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The Orden Family ｢オルデン
Summary
Twenty-nine years after the Hero Himmel's passing, Frieren, Sein, Fern and Stark approach the Fortress City of Vorig. Right outside the city, Stark is noticed by a nobleman named Orden. Orden takes the party to his estate with a request for Stark. While Frieren initially refuses Orden's request, he offers to pay them for Stark's services, and with the party already running low on funds, she agrees to hear him out. Due to Stark's resemblance to Orden's deceased son Wirt, he wants Stark to impersonate his son as a way to boost morale. Stark is then taught in the ways of etiquette by the butler Gabel. After a bout of practice, Orden leads Stark to teach him the Orden Family's swordsmanship. As they head to the training grounds, they come across Orden's second son Mut. Orden criticizes Mut's weakness, reminding Stark of his own father, but he soon realizes Orden's relationship with Mut is different. After three months have passed, Stark attends the social gathering whilst posing as Orden's son and dances with Fern. Afterwards, Orden praises Stark's strength, but before he can even ask, Stark tells Orden that he is not a replacement for his son, and that he needs to return to his own foster father lest he regrets the words they parted on. Orden agrees, and the two part amicably. While Frieren picks out her grimoire, Stark notices Orden encouraging Mut in his training, and smiles knowing Orden won't have to worry about matters of a heir.
Plot Details
Twenty-nine years after the Hero Himmel's passing, Frieren, Sein, Fern and Stark are in the Northern Lands, specifically outside the Fortress City of Vorig. Vorig is the midpoint between Graf Granat's Domain and the City of Magic, Äußerst, and Frieren's Party decide to stop in the city to replenish their supplies. Before they enter the city, the party is accosted by a noble's carriage. The noble and his butler inspect Stark's body and appearance, and the noble comments that both features appear satisfactory before demanding that Stark come to his estate. Though Stark reacts in shock, the party does as the noble asks.
Inside the mansion, the noble asks for Stark's name, and Frieren chastises the noble, who she identifies as Lord of one of the Three Great Knightly Houses of the Northern Lands, the Orden Family. Frieren calls Lord Orden as pushy as his grandfather, but Orden rebukes that he is speaking with Stark, and asks Stark if he needs his mommy's permission to speak with him. He tells Stark that he has a request and that he's willing to pay. Though Frieren is initially unwilling to consider it, Fern draws her attention to funds, which have been reduced to just a few pieces of copper. Seeing this, Frieren tells Orden they are willing to hear him out, to Stark's despair.
Orden continues to ask various questions of Stark, including where he is from. He leads them to a grand staircase where a large portrait of a man who looks remarkably like Stark is displayed. Orden explains that it is his oldest son Wirt, his heir and hero of the city. Wirt perished in a large melee against demons in order to take down the enemy general; because of the chaos of the fight, only a few people, including the butler Gabel and a few other confidants of Orden, know that Wirt is dead. Because the Fortress City of Vorig is so pivotal to the defense of the region, Orden wishes to keep his son's death a secret until they are able to rally the morale of their troops. To do so, he requests that Stark pretend to be his son at a large social gathering for the people of the region that is to take place in three months. His reward for the party is ten gold Strahls - enough for three meals a day and snacks for a year.
Stark protests and points out that with the scar on his forehead, it's clear that his appearance is different from Wirt, but Orden counters that the populace will simply see the scar as a badge of honor left from wounds received during the fight. He then requests that Gabel drill Stark in high society etiquette and manners. Stark spends the next three months learning how to dress, ride a horse, dance, and other manners of etiquette. He runs into Fern at one point after stumbling back from lessons, whereupon she asks how his training is going. Stark grimly replies that it's hellish, before kneeling down on one knee and taking Fern's hand in his own. He then asks her what she thinks, but she tells him that it doesn't suit him. After he leaves, however, Fern stares pensively at her hand.
Stark then runs into Lord Orden on the grand staircase. Orden is staring at the portrait of Wirt, and when Stark addresses him formally, Orden chastises him for not calling him "father". Stark feels that Orden is being cold, as it hasn't even been two months since his son died. Orden explains that he is simply acting according to his late son's wishes, but agrees that his actions are not pleasant for himself either. He leads Stark outside, where his remaining son Mut is training his swordsmanship. Orden simply tells Mut to straighten his back and doesn't otherwise acknowledge him, and as they walk away, he confides in Stark that Mut doesn't really improve much. This reminds Stark of his childhood experience with his father. As Orden begins to train Stark in the sword technique of the Orden Family, he notices that Stark's hands are shaking. Orden correctly assumes that he has triggered some memory to do with Stark's hometown, and tells Stark to take a deep breath to calm down, as this is not his hometown. Stark, surprised, asks Orden his opinion on Mut. Orden initially is harsh, saying that Mut is not as talented as his brother, and Stark grows pensive once again, but Orden finishes by saying that Mut's hard work will not fail him, and one day he will surpass his father as a knight. Stark tells Orden he should tell Mut this, but Orden interjects that he does tell Mut all the time, and as a result, Mut has gotten complacent.
A month before the ball, Orden tells Fern that she will also have to participate in etiquette training, as a young man at marriageable age like Stark cannot be expected to attend a social function on his own. She then spends the next month learning about etiquette, much to her consternation.
On the night of the ball, Fern and Stark speak on the sidelines as other couples dance on the ballroom floor. Fern tells Stark that the entire month has been hellish, and he parrots her words back to her, reminding her they are doing this for the sake of their traveling expenses. He then kneels before Fern and takes her hand in his own, before telling her they may as well dance together since they've practiced so much. Fern tells him again that the formality doesn't suit him, but smiles nonetheless. They then spend the rest of the night dancing. Sein, who is watching the pair, asks Frieren if she would like to dance, but she is more absorbed in eating her cake.
At the end of the evening, Stark retires and confronts Orden in a side room. Orden is speaking to Gabel about his eye wound, which has left him with an eyepatch. He regretfully states that if not for the wound, it would have been him on the frontlines instead of his son. Stark overhears this, and when Orden notices his arrival, he directs Gabel to go and give Frieren his promised reward. He then turns to Stark and praises his swordsmanship, and then intends to ask Stark if he would be willing to stay in Vorig. Stark interrupts and tells Orden that he is not a replacement for Orden's lost son. Orden agrees, stating that he is also not a replacement for Stark's father; however, Stark's village has been wiped out, and he cannot return to his village. He tells Stark that he had had a petty fight with Wirt before Wirt's death which had culminated in his telling Wirt that he never wanted to see his face again, so he felt that finding Stark was a miracle. Stark is empathetic, and tells Orden that he too had a fight with his foster father before he left him, and as a result, that is all the more reason he needs to return to him in order to tell him stories about his adventure.
The next day, Frieren wastes half a day trying to choose a grimoire from Orden's library. Sein and Stark speak at the side of the room while Fern chastises Frieren for troubling Gabel, and Sein states that Orden has said they will need more time to rally their forces. Stark, peering outside the window, smiles and says that at least the Orden Family doesn't need to worry about an heir anymore; outside, Lord Orden is helping Mut work on his swordsmanship with a smile.
Characters in Order of Appearance
Locations
- Fortress City of Vorig
- Orden's Estate
Battles and Events
Events
- Stark attends a ball posing as Orden's son and dances with Fern
Objects of Interest
- Strahl gold coins
Chapter Notes
- The Orden family is one of the Three Great Knightly Houses of the Northern Lands
- Stark village of warriors was located in the Klee Region
- The currency used in the region is Strahl gold coins.
- Ten Strahl gold coins is enough to cover three meals a day and snacks for a year.