Chapter 80
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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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Chapter 80
"I've seen them before."
It was an ambiguous answer. Yurien de Harden Kirie exhaled softly. Through Rangiosa's memories, I had watched Echinacea Loaz grow increasingly adept at handling demons, yet no matter how I looked at it, she seemed to have never received proper instruction on them. Her methods of dealing with demons were techniques acquired through real combat and experience. Of course, such real combat and experience typically came accompanied by injuries.
"Demons possess peculiar ecologies. Many things differ from how one would face humans. Have you received any formal education on this?"
"...To some degree."
"Then, I suppose that's fortunate...."
She was lying despite having never learned anything. She had no choice but to lie. Yurien de Harden Kirie swallowed down the worries rising to his throat. Instead, he recited the Suppression Unit's schedule that had been decided in the meeting with bureaucratic precision. At the end, a worry he couldn't quite suppress slipped through.
"I do not doubt your blade... but since demons are creatures difficult to predict, I would appreciate it if you would take care not to stray far from my side."
She was at the level of Jenith, making her far superior to me. That didn't mean she was invincible. I no longer wished to see her injured. She had already suffered enough.
"You don't doubt my blade? Have you ever seen me wield a sword?"
Echinacea Loaz turned and asked. Her eyes wavered with unease. I had made a mistake. I should have pretended not to know. Yurien de Harden Kirie inwardly reproached himself and hastily fabricated an excuse.
"I saw you directly during the cadet selection examination. And I also know the results of the ranking tournament. You are exceptional."
Would she be convinced? He anxiously studied her expression. She remained silent for a moment, then answered slowly.
"Thank you for the high evaluation."
"Still, be cautious. Demons are different from humans."
"Yes, I will be careful."
It seemed to have passed for now. Barely relieved, he met her gaze. The moment their eyes locked, his pulse quickened noticeably. Her cheeks, flushed as if warmed by the firelight. The delicate skin around her eyes. Looking at her made him want to reach out and touch, so he stepped back slightly. Part of him wanted to stay with her, continuing even meaningless conversation, but in this state, he feared he would make an even greater mistake.
"Then, return and rest comfortably."
"But, Commander."
She called him back. His heart sank. Unable to open his mouth, he merely gave her his gaze when Echinacea Loaz bit her lip slightly and asked.
"Why didn't you light the lamp when you returned to the barracks?"
It was a question he could not answer. Thinking of her, entertaining mad thoughts that she might be mine, that only I had the right to possess her, and only now belatedly realizing that I love her—he could not possibly confess that he had forgotten even to light the lamp in the midst of such thoughts.
"Did I perhaps disturb you while you were sleeping?"
"...I was not attempting to sleep, so you need not concern yourself."
Her eyes gazing at him appeared free of any ulterior motive. Unlike himself, whose inner depths were beginning to churn with all manner of desires. Yurien de Harden Kirie turned away, unable to face her. He did not look back until Echinacea Loaz had left.
* * *
The demon subjugation had begun.
Yurien de Harden Kirie trusted in Echinacea Loaz's abilities, yet he could not stop worrying about her. Even knowing his concern was unreasonable, all his awareness was focused on her directly behind him.
And he marveled anew. Though she could never have done this kind of support before, she was assisting him flawlessly. He had experienced many temporary squires who rotated according to rank, but Echinacea Loaz was unlike any of them.
It was as comfortable as fighting alone, and so seamless that he needed not concern himself with his back. Had his awareness not been entirely fixed on her, he might have forgotten she was even there.
'I want to cross blades with her.'
The desire of a knight rose within him once more. The man and the knight desired the same person. Moreover, this was the first time he had felt such desperate longing, whether as a man or as a knight.
Yet he could reveal neither. She was wary of him, and simultaneously she was concealing her true abilities. Furthermore, he carried a sin he must confess to her. With her within arm's reach, it felt as though his limbs were bound in chains.
'I'm going mad.'
Yurien de Harden Kirie vented his frustration on the demons. As mana surged like a tidal wave, Rangiosa, which amplified it, muttered with displeasure.
[Are you perhaps venting your anger now.... No, venting on demons is wholesome enough. Go ahead and do as you please.]
Advancing in a trance-like state, Yurien de Harden Kirie halted the Suppression Unit around midday. He gave them time to eat and surveyed the sky. Separate from his turbulent emotions, he had to prevent a catastrophe like the one before his return.
The Specters had swarmed on the night of that day. Rain had begun around sunset and became a downpour after nightfall—he remembered that clearly. Looking at the heavy dark clouds overhead, it seemed rain would fall as predicted, unchanged. He intended to prevent the Specters from appearing near the camp at all, but just in case, he needed to preserve the stamina of the Suppression Unit members.
He should order a retreat. With that thought, he lowered his head and his gaze met Echinacea Loaz's. She followed his eyes to check the sky and seemed to have anticipated that heavy rain would fall at night.
Echinacea Loaz's pupils dilated. Beneath eyelids that could not blink and had frozen in place, her eyes trembled. Her entire body stiffened, then began to tremble slightly. What that reaction implied was unmistakable. She had just witnessed his actions and realized something.
'Could it be? Does she know I have memories? Does she know what happened during this monster subjugation? She should have been consumed by the Demonic Sword at this point, so how is this possible?'
Yurien de Harden Kirie panicked and averted his gaze from her, ordering a retreat. He approached her rigid form and gently placed a hand on her shoulder, speaking softly.
"Cadet Echinacea Loaz. You've done well. Rest thoroughly once we return to camp."
She did not respond. The skin beneath his fingertips was ice-cold. Had she confirmed it? Or had she merely begun to suspect? He could not discern which. And so he did not know how to act.
* * *
Yurien de Harden Kirie spent the entire downpour brooding inside the barracks. He had not anticipated that she would know of this incident. So even as he resolved to feign ignorance, he had not worried about that particular detail.
Had he given away a decisive hint? Had Echinacea Loaz discovered that he possessed memories? Or was it merely suspicion at this stage? No conclusion emerged. Probing was impossible. She had not revealed anything first, and he could not reopen her wounds. It would only make things worse.
Yurien de Harden Kirie abandoned his fruitless deliberation, left the barracks, and gazed toward Baraha Islaf's tent. Baraha Islaf was a squire whom Baron cherished like a son. He knew well how deeply Baron had grieved losing him. The thought that Baraha Islaf might stand beside Echinacea Loaz twisted his insides, yet he had no intention of letting her perish. His mind had not yet deteriorated to that degree.
'Not yet....'
Could he deteriorate further? He did not know. His father and brother's interference had prevented him from ever truly attaching himself to anything. Fear had held him back. And yet, crushed beneath that same fear, his first and only desire—the first love he had ever begun—was something he could not abandon. He could not fathom how he might change.
He made his way to the place where Specters had previously swarmed. Since he had prepared in advance, finding them proved simple. Only their numbers were greater than expected.
[So those weren't all the ones that attacked the camp. There seem to be twice as many.]
"It doesn't matter."
No matter how many, they were Specters without physical form, and he was a Master and wielder of the Holy Sword. Though their numbers cost him time, he succeeded in sweeping away every last Specter. With this, he had perfectly prevented any tragedy like the erased past from recurring. His heart found peace.
Until he emerged from the fog-choked canyon and saw the camp, Yurien de Harden Kirie's mind churned only with worry—whether Echinacea Loaz had discovered his memories, and if so, what she might do. But that worry evaporated the instant he laid eyes on the camp.
[Good heavens, when did that appear?]
A Nodule was swelling above the camp.
A Nodule was like a natural disaster. He had heard accounts of them, but never experienced one directly. Yet he had witnessed another's experience. Through Rangiosa, he had seen Echinacea Loaz enter a Nodule.
Yurien de Harden Kirie ran like a madman. But before he arrived, the Nodule separated completely. Even the camp's emergency bell, which had been ringing loudly, was swallowed by the Nodule, leaving only the sound of rain.
Most of the unit members had evacuated safely and now crowded outside. He swept quickly through their ranks. He saw no pink hair, no soul that shone like the sun. Ice seemed to rise from the very tips of his blood vessels.
'No. Echinacea. Please.'
Yurien de Harden Kirie scanned the members again. Echinacea Loaz was nowhere to be seen, nor were Ian Peletro or Baraha Islaf. The moment he grasped this fact, a picture formed in his mind.
A Nodule. Chaos in the camp. A situation where people could vanish without suspicion, and those who vanished would likely perish. A rare opportunity. Ian Peletro, brimming with malice. In the erased past, no evidence had surfaced to prove it, yet he had been nearly certain—that amid the chaos of rampaging Specters, Ian Peletro had murdered Baraha Islaf under the guise of an accident.
'A similar situation has arisen, so he would act similarly.'
Then why was Echinacea Loaz nowhere to be found? The probability of her being caught in the Nodule by chance was extremely low. Had she been caught while trying to stop Ian Peletro? Even she was not a god, so she might have let her guard slip.
Either way, the result was the same. She had vanished. Echinacea Loaz no longer existed. The ice that had risen in his blood vessels now crushed his heart.
'I should have killed Ian Peletro beforehand.'
If Echinacea had vanished and Ian Peletro remained here with his malevolent soul intact, then perhaps he would have killed him and forfeited his qualification as a Holy Sword wielder. Only now did Yurien de Harden Kirie understand why the Holy Sword had been so wary of him falling in love.
Baron stood alone at the edge of the land where the entire camp had disappeared. Yurien de Harden Kirie cut across the gathered members and approached him.
"What in the world... has happened?"
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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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