‘What a damn enormous estate. Is this supposed to be a royal palace?’
After a week-long carriage journey, we finally arrived at Ianus Ares's estate, and it was spectacularly grand.
It even had towering spires that gave the place an imposing air.
Armed soldiers controlled the grounds around the estate, but they were not holy knights of the order. They were Ianus Ares's private troops.
“Welcome, Lord Kurt.”
A man who seemed to hold a relatively high position recognized Kurt and greeted him.
“This way, please.”
“Have my brother and sisters already arrived?”
“Lord Sershes and Lady Helena have already arrived. Lady Est is expected shortly.”
Sershes was the eldest of the four siblings. To Kurt, he was an older brother.
Helena, the second child, and Est, the third, were Kurt's older sisters.
“Then, Hazel, I'll be back.”
“Yes. Please take care, Lord Kurt.”
Hazel bowed as he saw us off.
From this point onward, only members of House Ares were allowed inside.
‘Didn't they say there were more than a thousand if you counted all the minor branch families?’
The interior was bustling with people.
Aside from Ianus's servants, everyone here should have been a member of House Ares, so it seemed the rule requiring everyone aged sixteen or older to attend really was enforced.
‘There are even faces I remember from when I was Archbishop Hauzel. If they knew I was Hauzel, they'd probably come charging at me like mad and try to kill me.’
In my previous life, we had fought each other with our lives on the line.
Now we were relatives.
It felt a little strange.
‘No. I suppose we'll still end up fighting with our lives on the line here too.’
As I thought that, I raised my head.
A cold-looking woman was approaching down the corridor.
“You're quite late, Kurt.”
“I apologize, Sister Helena.”
As I watched her glare at Kurt, I searched my memories.
‘Helena has aged quite a bit too. She must be over forty now.’
Helena Ares.
Ianus's eldest daughter and Kurt's eldest sister.
She was a woman who had checked the Great Flame Cult with all manner of schemes decidedly unbecoming of a holy knight.
The problem was that, despite favoring underhanded schemes, she was not especially good at devising them…… so she had repeatedly failed against the Great Flame Cult.
‘There was even a time when I turned Helena's own operation against her and lured her into a trap.’
She had been an enemy in the past, but I did not particularly dislike her.
If anything, it felt strangely pleasant to see someone I had known long ago.
Of course, Helena could never even dream that I had been Archbishop Hauzel in my previous life.
“So you're Sion.”
“Hello, Aunt Helena.”
“Call me Lady Helena.”
Helena spoke in a chilly voice.
“Sion, I have something to discuss with your father. Go over there for now.”
“Sister, Sion is……”
“My sons are over there. They can keep an eye on him. You there!”
Helena called over someone passing by and gave them instructions.
“Sion, as I've told you again and again……”
“Don't worry, Father.”
Please do not do anything conspicuous. Just behave yourself.
That was what my father, Kurt, wanted from me.
“I'll spend some time with my cousins.”
“Yes…… all right.”
Helena urged him with her eyes, so Kurt eventually let me go.
***
“So you're Sion.”
“Hm. You're a cute-looking kid!”
The ones who greeted me in a quiet corner of the garden were two boys in their mid-teens.
‘Helena's sons, the brothers Cain and Robel…….’
Cain must have taken after his mother, because he was a handsome boy with sharp features.
Robel, on the other hand, was a heavyset boy with a rough-looking face.
‘If Helena becomes the next Knight Commander, Cain will probably become the Knight Commander after next.’
Cain was known to be a fairly talented boy.
Apparently, he was expected to enter the Holy Knight Order before long.
Robel was said to be reasonably talented too, though not as much as his older brother.
“It's a pleasure to meet you, Brother Cain, Brother Robel.”
“Polite, aren't you?”
“You've got good manners!”
They were sitting at a table and eating.
When I remained standing, Cain gestured toward an empty seat.
“Our little cousin must be hungry.”
“No, I'm fine.”
“Here, have something to eat. Grandfather's food is good.”
Cain pushed the plate in front of him toward me.
It was a seafood dish with an excellent cream-sauce aroma.
[Well, well.]
Igzad muttered inside my head.
[What a generous serving. Wouldn't you agree?]
Igzad was being sarcastic.
All that remained on the plate were seafood shells.
They had eaten every edible piece and then pushed the plate of scraps toward me.
“What are you doing? Aren't you going to eat?”
Cain urged me with a smile.
Robel shrugged beside him.
“Brother, Sion is still young. I don't think he understands the taste of this kind of dish yet.”
“Is that so? Well, he's still a child, so I suppose it can't be helped.”
“Then we should change it to suit a child's palate.”
With that, Robel picked up a bottle of red sauce from the table.
It was ‘ketchup,’ which had recently been imported from a distant region and had become wildly popular among children.
“Here. Now it'll taste good!”
Robel poured a huge amount of ketchup over the plate.
The sight of red ketchup splattered haphazardly across the white cream sauce killed my appetite completely.
“Sion, eat up!”
“Sorry, but there aren't any spoons or forks left. Want to use the ones we were using? Or you could just put your mouth to the plate and eat.”
Watching my cousins snicker, I let out a small sigh.
‘What ridiculous bastards.’
I had a good idea why they were acting this way.
There was a high chance I would become their rival in the future succession struggle.
That meant they wanted to crush my spirit in advance.
They were trying to teach me early that I should never defy the two of them.
‘Looks like they expected me to get scared and start bawling.’
I supposed they really were Helena's sons.
What petty bullying.
‘They're doing this just to intimidate a twelve-year-old kid?’
When I lowered my head and remained still, the two of them leaned closer with snickering faces.
“Sion, don't tell me you're crying?”
“Why are you crying when your brothers are trying to feed you something tasty? Are you stupid?”
Without answering, I slowly reached toward the plate.
Then I picked it up with both hands.
“Wait, are you really going to eat it with your mouth?”
“Haha, Sion! Are you a puppy? We were only joking when we said……”
“Whoops.”
Pretending to lose my balance, I stumbled and threw the plate forward.
And the plate…… flew straight at Cain, who had leaned in close to look at my face.
His pristine white ceremonial clothes were thoroughly smeared with cream sauce and ketchup.
“Gah?!”
“I apologize, Brother.”
I bowed politely.
“My hand slipped.”
“You bastard, what the hell did you just do……!”
While Cain stood frozen in place, Robel lunged at me instead.
The sight of him trying to punch a child far younger than himself was downright disgraceful.
“I apologize, Brother.”
Naturally, I had no reason to let him hit me.
“My foot slipped.”
“……!”
Robel caught his foot on my leg and went sprawling to the ground.
Unfortunately for him, the spot was slick with sauce spilled from the plate.
So Robel ended up staining his ceremonial clothes just like his brother.
“Sion, what did you just do?”
“What could I possibly have done?”
When I fixed him with a cold stare, Cain flinched.
“What the hell are you?”
“I could ask you the same thing, Brother.”
I approached Cain while speaking in an icy voice.
“Treating a cousin you're meeting for the first time like this…… what exactly is wrong with you?”
“……!”
A trace of fear flickered through Cain's eyes.
He had realized it instinctively.
The child in front of him was not someone he could push around with impunity.
“What are you doing?”
Just then.
The crisp click of shoes sounded, and a woman with neat, well-defined features appeared.
I did not recognize her face.
But I understood who she was almost immediately.
‘She must be Sershes's daughter. Their eyes look alike.’
Sershes Ares.
The man who commanded the ‘Assault Knight Regiment,’ the strongest combat force in the Holy Knight Order.
His own abilities were exceptional as well, and he had accomplished a great deal in battles against the Great Flame Cult.
As Archbishop Hauzel, I had clashed with him several times.
‘Though I always won.’
As I searched my memories, I observed Sershes's daughter.
True to being his daughter, she carried herself with confidence and had a proud, haughty air.
She looked to be around twenty years old.
Her name was probably……
“S-Sister Sena!”
“Sis……!”
Right.
I remembered now.
Sena Ares.
I had heard that she had already joined the Holy Knight Order and was performing quite well.
Among the children of our generation, Sena was the only one who had already entered the order.
“Sister, please listen to me!”
Cain shouted with an aggrieved expression.
“That bastard—Sion did this to my clothes!”
“Mine too!”
Robel raised his voice as well, pointing to his own clothes stained with cream sauce and ketchup.
But Sena's gaze remained cold.
“So?”
“What?”
“What do you want me to do about it?”
Cain and Robel flinched at Sena's hard voice.
“Are you asking me to punish him for you?”
“No, that's not……”
“Sis……”
“If you can't even handle a problem this small yourselves and have to ask someone else for help, erase your names from the Ares family tree.”
“……!”
Cain and Robel trembled in place without saying a word.
Apparently, Sena held absolute authority over them.
“More importantly.”
Sena frowned as she looked Cain and Robel up and down.
“Are you two planning to greet Grandfather dressed like that?”
“Ah……”
“W-well……”
“Go change. There isn't much time left before the Family Council begins.”
“Y-yes!”
“Yes……!”
Cain and Robel hurried away, leaving only Sena and me.
“Hello, Sister Sena.”
“…….”
I greeted her, but Sena did not respond.
She merely examined me with a sharp gaze.
“I wondered why Grandfather summoned you in such a hurry. Now I see there was a reason.”
After muttering that briefly, Sena turned her back on me.
“Follow me. Grandfather is looking for you.”
“Grandfather is?”
“He said he wanted to see your face once before the Family Council begins.”
As I watched Sena stride away, Igzad's voice sounded inside my head.
[Hm. Ianus really does seem very interested in you.]
Ianus paid more attention to his grandchildren than to his own children, but apparently he rarely met them in person.
And yet not only had he invited me to the Family Council, he had even sent Sena to bring me to him.
This was no ordinary matter.
‘Then I suppose I'll go see his face after all this time.’
My archenemy from my previous life.
My grandfather in this one.
I followed Sena to meet Knight Commander Ianus Ares.