Chapter One: And So, the Girl Was Unleashed upon the World
I
Tempus Fugit 995
The curtain fell on a forty-year age of peace as war dawned on the continent of Duvedirica once again.
It followed on the heels of Ramza XIII’s abrupt declaration as emperor of the Asvelt Empire, a powerful nation situated in the north of the continent, that he would unify Duvedirica. The empire proceeded to send a large force over the border into the Kingdom of Fernest, another powerful country in the east of the continent, and battle lines were drawn.
In the beginning, it was a war between Asvelt and Fernest—between two great powers—but soon its sparks were flying into the smaller countries in the region. Before long, the war spread to engulf the entire continent.
Tempus Fugit 997
For the peoples of Duvedirica, the war consumed everything. Since the war began neither Fernest nor Asvelt had managed to take the upper hand, but a turning point came when the empire seized the Kier Fortress, Fernest’s greatest stronghold on the central front, upon which they had been pinning their hopes.
Once the nigh-impenetrable fortress had fallen, the empire proceeded like a raging tempest, using Kier Fortress as a rallying point and employing intimidation, conciliation, and whatever other means were necessary to bring the kingdom’s smaller neighbors under its dominion.
Seeing all of this, the United City-States of Sutherland in the south of the continent chose not to interfere in the war. They declared their absolute neutrality, but were in fact secretly colluding with the empire. Citing widespread bad harvests in the southeast of the continent as an excuse, the city-states abruptly ceased exports of food to Fernest. Famine throughout the kingdom followed thereafter, with starvation claiming vast swaths of the citizenry. Fernest had always struggled to sustain itself with domestic produce alone and had relied on Sutherland for seventy percent of its food imports. This lack of self-sufficiency had cost them dearly.
Fernest requisitioned rations from its civilians to send to the soldiers on the front lines, but with food already in short supply, this incited the citizenry to rise up in rebellion. The army was deployed to put down the uprisings, but this only created more unrest in what turned into a vicious cycle. Left facing enemies within and without, the Kingdom of Fernest plummeted in a downward spiral.
Tempus Fugit 998
Report after report of the royal army’s failures arrived at Fernest’s capital. The kingdom had to put everything they had into fortifying their defenses just to hold the line, let alone even consider mounting a serious counterattack. The alliance against them, spearheaded by the empire, grew with each passing day until it threatened to surround the nation completely.
In the midst of this, Alfonse sem Galmond, reigning King of Fernest, made a difficult decision.
He ordered the elite First Legion to leave the last fortification defending the capital and take back Kier Fortress.
Galia Fortress was situated in the west of Fernest, isolated from the capital by the Est Mountains. It marked the final defensive line for the kingdom and was the closest key military outpost to the capital. Further to the west, and to the southeast of Kier Fortress, was Fort Caspar, which had fallen to the empire. The imperial army controlled the towns and villages around Fort Caspar, and the main roads were under perpetual watch by soldiers patrolling along their length. They expected an attack from Galia Fortress any day now, and so were on alert for any movements by the royal army.
Captain Samuel, head of the watch on the Canalia Highway, was on duty when he spotted a young girl, no more than fifteen or sixteen years old, walking in the direction of the royal capital.
Her features were exquisite as a doll’s, her legs were slender, and her long hair like silver thread rippled gracefully with every step she took. A village girl, if the short, tan-colored tunic she wore was anything to go by.
Well, well, thought Samuel. What have we here?
He licked his lips unconsciously, then his eyes caught on the item at her hip. The magnificent scabbard she had belted there was very much not typical of a village girl. It was black, and embellished with delicate, interwoven designs in silver and gold—the sort of thing that would look at home with a powerful noble who liked to throw their money around, or a battle-scarred warrior.
Just the scabbard alone would probably fetch a fine sum. It was obviously an unsuitable accessory for a mere village girl.
And if that’s just the scabbard, I’ll bet the sword inside is one hell of a treasure.
As he pictured the sword sheathed in the scabbard, Samuel smirked. For a moment, it crossed his mind that she might not be a village girl at all, but some sort of thief. But he quickly quashed the thought. It was common knowledge that the imperial army controlled these lands. Well, maybe he was biased because he was an imperial soldier, but even so, surely no thief would show themselves so brazenly in broad daylight.
Samuel tapped the shoulder of the young soldier next to him, a man named Cliff, and pointed at the girl.
“Good news, Cliff. I’ve got your first job for you. Go and detain that girl.”
“Yes, ser!” Cliff replied with a sharp salute. He called out to the girl in a threatening tone.
“You there, girl! Halt!”
No reply. Despite Cliff’s order for her to halt, the girl did not stop.
Given the distance between them, she had to have heard him. And yet, she continued walking as if nothing had happened. The soldiers nearby began teasing their comrade for being ignored.
“Hey, Cliff, be nice! Didn’t your mom teach you how to talk to girls?”
“Yeah, if you huff and puff all scary like that, you’ll send her running!”
Their jeering seemed to get to Cliff. He squared his shoulders, marched over to the girl, and grabbed her shoulder from behind.
“Are you deaf? I said, halt!”
“What?” said the girl. “You were talking to me?” Her eyes were wide with confusion as she pointed at herself. There was no hint of deceit—she appeared to be genuinely surprised. But Cliff apparently didn’t think so. He clicked his tongue in irritation and took another step towards the girl.
“You think this is funny? I don’t see any other girls around here.”
“Oh, can’t you tell the difference between men and women? Even I know how to do that,” she said, and pointed towards a female soldier back at the watch station.
“Wha...? Me?” said the woman, alarmed as her gaze flitted from Cliff to the girl and back.
Maybe he thought she was making fun of him. As Samuel watched, Cliff’s face turned bright red, and he seized the girl by the collar.
“That’s the attitude you take with an imperial soldier, you little brat? Got a death wish, do you? These lands all belong to the empire now. There aren’t any pathetic royal soldiers coming to your rescue.”
“Ohhh, so you’re imperial soldiers. Everyone in armor looks the same—I can’t tell any of you apart. I wish I’d had a book on how to recognize armor,” said the girl, totally straight-faced as she peered closely at Cliff’s armor. Her unwavering, ebony eyes showed no trace of fear.
Samuel chuckled to himself. “Oh, this is good. She’s a feisty one,” he said, and casually raised a hand to call off Cliff who was about to draw his sword. But Cliff’s temper was running hot, and though he stopped, he didn’t take his hand away from the hilt. He was brimming with raw bloodlust.
“Ser, why must I stand down? That was a brazen insult. I request that you order her immediate execution!”
“Now, now, don’t be hasty. I don’t—can’t kill civilian girls. And especially not such a fine specimen as this. Anyway, that’s the rule for this unit. My one point of pride. Don’t you forget it, Cliff.”
I’ve lost track of how many I’ve despoiled, though.
As Samuel remembered the women from the villages they’d taken, the girl gave a huge, bored yawn.
“Sorry to waylay you like this,” Samuel said to the girl. “I just have to wonder, what’s a girl like you hurrying off to do in the capital with that fine scabbard? These are dangerous parts, you know. There are starving beasts roaming about. Why don’t you let me protect you?”
The other soldiers all started laughing crudely. One held his hands up as claws and roared in an imitation of a beast, making the others laugh harder still. They failed to pick up on the cold looks the female soldiers sent their way.
“Oh, is that what this is about?” replied the girl. “I don’t really need protection. I’m on my way to the capital to enlist in the royal army, so would you mind letting me go?”
For a moment, none of them could process what they’d heard. Cliff stared in blank shock, and the other soldiers gaped. Samuel assumed he looked like just as much of an idiot.
“It’s been a long day,” said the girl, and started off again in the direction of the capital.
“Traitooor!!!” bellowed Cliff, coming back to his senses and drawing his sword.
His right arm still gripped the hilt as, in the same moment, it was sent flying through the air.
It was Tempus Fugit 998.
An endless blue sky and a spray of blood spread out across the Canalia Highway.
“Wha...???” several of the soldiers shouted stupidly. Then slowly, like rusted gears, their heads all turned to look at Cliff. He lay on the ground, staring at his right arm like it was some kind of anomaly. Then, his face twisted and he screamed.
“G-Gaaah!!!” The sound rang out down the highway as blood spurted from his severed right arm. Samuel turned to look at the girl, who at some point had drawn a glittering, ebony sword. Bright red blood dripped from the edge of the blade. It was clear who was behind this bizarre turn of events.
“It hurts! It huuurts!!!” Tears and snot streaked down Cliff’s face. Attempting to stem the fountain of blood with his remaining arm, he tried to scramble away from the girl, but—
“Right-o,” the girl hummed, twirling her sword about to bring it level. Then she threw it, casual and carefree, though the blade soared as though it had been shot from a great bow. It mercilessly pierced through Cliff’s armor, the point of the black blade jutting out from the back of his chest as a black mist began to emanate from it. Cliff gasped, twitched a few times, then collapsed to the ground like a puppet with its strings cut. The girl’s cheerful voice carried through the silence that covered the Canalia Highway.
“I did ask you to let me go. Humans really do love violence, don’t they? Or did you not understand me properly? Human language is pretty complicated.”
The girl continued rambling nonsense as she went over to Cliff’s silent corpse, stood on his head, and pulled her sword out. She carefully wiped away the blood from the blade before looking over at a nearby soldier, who brandished a spear.
“Yaaahhh!” shrieked the soldier and thrust the spear at her.
Some of the other soldiers had started swinging around swords and spears like a bunch of lunatics too.
Keeping her movement to an absolute minimum, the girl calmly dodged each attack with the elegance of a dancer, the skirt of her tunic billowing gently with every movement.
Privately, Samuel was astonished. He doubted even an experienced warrior could move with such polish and perfect efficiency. The chance his soldiers had of landing a blow on this girl was so low it might as well have been zero. Samuel was now on high alert. Who this girl was, he had no idea, but he no longer entertained any notion of her being a simple villager.
“Hmm... I suppose it must be my turn soon,” he said.
Once the soldiers grew slow and clumsy with exhaustion, the girl moved in to return their attacks in kind. She sent heads flying, smashed faces, sliced off limbs, and stabbed straight through hearts. Each time her blade met its mark, it was followed by a piercing scream and a spray of blood and gore. It was a one-sided slaughter, the kind only the strongest of warriors were capable of, and soon the area around them was transformed into a sea of blood, strewn with piles of mangled corpses. The cloying stench of blood, carried to him on the wind, filled Samuel’s nose.
One by one, the few soldiers who had not joined the fight dropped their weapons. Trembling, they backed away from the girl one step at a time, eyes wide and faces drawn tight with fear. They looked like they’d seen Death itself. Not one had a shred of fighting spirit left. The girl, drenched entirely in scarlet, beamed at them with all the brightness of the sun.
“A-Aaah! A monster! It’s a monster!”
“Th-This isn’t happening! I can’t die here!”
“M-Mommy! Mommy, help me!!!”
The soldiers wailed piteously as they scrambled to get away. Some wriggled on the ground like worms. Others shook so hard Samuel could hear their teeth rattling. Others still even let out strange peals of laughter. There really were all sorts. It wasn’t conduct befitting soldiers of the glorious empire. But Samuel wasn’t about to blame them. He could hardly tell them to hold their ground with the aftermath of this massacre in front of them.
The girl didn’t seem interested in pursuing the fleeing soldiers, and stared after them in silence. She’d probably given them a pass because they hadn’t turned their weapons on her. At least, that was Samuel’s guess.
“Um... Captain, right?” said the girl, seeming to suddenly remember Samuel and turning back to him. “You can run too. So long as you let me go, I don’t have any reason to kill you.” She was giving him permission to flee. The hint of a smile played around her bloodstained, seductive lips.
“I get it. You’re no ordinary girl. Now that that’s clear, may I ask you a question?” said Samuel.
“Sure, whatever.”
“Where’d you learn to swing a sword and move like that? That’s no small feat for a kid like you—and a girl, no less.”
“I mean, I don’t know what to tell you. It’s just what Z taught me.”
“...Z?”
“Yeah, Z. Do you know where it is?” asked the girl with a guileless smile. Her face still held a childlike innocence. It was impossible to believe this was the same girl who had slaughtered his soldiers minutes earlier.
Well, it would have been if she hadn’t been drenched from head to toe in their blood.
“Sorry, can’t say I’ve heard of them.”
“You’re sure?”
“Pretty sure, yeah. But if they’re anyone who’s anyone, I’d know them.”
“Hmph. Anyway, are you really not going to run away? I won’t chase you or anything.”
Samuel wasn’t so obliging a man as to just turn tail and flee when he was told to. He shook his head at the girl, who was waving her hand to shoo him off.
“Huh? You’re not going to run?”
“Heh heh heh. I still don’t see why I should. I’m not half bad with a sword myself.”
“Really? You don’t look like much.”
A moment of silence hung in the air after this cutting remark. Then, Samuel roared with laughter.
“Bah hah hah! No one’s ever mouthed off to me like that before! Oh, this is fun. Chances to meet a monster are few and far between when you’re fighting a war, you know.”
“By ‘monster,’ do you mean me? My name is Olivia,” said Olivia, putting her hands on her hips.
“Is it now? I’ll try to remember that. If nothing else, this’ll be my first time raising a hand against a civilian girl. Or maybe the rule doesn’t apply when it’s a monster. No, I don’t think it does.”
Having answered his own question, Samuel slowly drew the great sword on his back. It was a double-edged blade, strong and supple, with the edges tapering off until they became razor thin. It was his most prized possession, and it had seen him through countless battles without breaking.
He flicked his tongue along the edge of the blade and breathed in deeply, bringing the sword level. Before him stood the smiling girl. He lowered his body slightly, let out a silent breath, and charged at Olivia. He moved with a swiftness unthinkable for his large frame, and the deadly thrust of his sword carried his full weight behind it.
With this, his awe-inspiring Raging Bull, Samuel had cut down many a famed soldier. This time would be no different. Whether man or monster, he needed to simply cut down the enemy in front of him.
There’s only one target—the heart!
The blade seemed to cut the air itself as it rushed towards Olivia’s heart.
“It’s miiine!” cried Samuel triumphantly, sure he had won. But he quickly realized that the scene before him was not what he had expected. He did not see Olivia, stabbed through the heart and coughing up blood as she crumpled to the ground. No, instead, he was looking straight up at his own body. How very odd.
As his consciousness rapidly faded, he thought he heard the girl’s confused voice say, “What is?”
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