But in his hands, Layfon was holding a sword.
(Why?)
She couldn't think of any reasons. She couldn't understand why Layfon would do this at all.
Leerin was very surprised that when it came to Layfon there were things about him that even she didn't know about.
"Excuse me."
"Ah, yes."
Leerin turned around after suddenly being spoken to.
In front of the reception area was a youth who was slightly older than Leerin. He stood there with a very amiable smile, with very thin eyes framed by a pair of glasses, and a head of long silver hair.
"Excuse me, is this the Psyharden dojo?"
From his manner, it was obvious he came from a family of status.
"Yes, I'm sorry, if you want to enter the dojo please get out your entry ticket..."
"Ah, it's not like that." The youth simultaneously cut Leerin short and spoke to those who were lining up, showing he knew what was going on.
"The thing is, I'm a foreigner."
Foreigner here referred to those who came by roaming buses from other cities.
"I saw yesterday's match by chance, and I was very impressed, so I wanted to meet that Military Artist personally, and came here."
"Ha......"
Leerin nodded her head and at the same time became slightly more alert.
"Of course, I am an ordinary person; I'm not seeking to get into the dojo through meeting him. I just want to meet him."
Again, the youth expressed his plans loudly. The hopefuls who were lining up to gain entry to the dojo realized that he wasn't there to cut in front of them and stopped caring about what he was trying to do.
Dealing with a person younger than him by about five years, he was always very courteous. And Leerin who was always praised by others for her maturity felt that this youth in front of her seemed even more like an adult than she was.
The second day after the banquet, they started preparations in order for Layfon to have the same uniform as the rest of the Heaven's Blade Receivers.
It seemed that the adjustments to the Heaven's Blade, the measurements to his special combat suit for use outside a city, etc. all needed confirmation.
Layfon said he had to temporarily stay in the palace for all those things.
They didn't know when the filth monsters would come and ambush them. And Grendan had much more run ins with filth monsters than normal. For a newly appointed Heaven's Blade Receiver, there wasn't any time for rest.
Hearing this, the youth nodded his head with some comprehension.
"It really is a pity, it seems I won't be able to meet him before my roaming bus leaves."
"I'm sorry."
"It's ok, it's ok, it's not like it's your fault...... And anyway, this place is very welcoming to us foreigners. In the city I live in, any foreigners who wanted to leave their accommodation had to undergo a relatively thorough inspection, and it's the same for almost every other city I've been to as well. This treatment really surprised me."
[It count:4 Editor help plox.]
Perhaps this youth was talking to himself, or perhaps he was simply trying to tell someone else his surprising experience here.
That's why Leerin wasn't about to answer his query.
"I think it's because very few Roaming Buses come by here."
The youth reacted with a look of surprise in response to Leerin's answer.
"Eh? But, that can't be the only reason can it?"
"That...... We have to treat our guests with hospitality, hoping that maybe we'll get some sort of gift from the guests."
"If you put it like that, then I'm a complete cheapskate of a guest who doesn't remember any favors."
"Ah, that's not what I meant," Leerin explained hurriedly and stopped what she was doing, facing the laughing youth.
"Don't mind me, I was just joking."
"Eh?"
"Thank you, even though it's a pity that I can't meet that person, I still met a very interesting person."
He was referring to Leerin.
The serious youth revealed another smile, making Leerin's face burn with redness. But this time, the youth took no notice to her reaction, and left after saying goodbye.
"......A strange person."
Reflecting on her judgment of the youth, Leerin returned her attention to her meal. There were still many people who wished to enter the dojo, and recording their names and addresses was something that Leerin didn't have a choice in doing right now.
As he smoked a cigarette, Lintence responded, "I refuse" to this completely uninteresting topic of conversation.
"Go tell them that this is what I said."
Lintence lived in the district in Grendan reserved for receivers of the Heaven's Blade.
The letter he was holding left his hand. The letter itself and the envelope it came in were in the same state as when he had received them: they were defying physics and were floating horizontally in the air.
As they reached the rubbish bin, they were shredded. They were shredded so finely that even those who were used to putting together jigsaw puzzles would have trouble reassembling it, his paranoia making it nearly impossible to restore.
The floorboard was creaking. The robust male who had brought the message shrank back and retreated a few steps in the face of Lintence's attitude, making the noise. It was the fate of an apartment that was built with cheap materials, and this was the sound of the floorboards aging.
With a pair of spiritless, unfriendly eyes coupled with messy, long, uncut hair and that lazy beard covering his beard, Lintence laid on the sofa. He wasn't looking at the messenger at all, instead staring at the smoke floating about in the room like a mist.
"Go back."
Lintence uttered the short sentence as he exhaled more smoke. The messenger escaped out the door, the floorboards he stepped upon making more creaking noises.
The ashes descended towards a shirt full of wrinkles.
But before they could land on the shirt, they were sent to the ashtray in a cubic shape.
The door was just left open like that, and outside the door near the stairs were sounds of people bumping into each other. The anguished cries of women, the panicked sounds of men, the sounds of people falling from the stairs, as well as the laughter which echoed from upstairs.
"So noisy."
As Lintence mumbled to himself, the door moved to close itself.
At the same time, a hand stopped it.
And from behind it, came a surprised sound.
"Wow, the pathetic state you're in really is surprising. It's only been a week, so how the hell did you manage to make this room so messy? That's amazing in its own way."
Pulling open the closing door, the woman walked in without reserve as she looked about the room in a dazed manner.
The woman, dressed in maid uniform, took out a vacuum cleaner and stood in front of Lintence in a proud pose.
She didn't look to be older than twenty.
But nobody knew her real age. Regardless, this woman often used her leftover Kei for an internal-type Kei to control her body at will. Changing her skeleton was a little difficult, so she couldn't change her height, but she could limit her own growth. At least since the many years ago he had first met her; her height and her visage hadn't changed at all.
"What? You can't take it if there isn't that much smoke in the air? You smoking addict."
Saying this presumptuously, that woman strode past Lintence and opened the windows. Fresh air rushed passed the woman and blew in, but Lintence's sharp sense of smell still detected the stink of the rubbish dump placed next door in the construction room.
"...I believe I told you sixty four thousand eight hundred seconds ago to leave me alone, Your Crappiness."
Lintence was still lazing on the sofa as before, but the window closed by itself, and the breeze stopped.
"If you've got a problem, then go find somewhere else to live. It's not like that will damage that icy attitude of yo
urs. All the maids I assigned to work here all came to me one after another crying, pleading me to let them work somewhere else."
"So just leave me alone. We've already had this conversation thirty eight times."
"If a Heaven's Blade Receiver lives in a place like this, then the Almonise ruling house will be questioned by others. I wish you could at least make it a little tidier."
The woman dressed as a maid...... Her Crappiness...... Alsheyra Almonise opened the window yet again. This time it wouldn't be closed again. She removed all the steel threads wrapped around the window.
Looking from outside, a pair of hands darted about grasping at empty air. Alsheyra tossed the steel threads in her palm beside her. Those discarded steel threads silently returned to their owner.
"Where are the clothes I gave you? I think they should suit your tastes."
"You've watched too many yakuza movies."
"Look at that mean glare in your eyes. I'd like to see what kind of malicious being you are if you aren't some hoodlum."
As she said these rough words, she laughed gracelessly. Laughing, she kicked the accumulating pile of magazines with a well-rehearsed action and after finding the power cord, she connected the cleaner into the hidden socket and proceeded to turn it on. The unique noise of the vacuum cleaner filled the room.
"I want to kill you, you know."
Lintence muttered this quietly in the midst of the chaotic noise the vacuum cleaner was making.
"I know that" replied Alsheyra calmly. "You idiot, you really piss me off. You don't even know your place."
"For that, I became a Heaven's Blade Receiver."
"That's why I'm saying, an idiot really is stupid. You've already revealed your real self. Just like that, you've leaked the information."
"Surely there must be some Heaven's Blade Receivers who aren't satisfied with you?"
When Lintence became a Heaven's Blade Receiver, there were some who expressed their disapproval.
Lintence wasn't actually the first foreign Military Artist who became a Heaven's Blade Receiver in Grendan.
However, such Military Artists usually appeared about once in every King or Queen's rule.
There had never been a person like Alsheyra who gave Heaven's Blades en mass to foreigners.
Of course, it was natural for the higher ups of the traditional Military Artists in Grendan to be offended by these actions.
As for the isolated city, information from outside cities took relatively high priority. Technology too, took high priority, along with expansion of the gene pool. They welcomed everything other than illnesses. But all these things needed time to fit together, and this was the new problem which this city was facing.
First was Lintence, then it was Cauntia and Reverse's combination. Suddenly three military artists had become Heaven's Blade Receivers. Even though survival of the fittest was the Military Artist's motto, they weren't very pleased about this.
But......
"So what." Showing no signs of wavering, Alsheyra continued to ponder, calmly went on.
"There's no problem with them harboring discontent. If they don't like it, there's no problem either. If they have any problems then it's good if they tell me and don't hold back. Even if I am royalty, I'm merely the descendant of the bloodline of one of the strongest families in Grendan. If you think you're strong, then do your best to do something. Keeping them all in line is my job. As for any disobedient little dogs, giving them the punishing whip is the job of the master. That's all there is to it, is it not?" declared Alsheyra as she cleaned the room with the vacuum cleaner.
It didn't fit her maid uniform. As he thought that, Lintence cracked a smile, looking at her face from the side.
She was a Queen at birth. She was the strongest at birth. This woman's behavior gave off an aura of splendor, totally out of tune with the obedient feel of her maid uniform.
"Well, just let me look forward to what sort of a song an idiot can sing. It's been really boring recently. I wanted to bully the new gentleman, but it seems he's not strong enough yet. Lin, can you go train him?"
"Well, I guess that'll be interesting."
Lintence had also watched yesterday's finals. But he only watched the opening ceremony and the participants before returning. For him, that was more than enough to predict the results.
And he didn't guess wrong.
"Oh? That was really unexpected. I thought you would decline."
"That's because he's very good at learning from others. I just want to know if he really has such a talent, so I'm going to go test him."
"Ah, I see. That will be very interesting," whispered Alsheyra interestedly, laughing. "There have been many like him. Children who sealed their weapon of choice and techniques while still becoming a Heaven's Blade Receiver."
"Anybody could do that."
"But they wouldn't do it like this. This is the nature of Military Artists, is it not?" replied Alsheyra quickly.
She revealed an expression as if Lintence had fallen for her tricks, and Lintence responded by closing his two eyes, as if an attempt to isolate himself from the noise of the vacuum cleaner.
Part 2
A luxurious selection of cuisines were placed on the round table.
Facing master Minse sat three other people.
"We really couldn't get Lintence, eh?"
Washing down a mouthful of food with some wine, Minse revealed a pained expression.
He had already predicted this result. But, if possible, he didn't want to make an enemy out of him. Minse couldn't understand him using steel threads, and that ability scared him.
"Isn't that what I said? That guy is a foreigner. He's a pawn under Her Majesty."
The speaker was the one who was sitting in the middle of the three.
Kalvan Geordeus Midknot.
A fifty year old male. He kept a head short hair, some of which had turned grey. A portion of that had turned completely white, which was kept long and tied up. Maybe it was because he's been working too hard, but the wrinkles on his face deeply etched.
"Lock it up, I'm afraid information here may reach her majesty's ears."
"There's no need for such worries. For the next mission, the new guy and Lintence are being paired up as a team and being sent out. You think she will know about that event?"
"That's how it should be in theory, but what I'm worried about is Her Majesty taking some sort of precautionary actions."
"That's another needless worry. I understand that woman's personality very well. If she figures out our intentions, she'll face us head on for sure."
"That's true. I think that's how she'd react as well."
The youth who replied smiled expectantly while nodding. He sat to the left of Kalvan, who was pulling a long face.
"Savaris. You speak as if you could win in a fight against Her Majesty."
"Oh? Isn't it because I've harbored such a thought that I'm sitting here right now?"
Savaris replied to Kalvan's question in a relaxed manner.
"I'm just trying to say that Grendan's current situation isn't very good."
"If that's the case, then what things can we tell Her Majesty directly? Isn't it the special privilege of the Heaven's Blade Receivers to be able to see Her Majesty at any time?"
"No thanks."
Kalvan glared at that young Heaven's Blade Receiver extremely unhappily.
"But Her Majesty won't listen. It's true that Her Majesty can't just hand out the Heaven's Blades. But Her Majesty can choose to hold those tournaments to decide the Heaven's Blades. It's worth celebrating the gathering of all twelve Heaven's Blades, but bestowing it upon a ten year old child..."
"I became a Heaven's Blade Receiver at thirteen."
Savaris couldn't understand why Kalvan thought this was a crisis.
"Didn't Kanaris become a Heaven's Blade Receiver at fifteen? Just because he's young, he can't be a Heaven's Blade Receiver? An argument like that is baseless."
The last perso
n...Kanaris, just watched the scene silently. She was a woman with a very ordinary visage. All the parts attached to her face seemed as if they were made to give off an impression of a total lack of personality, and if one's eyes left her for just a moment, you wouldn't know she was there anymore.
"There really are too many young people" complained Kalvan in a painful manner.
Just as he said, among the current Heaven's Blade Receivers, those who were relatively young took up a large proportion. There were four Heaven's Blade Receivers military artists who had served before Alsheyra's reign. Excluding Delbone who was an exceptional case, the other three had all been bestowed with their Heaven's Blades in their late twenties or early thirties.
Compared to that, starting with Alsheyra's reign, the oldest any Heaven's Blade Receiver had been given his or her position was Lintence, in his late twenties. The rest were usually made Heaven's Blade Receivers in their teens, with some just over twenty.
And then there was the ten year old Layfon.
"It's as if Her Majesty was attempting to crush the record of 'Youngest Heaven's Blade Receiver' eh?" said Savaris, laughing.
He had held that record just a few days ago.
"Following the record back, following that is Tigris-sama or Delbone-sama. It seems getting a ten or so year-old kid to carry such a burden will be very hard on him."
"This isn't a joke!"
Annoyed by Savaris' tone, Kalvan slammed his hand down on the round table.
The dish on the table shook. Kanaris looked at the spilt sauce spread across the tablecloth with displeasure.
"Well...cool down for a moment."
Minse reproached Kalvan mildly.
"I know what both of you are trying to say, and anyway, since we're all comrades with the same goals please treat each other more cordially."
The people who were gathered there were all Military Artists who came from Grendan's dojo's.
For example, Kalvan Geordeus Midknot is one who had opened his own dojo.
And on his left, the ever smiling Savaris Qaulafin Luckens. He was a part of the Luckens dojo which had helped an early Grendan ruler create the Heaven's Blades, and he was also a descendant of those people.
And sitting on the right, Kanaris Aerifos Rivin. She was the successor of the three royal families...that is, she was a part of the dojo which gathered members of the royal family who hadn't inherited any positions among royalty, Rivanes. Among these three the one with the closest blood ties would have to be her.
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