Dad came back a few days later, and things got really busy from there. We had to visit all of our relatives, the key members of both churches in Meraldia, and the influential merchants in Ryunheit to inform them that I’d be succeeding the Aindorf family. It was exhausting. Succeeding as the head of the Aindorf family meant I also became Ryunheit’s viceroy, which required me to handle city affairs and advocate for its interests at Commonwealth Council meetings. The problem was, I wasn’t sure if Ryuunie would be willing to take the Demon Lord position even if I offered to become his vice-commander. I worried he might say I couldn’t compare to my dad, and I wouldn’t be able to argue since it was true.
As the days passed, mom’s stomach grew steadily bigger. When she was bedridden with morning sickness, dad and I looked after her, but I messed up even then. Dad was used to dealing with mom’s mood swings, so he was able to support her without making her mad. He left her alone when she wanted to be alone and kept her company when she was lonely. Meanwhile, I got yelled at more than a few times. But dad smiled at me and said he only knew what to do because it was his second time dealing with this.
“I was learning on the go when you were in Airia’s belly, Friede.”
“I see...”
Anyway, the baby had grown enough that we knew it would be a girl, thanks to Mitty’s prediction magic. Kite used his epoch magic to double-check and confirmed it, so I was definitely going to have a little sister. Soon we’d be holding a family meeting to decide on her name.
“There are several traditional names fitting for an Aindorf daughter,” Isabella, the chief maid, told me.
“Oh, I didn’t know that,” I said.
“Indeed, Lady Airia’s name has a long and storied history as well.”
“Wow...”
I decided to do a bit of my own research after that. Thankfully, there were a ton of books relating to the Aindorf family in the study. So many in fact that it took a while before I found one that might be helpful.
“Should I look through the family tree or a directory of old Aindorf names?” I muttered to myself as I walked between the shelves that went all the way up to the ceiling.
“...de,” came a voice.
“Hmm? Is someone here?” I asked aloud. There shouldn’t be; I don’t smell anyone. Maybe it’s a ghost? But I learned the basics of necromancy, so if it’s a spirit, I would sense it too...
I didn’t know who was nearby, but I had definitely heard someone call out to me. I walked over to one of the shelves with cabinet doors, climbed the ladder to the top shelf, and opened the door.
“Is this what I’m looking for?”
I picked up an old handwritten book. Remembering my lessons at Meraldia University on how to treat old tomes, I put on gloves and carefully turned the pages to avoid damaging them. The book appeared to be someone’s memos on mathematics and medicine. I recognized most of these topics; they were taught at Meraldia University too. Were these someone’s lecture notes? As I flipped through the pages, I spotted one that had a list of words.
“Hmm... Fulbert... Verda...? What is this?” The words weren’t Meraldian, Rolmundian, or Kuwolese. They didn’t look like Wa either. Written at the very end of the list was “Friedensrichter,” with a big circle drawn around it. “Wasn’t Friedensrichter the name of the first Demon Lord?”
I looked around the room, but I still didn’t sense anyone. Among the words on the list there, one had been double underlined—Othilie. Whoever had written this list seemed to like this word. Written next to it in small print was the word “happiness.”
“Happiness, huh?”
Well, I definitely wanted my little sister to live a happy life. I didn’t know what language this was written in, but dad or Granny Movi could probably tell me.
“Thank you for the suggestion.”
I placed a bookmark on that page, bowed to the shelf, and walked out of the study.
That evening, mom, dad, and I gathered to discuss my little sister’s name.
Dad sipped his black tea and said, “When we were choosing your name, we just took the first half of Friedensrichter’s name in his honor.”
“So do you want to use the second half for my sister’s name?” I asked, and Dad frowned.
“If I remember correctly, ‘richter’ means ‘judge’ in German—or a person who makes things right.”
“Oh, I didn’t know that. What does Friede mean?”
“Peace. So Friedensrichter roughly translates to ‘person who brings peace’...I think.”
Wow, that’s a really cool name! I’d never cared much about the origin of my name, so I hadn’t known that. Wait, so that means I’m named ‘peace,’ right? That’s a nice name too.
Mom gently rubbed her belly and said with a smile, “Since your big sister’s named ‘peace,’ what would you like to be called? Peace brings prosperity and happiness, so maybe something along those lines?”
Oh yeah, I almost forgot! I hurriedly pulled out the book I’d taken from the study.
“How about Othilie, then? Apparently that means happiness.”
My parents exchanged glances.
“Othilie?” mom asked.
“What language is that from?” dad asked.
Dang, even you don’t know, Dad? I opened the book to the bookmarked page and pointed to the list.
“See, it’s written in this book right here. I found it in the study, so it’s gotta be from an actual language, right?”
As he read through the list, dad’s eyes widened.
“I don’t believe it... But wait, how were you able to read it?!”
“I mean it was written here in plain... Wait...what?” As I looked down at the page, I realized I couldn’t understand the text anymore. “I can’t read it now...”
“It’d be weirder if you could. This is written in Japanese. While some of the Japanese language exists in modern Wa, they’re trying to keep it a secret that they used to call people over from Japan. Also, while Wa resembles Japanese, it uses a totally different alphabet, so not even the people there could read this.”
Dad looked fondly at the characters on the page.
“These are Friedensrichter’s notes... I remember he wrote a bunch of notebooks in the hopes that his past life’s knowledge would help the people of this world. He really knew a lot—way more than I do.”
It was then I realized why the notes seemed so similar to what was taught at university. “Does that mean our curriculum at Meraldia University is based on...”
“Yep, all the notes he left behind. This notebook has historical value.” As he said that, dad folded his arms and gave me a quizzical look. “But how were you able to read it before? This does say Othilie, and it definitely says here that it means happiness. Knowing Friedensrichter, it’s probably Old German.”
“Do you not know Old...German either?”
“Not one bit. I didn’t even study it in school.” Dad smiled and patted my head like he used to when I was younger. “The night you were born, people said they thought they saw Friedensrichter’s spirit. I’m sure he was watching over you when he led you to this book too.”
“Th-That’s good, I think.”
I looked around, trying to find Friedensrichter’s spirit so I could thank him. Everyone talked about the first Demon Lord like he’d been some kind of god, so I didn’t know how to feel about the fact that he was watching over me. Just then, mom let out a small gasp.
“Ah.”
“What’s wrong?”
Mom smiled and said, “Your little sister just kicked my stomach. That’s the first time she’s done that.”
“Guess she really likes the name her big sister found for her,” dad said with a smile, and mom nodded.
“Shall we call you Othilie, then?”
The baby kicked mom’s stomach again.
Yep, you definitely like it! The three of us exchanged glances and smiled.
“I suppose that settles it. Your name will be Othilie.”
“It has a nice ring to it.”
And so, it was decided that my sister would be Othilie Aindorf. I promised to make her happy just like her namesake.
Now let’s get to work!