***Chapter 280 Kreschenta and the Annoying Decoration***

The only sound at the small funeral was the sobbing of two servants.

Because there was no body, the doubts about whether she had really passed away were somehow reassured.

Of course he knew she had been ill for a long time.

He had visited her several times.

She was still beautiful――but her cheeks were skinny, her arms were thin, and there were dark circles under her large eyes.

He had only heard that it was a side effect of the dragon's blood.

But it must have been very painful.

She always had a smile on her face, but the dark atmosphere of the mansion made it seem like a different place, and none of the residents were smiling like they used to.

The queen at the funeral was seemingly normal, but there was no doubting her appearance.

Even after losing the servant she loved so much, she didn't even shed a tear, and she didn't make a sad face, just remained calm.

Having been by her side for so long, he knew she was better at acting than anyone else.

But she couldn't even act sad.

Kilik didn't say anything, couldn't say anything.

As usual, as always――the same went for his companions.

They didn't mention anything in front of her, and simply devoted themselves to their role as escorts.

It had been a while since the older sister, who loved that servant more deeply than anyone, had returned.

She disappeared without a word, and when the two returned after a full day, Kilik asked nothing either.

He simply continued as usual, as always.

And he dedicated that to his lord.

Believing that this was the role of an escort.

She wiped the sword, looking at it carefully.

Like its former owner, the sword said nothing. It didn't talk nonsense.

It was very different from a certain redhead.

Kilik was a serious man who didn't talk nonsense.

It had been five years since the redhead had died――five years since the Heavenly Pole was grown next to the royal capital.

He greeted me as usual without asking any questions. He carried out his mission as usual.

"...Fufu, so you won’t ask, ‘what is that’?"

"If it's related to my role, I'm sure Your Majesty the Queen will tell me."

"You're really serious, Kilik-sama."

A desk, a sofa, and a table for reception.

After getting used to being invited into the Queen's office, he sat on the sofa opposite her without any particular concern.

If he were a born noble, he would have tensed up and stiffened himself even after getting used to it, but that brazenness on the contrary was like a commoner would, and was pleasing.

Kreschenta was literally above the clouds――equal to God.

Normally, lower-ranking nobles were not even allowed to speak to her, or see her face up close.

If he was told not to care, he did not care; if he was told to do as he pleased, he did as he pleased.

On top of that, he puts Kreschenta first, so Kreschenta has no complaints.

Escorts are inherently difficult to deal with.

A position that allows them to spend all their time at the king's side――a kind of privileged class, and many nobles would be very happy to be escorts.

Because if they were favored by the king, they could expect to be promoted significantly.

In order to buy their loyalty, it was necessary to satisfy their greed and provide them with favors, and it was also necessary to consider the balance of power among the nobles.

But Kilik was a commoner who was born a woodworker.

The other escorts were also similar, honest soldiers who were loyal to her older sister.

To begin with, they have no ambition to go beyond that.

They say that it was an honor to serve at the side of Her Majesty the Queen, as if it were a matter of course, and they even work hard to make their daily duties even more efficient, there was no other word than convenient.

She had even leaked some information to test their loyalty, but none of them seemed to have mentioned it to any of their relatives, not even to those in the Black Flag Special Force.

They genuinely seemed to consider this role an honor――they were extremely easy to handle.

And when all of them were precious magic possessors, it was beyond passable.

There was nothing to complain about.

"We are going to unify the continent now."

Kilik seemed to be unable to believe what he heard that day, and froze.

Kreschenta smiled.

"Unification, that is..."

"Just as it means, the entire continent will belong to Alberan."

He looked confused when she said it as if it was a matter of course, but his face quickly became serious.

"Only a very small number of people in the country know about it, but I thought I'd let the head of the escort, Kilik-sama, know about it, since it might cause a commotion soon."

"Thank you for your consideration. I see... it's true, there's no guarantee that some unscrupulous people won't show up."

"Yes. But I don't mind if you do it as usual."

"As usual...?"

Kreschenta slowly raised her fingertips――blue lightning burst forth.

"A magic formula that doesn't use magic crystals.... A technology called magic. You've heard the story of what Onee-sama showed in the battle with Vezrea, right? It's the same thing."

The Heavenly Pole had only just been created――but the area around the royal capital was filled with a certain amount of magical power.

Kreschenta always had magical power around her, so she could easily burn anyone who showed up in an instant.

She could even make a person's head explode without needing to see them.

"Yes. ...In the extreme, there's no need for escorts anymore. If the enormous magic power coming out from that tower fills the air, eventually even an army won't be necessary."

"Even an army..."

"Fufu, are you surprised?"

Kilik was a serious man.

He never neglected his daily training and always did his best as an escort.

Telling him magic that she hadn't told anyone else was a reward.

Just a little, she wanted to help him relax a little.

"That’s why you don’t need to be that serious, saying ominously ‘if it's to protect me then’. Rather, if it comes down to it, you should prioritize yourself. I can protect myself."

“...Understood”

There were quite a few people who got crushed by being too serious.

Selene is a good example of this――being a hard worker was a virtue, but if they were to take it too far, they could easily get crushed by the slightest thing.

How could she make Kilik last as an escort, that was how the place to show her skill――good tools needed to be taken care of after all.

Kreschenta looked at Kilik, who was smiling, probably with relief, and smiled too.

"Guess I will have to work even harder, and not slacken off in my daily training.”

"...?"

She tilted her head.

"Our duty is to clear away the sparks and fog that fall on Your Majesty the Queen. Your Majesty has confided in me because Your Majesty trusts me....But in reverse that means, it’s a secret that should not be known to anyone else right."

She frowned, wondering what he was saying.

It was an unexpected reply.

"We must protect Your Majesty, so that Your Majesty does not need to use that power and that it won’t become known. ...I believe that being a decorative sword is an honor, its purpose is to show force."

Kilik ignored Kreschenta, looked straight at her, and continued.

"As always, leave the miscellaneous chores to me. It is our duty to do those miscellaneous matters with all our heart and soul, Your Majesty. ...Though I do need to ask if Your Majesty is willing to continue to leave those chores to us."

――Kilik was a very serious man.

Crescenta was half-exasperated inside, but she was still a queen.

When told this, there was only one thing she could say in response.

"It is an honor to have a warrior like you by my side. ...Of course, from now on――will you continue to be my sword, one that would only be worn at my waist?"

"...Of course."

She took a sip of the tea and frowned.

The tea was too sweet even for Kreschenta――a honey flavored tea. It was probably because Elvena had requested that the tea she brewed this morning be a little sweeter.

Looking at Kilik half-exasperatedly, she turns her eyes to Anne.

"Eternal loyalty is just a mere word... but I will live my life with that in mind. As long as I am useful... as long as Your Majesty needs me, I'd like to stay by my side."

Anne looked at Kreschenta expectantly, waiting with anticipation at what she would say.

"...Yes. I look forward to continuing working with you in the future, Kilik-sama."

――The Maiden of Liberis was an old and silly legend.

After losing a battle and his hometown burned, a man fleeing with deep wounds was saved by a beautiful maiden.

To repay his debt, he worked for the village and the maiden――but war broke out with a neighboring tribe seeking the maiden.

The man drew his sword to protect the woman and her village, but the enemy was too strong.

The village was burned down and the man fled with the maiden.

The man became the decoy and barely escaped, but he was too late.

The maiden, cornered by the lake, chose to commit suicide using the sword rather than become the wife of a man she did not desire.

The man killed all the men that were there.

Afterwards, he wielded his sword to protect the maiden's grave from the men who did not know that she was dead――and lived his life as the maiden's protector until his end.

It was a story about a simple-minded and foolish man, but it was a popular story among nobles and soldiers.

Spending his life on irrational causes and meaningless efforts.

Still, that kind of story was probably what a lot of people like.

Searching for a suitable sword in the treasure vault, she chose it because of that legend.

Putting all his effort into irrational and meaningless efforts――it suited Kilik.

In fact, that was his reaction as well.

If she personally bestowed a reward, normally one would be enthusiastic for a while.

Far from being enthusiastic, he just acted as usual with a normal expression.

He performed his duties as an escort calmly, as usual.

She thought that perhaps he might not be happy, but that probably wasn't the case.

He performed his duties as if to say that this was his best.

It hadn't changed for decades.

"I hear you turned it down.”

In front of the mansion at dusk――it was autumn.

There was something he had to say to Her Majesty the Queen, he said.

‘You may go back first’, she told Arne.

Then the men of the escort team saluted as if in agreement and left the place.

"Yes. ...It was very much like Krische-sama. I'm sure the commander was very troubled."

Kilik's face showed a wry smile――he had aged considerably.

His face was lined with deep wrinkles, and his muscles had weakened a little.

It was probably because he had been sick for a few days and had just recovered.

He had aged even more.

Apparently her older sister had mentioned the birdcage while nursing him.

She had heard that she had been turned down.

"Fufu, I heard you even said, only if you would be taken in as a groom, really Kilik-sama.”

Kreschenta laughed, and Kilik gave a wry smile.

Her older sister was an idiot――she has no common sense.

She likes what she likes and dislikes what she dislikes.

Her favorite would be her favorite forever.

She invited him into the birdcage out of goodwill, only to be troubled by the refusal.

"I wanted to tell her that I'm not refusing because I dislike Krische-sama... please forgive me. That kind of relationship... is not something that anyone other than family should enter."

"I know. Don't worry about it. Onee-sama is not very flexible after all."

Kreschenta didn't stop her sister.

Her sister's favorite loved her even more.

None of her sister’s favorites were the kind of vulgar people who would take the bait of eternity――and she had thought it would be good if she was isolated like that.

That way, she would have her sister all to herself, become Kreschenta’s.

Eventually, everyone will be gone, and it will be just the two of them.

――That was what the eternal birdcage was.

"Even so... I am deeply relieved.”

“...Relieved”

“...Just as Your Majesty desires, I'm sure...those joyful days will come back. That alone brings me a bit of comfort.”

She stared at Kilik, and Kilik looked back at her.

"I thought that even an eternal kingdom would not be a dream for Your Majesty the Queen. The people would be happy, and the world would be at peace. ...But I believe what Your Majesty's desires were for something much more trivial――for those days before Argan-sama passed away."

Like the eyes of an old man looking at his granddaughter.

Kreschenta knew that Kilik sometimes looked at her with those eyes, and that was why she found him useful and trusted him.

No need for further words.

"I'm doing my best every day to repay the kindness Your Majesty showed me. But an escort is an escort――even if I tried to make sure that Your Majesty's days were safe, there's no way that someone like me could help fill that gap. With due respect, I was worried for Her Majesty's future.”

‘That’s why I’m relieved’――the old soldier smiled.

That would probably be the first and last time he would ever talk nonsense.

Kilik was a man who didn't talk nonsense.

That being so, she felt like she should forgive him at least in the end.

"I know it's presumptuous of me to say this, but... I hope Your Majesty will be happy."

It was really presumptuous of him, a mere escort.

But she understood why he said that.

"...It's almost like a farewell greeting."

When she told him that, Kilik gave a wry smile.

"...As long as you’re useful, as long as you’re needed. If you're worried about getting old, don't worry about it.... You're doing a good enough job as my escort, and I still need you. Maybe you should reconsider?"

‘I appreciate the kind words, but’ Kilik said and shook his head.

"Maybe it's because I'm relieved, but when I look at myself in the mirror, I just see an old man. My health is deteriorating, and I'm only going to get weaker from now on. I can't have a shabby old man like me escorting Her Majesty the Queen."

‘I’m just a decorative sword’, he says, touching the sword at his waist and stroking the elegant silver decoration.

No matter when she looked at it, it was always spotless, and the decoration was carefully polished――the sword that Kreschenta gave him had become completely familiar to the old soldier.

“I’m no longer appropriate to be worn at Your Majesty's waist.”

Armor, helmet, sword, mind, and body.

Even with every single one of those spotless, and everything carefully polished, the old soldier said those words.

"...Kirlk-sama really is a serious person huh."

――To the point of being exasperating.

The nameless hero of the legend must have been such a ma., she thought.

Endlessly faithful and honest to the end.

Surely, the maiden didn't wish for that either.

She must have wondered what the point of obsessing over something like that would be.

Even though he knew it was pointless, he was trying to be a meaningless protector in earnest.

“...what about after this?”

"...I thought I'd drop by my brother's place for a bit, and get some help from the swordsmanship training center run by the squad members."

"I see...fufu, I'm sure you can do anything. You'd be good at teaching swordsmanship, too."

“Thank you. And... I have a request.”

“A request?”

Kilik said, looking a little embarrassed.

He removed the treasured sword from his waist and closed his eyes for a moment before speaking.

"Being bestowed such a sword by Your Majesty the Queen is the greatest joy of my life. ...But I am ashamed to say that I have no wife, and no children to inherit it. Therefore... I was asked if I could return it to Her Majesty's treasury."

Lovingly caressing the sword, which had been polished to a shine, even down to its finest details,

"...I have never wielded it, and have never left a single scratch on it. It is my greatest pride to have been able to keep this sword by Your Majesty's side as a beautiful ornament...I swear on this name that I have not treated it in a way that would diminish its value."

‘Could Your Majesty please allow me this’ the old soldier asked.

She wiped and wiped it, polishing it carefully down to every corner.

She wiped the dust off the edges of the fine decorations, even into the gaps in the carvings.

The sword he pulled out was shiny――not a single tarnish on the blue blade.

She was a little worried that Arne had splashed a bucket of water on it, but there was not a speck of rust.

Why did Kreschenta have to worry about such things?

It was a really pointless job.

It would be easy to quickly and completely preserve this kind of work with magic.

However, the redhead started saying something incomprehensible about how it was better to do the tedious work by hand, and her stupid older sister agreed, acting as if she understood it.

As a result, this kind of useless work has become an everyday occurrence here.

There was nothing but waste in this mansion.

It was a world lacking in rationality.

The redheads and her older sister wasting time on useless work.

Selene repeatedly engaged in useless handicraft.

It was all waste, including Lira who was always looking after the lizards.

Kreschenta was the master of the world, God itself.

She was very important.

Sadly, why did she have to clean with a cloth? It was always a question, but considering it now was pointless.

It was that kind of ‘rule’.

Wiping and wiping, as if stroking the blade gently, she peered at the base.

The last time she had taken it completely apart and cleaned it, so there were no problems up to the tang.

Next time she'd take it apart and clean it up.

"My, it's shiny."

As she gazed upon the blade, which had been further polished, the redhead, who seemed bored, came over.

The redhead's job was to clean up the vases, ornaments, shelves, and other things that were in the way, but as always, she did a haphazard job. The redhead's work was all pretense――just enough to appear as if things were cleaned and then be done with it.

Redheads always tried to do only 80% of the work.

A redhead without ambition.

In the first place, it was the redhead who suggested doing the tedious manual work, but the only thing this woman did properly was cook her favorite food and make tea.

It was only natural that she would want to complain.

"Woof."

This was only natural for a job.

When she showed the sword as an example, the redhead stroked her head and smiled wryly.

"Kreschenta-sama taking such good care of it, I'm sure Kilik-sama will be pleased."

The redhead took the sword, looked at it, and carefully placed it back in the sheath.

The dim-witted redhead made another dim-witted remark.

Kilik had been dead for a long time, he wouldn’t get happy or talk nonsense.

And this sword belonged to Kreschenta.

Cleaning it had nothing to do with Kilik.

‘――My apologies, but as a queen, I cannot accept a reward that I have already given to my vassal.’

‘That's...’

‘Therefore, may I accept this as...a personal gift from Kilik-sama to me?’

The redhead looked as if she was having fun, as if she were the ‘dim-witted companions’.

She glared at her in dissatisfaction, and the redhead shook her shoulders and smiled.

'If that’s acceptable, I’ll display it proudly at the mansion's entrance. ...As a treasured sword of a warrior I trust more than anyone else, next only to Onee-sama.'

‘You, Majesty...’

‘...This is a one-of-a-kind sword that can't be bought even with ten thousand gold coins.’

It just happened that way――a little reward and lip service for all the work he had done up until now.

A sword is a sword, and it's in mint condition, worth at most fifty gold coins.

If he's giving it to her for free, she thought it wouldn't be bad.

That's all, nothing more.

The redhead handed the sword back to Kreschenta.

Checking whether there was any finger mark, Kreschenta pursed her lips and hung it on the pedestal.

Then, with a ‘whoosh’, she put her hands around her neck and bounced up and down.

She mounted him (physically) and hugged her.

"Well then, Kreschenta-sama, shall we take a little nap?"

Rubbing her cheek against hers and nodding, the redhead headed straight to the second floor.

Looking over her shoulder, she saw useless and inconvenient decorations lined up here and there in the entranceway.

There was nothing but waste in this mansion.

A world lacking rationality.

On the stand was Selene's junk. It was in the way.

Next to that was also Selene's junk. It was in the way.

Lined up in a row were a number of annoying decorations,

‘...What do you think, Kilik-sama?’

Kreschenta’s sword, which was never used, took up a place in the middle and was enshrined there.

‘Ha... Where on earth could there be a greater honor than those words?’

A shiny, polished ornament.

A decorative sword that had once been hung up.

Without a single wound, without a single tarnish.

‘Fufu, really, Kilik-sama didn’t know huh.’

She could see it in her mind, the always so carefully polished――the old soldier, who couldn’t even look up, offering up his sword with both hands, a shining helmet.

‘...It is a much greater honor to be gifted such a sword.’

That sword that she received was now the same, another one of Kreschenta’s annoying decorations.

――In the future too, always a nuisance.