The Saint strikes her finishing pose; the children’s eyes blaze with light.
Into this scene of total chaos, an old woman came charging with a battered pot lid and ladle, face set with desperate resolve.
“Hah, hah……the magical beast……where’s the magical beast……!?”
“Oh, it’s Grandma!”
“Over here, over here!”
“We’re all right!”
“Oh thank goodness……what!?“
The old woman lets out a sigh of relief——only to drop her jaw in astonishment the very next moment.
“S-Silver-sama, Zel-sama……!?”
Visibly flustered, she listens as the children speak over each other in excitement.
“Grandma, listen to this! The guy in the armor is unbelievably strong!”
“That scary magical beast——he went WHAM——took it out in one hit!”
The old woman confirms the severely demolished remains of the magical beast and bows her head deeply.
“Silver-sama, Zel-sama, thank you so very much for saving the children. ——Come now, all of you, you need to say your thank-yous properly!”
“Not at all, please don’t trouble yourselves. I only did what anyone would.”
Luna maintained her ‘cool adventurer mode’ to the end.
“Oh my, forgive me for not introducing myself sooner——I am Nono Revart, please call me Grandma Nono.”
Nono Revart, eighty-five years old.
150 centimeters, white hair in a bun, a bent back, and a kind-looking face.
“If you two haven’t decided on lodgings for tonight, would you care to stay at my place? It’s a small thing in exchange for what you’ve done, but I’d like to offer you what hospitality I can.”
Receiving this completely sincere offer, Luna and Zel put their heads together in a low voice.
“What should we do? It’s a generous offer, and turning it down outright seems……doesn’t it?”
“Well, yes. We have the inspection of the Magic Nation of Kasorla tomorrow, so we can’t very well stay the night, but a meal should be fine.”
“Yay!”
And so the two of them, having been invited by Nono, made their way to an old church at the edge of town.
“Now, please, come right in.”
When she opened the large door, there inside were more than thirty children, all in one place.
“This is……”
“Could these be……orphans?”
“Yes, I run a small orphanage here. We take in children who have lost their parents to war, illness, famine, and the like.”
Nono gives a brief explanation and gives a small cough.
“These are Silver-sama, the Saint’s representative, and the legendary Great Swordsman Zel-sama——now all of you, mind your manners, understand?”
“Yes ma’am!“
With that energetic response, she nods with satisfaction.
“Now then, I’ll get started on dinner, so please wait there for a bit.”
The moment Nono heads to the kitchen, the curious children swarmed toward the unfamiliar ‘armor’ and ‘beastman.’
“Whoa, that armor is AMAZING! It’s real! Rock solid!”
“Such big wings! And they’re fluffy……!”
“Mister Armor, you’re somebody really impressive, right? Tell us a story!”
“Heh, all right.”
The Saint loves children.
Responding to their request, she decided to treat them to her own adventure tales.
“This is a story from about three hundred years ago, in the time when the demons ruled at their height……. The evil Demon King and his lieutenants the ‘Eight Celestial Demons’ ran wild across the world, going chomp chomp munch munch on all the humans, and humanity was on the verge of annihilation. ——Zel, could you play the enemy?”
“Of course.”
Saint role: Luna. Enemy role: Zel. Screenplay: Luna. Direction: Luna.
A play based on true events, brought to you by an outrageously distinguished staff.
Luna’s storytelling could not generously be called skilled, and it was rough in all kinds of ways——but.
“……”
The power of nonfiction is tremendous, and her account, vivid with lived experience, had the children hanging on every word.
“——And so, the one who was me——wait, no. The Saint, a cool beauty brimming with intelligence and refinement, struck down the evil Demon King and saved countless people. And they all lived happily ever after.”
A moment of silence——and then:
“Th-that was SO COOL!”
“The Saint is amazing!”
“The Saint’s party, incredible……!”
A thunderous round of applause filled the room and words of admiration flew back and forth.
The Saint’s adventure story came to a resounding close——and then the front door rattled open.
“——Sorry I’m late. Everything all right?”
A low, clear voice——and at the same moment:
“Oh, Papa’s back!”
“Papa, welcome home!”
“Finally you’re back!”
The children snapped their heads up and raced to the front entrance, each trying to be first.
“Yeah, I’m back. Have you all been good kids?”
The tall man called ‘Papa’ smiled gently——and narrowed his eyes slightly.
“Hmm, there are guests……what!?“
“Oh, Ramza-san?”
“Well, what a coincidence.”
“S-Silver, Zel-dono……why are you here……!?”
Ramza jumped back and drew his sword in an instant.
At the same moment, a scolding voice flew from the kitchen.
“Goodness! What do you think you’re doing, Ramza!? Drawing a sword on our benefactors——what kind of manners are those……!”
“Ben-benefactors……?”
“Silver-sama and Zel-sama are the great benefactors who saved the children when they were attacked by that magical beast! If these two hadn’t been here, Ron and Emil and Misha would all be in a monster’s belly right now! Now that you understand, put that sword away at once!”
“Ah, all right……I understand, my apologies. ……Forgive me, it seems you looked after the children. You have my thanks.”
Overawed by Nono, Ramza sheathed his sword and apologized without resistance.
Luna and Zel gave a ‘don’t worry about it’ sort of gesture, and at that, the children’s energetic voices went up:
“Papa, play with us!”
“Give us horsey rides!”
“Read us a picture book!”
“Let’s do sword fights!”
“Come on, teach me the sword already! The ‘Flow Technique’ thing!”
Receiving a flood of requests, Ramza reached out a rough hand and ruffled each of their heads in turn.
“Later.”
His face was gentle and full of warmth, and that blade-sharp ferocity from the royal castle was nowhere to be seen——like an entirely different person.
“My, quite the different personality from before, it seems.”
“Now that is a surprise. Who would have thought you had a side like this.”
Luna and Zel were both grinning with teasing smiles——and Ramza’s cheeks flushed red as he ground his back teeth.
“Guh……you two had better remember this……”
While all of this was unfolding, a call for help came from the kitchen.
“Ramza, could you come here a moment? I’m making a meal for our guests, but I’m a bit short of hands.”
“Yeah, coming.”
Ramza picked up a bear-print apron and headed briskly to the kitchen.
Luna and Zel looked at each other with a vague sense of interest, nodded in quiet agreement, and slipped after him into the kitchen.
In the simple but clean kitchen, Nono and Ramza were working the iron pots with practiced hands.
“Oh, you can cook, Ramza-san?”
“Is that so, an unexpected talent.”
Luna and Zel poked their heads in from behind and made comments mixing surprise with admiration——and Ramza gave a superior sniff.
“Hmph, for your information, I happen to be the finest cook in the Martial Nation.”
The one who reacted strongly to those words was none other than Zel.
“I see——the way you handle that pot, I thought you were no amateur, but to think you were the nation’s finest cook……interesting.”
Three hundred years ago, Zel was the man who ran the kitchen of the Saint’s party.
Standing before the ‘Martial Nation’s greatest cook,’ the culinary spirit quietly burning within him ignites.
“Well then, let me help. Grandma Nono, could you lend me a pot?”
“Oh my, I’m so grateful for the thought——but I’m afraid we have no ingredients left. What’s being cooked right now is all we have.”
“Is that so?”
“Yes. With the war starting soon, most of our resources have been directed that way……I’m terribly embarrassed to admit it.”
“Ah, that explains it.”
Nodding with understanding, Zel slides over to Luna’s side and makes a quiet request.
“——Saint-sama, could you open an <Otherworld Gate>?”
“Of course, but where to?”
“To my log house at the Holy Kingdom. I thought I would bring over some spare ingredients.”
“Ah, I see. ——<Otherworld Gate>.”
The moment Luna snaps her fingers, a massive door appears in empty space.
At the same time, pure and guileless applause breaks out.
“Th-that’s so COOL……!”
“I know what that is! That’s ‘Space Magic!'”
“A-amazing……! I want to be a great mage one day too……!”
As the children chatter with delight, Ramza’s eyes go wide in astonishment.
(Th-that’s……the highest-tier spatial magic, <Otherworld Gate>!? Without any magical device or grand ritual to assist——just a snap of the fingers……! What is Silver planning!?)
As the Martial Nation’s prime minister maintains maximum alertness, Zel says “please wait a moment” and passes through the door——and roughly one minute later, Zel returns carrying a large load of meat and vegetables in both arms.
“——Grandma Nono, I have as many ingredients here as you could need. Now then, please, the pot.”
“Wh-what is……!?”
“These are gifts from the soil of the Holy Kingdom.”
“I can’t possibly accept this……!”
“Please, think nothing of it. The Holy Kingdom is currently experiencing a temporary food surplus, you see. If these ingredients can fill the children’s stomachs, I’m sure they’d be quite pleased about it.”
Until now, the Spedio domain——the Holy Kingdom——had been suffering under the unreasonable taxation of the four great powers.
But having won independence, all tax collection has stopped.
As a result, the food that would have been paid out this year has piled up, causing a very short-term food surplus.
“Now then, Ramza-dono——round two. Having crossed swords, shall we next cross ladles?”
“……Hmph. I accept.”
And so the heated cooking battle between Zel and Ramza got underway.
Thirty minutes later, the table was lined with an array of magnificent dishes——meat, fish, vegetables, all making generous use of nature’s bounty.
“……Oh wow……”
“I’ve never seen food like this……”
“C-can we really eat this……!?”
The children, drooling, turned hopeful eyes on the ones who had provided the ingredients——and Luna and Zel nod willingly.
“Yes, of course.”
“Eat until you’re full.”
“Yaaaaaaay……!“
As joyful cries echoed through the room and a happy atmosphere settled in——the ‘cooking heat’ cooling, Zel comes back to his senses.
“I-I sincerely apologize……! This Zel, a failure for the ages……!”
His mistress is currently wearing plate armor and cannot eat in front of others.
And yet despite that, he had gone and made an extravagant spread of food.
The thoughtlessness of not considering Luna, who must be hungry after the day’s visit——for all that his pride as a cook had been stirred, he felt ashamed of his own short-sightedness.
However——
“Heh, it’s all right. I thought of a ‘clever solution.’ ——<Otherworld Gate>.”
Luna smiled gently and deployed a miniature <Otherworld Gate> in the palm of her hand.
The door’s connection point was the inside of the armor, directly onto the Saint’s own palm.
In other words, she teleported the food she grabbed through the gauntlet into her bare hand in an instant.
This way she could eat away inside the armor without worrying about anyone watching.
Using the highest-tier magic <Otherworld Gate> for something this ridiculous is surely something only Luna could do in all the wide world.
“Mmm, delicious……ahem! Quite, quite splendid! I could eat like this endlessly!”
The Saint, who had nearly let out her natural reaction, quickly cleared her throat and responded in a male-adventurer sort of way——and that became the opening signal for a merry dinner party.
“Th-this is good! What on earth is this stir-fried vegetable……!? The fat of the meat and the richness of the vegetables play in perfect harmony!”
“Delicious!“
As Nono and the children savored the exquisite cooking, the two warriors who had gone head-to-head at the pots sat knee to knee and talked.
“Ramza-dono, this is sake from the Holy Kingdom. It has a pleasant spice to it that goes very well with meat.”
“No, I’ll pass.”
“Hmm, can’t hold your drink?”
“No——I’m seventeen. I’m underage.”
“At that face!? I was quite certain you were in your late twenties……”
“……I’m aware I look older than I am.”
In the middle of this lively meal, Luna decided to ask about something that had been on her mind.
“Come to think of it, Ramza-dono——there is something I’ve been wanting to ask.”
“What is it, say it.”
“What is that mask? It appears to have a peculiar magical energy in it……?”
In the direction of Luna’s gaze——at the very back of the orphanage, a white beast mask was displayed on the wall.
Below it sat a long sword and a kimono, and there was a strange air about the whole arrangement.
“That is……a beast mask that died ten years ago.”
Ramza says this and quietly narrows his eyes.
That mask is a ‘warning.’
So he will not forget the beast he once was.
So he will never return to being a beast again.
It is hung in a visible place as a chain that binds him.
(……Has it already been ten years since then……)
Crossing his mind is a memory from when he was seven years old, a sin-stained past soaked in blood and death——
Ramza Krantzelt was born in a slum of the Albas Empire.
He did not know his parents’ names, let alone their faces, and whether they were alive or dead was unclear. By the time he was old enough to understand the world, both had already vanished, so it was neither here nor there.
[……Hungry……]
He devoured the rotting carcasses of animals and the scraps thrown out by restaurants, and wet his throat with muddy puddle water collected at the roadside.
Living like a beast day after day, a turning point arrived.
On a cloudy day with no sun breaking through, Ramza was walking a back alley as usual——when from ahead, a group in magnificent clothing came walking his way.
At the front walked a tall young man with beautiful green hair flowing behind him——a man who would later be called ‘the greatest ruler in the Empire’s history.’
[Hm……who are they, nobles or something……?]
Wanting nothing to do with trouble, Ramza kept his eyes down and tried to pass them quietly——but it was not to be.
[Well now……you’re young, but you have fine eyes. Eyes of emptiness without hope, slowly dying. You are, to put it aptly——like a ‘beast.’]
[……Huh?]
[Hmm, I like you. I’ll take this beast in.]
Having handed over his person in exchange for food, clothing, and shelter, Ramza was placed in a certain specialized facility, where he received an intensive education as an assassin.
As it turned out——Ramza Krantzelt was a ‘genius.’
He absorbed every technique like dried cotton soaking up water, and in under half a year had become one of the Empire’s foremost assassins.
[……Next job……?]
[The assassination of Frioso, a grand imperial noble. He’s the kingpin behind the narcotics epidemic spreading through the Empire. Apparently he has connections at the upper levels of the Holy Knights, so they can’t take him in openly.]
Given the codename ‘Beast,’ Ramza carried out his assigned jobs one by one, impassively.
His hands were stained in death before he knew it——
[……Smells……]
——and no matter how many times he washed, wiped, and scrubbed, the caked-in smell of blood would not come out.
Then, around the time those hollow faded eyes had sunken in like a dead man’s——the fateful day arrived.
[Hey, here’s your next job.]
The order that came down from the agent was the assassination of Leticia Lindria, Sovereign of the Martial Nation of Godba.
Leticia was the descendant of the cursed bloodline that had caused the Madness of Godba. A woman of malice who had harbored wicked ambitions since childhood and would not far in the future bring war upon the Magic Nation of Kasorla. To stop the war, she would have to be disposed of, the order said.
Having received the dossier, Ramza moved into action immediately.
That night was a night of beautiful white snow.
The beast, deploying exceptional concealment, succeeded in infiltrating Godba Castle, and took up position behind the target as she made her way to her bedroom.
[……Who’s there……?]
The moment she turned around, the sharp short blade in Ramza’s grip stabbed through Leticia’s heart.
“——Muza……? ……Ramza-dono……?”
“……What!?”
A sin he still sees in dreams——one he can never erase.
“Ramza-dono, you don’t look well——are you all right?”
“……No, don’t mind me.”
Luna calls out in concern, and Ramza gives a small shake of his head——and then comes a knock at the door, and it opens slowly.
“Ramza——you here?”
A beautiful voice like rolling bells, and Ramza’s words catch in his throat.
“Wha!? P-please wait! This is not a good time——”
“——Ehehe, I came to visit. ……Huh? Silver-dono and Zel-dono, why are you here?”
Peeking in is Leticia Lindria, Sovereign of the Martial Nation. Behind her stand four burly guards.
“Oh, Leticia-dono……?”
“Well, this is a surprise.”
As Luna and Zel look on wide-eyed, Leticia slides over to Ramza’s side.
“Hey Ram, what exactly is going on here?”
“According to Grandma Nono, the children here were under attack from a magical beast, and they saved them……”
“Oh, really? Then we have to say a proper thank-you.”
The two of them whispering intimately——their manner, their air, the closeness between them——was more than enough to invite a certain ‘misunderstanding.’
“My, I see, I see……and yet Ramza-dono is more of a dark horse than he lets on.”
“Wh-what are you saying, Silver! Leticia and I are sovereign and retainer, nothing more and nothing less! So wipe that warm, knowing look off your face right now! It comes through perfectly clearly even through a helmet!”
“And yet the manner between you seemed rather more intimate than sovereign and retainer would suggest……?”
“Not you too, Zel-dono……please keep your meddlesome speculation to yourselves! ——Leticia-sama, please, won’t you give these fools a stern word!”
When the outraged Ramza spun around——
“Eh, ehehe……Ram and I are……it’s sort of, well……”
——there was his liege, cheeks flushed bright red, mumbling and trailing off.
Amid the sweet, awkward air that followed, the guileless children whistled and whooped, and the guards standing in the background gave an enthusiastic thumbs-up as if to say ‘just man up already.’
That Ramza and Leticia harbored feelings for each other was an open secret of the Martial Nation, long watched over with warmly indulgent eyes by those around them.
And so, left sitting on a bed of nails, Ramza——
“R-right, Leticia-sama! We were just in the middle of dinner, so if you’d like, why not join us!? Zel-dono and I put our full skill into the cooking! I’m certain it will be to your taste!”
——raised his voice deliberately loud and tried to force a change of subject by sheer will.
After that, with Leticia added to the group, the dinner grew even livelier.
“Incidentally——about that story just now: how did the two of you meet?”
When the Saint, who is a girl of a certain age, steers the conversation to romance with what could only be called avid interest——
“Well, Ram and I had……quite the dramatic first meeting……”
——Leticia began to speak with a slight smile at the corner of her mouth——
“Wh-what are you saying!? S-stop, please……stop, stop——stop it!“
——and Ramza let out a scream.
And so the inspection visit of the Martial Nation of Godba came to a warm and gentle end.