Chapter 1. That Man’s Circumstances

Time passed, and the Tugo family, once nothing more than a valiant line of knights, accumulated numerous merits and became counts with a small territory to their name.

The Karsian family, a line of mages who had lived quietly and freely for generations, likewise rose to become a proper baronial family. Whether it was the bond forged by their ancestors or something else entirely, the two families had always supported one another and gotten along well.

That connection carried down to the present, and Areha, the only son of the Tugo comital family, and Juliana of the Karsian baronial family had been close since childhood. With birthdays nearly identical, it was an unavoidable fate.

“Areha is growing so fast, isn’t he? I wonder when our Juliana will catch up.”

“Juliana is already talking! I wonder when our little one will finally call me mama.”

“Oh no! Our Areha has a fever!”

“We have fever medicine at our place. Just a moment.”

The two close mothers helped each other through the trials of raising children. Naturally, Areha and Juliana were forced to witness each other’s every stage, from crawling onward.

A friendship from birth. Childhood friends.

Beyond that, there was nothing particularly special. If someone had asked Areha Tugo what Juliana, the only daughter of the Karsian baronial family living close by, meant to him, he would have answered like this.

Just an utterly ordinary girl.

❀❀❀

A warm spring, just before the coming-of-age ceremony.

On the verge of graduating from the academy’s knight program, Areha Tugo was staying with his parents, who had come up to the capital. The reason was simple: preparations for the coming-of-age ceremony.

In the Empire, those who came of age that year were gathered at the spring banquet and celebrated together. Areha Tugo, the most distinguished student in the academy’s knight program, was one of the young nobles everyone had their eyes on at this year’s ceremony.

‘I couldn’t care less about a coming-of-age ceremony.’

Life had been dull for Areha since he was very young. Nothing in his life had ever been difficult. With half the effort others put in, he could easily achieve results in both academics and swordsmanship. He had chosen the sword because, at least when cutting something down and seizing victory, there was a flicker of something interesting.

The same was true of human relationships. Men and women alike, there was never any shortage of people wanting to get close to him. So what was the point of going to the trouble of holding a formal event just to mark becoming an adult.

‘It’s all a bother. What does it matter how others see me.’

He would have gladly done away with the whole ceremony if he could. His parents, knowing their son’s temperament all too well, had come all the way to the capital and were busily offering their opinions on every detail of the preparations.

Not wanting to clash with them unnecessarily, Areha went along with most of what they asked. But this one thing he could not simply accept.

“Areha, have you asked to escort Juliana to the ceremony?”

“No. Why would I?”

“Isn’t that a little cold? ‘Her,’ you say. Do you have any idea how many years we’ve known that family?”

Areha’s indifferent reply made his mother’s face crumple as she raised her voice. Areha tilted his head.

Juliana Karsian. The second daughter of the Karsian baronial family, right next door to the Tugo comital family.

‘Well, I suppose we’re closer than most.’

Their birthdays were close enough that the two had celebrated their very first birthday party together. And the next, and the one after that.

Right up until he came to the capital to study, they had always been together for birthdays.

‘There were other things too. We took etiquette lessons together when we were little.’

Their parents’ friendship had made them close from an early age, but that was the extent of it. Areha felt nothing particularly special toward her. Though to be fair, he felt the same about every other person in the world.

Regardless, Areha had no desire to ask Juliana to escort her. So he gave his parents, who seemed to take it for granted that he should go with her, a flat, disinterested reply.

“Even so, she’s still just her.”

“I wonder who he takes after, being this stiff.”

Was that really something to dismiss as mere stiffness. It was true they were childhood friends, but bluntly put, she wasn’t his fiancée. Areha saw no reason to extend his hand to her.

His parents, however, seemed to feel differently. Usually, once Areha gave his answer, they would sigh and let it go. Today, they were relentless.

“Then who were you planning to enter with at the ceremony? Is there someone else you’d like to escort?”

“Not interested.”

“……You’re going to walk in alone?”

“That’s fine with me.”

His consistently indifferent answers finally pushed his parents over the edge.

“Walking into your own coming-of-age ceremony alone is practically announcing to the world that you’re unpopular and pathetic! What will you do if strange rumors start circulating in society!”

“Then I’ll just live as a bachelor.”

“Areha Tugo!”

Areha pressed down on his mother’s shoulders as she shot to her feet in indignation. He kneaded them gently and spoke.

“That’s right, Mother. Your son is Areha Tugo. No strange rumors will go around just because I walk in alone. Everyone will simply assume I’ve been too busy training in swordsmanship.”

“If only you weren’t so sharp-tongued……”

This wasn’t baseless arrogance. Areha was, by universal acknowledgment, the most promising knight candidate of his generation. The imperial palace had even made the exceptional gesture of inviting him, a mere trainee not yet formally knighted, to join the palace knight order. Matchmakers had come to the academy more than once or twice to collect his particulars during training.

‘Walking in alone and looking pitiful is a story for the truly unpopular ones.’

Areha thought that with cool detachment. And honestly, if people thought that and lost interest in him, so much the better. He genuinely had no interest in others. All the marriage talk and engagement talk circling around him was nothing but a nuisance.

Watching her only son like this, Countess Tugo beat her chest in despair. She pressed her fingers to her throbbing temple and issued a command.

“Stop talking nonsense and go ask Juliana right now if you can escort her. She had better not have already chosen a partner.”

“I said I don’t want to, Mother.”

“Areha.”

What could possibly bend that boy’s stubbornness. Years of experience had taught Countess Tugo how to hold her son’s reins. She picked up a single document.

“There’s a consent form here that absolutely requires my signature. I believe it’s the application for the eastern subjugation campaign you want so very desperately to join, isn’t it?”

“……Mother?”

He hadn’t expected that to come out, and Areha’s expression showed it. Countess Tugo smiled with infuriating smugness and waved the document back and forth in plain view. Areha pleaded with her, a rare occurrence.

“Mother, I’m going to take down a gargoyle there. I can do it. Surely you don’t intend to block your own son’s path to glory?”

The knight Areha Tugo, who slew a fearsome gargoyle before receiving his formal knighthood, before even coming of age. What a magnificent ring that had to it.

But Countess Tugo already saw through the half-truth of it. Ordinary monsters no longer satisfied him. He simply wanted to fight a gargoyle for the thrill of it.

Countess Tugo scoffed.

“Path to glory, he says. What glory is there for a miserable boy who can’t even find someone to walk in with at his own coming-of-age ceremony. You look like the sort who’ll end up an old bachelor, never marrying, and tormenting this poor mother for years to come.”

“You’re the only person who talks to me like that.”

Well, that was because no one else had a son like Areha. Further argument was pointless. Countess Tugo waved her hand dismissively.

“Enough. Go run over to the Karsian baronial family right now. No escort request, no subjugation campaign. You’re not yet of age, and you know perfectly well that my consent is absolutely required.”

“Mother!”

Countess Tugo was a woman of iron will herself. Realizing he would truly lose his chance to face a gargoyle if things continued like this, Areha dropped his shoulders and turned away. Countess Tugo called after him in a gleeful voice.

“Don’t show up empty-handed and ask gracelessy. Go to a proper flower shop and buy a bouquet of roses! Ask them to tie a pretty soft-pink ribbon around it too. I can’t believe I have to spell out every single thing like this.”

“I understand, so please stop talking, Mother!”

Grumbling all the while, Areha obediently went to buy a bouquet, just as his mother instructed.

Standing at the door waiting for the flowers to be finished, the dark-haired young man drew eyes. His figure was striking enough to make some passersby flush, yet the only thoughts running through that striking head were these.

‘She’s trying to nudge me out of the house under some pretense, I’m sure of it. What’s wrong with not getting married? The family line can be continued by adopting from my uncle’s household.’

Being with people held no interest for him, and the thought of tying himself to someone under the name of lifelong spouse made him feel like the air had been squeezed from his chest.

Mother doesn’t understand how I feel, he grumbled inwardly, then reconsidered. It wasn’t that she didn’t understand. She understood all too well, and that was precisely why she was doing this. Left to his own devices, he would genuinely spend his life hunting monsters alone.

‘Well, Juliana probably hasn’t chosen a partner anyway.’

He felt a brief pang of sympathy for Juliana, caught up in his mother’s fussing through no fault of her own, but he didn’t think much of it. The whole world knew they were childhood friends who had witnessed each other’s most embarrassing moments growing up. Who falls in love with someone who knows exactly how old you were when you last wet the bed?