The Gift of Fortune

"Hurrah! Long live His Majesty the Emperor! Long live Her Majesty the Empress!"

The people of the empire gladly set aside their daily labors and poured into the streets to sing the praises of the Emperor, the Empress, and the Emperor's valiant knight, Daisy.

Daisy stood on her carriage in the neat white attire Verdi had picked out for her, waving awkwardly. The carriage ahead carried the Emperor and Empress, while hers trailed behind them.

It was, frankly, excruciating.

It wasn't her first procession, of course — but back then she'd been too busy guarding the Emperor in full armor, her face hidden behind a helmet, much like Matheus and Humbert, who stood beside the Emperor's carriage now. Today, however, her face was on display for the entire world to see, waving hand and all.

Unlike Franz and Alisa, for whom this sort of thing seemed second nature from the day they were born, Daisy found the whole affair mortifying. How high should she raise her hand? Was her palm supposed to be spread flat, or naturally curved? And where on earth was she supposed to put the other hand?

Like someone who had forgotten how to breathe, everything that had once come naturally now felt foreign. Worst of all was her hair, streaming loose in the wind. Normally it was pinned beneath a helmet, or tied back even on ordinary days, so it never gave her any trouble. But the maid who had helped dress her today had absolutely insisted, so her hair ended up half gathered up and pinned high, half falling loose and free, with an ornament tucked into it.

"What's the point of a knight doing all this?" Daisy had grumbled, but the maid would not yield.

"A knight you may be, but you're still a woman. Besides, a procession isn't about intimidating the people — it's about making them feel close to you. Why on earth would you hide this beautiful, silky hair of yours?"

Since this was territory Daisy knew nothing about, she had no choice but to defer to the maid's confident conviction.

When she emerged from her chambers after all that fuss, Matheus had been struck speechless. "Uh… w-well, it looks good." That was all he could manage after staring at her in a daze for the longest time. It must have been quite the sight indeed — Daisy was almost grateful to Verdi for fighting off the maids who had wanted to put her in a dress.

"Oh my, Sir Knight. You look absolutely lovely. Why don't you go about like this every day? You look every bit a beautiful lady!"

Alisa, on the other hand, showered her with compliments the moment she laid eyes on her. Being called a beautiful lady was no compliment at all as far as Daisy was concerned. What Daisy liked to hear was that she was strong, that she handled a sword like it was part of her own body, that she was valiant. There had been a time, watching Alisa, when Daisy felt ashamed of her own lack of beauty for the first time in her life — but that was already a thing of the past.

Franz said nothing at all. Daisy wondered, catching him looking down at her, whether he found the sight ridiculous. Then again, Franz was the one who had arranged this ridiculous spectacle in the first place. If he had simply let her ride in the same outfit she'd worn back from Lanke, none of this would have happened.

Grumbling to herself, Daisy boarded the carriage and began the loop through the streets of Sayron. The people showered her with flower petals made of paper as she passed. Seeing their faces drunk with happiness, her awkwardness melted away for a moment, replaced by a swelling sense of pride.

The demonic beasts had never breached the streets of Sayron itself, and the citizens' lives and livelihoods had never faced direct threat — and yet they had suffered all the same. Those with family serving as soldiers had to send loved ones to the north, where survival was never guaranteed, and every citizen paid extra taxes to fund the beasts' extermination. Beyond the ordinary taxes that sustained the empire, the Lowes Empire levied a separate tax known as the Monster Tax. The revenue went toward repairing the damage the beasts left behind, and the burden was quietly considerable. Now that the beasts were gone, that tax would vanish too — small wonder the people's faces were glowing.

"Long live the Knight!"

The people had poured into the streets for her sake, cheering with all their hearts. Truthfully, what had driven Daisy into the Forest of Illusions was less a sense of duty to the empire than the reckless, irresponsible desire to die on her own terms — but seeing the results firsthand filled her with pride. And she found herself wanting, for these people's sake, to live a long time after all.

Is this the effect Franz was counting on? So I'd never throw my life away so carelessly again.

At least in that moment, Daisy waved to her people with genuine feeling.

"Sir Knight! Sir Knight! I have something I wish to give you."

They were passing through Sayron's central district, where banks and schools clustered among the shops, when a middle-aged man in fine clothing pushed through the crowd and approached her carriage. Soldiers barred his path with their spears.

"I am a merchant who crosses the desert to trade with Irant. I wished to express my gratitude to you, Sir Knight."

The carriage halted, and the soldiers waited for Franz's instruction. Franz looked to Daisy, and when she signaled that it was all right, he gave a small nod. As the soldiers stepped back, the man continued.

"My elder brother entered the imperial palace ten years ago, burning with the dream of becoming His Majesty's knight. He never earned his knighthood, but he joined the imperial army and was posted to the north — and there he lost his life to a demonic beast. From that day on, the beasts became an enemy my family simply had to destroy. And now you have slain them for good, Sir Knight. From here on, my family can live in peace at last."

Tears glistened in the man's eyes.

"I only did what had to be done," Daisy said, feeling a faint twinge of conscience.

"And so I wish to give you the most precious thing I possess." With those words, the man drew a small pouch from his coat and held it out. "What is this?" Daisy asked, and the man smiled broadly.

"A Red Crystal."

"I beg your pardon?"

"As you know, Red Crystals are sometimes unearthed in the Tatir desert. I carried this one for luck, but I wish to offer it to you, Sir Knight. You are the savior of my family — of all the people of Lowes."

Daisy looked down at the little pouch of red cloth, its mouth cinched shut with a drawstring. A Red Crystal — said to be formed when the residual magic left behind after mages cast their spells congealed into solid form. Along with the demonic beasts, it stood as proof that magicians still lingered somewhere in the world. That was why she had grown suspicious of a connection to the magicians when the Archmage had called her the Child of the Red Crystal in the Forest of Illusions.

Of course, since the magicians had not shown themselves in ages, some claimed the Red Crystal was nothing more than an ordinary mineral — but most people believed it to be crystallized magic. Red Crystals were found mainly in Tatir, a desert where no human could survive, and even there they were exceedingly rare. Moreover, an old legend held that a Red Crystal brought fortune to whoever carried it, so those who found one tended to keep the discovery to themselves and treasure it in secret. To offer such a treasure was, in effect, to hand over one's own good fortune.

"I cannot accept something so precious. I have no right to it — none at all."

When she declined once, the man drew the Red Crystal out of the pouch, set it atop his open palm, and raised his hand still higher toward her.

"What do you mean, no right? Thanks to you, Sir Knight, the people can finally live in ease. Please, accept this, and live long and healthy all your days. I give it to you purely for my own sake — so please, take it."

When he put it that way, she had no heart to refuse. The Red Crystal lived up to its name — a piercing, crystalline red, clear as ice, tapering to sharp points at both ends. It was beautiful. Only, it wasn't meant for her.

"If that is your wish, then you should offer it to His Majesty the Emperor. My master has always been, and will always be, His Majesty."

Coveting a rare treasure while standing in the Emperor's own presence was an ugly look, and the man seemed to understand as much.

"Then take it yourself, Sir Knight, and present it to His Majesty on my behalf."

That much, she thought, would be acceptable. It would even serve as a chance to examine the gift first, to make sure Franz received nothing that could bring him harm.

Daisy took the pouch and the Red Crystal from the man's hands. And in that instant, the crystal flashed with light.

It was faint enough that only those standing close to Daisy could have caught it, but there was no mistaking it — something within the crystal had flared, a sudden sparkle that vanished almost as quickly as it appeared.

Is this what happens when it passes through someone else's hands?

"Thank you. I will see it delivered to His Majesty." Daisy collected herself quickly and spoke to the man, who had his head bowed and seemed not to have noticed the flash. At her words he lifted his face, beamed, and turned back into the crowd, raising the loudest, most spirited cheer of anyone in the square.

Daisy stepped down from her carriage and approached Franz, holding the Red Crystal out to him.

"I offer Your Majesty the heart of your people."

Franz did not take it. He simply looked down at her in silence for a long moment. Then, abruptly, he spoke.

"Am I truly the one who should keep this?"

"Why ever not? I'm sure the gentleman wanted to offer it to you all along," Alisa said gently at his side.

"It was Lady Rainer who plunged into the Forest of Illusions. It was Lady Rainer who crossed the threshold of death. For me to keep this would be absurd." Franz brushed aside Alisa's words without ceremony and said it again. Daisy looked up into his blue eyes, so deep she could not fathom their bottom. In those eyes, a vast sea was always quietly churning.

"I am Your Majesty's servant. All my deeds are Yours, and everything I do is for Your sake. So the people's praises, and their hearts as well, belong to You. Please accept it."

Daisy couldn't understand what he meant. After all, the only reason she had come here today was to show the people a knight's loyalty — proof of what she had survived in the Forest of Illusions. The presentation of the Red Crystal to the Emperor had been unexpected, but it was the perfect crowning note to it all.

"…Very well, then. I accept."

After a long pause, Franz seemed to come to a decision, and took the Red Crystal from Daisy's hand. Then he raised it high above his head. A roar of cheers erupted from the crowd.

Watching him, Daisy returned to her carriage. All that brilliance belonged to Franz. It suited him. She herself had only to give her best as his Shadow, guarding the Emperor — beyond that, she needed neither wealth nor glory.

"May fortune ever shine upon His Majesty the Emperor and Her Majesty the Empress!"

Listening to the people's heartfelt cry, Daisy began to wave once more.