The civil official, that was also known as the Silent Beauty, visited Germion State and the Northern Free Cities at the end of the third year of the King’s Calendar when the winter was fierce.
The Governor-General of the Free Cities, Lili Aureya the Scarlet Maiden, had requested for her presence to Yoshu Fagarmia, the Governor-General of the Western Capital. A brilliant civil official was something she truly prized, especially given how estranged the north was from the conflict.
Alrodena was ever plagued with the lack of civil officials, so having to lend out the Silent Beauty – even if temporary – was undoubtedly a loss to the Western Capital. Despite that, the reason Yoshu lent her to Lili was because he’d judged that she’d made enough achievements during the mission to rescue the saint.
As was promised in their secret agreement, although the actions of the four adventurers was not publicized, their names were written down in the Roster of the Competent (Hunter List). Those in the Hunter List could receive a vast amount of money in exchange for completing problematic missions, but the Hunter List itself was treated as a secret.
As the few general manager, Helen Meer the Silent Beauty (Milfet) was of course privy to the contents of that list.
That’s why she agreed to go to the north. That and because of the advice from her superior, Yoshu.
In order to see the skilled people, who would be under her in the future, and be able to use them freely, the improvement of that region’s management was urgent business.
Or at least that’s what Yoshu told her, so Helen Meer had to ride a carriage and be tussled about until she finally arrived at the northern border. A terrifying environment where roads would disappear from the snow. As someone from the southern desert, seeing snow was a first for her.
Helen Meer stuck her head out of the covered wagon. As she watched the crystallized white snow fall from the sky, she stuck out her tongue and tried to lick it, but the carriage shook and she ended up biting her tongue instead. She rolled about in pain inside the narrow space with eyes full of tears, but somehow, she managed get herself back up.
She picked up the pressed flower of Furo that she was using in place of a bookmark, and with tears in her eyes, tried again.
She did think she was being foolish, but she was simply too excited despite her silence. She was from a minority group and was always too quiet for words, so she never had anyone she could call a friend. Ever since she was but a child, she would look up at the sky and fill her head with fanciful thoughts. When she saw the moving clouds, her heart would take a leap and play in the world of imagination.
Because she was from a minority, even after her talent at studying bloomed and she became a civil official, her friends remained few. She was the sort of girl that has always had a hard time showing what was inside her. She was also a girl who did everything without so much as an expression on her face, and when she got Elbert’s attention, her situation underwent a transformative change, and before she knew it, she was here.
She screamed inside, but not an eek resounded outside. A glance at her from outside would show nothing but a girl gazing blankly at the sky, but deep inside, she was so excited that she could faint.
She raised up the covering of the covered wagon and looked up at the sky, but then the voice of the stable boy brought her back to the senses.
“The town is in view.”
She brought the covering back down, and as the covered wagon sluggishly continued along, what appeared before Helen Meer was a town covered in snow.
Are there really people living there? She turned to the stable boy, but he just shrugged his shoulders.
◆◆◇
“Welcome.”
Said a woman that perfectly fit the description of a beauty dressed in the attire of a man. Red hair tied behind her into a single bundle and a sharp gaze, a stature tall for a woman and a famed magic sword by her hips, carefully made military clothing like those worn by Felbi’s soldiers, and a scarlet overcoat worn over that.
She had supposedly reached the pinnacle of martial arts in the late Germion Kingdom and had become a Holy Knight, but there wasn’t a hint of that savage aura that was all too common among warriors. Ever since she’d been beside Elbert and had seen Felbi, she’s always presumed that warriors would all have a similar barbarity to them, but after seeing her now, she was pleasantly surprised.
“I am Lili Aureya, the Governor-General of the Northern Free Cities. It’s a pleasure to make your acquaintance.”
She was a knight.
No, she might even be a prince. A real, live prince!
As Lili knelt on one knee and offered her a knight’s greeting, Meer looked at her blankly and was captivated by her at first sight. For a moment, Lili pondered why Meer wasn’t saying anything, so she raised up her eyes, and for the first time, she became flustered.
The girl before her took out a parchment from her bosom and quickly wrote down her name.
—Helen Meer. I have heard of your famed name and am truly grateful to be welcomed by you personally.
Helen Meer knelt on both knees and offered up that parchment like a peasant would when offering tribute to an evil magistrate. She raised that parchment high enough to reach Lili’s eyes. Lili was troubled. She hadn’t expected this sort of interaction, so she too blanked out for a moment and tilted her head.
However, just as one might expect from a Holy Knight, Lili was indeed brilliant, and she was able to decide appropriately despite this strange situation. As a sweet smile surfaced on her face, she stretched out her hand and offered it to the prostrated Meer.
“Thank you for your courteous greeting. You must be cold like that. Please, come in.”
