Chapter 78
Chapter 78
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: penny
Chapter: 78
Chapter Title: The Spring of Destiny
-----------------------------------------------------------------
78
“Ahem… Lady, my servant has been rude.”
“The rude one is you. Get lost.”
He was consistent, that much.
“Ku… Do you know who I am?! I graced you with my words because you’re pretty, and now you’re acting all high and mighty!”
“Hey, hey, calm down and go enjoy the hot springs.”
I stood up and blocked the guy approaching Eres.
“Oh ho, so you’ve got someone you’re relying on?”
He scanned my body up and down. I was tall and pretty muscular, so he must’ve pegged me as some bodyguard.
“Out of my way! You lowly cur!”
The puffy-haired noble slapped my cheek like he had his servant. But I wasn’t about to budge from something like that.
“Gah!”
Instead, his hand hurt, and he clutched it while yelling.
“You bastard!”
He wasn’t a warrior but a mage, apparently—flames burst from his right hand.
I twisted my body sideways to dodge the fire and grabbed his hand, snapping it back.
“Gaaah! You… You think you’ll get away with this?! Wait! I’ll wipe out your entire clan!”
The puffy-haired noble spat some clichéd line as he retreated. If Eres stepped in, a guy like that would turn to dust in seconds, so I’d intervened out of pity—but that pity was fading fast.
“It’s about to get noisy, so shall we head in?”
“Why should I? I’m comfortable right now.”
Whatever.
I slipped back into the hot springs. You never know—he might actually give up after all that talk. Puffy-hair might—
“Those damn filthy wretches!”
Nope, no giving up. Had he given up on his life? The commotion drew the tourists around us, who scattered in a hurry.
I let out a deep sigh and stood.
“Attack!”
Before I could say a word, a few knights swung their swords at me. They were at least B-Rank—their momentum was fierce enough.
I deflected the incoming blades with the armor on my arms alone and fairly gave each a punch to the gut, emptying their stomachs.
“Tch… So dirty. Can’t you do this cleanly?”
“…I’m sorry.”
Eres said it lightly, but the intense pressure from her glare made me apologize without thinking. It wasn’t even a big mistake—did she have to stare like that? But what could I do? I was the powerless one here.
“Ku… Guards! Guards!”
Puffy-hair called for more guards without tiring, and knights and mages came swarming in. I didn’t want to kill anyone over something this petty, but subduing that many without serious injury was harder than killing them.
“You’re not going to help?”
“I don’t interfere in human affairs.”
“Come on, you’ve already been throwing money around and enjoying the hot springs?”
What kind of arbitrary rule was that?
“Want to go back to the swamp?”
“No, ma’am.”
No choice. I’d have to hold them off until we reached Eres’s castle.
I knocked away the incoming knights’ attacks and spells so they wouldn’t reach Eres. Attacks were landing on me too, so I armored up my whole body.
“D… Dragon Knight! Call the Master!”
I didn’t know what a Dragon Knight was, but it was obvious the Master showing up would be a headache.
While I grabbed the throat of the guy running off to fetch him and knocked him out, Puffy-hair took advantage of the gap to grab at Eres’s hair.
“No!”
I twisted back in a hurry, but it was too late. There were too many; I couldn’t block the one sneaking up on Eres.
Just as Puffy-hair’s fingers were about to touch Eres’s hair.
The whites of Eres’s eyes turned pitch black. The sun was up, but it grew dark as if no light could touch the ground, and everything around froze like time itself had stopped. I couldn’t move either, and with every second, my life force was draining away.
That lasted a few seconds before the pressure lifted, and the knights and mages around me collapsed like marionettes with cut strings.
“He’s… dead?”
The others had just fainted, but Puffy-hair—who’d been closest to Eres—had his heart stopped.
“…”
“You don’t interfere in human affairs?”
“…This much is fine. A vermin like him dying won’t shake the world. Ahem, we’ve had our fun—let’s go.”
“You… after causing all this mess?”
“We can head up to the Spring of Destiny now.”
Truth be told, I had no complaints about leaving quickly. Sticking around would just make things bigger. The tourists had cleared out, and our attackers were all out cold—no one would know where we went.
No luggage to grab, so I called Maron right away, hopped in the carriage, and headed for the Spring of Destiny.
“It’s not time yet, ma’am.”
Eres tossed a gold coin.
“Open the gate!”
The iron gates parted left and right, clearing a path for the carriage.
“You’ll have to go on foot from here.”
After passing the gates and driving the carriage slowly for about five minutes, another staff member stood guard at the start of a trail.
We got out and walked the path toward the spring. We weren’t the only ones—a few other groups were heading there too.
“Tch… Quite a crowd.”
“If we cut in line here, it’ll just cause more trouble. Better to wait patiently.”
No one seemed to be chasing us anyway.
“Hmph.”
Surprisingly, Eres went along with it.
Following the crowd slowly, we emerged into a small clearing surrounded by forest trees. It looked like a natural space, but there was an unnatural异質感 that didn’t fit.
In the center stood a single slanted rock—no sign of the spring anywhere.
“Watch.”
As Eres said, I observed quietly. A young noblewoman stepped up to the rock when her turn came and slipped her hand underneath.
Peering down, I saw water pooled beneath the rock. But it clung there as if gravity worked backward, shaped like a tiny spring.
“How does that work?”
“Doesn’t your world have things like this?”
“Nope.”
“Just watch.”
The noblewoman dipped her hand into the spring. The air around it seemed severed, and a humming sound emanated from within.
[You will soon marry the man you love. You will bear three children, and all of them will hold important positions in the Empire.]
“Hm? So it tells you verbally like that?”
“You can hear it?”
“Yeah.”
I could navigate underwater terrain with sound waves, after all. It wasn’t perfectly isolated; faint air vibrations let me make it out.
“You’ve got some useless talents.”
Whatever Eres said, I kept listening.
[The business you invested in will prosper many times over. Your name will always be on people’s lips wherever the Empire’s money gathers.]
[You will become a Master. Starting as vice-captain of the Imperial Knights, you will rise to captain of the 1st Knight Order.]
No way everyone here was a big shot, but every prophecy was glowing.
My turn came, and I put my hand in the spring.
[You will avert ruin. There will be hardship, but the fruit of that hardship will be sweet. What you truly desire—peaceful days with your loved ones—is not far off.]
I pulled my hand out and returned to Eres.
“You knew, didn’t you?”
“Keukekeuk…”
Eres laughed mischievously.
“Sigh… What a waste of time.”
“How did you know?”
“I got hit by a cursed sword once—felt similar. That’s some kind of monster or spirit, right? It just says what you want to hear?”
“Exactly. An ancient spirit. Don’t hate it. It’s a benevolent one, just trying to boost people’s spirits. Word’s spread among visitors—they don’t come expecting miracles. But most who hear its words succeed, even if not exactly as foretold.”
“Fair enough. A voice like that guaranteeing success would give anyone a confidence boost.”
It had been a waste of time and left me drained, but there was something mystical in that voice. Made you really believe things would work out.
“Can we go now?”
“Let’s.”
We returned to the carriage together and left the Spring of Destiny village. I worried Puffy-hair’s crew might come after us, but no pursuit—maybe they hadn’t woken yet.
“Hmm… Something feels off. Things never go this smoothly for me…”
“What a timid one you are.”
We rode on in the carriage.
Passing scenic countryside, we stopped at a small village diner for some quick provisions.
“Did you hear about that?”
“The witch? Who hasn’t these days?”
We entered, ordered food, and while waiting, overheard the locals chatting.
“They’re capturing Imperials and torturing them, I hear?”
“Word is, she’s the wife of a general executed by the Emperor. She turned witch out of grudge.”
“Witches are real?”
I asked Eres.
“There’s no such race as witches. But humans love calling women who use dark-feeling magic ‘witches.’”
“…”
“Can’t you clear the snow? Insolent fool. I am darkness itself—I am the dark.”
“But the damage sounds bad. Everyone in this diner’s talking about nothing else.”
“So what?”
“Just… yeah.”
“Helping wouldn’t mean anything. The Empire’s vast, and stuff like this happens endlessly.”
A flicker of bitterness crossed Eres’s face before vanishing.
She had a point. I didn’t have time to run around for an enemy nation’s people. Getting back to Earth was priority one.
We ate lightly, grabbed extra rations, and left the diner.
We pressed west in the carriage.
“How much longer like this?”
I asked the coachman Maron.
“Two more days at least.”
This wasn’t some crude medieval Earth carriage—the wheels and undercarriage were well-made, so it sped along the paved road faster than expected. Still, running would obviously be quicker.
I was antsy, but Eres lounged comfortably half-reclined, munching dried fruit, looking in no rush.
“Whew…”
No helping it. I emptied my mind and stared out the window.
“Maron, stop for a bit.”
We’d been riding along, gazing out, when far off I spotted a carriage tipped on its side.
“Go check that way.”
“You mean over there? There’s nothing—just off-road…”
Maron squinted where I pointed, but it was too distant for him to see.
“Just go.”
“It won’t change anything.”
Eres said curtly.
“I’ll just take a quick look.”
Up close, the horror came into view.
The carriage lay half-destroyed on its side, horse nowhere in sight—probably fled. Bars jutted everywhere; it looked built for prisoners, not passengers. Around it sprawled knights slaughtered brutally.
“Hm… This is?”
Looking at the knights’ wounds, something felt… familiar.