Liberi Reader

Gah, what lousy weather today!

Don't even have a single strand of meatbeast hair on my hands, Dad's going to call me a...

Huh?

What's that noise...?

Huh! Who's there?!

Enough with your tricks! Come out and face me if you have the guts to—

Yowch!

Hahaha, right on target.

Hey, I'm over here.

Why didn't you hide, you big dummy?

Y-You..!

Me? What about me?

You're a funny guy. Did you think you'd be able to hunt in weather this bad?

Young man, I'll give you some advice on account of your handsome face.

You should hurry home.

Saintess, please have a look!

The main body of Kjeragandr's statue was built by us Browntails. It stands about thirty meters tall, and the adamant materials we used ensure no risk of damage for the next century at the very least.

Hundreds of devotees volunteered to work together with professional craftsmen to carve out the statue's form you see today, so it's surely the most accurate reconstruction of Kjeragandr there is!

Although everyone was arguing about whether Kjeragandr should be humanoid or not... that boorish Arctosz even nearly got into a fight over it...

But I guarantee you, from today onwards, this statue will be the most eye-catching attraction in Kjerag!

Mhm. Thank you for all the hard work.

*cough* This statue... is the best symbol Kjerag can show to the outside world, and it couldn't have happened without everyone's efforts.

Kjeragandr will certainly be pleased as well.

Especially with you and your sister, Madam Sciurus.

I've heard the both of you spent a lot of effort on the construction, and practically stayed on-site until it was completed. It must have been difficult.

Hmm, hm-hmm...

It wasn't much. Just doing our jobs.

Besides, it's much easier than being forced to study...

Study?

No, no, nothing.

*cough* Well then, Great Saintess. Allow me to give you a tour?

Please follow me!

Saintess, preparations for tomorrow are complete. You should return to Mount Karlan.

You're nagging me again, Kjarr.

It's rare I get to leave the mountain, so let me stay for a bit longer.

Or are you trying to advise the Saintess on how she should act, just as the Elders do, Kjarr?

I won't ramble away like they do.

Your gravitas only continues to increase, and there is no one to stop you from descending Karlan anymore.

Yesterday you came down to meet Enciodes personally. If this happened in the past, the Elders would have already raised a swift objection.

They merely fear that I, the Saintess, will have my personal inclinations.

But it is precisely because there is no one controlling me that I cannot hold any bias... and I won't have any personal biases either.

Whether the people here or in the eyes of others, I must represent the whole of Kjerag as Saintess, and not any specific faction or clan.

Saintess...

Even though Enciodes and I don't actually have conflicting opinions on many matters and can agree on many issues regarding Kjerag...

It doesn't mean we can be as close as we were, let alone treat each other as siblings.

I can't do that, and neither can he.

It also... includes my own emotions, but it is not just about that.

So I thank you for preparing our meal yesterday, Kjarr.

But you need not do that again.

Enya...

Is it really alright to continue like this, Enya?

Even though you're representing Kjerag now, there are still many who only know of Karlan Trade. Clan Silverash has already started to dip their fingers in every facet of the country, and will only grow stronger in the future.

......

I have some thoughts on that.

What's important right now is to develop Kjerag as fast as we can. Some matters are just unavoidable, or things I let slide.

We still need entities like Karlan Trade after all.

Besides, I'm fine with Enciodes keeping himself there for the time being...

But won't it be dangerous to continue like that?

That's why I have my own plans.

Oh, you mean the new school you've been in charge of the past few years? And the reforms over at the Vine-Bead Court?

Hehe.

It's fortunate I realized we have so many wise people here.

Compared to a Kjerag with the voice of a sole Saintess or a single Clan Silverash, wouldn't it be better to have a Kjerag with a myriad of voices of Kjeragandr's people?

It's the same as prayer. Didn't you say that making your wishes out loud instead of keeping them in your heart would let Kjeragandr hear them in earnest?

I hope more people will get the chance to voice their hopes for Kjerag.

This is what I wish for, my prayer to Kjeragandr.

Well... that's a good wish indeed.

It will certainly reach Kjeragandr.

That's great to hear.

Will you help me, Kjarr?

Of course. Didn't we agree as much already?

I'm your maid after all.

Thank you, Kjarr.

If you really want to thank me, why not...

...Huh?

......

Oh dear, they're headed this way.

Kjarr?

Is someone headed our way?

Yes, with an aggressive aura to boot.

They're fast... they're heading straight here, hm... it feels like a fight is about to erupt.

Will there be any issues if that happens near the statue?

Who knows.

Anyway, you should return, Great Saintess. We also need to send someone to inform Madam Sciurus as well.

It'll be bad if you or someone else gets hurt.

I see.

What about you?

I will stay.

If something happens... oh, it would be terrible if something happened to damage Kjeragandr's statue.

So let me stay here to keep an eye on things, and I'll make sure 'nothing big' happens to the statue!

......

Kjarr...

...Hold on, you can't be...

—!

Oh, they're here! I'll say no more, Saintess, I have to go watch them!

Hey, Kjarr!

She's gone.

......

She can't possibly be... looking for an opportunity to do a little something to the statue?

Is she that unsatisfied with the statue's face...?

This part's easier to walk in, without as many trees around.

Careful, the snow ahead is pretty deep.

Uh, you... are you really my papa?

I-I mean, Mamochka said...

Tatyana mentioned me?!

Wh-What did she say?

Not much, I didn't even know I still had a papa until I was grown, I thought he might have died long ago.

I thought that was the reason she never mentioned a father, and she never really brought up Kjerag before either.

We've been just the two of us for all these years, I never thought...

Really...?

Maybe, she... she still resented me.

As she should have! After all, I was the one who let the both of you down back then. I deserve her resentment.

It seems Tatyana lived a good life, even without me...

......

Before I came here, she told me how the snow feels different in Kjerag. The snow you find on the mountain summits is different from the snow down here.

She told me...

Kjerag is my home too, that even though I grew up in Ursus, I was born here.

Tatyana...

That sure is something she would say. She liked the summit snows so much... and always told me how different it was.

It's a pity a thug like me didn't get it, back then.

Hah, I don't get it either.

But I remember what she told me, I might have forgotten what happened when I was small, but those experiences don't just disappear.

She always said, everything you've been through will always be shaping you as a person.

Even if you forget it, its influence remains.

She said the Rosalind of today has every stage of her life to thank, and even the little insignificant things that happened in-between have also greatly contributed to who I am today.

And that's why even if she couldn't make it here, she hoped that I could at least know a part of me came from Kjerag.

That's what she said, and that's why I'm here.

Tatyana...

......

When your mother and I first met here, we... you could say it was a mutual attraction. It didn't take long for us to fall in love.

I'd hoped to marry Tatyana and spend the rest of our lives together. I was really looking forward to it—I've never wanted anything as much as I did to be with her.

But that was no easy feat in Kjerag, back then.

But why?

If you liked each other, then just stay together. It can't get any simpler than that, right?

Yes... it should have been the simplest thing to do.

But Rosalind, you don't understand Kjerag, or at least the way Kjerag was two decades ago.

We were still secluding ourselves in our little corner of the land, and basically had no contact with outsiders.

You don't get Catastrophes in Kjerag, and everyone thought it was thanks to Kjeragandr protecting Her people. We believed the place was sacred, unlike the outside world, where Catastrophes are commonplace.

I've always believed Kjerag back then was quiet and peaceful.

But the way things are now, I have to admit, we were closed-off, and... blind.

Our lives were just farming, herding, and praying to Kjeragandr.

Outsiders were rare to see, and we weren't exactly friendly to them either.

......

So Mamochka...

You know her best, I'm sure.

Tatyana was so passionate, frank, ostentatious, and didn't bother to fit in.

She captivated me completely.

But at the same time, she was too strange and too different for Kjerag then...

Hmph.

So? Are you trying to tell me you held back because of that? You didn't dare to marry a foreigner?

Wait, where'd I come into the picture then? You had me without marrying her?!

I'm serious, beardy. You better not be joking.

Rosalind, wait! Don't be hasty... it's not what you think!

It didn't happen like that! Easy now!

Then what happened?

I *cough*, *cough* of course I married your mother!

Many objected to it, but it ultimately wasn't an impossible task. After all, the head of Clan Silverash married a foreigner too.

My marriage would have been an embarrassment for the Paleroche clan, but I still managed to convince my father, our patriarch at the time, to go through with it.

You met him already, Rosalind. It was him who brought you back home yesterday, even though I was so drunk I didn't recognize you at all.

You mean... That old man...?

Is my grandfather?!

Yes.

I appreciate that he ultimately let us marry, and kept it a secret from the others too.

One of my biggest regrets is not inviting more guests to our wedding.

But Tatyana told me it was fine, that she didn't care about the formalities as long as we loved each other. Nothing else mattered, as long as we could be together for good.

And then, we had you.

The days I spent together with you two were the best I could have ever imagined.

......

But our good times didn't last long. The Silverash couple got into an accident soon after you were born.

Kjerag was already in a state of turmoil due to the Silverash reforms, and there were many who regarded them as a thorn in their side.

Most didn't dare to challenge the Tri-Clan Leaders directly, but attacking a foreigner in private was much easier to do.

They said it was an accident, but truth be told... it was far from that simple.

I don't know much about it, but I remember the Doctor telling me that the Paleroches are conservative.

So Clan Paleroche must have been against the reforms too.

...Yes.

I'm not trying to lecture you now, Rosalind, but there are some things you have a right to know.

It was beneficial for the Paleroches to suppress the Silverashes then, and I alone could not have changed our decision to do so.

So... we Paleroches are the most devout believers and guardians of Kjeragandr, while the Browntails are the astute followers who make sensible decisions.

While the Silverashes had gone astray and tried to destroy our faith in vain, putting Kjerag in danger.

This was how our three clans were seen back then, and also the way the situation really was in Kjerag.

And I, as the next head of the Paleroche clan, could not harm the family's interests.

There was not much I could do.

And so you abandoned me and Mamochka.

I did not!

I never abandoned you, and there's no way I would've abandoned Tatyana!

But those people, would they be satisfied with a mere 'accident'?

The Silverashes were dead, and I... married an Ursine woman.

They didn't know how great Tatyana was, and didn't care for her affection towards Kjerag.

She was just an Ursine woman in the eyes of many, an outsider representing Kjerag's doom.

Rosalind, I am a warrior. I've shed so much blood, and have never feared anything.

But back then, all I had were sleepless nights.

Because I finally came to know fear.

I was afraid...

......

............

The best choice I could make at the time was to have you leave, to go far away from Kjerag.

Even if we couldn't see each other again, even if I couldn't be by your side anymore.

For I knew the two of you could live a normal and peaceful life somewhere at least...

Instead of running into any strange accidents somewhere I couldn't see—or even right under my nose.

So I wouldn't be left with just an 'accident'...

...You...

That's the story of me and Tatyana.

Rosalind, I owe you and your mother too much. I, Arctosz, will never deny this.

Resent me, blame me, I deserve it all.

Berate me, or even strike me with this axe. I won't dodge.

But, then... can you give me another chance, Rosalind?

......

I... don't mean to make this difficult for you!

I just wanted you to know I still love you both. I did then and I always will.

My feelings towards you and your mother have never changed.

So...

If you're willing, Rosalind—

Could you... call me father, just once?

......

Call you... father?

......

I...

Rosalind...

Go to hell! In your dreams!!