Chapter 320 - Memory (5)

RATTLE, RATTLE.

Amid the grim-faced grown men aboard a ten-seat transport carriage rattling swiftly along, one passenger looked out of place: a fourteen-year-old girl staring blankly into space.

Her face looked so composed at first glance that no one noticed how anxious Amelia Reinweils was. No one except her older sister, Laura Reinweils.

A hand slipped over hers. Amelia, sitting stiffly with her hands on her knees, flinched as her sister laid her hand on top.

“What's wrong? Are you that worried?”

Naturally reserved, Amelia nodded. There was no point lying to her sister, who knew her inside out like a parent... And surely her sister had noticed how badly she was trembling, even with the carriage swaying beneath them.

“... It's all right. Nothing bad will happen.”

Feeling her sister's warmth against her skin, Amelia felt her tension slowly ease—even though they were effectively being dragged off to a battlefield. When she closed her eyes, she began to hear the men talking.

“What about Iron Mask and Emily?”

“The lord's people said they'd send someone to their lodgings, but who knows if the message will get through in all this chaos.”

“Ugh, this is madness. If he was planning something like this, he could at least have warned us. What is this, dragging us out in the middle of the night?”

“That just shows how secret it was. Who'd have imagined the lord would join forces with the royal family to attack Orculus?”

The sisters had been working at their adoptive father's tavern as usual when Felik Barker summoned them. Looking pressed for time, he had explained nothing, merely telling them to prepare for combat. No sooner had they gathered their equipment than he bundled them into a military carriage with the arriving clan members.

“Wait, we're attacking Orculus? Nobody told me that. I only heard we were being sent to help with a riot in the east... And the royal family? What kind of bullshit is that? How could the lord join forces with them?”

“From what I've heard, the royal family contacted the lord recently. I don't know what they discussed... But I think we can put two and two together by now.”

“True, Orculus must have been just as much of a thorn in the royal family's side. Their interests aligned with the lord's.”

“Exactly. Why else would the knights sent by the royal family be fighting Orculus?”

“... That must be why the lord didn't tell us until the day itself.”

“That's right. They'll be the main fighting force anyway. All we have to do is focus on surviving.”

“Ha, if I'd known, I'd have slept outside the castle like Iron Mask. Instead, I stayed inside and got dragged straight here.”

“Derbon, watch your mouth.”

“Ah... I misspoke.”

“And the rest of you, stop complaining so much. Given the lord's character, we'll be able to secure proper payment once this is over.”

The clan's commander, Felik Barker, settled the heated conversation.

How much time passed after that? At last, after a long ride, the carriage stopped at the entrance to eastern Noark.

“We'll have to walk from here.”

Several battles seemed to have already taken place in the eastern district. The stench of blood hung thick even at its boundary. Rubble from collapsed buildings lay alongside mangled corpses. Explosions sounded here and there, and human screams more agonized than a banshee's filled the air.

“What are you doing? How long are you going to block the road? Get off already! Can't you see the other carriages coming?”

Amelia followed the others out. Her body, which had calmed during the ride, was trembling again. Her sister warmly enclosed her hand in hers.

“Don't worry too much. I'll keep you safe, I promise...”

Her dependable sister had never broken a promise. Yet even those words did little to calm her. No, if anything...

As her sister's fingers tightened around her hand, Amelia felt an ever-deepening sense of foreboding.

* * *

Her recollection over, Amelia slowly opened her eyes. It was clear where she had to go: eastern Noark, which had gradually slipped free of the lord's influence and gained autonomy since Orculus established its headquarters there.

“F-fire!”

For now, people merely thought a fire had broken out there. In reality, a war was underway. And her younger self...

'I must be on the carriage heading east by now.'

It was a memory from twenty years ago, and she had been overwhelmed by her first large-scale battle. Even so, Amelia still roughly remembered the route she had taken that day. It wasn't a memory she could forget just because she wanted to. It was no exaggeration to say that she had spent the past twenty years replaying this day endlessly, regretting it and turning it over in her mind.

Amelia quickened her pace toward her destination.

After a long run, she reached the eastern district, where hundreds of explorers had taken up positions, summoned that very day by the lord without knowing what was happening. A quick look around soon revealed the person she sought.

“There you are.”

“Who... Oh, Emily?”

Felik Barker, who had been waiting to enter battle, widened his eyes when Amelia approached and spoke to him.

“How did you get here?”

He seemed pleased to see her, if a little puzzled.

“I went to the castle because of the commotion, and they sent me here. I heard the gist of things from others on the way.”

“Ah, I see... But where's Iron Mask?”

“He was sleeping off his drink, so I left him.”

“Hmm, even so... Leaving such a valuable fighter behind...”

“What else could I do? He was too drunk to even wake up.”

Felik Barker merely looked disappointed, finding nothing strange about her explanation. Whenever the barbarian was late, he often used drinking too much the night before as his excuse.

“True, he couldn't have known this would happen today either. We'd better assume he's not coming, then.”

Amelia then went to stand beside her younger self and her sister. The sisters greeted her awkwardly.

“Hello...”

Unlike the affable barbarian, Amelia had barely interacted with the two over the past several months beyond necessary exchanges. Somehow, whenever she stood before them, the words wouldn't come. This time, however, she forced herself to speak.

“Stay close.”

“... Pardon?”

“That way I can protect you.”

“Oh, yes...!”

Though they weren't close, the sisters knew how skilled Amelia was, and their faces brightened at her words. They didn't seem to understand why she was suddenly being kind to them, though.

“Prepare for battle!”

Once they had formed up, it was soon her group's turn to move to the front. The force was divided into dozens of groups that rotated between holding the front line and resting... For the moment, there was little danger. The troops sent by the royal family and the lord's elite, who had been informed of today's plan in advance, were handling the fighting to wipe out the enemy.

“They're trying to escape! Kill them!”

The troops gathered here were meant to encircle the enemy, not eradicate them. How strong could the stragglers fleeing a burning city possibly be? A one-sided slaughter ensued.

“The lord must really have made up his mind.”

“It looks like nearly seventy percent of them are ordinary citizens. Is it really all right to kill them all like this?”

“Good grief, you idiot. We can't tell them apart one by one. What if an Orculus member slips out pretending to be a civilian?”

“That's true, but...”

A few occasionally voiced misgivings about the one-sided battle, but they were a minority. These were people well practiced in killing.

“Anyone remember what the commander said earlier? How much per head?”

“I don't remember exactly, but at this rate, we'll make more than we would on an expedition, at least.”

“Hey! You heard that, right? Beaters! Don't fight, just collect the ears! Oh, and strip off anything they're wearing that looks expensive!”

Most were delighted at the prospect of earning so much for such easy work. Amelia's expression only hardened. Though she had been born in this city and grown up among these people, their way of thinking still sickened her... And she, at least, knew that this festive mood would last only an instant before the scene turned into hell.

“Huh? Someone's walking over here alone.”

Even amid all the noise, that muttered remark rang out with unusual clarity. Amelia hurriedly turned her head.

“... Is he out of his mind?”

A lone man was walking toward them from directly ahead. Every previous escape attempt had involved at least several hundred people, making the sight utterly out of place. But...

STEP.

As the man drew closer, those watching began to sense something wrong.

STEP.

His black fighting clothes were drenched in blood. Yet aside from being soaked, they didn't have so much as a scratch. With all that scarlet blood staining them, he could hardly have been lucky enough to make it here without encountering any trouble.

STEP.

The sword at his waist was no less ominous. These plunderers had an uncanny eye for the value of things, and as he drew closer, they all realized that sword was no ordinary weapon. The sword itself was utterly plain... But the name of the man who carried that plain sword was all too famous in this city.

“... Hey, that's not who I think it is, right? Please tell me I'm seeing things.”

“...”

“Does anyone know his face?”

Unrest spread among the waiting explorers. Some trusted their instincts and backed away; others desperately insisted it couldn't be him. But then...

STEP.

The man closed to within fifty meters.

WHOOOOSH!

Flames unleashed by a fire-user vanished before they could reach him, and silence fell for an instant. That Ability was simply too well known.

“S-silent Decree...”

[Silent Decree]. The power wielded by the ruler of the fifth floor, the Lord of Silence.

This unfathomable power nullified the Abilities that were the very foundation of explorers. Fewer than ten people had obtained it throughout all of history... And in the present age, only one was known to possess it.

“I-it's the Traitor...”

The one and only criminal bearing the epithet “Traitor.” The man who had founded Orculus with his own hands... An undefeated swordsman once known as the “Sword Master.” Ricardo Luhenpraha.

His arrival threw them into confusion.

“Why is he here...?”

“The royal family! You said he'd be fighting the men they sent!”

The man answered none of their questions. He simply raised his sword in silence, as though he had no interest in them.

“R-run!”

At that cry, the gathered explorers turned and fled as one. But then the man's sword swung.

A fleeting flash of light blazed.

And then...

SHRRRIP!

The old memory she had revisited countless times over twenty years began playing out once more.