“Aleah, let’s attack together! Ice!” May yelled, firing an ice arrow to allow her sister to use her Spell Sword.
“Oh, no you don’t!” Claire yelled. Her flame spear met May’s ice arrow in the air, vaporizing it, but May had succeeded in creating an opening for her sister.
“You’re open!” Aleah yelled, stepping in and swinging her wooden sword down on Claire.
“Are you sure?” Claire smoothly parried the sword with her magic wand, using her momentum to spin and sweep Aleah’s legs out from under her. Aleah fell to the ground.
“Aaand stop,” I said with a clap. “That’s enough. Let’s take a break, you three.” I brought them all towels and some water, which they used to wipe their sweat and quench their thirst.
We were in a park in Zurück. It was empty save for us, perhaps because we were in a time of war.
“Whew… Thank you, Rae.”
“Thank you, Mama Rae.”
“Thank you very much.”
“You’re very welcome. I see you’ve all worked up a good sweat.”
The trio were doing combat training for the coming battle. Claire was holding back, Aleah was using a wooden sword, and May was only using up to medium-aptitude magic, but it was solid combat experience otherwise. TAIM had said before that the twins could rival Dorothea together, but I still thought they had a critical lack of experience.
Only a few days remained until the battle, so we were doing all we could to prepare.
“Mama Claire is so strong…”
“Indeed. And I was so confident that I hit her too…”
May and Aleah sounded half impressed and half dejected. The twins were geniuses, no doubt, but they were still no match for Claire in their little sparring match.
“I’m sure you two will be stronger in a real fight. But the point of this spar wasn’t to win,” Claire said.
“Was it to practice working together?” May asked.
“Our teamwork still has room to improve, doesn’t it?” Aleah said.
It was best to have the twins fight as one unit. They were strong individually, but their true strength came from working together, as TAIM had said. Aleah’s Spell Sword, which could be formed from both their powers together, was especially powerful; it could even have penetrated Dorothea’s Magic Nullification. I couldn’t see us not making use of it in the coming battle. The only problem was whether the girls could learn to use it efficiently. The battlefield was ever-changing. One had to respond accordingly not only to their enemies but to the condition of their allies. The twins were fast learners, but their age hadn’t even hit the double digits. There were some limits no talent could break.
At the very least, however, this practice would increase their chances of survival. Claire and I were teaching them with an emphasis on protecting themselves rather than defeating the enemy. To that end, we were even getting a little Spartan with them. Normally, Claire and I would never even think of sparring with our daughters, but we had no choice given the circumstances. I felt a bit ashamed as I watched them reflect on their sparring session.
A voice called out to us, then. “Good afternoon, everyone.”
“Oh, Philine. How are you?” Claire asked.
Philine had shown up with two long, slender objects in her arms.
“Good afternoon, Miss Philine,” May said.
“How do you do, Miss Philine,” Aleah said.
“Heh heh. Wow, thank you for greeting me so nicely, girls.” Philine bent over to pat the children’s heads.
“Heh heh!”
“But of course!”
The twins beamed.
“Hey, Philine. Do you have some business with us today?” I asked.
“Yes, I actually have a gift for the twins here.”
“Really? And you’re delivering it yourself?” Even if she hadn’t been officially crowned yet, Philine was the Empress of Nur. She had to be busy with all kinds of preparations for the battle. That being the case, wouldn’t it have been more natural for her to summon us, or even to send someone to deliver the gift?
“Yes, well, I wanted to get out for a change of pace,” she said with a smile. I could see exhaustion on her face. “Anyway, my gift isn’t exactly the most suitable thing for children, but with times being what they are…” She put the pair of long, slender objects on the ground. One was about a foot long and the other about twice that. “The short one’s for May, and the long one’s for Aleah. Go ahead and open them up.”
May and Aleah opened their presents.
“It’s a magic wand!” May said.
“Mine’s a sword!” Aleah said.
Their presents were a child-sized wand and sword.
“They’re my mother’s, from when she was a child,” Philine said. “I figured you two would have some difficulty finding weapons for your children.”
It was as she said. Even in a military superpower like Nur, it wasn’t normal for children to fight. Indeed, since so many people became soldiers, there was hardly a need for it. As a result, the only weapons meant for children were training replicas used in schools rather than anything with real, practical use.
“Mother couldn’t use magic, so the wand is practically brand-new,” Philine said. “The pope visited me yesterday, so I had her bless the weapons. They should work well on demons.”
“Thank you, Miss Philine!” May said with glee.
“Mine looks used…” Aleah said.
“I’m sorry, Aleah. My mother’s sword isn’t new, but I can at least guarantee its strength. It’s made from adamantite and should be at a weight even a child can wield. Most importantly, it’s very hard to break and bend.”
Aleah gave the sword a light swing. “Yes, it seems very easy to wield. Thank you very much, Miss Philine.”
“But why give them to us?” I asked. “Wouldn’t you want to keep your mother’s things?”
“She left a will. In the event something happened to her, she wanted these to be given to her disciple Aleah and her sister May,” Philine said with a faint smile. “Mother thought about Aleah until the very end. How very like her…”
I had a feeling no mention of Philine had been left in the will.
“Oh, don’t misunderstand. I’m not jealous of the girls or anything. Mother wasn’t very good at expressing herself, but I’m sure she thought of me too—although I’ve realized that perhaps a bit too late, ha ha,” she laughed lightly. “Besides, Mother’s already left the greatest gift she could in my hands.”
“What’s that, then?” I asked.
“The throne, and the empire along with it.”
Looking at her face now, I couldn’t see any trace of the crybaby Philine had once been when we first met her.
“I must protect this gift Mother left to me. To that end, I have to eliminate the Demon Queen and the demons nesting in our capital. Even these gifts for May and Aleah serve that purpose, although I’m sure you and Claire have mixed feelings about that,” she said a bit sheepishly. “May, Aleah, please lend me your strength. Help me strike back at the ones who killed Mother and bring peace to Nur…no, to the world.” Philine bowed her head.
“I’m sorry, Miss Philine,” May said.
“But we have to refuse,” Aleah said.
“Wh-wh-whaaaat?!”
The twins completely disregarded the mood and flatly declined Philine’s request. Philine quickly reverted from empress-mode to her former, easily shaken self.
“We only want to fight to help Mama Claire and Mama Rae,” May said.
“We’re sorry, Miss Philine,” Aleah said.
The twins smiled in spite of the situation. Sometimes, children could be frank to the point of being cruel.
“O-oh, is that right? Is that right…ha ha ha…” Philine laughed weakly.
“But…”
“Even so…”
“Yes…?” Philine urged them to continue with her eyes.
“I dunno what ‘peace’ means, but…” May said.
“Dorothea was really nice to us, so we’ll return the favor,” Aleah finished.
Together, they smiled again.
Something shone in the corners of Philine’s eyes as she hugged the twins. “Thank you.”