It’s desolate.
In a place where not a single spark of life can be felt, realizing that I had created such a desolation filled me with emptiness.
I swung my sword, aiming to reach a peak, but wasn’t it getting blurry what exactly I was after?
When I had cut down all the knights, I intentionally ignored one who fled.
Surely, they would call for reinforcements. It was a bit amusing when I heard the name of the general was Miragen.
How did someone who had merely swung a sword a few times for self-defense end up in such a position?
Kaitel had become the Emperor, and the cruelty he displayed as the Crown Prince seemed unchanged.
What had twisted in him? He was clever but not cruel.
Why did he suddenly wage war in the North, and why was he so eager to kill me?
Beyond the chilly gaze, I could see the reinforcements.
The reinforcements led by Miragen. The sword I held trembled slightly. The sword I had picked up in the East had never broken.
It seemed to be a famous, well-known sword, but I had no way of knowing its name, so I was just using it.
At some point, swinging the sword alone would burst forth.
It was impossible to withstand that with an ordinary sword.
“How many years has it been?”
I hadn’t seen Miragen even from a distance since witnessing his death.
Having always left my family to wield my sword, recently I had only looked into how Miragen was doing.
I was relieved to see he seemed well, but in a battlefield where countless people were dying, I couldn’t help but worry if he hadn’t gotten hurt.
Even while killing the knights, such worries plagued me.
There was no need to kill the knights. The problem was simply that they were oddly hostile towards me.
The knights, full of the crimson glow I had seen before. I didn’t feel such a presence from over there, but it was the same back when I first encountered the knights.
When I saw Miragen, I wasn’t sure what to say.
Wasn’t it the case that Miragen didn’t know me?
Perhaps he regarded me as a formidable enemy and was on edge.
The Miragen I knew… was far too different now.
The Miragen I knew was no longer present.
Knowing that yet being unable to give up this heart, what should I call it, as the wind brushed against my hair,
I gave a small smile at a distance close enough for us to see each other’s faces.
If only he didn’t have that overly grown beard, it might have been a somewhat decent sight, but it felt like I was the only one experiencing various emotions in this situation.
“…Are you smiling? Even with the reinforcements in front of you?”
About 500 people, not feeling tension in such numbers made me realize how far my accomplishments had progressed.
Not feeling any tension was because I sensed just how far my accomplishments could reach.
Not everyone can cut through mountains, and even while wielding the same sword, I understood how vast the differences could be.
At least when it came to swords, there is no one who can defeat me.
That said, the reason for facing the subjugation army wasn’t to kill them.
I had a gut feeling that it was about time to end this life.
I know it’s time to shed some of the lingering regrets I’ve held onto.
The moment I grasped the sword at my waist, all the knights drew their swords.
Seeing Miragen with a tense expression made my mouth twitch involuntarily, but I knew this wasn’t the time for such light-heartedness.
Should I flee from here, or is it better to subdue them all before heading to the Empire?
While pondering how this would end, I swept my face and smiled wearily.
…In the end, it would flow the way Miragen chooses. I’ve always been weak against her.
This time too, it’s no mystery that the sword I wield would only slow down near Miragen.
#
The tension the knights felt was far beyond the ordinary.
Just meeting their eyes made my body tremble, and every time Robert’s sword moved, I had to check if my head was still attached.
From the tales of directly cleaving through mountains to single-handedly slaying five hundred knights.
Though those burning with fighting spirit grasped their swords, they were still sweating profusely.
They couldn’t move hastily.
If they did, it wouldn’t be surprising if someone among them suddenly died. Roken had firmly warned them about the title of sword master before the hunt began.
– Don’t even blink; even a moment’s time could be enough for you to die.
As the Empire’s expansion continued, the knights became more accustomed to battle.
Even though they faced tens to hundreds of knights who were elite amongst elites, they felt that this time was on a completely different level.
Robert, with a grin, slowly looked around at the knights standing on the ground.
With them this tense, it would be hard to showcase their true abilities.
Though they appeared elite, there were few knights who could fight at their best in a state of tension.
If they didn’t make the first move to kill, they intended only to subdue.
Robert, glancing momentarily at Miragen, then took a few steps toward her, sword in hand.
In a distance where even a whisper could be heard, Miragen realized that his gaze had landed on her, causing her body to shudder.
His eyes held quite a peculiar emotion, but once she realized it was kindness, all she could do was wear a strange expression.
Why was he showing her kindness? Still pondering this, Robert murmured softly.
“…I’m glad you’ve been well.”
He gripped his sword to protect her. However, that purpose had gradually faded, and hadn’t he distanced himself too much from Miragen?
He felt like he’d died at least twenty times since then. In terms of time, it was nearly a hundred years.
For a moment, Robert’s gaze, which was directed at Miragen, scattered into the void.
It would be nice if they could just let it go like this, but there was no way the knights would be so lax.
The anxious eyes of those around him returned. And to them, he felt the red glow the knights had shown last time reemerging.
“I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
The current Miragen couldn’t comprehend those words. The one who could convey such greetings was the Miragen he had met long ago.
When the expected reaction surfaced, it rather eased his heart.
What would happen if he ran away from here?
If Miragen returned without any gains, could he guarantee that Kaitel wouldn’t hold her responsible?
“That’s exactly what you’ll do. Because it’s a story only I know.”
A man who had been repeating eternal life had fallen for a woman, leading a boring life without any yield—this dull story.
No one was curious about it, and even if he shared it, he wouldn’t earn even the slightest sympathy; it was a life close to a bad piece of work.
However, it wasn’t as if he was living hoping someone would acknowledge him.
Simply, to avoid regretting anything further, if the day came when he would love Miragen once more.
That was the moment he would protect her, no matter what danger appeared. Hence, he gripped his sword.
Swish—
Robert’s lips twisted as he cut down an approaching knight.
In that strike, only Robert remained free, unnoticed by anyone, and as he gazed at the knights starting to succumb to madness, his eyes began to turn cold once more.
In this situation, only Miragen and himself were acting rationally.
Why did these knights have such eyes? The hands that were shaking with tension moments ago now hesitated no longer, entangled as they were in wanting to kill.
“Did Kaitel do this?”
He couldn’t be sure. He still knew nothing of what Kaitel was up to.
I still knew nothing about why that was.
Perhaps if Kaitel were to find the alchemist Arwen, whom he was so bent on killing, I might learn something.
Or maybe I would discover a clue from a different direction.
Saint, perhaps there may be a connection to the North.
For oneself, life was an infinite expanse, so there was no more lingering attachment to this life.
If Miragen, who killed me, is happy, then that would be enough.
As long as I could brilliantly carry out the order to suppress and return to the Imperial Palace safely, that would suffice for me.
“What is your name?”
Robert, who casually glanced at Roken approaching him, asked.
Of course, Roken, with his red eyes, wouldn’t have understood, but it was just a little bothersome that he was next to Miragen.
Rustle, here the knights don’t die.
Even if many knights were lost, the thought of Miragen being reprimanded muddled my mind.
Unlike the other knights, I roughly subdued Roken and then shifted my gaze to Miragen.
Perhaps the emotions mixed with my earlier gaze reached her. Her expression looked a bit more complicated than before.
Before this fight ends, it would seem that everyone is dead. Therefore, they would blame me, and if they were to kill me with those feelings…
It would indeed be the death I had longed for.
If I could pay for the sins that led to your death with that, could I be forgiven, even a little?
Though I didn’t say that I blamed myself and advised to live without self-reproach for a lifetime, it seemed difficult to escape from such guilt.
When Miragen’s expression turned cold upon seeing the sword piercing a knight, Robert was finally able to smile.
Even if I were to start life again, I probably wouldn’t meet her for a long time.
Now, I was thinking of finding another way, away from this woman named Miragen.
If we were to meet again someday, I wished that it would be after I ended this curse of reincarnation.
Then I could live happily again without any worries, and perhaps I would be able to genuinely smile while making another child.
The thirty-fifth, I lost you. The fifty-fifth, in this life where I meet you again and die by your hands.
It was the happiest death in Robert’s memories.
Thus, I wanted to tell you who hears this memory.
I have never blamed you, and even when I beheaded you, I smiled sincerely, so I wish I wouldn’t cry like this now.
“Truly, I have never blamed Miragen.”
Gently stroking the body of Miragen, who had collapsed in my arms, Robert murmured as he concluded his recollections.
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