With Bayard’s reaction, I could tell that Yana had intervened between Yuyoung and Bayard in the past. Of course, I didn’t know the exact details.
Looking at the reaction, it seemed she hadn’t intervened positively. Just look at her responding like that now. I frowned.
Before it got any noisier here, I thought I should lure her away. So, I ran into the hallway. Yana followed me right away.
It seemed she had even forgotten her original purpose. Was that really loyalty? Or just self-satisfaction? I had no way to find out.
So, please save me. I forgot that aside from Time Stop, I was literally nothing right now. Damn it.
Of course, I had the ultimate skill of Time Acceleration, but the penalties were severe. Unless I was on the verge of death, it was a technique I couldn’t use lightly.
I managed to dodge Yana’s rampaging attacks and ran out into the courtyard. I really didn’t want to interrupt Yuyoung and Bayard’s meeting, but…
My thoughts had changed. Please, anyone, help me. I intentionally made my way to the courtyard since it was an open place where you could see everything.
“What the heck is that?!”
“Is it an intruder?!”
Fortunately, Clara and Ruby were in the courtyard. Thanks to them, I avoided facing that monster alone. I shouted at them.
“Get ready! It’s a surprise attack from the enemy!!”
“Got it! Commander!”
“Prepare to taste the Hammer!”
Clara and Ruby immediately reacted to my words. Clara’s arrows pierced Yana’s shoulder, causing her to stagger and stop. Now was the chance.
Without missing that opportunity, Ruby rushed forward. Her heavy iron hammer came crashing down on Yana’s shoulder, producing a crack that echoed chillingly across the courtyard.
Blood and chunks of flesh dropped to the ground, rotting and emitting a foul stench. However, Yana, unfazed, swung her remaining hand and grabbed Ruby’s neck.
“Cough?!”
Though Ruby was grabbed by the neck, she calmly hung onto Yana’s arm and kicked upward with her knee, breaking Yana’s grip and escaping.
And Clara provided cover for her. Thanks to that, Ruby could regroup. Now, both of them had become Royal Knights with skills that couldn’t be ignored.
That probably came from the consistent training they had been doing until now. Though their relationship was still tense, it leaned closer to being unpleasant rivals rather than enemies, which was better than nothing.
“Commander! What the heck is that?!”
“Yana, a warrior from the Beast Clan. One of the knights serving Yuyoung.”
“She’s got a freakish sword on her arm. It’s not a normal sword.”
“Can you even recognize that?”
“I’ve got a bit of blacksmith experience myself.”
“Ruby’s right. That’s a Parasitic Curse, one of the curses the demons implant to control people.”
Completely changing a person’s personality was no easy task. Even in the original work, it was clearly mentioned. So, the demons had chosen another way.
That was to cleverly obscure the truth. In the case of a Parasitic Curse, it subtly shows the host what they desire and leads them along a path as if it’s an illusion.
It’s not entirely untrue, either. Walking the path shown by the curse can make one truly believe that this path is the right one. That’s the truly frightening part.
I don’t know what Yana’s circumstances are. But even if she truly gives her loyalty, if it’s the wrong path, I ultimately can’t let it go.
“Let’s go!!!”
I shouted. No sooner had my voice dropped than Clara and Ruby rushed forward. Clara had already drawn her sword. Yana let out a roar.
“Don’t interfere with my loyalty to my lord!!!”
“No, that’s not loyalty.”
“How dare you speak as if you know anything?!”
“Anyone could tell just by looking at your actions!”
Was it because I had struck a nerve? While Yana was fuming, Ruby took her chance and swung her hammer. She aimed for Yana’s completely destroyed arm, but that broken arm rose again.
However, Ruby calmly evaded the newly regenerated sword by twisting her body. Not pleased, Ruby clicked her tongue and glared at Yana.
“More agile than I expected.”
“But not enough to win.”
“Fine, let’s fight calmly.”
But as soon as she finished speaking, with a bang of thunder from the sky, someone appeared. A giant woman with reddish-brown hair. It was Bayard.
“Commander, thank you for believing in me.”
?
“Please leave this to me, Commander. I will surely overcome it with my own hands!”
I didn’t know what she was talking about, but I could only say one thing.
“I always believe in you, Bayard.”
Go, Bayard! Attack!
*
I received unexpected consideration. If it hadn’t been for the commander, I might never have reconciled with Yuyoung. I had really talked a lot with Yuyoung.
What had happened until now and how I’d been— and so on and so forth. In fact, I knew a little about what Yuyoung had been through up until now.
“Why did you start the war?”
“I was blinded by a brilliant future.”
“That was wrong. You shouldn’t have done that.”
“I know. But I don’t regret it. If I could go back to the past, I would make the same choice again. That’s the weight of being a ruler.”
“So that’s why I joined the Royal Knights.”
What?
Yuyoung looked surprised. I smiled bitterly while looking at her. The real reason I joined the Royal Knights was exactly that.
A secret I hadn’t told anyone. After being bullied many times during my time at Seodang and even betrayed, I had locked myself away in my room, scared of people.
However, when I heard that the Beastmen had lost the war, and that Yuyoung would take the responsibility, I thought it served her right at first.
But soon I changed my mind. I hadn’t properly heard Yuyoung’s side of the story. So, just once, I wanted to have a proper conversation with her.
[I will apply to join the Royal Knights.]
[Have you finally made up your mind?]
[…Yes.]
[That path is very arduous and difficult. Will you still walk it?]
[I have no regrets.]
They could say I was foolish. But that’s how much I thought of Yuyoung as a friend. So, until I confirmed things myself, I didn’t want to give up.
[Face reality, will you? Yuyoung has abandoned you!]
[How dare a piece of trash like you, who isn’t even acknowledged by the Twelve Tribes, think you can associate with the heir of the Rat Clan?]
[In the end, you just want to look good to the Rat Clan, right?]
Those words, that had cut me like a razor, still lingered in my mind. At first, I didn’t care about them, but that was before I met Yuyoung and talked to her.
So I wanted to meet Yuyoung. Even if those following her, including Yana, rejected me, I wanted to hear from Yuyoung myself and judge it.
But when the time came to meet, Yuyoung didn’t show up. I thought I had conveyed the message clearly, but was it true? Was what they said really the truth?
“Why didn’t you come that day?”
I let slip the words I had been avoiding about that day. My heart raced. If it was true that, like they said, I had been discarded for being unnecessary…
What should I do? Just then, an unexpected reaction returned. Yuyoung tilted her head.
“What are you talking about? You were the one who didn’t show up at that spot.”
Yuyoung said she had come to the meeting place, but I hadn’t shown up. However, we remembered the places differently. I had been waiting behind Seodang, but…
Yuyoung had been waiting in the herb garden inside Seodang. Hearing that, was I finally relieved? We had a brief conversation.
But there was no time left to talk more. I could hear the loud noises outside that had been causing chaos. I smiled and said.
“Sorry, but I think I have to go now.”
“Already? Ah, but I still have so much more I want to talk about.”
“I have a lot to say too. But let’s talk later.”
I had something I needed to do right now. Just as the commander had believed in me, I believed in the commander. Thanks to the commander, I had made it this far. So I needed to repay that trust.
I threw myself out the window. That guy was right in front of me. The one who had bullied me continuously before. I had feared and avoided him because of those memories.
But not now. Because I had the commander at my back.
As long as the commander believed in me, I would never lose.
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