“The Goddess of Spring is swift,” goes an old saying in the ancient capital.
As the long winter ends and green shoots emerge, the goddess is said to swiftly travel across the empire, bringing the blessings of spring and welcome warmth to the frozen land.
This goddess, worshiped in this land since ancient times, is also a goddess of love, and long before the church’s authority illuminated the land, spring was always the season of love for the people.
But despite this season, a man lets out a massive sigh.
“So, it’s about squid, you see.”
“Squid, you say?”
“Squid, huh?”
Forcing his way into the tavern “Nobu” before opening hours, clutching a large mug and ranting away is Bertholt, a captain in the ancient capital’s guard. A powerful man of mercenary background, he’s known for having the highest level of training among the captains of his rank.
His well-honed physique is lean and toned, and his handsome features mean that he’s often the object of secret affections from women.
What’s troubling Bertholt is the squid.
“But for you to dislike something, Captain Bertholt, that’s a bit unexpected,” Shinobu said, tilting her head in puzzlement as she placed grilled squid tentacles on the counter. Generally, Bertolt’s reputation at Nobu is that he never leaves a scrap behind. He makes sure to order carefully, avoiding anything with squid.
“I can’t stand squid, only squid,” Bertholt said, his voice sounding miserable as he gulped down his first toriaezu nama.
He picked up one of the tentacles with his chopsticks, brought it near his mouth, but ended up putting it back on the plate. It wasn’t the taste, smell, or look that he disliked—it was that it was squid.
“How did it suddenly come to be that you have to eat squid?” Taisho asked, and the battle-hardened captain slumped his shoulders.
“…There will be squid at the matchmaking meeting.”
Bertholt was a man in his prime at thirty-two. Having come from a mercenary background, he was a bit older than his fellow captains, but there were plenty of marriage prospects to be found. The person Bertholt was going to be matched with, however, was a girl of only sixteen years old.
“It’s a matchmaking meeting, but it’s not like I don’t know her. She’s a relative of mine, the daughter of one of my relatives. And she is an exceptionally fine woman,” Bertholt explained.
“Sixteen, huh… That’s half your age, isn’t it? She’s almost the same age as Eva…” Shinobu said, perplexed.
“Around here, a marriage with an age difference like that isn’t rare. I know a couple that’s nearly three times apart,” Bertholt replied, tipping his mug as he ignored Shinobu’s tactless comment.
In the northern part of the empire, including the ancient capital, men were not considered fully mature until later in life, which naturally delayed the age of marriage. This contributed to the prevalence of marriages with significant age gaps. While there were even cases of someone engaged to a two-year-old, they were certainly the exceptions.
“The girl I’m meeting is the youngest daughter of my eldest sister’s husband’s sister’s husband’s family. She’s got a good heart and she’s cute as a button,” Bertholt added.
“That’s great! Bertholt, you’re smitten, aren’t you?” Shinobu exclaimed.
“You get it, Shinobu-chan! If the matchmaking goes well, I’m going to have her come here, and we’ll live together in a small house. I’ve already got a place in mind,” Bertholt said, his eyes gleaming.
“Then why the squid?” Shinobu asked, not reading the atmosphere at all, and Bertholt’s blood ran cold, his face turning as white as a squid.
“…Because that girl’s father is the biggest squid fisherman in town.” He answered in a voice barely a whisper and once again, picked up a tentacle with his chopsticks. But he couldn’t bring himself to eat it.
“Oh, it’s definitely going to be served at the matchmaking meeting then…” Shinobu said, finally understanding the situation.
“It definitely will,” Bertholt agreed.
“You two think so too, right? That’s why I have to get over my fear of squid.”
“We’ll help you as much as we can at our shop. We are indebted to Eva, after all,” Shinobu said. Eva, a girl who worked as a dishwasher, though not yet on shift, lived near the outer walls of the ancient capital. Because Nobu stayed open late into the night, Bertholt had arranged for someone from the guard to escort Eva home every night.
“It’s just that our patrol route happens to be going that way,” Bertholt said, trying to play it down.
“Still, it is a great help. If anything happened to Eva, whom we’re watching over for her parents, it would be terrible.” Shinobu said seriously.
“If all employers were like that, the guards would have less work to do,” Bertholt mumbled.
In reality, young recruits like Hans and Nikolaus were volunteering to escort Eva, as an excuse to patrol.
Since these eager young men were offering, their superior saw no reason to stop them.
Once, even Edwin, the deacon from the neighboring church, declared that he would escort Eva to Nobu. That time, even Bertholt stopped him, but to this day, he wasn’t sure why he even made that request. Perhaps it was because it was a fast day and he was bored.
“Anyway, Captain Bertholt, we’ll prepare all sorts of squid dishes for you, so please check in during opening hours.”
“Alright, sorry for bothering you before opening, Shinobu-chan, and Taisho too. I’ll stop by again tonight.”
“Not at all, we’re all in this together. Please come again.”
As Bertholt left the tavern, he was still unaware. He had no idea that yesterday, Taisho had failed his sourcing, and that a huge amount of squid was waiting for him at Nobu today…
