Tales of Harem 2: Prologue

 

(Isn’t that a rare flower that only grows in one rural area? How strange.)

Sophie tilted her head in minor puzzlement.

Some white flowers had been placed on the altar in offering.

The gold speckles on the petals shined beautifully in the light of the candles meant to honor the dead in the dimly-lit mausoleum, giving them a pure elegance.

But those were not the usual flowers left in remembrance of the dead, so what were they doing here?

Ekaterina, who had left the flowers, continued to pray in silence.

She was the Saint of this kingdom of Lesdea.

The Saint was a special figure in Lesdea. It referred to a seer who could see into the future.

She was so beloved by the people for her compassion and beauty that the church had already made her an abbey director at the age of 18.

It was said she would be officially appointed Abbatissa before long and no one thought her young age would be an obstacle there. Not only was she popular, but she had the faith, responsibility, and education befitting the title of Saint.

Sophie herself ruled the kingdom as queen at only 23, so she did not discriminate based on age. In fact, she felt an affinity with the young woman due to their similar circumstances and she respected her as a superb holy woman.

The flowers offered by Ekaterina had to have some meaning.

After their solemn prayer was complete, they left the royal mausoleum and Sophie called out to the Saint.

“Thank you. I am sure my late husband is pleased with your mourning.”

“I do not deserve such praise. I only wish for the king to rest in peace.”

The young Saint responded humbly and then looked off into the distance.

“It has been a full year since he passed, hasn’t it?”
The royal mausoleum was built atop a small hill on the palace grounds.

The busy castle town and the lush farmlands beyond were visible from there.

The royal family was traditionally buried below a simple memorial slab in the mausoleum, a remnant of when Lesdea was only a small rural kingdom.

300 years prior, Lesdea had opposed and defeated the Demon Lord with the help of the Hero. They were already blessed with plentiful crops, so once trade with other kingdoms picked up, they had developed into a prosperous, but still small, kingdom.

Nevertheless, the royal graves remained simple and Lesdea’s slumbering leaders instead took pride in the prosperity visible from that hill.

However, the Saint’s words were tinged with sadness as she viewed that symbol of such long peace.

“Time passes so quickly.”

Sensing an unspoken alarm bell in the Saint’s voice, Sophie suddenly realized the meaning of the flowers.

“Now I remember. Yes, those flowers are said to repel monsters. Have you had a vision?”

Ekaterina quietly nodded.

“I have felt uneasy of late. It does not seem to be anything imminent, but I fear what it could mean.”

“You don’t mean…”

Sophie was hesitant to say the rest out loud for fear of making it come true.

But the saint said it without fear.

“The Demon Lord’s return is approaching. It will happen in the not-too-distant future.”

“Oh, how can this be?”
Sophie had never imagined this calamity would arrive during her rule.

First illness took her husband from her a year ago and now this? Why did destiny hate her so?

She felt lightheaded all of a sudden.

Noticing her wobble, Ekaterina used a gentle hand to support her.

“Your Majesty, there is nothing to fear. Lesdea is protected by the Hero.”

“That’s right. The Hero will return to this world once our peace is disturbed.”

That legend was the cornerstone of Lesdea’s prosperity.

A sudden laugh escaped her lips, surprising Ekaterina.

“What is it?”

“Oh, dear. I should not be laughing after such horrendous news! But I was just thinking how excited Marie will be.”

That was her daughter.

“Princess Marie?”

“She is obsessed with the Hero. Her nanny even complains about how she always begs to hear stories about him.”

“My!” Ekaterina laughed too. “Every Lesdean girl goes through that phase.”

“Yes, but the Hero is connected to the royal family and she is a princess, so she is twice as obsessed as anyone else.”

“Were you the same when you were little?”

“Eh?” Sophie had not expected that question and she blushed in response. “Yes, yes, I was. I had forgotten until you mentioned it…oh, how embarrassing! Now I can’t laugh at Marie!”

The two of them laughed together.

Not as two leaders carrying important burdens, but as friends.

The laughter lightened their mood and created hope within them.

The gloomy atmosphere was somewhat lessened.

Then they heard some noisily arguing voices.

They looked over to see two female knights approaching.

“How are you so calm? What if something happens to the princess!?”
“Don’t worry. She’s just off playing in some hiding spot or another. Like she always does.”

Those were the royal bodyguards Leonora and Therese.

“Are Marie and the others up to no good again?” asked Sophie, who could guess exactly what this was about.

“My apologies! She was only out of my sight for a moment and she disappeared,” reported Leonora while standing straight and saluting.

She had only just graduated top of her class from the Royal Knight Academy that year, but her impeccable character and behavior made her seem older than she was.

Even 6-year-old Marie had seen through her overly earnest and uncompromising personality, so she was often the target of the little girl’s pranks.

Therese was two years her senior and she often used Leonora’s passion for her work to shove her own duties onto her.

“The Kilindini Sisters are with her, so I doubt there’s anything to worry about,” insisted Therese. “She’ll be back once she’s hungry.”

“This is a serious issue! Those two are still only children too! We must organize a search using all the palace’s soldiers! A knight must dedicate herself in service to her master.”

The Kilindini Sisters had been raised alongside Marie.

Leonora was furious with Therese’s wishful thinking, but Therese was not remotely concerned.

“Sidica is still young, yes, but Moona is already 12. That’s practically grown up! She apparently has no end of possible marriage proposals already! I’m jealous.”

“Therese!”

Leonora had run out of patience now.

Sophie found the exchange amusing, although she did feel bad for the furious young woman.

Therese might seem irresponsible, but she was actually incredibly observant of her surroundings. She made a good pair for Leonora who could grow so fixated on a mission that she forgot to look at the big picture.

(She isn’t fit to be a leader, but she’s the perfect aide.)

Sophie fully trusted Leonora’s earnest work.

Once Marie had grown up a little more, Sophie planned to make Leonora the head of the princess’s bodyguards.

Those bodyguards would eventually become the next generation of royal knights.

Then Sophie turned back toward Ekaterina.

“I actually invited you here today so I could ask a favor about this.”

“Ask away. I will gladly accept any task given by my queen.”

“Could you tutor Marie and the Kilindini Sisters? I do hesitate to give you a further burden beyond viewing our kingdom’s future.”

“That is a major responsibility.” The young Saint thought a bit with her eyes closed before speaking again. “But Princess Marie will lead Lesdea’s next generation, so educating her is more of an honor than I deserve. …Also, I just sensed that this matter will play a major role in Lesdea’s future. It will likely become a portion of my role as Saint.”

“That is a relief to hear. Then please do teach the girls. But as you have heard, she is far from a proper lady.” Sophie expressed her thanks and gave a command to Leonora. “You two continue the search a while longer. I know. How about you ask her nanny to bake a honey cake? She will smell that no matter where in the castle she is hiding.”

“Right away, Your Majesty!”

Leonora accepted the heartwarming suggestion like it was a crucial battle order.

In her mind, a knight was to faithfully carry out any of her master’s commands, no matter what they might be.

Whether or not that was a good policy was a different matter. And…

(That armor is not exactly conducive to searching for a hiding child.)

Sophie smiled bitterly as Leonora clanked off toward the castle with Therese in tow.

To Marie, she might as well have been a cat wearing a bell.

But Leonora would never even consider removing her knight armor.

Sophie chose not to mention it for now.

Words did not change people. They grew when they arrived at the realization on their own.

The distraction had entirely eliminated the shock of the prophecy.

She would make sure the next generation could grow up like this.

For her beloved daughter’s sake and for the all the people living in her kingdom.

Instead of worrying over it all, she had to do whatever she could as queen.

“We must trust in the future.”

“Yes, Your Majesty. And in the Hero.”

The Queen and Saint exchanged those simple words as they watched the two knights leave.

 

“Hey, hey. Is the Hero really here?”

“Of course not. You’re so dumb, Marie.”

“Ehh!? But Sidica, you said I would meet him if I came here!”

“Oh, you can meet him here.”

“How can I meet him if he isn’t here? That makes no sense!”

Marie pouted her lips in complaint.

But Sidica knew a lot more since she was two years older.

She could read some and she could count higher than ten. She also knew a lot of strange things. She may have known even more than her older sister Moona.

Sidica called out to the door where that older sister was standing watch.

“Tell us if you hear Leonora’s armor!”

“I’m listening, but don’t have Princess Marie do anything dangerous.”
“For the last time, this isn’t dangerous.”

The three girls were in a closet within the royal palace.

Sidica rummaged through the back of the room and pulled out a strange old wooden board.

“What’s that?”

“A divination board. I found it the other day!”

Sidica proudly showed off a board with an oddly shaped arrow piece on it.

“You can use it to communicate with the spirit world.”

Hearing that, Marie pulled back her hand just before touching it.

Her mind had turned to her dead father.

“It won’t hurt?”

Her father had often complained of the pain while bedridden from his illness.

She had not known how to help and tried rubbing him, but it had not helped.

She knew what the spirit world was. That was where people went when they died.

So she thought maybe this divination board would hurt.

“It’s not like that, so don’t worry. See, you place your hand on it like this.”

Sidica half-forcibly pulled Marie’s hand over to place her fingers on the arrow piece and place that on the board. The board had a lot of letters on it, but Marie had not learned to read yet.

“Then you ask a question and the Hero answers you.”

“Really!? Wow!”

Her worries immediately dissipated and she was asking a question a moment later.

“Hero, oh, Hero…where are you now?”
But nothing happened.

“You can’t ask anything so tricky right away!” rebuked Sidica.

The problem was apparently her question, but she was unsure how that was tricky.

“Look, this word here is ‘yes’ and this one is ‘no’. Our fingers will move to one or the other to tell us the answer.”

“Our fingers? I thought we were asking the Hero.”

“You really are dumb! He answers by moving our fingers!”

“How does that work?”

“Just ask a simple yes-or-no question first, okay?”

“Um…okay.” Marie thought for a bit and then asked a new question. “Hero, oh, Hero, when will I finally meet you?”

“Hey, that’s not a yes-or-no- kyahh!”

Sidica was not the only one to scream. Marie did too when their fingers began to move on their own.

Their fingers pushed the arrow piece along the board from one letter to another.

“Wow! The Hero really is answering!”

Sidica’s eyes widened, so the sequence of letters had to be spelling out an answer. Marie had never been more excited.

“What’s it saying? When will I meet the Hero!?”

“Wait, give me second!”

Sidica focused on following the letters.

“T…E…N…Y…E…A… In ten years!?”

“Ten years? How long is that!?”

“Hmm.”

Ten years was too long a time for Sidica to wrap her head around either.

But even Marie knew that was not anytime soon.

It was a long time in the future. She would have to wait forever for the moment she was so looking forward to.

It had to be a much longer wait than waiting for one of her nanny’s cakes to finish baking.

(But…the Hero really answered! He says he’s coming to see me!)

A big grin spread across her face.

“Hey, I think I smell honey being cooked. Are you two hungry?”
She barely even heard Moona calling over from the door.

 

And as the years passed, the Hero finally did arrive to see Marie.