TROUBLE IN THE CAPITAL

“Have you ever been to Okinawa before, Han-chan?”

“I have. My family has a house there that we visit during summer time.”

“Really? So you know your way around there?”

“I do.”

The two friends were hanging out, making plans for the school trip later in the year. It would be a first for Hina, who rarely had the chance to go, unless some great sacrifices were made by her parents. This time, Hina had the capability to work and make money to pay for the fees and get some spending money. Hanako, being from a rich family, was more used to visiting places outside their hometown, it seemed.

However, this did not bother Hina, rather it made her all the more excited.

“Then you’ll know some good places to visit, right?” Hina asked.

“Well, a few. I was never too interested in looking around…though now I wished I explored more,” Hanako replied. She placed her hand on her friend’s head, giving it a little caress.

Hina felt embarrassed about being treated like a child – or maybe it was more like a pet? She swatted at Hanako’s hand, making the other girl laugh at her reaction.

“I just want to go to good places! We only have so much free time during the school trip, so I don’t want to waste a moment. What if I get lost?”

At that moment, Hanako’s hand found hers, fingers intertwining.

“Then just hold my hand. I won’t let you get lost,” Hanako stated, smooth and without a single qualm about how she sounded in that moment.

Hina’s ears went red as she slipped out of her friend’s grasp.

“It’s…it’s not like someone will kidnap me or anything.”

“Ah, but you’re so cute, Hina. If I look away some guy might come steal you away.”

“But what about my perfect beach romance, huh?!”

That was a part of the reason why she wanted to go on this trip so badly. For a chance to have that magical moment that she idolized so much in her newest favourite novel. Just thinking about it, a prince swearing love to the girl of his dreams and the girl saying yes…what if her chance at a picture perfect romance flag was on this trip?

Clasping her hands together, her eyes shone with the passion she had for her dream to come true.

“Han-chan…I am going to find my true love on the beach. He’s going to sweep me off my feet and it will be amazing! Just you wait. My perfect love life will start with my trip to Okinawa!”

Next to her Hanako sighed softly, murmuring something to herself.

“Such high expectations.”

The morning air was refreshing and cool, so it made a nice contrast with the hot food that was served. Delicious dishes presented by the talented staff of the Rose Villa were so much more rich in flavour and different than the food found in Lorainne and Soleil would miss them when she had to leave.

Soleil and her father would be departing soon to return to their territory, as the young woman needed to finish preparations for the Saint trials; her coming with her father to the capital had cut her time to make arrangements short. She made up for it with getting some new books on the matter, but she needed to make more efforts even though she had all intentions to make herself seem weak and useless. It was best to keep up appearances until her safety was assured.

One of her new books was open on the table, her breakfast half finished as the young woman was entirely engrossed in the contents. Eyes scanning through the book she came across something very surprising.

“Wait, you can steal another woman’s divine weapon?” Soleil asked aloud, startling her father who choked on his tea. Surprised by this, she went over to pat his back, wondering what was so surprising by what she had said that he’d react like this. “Father, father please get a hold of yourself!”

“R-right. I apologize, Soleil…” Orion was now clearing his throat, managing to breathe normally again. Though his expression was quite uncomfortable, showing anxiousness at her earlier words. They still bothered him.

“Father, have you ever seen someone steal another woman’s divine weapon before?” Soleil asked.

The older man got a dark look on his face, going silent for a while, their breakfast growing cold as he kept quiet. Eventually he spoke up.

“Yes, I have witnessed this before. It happened during my and your mother’s time and I am sure it is happening in the shadows of this generation’s Saint trials as well,” he explained. “It is not taboo in particular, but there are many implications involved with gaining another’s divine weapon.”

That seemed ominous. “Like what?”

“Death,” Orion replied, gravely.

“D-death?”

“Yes…”

According to her father, many women wished to gain the prestige that came with being named a saint, even a lesser one. The women chosen would be cared for and pampered, compensated generously as they served the Empire. They also became desirable as marriage partners as well, as many wished for future generations to benefit from having a saint mother. And the Saint of the Empire was often chosen to be a bride of someone in the imperial family, too. And because of this, people have killed to gain those abilities, if they had none to speak of, in order to get into the running.

“And why is this not illegal?” Soleil asked, completely appalled that there were no laws protecting people from being killed to gain their divine weapon.

“Well, because sometimes women pass down their divine weapons to their daughters, as a sort of family heirloom,” Orion explained simply. Soleil calmed after hearing that, though she was amazed that this was commonplace enough in the first place. This detail was never mentioned in the novel at all. “Most don’t bother, but some noble families will pass on that weapon through the family in order to keep using it, especially if it was powerful.”

“But there are some families who can’t do that, right?”

It was left unsaid, but both were thinking the same thing.

The Beaumont family was one such family, having never produced anyone capable of summoning a divine weapon due to their low mana capabilities. Soleil knew that Nicolette had her engagement dissolved in the Saint’s Thorny Road novel, partially from her not having any powers at all. Historically it was due to her father’s bloodline, though they had hoped things would change when her mother (a lesser saint) married into the family. Not only were they unable to produce a child capable of calling forth a divine weapon, her mother died in childbirth, so was unable to pass on her own divine weapon to her child.

Thankfully, Nicolette was dealt with quickly, and was never seen again in the story, so she felt secure that nothing would be happening in that front. Nicolette would be too proud to stoop that low.

A thought occurred to Soleil then.

“Oh, so, is that why you wouldn’t let me and Marianne go out into town alone?” Soleil had known of it being a danger, but not the exact specifics. Simply a ‘young women should not go unescorted’ was all that was told to her. With the Saint trials putting things into context, right now the whole Empire would be rife with young women disappearing left and right in order for people to gain prestige. But if there were a class of people willing to do anything for power, it would be nobles with plenty of money to hire goons to kidnap people.

And neither Marianne and I would be safe; both of us would be killed just for wasting people’s time. Nobody, but my powerless family, would miss a no-name lady like me.

A flash of sunset red eyes flashed within her mind.

Oh, that was right. Florian would most likely miss her. They were scarcely friends, but Soleil had a feeling the other woman would be the kind to be devastated over a loss. It was a Duke of the North trope – when they found someone they cherished, the loss of that cherished person was the equivalent of losing a limb. Although a lover would be a lot more dramatic and worse in terms of anguish. Hopefully, whoever Florian fell in love with in the future wouldn’t die out of nowhere. None of them needed to see the nuclear revenge trope from a Duke of the North reacting badly to losing a lover, even if she proved to be gentle enough. May her friend find happiness and know it for a long time.

“So, have you and mother had to deal with this?” Soleil asked, recalling that her father said that this had happened during his generation.

The older man nodded. “Yes. Your mother was often a target for such people before she passed the trials. And even a few times, after…the enemies of the Empire wished to crush us not only by taking our saints, but to also steal their power for their own as well.”

“How awful! But I am glad that you and mother were able to be together,” Soleil said.

Orion smiled, bittersweetly and with love. “It was such a terrible time, but I was able to get through it all just with the thought of your mother. Things were not perfect, but I like to think our romance was fairytale perfect.”

Looking over at his daughter, he reached over and cupped her cheek delicately. He looked at her for a long time, quietly and yet, with so much emotion welling up within him. The way her father’s eyes shined at her with such pride, happiness and sadness almost made Soleil want to cry.

“My dearest daughter, you are growing up so quickly. I can already feel animosity aimed at your future lover. Please bring home a good man, when you do, or your old father will be beside himself with worry.”

“Oh, father!”

What a silly worry, yet Soleil also hoped to find someone good enough to bring home as well.

The Crown Prince is off limits, for sure. He belongs with Alperene. His face is my type, but I am no home wrecker! Plus…

Strangely enough there was something about him that made her feel uneasy.

The man was kind enough and quite friendly, plus they had the trope of being childhood friends…but considering Soleil was originally not even someone who was a blip on the story’s radar, the whole thing stank of a ‘jealous childhood friend’ trope and no way was she going to accidentally signal those flags by getting too close. Even if they were just innocently friends, all it took was one nasty noble girl to stir up rumors that could get not only Soleil, but her family and territory in trouble.

Mentally, she waved the bad flags away with a loud thought of NO.

But that begged the question, what kind of person would she bring home? Although she was very partial to the golden retriever-like boyfriend types, there was something to be said by sharp featured tall and dark types, too, prevalent in many romance stories, especially on the internet.

“What if I brought home a tall, dark and beautiful duke?” Soleil joked, knowing that was not possible.

Orion also laughed as so few people would match that description, especially as he had watched his daughter grow and knew her tastes from the content of the books she had read alone.

“Oh, my dear daughter, don’t even joke. Next thing you’ll be telling me is that you will be bringing Duke Sinclair home with you.”

It really was a silly thought overall and the mood had lightened up considerably. Breakfast was soon finished and they made preparations for the day.

Before they had to return to Lorainne, there would be one last sojourn in town. Both for gathering supplies as well as any last minute shopping. Considering they were nearing the end of the birthday celebrations both at the palace and in the capital, the people were throwing one last big sale in the shopping district. Many travelling merchants and local store employees were out on the street, shouting about their wares and encouraging people to come buy out their once a year specialty items. As a result, the streets were more crowded than usual, not even allowing a carriage to move through the streets. Orion, Marianne, Soleil and their guards had to park it and then travel the rest of the way on foot.

While it was lively and fun, Soleil did not enjoy getting jostled by everyone around her. Even though she had linked arms with Marianne to not get separated, walking two by two just made going through the throng all the more difficult. Her attention was everywhere, so her maid had to keep tugging her along, practically treating the noblewoman like an errant child.

“Goodness, my lady, you’re acting as if you’ve never seen a market before,” Marianne said, exasperatedly.

“But it’s my first time seeing one so busy in the capital,” Soleil responded, absolutely captivated and in awe of the chaos. Normally, she would shy away from such things, but the genuine energy of the denizens and visitors of the city was so infectious, she felt as if she was getting swept away by everyone’s enthusiasm.

I was like this before in Japan, too. I got sucked into buying a lot of merchandise during anime conventions because everyone around me had been so excited. Han-chan really had her hands full with me. In a way, the busy market during the emperor’s birthday celebrations was similar to an artist alley during a con.

“Stay close ladies!” Orion called over the din of the market.

“Right!” replied both girls in unison. It was all they could do to keep up with Soleil’s father, while also being guarded from the rear with knights. They couldn’t remain at the stalls for too long as they constantly needed to keep moving and stopping only at the ones that truly drew them in.

The count was looking for a few extra things to bring home to his wife, but was also keeping an eye out for supplies for the long journey home. They had run out of fresher food the day before arriving in the capital, so the group had to resort to emergency rations, which were a teeth breaking combination of hard tack and jerky.

This was most likely Soleil’s fault, as the supplies had been calculated for just Count Lorainne and his entourage of two guards as they traveled to the capital, but they almost doubled the group by having Soleil and her maid tag along at the last minute. The trip did not allow for many stops if they wished to keep to a schedule, so their food dwindled that much quicker during their meal breaks. They did stop once halfway through their journey to stay at an inn overnight when the weather had turned bad, but that was all they managed to do so no time had been given to gathering more supplies.

Her father was negotiating the prices of some fruit to take with them, when Soleil’s eyes caught a glimpse of something shining. Considering how close everyone was, she didn’t think taking a step away just a second would matter. Marianne had also needed to let go of Soleil as their smaller purchases through their trip to the market began to pile up in her arms.

It was just a moment. Barely a few blinks of an eye.

“Stay close, Lady Soleil!” Marianne had called out loudly as the group continued onward.

Engrossed as she was looking at something else, Soleil simply responded absentmindedly. “Yes, yes…I’m coming…”

Hearing this, the group began to move, assuming she would be there. When another woman who looked similar to Soleil from behind began to move in step closely to Marianne, the guards did not think much about their lady being possibly missing.

When Soleil finished browsing her group had already moved along without her.

“Eh? Marianne? Father?”

She was so surprised by this turn of events – had they truly left without her? No! How could they have not noticed she hadn’t followed right after them? Surely the guards, who stood behind her and Marianne as vigilant sentinels, would have noticed her missing, wouldn’t they?

“Oh, no…what do I do?” Soleil asked of herself, looking around at her surroundings.

Still being shoved where she stood, Soleil began to feel too restrained and tried to push her way out of the throng in order to catch her breath. Her hope was to get to a place where she could get a better vantage and possibly spot her group before it was too late.

Of course, that was easier said than done. It took her a good few minutes before extracting herself from the crowd and getting herself a breath. By this point, she wouldn’t be able to see anyone.

There were two actions she could take now: wait for her group in one spot to realize she was gone and go back for her or go back to where their carriage was and wait for them to arrive there.

A smart move would be to stay put, she thought to herself, but the downside was that she was a sitting duck waiting to be found. Someone could come and snatch her if she wasn’t careful; kidnappers looking for girls to exploit were not picky about their origins.

On the other hand, I would be safe with someone familiar if I go back to the coach, since the driver will be there, Soleil mused, looking at the other choice. But much like her first option, there were cons to this, too. She was unfamiliar with the streets and while Soleil remembered where they had been parked, it didn’t mean she could safely make it back.

Considering how crowded the market was, she took the option that had her somewhere more open and familiar.

“We came from down the street, so if I go in the opposite direction, I should be back to where we were…”

There was a bit of space near the front of the market entrance, just before people crowded around each other to enter and mill around. A little further ahead there would be more space to move and breathe and she should be a lot easier to spot. It was a bit of a ways from where she had originally been, but if her group retraced themselves they would eventually wind up there anyways.

Soleil had to make her way there, though. She could see freedom from people elbowing her and shoving her on the horizon.

Hey, doesn’t that carriage look familiar?

Even though there were so many people in her way, she could spot the carriage she had seen once; a royal carriage used by guests visiting the palace. The door opened and a head of familiar dark hair poked out first before disembarking.

“Florian!” Soleil called out over the loud din. It was probably useless, but she had to try.

As if able to pick out her voice anywhere, the older woman whipped her head in Soleil’s direction, surprise colouring her features.

Florian was dressed grandly, as if on official business in town and was eye-catching in the midday sun with gleaming medals and her sword at her hip. Their eyes met and Florian had something akin to amusement in her eyes, seeing how much Soleil was struggling against the crowd. She must have guessed what happened and thought it was funny. Ever reliable, she moved towards Soleil, in order to meet her halfway and, most likely, help her escape the throng.

Soleil was going to be saved! Florian would keep her company until her father returned with their group.

“Grab that,” Soleil could hear a woman saying close by, most likely directing someone to purchase something. Seriously, there should be some sort of crowd control if she could so easily hear the orders of others. She wanted to amend her earlier thoughts: this was not anything like an artist alley – this was worse. This was more akin to being a sardine packed into a tight tin. Hands kept snagging her and the young woman had to continuously pull her arm away.

However, one hand was much more firm, stronger and purposeful.

She was being dragged.

Scared, she screamed out, “FLORIAN!!”

The Duke, now truly alarmed, began to move faster to meet her, actually beginning to shove people aside in order to get to Soleil.

“MOVE!” Soleil could hear her command, voice booming in order to force bystanders to comply.

Soleil also did not just let herself get carried off, trying to pull away, but the man who took hold of her arm was too strong, effortlessly pulling her into an alley. It did not help that the flow of traffic was towards that direction, so it was similar to pushing against a tide.

Before she could let out another scream for help, a hand clasped over her mouth.

No, no, no, no, she thought, immediately beginning to struggle. Moving what she could, kicking her legs in order to make a big fuss in the vague hope someone would spot her being taken away. Screaming anyways, though the sound was muffled by fingers over her lips and the natural loudness of the marketplace.

Florian is coming, she told herself. Florian won’t let me down–

It was a fervent prayer in her mind as she was taken further into the darkness, away from prying eyes.

“How annoying,” the same female voice from earlier said. “I don’t want her dead yet, since I’ll need her for the ritual, but we can’t have her flailing about.”

Pain flared at the back of Soleil’s head in the next moment, making her vision go white for a second and then immediately followed by darkness.

Drip-drip-drip…

The sound resounded within the room she was in.

Drip-drip-drip…

The way it repeated made her head pound so furiously in time with her heartbeat.

Her whole body felt both hard and fuzzy all at once; it was hard to control what she was doing or move. The floor felt damp against her cheek and smelled of something earthy and old.

Soleil had no idea how long she had laid within that dark, stone cold room, nor where it was located and if anyone would be coming to find her. Surely her father would be ordering the guards to comb through the capital for her. Marianne was probably crying and blaming herself for losing her in the crowd.

Florian…Florian had seen her be taken away, surely she would not stand by and let her friend be stolen away…

Slowly, Soleil could wiggle her fingers as her senses slowly came back, her mind clearing, though the residual pain at the back of her head remained, throbbing dully. She could make out dancing shadows flickering on the stone floor just beyond long silhouettes – bars. She was imprisoned. An unexpected and horrifying turn of events.

Eventually, she forced herself to sit up, wandering hand finding a wall so she could brace herself against something solid. She rested against it, amazed and horrified at how tired she felt – was this a result of a concussion from the hit to her head?

“Florian didn’t make it in time,” the young lady murmured to the empty room.

The last thing she remembered of her friend was her voice calling for people to get out of her way.

At least someone had an idea of where Soleil had went. She just had to hold onto the hope of being rescued.

A noise caught her attention, now that she was up. Soft, quiet…it was sniffling? Near-silent sobs. Looking past her bars, she saw there were more; there were several jail cells in this prison. More people. And from the sounds of it, young women. It was rather dim, so she could not make out much details, but she could see more figures huddled up together in the other cells, shaking and crying. So Soleil had not been the only one.

Her memories of being a former romance story otaku couldn’t help, but make a lot of assumptions as she slowly added up the things she heard and saw. A lot of stories hit the same beats, so there was always overlaps. In any other story, this would most likely your run of the mill kidnapping ring that ran a slave trade, hoping to sell young girls to the highest bidder to make money. However, considering this was the Saint’s Thorny Road’s world, in all likelihood, these girls were not being sold into slavery.

In the context of this world, they were all here for being possible summoners of divine weapons to be harvested or used.

Loud clanging rang out as a cell door nearby, unseen by Soleil, slid open, followed by the shrieks and pleas of a girl, begging for her life and freedom.

Soleil flinched when she heard the other girl cry out after being hit, hearing only her sobs as she clammed up, most likely not wishing to be abused more. When a door slammed closed, the noblewoman felt a chill go down her spine.

Crap, this is a really bad situation!

Though her head hurt, she felt sobered up from her earlier fatigue after hearing a girl be dragged out of her cell.

Standing up, she went to the bars and rattled them with her hands. She wrapped around the thick metal bars and shook them, but they were sturdy. More than enough for keeping powerless young women from escaping easily.

Well, not exactly powerless. We are here for a reason, right?

Each woman here, in all likelihood, had potential for calling forth a divine weapon. Even the least powerful could do a good deal of damage. However, in their society, it was rare for a woman to see the battlefield (people like Duke Florian Sinclair, were some of the few exceptions) and so despite being capable of this holy miracle, most women would be too scared to think of this.

Soleil, fueled by self preservation of her past self who often got bullied, would not be so passive.

Unfortunately, for her, she knew from the story she had little ability for calling forth a divine weapon, unlike her talented mother. Hell, she was Soleil and who else knew her best, except herself?

So while she had the will, she did not have the way.

So frustrating! Soleil thought as she shook the bars again, holding back the urge to scream and draw attention to herself.

Why do I have to be so weak?!

She had to stay calm, though. There had to be a way out of this mess. Again, she had two choices: trying to escape on her own or wait for help.

Last time she tried to take matters into her own hands, she wound up in worse trouble, so perhaps the smartest move would be to wait. Florian was reliable and her own father was no slouch in getting down to business. She couldn’t have been gone that long, right? The Duke had also looked to be on official duties, so there might already be an operation underway to rescue her.

I am going to have to properly apologize to everyone. This was very stupid of me.

Now that she was right next to the bars, she could see the other occupants of this prison a little more clearly. It was difficult to see her direct neighbours, but she could see into the cells across from her. Plenty of women, all looking scared. Plain clothes and ripped ones giving Soleil the impression of girls not many would miss if they went missing – and some of them were so young, too! Much younger than anyone currently eligible to take part in the saint trials. It broke her heart to see a few little girls huddling up together in a corner in dirty clothes, not knowing if one of them would be picked for only the Gods knew what next.

She hoped someone came for her, so that they could all be released.

But what if no one came, what if it would be hard to find them?

Soleil had no power of her own, though.

So, what could she do?

Thinking to herself, she figured the girls wouldn’t be hurt or killed so easily as in order to harvest a divine weapon, the women needed to be alive, for one. And for two, in order to harvest anything at all, those women needed to possess a divine weapon in the first place.

Soleil knew people trained in order to perform that miracle, or simply had to experience extreme circumstances.

Looking around at their environment, she noticed a lack of comforts.

No food bowls, nothing soft or anything to keep them warm. The cells were dank and cold. And an air of fear permeated every stone in the floor and walls. The perfect environment to cause girls to spontaneously create divine weapons out of stress.

Maybe I can have my own? No, be realistic, Soleil, there’s no way that’s going to happen, but…

Looking at the sheer numbers of prisoners, someone among them should be able to summon a divine weapon. Hopefully, something useful.

Oh, but if we make too much of a ruckus, we might be in further danger, the noblewoman thought glumly to herself, truly feeling her own powerlessness. It might be better to wait after all…

A door slammed again, the same as the one earlier. Though this time, the heavy footsteps associated were accompanied by something lighter, with such a clipped sound – heels.

Thinking it might be her captors, she decided to lay back down and pretend she was still unconscious. If she kept quiet, there was a chance they’d let her be and she could possibly gather some information. She let her hair fall over her face, hiding her eyes for the most part. Soleil could still see through her curtain of pink hair, but unless someone got down to her level, should not notice she was awake.

“There she is. As promised. Are you satisfied?” a man asked in a deep, rough sounding voice.

A small laugh, harsh and unpleasant, followed after the man’s words.

“I am. Was it hard?”

“It was easy enough. But since this was a specific target, we will be asking for extra.”

“Ohohoho…money is of no expense. I will happily pay you more. After all…my family is quite wealthy. There is nothing I can’t get.”

“Whatever you say, lady.”

So, someone had been after her, Soleil thought. She wracked her brain, thinking about who it could be and for why, though it soon began to click that the other person speaking sounded familiar.

I can take a peek, right?

Straining her eyes a bit and imperceptibly moving her head, she got a slightly better angle to view who her captors were. The man who spoke stood a bit of an extra distance away from the cell bars, so Soleil couldn’t make him out, but the woman next to him was unmistakable.

“As the sole daughter of the Beaumont family, I cannot believe that I would be so easily discarded. A daughter of a mere barony shouldn’t have something I, the daughter of a Marquess, should have by birthright.”

Nicolette. Oh, no. What was she doing here?

The girl was supposed to have disappeared into the ether in shame, never to be heard from again. The story never mentioned her doing anything like this. She was supposed to menace Alperene, get thrown away by the Prince and then be on her merry way into depression or something, in her ancestral home.

Oh, but wait. Alperene never made it to the ball. And instead, Nicolette set her sights on me and her abuse of me was what got her engagement canceled. So that means…

“I want her awake when we harvest her. Do let me know when that happens,” Nicolette ordered, before leaving with the clippy sounds of her heels.

“Yes, m’am.”

Oh, god. Okay, there is no waiting. I need to do something before I get killed!