I was complete.
That girl granted me what my heart had been missing.
Something I thought I would never have again.
Her smile was so precious, so radiant, that…
I wanted those days to go on forever.
However, I should have known…
Fate would never allow that to happen.
Normally, after breakfast, Alice had a short break before heading to the basement to train. The day after a job, however, was a rest day.
But that didn’t mean that the girl was able to roll around in bed doing nothing. A day spent idle was anathema to the mind and body, or so Leon said.
And so Alice was spending her day off cleaning the mansion.
“Mas-ter’s room! ♪ Mas-ter’s room! ♪”
She swung open the door and waltzed right into her teacher’s private space. It was shockingly barren, furnished with only a small round table and a bed. Alice quickly got to work. She began by sweeping away the dust from the floor. Then she scrubbed down the little table. Finally, she moved to the bed.
“What’s this?”
Alice picked up a photograph near the pillow. It depicted the Hero of Salvation and her disciples. A young boy smiled, lifting the corners of Leon’s mouth with his fingers. Rheinhardt. He possessed a beauty that seemed to transcend gender, with delicate features and long, silver hair that fell about his waist. In the photo, Leon gloomily scowled back at the boy, and standing off to one side, arms folded, was a pretty, smiling woman. This was Claire, the previous Hero of Salvation and Leon’s master. She was tall for a woman, with burning red eyes and hair.
She was the very model of womanly charm, but one thing in particular drew Alice’s envious eye most of all.
“Y-you can tell the size even under those loose-fitting clothes! There’s no doubt about it—this woman is the source of Leon’s fondness for boobs!”
Claire Redheart was a formidable woman in more ways than one. Two more ways, in fact.
“Mmmrgh! W-well, mine will be as big as that one day! Just wait and see! Hmph!”
Time to double the milk intake, Alice thought. And a little breast massage couldn’t hurt, either.
“…Still, why does she look so familiar all of a sudden…?”
Alice had never noticed it before, but now that she studied the picture in detail, she couldn’t help but feel that Claire reminded her of someone. But who? Alice pondered it for a minute, until a clinking noise broke her concentration. She turned to the source of the sound to see Leon’s sword, resting against the wall.
“Hmm, what was its name again? Calit Gelius?”
For a moment, Alice scrutinized it where it was stored in its jet-black scabbard.
“Is it…talking to me?”
Alice didn’t know why she thought that, but she began walking over, as though it were drawing her in.
“What am I doing? I can’t touch Master’s things without asking…”
Alice knew it was rude. She knew she shouldn’t be doing it, but for some reason, she just had to touch the sword, to pick it up in her hands.
“It feels…like my mother is here, stroking my head…”
She couldn’t explain why she felt that way. At that moment, she snapped out of her trance when she heard her Master’s voice.
“It’s chosen you, then. That sword.”
Alice squealed and turned around.
“M-Master! I’m sorry!”
“Sorry? What for?”
“F-for touching your things without asking…”
“I don’t mind. There’s nothing here you’re not allowed to touch.”
It sounded curt, but Alice could tell there was kindness in his words.
“…It seems that you have what it takes to be the next Hero of Salvation.”
“Huh?”
“The sword chooses its bearer. If it deems a person unworthy, it won’t even let them touch it.”
Leon ran his eyes over the sword, then looked at Alice.
“…Do you want to try?”
“Huh? T-try what?”
“Try to see if the sword will let you draw it.”
“N-no, no, no! I’m sure it won’t!”
If Leon couldn’t draw it, there was no way Alice could, she thought. But just then, she heard a voice in her mind.
“Try it.”
A voice like a kind old lady to her grandchild. That was what it sounded like to Alice. She felt a sensation difficult to put into words as she gripped the hilt and focused.
Then.
“Ah.”
The sword drew so smoothly, she let out a cry of surprise. Soon the blade was free.
“Wow…it’s so pretty…”
It was devilishly enchanting, so much so that even a total weapon novice like Alice was taken by it. The blade, decorated in black and gold, seemed like it could snatch away the very souls of those it slew.
“I see,” said Leon, deep in contemplation. “Meeting you was no coincidence.”
His voice snapped Alice out of her trance, and she realized how disrespectful her behavior was, showing up her master by unsheathing the sword he failed to draw.
“I…er… Th-this must be some kind of mistake!”
“There’s no mistake. The holy sword is never wrong. Calit Gelius has chosen you.”
His gentle crimson eyes were filled with emotion.
“I can rest easy knowing that you will continue on after me.”
Alice felt a little worried by his words. They sounded like those of an old man on his deathbed, bequeathing his legacy to a favored son. Pure and sweet and yet deeply melancholic.
“Master…?”
What thoughts moved beyond those crimson eyes? Leon did not answer. Instead, he closed his eyes softly and began to speak.
“Back when Rheina and Master still lived, I was obsessed with the sword. I always wanted to catch up to them, to be accepted as one of them, and I thought to do that, I had to be able to draw the sword. However, I never could… No matter how hard I worked, it refused to recognize me… I was so unreasonably angry. But now…” Leon gently placed his hand atop Alice’s head. “…I feel nothing. Despite how easily you succeeded where I failed, I feel no jealousy at all. If you can do it, then that means I don’t need to.”
Alice couldn’t help but feel it again. Like Leon was speaking as if he might go away at any moment.
“…I don’t think this answer is the one the sword wanted to hear.”
Those final words from Leon’s lips, whispered so softly, her ears almost failed to catch them, made her realize at last what the sword was after. It had allowed Alice to draw it free of its sheath, not because it accepted her, but because it was trying to tell Leon something.
Like a master showing their pupil the right way.