Chapter Text
“The country, long divided, must unite; long united, must divide. Thus it has ever been…”
A young woman muttered the words under her breath as the carriage bounced along the rutted road. She perched on a crate amid a shipment of papers and books. Her attention never wavered from the heavy tome she read, ignoring the jostling and jolting of the carriage on the rough road. The merchants transporting the goods didn’t even spare her a glance. They were, by now, used to it.
The woman wore her long blue hair tied up atop her head, with a few thin strands framing her face and trailing down her back. An ornate lotus flower, woven from thread, bloomed from her golden hair clasp. Her skin was fair and unblemished, her features petite. Though small in stature, her hairstyle marked her as having come of age. Her clothing was extremely fine, featuring green fabrics of the spring season, with silver embroidery. The style, however, was practical: noble riding clothes. Her golden eyes, the colour of the full moon, travelled back and forth across the pages.
The brown-haired servant driving the carriage brought it to a sudden halt. A man, clad in rich garments and yellow cape marking him as a member of the Ehrenfest nobility, stood in the road’s centre. He was accompanied by several followers. The head merchant at the front of the carriage glanced back over his shoulder at his passenger, worry flashing through his red eyes, but she simply kept reading.
Seeing that she made no move to acknowledge them, the merchant climbed out of the carriage and knelt in the road before the noble. In a deep but friendly voice, he delivered the lengthy, formal greeting expected of a commoner meeting one of the nobility, before asking, “How can I help you, my lord?”
The noble sneered down at him. “The time has come to pay your taxes, merchant. My men will examine your cargo and take our due.”
Cursing internally, the merchant debated whether to argue. Arguing with a noble was a death wish. Yet losing his livelihood could be just as deadly. He glanced again at the back of the carriage. If his passenger was disturbed… He shuddered at the thought of the resulting mess. It would be better to handle this himself.
“My lord, there must be some mistake. We have already paid our tax to the archduke. Surely my lord has no need to collect from our humble wares himself-”
“Schwert!”
He was cut off suddenly as the noble summoned his sword in one smooth motion and held the tip to the merchant’s throat. A single bead of blood blossomed and rolled down his neck. It tickled, which was a strange, distracting thought when he was about to die. The merchant swallowed carefully, barely daring to breathe.
“I am feeling merciful today, commoner. Do not test my patience. It is an honour to provide supplies to the duchy. Consider yourself blessed.” The noble’s sneer widened. “We may just bless you even further by taking the whole shipment!”
A sudden cry went up from the streets around them. The merchant steeled himself to avoid jerking his head to see the commotion, fearful of accidentally cutting his own throat. He needn’t have worried — the noble removed his sword and brought it up to defend himself as another group of nobles and a few priests in blue religious attire attacked the first noble’s party. Each one of the new attackers wore a white cloth wrapped around their hair. What in the seven is going on?!
“The corrupt pretenders in the Sovereignty cannot even use the god-given Grutrissheit any longer,” one of the priests shouted as the others fought. “Yet their supporters dare waylay the common people in the streets and steal from them! The gods weep at your hubris!”
“Biblical Fundamentalist rebels!” cursed the first noble. “Slay them!”
The merchants hurriedly climbed back into the carriage to take shelter. One of them reached for the reins, hoping to escape the melee while the two groups were distracted, but someone barreled into the horses, spooking them, while another sliced clean through the leads as he struck down at the first man. Suddenly freed and terrified, the horses ran through the battle, trampling several unfortunate combatants underfoot.
The head merchant looked back at his passenger again. She was still reading, ignoring the bedlam around them. He sighed, debating whether he should disturb her himself. Surely she would notice the situation soon?
The decision was soon made for him. The battle ended as abruptly as it began, with the original noble signalling retreat before leaping onto his highbeast and fleeing. The merchant sighed in relief, running his hand through his messy cream-coloured hair as the stress began to leave him.
However, no sooner had he begun to relax than the men with the white bandanas began to congregate around the carriage. “Hey, wait!” the merchant cried, but one of them pointed a spear at him and he went quiet. They opened the back doors and began grabbing boxes. One of them reached up and grabbed the book right out of the blue-haired girl’s hands.
“Bwuh?” she demanded, looking up, completely flabbergasted.
“These goods will help in the fight against the tyranny of the Sovereignty!” declared one of the priests.
The girl looked over at the merchant. “Benno, what is this man talking about?”
The merchant, Benno, sighed. “You really didn’t hear anything?”
She shook her head, eyes wide.
Benno rolled his eyes. “Some noble official decided to collect taxes from us in the middle of the road like a highway robber. Then these guys showed up, chased off the official, and now they are robbing us instead. Seems like they are taking stuff from commoners and claiming it's for their own good.”
Nearby, one of the white-bandana-clad men was riffling through the boxes. “These boxes all just contain paper and books. Nothing useful at all!” With a grimace, the man started tossing the books on the ground.
“Wait!” Benno shouted for the second time in the last minute, but it was too late. The books tumbled into a mud puddle, ruined. Oh crap, oh crap, oh crap!
An immense, cold pressure suddenly erupted from the back of the carriage. Benno and the other two merchants in the front of the carriage hunkered down, knowing there was nothing that would stop their passenger now.
“How dare you! I will never forgive you! Schwert!”
The young woman stepped out of the carriage, her sword held before her. It gave off a strange, frigid air. The merchant could suddenly see the puffs of his own breath. Dang it, she’s really pissed!
Several knights rushed towards her, their weapons drawn, but a single slice sent them flying. One of the blue-robed men flicked his wrist, shouting “Lüfter!” A beautiful, ornate fan appeared in his hand. He swung it at the woman, causing a huge gust of wind to blow towards her. She brought her sword down again, and sliced through the wind, dissipating it. Glancing behind her at the carriage, she then turned and sprinted to the side in a sudden burst of speed, putting some distance between her and the merchants. Thank goodness.
Two knights leapt at her, one with a spear, the other with a sword. She parried them both in a series of lightning-fast blows, but she was being pushed back.
“Lanze!”
The sound of women’s voices and the flutter of highbeast wings drew Benno’s attention, and two more figures leaped down from the backs of their steeds. Both were young women similar in age, polearms clutched in their hands. One wore the full plate armour of a knight, with her pink hair in two side buns, curled around in a swirling pattern. A heavy blue cape with bold silver embroidery hung on her shoulders.
The other girl was more lightly armoured in riding clothes similar to his erstwhile passenger. She wore her masses of blonde curls in an elaborate updo that could only be held together by magic. Her cape was yellow, and the embroidery was delicate and detailed.
“Now what?! Who are they?” Benno began pulling at his hair again in frustration, and Mark, his brown-haired assistant, reached out to pull his hands away.
“I am Charlotte of Ehrenfest!” the blonde girl shouted. “I am here to help defend the people of my duchy!”
“I am Hannelore of Dunkelfelger!” the pink-haired girl shouted. “I am here to aid in your valorous fight!”
The blue-haired girl’s eyes widened in surprise, then she grinned broadly. “Yes! Defend them with me!”
Benno groaned. “She thinks they want to defend the books, doesn’t she?”
Mark nodded. “She definitely does.”
The third merchant, a young man who had just finished his apprentice training, rolled his eyes. “Yeah,” he muttered, “that’s just how Myne is. She assumes everyone else feels the same way about books as her.”
Benno glared at him. “That’s Rozemyne, Lutz. You can’t keep slipping up like that now that we’re interacting with nobles.”
Lutz paled, but nodded. “Rozemyne. Right. Gosh, that’s so weird.”
“Weird or not, that’s the path she’s chosen.”
Outside the carriage, the three young women were making quick work of the Biblical Fundamentalists. Rozemyne’s icy white sword danced from one foe to the next. While she wasn’t the best swordsman, her huge mana reserves and strange weapon allowed her to use techniques other nobles could not. Benno didn’t know enough about nobles to understand why her sword was so special — he just knew that others didn’t seem able to replicate it.
The pink-haired Hannelore menaced those around her with a huge polearm. The steel of the wicked crescent blade at the end was patterned like a wave. An ornate dragon was carved into the end of the hilt. The whole thing was massive, looking far too heavy for a petite woman like Hannelore to wield. However, she swung it effortlessly around her, fending off multiple knights at once and sending waves of enemies flying with each swing. Benno could only guess magic was at play somehow.
Charlotte laid about herself with another spear-like weapon. The head of this one was wavy, with a two pronged end. It looked entirely like the body and maw of a snake. She danced through the battlefield with the weapon, weaving under and leaping over strikes from all directions, responding deftly with strikes of her own. Every movement was precise, and each attack hit the target with just enough force. Her way of fighting could only be described as elegant.
“R-Retreat!” shouted one of the priests. His minions wasted no time in complying with the order, rushing back down the road and into the forest. It seemed they did not all possess the strange flying beasts that the other nobles had used.
Rozemyne made as if to chase after them, but Benno coughed loudly to draw her attention to the mess of the carriage. She grinned sheepishly, then turned to the two young women and dismissed her weapon. Kneeling, she asked, “May I pray for a blessing in appreciation of this serendipitous meeting, ordained by the pure rivers flowing from Flutrane, the Goddess of Water?”
The two girls looked at each other, then Hannelore turned back to Rozemyne and declared, “You may.”
“O Flutrane, may our meeting be blessed. I am Rozemyne, a wandering scholar.” Her eyes lit up in excitement. “I’m so excited to meet more bookworms!”
Charlotte tilted her head in confusion. “A scholar? Your movements show knightly training.”
Hannelore nodded excitedly. “Yes! What was that strange weapon you were wielding?”
“This again…” Rozemyne muttered, rubbing the back of her neck sheepishly. Louder, she replied, “Ah, it was… Ewigeliebe’s Sword.”
“What?! The divine instrument? You must tell me more!” Hannelore dismissed her weapon and reached out, grabbing Rozemyne’s hands in her own.
Charlotte’s eyes also lit up, a look of worshipful awe on her face. “You can create divine instruments?”
Seeing that they would spend the rest of the day talking in the middle of the road unless he did something, Benno cleared his throat more forcefully, then got out of the carriage and knelt before the three noblewomen.
“Ah, yes, Benno, go ahead.” Rozemyne nodded his way.
“Forgive me, my ladies, but would it not be pleasing to have your discussion somewhere more comfortable? If you have nowhere more fitting, I could offer my store’s tearoom.”
“Oh, but the horses,” Rozemyne pointed out.
“I’ll get them,” Lutz offered. “You all go on ahead.”
Rozemyne nodded her permission, and Lutz ran off down the road in the direction the horses had fled. Meanwhile, Rozemyne pulled out her highbeast stone and created her carriage-like highbeast. She had chosen an extra-large form, clearly intending to load their goods inside. Normally on trips she liked to ride along so she could read peacefully during the journey, but she wasn’t above transporting the goods herself when the situation called for it.
The other nobles stared, aghast. By now, Benno expected that response when anyone saw the strange creation that was Rozemyne’s highbeast. He couldn’t say he disagreed, either — the thing was truly bizarre by both noble and commoner standards.
“Is… is that a grun?” Hannelore asked, wrinkling her nose. “I’m not averse to using a feybeast as a highbeast, but why that one…”
“Lessy is not a grun!” Rozemyne insisted, pouting. “He’s a [red panda] and he’s very cute.”
Charlotte was peering in one of the windows, intrigued. “Your highbeast certainly is unique. But can it fly?” She had clearly noticed the thing had no wings.
Rozemyne puffed out her chest proudly. “Of course my Lessy can fly. And he can carry lots of luggage as well. Benno, Mark, please load the books and papers into Lessy. Lutz can come along later with the carriage.”
“Of course, Lady Rozemyne,” Benno replied, and he and Mark got to work.
As the commoners loaded the highbeast, Charlotte approached Rozemyne. “Lady Rozemyne, I own an estate not far from here. The pfirsich trees are in bloom in my garden and are truly a beautiful sight. Why don’t you and Hannelore join me there for tea?”
Rozemyne clapped her hands together. “That sounds ever so delightful!”
Hannelore nodded. “Yes, I would like nothing more.”
Benno somehow kept the pleasant smile on his face, but inside he groaned. Rozemyne was getting herself involved in something, and dragging him and his people along with her. Sure, at first glance, this was just a simple tea party among noblewomen. But if he’d learned one thing over the long years of working with Rozemyne, it was this: nothing was ever simple with that girl.