Looking at the results, it was yet another victory for the Regal Brave.
There'll probably be a bunch of tall tales in the newspapers again…
Thinking nonchalantly about it, Leila headed back to the Capital.
Willem laid dead, his corpse slumped onto the table.
No, wait. On closer inspection, he was just near the brink of death. In other words, he was so tired that his unmoving, lifeless state could easily be mistaken for a corpse.
A boy with a white cape noticed Leila as she came into the room, and closed the book he was reading. "I heard he ran into a Rust Dragon cub that woke up and started rampaging near Fistilas Lake on the way back from Gomag," he offered as explanation. "It could've been a disaster if he'd waited for reinforcements, and he didn't take a Kaliyon with him on leave, so it seems that he defeated the Dragon with his fists alone."
Defeating a Rust Dragon with one's fists alone. Leila didn't know whether to call it an act defying common sense or to just call it absurd. Or maybe just plain stupid. No one, not even the Regal Brave, would do such a thing. He was probably just trying to act strong or fooling around, same as he always does, with that expression that says, "It's only natural; anyone who passed by would have done the same."
"The mayor said that due to Willem's efforts, Fistilas Lake's beautiful scenery was preserved, and even awarded him a certificate of appreciation."
"All in all, he leads a pretty heroic life, huh…"
Regardless of what she might wish, her reality as the Regal Brave was an existence inseparable from desperate battle. She had already given up on many things regarding her life. As humanity's representative, she would get dragged to all sorts of fierce battles, throw herself into them and fight in them, eventually dying on some unknown battlefield.
On the other hand, Willem wasn't a Regal Brave. As a Quasi Brave, he shouldn't have had anything to do with that way of life. Even so, or perhaps because of that, he tended to take the initiative and fight with his life on the line in dangerous situations. It was like he had to keep fighting and giving everything he had in order to protect something dear to his heart.
Willem's fingers twitched. Slowly, defying his immobile body, he raised his head.
"Oh, you're still alive?"
"Don't write me off that quickly." His fingers trembling with effort, Willem reached into his bag and brought out a small leather bundle. He handed it to Leila.
"What's this?"
"A present from the Winter Festival."
Leila fell silent.
"…What's gotten into you?" she asked after a little while.
"There's no harm in it, is there?" Willem said tiredly. "Too many presents were made, so it's natural for some to be left over."
No matter how long she waited, he showed no signs of taking back the bundle. Leila meekly took it, all the while feeling butterflies in her stomach. She look a look into the bag's contents.
Inside the bundle was a Talisman. It looked like some indescribably ugly, terrifying creature, or perhaps a small dog.
"So weird…"
"Well, at least Wendell and Horace really like that kind of stuff."
The names sounded slightly familiar to Leila. They were lively children who lived together with Willem in the orphanage. "So would this by any chance be the same present you gave them?"
"That's right."
"You made it yourself?"
"Can't I do that?"
"Well, I didn't say you couldn't, but if I were to describe it…"
Oh no, Leila thought. My face feels like it's about to explode in joy.
"Absolutely terrible," she remarked, smirking cruelly to mask her happiness.
Willem's face fell back on the table, ringing out with a bam.
That day, Leila went back to the Regal Brave's room in the Church's quarters. She fell onto her bed, then rolled around on it unbecomingly, making a lot of noise.
"Haha… Ahahaha!"
She had received the same present that Willem had given to his family. She had been treated like family.
How significant was that? How valuable was that treatment? "Her Highness the Princess" probably wouldn't even begin to imagine such a thing, would she? That Incubus would never be able to recreate this experience, would it now? Ha, serves it right!
It was the best. It was what getting first place felt like!
Leila rolled left, then right. However she rolled, she wouldn't fall from the luxurious, extrlarge bed. Bubbling with delight, she kept rolling and rolling from one side to the other.
Leila Asprey knows what emptiness is.
It wasn't through knowledge of what the word "emptiness" meant, but rather through experience.
That time four years ago, the ten year-old Leila had experienced emptiness.
Do I really feel sorrow? Do I really feel pain? Do I really feel despair, rage, hatred?
"You should act this way. You must be that way." The people around her had kept on repeating those expectations, slowly covering up the feelings and memories she'd held. When she finally realized it, it was too late. The girl who'd only followed the wishes of those surrounding her and defined herself by those wishes had already forgotten her former self.
However-
Thud.
"Aaah!"
Even when the girl fell from her bed, the grin never left her face. The feelings she held were neither feelings that anyone would expect of her, nor know about.
Leila laughed.
From the bottom of her heart, she felt true happiness.
The flickering candlelight danced and threw off shadows. Leaned against a wall beneath them, Seniolis reflected a slight flash of light, its gleam appearing almost to be a smile.