I was exhausted, but when I woke up I forced down the sleepiness and ate breakfast.
The breakfast at the inn was nothing to write home about, but it was warm, and maybe my body was demanding it — it tasted good.
Watching me eat, Novem seemed relieved.
“You looked terrible yesterday. You seem alright today. Your color’s good.”
Since I’d woken up, I’d been entirely dependent on her. She’d helped me wash my face, brush my teeth, and even style my hair. The First had yelled at me several times during all of that — mostly variants of “Don’t lean on Novem so much.”
For some reason, he was extremely concerned about Novem.
Not just the First. The First through Fourth were all softer toward Novem somehow.
The Fifth and after, possibly because Novem’s family was a vassal house, said nothing about her looking after me.
“Fatigue still won’t quite shake, but better than yesterday. Today’s a full day on the road. Let me get supplies first and then we wait for the wagon at the gate.”
“Right. We have water canteens. We need to stock up on preserved food and consumables.”
She had her own supplies. I had almost nothing. Even the peddler had told me I was too lightly equipped for travel.
“What we can get here, we should get here. At the next town, we’ll need to look at weapons too.”
I was unarmed.
There’d been a billhook at Zel’s shed, but no knife. Going around carrying that didn’t seem great, so I planned to buy one somewhere.
“A saber, maybe?”
Novem’s face tensed slightly. She was probably remembering the saber Ceres had shredded.
“If you don’t need a masterpiece, I’m sure they’ll have one. Though I can’t really judge the quality of weapons…”
She looked apologetic. Originally she had been studying Holy-element magic. Unlike me, she specialized fully as a mage — and Holy is one of the hardest elements.
She could use the others too, of course.
“Did you bring a staff? The one you used to carry was a Magic Tool, wasn’t it?”
A Magic Tool — a weapon with a Skill sealed into it. Since a person had only one Skill, Magic Tools were the way to use multiple.
These days they had become more common than the old gems.
“I’m sorry. I left it at House Fuchs. It’s effectively a family heirloom — I couldn’t bring myself to walk off with it. But I’ve studied magic too, even if I can’t match you. I’ll be useful.”
“R-right.”
The Five Greats and Two Heavens.
That was the foundation of magic.
Five Greats: [Fire], [Water], [Earth], [Wind], [Lightning]. Plus the Two Heavens: [Holy] and [Dark].
Among the nobility, no small number of people could use all of them. These days mages tended to be of the upper class; lower noble houses — knight-rank, for example — sometimes had nobles who couldn’t use magic at all.
Affinity for individual elements varied, but a competent mage could use all of them at least passably.
Novem just specialized into one path.
“What a hard worker… what a good girl.”
The First’s voice came through. Now that he knew Novem was a Fuchs, he was openly biased in her favor.
Based on what the First and the others had said, House Walt owed House Fuchs a debt past counting. But somewhere along the timeline, House Walt had started treating House Fuchs as a vassal house. The First and the others couldn’t stand it.
The Second and the Fourth in particular wouldn’t stop telling me to treasure Novem.
“Lyle, work a bit harder yourself. You’re leaning on Novem-chan too much.”
The Second was saying — but I didn’t know what I could even do.
(For one thing, our family’s been leaning on the Fuchs for generations, so I’m not the only one…)
I obviously couldn’t talk back to the ancestors in front of Novem, so I let it slide and kept the conversation going.
“Today we stop by a nearby village, then reach the destination town. Should we walk out of the territory from there?”
She frowned at my suggestion.
“That works, but if we can, let’s leave with a peddler group. Two of us alone are conspicuous and easy targets.”
Apparently a bad idea. The First piped up.
“How do you not know something this basic?! Hey, isn’t this kid too sheltered? Walt men are supposed to have a rough edge to them!”
The Second fired back.
“Shut up! You’re not ‘rough,’ you’re an idiot!”
“You bastard! How dare you speak to your father that way! Outside, now!”
“There’s no ‘outside,’ moron!”
(L-loud…)
Before leaving, I rounded up what I needed in the station town.
We left the station, slept overnight in a village, and arrived at a town the next day.
The town was at the edge of House Walt’s territory — a relay between House Walt and other territories. Because of that, a fort had been built nearby for defense.
There were more soldiers than in other towns.
We got in by evening. The peddler thanked us.
In the village we’d passed through, we — well, mostly Novem — had helped him out. I had… watched, mostly.
“Thanks for the help in the village. No monsters showed up, but please accept this as a wage.”
He gave me copper coins.
“Thank you.”
I took them, but it was Novem who replied with thanks.
“You’ve got a sharp girl there. I envy you.”
“H-haa…”
I made a vague noise. The Fourth’s voice rose.
“This is where you say something to score points with Novem-chan! Something like ‘She’s too good for me’!”
The Fifth muttered:
“You only say that because your wife put you through hell, doesn’t it? Honestly…”
(What are these guys. Seriously — these are my ancestors?)
It wasn’t that I refused to admit it. But there were one or two things I wanted to say.
“If you’re heading to Darion, the bigger cities have stagecoaches going to the royal capital. Once you’re on one, you’re safe. But be careful — House Walt does its monster patrols seriously, but other territories have plenty of dangerous spots.”
We thanked him and parted. Novem and I started looking for an inn.
We didn’t have time for shopping today. The plan was to stay at an inn for two or three days and prepare.
The reason was — I had a problem. Well, the gem did.
Apparently, since I’d manifested a Skill of my own, the gem’s Skill slots had been filled. With eight Skills inside it, the gem had become a [Jewel] — so said the Third.
Until now, the gem had only been used to deploy Skills. The fact that I could speak with the past wielders — the ancestors — was an effect of the Jewel.
(For me, it’s just loud.)
The Jewel wasn’t free either. Conversations with the ancestors, and the use of their Skills, naturally needed a power source.
That source was my own mana.
(The reason fatigue isn’t shaking is unfamiliar travel plus this Jewel.)
In other words, every time an ancestor opened his mouth, my mana drained. Drop by drop, it adds up to an ocean.
“Lord Lyle, this place looks good. The price is reasonable for what they offer.”
I let Novem pick. I couldn’t tell them apart anyway.
“I want a bath.”
“I’m sorry. This one also uses the wash-basin method.”
The Fourth snapped.
“You and your fancy demands!”
(Please stop yelling. Every time you do, my mana evaporates.)
The feeling of someone else burning through your mana was deeply unpleasant. Mentally and physically draining.
I went to sleep at the inn and found myself in the room from before.
The room I was “called to” inside the Jewel was, apparently, a constructed image.
Where I talked with my ancestors. Felt a bit like a shared dream.
The noisy group all gathered to talk, and today it sounded like there was a serious topic.
“I’ve been thinking about it, and I have a guess as to what’s going on—”
The First started, only to be cut off by the Second.
The savage-style First sulked.
“More importantly, can we set ground rules? At this rate Lyle’s going to collapse.”
The Second was worried about my mana. Grandfather agreed.
“You all make too much noise! What if my grandson collapses?!”
So — the ancestors were records preserved in the Jewel. Skills, essentially. Not residual souls.
They’d actually died.
But as records and as Skills, they remained inside the Jewel. They looked like the prime of their lives, and their personalities reflected their living selves.
The Third spoke.
“Let’s pick a chair for the table. Marx, you take it.”
Apparently no one wanted to do it; six of them immediately agreed.
“No objections. Go for it.”
“Sounds right.”
“Yep.”
“YOU GUYS keep dumping things on me!”
The Fourth raged, but the flow couldn’t be reversed. With his perpetual put-upon nature, he ended up accepting.
Rule-making continued.
“Personal names, ‘father,’ ‘grandfather’ — Lyle’s going to get confused. Let’s go by ordinal: ‘the First,’ ‘the Second,’ etc.”
The Third’s proposal. No one disagreed.
“Now, in consideration of Lyle’s low mana, let’s keep talk to a minimum.”
”…Was that a dig at me?”
The Fifth, flatly:
“Well, you don’t have much. Running dry after a couple of spells? That’s not combat-grade.”
While he insulted my mana pool, the rules got set. I’d been training; being called low felt unfair.
“Listen up, all of you! I’m the First of House Walt! I’m important!”
Snubbed throughout, the First snapped.
The Second snorted at him. There was clearly bad blood between First and Second.
The Fourth, adjusting his glasses, gave him the floor.
“Since we’re managing mana — keep it short, please, First.”
”…You could at least add ‘sir.’ Anyway. The topic is Lyle’s little sister. A perfect girl with an aura. Lyle, one question.”
“Yes.”
The First was unusually serious. I focused.
“Your little sister — for her age, beautiful? Not just pretty — outside the usual range, right? Men flocked to her, I bet.”
I thought about it. For a thirteen-year-old, “alluring” was the word.
Marriage proposals had been coming in, my parents not accepting them — but they came. Including eldest sons of major houses.
“Yes. For her age… and not just family bias — she was beautiful. Not ‘cute’ — flat-out beautiful.”
“I see. Also — you said the manor’s atmosphere was strange. Normal until you turned ten, then suddenly changed.”
I nodded silently. A painful memory: scrabbling for attention, never getting it.
“Confirmed!”
The First slammed a fist on the table and declared, with full conviction:
“Your little sister — Ceres — is a monster!”
“…what?”
“…wow.”
The mood went sour instantly. Coming out of an unusually serious atmosphere — and that was the conclusion.
The Fourth closed the meeting.
“Alright. Today was rule-setting, that’s it. We won’t do this every day, but I’ll call Lyle if we need to convene.”
“Ah, please.”
I was happy at the prospect of less mana drain. The others took the cue and started leaving the room. Apparently each had his own room — there were doors leading out.
“Right then, see you all.”
“Cheers.”
“Later~”
“Hah. I thought it was going to be a serious session.”
The room emptied out. The First, alone, raged.
“LISTEN to me, dammit! I’m serious! She really IS a monster!”
I figured I could leave too — and apparently I could just choose to. I waved.
“Well, see you.”
“YOU TOOOOO?!”
The First’s scream echoed in the empty meeting room.