Chapter 21

“Who did it?”

Her question was both cold and hot at the same time.

The heat likely came from the burning anger directed at those who caused the bleeding on my lips.

The coldness was probably due to the monstrous ruthlessness she would show them.

It was simply hot and cold.

“Aha.”

She smiled as if she understood when she saw Neil, the guy who hit me, and the soldiers behind him.

“It’s you guys.”

“Ca, Camilla…!”

“You know me?”

“I, I am Neil Pihen! The nephew of the Minister of War…! The Minister of War himself sent me here as the overseer of this fortress…!”

“Oh, really? Too bad, though. My dad wouldn’t care about someone like you. Your rise to power is just a bunch of bootlickers farting around.”

So that’s how it was.

She gave me a clear answer I hadn’t even thought of.

With that, a nagging doubt in my chest was resolved, and I felt a bit lighter.

Though it was just a trivial question, like whether a bear or a lion would win in a fight.

“And what’s important isn’t who you are. What’s important is what you’ve done.”

“Camilla… He, he’s the village lunatic who dared to try and attack me…!”

“No. What happened to you isn’t important either. Even if your limbs were cut off and your eyes gouged out.”

Camilla held her spear imbued with blue lightning and slowly approached him.

“Let me say it again. What’s important is…”

As Camilla spun her spear, the blue lightning turned into small bolts, spreading like blind arrows.

It scorched the ground, shattered the fortress walls, and burned the proudly waving imperial flag.

“Who you did it to, and what you did. That’s all.”

“Who the hell is that guy…?”

“Someone you can’t even imagine. If you knew who that fool was, you’d faint.”

Soon, Camilla was right in front of Neil, and the atmosphere was such that it wouldn’t be strange if she impaled him at any moment.

It had been a while since I’d seen her this angry, so I had to stop her.

Even if it made her angrier.

“Let’s stop here.”

“Do you know what I’m about to do and still stop me?”

“You’re planning to kill him and his underlings, aren’t you?”

“You know me well. Then step aside.”

As she raised her spear, it emitted an even brighter blue light.

“You probably can’t understand this situation at all. Just die. Death is something you can’t understand anyway.”

Just before she swung the spear, I roughly pulled the chain and kicked her spear, changing its trajectory.

The blue lightning from the redirected spear turned the fortress wall into dust.

Only the blackened ground remained as proof that something had been there, but what it was could no longer be discerned.

Seeing the blackened ground, Neil and the soldiers turned pale and collapsed backward.

“Step aside. This is about you.”

“Don’t you think that sounds a bit contradictory?”

“You always choose the wrong answer when it comes to yourself. That’s the real contradiction.”

“People with contradictions will just run parallel lines in a debate. So I’ll be direct.”

Their deaths would be regrettable, but that’s all.

That regret wouldn’t be carried to bed, nor would it have any impact on how I live my life.

But there was another reason I stopped her.

“That’s going too far.”

“Going too far? This is about you and me. They messed with my friend. Need I say more?”

“Even so, it’s still going too far.”

“Are you siding with those trash over me? Right in front of me?”

“I’m not siding with them. I’m looking out for you, Camilla.”

Their deaths would only be regrettable.

“I don’t want you to bear the stigma of killing soldiers over personal matters.”

“I don’t care? I don’t want those who laid a hand on you to keep breathing either.”

“A debate born not from selfishness but selflessness. We’ll just collide on parallel lines.”

“Are you sure? Trying to beat me without your cane?”

I swung my hand blade and deflected her spear thrust.

She laughed as if amused and swung her spear, while I blocked her attacks with my vibrating hand and struck back when I saw an opening.

The fight continued. We exchanged blows as if the reason for the fight no longer mattered.

I hoped her anger would be carried away by the flow of the life-threatening exchange.

After a while of sweating, she finally put her spear away with a refreshed expression.

“…Fine. Fighting you any longer will just hurt my hand.”

“My arm’s gone numb too.”

“I swore I’d kill anyone who laid a hand on my friend.”

“If that’s the case.”

If harming her friend was truly a crime worthy of death.

“Then shouldn’t you kill me first?”

“You’re still hung up on that…”

“Camilla. Just as a crime and an attempt are different, so are those with intent and those without. So leave them be.”

“Fine, fine. You don’t want to stain your little game with blood, right?”

A game… That might be an apt description.

Just as children play house, pretending to be parents, I too was playing the role of Raul Muska, a false identity.

Yes. This might be the last game of house in my life.

Just as a game of house ends when it’s time to go home, this game will end when I’m called to the heavens.

“But it’s still annoying to just let it go.”

“They’ll have to repair the fortress. Isn’t that punishment enough?”

“Hoh… That sounds fun. Of course, the idiot who kicked you will have to work too.”

“Work…?”

“I’ll stay here for a while and play along with your little game.”

When she said she’d stay, Neil and the soldiers turned pale, but Camilla wasn’t the type to care about such things.

She was the kind of person who paid no attention to anything that didn’t interest her.

“…Just don’t torment them too much.”

“You still don’t know me. I might kill someone directly, but I don’t torment them in a cowardly way.”

“It would’ve been perfect if you didn’t do the former.”

“If I were that perfect, it’d be a problem. People who are too clean die early.”

“…I’m not clean.”

“No, you’re clean, especially in terms of tact and speech. Too clean.”

She brushed the dust off my clothes and chuckled.

I loved the smiles of my friends more than any other sight.

In the battlefield where blood and guts grew like plants, those smiles were the only beautiful things.

“Well then, since we’ve met after so long, how about a drink? It’s been almost half a year.”

“From what I remember, it hasn’t even been two weeks since we said goodbye.”

“It’s about how time feels. Like how one second feels like an hour when you’re drowning. You’re that kind of existence.”

“Sorry, but I can’t understand that.”

“…Anyway, you’re so clueless. Just lead me to the tavern. I’m dying of thirst.”

Then she turned her head toward Neil and his soldiers and warned them in a cold voice.

“While I’m drinking with this fool, prepare a place for me to stay. If I sense anything dirty or strange… what ended as attempts won’t stay as attempts. Got it?”

“Y, yes! We’ll prepare it!”

“Good. Let’s go then.”

“It’s quite a distance from here.”

It would take about two and a half hours to walk, so I thought I should warn her.

“Which way?”

I pointed toward the village, and she nodded as if she understood and began to stretch.

“If it’s that close, it’s harder to control my strength. I often end up flying too far.”

“I have no intention of joining your unconventional flight.”

“And I have no intention of asking for your opinion.”

Those who heard the words “fly” and “flight” tilted their heads in confusion.

I had no intention of joining this madness, but Camilla’s left hand grabbed my collar.

“…You’re becoming more and more like Master.”

“Isn’t it natural for a daughter to resemble her father?”

She threw her glowing blue spear toward the village,

and jumped onto the spear’s shaft as it flew.

“Let me say it again, Camilla. I don’t understand this unconventional flight.”

“I know. It’s dizzying and makes you want to throw up, right? I feel the same way sometimes when talking to you.”

After about six or seven minutes of flight,

just as something was about to come up from my stomach, the spear landed like a thunderbolt near the forest by the village.

Of course, the surrounding vegetation turned to ash, but she didn’t care at all about the destruction of nature.

“By the way, this is really the countryside. Is there even a tavern here?”

“There’s one old tavern. It had the vibe of serving cheap distilled liquor with water instead of wine.”

“The person you drink with is more important than the drink. Drinking wine with flashy people stinks.”

“I didn’t know you disliked wine.”

“Sigh… You’re so clueless.”

As we entered the village entrance, the villagers started making a fuss when they saw me.

Some cheered as if they hadn’t expected me to return alive, some asked how I survived, and others worried if I’d caused any trouble.

It was more than I deserved, but it seemed natural to them.

“It’s quite noisy for the countryside.”

And the presence of Camilla, whom I brought with me, seemed to ignite new rumors about me.

And it was Camilla herself who drove the final nail.

Cecilia, who heard I had returned, came running from afar and, without catching her breath, approached me and spoke.

“Haah… Haah… My lord, are you alright…?! Did that pervert do anything to you? If so, I’ll go and smash that bastard’s face…”

“You going wouldn’t make a difference. He’s not someone you can touch anyway.”

“But still…!”

Then Cecilia, too, flinched when she saw Camilla’s face.

“This person is…”

Camilla looked her over and tilted her head, asking.

“Ah, is this the person you told me about?”

“Yes. Is there a problem?”

“Well, I was a bit surprised when I heard about her… Hmm…”

Then Camilla chuckled lightly and said.

“Stories are just stories. No need to worry. The subject got blown out of proportion, and I almost got excited for nothing.”

Of course, Cecilia, who was left in the aftermath of the storm, didn’t seem too pleased either.

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