“What a nice breeze.”
I was sitting on a blanket laid out on the corner of a field in Milt with a cold cup of water in hand, enjoying the feel of the wind on my face. The labyrinth’s construction was almost complete. We’d reached the stage of reinforcing the walls and floors, and installing traps. But today was the construction workers’ day off, as it was also an important day for the village economy. Today they were harvesting a special kind of wheat that they could only reap once a year, and which sold for a pretty decent price. The high price made it worth the expense of tending it so carefully for a long time just for a single harvest. Milt harvested all the wheat in a single day, and they held a little harvest festival in the fields when it was all done.
That was why I’d come. We’d reached the village just in time to see the golden rows of wheat still adorning the fields. Ann spotted Sara and rushed over to her. It’d been a while since the two had last met; it seemed Sara had been left in charge of tending the village’s children, since there were so few adults available for the task lately. The kids looked like they were enjoying the story she was reading them.
That left me and Mary alone together. I had to admit, I wasn’t too hot on the idea of doing farmwork, and Mary was already being worked to the bone every other day of the week. The villagers sang as they worked, perhaps a song to celebrate the harvest. They sang out of time and even out of tune with each other, and the song itself was nothing special, but you could feel their happiness in every note.
“Hmm hm hmmm♪”
Mary started humming along. Maybe she was doing it unconsciously?
“Say, Mary...”
“What is it?”
“Is your hometown anything like this place?”
Mary’s tender gaze as she watched the villagers at work had piqued my interest. Perhaps she was nostalgic? Granted, the only experience I had analyzing women’s feelings was from visual novels, which didn’t help much with real women. The three of us had been living together a long time, but Mary had never said much about her life before. Something about the wistful look on her face told me that now was the time to ask.
“My hometown, well... It’s in a much colder region. This view of villagers harvesting crops is nostalgic, but back home they would have done it much earlier, before autumn truly set in. The snow begins to fall quite early, you see. By this time of year, the sight you see when you walk outside is that of children playing in the snow.”
Mary paused for a moment before continuing.
“In human territory, especially in my country, the peasants are quite low. They’re hardly treated better than the Daemons kept as property by the nobles and landed gentry. Children pay little heed to race, though, so you can often see human and Daemon children playing together. Much like here.”
Mary looked on fondly as the village children played. Humans, elves, dwarves, ogres, goblins, minotaurs, and so many more, mixed and purebred, all playing merrily. No small number of them were helping the adults working in the fields.
“Are you worried about your hometown?”
It had to have taken Mary more than two weeks to make the journey all the way to the Daemon territories. After the battle, she was then held in the village for some time. And it hadn’t been a short time since she had come to join us in Labyrinth #228. Mary already felt like part of the family, but her situation was different from mine or Ann’s. I could come and go whenever I wanted, and Ann lived only a short walk from her home, but Mary was a prisoner of war, a captive far from home.
“No, not particularly.”
Her answer came quickly, but there was a hint of sadness in her voice.
“I left the care of my hometown to my uncle’s family. His child, my cousin, is younger than I, but my uncle and aunt are determined that she should succeed the territory’s lordship. At first I lamented the situation, but it was a shallow wound. Now, I find myself glad that she will be able to take over without me in the picture.”
Nobles had such complicated family troubles. I hadn’t been expecting such a heavy story, so I was at something of a loss for what to say, but I felt like I had to say something.
“You don’t get along with your cousin?”
“We were not on bad terms, at least. She has always been a hard worker and sincere, though she depended on me, almost treating me as an older sister. She may still be young, but I’m sure she’ll do a splendid job of safeguarding my hometown with my uncle’s guidance.”
So even if she was released, she didn’t have a position to return to. Maybe it’d been a mistake, bringing up her hometown.
“Mary, would you like to stay here, even after you pay off your ransom? Ann loves you like a sister, and I’d have trouble finding a guardian to replace you...”
No, that wasn’t what I wanted to say.
“...Aoi?”
“...It would make me very happy if you stayed.”
I’d grown fond of this dignified, dorky knight.
“Thank you, Aoi. I can’t tell you how pleased I am to hear that. But I’ve chosen the life of a knight, and I have no intention of leaving that path.”
Mary answered me with a radiant smile.
“I see. That sucks.”
Her gorgeous smile stole my wits, and before I knew it, the words were out of my mouth. So I guess the goal of this event was just for her to tell me more about herself. Oh well. Might as well enjoy it for what it is.
“Yes, it truly does, doesn’t it?”
Mary and I didn’t speak any more until Ann returned from her work, but the silence we shared was a comfortable one.