The carriages passing the wall move under the guidance of the soldiers.
The knights of Helmunth bustle about, moving luggage or being guided to their lodgings.
Amidst all this.
A small girl with twin tails strides confidently past everyone.
At the end of her bold steps, as if she owned the place, was her brother-in-law.
“Isaac!”
“Sharen… you really came.”
He was a bit surprised when he heard Sharen was coming.
He didn’t think the troublemaker would volunteer to come to the battlefield.
But seeing Sharen now, Isaac realized he had it completely wrong.
‘She came for fun.’
She must be a girl with less sense than he thought.
To think coming to the Malidan Wall during a crisis like the Great Horde was just a picnic or an adventure to her.
Sharen starts firing off words like a machine gun.
“Where are you staying, Isaac? Is there a room next to yours? I can’t just order the maids around without you here, it feels awkward!”
“……”
“It’s better if Isaac’s nearby while I’m here. That way, I can ask you to run errands and stuff!”
Isaac’s expression turns dumbfounded at the idea that she sees him as more convenient than hired maids.
He sighs, thinking his time at the Malidan Wall is going to be exhausting.
“Hey, kid.”
Silbern, who had been watching silently beside Isaac, glares with her arms crossed.
“This is a battlefield. If you’re going to act like a child, leave now.”
Isaac bites his lip.
He barely holds back a laugh.
On the other hand, Sharen’s eyes widen, and she flails her arms dramatically.
“What?! Do you know who you’re talking to? I’m Sharen! The second daughter of Helmunth!”
“Silbern Caldias, eldest daughter of Caldias.”
“Caldi-.”
Sharen freezes mid-sentence upon hearing the family name.
She rolls her eyes toward Isaac for confirmation, and when he nods, she awkwardly coughs and takes a step back.
“Kelsey, what? Ugh! Why are you calling me all of a sudden!”
“No one called you, Sharen.”
Isaac corrects her, and Sharen’s face turns red as she pouts.
“Y-you did! Helmunth has good ears, you know! Right? Kelsey called me, didn’t she?”
She looks behind her, but only empty wind blows past. No one is there.
Unfortunately, her personal maid Kelsey is too busy moving luggage to cover for her embarrassment.
“……”
Sharen sucks her lips in and stays silent for a moment.
Silbern quickly adds,
“Command structure is key on the battlefield. If you’re going to keep acting like that, pick up a sword. If you win, I’ll hand over command.”
“Oh?”
Sharen hops excitedly and turns to face the two.
Her twin tails even smack Isaac as she moves.
“You’ll hand over command if I win? You sure about that?”
“Of course.”
Silbern uncrosses her arms and grabs the spear slung over her shoulder, stepping forward.
“Ha!”
Sharen smirks and takes a step back.
“Alright! Let’s do this!”
“……”
“You’re underestimating Helmunth?”
Sharen takes another step back.
“You think I’m weak just because I look young and cute, don’t you?!”
She’s really good at walking backward.
Isaac thinks to himself.
“Didn’t Isaac tell you?! I’m the prodigy of Helmunth, following in the footsteps of the Blood Rose Princess!”
“……”
“The Rose Princess, you know?!”
“What?”
She’s so far away now her voice is barely audible.
Silbern has long since re-slung her spear and crossed her arms again.
“Nevermind! I’m tired from the journey, it’s cold, and… I need to polish my sword! Too bad!”
“……”
“……”
By now, Sharen’s back hits the carriage she arrived in.
As the two stare blankly at the absurd scene, Sharen yells in embarrassment.
“S-stop staring!”
She stomps off to the luggage compartment to fetch her greatsword.
“Ow! Who hit me on the head?!”
She comes running out, pouting, after someone smacks the back of her head inside the carriage.
“Tch!”
She ends up clutching the back of her head and goes to find Kelsey.
“What was that? Is she really Lianna’s sister?”
Silbern, still confused about what just happened, asks Isaac.
“……”
But Isaac’s gaze is fixed on the maid who presumably smacked Sharen.
A woman with her hair tied up and her face completely covered by a mask.
“Isaac?”
“Huh? Oh, sorry. What did you say?”
“She’s a strange girl. Completely the opposite of Lianna.”
“She’s definitely unique.”
Isaac answers Silbern but keeps his eyes on the carriage.
The mysterious maid is nowhere to be seen.
‘Could it be?’
With a faint suspicion, Isaac continues his conversation with Silbern.
* * *
“……”
Evening.
Isaac is in his room, reviewing his ‘Sparring Journal.’
Thanks to daily, relentless training, he’s steadily improving, but he keeps pushing himself harder.
‘I can’t just accept defeat by blaming my lack of stamina.’
When he lost a leg and became disabled, effort felt like pouring water into a leaky bucket.
But not anymore.
Even if it’s slow, he’s determined to fill the bucket named Isaac through constant effort and reflection.
“Yawn.”
A yawn comes from behind him.
Isaac slowly turns his head to see Sharen lying on his bed, reading a book.
“……When are you leaving?”
“Huh?”
Without looking up from her book, Sharen pops a cookie into her mouth.
“I already told you Kelsey is cleaning my room. Isaac is alone anyway, so it doesn’t matter, right?”
“Are you trying to annoy me?”
At Isaac’s words, Sharen stared at him blankly. Then, with a hollow laugh, she put down her book and stood up abruptly.
“Isaac, you’ve grown up a lot, huh? How come you’ve lost all sense after being away for a while?”
Sharen clenched her fists and glared at him.
Her tousled hair made it clear she was serious.
Isaac didn’t back down either, standing up from his chair and replying.
“Sorry, but as you know, I’m getting divorced in a month. Do you know what that means? I don’t have to bend over backward to please you anymore.”
“Ha! Bend over backward? Isn’t it more like being crushed under pressure? Is that some kind of northern joke? Not funny at all!”
Their gazes clashed.
The tension was palpable, and it seemed like neither would back down.
Surprisingly, Sharen was the first to retreat.
“Tch! You’re only alive because of your father!”
She grabbed her book and snacks, ready to leave.
“What are you talking about? Did the family head say something about me?”
“Yeah! He said there are eyes watching from outside, so don’t mess with Isaac!”
“…….”
“Treat him properly as your brother-in-law. Tch, this is why I hate leaving the estate.”
Grumbling, Sharen stopped with her hand on the doorknob.
“Hey Isaac, can I ask you something?”
“Ask me? You? Me?”
Sharen’s expression was unusually serious.
Seeing her like this for the first time, Isaac waited in silence as she cautiously opened her mouth.
“Star cookies. Where do you buy them?”
“…….”
The tension snapped instantly.
“No! You know, those star cookies you bring me! I’ve searched everywhere and couldn’t find anyone selling them.”
“Sigh.”
“I’m serious! Do you know how hard it’s been for me to crave those? My hands are shaking! Did you put drugs in those cookies? I think I’m addicted!”
“Are you crazy?”
Isaac sighed.
The star cookies were something Isaac brought whenever Sharen wanted snacks.
“Hurry up and tell me! I’ll finish this meeting quickly and go buy them!”
Watching her hop around impatiently, Isaac asked incredulously.
“You went searching for them?”
“Next town! The town after that! Nearby cities! I looked everywhere, but they’re nowhere to be found! No star cookies!”
“Of course.”
Because.
“Millie bakes them.”
At Isaac’s words, Sharen’s eyes narrowed, and she replied sulkily.
“Millie? Is that a store? Where is it? Tell me exactly.”
“Chef Millie. She’s in the Helmunth kitchen.”
“……Huh?”
“Whenever I went to get your snacks, Millie felt sorry for you and baked them herself. She did it often because you liked them.”
“S-so, you’re saying.”
There was no need to scour nearby towns or go through the trouble of coming all the way to the Malidan Wall to find Isaac.
“I could’ve just eaten them at the estate?!”
“Yeah, that’s right.”
Isaac casually dropped the cruel truth.
Sharen plopped down and pounded the floor in frustration.
“Ugh! Why did I come all the way here? Ughhh!”
‘Is she really crying?’
Seeing Sharen bawling, Isaac thought she was still just a kid.
Even at 17, Sharen was a bit immature.
Amidst the commotion.
The door slammed open.
There stood Silbern.
“…….”
Silbern, who had come to talk, seemed annoyed by Sharen’s ruckus echoing through the hallway.
“It’s you again? Can’t you keep it down? This isn’t just your space. Other nobles are here too.”
For the record, Silbern stays elsewhere.
“Show some consideration for the nobles sharing this space. The rooms are already cramped enough.”
Her own bedroom is as big as three of these rooms combined.
“Ahem! I-I just got a little excited, that’s all!”
“…….”
Silbern crossed her arms and glared.
Seeing Silbern’s casual attire accentuating her chest, Sharen blinked rapidly and shouted.
“I’m leaving!”
Before storming past Silbern, Sharen turned her head sharply and yelled at Isaac.
“Bringing other women into your room already?! I’ll tell my sister everything when I get back!”
“Hey!”
Startled, Isaac called out to her, but she had already run off.
And then.
“Already?”
Silbern tilted her head, sensing something off about what Sharen had said.
“Sigh, no. It’s nothing.”
Isaac awkwardly brushed it off and sat back down.
“What’s going on?”
When he asked why she had come at this hour, Silbern stared down the hallway where Sharen had left before quietly closing the door and speaking.
“Starting tomorrow, I’ll be leading the reconnaissance team. The Great Horde’s beasts seem to be moving.”
“…….”
“So, Isaac.”
Her voice carried the weight of having thought this through many times.
“Would you join me under my command?”
