Chapter 74 – A Ducal Daughter Is Perfectly at Home in Social Situations!

Blazing white light, merciless and total, filled her entire field of vision.

Letaria Adeniam was standing -- or more precisely, sitting -- in a place she had never been before. Sitting, spine rigid with tension to the absolute limit, on a luxuriously designed sofa that had been provided for her.

The Central Broadcasting Headquarters of the Seldia Autonomous Sector: "Vision Neijon." Its main studio. That was the name of this place.

The unprecedented crisis of the massive mobile weapons platform "Restful" and its attack on Seldia -- and the existence of those responsible for stopping it -- had, in the end, proven impossible to fully suppress even for the combined information management efforts of the vigilante corps, the administrative bureau, and Syn-Fibra. Letaria's name, already whispered for the way she had swept aside raider after raider with the mysterious old-model Makina "Arden" -- the same Letaria who had even appeared in a Syn-Fibra promotional broadcast -- had burst back into the public consciousness in an instant. She was now blazing in the spotlight once more, as the woman of the hour: a name known not only across Seldia but echoing through the neighboring station habitats beyond.

Across the vast studio, the celebrated news anchor who was the face of Vision Neijon sat facing her. Surrounding him were promising young talents invited from other stations, and a collection of learned academics with appropriately grave expressions. Several large holographic cameras were trained on her, and she knew it.

Letaria was tense. Enormously, thoroughly, completely tense -- more than she had ever been in her life.

(... Why in the world am I in a place like this...?)

Her mind drifted back to the exchange with Milea, several days ago.

◆

"A television appearance...?"

"Mm... ideally I'd have liked to refuse on your behalf. But your activities are by now known to everyone in Seldia, and a formal request came from the Bureau -- I simply couldn't hold it off any longer."

At the time, Milea -- who under normal circumstances would never willingly have anything to do with media coverage -- had been holding her head in her hands with an air of profound reluctance. Having apparently exerted considerable effort in managing information flow, she had been staring at her data pad when she added:

"The appearance fee for this one is twenty thousand credits."

"My. I simply sit and converse, and I receive that sum? What an extraordinarily favorable arrangement!"

Letaria's response -- informed by the very down-to-earth sense of money she had absorbed in the time she'd been here -- earned her a wry, resigned smile from Milea.

"Well, the appearance is unavoidable at this point. But you must absolutely be careful with every word you say. Above all -- the fact that you are not from this world is a secret of the highest possible order. There are barely enough people in all of Seldia who know it to count on both hands. ...Do you think you can manage to behave yourself?"

The way she said it was exactly like reasoning with a small child, and Letaria had naturally bristled.

"You are treating me like a child again! Do not underestimate me! A ducal daughter is perfectly at home in social situations!"

To which Milea had worn an expression of very deep concern, and replied: "I really do hope that's true..."

"I've already sent the studio a list of questions that are off-limits. And I've arranged with the broadcast team in advance that if you don't know how to respond and simply nod without speaking, they won't press you further -- adult circumstances require it, and they've agreed."

◆

Such a thorough and meticulous set of preparations had been made on her behalf.

And yet -- Milea's expectation that once things were underway, Letaria would be off and talking unstoppably, as water flows unimpeded over a smooth board -- was betrayed entirely. The unique, charged atmosphere of this "studio," a space so utterly unlike anything she had encountered before, had simply crushed her. She sat there, paralyzed with tension and nothing else.

What frightened her most was the anchor seated across from her. This was someone she had seen countless times on the holographic news in her own room. A figure who had always existed on the other side of a screen -- and now that person was here, in the same space, looking directly at her. That fact alone had her heart pounding like a drum, her nerves wound to the absolute limit.

The charged, unscripted air of a live broadcast -- so different from the CM filming she had done before, which had followed a set script. The technical jargon and trending topics flying around her, which she barely grasped at all.

"Well, looking at the recent trend data on security maintenance costs in the development districts, I'd say the introduction of Syn-Fibra's new system really has become urgent, wouldn't you?"

"Agreed. But if that results in even a few percentage points cut from the residential district energy allocation, public sentiment will be difficult to avoid..."

The academics and young talents were exchanging political and economic commentary with comfortable, relaxed smiles, and Letaria didn't understand a word of any of it. Her head felt as though it might come apart.

It was at that moment that the anchor turned toward her and brought her into the conversation.

"And now -- our special guest for today! An ace pilot who delivered an astonishing defensive performance during recent raider incursions, and has accomplished one difficult feat after another here in Seldia! Her name has already reached beyond our own station to others throughout the sector. Ladies and gentlemen -- Letaria Adeniam!"

Every camera swung to train itself on her at once. The handsome young actor seated beside her -- apparently a rising talent from a neighboring space station -- flashed a bright white smile in her direction.

"It's an honor to meet you, Letaria-san. I saw footage of your battles and it was genuinely electrifying. A woman who fights -- there's something truly wonderful about that."

Under normal circumstances, a smile like that -- the polished, perfect smile of someone in the entertainment world -- would have sent most women's hearts racing. But the current Letaria did not have a single micron of mental capacity to spare for whether the man in front of her was attractive or not. His face blurred at the edges, like a glitching holographic image.

"Y-Yes...! I, I am... v-very... h-honored... honored to meet you as well...!"

The ringing laugh that usually burst forth unbidden -- nowhere to be found. She squeezed out those few stumbling words in a voice like a tangled tongue, barely managing them at all. She was, in every conceivable sense, a cat that someone had borrowed.

In the dim edge of the studio, two figures stood side by side.

Milea, in civilian clothes, and Ethan, the vice captain of the vigilante corps. Grain -- who should have been accompanying Letaria as her guardian -- was still in hospital. Ethan had come in his place, both as escort and as shadow.

"She's completely frozen up," Ethan murmured with a wry smile. "Petrified the whole time. She looks like a decorative ornament."

Milea drew in a deep, quiet breath and pulled her data pad to her chest.

"...As disasters go, being frozen is considerably easier to manage than her saying something she shouldn't..."

While the two of them watched with barely concealed anxiety, the studio conversation moved forward, arriving at last at the true subject of the day: Restful.

"Now then, Letaria-san. Rumors have been circulating non-stop throughout Seldia recently, and the vigilante corps issued their official statement not long ago. I understand that it was you who, alongside the corps, succeeded in destroying the unknown large-scale mobile weapons platform 'Restful'...?"

The anchor's sharp eyes found hers, direct and steady.

"Y-Yes... that is... s-so... that is, indeed... so it is, yes...!"

"There has been enormous public speculation about how, precisely, this threat was overcome -- whether it was Syn-Fibra's latest technology, some form of unique custom modification, and so on. If you are willing -- could you describe the situation at the time, and tell us how you managed to defeat it?"

A question that went straight to the heart of the matter. How had she defeated it -- the answer was the resonance of her magic with Arden, the resulting output and mobility, and a single decisive blow from the "trump card" that Milea had prepared. None of which she could say.

Completely at a loss for what to do, Letaria's gaze traveled helplessly across the studio to where Milea stood in the shadows.

From behind the camera's blind angle, Milea was making a large, unmistakable X with both arms. An absolute, wordless command: do not speak.

"Th-That would be... a maiden's secret! Ohohohoho...!"

Letaria produced a strained laugh, and then, exactly as arranged with Milea, she simply nodded. Steadily. Silently. Firmly. Asking with her silence alone that nothing further be pursued.

The anchor blinked -- just briefly, a flicker of thrown-off composure -- but he was a professional. He recovered at once and smoothed it over with an easy smile.

"Ha ha, I see -- a trade secret, and a maiden's one at that! Letaria-san does appear to be a little nervous with us today -- but perhaps that air of mystery is simply another of her many charms!"

With that deft pivot from the anchor, the filming continued without incident. In the second half of the program, Letaria -- now fully transformed into a beautiful, silent ornament who did nothing but nod -- somehow managed to say nothing she should not have said, and brought her momentous duty to a safe and uneventful close.

◆◆◆

The moment filming ended and they returned to the vigilante corps' base, Letaria threw herself face-down on the sofa and buried her face in a cushion.

Still in her casual room clothes, she kicked her feet in helpless, mortified writhing. It was the same loud, explosive Letaria as always -- the perfect inverse of the composed figure she had managed to project in the studio.

"Well done surviving that, Letaria. Here -- something cold."

Milea, exasperated expression notwithstanding, placed a glass of fruit water on the table beside her in a gesture of unmistakable sympathy. Standing alongside her, Ethan was fighting a losing battle against his own shoulders, which had begun shaking with suppressed laughter.

"Quite a performance back there, my lady. The 'Runaway Lady of Seldia' -- rendered completely speechless in front of a camera. It's something. ...I'd wager that Grain, watching this on the monitor in his hospital room right about now, is rolling around his bed in absolute hysterics."

"-- Ugh, oh, this is mortifying! I have shown myself in such an embarrassing light...! That anchor -- he is so much more overwhelming in person than he ever seems through a screen!"

Letaria's face had gone thoroughly red. Milea watched her with quiet warmth.

"It all worked out, though. Not a single piece of information that shouldn't have come out did. And apparently your approval rating went up. This particular situation couldn't be helped, but let's be more careful about any future requests."

"Of course we shall! Twenty thousand credits is an appealing sum, but I absolutely refuse to endure such an ordeal ever again!"

And at the sight of Letaria puffing out her cheeks with full indignation, both Ethan and Milea finally gave in to genuine, warm laughter.