Aisha was walking next to her father.
　Inevitably, due to the difference in stride, Aisha was walking a little slower than him, and naturally, I saw it.
　The same big back as it was one day.
　It was the back of her father that Aisha admired.

(Huh..........)
　I was supposed to be happy.
　It was supposed to be fun.
　And yet, for some reason, my heart was not happy.

　I knew what the haze in my heart was.
　The Lord's breath and the cold smile he left behind when he left.
　I couldn't get that scene out of my mind.

(Did Nacht-sama............hate me?

　Squeezing, I grip my chest from the top of my clothes.
　But the feeling of desolation that tightens the heart cannot be healed at all.
　It's a good idea to have a good idea of what you're going to do with it.

''That girl from earlier, are you Aisha's friend?''
　Roland said as he walked in front of me, as if to show me a strange city.

'No, more -- more importantly,'
　How happy it would be to have such a loved one beside me.
　Hearing the warm voice of her father and having the Lord beside her who adored her.
　Dreaming of such an ideal world, Aisha quietly shook her head.

(No, it wasn't - Lord Nacht said her father was a fake. I'm sure he's right - and yet he gave me time. (Give me time to think about it, to sort it out, to discern.

　I'm sure that's why I can't spoil my father with all my heart.
　I really wanted to walk around holding his hand and I wanted to hug him and cry right now.
　I want to whine about how much I've been struggling and missing my dad so much since he was gone.
　But that's when I'm sure that the father in front of me is the father to Aisha.

'He was lovely, then he'll be a good woman in the future.'

No, Dad!　Master Nacht--
　I had an unexpectedly strong voice.
　As usual, he couldn't take it as a good-natured joke.

'Haha, well, I have Floria to love. I'm not going to be unfaithful. My mother will hate me.
　Roland's eyes looked a little sad.
　It looked painful, painful - but such emotions were hidden in the smile, and even Aisha wasn't something that was so easy to notice.
　But now--.
　As Aisha struggled to assess her father, she could clearly feel the desolation of such a father.


　Aisha's body shook with a jolt.
　My father would ask me that, anxiously.
　I'm sure the old Aisha would have

"I don't know!　I can't remember...
　That's what he says.
　I wanted to honestly say I didn't like him, but I still said that out of consideration for my father, and then I quickly continued.

'But I love my dad!　I love you more than anything else in the world?
　I didn't feel embarrassed.
　Because that's what Aisha really felt.
　She was able to endure her poor life because she was with her father. I could live because I looked forward to the fruits of the forest that he would occasionally fetch for me, and the rice and bean porridge that would surround the table with them.
　I was able to endure the nights when I shivered in the draught because I could sleep with my big back to the ground.
　We were able to get through fetching water and working in the fields because my father was by my side - because it was just the two of us.

　It was not a happy life.
　It was a life of struggling to survive.

　It was hard, it was painful.
　But I was never unhappy.
　She may have resented herself, but Aisha had never once cursed such a life.

　It was a distant, fleeting, past time.
　That's why Aisha opens her mouth.
　Several times, she fails to speak out, but still feels like she can't go on without speaking, so Aisha willsfully shakes her throat.　

'You know, Dad - I, you know, I came here looking for your mother, as it happens... ...my father died that time, and Nacht-sama saved me, and I came here after a lot of trouble...
　What kind of answer will he get?　
　Aisha's words to her father walking in front of her were surely a denial to him.
　He denied his father, who was now walking in front of Aisha.

　But he still had to say it.
　For Aisha to find an answer.

　My father's feet stopped for a moment.
　Then, such a father tilted his head slightly and said to Aisha.

''...?　What are you talking about?　I'm here, okay?　"But I'm glad, Dad, if Aisha likes Mom at least a little bit,
　That's what my father had said at some point.
　But Aisha feels uncomfortable. The gears in the conversation don't fit together.

　Surely, that's just Aisha's imagination.
　But there is a certainty.
　If it is true that my father, who said goodbye to me at that time, has come back to life, then I think he would be happy to see Aisha, hugging her and working on her.


The first time you see your father, you'll be happy to see him again...?　...did you forget...?　Dad, it was very, very hard for him. He was disappointed that he hadn't been able to take care of me. He apologized for not being there for me. He was more concerned about me than he was about his own weaknesses!　So!　To see your father again........Aisha - so much, so happy.......!
　The words were unconsciously uttered.

''Aisha...?''

'It was hard for me to sleep alone now that my dad was gone!　It was hard to walk alone, driven deep into the woods!　I almost died over and over again, but I deserved it, but I still wanted to see my dad, I wanted to see him!
　It was hard to chase after the unseen visions, and I even wished I could die in the same place.
　And yet.
　And yet, Aisha blurted out the words to her father who wouldn't hug Aisha when they met again like this.
　She was sure that Roland, the great father Aisha knew, would make this frustration, this conflict, disappear.

'What's wrong, Aisha?　You must be tired.　You should get some rest when you get home.
　But that's the kind of words that came back to me.
　It's just words like that that I've heard somewhere.
　I had a bad feeling about this.
　Aisha, with a voice trembling with fear, asks, "Hey, dad.

'Hey, dad. Your father and Aisha lived in a small village, didn't they?　We've been living in a drafty house, in a house smaller than an inn room, supporting each other, haven't we...?　........remember, don't you.......?
　If the man standing in front of Aisha, in his father's form, in his father's behaviour, is not the father Aisha knows - I wonder what I am doing, what I am hearing, and I am afraid to think so.

'Oh, of course I remember - Aisha used to play on the riverbank and come home late! I was paying attention to her all the time, but she always played until nightfall.
　My father said this as if he was looking into the memories.
　I was relieved to realize that my father had lived the same time as Aisha, and it was a moment of relief.

'You gave Aisha a hard time back then - but what's wrong with you - now you're talking about that?
　The words that were uttered in succession chilled Aisha's heart.
　The tone was one of harshly pushing away.



　My brain refuses to process it, or maybe it still doesn't understand it, and only the words reverberate.



　For Aisha, the days she spent with her father were those days.
　And yet, is her father trying to deny it?

'Aisha was so small and cute back then. What do you think, do you want to walk around holding hands together like you used to?
　My father's words just slip out of my ears.
　It was as if he was trying to tell me that spending time in this city was what was going on with Aisha and Roland.
　The smile filled with tenderness, but somehow it seemed distorted.　

　The hand that was offered with such a smile--
　Aisha didn't grab the hand she should have wanted to, but she didn't.　




◇




　A special development zone had been put in place in Estor for the past year, with the slums and drifting plots of vagrants being cleared out.
　Several facilities built around housing complexes have been rented to the people on the condition that in exchange for food, clothing, and shelter for a certain period of time, they would be required to perform labor for the state. The security of the city has been greatly improved in just one year, with places for education separate from the churches and other institutions, and places for training as knights.
　Most of all, there were those who questioned the action by the state.

　First of all, there is the question of where the funds were raised from. An aristocrat who spends his days in political strife for his own benefit would never release the funds to help the weak. It would be the same for a powerful merchant.

　Then there is the question of where the labor force that would have built the houses came from. There are now more than a hundred buildings in the SEZ. Even if there were more than a hundred people with specialized knowledge and a workforce of over a thousand, it would be difficult to assemble such a number. If all of those people banded together and worked tirelessly, they could make progress in just one year, but that's just a dream.

　We don't know who or why the city of Estor has developed, but as long as it's the government of the country, it's the credit of the king, Balesale Sale. I'm sure you'll be able to find a lot of good things to do with it, such as correcting embezzlement and improving the welfare of the people.

　The citizens of the city have come to see the king in a new light.
　I am sure that the city has become cleaner than it was a year ago. It must have become more livable and prosperous.
　That's why there is no one who is greatly opposed to it, just a skirmish with the kingdom.

　There was a small house in the special development zone that was separate from the housing complex.
　Roland told Aisha that this was their home.
　Come on in," he said.
　Yes, he said.

　But Aisha's feet didn't move.
　The conflict in her mind rejects the strange house.
　This place, and the house, was cleaner and better maintained than the house in the village where Aisha had spent her time, and that was why it was different.

'I'm sorry, Dad - I'm going to go play for a bit. I'll be home in the evening--
　With that, Aisha ran off.
　With her back to her beloved father, she ran without knowing how to separate them.
　She ran through the well-maintained streets of the special development zone, running right and left along the miscellaneous pathways.
　I just ran, trying to disguise the agony that was blocking my chest, trying to get my breath back, trying to convince myself that the reason I was suffering was because I was running.

　I don't know what that means.
　Everything is beyond comprehension, and I can't chew it all up.
　I traveled after my mother, and somehow I was reunited with my father who was supposed to be dead, and then Nacht tried to kill it, and they said I was an imposter, and then I had to leave Nacht, and then I tried to put my trust in him, and failed, and then I was alone.

　I don't know what's going on anymore.
　I don't know what the right thing to do is.
　Losing her composure and losing her cool, Aisha's thoughts become muddled and go in circles like a quagmire.

　At times like this, there is no father to support her.
　Nor is the Lord who patted me on the head at times like this.

　He ran and ran, and eventually he lost his footing, and just like that, Aisha tumbled and fell into a small hall in the back street.
　Looking up at the abominably blue sky, Aisha spilled a tear, alone.

''-----!　 .....
　With the sleeve of my clothes, I wiped it off, but the sobs I had been stifling with the drops that kept pouring out.
　The never-ending loneliness consumed my chest and I simply cried out to the sky.
　Aisha put her sleeve over and over again over her eyes as if she were drawing water again and again from a spring that never dies.

　It's a good idea to have a good time with them.　　
　The next thing I heard was the sound of it landing on the ground with a slam.
　When I turned my gaze towards such a sound, I saw a girl.
　Surprisingly, in a hall at the end of such a bleak, back road with only a single tree growing, there was someone other than Aisha in the hall.


　His voice was so thin and weak that if he didn't listen carefully, he would have missed it.
　Still, the small tone was crystal clear, and strangely, the words fell into Aisha's mind.
　From the relief of going from one person to two, Aisha regained her composure a little bit.
　At the same time, when she thought about the fact that she herself was crying a lot, shame surged into her heart and she desperately wiped that Hitomi and her cheeks.

''.........Do you miss me.......?''
　Her long, stretched out hair covered the girl's eyes.
　The girl, who seemed to be the same as Aisha, or even a little younger, said this in a voice that sounded concerned, caring, and yet threatening.
　I couldn't capture the expression on her face well.
　That's why I don't know what kind of face she's making while moving her mouth.

''No one ... no one ... no one ... no one ... Aisha ... Aisha is...
　Aisha found herself emitting an inarticulate weakness.
　It must have been her weakened heart that made it so.

.....
　From the gaps in her hair, which swayed and danced in the wind, I could see Hitomi, carved with a pattern that looked as if it was in the shape of a star.

''........beautiful........''
　Aisha had unconsciously uttered that in a brilliant, shimmering blink of an eye.