Kays Translations
Just another Isekai Lover~
Chapter 3: At a Distance for the First Time
“I was nervous. Fortunately, Estelle was the one presenting the medal, so I think I managed to act more or less normally.”
“Hee hee. Was Estelle more solemn than usual during the ceremony?”
“Well…”
There was probably no harm in telling her. Fiona and Estelle had become friendly that winter, and they already spoke to each other with relative ease.
“Only at first. Halfway through, she started grinning because she could see how nervous I was.”
Perhaps Estelle had merely been trying to help him relax.
Fiona laughed, clearly amused by the disgruntled way Ren described it.
“The ceremony was held in Estelle’s office…”
Estelle’s office occupied one of the upper floors of the Lion’s Holy Office. Knights of the organization had been present, and the room itself had been every bit as solemn as one might expect. Even so, Ren had only been nervous at the beginning. Estelle’s behavior soon made everything feel familiar again.
“I am grateful to have received it, but it is not something one uses every day, so I have displayed it in my room for now.”
“Is that so?”
“Yes. It is hardly the sort of thing one normally wears on an academy uniform.”
The Imperial Military Academy allowed students a certain degree of freedom in how they wore their uniforms. In summer, Kaito paired his uniform trousers with a short-sleeved shirt. Ren’s classmate Nemu Altia often wore a hooded jacket, while Charlotte Rofelia—the upperclassman particularly fond of Vayne—left extra buttons open or altered the length of her skirt to suit her own taste.
Strictly speaking, then, wearing a medal on the uniform would not have been a problem.
Estelle had told him he could do so if he wished, but the medal was extremely conspicuous.
“I do not wear mine except with the jacket of my military uniform. Think of it as something to put on when attending an occasion that requires formal dress.”
Others who had received the decoration apparently treated it the same way, so Ren decided to follow their example.
…Besides, it really would attract attention.
The medal was called the Saint Grimdor Sword Medal. A black sword formed its centerpiece, surrounded by gold thread and other ornamentation. Worn at the breast, it had a striking presence. The Director of the Lion’s Holy Office could award it only to practitioners of the Mighty Sword Style who had reached the rank of Sword Saint.
The Lion’s Holy Office was sometimes described as a semi-independent institution. Because it was connected to the Lion King—the founder and an absolute figure in Leomel’s history—there were matters in which even the state could not issue it orders.
The Saint Grimdor Sword Medal bestowed by that institution took its name from Grimdor, a blind knight whose strength had been second only to the Lion King’s.
Reaching the rank of Sword Saint through the Mighty Sword Style did not, by itself, earn a special national reward. Granting titles or land on that basis would have meant offering the same to adventurers registered throughout Leomel, which would have been impractical and unfair.
For defeating Giant God’s Messenger Wadatsumi, however, Ren had already received ample compensation from Ulysses, lord of Eupheim.
â—‡ â—‡ â—‡ â—‡
After escorting Fiona to the girls’ dormitory, Ren walked through the winter streets of the Imperial Capital.
He enjoyed some window-shopping and glanced at an enormous building beside the main avenue.
It housed the Leomel Imperial Headquarters of the Adventurers’ Guild.
Inside was a public hall much like those of ordinary guild branches. Large-scale requests posted at branches across the empire could also be accepted here.
With no particular purpose in mind, Ren stepped inside.
The interior was more modern than the guilds in Clausel or Elendil. He also heard conversations that would have been unusual in a provincial branch.
“No, this matter does not fall under the jurisdiction of the Imperial Court of Justice or the Elfen Church…”
“Several western nobles have approached us about an investigation of this kind.”
Unlike most branches, this headquarters served nobles, knights, and civil officials as well as adventurers. They could submit requests here and have information relayed to the provinces.
“Lord Ren Ashton, correct?”
A female guild employee approached him while he was examining the noticeboard.
“Only ordinary requests are displayed here. Will that be sufficient?”
“Oh, I only stopped by on a whim today… Still, you already knew who I was?”
“Of course. We received notice from the Lion’s Holy Office.”
That notice granted him two particular privileges:
– Permission to accept special requests through the Imperial Capital Guild.
– Permission to enter the Sword Garden.
They were benefits attached to the Saint Grimdor Sword Medal—or, more broadly, to his recognition as a Sword Saint of the Mighty Sword Style. Beyond those formal privileges, his position in noble society and other social circles had also begun to change in ways he had never experienced before.
The privileges were not exclusive to Sword Saints of the Mighty Sword Style. Rather, Leomel was guaranteeing his standing as a warrior of exceptional ability, and the guild honored that guarantee. There were several other ways to earn similar recognition, but none were easy.
“Whenever you wish to accept an Emblem Contract, please speak to the reception desk over there. We will escort you inside immediately.”
These were special assignments whose contracts bore the seal of the Imperial Capital Guild. They differed from the unusual requests Ren had accepted before: every one of them was high level and involved some dangerous or troublesome complication. In Legend of the Seven Heroes, however, successful completion often yielded excellent equipment or other rewards that made them worth undertaking.
Even after the employee departed, Ren continued looking around. When he glanced at the clock on the wall, he realized more than thirty minutes had passed. He had not intended to stay long and had no immediate reason to remain, so he left.
The cold January wind brushed his cheeks and stirred his hair.
As he crossed the crowded avenue, voices from several uniformed schoolgirls reached him.
“Hey, that shop over there has a new line out!”
“Oh, right. Spring is almost here.”
Their conversation faded behind him as he continued through the bustling street.
He stopped at a bookstore and chose some clothes for spring. By the time he finished, dusk had fallen. After eating dinner in the capital, he decided at around seven in the evening that it was time to return home.
Before heading to the station, he chose to stop at the Lion’s Holy Office and greet Estelle. His route took him through the government district.
As he entered an area lined with temples, a thought occurred to him.
…This may actually be my first time coming here.
Walking through the district on his own for the first time, he noticed just how many clergy and other worshippers filled the streets.
The seal on Roses Caitas had broken the previous summer. Only a limited number of people knew that Ren and Licia had been involved, but ever since then, the Elfen Church had proclaimed the event an expression of the Chief God’s will. The effects were still visible: the Imperial Capital’s Great Temple farther ahead was receiving incomparably more pilgrims than before.
“And there is Vayne’s power as well.”
The thought slipped out aloud.
During the incident involving Giant God’s Messenger Wadatsumi, Vayne had revealed a fragment of a certain power. It was the power he should originally have awakened to return Asval—whom Ulysses Ignat had attempted to resurrect—to slumber. Against Wadatsumi, however, it had likely been no more than the first sign of that awakening. Ren had heard a little about what happened aboard House Leonaal’s magic ship.
When winter break ended, Vayne would surely become the academy’s newest subject of attention.
Light from evenly spaced, black, antique-style lampposts illuminated Ren’s path. His footprints marked the thin layer of snow over the stone pavement.
“Once Vayne fully awakens…”
He would become a major source of strength against the threat of the Demon King cult. Ren had just begun to continue that thought when—
…What?
He stopped at the sight of a woman approaching from ahead. She halted as well and looked directly at him.
“…”
“…”
Ren stared in surprise, wondering why she was here. The woman appeared equally taken aback to see him.
She was the first to move again and walked toward him.
A few steps away, with her gaze still fixed upon Ren, she spoke.
“You are a curious person.”
“I can tell that you have grown much stronger since the Grand Clock Tower.”
“…Why are you here…?”
They passed one another.
The mysterious beauty was Sword King Lutreche.
“Until we meet again.”
Her hair streamed in the wind as she crossed his path.
Ren turned, but Lutreche—who should still have been there—was nowhere to be found.
It was as though she had vanished into the snow falling from the winter sky.
She was already gone.