The Girl Raised by the Death God Holds the Sword of Darkness in Her Arms - Volume 5 - Chapter 2.3

III

The magnificent banquet came to an end without incident. The members of Olivia’s platoon clambered into the four carriages Historia called for them, and so set off from La Chaim Palace.

“I will now show you to your accommodation,” she told them. The carriages ran along, wheels clattering and setting a smart pace. After around ten minutes, they reached a street lined with some of the largest buildings they’d seen in Elsphere, and the carriages came to a halt. At once, the doors opened.

“Please dismount here.” They followed the drivers’ instructions, and one by one stepped down from the carriages. Historia checked they were all present, then turned away from them to look up at the stately residence before them.

“This house is yours to use as you wish for the duration of your stay,” she said.

“What?! This place?!” Ashton exclaimed loudly before he could stop himself, forgetting it was the middle of the night. Under the light of the moon, the house stretched far out on either side, and stood three stories tall.

No matter how you look at it, this is clearly the home of a high-ranking noble... he thought, staring up at the house in awe.

“We originally planned on giving you rooms at the palace,” Historia explained apologetically, “but then thought it might be hard for you to relax, so I offered my house for your use.” She paused. “If it isn’t to your liking, I can find you another.”

“N-No! There’s nothing wrong with it at all!” Ashton shook his head emphatically, and Historia chuckled.

“Lady Olivia? Lady Claudia? Will this be suitable for you?” she asked.

“Yep, it seems fine,” Olivia said, without much interest.

“I apologize for my officer’s rudeness. I have no objections, of course.” Ashton saw Claudia’s hand reaching for him just as his head was shoved forcibly down.

Historia turned away from them, cleared her throat several times, then turned back, her expression serene. “Shall we go inside then?” she said.

Following as she marched ahead with the clipped steps of a soldier, Ashton observed their surroundings. They passed through a well-kept garden, then entered the house itself. Ashton saw a grand staircase in the center with a row of servants standing in neat rows on either side of it.

One, two, three... At a rough count, there have to be at least thirty of them. Even if they got a servant each, there’d still be half left over. Of course, Ashton intended to do everything in his power to refuse any attempts to assign him a personal servant.

“You’ve all had a long day. If there is anything you require, you need only say a word to one of the servants. Tomorrow, someone else will be here to collect you.”

“Huh? It won’t be you?”

“Will you miss me?” Historia said, smiling at Ashton, who was left at a loss for how to respond. Just then, a fist made violent contact with his skull.

“Ow!”

“I apologize yet again for my officer’s rudeness. I appreciate everything you’ve done for us, Historia.” Claudia turned, then barked, “Ashton!”

“R-Right, thank you very much!”

Historia chuckled. “You really needn’t be so formal. All I did was carry out my duties as ordered.”

“All the same, we’re grateful,” Ashton insisted. In an instant, Historia’s face turned serious, and she raised two fingers to her temple in salute.

“I take my leave of you!” she barked, and with that, she stepped back, turned gracefully on her heel, and swept out of the house. They were left in the entrance hall with the servants.

“Unbelievable,” Claudia said, looking daggers at Ashton. “I’ll ask you to refrain from embarrassing me any further.” He was about to dispute this, but she snapped, “Don’t make excuses,” and he found himself unable to string a sentence together.

“Um...” Evanson chimed in. “What are we going to do now?” This was a lifeline for Ashton, who snatched at it to pull himself out of harm’s way. Ellis said she wanted to relax and get settled in her room, and the others agreed.

Olivia, meanwhile, rubbed her stomach and muttered, “I think the orchestra in my tummy has started playing again...”

“The what?”

“Don’t you know what an orchestra is?”

“You’re not telling me you’re hungry again, are you?” Ashton said slowly.

Olivia cocked her head and fluttered her long eyelashes at him. “Am I not allowed to?”

Ashton let out a groan of exasperation. “I can’t...” he began. “You ate enough to kill a person back at the banquet!” He’d been watching from afar as Olivia, without any regard for the fact that they were in a foreign country, had consumed that aberrant volume of food. Eventually he’d grown too mortified to keep watching and averted his eyes. He now felt a rush of heartfelt sympathy as he wondered if this was how Claudia felt all the time. Anyone who wasn’t familiar with the deep abyss of Olivia’s stomach might have thought she was kept half-starved from day to day. In fact, Ashton clearly remembered a nearby noble looking pitifully at Olivia and remarking, “I’d heard they were running low on supplies, but are even the generals going without proper meals in Fernest these days?”

“That wasn’t enough to kill someone,” Olivia replied. “See, I’m not dead!” She burst out laughing, totally oblivious to Ashton. He fought off a wave of dizziness just as Claudia laid a hand on his shoulder, a wry smile on her face.

“It appears you understand a little of how I feel,” she said.

“I thought I understood before,” Ashton replied. “Only now I see I really only thought I understood. Now I understand more than I think I wanted to.”

Claudia nodded with satisfaction as Ashton let out a heavy sigh. One of the servants, a woman who looked the youngest among them, approached them.

“Um, do you need something?” he asked.

“I beg your pardon, but I couldn’t help but overhear your conversation.”

“What? You were listening?” It hadn’t been an especially sensitive conversation, but he still found himself responding in a tone of accusation. Evanson came to the servant’s defense.

“I’m sure she didn’t mean anything by it,” he pointed out.

“Yeah, you weren’t exactly keeping your voices down,” Ellis added. “And even if you were, voices really carry in here. Anyone with functioning ears would have heard everything.”

The servant thanked Evanson and Ellis with a tactful smile, then looked at Olivia, who was still rubbing her stomach. “I’m afraid it can’t compare to what you were served at the banquet, but I’ll do my best to cook you something, my lady. Would that do for you?”

“You’ll make something?” Olivia replied.

“Of course, my lady. Just leave it to me.”

“There!” For some reason, Olivia turned to Ashton with a look of triumph. He couldn’t turn down the servant’s kind gesture, so he threw up his hands.

“Fine, fine. Do what you want, General Olivia.” Thinking about it, unlike at the banquet, they weren’t exposed to outside eyes here, and more importantly, it wouldn’t burn a hole in his own purse. He might feel exasperation with Olivia, but he didn’t actually have any reason to object.

“Thanks, I will,” Olivia replied.

“In that case, Lady Olivia, I’ll show you to the dining room.”

Olivia said, “Let’s go!” and the servant, with a bow to Ashton, issued instructions to her assembled colleagues. She then bustled from the entrance hall with several of them in tow. Ashton was more than a little shocked to discover that the woman he’d thought was the youngest also appeared to be the most senior among them.

“We’ll show you up to your rooms,” said another servant. Ashton and the others were led away to where their rooms awaited them.

“That was amazing!” Olivia, who had heartily enjoyed her meal, downed the cup of tea placed in front of her in a single gulp, gave a big stretch, and stood up.

“I’m glad you enjoyed it, my lady,” said the servant. “If you please, I’ll show you to your room now.” They returned to the entrance hall together, then ascended the grand staircase, feet sinking into the scarlet carpet, until they reached the third floor. The servant led Olivia to a corner room right at the end of a long corridor.

“Your room, Lady Olivia.” She turned the doorknob, and gestured for Olivia to enter. Olivia stepped over the threshold and found herself in a room far too large for one person to occupy.

“It’s so big...” she said. The ceiling soared high, and the furnishings were all in the same shade of white. To Olivia’s mind, it looked like the room of a princess she remembered from a picture book.

“If it isn’t to your liking, I can show you another.”

“Oh, no. This is fine,” Olivia said. In truth, she would have felt more at home in a room the size of the one she’d had back at the Gate to the Land of the Dead—specifically, one where everything she might need was only a few steps away. Humans with lots of gold all seemed to either live in—or want to live in—enormous houses. She’d asked Ashton and Claudia why once, but they’d only laughed and shaken their heads at her without giving a straight answer.

But there’s other things to think about right now... A great canopied bed insisted on her attention. She could tell it’d be feather-soft just from looking at it, and she couldn’t wait to dive into it.

“I think I’ve got everything now,” she said.

“Very good, my lady. One last thing. If you need anything, please ring the bell and I will be at your side at once.” The servant rang a golden bell that lay on the table, and a clear peal filled the room.

But she won’t be able to hear it, will she? Olivia thought. As though reading her mind, the servant added not to worry, as she would be waiting outside Olivia’s room at all times. Olivia remembered the chair she’d seen out in the corridor.

“You mean you’re going to sit out there the whole time?”

“Yes, my lady.”

“You won’t eat?”

“I’ve already had my dinner.”

“Or sleep?”

“No,” she replied matter-of-factly. “If I slept, I wouldn’t be able to respond at once to your every request.” Olivia stared at her in disbelief. Just the idea of sitting out there with nothing to do but wait in silence for a bell to ring made a shiver run down her spine. I could never be a servant, she thought.

“Um, so humans have this thing called a growth spurt, and— Sorry, I didn’t ask what your name is.”

“It’s Tabitha, my lady,” the servant said, standing up straight and giving a small curtsy.

“Well, Tabitha, I don’t know if you know this, but during a growth spurt, you have to eat lots and sleep lots, or you won’t get any bigger,” Olivia said, repeating what Z had taught her. “So I think you should go back to your own room and sleep. You don’t need to worry about me.”

Tabitha looked at her in confusion and said, “I’m well past any growth spurts I’m likely to have.”

“Past them? Why?”

“I’m not quite sure how to answer that...” Tabitha replied, “but I am twenty-seven years old...”

“What?!” Before she could stop herself, Olivia seized Tabitha by the shoulders and peered closely at the woman’s childlike face. This whole time she’d thought that Tabitha was younger than her, yet here it turned out she was actually more than a decade Olivia’s senior. She knew the others would be shocked when they found out.

“Lady Olivia,” Tabitha said, “I beg your pardon, but that hurts a little.”

“Huh? Oh, sorry!” Olivia quickly released the woman, who rubbed her shoulders, letting out a sigh of relief.

“I’m very grateful for your concern for me, my lady,” she said. “But that’s the way of things. Please don’t feel reluctant to use the bell.”

“R-Right. Okay.” Olivia nodded uncomfortably.

“I’ll take my leave then, my lady.” Tabitha crossed her hands in front of her and bowed, then opened the door without a sound and slipped out.

Olivia, feeling as though she’d just seen a mysterious creature, threw herself with abandon onto the bed.

It’s so soft... After luxuriating for a while in the bed’s feathery embrace, Olivia slowly rolled over to look up, and went back over what Sofitia had proposed to her.

So if I join the Winged Crusaders, she’ll help me find Z... That’s not a bad deal. Especially when she says she has the best intelligence agents. Who knows, it might not give them any trouble at all. 

Olivia had stumbled into her promotion to general in the Royal Army; she didn’t have any particular attachment to the rank. The fact was, she’d only accepted the progressive advancements so that she might have more opportunities to learn things. Not having to adhere to military courtesy was another bonus, but it had always been a secondary concern to her.

This is really tough... She knew without a doubt that the Olivia from before would have jumped at Sofitia’s offer. What had stopped her from agreeing at once tonight was an image in her mind of all the friends and allies she’d made along the way.

Claudia, always kind and reliable. Ashton, who took care of her despite his complaints. Paul, who smiled and gave her delicious cake. Otto, who found something to fault her on at every opportunity. Gile, a first-class hunter (even if Olivia wasn’t quite sure she liked him). Gauss, big as an oak, with his hearty laugh. Ellis, who insisted on calling Olivia “Big Sister” even though she was definitely older than Olivia. And Evanson, with his perpetual sighing.

To Olivia, Z was special and irreplaceable, and so very, very precious. That would never change. But now, Olivia had a whole manner of other precious things. She could never have had any of that on her own. If she left the Royal Army and joined the Winged Crusaders, all those precious things would slip through her fingers, and she felt only fear at the mere thought of that.

But I miss Z. I don’t want to be apart anymore. It wasn’t like there was anything she wanted from Z if she saw it again. She didn’t plan on complaining that it had vanished without a word. She missed it, that was all. Olivia wasn’t one to be indecisive, as a rule, but now she was at a loss.

Just then, she heard familiar footfalls from the corridor, followed by a knock at the door.

“I’m coming.” She jumped down from the bed and opened the door without a sound. There stood Claudia and Ashton, their faces grave.