The day to head for the capital had arrived. I woke up early and quickly took a shower. While putting on my uniform, I heard a commotion coming from the lounge area.
“Ouch! Ahh!”
“Aah! No! Catch it! Catch it!”
With Lumina’s scream, Bella’s panicked voice echoed.
Though I didn’t know what exactly they were doing, there was clearly a sense of excitement among everyone as they prepared to head for the capital.
I woke up quite early, but the two of them had already woken up much earlier to prepare.
Wearing a neatly pressed uniform, I stood in front of a full-body mirror to tidy myself up.
The only thing I needed to bring was the casual wear I bought with Bella last time; otherwise, there wasn’t much else. After all, we weren’t going on a trip but rather to receive an award in the capital, so there was no need to pack heavily.
But that was just my personal thought.
“……???”
“Haha… Is this too much?”
“It’s not just a little.”
Next to Lumina were two bags reaching up to her thighs. But did she really need to bring such big bags even for overseas travel?
As for Bella Meyer, it was even more extreme.
“Aah─, ah.”
“Please, why take the parrot?”
Although her luggage was relatively less than Lumina’s, the problem was the cage in her right hand. Inside was the parrot that Bella Meyer cherished.
“Just in case…”
“Do you think Roxanna and Claude would let it starve?”
“No, it’s not that… ”
Bella Meyer seemed to have some reservations and kept trailing off.
“You can’t carry all of this. Lumina, leave one bag here and come back, and Bella, leave the parrot behind.”
“Then, I’ll remove my own luggage. I can buy clothes there… The parrot must come with us.”
Why today?
Something felt off.
Had Bella Meyer ever been this stubborn before? She had always been obedient to me, so this made me feel uneasy.
“Is there something wrong with the parrot?”
“No, it’s not that. I’ll explain later. But this one must come with us.”
“Hmm. Captain, I’ll ask you to handle this. I’ll repack my luggage. It seems best to bring Bella’s parrot.”
Seeing Lumina Blue also supporting her, I found myself in a difficult situation.
‘It’s similar to Bella’s trauma.’
Bella Meyer’s official report had always recorded that she suffered from dissociative amnesia due to depression.
Though she seemed fine on the surface, she had always had mental illness.
Usually, psychological illnesses don’t show obvious signs unless they are severe. Even I, as the squad leader, had momentarily forgotten about her special circumstances.
It wasn’t because she hid it well, but the fact remained that she was ill.
‘I remember a subordinate under my command who showed symptoms of fixating on specific objects.’
That friend had autism, but…
Given that she had received counseling several times for depression, Bella Meyer’s condition didn’t seem very different.
Thinking this way, her excessive attachment to the parrot became somewhat understandable.
She had a tendency to obsess over her military ID, showing extreme anxiety if it were lost.
If that were the reason, bringing the parrot might actually help stabilize Bella Meyer’s state.
“Alright, we’ll bring it, but be careful not to cause any problems.”
“Don’t worry. I’ve trained it well.”
Indeed, Bella’s parrot hadn’t been particularly noisy or unruly until now.
Except when Bella took it out for walks, it usually didn’t bother anyone and behaved quietly.
Besides, what could happen with just a parrot?
“Alright, then we’ll bring the parrot.”
“Thank you, Captain Enok.”
“Then, Lumina, go get your things. Just bring the bare minimum, like clothes and cosmetics. Got it?”
“Oh, yes… Alright.”
Seeing Lumina being pointed out, she slumped her shoulders and dragged the large bags back to the dormitory, then returned with a small backpack.
“Why didn’t you do this from the beginning?”
“Hehe, I got carried away.”
Lumina laughed sheepishly.
With that, we finished preparing to depart for the capital. Leading the squad members, we headed to the pre-notified gate of the unit, where we found the National Guard carriages lined up waiting.
“Honor to our homeland!”
I saluted the Lannister Colonel standing in front of me, and he responded with a gentle smile.
“You’re a bit late, aren’t you?”
“I’m sorry, it was hard to organize my luggage.”
“That’s fine. We just arrived ourselves. Now, everyone, please board. We’ll load your luggage in the carriages.”
As soon as the colonel spoke, the guards came forward and quickly collected the luggage.
Thanks to Lumina and Bella reducing their baggage, the guards easily loaded everything onto the carriages.
Of course, the problematic birdcage was never handed over.
“What’s that?”
“Oh, this…”
Before Bella could speak, I preempted her.
“It’s like a mascot for our squad. It’s a parrot that Bella wants to bring along because she’s worried about it.”
When the guard carrying the cage turned to look at the colonel, Lannister stroked his chin and smiled softly.
“So it’s like a canary in a mine. Alright, if that’s the case, there shouldn’t be any issues.”
He seemed to view the parrot as a symbol of good luck. He often carried it around like that.
In response to my appropriate handling, Bella gently tugged on my sleeve and nodded, expressing her gratitude.
“Don’t worry too much and just live as usual. If you leave without her, she might cry like she did last time.”
“Ugh…! She wouldn’t cry that much, right?!”
“Yes, yes, of course.”
“Captain Enok!”
It was a nice day, but the mood was off from the start.
To lighten the atmosphere, which had been tense since I questioned the parrot, I teased Bella lightly.
Fortunately, it worked, and Bella’s expression softened.
“Alright, everyone, please board. It turns out the journey will be longer than expected.”
With all the luggage loaded, we finally climbed aboard the black-painted National Guard carriage. The guard outside closed the door and sat in the driver’s seat.
“We’re ready to depart!”
Rumbling and shaking, the carriage began the 4-day, 5-night journey to the capital.
The capital, Carief.
A name filled with nostalgia.
After the Meyers, once border lords, were chosen by the former King Orlando Rus II and rose to prominence in the center, it became the foundation of Bella Meyer’s life.
Occasionally, memories of her original hometown, where she spent time with Debra Bennett, who had become distant, would resurface.
But the days spent in the capital, Carief, held the most significant place in Bella Meyer’s memory.
A harmonious family, a clan protected by the crown prince, and a father. As the second daughter among two sons and three daughters, her relationship with her older siblings wasn’t bad.
There, Bella Meyer received the highest level of education and, thanks to her exceptional magical talent, was scouted by the Ziva Tower, one of the city’s magical towers, at a young age.
The younger daughter of a favored nobleman by Orlando Rus II, and the youngest trainee mage at Ziva Tower.
Her seemingly golden life shattered rapidly.
Those born with noble bl**d and talent inherently possess high value as mages.
Just as flies gather around beautiful flowers with sweet fragrance.
On her 18th birthday,
Bella Meyer, who had been kidnapped by Strigoi, a group that researched dark magic and worshiped evil deities, while touring with her father, Alexei Meyer.
This was due to her exceptional magical talent, discovered early enough to be scouted by Ziva Tower, and her innate talent for bl**d magic.
There, she was contaminated by horrific mind control and powerful magic.
Even after she was rescued with the help of national power, the aftereffects continued to gnaw at Bella Meyer’s consciousness.
She joined the military to escape the torment of the ‘purification’ process, during which her mana core had been severely damaged.
Furthermore, as the power of the kingdom shifted from Orlando Rus II to III, the Meyer family naturally fell out of favor in the power struggle and was dispatched to manage a city slightly away from the capital.
Without the protection of the crown prince, Bella Meyer’s safety couldn’t be guaranteed.
Thus, the promising young lady of the Meyer family and the youngest mage of the Ziva school became a low-ranking member of the frontline mage battalion.
For Bella Meyer, the capital, Carief, was the sole place symbolizing those carefree days when she could pursue her dreams without worries.
“…Finally home.”
After a long journey in the carriage, she murmured as she gazed at the vast city on the horizon.
