Chapter 38
Brought to you by Valir Scans! To support our team and enjoy the latest releases, please read directly on our official site: valirscans.org
Chapter 38
Baraha Islaf remained motionless in his seated position, staring at her with an expression devoid of all thought. I lifted his chin with the blade's tip. My face reflected in his yellow eyes. I spoke in a voice as cold as winter frost.
"Did you see?"
"...I've seen so much that I'm confused about what you're asking if I saw."
Baraha Islaf answered slowly. I looked down at him with an icy gaze. He took a breath and continued.
"The Demonic Sword, Bardegiosa..."
His words were swallowed by empty air. I had driven the blade into the ground at his feet with a sharp sound. I left it planted there and collapsed to the floor beside it. A long groan escaped me. I drew my knees together, buried my face against them, and muttered weakly.
"Ah. I'm losing it."
"...I'm sorry."
"Why are you apologizing?"
"Well... it just felt like I should."
I lifted my head in bewilderment, then let out a hollow laugh. Baraha Islaf's face watching me was so vacant, so utterly blank.
I untied the cloth that had bound my hair with one hand and ran my fingers haphazardly through the cascading strands. I knew my appearance was far from my usual state, but at this point, there was no point in caring about such things.
Baraha Islaf's eyes followed my hands as I arranged my hair, moving back and forth. It was behavior that made him look like a fool or an animal. I waved my hand in front of his face.
"Are you alright?"
"Uh, yes, I mean..."
Baraha Islaf let out a groan. He shook his head as if trying to regain his senses, pressed his brow with his fingers, and forced his mouth open with effort.
"A Giosa Owner?"
"Yes."
"Of the Demonic Sword?"
"...Yes."
"You were a Master?"
"Yes."
To be precise, I had reached a stage beyond Master, but I still didn't even know what to call that realm. Most people didn't know such a stage existed. So I simply nodded vaguely.
"You knocked me out by striking the back of my neck earlier—that was you, Echinacea?"
"...Yes, I apologize."
"Because you didn't want to be discovered?"
"You understand well."
I gave a bitter smile. What was I to do? I had come all the way to the Nodule to save Baraha Islaf, and I had killed Ian Peletro for trying to murder him. Now, was I supposed to dispose of him simply because the Demonic Sword had been exposed? That made no sense.
If I were the type to kill people for such reasons, I wouldn't have devised a plan to hide my abilities, become a Military Academy cadet, and become a Knight in three years. I would have raided the Knight Order at night, slaughtered all its defenders, and stolen from Giosa.
I didn't want to kill someone upright like Baraha Islaf—not someone like Ian Peletro, who was irredeemable trash. As long as they didn't threaten the people around me, I had no reason to take their lives. So I had to silence him. For someone like me, who wasn't even a mage, there was only one answer from the start.
I looked directly into Baraha Islaf's eyes. His blade was embedded in the ground between us as we sat.
"Senior."
"Yes."
"I don't want to kill you."
Color drained from Baraha Islaf's face. I rested my chin on my knees, looking up at him intently.
"But if you don't keep it secret that I'm a Giosa Owner, I'll have to kill you."
Even if Baraha Islaf spread rumors about me everywhere, I had no intention of killing him. It was impossible. Those terrible memories were too vivid in my mind—how could I kill someone precious to me with my own hands? I could struggle to save him, but I could never do that.
I wanted to see Baraha Islaf become a Knight. So this was nothing but a bluff, a threat. But I couldn't let it show that it was empty. I continued expressionlessly.
"Keep it secret. That's not a request—it's an order."
"...Hmm."
Baraha's expression grew peculiar. He looked her up and down as she sat before him, then opened his mouth.
"I have a few questions."
"Ask away. Though I can't answer everything."
"First, you possess the Demonic Sword—why are you still yourself? Bardegiosa is a blade that controls its master."
"I can't answer that."
"...Then can you at least tell me if you'll maintain your sense of self going forward?"
"Yes. As long as I don't go completely insane."
"Why did you hide being an Owner?"
"Because of the Demonic Sword. Everyone can't simply trust that I'm safe."
Truth be told, I couldn't even claim perfect safety. I laughed bitterly, thinking of the accumulated bloodlust building within me. I'd vented some of it today, but it wasn't nearly enough.
Baraha accepted my words readily, thanks to the Demonic Sword's notorious reputation.
"Ah, I see your point."
"You're surprisingly trusting, Senior."
"What choice do I have in this situation?"
Baraha let out a hollow laugh. His gaze drifted to the corpses of monsters sprawled behind me, then shifted to the greatsword lodged between us. Noticing his stare, I shrugged. Well, I had threatened to kill him, after all.
"Fair enough."
"Why did you join the Changtian Knights?"
"To discard the Demonic Sword."
"Discard it? How?"
"By obtaining another Giosa. That's why I enrolled in the Military Academy with the intention of becoming a Knight Instructor."
"If you obtain another Giosa, you can discard the Demonic Sword?"
"Yes."
A lie. I could discard the Demonic Sword right now if I wanted. But doing so would mean losing all my memories from before the regression. I had no intention of revealing to Baraha that I'd turned back time.
Baraha pressed his forehead as if organizing his thoughts.
"You're a Master already. Why not just become a Knight Instructor right away?"
"I'm planning to become a Knight Instructor over the course of about three years. A twenty-year-old Master would be far too suspicious, wouldn't it?"
"Now that you mention it, that's certainly, well, extremely abnormal.... But it's true. The Commander became a Master at twenty-three, so you'd just be more of a genius than him. If you're a genius, it could happen."
Baraha looked at me with an odd expression, as if newly aware of my age. I tilted my head.
"Even though I'm a Countess's daughter who's never received sword instruction? The Commander has wielded a blade since childhood."
"What?"
"Senior Baraha. I never held a sword before I turned twenty."
This was the truth. Shock spread across Baraha's face. I smiled, lifting only the corners of my mouth.
"If a twenty-year-old Master appeared, the entire continent would take notice. My birth, my growth—everything would become gossip, and everyone would scrutinize my development. It happened with Commander Yurien de Harden Kirie too."
"...That's certainly true."
"Then they'd discover that Echinacea Loaz never learned swordplay before becoming a Master. There's a limit to how much I could claim self-study. My hands don't even have calluses. It's completely different from spending three years as a cadet and then becoming a Master."
Baraha approached me. I understood what he wanted and extended my hand—my right hand, bare of gloves. He flinched at the black mark on my palm, then carefully traced it. It was soft and smooth. A hand that could never have been formed by wielding a blade for over a year. He stared at me with hollow eyes.
"How on earth did you become a Master?"
"I became a Master because of the Demonic Sword. So I can't reveal that either. If I claimed to be a Master immediately, it would be too unbelievable, so I planned to gradually demonstrate growing strength and become a Master around twenty-three."
"The Demonic Sword has that kind of power?"
"Yes, that's right."
A lie. The Demonic Sword possessed no ability to make its master into a Master. It could manipulate its owner to fight even against a Master, but that was the extent of it.
[Lying without even wetting your lips. If I could do something like that, I'd be a divine blade, a divine blade.]
The Demonic Sword grumbled. Echinacea didn't even pretend to listen. Baraha Islaf rubbed his face with one hand, his eyes covered as he called out to her.
"Echinacea."
"Yes."
"Last question—why did you enter the Nodule?"
"It just happened that way."
"That makes no sense. I just watched you rampage through here. You came in deliberately. There's no way you were swallowed by accident."
Baraha Islaf lowered his hand from his eyes. His dark complexion was characteristic of desert peoples, his black hair and muscular frame unmistakable, his piercing yellow eyes sharp and alert. Like a crouching beast, he spoke.
"You came in because of me."
"...."
"Because I was pulled into the Nodule. That's it, isn't it? You had confidence you could survive inside the Nodule. So you came in to save me."
I'd thought it before, but Baraha Islaf had an uncanny ability to read situations. Echinacea found herself averting her gaze. She couldn't bring herself to answer that she'd come to save her senior—it was too embarrassing. Her face felt hot.
"No, it was just an accident, I'm telling you. I fell. Did you think a Master never makes mistakes?"
"An accident. So you're saying you accidentally fell into the Nodule? With no connection to me? Just a pure accident?"
"Would I willingly walk into the Nodule like some madwoman? I'm embarrassed about falling, so stop bringing it up."
Echinacea spoke in an agitated tone. Baraha Islaf regarded her with an enigmatic expression, then smiled faintly.
"Echinacea."
"What? Why are you looking at me like that?"
"That threat about killing me if I don't keep the secret—that was a lie, wasn't it?"
Baraha Islaf didn't miss the slight flinch of Echinacea's shoulders. After a moment of silence, she moved with incredible speed. She drew the blade lodged between them and lunged at him. The force sent him tumbling backward. Straddling him, she pressed the blade against his throat. The edge drew blood as it bit into his skin.
"Does it look like a lie? Are you testing your only life? This is the Nodule. There's no one here."
Her voice was dry and cold. The killing intent that radiated from her was so oppressive that Baraha Islaf reflexively tensed. Despite her light, delicate frame, she felt like a man-eating monster pinning him down. Yet contrary to his body's tension, he felt no fear.
"Echinacea."
"...."
"Don't worry. I won't tell anyone."
Baraha Islaf raised his hand while lying down and gently patted her head. He continued with a smile.
"You say otherwise, but either way, I owe you my life. If you hadn't defeated those monsters just now, I'd be dead here. Do I really look like someone who wouldn't keep the secret of the person who saved my life?"
Brought to you by Valir Scans! To support our team and enjoy the latest releases, please read directly on our official site: valirscans.org