† † †
“I see...” Boldow said, taking a sip of tea as Kanata finished her explanation of everything that had happened since she’d first met Zag’giel. “So you’ve run into trouble with the Church, have you?” They had elected to move the conversation to the sitting room rather than stand around talking in the doorway.
“I can’t say I’m terribly worried,” said Alus. “This is Kanata, after all. Speaking frankly, I’d be worried for the Church.”
“Our Kanny’s just so full of energy it gets her in trouble sometimes,” her mother Aleksia said. “You held back a lot while you were at school, didn’t you? For me, though, it’s much nicer to see you having fun.”
If it had been almost anyone else, they would have reeled over backward foaming at the mouth in shock from the things they had heard. But Kanata’s family reacted to the news of Demon Kings and Spirit Wolves and Kanata’s struggles against the Church with hardly any apparent surprise at all. Zag’giel found himself deeply impressed.
“So,” Kanata continued, “I’d like to stay here for a little while, just until those Temple Knights give up on chasing Elizabat. Is that okay?”
“Of course it’s okay!” Boldow declared, thumping his fist against his chest for emphasis. “What parents wouldn’t be delighted to have their daughter back home? Stay as long as you like!”
“I am sorry to have been the cause of such trouble...” apologized Elizavett.
“Don’t be silly!” said Aleksia. “We’re all just delighted to see our family get bigger!”
“If anything, we should owe you an apology for all the nonsense my sister has put you through,” agreed Alus.
“We thank you, honored father, honored mother, Sir Alus.” Zag’giel bowed his head, and the other two furballs followed suit.
“Father, hm?” Boldow said. “What are your intentions with my daughter?! You’d better not be up to any funny business! Ah, I’ve been waiting for an opportunity to use that line! I can’t believe I got to say that!”
“N-Nothing like that, we assure you,” Zag’giel answered.
“Wait, really?” said Boldow. “You mean I’m not getting a hot guy as a son-in-law after all?”
“Please, father, stop,” begged Alus. “I am starting to feel genuinely embarrassed.”
“What’s that?!” Boldow demanded. “And what is it about your old man you find so embarrassing?”
“Your existence.”
“My existence?!”
“Just so.”
“‘Just so,’ he says...” Boldow slumped his shoulders in defeat at having been pronounced embarrassing by his own son. “Alus, you take after your mother more and more every day. Those cold eyes of yours are a dead ringer for hers when she’s angry. I’m sorry you have such an embarrassing old man, I guess.”
Boldow had pursued the way of the sword long enough to have obtained the strongest Profession in the Fencer class—Divine Sword. Moreover, he had the confidence of the king himself. By anyone’s standards he was a father worthy of respect. But his day-to-day conduct was so questionable that he frequently found himself at the bottom rung of the Aldezia family.
“Well, all that aside,” Boldow continued, turning his attention back toward Kanata. “You don’t have to worry about a thing as long as you’re under this roof! It might be a small fiefdom, but I can promise you we’re beyond the Holy Church’s reach. After all, we’re way too far in the boonies to even have a church! Gah ha ha!” He laughed loudly.
“The Holy Church has little interest in lands that cannot provide an adequate tithe,” Alus mused. “I suppose it’s fortunate your fiefdom is so poor, father.”
“Gah ha ha ha ha! Gah ha... Ha...” Boldow’s laughter trailed off in the face of his son’s merciless commentary. He slumped his shoulders once more. “My fiefdom is poor...” he sighed.
“Well, that’s enough talking for the moment!” Aleksia declared, standing up and clapping her hands together. “The whole family’s here tonight! I have to get started on dinner!”
“I’ll help, mom!” Kanata volunteered.
“Then we shall assist as well,” Zag’giel offered.
“I don’t know what I can do to help, but I’ll lend you my strength if I can!” said Fenrir.
“And I shall test the flavor with my refined palate!” added Elizavett.
“Oh, me too!” chimed in Boldow.
“Father,” Alus chided, “you had best return to the training grounds as fast as you can, and apologize to everyone from the militia. An instructor really isn’t supposed to simply run out on his students.”
“Fiiine...” Boldow sighed. “I’m sorry...” Slumping his shoulders for the third time that conversation, Boldow left with Alus to go back to the training grounds.
And so, Kanata’s summer vacation began in earnest.