The cups on the table trembled faintly, the tea rolling back and forth at the rims, spilling over here and there.
"An earthquake? How rare."
Glück, his temples flecked with gray, looked out the window. Out of habit he was about to reach into his pocket for a cigarette, but remembering his daughter beside him, he instead laid his hand on his teacup.
"Don't mind it, it's nothing serious. What surprises me is how you came to be here. And bringing your whole family along, no less..."
Aaron turned his gaze toward Lektire beside him, and the boy he did not recognize.
"When my daughter heard that person had returned, she insisted I come. Well, there was nothing I could do."
Though Glück maintained his composure, Aaron could still make out that faint, barely perceptible trace of a smile on the other man's face.
As if he were showing off his daughter before this confirmed bachelor.
"I already told Yuna yesterday, but whether the person you're looking for will come is far from certain. After all, I have no right to give her direct orders."
Having said this, Aaron picked up his coffee and took a sip, perfectly at ease.
"It's all right. If she doesn't come, I'll take Father and leave at once."
The golden-haired beauty smiled faintly, as though her whole person were radiating light.
"Well, since you've already come all this way..."
And it was just then that Aaron regained a little of his confidence.
"Ah, Yuna's here. Look—this is the child of a late friend of mine, raised by me from childhood. Ten years ago she was already a First-Class Mage of the Continental Magic Association."
As if showing off his own child, Aaron lifted his head, his bald pate gleaming all the brighter.
"Um... Nanoda-sama has come as well."
Feeling somehow that she had been dragged into an inexplicable contest of one-upmanship, Yuna—having just pushed open the door—exchanged greetings, then sat down beside Aaron together with the yawning Nanoda behind her.
"Ah, it's been a long time, big sister of the Demon Race. I've always wanted to see you once more."
Nanoda was a little taken aback; she hadn't expected Lektire to greet her first.
"If this is to thank me for bringing you healing medicine, there's no need. That too was part of our cooperation with Glück."
Nanoda picked up a fork straightaway and stabbed into Aaron's portion of cake, which he hadn't yet touched.
"No, we met even earlier than that. I've never been able to forget it—that beautiful white hair. When I saw you at the ceremony of my wedding to Denken, I was certain... though some things happened afterward..."
When Lektire said this, Yuna felt, for no reason, a faint sense of crisis—a feeling that Nanoda-sama was about to be stolen away.
"...You really do have a good memory."
Nanoda did not deny it; she had indeed shared a small bit of fate with the young Lektire.
"Denn, come and say hello, quickly."
Lektire gently tugged at the sleeve of the boy beside her, calling out in a soft voice.
At that moment the boy only stared sideways out the window, paying Nanoda no mind, keeping a stubborn silence.
"Listen to your mother. This is your mother's savior."
A trace of anxiety showed on her lovely face as Lektire tugged at her son's sleeve once more.
Beside them, Glück spoke up too. "Denn."
Aaron, Yuna, and Nanoda all keenly caught the word "mother."
So he really is his grandson. Ah, beaten by a single move after all. Aaron sighed inwardly.
No wonder he looks a bit like Mr. Denken... Yuna studied the somewhat headstrong-looking boy.
Denken's son is already this big? But—has he come to dislike me? The keenly intuitive Nanoda sensed the problem in an instant.
"No! He's a member of the Demon Race, just like that bastard Macht, isn't he?! The Demon Race are all bastards! Hmph!"
As if in rebellion, Denn blurted out something shocking.
Glück, who had been introducing his grandson, took on a somewhat awkward expression.
Sorrow showed on Lektire's face; she seemed on the verge of tears.
Aaron hurriedly glanced sideways to observe Nanoda's expression, terrified she might grow angry over this and sour the harmony.
Yuna furrowed her brow, losing all goodwill toward the boy.
"What are you saying?! Denn, how can you speak to an honored guest that way!"
Lektire's voice nearly cracked. She felt her throat grow uncomfortable, with the same urge to cough as before.
"If it weren't for Macht, Mother wouldn't have grieved so during those two years when our homeland was turned to gold. Those cold, heartless Demon Race could never be friends to us Humans."
Denn looked utterly righteous and stern, glaring at Nanoda.
"Haah, what's all this."
The words had barely left her mouth.
In but an instant, everyone present felt an invisible pressure. Breathing became difficult, their bodies grew so heavy they could not move at all, as though instinctively gripped by fear.
Denn clenched his teeth, his gaze trembling slightly as he looked into Nanoda's cold, murderous, indifferent eyes.
"Macht did indeed do wrong—but that is from the standpoint of Humans. As you say, we are the Demon Race, and from the standpoint of the Demon Race, in this world only the strong have the chance to choose. If I wanted to kill you now, I would have already acted!"
Nanoda merely gave her hand a light wave, leaving a shallow scratch on that rather handsome face. A single drop of fresh blood welled up and slid down, reflected in the trembling pupils of everyone present.
"And most importantly—although Macht used his magic, there were no casualties in Weise. With Macht's strength, even killing your father Denken and your mother beside you would have been the simplest of matters."
Nanoda set the fork in her hand onto Denn's untouched piece of cake.
"I hold goodwill toward Humans, but that does not mean I will accept being treated this way. If you keep heaping that resentment upon me, I won't mind making you vanish before my very eyes."
Nanoda ate Denn's cake, and in that very moment the pressure abruptly vanished.
Glück unclenched his fist, his forehead already drenched in sweat.
Lektire wept. She softly struck her precious son once with a powder-soft fist, then collapsed against Glück's shoulder, saying "I'm sorry" over and over.
Aaron let out a breath; he knew Nanoda was not such a petty person.
Yuna's feelings were complicated for a moment.
"You're even bolder than Denken. But to act this way with only this little level of skill—it can only be called recklessness, foolhardiness."
Nanoda returned to her original relaxed manner, as if the woman of a moment ago had never existed. She even tossed out a teasing remark: "Have the young people of today forgotten the terror of the Demon Race?"
"I'm... I'm sorry..." Denn lowered his head. He too realized that he had ignored everyone present, immersed only in his own thoughts.
"Do you still hate Macht that much?"
Nanoda posed this question, and the atmosphere, which had just begun to ease, grew tense once more.
"Mm, yes. At the very least, him—I cannot forgive."
Denn's answer was firm.
"If you want to give him a beating, then work hard at it yourself. And if you really do manage to kill him, I might just avenge him—I'll say this in advance, I should be stronger than he is."
In a thoroughly indifferent tone, Nanoda once again reached her fork over to Yuna's plate.
Yuna let out a helpless snort of laughter and pushed her own plate over.
"Little one, don't be too heartbroken either. Next time you come, bring some fruit from the orchard, and have Denken come back to keep this brat company more often. You're too kind-hearted."
Nanoda did not forget to offer Lektire a word of comfort.
"Mm, all right."
Though her voice still trembled somewhat, Lektire wiped her tears with a handkerchief and at last broke into a smile.
"My apologies, Brother Aaron, and that... Nanoda-sama? This good-for-nothing grandson of mine has caused you trouble."
Glück, most uncharacteristically, bowed his head in sincere apology.
____
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