Altina the Sword Princess: Loose Threads, page 7
“Well, it happens. Let’s get started.”
“Indeed.”
Auguste reached a hand through the curtain. It had been an incredibly long time since she had received anything without the maids acting as an intermediary. How could something so simple—so mundane—prove to be so exhilarating? She rifled through the cards like they were priceless treasures.
“These, and... these...”
Auguste and Eddie both picked out the pairs from their hands and placed them on the table. Auguste could see that she didn’t have the joker, which meant that Eddie did. He spread out his cards like a fan before holding them out to her, their faces directed toward the table.
“All yours!” Eddie announced.
“All right.”
Auguste’s heart raced as she pilfered a card from her opponent. The two of spades. She could pair it with the two of clubs in her hand, so onto the table they went. With that done, she once again stuck her two hands out from behind the curtain, spreading her cards so that Eddie could take his pick.
“Your move,” she said.
“Hm... In that case... this looks like a safe bet.”
“Have it your way.”
Playing the game with only two people meant that every pick would make a pair—that is, so long as they didn’t take the joker.
It was Auguste’s turn again, and when Eddie spread his cards out, she noticed there was one in particular that he was keeping especially hidden.
The point of the game is to make your opponent take the joker, so surely he wouldn’t put it somewhere I’m less likely to see it, Auguste thought, reaching for the card with a resolved “Mhm.”
“Hahaha!” Eddie roared with laughter. “Who falls for a simple trick like that?!”
“Wh—?! Inconceivable!”
It was, of course, the joker.
Gah, he got me. This is terrible. It’s not even like I can use the same move on him. He’ll see right through it.
Auguste wasn’t stupid enough to try and trick Eddie with his own technique.
Soon enough, her mind was working through strategy after strategy, so much so that she had become completely immersed in the game. They continued playing old maid until noon, after which she taught Eddie how to play rummy and watched him perform a few card tricks.
When it was time for dinner, Eddie returned to his room.
The day had passed like a dream, but Lillim made sure to caution Auguste as she ate. “Err... Prince Auguste... I heard you crying out and giggling like a girl. Are you quite all right?”
It was only then that Auguste realized her mistake, the shock and fear rendering her bedridden for real this time.
But still... it had been an enjoyable day.
✧ ✧ ✧
“I’m so screwed. This is the worst. It’s the one thing that I—”
Eddie was facing quite the predicament. It was now a week since he had started guarding Auguste, and he was confronted with a problem so important that it put the House of Balzac’s continued existence at risk.
I’m actually starting to find Auguste cute!
While they were enjoying their games together, the prince had somehow managed to grasp Eddie’s heart and refused to let go. Everything about him was near infatuating: the heartwarming smile he made when he won, his irresistible scowl when he lost... But what was even more unforgettable was the excitement in his eyes as he looked forward to the next game, or the overjoyed expression he wore when they were about to play.
The situation was so bad that Eddie had seen Auguste in his dreams three nights in a row.
“I can’t believe this... He’s a guy! He’s older than me! He’s royalty! Why is he so damn cute?!”
Auguste was twenty-four, five years Eddie’s senior, but there was something about the way the prince acted that made him seem much younger. Perhaps Eddie was simply mistaken, though.
Either way, I need to keep my focus on women! the young duke told himself. As the head of his house, it was both his duty and his obligation to produce an heir.
Once Eddie had polished off the sautéed chicken he had been served for dinner, he went to do his daily sword practice. While he needed to stay in close proximity to Auguste as his guard, this training was something he couldn’t do inside the annex, so he went and stood right outside the front door.
“Hnn! Grah!”
He swung incessantly, as if trying to swipe away his worldly thoughts. The sword in his hand was a regular weighted blade, since it would have been unbecoming for him to use the emperor’s treasured sword for something as simple as basic practice.
As Eddie was working up a moderate sweat, he suddenly sensed a presence. A figure leaped out from the shadow of the building in the blink of an eye, thrusting a blade toward him.
“Haaah!”
“Knh?!”
Eddie avoided the sword at the very last moment, swinging his own to counter in tandem. While the training blade was dull, it could still do a considerable amount of damage.
“Yaaah!”
“Hngh!”
The weapon thrust out by his foe was drawn back in an instant to parry the slash, the unknown attacker then following up with a sudden kick. Eddie swung his leg out as well, pushing himself away when their feet collided to create some distance between them.
Stepping out from the dim twilight, the mysterious figure finally came into view.
“Gramps!”
It was Eddie’s grandfather, Balthazar Basil de Balzac. His old, wrinkled face scrunched into a grin, and then he lunged forward with another battle cry.
“Hyaaah!”
“Wait, we’re still going?!”
“It’s been a week since you returned! A week! And you haven’t come to see me once, you foolish grandson!”
Contrary to his words, Balthazar sounded absolutely overjoyed. Eddie parried the next slash, locking blades with his opponent on the return stroke.
“I’m a bodyguard now! I can’t just leave my post!”
“Not even a letter, though?!”
“I ordered a duck to be sent to you!”
“Ah, I see! You know me all too well. So, how’s work treating you? Doing your job?”
“Ech... M-More or less!”
The two men exchanged more blows than words before finally backing away from one another again. It took Balthazar a while to collect his breath.
“Seems my age is catching up to me. To think that brief exchange would be enough to wear me out...”
“Normal people get winded after twenty strikes,” Eddie commented, though he personally didn’t seem exhausted in the slightest. “You look like you’re doing well, Gramps.”
“Yes, yes. To see you here, serving as a bodyguard to royalty... Snff...”
“Are you crying?!”
“After all that nonsense about not being able to cut people down, and your total lack of achievements on the battlefield, I was sure this was it for House Balzac... But now, in my final years, it’s one piece of good news after another.”
“Oh? Has something else happened, too?”
“Indeed. It involves Princess Argentina. Do you remember her?”
“’Course I do—I’d never seen anyone that strong before. But, well... I haven’t seen her since she came of age. Got no clue what she’s up to now.”
It was around the age of ten that nobles began preparing to enter high society. Women had much to learn, and they were apparently taught not to meet with men so casually. For this reason, Eddie had barely seen Argentina since she turned ten. It was as though she had disappeared by the time he even realized one of his usual playmates was a girl.
“After you left on that campaign, Princess Argentina was made the commander of Fort Sierck at Prince Latrielle’s suggestion.”
“Hah?”
Balthazar went into more detail, explaining everything that had happened at the distant border. “Isn’t that great news?” he concluded.
“Absolutely. It’s incredible.”
“Perhaps she’s found herself a good strategist.”
“It’s the part about beating Black Knight Jerome that surprises me most.”
“How about you try taking him on, too?”
“Don’t think I could beat either of them, to be honest.”
“Khh... Pathetic! All those techniques I bestowed upon you are going to waste!”
“Well, they’re meant for killing people. We’re all much better off without them, if you ask me.”
“Our ancestors honed those skills over the past eight hundred and fifty years!” Balthazar exclaimed. “Why, back in those—”
“Ah. This story always drags on. Could we skip it?” Eddie asked, raising a hand to stop his grandfather. They had gone through this same routine countless times before, to the point that even Balthazar had grown weary of repeating himself.
“You’re right. Well, no matter. You’re here fulfilling your duty. Princess Argentina is doing well for herself... I’m happy. We’re all happy. I’ll have no regrets when heaven calls for me. In fact, I’d much rather they call me soon before this all takes a turn for the worse.”
“Why are you assuming it’s gonna get worse?”
“Well, I expect you’ll get sacked eventually. It happens.”
“Hey now...”
Balthazar grinned. “Or maybe... Hm... How about you promise me some great-grandchildren? Do that and I’ll live to a hundred, or however long it takes.”
“Ah, ngh... Yes, well... Eventually...”
It was quite normal for a man Eddie’s age to have a wife: among the Belgarian nobility, the early birds married at fifteen, and the late bloomers at twenty. It wouldn’t have even been unusual for him to have had two or three children by now.
“You were away from the capital for half a year. You could have at least come back with a wife!”
“I was fighting! In a war! But I’ll... I’ll marry! And have kids! Someday!”
Of course he would. Without a wife and children, the House of Balzac would cease to exist. Eddie didn’t have any siblings, after all.
His plan was to have kids, then teach them how to fight with swords. How they used that knowledge would be up to them. At the very least, he wanted to honor the will of his father, his grandfather, and his ancestors who came before them—to nurture a loving household, as they had done for him.
That was Eddie’s intention, but there was one huge problem: the very mention of marriage and children brought one face to mind, and that face belonged to Auguste.
“Urgh...”
“What’s wrong? Not having illicit thoughts, are you? You can’t go after a married woman. Oh, but don’t worry about status—if you fall in love with a commoner, marry her. Doesn’t bother me.”
“You sure are jumping to conclusions. It’s nothing like that.”
But in truth, Eddie was having illicit thoughts. There was a reason Balthazar had managed to survive to such an old age: his intuition was spot on.
“Gramps... I’ll marry someone who can have kids. Just you wait.”
“Eh? What are you getting at here?”
Eddie held his aching head, when all of a sudden, Balthazar’s expression firmed up. “Incidentally, O grandson of mine...”
“What’s up, Gramps?”
“Have you ever heard of Le Dragon du Fer?”
“I’ve heard they’re master mercenaries,” Eddie replied, though his six months spent on the front lines of a civil war meant he wasn’t too knowledgeable about current events.
“They’re skilled, to be sure,” Balthazar explained, “but I’ve heard they also take up kidnapping and assassination jobs. Tales of their valor come hand in hand with some very dark rumors.”
“Well, they’re mercs ’n all. I’m sure there’s a lot they’d do for the right amount.”
“They’re here.”
“Here?”
“In the capital.”
“Doing what? Who hired them?”
“I don’t know. But the information comes from a trustworthy source, and nothing can really be done about it right now. Nobody’s breaking any laws simply by hiring them.”
“But... this is the capital, ain’t it?”
“Be on your toes.”
“I shouldn’t have a problem guarding the prince. I doubt he’s gonna be attacked by mercenaries in the middle of the palace.”
“The possibility of that happening is exactly why I’m telling you this. If this were the sort of danger you could foresee and avoid yourself, then I wouldn’t be bringing it up.”
“Guess you’re right...”
The fact that his grandfather found it necessary to bring up these mercenaries likely meant that he thought there was a high chance Eddie would encounter them.
“Gramps... D’you know their captain’s name?”
“Last I heard, it was Damien. Be extra careful. There’s a rumor that everyone in Le Dragon du Fer slathers their swords in poison.”
“Poison, eh...? They sound more like vipers than dragons.”
And with that thought, Eddie recalled the narrow-eyed man he’d met a few days prior.
✧ ✧ ✧
“No, Eddie... You can’t... Not there.”
“Shh, it’s fine. See? I just need to... H-Huh?”
“Is it... Is it stuck?”
“I just need to take it slow. Trust me, it’ll slide right through...”
“You’re being too forceful.”
“Quiet down. How about I move it around a little, like this? Think that’ll do it?”
“Ah... Eddie, no... It... It’s going to—!”
The wooden blocks clattered to the table.
“Man...”
“You’re always going for the risky blocks, when you easily could have taken a safer one.”
Today’s game involved a tower of colored wooden blocks, with players taking turns to pull out pieces until it eventually collapsed. There were a few other rules too, of course, such as each player only being able to use one finger.
“I thought it was free, y’know.”
“I told you to go for the blue one. What a shame...”
“But you won. It collapsed on my turn. Isn’t that, er... how you play the game?”
“I know, I know... But it’s more fun to keep it going as long as we can.”
“I see,” Eddie replied with a chuckle as he industriously retrieved the fallen pieces. Two weeks had passed since he was first stationed in Auguste’s annex.
✧ ✧ ✧
“Eddie, what I’m about to say is important,” Auguste said, fixing him with a serious look. “You would do well to remember it.”
“What is it?” the young duke asked, straightening his back.
“A certain merchant is stopping by tonight.”
“Oh? Are you doing some shopping?”
“You can always put in an order if you need anything... But in this case, an art dealer from one of the provinces recently managed to do business in the capital. He wants to send a gift to the royal family as a token of gratitude.”
“I see.”
If the man presented something rare and wonderful, word would spread through high society in an instant. Anything considered good enough for the royal family immediately became more desirable among the nobility as a whole, and as an art dealer’s target market was of course nobles, he would no doubt produce something of astounding quality to promote his name.
“So you’re telling me it’s time for my first job. Don’t you worry—I won’t let my guard down for a moment, even if we’re just dealing with an art dealer here.”
Eddie couldn’t read minds; it was impossible to know how much of a threat someone posed purely based on their vocation and outward appearance.
“That’s not what I’m worried about...”
“Then what can I do for you? I’m not much of an art appraiser, you know. The attic in our house is littered with paintings, but I couldn’t tell you a thing about them.”
“I’m not expecting an expert opinion, either. What I was going to say is that I must ensure my appearance is appropriate for his visit. Make sure you do not enter this room under any circumstances.”
“Your appearance?”
Auguste nodded, his cheeks flushing ever so slightly—yet another gesture that seemed to separate him from the prince Eddie had once known. As the young duke beheld this unexpected expression, a rather peculiar feeling washed over him.
“That’s... Yes, that’s right,” Auguste replied. “Listen well. Do not come in, no matter what.”
“I hear you loud and clear,” Eddie said with a nod. He began gathering up the wooden blocks, as well as the playing cards, the darts, the senet board, the chessboard... They had certainly played a lot of games. “Erm, should I call the maid...?”
“Please.”
He rang the bell and Lillim arrived in no time at all, a pot of warm water in her hands. “Prince Auguste, I have brought the— Wait, what’s all this?! You have a guest today?!”
“...Yes.”
Eddie chuckled. “We’ve been playing since morning, but I might’ve brought a bit too much with me.”
“If our guests see this room, rumors will surely spread that Prince Auguste’s disease has finally affected his mind, too!”
“Huh? Is it really that bad...?”
“To think the head of a ducal house is playing children’s games in His Highness’s room... Do you not have other, more important things to do?”
“You’ve got me there.”
She seems more like a home tutor than a maid... Eddie thought, offering a wry smile. Meanwhile, Auguste bashfully pressed his arms against his sides, making his shoulders look even narrower than usual.
Lillim poured the hot water into a larger vessel, while several other maids began showing up with more waterpots. “We shall take care of the cleanup,” she said. “Get in the bath, Prince.”
“Yes, ma’am...”
“Sir Eddie, to your room at once!”
“Gotcha, gotcha.” After bowing to the prince, Eddie made his way down the staircase, heading to his room on the floor below.
Several thoughts played on his mind as he walked. For one, Lillim was incredibly reliable despite her childlike appearance; she certainly didn’t seem like someone who would leave a personal belonging in her master’s room.
