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Chapter 33
I shouted boldly.
“If you’re so confident, then come at me!”
—I won’t let anyone who bullies my master get away with it!
I might have been a total klutz who once slipped and fell while repairing a roof, but at this very moment, I was the greatest swordsman in the world.
Because Louis was with me.
“Come on! Swordsman Loui-Loui is stepping up!”
This wasn’t my skill—it was Loui-Loui’s skill—so not Swordsman Riena, but Swordsman Loui-Loui was the correct title!
Perhaps because I was cheering him on, Louis became even more excited and rampaged about flamboyantly. The gleaming white blade, shining as if it might cut the opponent down at any second, sent chills down my spine—even though I was the one holding it.
“Ughhh!”
The soldier staggered backward, then fled like a scrawny, mangy dog.
Only after the soldier had completely disappeared did I finally relax and let go of Louis. Once again, Louis emitted a bright light and spun around me in circles.
—Well done, Master!
“The one who did well is you, Loui-Loui.”
I kissed the flat of Louis’s blade.
“Thank you, Loui-Loui.”
—M-Master?
This wasn’t just empty praise. If it hadn’t been for Louis, things could have been dangerous. I thanked him sincerely.
“I haven’t really done anything worthy of being your master—if anything, I’ve always just nagged you—but our Louis was thinking so deeply about me.”
—You never nagged me. Look, even now. You’re the only one who says they’re invincible when they’re with me. Everyone else thought they were strong because they themselves were great.
Louis answered in a serious tone. He sounded so sincere that tears welled up at the corners of my eyes.
—I like you, Master. Though I’d rather not be used as scissors to cut cucumber stems. The sap gets sticky.
I wiped my tears with the back of my hand and replied,
“But there’s no pair of scissors in the world that cuts as well as you, Loui-Loui.”
—You’re impossible.
Louis stuck to my face like a puppy, and I hugged him tightly.
After sharing that emotional moment with Louis for a while, I suddenly snapped back to my senses and looked to the side.
“Oh, right—Susan.”
I needed to tell her about what just happened, and about Louis too!
As I fidgeted and turned toward Susan, I saw something unexpected.
Susan’s cheeks were flushed, and she was smiling shyly. Clasping her hands together, she spoke with a rapt expression.
“…Amazing.”
“Pardon?”
What did she just say?
As I frowned and leaned in to listen, Susan suddenly spoke loudly.
“Sister-in-law, you were incredible! Could you beat up the bad guys again? I want to see your peerless rampage one more time!”
“…What?”
When did my title get upgraded to sister-in-law? And my peerless rampage? Since when did I have something like that?
I blinked blankly. Louis, who had been quiet, perked right back up and boasted loudly.
—Yes, you recognize me at last! I am the famed sword that can turn even the clumsiest of fools into the mightiest swordsman—Louis Garbon Bontoir the Third!
Don’t boast, you little—! And you’re not subtly calling me the worst kind of klutz, are you? I’m not that bad!
Susan was a young lady deeply interested in swordsmanship.
Thinking I was some incredible swordsman, she was buzzing with excitement, so I did my best to explain that it wasn’t my peerless skill—it was all Louis’s power.
“Yes, yes, so what you’re saying is that the owner of the great Ego Sword is you, Sister-in-law?”
…She didn’t seem to have understood at all.
While we were talking, Kamin and the old lady lord came rushing over with a group of soldiers.
“Riena! Susan!”
“Brother! Grandmother!”
Susan immediately ran over and hugged her brother around the waist. Kamin, apparently having run all over the place, was sweating and speaking breathlessly.
“I heard a soldier entered the castle earlier… Were you able to hide safely? He didn’t come all the way here, did he?”
It seemed he had spotted the soldier who had fled earlier. Since nothing really happened, I hesitated over whether I should say anything—but Susan answered loudly before I could decide.
“They did come all the way here when we were about to hide in the greenhouse! Sister-in-law defeated them!”
“Riena did?”
Kamin’s eyes went wide as he turned to look at me. I tapped Louis lightly with my finger as I answered. At that moment, I felt exactly like a proud owner saying, ‘Look, my dog can do tricks too.’
“Loui-Loui did it. I was just holding him. Louis is a very smart sword. He’s good at fighting, too.”
—Ahem.
Louis puffed himself up, clearly enjoying the praise. Kamin looked shocked.
“An Ego Sword that can fight on its own? It can even control its owner’s body?”
When I looked at Louis, he shook himself from side to side. I understood immediately and answered for him.
“All the great martial feats the previous owners showed—he used to boast that they were all his doing.”
—That’s not boasting, Master. It’s the truth. I don’t lie.
Lies are for people with something to hide. A sword as smart and capable as Louis has no reason to lie.
As expected of my sword.
—Master!
Just as we hugged each other again—
Kamin, whom I expected to be shocked or impressed, instead muttered in a strange tone,
“Then all the martial feats of the former emperors were actually performed by Ego Swords…?”
“What’s wrong, Kamin?”
“N-No, it’s nothing.”
That didn’t sound like nothing at all.
I narrowed my eyes and stared at him. And then—
An unexpected person spoke up in a voice burning with fury.
“I won’t stand for this.”
“Grandmother?”
It was the old lady lord.
Seeing her face twisted with a rage I’d never seen before, my eyes widened. Kamin asked her,
“What is it, Grandmother?”
“These wretches… they broke the agave leaves I cherish.”
“Agave?”
Though Grandmother was trembling with anger, Kamin only tilted his head in confusion. Following her gaze, I saw it: as soon as you entered the greenhouse, a large agave plant with sharp, aloe-like leaves spread out in all directions.
My eyes widened.
“Agave!!”
I had seen the agave living in this greenhouse once before. Grandmother had asked me to check whether it was growing well.
But I gave up since I don’t know much about Central and South American plants.
So why the agave?
As I tilted my head in confusion, Susan whispered,
“Is agave an important plant? It looks like the ones we have a lot of in our garden.”
I gathered all the knowledge I had and answered,
“Agave syrup is sweet and delicious. The needles are hard and the fibers are straight, so you can make thread and needles from it. You can distill it into alcohol, too. They even use it for ointments—though I’m not sure how.”
I’d seen the part about making needles and thread from agave leaves in survival videos. In those regions, agave is an indispensable and precious crop.
Susan nodded along earnestly, then tilted her head.
“But… Grandmother didn’t grow it to make agave syrup for herself, did she?”
“Oh.”
Being a subsistence farmer at heart, I’d naturally assumed she grew it to eat.
Then why grow it? The climate of Fostein isn’t suitable for agave…
Just then, Grandmother spoke, trembling with fury.
“This agave is the one and only thing I brought with me when I divorced and returned to Fostein.”
Only then did I realize the reason there was such a large, fine greenhouse attached to this modest rural lord’s manor—everything was for that single agave plant.
Grandmother muttered in a tightly suppressed voice,
“And yet they dared…”
She lowered her head. Seeing how she went from furious to despondent, I opened my mouth to comfort her—
At that very moment, she lifted her head again.
Her eyes gleamed with a sharp light, like a hawk circling before a hunt.
“If it’s a fight they want, I’ll give them one. Butler!”
“Yes, my lady.”
The butler bowed his head. Then Grandmother dropped a thunderbolt of an order.
“Prepare for war. Bring out my armor and sword.”
“Grandmother?!”
Armor and a sword?! It was completely at odds with a grandmother of advanced age who loved soft peaches.
She spoke in an icy voice.
“The Duke of Pond—or whatever he’s called. I won’t let this go.”
Even decades later, Lady Aurelian’s renown was still known within the Marechal imperial family.
She came from a kingdom smaller than the Empire, yet had the audacity to demand a divorce from the Emperor himself without hesitation. But even more remarkable was the divorce process itself, which was passed down only within the imperial family.
Lady Aurelian stormed into the Emperor’s chambers after he had refused to meet her for a long time. Her momentum was so terrifying that no one dared to stop her on her way.
Thus, clad in light armor and carrying a longsword, she entered the imperial bedchamber—and found her husband sprawled there, surrounded by women.
“Oh?”
Lady Aurelian’s reaction was calm. Seeing her merely raise an eyebrow, the Emperor—already feeling guilty—shouted furiously,
“No matter how much you are the Empress, how dare you enter the Emperor’s bedchamber at will!”
Of course, that bravado shattered instantly when Lady Aurelian casually adjusted her grip on her sword and said,
“So you’re the one committing adultery, yet you’re the one raising your voice?”
“Eek!”
The Emperor turned pale, fearing she might kill him—and herself—with that very sword.
