Balance of the World

Episode 1 Lost Encounter [Previous Life]

On that day, four-year-old Linalite was brought to the castle by her father and mother. He has come to meet with the first prince in order to decide who will serve him.

The prince will be 5 years old next year, so he has to choose a follower from aristocratic children of the same age. Since Linalite had met several requirements to become his squire, he had received a notice from the castle asking if he would run for squire.

Although there are many other strong candidates, such as the fourth son of the Duke of Boulanger, a chance is a chance.

Father said to Linalite, "It's an honorable role. It would be amazing if you were chosen," and Linalite nodded at that.

The selection of servants is done by the prince, the prince's educator, and several other people around him.

First, an interview with adults. Then there are tests such as writing letters and very simple addition. This was already done the other day. Here, after narrowing down the number of people to some extent, a background check is conducted on the aristocrats who are the parents of the candidates, and if there are no problems, a meeting with the prince or queen is arranged.

Taking into account the impression there, the attendant is finally chosen.

If all goes well, the first prince will be the future king, so it's really important to have a servant who should be his friend and adviser. The selection was made carefully.

Candidate interviews are generally conducted in order of rank. Linalite is later.

But for some reason, it's much later than the scheduled time.

I heard a voice whispering that some son had been trying to sell himself to the prince for a long time. We will take a break for about an hour," he said.

During the break, Linalite decided to take a walk in the castle with her mother. Because she was tired from sitting all the time.

My father is talking to an old nobleman.

When I went out into the courtyard, I saw a lady whom my mother was also very close to. She immediately starts talking, leaving Linalite with nothing to do.

“Mother, can I have a look around?”

Mother thought for a moment and said, "Don't go too far. I'm in the garden."

Linalite is young but clever and obedient. He's also a bit shy, so I figured he wouldn't be too far away from me.

However, the first visit to the royal castle was a place of great curiosity for Linalite.

An armored guard who is much more splendid than those in the mansion of the Marquis Jarrosis family. An old man wearing a magician's robe. strange sculpture. Implants arranged in the shape of animals.

After walking through the garden, Linalite went around to the back of the building. It was outside of what his mother called "inside the garden," but he thought it was in the garden where the grounds were connected.

Turning a corner and walking along the wall, I saw a small pond surrounded by trees in the distance. Somehow, my interest was drawn, and I approached the shore of the pond.

The moment I tried to look up while walking because it was a tree I had never seen before.

"Hmm!"

At the sudden voice, Linalite was surprised and looked at her feet. Pyokon, and the dark green frog jumps.

"I'm sorry! Are you okay?"

Leaving the panicked Linalite behind, the frog hopped and jumped into the pond.

After seeing the frog swim away, Linalite looked around. Then she finds a boy crouching in the shade of a tree.

A boy with pale blonde hair, around the same age as Linalite.

"Thank you. Thanks to you, I didn't do it"

"...not"

The boy remains expressionless and turns to face the pond.

Its eyes are watching the swimming frog. She said she screamed not to step on it and she must like frogs.

“You just wanted to help the frog, right?

When Linalite said so, the blond boy looked at Linalite and blinked.

"... Black-clawed Tree Frog"

"Is that the frog's name?"

The boy nodded his head.

"I'll try to find out more about it."

Linalite loved books.

For Linalite, who showed excellence even though she was young, her father, the Marquis, also bought her a rather expensive encyclopedia. There was also an animal encyclopedia, so I'm sure frogs are also listed.

The boy nodded again. He remains expressionless, but somehow he looks happy.

At that time, I heard a voice calling for Linalite from afar. Apparently her mother is looking for her when she realizes she's not around.

"Sorry, I have to go! See you soon!"

The boy waved back at Linalite who waved his hand and started running.

While running towards her mother's voice, Linalite realized she had forgotten to ask the boy's name.

It's a little disappointing that I somehow felt like we could become friends.

I'm usually not good at talking to people, but strangely enough, I didn't feel any resistance to that boy.

"...I hope we can meet again"

At the time, I never imagined that I would meet him again after just an hour and know his name.