Tsuyokute New Saga (LN)

Book 7: Chapter 2

“Yo. You got here faster than I thought you would.” Leyla was leaning against a wall as she threw Kyle and friends a casual greeting with one raised hand.

Pairing that with the same friendly smile they’d often seen back at their home village Rimarze.

“…Can’t lie, I didn’t expect you to come greet us like this. How admirable.”

Contrary to that smile, Seran flashed a provocative smirk. The hostility put into his voice was not something one would normally direct at their own foster mother.

“…”

Kyle was the same, his gaze packed with caution despite the person he was dealing with. Those who could feel the tension in the air might assume a fight was to break out any second. There was one step left from a battle.

“Well, duh. I called you here, so I gotta be the one to greet ya.”

However, Leyla didn’t bother much commenting on the tense air and just spoke nonchalantly. Seeing that made Kyle feel frustrated like he was dancing atop her palm.

I guess this is what was bound to happen…when I face things head-on.

It wasn’t a simple problem of strength or weakness, but rather that this relationship they have was decided from the moment he was a little boy. He cannot shake the feeling that he has no means of possibly defeating his master. More than anything, Leyla knew everything about him. That was the truly painful part. Of course, Seran must have felt the same, because his gaze directed at Leyla quickly softened up.

“U-Um, Leyla-san…”

There, Lieze started speaking up. Witnessing this, Leyla’s attitude toward dealing with two troublemakers quickly changed into one of apology and regret.

“…Aww, come on. Don’t make that kinda face.”

Oddly enough, Leyla clearly didn’t like this whole mood, as she scratched the back of her head. Leyla couldn’t go against Lieze. In fact, she was rather weak when it came to her. Just like Kyle’s parents, Leyla was also greatly under Lieze’s care in terms of housework, cooking, and so forth. She was one of the people who filled Leyla’s stomach, after all.

“No, Lieze! You gotta be stronger now! You’ve got the chance to say things you normally wouldn’t be able to!”

“That’s right. Tell that nasty old hag of mine what’s been in your mind all this time!”

Kyle and Seran attempted to fan her on.

“Y-You bastards…Can you be any more pathetic? Making Lieze-chan worry this much. Show some strength and reliability.”

Leyla knew she was backed against the wall, so she changed the topic and threw the arrow back at Kyle.

“I’ve given up on that at this point. I know Kyle’s a sore loser in every regard.”

“This hurts more than being scolded most of the time…”

Lieze’s comment almost forced Kyle down on his knees. All the tension previously governing the air now changed into a familiar air he knew from back in his hometown, allowing everyone present to relax a bit more. The face-off with Leyla that Kyle had feared didn’t happen after all.

“Ahem…Anyway, I don’t have any intention of standing in your way, nor do I want us to be enemies.”

Leyla knew that continuing the conversation would only inflict more damage than anything, so she cleared her throat once and then emphasized that they were simply on opposite sides of the same coin.

“However, I’ve got my own circumstances here, and to explain…No, to make sure you understand that, I called you here.”

“That I understand…so, can we get to the explanation? We came here expecting answers.” Kyle became more serious again as he stood tall, facing Leyla.

“Naturally…is what I would like to say, but things aren’t exactly going smoothly. If possible, I’d love for you to wait another two to three days. Of course, I prepared your lodging, so you can enjoy the sights during that time.” Leyla put one hand on her jaw and showed an expression like she was thinking.

“The hell? You called us here and now you have that attitude with us?”

“…What was that?”

Seran showed a rebellious response to Leyla’s statement, who now raised one eyebrow. The people who knew her understood immediately—this was a common gesture of hers whenever she suffered from a bad mood. Kyle, Seran, and Lieze immediately tensed up.

“And that’s why I complained that you got here early. I thought you’d show up after Seraia’s birth was a done deal, and that’s what I based all our preparations on…and yet you showed up already,” Leyla glared at Seran with a reproachful tone, while also being completely right.

In not even ten days, maybe even today or tomorrow, Kyle’s new sibling, his new little sister will be born. And yet, he left Seraia behind to come to Sura all because he couldn’t forget about Leyla’s words.

“Seraia’s infinitely more important, so why did you prioritize little old me?”

It seemed to turn into a complicated birth no less, so much so that they had to ask for the help of a trained assistant magician of the Empire. No doubt, Leyla was worried about her old friend.

“I mean, you called for me, so…”

But from Kyle’s point of view, Leyla was asking for too much. He was worried about his mother, but this whole invitation was far too ominous to keep on hold. However, Kyle only now remembered that Leyla was never good at using her words. There was often trouble resulting from her being sparse with words only for Kyle and Seran to act with what they thought they knew. Even now, Leyla most likely assumed that Kyle would stop by after Seraia had safely given birth.

“Normally, you would prioritize your mother, you dumbass!”

Met with a roar filled with hostility, Kyle couldn’t help take a defensive position. And as if that wasn’t enough, he ended up being attacked from two sides.

“Actually, I was thinking the same thing. You could have waited a bit longer…” Lieze raised her voice to take Leyla’s side, making Kyle feel like he was stabbed in the back.

It was no surprise that Lieze would have preferred to stay by Seraia’s side, as she was like family to her, but since she found out why Kyle was so desperate to leave, she didn’t try to argue. Of course, she still had her own complaints.

“I mean…What was the point of me being there?”

However, this answer devoid of any consideration only made Lieze more furious.

“You’re her son! Of course you have to be there! How can you not realize that?!”

“But…staying with her is Dad’s job, right?”

Kyle almost forgot about his own father even existing, so he frantically added him as a reason. He grumbled to himself, complaining that she was fine with it not even two minutes ago, but Lieze kept on complaining.

“I feel bad for Seraia having such a non-caring son…”

Leyla’s anger quickly subsided as she just sighed to herself. Agreeing with that were Lieze and the others, all giving Kyle a judgmental look.

“…Anyway, let’s go to that lodging you organized for us.”

Realizing that he had no way of winning this battle, Kyle decided to run away and looked for his excuse.

“It’s located in the northern district, called ‘Forest’s Lakeshore’. Just tell them I sent you. And also…” Leyla glanced past Kyle and looked at Minagi, who had remained silent up to this point. “Souga’s not present. But he’ll join us in a few days, so don’t worry.”

“…”

Minagi stopped moving for an instant but still followed after Kyle without looking at Leyla. She didn’t say a word more than that and just shrugged her shoulders, saying she’d contact the group later, and walked away herself.

“Are you sure about this?”

“Yeah…”

Kyle called out to Minagi, but she didn’t say much. That wasn’t anything out of the ordinary, but ever since she was reunited with Souga during the past civil war, it was like there was always a shadow following her. She seemed pale, so Lieze and Kyle had always been worried about her.

“Are you okay?” Lieze approached Minagi, too, but her expression remained stiff.

“…Kyle, have you visited this place before?” Minagi changed the topic, which made Kyle stop in his tracks.

“…Why do you ask?”

Kyle turned around with a dubious look in his eyes, praising himself that he managed to keep a calm face despite being utterly shaken inside.josei

“You seemed like you knew where you were heading, so I was curious.”

Anybody who had just come to a new location they had never visited would be slightly hesitant to go anywhere, and yet Kyle stepped on with a confident strut to the point Minagi couldn’t stop herself from pointing it out.

“She said it was in the northern district, so I just made my way north, though?”

He looked through his memories from when he was here in his previous life and answered with a calm voice, sighing in relief that he managed to cover it up. And right as Minagi wanted to say something, Seran jumped in.

“Still, I wonder why that old hag went out of her way to summon us here.”

“She must have some special reason, I bet…I could think of a few, but it’s too early to guess.”

As Seran tilted his head, Urza gave a comment of her own. Minagi seemed a bit bothered that she got interrupted, but she presumably decided against pressing the matter and let it slide.

“Kyle, do you have an idea?”

“She said she wanted us to understand…So it must be related to this place in some way. Maybe it is about the gods worshiped in this place.”

Kyle put his money on the fact that this location had something to do with what Leyla wanted. She must have something that she can only show them here.

“What else…Probably Princess [Glorious] Sakura. Even I know her, after all.”

Princess [Glorious] Sakura—the princess of the Holy Kingdom and one of the three people in the human race who could use supreme-tier magic, specializing mostly in divine magic. Lieze dropped the name of such a celebrity. She follows a long line of [Enlightened] who had been given powers directly from the Goddess of the Earth Cairys from the days in the ancient long past. Princess Sakura is the single daughter of the current king, destined to be the next ruler.

“I wonder what kind of princess she is. Can’t wait to meet her.”

Lieze was a commoner through and through. However, she was allowed to meet influential people from Zilgus and Galgan during her journey, so she might have become drunk on the luck she had experienced so far, which is why she said that so nonchalantly.

“Rumor says she is one of the strongest magic users humanity has to offer, right? To think someone would steal this title from me…How peculiar.” Shildonia flashed a confident smirk, feeling excitement at the possibility of being able to meet Sakura for all sorts of different reasons.

“Just being able to see her is going to be extremely difficult. Unlike those princesses we know, Princess Sakura rarely shows herself in front of people, and most of what you see are pictures.”

Souvenir shops here in this town often sell pictures of Princess Sakura. Each example of this, she showed a blissful smile, but every shop added its own rendition. Because she rarely showed herself in front of people, she rose to something akin to a princess of legend.

“And in each of them, she looks beautiful…”

Each painting seemed elevated from this earthly realm. She had something divine to her. And yet, Seran only showed a strained expression.

“What’s wrong? Aren’t you excited thinking about meeting her?”

Normally, Seran would jump at any chance to meet a beauty, but he was oddly docile today, which caught Urza’s attention.

“Judging from all my experiences so far…I feel like something ain’t right.”

Having met the famous princesses of Zilgus and Galgan, completely different from how they were rumored to be, Seran grew dubious.

“That said, I’d love to see her with my own eyes, so I won’t say no to a chance of possibly meeting her.”

“Well, like I said, I don’t see us being lucky enough to meet her, so we can just forget about her.” Kyle said so without much thought, but the others sighed in disbelief, almost certain that the exact opposite would happen.