In the northwest of the Kingdom of Friedonia was what would, in later
years, come to be called the Plains of Grief.
It was said that the name originated with a beautiful girl who, crying
for her lover who would not return, had created a pond with her tears.
There was, as a matter of fact, a pond in the Plains of Grief, and the local
farmers used it as a source of water for agricultural purposes. It is said that
this dramatic legend of tragic love has made the heart of many a young
maiden who visited this land flutter.
However, those who knew the truth behind the legend could only smile
wryly.
◇ ◇ ◇
"Wow," Liscia said, admiring the view outside the window of the
gondola.
Right now, we were up in the air. I could ride on Naden's back, but if
Liscia joined me there, the ryuu's protection wouldn't cover her, and she
would be exposed to the wind and cold. Because of that, Liscia and I rode
in a gondola designed to be carried by wyverns, and we had Naden carry it
in her ryuu form.
Naden swam through the sky far faster than a wyvern could fly.
Watching the scenery race past, Liscia said somewhat excitedly, "Look,
Souma. She's way faster than a wyvern."
"Gwah!" I exclaimed.
"Hold on, what's wrong?! Why are you suddenly grabbing your
chest?"
"No... I only know it as a line from an old RPG, but hearing it come out
of your mouth was a shock..."
"But why?!"
Yeah, she was never going to understand why I felt so pained to hear it,
and she didn't have to understand it. I hugged Liscia close as she looked at
me with a perplexed look.
"Please, stay with me," I told her.
"I don't know what's gotten you so worried, but... of course I'm going
to." Liscia rested her head on my shoulder. "The two of us... will be
together forever."
"Liscia..."
"Heyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy!" When we started getting a good atmosphere
going, there was an angry roar from up top. "You make me carry you
around, then you go and flirt with each other?!"
"Oh, sorry," I said. "Couldn't help myself..."
"What do you mean you couldn't help yourself?! For a start, you could
ride up on my back!"
"Then the three of us couldn't talk, though."
In her ryuu form, Naden spoke using something like telepathy, so she
could talk without regard for the walls of the gondola, or the sound of the
wind whipping by. But if I rode on Naden's back, I couldn't talk to Liscia
in the gondola.
Liscia leaned over and whispered in my ear, "You're doing this on
purpose because Naden's reaction is so cute, aren't you?"
"Nah," I whispered back. "Well, maybe a little."
"You've developed a bit of a nasty streak yourself, you know that?"
"Well, being surrounded by such a difficult group of girls, I've had
plenty of training."
"...Are you including me in that?"
"Come on, I told you not to leave me out of the... Huh...?" Naden's
complaining cut out midway. While I was wondering why that might be,
Naden suddenly added, "Hey, could you two look at the ground for a
moment?"
I opened the window, and Liscia and I looked down at the ground
below while flinching at the wind that rushed into the gondola.
""Wha?!""
In the fields beneath us, there were a number of big holes. Craters, big
and small, had formed there. It looked like the area had been hit by a
localized meteorite storm.
"It's like the area was bombarded by a wyvern unit..." Liscia
whispered.
"Bombarded?! I never heard anything about that from Hakuya!" I
cried.
"Wait, Souma! This is right next to the village where Aisha and the
others were waiting, isn't it?!"
"Ah! Let's hurry. Naden, I'm counting on you!"
"Roger that!"
Naden performed a sudden dive down to the village where Aisha and
the others were waiting.
We had Naden let us off near the village and assume human form, then
we went through the entrance to the village. Unlike the beaten-up fields,
the village showed no sign of being any different from how it was when I
was last here.
Well, what were those big holes all about, then? While I was
wondering that...
Stomp, stomp, stomp, stomp. I heard the sound of heavy footfalls, and
then, "Your Majestyyyyyyy!"
I saw Aisha racing toward us at an incredible speed.
With the amount of inertia she had behind her, she was almost like a
runaway horse or a wild rhino, and as she got closer, I could hear alarm
bells sounding in my head. This was bad. I tried to turn and run the other
way, but...
"Your Majestyyyy! I finally caught youuuu!"
"Gwah!"
""Souma?!""
Without even the time to fully turn, she rapidly closed in on me, and I
caught a flying tackle-hug with my side. The impact was like being run
over by a small car.
...Is this going to be okay? Did she just break, like, two of my ribs?
However, my hell had only just begun.
"Why did you suddenly disappear?! That was so mean of you,
deserting me like that! Let me stay with you always!" Aisha hugged me
tightly through her tears.
The words she was saying were cute, and she looked like a young girl
trying to get me to indulge her; but this was Aisha, the mightiest warrior in
our entire country. With her strength, when she squeezed me tight, I could
feel my bones creaking.
"Aisha! This isn't just a hug anymore! It's a bear hug!" I wailed.
"Ohhhhh, sirrrrrrrrrrrrrre!" she cried out, squeezing me even harder.
"I give, I give, I give!" I tried tapping the ground, but Aisha wasn't
about to stop.
Unable to watch us any longer, Liscia said to Naden with sigh,
"...Naden, would you?"
"Can I? In their current state, I'll end up hitting Souma, too, you
know?"
"I'd say it's partially his own fault. You have my permission."
"...Roger that."
With that, Naden leveled a finger at us. Huh?! What was she planning
to do?!
"It's okay, I can adjust the power level."
"No, no, that's not the issue..."
"Take that!" Bzzap!
""Gyahhh!""
Taking a hit from Naden's electric shock, both Aisha and I ended up
sprawled out on our backs.
Though I had finally been released from that bear hug, I did wish she
could have saved me in a more peaceful way. Honestly... I'd gotten
tackled, squeezed, crushed, and finally electrocuted. These past few
minutes left me completely exhausted.
When we arrived at the inn where Aisha and the others had been
staying, Tomoe welcomed me with a smile that was like a flower
blooming.
"Big Brother! Thank goodness you were all right!"
I gave her a gentle pat on the head. "Sorry for worrying you. Where's
everyone else?"
Tomoe said, "About that..." glancing behind her.
Following her line of sight, I saw Hal, Kaede, and Carla passed out at a
single table. The three of them had looks that seemed to say, "I'm burned
out, like white ash," with all the energy and vitality gone from their faces.
Their clothes looked a little beat up, too.
"Wh-What happened...?"
"All three of them... They tried their best."
Tomoe got a far-off look in her eye as she related what happened in the
time I was gone.
◇ ◇ ◇
The story turns back to a few days earlier...
"Sire... Sirrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrre!"
Halbert narrowly dodged Aisha's greatsword which she was swinging
around as she cried. "Whoa! That was dangerous!"
Having cut through nothing but air, Aisha's sword continued on to slam
into the ground, leaving an indentation about five meters across. Seeing
that power, Halbert's cheeks twitched.
"Th-That's getting into one-hit kill territory. Wasn't this supposed to be
training?"
"Stay on your toes," Carla said, holding her sword at the ready. She
was standing beside Halbert. "This is genuine combat now."
"Oh, cripes. How did it come to this...?" Halbert said with a sigh,
holding his favorite short spear in both hands. "Honestly... I'm holding a
grudge for this one, Souma."
"It's not Master's fault, but... I can't say I don't understand the
feeling," Carla agreed.
"You can say that again," Kaede added. She was behind the two of
them with both her hands on the ground. "I think I'll be asking His
Majesty Souma for hazard pay... you know!"
Crack! Crunch.
When Kaede pressed down with both hands, the ground around Aisha
swelled up, forming walls to surround her. They thought that would be
enough to bind her, but...
"Why, sire... Why...?" With teary eyes, Aisha swung at the walls
enclosing her again and again.
Seconds later, the earthen walls came tumbling down, falling apart like
a carelessly assembled pile of wooden blocks. On closer inspection, the
earth had been cut into brick-sized chunks. Hard rocks and soft earth were
both cut into exactly the same shape. This couldn't have been done
without a sharp edge and a frightening degree of strength.
When they saw that sight, all three of them felt their cheeks twitch.
"I like to think I'm pretty strong myself, but..." Halbert began.
"I can feel my pride as a military woman weakening," Carla confessed.
Though, I do realize I'm a maid now."
"I'm seriously considering a strategy where we just throw Madam
Aisha into the middle of an enemy army on her own," said Kaede.
Without paying any mind to her three clearly disturbed companions,
Aisha wailed, "Sirrrrrrrrre! Why, why did you leave me and go on by
yourseeeelf?!"
"""She makes it sound like Souma/Master/His Majesty is dead!""" her
three companions exclaimed.
"What am I to do now that you've left me behiiiiind?!"
"""No, Souma/Master/His Majesty isn't dead, okay!"""
The three of them kept pointing that out, but Aisha wasn't listening.
Now, as to the question of why Aisha and the other three were fighting,
it had all begun the day before yesterday, when Souma ended up going to
the Star Dragon Mountain Range alone. Even though the people from the
Star Dragon Mountain Range had circumstances that made it inevitable,
the fact was still that Souma had suddenly been abducted. Aisha, who was
also Souma's bodyguard, in addition to being the candidate to become the
second primary queen, was distraught over it.
When one of the dragon priestesses in the service of Mother Dragon
Tiamat had been dispatched to meet with her, Aisha tried to grab the envoy
with a focused look in her eyes. Thankfully, Halbert and Carla managed to
restrain her, so it hadn't turned into a major incident.
Because the fault lay with the Star Dragon Mountain Range in this
case, the dragon priestess had been apologetic, but it was a situation that
could have easily developed into a diplomatic incident.
Even after receiving an explanation, Aisha was still crestfallen. She
was soon so worried about Souma that her mind always seemed to be
elsewhere.
When Tomoe became concerned about her, she consulted with Carla
about what to do, and they decided that training would help take her mind
off things.
Yes, this had started as training.
"Wahhhh... Sirrrrrre..."
Once they had gotten started, though, it turned into Aisha blowing off
steam.
Aisha had always been known for her martial prowess, but it turned out
she'd been holding back. Now, with her feelings let loose, and the limiter
that kept her true power in check not functioning, the ground was pounded
full of holes by her unrestrained prowess, and her training partners,
Halbert, Kaede, and Carla, were beaten up and exhausted.
While watching Aisha cry like a child, Carla smiled dryly. "If she feels
that strongly about him, Master is a lucky man."
"It's a heavy love," Halbert said, spinning his shoulders in circles to
loosen up his body. "In an it'll-crush-you-in-one-hit sort of way. Wait,
don't we get any backup? You sent a messenger kui to the castle, didn't
you?"
"It seems the best they can manage is to put up a safety cordon and
keep the general populace away from this whole area," said Kaede. "They
must be relying on us to work something out on-site. They can't let people
who don't know the situation into a place where the future second primary
queen may do something to embarrass herself."
Halbert's shoulders slumped. "You make it all sound so easy. They
don't know the suffering we go through out in the field."
"Whining will get us nowhere," said Carla. "Focus on the matter at
hand for now, Sir Halbert." Though she was just as beat up as he was,
Carla seemed full of life for some reason.
"Hey... Why are you so energetic?" Halbert asked.
"I can feel the warrior's blood inside me seething for the first time in a
long while. I've done nothing but maid work lately, so I've been getting
close to forgetting I was once a military woman. Oh, don't you fret.
Compared to the humiliation of being forced to wear that sexy costume"
(designed by the utter sadist, Serina) "and play Miss Dran" (the evil
female commander who appeared in the tokusatsu program Overman
Silvan, now airing to rave reviews all across the Kingdom of Friedonia)
"in front of a Jewel Voice Broadcast crystal, this is nothing!"
"...You've got it hard, too, huh."
For Halbert who had, until just recently, been forced to do descent
training as part of the dratrooper unit that Souma had proposed, he
couldn't help but sympathize with another person being run ragged by
their superiors.
Looking at the two of them, Kaede shrugged her shoulders in dismay.
"I think that's enough of that silly conversation, you know."
"Don't call it silly! This is important to us, okay?!"
"I'm telling you, now isn't the time! If you let your guards down...
you'll wind up dead, you know."
"Augh, geez!" Having been warned, Halbert looked at Aisha, who had
her greatsword at the ready. "Whatever! Let's do this!"
Halbert and Carla kicked off the ground, charging toward Aisha.
Halbert and Carla's battle had only just begun.
◇ ◇ ◇
"...And that's how we got to where we are now," said Tomoe.
"Just how much of a rampage did she go on to leave Hal and the others
in that state?" I asked.
"They tried to avoid troubling the villagers, at least, by leading her into
the fields near the village and fighting there. But it was still scary, with
explosions like there was a war going on."
"What, you were the one who left all those holes in the ground?" I said
jokingly, with a look at Aisha, despite not having meant to. But Aisha was
deliberately looking away and pretending she couldn't hear me.
When Aisha was let totally loose, she caused changes to the area's
topography? I thought of her as a loyal dog before, but when she took it
this far, she was more like a weapon of mass destruction.
I'll contact the castle and have them fill the indentations back in, I
thought.
For the time being, we waited for Hal and the others to recover, then
went up to the four-person room where they were staying. I introduced
Naden to everyone.
"This is Naden Delal, a ryuu from the Star Dragon Mountain Range
who I'm going to be forming a contract with. The contract is one that is
premised on us getting married, so she's planned to be my second
secondary queen. Naden, this dark elf warrior is my future second primary
queen, Aisha. The little mystic wolf girl is my honorary little sister,
Tomoe. The other three are my vassals, Halbert, Kaede, and Carla."
Carla was actually my slave, but explaining all the details behind that
would be too time-consuming, so just calling her my vassal was good
enough.
Naden turned to everyone and bowed her head slightly. "I'm Naden.
Nice to meet all of you."
"Ohh, Madam Naden, is it? As fellow queens, let's work together to
build up His Majesty." Aisha shook Naden's hand in a friendly manner.
...Huh?
"I was pretty sure you were going to be opposed to it...?" I asked.
"Hm? Why would that be?"
"No, it's just, you almost tried to kill the envoy from the Star Dragon
Mountain Range, didn't you?"
"That was because they just went and took you away!" Aisha explained
with a snort. "I was angry at the Star Dragon Mountain Range because
they took my sire away from me. But Madam Naden bought me my sire
back. I have every reason to be grateful to her, and none at all to be
angry."
"I don't really get the basis for that reasoning..."
"People who take your food are bad people," said Aisha. "People who
bring you food are good people."
"It's that simple?! And, wait, I'm like food now?!"
Well, considering how devoted Aisha was to eating food, I didn't feel
bad knowing she loved me just as much. I was a bit worried that my
second primary queen was becoming more and more like a puppy, though.
"So... you don't want to hog all the food to yourself, then?" Liscia
asked Aisha.
What kind of question was that?!
Aisha gave her a blank look and tilted her head to the side quizzically.
"Hm? Rather than hog the food to myself, won't it taste better if we all eat
together as a family?"
Liscia laughed. "Ahaha! I'm glad that's the kind of person you are,
Aisha."
"???"
Liscia smiled as a bunch of question marks floated over Aisha's head.
I feel bad saying this when they had such a harmonious accord going,
but it was a bit chilling that I was being treated like everyone's food.
...Well, it was better than them drawing daggers at each other, at least.
While I was thinking that, Tomoe introduced herself to Naden. "I'm
Big Brother and Big Sister's adopted little sister, Tomoe. It's a pleasure to
meet you, Naden."
"Nice to meet you, too. You seem like a cute girl with a good head on
your shoulders, just like Liscia was telling me."
"Hee hee! Am I really?"
"Yeah. It feels like a real perk, getting a cute little sister like you!"
"Eek! That tickles!"
Naden hugged Tomoe. Naden was petite, but still much larger than the
eleven-year-old Tomoe, so the younger girl fit in right against her chest.
Now then, with everyone's introductions out of the way, I explained
the flow of events so far to everyone who'd been left holding down the
fort. I told them about the reason Madam Tiamat called me, and the storm
that she (?) was worried about. That, and about how Naden was a special
kind of being called a ryuu.
"That's my sire, always sniffing out talented individuals wherever he
goes!" Aisha declared.
She'd chosen a weird thing to be impressed with. What was I? A pig
sniffing for truffles...?
Anyway, once they had heard everything I had to say, Carla was the
first to raise her hand.
"I understand that Liscia is able to come with us now, but the limit on
the entourage you bring with you to the Star Dragon Mountain Range was
five people, wasn't it? Doesn't that leave us with one too many?"
"Yeah... About that, I was thinking I'd leave Tomoe here in the
village."
"Wha...?" Tomoe was dumbstruck when she heard she'd be left behind.
I felt guilty seeing the look on her face, like that of a kid whose field
trip just got canceled because of rain, but her safety really did have to
come first.
"Now that we have the unknown element of the 'storm' in the Star
Dragon Mountain Range, I can't bring Tomoe with us anymore," I
explained. "Pathetic as it is, I'm in a position where I have to have others
protect me. There could be a situation where they can't protect both of us.
Nothing can be allowed to happen to me, but if anything were to happen to
Tomoe, I wouldn't be able to keep a level head."
"...I understand," Tomoe said, being the reasonable girl that she was,
but the way that her ears and tail drooped communicated her
disappointment all too clearly. "I'll wait here for you and everyone else to
come back."
I patted Tomoe on the head. "Even when this matter with the Star
Dragon Mountain Range is settled, I intend to keep traveling until the
number of marriage proposals I receive at the castle dies down. I want to
try visiting other countries, too, and I'll definitely bring you with me, so
I'd like you to be patient for now. That's a promise."
"Okay... Big Brother."
When I wrapped my pinky finger around hers to seal our promise,
Tomoe's ears and tail perked back up just a little.
Once everyone was relieved to see Tomoe taking it a little better, Liscia
asked, "I understand what you're saying, but are we just going to leave
Tomoe alone in the village like this? I'm a little worried."
"It's okay," I told her. "Though they haven't shown themselves,
members of the Black Cats have been deployed to this village. So she
won't be alone."
"Really?"
"Yeah... Inugami."
The door to the four-person room opened, and a man wearing a black
dog mask entered. This was Inugami, a member of the clandestine
operations unit called the Black Cats, and the leader Kagetora's second-incommand.
Inugami came to stand in front of me then dropped to one knee. "I have
come at your behest."
"Indeed," I said. "While we are away in the Star Dragon Mountain
Range, I want the Black Cats to look after Tomoe."
"By your will."
"Also, Inugami, as for you personally, instead of watching her from the
shadows, I want you to stay by Tomoe's side and give her someone to talk
to. Your face is not widely known by the common people. You are
permitted to remove that mask while you're in this village."
"...Understood."
With that, Inugami removed the black dog mask he was wearing to
reveal the face of a male beastman with a wolf's face. When he saw that
face, Hal shot up from his chair.
"Y-You! You're Beo—"
"Mind your tongue, Officer Halbert," he said sharply. "I am only
Inugami."
"..." Hal looked to me.
No, he could look all he wanted, but I wasn't about to give him an
explanation. The only ones familiar with Beowulf were Liscia and Hal
who had been in the Army, after all.
Looking at Inugami, Tomoe tilted her head to the side. "Are you a
mystic wolf, too, Mr. Inugami?"
"No, my people call themselves the gray wolf race. Because our faces
aren't human, after all."
"But we're both fellow wolf people, right? Let's be friends, please."
"You are too kind, Little Sister." Inugami bowed his head to Tomoe.
They were a gray wolf and a mystic wolf, two races with outwardly
similar appearances, and their ages were twenty years apart, so anyone
looking at them would see them as a father and daughter. Despite that,
they were in a weird position where the father was bowing to his daughter.
Well, it looked like they'd get along, so it'd probably be fine.
With that all sorted out, I turned to the others. "Naden will be taking us
to the Star Dragon Mountain Range. If we left now, we'd arrive in the
middle of the night, so we'll be setting out first thing tomorrow morning.
Plan accordingly."
"Then are we staying in this village tonight?" Kaede asked, and I
nodded.
"That would be what it means, yes. Let's see, as for how we'll split up
the rooms..."
"Let's get one room for two and two rooms for four," Liscia said before
I could get any further. "Halbert, Kaede, Carla, and Inugami will take one
room. Naden, Tomoe, and I will take another. Souma and Aisha, you take
the two-person room."
"Can we?!" Hearing she'd be sharing a room with me, Aisha wore a
full-face smile.
I couldn't argue with that face, so I whispered to Liscia, "Erm... Are
you okay with this?"
"You had her worried sick, so be sweet to her for today, at least."
"...Okay."
I didn't know what to say. Liscia was shaping up into a lovely woman,
one suited to her role as the first primary queen.
It wasn't just Liscia, I guess. Juna, Roroa, and even Aisha had each
grown with every passing day since I met them, and they were all growing
more attractive. I was sure Naden would probably be the same...
I needed to grow, too, to make sure they wouldn't desert me.
That night, Aisha and I ended up sleeping in the same room.
"You had her worried sick, so be sweet to her for today, at least." I
remembered what Liscia had whispered to me.
...She's right, I thought. I caused her a lot of worry this time, so today,
I'm going to be really sweet to Aisha. I'll do anything I can for her,
whatever she wants.
I was prepared to do that, but...
Aisha had a surprising request.
"This is all you want? ...You're sure?" I asked.
"Yes! This is the best, sire."
So now I was sitting on the bed, while Aisha lay sideways with her
head resting in my lap. In other words, this was a lap pillow. What Aisha
had asked for was a lap pillow, and a head pat. Even just patting her head
like she'd asked, and running my fingers through her hair, which was
currently down, was enough to get Aisha's face to melt. It was kind of
cute.
With an entranced look on her face, Aisha gave me a satisfied smile.
"When I was giving you a lap pillow in the wagon ride here, I thought, 'I'd
like His Majesty to do this for me, too.' I'm very satisfied to have you
doing it now."
"...I'm getting off cheaply, huh?" I couldn't help but smile wryly,
wondering if something so simple was good enough. "I was ready to do
anything for you, though. Liscia told me to be sweet to you today, so if
you want to, Aisha, we could do something more... sexy..."
Oh, geez! It was embarrassing just saying it!
But given that Liscia had put us in the same room... that had probably
been her intention.
If Aisha gave birth before Liscia it could result in a succession crisis,
but Aisha was from a long-lived race, so it wouldn't be that easy for her to
conceive. Even if we did it here, it was practically guaranteed that she
wouldn't conceive before Liscia.
"That's probably why Liscia put the two of us alone together, after all,"
I said shyly.
Aisha chuckled. "Hee hee. That's so like Lady Liscia. Not only does
she think about the two of you, she also considers me, Madam Juna,
Madam Roroa, and... was it Madam Naden? It's strange for me to say it,
but I think she's a lovely woman."
"...She sure is."
"That's why I want to be just as lovely for her. Well, of course, I'd like
to have you make love to me, but if I let myself give in to desire here, I'd
just be indulging in Lady Liscia's kindness. I don't want that." Aisha
snorted. "That's why I'll wait until after you and Lady Liscia have a child.
In any contest, no matter who my opponent is, and even if it's a battle for
love, I want to win straight-up in a fair fight."
Fighting fairly in a battle for love, huh. That was so like Aisha.
"I think you're plenty lovely yourself, Aisha," I said.
"Hee hee... You're embarrassing me."
Then Aisha sat up and turned over, looking at me with upturned eyes as
she said, "But, sire, I'm still thinking about how I want you to make love
to me, you know? When you suddenly disappeared, I felt so lonely."
"R-Right..."
"So, please, hurry up and make a baby. As fast as you can."
"...I'll do my best."
Aisha brought her face close, pressing her lips to mine.
Come to think of it... this was my first kiss with Aisha.
While my eyes were still wide with surprise, Aisha grinned and said,
"Allow me this, at least. And... when you've made that baby, be sure you
make love to me, too, would you? Darling."
It went without saying that that cute gesture left me as red as a boiled
octopus.
The next day...
"Now then, Your Majesty! Let's head off to the Star Dragon Mountain
Range!"
Aisha's face was beaming as she declared that, full of energy, so Liscia
and Naden gave me a knowing look.
Remembering our conversation from the day before, I felt embarrassed.