Chapter 28 – Interlude, Retirement

Interlude, Retirement

I can no longer wield a sword.

That thought came to her the day her injuries had fully healed.

Whenever she gripped a sword, the memories of that day flooded back vividly.
Each time, her heart trembled. She couldn’t concentrate. She had tried to accept and move on, but now she could no longer swing a sword. Even holding one was a struggle. She couldn’t bring herself to cut down others.
As these thoughts filled her mind, she finally made a decision.

She put the sword she was holding back into its sheath and changed direction. The crunching sound of her steps on the snow painfully pierced her ears.

“Vice-captain! Where are you going?”

A soldier watching her shouted and approached her.
It was a day when they were in the midst of recovery work from the avalanche.
If even one person was missing, the work time would multiply, and if she, who wielded the power of lightning, disappeared, it would increase tenfold.

“Hey, the vice-captain isn’t going to do this kind of menial work. We have to take turns.”

Another soldier grabbed the one trying to approach Lumen.

“Shit…”

The restrained soldier let his shoulders slump to the ground and picked up a shovel, trying to suppress the despair of having to dig for 30 hours a day for the next week.

It was winter.

*

A cold and silent room.

It was quite modest in appearance. Although it might be the largest in the outpost in terms of size, the furniture inside was modest to say the least.

The windows rattled as snow fluttered down. In the space where white noise echoed, two women stood.

“So, you’re retiring?”

The woman sipping her coffee, seated without surprise, had a calm tone. It was as if she had anticipated this situation.

A woman with an X-shaped scar on the center of her face. Her name was Lerie. She was the commander of the White Knights.

“Yeah, you’ve worked hard for a long time. Was it… 10 years ago that we first met?”

The woman with pink hair, Lumen, gave no response. To someone who didn’t know her, such behavior could have been taken as a silent protest.

But Lerie had been through thick and thin with her for over a decade. To her, Lumen’s expressionless face was no different from her usual demeanor.

“Was the leave not enough?”

“…”

Lumen remained silent, and perhaps tired of it, Lerie put her legs up on the desk. Dirt fell from her boots onto the white papers on the desk.

“Even so, you have to tell me the reason for your retirement.”

“I don’t think I can wield a sword anymore.”

It was an immediate answer.
Lerie, who hadn’t expected such a prompt reply, was momentarily at a loss for words.

“…Your brother, no, that man? I didn’t expect you to put down your sword over a matter of the heart.”

“It’s because I can’t bear the weight of the sins I’ve committed.”

Another immediate response. But this time, she handled it naturally.

“Is that so? Well, it’s impossible to keep killing your own kind and remain unscathed. It’s natural to want to atone. Of course, trying to run away won’t make washing your hands of it any easier.”

“No. I don’t want to atone, I just want to accept…”

“Comforting words.”

Lerie placed the knife she had at her waist onto the desk.

“‘If you felt so sorry and guilty, you could have just killed yourself. It’s a tradition of the Blood Tribe, isn’t it? The way for those who have sinned to atone, to take their own lives.”

Then she took a sip from her empty cup. She made a slurping sound, pretending to drink coffee. Despite her rough speech, there was no malice. She just didn’t want Lumen to leave.
It was her rough way of expressing herself after years of living in harsh environments.

“Should I die…”

That’s why, when Lumen reached for the sword, Lerie quickly stood up to stop her.

“Not that! What should I say…”

She pretended to sip from the empty cup again, searching for an excuse.

“Ah! It’s just a tantrum, a tantrum. Honestly, without you, our knight order would collapse within a year. No, what am I saying, a year? Probably a month is the limit. Unless those bastards from the Holy Imperial Court come sooner.”

Lerie gave an awkward laugh and stealthily glanced at Lumen.
It still seemed like an insufficient excuse.

“You’ve worked so hard, after all. Actually, if you want to rest, that’s fine. It’s your life, right? You should live doing what you want. If you want to atone, then atone; if you want to wash away your sins, then rest.”

“Is that so…”

With that last word, Lumen seemed to have an epiphany.
Lerie sighed with relief upon seeing her expression.
Fortunately, Lumen’s expression softened, but that was her misunderstanding. With that last word, Lumen had decided her future.

“I’ll make sure you get a generous severance. Someone’s been tampering with my magic tools, so money’s tight, but without you, there wouldn’t have been any money anyway. Maybe I should also retire soon and snag a decent man to marry… Wait. Are you leaving already?”

The decision was made.
With no time to waste, she left the dawdling Lerie behind and headed to her room.

Her room still smelled of herbs. The scent irritated her nose, reminding her of the events from a few days ago.

Flan would eventually return to his original world.
Then, the number of people who remember Troka in this world… would probably be very few.

Her face was frighteningly impassive. She had always been expressionless, but now her face was even colder. She looked like someone who had made up her mind.

She gripped her throbbing right arm.

If only she had never had this arm, wouldn’t everything have been alright? This arm, which could no longer wield anything, was the cause of all her troubles, if only she didn’t have it.

Lumen raised her sword.
Her beloved sword, which had been with her for years. A treasure amongst treasures, it never broke, even when emitting lightning.

But there will be no more use for this sword.

The sword blazes up. A strong current begins to melt the sword in its entirety.

Drip-drop, the sword, now liquid, trickles down. The sword that had once cut down countless demons and monsters, thus seeped into the ground and disappeared.

Not only that, but she brought her left hand, wrapped in lightning, to her right shoulder. She then recited words of apology to her brother, whom she couldn’t protect, and to Troka, whom she could have protected but didn’t.
At the same time, her right arm fell to the ground.

And so, one of the strongest in the north vanished into the annals of history.

* * *

A secluded spot with a single table and two chairs.
And there, a man and a girl.

But the girl’s appearance was a bit unusual. Horns and wings, and a tail that was more than half cut off.
Yes, she was not human.
The girl was a dragon!

So, how am I going to hide this from others?

“Hmm…, Hmmm! Hmmmmmm…….”

I am currently deep in thought.

It’s not about the gradual decline of my mental health. Nor is it about the concern for the eye that has lost its sight.

It’s not even because I spent a considerable amount of money buying all the bread from the nearby grocery store.

My concern is about the appearance of Valkvogel.

Excluding the Tower of Magic that snubs the empire, the World Tree, and the inherently hostile Dragon Kingdom, I must hide Valkvogel’s appearance in places under the empire’s influence.

So I was happy to see her polymorphed, but unfortunately, with her injuries, she couldn’t properly hide her wings and horns.

It would be convenient if I could just dress her up, but she never wore clothes to begin with.

She’s naked to start with. What should I do about this?

“Eat this for now.”

It would be easier to perform a complete polymorph once her body has recovered.
I had raided the nearby bakery and brought back bread. Gele likes bread, after all. It was a measure to prevent any potential backstabbing.
And it would be better if she was healthy in case I needed to use her as a meat shield.

Now that I think about it, among the magical tools Nico had prepared for me, there might be something useful.
I hurriedly unpacked the bundle.
A knife that turns invisible when stabbed, sandwiches, rings whose purpose I don’t know, and… a useful-looking cloak. Found it. This is it.

An artifact created by assassins for covert operations, it doesn’t come off easily in most situations and changes size according to the wearer. I draped the black cloak over Gele, who was eating bread. With her wings folded and horns covered, she looked somewhat human.

But where did she get this?

Gele seemed a bit uncomfortable and tried to take off the clothes, but a magical tool is a magical tool. No chance.

In the end, she glared at me once and then started eating bread again.

That settles that.

As I resolved one of my worries, a newspaper lying nearby caught my eye.
Since there was nothing else to do until Gele finished eating, I casually opened the newspaper. The content was as usual, nothing particularly unusual.

The calm after the Demon King’s death is surprisingly peaceful.
I thought another great war would break out once the Demon King was gone. I should be safe until all the letters are delivered.

-Flutter.

The next page contained interviews with the Hero Party.

[New Moon Tower, recently, has been embroiled in controversy for not attending the Tower of Magic meetings due to being engrossed in research.]

Aeon. Conducting some research without informing others, huh…

I’ve got a bad feeling about this.

Well, if I go there, I’ll find out what kind of shit she’s up to.
And when I see her, I’ll have to cause a scene. There’s an unforgettable promise to keep.
It’s Aeon, who even risked Troka’s life to create something. I can’t stand to see her devouring the research that began with the life of a hero.

[The saintess is currently volunteering. She is active in an orphanage near the Holy Imperial Court.]

Volunteering at an orphanage near the Holy Imperial Court?
She was the only one who shed tears when she heard of Troka’s death, so I thought she’d be feeling some guilt. I assumed she’d be in seclusion at the church headquarters, but I guess not.

“Talk about having a thick face.”

Gele, who was stuffing bread into her small mouth, looked at me with disdain.

Yeah, I’m shameless too.
Ignoring that gaze, I flipped the newspaper.

-Flutter.

[Elves wept at the World Tree Guardian’s succession ceremony.]

The new guardian of the World Tree, Chloe. Her experiences in the Hero Party have led her on the right path… She says the hero’s lacking attitude was an opportunity for her to reflect on herself?
Who’s the one who secretly took on the sins and got blamed?
Damn, that’s fucked up.
After the mage and the saintess, you’re next, Chloe.

-Flutter.

Contrary to my expectations, the next page wasn’t about the swordsman but something entirely different.

[Why has the hero not shown himself for so long?]

It seems it’s getting harder to hide. It’s been two weeks since anyone has seen the hero, so it’s only natural, I guess.

Now the newspaper was down to its last page.

Once the last page is done, so should the bread. Let’s finish reading and then head out again.

-Flutter.

[The empire’s citizens are in shock over the news of Prince Aliana’s seclusion.]

Huh.
Wait a minute.
What?

…The content could be different.
Just like the usual fake news, filled with strange stuff.

:The great Princess Aliana of the current empire is in seclusion, and all the citizens are in mourning. The Emperor, upon noticing this, is meticulously analyzing the situation and is also searching for the whereabouts of a certain man. Some scholars speculate that this man the royal family is looking for has a close connection to Princess Aliana’s seclusion.:

Hmm.

The content written was indeed shocking.
The news of Aliana’s seclusion had reached the emperor’s ears.

Yeah, lasting about two weeks is quite a feat. It would have been strange to hold out any longer.

“Hmm… What to do about this.”

Gele picked up the last piece of bread and shoved it into her mouth in one bite.

Ah right, there was also this issue.
The crime of ruining Aliana and stealing the empire’s prized dragon… Ah, if I get caught, it’ll be aggravated punishment, probably decapitation?

Another serious worry had been added to the list.

But still, they wouldn’t kill me, right? After all I’ve done for them.

…Nah, surely not.

Just in case, I better charge the holy sword every day.