The Red Ghost’s Name
Canaria was heading down from the mountain, flyswatter in hand, having taken on a request from some obnoxious, hard-to-look-at client that felt a lot like this: "Sorry! I accidentally let a swarm of flies loose! They’re going to show up at your house soon, so could you deal with them for me?"
She had thought the Apostles duking it out at the foot of the mountain were unusually quiet, but it turned out the swarm the client had mentioned had already arrived.
There was no way they could have made it here from the Imperial capital so fast, which meant they must have used a teleport gate....
“Rich bastards.”
She didn’t know the details, but it definitely hadn’t been cheap.
Unless the Empire had somehow made some revolutionary breakthrough while she’d been holed up in the mountains, that was.
While she was silently clicking her tongue at the Empire’s lavish sense of money, the man who seemed to be the commander of the knights and someone Canaria knew well began talking.
Too far away to hear the conversation, but the Empire always said the same damn thing, didn’t they? What could it be this time?
The glory of the Black Sun, the greatness of the Empire, and all that crap....
She was sick of it. Wasn’t it about time they changed up the routine?
Still, setting aside how she felt, any ordinary person would probably feel pressure at a sight like this.
As annoying as it was, the Empire’s power was very real.
“Huh.”
She’d expected the Apostles to be scared too, but then things took a turn.
Joni and the Apostles, who had been whispering among themselves, began taking battle positions.
Watching that, Canaria’s eyes gleamed.
“Ooh....”
This was unexpected.
They had to know the power difference was overwhelming, and yet they were bravely drawing their weapons.
Maybe it was because they could die and come back to life, but even so, deciding to stand and fight couldn’t have been easy.
Well, they were the kind who’d keep charging even while I was cutting them down, so I guess it makes sense.
That explanation seemed plausible enough.
It would’ve been nice to have popcorn, but it wasn’t like popcorn was just going to materialize out of nowhere.
So, settling for second best, she perched on a cliff halfway up the mountain and watched the chicks chirping and peeping as they played.
The chicks bravely fighting the swarm of flies.
...That sounds kind of weird.
If you looked at the food chain, weren’t the chicks supposed to be the ones on top?
Anyway, as expected, the chicks weren’t doing so well.
The enemy commander hadn’t even stepped forward yet, and every time the knights’ swords flashed, the Apostles could only stumble backward without even managing a proper defense.
Still, not all the Apostles were being pushed back helplessly.
Some fought desperately, trying to hold the line.
The one that stood out most was the woman swinging a greatsword at the very front.
Her opponent looked like some low-ranking knight with little experience, but the way she pressed forward and kept up the assault was impressive.
At first glance it looked like she was just swinging wildly, but unlike the others, there was a seasoned edge to her movements.
Meanwhile, my shuttle… no, Joni—
“Yeah, that’s hopeless.”
She was standing a step behind, just watching everyone else fight.
If only she could match even half the courage of the greatsword chick.
She had seemed pretty admirable when she’d stood up to the knight commander, but then again, this was more like her.
Of course, even if Joni had fought seriously, it probably wouldn’t have helped much. But if she froze up in fear like that, she wouldn’t be able to react when danger came.
Just like now.
Seeing the commander gather mana again after launching his sword qi, Canaria let out a long sigh.
Then she brushed off her butt and stood, planting herself at the edge of the cliff.
“I thought I’d never have to draw my sword to protect anything again.”
She had to protect her precious shuttle… no, her disciple.
Her words kept slipping off target lately.
She kicked off the cliff with her right foot.
The scenery around her distorted and blurred like a smudged watercolor painting.
Instant acceleration.
Before anyone could blink, her body was standing dead center in the battlefield that had been far away only an instant ago.
A crescent-shaped sword qi, shimmering with bluish mana, came surging toward her face.
It was a pretty formidable strike—proof that the commander hadn’t just gotten his position by luck—but in the end, that was all it was.
This didn’t even require coating her blade with sword qi.
She raised her sword and cut through the seam of the attack.
Two clean strikes were enough to break apart the blow that had taken so many chicks’ lives.
The cape ripped.
The already shabby cape couldn’t keep up with her movement and tore apart in the end.
And she’d paid good money for it too....
She was still fussing over the cape in disappointment when Joni, standing behind her, shouted in a voice full of relief.
“Kana…!”
...I definitely told you to keep it a secret.
Why are you calling out so proudly?
Still, seeing her stand her ground instead of running from the Empire didn’t make that voice feel quite as annoying.
And besides, the situation was already beyond saving.
With Canaria’s sudden appearance, silence fell over the entire battlefield.
The knights who had been driving the Apostles back one-sidedly, the Apostles who had been forced to retreat under their pressure.
And even the Apostles who seemed to have sided with the Empire all stared at her with vacant expressions.
Well... nothing unusual there.
The ones who’d first met her on the battlefield had all made faces like that too.
And the next reaction was usually—
“K-Khahaha! So the infamous Red Reaper turns out to be this little brat? How utterly ridiculous! You were all afraid of someone like this?”
“...What are you even saying?”
Mockery and contempt.
The senile snake at least had the decency to speak in something she could understand, but this guy was babbling in a language only he seemed to know, having the time of his life.
She couldn’t understand the words, but between the sneering face and the foul look he kept dragging over her body, she could guess the meaning well enough.
As soon as the commander finished speaking, laughter spread among the knights.
One by one, the knights who had been clashing weapons began gathering behind him, but the Apostles didn’t dare stop them.
They seemed to realize that if they charged in recklessly, the one who would die was themselves.
“Mm....”
The crooked grins visible through their helmets.
She’d seen that kind of thing more than enough times to feel anything at all.
“You’re as rusty as that sword you’re swinging!”
“I told you, speak in a language people can actually understand.”
It sounded like he was trying to get under her skin, but what was the point if she couldn’t even understand him?
Was the snake brat so senile he couldn’t even manage his subordinates properly?
“If you’re a knight, speak with your sword.”
Rather than trying to communicate with words that wouldn’t get through anyway, Canaria lifted her blade.
“You do something pretty entertaining.”
She raised her sword high, just as the commander had done.
With the kind of momentum that seemed ready to pierce the sun hanging overhead.
“That’s not how you do it.”
It had been powerful enough, but in the end it was nothing more than brute force mana being dumped out in a single release.
No finesse, just plain, stupid swordsmanship.
He was using 100 mana to get 50 efficiency and looking proud of himself, which was honestly hilarious.
“I’ll teach you a thing or two, so watch closely and learn.”
The briefest flicker of an eye.
The sword that had been pointing up at the heavens was already pointed toward the ground.
Crk-crk-crack!
Her mouth curled.
“Get it now?”
How pathetic you are.
* * *
A dramatic entrance straight out of a comic-book hero.
Joni stared blankly at Canaria’s back, at the figure that had appeared like a miracle to save her.
Her face wasn’t visible, but even from behind it was obvious that Canaria had the shape of a little girl.
The viewers weren’t the only ones shocked by that delicate back, so completely out of place with such horrifying power.
As if she had been on the battlefield from the start, Canaria had appeared in an instant and casually erased the sword qi that had devoured so many players; every gaze on the field turned toward her.
Fine was stunned when he saw Canaria’s face.
“This is real... really real...?”
This was real, seriously?
As if echoing his feelings, the chat room erupted.
Lazy-looking pink eyes blinked slowly.
Her hair, swaying softly in the wind, stirred an almost irresistible urge to reach out and pet it.
How soft would it feel, winding through his fingers like that as he combed it back?
Her round little face and gently curved eyes softened the impression she gave, making her seem even more like a girl.
A face so cute it could make you forget your words for a moment.
How could someone with a face like that, a face that looked like it couldn’t even catch a single bug, display such terrifying power?
The shocking truth that the Gravekeeper who had killed him countless times was actually a cute little girl made Fine’s brain come to a screeching halt.
But Joni, who couldn’t see Canaria’s face, was only thinking about one thing: worry.
Canaria is strong, sure, but....
She didn’t think Canaria could beat all those knights.
It was hard for the few to beat the many, but it wasn’t surprising for the many to beat the few.
And the more people there were, the fewer casualties there tended to be when they won.
In a fight, numbers mattered that much.
The raid boss can die and come back to life, but right now, this isn’t a raid...?
She didn’t know why Canaria, who had been buried away in some corner of the mountain, had suddenly appeared here.
But since she had once run away before, Joni was willing to let that slide.
Still, unlike back then, the instance channel hadn’t been separated as it had been in a raid, and the fact that there was no HP bar meant she wasn’t even being classified as a boss.
Which meant she was no different from any other NPC.
Run... run...!
Unlike Joni, who could die and resurrect, Canaria couldn’t come back if she died.
Realizing that, Joni tried to tell her to run, but her body, frozen by the fear of death, couldn’t even get the words out properly.
Canaria, not hearing Joni’s warning, raised her sword.
It was exactly the same motion the commander had used.
“I’ll teach you a thing or two, so watch closely and learn.”
Canaria’s arm blurred.
“...?”
The next instant, the girl’s sword, which had clearly been pointing at the sky, was aimed at the ground.
Had Joni missed the swing because her eyes were tired?
She was just about to rub them when—
Crk-crk-crack!
The air.
The knights.
The ground.
Everything in the path of the sword’s line was split in half.
KWA-CRASH!
The knights who had been laughing at Canaria were cut in two with the very same mocking expressions still on their faces, then swallowed whole by the gaping maw of the abyss.
The battlefield sank into silence once more at that divine display that refused to be believed even after seeing it with one’s own eyes.
“W-what, what the hell is...?”
Whether he had been just outside the strike’s range by luck, or intentionally spared, the commander’s eyes roiled like rough waves as he watched more than half of his subordinates vanish in an instant.
The faces that had been laughing so smugly just a moment ago had gone white with terror.
...They were trying to take that on?
Haha. What a trash game.
Fine let out a hollow laugh.
So she really had been playing with them all this time.
Even from a quick glance, the trench looked deeper than ten meters.
And that was saying nothing of its length.
She wanted them to catch a monster who could split the earth open with a single swing?
“Yeah, no.”
No. Absolutely not.
As of today, the Canaria raid had been shut down for service....
While Fine was making that solemn vow, Joni had also been thrown into shock.
She had known Canaria was strong, but she never imagined she was this strong.
The knights who had been so casually cutting down players until now had disappeared by more than half in an instant.
The surviving knights were in bad shape too.
Their fighting spirit, which had soared sky-high, had been crushed in a single breath, and their faces said they wanted nothing more than to turn and run right now.
Well, how could it not break if you saw something like that?
Why did the knights, who had seemed so terrifying just a moment ago, now look pathetic?
Joni suddenly felt like Canaria’s tiny back was as broad and tall as a mountain.
“A-monster! No! You monster bitch!”
“That reaction’s old news too.”
Whether the commander screamed in terror or not, Canaria calmly shook the hand holding her sword.
Fsssh.
“Ah.”
“Huh?”
“...!”
The sword in the girl’s hand crumbled into powder and scattered away.
Canaria gave a short exclamation. Joni made a dazed sound, unable to process what was happening. And the commander, who had been sunk in despair, suddenly lit up and his eyes gleamed.
“N-now’s our chance! Everyone, charge, charge!”
“So that’s what you do when you think you’ve caught a break.”
Snorting, Canaria reached for her waist.
Rustle, rustle.
Rustle... rustle.
...Rustle.
Her hand grew slower and slower until it finally stopped.
“...and I didn’t bring one.”
The knights had already reached right in front of Canaria.
Instinctively, they understood that if they didn’t seize this moment, they’d never get another chance.
Watching them hurl themselves forward with desperate, feral faces, Joni grabbed frantically at Canaria’s clothes.
“Kana!”
Sensing her, Canaria looked back, and when Joni finally saw her face for the first time, she sucked in a breath—but immediately steadied herself and held out her sword.
“I-I’ll give you my sword! Use this!”
But Canaria didn’t take it.
“Sword, take it!”
Maybe she hadn’t understood it in Arkish.
Joni repeated herself in Granic, but Canaria still didn’t accept the sword.
Even with the knights closing in by the second, the girl only stared at Joni with calm eyes.
Joni saw all manner of emotions surging through Canaria’s seemingly indifferent gaze.
Red, blue, black, and bright emotions.
She didn’t know the identity of that swirling torrent—so vivid it was almost unbearable, so heavy it seemed to drip with longing.
But if she were to give it a name, it would probably be longing.
Joni, who had been lost in the daze of Canaria’s pink eyes, suddenly came to herself.
She had wanted to keep looking forever, but now was not the time.
We’re going to die like this!
I might not care, but you actually will!
Joni was hopping in place with panic when, at last, Canaria’s mouth opened.
“Canaria Grasis.”
“...Huh?”
“That’s my name.”
In that same indifferent voice she always used, the girl took the sword Joni had offered her.
Then—
Swish.
With the sound of something being quietly severed, the world split in two.