“This could be...somewhat bad,” I muttered a few days after informing Colbert about the upcoming trip to Yumuen.
I was in my office, reading a letter from Mary. It described the current state of Fuuga’s saint, Anne. After enduring the repeated purges that had torn through the Orthodox Papal State, her heart had finally broken. She now suffered constant nightmares and emotional collapse. I probably looked as if I’d bitten into something unpleasant.
“Souma? Is something wrong?” Liscia asked, eyeing me with concern.
I handed her the letter. As she read, her brow furrowed, and a conflicted expression formed on her face. When she finished, she let out a quiet sigh.
“Anne did bring some of this on herself by refusing to acknowledge how she was being used as a saint,” Liscia said. “But even so...I can’t just abandon her to suffer for it. Not after everything she went through.”
“Yeah. In the end, she was a poor puppet, manipulated by those around her.”
It had been her own choice to become that puppet. According to Mary, she had offered Anne the hand of salvation before Anne was made into a saint. Anne had chosen not to take it. That choice had led her to her present misery, but she couldn’t have known the consequences then. Judging her now by the outcome alone felt unfair; hindsight made it too easy to condemn.
“Mary’s supporting her, but she says Anne’s condition isn’t improving,” I said.
“Maladies of the heart don’t heal easily, huh?”
“Yeah. And seeing someone crushed under the weight of their role hits a little close to home...”
“True. It’d be nice if we could help her somehow. Any ideas?”
I folded my arms and thought for a moment. “Maybe I could bring Brad with us when we go to Yumuen.”
“A doctor? Why not Hilde?”
“Brad’s the one researching psychiatric care with the priests in the Kingdom’s diplomatic corps. He’s been helping them while also watching their child, since Hilde’s too busy training the younger physicians.”
Using the connections we had from Souji’s time as archbishop of the Kingdom’s Orthodox Church, we’d consulted men of the cloth—people accustomed to hearing confessions and counseling troubled souls—and begun the first research into psychiatric care in this world. Brad was the medical professional involved in that project.
Because Brad suffered from an overactive case of Middle-School Delusions syndrome...or rather, because he wasn’t very good at communicating with others, he had left most of the junior physician training to Hilde. That gave him comparatively more free time, which allowed him to participate in the psychiatric research while also caring for their daughter, Ludia.
I had doubted whether that blunt man could function as a psychiatrist, but mysteriously enough, there hadn’t been any complaints.
“Other than that... Oh, I know. We should bring Tomoe too,” I said.
“Tomoe? Why her?” Liscia asked.
“I have an idea. Not that I’m sure it’ll work,” I replied, smirking at her puzzled expression. “I’ll also take Aisha along as a bodyguard, but Naden’s busy flying around for Maria’s philanthropic work. Hey, why don’t you come too, Liscia?”
“Huh? Me? I can?” she asked, blinking in surprise. “I figured since you’re leaving the country, I’d be staying behind to hold down the fort.”
“That’s how it’s been before. But the world’s stable now, and Cian and Kazuha have grown a lot. Even if something happens and neither of us can get back quickly, your parents and Excel are here. The kingdom won’t just fall apart. Juna, Roroa, and Yuriga can handle anything that comes up while we’re away.”
Until now, Liscia had always been the one who would keep the country together if something happened to me, so whenever I traveled abroad, she stayed behind to manage things at home. But that era was over. In this time of relative peace, my absence wouldn’t shake the kingdom. It felt like the right moment to finally take Liscia with me; she had been stuck at home long enough.
“Well...” Liscia hesitated, then nodded. “That could be nice. All right. I’ll go.”
“Good. I’ll start contacting the necessary people then.”
And so, it was decided—I would travel to Yumuen with Liscia, Aisha, Tomoe, and Brad. When I told Brad, he replied, “I don’t mind examining Anne, but let me bring Ludia with me.”
Was Hilde that busy? Well, bringing an extra child along wasn’t a problem. I saw no reason to refuse.
And so, on the day we were to depart for Yumuen, Liscia, Aisha, Tomoe, and I met Brad, Hilde, and Ludia in front of the wyvern gondola that would take us there. Hilde would not be accompanying us, but she had come to see her husband and daughter off.
Ludia peeked out from behind her mother, watching us warily.
“Go on, Ludia,” Hilde encouraged her. “Say hello to everyone.”
“Eek?! H-Hello, Your Majesty,” Ludia said as she stepped forward and bowed her head.
She was a cute little girl with white hair, inherited from Brad, and a small third eye, a racial trait from her mother. I recalled that she had been born shortly before Cian and Kazuha, making her the same age as my children. I had met her once during the Magic Bug Disease outbreak, but she had grown a lot since then.
“What a cute little lady,” Aisha said.
“She really is,” Tomoe agreed. “If you told me she was a fairy, I would believe it.”
Overwhelmed by the praise, Ludia quickly retreated behind her parents again. She was clearly shy. Given how blunt and sharp-tongued both Hilde and Brad were, it was hard to believe their daughter had the timid charm of a small woodland animal.
“I can see she is your child, but she doesn’t act much like either of you,” I remarked.
Hilde shook her head.
“No, her personality is similar to Brad’s.”
“It is?”
“It is only a matter of becoming an introvert from shyness, or giving up on relationships and pretending to be a lone wolf. I only hope Ludia does not grow up to be as cringeworthy as Brad can be.”
“Hey, I can hear you,” Brad protested, staring pointedly. “Try not to say things like that in front of Ludia.”
“In that case, answer me this. What will you do if, when she grows up, Ludia declares, ‘I’d rather heal a scrawny mutt than a fattened pig.’ And what if she starts saying, ‘I have no intention of being a dog of the powerful’?”
Brad fell silent.
The thought of his own daughter repeating the edgy lines he had once been famous for had struck a nerve. As a parent myself, I understood the feeling. No one wanted their children to inherit their flaws and embarrassing habits. Any parent would feel the same, even if, more often than not, our children ended up taking after us in those exact ways.
Brad let out a defeated groan.
“Let’s raise her so she doesn’t end up like that.”
“Heh. So you do understand,” Hilde said, chuckling with amusement. Despite their constant bickering, the two of them actually got along quite well.
I gave a amused smile and turned to Hilde. “Are you sure it is all right for us to take Ludia with us? If you are busy, she could stay at the castle.”
“I have no objections. In fact, I think you would have problems if you did not take her.”
“Hmm? What do you mean?”
“You’ll understand once you get there. Look after my husband and daughter, Your Majesty.”
“Y-Yeah, sure,” I said, nodding despite not understanding her meaning in the slightest.
With that, we boarded the gondola and took off into the sky as Hilde waved us goodbye. Liscia and Aisha sat beside me, while Brad, Tomoe, and Ludia sat across from us.
Ludia stared fixedly at something.
“...”
Her gaze was locked onto Tomoe’s fluffy wolf tail, carefully kept to the side so she wouldn’t sit on it.
“Hee hee. You can touch it if you want,” Tomoe offered.
“I can?”
“Yes, but gently, please.”
“Yayyy!”
Ludia began happily fluffing Tomoe’s tail. It was such a heartwarming sight, watching two cute girls playing together like that. I was honestly considering carrying a small recording jewel around just to capture moments like this.
Still, a genius doctor like Brad and his adorable daughter traveling with us was not something I had expected.
“Hey, Ludia.”
“Y-Yes? What is it?” she asked, tensing up as she turned to face me.
I clasped my hands together in front of me. “Just once, could you squish your cheeks between your palms and say ‘acchon**rike’ for me?”
She blinked in confusion. “???”
Brad glared at me. “What exactly are you trying to make my daughter do?”
Oh, come on. Who would not want to see a real live P**ko just once? Before I could defend myself, Liscia elbowed me sharply in the ribs. Ouch...
After a short wyvern gondola ride, we arrived at the main church in Yumuen and were immediately shown to Souji and Mary. In the archbishop’s office, I shook hands with Souji, who was properly dressed in his ceremonial robes like he was supposed to be. The only trace of his former reputation as the “Commandment-Breaking Bishop” was the stubble still on his chin.
“Sorry to make you come all this way, Your Majesty,” he said.
“Think nothing of it. I’d been meaning to visit for some time anyway,” I replied.
As we spoke, Mary stepped forward.
“Allow me to express my gratitude as well...for helping us think of Anne,” she said with a deep bow.
“Oh, sure. I can’t promise we’ll be able to save her, but I intend to do what I can. Fuuga asked me to look after things once he was gone. If Anne’s heart was broken because she followed the path he carved...I wouldn’t feel right abandoning her now.”
“Even so, I am grateful, Lord Souma,” Mary said, tears welling in her eyes.
She was clearly anguished over Anne’s condition. It seemed best to address this before dealing with the Lunalith. I turned to Brad.
“You heard that, Brad. Can you examine Anne for us?”
“Very well. Where is the patient now?” he asked calmly.
“In her room, waiting for you,” Mary said.
Brad nodded and rose from his seat. “I’ll see her immediately. Show me the way... Come, Ludia.”
“Okay, Father.”
“Wait, you’re bringing Ludia?” I asked, startled as he took his daughter’s hand.
Brad gave me a puzzled look, as though it were obvious. “Hilde told you, did she not? I will be needing Ludia for this examination.”