An Unexpected Encounter in the Northern Mountains
Ever since the memories of the original novel had surfaced, I had spent a considerable amount of time pondering a certain dilemma. One might call it the design blueprint of this world. Specifically, the question of how things left unmentioned in the original story actually functioned.
Take the seasons, for example. The original novel briefly noted that "early winter is the season when magical beasts become most aggressive." Conversely, it never once touched upon the specific ecology of these beasts.
Well, it was probably just a hastily thrown-together setting. The author likely just wanted a scene where the female lead gets rescued by the male lead. Thus, the "early winter beast frenzy" was born. The female lead, wandering into the forest without a second thought, was duly saved by the Crown Prince.
The motivation behind it might have been trivial, but once written, the setting became absolute law. That rule had to manifest as reality. Consequently, this world seemed to have been designed in reverse. The absolute rules were established first, and the unmentioned details were warped and bent to force those rules into existence. At least, that was my theory.
The greatest proof of this was, of course, Sirien and myself. We were supposed to be textbook villains, but Sirien was the daughter of the Grand Duke of Ilencia. For someone of such noble birth to become the saintess of a god as unsettling as Hibras was practically impossible under normal circumstances. Therefore, fate had to orchestrate a mountain of tragedies just to force us onto that path.
And as a result, we both ended up joining the Order of Hibras side by side. In any case, because of that damn setting, the magical beasts were extremely ferocious during this time of year. Normally, they would sense the gap in our strength and keep their distance. Today, however, they had completely lost their minds, blindly throwing themselves at us.
We had been ambushed exactly six times today alone. From the rear of our caravan, Mary's pillars of fire had erupted more than ten times. And we weren't the only ones suffering from the onslaught of these frenzied beasts.
Though I had no idea what kind of idiot would choose to traverse the Northern Mountains at a time like this. We only did so out of sheer necessity to save time, but normally, travelers would take the long way around the range.
"Sirien. Do you see that up ahead? The ones fighting the beasts."
"Yes, I see them. They look like nobles."
"Can you make out their crest? It's blocked from where I'm standing."
"Hold on... Ah, now I see it. Vines wrapped around a sword... It's a fairly famous house. The House of Count Eshque."
The House of Count Eshque. That incredibly familiar name belonged to the family that sired the future Sword Saint, Dersian Eshque.
"Let's help them for now," Sirien said. "It never hurts to have a noble house in our debt."
"Hmm."
"Rajen?"
"...Right. Let's go."
The Sword Saint. Dersian Eshque was the character who clashed with Rajen the most in the original novel. Befitting his grand title, he was depicted as a warrior of peerless martial might. He was the only swordsman capable of facing me head-on. Though he suffered countless defeats at my hands, he was ultimately the formidable foe who contributed the most to my eventual death.
Come to think of it, it wasn't the Crown Prince who killed most of our allies—it was Dersian. He might have had his spotlight stolen by the Crown Prince in the flashier scenes, but he was the one who got things done. He was clearly one of the author's favorites.
And yet, that very same man was currently bowing and scraping before us.
"Thank you so much for your help. If not for you all, we would have been in grave danger."
"We were merely passing by," Sirien replied smoothly.
"The fact that you saved us remains unchanged. I will make sure to reward you handsomely once we reach Edelmarion."
Deep blue hair and purple eyes. He possessed the kind of breathtakingly handsome features that seemed plucked straight from the pages of a romance novel. Dersian bowed repeatedly in gratitude. To be precise, Dersian was bowing his head to Sirien. It was a sight that triggered a massive wave of cognitive dissonance in me. In the original novel, he had remained stubbornly defiant even after Sirien became the Grand Duke of Ilencia.
At the same time, a dark thought began to take root in my mind.
Should I just kill him now?
This was Dersian before his awakening. He was far from being a Sword Saint—he wasn't even a Swordmaster yet. In fact, his current skills were a step below Isha's, who was still in the middle of her rapid growth. Right now, I was confident I could kill him within three exchanges, even without using Sword Qi.
Furthermore, his case was entirely different from Russell's. Russell was someone destined to die and disappear before the novel's main events, but this guy was guaranteed to become our enemy in a few years. And not just any enemy—he would be the most troublesome, persistent adversary I would ever cross swords with. Snuffing him out now would drastically alter the future balance of power.
But for now, it was better to hold back. I could probably clean up the aftermath somehow, but there were too many eyes watching. There were several ordinary merchants from the caravan here, and silencing all of them would be impossible. If I did that, it would only put Sirien in a difficult position. Besides, there would be plenty of other opportunities to kill Dersian in the future.
"Ah, Saintess. Might I ask who the gentleman behind you is?"
"He is my dependable knight," Sirien introduced. "And the guardian of our order."
While I was lost in thought, their attention turned to me. Meeting my gaze, Dersian offered a smile that looked purer and gentler than anyone else's.
"I see. It is an honor to meet you. May I ask your name?"
"Rajen. You can just call me Rajen."
"Understood. As I mentioned, I am Dersian Eshque. I would be grateful if you would call me by my name as well, Sir Rajen."
"Very well."
Somehow, I ended up shaking hands with Dersian. I found the entire situation incredibly awkward...
"You must have known how dangerous the Northern Mountains are at this time of year. What brings you to a place like this?" Sirien asked.
"Well, you see... we were originally on our way to the northeastern trading city," Dersian explained. "But an urgent matter arose within the family, forcing us to cross the mountain range."
"Oh dear. I hope it is nothing too serious."
"It should be fine. We just didn't know the exact timing, but it wasn't entirely unexpected."
I had a good guess as to what that "urgent matter" was. There were very few things important enough to warrant crossing the mountains during this season. Dersian had introduced himself as the "young lord" of the Eshque family. That meant the current Count Eshque must have passed away. In the original novel, Dersian had already lost his father at an early age and inherited the title.
I had assumed he had already established himself in the capital, since the novel mentioned he stayed there almost exclusively immediately after his succession. It seemed we were a bit early. The exact timing of his father's death had never been specified in the original text, so I couldn't be entirely sure.
"If it is not too much trouble, would it be possible for us to travel with you to the capital? I will ensure you are properly compensated once we arrive. Of course, that will be entirely separate from the gratitude we owe you for saving us today."
"It is not a decision I can make alone," Sirien replied. "We must discuss it with Baron Isquente as well. Ah, here he comes."
"Yes, thank you."
In the end, Dersian and his party joined our caravan bound for Edelmarion. Baron Isquente seemed highly intrigued by the prospect of a "reward" from the House of Count Eshque, while Sirien accepted the arrangement with an easygoing, "the more, the merrier" attitude.
In the novel, Dersian's personality was that of an upright, polite young man. He was incredibly sociable and quickly blended in with our group. True to his status as a main character of the original story, he was exceptionally popular among the female employees of the merchant guild.
Time passed, and as night fell, the caravan halted to prepare dinner. Sirien and I were sitting side by side near the campfire, eating skewers. Suddenly, Sirien cast a thin barrier of divine power around us. It seemed she had something to say in private.
"Rajen. Do you not like that Dersian guy?"
"It's not that I dislike him, exactly... Was it that obvious?"
"No. No one else would have noticed. But I can tell just by looking at your face. You seemed to dislike him."
"Well, I never plan on hiding anything from you anyway."
From what I had observed, Dersian wasn't a bad person. Which made sense, considering he was supposed to be the hero of the story. If he weren't destined to become my enemy in the future, I probably would have thought highly of him too. I simply chose not to grow attached to a man who was bound to die.
Sirien giggled.
"Maybe I should have told him not to follow us. To be honest, I don't really care for him either."
"Why? Everyone else seems to love him."
"He looks too pretty, like a girl. And he's far too scrawny for a swordsman. I bet his skills are mediocre at best."
"Talk about a harsh first impression."
Sirien naturally leaned her head against my shoulder. Her warmth mingled with the heat of the campfire, melting away the biting winter chill.
Looking off into the distance, I noticed Dersian and Isha standing relatively close to each other. Isha was as guarded as ever, but she didn't go out of her way to avoid him. She simply maintained the cautious demeanor of a sensitive stray cat.
Come to think of it, seeing the two of them peacefully coexisting was quite a remarkable sight. In the original novel, they had crossed swords with the intent to kill from their very first encounter. At the very least, it was clear that this meeting had never occurred in the original timeline.
Sirien, who had been leaning against me, lifted her head. The divine barrier surrounding us dissolved like scattering sand. This usually happened when someone was approaching.
"He's coming over here," Sirien murmured.
I had been too focused on eating my skewer to pay attention, but as Sirien said, Dersian was walking toward us. He looked at Sirien and then at me, his eyes shifting between us before a look of sudden realization washed over his face. He looked incredibly relieved.
What? What on earth did you just realize?