[V4C19] How the Barbarian Sword Princess Loves
Translated by Jodas 4: Flying Through the Sky“A Harpy’s life span is, in terms of human age, just a little over twenty years.”
When Tia told him that, Wren failed to grasp the meaning of any of those words, and could only respond with a weak “Eh?”
The lifespan of a Monster depended on its species.
Greater Monsters didn’t have the capacity for reproduction, but in exchange, they had long lives, and it was said that some lived for hundreds, if not thousands, of years.
On the other hand, Lesser Monsters had the ability to reproduce, but they paid for it with shorter lives. However, those born directly from the abyss didn’t have that restriction. That was how the Primordial Beast could still be alive after all these years.
…That was what he’d learned through his group lessons.
When he’d heard that Lesser Monsters had short lifespans, Wren had naturally assumed that it meant their lifespans were comparable to that of humans.
(Tia had said that she was fifteen in human years. Did that mean she only had five years left to live?)
He couldn’t hear himself think over the sound of his pounding heart. His mind was utterly blank, and yet somewhere in there, it made sense to him.
Tia had only ever talked about her immediate goal of ‘I want to fly.’ She never spoke of a future beyond that.
No ‘when I grow up,’ no ‘when we become grandpas and grandmas’— She wasn’t looking at a future a decade or more from now.
“Wait, b- but maybe…”
Shaking, Wren opened his mouth.
He spoke without really knowing what it was that he wanted to say, even though he knew he wouldn’t be able to say anything meaningful. Regardless, his mouth moved before his mind.
“The Wedge Tower has all kinds of techniques, right!? Just maybe, they might have some magecraft that could help extend a Monster’s life! You never know…. Surely at least fifty years should be….”
“Piyo?”
Tia looked at Wren with wide eyes.
With… confusion. As if she was watching a creature she couldn’t understand.
“What would I do with that much time?”
Oh, shit, what do I do… He thought.
His mind was all jumbled up, and he couldn’t form a single coherent thought, yet he felt like his emotions were about to come crashing out unfiltered as words.
—Why would I say something like that? I’m gonna grow real big, and graduate from being a pretty boy to a pretty man! Then I’ll be a pretty dad, and a pretty grandpa! I thought that all that time, far into the future, we’d still be able to call each other dumbasses. I thought it was a given that we’d had that kind of future ahead of us.
There was no end to the things Wren wanted to do.
He wanted to study; he wanted to try making friends; he wanted to go out with a pretty girl; he wanted someone to tell him that ‘pretty boys are the best!’; there was so much, he couldn’t count it all. Ten or twenty years wouldn’t be enough to accomplish everything.
…But Tia didn’t have such things.
She wanted to sing, and to fly. That truly was it.
(There’s no place for us in the future Tia’s thinking of.)
He thought back to the time that Tia reacted negatively to the word ‘friends.’
It only made him realize there was a deep chasm between Tia and himself… It frustrated and pained him to think about it.
With his mouth half open, Wren didn’t know if he wanted to grit his teeth or scream. The longer he hesitated, the likelier it was he was about to break out in tears. But when that thought occurred to him, Sevil opened up her palm and grasped Wren by the skull.
“Tia, I’ve suddenly remembered I have urgent business to attend to, so I must leave you here. Wren, I need you to come help.”
“Okayy! See you later, then!”
“Of course.”
Tia swiftly waddled away from them.
Tia’s ears were good. So even when her form completely disappeared from view, Wren spoke in a whisper.
“…Y’know, I…”
His mind was still all jumbled up. So, thinking the best way to organize his thoughts was to let all the emotions building up inside him pour out, Wren started to speak.
“Since Tia seemed to have bad memories with friends, I’d decided to hang on and wait patiently until Tia eventually came to realize that friends weren’t such a bad thing after all, but…”
“I know.”
“After all, we’ve gotten so close! I thought, maybe this can work out! Human this, Monster that, who cares, right? … I really wanted to say that kind of thing…”
From time to time, he got a reminder.
No matter if they speak the same language; no matter how similar they look; no matter how they may be able to communicate— that didn’t change the fact that he and Tia were different species.
“‘Human this, Monster that, who cares’ … That’s not gonna work, huh. I can’t just avert my eyes from this.”
Perhaps there still was the choice of keeping a safe distance from Tia, pretending not to see the things that would bother him, and spending the next year pretending to be friends.
However, Wren hated that ides. Wren liked Tia and Sevil enough to hate the idea of abandoning them.
Even among his fellow Apprentices, his classmates in Hütter’s class were special to him.
“I don’t need to know everything about someone I want to be friends with, but I also don’t want to pretend like I don’t know anything… How do you manage to stay calm about this kind of stuff, Sevil? Could I do it to, when I grow up?”
Sevil quietly listened to Wren’s venting.
Her composed countenance looked no different from her usual appearance. She was always reliable. Especially when he was working through something.
“There is no correct answer in communication between people. That goes even when you’re dealing with Monsters.”
Wren was taken aback by her answer.
‘There is no correct answer’ made sense to some small part of Wren’s mind.
Was his desire to have some kind of answer regardless a sign of his weakness?
Wren hadn’t come into contact with many people to this point, so at times like this, he wanted to latch on to whatever was the majority opinion.
“I like you and Tia. Both of you are precious to me.”
Sevil spoke with her chest held high. As if she had no desire to turn away from them. Truthfully, he believed she had never had any thoughts of turning away.
“In time, the day may come when I shall have to bid a final farewell to Tia. Regardless, the feelings of endearment that I hold for her shall not fade.”
Saying that, Sevil extended her right hand to her waist.
Surely, she was trying to rest her hand on the hilt of her sword as was her habit. Remembering that she’d entrusted that sword to the Management Office, she let her hand fall back to her side.
“You’re aware of my heritage, are you not? My father was the Emperor, and my mother was the daughter of a tribal chief from the grassland nation of Torgai.”
Wren nodded slightly.
The people of the grassland nation of Torgai, to the South of the Empire, were treated across the Empire as an inferior race.
That manner of slander was rarely, if ever, used to refer to the Empire’s other neighboring countries. Not to mention the fact that the Empire itself was composed of a conglomeration of many different countries in the first place.
Or perhaps it was precisely that internal diversity that led the Empire to single out the people of Torgai as a means of building cohesion within the Empire.
Then, the daughter of the chief of one of those Torgai tribes that submitted to the Empire was Sevil’s mother.
Embedded in her title of ‘Barbarian Sword Princess’ were countless insults against the Princess who carried the blood of such an ‘inferior race.’
“In Torgai, there is no end to the conflict between those tribes who submitted to the Empire and those who vehemently oppose it. In the name of keeping the peace, I’ve been sent down to Torgai more times then I can count.”
As it stood, Torgai was divided sharply over whether or not to submit to the Empire.
As such, the Empire sent Sevil, who carried the blood of Torgai in her veins, as a tool to persuade those opposing tribes.
“Long ago, when I was deployed to pacify a certain tribe, I befriended a girl from that tribe who was close to my age. I was overjoyed. She called me ‘Sevil’ instead of ‘Adelheid,’ and taught me how to make flower crowns.”
Adelheid was a familiar name in the Empire, indicating a woman of noble status and high regard. Countless members of the Imperial Family throughout history have had the name Princess Adelheid.
Sevil, on the other hand, was a Torgaian name.
“Not long after I befriended that girl, someone sent an assassin after me. That someone was the girl’s own father. In the end, war broke out with that girl’s tribe.”
“And, your friend…”
Wren asked in a stiff voice, and Sevil closed her eyes as she responded.
“Everyone from that tribe was killed. My friend included.”
In order to avoid an all-out war with the Empire, the other tribes of Torgai left that tribe to its fate. That tribe was sacrificed to protect the rest of Torgai.
And Sevil, in order to preserve the authority of the Empire, had no choice but to accept the sacrifice she was offered and participate in the eradication of that tribe.
(But, Sevil had to know, right? That there was a chance it would turn out that way!)
No matter how much Torgai blood ran in her veins, Sevil would always be a Princess of the Empire.
When conducting negotiations with the people of Torgai, there was always a chance that they might end up as enemies.
…Sevil probably understood that fact very well.
“As one who bears the blood of both the Empire and Torgai, no matter where I am, and no matter who I talk to, anyone could be my enemy.”
That was true even inside the Empire.
If relations between the Empire and Torgai soured, then it wouldn’t be out of the question for Sevil to be killed to send a message to Torgai.
Even Sevil’s direct subordinates in the Empire, if they received orders from the Emperor, would have no choice but to direct their swords towards Sevil.
“And yet, I have nonetheless decided to love with all my heart those things which I hold dear.”
(That’s right, she is a selfish princess after all.)
If Sevil thought something was precious to her, she wouldn’t hesitate to love it.
Regardless if it put her in a precarious position or if the person in question was a citizen of a hostile nation, or even a Monster.
If her status was a reason for her to hold back, then Sevil wouldn’t be able to love anyone.
“Even should the day come that I must strike down someone I love with my own hands, I shall continue to love them until their last breath.”
In a prideful voice befitting an Imperial Princess, Sevil laughed bitterly.
“…Otherwise, I’d be forever alone. I get lonely easily.”
If, one day, Tia were to pose a threat to humans, and Sevil were to stand against her, then Sevil would not hesitate to swing her curved sword.
And yet, until that last breath, she would love her. That was how the Barbarian Sword Princess loved.