Sigrid - 16

“The son of a viscount has it good.”

Morris smiled bitterly at the words, unsure if they were teasing or sarcastic. This affair was certainly not all good for him.

“It’s not that great. And this was given to me by a kind noblewoman in recognition of my heroic deed.”

“I see.”

Alkerto reached for the wine bottle. After filling his glass, he continued to ask,

“So what happened to that woman?”

“For now, the Alsekidna Viscount’s family has taken charge of her, and I think they plan to decide her next placement once things settle down.”

“That’s good. By the way, the right of summary execution… I didn’t even know that existed……”

Alkerto’s words came out like a groan, and Morris nodded.

“I didn’t know either. According to Lowengrin, she said, ‘How do you know such an obsolete clause so well?’ Apparently, the last time that right was used was 100 years ago.”

“How on earth did Sigrid know about the Imperial Guard’s rights? No, wait, does this mean she’s moving to the Imperial Guard now?”

That’s a shame.

Alkerto thought as he swirled his glass. The red wine sloshed around inside. Of course, Sigrid was an aura user, and having her in the 2nd Knight Order was a waste of talent. Still, it was disappointing.

“I’m not sure either.”

Morris shrugged.

Sigrid came downstairs.

“Lady Sigrid.”

As Arkana stood up, Sigrid waved her hand.

“Sigrid is fine.”

“Then please call me Arkana as well.”

“Shall I?”

Sigrid nodded. As she sat down, Arkana took the seat across from her. The bruises on his face hadn’t completely faded, but his condition was much better than before. This was thanks to the healer sent by the Alsekidna Viscount’s family.

“I’m sorry I couldn’t come to thank you earlier. I was busy with the aftermath.”

“It’s nothing. I only did what I had to do.”

“No, I know how difficult it is to help in such situations. Thank you for your assistance.”

Arkana bowed deeply, and Sigrid was flustered.

“It’s nothing. I only did what I had to do, didn’t I?”

Protecting free citizens is also a knight’s duty. So she had simply done her job. If anything, receiving thanks felt stranger.

Seeing Sigrid’s confused face, Arkana raised his head and smiled faintly. His green eyes, the same as Seria’s, softened.

“I can see that you—no, Sigrid—are a unique person.”

“Is that so? I feel like I’ve been hearing that a lot lately.”

Though she wasn’t sure if that was a good thing or not.

“I’ll do anything I can for you. I don’t mind even becoming your servant.”

At those words, Sigrid said, “Ah.”

“I’m sorry. I don’t earn enough to pay a magician’s salary.”

As she spoke with a troubled expression, Arkana stared at her blankly before smiling again.

“Come to think of it, you said you didn’t need my soul either.”

“I wouldn’t know what to do with it even if I took it. And there’s no need for compensation for doing my job.”

As Sigrid answered seriously, Arkana looked down at his hands. He lightly clenched and unclenched his fist before saying,

“Then is there nothing I can do for you? Surely you came looking for me for a reason?”

“Ah, yes. If it’s not rude, there’s one thing I’d like to ask.”

“What is it?”

“Does magic that can turn back time exist?”

“No.”

Arkana answered quickly. As he lowered his eyes slightly, his red eyelashes glinted in the sunlight. After being lost in thought for a while, he said,

“Magic is often considered omnipotent. But it’s not. There are surprisingly many things magic cannot do. Among them, the absolute impossibilities would be turning back time and reviving the dead. These two, perhaps. It’s not that there haven’t been attempts, but they’ve all failed or ended terribly.”

“Terribly?”

“Like corpses walking around without will, rotting away.”

“Ah.”

Sigrid frowned. Then what should she call what happened to her? She thought time had been turned back, but was that not the case?

“Is there something you want to turn back time for?”

“No, that’s not it.”

Sigrid said, meeting his eyes. Arkana looked surprised and said,

“I thought there was no one without regrets.”

“Even if I regret, I’m the one who chose that path.”

At Sigrid’s words, Arkana nodded. Sigrid hesitated for a moment before saying,

“Actually, I think I’ve come back to the past.”

“To the past?”

Arkana frowned, and Sigrid shared her story. She didn’t go into detail, but it was enough for Arkana to understand.

When she finished, Arkana’s face turned serious as he fell into thought.

“…So you’re changing the future now, Sigrid?”

“Yes, is that not possible?”

If the world would twist or if major problems would arise, Sigrid herself would have to follow the exact same path as in the past. She couldn’t destroy the world just for her own sake, could she?

“I don’t think there’s any reason it can’t be done. And this could be considered more of a dimensional shift of the mental body rather than a regression.”

“What?”

“It’s called the multiverse theory. It suggests that every time we make a choice at a branching point, two presents are created. But it’s not proven. Yet we can’t completely dismiss it either, because there’s the principle of uncertainty. The ether particles of the world are thought to have two forms, wave and linear—”

As he was explaining, Arkana noticed Sigrid’s blank face and closed his mouth. He summarized his conclusion simply.

“Changing the future shouldn’t be a problem. And thank you for changing it. For saving my little sister.”

“What? No, that’s—”

“And I don’t know why this happened to you either.”

“I see.”

“I’m sorry.”

“No, it’s alright. Just hearing that it’s okay to change the future makes me feel lighter.”

Sigrid shook her head. Arkana sighed. He felt like he hadn’t been of any help to his benefactor at all.

‘No, it’s not just a feeling, it’s actually the case.’

“Is there really nothing more I can do for you?”

When Arkana asked cautiously, Sigrid shook her head.

“No, this is enough. Thank you.”

“I see.”

Arkana opened his mouth with a heavy heart.

“I’m sorry, but may I make one request?”

“Yes.”

“Could you employ Seria at this mansion?”

“You mean Miss Seria?”

Sigrid’s eyes widened.

“But isn’t she working at the Alsekidna Viscount’s house now? I thought Lowengrin would be treating her well? If there are any difficulties or problems, I can always—”

“No, there are no difficulties or problems. It’s just that Seria wants to repay her debt to you. And I’d prefer… rather than her being too closely involved with nobles in such a large mansion… It would just be until we find a place to stay in the capital. We can’t go back to that village and live in that house again, you see.”

“I see… Well then, um… I can’t pay as much as the Alsekidna Viscount’s family, but—”

“We don’t need a salary.”

Sigrid frowned.

“What are you saying? Labor should be fairly compensated.”

“Then you can pay whatever you’re comfortable with.”

Arkana took a step back. Sigrid said, “Come to think of it,” and asked,

“Where are you staying, Arkana?”

“I’m staying at an inn in the capital.”

“At an inn? Then why don’t you stay at my house instead?”

“What?”

“Since Seria is coming to my house too, wouldn’t it be better for siblings to be in the same house?”

Sigrid said in a bright voice. Having recently been told by Marie-Chez,

—You have no empathy! No consideration!

Sigrid was trying her best to be considerate.

“You mean me, an unmarried man, at the mansion of Sigrid, an unmarried woman?”

“What’s the problem? It’s not like we’d be alone.”

Sigrid asked, puzzled, and Arkana thought for a moment before nodding.

“Alright.”

“Oh, but please pay for your lodging.”

At Sigrid’s words, Arkana smiled again and nodded.

“Understood.”

“I’ll charge less than an inn.”

“That’s very kind of you.”

As Arkana stood up, he asked once more.

“Are you sure there’s nothing I can help you with? Of course, I can’t use magic yet, but— if there’s anything else…”

“Ah—”

Sigrid made a sound as if something had occurred to her. Arkana responded immediately.

“Is there something? Please, tell me anything.”

“Well, um, you see—”

“Yes.”

“This might sound a bit strange.”

Sigrid twisted her fingers together as she drew out her words. Arkana gently urged her on.

“It’s okay, go ahead and say it.”

“Well, um, we, that is— would you like to be friends?”

“…What?”

“Ah, it’s weird, isn’t it? It might be strange, but you see. I recently made some friends. And having friends is really nice. So I thought, maybe I could make more friends. So, um, well, no. It’s weird. Please forget I said anything.”

Sigrid’s cheeks flushed red. Even so, forcing friendship on someone she’d only met a few times seemed a bit much. Friendship was something incredibly important and precious, so asking like this was indeed too much.

“Let’s do it.”

“What?”

Surprised by the response, Sigrid looked up. Seeing her wide sunset-colored eyes, Arkana smiled gently.

“Let’s do it, let’s be friends.”

“Are, are you sure?”

“Yes.”

“Wow, wow, yes! Yes! Then we’re friends!”

Sigrid beamed. She wanted to go and boast to Marie-Chez and Lowengrin right away that she had made a new friend. Sigrid said, “Um, um.”

“Then you don’t need to pay for lodging. Because we’re friends! Please feel free to stay as long as you like.”

“Because we’re friends, we should be even more careful about money.”

“No, it’s okay. We’re friends after all.”

Arkana realized that the weight Sigrid placed on the word ‘friend’ was considerable.

‘Well, that’s fine too.’

Thinking this, Arkana said,

“Since we’re friends, should we speak more casually?”

“Yeah. Let’s do that. This is the first time I’ve become friends like this.”

“It usually doesn’t happen this way.”

“I see.”

Sigrid nodded. Indeed, a deep relationship of trust like friendship probably couldn’t be formed just by shouting “Let’s do it!”

“Um— Arkana.”

“Mm?”

“Thank you, for, you know, being my friend.”

Sigrid conveyed her sincerity earnestly, her cheeks reddening. Arkana spoke seriously.

“I should be the one thanking you.”

He had thought it would end with “Well, everything’s finished now. Goodbye.” That wouldn’t have been right after receiving so much help. He was glad to have created a connection, but it seemed the bond of friendship was much thicker than he had expected.

Sigrid smiled shyly at Arkana’s words.

She was happy that her circle of friends had grown.

⊰⋆⋅⭑⋅⋆⊱⊰⋆⋅⭑⋅⋆⊱⊰⋆⋅⭑⋅⋆⊱⊰⋆⋅⭑⋅⋆⊱⊰⋆⋅⭑⋅⋆⊱⊰⋆⋅⭑⋅⋆⊱⊰⋆⋅⭑⋅⋆⊱⊰⋆⋅⭑⋅⋆⊱⊰⋆⋅⭑⋅⋆⊱⊰⋆⋅⭑⋅⋆⊱

Marie-Chez narrowed her eyes as she stared at the butter. In her hand was a beautiful silver butter knife.

‘I had a light breakfast this morning, so it should be fine to spread some butter for lunch. Alright.’

As she spread the freshly made, soft butter on a scone with her knife, Marie-Chez glared at Sigrid. Sigrid was stuffing scones generously loaded with butter and jam into her mouth without a care in the world.

“Siri.”

At Marie-Chez’s call, Sigrid quickly swallowed her scone.

“Hm? What is it?”

She always felt tense when Marie-Chez called her.

“Do you know how worried I was?”

“Huh?”

“Sneaking into a count’s house, killing a count— and what’s this about being a temporary Imperial Guard member?!”

Marie-Chez’s voice grew sharper as she went on. Although she had already been scolded once, Sigrid quickly made a gesture of prostrating herself.

“I’m sorry.”

“Really, before doing such things, consult with us!”

“Okay.”

“And—”

I thought it was a fatal illness, but it wasn’t.

For some reason, Marie-Chez felt deceived and wronged about that part. But she wasn’t cruel enough to say, “Sigrid, we’re strangers again,” at this point.

Inevitably, Marie-Chez could only complain and grumble to Morris and Alkerto. Lowengrin, leisurely sipping her tea beside them, said,

“That’s right. It would be nice if you asked for help more often. To think you went to Sir Lunatil before us.”

“Well, I, um, you see— I didn’t really think of you two as friends properly……”

Sigrid confessed, fidgeting. Marie-Chez raised her voice, “What—?”

“But I understand now. Marie-Chez and Lowengrin are friends too.”

At her words, spoken with a bright smile, Marie-Chez couldn’t get angry and made a strange face before exclaiming,

“Really!”

She roughly picked up her glass and gulped down the cold tea. As she put down the glass with a huff, a maid standing nearby quickly came and replaced it with a full new glass.

Lowengrin smiled and asked Sigrid,