Chapter 16: The First Wife War?

I had been running away for a long time. Ever since Father died.

I knew that, as the one who would inherit the great name of Barn, I was supposed to avenge my father's death.

That was simply the way of the proud people of the grasslands. It was only natural that we fight battles we could be proud of before the ancestral spirits who were always watching over us.

But... Father had been too great.

Everyone said the same thing: he was stronger than anyone, kind, generous, calm, and seemingly born to lead others. I was proud of him. I admired him. I loved him more than anything.

But that Father was dead.

When the members of our tribe began being attacked by vicious magical beasts, Father led a group of warriors into battle. He fought bravely and succeeded in forcing the beasts to retreat. But Father had also suffered a grievous, potentially fatal injury.

It was the kind of wound where you could tell at a glance that he didn't have much time left. And, as if fate had decided to make things even worse, an epidemic struck him.

And just like that, Father died.

Ailros Barn, who had been so incredibly great, was gone.

It felt as though the world had collapsed right before my eyes. I didn't know what I was supposed to do.

As Father's daughter, I had to avenge him—but I couldn't imagine defeating the very thing that even Father had been unable to defeat.

As the one who would inherit the name of Barn, I had to lead everyone who had lost their pillar of support—but I couldn't imagine bringing everyone together as skillfully as Father had.

So I ran.

I ran from revenge. I ran from my own blood.

And as I kept running, I began to wonder.

Why hadn't Father run away?

How had he managed to remain such a great leader?

Then, one day, four visitors arrived at our settlement.

They were riding some strange contraption that looked like a house that could move.

I became particularly close with one of them, Kizuna. The reason was hardly noble—I simply didn't want to get close to the others for various reasons.

It was obvious that I had become accustomed to running away ever since Father's death.

As we talked more and grew closer, I began to wonder.

Would he also challenge that monster and die?

Would I be left behind again?

So I tried to stop him.

I threw away all shame and pride and cried as I begged him not to go.

Perhaps there had always been regret buried deep inside me from the day I could do nothing but watch Father's back as he left.

If I had screamed and cried back then, if I had told him, "I don't want you to go," would anything have changed?

But Kizuna's resolve never wavered.

And when I was drowning in a darkness that felt like despair, he said:

"I'm sure your father felt the same way, Pisca. He stood up against that powerful magical beast because he wanted to protect you and everyone else. Even if there was no chance of winning, he had a reason to fight. I think that's something you should be proud of."

Plop.

His words slipped straight into my heart.

The reason Father fought.

The reason he kept fighting.

The reason he never ran.

If I thought about it, the answer had been obvious all along.

Hadn't Father always told me?

"I love you."

"...!"

"Ah! Pisca!"

I couldn't hold my emotions back any longer.

It felt like all the feelings overflowing inside me were about to spill out.

I ran out of the tent.

"Father... Father... Fatherrrr..."

And at the place where Father and I used to gaze up at the stars together, I curled up and cried.

Father hadn't kept fighting because he was some kind of legendary hero.

He had simply been desperately trying to protect his daughter, his family, his friends, and his companions.

It was something I should have realized without having to think about it.

I just couldn't see it because I had spent all this time running away.

I had been loved and protected the entire time.

"If you're proud to have such a great parent, then act like it."

The words of that unpleasant man came to mind.

It irritated me to admit it, but he was right.

I had to repay the love Father had continued to give me.

Father was dead.

But the people of the grasslands became ancestral spirits after death and continued watching over their descendants.

Then surely Father was watching me too.

He must have been.

He must have seen me like this.

And he must have seen me all those years before.

"Ahhh! All I've done is run away and cry, nya!"

It had been like that ever since that day.

I had run away from avenging Father.

I had run away from my own blood.

Run away, cry, curl up.

Even today, I had done the same thing.

I had run away from the tent, cried, and curled up.

But today would be the last time.

I wouldn't run anymore.

I am Pisca Chuma Barn.

The only daughter of the great Ailros Barn, and the one who will inherit the title of Chuma, the Guide.

I'd cried enough.

I'd cried and cried and cried until I couldn't cry anymore.

It was time to prepare.

Prepare for battle.

Just as Father had done, I would fight to protect the things that mattered to me.

For now, that meant protecting that idiot who kept throwing himself willingly into places where he could die.

So I would never lose something precious to me again.

Come.

The time to stand up has come.

And so I ended up joining Kizuna and the others in their hunt for the magical beasts.

As we traveled toward the beasts' lair, I struck up a conversation with the two women who traveled alongside Kizuna, Rene and Tierra.

Kizuna and Padron were talking with some of the other grassland people farther ahead, so they weren't paying attention to us.

Ever since I made up my mind to stand up yesterday, I'd felt strange.

No.

There was no point in pretending.

I wasn't that oblivious.

This was love.

I had fallen for the man who had given me the chance to stand up after spending so long running away.

Not the men of my tribe who had kept their distance from me as though I were some fragile thing ever since Father's death.

No.

I had fallen for the man who, on that day, had cared about me while still telling me directly what he believed needed to be said.

I had fallen for those far-too-straight eyes of his.

We people of the grasslands value "strength."

In terms of physical combat, Kizuna was currently hopeless.

But "strength" to us wasn't limited to martial prowess.

If there was even one thing someone excelled at more than others, then that itself could be considered "strength."

And by that measure, Kizuna was strong.

He blindly believed in an ambition far too great for a human being and continued moving forward.

It wasn't a question of whether he could accomplish it.

He had engraved into his heart that he had to accomplish it, and so he continued onward.

Always moving straight ahead.

Never wavering from what he believed in.

That was strength.

A strength that no one else could imitate.

Kizuna's strength.

His and his alone.

I had fallen in love with that strength.

I wanted to support him.

...And once I thought about that, I naturally started wondering about the two women at Kizuna's side.

At first, I thought this wasn't something I should worry about before a battle.

But if I missed this opportunity, there was a chance I'd never be able to ask.

We people of the grasslands are taught from childhood that you should never leave anything unresolved in your heart before a battle in which you may have to risk your life.

Besides, we still had some distance to go before reaching our destination, and it wasn't unusual to ease the tension before a battle with some light conversation.

...At least, that's what I told myself.

And so I decided to talk to the two of them.

Rene and Tierra.

These two were abnormal.

There was nothing particularly unnatural about their actions or conversations since yesterday.

They didn't seem to be plotting some kind of betrayal, either.

But there was no question that they were abnormal.

First, their appearance.

I was reasonably confident in my own looks.

My father, the great hero, had married the most beautiful woman on the grasslands, and I had inherited that blood properly.

I'd received so many marriage proposals that it was ridiculous to even try counting them.

Of course, I had beaten every single man who proposed to me in a sparring match.

But Rene and Tierra were on another level entirely.

They were so beautiful that I could believe it if someone told me they were dolls created from scratch by someone seeking the ultimate form of beauty.

Their jet-black eyes and blue eyes sparkled like jewels, while their raven-black hair and jade-colored hair shone like the finest silk.

Their facial features were flawless, yet they also possessed the adorable charm of young girls.

...Seriously, wasn't that going too far?

I'd gone beyond jealousy and reached the point where I simply couldn't understand it.

Well, if I gave them a hundred steps' worth of leeway, I could at least interpret their appearances as simply being the way they were born.

But everything else about them was far too strange.

First, Rene.

She was simply too immature.

Her thoughts and behavior were far too undeveloped.

It was almost as though someone had given a newborn baby intelligence and the ability to speak.

Or perhaps it would be better to describe her as a doll imitating a human.

A moment ago, I'd half-jokingly wondered whether someone had created her as a doll in pursuit of beauty.

But Rene gave me the impression of such a doll suddenly developing a will of its own and beginning to move beyond its creator's intentions.

The strange power swirling somewhere deep inside her was frightening too.

Just imagine it.

Picture a young child who hasn't fully developed any sense of ethics or common sense, frantically scribbling mysterious magical circles all over a room.

That was the impression I got from the girl named Rene.

And then there was Tierra As.

She was fragmented. Messy.

Her thoughts, her words, even her inner self.

It was as though everything had been forcibly stitched together.

And yet, on the surface, there was no sense of incongruity whatsoever.

She blended into the world as naturally as though this was exactly how she was supposed to be.

In fact, even the people of the grasslands who possessed a sixth sense almost as keen as mine felt nothing strange about her.

Her legs, arms, torso, and head were all as though they belonged to different pieces.

Yet they moved perfectly normally.

That was the impression I got from this woman named Tierra.

If Rene was something that imitated a human...

Then Tierra was a human that had fallen apart.

And yet these two traveled happily together, trying to save the world and its people.

Wasn't it impossible not to be wary of them?

That's why I'd deliberately kept avoiding them.

But I'd already decided I wouldn't run anymore.

"What are you two, nya?"

"What do you mean?"

I wondered if it was rude, but I asked them directly.

Part of me thought it was more honest than trying to dress up the question with unnecessary politeness.

Besides, if they were hiding something shameful, surely this question would make them nervous.

But Rene simply gave me a troubled expression, as if she genuinely couldn't understand what I meant.

She furrowed her brows, pursed her lips, and tilted her head slightly.

Even that expression was cute.

The fact that she did it naturally was almost frightening.

"Ah... Rene lost her memories from before. So even she doesn't know what she is."

Tierra answered the question for her.

She had no memories.

She didn't know who she was.

She didn't remember her parents, her friends, or her homeland.

I'd heard from Kizuna himself that he was the same.

...That had to be painful.

I'd never experienced it myself, but I understood that it was an incredibly painful and sad thing.

I realized that, without knowing her circumstances, I'd asked an incredibly insensitive question.

"I see, nya... I'm sorry for asking something like that, nya. I'm sorry."

"I don't mind. I forgive you."

When I apologized, Rene genuinely seemed not to care and forgave me.

She folded her arms and struck such a smug pose that I could practically hear a "Hmph!" sound effect accompanying it.

She was cute in everything she did.

I thought the conversation might end there, but apparently Tierra had correctly understood that my earlier question had been directed at her too.

She answered in a quiet voice.

"As for me... yes. I know quite well what I am. And I know about my abnormality, too."

"...No, I mean, nya... I didn't mean to insult you or anything like that, nya."

Her answer had been so direct that I was the one who became flustered.

As I stumbled over my words, Tierra gave a small chuckle and continued speaking.

Her smile was filled with the gentle kindness of a mother looking upon a small child.

"It's only natural for you to be wary of me, Pisca. Everything about me is made of lies."

"...Made of lies, nya? What does that..."

"But don't worry. The actions of 'Tierra As' exist for the sake of 'Kizuna Harukawa.'"

Her words were abstract and difficult to understand.

But she didn't seem to be spouting nonsense just to deceive me or evade the question.

The slight crease between her brows, the troubled look on her face, eloquently conveyed that this was simply the only way she could express it.

I tried to turn over the meaning hidden in her words...

"That's why you can rest assured. I have no intention of harming the person you love."

"Nya-nya-nya!? No, that's—That's not it, nya! That's not what I meant, nya!"

That was exactly what I meant.

But admitting it was far too embarrassing, so I tried to cover it up.

For a moment, I felt as though another version of myself was looking at me coldly from inside my heart, asking, "Didn't you just decide you wouldn't run anymore?"

But it couldn't be helped.

Sometimes, a strategic retreat was necessary.

Ahh, my face was hot.

I was probably bright red by now.

While I frantically tried to cover up my embarrassment, Tierra turned her gaze away.

Her eyes seemed to be staring at some distant, distant land.

Then she quietly murmured:

"Besides... someday, I—"

Her words carried a complicated emotion that defied description.

They sounded like the helplessly honest feelings of someone who had just described herself as being covered in lies.

"...No, it's nothing."

She suddenly snapped back to herself and hurriedly brushed it aside.

It was probably a territory she didn't want anyone entering.

I didn't want to be the kind of insensitive woman who forced her way in and pried it open.

"I see, nya. ...Thank you, nya. That helped me loosen up a little. If you get too tense before a battle, it can lead to a major mistake, nya."

"...?"

Rene tilted her head in confusion at my words.

Maybe I'd forced the transition a little too much, but I deliberately brought the conversation to an end.

At least one thing was clear.

Neither of them intended to harm Kizuna.

That was enough for now.

I started walking again, trying to catch up with the group ahead.

Then Tierra's voice reached me from behind.

"Rene. Pisca. Please take care of Kizuna-kun. He's somewhat... no, he's quite reckless, after all."

"Nya? What do you mean...?"

"Oh, Kizuna-kun and the others are calling us from over there. It seems we're almost at our destination. Come on, you two! Let's hurry!"

She'd dodged the question again.

What had she meant just now?

It was almost as though...