Side Story 20. Claude’s Past (1)

The majestic Grodes Mountains stretched out under the vast sky.

Rustle. Rustle.

A gentle noise echoed in the quiet castle and disappeared into the air. Claude, the twelve-year-old lord of Hilton, was sitting on the windowsill, carving a piece of wood with a dagger. More precisely, he was sculpting a wooden figurine.

The small wooden statue, about the size of a fist, was to be a toy for Leah.

Just then, a small smile appeared on Claude’s lips. He heard hurried footsteps approaching from outside.

He could tell who it was just by the sound.

It was Leah, the little lady of Hilton Castle.

Bang!

“Brother!”

Leah’s youthful cry shook the air as the door opened roughly.

Claude turned his head with a small smile. He gestured to the nanny who had followed Leah to withdraw, then hopped down from the windowsill.

“Leah, what’s the matter?”

“Look at this. It’s a branch with a strange shape.”

“……?”

Claude examined the branch in question that had excited Leah from various angles. To the eyes of a sensitive six-year-old girl, it seemed to look like something different, but to Claude, it was just one of the many ordinary branches scattered throughout the forest.

“What’s so strange about it?”

“This is the horn. This is the body, and these are the front and back legs.”

“……”

“Can’t you see it?”

Leah looked up at Claude with a disappointed face.

The young lady, with black hair grown to her shoulders just like Claude’s, gave off a quite different atmosphere from him. It was probably because of her bright green eyes, like new life in early spring. Inherited directly from their mother.

“I can’t see it.”

Claude shook his head with a deliberately serious expression. Leah pouted and slumped her shoulders.

“Dummy.”

Undoubtedly, this little girl was the only person in the world who could call the lord of Hilton a dummy.

A few months after Leah was born, the parents of the Hilton siblings passed away in a carriage accident. His adorable little sister was Claude’s only remaining blood relative.

The reason Claude, who had become lord at a young age, had been able to handle that heavy responsibility so well until now was because loyal retainers who had been with the family for generations steadfastly supported him.

Especially Kiel, who had been the butler of Hilton Castle for generations, had made a great contribution.

“It’s a unicorn, a unicorn. Don’t you even know that, brother?”

“Which part is a unicorn?”

Claude now took the branch from Leah’s hand and pretended to examine it in the winter sunlight streaming through the window bars. It was still just an ordinary branch.

“There’s a horn here! A horn!”

Leah raised her voice irritably, as if she had grown horns herself.

“Leah.”

At that, a rather stern voice flowed from Claude’s mouth.

It was a voice that would have made an adult smile fondly if they were present, but to the ears of the six-year-old lady, it sounded very scary.

Claude was flustered to see his sister’s green eyes quickly becoming moist.

Oh no.

He hadn’t even scolded her that much.

“Is it okay to shout like that carelessly?”

“……”

“Put your lips back in.”

“……Hmph.”

She put her lips back in, but her brow furrowed even more. Claude had a hard time holding back his laughter at her cute expression of sulking while still obeying.

Claude gently wrapped his hands around Leah’s shoulders and crouched down to meet her eye level.

“You’re dressed too lightly for the cold.”

“……”

“Well. I’ll have to have a word with your nanny.”

Claude took off the thick coat he was wearing and wrapped it around Leah. Saying he’d have a word with the nanny was a lie. No doubt Leah had been throwing off the covers they kept putting on her, saying they were cumbersome.

Recalling the clothes hanging on the arm of the nanny who had been standing outside the door before withdrawing, Claude carefully observed Leah’s expression.

She was fidgeting, worried that the nanny might get scolded severely because of her.

“Brother.”

“What?”

Seeing his sister finally looking at him directly, Claude felt he had caught on. The fact that she was making eye contact meant her sulking had subsided a bit.

“I’m hot.”

With that, Leah took off the coat Claude had just put on her and handed it back.

You little… Your neck is covered in goosebumps.

Barely swallowing the words that were about to burst out, Claude narrowed his brows. It seemed the willful tomboy of a sister was pretending to be hot to save the nanny.

She’ll catch a cold at this rate.

“Leah, come here.”

Claude beckoned as if he had something to give her.

Leah immediately brightened her round eyes and followed him with an expectant expression. She was rubbing her small palms together so hard they might catch fire, clearly cold.

“……”

Such a small thing, but with such stubborn pride.

Knowing that telling her to put the coat back on would only result in her insisting she was hot until the end, Claude silently headed towards the fireplace. He threw in a few logs to make the flames stronger.

“Close your eyes and hold out your hands.”

“What is it? Hehe.”

Happy at the thought of getting a present.

She’s just so cute.

Claude smiled warmly as he looked at Leah, who was spreading her small palms wide in front of the warm fireplace. The young lord of Hilton only relaxed like this in front of his sister.

He hadn’t originally planned to give it to her now.

After giving her enough time to warm her hands, Claude quietly placed the toy he had been carving until just before into his sister’s hands.

Leah slowly opened her eyes.

“Huh? Wow! Wooow!”

“Do you like it?”

“It’s a unicorn!”

Leah jumped up and down on the spot in excitement.

How can she be so happy over something like this?

Seeing her joyful expression, Claude felt that if he could, he would cut down all the trees in the Grodes Mountains to make unicorn statues for her.

Knock knock.

It was then that a polite knocking sound was heard.

Claude ordered them to enter as he turned his head. The warm glow that had filled his red eyes while looking at Leah had completely disappeared without a trace.

Butler Kiel opened the door and entered.

“Your Grace.”

“What is it?”

The businesslike tone in which he asked was cold beyond measure.

Startled by the sudden change in atmosphere, Leah looked back and forth between her brother and the butler. Then, spotting the nanny who must have been waiting behind the door all along, she quickly ran to her.

Claude glanced at Leah being embraced by the nanny and putting on her outer clothes, then turned his gaze to Kiel. In the butler’s hand was a newspaper that had clearly come up from the south.

“It’s been a while.”

Once they were alone in the office, Claude spoke in a serious tone.

There hadn’t been any good news coming from the south lately.

Kiel handed the newspaper to his lord with a gloomy expression. It was a newspaper that had arrived after a full three months. Originally, news from the southern informants had come more frequently, but the newspaper publications were becoming increasingly irregular.

That must mean the situation was getting worse.

“The undead continue to gain power, it seems.”

At Kiel’s brief report, Claude nodded slightly and read through the text. Looking at the date, it was a newspaper from half a year ago.

Such old articles might not be of much help, but in these times, even such meager information was precious.

“We can’t send support to the south, what in the world is going on?”

Claude closed the newspaper and let out a long sigh. It seemed too heavy for a twelve-year-old boy to utter, but considering his position and abilities, it wasn’t strange at all.

The Denhague ducal family had been guarding the northern frontier for generations. The Grodes Mountains were the largest habitat for undead on the continent, so periodic extermination was necessary.

Once a year.

It had been carried out like an annual event traditionally.

The frequency remained unchanged, but the situation in the south seemed far from normal.

It was said that a large-scale durahan legion had appeared in the Sahar Desert. Abnormally large numbers of undead had risen across the continent, turning countless villages into wastelands.

Undead appearing naturally was a common occurrence, but not like this. This was a war between the undead and humans.

“The regular extermination in the Grodes Mountains is not far off.”

Kiel spoke in a heavy voice.

“Protecting Hilton comes first.”

“I know that.”

“We are narrowing down the extermination areas with search magic. I will submit a report soon.”

“Alright.”

Claude furrowed his brow.

Suddenly, he remembered the face of that annoying Crown Prince he had seen a few years ago. They had a sword duel in front of His Majesty the Emperor, and that brat a year younger than him had shown quite impressive skills. Even though he was a full span shorter than Claude.

“Since it’s not in the newspaper, it seems he’s not active.”

“Pardon? What……”

“Ah, never mind. It’s nothing.”

Claude waved his hand dismissively.

The Crown Prince, though young, was more skilled than most knights. With his innate genius, he could already freely wrap mana around his sword at that time. The fact that they weren’t deploying such a genius knight must mean they could still hold out.

He must be eleven now.

After counting the young Crown Prince’s age, Claude shook the southern news out of his mind.

The future where that annoying Crown Prince would awaken as an Enchanter the following year and sweep across the entire continent was still unknown.