Volume 6 - CH 4.6

In a corner of the back yard of the town hall, there was an old water well that was hardly ever used nowadays.

Due to the forest of dense Asian hazel, not much sunlight shone on this area during the day; even more so when once it was night.

Fatih was whetting his sword while whistling beside that. He had carefully whetted it when he left his country, but no matter how sharp a double-edged or single-edged sword was, its blade would become blunt if one killed several people. The fact that Fatih was whetting the blade like this again now meant that he had killed many people over the span of these few days.

「—」

When Galarina sighed so as to be deliberately overheard, Fatih finally raised his eyes.

「Araran, you were here, Nee-san? I didn’t notice you at all」

「What a barefaced lie…」

「By the way, what’s the matter, coming here at a time like this? I thought you were asleep already」

「How many people did you kill?」

Galarina asked straightforwardly without any introductory remarks.

「Hahan? What in the world are you talking about?」

「I thought the question was very easy to understand though. …Stop feigning ignorance. I’m asking you how many people did you kill」

Galarina pressed her spectacles down and asked in a voice lower than usual.

She anticipated that Fatih would feign ignorance first. When facing this pleasure-seeking younger brother of hers, she understood that it was extremely important to absolutely not get dragged into the other party’s pace.

「I know that you arbitrarily took ten subordinates along. However, only four people came back. Six men didn’t come back. —Can you give a clear explanation that anyone can understand?」

「I killed one person only. He was persistently lecturing me, you see. …After all, look, wasn’t he impudent being like that?」

「Setting whether that man really said something to be deservedly killed or not aside, didn’t you kill the remaining five people too?」

「I wonder if that’s called killing them… shouldn’t that be called reluctantly delivering the coup de grâce?」

「Coup de grâce?」

「I instantly put an end to those guys’ lives without prolonging their pain, so I’d like them to be thankful to me instead. …In the first place, speaking in terms of my standard, there’s no need to keep subordinates who were injured by the enemy and became unable to move by themselves alive」

「In other words—you disregarded my instructions and arbitrarily used the subordinates to arbitrarily attack the Dominas; moreover, you messed that up and even lost six subordinates… is that what you meant?」

「If you disregard the minor details, well, that might be the case」

Fatih kept the blade, which had regained a sharpness like that of a new one, in its scabbard and stood up. Without even the slightest sign of looking ashamed, he conversely looked down at Galarina, whom he had been looking up at until then, and took out a hand mirror from his breast pocket.

Galarina put her hands on her waist and glared at Fatih.

「…I only ordered you to keep watch on the Dominas. It’s really incomprehensible to me why you couldn’t even understand such a simple order」

「Like I said, when I went to the guest house with the intention of keeping watch on her, she wasn’t there already. Only both the Dominas and her Hiera Glaphicos weren’t there! So, I ran after them because I thought they were surely working on some top-secret mission. I’m hard-working, right?」

The word “hard-working” was without doubt one of things furthest from Fatih’s true nature. Not doing what he was ordered to, and doing what he wasn’t ordered to—such a person probably couldn’t be called hard-working.

「Well, they found out that I was following them halfway, and it inevitably, really inevitably, turned into us crossing swords. I certainly think this is because of my immaturity, so I’m reflecting on that alone」

「You picked a fight with them of your own accord and yet you say it so shamelessly…」

「Araran? You don’t believe the words of your biological younger brother?」

「It’s very different from the report I’ve received」

「Who is it, who is the one putting such nonsense into Nee-san’s head? I’ll cut him down, so tell me a bit」

「Fatih—」

Seeing her younger brother reaching for the hilt of the crescent-moon sword that he had just carried on his back, Galarina sighed with a sour look.

「…If you do something stupid during this period and Ahmad’s central government intervenes in earnest, the connections that we’ve spent time and money to build with Romarikku so far could come to an end. —Do you intend to make my efforts come to naught?」

「Let me take this opportunity to offer my opinion」

Fatih came out of the thicket of Asian hazel with a hand mirror in one hand and looked at his own face, which was reflected in it by relying on the little starlight, from various angles. Galarina couldn’t understand her younger brother, who would act like this even though he was a man.

「…Why don’t we sever it?」

「Sever what?」

「Our connection with that Excellency. I think it’s better to abandon that man and replace him with a man who will act in accordance with Nee-san’s expectations more」

「Do you think the “Margrave” of Romarikku, whom even Ahmad’s central government is careful about dealing with, can be replaced so easily?」

「Is that so? I think I can write a highly convincing scenario though」

Perhaps he was concerned that the rouge had been blurred by his sweat, Fatih continued with his back towards Galarina while looking at the mirror and wiping his cheeks.

「—As the descendant of the royal family of the old Romarikku that originally had a Dominas, Gavrilo Alija Dzeco is unable to accept the present state of affairs, and then he assassinated Valeria Costacurta who have come for a royal visit and tries to push his own daughter Jelena into the vacant post—how about something like that? If Ahmad’s government believes that the Dzeco clan has the spirit of rebellion, they naturally can’t help but do something themselves, right? Right?」

「…That’s not for you to decide」

「That’s why I’m offering Nee-san my opinion like this—」

「It’s not for me to decide either」

Galarina interrupted Fatih’s words and spoke.

「…If you act as you like too much, Chichi-ue will get angry, you know?」

「It’ll be all right if Nee-san intercedes for me at that time~」

Unlike Fatih, Galarina was in her father’s favour, if she did say so herself. Galarina’s father had many wives, and his children were plenty to the extent of being a dime a dozen, but Galarina, who had been intelligent since childhood, was conceited to believe that her father loved her relatively more among her siblings.

However, it didn’t necessarily mean that Galarina’s father was soft on her. It seemed that Fatih didn’t know that well.

「—Anyway, I didn’t kill the Dominas, so don’t be so upset. I could have ambushed them when they came back to the guest house and then took their lives, but I let them go, you know? My identity wasn’t exposed too, so I assure Nee-san that it won’t become the situation that you fear」

「Your assurance is untrustworthy」

「Araran, isn’t your way of speaking too~much?」

Fatih shrugged his shoulders and started to walk.

「…Staying up late isn’t good for the skin, so I’m going to sleep soon. It’s better for Onee-san to go to bed quickly too, you know?」

Fatih waved his hand towards his rear and entered the town hall through the back door of the kitchen.

「—Onee-sama」

Immediately after Fatih’s sign of presence became more distant, Jelena came jumping down from the window on the third floor.

「Jelena, huh」

Jelena flew down together with a sudden wind and glanced at the back door through which Fatih had disappeared, then walked up to Galarina, a small wrinkle forming on the tip of her nose.

「—Sorry, Onee-sama, but I hate that person」

「I suppose so」

Fatih and Jelena practically didn’t get along at all. Although Fatih had been treating Jelena as aptly as an adult would, Jelena would curse and glare at Fatih at every opportunity; anyway, it seemed that he was so insufferable that he got on her nerves.

「If he gets in the way of Onee-sama any further—」

A dim scarlet brilliance dwelt on the back of the right hand of Jelena, who had muttered so in a low voice that was uncharacteristic of a girl. However, Galarina covered her hand and shook her head with a sigh.

「Stop it」

「But—」

「It’s fine already」

Galarina pacified Jelena, who didn’t hide her anger, then held her round the slender shoulders and looked up at the southern night sky.

「Nevertheless… he said that the Dominas was wandering around in the mountain—?」

「Onee-sama, did you say something?」

「No… anyway, let’s go to sleep already for today. I probably have to start with an explanation to the prefectural governor first tomorrow」

Galarina was curious about the Dominas’s strange movements, but rather than investigating it, there were other matters that she had to think about now. Unlike her younger brother who was an adherent of ephemeral pleasure, Galarina had a clear vision of her future, and in order to realise it, there existed many obstacles that she must overcome.