5
“’Tis I! Roswaal L Mathers, marquis of the Kingdom of Lugunica and master of this fiiine house!”
“……”
As Liliana beheld the man sitting across from her introducing himself, she lost her voice and calcified into a statue. Subaru shot a sympathetic glance her way. He couldn’t blame her for feeling intimidated—a marquis was one of the higher-ranking nobles, and they had introduced her to one without warning. It would have already been a nerve-racking situation, but all the more so with this marquis—
“I doubt she expected she was going to meet an absolute weirdo in clown makeup.”
“Barusu—such insolence against Master Roswaal shall not be tolerated. We’ll tighten the screws on you.”
“The fact that you knew I was talking about Rozchi makes you just as guilty as me. Also, tighten the screws on what exactly?”
“What, indeed…?” Any pretense of politeness vanished when Ram shot Subaru a chilling glare.
Meanwhile, Roswaal leisurely reclined on the leather sofa beside her and crossed his legs. He was blessed with a perfect body and a prestigious title, but he ruined it all with his quirky personality and appearance. Despite this, he was still highly regarded as a lord. Anyone who met him in person for the first time would surely have a terrible time processing the gap between the man and the reputation that preceded him.
“Oooh, yeees. The surprised look on a visitor’s face the first time they see me is always my greatest joy. Subaru’s reactions aren’t baaad, either, but this sort of reaction really hits the spot. Wouldn’t you say, Subaru?”
“Could you not drag me into this? Unlike you, toying with people isn’t my idea of a good time. Only a small part of my personality is that twisted.”
The truth was Subaru really did take a particular satisfaction in rubbing people the wrong way. To an outside observer, Subaru was little different from Roswaal, but both thought they were better than the other. They were a lost cause.
“I am t-terribly and frightfully delighted to be g-granted an audience with you, my lord. I am b-but a lowly bard, Liliana. I hope that my visit finds you in high spirits.”
“Oh-ho. Well said, my dear. To speak so beautifully under such emotional strain—now I know I agreed to see you for goooood reason. Fear not, my dear. My magnanimous nature is weeeell-known around these parts.”
Though Roswaal’s speech was quite self-congratulatory, every word of it was true. If he was a run-of-the-mill short-tempered evil nobleman, Subaru’s head would have said good-bye to his shoulders upon their very first meeting.
Emilia explained to Roswaal, “We heard there was a bard in the village, so Subaru and I went to see her. She told us she was searching for unique stories, and we thought you might be able to help her.”
“Ahaaa, now I see. Well, if you have such high hopes for her, Emilia, then I suppose it would behooooove me to share a little of my powers that I usually keep hidden.”
With a light chuckle, Roswaal leaned back. The sofa creaked beneath him as he folded his arms and closed his eyes in thought. After a few moments, he opened his one yellow eye and stared at Liliana. Under his bewitching gaze, the bard shivered.
“Oooh, no need to be frightened, my dear. I aaam your friend. Since Emilia has decided to make you a friend, I simply must make eeevery effort to do the same!”
“Hwokay. Tha…tha-tha-thank you muchly.”
“But my goodness, a bard. A bard… What impeeeeeccable timing!”
As Liliana cowered in fear, Roswaal’s smile deepened. Subaru had a bad feeling about the marquis’s red-lipped smile. He had to be scheming something.
“Liliana—that’s your name, riiiight? Well, Liliana, your wish—I have the power to make it come true. However, I would appreciate a liiiiitle more information before I comply.”
“M-more information, my lord? I don’t know where to begin…”
“Yes, let me see… What is the aim of your quest? Frankly, thaaaat is what I wish to know.”
When she heard Roswaal’s voice deepen, Liliana’s tense expression changed dramatically.
She closed her eyes in thought for a moment, then when her eyes reopened, they looked directly into Roswaal’s as she answered, “—I travel the world in search of the newest legends.”
It didn’t matter that she was talking to one of the most powerful people in the kingdom. The determined light in Liliana’s eyes never wavered. The words newest legends reverberated in Subaru’s heart. He was, after all, a man. It was obvious those powerful words would set his heart ablaze.
“The newest legends…,” Emilia murmured.
“That’s right. That is why I travel—to find these newest legends so I can sing about them.”
There was a devilish tone in Liliana’s voice. A devilishness that seeped into the hearts of anyone who heard it. Liliana nodded quietly at Emilia, noticing how hard it had struck her. Then she picked up her instrument and strummed it.
“We bards make a living from our songs. Our songs sink deep into the hearts of the masses, etching true stories of the past—of history—onto their souls. Songs with a long history hold a power in them—a power that remains in this world long after their songwriters die.”
Liliana continued to explain in a clear voice. Nobody dared interrupt.
“My people are unable to leave anything tangible behind. We don’t build things, and we don’t write. We instinctually resist setting down roots. We wander the earth on our own two feet, singing wherever we arrive, and once our songs touch the hearts of the people who call that place home, we set out in search of a new land. We do this again and again until one day, alone in an empty wasteland, we meet our end, cradling our instruments in our arms. That is who we are.”
In her voice, in her words, in her eyes, in her gestures—there was a power. It was the same power that came out in her singing.
“And because we can’t leave anything tangible behind, all that remains of us resides in the hearts of people. That is why we yearn to create art that will stay with our audiences. We want to leave behind proof that we lived, etching our spirits into history. If there is anything I desire, it’s that glory and nothing more.”
Though she was not singing, something in her words echoed in Subaru’s soul in a way that rivaled music. Liliana’s perspective on life was clearly defined. Almost tragically so. Nobody in the room could find the words to speak, not even Subaru.
It would have been easy to dismiss Liliana’s mission as stubborn and haughty. But that would be a refutation of Liliana and every bard like her. Subaru didn’t have any right or reason to judge Liliana’s way of life.
“Aha, iiiiinteresting… So that is why you’re hunting for new legends.”
The one who finally broke the silence was Roswaal. He praised her grit and nodded in understanding as a man who had made more tough decisions than anybody else in the room.
Acknowledging Roswaal’s nod of approval, Liliana sat up straight and said, “History is a vibrant tapestry as strong as it is long, passed down through generations in people’s hearts. We bards take great pride in devoting our lives to inheriting and preserving these songs. However…if it’s possible, I want to be the first. I want to be the first to perform a new song that will live on forever in people’s hearts. I want to share the latest and most dazzling historic moments this world has to offer with my throat, my tongue, my song—that is my wish.”
“……Oh.”
That was why Liliana had said the newest legends. Nobody had sung about them yet. Nobody even knew about them yet, but they were still a page of world history. Turning these legends into song was what motivated her to wander aimlessly, despite the lonely death awaiting her. Her dearest wish was to accomplish her true calling.
“Your quest is a nooooble one. But exactly what kind of folklore do you seek? Chasing after something intangible is like trying to catch a cloud. Unless your intangible yearning has a tangible shape within your heart, you maaaay lose sight of your true desire.”
“What I truly desire, if possible…is to write a hero’s epic.”
“A hero’s epic…”
Roswaal’s question. Liliana’s answer. Emilia’s dazed murmur. The meaning behind their three reactions and the distinct ring of hero’s epic tantalized Subaru. Those were electrifying words that danced in every soul and had the power to inspire passion that bordered on madness.
Even in Subaru’s original world, most famous historical figures who made names for themselves were war heroes. In any world, in any era, a hero’s epic had the power to captivate the hearts of all.
“Then I suppose that means you wish to hear new heroic tales, Liliana?” Emilia asked.
“I know that’s no easy task…a new hero’s tale in this day and age. If you went back several centuries, to when witches ran rampant and the world was overflowing with danger, that was a time for heroes to be born…but now, when the world is mostly at peace, new heroes are hard to come by.”
There was little room for heroes in peacetime. A world without heroes was a world that did not prioritize heroes. Liliana seemed to understand this, and it took everything in her to suppress her agony over the unsolvable problem.
However…
“…Tantalizing.”
It was a quiet murmur, but it reached every ear in the room. Confusion clouded Subaru’s face. He didn’t understand what could have inspired that kind of reaction. Paying the boy no heed, Roswaal broke into a smile as his heterochromatic eyes opened wide.
“A bard who wishes to discover an unknown hero’s epic has come to our land. Whaaaat other word could express such a fateful encounter other than tantalizing? Oh my, oh my—how utterly taaaaantalizing!”
“Roswaal, please. What are you talking about?” Emilia chided the merry Roswaal. “You’re confusing everyone, Liliana especially. Don’t keep it to yourself—please explain.”
“Oh, it’s quite simple, Emilia. I am sure Miss Liliana shall accomplish her dream.”
“What?! W-wait, so does that mean you have a new hero in mind?”
“But of course I do. And this new hero has a connection with you, Emilia.”
“With me…?” Emilia asked Roswaal blankly.
He gave her a meaningful smile. That was when Subaru suddenly realized what Roswaal was implying. And if his hunch was right, that meant he knew the new legend Roswaal wanted Liliana to find.
“You know of a new hero’s epic, Marquis? Then please, won’t you tell me—?!”
“Oops, I can’t tell you juuuust yet.”
“Meep!”
Liliana was animated by the prospect of drawing near her goal, but Roswaal mercilessly dashed that hope. As Liliana let out a crushing wail of grief, Emilia glared at the marquis and snapped, “Roswaal!”
“Don’t be so cross. That’s no way to treat such a pretty face. Besides, I most certainly did not mean to torment Liliana. Do I really seem that villainous?”
“If anything like that does happen, I always suspect you and Subaru first.”
“Slander!” Subaru cried.
As a stray round struck Subaru, Emilia waved her hands and frantically stammered, “No, I didn’t mean it like that!”
After Emilia’s clumsy attempt at an apology, the defeated Liliana looked up at Roswaal again and said, “S-so…what must I do to hear your story?”
“This new legend… Well, it’s not exactly something we can speak lightly of. So you must first proooove to us that you are somebody we can trust.”
“B-by doing what?! Y-you can’t have my hands, but I’m willing to sacrifice a toe or two as collateral!”
“Whoa, slow down. And cherish your body more, girl.” Subaru nipped Liliana’s hardcore proposal in the bud and sighed. In some ways, a traveling bard was difficult to differentiate from a common vagrant. Her sketchy origins were perhaps second only to Subaru, who’d been summoned from another world and had no family records to speak of.
Still, Roswaal had made a reasonable judgment call. If Subaru had accurately guessed what Roswaal was thinking, then it wouldn’t be smart to thoughtlessly involve Liliana.
Liliana’s shoulders slumped. The fact that her identity as a wandering bard had become the very obstacle preventing her from fulfilling the reason she was a wandering bard had to be the epitome of irony.
“In aaaany case, we will need some time to pass judgment. A proposition for you—why don’t I permit you to stay here at my manor for a few days? If we can determine whether you are trustworthy in that time frame, then I shall divulge what I know about this new hero’s epic.”
The phrase a miracle in the eleventh hour was for moments just like this. It’d be perfect if Liliana wanted to put the current state of her heart into words. (Subaru did find it ironic that Roswaal was the one who lit the flame of hope in Liliana’s eyes, since he was the one who had plunged her into the depths of despair to begin with.)
“U-understood, my lord! I am a woman of integrity! If you go to such lengths to offer me an opportunity, then what kind of bard would I be to refuse?! Bring it on, I say, bring it on!”
As Subaru watched the girl dance in the palm of Roswaal’s hand, he had a passing thought.
Huh, Liliana might’ve missed her calling as a dancer.
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