Chapter 69
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Chapter 69
* * *
April 10th, 1629.
It was the day of the Agenka Military Academy cadet selection examination. As Yurien de Harden Kirie passed near the Administrative Office, he heard a commotion of voices. The clerks were gossiping. When he asked what the matter was, one of them squeezed his eyes shut and explained.
"There's someone unusual among the applicants, so we were just joking around for a moment!"
"Unusual, you say?"
At his question, the clerks quickly retreated and pointed toward the window.
"Over there... if you look, you'll understand immediately."
Yurien approached the window and gazed outside. There were many people. Habitually, he opened his Mystic Eye. The moment he did, his gaze became ensnared in one place—trapped like prey in a snare.
The sun was there. Among the ashen shadows, a soul burning with blinding radiance. A solitary flame rising skyward. An overwhelming fire that would never extinguish, wreathed in an ethereal pale violet luminescence bordering on white.
He recognized her at once. He knew this woman. There was no way he could not know her. He would have recognized her even if she had been wrapped in burlap.
She existed. The person he had doubted was merely a dream, the person he had wondered if truly existed—she was here now, in this very place. Shining more brilliantly than in his memories, more beautiful than he had ever imagined.
The emotion that crashed over him in that instant was indescribable even to himself. Within mere seconds, a torrent of feelings impossible to define swept through his entire being. Struggling to remain upright, Yurien gripped the window frame with all his strength.
Memories he had struggled to forget came flooding back, surging forth. Nightmares drenched in blood and corpses and malice. And within those nightmares, her form that never crumbled, not until the very end, the final moment—the sight he had held in his eyes until his last breath.
The small seed did not wither in malice but instead burned, becoming flame. She who never crumbled had now appeared as a radiant sun. It was dizzying. His stomach churned. And a fierce certainty arrived. The certainty that all those memories could not possibly be mere dreams.
Her existence, the emotions that surged within him the moment he saw her—they were so overwhelmingly powerful.
"I never expected to see an applicant in a dress at the Agenka cadet selection examination."
The clerk's murmur beside him entered his ears very slowly. Only then did reality return. The sensation of the window frame gripped in his palm, the murmur drifting from outside, the breeze brushing his cheek, and her soul reflected in his Mystic Eye.
But what was she saying?
"...An applicant?"
"Yes. I don't know what she thinks the Military Academy is... She appears to be a thoughtless young lady."
An applicant to the Military Academy? An applicant?
She was shining so brilliantly, yet the clerk beside him spoke as though her rejection was inevitable. Indignation welled up at his dismissive tone toward her. No one should ever dismiss her. She was not someone to be treated that way. Without thinking, he asked with a slight edge of sarcasm.
"Do you think that woman will fail?"
"Pardon? Well... isn't that so?"
Yurien closed his Mystic Eye. With his naked eyes, he watched her take the preliminary examination. According to the future he knew, this was the woman who should have become a demon by now, committing massacres. Yet there she was, drawing a sword while wearing a dress, just as she had when he first saw her in the Banquet Hall.
"If I were betting, I'd wager she passes the examination at the top of her class."
She swung her sword. Not a soul wailing, wrapped in malice, and not a filthy body with black hair and a disheveled appearance. Though the distance was great, everything was vivid to him as a Master. Pale pink hair fluttered above unblemished, porcelain skin. Violet eyes sparkled with vitality. Rosy lips curved slightly upward.
A body unified with her soul.
The true her that he had always longed to know was there. Even without his Mystic Eye open, his vision dazzled. His body leaned forward beyond the window frame of its own accord. He wanted to face her from closer. He wanted to hear her voice. He had never heard her speak before. How would her voice sound, speaking with intention rather than growling, stained by the Demonic Sword? He became desperately curious.
Yurien belatedly realized he was leaning out the window and started in alarm, hastily turning his gaze away. In any case, she would pass the Military Academy selection examination without him watching—it would be child's play for her. Since she was not a phantom, she would not vanish somewhere. Moreover, she was an applicant. If she became a cadet, she would remain close to him.
Instead of a soul struggling beyond an iron gate that he could not reach, the living, breathing her would exist in his city. His heart stirred strangely. He barely suppressed his turbulent emotions and turned from the window. As he was about to leave, a sudden thought occurred to him, and he commanded the clerk.
"Bring me her application."
Until now, investigating her at all had seemed dangerous, so he had refrained. Indeed, one glance had caused such turmoil, so his fear was not unfounded. But reviewing an applicant's application presented no problem. This was Agenka, his domain, not the Empire.
While the clerks rummaged through stacks of documents searching for her application, he appeared merely calm and composed. Yet internally, turmoil raged. It was only natural. He would soon learn her name.
Yurien received her application. Her name stood out to him more clearly and prominently than any other detail.
―Echinacea Loaz
The name of a pink flower. A flower that thrives in meadows despite being ornamental. The moment he read it, it was engraved deeply within him.
A name he had always longed to know, yet should not have discovered, so he had secretly hoped that one day, when she overcame everything, he would hear it directly from her. A name he thought he would never know, watching her as he drew his final breath. Such a name it was.
"Echinacea...."
I turned the name over in my mind, rolling it across my tongue. My heartbeat quickened. She had a name. She was a real person who existed. The woman in my memories—she was real.
'...What happened to the Demonic Sword?'
In that "future" I knew, the memory I'd thought was a dream, she was no cadet. She was The Demon Woman. Yet now, I detected no trace of that swamp-like malice emanating from her. Moreover, her essence had transformed—no longer the spark I'd first witnessed, nor the flame I'd seen at the end, but an overwhelming sun.
Where was the Demonic Sword? Why had she appeared here with such an intense soul?
"You've changed."
"Pardon?"
"It's nothing. Then, carry on."
Everything had changed. My mind grew turbulent. I returned the application form and left the Administrative Office.
* * *
Holy Sword Langiosa awakened late the following night. I had been examining the records of the future I knew—organized throughout the previous day—in my bedroom when I heard Langiosa's call.
[Master.]
"...Langiosa?"
[What day is it now?]
"April 11th, 1629. Have you been asleep all this time?"
[Nearly unconscious. I've been sorting through memories scattered by the passage of time.... Even though this is the second time, I can't seem to get used to it.]
"The second time?"
[Time turning backward, that is.]
I held my breath for a moment. Since there was no other explanation for the discrepancy between now and my memories, I'd suspected as much. Yet hearing a vague suspicion confirmed with such certainty was quite different. I steadied my breathing and asked with a trembling voice.
"So time really did turn backward? Three and a half years ago?"
[Three and a half years? No, it should be fifteen years... Ah, I see.]
"Fifteen years?"
An incomprehensible number. I questioned it in confusion, but the Holy Sword fell silent for a time, as if deliberating. I posed another question.
"What do you mean by the second time?"
[Time didn't turn backward for the first time. Centuries ago, time was reversed once before. It was the power of Divine Sword Kairosgeiosa.]
Divine Sword Kairosgeiosa is a blade forged from time itself. As the commander of the Changtian Knights who guard Giosha, I immediately recalled the legend of Giosha upon hearing those words. The legend that if one gathers ten Giosha created by humans, the Divine Sword will lend its power. An ominous premonition seized me. I ran a hand across my face and spoke.
"Tell me more in detail."
[Wait a moment. I've only just awakened. I cannot judge how much I should reveal to you.]
"...Are you saying there are things you must hide from me?"
[Rather than hide....]
The Holy Sword hesitated. Then, with reluctance, it continued.
[I'm uncertain whether it's right for you to know of events that occurred after your death. This is unprecedented, so it's ambiguous. The last time time moved, I had no master.]
Events that occurred after his death. Not three and a half years, but fifteen. The legend that gathering Giosha grants the Divine Sword's power. Divine Sword Kairosgeiosa.
The Holy Sword's words connected strangely in my mind. Surely not. I let out a low groan.
"After I died...someone gathered the Giosha and used the Divine Sword's power to turn back time."
[Precisely. Those reversed years are inscribed upon the Giosha. Therefore, by awakening the Giosha, the Owners whose souls are connected to them can retain their memories.]
"You're saying my memories are preserved through you?"
[Yes. The other Giosha also know the erased years, so if you were to awaken a Giosha other than me, your memories would be preserved even without me. Conversely, those who did not awaken their Giosha remember nothing. So if you abandon me, you will forget those years.]
From Langiosa's explanation, I understood something: why Teresa and Baron, who were Giosha Owners in 1632 and remain so now, have no knowledge whatsoever that time turned backward—excluding Dietrich, who is not yet a Giosha Owner. They had failed to awaken their Giosha.
"I am fortunate, then."
Langiosa is a Giosha that remains perpetually awakened—requiring no separate awakening so long as no evil is committed. Understanding my words, Langiosa replied with bitter irony.
"Well, is remembering such a blessing? I cannot say. Would it not be better to forget?"
Forget what you remember? Yurien de Harden Kirie stared down at his palm, bewildered. Holy Sword Langiosa continued, as if resolved.
"Forgetting is simple. Abandon me and take up another Giosa. As Commander of the Changtian Knights, such a thing lies well within your reach."
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Brought to you by Valir Scans! To support our team and enjoy the latest releases, please read directly on our official site: valirscans.org
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