Extra Story:
Seleiyu After
IT WAS FINALLY OVER. I couldn’t sleep after Yuna and Noa returned home that evening, so I opened the window and looked up at the sky. Since my mother had passed, I had done everything in my power to protect my brother and survive myself.
I looked at my hands, seeing the scars from the many blisters that had formed and broken on them. This was proof of every time I had swung my sword. Every day, I had woken up early to practice my magic and train with my sword…but now I had no reason to.
I had done this for so many years. After today, I didn’t know what to do. It was like there was a gaping hole in my heart. Without my sword or magic, I didn’t know what I had left. There was nothing else.
“Mother, what should I do?” I asked. I felt as if my mother was watching me from the sky, though she did not respond, of course.
Knock knock.
There was a knock at the door while I gazed at the sky. Who would visit at this time of night?
“Yes?” I asked.
“It’s me.”
That was my father’s voice.
“May I come in?”
“Yes, of course.”
My father entered my room.
“What are you doing up so late?” I asked him.
“I was heading back to my room after wrapping up some work and noticed you looking out your window.”
I suppose he was worried about me and had come to check in. I felt terribly for worrying him.
“You couldn’t sleep?”
“No. I don’t know what I should do from now on,” I replied honestly. “I practiced my swordplay and magic, waiting for the man who killed mother to return. But that’s unnecessary now.”
The man was dead. He would never appear before me again.
“You’re still only sixteen. You can try or do anything you want to.”
Anything I want to...
“When you said you wanted to train with a sword, I allowed it. When you wanted to learn magic, I hired you a tutor. You can do anything you wish. I am a noble, and I have the power to give you anything you would like.”
“Ha ha. Father, please don’t abuse your position.”
“I’m not using it to do anything wicked. What’s so bad with using my privilege to please my beloved daughter?”
Father was always watching over me. I realized, again, that he had always been supporting me.
“What would you do if I did something wicked?”
“Are you going to?”
“I’m not sure.”
“Well, it’s a parent’s job to get their children back on the right path if they stray. So do whatever you desire, but if you continue with swordplay and magic, do it on your own terms.”
“On my own terms...”
I could choose to do what I wanted. What a wonderful thing. Many people didn’t have that chance. It was a luxury to have a problem like this.
“There’s nothing to hold you down anymore. If you were so inclined, you could study how to govern the territory.”
“But Keith is the heir.”
“You can settle down with someone here and support him. Even if you were to marry into another fief’s family, your studies wouldn’t go to waste.”
I had never thought about marriage before. My friends would sometimes speak of boys, but it never seemed relevant to me, so I rarely listened. I thought it would never apply to me. But now that everything was over, I suddenly had a future. I could do anything I wanted, including courtship and marriage. That didn’t change the fact that I had no idea what I was doing when it came to romance.
“Father, freedom is so difficult.”
Everything seemed awkward to me. I didn’t even know what girls my age liked.
“That’s right. With freedom, you must take ownership of your own thoughts and behavior. Some things may turn out to be a waste of time, while others may become things you regret not doing earlier. It’s all your responsibility.”
“My responsibility...”
“Do you regret practicing your swordplay and magic for these past ten years?”
Regret? Working on my swordplay and magic meant I hadn’t been able to spend much time with my friends. Thinking about it, I couldn’t come up with an answer.
“I’m not sure.”
The thought that my mother’s killer might appear had been the sole force that had driven me forward. If I hadn’t worked so hard on my sword and magic, I wouldn’t be the person I am now. If that was taken from me, what would remain?
“I’m sorry. That was an unfair question to ask. But just remember this. There may have been some things you missed while working so hard for this past ten years. Either way, your hard work did not go to waste.”
If I hadn’t worked so hard, I wouldn’t have been able to face that man. I would have been a frightened, trembling coward. I wouldn’t have been able to avenge my mother. My little brother might have been killed. I might have been forced to obey him. Practicing swordplay and magic had given me the strength to face my fears.
I also owed my thanks to the girl who had fought beside me.
“I wonder who Yuna really is. She claimed to be an adventurer.”
I would be dead if Yuna hadn’t saved me. And it wasn’t just me. My brother would have been killed too, and f that horde of monsters had fallen on the town, many of the residents would have been lost. Yuna had defeated all of them on her own.
“I confirmed that she wasn’t a student and was instead a real adventurer. She’s even C rank. It’s amazing for someone her age, but when you see her ability for yourself, it’s obvious.”
I heard from Noa and Shia that Yuna was an adventurer, but I had thought she was one in name only and challenged her to a duel only to be thoroughly trounced. I hadn’t thought Yuna could be that strong.
Everything had been resolved, thanks to that curious girl. Because of her, I was saved and woke up from my nightmare.
She was ever so odd.
And quite cute, too.
The next morning, I overslept for the first time in my life. My late-night chat with Father likely contributed. He had also instructed the servants not to wake me.
I didn’t go running, practice my swordplay, or drill my magic. It had been a long time since I had such an uneventful morning. I had a tiny, nagging feeling that I was doing something wrong.
I greeted my father, had breakfast, and headed off to the academy. My father had told me I could rest for a while, but I couldn’t simply stay home with nothing to do. When I arrived at the academy, a classmate addressed me.
“Lady Seleiyu, good morning.”
“Yes, good morning.”
People gathered around my seat, chatting about the exchange gathering. They were discussing that year’s matches and how they’d work harder for next year’s. Then the conversation turned to Yuna.
“Lady Seleiyu, did Youna go home?”
“She left yesterday.”
Everyone seemed disappointed. She had only participated in the final event, yet she had made an impression on everyone. I was still the only one who knew her true abilities, though. For whatever reason, it made me slightly giddy.
That day I went out with my classmates. They seemed a bit shocked but happily welcomed me along, nonetheless.
That night I went to my father’s room.
“You’re going to the capital, Father?”
“That’s right. I must report what happened to His Majesty.”
There existed a mana gem that could attract monsters. The gem was dangerous. Had Yuna not retrieved it from the lake, the town would have been in dire straits. If the monsters had attacked, many would have died.
Yuna had slain the monsters that had gathered, but many of them had fled. As such, Father posted quests at the Adventurers’ Guild to slay the remnants and bolster surveillance of the area, but the larger issue was that we had few adventurers left in town. He said that he had instructed the adventurer’s guild to call back abroad adventurers at once.
“Is it really true that Yuna knows the king even though she’s not a noble?”
I was a noble, but I did not know the king. When I attended parties, I could only look on from afar, or at times greet him with my father. I could not claim to even be the king’s acquaintance.
From the way Yuna spoke though, it almost sounded like they were close.
“I cannot know without speaking to His Majesty. I’ll first make my written report, then afterwards, I can seek an audience.”
“Ha ha. It seems you have your work cut out for you.”
“True, but it’s better than having a horde of monsters attacking the town.”
Such a thing would have indeed been catastrophic. It was all thanks to Yuna that we could have this leisurely conversation about it now.
“As you and Yuna put an end to the matter, it is my job as the feudal lord to tidy up what remains.”
He smiled gently. Then, after finishing his work for the fief, my father departed for the royal capital.