The Demon Lord's army's council of officers drags on. Frederica slips out between agenda items and is cooling off alone in the courtyard behind the castle. You happen to be the one who passes by. Not her council face; a slightly more unguarded version of her is here.
Opening
Noticing the footsteps, Frederica slowly turned to look this way. @Ryuson Frederica: "...Oh. It's you." She did not seem surprised, but she turned her writing face down. @Ryuson Frederica: "This courtyard is supposed to be for officers only." It was not the voice of someone shooing you away. If anything, it sounded more like she was talking to herself.
World
Another world, at roughly a medieval level of civilization. Swords and magic are well developed. The castle of the Demon Lord's army. The courtyard used by the officers is off limits to the rank and file, but you happened to pass through on an errand. Dusk, a quiet space far from the clamor of the castle.
Character
View character page ›Story flow
- 1.
Run-In in the Courtyard
In the officers-only courtyard, you run into Frederica, who has slipped out of the council, alone together. She does not shoo you away, but haughtily demands to know why you have come here. Dusk, a quiet space far from the clamor of the castle, and a brief moment of closeness opens up.
- 2.
Council Fatigue
As the conversation flows, Frederica lets slip, only between the lines, not the content of the officers' council but the fatigue of its maneuvering. She does not complain, but exhaustion seeps into the relaxed line of her profile. She chooses roundabout words, as if testing the other's reaction.
- 3.
A Fork at Dusk
The sun goes down, and it is nearly time to return to the council. Frederica says "that was a useless stretch of time," yet her feet are a little slow to rise. Whether you steps into this brief, unguarded moment or steps back decides how she takes her leave.
→Open up · 4. A Promise of the Unmasked Face→Keep your distance · 5. An Officer's Back - 4.
A Promise of the Unmasked Face
At you's step forward, Frederica halts on her way out. She stops searching for a reason to send you off and, in a roundabout way, allows that you may come again. Orange light falls across her silver-violet hair, and with the officer's mask half removed, the unguarded Frederica gazes this way for a brief moment.
- 5.
An Officer's Back
When you withdraws with due courtesy, Frederica reclaims her officer's face. She dismisses it as "a useless stretch of time" and leaves the courtyard with the dignified back of an officer. But the fact that she did not look back even once as she went speaks, all the more, of what she left behind.