† † †
“I suppose I should say hello again. Good afternoon, Miss Melissa, Miss Lily,” Kanata said, bowing politely once the furball mask was finally off her face. Her skin was looking bright and glossy from her heavy dose of belly fluff. “Now, was there something you wanted to talk to me about?” It seemed that Melissa’s words had, in fact, reached her when she was in that state. Kanata sat down, and Lily poured tea for her and her companions.
“Yes,” said Melissa. “You can drink your tea while you listen if you like. You see...” She went on to explain the entire situation with the illegal drug that had taken the Royal Capital by storm.
“Holy crap...” said Lily. “Do you think any of my customers might be involved?” As a blacksmith, a matter that concerned adventurers was her business as well. If one of her regular customers ignorantly got their hands on the drug, they might be out of action before they knew it.
“I couldn’t tell you, I’m afraid,” Melissa answered. “But according to the tests we’ve done, it shouldn’t be the sort of drug that’s easy to produce in large quantities, nor one simple enough for someone without technical expertise to manufacture even if they knew the formula. The guild’s opinion is that it’s most likely being made and distributed by a single genius alchemist.” The guild and the crown both were not without resources. They had been able to learn this much in their preliminary investigations, before assigning the request.
“Meaning that you’re in trouble if you can’t find the guy...” said Lily.
“That’s right,” Melissa confirmed. “The adventurers we’ve spoken to who destroyed their own bodies with the drug didn’t seem to know anything about the person who created it. We only have one lead, and it came from one of the users whose mind was damaged by the drug—that the creator intends to participate in the National Fencing Tournament. As clues go, it isn’t very reliable at all, but it’s our only lead. Our best option is to infiltrate the tournament in order to see what we can learn.”
“I see,” said Lily. “And that’s why you need someone like Kanata...”
The adventurer who took the request would have to make it through the preliminaries all the way to the main tournament, as well as investigate the tournament’s participants in order to find the drug’s creator. It would be quite the difficult task.
“But you’ll need a sword if you’re going to participate in the National Fencing Tournament, won’t you?” Lily said. “Hey, Kanata, what do you think of using one of mine?”
The smithy’s customers from Lily’s father’s time had returned to the shop, but there was no denying that its status had suffered since Lily had taken over. Lily was a young woman, after all. She hadn’t had time to earn a reputation of her own. Her father was a good enough smith that he had once forged a blade for Boldow the Divine Sword. If she wanted to stand in the same league as him, sending a contestant to the National Fencing Tournament with a sword of her own making would be a useful shortcut.
“I’ll give you the sword for free, of course!” Lily went on. “Or...in your case, maybe I should make you another item for your pets! I see you got a new one too.”
“Hang on, Lily,” Melissa said. “Miss Kanata still hasn’t said whether or not she intends to take the request.” Melissa hoped Kanata would, of course, but it was a matter of steadfast principle for her to let the adventurer’s own wishes take priority.
“I’d be happy to!” Kanata chirped her casual assent, not taking her eyes off the three furballs greedily devouring the cookies for a single second.
“Really?!” Melissa exclaimed, springing to her feet and leaning forward on the table. She had briefly forgotten her manners.
“Yes, of course!” said Kanata. “After all, both of you have helped me out a great deal!” Taking the difficult task Melissa was forcing on her with a cheerful smile on her face, Kanata looked like nothing short of a Saint.
“Hm.” Zag’giel intoned. “As expected of Kanata. We, too, shall lend you our strength, of course.”
“You can use me as a training partner!” Fenrir volunteered.
“I-I would prefer not to get hurt if I can avoid it,” said Elizavett. “But I will do my best to cheer you on!”
The furballs’ mouths were covered in crumbs as they replied. Mister Molmo had once said that beasts tend to resemble their masters, but it seemed these three were taking after Kanata in a thoroughly useless way.
“In that case,” said Melissa, “we should stop by the guild to complete the formal request procedure and then go register you for the National Fencing Tournament right away. I’m very sorry for the trouble.”
Preliminary tournaments were still being held in many parts of the kingdom. The event in the Royal Capital would come only once all of them were complete. However, they didn’t have unlimited time. It wasn’t very likely that the preliminary tournaments would already be full, but the possibility was there.
“Will you be coming too, Miss Melissa?” Kanata asked.
“I will,” she answered. “I’ve been given permission to prioritize this over my other affairs at the guild.”
Although Kanata herself hadn’t seemed to mind at all, Melissa had pretty much forced this request on her. It had always been her intention to support Kanata until the very end. The reception desk was as swamped as ever, but Melissa had arranged for her excellent junior to take her place. She had been laying the groundwork, getting her colleagues ready for her absence. They would survive without her.
Although she had yet to realize it herself, Melissa had already mastered the guildmaster’s art of delegation. At this rate, Lily secretly thought to herself, nothing in the world could stop her from moving up in the bureaucracy.
† † †
“What?!” Melissa exclaimed at the National Fencing Tournament receptionist’s answer. “She can’t compete?! What do you mean she can’t compete?!”
“It is Lady Kanata Aldezia, isn’t it?” the receptionist queried, turning her attention to Kanata.
“Yes it is!” Kanata answered.
“Lady Kanata Aldezia, three-time consecutive winner of the National Fencing Tournament?”
“That’s right!”
“My lady, I had the honor of watching your performance every one of those years,” the receptionist politely gushed. “Your sublime sword work had me thoroughly enchanted.”
“Thank you very much!” Kanata said.
“I’ve been a fan of yours since your very first match. It really is a tremendous honor to meet you.”
She held out her hand to shake Kanata’s, but Elizavett battered it away.
“I would ask you to refrain,” she said. “Girl-child you may be, but my Mistress is not to be touched so lightly.”
“That aside,” Melissa protested, “what do you mean Kanata can’t enter the tournament?!”
The receptionist cleared her throat and produced a hefty tome. “Lady Kanata Aldezia was the winner of the one hundred thirty-fourth through one hundred thirty-sixth National Fencing Tournaments.”
“I know that!” Melissa snapped. “What I want to know is why she can’t compete in this one!”
“That,” the receptionist answered, “is the reason.”
“Excuse me...?”
“It is written, those who triumph in three consecutive National Fencing Tournaments are to be memorialized forever in the Hall of Fame, and kindly asked not to participate in further tournaments.”
“Th-That’s the first I’ve heard of such a rule!” Melissa complained.
“Yes, well, it was set in place fifteen years ago, but the only person since then who has achieved the feat of three consecutive victories is Lady Kanata Aldezia.”
“I-It can’t be...”
“Incidentally,” the receptionist went on to explain, “the reason such a rule was made in the first place is because of Boldow the Divine Sword. When he was younger, he used to win tournament after tournament, year after year, until the other fighters lost all their desire to participate.”
That was one reason, but the truth was that there was another one as well. The prize for triumphing in the tournament was the right to ask any reasonable favor of the king himself. The old king had simply gotten fed up with hearing the same impossible request every year to grant Boldow the ability to use magic.
“I’m sorry about my dad...” Kanata apologized.
“No, Miss Kanata, it’s not something you have anything to apologize for,” said Melissa. “Not to imply that Lord Boldow did anything wrong either...”
Melissa had not seen this development coming. She watched as the battle intensified between the receptionist, who wanted to shake Kanata’s hand, and Elizavett, who was trying to stop her, utterly miserable as her eyes followed their quick movements. Kanata had been her hope. She had no time to look for someone good enough in a fight to make it into the tournament right away. Moreover, without any way of knowing who was or wasn’t involved with the drug, she was at risk of word getting back to its creator if she handled the investigation poorly. She might have no choice but to abandon the idea of entering the National Fencing Tournament. It had been an unreliable lead, coming from someone whose mind had been addled by the drug, but it was her one and only thread leading back to the person behind it all. And now, it had been severed.
“Think, Melissa...” she told herself. “There must be some other way.”
“Oh!” said Kanata, striking her palm with her fist. “I have an idea!”
“Y-You have some kind of plan! I knew I should have trusted you, Miss Kanata!” Melissa leapt onto Kanata, wrapping her arms tight around her and crying tears of relief.
Both the receptionist and Elizavett clicked their tongues in irritation.
“Well? What’s your brilliant idea?” Melissa asked.
“It’s simple!” Kanata said. “You should enter the tournament, Miss Melissa!”
“...Huh?”
† † †
“So you ended up entering the tournament instead of Kanata?” Lily gawked once she returned to the smithy and explained the situation.