"Paperwork again. Paperwork again," Elisabeth says to herself. She has placed a long list of documents into a chest. Then she carries the chest to the carriage.
―"Is that good, Elisabeth?"
―"Yes, I think those are the last ones."
―"I'm off then. Hiah..."
Once the carriage has left, Elisabeth returns to the tent. She scans the faces of the women moving about the small village. And she doesn't like their attitude of rushing the peasants. She wanted to say something to stop them, but what? So she just continued.
Then, arriving at the tent, she does her usual work—she arranges the papers into boxes. How to know who goes where and who goes where—they follow the codes of the stone with which the soldiers stamp the papers. Those that are round go into the chest with the round initial, those that are square go into the square-shaped chest, those that are triangular go into the triangle-shaped chest, and so on. Nothing very difficult, just following the codes. Then, at one point:
― "Wait. Be careful with those documents. Don't mix them with the others. You can help the main collectors with the merchants while I do the calculations."
"What's the point, in the end, they're just paperwork that ultimately serves no purpose," she says to herself again. But she continues on her way.
― "Good thing you came. We'll be able to speed things up. Read this document and check the rate of those elements with Mauride."
―"OK," Elisabeth replies while scanning Mauride.
And Mauride is a man in his thirties. A noble, surely. His role is to do the calculations.
And there, Elisabeth begins taking inventory of these goods. "And the espionage mission, in all of this?" she wonders.
...
― "Dammit! I've had enough."
― "What's going on, little sister? Administration wasn't as easy as you expected? I still remember your smug attitude when you left the house yesterday. Haha..."
― "Shut up, Anna. You can't understand me. I'm... I'm..."
― "Humiliated? Is that the word you're looking for?"
― "I'm going to tell Father."
― "Yes, that's right. What a child, this Elisabeth."
― "Are you having fun making your sister cry now that you no longer handle the family's administrative tasks?"
― "Oh, Father, that's not my intention, it's just to tease her a little."
― "Seriously? Even with your mother, we struggle to implement your system. Everyone complains about how complicated the process is."
― "But it's necessary for everyone's good."
― "And I don't doubt it, but leave your sister alone, okay?" Idris says to her as he leaves.
And Anna snickers once he's gone.
―"Haha, what a baby. Eli, you still don't know what it's like to cater to Rias's whims."
...
The next day,
"Paperwork. More paperwork."...
Then the next day,
"Paperwork. More paperwork."
Then the next day,
"Paperwork. More... Huh?"
― "Please. Have pity on us. It's all we have left."
A woman cries, tears in her eyes, in front of a soldier. But the soldier answers:
― "I'm sorry, but these goods no longer belong to you."
These people already look quite miserable, so Elisabeth, who pities them, steps into the discussion.
― "Oh, oh... Can't you see they're already battered enough as it is? At least leave them enough to feed themselves."
―"Sorry, but I'm only following orders. My superiors won't do me any favors if my reports are inconsistent."
― "But I can vouch for you."
― "What are you talking about? And leave me alone. You're just a kid—you wouldn't understand anything about this work."
― "But..."
Elisabeth's voice gets caught for a moment. She doesn't know what she wants to say. She's still just a kid. She wouldn't understand. And more importantly, she isn't known in the field. Yet she is the daughter of the famous Marquise de Rush. The one whose name echoes throughout the entire empire. The one known as the empress's rival. The idol of Majiid the Inflexible. The first woman not of imperial blood to climb from the rank of marquise to duchess. The one spoken of only for her bravery and her merits. The one whose noble deeds have brought everyone into agreement. And facing all that stands a kid who understands nothing. Who has no merit. Who is only there because it's nobly naive, perhaps. And her family wants to give her something to talk about... But however noble she may be, it seems the soldier fears the nobility less than her superiors. But who are her superiors? Isn't it Diamond de Rush? Isn't it Qüalt de Quaser? Isn't it also Captain Sudern, who has always served the lands of Rush?
These questions strike her all at once. She simply no longer understands what's happening in that instant. So she continues anyway, because she was told that the sisterhood means a knight must distinguish herself not only by her bravery but also by her humility in following orders that come from above.
So the days pass again, and the trivialities return. And Eli shows up every day without having to discuss anything or decide anything. Neither the fact that she finished the sisterhood ahead of schedule—which already makes her a confirmed mage knight—nor the fact that she's Diamond's daughter, nor the fact that she's close to those in command changes anything about her status as a little kid in training. She's still eleven years old in everyone's eyes. She felt her heart tighten. "What's so grand about doing this ridiculous paperwork?" that's what she tells herself, her hand still sorting the papers by shapes, numbers, initials... and at one point, the boy doing the calculations in the tent sees Elisabeth put something in the wrong chest, so he points it out.
―"My lady Elisabeth? Stop. I think you've mixed up the placement of the papers a bit. Take a break, I'll take over for you."
But Elisabeth, even after being shaken, answers:
―"It's fine, it's only two or three copies. I'll fix these papers quickly. And I'll keep going."
― "No, it's good to take breaks too. You're still just a child—you don't have to worry about such heavy tasks."
And at that, anger filled Elisabeth's heart. She tore the paper in her hand to shreds for no reason at all.
―"Aaaaaaa... I'm not a kid anymore. How is this task so complicated? Does it even serve any purpose? We're supposed to protect the people out there, and we're here robbing them of their goods."
But while Elisabeth is still shouting, Sudern enters the tent and shouts:
― "Elisabeth? What's wrong with you?"
― "Tell me instead what's wrong with you? You know I'm a knight, and I'm even the best of my generation. What am I doing here? My place is in the pursuit of crime, not..."
― "Elisabeth, let the commanders decide where to put you. We need more people who can read for this part."
― "...This paperwork is useless. What good is all this money to us? We're nothing but thieves."
― "Elisabeth! Ugh. I knew it. I told Diamond this was a bad idea."
...
Rias folds Anna's clothes.
―"This one too?" he asks.
―"Yes please."
He places it in the suitcase.
―"And this one?"
― "No. I'll wear it tomorrow."
Rias nods. He keeps packing. A few minutes pass.
― "You know, Rias..."
― "Hmm?"
―"You really do a lot of things for me."
Rias stops.
―"It's just a suitcase."
Anna smiles.
―"Exactly."
Rias places the last of his sister's clothes in the suitcase, cheeks red, chin hidden against his shoulder. He answers:
― "You're stupid."
Anna says nothing. She just watches her little brother in his dress. And Rias no longer really knows what to say, and their silence becomes quite awkward. So finally Rias tells her:
―"I'm going to see if I can help downstairs."
― "Yes, of course."
And he leaves, closing the door as delicately as he opened it. And Anna dives back into her drawings.
Once downstairs, he feels hunger wash over him, so he goes to the storeroom because he's afraid of the cook. The cook never accepts a child eating something he didn't prepare. So on occasions like this, he goes to the storeroom. He greets the storeroom staff: a managing lady, some servants—male, of course.
Then he enters a large room where bread, rice, beans, fruits are kept cool... While he wanders alone through the section with the avocados, he hears someone crying. At first he's afraid it might be a ghost. But he's also curious. In his memories, since he came to this world, he's never seen anyone cry except himself. So he takes a cautious step toward the sound. It's a very quiet sound, shaking with uncontrolled breaths rather than true wailing. But once he finds her stuffing herself with banana bread, wet with her tears, he's shocked, and above all stunned.
―"Eli?"
She jerks her head up.
― "Little brother?"
Rias stays still.
He looks at the bread in her hands.
Then at her face.
― "You're crying."
― "No."
She panics. She searches for something to wipe away those tears, she searches for an excuse somewhere.
― "But what are you doing here? You shouldn't you be busy getting ready for Mother's consecration. Go... go see the preparations, okay?"
She smiles again. She's very gentle, not like usual, where she takes pleasure in insulting her little brother. But Rias steps closer to her. He's afraid, of course. But he feels something is wrong.
And Eli keeps trying to reassure him:
― "Don't worry. Don't worry. Big sister is fine. I'm just going to..."
But Rias isn't listening. He sits down beside her and stares into her eyes. It's something very new for him. Something that isn't in his calculations. His curious mind has taken over.
Diving into Rias's innocent gaze—completely novice when it comes to the vulnerability of others—Elisabeth's voice breaks. She cries on her little brother's shoulder. She screams into his flesh and Rias feels everything: the extent of her anger, her frustration; her hands that tremble—she who has always known how to make heads tremble; the warmth of her tears that this time soak his dress.
And during this time, he simply no longer understands anything. For him, everything associated with vulnerability, weakness, and insecurity is associated with someone fragile like Rias, or Anna, or Idris. And never with a woman as powerful as Elisabeth. But she's there in his arms. And all he can do is be there too, to feel.