Chapter 19: The Tomboy on the Front Lines

Carriages that have passed through the fortress walls move under the guidance of the soldiers. Knights of Helmut bustle about, hauling luggage or being shown to their lodgings.

In the midst of it all, a small girl with pigtails pushes forward, leaving everyone else behind. As if striding through her own house, she confidently stops in front of her brother-in-law.

“Isaac!”

“Sharen… You really came.”

When Isaac first heard that Sharen would be arriving, he was a bit surprised. He hadn’t expected such a tomboy to volunteer to come to the battlefield.

But seeing Sharen now, Isaac realizes he’s been dead wrong.

‘She’s here for fun.’

She’s far more carefree than he’d imagined. Even amid the crisis of the great den, she treats coming to the Malidan Barrier like a picnic or an adventure.

Brimming with excitement, Sharen fires off her words in a rapid stream.

“Isaac, where are you staying? Is there a room next to yours? With you gone, I’ve had to rely on the maids, but I kind of feel bad about bossing them around.”

“…….”

“When I’m here, it’s best having Isaac nearby. That way, I can make you do errands!”

The idea that she finds him easier to boss around than her hired maids leaves Isaac somewhat dumbfounded. He sighs, realizing his time at the Malidan Barrier is likely to be tiring.

“Hey, kid.”

From beside Isaac, Silverna—who’s been watching quietly—folds her arms and glares.

“This is a battlefield. If you’re going to act like a brat, get lost right now.”

Isaac bites his lip, fighting back the urge to laugh.

Meanwhile, Sharen widens her eyes and flails her arms in exaggerated protest.

“What?! Do you even know who I am? I’m Sharen! The second daughter of Helmut!”

“I’m Silverna, eldest daughter of Caldias.”

“Caldia—”

She was about to bark, So what? but freezes the moment she hears that family name.

Her gaze flicks to Isaac, who confirms it with a nod. Sharen then awkwardly clears her throat and steps back.

“Kelsey, what’s that? Hey! Why’re you calling me now?!”

“No one called you, Sharen.”

When Isaac corrects her, Sharen blushes and juts her lips out.

“She did call me! Helmut people have great hearing! R-right? Kelsey, you called me, didn’t you?”

She looks behind her, but only a cold wind greets her. There’s nobody standing by her side.

Unfortunately, Kelsey, her personal maid, is busy lugging suitcases and can’t swoop in to save her mistress from embarrassment.

“…….”

With her lips pressed inward, Sharen remains silent for a moment. Silverna immediately chimes in:

“On the battlefield, the chain of command is everything. If you keep showing off like that, then pick up a sword. If you beat me, you can have the command.”

“Oho?”

Sharen bounces once, then swivels back toward the other two. Her twin braids swing wildly, even tapping Isaac’s shoulder with each move.

“If I beat you, you’ll hand over command? You sure about that?”

“Of course.”

As soon as Silverna uncrosses her arms and grips the spear perched on her shoulder to step forward—

“Ha!”

Sharen snorts in disbelief, taking a step back.

“Alright! Bring it on!”

“…….”

“You think you can look down on Helmut?”

She retreats another step.

“You think just ’cause I’m young and cute I don’t have any skills?!”

‘Wow, she’s good at walking backward’, Isaac muses.

“You haven’t heard from Isaac, have you?! I’m the prodigy of Helmut, destined to follow in my sister’s footsteps—the famed ‘Blood Beauty!’”

“…….”

“They call me the Princess of Roses!”

“What did you say?”

She’s already so far away that it’s hard to make out her words. Silverna, meanwhile, has long since shrugged and recrossed her arms.

“Actually, never mind! I’m exhausted from the trip, and it’s too chilly out here! Plus… I need to polish my sword! Too bad!”

“…….”

“…….”

Soon enough, Sharen bumps into the carriage she rode in on.

Sharen flushes, all too aware of how Isaac and Silverna are gawking at her. She barks in embarrassment:

“Stop staring at me!”

Still fuming, she heads to the luggage compartment for her greatsword.

“Oww! Who hit me?!”

She dashes out, teary-eyed, as though someone inside smacked the back of her head.

“Argh!”

Clutching her head in both hands, Sharen rushes over to Kelsey.

“What the…? Is she really Rihanna’s younger sister?”

Still baffled by the bizarre scene, Silverna turns to Isaac.

“…….”

Isaac, however, was eyeing the maid who presumably smacked Sharen. A woman with her hair done up and her face concealed entirely by a mask.

“Isaac?”

“Huh? Oh, sorry. What did you say?”

“I said she’s a strange girl. She’s the total opposite of Rihanna.”

“She definitely has… a distinct personality.”

Even as he replies to Silverna, Isaac keeps glancing at the carriage—where the mysterious maid is no longer in sight.

‘Could it be…?’

With a creeping sense of suspicion, Isaac continues his conversation with Silverna.

****

“…….”

In the Evening, Isaac sits in his room, reviewing his sparring journal and revisiting his training sessions.

His skills have gradually improved thanks to his daily, unrelenting practice, yet he continues to push himself.

‘Just because I’m low on stamina doesn’t mean I should blindly accept the current defeat.’

When he lost one leg and became disabled, pouring effort into training had felt like filling a jar with a hole in it. But that’s no longer the case. Even if it’s only a small amount at a time, he pushes himself every day to fill the jar named Isaac.

“Haam.”

He hears a yawn behind him.

Isaac slowly turns his head to see Sharen sprawled out on his bed, reading a book.

“...When are you leaving?”

“Huh?”

Sharen replies through a mouthful of cookies, not bothering to look away from the page.

“I already told you: Kelsey is still cleaning up my room. You’re alone anyway, so what’s the big deal if I hang out here?”

“You trying to get on my nerves?”

At Isaac’s words, Sharen stares at him blankly. Then she gives a dry laugh, sets her book down, and jumps to her feet.

“Wow, look at you all grown up, Isaac. You’ve been away for a while, and now you’ve completely lost your sense of courtesy?”

Her fists were clenched as she glared at him.

The waves of her hair suggest she was quite serious. But Isaac stands as well, refusing to back down.

“Sorry to break it to you, but as you know, I’ll be divorced in a month. You know what that means, right? I have no reason to bend over backward to please you.”

“Ha! Bend over backward? More like you were being crushed by my power. Is this some northern-style humor? ’Cause it’s really not funny.”

Their gazes lock.

A tense moment hangs in the air as if neither will back down—until, surprisingly, Sharen concedes first.

“Tch! You should thank Father for your life!”

She gathers her book and snacks and moves to storm out.

“What do you mean? Did the family head say something about me?”

“Yeah! He told me not to mess with you because there are too many watching eyes from outside!”

“…….”

“He said I should treat you with the respect due a brother-in-law. Tch, that’s why I hate stepping out of the manor.”

Grumbling, Sharen is about to leave the room when she stops at the doorknob.

“Hey, Isaac, can I ask you something?”

“You? Want to ask me something?”

Sharen looks strangely serious. It’s a look Isaac has never seen from her before. He waits in silence, and she finally asks carefully,

“That star-shaped cookie—where do you buy it from?”

“…….”

The tension from before snaps instantly.

“You know, that star cookie you always bring me? I’ve been trying to find it, but nobody seems to sell it anywhere.”

“Haa.”

“I’m being serious! Do you know how badly I’ve wanted that cookie? My hands are shaking! Did you lace it with something? I’m addicted!”

“You’re insane.”

Isaac sighs.

The ‘star cookie’ is the snack he brings whenever Sharen says she wants something sweet.

“Hurry up and tell me! I’m gonna scarf down a bunch of those cookies as soon as this great den business is over!”

Watching her hop around impatiently, Isaac responds with a look of disbelief.

“You really went around asking about that?”

“I checked the neighboring village, and the next town over, and the nearby cities! I found nothing—no star cookie at all!”

“Of course not.”

Because—

“They’re baked by Milli.”

Sharen narrows her eyes at Isaac’s matter-of-fact tone.

“Milli? Is that a shop name? Where is it? Tell me everything.”

“Chef Milli. She works in Helmut’s kitchen.”

“...Huh?”

“Every time I went to get you snacks, she felt bad for me and decided to bake them herself. She knew you liked them, so she made them often.”

“S-so that means…”

She didn’t have to hunt all over the neighboring villages, nor did she need to track Isaac all the way to the Malidan Barrier.

“I could’ve just eaten them back at the manor?!”

“Yeah, exactly.”

Isaac delivers the brutal truth as casually as discussing the weather.

Sharen drops to the floor, beating it with her hands in frustration.

“Ugh, why did I even come all the way out here?! Aaaargh!”

‘Is it really worth crying over?’

Seeing Sharen actually bawling, Isaac can’t help but note that she’s still very much a kid.

She’s seventeen, but even for her age, she seems particularly immature.

All while she’s throwing her fit—

The door flies open.

Silverna stands there.

“…….”

She came looking to talk, but the ruckus was so loud it carried down the hallway. She looks about ready to blow her top again.

“You again? Cut it out, will you? This place isn’t just for you. Other nobles are staying here too.”

For reference, Silverna has lodgings elsewhere.

“Try having a little respect for the other nobles who have to share these cramped rooms. They’re already pressed for space.”

By contrast, Silverna’s personal quarters are about the size of three of these rooms put together.

“G-gah! I just got a little carried away for a second!”

“…….”

Silverna crosses her arms, eyeing Sharen coldly.

Noticing Silverna’s comfortable outfit highlights her figure, Sharen blinks and shouts,

“I’m leaving!”

She huffs past Silverna, then suddenly twists around to holler at Isaac,

“You’re already bringing other women into your bedroom?! When I get home, I’m telling my sister everything!”

“Hey!”

Isaac yells, flustered, but Sharen is already racing away as if fleeing the scene.

Then—

“Already?”

The word nags at Silverna, who tilts her head in puzzlement. She asks,

“What did she mean by that?”

“Haa, it’s nothing.”

Brushing it off, Isaac slumps back into his chair.

“So, what brings you here?”

When Isaac asks why she’s come at this hour, Silverna lingers by the corridor where Sharen just disappeared, then quietly shuts the door and steps inside.

“Starting tomorrow, I’ll be leading the Recon party. It seems like the monsters in the great den are beginning to stir.”

“…….”

“And, well, Isaac…”

Her voice carries the weight of careful deliberation as she makes her request.

“Could you come under my command?”

– – – The End of The Chapter – – –

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