The first night after arriving in the Royal Capital.
I sat on the windowsill in a daze, gazing outside.
The moon was beautiful, and I wanted to keep looking at it.
The Third Generation spoke to me.
*"You seem quite absorbed in it. Was the parting really that painful?"*
I lowered my head and smiled faintly.
If I looked around the room, Novem and Aria were sleeping in the same bed. I had considered booking two rooms, but every place was fully booked and we were turned away.
If there had been one more person with us, we could have gotten two rooms with two people each.
"It was painful, yes. It was right after I was finally acknowledged, after all."
When I said that, the teasing tone left the Third Generation's voice.
*"If Lyle remembers them, then the First Generation will be happy too. More importantly, you've become a little more reasonable lately."*
"A little?"
I gave a wry smile at the characteristically harsh evaluation.
However, deep down, I accepted it. In fact, I thought it was even more generous than my own self-assessment.
*"Yes, just a little. But you're definitely growing. It means the First Generation's actions weren't meaningless. That puts my mind at ease."*
In other words, if the First Generation had disappeared and I had kept moping around, the ancestors wouldn't have been able to forgive it.
"...I still don't know what I should be aiming for. I've also been entrusted with Aria, and I intend to look after her somehow. Even if we eventually part ways, I want to make sure she can stand on her own before that happens."
*"Oh my, does that mean you're opposed to Novem's harem plan? Any man would be thrilled about that... Well, I suppose I understand the sentiment."*
Certainly, any man might dream of having a harem.
But when it came to how things would actually work out in practice, it was a different story.
I wasn't even sure I could make Novem happy.
Novem — the one who had sold off her pre-marriage furnishings to raise funds for me.
Would I ever be able to repay this debt?
"For now, I plan to travel the world as an adventurer. Maybe an answer will come to me along the way… I just don't know enough about anything."
When I said that, the Third Generation agreed.
*"Humans are full of things they don't know. Even when you feel like you understand everything, that's probably a mistake. So you have no choice but to keep learning for the rest of your life. There's knowledge you can only gain from experience, not books, and I for one support Laiel's opinion."*
"Thank you, Third Generation."
Then the Third Generation gave me a warning.
*"Oh, looks like I've talked too much. The little princess is waking up, so let's end the conversation here."*
The moment the Third Generation fell silent, Aria woke up.
As she propped up her upper body, the red gem hanging around her neck seemed to catch the light.
Aria spoke to me.
"…You were still up?"
Sleepy-eyed Aria sat there looking completely defenseless. She rubbed her eyes and looked over at me.
Part of me wished she would see me in a more masculine light, but I told myself it was only natural for someone like me and let it go.
Aria climbed out of bed and came over to me.
Then her gaze fell on my necklace.
"You have a ton of Skills too, don't you? Are those… heirloom things as well?"
I nodded at Aria as she asked the question while looking at the blue Jewel.
Not so much that I'd been hiding it, but rather, people assumed that with my frail constitution, using multiple Skills would be difficult. Even though I had a blue Jewel in my necklace, they apparently never expected I could actually use one.
"It's been passed down through the successive heads of House Walt. A precious family heirloom."
Aria settled into a nearby chair and touched her own red Jewel.
"I see. I have one too, but honestly, it's practically useless. They were all the rage apparently, but the technology to make them has been lost and they can't be produced anymore. And since they're so poorly balanced, nobody gives them a second look."
When Mana Tools appeared, the Jewels that had been in use up until then were abandoned almost overnight.
That was because they couldn't bestow arbitrary Skills on their wielders.
They were seen as nothing more than devices that could only record the Skills someone had already manifested.
Aria seems to be in a good mood today—she's quite chatty.
"Heheh."
"What is it?"
"It reminded me of something. The red Jewel that the women of House Lockward have inherited actually has a rather amusing story behind its origins."
"An amusing story?"
When I showed interest, Aria told me about it.
It all began with a woman who had married into House Lockward.
"When Jewels first started spreading, the only ones available were blank—ones that hadn't recorded any Skills yet."
"Yeah, that's right."
I recalled how the First Generation had learned about this after the fact and deeply regretted it.
The origins of House Walt, if I told them now, were nothing more than a laughable tale.
"So my ancestor, who married into House Lockward, had one of those. But House Lockward apparently already owned one at the time. So nobody could figure out why she'd bothered bringing one along."
When that woman had brought the red Jewel with her, House Lockward had already been in possession of one.
There apparently was a problem with using multiple at the same time, so the Jewel had been brought by the woman who married into the family.
"So that ancestor of yours had it passed down through the women of House Lockward. And along with it, the tale of her blunder."
"Is that supposed to be entertaining?"
"Entertaining, or perhaps a touch bittersweet? Before she married, your ancestor apparently had someone she was fond of. She paid a fortune to buy that Jewel for him."
Hearing that much, it sounded like a touching tale.
From the way the story was going, it seemed the man she ended up marrying was different from the one she loved.
"I don't think it's something to make fun of, though."
When I said that, Aria replied, "Just wait—it gets better from here."
"Your ancestor was apparently terribly clumsy with words and couldn't even confess her feelings. On top of that, she'd never once had a conversation with him! She'd catch glimpses from afar now and then, and that was enough for her. Don't you think that's foolish?"
I didn't know what to say to that.
Admittedly, not even being able to approach him did seem a bit much, but then again, our First Generation had been pretty much the same.
"Well... how should I put it... it's a bit of a gray area."
"Right! So years passed without her ever managing to hand it over, and then a marriage proposal came along that she couldn't refuse. So she brought only that red Jewel with her. She even knew he'd wanted a red Jewel, and yet she couldn't even get a word out to him."
A small question began to nag at me.
I found myself curious about the man she had been in love with.
"What kind of man was he?"
"I don't know the details, but back then there were a lot of young men setting out on pioneering expeditions. He apparently led an expedition far from the Royal Capital. Your ancestor, knowing that, bought this to at least convey her feelings—but she never managed to give it to him in the end. Pretty hopeless, right?"
I found myself thinking it was worth asking further.
Even as I told myself that there were plenty of men who fit that description around here, I couldn't help but press for confirmation.
"D-Do you know his name or anything about what he looked like?"
When I pressed closer, Aria looked surprised.
"Well, I wouldn't know the exact appearance... but the name, I suppose."
She probably hadn't expected me to be this interested. Aria looked a little flustered.
Then, as if recalling something, she mentioned the name.
"I think... it was something like Balji, or maybe Basil. The other party was the third son of a Knight Baron's house, so it was a love across different social standings. Our ancestor at the time was apparently the daughter of a baron, so even if she had approached him, it probably wouldn't have worked out. The name was Alice."
"So that's how it was..."
It seemed their feelings had been mutual.
I felt a complicated emotion.
If only one of them had made a move... but then, neither Aria nor I would have been born.
The ancestors who had been listening to the conversation offered their thoughts.
The Second Generation was succinct.
*'They were both in the same boat.'*
The Third Generation, too—.
*'Well, how should I put it, maybe it really was "fate." They never got the chance to find out in the end... It's hard to say, but it's very fitting for the First Generation, isn't it?'*
The Fourth Generation sounded a little regretful.
*'It's a bit sad, but also a little enviable, you know?'*
The Fifth Generation was cold.
*'Well, there was just no connection. If they'd met, they'd have ended up together.'*
The Sixth Generation—.
*'Whether a love across social standings can succeed, and whether they'd be happy even if it did...'*
The Seventh Generation is the same as the Sixth. But, there's a slight difference.
'Well, that would depend on the circumstances. If that woman, Alice, had many sisters, perhaps she could have followed the First Generation when he set out to develop the frontier. The era had just emerged from a period of chaos, and it wasn't as strict about social standings as it is now. If one could achieve independence, marrying off a daughter isn't a bad strategy.'
Unlike the regional nobility, the court-appointed nobility cannot maintain significant military forces.
This is because they live off pensions granted by the royal palace.
It's not a matter of which is superior, but from that perspective, building connections with regional nobility was also important.
'So, there really was a chance for them to be together... Certainly, the way I met Aria might be destiny, First Generation.'
As I thought that, Aria spoke to me.
"What's wrong? You suddenly look so sad... I know it's a sad story, but this is a cautionary tale for the women of the Lockward family. The moral is to properly convey your feelings, you see. But, there's also the official reason. To say 'you should be like a woman of a warrior family,' right. But, in truth, this is the kind of maidenly worry that lies behind it... Strange, isn't it?"
"...Haha, the contrast really is extreme."
I thought I wished I could have heard this sooner, then realized it didn't change the fact that I couldn't do anything about it now.
It was something that had already passed.
Aria seemed puzzled by my unusual demeanor.
"Are you really okay? You've been acting a bit strange since a while ago."
"No, it's just that I'm really starting to believe in destiny."
"Destiny?"
Seeing Aria's puzzled expression, I explained.
"The founder of House Walt, my family... his name was Basil Walt. He was a man who tried to become a lord so he could welcome the woman he loved."
Hearing that, Aria's eyes widened.
"Wait, you don't mean..."
"It seems he couldn't even speak to her back then. But, it looks like he worked hard to acquire land and prepare so he could go and bring her back."
It was a story about a man who had seriously joined a dangerous expedition to clear the forest for the sake of one woman.
"When he went to bring her back, it turned out the woman he loved had already married someone else. Her name was Alice, apparently."
Hearing that, Aria's expression turned indescribable.
After a while, she opened her mouth to speak.
"I don't know. I don't know what to say. But, if fate truly exists, maybe meeting like this is some kind of destiny too."
Aria gave a wry smile as she spoke, and I nodded.
"I hope so."
I looked away from Aria and gazed up at the moon.
Seeing that beautiful full moon, I caught myself still idly thinking things like, "If only I could tell the First Generation about what we just discussed..." I felt a little pathetic.
I shook off those thoughts and focused only on the moon.
Words came naturally to my lips.
"The moon looks beautiful tonight, too."
And for some reason, Aria's face had turned red.
The Fourth Generation spoke up.
*"This guy pulled it off. He did it without even realizing it, the nerve!!"*
The Fifth Generation raised a skeptical voice.
*"What are you going on about? You're being annoying. What's wrong with saying the moon is beautiful?"*
The Second Generation agreed.
*"The moon does look particularly beautiful tonight."*
The Fourth Generation seemed to be getting irritated with the rest of us.
"Why can't you see it, Ryle?! You like books, right? Haven't you read about it? Haven't you?!"
Thinking Basil was being noisy again, I headed for the bed, saying I was going to sleep.
(Wait, what's so wrong with the moon shining? Isn't it fine just as it is?)
But this time, Aria just kept looking at the moon.
(Did Aria want to look at it too? Well, whatever... Let's just go to sleep.)
"I'm going to sleep first. Goodnight."
Avoiding my gaze, Aria whispered in a small voice.
"O-oh, good ni..."