The Wheel of Teaching
But despite Enede's threat, the men did not back down so easily.
"Did my words sound like a fucking joke to you?"
Enede did not hesitate. She put an arrow clean through the other eye of the man who had already been shot.
"Aaaargh, fuck! My eye!!"
One of the men was completely incapacitated. No matter how strong a person might be, without the ability to see, their combat ability dropped below that of a child. And even for grown men, subduing armed women was no simple task.
"Anyone else?"
"Y-you monster of a woman!"
In the end, one of them propped up the wailing man, and the lot of them fled without so much as a backward glance.
"Th-thank you."
The woman who had received help in the confusion approached them to express her gratitude, still flustered by the sudden turn of events. Ninala, trembling herself, wanted to ask after the woman's well-being and make sense of what had happened — but Enede stretched out an arm and stopped her.
"W-why are you doing this?"
the woman asked. Enede still made no effort to hide her hostility.
"Who are you?"
"I'm a student who came to seek learning at Ku'ar! I was on my way to the city when I ran into those awful men and had to flee!!"
"You look awfully fine for someone who just escaped. Barely any signs of falling, almost no scrapes from branches — and your expression still has room to spare?"
"You're suspecting me over something that trivial?!"
"And more than anything, we had a fire going until just a moment ago. Even if there were only women here, there are two people with bows. Would they really come all the way out here with just those numbers to threaten us? They wouldn't have done that without something to rely on."
"Th-those men must have been s-stupid, I guess?"
The woman stammered. By this point, even Ninala could sense that something about her was off.
"And above all — did you think I wouldn't notice you using the tree's shadow and position to hide your hand behind your back?"
That was the signal. The woman no longer bothered to hide her true nature.
"Fine, you smart-ass bitch!"
She lunged at Enede. Despite her seemingly delicate frame, the leap was explosive — enough to close the distance between them in a single bound. The woman was a demigod.
Whoosh.
Enede loosed an arrow, aiming precisely for the other eye — but the woman, still airborne, swung a dagger and struck it aside.
"You fucking archer bitch. I'll gouge out your eyes too."
A savage smile of certain victory crossed the woman's face, but Enede remained unfazed. She drew the wooden sword at her waist.
What does she think she can do with just a wooden sword?
Ninala fretted for a moment — but her worry proved unfounded. The fight ended in an instant.
As Enede drew the wooden sword, she drove it upward into the woman's chin at tremendous speed. In continuous succession she brought it down across the crown of her head from left to right, then immediately thrust hard into the center of her chest and sent her flying. The sequence flowed so smoothly it seemed like a single motion. The woman who had leaped still hadn't even touched the ground with her feet.
"Ghk?!"
Broken teeth scattered through the air. Flecks of blood and bone fragments seemed to flash past. Beaten one-sidedly, the woman looked as though she still had no idea what had just happened.
Crack.
In the brief moment the woman hesitated in pain, Enede swung her whole body and struck her neck with tremendous force. She hit so hard that the sound of a neck bone snapping rang out. The woman stumbled backward a few steps and collapsed to the ground, frothing at the mouth, her body convulsing.
"You should have gone for the flank instead of leaping. You idiot bitch."
Enede sneered at her and drove the wooden sword into her eye socket. The tip pushed through the eyeball and scrambled her brain. A finishing blow.
"Ugh!!"
Ninala vomiting once more at that brutal spectacle was just an extra.
"I'm sorry. I should have been more careful. I showed you something unpleasant."
After disposing of the corpse, Enede spoke to Ninala.
"No, it's fine. Even for me, this wasn't the first time I've seen a corpse. I was a bit startled, but…"
Still, it was the first time she had seen one that had died so brutally. Ninala's face went pale in an instant.
"But how did you know? That the woman was in league with those men?"
"When you have peace of mind, those little things become visible."
Peace of mind again? When Ninala made a puzzled face, Enede kindly answered the unspoken question.
"When people are in a hurry, they can't look around them, right? Like not seeing a side path that's right next to them, or searching in all the wrong places when the thing they're looking for is right under their nose."
Ninala understood what Enede was saying.
"Observing your surroundings and understanding others is similar. If you take a step back and look, you can see enough. Of course, some practice is needed."
"…You're truly amazing."
Now Ninala was looking at her with outright admiration. Even Enede was starting to find it a bit overwhelming.
"Well, all of this is what my teacher taught me."
"Your teacher?"
"Yes, my teacher. I say this myself, but that person is incredibly remarkable. Whenever you confide a worry — no matter what it is — they give you an appropriate answer."
"Ah…"
Come to think of it, even the remarkable Adapa received his teachings under Master Muni — the name Sunya was currently using — so he was certainly no ordinary person.
"If Your Highness has any worries, try asking the teacher sometime. I'm sure you'll hear a satisfying answer."
"…"
After that, the two were able to return safely from the hunt. The guards and servants made a bit of a fuss upon seeing Ninala, but it didn't spread much further.
"Um, Teacher."
However, after class that day, Ninala stopped Sunya as he was about to leave the classroom.
"What is it?"
"I… have something to ask."
"Please, go ahead."
"It's… really not much of a question, and it might be strange for someone who doesn't know much like me to ask something like this…"
"It's fine."
"…I have one worry. I heard that perhaps you might be able to resolve it for me."
"I don't particularly resolve things. I just illuminate the path ahead a little, you might say? It would be troublesome if you expect too much. Haha."
When Sunya maintained his gentle demeanor, Ninala took a deep breath and continued.
"The truth is… it feels like I don't have a life of my own anywhere."
Always under her father's excessive protection, her future too was walking a flower garden her father had prepared. The only thing she had decided for herself so far was coming to Ku'ar to receive an education this time. Walking only the path others had set for her had, at some point, become so painful… and so on. Once the dam broke, the words poured out like a flood. It was something she hadn't even told those close to her, yet somehow she felt no resistance.
"…So I know that I'm talking from a place of privilege. But even knowing that, the emptiness inside me just won't go away. I can forget it for a while, but as time passes, it raises its head again as if to mock me. How can I erase this hollow feeling?"
Sunya waited until Ninala finished speaking before opening his mouth.
"I believe there are only three kinds of worries: enjoyable ones, unenjoyable ones, and those that fall somewhere in between."
"Pardon?"
"What I mean is that your worry is not something trivial. First, I'd like you to understand that."
"…Yes."
"And there are surprisingly many people who share worries similar to yours."
Ninala showed a surprised reaction at the words that many people shared the same insignificant worry as hers.
"Really?"
"Of course, the details differ. But commonly, they too feel that they have no life of their own after only walking the path their parents set for them."
"Ah…"
"Personally, when that happens, I recommend trying to step off the path once."
"Stepping off the path means…"
"Just as you chose to come to Ku'ar. Coming here was entirely your own choice, wasn't it?"
"…But what if I step off the path and something goes wrong? I might regret it and think I shouldn't have done it."
"So what if you regret it?"
"Pardon?"
Sunya opened his eyes. With a gentle smile and a soft voice, he said:
"Sometimes people think that once they leave the path, they can never return. But surprisingly, truly irreversible cases are few. After all, people grow by experiencing regret and mistakes."
"…What do you mean by that?"
"In a forest, there aren't only paths that people walk. Outside those paths it is rugged and dangerous, but if you make the effort, you can certainly return. Rather, through that process, you come to know the value of the path and learn how to be content. Or you discover an entirely new path."
"…"
"Failure and regret are not without value. For it is through experiencing failure that we can learn."