Chapter 46: Rushing to Prepare the Tournament

At Lady Katalina’s direction, a festival for the knights was set in motion.
I ended up throwing myself into making it a reality.

And that was not the only thing demanded of me.
I was also told to properly go to the church as a sister and continue working as a healer.

“You mustn’t let the fame of the ‘goddess’ fade away, Electra.”
“…Okaaay.”

I was already a bit burned out.
How did things even end up like this?
It wasn’t as though I had wanted all of this so badly.
Well, of course, I did want someone to take responsibility for what happened to Richard’s arm.
Even if it had healed, that didn’t mean it should simply be forgiven.

Still, my own thinking had been that I wanted a position where I could brush away any trouble that came my way.
It was a rather passive goal, all things considered.

“In the end, this was unavoidable for people like you,” Lady Katalina said.
“…Pardon?”

She answered my worries like that.

“You had that vague feeling, didn’t you?
That things might not end here, that something else could happen.
You stayed on guard, yet at the same time you hoped that maybe they’d already lost interest in you.
Isn’t that exhausting?
Living like that.”

“That’s… yes.”

“See?
People can’t keep spending their emotions on a sense of danger that has no proof.
If that’s the case, isn’t it healthier to make the first move and bring things to a conclusion quickly?”

Was it?
Maybe it was.
But it wasn’t like I wanted to go picking a fight.

“You hadn’t truly settled things within yourself.
That’s why the vague unease kept lingering.
The only ways to resolve that are to completely forget about it or to settle it decisively.
But given who the other side is, you can’t just march over and complain.
There’s the future to think about.
So strengthening your ‘position’ wasn’t the wrong choice.”

“…Lady Katalina.”

I felt a little moved by her words.
But then—

“Setting that aside, I really do want to see the showdown between the ‘Holy Knight’ and the ‘Hero.’”
“…Of course you do.”

Yes.
Putting our personal matters aside, from an entertainment perspective, that matchup was indispensable as the main attraction of the festival.
At that point, my own circumstances hardly mattered anymore.

“Electra, do you want compensation money?”
“Eh?
Um, that would be…”

Compensation.
She meant for the divorce, didn’t she?
But at this point, even if I received it…
I understood.
They were the ones who committed infidelity.
But I was the one who chose to leave swiftly.
Even if they had wanted the same.

This wasn’t a dream.
I should only consider what actually happened in reality.
In reality, upon hearing the rumors of infidelity, I chose to step aside.
Even with the duke’s interference, I left the Carlson house without suffering direct harm.

I wasn’t short on money now.
I was living a fulfilling life, so it wasn’t something I particularly wanted to demand.
And wanting to “settle things” didn’t mean I wanted to corner them.
From what I heard, they were already burdened with debt without me doing anything.

…But forgiving them because of that felt wrong too.
What I truly wanted was already clear to me.

“I’m not hoping for compensation.
It’s far too late for that.
I was the one who asked for the divorce.”

Dreams and reality had to be kept separate.
That was obvious.

“I see.
Then I still think a fair and open confrontation is the key to moving forward.”
“A fair and open…”

The one doing the fighting would be Richard, though.

“To uphold ideals, you need a certain amount of force and authority.”
“…Yes.”

I didn’t want to be someone who simply swallowed everything in silence.
But if you asked whether I was that fixated on it, the answer was no.
I just wanted to live with Richard.

In the end, all I really wanted was a single apology.
That was it.
So I didn’t want compensation.
Even if they were suffering under debt, my reaction was little more than, “I see.”

I worried about the territory’s people, but even so, more than a year had passed since I left.
It was no longer my responsibility, and getting more involved would be arrogance.
Harid was a noble himself.
The one who should bear responsibility was him.
If it came down to it, the people would flee to neighboring Vent territory or elsewhere.

“First, let’s focus on making the festival itself a success.
Achievements will become your confidence and strength above all else.”
“Yes, Lady Katalina.”

With exchanges like that in between, our hectic days continued.

Where should we hold it?
How large should the tournament be?
Which knight orders should we invite, and in what order?
What about the budget?
Should we ask for support from other houses?
How should we coordinate with the church?

This was nothing like managing a territory.
It felt more like launching a brand-new enterprise.
Simply saying, “We want to hold a tournament,” wasn’t enough to make it happen.

Beyond the scale of the event, we also had to decide how to produce outcomes people could accept.
Matches that felt unfair wouldn’t be entertaining or convincing to spectators.

As the scale grew, we naturally formed a “team.”
An event management organization backed by Lady Katalina.

It truly was an entertainment venture.
It wouldn’t end with knights simply competing.
How many spectators could we expect?
The venue itself would likely need to be newly built.
Yes, built.

It had become truly large-scale.
Even Sir Berschstein, who had proposed the idea, muttered, “This isn’t what I had in mind…”
I understood that feeling perfectly.

And then there was this.

Not only Richard, but Harid as well could be considered a “headline attraction” of the tournament.
The same went for the knight commanders of the participating houses.
If they put on a pathetic display, it would ruin everything.

But dragging out someone who was likely struggling under debt, who had been away from training, and pitting him against someone still in peak condition just to declare, “Victory!” would only leave a bad taste.
I wasn’t trying to bully him.

“Well then.
Shall we start moving… now?”
“Moving, Lady Katalina?”

She smiled brightly.

“Let’s provide special support to the ‘Hero.’
You know, you must send ‘sugar’ to your enemies.”

Sending sugar to one’s enemies was a saying in the Lanse Kingdom, something about old knightly customs.

“Support the Carlson house?”
“Yes.
For the success of the tournament.
The Hero needs to retrain properly beforehand.”
“That would…”
“Do you dislike the idea?”
“…I wouldn’t say I dislike it.
If anything, I don’t really mind either way.”

That was my honest feeling.
Right now, the problems I carried felt as though they were being swept away by everything else.
I had been so busy lately that “whatever” was a sincere thought.
More than anything, I wanted a little rest.
Healing magic didn’t fix fundamental exhaustion, after all.

“Hehe.
If we lift up the Hero, I wonder if the Farmerson house will get angry?”

…I sometimes wondered if Lady Katalina actually loved picking fights.
Was it just me who felt that way?
I found myself wanting to ask the Duke of Ryuswell about it sometime.