Chapter 10: C9 A talk

Initially, the three grown women in the room assumed what they had all just heard was a weak attempt at a joke to lighten things. But as Kiyomi began to redden and tears suddenly came out, it was proposed that instead of simply escorting Kiyomi that Maria would assist her while Lorn and Hatsumi discussed things. Originally as the attendant to the Revenants, Maria was going to be consulted on a new charge to the household, whether temporary or not. Unfortunately, Lorn would have to discuss it with the Maid later.

After the doors closed behind the little girl that trailed the maid, Lorn relaxed in her chair, reclining back before pulling out a vial of fluid and downing it. After finishing it, she looked to Hatsumi, the relaxed expression gone and replaced with one of purpose.

 

Hatsumi’s Perspective

 

“When you flicked me with your tail…that hurt quite a lot.”

Lorn had said in a very direct and flat tone.

“You were about to blackout. The coffee comment was supposed to be a hint, but I had to take it a bit further.”

For nearly a hundred years, Lorn had apparently been suffering from extreme withdrawals after an incident involving this territory. She had set patterns that we’d learned since we had known her. She’d periodically lose consciousness, and for the time being, we couldn’t have that being exposed to anyone new. I whipped her calf with my tail from under the table to keep her awake during our entire conversation with Kiyomi.

“*sigh* In that case, thank you. It’s getting harder for me to predict by myself.”

Lorn brought her elbows to the table and shoved her plate to the side before bringing out an aforementioned “nearly destroyed” book that was, at worst, mildly used.

“What do you think of her freeze up? That nearly lasted five minutes, and her eyes were shifting around something fierce.”

“She seemed to have an adverse effect from seeing the food, so it must have been familiar. I’ve seen it before with adventurers suffering memory loss. It should get less frequent over the next couple of days, then stop altogether…..Did you notice anything while you were with her last night or this morning?”

Lorn asked about Kiyomi’s behavior with concern.

“She had rather normal reactions to seeing the guild and a lot of our old hunting trophies. But that’s kind of normal to a kid that’s never stepped foot in the guild…..but”

I hesitated

“But?”

Lorn raised a brow

“She was screaming and trembling something fierce in her sleep. I don’t think she remembers any of it since, at some point, she quieted down and gradually woke up. I pretended to be asleep when she stirred, and the poor thing started nuzzling my tail out of nowhere.”

“Anything familiar?”

I shook my head

“No, mainly gibberish. Stuff about wheels and some weird names, but it didn’t sound noteworthy.”

“Are you sure?”

Lorn pressed again. As if she were pleading with me to find an answer for her.

“Sorry, but what wasn’t recognizable seemed to be in some strange language.”

It was like she was speaking in tongues

“Did you recognize it?”

“No.”

I shook my head again. For a moment, Lorn stared at the book again before I noticed her head bobbing some and her eyes going dead for a moment.

“Hey Nana, Naptimes not until evening.”

I joked before flicking her calf with my tail again, and her head jerked back up before hurriedly bringing up another vial but this time followed it up with water.

“Seriously, we need to get you a magic item or something to feed you with a bit more energy.”

She smiled and shrugged.

“You and me both know that wouldn’t do much. My whole reason for this is my lack of mana anyway.”

Touché

After a few more moments passed, I raised the question I had initially meant to lead with, but it felt too accusatory to.

“…….”

“Why did you lie to her, Lorn?”

I flat-out asked her rather than beating around the bush. She rarely lied; she never would without good enough cause, so the sudden lie to a child with supposed memory loss of all people was somewhat a surprise.

She stared at the book for a moment before opening it and answering my question.

“The book was somewhat difficult to get into….The sealing rune on It seemed to be placed in a rushed manner…I finally got it open early this morning.”

Furrowing her brow, she took another sip of water and looked at me without changing her expression.

“While I only managed to read the first and last couple entries so far……hhhhhh”

As she exhaled, Lorn closed her eyes and looked away for a moment as if hesitating.

“In my opinion Hatsumi, it’s for the best that she never finds out this book survived.”

“!?” I felt a chill down my spine for a moment, but I couldn’t exactly think of why, probably because Lorn was nearly staring through me. And not her usual stare of exhaustion…but like she was saw something she’d seen before that was unpleasant. She continued after a pause.

“The opening entries were rather expected. Some jabber about her mother, siblings, and the new diary her parents had given her.”

She tapped the book, smirking weakly before frowning.

“The last few entries……They paint a grimmer picture….”

“How grim?

“…..”

There was another pause between us, but she wasn’t faltering now.

“……”

“Sh-“

“Her sword”

“?”

As I was about to say something, Lorn cut me off.

“Her sword’s full title is Blessed Arm of the Matriarch…..”

A titled sword? Sure, naming weapons wasn’t uncommon but giving one a title? It was rather eccentric unless the owner was-…..

“You don’t mean?”

“Well, aside from the very obvious hints of “blessed” and “matriarch,” the runes on the sword and book weren’t direct translatable writing…..They were a house sigil…..that house….as far as anyone knows… it has been wiped out for well on three months now. That’s all I could find out, though. It's as if their names and history were wiped from the books.”

“You mean to tell me with that titled sword….. We have the last daughter of a noble house…With amnesia…..sitting in the chamber just downstairs with Maria?”

Lorn didn’t respond; she just continued looking at the book's pages.

“The last few entries describe what seems to be her journey with her father and a few of their retainers….They were attempting to reach our territory….they were actively hunted in Morus.”

She broke for another sip of water, sighing just before continuing.

“The opposing force that annihilated that house supposedly…..had the full backing of the Church of Orion.”

So that was why they were quiet on their reasoning. Lorn continued

“The most recent entry is very short…” Pappa is gone. He gave me momma’s sword. I don’t know if she or sister are….everyone is gone. Papa said to keep walking until I came to a river and then to keep walking. He said someone there could help, but I was crying too much to remember the name.”

“……”

Lorn flipped the book closed and brought it back under the table.

“From there, the entry is smudged from fluid and indiscernible.”

……..

“The title…..How did you find it, the diary?”

Lorn tilted her head and swayed her hand from side to side.

“The diary mentioned it slightly, but the title was hidden.”

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“How did you find its title?”

I could feel my ears tilting from my curiosity.

“Luck, when analyzing it, the title NORMALLY is only “The Matriarchs sword.”

Normally? Now I was tilting my whole head.

“When I brought it by one of the mini shrines in my library, it changed.”

“So its title is a favor from one of the gods?”

Lorn nodded.

“Yes.”

“Which one?”

She shrugged.

“Sh-Shouldn’t we figure out?”

Lorn’s expression was serious again.

“For the sake of the girl's safety. No.”

“Haaaaah”

Both of us exhaled in unison. This conversation started to make the situation sound hopeless.

“Hey Lorn…..are you sure about not telling her? That we should just let her forget that?”

Her expression looked like she was in pain for a moment.

“As she is, she’s innocent….Not an ounce of sorrow or anger. She’s a normal kid for all intents and purposes. One without a family. Without a memory to her name…..And judging from her not being able to simply use the bathroom on her own since she woke up in that clearing….Without a single ounce of knowledge to survive in this world without guidance.”

She now began leaning back in the chair and propped her legs on the open space on the table. She only did this when she was about to propose something. Then she looked at me. For a long while, we stared at each other.

“What?”

“You know what.”

She nodded at me with a strange self-satisfied smirk that was oddly uncharacteristic on her.

“She needs a m-“

“Are you really suggesting this after the talk we just had?”

I scoffed at what I stopped her from proposing.

Her expression turned stern, and she resumed her proposal in a tone almost detached from emotion.

“You are still struck from your child’s loss. She has lost all the family she ever had. You need to heal, and she needs a guiding hand. This is really the best option either of you have….”

“You mean the only option?”

When Lorn presents something as the “Best” option, that is usually synonymous with 'Only.' For such a caring grandma type, she can be detached and oppressive when she takes a direction she deems for someone’s betterment. Thankfully this was never past small things or things directly related to quests. This was probably the first time she’d ever proposed something that involved the personal lives of others.

“What more do you want me to say? That you two could find some solace in your shared suffering? Orion’s followers took your daughter…..and Kiyomi, her family.”

She sat there, eyes locked to mine as she said that. And just as quickly as she adopted the stern appearance, it faded. She averted her eyes and stared at the door before continuing.

“Hatsumi….I’ve known you since you were a lass….I know you won’t say no. You don’t need to refer to her as your daughter. You don’t have to take the place of her mother suddenly….But she needs a figure to guide her, or she’ll end up like us…..And out of all of us…you’re the best one for the job.”

My eyes joined hers, and now we were both staring at the door.

“They’re coming back up the stairs; they were gone for so long because it seems the chambers were rather barren of anything, so they had to go back to your quarters.”

“That ability of yours to just know what happens in this building freaks me out.”

“Mmmmmhm, many others share that thought."

“Lorn…..do you really think I’m the best option for her?”

Lorn simply smiles, not breaking her lock on the door.

“I saw how she was glued to you, and she followed you in here like a lost puppy. She looked to you quite a lot over our questioning too. If anyone is good for her, it’s you, Hatsumi.”

An audible knock is heard now. It must be Maria and Kiyomi returning.

“We’ll feign a simple conversation and propose it suddenly to her. She won’t refuse; she more than likely understands her situation and would feel thankful. Go along with what I say.”

“Hmm?! Wait, why not build up to it and ask her later today?”

“Because the sooner I give you the reigns, the sooner you can do what needs to be done. The girl isn’t going to spontaneously know her way around.”

She winked at me, and before I could say anything, she yelled for the two outside to enter.

“COME IN!”

After she lowered her legs and sat back up in her chair, one of the doors opened, and Maria entered. Kiyomi came in quickly behind her, b-lining for her seat, and resumed eating her now cold breakfast.

“Apologies, Mistress Lorn, the chambers downstairs seemed to be devoid of any form of wipes or water.”- Maria

Lorn nodded, and Maria walked back behind Kiyomi.

“Kiyomi, could I get your undivided attention for a moment?” Lorn

Lorn spoke, Kiyomi taking a rather subdued posture in response. Due to Lorn’s tone, she probably thought she was in some sort of trouble with her. She softly placed down her utensils and swallowed. Her tail coming to a steady sway behind her. She was expressive to the point of it being nearly unbearable to not coddle her.

“So we were talking, and…well, your situation seems rather special. We don’t really know what to do for you.….”

Kiyomi’s tail halted for a moment, with a look of concern for a moment before Lorn resumed from her pause. Lorn had look at me, then back to Kiyomi.

“However..”

Lorn had apparently paused to emphasize the importance of Kiyomi properly listening.

“…We do know someone who could help you get your bearings about you. Someone whose rather dependable and soft-hearted.-“

Is she playing me up to ensure Kiyomi doesn’t reject me?

“-Someone who is a rather experienced war mage. A seasoned Adventurer. Someone who knows her way around this territory like the back of her hand. A good caregiver and an excellent friend.”

Kiyomi seeming to be enthralled by Lorn's hype.

“There is a catch, however. They're taking care of you out of their own kindness. You aren’t being given a job or being made an apprentice or something like that. They’ll be taking care of you the same as they would any other child. BUT. I need your answer now. If we don’t get it soon, you’ll lose out on some valuable time. What do you think?”

Kiyomi looked down at her plate for a moment with some awfully serious expression on her face before exhaling and nodding to Lorn.

“Honestly, I don’t know where I am, I don’t know anyone, I don’t know anything, and I struggled just seeing a mounted lizard head. I'll take what help I can get. When can I meet them?”- Kiyomi

Lorn’s smile was ear to ear from this point forth.

“You already have.”

She motioned to me with her left hand.

“Meet Hatsumi, former house War Mage of this territory's Baron and the Leader of our stay-in team, Frontier Revenants. She’s volunteered to take care of you. She’s fairly dependable, a great teacher, and is an excellent listener~.”

Are you trying to hype me up as a caregiver or marry me away here? What kind of explanation is that?!

“In short, she’s a really good person, and she’s offering to help. Sound good?”

Lorn suddenly asked, without a single lead-on or smooth transition…..you really don’t know how to deal with kid’s do you?! She’s simply still smiling at Kiyomi and waiting for an answer. You can’t just ask the kid for an answer like the- wait, she’s standing up?

After a few moments, Kiyomi simply stood and bowed her head to me then-

“I-if you would, then I'll be in your care.”

She actually accepted it……thank the gods she’s such an easy child to work with right off the bat.

I simply smiled and nodded in return before Lorn chimed in one final time.

“Perfect! Welp, my schedule IS clear for the day. Let us go for a walk!”- Lorn

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