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“Jill! I heard you’re going on a trip during winter, is that true?”
“It is. I am planning to accompany my Mentor to the south, but we should return by the time spring starts, so I think I will be back before you leave for Lady Christy’s mansion, Eren… What’s the matter?”

Eren’s expression darkened the more she listened to my words for some reason.

“…You see, I’m also leaving the village this month to go to Consul town.”
“?! What do you mean? I thought the mansion wasn’t even built yet?”

I could feel the blood drain from my face. In response to my panicked question, Eren dropped her gaze and muttered.

“My mother asked my uncle, a merchant in the town of Consul, to help me to learn the bare minimum of etiquette and common sense if I’m going to work in a nobleman’s mansion, so I will be working there until the baroness is ready… So, if we’re saying goodbyes today, we won’t see each other for a long time.”

That came so abruptly that I couldn’t say anything. Bruno then turned around and spat out words bitterly.

“What the hell? You two are going to go away just like that…? Who’s going to look after the little brats?! Who’s going to be my opponent?”
““……””

As we all looked down, away from each other, unable to form words, a hulking frame of a body that had no sensibility whatsoever broke the silence.

“Worry not, disciple of mine! This one shall thoroughly teach you the essence of martial arts in the meantime. They do say that ‘leave the nest for three days and boys will be men.’ This is a unique opportunity for you to show them the unabashed result of your training as a man!!”
“…Uhh, so you’re saying that I’m going to be really strong, Jill and Eren can’t look away from me, is that it, Instructor Skeleton?”
“Exactly, disciple! This be a harsh training, follow me!”
“O-, ou!”

Ignoring these boys who got worked up for some nonsense, I looked into Eren’s moist eyes and asked again.

“Are you sure about this? You’re not going to change your mind?

After hesitating for a moment, Eren shook her head.

“Yes. I already decided, after all… And you helped me make up my mind. Thank you, Jill.”
“……”

Did I do something? Seeing my puzzled face, Eren just smiled.

“Say, even if we’re separated, we’re still best friends, right?”
“Of course! The ‘bestest’ of friends!!”

Right when I replied with her usual remark, Eren finally couldn’t hold the dam back and started to bawl. She clung to me, and I accepted her with tears streaming down my cheeks.

As we embraced and cried together, I had a dim sense that a period of my life was facing its end. I had always thought that I was born in this world as Syltianna and awakened the memories of my previous life when I died, meaning the life I was living before that was not my own, so to speak… In a way, I saw myself as having the consciousness of an adult. And yet, only now did I realize that I was living my childhood, and right when it was coming to an end.

It was late autumn, I was 11 years old. We were still children. And yet we had to accept the undeniable truth, that we must part and seek our own journeys.

♢♦♢♦♢

“…dog with wings…?”

When his “beloved daughter” spoke those words, Frontier Count Aulanthia lifted his gaze from the report he was reading and broke into a smile.

“What’s the matter, Syltianna? Did something catch your interest?”

Following her gaze, the Frontier Count looked out the window of the swaying carriage and saw a slender figure, apparently that of a female wearing a black robe and hood, standing at the fork in the road, looking out at their convoy.

“Did she do something funny…?”
“…No, it, already, flew…”

The girl spoke haltingly as if she were squeezing out words with effort before she turned her gaze back to the flowing landscape with an unfocused look in her eyes.

“Hm. Is it now? Perhaps you’re tired from the journey. I hear there is a pioneer village up ahead, maybe we can take a rest there. What do you say, Syltianna?”
“…Is th, there, tasty food?”

With those words, she pulled out a bag of greasy snacks from a bag close at hand and munched them into her mouth, not caring if they stained her pink, frilly, lace-laden, princess-sleeved dress.

Munch munch munch munch munch munch munch munch munch.
Munch munch munch munch munch munch munch munch munch.

The more she ate, the more her stomach bloated.

The Frontier Count looked amused at that sight before he tilted his head to the side as if troubled.

“Well, there’s probably no good food in a pioneer village. It will take a little longer, but it is better if we go to the city near the Imperial Capital which is on the other side of the teleporter. How does that sound?”

Being asked by the father, with her mouth filled with food, the girl addressed as Syltianna nodded.

“Right. His Highness Lucas is probably waiting for us as well. It would be better for us to make haste. —Let us go straight to the teleporter as planned. Hey!”
“Sir!”

The chamberlain who had been waiting in the carriage quickly bowed and gave instructions to the coachman.

“At this pace, we will meet His Imperial Highness Prince Eilmer and His Highness Lucas the day after tomorrow. Look forward to it, Syltianna.”

The Frontier Count didn’t know whether his voice reached the girl or not, as the girl only wordlessly reached for the next pastry.

The count absentmindedly looked outside, right when they reached the fork in the road —and his eyes caught a glimpse of the woman that was there.

“—!!! CLARA??!!!”

Right that moment, the bloodshot Frontier Count stood up on the spot like a wounded jack-in-the-box… before he returned to his seat with a huff after calming down.

“What’s the matter, Your Excellency?”
“It’s nothing, I was just seeing things.”

The Frontier Count replied to the chamberlain’s question, sighed, and chuckled inside.

(Something is wrong with me. How could I even mistake a simple village girl for Clara, of all people…)

The moment the coach passed by, he caught a glimpse of the face behind the hood, and it was the face of his deceased concubine… the face of the only woman he had ever loved in his life. He lost his mind for a second, but only for a second. That woman had long died a few years ago.

(I must have gone senile. To think I would see illusions at such an important time…)

The count looked back to Syltianna, seemingly indifferent, and was showing a voracious appetite even with the commotion. After confirming that she showed no response… he suddenly became curious and lightly lifted his hips in search of the woman he saw earlier.

But, through the glass of the carriage window, he couldn’t tell if the woman had already left or not.

♢♦♢♦♢

“Was that the coach of some nobleman? There was no crest or flags on it, but they could have been traveling incognito.”

I looked back at the parade of carriages that had just passed by and shrugged. I did feel a gaze on me, but I quickly hid my face so I wouldn’t seem suspicious.

“Vier!”

In response to my call, Vier, who had been hiding in the meadow, flew over and nipped at my feet. I figured there would be a commotion if Sirius was spotted standing by the side of the road, after all.

“Let us go home, then. We still have a lot of work to do to get ready for the trip.”

With a woof from Vier, we started walking in the opposite direction of the coach we had just passed.

Author’s Note:

We will conclude this arc here, and move on to the next arc.