Fiancée

“Haa…”

Nadja von Tristan wore a gloomy expression as she gazed out the window.

As the only daughter of the Count Tristan family, Nadja’s future had once been assured—she was supposed to marry the man she loved.

But that fate had changed.

(Woody…)

Her fiancé, Woody Conrad, had not received the aptitude Great Magus at the Rite of Blessing, but instead the nearly useless-in-battle aptitude called Tree Planting.

Every noble in the kingdom valued combat-oriented aptitudes.

The Tristan family was no exception.

Thus the engagement was annulled, and she was newly betrothed to Ashid, who possessed Great Magus.

Nadja could not accept it in the slightest.

(I didn’t fall in love with an aptitude.)

Her family was a line that valued swordsmanship above magic.

Most held sword-related aptitudes like Swordmaster, and within the Tristan family existed a rare and powerful aptitude akin to the Conrad family’s Great Magus: the Sword Saint.

Nadja had been the first woman in the Tristan family to inherit the Sword Saint aptitude.

When two aptitudes mixed, sometimes they produced something even more powerful.

If Sword Saint and Great Magus combined, their child might be born with an incredible aptitude.

Should something like Hero, Magus Knight, or Dragon Knight emerge, their descendants’ status would be unshakable.

—But such things meant absolutely nothing to Nadja.

(I didn’t love an aptitude… I fell in love with Woody.)

Nadja recalled the first time she met Woody.

Hating her engagement, she tried to force a breakup by beating Woody to a pulp on their first meeting.

And yet he still approached her with a smile.

No matter how many times she drove him away, he came back.

“Do you want my aptitude that badly!?”

By then she had already received Sword Saint and was on edge.

Everyone praised her aptitude, and the number of suitors increased even further.

She felt as though she were nothing more than a machine to pass down an aptitude, and it left her constantly irritated.

But Woody said this to her:

“I’m hopeless when it comes to strength, so I admire strong people like you. No matter how this engagement turns out, I’d like us to get along.”

Unusual for a noble heir, Woody’s mild words piqued her interest.

And so two people of opposite temperament… gradually drew closer.

(If things had gone normally, we would have married right after receiving our aptitudes…)

Nadja returned her thoughts to the present and turned to look behind her.

There stood a tree Woody had planted at her request.

It grew taller every day, now reaching her height.

Remembering Woody’s smile filled her with happiness—yet realizing she would never see it again filled her with sorrow.

Tears slipped down her cheeks.

“…Woody, you idiot! You promised you loved me, you promised we’d marry—!”

Nadja punched the tree with her fist.

Since receiving Sword Saint, her physical ability had been enhanced.

But… even a blow that could kill an orc did not make the tree budge.

“Hold, maiden. You mustn’t treat that tree so crudely.”

“Wh-who’s there!?”

Nadja leapt back and reached for the sword at her waist.

Atop the tree she had just struck sat a bird, pure white.

It was the size of a medium dog—far too large for a bird.

The window had been closed.

There was no way such a huge bird could have entered this room.

Even faced with Nadja’s killing intent, the bird remained calm and unruffled.

“Do not brandish your blade so warily, maiden. I bear no wish to fight. I apologize for entering uninvited, but I too am a divine beast—”

Her hand drew the sword.

With godlike speed, Nadja’s Sword Saint iai cleaved the bird in two.

But its form blurred, and in the next moment it was whole again, unhurt.

“I told you, I have no intention of fighting—”

“Get down from that tree. That’s a precious gift from someone dear to me.”

“You call this a gift—the World Tree? That is no mere trinket to be carried around—hm!?”

The bird dutifully descended from the tree, then closed its eyes.

In an instant, it snapped them open wide, trembling and holding its cheeks between its wings.

For a bird, its expressions were strangely vivid.

And given its sheer size, it was clearly no ordinary bird.

“This is astonishing! The World Tree is truly multiplying! Maiden, who was it that gave you this tree?”

Nadja thought quickly.

A bird that her sword could not harm, that could enter her room at will, yet bore no hostility.

And the word it had nearly spoken earlier.

With those hints, she realized the bird’s identity.

Then it was better to answer truthfully.

There was little point in trying to hide it.

“My fiancé—Woody Conrad.”

“So, Woody-dono, is it? To succeed in cultivating the World Tree—what a man of greatness!”

“Heh, of course! Woody is amazing… wait, World Tree? I feel like I’ve heard that before…?”

Proud that the man she loved was praised, Nadja puffed up with pride.

The bird chuckled softly, then hardened its expression.

“Maiden, I must now depart. I must fly to Woody-dono at once—and fulfill my duty as a Divine Beast!”

As the bird began to pass through the window, Nadja called out.

“Take me with you! There’s something I have to tell him!”

“Hmm… then ride upon my wind. I’m not so boorish as to refuse the wish of a maiden who longs to convey her feelings.”

“And I’m not a maiden! I’m Nadja… just Nadja!”

“Ah, my apologies. Then let us go, Lady Nadja.”

Together they slipped out of the room.

Nadja rode the bird’s wind magic, flying straight toward the desert where Woody was.

“Wait for me, Woody… don’t you dare underestimate my stubbornness!”

And so Nadja vanished from her chamber.

No one saw her flee, and the search party found no trace of her departure.

A single townsman later claimed to have seen a woman and a bird flying through the sky, but the tale was dismissed as nonsense…