Sylvia
Seeing the worried look on Mary's face, the maid clearly restrains an amused laugh.
“Well, how about introductions first then? I think that you’ve understood enough to know that you are Princess Mary Midgard.” The maid says, “I am Sylvia; it’s a pleasure to meet one of the famed otherworlders.” Sylvia proclaims confidently, clearly certain that not only can Mary understand her but also that she is in fact an otherworlder.
Sylvia raises her eyebrows as Mary still refuses to talk.
“I’m the oldest of four, you know? And I even have a few nieces; these days, I know how a baby is supposed to act.” Sylvia explains, “You haven’t acted like a newborn at all. Under other circumstances, nobody else noticing would be a real miracle.” Sylvia further undermines Mary's already fragile confidence.
Mary hadn’t really thought about acting like a baby; she had been too distracted by her general situation, as well as the existence of mana, and she hadn’t realised that she had totally failed at pretending to be a newborn.
In Mary's mind, she tries to defend herself.
Didn't babies just sort of… exist? Alexander had never interacted with any newborn; he’d had little interest in watching or interacting with media that featured them either, and so his only understanding of children as living entities came from biology classes.
Sylvia nods, noticing a look of realisation creeping across Mary's face.
“Yes, newborn children don’t usually intensely focus on people; that comes later. And they don’t blatantly comprehend conversations moments after being born. Usually, they just cry and sleep. You, of course, cried for a few moments and required no calming or soothing. It was extremely unnatural really.”
Faced with the fact that she had given herself away immediately, Mary opens her mouth to defend herself.
“Aaauughhh.” Instead, she lets out adorable baby noises.
“Can’t actually speak yet then?” Sylvia asks with a smile. “Then try body language for now.”
Mary stops briefly and then looks directly into Sylvia’s eyes before nodding in acceptance once.
“Nice to meet you too.” Sylvia responds.
“According to the writings of previous heroes – otherworlders – be they summoned or reincarnated, you don’t know anything about this world called 'Terra'. Many things in this world should be familiar to you, however.
‘Terra? Why Latin?’ Mary adopts a look of confusion as she looks at Sylvia, trying for the first time in this world to get some concrete answers instead of assumptions.
“Hmm? Something you don’t understand about that. Well, it goes without saying that you're a reincarnated hero. If the title of hero confuses you, well, otherworlders are universally powerful due to their outstanding magic capability, to the point where a hero given a few years of practice can contest entire armies.” Sylvia says with some latent awe.
“Few non-heroes reach those sorts of heights. To get there needs high-quality genetics, decades of practice and some amount of luck, instead of a year or two of acclimation.”
She adopts a wry smile and continues, “Some of the truly powerful heroes got treated more like ancient dragons than humans, nightmares that need to be appeased.”
Mary shakes her head, trying to show that she was confused about something else, even though this information was very interesting.
“No? Well, many heroes have been summoned throughout history from the world called Earth. Sometimes, kingdoms summon heroes independently, while other times, the Holy Church is involved. She explains, “The former usually involves kingdom politics; the latter is more for when the world is in danger from external invasion.”
“I’m descended from one too, you know? The heroic super maid Sakuya Izayoi.” Sylvia proclaims with a knowing smirk. Sylvia obviously knows that this information is suspect, and so Mary answers with the most disbelieving stare she can muster.
‘How many so-called heroes have lost all restraint over the years?’ Mary thinks in dismay.
“Her diary is something else. The family keeps it a secret, of course.” With this explanation Mary becomes certain of a few things; the first is that Sylvia is probably being truthful about her ancestor. And secondly, she apparently knows that the name is likely not the birth name of her otherworldly ancestor.
No doubt some cosplayer got summoned and decided on renaming themself. Considering how Sylvia looks, it is even likely that her ancestor had purchased gene enhancements to guarantee a certain look is passed down to her descendants. This practice was not uncommon on Earth during Alexander's time.
Briefly, Mary closes her eyes, openly despairing at the idiots who have no doubt been summoned over the years before a thought occurs to her: why did Sylvia say 'ancestor' and not 'mother'?
‘Those gene treatments are relatively new… Sylvia is using the term 'ancestor', which implies that a large amount of time has passed and a lack of personal familiarity exists. Given her apparent age, claiming that this Sakuya was her grandmother seems unlikely.
Mary reopens her eyes with a sigh and another shake of her head; that is something that can be asked at a later date. Instead, she tries to convey once again that while the information was intriguing, it was still not what she meant.
“… Terra? Well, it’s the name of this world.” Sylvia responds with some confusion. “It has been the name of this world for over ten thousand years, dating back to the time when the very first heroes were summoned.”
Mary frowned at the timeline presented to her once again; surely it had to be wrong? According to Alexander's memories, Latin should be no more than three thousand years old, and even that is pushing it.
Sylvia's mention of the first heroes suggests a connection, but what does it mean? Was there some sort of severe time differential between Earth and Terra, but what would that ratio even be? Could the ratio be constant, considering that Latin appeared ten thousand years ago while Sakuya Izayoi emerged in living memory, close enough to the present for the gene mods to still function properly?
Or is it the case that multiple versions of Earth are being pulled on, what science fiction has called 'alternate timelines'? Or does time just not matter in the gap between realities? Mary frowns as she feels her mind swirl at the possibilities. How would she even go about confirming something like this? Perhaps one of the other so-called heroes has already done so?
Seeing the frown on Mary's face, Sylvia concludes that this was what she was asking about. "Most, if not all, of our languages are inherited from the heroes; usually it is those summoned by the Holy Church. Heroes from the Church have much greater religious status than any of the others.” Sylvia explains something that Mary finds utterly baffling.
‘Languages stem almost entirely from otherworlders? What? That isn’t how language works!’ Mary mentally retorts.
“My ancestor did write that it was quite strange to you otherworlders," she explains further. “She mentioned that languages are supposed to naturally evolve based on the needs of a population. She investigated, and apparently the Church actively suppresses attempts to create vocabulary outside of their control.” the maid continues, her voice grimmer now.
‘This is all so wrong… for languages to have been almost completely dictated by outsiders and the church, is that level of cultural stagnation even possible? Even the worst days of the Catholic Church or Caliphate weren’t that controlling.’
Before Mary could ponder the matter further, Sylvia continued, “That stretched on a bit longer than I intended, and while I would like to say that I have good news, I don’t.” She announced, “The situation of the world has gotten terrible ever since the last Hero Saint was summoned to fight against the invading Infernal Legion.”
Mary looked up at Sylvia, noticing how grim she looked as she spoke. ‘Hero Saint? Infernal Legion? I can guess what those mean… but I hope I’m wrong.’
“The Infernal Legion has invaded Terra several times before; each time Hero Saints were summoned to help defeat them. As the name implies, they are a demonic army that has conquered many other worlds.” Sylvia continues to confirm Mary's suspicions.
“Apparently previous heroes have wanted to call them the Burning Legion for some reason? But the demons themselves put an end to that.” At that Mary twitches in annoyance, partly glad that the previous heroes hadn’t got their way but mostly annoyed that they had tried at all.
“The Hero Saint was summoned by the Holy Church to fight not so much the demonic army itself as the collected armies of Terra can fight against lowly demons. But the far more powerful greater demons that lead the individual demonic armies and the demon lord who commands the Legion in its totality. The Hero Saint did succeed in killing several greater demons and forced the demon lord himself to retreat.” Mary stared at the maid, somewhat disturbed by the lack of amazement or awe in her speech. Was it not a significant achievement worthy of awe? Mary feels her stomach slowly falling.
“He united the entire world into the Holy Terran Kingdom and, as its king, led its armies against the demonic hordes, supposedly intending to lead them through the portals to permanently eliminate the demonic threat.”
‘All of that sounds fine, though? Really, it’s an amazing achievement; even Earth doesn’t have a fully united world government. But then I suppose that the United Kingdom didn’t last, did it? Otherwise, I wouldn’t be a princess of Midgard.’ Mary continues to stare at Sylvia, with a faint suspicion that the other shoe is about to drop.
“I understand that Earth has little to no mana, relying instead on non-magical technology, and due to the lack of mana, the major difference between men and women is that men are physically more powerful.” She begins to explain, with a slight smile. “A strange thing for the people of this world, the physical gaps tend to quickly close for adventurers and mages.”
“But on Terra, women are born with more powerful magic than men. This phenomenon used to result in many women becoming mages, and most arch-mages were women too.” Mary frowns. What did Sylvia mean by used to?
“The trend was even more prevalent with members of noble or royal lines; many of them have engaged in active eugenics, seeking marriages with commoners that have powerful magic or those who are descendants of heroes. And, due to their immense wealth, they can afford to provide high-quality magical education, gaining apprenticeships with already powerful and knowledgeable mage guilds.” Mary reflected on the situation, finding it depressingly logical; money, even in a different world, would determine a person's success.
“Those mage guilds have significant mana-rich resources, having claimed or built mana-rich environments to continuously produce those resources.” Mary suppressed a chuckle; that too sounded like the cultivators Alexander had read about. Could these guilds have already implemented the ideas inspired by those novels?
“Inevitably the result of all these efforts was magically powerful ladies; the popular name for them was 'Princess Knights'." Mary blinks at the presence of the past tense in relation to Princess Knights; her mind instantly latches onto it as she remembers the state of her mother and the worrying magic that swirled around her head.
“Not all Princess Knights were princesses, or even nobles, although the majority certainly were; the problems that caused this situation are a different matter entirely. And I doubt you would be surprised to learn that the title was popularised by a hero." No, Mary was not surprised at all that some nerd had declared a magically powerful noblewoman could only be called a 'Princess Knight'.
Suddenly, Sylvia sighed, seemingly forcing herself to continue her explanation.
“The unification of the unified kingdom was politically fraught; many agreed that some degree of centralisation was necessary to properly direct the unified armies against the demons.” Sylvia said, her face becoming darker and grimmer, “That was when a solution presented itself. You see, for whatever reason the Princess Knights of the era, many of whom were rivals or enemies, all seemed to have fallen in love with the newly summoned Hero Saint.” Mary blinked, thinking that she had heard that incorrectly.
Mary looked at Sylvia questioningly, and when Sylvia nodded, Mary felt her features twist in dismay.
‘Is she really telling me that a genuine harem anime situation played out? Was it not just politics that history remembers as a love story?’
Sylvia seems to read Mary's mind as she smiles grimly before continuing.
“The consequences of their marriage have complicated modern politics. But most common folk think that some degree of mental magic was involved; maybe it was done by the hero, maybe it was the Church, maybe even a corrupted part of the nobility. Different parties have reaped various benefits from the actions taken in the past." Mary looks at Sylvia in frustration as she talks, trying to convey that she wants to know what was done back then.
“There were several accepted excuses. One of them was that the enchantments in question would help empower the Princess Knights further, and history shows that this claim was at least somewhat true. All of them became noticeably more powerful after the enchantments were finished.”
“Another was a matter of hierarchy. Because so many of the kingdoms at the time were enemies, the Church explained that it was a matter of ceremonial submission to the new unification.”
Mary feels herself twitch at the continued delay, and she finally decides to verbalise her frustration. “Waaah!” she screeches.
Sylvia turns a reluctant, sad smile toward the princess. “As you probably guessed. It was decided that the Princess Knights would become the slave wives of the Hero Saint. He personally placed the human enchantments on them so that they would be unable to disobey his orders.” Sylvia explains, confirming part of the suspicion that Mary had kept at the back of her mind since the day before.
‘What the fuck?!’ “Waaah!” Mary both physically and mentally screams.
“Perhaps if that were the end of it, things would not have gotten nearly so bad. But, once the Infernal Legion was defeated, the Hero Saint chose to close the portals instead of counter-invading them as he had claimed he would.” To Mary, that sounded reasonable enough; invading a hell realm would not be on her list of priorities either, but if that was the intent, why promise it at all?
“After that, the unified kingdom began to centralise and unify its laws. Many parties, including the Church, parts of the nobility, and even the former princess knights, insisted on this change. The new King, the Hero Saint, declared it law that all noble women would henceforth be enslaved using human enchantments; once a lady came of age, she was to be enslaved to her father, and once a marriage contract was finalised, she was to be transferred to her new husband."
Mary feels her face twitch violently before she gives up and allows rage to visibly stretch across her face. ‘You power fantasy, wish fulfilment nerd bastard!! Were you thinking at all when you ordered that?! Huh?! Were you?!’
“Attempts to extend the practice to the common folk have been made before, but it always results in kingdom-wide revolts. In the years since the unified kingdom collapsed, several kingdoms have fallen due to such attempts.” Sylvia finishes, her relief evident.
‘So, my mother really is enslaved, and that is my fate too? Well, to hell with that.’ Mary thinks to herself. Sylvia shifts her body slightly, and Mary focuses on the maid again. This explanation would be unnecessary if Sylvia were planning to allow that to happen to Mary.
What was her angle?