“So, today marks five years since the Battle of Megiddo, huh? Man, time sure flies,” Nozomu mused to himself, sitting in the captain’s cabin of the Iárnviðr Trading Company’s flagship galleon, Noah. So much had happened since then—lots of good things, of course, but a fair amount of hardships as well. Even so, they were all valuable experiences for Nozomu. That said, none of them were quite so precious and fulfilling as the birth of his child with Ephelia.
“I’d like to think I’ve grown up at least a bit since then, but I’ve still got a long way to go.” He looked up at the ceiling and sighed. He’d worked himself to the bone the past few years, and he could tell that he’d made great strides in his growth, but his father’s shadow seemed just as out of reach as before. It was as if the more Nozomu grew, the more obvious the gulf between him and his father became.
By the age of fourteen, his father had already saved the Wolf Clan from extinction, and at seventeen, he’d grown it into one of the few great powers of Yggdrasil. Nozomu was already twenty, but he hadn’t even come close to catching up to where his father had been when he was fourteen. As for the things his father had done by seventeen, he’d already given up on achieving anything like that within his lifetime. He resented his own powerlessness more and more with each passing day.
“You’re always so hard on yourself, Big Bro,” said Arness, his younger brother by one year, with a sour look on his face. He was the son of Yuuto and Linnea, and he was currently displaying his business acumen as Iárnviðr Trading Company’s treasurer—in fact, the reason he’d come to Nozomu’s cabin had originally been to discuss business. “If you ask me, that part of you’s exactly like Father.”
“I would rather have inherited his smarts and broad perspective like you did,” Nozomu said with an envious glare and sighed once more. Arness had a weak physical constitution and no athletic ability whatsoever, but his quick-wittedness more than made up for it. That part of his father was what Nozomu would have most liked to possess, so the fact that his little brother had instead been blessed with those qualities made him stew with jealousy.
“I get how you feel, Big Brother. You know the saying ‘a black hen lays white eggs’? Well, we’re like the black eggs a white hen laid,” Wiz interjected and nodded in agreement. She was their younger sister and served as second adviser for the company. Her mother, Sigrún, Mánagarmr of two generations prior, was a legend who’d felled countless warriors back in the wars of Yggdrasil, but Wiz’s reflexes were merely average at best. No, considering how much effort she’d had to put into her training when she was young, they were probably worse than that. “We may be Father’s children, but we’re not Father. You have your own good qualities about you, Nozomu.”
“You think I have good qualities? Like what?” Nozomu asked.
“...Well, you’re well-liked by everyone?” Wiz offered.
“Yeah, that’s right, Big Bro. Everyone loves you,” Arness chimed in.
“You mean they don’t see me as a real leader,” Nozomu said with a scowl and pursed his lips in dissatisfaction. Everyone always treated him so casually—even his younger brothers and those beneath him in status. He knew why, of course—he wasn’t intimidating or imposing enough. Everyone always followed the commands of his younger brothers, Arness and Sigurd, to the letter, but they never seemed to treat any of Nozomu’s orders with the same gravitas. As someone who was meant to lead others, he couldn’t see that as anything but a flaw.
“I’m sorry, but the way you can’t take praise at face value is honestly irritating at times,” Wiz said exasperatedly.
“That’s right, Big Bro, it’s super irritating. It’s a compliment, so just accept it already,” Arness added, looking equally weary. They both let out a sigh at the same time. Truthfully, Nozomu also found that part of himself irritating, but it was in his nature, it seemed, and he couldn’t help it.
“Hmm... Big Bro, have you ever considered taking a breather every once in a while?”
“Seriously? I barely have the time to do something like...”
“A breather’s not something you have time for. It’s something you make time for.” Arness cut Nozomu off before he could finish. “These past five years, we’ve all seen you try your damnedest to catch up to Father. In doing so, you’ve gotten a bit too entrenched in your work, I’d say.”
“I agree,” Wiz said with a nod.
“Are you two serious right now? If I can’t handle this much work, I’ll never...” Nozomu began before cutting himself off, having noticed Wiz was up to something. “Hey Wiz, what are you writing over there?”
“Just look at this, will you?” Wiz thrust a piece of papyrus in front of Nozomu’s face.
“How am I supposed to read it if you shove it right in my face?” Nozomu grumbled. Snatching the papyrus from Wiz, he read its contents.
Fools see naught in front of them but a pig’s rear.
“You trying to pick a fight with me?!” He tried to hurl the papyrus to the ground, but it met with resistance in the air and fluttered down instead, which only upset him further.
“Oh, looks like you were able to read it after all,” Wiz replied calmly. Her maintained composure was also getting on his nerves.
“Look, I may not be as smart as you guys, but I do at least know how to read,” Nozomu snapped.
“But just now you said you couldn’t read it. What gives?” Wiz rebutted.
“Just now? What are you going on about?!” Nozomu growled back.
“When I put it in front of your face,” Wiz explained.
“That’s because it was too close!”
“Right. And that’s the point I’m trying to make.”
“Huh...?” Nozomu was dumbstruck. Every now and then, Wiz would say things so abstruse that he had no idea what she meant. With a small smile, Arness tried to explain.
“‘Too close’... What I believe she’s trying to do is make you realize that if you focus too closely on anything, it narrows your field of view.”
“Precisely.” Wiz nodded, seemingly satisfied with Arness’s explanation. While Nozomu was impressed that Arness could figure it out despite its obtuseness, he sighed in exasperation.
“How on earth was something like that supposed to make me understand? Just say what you mean.”
“I thought a visual demonstration might be easier to understand.”
“Well, you’d be wrong, because it made no sense to me at all.”
“But you experienced exactly what Arness described to you, did you not?”
“Huh? Well, I can’t really say that I didn’t...” he reluctantly admitted. Indeed, even if Wiz had said from the start what Arness had explained, Nozomu probably would’ve denied it and refused to listen. However, having been confronted through a practical example with exactly what she’d (however abstractly) explained, he had little room to argue back.
“I really can’t hold a candle to her either.” On the surface, she came off as aloof and a tad eccentric, but her keen eye for seeing through to the heart of things was second to none. In fact, that was precisely why she often seemed to be on another wavelength entirely—she’d simply arrived at the truth of the matter before anyone else. She may not have received the physical abilities of her parents, but there was no question she’d inherited their intelligence and wisdom.
“Meanwhile, there’s nothing special about me whatsoever.” Put simply, Nozomu was a jack-of-all-trades and a master of none. Unlike his other siblings, there was nothing he especially excelled at. He knew he wouldn’t gain anything from dwelling on it, but he couldn’t shake the feeling that he was inferior to the rest of his brothers and sisters.
“Look, you’re closing yourself off again,” Wiz declared, grinding her index finger into the space between Nozomu’s eyebrows. He’d apparently let his emotions show on his face. “For one meant to lead others, that’s inexcusable... No, Wiz is right. I need to stop this negativity loop. It’s not doing me any favors.”
While Nozomu lost himself in thought, Arness dropped his fist into his palm as though he’d had an idea. “Now that I think about it, we might actually have a perfect opportunity, Big Bro.”
“Huh? What do you mean by that?” Nozomu asked.
“I mean, didn’t Father say he wanted you to head to Tarshish on your next inspection voyage?”
“Ah, yeah, I guess he did, didn’t he?” It had been five years since the night they’d all made their grand escape from Tarshish. His father was supposed to be dead, so he couldn’t exactly go there whenever he pleased. However, it had been his hometown ever since he could remember. He had friends and schoolmates there. Not to mention, it was the nation he was supposed to have ruled over in place of his father. He’d always been curious about how things were going there.
“Once we get home and have had some time to relax, how about we all go to Tarshish together and see how things are going? Not for work purposes, but as tourists,” Arness suggested.