(Cael's Pov)
"Cael… it's time to wake up, my baby…"
"Hm… 5 more minut- wuaaahhh?!"
Not this time. No, not again. I instinctively jumped up and clung to the wall next to me.
You're not going to catch me lacking this time, Mai- ah.
"Cael? What's wrong sweetie?! Did I scare you?"
Reaching to hug me then, I finally remembered. There was no way that I'd be getting assaulted, after all… Maia had left yesterday.
"N-no… I'm sorry mom, it's just uhm, yeah, a habit…"
She stroked my hair gently, smiling as if magically understanding what I was talking about somehow, without me even precising what I meant. Was this a mother's instinct or something?
"I see… she did usually wake you up now that I think about it."
"…I didn't even mention her…"
"Is that so? I'd say that your reaction was plenty of an indirect mention though? Haha"
"What's that even supposed to mean…"
Sometimes I kinda wish I had the classic clueless reincarnation novel parents that are oblivious to anything surrounding their children, but then I realize how lucky I am to have the opposite. It was as clear as day that both of our parents were exceptional, and it was convenient most of the time either way, but it would have spared me some embarrassment if she was the clueless type, at least in this moment.
"Nothing, nothing. But regardless, we're going to see her in a few hours, no? Even though it won't be directly."
"Yeah, You're right."
Today is finally the day, huh?
I looked outside the window, and it seemed like the sun had barely risen, so it was probably around 7-8 Am? Somewhere around that, so there would still be a few hours until the transmission at 12:00.
Letting go of me, she then pointed towards a chair nearby my bed.
"I've left your clothes there, so you should change up and come downstairs, alright? Breakfast is already done, the others are eating."
"Why am I the last one to get to eat though…"
I got down from my bed and walked towards the chair, beginning to strip from my shirt while she was walking away.
"It's because this is my 3rd attempt at waking you up, my sleepy boy. Seriously, you kept saying 5 minutes, 5 minutes so I couldn't get you down in time."
"Oh. I'm sorry about that…"
"Well, I expected that much so it's not a problem. You've never been an early person after all. Get dressed quickly and come downstairs after you wash your teeth, alright?"
"Alright mom, thanks."
With a smile, she then left the room.
Am I really that hard to wake up?
Maia made it seem so easy that I never even questioned it… maybe her wake up methods were needed after all?
After doing as I was told, I found the others downstairs having already finished mostly, just Rune being left who usually took his time eating anyway so it wasn't anything unusual. Food aside, which was as delicious as usual even though it was lukewarm, everyone was still sitting at the table while me and Rune finished eating, just chatting.
Nala wasn't too different than usual, however Rune was visibly saddened. It was the same for dad who was pretty sulky in contrast with mom who just like earlier seemed fine. I guess she's either trying to lighten the mood, or genuinely just isn't as shook by Maia's absence since we're going to "see" her earlier anyway?
Regardless, after we finished eating, we met outside with Aldric and his family, and decided to just go for a stroll all together while waiting, since neither one of us really had anything else to do. I wasn't going to go practice today anyway, since I would've either ended up losing track of time while doing it or end up watching it in town, so I decided to not risk it and just stay put at home.
That aside, why's everything so empty again?
Looking around, there seemed to be once again no one around, just like yesterday. It was still early in all fairness, probably around 9 and something so it wouldn't be surprising if a lot of people were asleep, but wasn't this a little too much? However, seeing as I was looking around confused, dad cleared up my misunderstanding.
"Everyone is awake, little one."
"Is that so? How are you so sure though? I'd assume there would be at least one fella that'd go out for a walk or something instead of everyone staying in."
"And you'd be correct- halfway at least."
"What?"
Instead of replying though, he pointed towards the village's gate which was around 100 meters ahead of us, to our left. Someone was passing by, going outside while holding something. I couldn't really tell what it was though.
I guess that's our destination?
He nodded to affirm my thoughts after I looked back at him, then we silently walked towards the gate.
"Good Morning, Chief!"
"Good morning!"
"Morning, Chief!"
"Good morning everyone, great work."
3 men were passing by, all 3 greeting dad as we approached the gate and exited the village. Ahead of us, or I guess a little more to our right were pretty much every single villager, but putting aside the kids, everyone seemed to be doing something.
Ah, I see now.
So that's what he was talking about, huh? Everyone was working on the same thing. It wasn't anything fancy really, but nonetheless it would definitely be helpful. Around 10 rows of wood benches were placed next to each other, and a few behind, layered so anyone sitting would have enough room to stay comfortable.
As we approached them, most of them kept working but gave us an acknowledging nod, while the previou's chief's son and a few others stopped to properly greet us.
"Morning, Chief."
"Good morning to everyone. How's it going?"
"As you can see, we're definitely going to be able to finish long before the transmission."
Was this necessary though?
Looking at them again, they weren't actually just layered down next to each other… were they being made from scratch? Not to mention, as I got closer to one and tried to shake it from its backrest, it didn't budge at all. They were most likely also fixed to the ground.
This feels like a little too much, doesn't it?
Or maybe I was just overthinking it, honestly. Even if they did make it specifically because they all expect to see Maia, or because it's an important announcement in general so they'd wanna be comfortable while seeing the news, it isn't actually a bad investment? Can I even call it one? I mean, it will definitely be nice to be able to watch further streams while sitting down I guess, so then yeah it's probably valid to call it one. My apologies everyone, you're not doing too much!
"Pretty sturdy, right?"
"Ah, yeah. They aren't budging at all haha."
"We were planning on building them a while ago… but then we were drawn back a little. But now that there's an important transmission happening soon, we used this as an excuse to finally get to work and do it, haha."
"Is that so? This is the first time I'm hearing about it."
"You would've heard about it a long time ago if you were actually home more often, you delinquent!"
"Huh? Are you going senile, old man? I wasn't even out that much if this had been an idea since before the attack?"
"Who the hell are you calling old, you little shit?! I'm not even 40 yet!"
We were at each other's throats by now- or rather, he had picked me up by my collar quickly after I called him old, however…
"Both of you… Drop it."
Hitting both of us in the head with a light punch, dad let go quickly after.
""…yes mam.""
We simultaneously exchanged a look of agreement. "Mom is scary." Was the unspoken truth behind our eyes.
Time passed by pretty quickly. Honestly, it took no more than half an hour after we arrived for them to finish, and until it began we just hung out around there.
It should be any moment now…
The sky was cloudy, but don't worry guys, watches did in fact exist in this world. A few people here had wrist watches, so all in all we did know what time it was. Not to mention, half an hour before the actual transmission, the pillar began showing a timer. I haven't seen that before, but does it even matter at this point? Not really, no.
Everyone looked somewhat anxious. I couldn't blame them, after all we had no real proof of Maia being the one we'll see today, it's really just a hunch. But I guess normal people may also just generally be anxious about who will become the Lieutenant, since they're from this kingdom. The Commander's Lieutenant's authority is superior to that of each king individually, but not collectively.
For example, if it really is Maia and she wants to make a new law, she has all the authority in the world to do so as long as Mio approves. It's a pretty cliché trope however for the top 2 bosses to become fairly close If they aren't already, so I doubt she'd have any trouble in that scenario. However, as I said, her authority is only individual. Not only would she still need to have a serious debate with the kings if she wanted to make any laws in other kingdoms, but she has less room for nitpicking and bossing as well. Needless to say, she also cannot impose a "continental" law on everyone like Mio could.
Now, now. I know you may be asking yourself something along the lines of "Cael, how do you know so much!" Or "Cael, what you just said makes no fucking sense since you said she has more authority than all of them individually, yet she can't boss them around!" Or "Cael, stop acting smart!" And I get it, I really do. Honestly, I don't even think this whole yapping session fits me either.
To answer, however, it's not that difficult. I've actually heard about these things from Maia mostly. She often talked about it with all the confidence in the world about her becoming the Lieutenant and all so you can guess how it was.
And as for the clear contradiction, it may be a mistake on my end actually. I guess saying she has more authority than all of them individually wouldn't be completely accurate, so let me try and explain a little better I guess?
In our kingdom, she has absolute authority minus Mio, that much should be obvious so we can take it out of the way. It gets a little more complicated when it comes to other kingdoms though, because generally speaking a captain has authority that's either on par or slightly lower than the king's.
For example, if she wanted to create a new law in the elven kingdom, she'd have to not only put out a valid argument and reasoning in a debate because this isn't a dictatorial or communist era where she can just demand and receive, but also have to get the Queen of Nature's approval as the last acting card. Sure, Maia would have more authority than her as a sentinel, however when it comes to politics it's a little more tricky than that after all. Not that I intend on partaking in such troublesome activities but still. Anywho, this is as far as the needless yapping goes. The massive screen appeared in the air, and it was time to begin.
Once the timer hit 0, a ray of blue light splurged upwards from it, and as usual the big ass screen appeared.
What the-… you have to be kidding me, right?
The first visible thing was a large white marbled balcony-like structure. It was obviously a lot larger than your average home balcony, but that was the gist of the general look. It's the same spot where the commander announcement took place, but there are a few key differences from the start this time.
The red carpet at the center hadn't changed, however on each side of it, near the extremities of the rounded, or i guess it's more like a half oval sized balcony? There were 5 people on each side, or I guess that's how it should've been, but it was actually only 5 on our right, so that would mean their left, and 4 on our left. The reason for that disparity was pretty easy to spot though. After all, in the center, walking towards the edge of the balcony, there she was.
It's been a while since the last time we saw her on the big screen, huh?
The Queen of Nature was seemingly just looking down at the crowd beneath them momentarily, but neither of that actually mattered, nor was the reason for my surprise. The real reason was the fact that there wasn't just a front camera view, but also one from above, and both sides as well… What kind of "pick your angle" scene is this?!
Everyone besides me was silent, clearly just focused while waiting to see if it was going to be Maia or not, which was a little surprising since that also included the kids, but it wasn't a bad surprise to say the least. However, contrary to us, you could hear from the transmission how much noise the people there were actually making. It was understandable though, most of them seemed excited after all. Needless to say though, I'm saying most instead of all because a good chunk of them were not only silent but I'd assume also just anxious. This wasn't any announcement, so it's understandable.
All 10 of them seemed to be wearing their uniforms? Rather, I'm saying it seemed like it because all of them were different from each other, but to be totally fair, they did seem to be matching to some extent. For example, since the left had a missing spot and the Queen of Nature wasn't lined up, it's pretty easy to deduce that that's where the captains stand, even if not all of them had been on screen recently at least. Her uniform seemed to match the one of the only other elf on the right side to some degree, mostly the colors and general style I guess?
I could maybe try to describe all of their uniforms, but do you really care enough? I personally don't in all honesty, since they aren't who I am watching this for after all. We'll leave their uniforms as a mystery for the time being, as I don't have any more time for meaningless yapping.
Raising her hand towards the sky with her palm open, she stood still for a moment. The next instant however, after she closed her palm, it seemed like everyone below there had stopped talking as a whole. Pure silence emerged within the transmission, which signaled the beginning of her turn to speak. She let her arm fall, nodding affirmatively at the newly found silence.
"Good Day, everyone."
She began.
"Today is a special day, but I'm sure all of you are already way aware of that. It is surely going to be a day engraved in history."
All of the captains and lieutenants' records should be saved up somewhere so she ain't wrong.
"My name is Sylara Wynsorin. Most of you may simply know me as the Queen of Nature or the elven captain, but none of those matter now. You see, our New Commander's Lieutenant is still getting ready, so I was tasked with taming you folks momentarily."
Her speech was smooth, confident and swift. There were no stutters, no signs of nervousness and it wasn't too rigidly or formally spoken either. It didn't have that "i'm a Queen and you should all listen to me" vibe to it that some may expect.
"It is a fact that you didn't take my previous announcement lightly after all. But worry not, as you're going to get even more riled up this time around."
That smirk…
Yeah, this woman definitely had some loose screws inside her head. That being said though, I can't really blame her. It doesn't take a genius to realize what she's implying after all.
"Not only is it a young girl, but as a matter of fact, she had just turned 15 yesterday."
Whispers emerged almost immediately. Of course, we couldn't actually hear any of it, but it was a pretty comical sight at least. Kinda like those insanely oblivious whisper sound effects in a bad tv show or something like that.
"Fear not however. We all know that the Commander's Lieutenant needs to have a certain amount of strength, since she has to command us Captains whenever the Commander cannot, right? Well, yesterday night, I had the pleasure to confirm her strength Myself. And as a result… I was Defeated."
I see… the comment about her birthday and age pretty much confirmed it. So yesterday night she beat the Queen of Nature in a fight. I see, I see. That makes total sens- ... WHAT?!
I looked at dad to my left instinctively, and he had the same look of denial on his face as I did.
"Haha… so that's what she was doing after leaving us… hahaha"
"Oi, snap out of it, old man!"
I shook him but to no effort, this one was also Long gone… rest in peace Dad. I'll never forget you!-
But putting that aside, it wasn't just us who were almost in denial. The whispers became close to shouts by that point, and the reason was simple. Sylara Wynsorin, aka The Queen of Nature, was known as the strongest Captain besides the Commander and their Lieutenant, in every single era. For her to have lost to a 15 year old newly appointed Lieutenant was shocking to say the least.
I expected her to simply use her mana to shut everyone up, just like last time but that wasn't the case surprisingly. She just kept her composure as if nothing happened and continued.
"I'm sure it must be surprising to you all, however it is merely a fact. But fret not. I am Not upset about it in the slightest. Contrary, she and I have mutually agreed upon maintaining a friendly relationship."
Her smile had actually changed in the midst of it all, and I hadn't actually realized until now. It wasn't her usual borderline sadistic one anymore. It seemed like she was expressing genuine admiration and a sense of pride? While talking. As if actually just praising a friend of hers.
"It shouldn't be surprising to you honestly. After all, Mio herself was the one to pick her. Her choice alone should be enough to guarantee her qualifications. Speaking of which…it appears that it's time."
It was a pretty short but meaningful speech. Honestly, it just got everyone either scared or pumped up about the reveal. She went back to her intended spot, and one by one, each Captain-Lieutenant duo started kneeling, from the back to the front. They were all facing each other actually, so I guess it would be from closer to the inside of the building to the outside? But regardless, as they did that…
You didn't have to do all that…
"Ladies and Gentleman over the Whole continent!"
She spoke slowly this time, as her turn to kneel had also arrived. At the same moment however, spiraling upwards in a circular motion, blazing flames erupted from the center of the balcony.
They weren't your average flames though. I never actually saw these from her, but clearly she just never showed them… their color was different, that was the biggest difference. Instead of the classic bright red you'd imagine flames with, these were fully golden, with black mixed within them.
Simultaneously then, a hand slowly emerged from within. It had a black archery glove on. The main color was black, However it had golden outlines. As she exited the flames slowly, The Queen of Nature continued.
"I present to you, our Commander's Lieutenant!"
She walked out of the flames completely, yet her eyes were closed. Walking forward slightly, towards the same spot The Queen of Nature was on earlier, while she also continued to speak.
"The 15 years old prodigy, handpicked by Mio herself. The Blazing Empress…"
She paused. And at the same time, the "Blazing Empress" opened her eyes. There was no sunlight to reflect on, as the clouds were covering most of the sky, however even then… they Shined.
"Maia… Ashford!"
Seeing her there was surprisingly calming. I think that was a mutual feeling between everyone in the village. I don't actually believe anyone was ever questioning whether it would be her or not deep down, rather I'd guess that we were all just hoping she'd be doing great. Clearly, that was the case as well too, so we were all relieved.
I guess I should at least talk about her uniform a little though, since I am also personally interested in it. She had long black pants, with golden outlines, but that was about it. It seemed like she wanted to keep a generally clean look to it I guess? Personally, I think it looked great.
Moving on to her torso, she had a military styled buttoned vest I guess? The base color was gold, but for example its sides were black, and only the center part which was golden, alongside the rest. She had 2 epaulettes on each shoulder, both golden and occupying her full shoulder length.
On top of her vest, she was wearing what seemed to be a long coat? But not exactly. The actual coat was pretty neatly on her, but it was a little more diverse than your average coat. Her right arm which had her glove on it was fully uncovered. Her sleeve was permanently still in place just below her shoulder, with a golden metal attachment.
In contrast to her bare arm and occupied right hand, her left arm was fully covered by the black sleeve, but her left hand was bare. And speaking of her coat, as I said it seemed to be a long one, but that may not be it.
If you looked closely enough, it seemed to end right about where her belt was, however only on her back side, attached to her waist there were 3 cloth parts going down. A middle one and 2 others on each side, going down slightly lower than her knees.
Basically, it gave the impression that it was a simple long coat with split ends at the back, but actually the split ends seemed to be a different piece if you looked close enough. Pretty cool if you ask me personally. But that's all for our terrible fashion talk, as I honestly have no actual clue if I even described it properly or not. Let's just continue.
Maia sighed though, looking back at the Queen of Nature as if she had said something stupid.
"Since when am I the blazing empress or whatever…"
Sighing again, she turned around to face the crowd, which as you'd expect was beyond loud by now.
"Seriously, you should've just mentioned my name earlier and calm them down…"
"Look everyone, I understand why you're so scared, or shocked? Whatever it is, I get it. But don't you think…"
She paused. And at that moment, her golden and black mixed aura engulfed her, and it expanded so far that it had even reached us here. Surprisingly though, we didn't seem to feel any pressure from it that comes with mana usually, instead it was almost reassuring. But that couldn't be said about the rest. It wouldn't be an exaggeration to assume she had done it on the entire continent.
"You're being a little rude here?"
No, if anything, why's the Commander's Lieutenant talking so informally… aren't you the one being rude here?
"Look, as I said already, I get it. Bla bla bla, the Ashford are trash! Bla bla bla. But seriously, tone it down a little will you? Let me speak first."
They were uhm, definitely silent now at least? Seeing that, she then suppressed her mana.
"Good, Good. I'm sorry for having to use drastic measures, but it's pretty annoying you know? This unreasonable discrimination you all feel towards us."
"At this point, I wouldn't be surprised if you'd want to start a civil war or something just because of my name. However, that won't be necessary."
Extending her left arm and opening her palm then, the other elf in front of the Queen of Nature got up, and brought what looked to be a script to Maia.
"Thank you."
She quickly returned to her spot, then Maia continued.
"I'm sure that no matter how many times I tell you that we're innocent, you wouldn't believe me with my words alone. I can't entirely blame you for it, but that terrible mischaracterization ends now."
"We shall prove our innocence in court. I Maia Ashford hereby order the individuals: Bartholomew Ashford and Isolde Ashford to come to court, for the official Ashford family's reevaluation Trial."
Silence. Everyone suddenly quieted down, however I'm sure that it wasn't actually because they were impressed or anything along those lines. If I had to guess it would've probably been something along the lines of…
"Now, now. I can already guess what you're thinking about. "You filthy Ashford, you're talking about a trial even though you have more authority than the kings?!" But before you idiots jump to stupid conclusions, I'll explain it all."
Seriously… be a little more polite, Maia…
"I don't recall ever saying anything about the Royal trial, did I?"
She smirked, while opening the scroll she was handed earlier, and holding it in front of her.
"This is an Order from Mio herself. And you know what that means, don't you? The Supreme Courtwith Mio as the judge, shall take on this case. Which is exactly why, as per order from Mio, the king of our wonderful kingdom is also ordered to appear in court, on the 15th of February of next year."
As silence fell upon the surrounding once again though, the first to visibly seem relieved was Maia herself. She sighed, tossing the scroll aside on the floor with 0 care in the world. She then started stretching her arms like she usually does.
"Now then, with all the boring stuff out of the way, why don't we have a little chat? After all, I'm not here to frighten or threaten any of you."
"Well, I guess it can't be much of a chat when I can't hear or directly reply to any of you… so let's just call it a little one sided chat from my end, alright?"
"Let's begin from the most important part. As you've already heard, my name is Maia Ashford. Though I don't really claim that ridiculously flashy nickname I got, feel free to use it if you want, or just use my name… wait, I guess none of y'all would dare to call the Commander's Lieutenant by her name… then, uhm. Just call me General Lieutenant ? Or something? I don't know man."
"But that aside, there are a few things I'd like to mention. I'm the oldest child of the current Ashford family, but I am not the only one. I have 3 wonderful younger siblings. You see, one of the reasons I decided to actually take this position when it was offered, was strictly because of them."
"When me and my younger brother, aka the oldest after me, first went into the nearby town to our village together, we faced countless discrimination just because of our eyes and hair color. Well, I don't actually have the hair, but his hair is actually changing color slowly, it's very cute, you know? I'm sure he's going to look handsome when his hair will fully change to the signature Ashford color- he hem… what I'm trying to say is…"
"While the youngest 2 didn't have to go through that when they went with him into the town, that was only because the residents had gotten used to me and my brother. Had we not previously gone there, they may have felt the same pressure and discrimination we did."
"I don't want that. As the oldest, and as their older sister, I want them all to be happy, and be able to follow any dreams they may have. But that isn't really possible now, is it? After all, we're a banished household that lost its noble status… it just isn't going to be easy for them. Which is why, this trial will help me clear our name, not for my sake as the new fella in power, but for the sake of my family, with the hope that they will have an easier life."
"Oh but, of course this isn't just for my younger siblings. My parents as well, although I can't say I've been the best daughter, I wish to tell them that I hope they know I love them dearly. Well, I guess you can say that a big part of why I'm standing here as a whole, is for my family. Not only that though, all the people from the village I grew up in, who have never treated us any differently, and any of our friends from the town nearby that village… from now on, I'll do my best to make sure to pay you back for all the Kindness you've shown me and my family."
…
I think that it's best if I just let her talk… after all, everyone sitting around me, and myself as well were struggling at the moment. Some had already given in, but the rest of us were fighting the tears building up inside our eyes.
"However, while a big part of it was definitely to support those dear to me, that doesn't mean I won't help anyone else. I'll be Frank when I say this, but this kingdom-no, this world is simply a shithole. Which is why, I intend on fixing it, alongside Mio."
"Take a look above you. The clouds are so grey, cold and depressing that it almost feels as if the divinity is telling you that you don't matter. As if the clouds are purposely trying to hide the sun from you, binding you down to cold and depressing times."
"Some of you may say that it's just because it's winter, but I honestly just don't care. So what if it's winter? So what if it's Normal for it to be cold?"
"I'm sure some of you may be having a hard time not only because of my appearance. Some of you may think that your life is over now that someone like me is at power. Some of you are probably having the worst day of their life even without my presence having any relevance to it."
"Are we supposed to just accept it as natural, and give up? Wait for the clouds to allow us to receive the warmth a lot of you deserve? No. We won't be doing that, not anymore."
"I can't promise to solve all of your problems. However, I can do one thing for everyone here."
She then extended her left arm. As if grabbing onto something, she then closed her palm. From that, flames took the shape of a bow, starting from her hand. While continuing to speak, she then slowly made an arrow of fire with her right hand, and started loading it in the bow, and charging it while aiming towards the sky.
"When you're having a hard time, and the sky is trying to prevent you from receiving the Sun's warmth, all you have to do is search for me."
"I can't really do this too often, since otherwise it would kinda just get rid of winter as a whole, but at least once in a while…"
"As the Spirit King of Fire's host, I shall load my bow. Then, for the sake of you all, I'll become your pathway."
She then suddenly released the arrow. Its range wasn't particularly large, and it hit the clouds pretty quickly. But what had left everyone in awe happened afterwards. Almost instantly after reaching them, all the clouds vaporized- not even. They had been completely erased. And it wasn't just in a small area. Because even the clouds covering the sky above us currently, had suddenly received an unusual amount of sunlight, as the clouds disappeared.
"When the Sky is hiding the Sun from you I, Maia Ashford shall burn a pathway towards it. I'll lead you all to the light of not just the Sun, but of a brighter Future."
After putting out such a ridiculously warm show, the transmission ended almost too suddenly… but what continued, was the warm feeling inside our chests.