457: EX14. A Full Armor Big Sister Photoshoot
“Bridget! It’s been a while.”
“Yes. I’ll be in your care for a few days.”
I—the Lord of Disease—the master of the mansion, personally greeted one of my fellow supreme commanders.
She—Bringit Finis—who held the title of the Blood Knight and was renowned as the strongest knight of her time, was in an armor that embodied that nickname.
She had once worn a jet-black armor as a Dark Knight, but it had been stained red with the blood of the enemy, and since then, she had been wearing a crimson armor, along with the title of the Blood Knight.
Of course, the red color now was not from blood. It was the pinnacle of a magic item, forged without any regard for cost. The design was a little different from a regular knight’s armor, and it was said to have been tailored to her body type and her fighting style.
And yet, in a battlefield where the enemy’s armament, if they were skilled, was also a magic item, and where offensive magic flew, even an armor like this was not absolute. In Itria, she, too, had been wounded, and her armor had been reduced to a pitiful state. The one she was wearing now had been newly made after the war.
“I’m sorry, for being in my armor.”
“No. You’re on your way back from an exercise on the outskirts of the capital, aren’t you?”
She was usually in Litalside. Because it was the duty of the commander of the Dark Knights to be stationed there, as a guardian of the border. Even though they had lost their ‘virtual enemy,’ that was no reason to let their swords rust. An organized battle should not happen again. It was the army’s job to prevent it.
And for that deterrent, they needed strength. …And when something did happen, the strength to end it.
Again, I stared at Bridget’s armor.
Brown skin, typical of a dark elf, and long ears, like bamboo leaves.
Her silver hair, which stood out against her brown skin, was tied back in a high ponytail.
A black cloak, fastened with a clasp that was engraved with the emblem of the Second Army, ‘two parallel swords.’
A dark red plate armor, the color of a deep red wine, and a leather belt that seemed to hold it together.
At her hips, a longsword and a dagger, each with an intricately crafted guard, were hanging from a sword belt.
“…What is it?”
At my silence, Bridget tilted her head, and her ponytail swayed. She had said that her hair had been shorter, and that she had tied it at her nape. After she had been appointed as the commander of the Dark Knights—a supreme commander of the Demon King’s army—she had grown her hair out and had tied it higher.
To stand out on the battlefield. The commander of the Dark Knights was required to be a commander with a wide field of vision, and at the same time, a warrior of the highest class.
In fact, in both the Seventh Battle of Litalside and the Battle of the Itria Plains, she had led from the front, and had literally stood on the front lines, and had broken through the enemy’s main forces.
The choice of this hairstyle had been her own form of resolve.
…That choice had been made when I had not yet come to this world. If the flow of time was the same, then it had been a time when I had not yet been born.
Everything was changing.
So. At the very least, I wanted to burn what was reflected in my eyes into my heart.
“Bridget.”
“What is it?”
“Will you not let me burn the sight of you in your armor into my memory?”
“Why the polite language? …Wait, what did you say?”
Bridget, with a vague smile, as if to say, “I think I heard something strange, but I must have misheard,” asked again. I repeated.
“Will you not let me burn the sight of you in your armor into my memory and then output it as an image?”
“Isn’t something being added?”
“It’s just your imagination.”
“The armor… the usual one?”
“The usual one.”
“This one, that I’m wearing now?”
“Yes, that one.”
“Why?”
“Because I haven’t seen it much lately.”
I had been seeing her in her private clothes more often, and I, as the Lord of Disease, had stopped appearing at public events after the one-year anniversary ceremony. This was one, a political decision to gradually erase the grim shadow. One, that there was no ‘traditional event’ where the leader of the Sixth Army, which had not originally existed in Listrea, needed to show her face. And one, that I was the type of person who basically wanted to relax at home, while looking at my maid.
Even during the war, if you were to say a public event, then at most, it was a progress report before Your Majesty, which also served as an appeal to those within and without the army. And the rest was limited to something like a ‘joint training exercise.’
And I played my trump card.
“Please, Nee-chan.”
“W-well, I suppose I have no choice.”
Bridget, who had been hesitating, looked at me with a gentle expression, as if to say, “Honestly, this little sister of mine,” and she easily nodded.
Though I had taken advantage of that, I was a little worried that my big sister was too soft on her little sister.
…I had a feeling that the reason she was so soft was because she was so far apart in age from Liz, and she had had little experience of being spoiled by a younger sister. I, too, as far as I could remember, had been the oldest, so I had a longing for an older sister who would let me be spoiled.
Wasn’t this a win-win relationship, where supply and demand were matched? Though I had a feeling that I was getting a lot more.
My eyes met Bridget’s, and she smiled, her eyes narrowing a little.
…She seemed to be enjoying herself, so maybe it was alright?
