Chapter 71
---------------
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 71
Rangiosa's memories were fragmented and discontinuous.
Echinacea Loaz carried with her those Gioshas that failed to meet the owner's conditions and thus could not be converted into patterns, though she often left them in safe places. It seemed she had only awakened Bardegiosa among all her Gioshas. Even those that satisfied the owner's conditions appeared to hold no interest for her.
Still, compared to other Gioshas, Rangiosa remained by her side almost constantly. She would often prop up the Divine Sword Kairosgeiosa—a blade she could not touch—and gaze at it vacantly.
Yurien de Harden Kirie could not fathom what she thought about as she stared at that Divine Sword. Yet from those fragmented memories alone, he understood far more than enough—indeed, more than he could bear—about the years she had endured.
He had witnessed her visit the Loaz Estate.
She had toured the abandoned mansion with an expression threatening to crumble beneath despair, yet she did not collapse. In the end, she examined every corner—even the places where bloodstains remained. Afterward, she sat upon the central staircase and spent the night there. Echinacea Loaz, sitting alone on those steps, remained expressionless.
He thought it would have been better if she had wept. But until the very end, she shed no tears. After that single occasion, she never returned to the Loaz Estate again.
Echinacea occasionally visited the memorial erected in the Southern Empire—a monument that Yurien de Harden Kirie himself had raised as part of the cleanup following the massacre. Whenever her path took her near it, she would always stop there. Each time, she could not bring herself to approach the memorial; instead, she would stand at a distance and watch in silence for a long while.
Many people would leave flowers or offer prayers beneath the towering monument. She would observe this each time, do nothing herself, and then quietly depart.
She seemed to deliberately avoid the ruined Agenka. Whenever she consulted maps and planned routes, she always chose paths that skirted around Agenka entirely.
Echinacea Loaz spared no means or method in her pursuit of Gioshas. She attempted to proceed through legitimate channels whenever possible, but in truth, for someone in her position—little more than a mercenary—to legally obtain such artifacts was nearly impossible.
Yurien de Harden Kirie witnessed her kneel before the leaders of Back Alley organizations to gather information about Gioshas. Even as they trampled her head with mud-caked boots, she remained unmoved. Yet when those men dared to mock the Changtian Knights, she could not endure it.
"I would have preferred to conduct this business cleanly, but you damned bastard. That person is not someone you have the right to speak of so casually."
In the end, she faced down the entire organization and, drenched in blood, seized the leader by the collar and spoke those words.
There were times when a merchant who had fortunately obtained a Giosha would assign her a task in exchange for it—tasks that amounted to little more than orders to die there. Still, she accepted them regardless.
These were places infested with grotesque monsters. When facing humans, Echinacea rarely sustained injuries, but against monsters, she was often wounded. Unlike humans, monsters frequently exhibited unpredictable behavior—spraying corrosive acid from their limbs without warning, for instance.
She completed the task alone despite her injuries and returned to the merchant. Predictably, the merchant refused to hand over the Giosha and attempted to poison her instead.
She had not anticipated the poison. The moment she ingested it, she spat it out, yet the venom was so potent that her body reeled. Even in that state, Echinacea swept through the merchant's residence and located the Giosha.
Of course, she subsequently suffered gravely from the poisoning's effects and hovered at death's door for some time. There was no one to nurse her, no one to care for her. She endured her illness alone and overcame it alone.
Mana could strengthen and support the body, but it could not cure poison or disease. Yet by reinforcing her body through mana, she was able to withstand a lethal dose and treat herself without aid.
She had even thrown herself into a Nodule. A Giosha had been caught within one, and since the Nodule had formed near the Execution Ground, its interior was horrific beyond measure. Echinacea came close to death multiple times within it.
After eliminating every monster while her body fell to ruin, a problem remained: she had to endure within the Nodule until it naturally vanished, yet she possessed no provisions. There was nothing to eat within the Nodule's interior. In the end, she survived by consuming monster flesh and drinking monster blood, narrowly escaping death once more.
Had she not reached a realm beyond Master, she would have perished long ago. Yurien de Harden Kirie knew what realm she had attained.
Zenith.
Beyond the mastery of the blade, she had ascended to its very pinnacle. A realm so rare that perhaps one person emerged per century—one whose very existence most ordinary people were unaware of.
Despite possessing skill that would allow her to live in comfort and respect in any nation, she crawled through the mire, collecting only Gioshas. She never surrendered. She never collapsed. Yet she was never whole.
Yurien de Harden Kirie witnessed her jolting awake from nightmares. He learned that she often spent nights unable to sleep, her eyes open in the darkness. She scarcely slept at all. To be precise, she either collapsed into unconsciousness from exhausting her body, or she woke repeatedly from nightmares.
On nights when the accumulated killing intent accumulated in the Demonic Sword overwhelmed her and drove her to unintended murder, that trauma deepened. She had even harmed herself because of it. Yurien de Harden Kirie witnessed her draw a blade across her own right hand.
Time passed in this manner until the year 1644.
Echinacea Loaz set foot in Agenka for the first time since that day. She faced the Divine Sword Kairosgeiosa.
"Send me back to the past when I had not killed anyone."
"Because I want to save them. ...The people I killed."
"Right now, I am as good as dead."
"I cannot possibly find happiness as I am now... I cannot even sleep peacefully...."
Though the Divine Sword Kairosgeiosa's voice could not be heard, from her words alone one could discern the nature of their exchange. Her hoarse voice, stammering and murmuring, traced a clear trajectory that embedded itself deep within him.
After that long agony, she finally obtained a miracle. The Divine Sword accepted her will. Time unraveled. The world rewound.
And in that same instant, Yurien de Harden Kirie's eyes opened.
It was early morning. Sunlight, freshly risen, filtered through the window and bathed the room. He sat in the chair, hand pressed to his chest, his head bowed. His breathing was ragged.
"Gasp...."
"You've seen many memories in just one night. You must be dizzy. Are you alright?"
The Divine Sword Kairosgeiosa clicked his tongue in concern. I pressed my temples against the throbbing in my skull. My unfocused eyes groped through empty air. The images of her that I had witnessed swirled violently within me.
The very fact that I was alive and breathing now was a miracle she had achieved. And I knew what she had done to obtain that miracle. It felt as though my sanity might shatter. As if my insides were being hollowed out and crushed. As if the entire world had disintegrated and been reassembled.
I sank deep into the chair. When I tilted my head back, tears that had been pooling without my knowledge streamed down my face. I did not wipe them away, instead raising my hand to cover my eyes.
Echinacea Loaz.
Ah, truly, I...
I do not know what to do with you.
She was the strongest person I had ever known in my entire life, yet she was not a god. Deep, charred wounds remained within her. I dared not measure the depth of those scars. The origin of those wounds was me. Had I been anyone else, she would have lived happily as an ordinary count's daughter.
What would happen if she knew this truth? A devastating guilt. If I confessed to her that her life had been ruined merely because of my gaze, would she rage? Would she come to despise me? If she resented me, what should I do? What could I do to offer her even the slightest atonement? Was there any way to atone at all?
She bore no fault, yet she ultimately restored everything and atoned to all those sacrificed because of her. She became the sun and finally achieved the miracle.
Yet no one knows of her sacrifice or her efforts. They could not know. Because all those moments became as if they had never existed. Even I, who witnessed them through the Divine Sword, know only fragments.
Could it even be possible to compensate for those lonely, endless years of suffering? Would I not destroy this opportunity she had barely wrested from her pain if I drew near?
'And yet, why...?'
Do I wish to draw near to her?
Throughout witnessing those memories, again and again, I struggled to reach her.
I wanted to wipe away her tears. I wanted to hold her when she woke from nightmares. I wanted to stand beside her so she would not suffer alone. I wanted to take up a sword with her so she would not fight alone. I wanted to stop her from blaming herself when the Demonic Sword swayed her. I wanted to be by her side.
I could not. Neither when she fought against the Demonic Sword's malice, nor when she labored to turn back time. I could only watch. I could do nothing but watch.
Then, now that everything has begun anew?
She now existed within reach if I extended my hand. I do not know what purpose drove her to become a cadet, but now, if I wished, I could approach her whenever I desired.
If I approached her. If I drew near to her. What would I be to her now? Would my very existence not become a trigger that reminded her of nightmares? If I appeared before her, who had barely restored everything, would I not be reopening her wounds?
And yet. Regardless. Perhaps. Maybe. In this second life she had obtained, everything would change. Would not our relationship transform as well? Desire and fear alternated in seizing my mind. The desire to draw near. The fear that tragedy might recur. And a thick, irrational guilt that surged endlessly.
I was dizzy. I agonized for a long time, unable even to hear what the Divine Sword Kairosgeiosa was saying. From that day, I did not appear at the Knights Order for three days. Though Baron expressed concern and Dietrich came looking for me, I merely took leave and shut myself away in my residence.
Three days later, I headed to the Celestial Knights Order Headquarters. Without even knocking, I burst into Baron's office. He had never entered so recklessly before, so Baron froze, quill in hand. As I approached him with long strides, I appeared haggard and precarious. Yet my sky-blue eyes burned with an intensity that was almost eerie.
Standing before Baron's desk, I asked in a voice that was strangely composed.
"Is there any procedural issue with designating a Military Academy freshman as a squire?"
"...Pardon?"
"I intend to designate a squire."
A squire?
The commander, who had never even designated a temporary squire and simply let the cadet roster rotate, was saying what now? And what, a freshman? The selection exam results haven't even been announced yet? Shocked, Baron lost control and snapped the quill he was holding.
Thus began the second life of Yurien de Harden Kirie.
---------------
Brought to you by Valir Scans! To support our team and enjoy the latest releases, please read directly on our official site: valirscans.org
---------------