She had originally assumed this was a child from over by the school district.
Turned out he wasn’t.
Going by intuition alone, this child didn’t seem like a bad person.
What’s more…
He really did look a bit alike.
Like Alise.
In this Lower World, full of so many unknowns, hair the color of fiery crimson was uncommon to begin with.
Astraea had just felt a small stir in her heart, and was about to nod.
Bam!
A hand suddenly came down hard on the tabletop, cutting her off straight away.
“I don’t agree!”
The one slamming the table was, of course, Cecil.
The strength in that one slap of the girl’s was alarming — it shook the table with a heavy, muffled thud.
But combined with her puffed-up cheeks and the expression of someone whose “wife was about to be stolen any second now,” the whole picture had an inexplicable comedic charm.
“I clearly came first!”
“If anyone’s joining the Familia, then I have to join first!”
Chin held high, she shouted out everything that had been on her mind, full of righteous conviction.
Originally, Cecil had always been working hard toward her goal of becoming “the strongest blacksmith.”
But over these past two years, slowly worn down bit by bit by Astraea’s gentle persistence, the truth was she had long since been won over by that goddess’s character.
She, too, was willing to put in effort for the sake of Astraea’s wish.
Even if the concept of “justice” was, for a blacksmith, somewhat distant.
Astraea, clearly, hadn’t expected that Natsuka’s appearance would actually become the final push that made Cecil resolve herself.
She gently clasped her hands together, smiling very happily.
“Wonderful.”
“Then, together with this…”
“Natsuka.”
“Mm, then together with Natsu-chan, please join today.”
When the goddess smiled, she really was like a flower slowly opening in spring.
Gentle, beautiful, and carrying a warmth that made one’s chest feel pleasantly warmed.
Honestly, criminally good-looking.
Cecil, however, was still standing with her hands on her hips, head turned away, refusing to look at Natsuka, mumbling under her breath without stopping.
“I was clearly invited first.”
“And the one who’s been by Lady Astraea’s side taking care of her this whole time has clearly been me too…”
So?
Natsuka didn’t quite catch what she was getting at.
“So!”
Cecil whipped back around, jabbed her finger at Natsuka, her face dead serious.
“The captain of the newborn Astraea Familia has to be me!”
“Did you get that or not!”
After saying that, she even deliberately shoved her finger forward, right in front of Natsuka’s face, brimming with momentum.
The thing is, though.
Aren’t you a blacksmith?
Natsuka honestly didn’t quite understand where this obsession of hers had come from.
Still, a title like captain wasn’t something he couldn’t just hand off to her at this point in time.
So he simply stuck out his hand.
“Deal.”
…
A short while later.
In the back room of the shop, Cecil had already, one step ahead, completed the initiation rite.
When she came back out, her whole self was practically floating in the air, head held high, the smugness on her face impossible to hide.
“Your turn.”
“Looks like you’re in a pretty good mood.”
“Awaken some good skill, did you?”
Natsuka tossed out the question offhandedly.
“Hmph hmph, that’s a secret!”
“Remember, from now on you call me Captain!”
Cecil planted both hands on her hips, looking incredibly full of herself.
“Yes yes yes, my lord Captain.”
“I’ll be heading in then.”
Natsuka didn’t feel like indulging her preening any further, gave a casual wave of his hand, pushed the door open and walked into the inner room.
Light streamed in from one side, casting her white robes in an especially soft glow.
She gave the bed a gentle pat, her voice warm.
“Take it off.”
Those words really were a bit on the suggestive side.
The corner of Natsuka’s mouth twitched, and his very first reaction in his heart actually was —
The way you’re doing this, you really do look like a wife guiding her husband to consummate the marriage.
Still, he knew this was serious business right now, so he cleared his throat a couple of times and obediently answered.
“Okay.”
He took off his upper garment and lay down on the bed.
The moment his back touched the sheets, Astraea, as if just casually, softly spoke up.
“I know you chose me for the sake of the ‘Constellation of Stars.'”
“And I have a rough idea what your true objective is, too.”
“Still, before I inscribe this, there’s one question I’d like to ask.”
“What is it?”
Natsuka tilted his head and met her gaze.
“To you, what is ‘justice’?”
Astraea wanted to know.
At the very least, before she truly inscribed the Wings of Justice and Order, she wanted to know what was in this child’s heart.
Even if his reason for choosing her wasn’t purely for the sake of this.
Natsuka was silent for a very long time.
So long that the only thing left in the room was the sound of the wind blowing in from far outside the window.
At last, like all the air had gone out of him, he buried his face into the pillow and answered in a muffled voice.
“I don’t know.”
“Justice, as a thing, has a different standard for every person to begin with, right?”
“Honestly, I never really seriously thought about it before.”
That was only natural.
As an “ordinary” high school student, the things around him that could truly be called evil were, in fact, not many.
Since there was little evil, the kind of “justice” that needed to be held high naturally wasn’t easy to feel strongly either.
If you really had to point to something.