No one knew when they would return to Sanders. There was also no way to preserve the body intact until then.

“Hmm… first, let’s cremate him… and later bury him together with his parents. While I prepare, treat each other’s wounds.”

Anesio sprinkled magic stone powder around Zeno’s body. Blue flames enveloped him.

If there were gods—though seeing situations like this, surely there weren’t—but if there were gods and an afterlife, they prayed for Zeno to be taken to the best place.

Anesio placed a fist-sized magic stone on top of where Zeno was, who had been reduced to a handful of ashes.

— Sparkle

The magic stone shone like a blue star, and when the black ashes disappeared, two small pendants remained.

Anesio strung the pendants and placed them around Caleb and Rudbeckia’s necks.

“When you return to Sanders, bury this beside his parents. Until then, always stay together as you have been.”

“Thank you.”

“And, just as Zeno did in life, he will continue to protect you from now on.”

“Thank you.”

The two stared intently at the pendants. A tear from Caleb’s eye fell onto the sky-blue pendant that resembled Zeno’s hair color. He quickly wiped it away, not wanting anyone to see, and tucked the necklace inside his clothes.

As if the sky was also moved by their sorrow, not a single ray of sunlight could be seen even at midday.

The two arrived at the inn and, unable to resist Anesio’s insistence, ate just one small potato before collapsing onto the bed.

“Zeno……”

Rudbeckia lay on the bed, tightly clutching the pendant in her hand, and blankly stared at the ceiling.

She hadn’t witnessed the moment Zeno’s breath stopped. Perhaps that’s why the fact that he was dead felt even more unreal.

Even now, it seemed like he might knock on the door at any moment and ask if they had eaten.

“I thought it would be so good if Zeno became emperor… not because there was no one else to do it, but because I really wanted to make Zeno emperor……”

She had thought it would be a perfect country of unprecedented peace and prosperity—the wise Zeno becoming emperor, and Caleb becoming Grand Duke behind him, cooperating.

Tears passed from the corners of her eyes, wetting her ears. She fell asleep dreaming of such an ideal country with the two of them together.

— Click

Rudbeckia, who had fallen asleep shortly after noon, woke up at a time when not only guests but even the innkeeper would likely be asleep.

‘The saying that humans are animals is exactly right. To wake up hungry even in this situation……’

It was pathetic. She opened her eyes, which were swollen and crushed from tears, and opened the door with a bleary look, holding a thread-thin hope that perhaps the owner might have finished cleaning up a bit late.

— Creeeeak

“Cal? What are you… doing here…?”

When she opened the door, Caleb was crouching there.

Looking down further, she saw a tray with bread and soup.

“I thought you might be hungry if you woke up at dawn, so I was going to leave it quietly. Did I wake you?”

“No. I woke up hungry before dawn even arrived. Let’s go inside.”

She took the tray Caleb had set down and went into the room. She placed the tray on the table by the window and sat across from him.

Yesterday, the moonlight had shone brilliantly. Thanks to that, they had been able to maintain visibility toward the mage, but today, there was neither moon nor stars. It was darkness so intense it was suffocating.

“How’s your body? Sleep?”

After bad events, even a kiss on the forehead would sometimes trigger a memory surge.

Fortunately, since Zeno’s end hadn’t been a horrific scene with blood spilling, no memory surge occurred.

However, happy memories with him flowed like a panorama, causing her to choke up throughout her sleep.

“I remember when I first saw Zeno. When he couldn’t even properly hold a wooden sword yet… you barged into my room, dragging Zeno along, saying an incredibly pretty child had entered the Grand Duke’s residence……”

“You were truly a beautiful child in the Grand Duke’s residence, which was teeming with men. I didn’t know that you shouldn’t burst into a girl’s room without knocking. Mother scolded me severely.”

“Zeno’s sky-blue eyes were so beautiful……”

They were clean and pale sky-blue. Transparently clear. Just like the pendant now hanging around her neck.

“Yet Zeno always envied your eyes. Saying a knight should have charisma just from their gaze like that.”

A tear dropped onto the soup bowl. Rudbeckia quickly looked up at the ceiling. Caleb wiped away her tears.

“Cal, I will take Zeno’s share too. I will definitely get revenge. Revenge and rebellion. I had been wondering how much I could handle. I even thought maybe I could just avenge my parents and then hide away in a mountain valley with you alone.”

Killing intent began to seep into her golden eyes.

“But that would be too selfish, wouldn’t it? Look at this. Someone who doesn’t even know our faces kills people just because they received a request. Is this what you call a normal country? I’ll succeed in the rebellion and wipe out the Perron imperial family along with everyone who leeches off them.”

In a proper country, rather than killing people on private requests, they would be judged before the law. The Sanders grand duchy had been like that, and so had the Glimm Kingdom.

The blood of royalty, the blood of a leader, ignited her fighting spirit.

* * *

Perhaps two full days had passed since Zeno’s death.

They rode without rest. They just wanted to ride without thinking, and by riding that way, they arrived at Finis territory around sunrise, when they should have arrived late in the afternoon.

It was amazing how such a different world could unfold with just one mountain as a boundary.

They had clearly been riding through yellow fallen leaves and rustling foliage, but as soon as they crossed one mountain, a snow field where their feet sank deep stretched out before them.

Fortunately, the weather was good, the sunlight intense, and there were no snowflakes drifting.

— Knock knock

The three knocked on the door of the village chief’s house, where faint smoke was rising from the chimney.

“Oh my, Master, you’ve come. I thought you’d come when it got colder.”

“Are you annoyed that I came early? I came early because I brought some very precious guests.”

“Honey! Catherine! Master is here!! Our home is humble, but… please come in.”

Caleb and Rudbeckia looked around the house and sat on the chairs offered by village chief Robert Lovett. Soon, Robert’s wife, Catherine Lovett, appeared.

“Master, welcome. Oh my, who are these people…”

“Let me introduce them first. This is Marquis Caleb Finis. He’s the lord who will rule this village. The beautiful lady beside him is Rudbeckia. And……”

And there should have been one more, but Anesio was too choked up to continue.

The expressions of the village chief and his wife grew increasingly rigid and began to fill with fear as they heard the introduction. Noticing this, Anesio soothed them, asking them to sit at the table.

“Don’t worry so much. These children are similar to the people here. Wounded, hurt, expelled, and pursued. That’s the kind of children they are.”

Anesio told them the story of the Sanders grand duchy and the Pergos Empire, focusing on Caleb’s story.

Finis territory was literally an ‘abandoned’ place, and so most of the residents here were fugitives. Fugitives who had nowhere else to live except in an abandoned village where no one would come to capture them.

Most were fugitives whose lives had been devastated by repeated wars or who could no longer endure the tyranny of nobles. Slavery had long disappeared from the continent, but some nobles gave their servants meager wages and treated them like slaves.

Only after hearing Anesio’s story did the expressions of the village chief and his wife soften somewhat. Above all, they trusted Anesio, who came every year during the coldest month to create an inextinguishable fire.

Moreover, both of them were abandoned people in an abandoned land. There was no reason not to open their hearts.

“It’s still before lunch, right? Call the villagers. We need to introduce the lord… and there’s also someone to commemorate…”

Robert quickly gathered the villagers.

As they took out food items one by one from the black hole sack as relief supplies, a grand feast was prepared. Those who gathered early looked at the Black Hole sack with curiosity, even while maintaining a wary attitude.

Children toddled over and tried putting their hands into the sack. Finding something every time they reached in seemed fascinating, as they continued to gather in small groups.

Most of the villagers had assembled. At least one person from each household must have come. However, their number wasn’t very large.

There were fewer people than the five squadrons that had participated in the Fabio War.

“Ahem, pleased to meet you all. I am Marquis Caleb Finis, who will be managing this place. I understand what everyone is worried about. I heard from Master Anesio. Please don’t worry. I am not an administrator dispatched to collect taxes from you or exploit your labor.”

Caleb’s voice trembled slightly. Having grown up loved by everyone and surrounded by attention since childhood, this atmosphere was very unfamiliar to him.

“I am just one person trying to survive, just like all of you. My goal is first to ensure that you all have a warm and well-fed winter.”

Their response remained cold. Rudbeckia nudged Caleb’s side and whispered “Sanders, Sanders” into his ear.

“Ahem. I am the second son of Grand Duke Eriton Sanders.”

I should have said this first.

Only then, as if a spell had been broken, the frozen people began to stir.

The rumors about the Sanders grand duchy and Grand Duke Eriton Sanders’ charisma and popularity were famous throughout the continent.

In an instant, they could feel the change in the way people looked at Caleb, and encouraged by those changed gazes, he appealed to them.

He asked them to be happy together, to open their hearts so that they could love this place. Then, bringing up what had happened before arriving here, he asked for prayers for Zeno.

“Village chief, do you perhaps have a map of this area?”

“A map?”

“I know there’s an old Glimm castle ruin here. I want to make it my residence.”