“Forgive me Father, but I, I’m leaving the family.”
“Wha…what do you think you’re doing, Selen!?”
After hearing my declaration, my father’s eyes were wide open in anger.
“This is unacceptable, Father! I can’t go through with it.”
In these times, a lord marrying off their children for political and financial gain was commonplace.
I was no exception. From the age of ten, I had already been promised to Lord Albert’s heir. Because I understood that this was the best option for the safety of our lands, I agreed to follow such a decision.
To be exact, I agreed to be married to Luke, Lord Albert’s oldest son and heir apparent. I had met him once or twice already, and he seemed to be a gentle and sweet young man, quite unlike his father. It was beside the point, but he was also 3 years younger than me.
However, what he received for his Gift during his blessing ceremony was one clearly not geared toward fighting.
Meanwhile, the one to inherit his father’s [Master Swordsmanship] was his step-brother, Raul, instead.
As a result of this twist of fate, I became promised to Raul.
“If it was to Luke, I was willing to go through with it, but if it’s to that twisted man, I absolutely refuse!”
“But he’s the one to inherit the Albert territory, Selen! If you cared for our lands…”
“No, Father, absolutely will not do this! I’d rather die!”
After shouting so, I stormed out of our castle.
I would have continued until I was out of our territory, but soldiers deployed on the highway blocked my path.
“Lady Selen, please turn back.”
“Well, if you think you can stop me, go ahead and try.”
I said so and then drew out the 2 swords hanging from my waist.
With a crackling sound, ice then formed on the blades of my swords.
My seriousness perhaps understood, the soldiers instinctively stepped back.
They must have known about my strength, and thus concluded that their force wouldn’t have been enough to stop me.
“P…please, Lady Selen…”
“You’re so persistent. If you continue to stand in my way, you’ll be in a world of pain.”
Upon hearing my threat, they reluctantly made way for me.
And so, I walked through the space they made until the place I was born in was far away behind me.
“Luke-sama, please take a look! There are sprouts in the field…!”
“Huh? There really are!”
When I hurriedly came out after Millia called for me, I saw for myself the sprouts she was talking about.
To be honest, I was unsure whether crops would grow at all from this field, but seeing this, my worries went away.
Moreover, according to Millia, they were actually growing sooner than usual.
“We did it! There’s obviously more work to be done, but at least we’ve secured a source of food.”
“Yeah, thank goodness.”
In other events, I spent the points I accumulated on a watchtower and an earthen wall.
Each cost 20 points.
I wanted to build another shed, but Millia insisted that we should prioritize facilities for defense in case the worst were to happen.
At present, we still haven’t been attacked, but when I saw figures in the distance a few days ago, I was glad that this was the choice we made.
The earthen wall was about two meters tall. It wouldn’t be of much use against large monsters, but against small ones, it should be enough to stop them.
“…! Luke-sama! It’s an emergency!”
Millia was at the top of the watchtower when she shouted. Because it was rather sudden, my first instinct was to look in her direction.
Wha, I can see under her skirt! …no now is not the time for such things!
“A group of goblins are headed this way!”
“What!?”
Goblins were ugly humanoid monsters.
They were usually short, the tallest among them being at about 150 cm.
Alone, they were said to be easy to deal with, but in a group, they could spell trouble.
I hope the wall will be enough to make them give up and turn back.
“They’re stepping on top of their allies to climb over the wall!”
So much for that. Now, it’s only a matter of time before they get past that wall and invade the village.