The Sword Queen's Restless Vigil
The Heavenly Slaughter Star prepares. “I-Isn’t it about time he showed up…?”
Round and round she goes. Rionne spins aimlessly through the garden in front of the house. She bites her nails in agitation, then catches herself and pulls her hand away. A moment later her legs start trembling, and she slaps her own thigh in surprise.
“F-Forest Owner, Enoch will come back today, won’t he…?”
[The spirit said so, didn’t she? Then that’s that.]
A voice drifts down from the empty air. The Forest’s Owner, unable to leave the forest for various reasons, sends thoughts riding on the wind.
Rionne fidgets as though she might suffocate at any moment, bouncing in place. “W-What should I do when Enoch gets back? First I’ll apologize, and then….”
[Weren’t you going to scold him? That habit of charging in first really ought to be fixed.]
“W-Well, yes, but… still….”
Her legs refuse to stay still, shaking violently. The Forest’s Owner turns away, fearing that watching any longer will make even an ancient guardian feel anxious.
[Just wait a little. If that boy is determined to run here, it won’t take long—]
“W-Whaaaaat…!?!!?”
The Forest’s Owner flinches and hurriedly covers both ears with a fluffy tail. The distance from the forest to the elf’s house is considerable, yet the volume is practically sonic magic.
[Haah… What on earth happened now?]
She used to be so composed—almost cold. How did the elf end up like this? Is this what the passage of time does?
‘Time truly is fleeting.’
A new realization dawns on the Forest’s Owner just as a tearful voice reaches her ears.
“E-Enoch… Enoch isn’t coming home…!”
The elf looks ready to collapse and burst into sobs at any second.
[…Oh dear.]
The Forest’s Owner offers silent condolences. Not to the elf—to herself.
‘…She’s going to stay like this until the boy arrives, isn’t she?’
Her fur seems to be shedding more than usual lately.
*
Unfortunately, the heart-pounding rematch with the exhausted lord never materializes. If Enoch had insisted, Undine might have started foaming at the mouth. That would have been mildly entertaining, but he backs down for now.
The next day, after finishing his rest, Enoch steps outside. As if on cue, the lord arrives with his knights.
“I offer my thanks to Lady Undine. Thanks to you, we weathered the monster wave without casualties.”
[Did I do it? This kid did almost everything.]
“Yes, I thank you as well, Enoch.”
“Yeah.”
“I couldn’t even find the right moment to send reinforcements. Just as I was about to, Lady Undine finished it.”
“Yeah.”
“You don’t seem particularly interested….”
While half-listening, Enoch glances around and spots Max and his former party members in the distance. They seem to be heading somewhere. When their eyes meet, Max flinches. The sight makes Enoch briefly consider teasing him, but he decides against it.
“By the way, the Sword Queen’s disciple, huh… I received the official notice, but you should still be careful.”
“…?”
“Some lords might not realize you’re her disciple, and not everyone reads official documents diligently. Moreover, since we don’t know how the Sword Queen will react, we only informed the lords for now. Most people still don’t know you exist.”
So what? If someone picks a fight, he’ll just fight back. Reading Enoch’s expression, the lord swallows a sigh.
“You may not care, but others will. If you get caught up in some incident in someone’s territory, that territory’s name will change overnight.”
Perhaps even the kingdom’s name could change. The title Sword Queen carried that much weight.
“Just how strong is Rionne, anyway?”
[Don’t know? But remember there are plenty of people stronger than Rionne too.]
What kind of place was this continent? It didn’t seem fit for ordinary people to live on. It might be fun, but one slip could turn him into a corpse—or maybe not even leave a trace.
“…If we ranked the strong, the Sword Queen would easily be in the top hundred. No, perhaps within the top thirty—maybe even the top twenty.”
[If you can’t count them on both hands, there are a lot of them.]
“What an absurd standard….”
Leaving the lamenting lord behind, Enoch wanders through the city. He buys some new clothes and changes his mask. While he’s at it, he picks an expensive, high-quality one. It’s plain white with no patterns, but the merchant’s talk of rare wood, comfort, and the engineering behind the eye holes suggests it’s a fine piece. Money? The lord paid.
“Next time you visit, please send word in advance.”
“If I remember.”
Ah. Enoch continues. “We’ll have another match then.”
“That, I welcome as a fellow warrior.”
The lord’s lips curve slightly as he extends a hand. Enoch clasps it, and the callused palm shakes up and down a few times.
“I’m off.”
With those words, lightning erupts beneath Enoch’s feet.
BOOM—!
In an instant, his figure vanishes into the distance.
““Hail!!””
The knights salute the departing figure. The lord watches the streak across the blue sky for a moment before turning away.
“Let’s go back.”
*
[Where are you going now? Rionne looks like she’s about to stop breathing.]
“…I’ll be back soon.”
It might be a joke, but if she actually stopped breathing, that would be troublesome. Enoch increases his speed.
BOOM—!
The distant ground rushes past. Exploding Gang Qi in midair and riding the recoil, his speed is no joke. At this rate, he’ll reach his destination in no time.
[When you get back, you have to apologize first, right?]
“……”
[Wait, you’re not going to?! You ungrateful brat! Do you have any idea how Rionne raised you…?!]
Enoch swings his arm, but Undine easily dodges.
[If you just stay quiet, Rionne will probably apologize first, but even so! This is all because of your reckless behavior!]
“…I’ll do it, so shut up.”
[You better! If you don’t, I won’t let you off!]
“…What are you even saying? Annoying.”
[Grr…!!]
How long has he been flying while arguing life-and-death with the screeching Undine? In the distance, his destination comes into view.
[Ugh, this is so frustrating! Huh? That place is…]
Dendalo. The small city where Rionne and Enoch occasionally went on outings.
*
Enoch suddenly thinks, ‘I could probably just jump over the walls now. Maybe I should land right inside the city?’
Looking down, he notices a faint dome-shaped spell formation in the sky above the city. It’s nothing impressive—just for detecting intruders. Can he dispel it? After a brief consideration, he gives up. He’s good at breaking things, but delicate dismantling of spell formations isn’t his forte.
Instead of causing unnecessary trouble, Enoch enters Dendalo through the front gate and looks up.
“Ah.”
[Hm?]
“I didn’t check the city’s name.”
Undine speaks as if he’s hopeless.
[It’s Latimos.]
“You know this city?”
[The lord’s name is something like ‘K whatever de Latimos,’ so obviously it’s Latimos.]
“How do you know the lord’s name?”
[He told us earlier, you idiot!]
“Did he?”
Enoch scratches his head and keeps walking. The destination isn’t far.
“By the way, the lord seemed like a Master, but why is he so old?”
Even if only half-baked, by the definition of the realm itself, he qualifies as a Master. Once someone opens their meridians and possesses a certain amount of mana, they’re called a Master. That’s why Rionne said realm and strength aren’t necessarily the same thing.
When he looks at Undine with the question in his eyes, an immediate answer comes.
[Rionne’s even older than him.]
“…I see.”
[Traitor…!]
Enoch has never been on Undine’s side. He’s always been on Rionne’s.
[Well, the higher your realm, the slower you age, but you don’t stop aging completely. It also depends on the race.]
“So humans are the problem after all?”
[Wow, this guy.]
While Undine marvels at the Heavenly Slaughter Star’s true personality, they arrive at their destination. A rather large, well-built building for Dendalo. It’s the headquarters of the Giant Clan, whose leader once claimed she could have a proper fight with the lord.
Knock knock—!
When he raps on the door, a man emerges looking half-asleep.
“Yaaawn… What is it?”
The man blinks. Black hood, pure white mask. Short in stature, but the overall impression is convincing enough to pass for an assassin.
“Heh.”
The man stares blankly for a moment, then suddenly snaps to attention and shouts.
“Intruder…!!”
*
The clan leader’s office. In the space where the man who raised the false alarm is bowing his head, Enoch lounges casually in a chair.
“Long time no see.”
“It’s been ages!”
Capri, leader of the Giant Clan. The massive woman, a B-rank mercenary who once got beaten by Enoch, greets him warmly.
“Did you prepare what I asked for?”
“All ready.”
Capri chuckles mischievously. When she’d been knocked out last time and a knight tried to take her away, Enoch had stopped it. For some reason, that changed her completely.
“Just who is this monster kid trying to woo? I can’t even imagine.”
“I’m not trying to woo anyone.”
“Sure looks like it.”
“…Shut up.”
Capri grins slyly and shouts with mana-infused voice. “Hey! Bring the stuff I prepared!”
Soon the door opens and a man rushes in, holding out a box.
“Here it is!”
“Good, go rest.”
“Yes!”
The man salutes sloppily and trots away. Capri sets the box on the desk and smiles.
“The item’s ready. The rest, I prepared myself.”
“……?”
Enoch tilts his head.
“Does that even make sense?”
“No need to react that much, is there…?”
Capri stands and gestures. “Well, follow me. You’ll believe it when you see it.”