, debilitating her mind and body and throwing her into madness, to the degree she had due to this strength with which she was blessed, allowing her to reconstruct her daily life.
"...This is tasty."
"I'm glad. Things are going well…"
A smile accompanied her brief reply. During the age of the True Demon King, when Taren was Curte's age, she had already been a common soldier, fighting a war. The food rations were pitiful, and she remembered swearing to herself that if she ever gave birth to a child, she would make sure they never experienced such hunger. Her injuries in battle, however, meant this wish of hers could never be granted.
The era of war. The era of madness. Now, with the True Demon King gone, were the minia races finally free from such curses?
"Hey, Mom."
"How many times have I told you? Don't call me that. It's rude to your real mother."
"…Okay… I wanted to ask you not to make Regnejee do anything dangerous."
"Well, given his duties, he's always in danger. Is there something in particular that's worrying you?"
"…Is war going to start again?"
"It looks likely. I'm a self-proclaimed Demon King. Aureatia's…the kingdom's never spared those who have declared themselves Demon King. They move to subjugate them without exception. In which case, it's my duty to defend this city."
This, too, was the forward-facing attitude she showed to her people. Taren
didn't plan on elevating their fight to some noble cause. Otherwise, it would be impossible to win against an enormous power like Aureatia.
"Aureatia is a minia-supremacist nation that's persisted from the age of kingdoms. If Lithia yields to them…"
Regnejee and his flock's way of life would be lost to them.
Curte and Regnejee had always been together, ever since Taren first discovered the pair. Curte believed Regnejee was an angel who saved people. The belief was precisely why the sighted Taren would never reveal Regnejee's true form to the girl.
He was a wyvern, a predator of the minia, and impossible to coexist with. "It's okay; I know. I'm just acting spoiled, but…"
Curte brought her spoon to her mouth. She hadn't made much headway on her meal.
"I wanted to know if you really only gave Regnejee and me shelter just to fight for you, Mom."
"My answer's the same as always. You both hold decisive tactical value, and there was no other reason than that. You shouldn't call me 'Mom.'"
It was exactly as she stated. Taren, as a general, was using Curte and the wyvern accompanying her for his military might. No matter how strong a parental bond the two might develop, as long as the relationship began under that premise, she would never truly be the girl's mother.
"…I hope…we can be happy…" "You and Regnejee?"
"And you as well, Mo—Master Taren. If the war is won, Lithia prospers…and becomes safe. I hope everyone will be able to live happy lives here…"
"There's no need to worry. I'm the undefeated general Taren the Punished. I'll be sure to put an end to this petty squabble with Aureatia in a flash."
Seeing Curte's tiny yawn, Taren gently supported her and brought her to her feet.
"You should go to bed for today. You're harboring too much anxiety in that delicate heart of yours."
"Okay. Good night…Mom."
"You just said it again, Curte," replied Taren with a smile Curte couldn't see, forlorn and unbecoming of a general like her. That fact was Taren's
saving grace.
"Good night, Master Taren." "Much better. Good night."