Oathtaker | Chapter 9 - Setting the Record Wrongly

  Shizuki had always found her grandmother, La Signora Cordelia Marraine de Revalante, to be intimidating as she always had this cold and intimidating look on her face as though she could read her well. She knew that Elizabeth has the ability to look past her lies, her look at her is clear, the message is ‘You can fool my son but you cannot fool me.’ as it was clear that any attempts to weasel out of this was no doubt an attempt to dig her grave deeper.

  She found herself in her grandmother’s study as she found herself sitting across her was her Grandmother Cordelia holding a cup of tea, with her older sister Victoria standing behind Cordelia with a worried look while the curtains were slightly covering them from the outside.

  It’s worth noting that the Marraines are a Human Family and Shizuki is the only person who is biologically an Elf as evident from her ears. This also shows how she’s obviously adopted and clearly dyed her hair to match theirs.

  “I heard from Victoria and also from the Faculty, but I want to hear from your end directly.” She said with a low voice as she looked at her with the same discerning eyes. “What did you know, surely even you know better than to disappear in the afternoon and re-emerge after sunset.”

  ‘No use, she has a way of saying that I'm hiding it. I might well find out the truth.’ Shizuki thought to herself as she swallowed hard as Victoria looked at her anxiously and just as curious as to what really went down.

  “If I tell the truth there won't be any repercussions?” Shizuki asked, looking at Cordelia with a worried look. She wasn't concerned for her well being, but rather what would happen to Mark especially since he's already suspected to be an illegal entrant which given the Constabulary's reputation was difficult to believe.

  “I cannot guarantee that given what I know so far. However, your answer could determine that.” Cordelia answered immediately, and Shizuki immediately translated it to one word, ‘Depends.’ which doesn't reassure her, in fact who's to say Cordelia will even believe her explanation. She considered trying to lie, it has been a while maybe her lying skills have improved that she won't realise it.

  No, she'll always find out. She seems to be able to find a way. It was that kind of skill that made her one of the most honest but trusted advisers of the late Emperor Ioshua Noxsolis Orthros, that not even the Emperor himself could have lied to her.

  “Me and my classmate were following instructions as intended, but along the way we got lost and stumbled into ruins that are being explored by the Eastern Imperial Army and–”

  “–that’s impossible the Traitor Army is currently being pushed back by the Western Imperial Army at Erdheim and–” Victoria interjected, almost offended at the idea but Cordelia raised her hand causing her to immediately become quiet.

  “Let her finish Victoria, I would like to hear her side more first.” Cordelia said as Victoria went quiet once more. Then she turned to Shizuki once more with a nod as though asking her to continue.

  “The Eastern Imperial Army captured us but Ma–My classmate managed to figure out an escape path but involved the collapse of an underground camp and when Victoria found us it was moments after that."

  Cordelia gave her one last look, the kind that was making it clear that she has yet to address another part of that.

  “I only kissed him thinking I could use that as an excuse why we were missing for hours, I swear nothing more happened in that aspect.” She said almost defensively and embarrassed given that there’s a chance they suspect they were doing more than that given the time frame. Admittedly she has had a history of seeing other men and women but never gotten that far into said relationship, despite her family's assumption.

  “Very well, I will take into account your response though for now I will look into this situation.” Cordelia simply said as she glanced at the table, on it was a chess piece where it features the black pieces outnumbering the whites but still manageable if handled well. “If what you say is true then we are in a far dangerous situation for the Rogue Army to be past the Defensive Lines Lord-Commander Himmelstadt had established and if the actions made by your classmate are effective then that only bought us time.”

  “You believe me?” She was surprised at her response as Cordelia picked up a White Pawn that was untouched but far from the main group of white pieces that were cornered, Victoria herself appears to be surprised as well.

  “Just know that you will be grounded for a week, I shall arrange someone to keep an eye on you.” She said placing the Pawn back a step closer not to the other white pieces but closer to the end of the board. “For now I shall look into this matter closely.”

  And with that she dismissed the two of them as they left. Shizuki glanced one last time at Cordelia who pressed a button on her table causing a holographic map of the entire Region surrounding Revalante to be shown as though trying to understand the next steps, this would be followed by the Holographic Images of several other members of the Revalante Government.

  ‘Uneasy lies the head that wears a crown,’ Shizuki thought to herself as they closed the door.

  The following day at Kristoph Ranger Academy, classes went as usual but Shizuki couldn't help but be a bit worried about Mark as he was missing the other day. She glanced over to the group of students that Mark spends his time around, that Human with a shield, the Elf with a strange lamp, and the Dwarf who constantly waves her guns around.

  They were just as worried as she was, but even more given and every now and then the one of them would shoot a dirty look at her as though his involvement with her led to his disappearance. Well she can't blame them on that part, he was last seen with her so naturally she's the prime suspect.

  The rumors surrounding it don't help, as all of them paint Mark to be some criminal that deserves a worse fate.

  “Lady Shizuki, are you alright?” One of the female students approached her. “We heard of what happened and what Grauwolfe did to you.”

  “What do you mean by ‘what he did to me’?” She decided to take matters and find out the source. The girls hesitated as though worried they might say inappropriate but one of them finally spoke.

  “Werhein told us that Grauwolfe took advantage of you and…did things to you.” She said, adding a bit of hesitation from the last one. “And that he's going to be imprisoned for that.”

  ‘Werhein, that must be that Hyena who was trying to put down Mark that one time.’ Shizuki thought, and more than once recalled multiple instances where he was actively antagonizing the trio since Mark disappeared.

  “Whatever Werhein said is a lie, let me make that clear,” Shizuki said, standing up with an annoyed sigh.

  “But Clint–”

  “Has it out for Mark from day one,” Shizuki cut off one of the girls. “I remember the first day of Class under Headmistress Robin that he was basically encouraging Mark to drop out then and there, so are you really going to take the words of some self proclaimed Heir to a flotsam near the Nightfall Expanse?”

  They all went silent as though slightly ashamed from the realization that she had a point.

  “Where is he anyways, I'd like to have a few words with him and clear his name.”

  “What is he to you anyways? As far as I know he's just some nobody from a backwater town?” One of them spoke, Shizuki recognised her, being a Vulture Beastwoman with light sandy brown hair in a short cut that slightly covered one of her pinkish red eyes as she crossed her arms while having a distinct tan.

  Her name was Xeon Petros, one of the two girls who follow Clint Werhein around constantly.

  “Why does my relationship matter to you?” Shizuki countered back as she narrowed her eyes at Xeon. Come to think of it, unlike the other girl she seems to be the most attentive to Mark that it's oddly suspicious. Even before she noticed the way she looked at him.

  “You're being defensive for someone who's below you, that's primarily the reason.” Xeon replied back with a glare, it wasn't mocking than she had expected, almost as if she's accusing Shizuki of something.

  Around them the girls and even a few other students adjacent to them, including Mark's friend group, are getting curious over their growing altercation.

  “Curious little bird aren't you?” She said noticing the attention is shifting on them and fought the urge to smirk realizing she has the opportunity to do the best idea to solve this.

  “Alright I'll make it clear.” Shizuki said, standing up crossing her arms with a rather confident smile. “Mark Grauwolfe is my boyfriend, we were simply fooling around and didn't know time flew by until it was too late.”

  “What??” Xeon asked with an utterly baffled look while the other girls had a shocked look on their faces, from the corner of her eye she can see Mark's friends had a reaction that appears to be a mix of shock but also impressed whether it was the idea of Mark pulling it off with her or her audacious declaration.

  “Wait for five hours?” One of them asked.

  “That’s right,” She said confidently as they all whispered to themselves while Xeon had a quiet but rather angry look, though not the kind that shows someone threw her plans but something else.

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  “So if you people even so much as think about slandering his name then you're dealing with me,” She said walking past them confidently pointing a thumb to herself as they all gave her a wide space and walked away.

  ‘Heh! All according to plan! Now his name is cleared.’ She thought she solved everything now and she may have changed the whole situation altogether.

  Later that day, Shizuki made her way to Headmaster Freia’s Office that afternoon. She was the last person that was with him so chances are she’s the most fitting person to ask around where he is. But upon arriving at the top of the stairs and leading to her office she instead found her Secretary organising a handful of paperwork in her stead.

  “Oh hello Lady Shizuki Marraine, need something?” He asked with a smile as he looked up from his paperwork.

  “Is Headmistress Freia around? I want to speak to her personally.” Shizuki asked, looking around as other Construction Workers walked past her and began to work on the few damaged parts of the hallway.

  “Ah she told me you'd show up, unfortunately she's been out the whole day mentioning something about a family emergency.” He said as he but he pulled out a note and handed it to Shizuki as she looked at it. “But she did tell me to hand you this if you even come by and ask for her.”

  ‘She’s married? I assume she’s some kind of old maid or something.’ Shizuki took the note and read it to her, it was an address and no further information. She thanked the secretary and made her way to the window of the hallway as she leaped out and flew away using her Gestalt once more as her Energy wings unfurled and she began to glide through the skies of Revalante.

  She recognized the address of that location and apparently it’s some vacation home somewhere near the edge of the Revalante, near the Merideus Coast that gives them a view of the Nightfall Expanse albeit from a different angle.

  As she landed there she could see Headmistress Freia sitting on a chair as she overlooked the sea with a rather distant look on her face.

  “As usual my Apprentice is late,” Headmistress Freia chuckled in mild amusement as though she knew she'd arrive. “It seems your actions have once again yielded interesting results.”

  “I want to know where Mark is,” She asked, walking towards her with a glare on her face as she walked towards her. “I'm worried for him, he got into this mess because of me. And please spare me the riddles, you know full well I never liked your cryptic way of teaching.”

  “And yet you lasted the longest as you were more interested in my puzzles.” Headmistress Freia told her with a chuckle. “What is your business with him anyways?”

  “As far as I know you two only met when classes started and yet you're worried for him?” She added glancing at her with a curious gaze. “I've known you long enough in the last five years to know it takes quite a bit for you to be invested in someone, is he perhaps another to add in your list of paramours?”

  “That would set a new record and I'm not sure if I would approve that one unlike the previous ones.” She added which further aggravated Shizuki all things considered, she never cared for her own personal feelings before yet for some reason she starts acting like a proper mentor and begins to scold her on her preferences?

  “Who I choose to be with is my choice, besides since when did you start caring for who I spend my time with?” She said angrily but kept her tone composed. Freia always had a habit of pushing her buttons and provoking her.

  “I’m your former mentor and your family entrusted me, so in a sense I’m also your guardian in case something were to happen to you.” She said standing up to look at her, but that infuriated Shizuki as she felt her heart race from angry as she summoned Forget-me-not and cast Ruptoris which unleashes as Stream of concentrated Mana, in other words a Mana Beam attack.

  This immediately caused a cloud of sand and smoke to erupt as Shizuki remained calm, she wasn't worried as she knew that Freia would have defended herself, in fact before the cloud of sand and smoke appeared she could see Freia had a look of calm in her face.

  And sure enough when the smoke clears she can see enough, Freia was completely unbothered from the whole thing as a massive Phall spell was cast around her, although there was a notable crack on where the the Ruptoris spell had hit her.

  “You never acted like a Mentor or Guardian before, you only treated me as some burden just giving me the minimum.” Shizuki muttered in annoyance but she shook her head in irritation. “Enough where is–”

  “Freia?!” The two of them looked to the side and found Mark hurrying to their location walking towards them all the while appearing to wear a bulky Neck Brace and immediately Shizuki realised what was on there.

  “You gave him the Guillotine Collar?!” Shizuki asked in disbelief as she immediately rushed to Mark’s aid as he took a step back.

  “Relax Marraine, I willingly took the collar for it.” Mark said tapping the collar as though it was some fashion statement. “In exchange for clearing my name, I have to put this on and if I do anything funny my head goes off.”

  “What…?” She said in utter confusion. While it is a known option, it expects the Criminal minds in question to remain in a certain area until he is declared a non threat making it a rather extreme case of house arrest as the alternative is in fact to be in prison for a certain time.

  “Technically they are right you know,” Mark shrugged as he looked at the Collar. “I am an Illegal Entrant with possible ties to the Eastern Imperial Army, besides I have the approval that if I clear my name I become a legal citizen.”

  “Why…ugh nevermind why are you even here of all places anyways?” She asked looking around and it was clear that this was clearly some kind of vacation home, even if slightly damaged from her Ruptoris spell. “And with that old hag of all people.”

  “I’ll answer it if you explain to me why you decided to pick a fight with Freia Robin, the current Grand Caster and arguably the strongest mage to live.” Mark said, jabbing a thumb at Freia who had a mildly embarrassed look on her face that made Shizuki cringe in mild disgust as if saying ‘You’re older don’t act bashful’ in mild irritation.

  “I was looking for you,” She explained glaring at Freia who now had a smug look on her face. “I skipped classes just to find you, and I was trying to ask her where you were but this old hag pushed my buttons.”

  “I’m pretty sure your buttons were already pushed from the start,” Freia commented in a low voice as she walked towards her and Mark.

  “Lady Shizuki Marraine de Revalante, I want you to meet Mark Grauwolfe, my adopted son.” She said with a proud, almost too happy smile on her face as she clasped Mark on the shoulder. Who had a confused look on his face as he glanced at her as though this was the first time hearing this as well.

  “What about my sentence?” Mark asked in utter confusion, Freia glanced at him and with the snap of her fingers the collar vanished into thin air revealing a series of Prayer Beads for Practicing Sol Triumphi prayers.

  “I lied about the whole thing as I already had this arranged sometime ago.” Freia said with a smile.

  “I'm pretty sure we skipped a few steps to get this sorted,” Mark commented as he gently took off the prayer beads and looked at them wistfully. “That also explains the other stuff I found in my room.”

  “Though I will admit after recent events, I think the process may take longer.” Freia nodded, crossing her arms. “Between your Illegal Entrant allegations and my attempted murder of the Chief Constable I think it could prove difficult.”

  “Yeah I don’t think even your status as the Headmistress of Kristoph Ranger College would help, in fact this probably questions it.” Mark added with a scoff as he glanced at the prayer beads.

  “Actually, I have an idea.” Shizuki said with a smile as though she had felt clever. Admittedly she’ll get another earful from her family but given that the recent events have yet to hear her side of things, this might be the best way for her to clarify things and set the record straight.

  “Which is?” Mark asked with a curious look.

  “Marry me.”

  “...No.” Mark responded with a rather flabbergasted look on his face as if saying yes he made up his mind but the question sounded so absurd it left him in such a state.

  [The Reluctant Reincarnation]

  “You don't have to laugh too hard you old hag,” Shizuki crossed her arms as Freia was laughing the whole time while Mark was preparing Tea as they sat by the patio of Freia’s home.

  “I never thought I'd see the day someone would reject you,” Freia said as Mark arrived with a tray of tea.

  “It's really quite simple, Miss Freia. Lady Marraine and I are too young. We've only met at least a few times with no meaningful foundation of a relationship.” Mark said as he handed them both their respective teacups. “And due to a lack of any connection I’m assuming it would lead to incompatibility of values.”

  “You say that like it's almost certain it'll end like that.” Shizuki said, taking a sip of her tea. “Besides, you don't have to take it seriously, it can only be in name and once you're legalized we can get, Divorce or something.”

  “I'm pretty sure that's called Marriage Fraud, so chances are if we both get exposed then you'll be in a deeper mess than I am.” Mark said, pouring a cup of tea for himself with a sigh on his face “Fake or not I'm not taking your offer, besides I don't plan on sticking around Revalante long enough to be a citizen, I'm fine with just being an illegal entrant.”

  “How long then?”

  “That reminds me, why are you picking a fight with Lady Freia earlier?” Mark said immediately. ‘Did he just change the subject?’

  “She’s–”

  “She used to be my apprentice as a Mage.” Freia said, answering with Shizuki nodding as she let out a defeated sigh. “She was quite promising too, unfortunately we had some…disagreements and–”

  “–Got fed up realizing I have to take care of an overgrown elven baby,” Shizuki cut her off realizing that she was about to bring up ‘that’ as well as the results that came with it. Freia was silent after that indicating that she decided to play along with her cover story, it was to just make it look like Shizuki threw a hissy fit than admit that.

  “Well I'm glad you're fine, so when will you be returning?” Shizuki asked as now it was her turn to change the topic.

  “Probably tomorrow, since the whole Collar thing was just a farce I can go back without issue.” Mark said with a shrug.

  “I should get going then.” Shizuki said standing up with Mark standing up as well.

  “Let me lead you out,” Mark said but it was clear from his eyes he wanted to ask something that Freia didn't want to hear and as they made their way out Shizuki finally spoke.

  “I’m assuming you have questions,” Mark whispered in a low voice.

  “Plenty but I feel like you'd avoid them.” Shizuki responded with a shrug.

  “Exactly.” He said as she walked past the halls of the vacation home as she rubbed the back of her neck, it tends to be her immediate response when she's nervous

  ‘This is probably the first time we're hanging out when not in some life threatening situation.’ She thought of trying to find a way to deal with the awkward atmosphere.

  “Oh yeah I didn't know Wolf Beastmen can eat grapes. I thought those things were lethal to dogs.” She said looking at him.

  “How did you–oh,” Mark was about to ask but then he gave her a rather flustered look until Shizuki realised the mistake she made.

  After all, the only way she'd have known what he ate was if she kissed her.

  “J-just so you know I'm not that casual about it,” She said as she got flustered as well as she walked fast.

  “I don't know what you're talking about,” Mark lied, she knows what they are talking about based on his ear’s movements “Besides that only applies for Animals, Beastmen aren’t affected by…”

  He glanced with a rather annoyed look as Shizuki turned and hiding in the corner found Freia peeking from the doorway, her eyes clearly twinkling almost as if she was excited to see this unfold. The kind of a mom who is more invested in her son’s love life.

  “Freia please…” Mark said with mild exasperation as he placed a palm on his face.

  “As your mother–”

  “--adoptive–”

  “--I would like to inform you that I am very much interested in your love life.” She said it was still hidden in the doorway.

  “Please don’t.” They both said.