Episode 46. Northern Fortress Defense (5)
—
“For Airen… as I promised… to Airen…”
“Swen!!!”
Airen called Swen’s name several times, but he remained unconscious, offering no response.
“No… What on earth… Swen!! Answer me! Come to your senses!”
No matter how many times she shook him, there was no response.
Airen couldn’t grasp what was happening at all.
She had built the altar as he requested, made the drums he asked for.
It was true she had trusted Swen, even when he was doing something strange.
But… the result being-
A burning rock suddenly falling from the sky was something she hadn’t anticipated at all.
“What exactly… did you do?”
Swen had mentioned, “There’s a need to communicate with the heavens.”
He talked about how three stars disappeared and such.
At first, she didn’t understand what he was saying, but Swen had always shown a peculiar insight.
So, all his actions must have had a significant meaning.
And the result was…
Doing something that caused a rock to fall from the sky?
Then…
What exactly did he do that made Swen lose consciousness immediately?
With a bit of thought, it was easy to infer.
Even without any knowledge of such mystical powers, it was clear that a tremendous amount of energy was consumed to make a rock of that size fall from the sky.
No.
With such a scale, it wasn’t just “energy” that was consumed.
Could it be…
“He… risked his life…?”
It was obvious upon reflection.
For such an unbelievable miracle, it would have been stranger if he hadn’t risked his life.
But why?
The question “why” crossed her mind just as Swen’s words to her echoed in her memory.
“My name is Swen. From today, I will serve Lady Lynn Brans. The lord has commanded me to reside here as a roommate for the time being.”
Right. That’s how they met.
Although the circumstances of their meeting were not particularly pleasant, he had always been there for her.
“It doesn’t matter to me. As long as Airen is okay with it, I’d like to live with Airen forever.”
Even when caught up in her and the lord’s issues, he didn’t get angry; instead, he comforted her.
“It’s alright. Getting to know Airen is quite a wonderful thing for me.”
He was genuinely kind. He listened to all her heavy stories without showing any discomfort.
“Airen… I’m so relieved that you’re safe.”
He was the one person who genuinely worried about her when no one else in the country did.
“The person I want to protect in this country is Airen.”
He said he wanted to protect her, someone who was born to protect yet was deprived of even that.
His kindness was overwhelmingly sweet to her.
“For Airen… as I promised… to Airen…”
And now, for her sake…
He defied orders and risked his life to perform a miracle.
Just to prove that her words were right.
“…Swen.”
Tears began to stream down Airen’s cheeks.
She buried her face in Swen’s and began to sob.
“Don’t die, Swen… don’t die…”
Her heart ached.
For trusting her, for saying she was right, for worrying about her, for wanting to protect her…
She, who had lived to protect someone all her life, was now unable to protect the person who had offered her the same.
If she were to lose this man, what would become of her?
At the moment she was finally moving forward, having been freed from the shackles of the Brans family…
What if she lost the man who had unlocked those shackles?
“No…!”
She couldn’t afford to lose him.
“I won’t let you die.”
Airen shouted to the nearest soldier.
“Get a doctor, now!”
There was a doctor in the fortress who had been tending to the wounded along with her.
“A doctor… did you say?”
“Quickly!”
Prompted by Airen’s urgent cry, the soldier affirmed and dashed off somewhere.
From the soldier’s perspective, it must have been quite shocking.
To think Airen, who they believed would always command with dignity, was now sobbing like a child.
But for Airen, now was not the time to worry about appearances.
She quickly checked Swen’s condition.
He was unconscious but was breathing shallowly.
Since she didn’t know exactly how much the act of communicating with the heavens had taxed him, she had to hurry.
“I won’t let you die…!”
At this moment, she fully accepted being forsaken by the person she had wanted to protect all her life.
It was okay.
Because now, she wanted to protect someone else.
“I will… protect you… I promise!”
Airen Juliet’s sword had a new person to protect.
A miracle that had never occurred in any world line was unfolding right now.
—
When I came to, I found myself wandering an all-too-familiar alleyway again.
The alleyways between buildings with blue roofs and white walls.
However, I didn’t dislike this wandering.
The breeze felt refreshing, the sky was blue and comforting, and most importantly, she was there with me.
I knew who she was and at the same time…
I couldn’t quite pinpoint who she was.
This might sound confusing, but for some reason, I didn’t question it and just accepted it as it was.
Like objects falling from up to down, the night following the sunset.
I walked hand in hand with her through the alleyways.
We didn’t encounter a single person, but I felt more at ease than puzzled.
After all, when was the last time I got to stroll alone with her?
Turning my head to look at her side.
She was smiling at me.
Her blindingly bright golden hair and her eyes, even brighter than her hair, seemed to have plucked stars from the night sky…
Yes, this time.
The time I could spend with her…
At that moment.
The ground I was standing on collapsed.
I lost her hand and began to fall endlessly downward.
Then, my consciousness faded.
—
“Ah.”
I regained consciousness.
After about 30 seconds, feeling my heart beating and the air filled with the scent of furniture tickling my nose, I realized.
Ah, it was a dream.
That dream. The same one I had when I first slept at Airen’s house.
“…”
I slowly lifted my hand to touch the corner of my eye.
Tears.
I wasn’t sure why I was crying… was I crying?
No.
The content of the dream was still vivid since I had just woken up.
It didn’t seem sad.
It was a dream about walking around an unfamiliar town with a blonde-haired woman I had never seen before.
I remembered the blonde hair, but nothing else.
Are dream experiences really that fleeting?
As the fading dream memories vacated my mind, the vivid reality took their place.
I was lying on an old bed.
This ceiling… it seemed familiar. It looked like the ceiling of the fortress commander’s room.
Connected directly to the meeting room, it was used by Callintz when he wasn’t there, and by Miguel or Airen otherwise.
Then, memories from just before I lost consciousness slowly returned.
I had seen the meteorite that directly hit Serpina’s army and then passed out.
Right… the meteorite.
A meteorite fell
.
Who would have thought a meteorite would fall?
Honestly, there was one flaw in my plan to “make it seem like I caused a natural disaster.”
If I could summon lightning through a ritual, wouldn’t that mean I was a magician?
I had put on a whole show, building an altar and beating drums to make it look less like magic, but summoning lightning to strike the earth was exactly like something out of a legend of magicians.
Being mistaken for a magician would be troublesome, but I had to scare off the enemy and “hold a siege” as I was instructed.
But.
A meteorite was different.
No magician in this world uses such a spell.
In the late game, when magicians who could detect mana began to appear across the continent, they used typical but straightforward spells like fire, lightning, and earth-shaking magic-
But nobody used a meteor-like spell that reminded one of a “Meteor.”
Maybe being mistaken for a magician would be easier to deal with than causing such an outrageous act.
“If it had been lightning, maybe, but a meteorite? ‘You have to risk your life for this,’ one would think.”
“I’m sorry… Swen, because of me… don’t risk your life for something like this again…”
Airen clung to me, sobbing uncontrollably.
Seeing her like that warmed my heart.
I reached out, stroked her head, and said,
“Airen, I’m fine. I didn’t risk my life. It’s okay.”
“Lies… you fool… don’t lie, Swen…”
“…”
I looked down at Airen, trembling in my arms.
Well.
There was no need to convince her right now.
Instead of speaking further, I just held her tighter.
The miracle I created wasn’t about summoning a meteorite.
It was about saving Airen from Lynn.
The fact that I had successfully protected the person I wanted to protect in the Brans army was much more important than anything else.
So, just a little longer.
Feeling her warmth wasn’t so bad…
—
As I was regaining my strength in bed, an unexpected face appeared.
“Ah! Swen! I heard you’ve come to! That’s really great!”
“…Huh?”
A familiar face, a voice I had heard before.
A handsome man with blue hair, the fortress commander who spearheaded the construction of this fortress, and one of the main generals of the Brans army.
“Callintz…?”
“Yes, Swen! It’s really great that you’re awake!”
I blinked, looking at the man.
Why is this man here?
