ACT 3
“Sieg Patriarch!!!”
As Yuuto’s group passed through the gates, the noise of the cheering slammed into them, reverberating to their very bones.
It was like a shockwave, a wall of sound, and it nearly knocked them off of their horses.
They worked to keep their postures upright as they moved onto the main street leading to the palace, which was packed to overflowing with people.
“Welcome home, Lord Patriarch!”
“I had faith you would come home to us!”
“As long as you are our ruler, the Wolf Clan is secure!”
“Oh, thank you, oh, thank the heavens above...”
Various individual cries reached their ears, and all the while the shouts of “Sieg Patriarch!” from all sides continued.
Looking down from horseback, there were people red-faced from shouting at the top of their lungs, people fully wet-faced with weeping, people waving Wolf Clan banners with fervor, people with their hands clasped together in prayer.
The one thing they all had in common was that they were awash with pure joy from the bottom of their hearts.
“It’s always been pretty crazy when I come back after a battle,” Yuuto said, “but today it’s on a whole new level.”
Still, his experience with this situation came into play. He made sure to suppress and conceal his unease, and played the part of a lord brimming with confidence to spare, smiling and waving at the crowd.
“Naturally,” Felicia said, “for we were pressed back by our enemies all that time. Surely, the citizens must have been terribly anxious about what would happen to them.”
She also maintained her smile and waved to the noisy crowd.
It was certainly true that, while the Wolf Clan’s upper ranks had tried to control the flow of information, one could sooner stop a wildfire than a rumor, and bad news had spread via merchants and entertainers, as well as other travelers, across the land.
Ever since Yuuto had vanished at the Battle of Gashina, the Wolf Clan forces had been forced into a conflict that was very much not in their favor, and that knowledge had surely reached the people of Iárnviðr.
As soon as the palace had reported to the people that Yuuto had returned from his “land beyond the heavens,” it was only a scant few days before reports came in of his victories, one after the other.
Considering that, the feverish jubilation of the citizens stood to reason.
As for Yuuto, he would have liked to run full speed back to the palace, but he needed to show the people their ruler was alive and well; confidently project to them that the Wolf Clan was going to be alright, washing away their remaining anxieties. That was his duty as the patriarch.
Yuuto’s group slowly made their way up the main thoroughfare, responding to the cheers and waving to the crowd until, after some time, they reached the palace gates.
Standing there was a familiar girl, someone Yuuto had known from his earliest days.
“Welcome home, Yuu-kun,” said Mitsuki.
The sight of her was so familiar to him, and yet, somehow, seeing her felt new and different.
He could already feel a great heat welling up within his chest.
“Hey, Mitsuki, I’m home. It’s good to be back.”
“Mm-hm! ?”
It was a normal, simple greeting. But they were together, looking each other in the eyes, exchanging that greeting in person.
Right now, that was the greatest happiness in the world for him.
“Over the past two months, I know my absence put an extraordinary burden on you all,” Yuuto said. “I’m truly sorry about that. But, at the same time, I feel so proud. Well done, all of you! When the going was tough, you held out strong. Our victory this time was only possible because of how hard you fought. Tonight, we celebrate. Forget the formalities. Drink, shout, sing, and dance the night away!”
“Yeaaaah!!” The sanctuary hall at the top of the sacred tower Hliðskjálf erupted with noisy cheers.
As was usual for Yuuto’s return from a war campaign, it was a feast to celebrate the clan’s victory.
Yuuto was exhausted after having done so much traveling back and forth in such a short period of time, and honestly he wanted to get back to his private quarters and just sleep like a rock for the first time in two months. But that would be ignoring the important people in his clan gathered here today, who had spent every day waiting for his return, so he couldn’t do that.
He was pushing himself to ignore his fatigue and attend the party.
Yuuto raised his glass. “Now, then! Let us raise our cups to toast the Wolf Clan’s victory. Chee—”
“No, no, Father, that just won’t do at all,” Jörgen interjected hastily, the second-in-command’s chiding cutting Yuuto off just as he was about to finish his toast.
Huh? Yuuto thought to himself, and cast a glance out to the crowd gathered in the sanctuary hall, only to see that many of them were nodding in seeming agreement with Jörgen.
He wondered just what he might have done wrong, but he couldn’t come up with the answer.
After a moment, Jörgen added, “Then, by your leave, sir, I shall take care of this.”
He cleared his throat, stepped forward to stand next to Yuuto, and addressed the crowd.
“A toast! To the Wolf Clan’s victory, but first and foremost, to the return of our great and beloved hero and patriarch, Lord Suoh-Yuuto! ...Cheers!”
“Cheers!!” With that shout in unison, countless cups were raised high, and the sound of their clinking together rang throughout the hall.
Ah, I see, I forgot to celebrate my own homecoming. Yuuto finally understood. He had developed the habit of ignoring himself as an individual in order to prioritize his public role as lord of the clan, and so he hadn’t realized he’d left that part out.
I just had my big toast pulled right out from under me, he thought with a wry laugh, but at the same time, it made him really happy to realize that everyone was just that happy to see he’d returned.
To Yuuto, it really did feel like Iárnviðr, not Japan, had become his place to return to, his true home.
As Yuuto sat down in his seat after finishing his ceremonial role, Mitsuki leaned over to speak to him, giggling. “Good job out there! Tee hee, pretty cool speech you gave.”
Yuuto’s shoulders drooped. “Is that sarcasm? Jörgen had to take over the show at the end there.”
“At the end, yeah. But I think I got to see a little of what ‘Yuu-kun the patriarch’ looks like. I meant it when I said you looked cool. I... um. It made me fall in love with you all over again.”
“Oh, really? Okay. Well, Mitsuki, you should know you look pretty amazing in that outfit.”
“Eh, really? Eheheh! Thanks.” A light blush colored Mitsuki’s cheeks, and she giggled bashfully.
In Iárnviðr, clothes from Japan would stand out as far too strange. As the saying goes, “When in Rome, do as the Romans do.”
Mitsuki was wearing a new outfit now, and if one had to pick an example for comparison, out of all the other girls, it most closely resembled the outfit that Ingrid wore.
It was the sort of clothing worn by most of the women of Yggdrasil, with a simple design similar to a tunic or poncho.
Naturally, since it was worn by the wife of the patriarch, the quality of the stitching and the materials used were of a level far above that of the standard cheap outfit. And in particular, the cardigan-like piece that adorned her shoulders was beautifully embroidered with gold thread.
Yuuto’s words were not empty praise; he really did think she looked beautiful in it. Seeing the girl he loved in a new look for the first time like this was a treat for the eyes.
“Ohh, if you stare at me that much you’re gonna make me embarrassed.” Mitsuki giggled. “Oh, that’s right! I remembered there was something I wanted to give you as a reward, Yuu-kun, for making it back home safe.”
“A reward?”
“Yeah, hold on just a minute, okay?” With that, Mitsuki reached over and picked up an object that had been sitting next to her: a slightly long, oval-shaped, black metal container.
At first Yuuto thought it might be a Japanese-style lunch box, but then again, it was much too unrefined and plain-looking for a girl like Mitsuki.
As Yuuto stared at it wondering just what this could be, Mitsuki used a cloth to pull the lid off of the container.
“Whoaaa!!” Yuuto shouted with amazement the instant he saw what was inside, completely forgetting that he was in public.
The inside of the container was filled with countless tiny, white grains, from which fresh steam was rising.
It was rice. Any way you looked at it, it was rice.
“Mi-Mitsuki, y-you, this...”
“Yeah, I brought just a little bit of white rice here with me. You won’t be able to eat it every day or anything, but you can at least on special occasions like today. Go on, eat up! ?”
Mitsuki used a wooden spoon to scoop out some of the rice into a small, white porcelain rice bowl that she must have also brought with her from Japan. She handed the bowl to Yuuto.
Yuuto instinctively gulped with anticipation.
“Thank you. Itadakimasu!” Yuuto was still holding the rice bowl in his left hand, so he performed the prayer a bit informally with just his right, and then he dug in straight away, shoveling the fresh, hot rice into his mouth with his chopsticks.
The taste spread throughout his mouth, the nostalgic taste that he’d always known since childhood.
“Ahhhhh! I knew it, a Japanese man’s gotta eat some of this stuff, or life just isn’t the same!” Yuuto exclaimed, talking with his mouth full and slapping his free arm against his thigh.
He was a machine, wolfing down a mouthful of rice, then grabbing some of the side dishes with his chopsticks, then scooping more rice into his mouth.
Yuuto’s bowl was empty in practically the blink of an eye, and it was only at this point that a question arose in his mind.
“But hey, how did you even cook this stuff? It’s not like you can use a rice cooker here.”
“I used the pot from a mess kit — you know, the ones used in outdoor camping. Before I came to this world, I secretly spent time learning how to cook rice over a campfire outside my house. I practiced a lot.”
“Whoa, thanks so much!”
“And also, right now I’ve got some of Jörgen’s subordinates helping me to set up a paddy field. I brought a few rice plant seedlings over with me, too.”
“Seriously?!” Yuuto couldn’t help but lean in towards Mitsuki with excitement.
“Yeah. It really is just a few, though. And the climate here doesn’t have a lot of rainfall, it seems, so I don’t think we’ll be able to grow anything major.”
“But I’d be grateful for even a little bit!”
This meant that, even if it was only every once in a while, Yuuto could look forward to eating rice from now on, as well.
But the surprises didn’t stop there.
“And I also brought some kōji base with me too, so I’m going to try making soy sauce and miso at some point.”
“Mitsuki! You’re the best!!” Unable to hold himself back any more, Yuuto embraced her.
He was so happy, he thought he might tear up.
Mitsuki was great at cooking, after all. There was no doubt in Yuuto’s mind that she would be able to recreate the beloved flavors of his old homeland for him here in this world, one after the other.
It was often said that the way to a man’s heart is through his stomach, and it was now that he realized just how wise and true that saying was.
At the very least, Yuuto felt like he could never again leave Mitsuki’s side. She’d firmly grasped his stomach, and his heart.
“But if you were planning all of that, you could have told me while we were still both in Japan,” Yuuto said.
“Hee hee, I wanted to surprise you.”
“Well, you definitely did that.”
During their preparations in Japan, Yuuto had, for the most part, decided on a totally hands-off policy with regards to what Mitsuki decided to pack.
It was often said that women overbuy and overpack, and besides, there would surely be underwear and feminine products that she might not want a guy to see.
Yuuto himself had been totally focused on bringing things that would be useful for aiding the Wolf Clan in the future, and so even though he’d really wanted to eat rice, he had put those personal desires last.
Having resigned himself to never being able to taste rice again, that made it all the more joyous that he could savor the foods of his homeland here in Yggdrasil after all.
This was just what he could expect from Mitsuki, who knew him better than anyone. Right now, she had given him the happiest gift he could ever receive.
“Nice to see you two getting along so well!” a sullen-sounding voice called down from above the two of them.
Looking up, Yuuto saw Ingrid, with a sullen-looking face to match her voice, glaring at him with her cheek puffed out.
He didn’t really understand. This was a happy occasion, so why did she look so upset?
“Yo, Ingrid, long time no see,” he said.
“Sure, right back at you.”
“What’s with you? You’re sure acting sour. Aren’t you even happy to see your old friend after two long months? I’m certainly happy to see you, at least.”
“W-w-well, yeah, I’m happy to see you, sure. It’s just damned hard to watch you making kissy eyes with another girl like this!”
“Hm? What was that? You’re mumbling. Speak up, I can’t...”
Mitsuki cut him off. “All right, Yuu-kun, you can’t torment a girl like that.”
“Ow! Ow-ow-ow!” Yuuto shouted in pain as Mitsuki suddenly grabbed his earlobe and yanked him downwards.
But Mitsuki didn’t seem to pay any attention to Yuuto, and instead spoke to Ingrid. “I meant what I said before. I really don’t mind, okay?”
“I don’t think I stand a chance,” Ingrid muttered. “Not against you.”
“Well, of course I’m not planning on giving up the position of number one.” Mitsuki gave a kind, almost motherly smile.
However, for some reason, when Yuuto saw that expression on her face, he felt a chill run down his spine.
“Ha ha, all right, then,” Ingrid said more contentedly. “I guess I’ll set my sights on being third or fourth.”
“Isn’t that a little modest?” Mitsuki asked.
“Ahaha! Well, to me it looks like the fight for second place is gonna be red-hot, you see.” Ingrid gave a wry grin and shrugged her shoulders.
Meanwhile, Yuuto didn’t have a clue what the two of them were talking about.
He felt like he was the only one being left out of the loop, and it bothered him. It sounded almost like they were talking about him, so he decided to ask...
“Uh? Just what are you two ta—aaauugh! Ow-ow-ow!!” He was forcefully driven back to crying in pain when Mitsuki pulled him down by the ear even stronger.
Mitsuki sighed, placing her free hand against her cheek. “Honestly, Yuu-kun, you really are clueless when it comes to this stuff.”
Even as she chided him, she didn’t let up one bit on the force pulling Yuuto’s ear.
“What do you mean, ‘this stuff’? ...Ohh! Wait, is this about that whole officially-recognized concubine stuff?!” At long last, Yuuto’s brain finally put the pieces together.
As he connected them, that suddenly gave him another realization. He glanced in Ingrid’s direction.
As his eyes met Ingrid’s, her face flushed beet red in an instant.
Yuuto was pretty ignorant when it came to male-female relationships, something he was well aware of. But even Yuuto wasn’t clueless enough to miss what this meant.
“Uh, s-so, does that mean, you, uh, you know?” Yuuto tried to ask her directly.
He made his phrasing very vague and indirect, as a safety measure. He couldn’t help but do that instinctively. To Yuuto, Ingrid was a good friend, and he didn’t want to destroy the relationship they had.
Ingrid hesitated for a moment, then seemed to gather her resolve, and answered him. “...Yeah, it does. Sorry, okay?!”
She did so while looking the other way, her face still red as a beet.
“O-oh,” Yuuto said. “N-no, I’m the one who’s at fault. I, uh, didn’t notice.”
“N-no, look, it’s fine. I know, it’s just a n-nuisance, for someone like me to...”
“N-no, it’s not a nuisance at all, it’s just, well, I have Mitsuki, and...”
“Yuu-kun, you really don’t have to worry about me on this, okay?” Mitsuki asked.
“No, but it’s not...”
“H-hey, I get that this isn’t fair to you, either, Yuuto, springing this on you all of a sudden,” Ingrid burst out. “S-so now that you know that that’s how it is, let’s just leave it at that for now! Oh, and by the way, I finished making the thing we discussed. S-see you later!”
After saying that last part quickly and without taking a breath, Ingrid ran off like the wind, leaving a whoosh! in her wake.
She was already a very bashful girl to begin with. She must have been unable to take the romance-tinged atmosphere any longer.
“Uhh, so... what am I supposed to do about this?” Yuuto ventured.
“I think you shouldn’t be asking me that question, don’t you?” Mitsuki asked.
“Y-yeah, you’re right.” A bit of cold sweat ran down Yuuto’s cheek.
It might be that he was supposed to chase after Ingrid in this situation, but with Mitsuki right there beside him, actually doing that would be more than a little difficult.
And he still hadn’t properly spoken to most of the guests at the party. As patriarch, it would be irresponsible for a central figure like him to run out of the celebration.
He felt really guilty about it, but he decided that the safest choice of action was to wait and patch things up with her later.
“Everyone, please listen!” After the party had been in full swing for a while, Yuuto stood up from his seat and raised his voice to call out to the guests.
With just those three words, the rowdy noise that filled the hörgr fell silent immediately, as if time had been stopped.
Yuuto waited until everyone’s eyes were gathered on him before opening his mouth again.
“Tonight’s celebration will be wrapping up soon, and to finish, there’s something I want to say to all of you.”
He spoke in a solemn tone. This was something he absolutely had to announce in public, one way he would draw a clear line between the past and the future.
Gathered in this hall were all of the Wolf Clan ranking officers and other major figures.
It was just the right opportunity to do this.
“As all of you already know, I’m not from this world,” Yuuto said. “I came here from the country of Japan, a place far, far away.”
This sounds ridiculous even to my own ears, Yuuto thought, but there wasn’t any chatter among the crowd gathered in the hörgr.
Even though all of them had been drinking, they all stood there listening to Yuuto with their serious and full attention.
“If I’m being honest with you, I spent most of the last three years wishing the whole time that I could go back to the world I came from,” Yuuto went on. “I didn’t come to Yggdrasil because I wanted to. And I didn’t become your patriarch because I wanted to. I was just pulled along by the course of events. It never happened by my own will.”
Sitting on the opposite side of him from Mitsuki, Felicia posed a question to Yuuto, smiling gently. “And now, it has?”
She was one of the people to whom he’d already given the answer.
She knew the answer, and was choosing to interject with the question at this precise moment. As expected of his trusted adjutant, it accented his speech with perfect timing.
Yuuto nodded once, a sharp and willful light shining in his eyes.
“That’s right! Everything is different now. I have come here of my own free will! I’ve come here for good, to live and die alongside you all!”
“Yeaaaahhh!!” A storm of boisterous cheers erupted.
Looking around, Yuuto saw that even though Felicia had known this beforehand, she was crying while smiling.
Sigrún, too, had tears silently falling from her closed eyes.
Jörgen was tilting his head back to take a long draught from his cup. There were small tears visible in the corners of his eyes.
Even old Bruno, the chief of the clan elders, who had once been so opposed to Yuuto’s taking the throne, was looking on with a full-faced smile, and shaking his fists in the air excitedly.
Yuuto waited for everyone to settle back down, then began to speak again.
“During the two months I was gone, the lives of many members of our family were taken from us. As the father of my people, I cannot forgive this. Your enemies are mine, and my enemies are yours.”
Yuuto paused there, and softly closed his eyes.
He took a deep breath, and then opened his eyes wide, using his right hand to flourish the mantle hanging from his shoulders.
He summoned his spirit from within him, a commanding aura that welled up around him as he shouted, “And so, let it be known here and now, I declare that we shall subjugate the Panther Clan!”
“You were like a totally different person back there! It was a little bit scary!” Mitsuki said excitedly, staring into space in front of her as if re-picturing the scene from earlier.
The sun was already fully down, the party at a close, but the bomb Yuuto had dropped with his speech at the end had thrown the ritual hall into rowdy chaos.
Even now, Yuuto could hear bits of the voices of the people still up there, discussing the conquest of the Panther Clan with great fervor.
Despite wanting to, Yuuto hadn’t had it in him to stay with everyone any later, so he’d quickly taken his leave.
Now he was walking together with Mitsuki down one of the palace hallways.
Sigrún was ahead of them, and Felicia was following behind them, so they were protected against any would-be assailants.
“It’s best to just give in and go all the way when it comes to that sort of thing,” Yuuto said. “Besides, it’s not like any of it was untrue.”
Indeed, though none of them were connected to Yuuto by blood, he did feel anger at having the lives of his sworn children and grandchildren taken. In that way, though his speech might have been a bit militant, it was also understandable why.
“Well, that ‘giving in and going all the way’ part is what’s hard, though,” Mitsuki said. “At least, for normal people.”
“I don’t know... it seems to me like you’ve done some going all the way yourself, though maybe in a different way than me.”
“What, no, that’s not truuue! I’m normal, totally normal!”
“What kind of joke is that, calling yourself normal?” Yuuto demanded.
“Hmph! You’re the only person who would say that, Yuu-kun.”
“I’ve heard everyone else saying you’re a ‘woman truly fit to be the wife of a lord,’ you know.”
Indeed, Yuuto had been honestly quite surprised to see how many people at the party were showing such clear respect towards Mitsuki in their interactions with her.
Of course, anyone would need to treat the wife of a patriarch with civility, at least on the surface. However, Yuuto had built up enough experience by this point to be able to tell when someone was only being polite and respectful just for show.
As far as Yuuto could see, everyone seemed to have genuine admiration for Mitsuki.
The fact that she was known to possess twin runes, that rarest of rare supernatural gifts, probably played some part in it, but it was still quite impressive for her to command so much respect after having been here for only a month.
Yuuto’s reputation had dropped like a rock during his own first month in Yggdrasil, and he’d gone from being called the Child of Victory, Gleipsieg, to being called Sköll, Devourer of Blessings. Yuuto couldn’t help but feel a little jealous at the difference.
“Father, Mother.” Sigrún emerged from Felicia’s room, then stood straight at attention and addressed Yuuto and Mitsuki. “I have finished checking your bedroom, as well as Felicia’s. There were no intruders. Please be at ease, and have a good night’s rest.”
“Uh?” A dumbfounded sound escaped Yuuto’s lips.
He felt like he’d just heard something off in what she’d said, something he shouldn’t ignore.
“Now then, I shall take my leave.” But before Yuuto could voice his suspicions, Sigrún bowed her head and walked away at a brisk pace.
Yuuto and Mitsuki stood there, a strange silence between them.
Yuuto couldn’t let that go on forever. “The only two bedrooms past here are Felicia’s and mine, actually. Where is yours, by the way?”
He pinned his last remaining hope on that question.
“Well, I’m your wife,” said Mitsuki. “It’s normal that we’d share a room and sleep together.”
Yuuto had anticipated that response, but it still struck him speechless.
Sure, his bed was unnecessarily wide; a clan patriarch couldn’t afford to have meager furnishings. It could fit not just two, but three people comfortably.
However, that definitely wasn’t the issue here.
“Okay, look,” Yuuto said. “I’m a man, and you’re a woman. You get that, right?”
“Yuu-kun, what are you even saying? That’s why we could get married in the first place.”
“No, listen! Do you understand what it means for a man and a woman to share the same bed?!”
Yuuto was a young man in his teens, after all.
He was characterized by his iron-willed self-restraint, but if he were to share a bedroom with this girl he loved, even he wasn’t sure he’d be able to keep himself off of her.
“I... I know that.” Mitsuki spoke haltingly while looking down, her face as red as an apple. “That’s... that’s why I came here with you.”
“Ah...!” As slow as Yuuto was in this area, even he was able to pick up on Mitsuki’s resolve.
True, the two of them were to be husband and wife from now on. There was nothing strange at all about the two of them sleeping together.
Yuuto was also prepared to take on the responsibility that entailed. He’d been ready for that ever since the moment he’d decided to bring her with him to this uncivilized land with no chance of returning to Japan.
But even so, Yuuto had constantly been telling himself that he needed to take things with her seriously, and so he’d thought he should try to keep things between them pure at least until they’d had their official wedding ceremony.
But now that Mitsuki had gone this far, shaming her by turning her down would in turn be the death of his honor as a man.
“You’re... really sure about this?” he said slowly.
“...Yes.” With a nod, Mitsuki squeezed Yuuto’s hand slightly.
And, in a tiny, barely-audible voice, she added, “I may be inexperienced, but please take good care of me, now and forevermore.”
Chirp chirp. Chirp chirp chirp.
Yuuto was awakened by the sound of chirping sparrows coming in through the sunlit window.
“Morning, huh...” he muttered, and sat up.
His upper body was naked.
With multiple days’ worth of travel fatigue, and then using up the last of his strength last night, he must have fallen asleep right afterward, in a state of blissful emptiness.
“Good morning, Yuu-kun.” A slightly embarrassed-sounding voice came from right beside him.
Yuuto turned and saw Mitsuki, using a blanket to cover everything up to the bottom half of her face, looking at him bashfully.
Seeing her brought it home all over again that this was real. So last night wasn’t just a dream.
“Hey, good morning,” he said. “So, uh... are you... all right?”
“So childbirth is...” Mitsuki began.
“Childbirth?!” Yuuto couldn’t keep from cutting her off with a shout, his voice cracking.
Of course, he couldn’t say it was completely unrelated to the conversation, but it was still so out of the blue to bring that up now, that of course he would be startled.
“Yeah, apparently childbirth is as bad as trying to pass a watermelon through one of your nostrils.”
“Um? Okay...” Yuuto nodded for her to continue, but he didn’t really grasp where she was going with this.
“Last night hurt about as much as an apple.”
“I am so, so sorry!!” Yuuto leapt up, and then knelt in apology with his head down, right there on the spot.
The experience had been nothing but pleasure for him, so naturally he was filled with guilt.
“Um, I’m sorry about that,” he said desperately.
“It still feels like there’s something in there.”
“Ughh... I really am sorry.”
“No, it’s okay. It’s more like, ‘Yuu-kun really was here.’ That sort of feeling. It hurts, but it also makes me kind of happy.”
“I... I see,” Yuuto stammered.
“So don’t apologize.” Smiling gently, Mitsuki reached a hand out and stroked Yuuto’s chin.
Her face looked so beautiful to him, so sweet and lovely, that he felt himself pulling towards her again...
A voice like a bell and a light knock at their door interrupted them. “Big Brother, Big Sister Mitsuki, is it all right if I come in now?”
In the blink of an eye, Yuuto and Mitsuki were pulled out of their own little world and back into reality.
“Hold on just a minute!” Yuuto shouted. “Mitsuki, clothes!”
“O-okay!”
The two of them hurriedly retrieved their scattered clothing from the night before and started to dress, but they were so flustered that they had a hard time of it.
By the time they were done and Yuuto opened the door to let Felicia into the room, both Yuuto and Mitsuki looked completely worn out.
Seeing this, Felicia let slip a little smile, but she quickly resumed her serious expression, and addressed them.
“While it pains me to have to come between the two of you right now, there is a mountain of work waiting to be done.”
Yuuto returned to his usual office desk for the first time in two months, to find it practically buried under stacks of paperwork.
And, sadly, it was indeed all paper. If it had been clay tablets, stacks of this size wouldn’t be an especially intimidating volume of work. It was plain to see this wasn’t going to get finished in a day, and that made it a little overwhelming.
“Well, all of that can wait for now,” he sighed. “There’s something else we have to deal with first.”
“Regarding the subjugation of the Panther Clan, correct?” Felicia asked with a stiff expression.
The patriarch of the Panther Clan was a man called Hveðrungr, but his true name was Loptr, and he had once been the second-in-command of the Wolf Clan. He was also Felicia’s biological older brother. It was surely complicated for her.
“Yeah.” Yuuto nodded, and made his way with wide strides to the desk, where he sat down in his familiar chair.
That chair was one he’d had built by one of the Wolf Clan’s best craftsmen, but frankly speaking, the cheap chair he’d used in the modern era was still more comfortable.
Even so, he’d used this one for two whole years. He was attached to it at this point. Just by sitting in it, Yuuto felt himself naturally able to switch himself over to the mindset of a clan patriarch.
“Okay,” he began. “First, a written proclamation to the patriarchs of the clans under our sphere of protection, to press them into joining the campaign.”
The Panther Clan might have lost seven thousand soldiers at Körmt River, but even conservative estimates put them as still having five thousand or so elite fighting cavalry at their disposal.
It didn’t feel very secure for the Wolf Clan to go after them all on its own.
After the Wolf Clan’s huge defeat at Gashina, all of their subsidiary clans except for the Horn Clan had stood silently on the sidelines, waiting to see which way the wind blew, as it were. But with Yuuto’s return and with the string of recent victories, those clans should now be inclined to show their allegiance once again.
“Right. I shall prepare a clay tablet,” Felicia said. She took a container from a shelf nearby and opened it up.
Inside was a bunch of soft clay.
Even in modern Japan, there were many people who viewed documents written by hand as more authentic and valuable than those produced by typing on a computer. And in earlier decades, official forms couldn’t be written with a ballpoint pen. Only writing with a fountain pen was recognized as valid.
Paper had been introduced to Yggdrasil, but less than two years ago. The previous customs still had their roots strongly in place, so for an official document, only a clay tablet would be seen as proper and authentic. And not just a sun-dried tablet, but one baked in a proper kiln, and sealed inside a second baked clay container.
“All right, just knead it like so, and...” Felicia took the soft tablet she had retrieved and, with quick motions, molded it into the proper rectangular shape and length.
“All right,” Felicia said, speaking aloud as she wrote. “‘Inform your lord patriarch. I, Wolf Clan patriarch Suoh-Yuuto, speak thus’...”
Felicia’s stylus flowed smoothly as she inscribed the letters into the tablet. Her experience and familiarity with this work showed in how her hands moved with an incredible level of dexterity and skill.
She finished, and looked at Yuuto. “All right, the tablet is prepared. Please go ahead.”
“Good. Let’s see... ‘One month from now, we of the Wolf Clan shall conduct a campaign to subjugate the Panther Clan. And so, I ask you all to send soldiers, as well.’”
“All right.” Felicia inscribed the words, finishing with, “...‘send soldiers, as well.’ It is done. Is there more to add?”
“Hm, and also... right, in the message to Linnea, tell her to come to Iárnviðr right away. For everyone else, add on something like, ‘You forsook your Chalice vows, and I choose to forgive you just this once. But let me make clear that it will not happen a second time.’”
As he dictated the final part, the corners of Yuuto’s mouth turned up in a slightly roguish smile.
If one could see Yuuto’s expression and know nothing else, it would surely seem typical of a young man his age. However, the content and meaning of his words were quite removed from the impression that smile alone would suggest.
Felicia’s own expression stiffened.
“That is... quite the stern message,” she remarked.
“According to Machiavelli’s The Prince, what a great ruler should fear most of all is being looked down on by others. A lack of respect. It’s best for him to be feared, but not enough so that he’s despised. Think about the kind of guy who would slack off because he’s got a kind boss. That same guy would definitely do what he was told if someone who was scary when they were mad gave him an order, right?”
“...Yes, you are right. And such an argument is quite persuasive when it comes from someone who is truly terrifying when angry.”
“Excuse me? You wouldn’t be talking about me, would you?” Yuuto shot back, as if truly upset by her words.
That elicited an amused laugh from Felicia. “I always find myself thinking, Big Brother, that you do not see yourself for what you are.”
“No, no, I’m just playing my role. Acting! You should know that by now.”
“Big Brother, if what you do is acting, then that would make you a deceiver who puts even Botvid to shame.”
“...Heh. You talk back now, I see.” Yuuto gave a wry chuckle, and a small sigh.
It felt like Felicia wasn’t being reserved at all with him, which was pretty rare by her standards.
Until now, Felicia had always put a small bit of emotional distance between herself and Yuuto, perhaps because of the feelings of guilt she had harbored for initially summoning him to Yggdrasil.
But now that those feelings were resolved, her naturally playful side had become more prominent. That was a good development.
“Um...? What is it, Big Brother?” Felicia asked. “Why are you staring at my face and grinning, all of a sudden?”
“Hm? Oh, just thinking to myself again about what a beauty you are,” Yuuto said, having decided to throw a few playful remarks back at her.
“If you say things like that to me, I’ll tell Big Sister Mitsuki on you.”
“That’s fine. As it happens, my wife’s pretty broad-minded.”
“Oh, my! I’m jealous. ...Actually, I really am jealous.”
“Huh?”
Before Yuuto could react, his head had been pulled into an embrace.
The feeling of Felicia’s soft, voluptuous body assaulted his senses.
“Wait, Felicia?!”
“I am happy for you and Lady Mitsuki, and I wish you blessings from the bottom of my heart, but I do feel some... no, quite a bit... of ‘frustration,’ you know? Even I get a little jealous, seeing the two of you that happy together.”
As if to symbolize the strength of her feelings, Felicia’s arms squeezed Yuuto more tightly against her.
“Uhh... umm...” Yuuto was lost for any kind of coherent response.
Felicia giggled, her voice trickling down to Yuuto’s ears. “Tee hee. Just a little joke.”
“It sure didn’t sound like a joke to me!”
“Who can say? Well, in any case, Big Brother, I will relinquish to Lady Mitsuki the privilege of standing at your side in public. But I hope you understand that the right to be at your side on the battlefield, and in this office, is something I will never give up.”
“Yeah, I get it,” Yuuto replied, smiling. “And I’m not planning on ever having anyone other than you as my adjutant. Speaking of which, I have something I need to ask your advice on, as my most trusted confidant.”
He placed his elbows on the desk, his hands folded together. His words implied it was something important. And his eyes were completely serious.
Felicia resumed her proper position standing at his side, and replied, “Please, go ahead.”
“I’ve determined that we need to strengthen the connections, the cooperation between us and the subsidiary clans, a bit more. What’s happening now is a good example of that. It’s still just an idea in my head, but...”
Over the course of writing out a number of important documents (through dictation to Felicia, who was the one who actually wrote them), calling people into his office, and giving them orders, the morning flew by in no time.
Despite the fact that Yuuto was working as diligently as he ever had, the mountain of papers on his desk hadn’t gotten smaller at all. It was a bit disheartening.
Still, in a way, there was no helping it.
All of the work Yuuto had done through the morning was related to preparations for the campaign to take down the Panther Clan, and the stacks of documents still waiting in front of him had absolutely nothing to do with that.
“Well, at least this puts our anti-Panther-Clan strategies in order for the time being,” he sighed. “There’s still the problem of the Lightning Clan, though.”
Leaning his weight against the back of his chair, Yuuto let out a long exhale and looked up, staring into the empty space above him.
Half a year ago, the Wolf Clan army had used the “wagon wall” tactic to beat the Panther Clan forces at the Battle of Náströnd. But while preparing to pursue their retreating foe, they’d learned that the Lightning Clan seemed to be getting its own army ready to move, putting the Wolf Clan in a situation where they had no choice but to pull back.
If they were to send their full force after the Panther Clan this time around, there was definitely a high chance that the Lightning Clan would seize that opening to invade.
That said, if they devoted too many troops to countering the Lightning Clan, they’d run short on force to use in the campaign against the Panther Clan.
Probably the least risky way to do things was for Yuuto to put himself in Gimlé to keep Steinþórr in check, while leaving command of the invasion force to either Sigrún or Skáviðr... but, in the end, Yuuto also felt like he wanted to settle things with his sworn brother personally.
“Going through the prisoners we captured from the Panther Clan and hiring some of them as mercenaries to fight against the Lightning Clan doesn’t seem like a bad idea,” he said.
They couldn’t be brought along to subjugate the Panther Clan, since it would be trouble if they switched sides again, but using them against the Lightning Clan was a realistic enough choice.
Nomadic clans tended to have people driven by rationalist principles, and there had been many cases of the agriculturally settled clans hiring people from nomadic clans as mercenaries to use against each other.
There were surely many who would agree to be hired, as long as the rewards were satisfactory enough.
Their prisoners left nothing to be desired in terms of strength and skill on the field, but the real unknown factor was in just how many of them would actually swear their loyalty to the Wolf Clan.
Muttering to himself, Yuuto stood up and walked over to one wall of the room, which was completely covered by maps. “While we’re attacking the Panther Clan, if the Hoof Clan or the Wind Clan were to take up the Lightning Clan’s attention, that would make things a lot easier...”
The Lightning Clan shared borders with the Hoof Clan and the Wolf Clan on its north side, as well as the Wind Clan to the south.
To the west was the sea, and its eastern side was bordered by the Þrúðvangr Mountains, which prevented enemy invasions from that direction.
Thus, though the Lightning Clan was expansive in terms of the total territory it controlled, it could focus its military power just in the north and south. The geography made it easy for them to invade others, and also easy to protect themselves.
And unfortunately, things weren’t so optimistic regarding the Hoof and Wind Clans. Both of them had once been counted among the ten most powerful nations in the land, but the Hoof Clan had recently had over half of its territory ripped away by the Panther Clan.
And as for the Wind Clan, Yuuto knew it had been forced into a rather poor situation due to an invasion by its neighbor further to the south, the Flame Clan, and its strength had weakened considerably.
It didn’t seem like those two clans would be strong enough to match the Lightning Clan.
“Oh, there was something I forgot to tell you about, Big Brother,” Felicia said. “A month ago, the Wind Clan was completely overrun and destroyed by the Flame Clan’s invasion.”
“What?!” Yuuto spun around to face her.
The most recent thing he had heard was that the Flame Clan and Wind Clan were at war, and that the Flame Clan had the advantage in the conflict. He hadn’t heard a single thing about the Wind Clan’s destruction.
However, in a way, this was one more thing that couldn’t be helped.
During Yuuto’s time in Japan, his only option for communicating with Yggdrasil had been with Felicia, using the smartphone he’d left behind.
The solar battery it used could only power it for about thirty minutes each day at most, and with the constant danger his clan was in, of course the vast majority of that communication had necessarily been discussing the Panther and Lightning Clans.
Still, to think that such a huge incident had occurred unbeknownst to him...
It was a complete shock.
“We ourselves only learned of the fact about a week ago,” Felicia said. “We checked for confirmation with a number of traveling merchants who came here from the south, so we can assume it’s true.”
“I see.” Yuuto put a hand to his mouth, and silently pondered for a moment.
One of the ten great nations of Yggdrasil, the Flame Clan, had just crushed an equally powerful neighbor and taken all of its territory. That meant it was now a clan with national strength higher than the Wolf Clan’s. Perhaps it was now even among the strongest three nations in the realm.
One could hardly ask for a better opponent for the peerless warrior Steinþórr.
“All right, let’s send an envoy to the Flame Clan, with the message that I would most definitely like to swear the Oath of the Sibling Chalice with their patriarch, at an even fifty-fifty split,” Yuuto said. “Thirty-Six Stratagems, number twenty-three: ‘Befriend a distant state, strike a neighboring one.’”
Tap! Tap!
“Coming,” Felicia replied to the light knock at her door, and opened it.
In the darkness outside her doorway, the light of her lamp’s fame illuminated the face of her visitor.
It was Sigrún.
“Welcome,” Felicia said. “I am sorry for calling you out here in the middle of the night this way.”
“It’s not a problem. You mentioned this was about Father, after all. No matter the time or place, I will always rush to help.”
“Thank you. Please, come in.”
“Sure.”
At Sigrún’s curt response, Felicia moved aside and brought her into the room.
Sigrún had been invited here many times before, and she strode over to the bed at the center of the room and sat down with as much familiarity as if it were her own room.
“Oh, Big Brother and Big Sister are currently busy with creating an heir in the next room, so we’ll need to be quiet,” Felicia added.
“Hm. Understood.”
“...Does that give you something to think about?”
“It does. I’m sure that if it’s Father’s child, it will be quite healthy and talented. It’s another thing in the future to look forward to.” Sigrún nodded several times, clearly certain of herself.
“Erm, that wasn’t what I meant. I mean... you haven’t had a tight, painful feeling in your chest?”
“No, not really. I’m not suffering from any illness that I know of. What, do I look out of sorts to you?”
“No. No, you seem perfectly the same as always.” Felicia let out a long sigh.
She had no doubts that Sigrún’s feelings for Yuuto were pure and true.
What Felicia was wondering was whether those feelings might not be merely those of a loyal warrior, but also those of a woman towards a man. Her statements had been a way of fishing for the answer. But judging by Sigrún’s reaction, Felicia was completely off the mark.
Honestly, she found it to be a bit underwhelming.
“Still, I am quite envious of Mother,” Sigrún said. “I, too, would like to bear one of Father’s children, eventually.”
“Wh...?!” Felicia’s eyes nearly popped out of her head as she heard this. It was as if she had watched an attack miss her, only to learn it was a feint after the true blow struck her in the back of the head.
Sigrún must have noticed the strange expression on her face, because she was staring blankly back at Felicia, puzzled and blinking.
“Hm? Was what I said really that strange? Oh, of course, we’ll have the issue of the campaign against the Panther Clan for a while, and my becoming unable to fight would be a real problem, so I plan to wait until things have settled down a bit more first.”
“...Since when have you wanted children? You never seemed like you had any interest in that.”
“Well, yes, I don’t have any interest in marriage or the like, but I would certainly love to bear Father’s child. Mother has already stated that she will allow that, after all.”
“...I see. It must be nice for someone simple like you.” Felicia’s head drooped, and she placed a palm against her forehead.
Sigrún was so plain and simple at heart that it made Felicia jealous.
Sure, Mitsuki had said she would tolerate other women being in the picture, but only tolerate; didn’t that mean that in her heart she found the idea unpleasant? And considering how singular Yuuto was in his love for Mitsuki, wouldn’t making a move only cause him trouble?
These were the sorts of complicated questions that Felicia had been wrapped up in, and now she felt as if she looked like an idiot for being so concerned with them.
“Still, you have a point,” she said to Sigrún at last. “Perhaps simply following these feelings in my heart is best, isn’t it?”
“I don’t really get what you mean, but is that what you wanted to discuss?” Sigrún asked bluntly.
“Ah, no, I’m afraid we got off track,” Felicia replied. “I’ll talk about it now. But before I begin, would you like some tea?”
“No. Just hurry up and get to the point.”
“Fine.” Felicia nodded, and then sat down next to Sigrún.
She didn’t meet Sigrún’s eyes, instead gazing up into empty space.
“Tell me, what is your impression of Big Brother since he came back to us?”
“My impression?”
“I get the feeling that there is something about him that is different from before. Don’t you feel it, too?”
Sigrún was silent, with a difficult, thoughtful look on her face. Perhaps the question did bring something to mind for her.
“It’s true, it’s as if the air that surrounds him is much heavier and sharper than it was before,” she said at last. “I thought that was because of his new resolve, his conviction to live and die with the Wolf Clan... but it seems you have a different idea.”
“I think you’re right, too, of course,” Felicia said. “But it also looks to me like desperation, as if something was forcing him to act with great haste.”
“Hmm.”
“This campaign to subjugate the Panther Clan is a particularly striking example,” Felicia said. “The Big Brother I’ve known up until now would not possibly choose to begin just one month from now. At the very least, he would prepare for half a year, making doubly sure of his preparations and ensuring we were on absolutely solid footing first.”
“I see what you mean,” Sigrún said. “Now that you mention it, there’s also what we did in our last battle against the Panther Clan: We cut off any means of escape first before completely eradicating them. At the time, I was simply overcome with admiration, thinking, ‘I can’t believe the “fisher and bandit” tactic could be applied this way!’ But up until now, even if Father thought up such tactics, I don’t think he ever would have chosen to employ them.”
“Yes. Before now, Big Brother would not have wanted unnecessary killing, and so I believe he would have been fine with just being able to drive them off.”
“Hmm...”
“Until now, Big Brother has fought only with the foremost goal of defending us,” Felicia said. “But now, since his return, it seems to me that he is ready to proactively attack others.”
“Couldn’t it just be that committing himself to live in Yggdrasil has also awakened Father’s ambition? He does house an incredible conqueror’s spirit within him, after all.”
“I would be glad if that was all it was.” Felicia exhaled deeply.
There would be nothing better than to know her worries were unwarranted.
“However,” she continued, “if this feeling I have is not mistaken, then I cannot help but wonder just what could be placing such pressure on Big Brother, forcing him to hurry so.”
“What, so in other words, you’re hurt that even though you’re Father’s most trusted confidant, he hasn’t talked with you about whatever it is?”
“N-no, that isn’t true!” Felicia gasped. “Umm, well, no, I suppose it is true that his graciously calling me his closest confidant and then keeping this secret might have made me feel just a bit unhappy — just a bit, mind you! But really, I am mainly just worried about him!”
“In that case, all we have to do is keep supporting him. If he hasn’t told us about the issue, then it’s because we aren’t reliable enough yet to be worthy of that. If we support him loyally as best we can, he is sure to fill us in eventually.” Sigrún finished speaking and laughed a bit.
Faced with such an argument made so easily and confidently, Felicia couldn’t help but respond with a smile of her own.
Some things truly never changed...
“It must be nice to be simple like you.”
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