“Before Twin Lions at Dawn, Ashton and I came up here loads to read on our days off. We brought our favorite books and swapped them. Ashton would lean up against the elma tree, just like you said, and I’d lie on the ground next to him, and we’d read. Come to think of it, for some reason most of the books he brought were adventure stories. I finished them straightaway, so I’d just doze off there on the ground. Then when I woke up, we ate whatever Ashton made for us together. He used to laugh at me and say I seemed more interested in eating than reading. After I’d read my book from cover to cover—pretty rude, don’t you think?”
Those scant few days of quiet, ordinary life with Ashton in the midst of a bitter war were clearly a cherished memory for Olivia. Indeed, a smile lit up her face as she spoke. To Claudia, however, Olivia looked for all the world as though she were about to cry, and the sight made her chest grow suffocatingly tight.
A soft breeze wove its way over the hill, setting Claudia’s hair gently swaying. A butterfly perched on a white flower spread its wings, ready to take flight.
“Do you remember me saying there were lots of things Ashton wanted to do when we had peace again?” Claudia asked.
“Yes, of course,” Olivia replied.
“Well, there really were a lot. I laughed my head off when he listed them off and told him even with three of himself, he’d never get through it all. One of them was to travel and see the world. He said there’s a limit to what you can learn from books, and so it was important to really see and hear and touch all sorts of things. I’m sure that’s why he brought you so many adventure books.”
“Huh, so Ashton wanted to see the world...?” Olivia said. For a while, the two fell silent. Then, Claudia took a cracked pen from her pocket for Olivia to see.
“Is that...?”
“I’m told you gave it to Ashton as a present. Getting a gift from you must have made him very happy. It seems he kept it close at all times.” Claudia held out the pen. “I am returning it to you, General.”
With a tiny shake of her head, Olivia refused to take it. “I gave it to Ashton. You hold on to it, Claudia. I’m sure that’s what Ashton wants too.”
“I-I can’t!” Olivia stared at her in confusion as Claudia grabbed her hand and wrapped her fingers around the pen. Claudia had the sense she didn’t know what to do.
“Claudia...”
“I can’t... I... Ashton wanted you to have it, General, I’m sure of that.”
“He didn’t—”
“He did,” Claudia insisted. Olivia looked more confused than ever.
I’m sure Ashton would have...
Claudia took a few steps back, then saluted with a loud click of her heels.
“There is a war council scheduled for noon tomorrow, ser,” she announced, then, without waiting for Olivia to reply, she walked quickly down the hill. In her thoughts all the while was that she had realized her feelings too late.
Left alone once more, Olivia thought over Claudia’s stubborn refusal to take the pen, but got no closer to understanding it. She’d started to feel like Claudia and Ashton made sense to her, but perhaps in reality, she hadn’t understood them at all.
She thought about what came next. I actually managed to see Z, after searching for all that time. Now that I’ve achieved my goal, I don’t have any reason to stay in the Royal Army. Claudia would still be my friend even if I left, and the same goes for all the others. When I said I’d quit the army, Claudia was against it, but I’m sure she’d be happy for me in the end. I mean, there’s no one anywhere as kind as she is...
A memory came back to her, drawn forth by the pen she still held in her hand. It was a memory of Ashton.
“To think the day would come that Olivia Valedstorm would ask me to teach her how to use money. There’ll be thunderstorms tomorrow if we’re lucky—worst case, fire and brimstone raining from above.” Ashton looked up at the sky and shivered.
“You’re so funny, Ashton,” Olivia said, laughing. “You know you’re probably one of the funniest humans alive.”
“What’s that supposed to mean, ‘funniest humans alive’? I actually half believe it— Augh!” As Ashton looked about to walk straight by their destination, Olivia grabbed him by the back of his collar.
“We’re here.”
“You—ack, ack!—you just about killed me!” Ashton choked out, then looked around them. “This is the place?”
“Yep. Come on, let’s go in.”
“Are you sure this is right? Just in case, you know they don’t sell food, right?”
“I know that.” Olivia took no notice of Ashton’s frown as he looked up at the sign, taking his hand and pulling him over the threshold. Inside the dimly lit store, the shelves were crammed with all sorts of bits and pieces, just as they had been last time.
“I want to buy this.” Without further ado, Olivia reached into the back of a shelf and pulled out—
“A pen? What? You want a pen?”
“Yep.” Olivia twirled the pen between her fingers. Ashton gave her an intense look. Olivia thought he might bore a hole in her if he kept staring like that.
“Are you sure you’re feeling all right? That’s not a pen-shaped cake. It’s a real pen.”
“I feel like you’re being mean to me...” Olivia said, before continuing as though she’d never stopped. “Anyway, do you think this is enough money?” She unstrapped her purse from her belt and opened it up to show Ashton. As he peered inside, his eyes widened.
“Just a minute, there’s nothing but Estorian gold coins in there!”
“It isn’t enough?”
“Forget ‘enough,’ with this you could buy the whole store and then some. One of these would be too much.”
“So one coin will do it! Got it.” Olivia cheerfully took the pen over to the shopkeeper, then produced a single gold coin. “I want to exchange this coin for this pen.”
The shopkeeper gaped at the coin, then at Olivia.
“Is there something on my face?” she asked seriously.
“Er, no, ma’am...” the shopkeeper stammered. “Am I correct in my understanding that you wish to make a purchase?”
Olivia confirmed this. The shopkeeper gaped at the coin again. “Er, much as it pains me to show disrespect to one of our soldiers...” He hesitated. “Would you mind if I took a look at that?”
Olivia only cocked her head at him, so Ashton answered for her. “Not at all. Inspect it however you like.”
The shopkeeper thanked him for the permission, then took a set of scales down from a shelf and set about authenticating the coin. It looked like a difficult task with Olivia watching him so closely that her nose almost touched the scales.
After a while, the shopkeeper looked up. “I apologize for the wait. This is undoubtedly an Estorian gold coin.”
“Huh? You thought it might be a fake?”
“Huh?”
Olivia and the shopkeeper stared at each other with identical expressions of surprise, albeit for different reasons.
Ashton sighed quietly. “Olivia, the value of Estorian gold is so high that ordinary stores don’t deal in it.”
“How come? I mean, it’s all money, isn’t it?”
“It’s all money, but we use different kinds of money depending on the situation. Look, I’d be happy to explain in detail, but you’re not interested either way, are you?”
Olivia shook her head at top speed. “Nope, absolutely, one hundred percent zero interest. Money’s just as massive a pain as I thought.” She looked like she was already sick to death of the whole thing as she accepted her change, then dropped it carelessly into her purse. She then picked up her purchase and immediately held it out to Ashton.
“Huh? What’s this?”
“I’m giving it to you.”
“But you just bought it...” Ashton stopped short. “Wait. Could it be that you bought it for me?”
“That’s exactly it,” Olivia replied matter-of-factly.
“Why this, all of a sudden...?” Ashton stammered. “I mean, this is silly...”
“It’s not silly at all. I mean, you have to write reports and stuff as part of your military duties, right? That’s why I thought it’d be good for you.”
“I can’t believe you...” Ashton said, incredulous. “What’re you always going and surprising me for? Basically, you’re giving me a present?”
“Right. I mean, it would be silly if I used your money to buy your own present, wouldn’t it? With all the things I’ve learned, I know at least that much,” Olivia said proudly, planting her legs apart.
Ashton was quiet for a moment. “Thank you, Olivia. I’ll take good care of it.”
Olivia still remembered with clarity the quiet smile on his face as, handling the pen as though it were a priceless treasure, he had tucked it away in his pocket. She could tell at once from the way it still gleamed as bright as the day she had bought it that up until it had cracked, he really had taken good care of it.
Ashton... she thought, slipping the pen into her pocket just as Ashton had done on that day. As she did so, she remembered what Z had said.
This war was the doing of Xenia and its puppet. If I defeat them both, the war will end. And then... Olivia looked down at the magic ruby that glittered at her breast, then drew the ebony blade from its scabbard. Z, she said silently, give me the strength to see this through to the end. She held the blade to her heart.
After that, she lay down on the hilltop and let the day pass in silence until the clouds drifting across the sky turned vermilion.
The girl left that hill with her heart full of new resolve.
As though in answer to her, black mist coiled up from the ebony blade.
To be continued in Death’s Daughter and the Ebony Blade Volume 7: Finale.