Heavenly Decree
Daphne lifted her shield first and used its edge to sever the collars around her own neck and those of her younger siblings.
Collar Severed
The leather tore with a sharp crack, and suddenly everyone’s necks were free. Her siblings stared at her in confusion, but Daphne offered them a gentle smile, reassuring them that everything would be all right.
“Filthy wretch, die!”
At Meldin’s command, a soldier swung his sword straight at her. But the attack was blocked so effortlessly it felt almost pathetic.
Clang!
The sound of steel striking shield rang out. Daphne’s eyes had changed completely from the gentle gaze she’d shown her siblings. She peered out from behind the shield. The soldier, realizing this moment defied all common sense, tried to pull his sword back—but Daphne slammed the edge of her shield into his wrist before he could.
Thwack!
The soldier dropped his weapon instantly. Daphne had been waiting for exactly that opening. She snatched up the fallen sword. She had never truly wielded one before, but she had learned the basics. That would be enough.
The only problem was that her arms were still too frail. The sword felt far heavier than expected. The shield was the same. She was holding it through sheer willpower, but an iron shield was never going to be light.
Still, dealing with a soldier who no longer even had a weapon was nothing to her.
Before she met Arien, even breathing had been difficult. Yet she had endured the brutal training of the infamous Silver Eagle Legion. With that kind of monstrous mental fortitude, how could she possibly fail to handle a disarmed soldier?
Shunk!
She drove the sword into the gap at the shoulder joint of his armor. Her shorter stature actually helped here—most armor left the lower sections relatively open. The same was true at the knees.
Slice!
After the shoulder came the knee, and finally the neck of the man who had collapsed helplessly to the ground.
Squelch!
Even with the heavy sword, she severed his head in a single clean stroke. Blood sprayed like a fountain. Everyone present froze in horror.
Her siblings, seeing Daphne suddenly transform into something terrifying, burst into terrified sobs. Meldin stared in disbelief—he had never imagined she could defeat a soldier. Even Garios was looking at her with new eyes. He believed he had found someone who truly embodied the saying that one well-trained general was worth ten soldiers. His expression was one of pure fascination.
But fascination was one thing. Survival was another.
Daphne had no time to savor anyone’s reactions. Another soldier’s blade was already coming for her.
Facing two opponents at once might have been extremely difficult, but the remaining soldier was just that—a common, low-level soldier and nothing more. His sword swung in such a straightforward, honest arc that Daphne actually scoffed. She deflected it with a smooth parry.
There were several ways to defend with a shield depending on the situation. The most basic was a direct block. The second was a deflection, also known as “flowing.” The third was a parry that knocked the attack aside. And finally, there was the shield bash, based on the principle that the best defense is a good offense.
This time, Daphne chose the second option—deflection.
Scraaaape!
The iron shield seemed to meet the sword head-on, only to tilt at the perfect angle. The soldier’s blade shot uselessly toward the ground. Because he had put his full weight behind the attack, his balance collapsed and his upper body lurched forward.
Daphne didn’t miss the opening. Her movement was that of a battle-hardened general. Once again, her sword drew a clean line across his throat.
The motion was so fast that anyone without considerable skill wouldn’t have even been able to follow it. As if to prove the point, the sword that had just taken a life made almost no sound as it passed through the air.
Clap. Clap. Clap. Clap.
“Haha! What an incredible slave you’ve raised, Meldin! How about it? She seems rather difficult to dispose of. Sell her to me! I’ll pay you handsomely.”
Count Garios spoke with open greed, as if offering to replace the fallen slaves right then and there. Daphne, who had instinctively raised her shield toward the next threat, felt rage boil up at his words. She glared at him so fiercely it seemed her eyes might burn holes through him. The way he treated slaves like mere objects made her sick.
“Yes, please take her! I have no need for a bitch like that in my hands.”
Meldin’s immediate agreement made Daphne’s irritation spike even higher.
I need to deal with that bastard first.
She was about to move when—
“Bind!”
Count Garios cast his spell. It seemed the so-called noble had at least one trick up his sleeve—he was a mage. His skill didn’t appear particularly high, and a low-tier spell like Bind could normally be broken by raising one’s aura.
But then—
Oh no. This body still can’t use aura!
Her feet were bound tight. To make matters worse, the commotion had drawn even more soldiers. Her plan to finish this quickly and escape while they were deep in enemy territory had just fallen apart.
“Well then, what will you do now? With that frail little body of yours.”
Count Garios looked at the bound Daphne with an expression full of expectation. Meldin, watching from the side, praised him profusely. Having feared the shadow of death creeping closer, he didn’t forget to wipe the cold sweat from his brow. Unlike Garios, Meldin was neither a mage nor an academy graduate. As a newly risen noble, all he knew was business and playing with money. He had almost no combat ability, which made him terrified of battle.
“Serves you right, you wretched bitch.”
Yet no matter how strong the opponent, once they were tied up, courage tended to appear. And the target was a slave he had once toyed with. Even nonexistent courage could be summoned in such a situation. That was why Daphne felt so utterly miserable with her feet bound.
At that moment, the soldiers who had arrived late followed Meldin’s orders and began tying up her siblings again. The violence of it didn’t even need to be described.
Stop! Please stop!
Forced to watch, Daphne felt like her heart would burst. She wept bitterly, lamenting that her voice still wouldn’t come out.
Thud!
Daphne threw her only weapon in a final act of resistance. One soldier was cut by the blindly thrown sword. Another was struck in the back of the head by the flying shield and lost consciousness.
“Throwing it isn’t bad either,” Count Garios remarked, never missing a chance to offer his commentary.
Now Daphne had nothing left. She would become a slave again, and her siblings would surely be killed. Even in this dire situation, her voice still refused to return. Tears poured down her face as strength drained from her entire body.
That was when something completely unexpected happened.
“This won’t do. You lot are all rotten. I’ll just buy new slaves. Obedient ones. Kill them all!”
Meldin’s thunderous command rang out. He had just ordered her siblings killed right in front of her. The soldiers moved to carry out his will without hesitation.
Srrrrng!
The sound of steel sliding from scabbards echoed one after another.
There was a brief moment of hesitation in their eyes, but an order was an order.
No!!!!
The eyes of the sibling she loved most went lifeless. Strength left her body and she collapsed, like a tree whose roots had been severed.
No…
“…Don’t. Hic… Haaaaa! Ramiya!”
From that moment on, a wail loud enough to tear the heavens echoed across the battlefield. Ramiya was the sibling who always saved the last bite of food and brought the bowl to her. But it didn’t end there. The faces of her siblings slowly dying from poisoning refused to leave her mind. As the sky seemed to collapse, the faces of her other siblings overlapped one after another.
“Silva! Miranda! Martin! Bueno! Don’t leave me! Haaaaang!”
Her cries rang out like a single ray of light piercing through a collapsing sky. And so the world crumbled.
“Haaaaaaa…”
“Daphne, are you all right?”
“Hic… Lord Gruon… my siblings… they all died…”
With those words, Daphne had finally regained her voice. It was still weak, but Gruon heard her clearly. Daphne herself realized she was speaking, yet the tears would not stop. The fact that her siblings would never return filled her with unbearable sorrow.
“Haaaaaaaang!!!”
It was far too powerful a cry for someone who had only just found her voice again.
“It’s all right. It’s okay. Ramiya, Silva, Miranda, Martin, and Bueno… they’ve all gone to a better place.”
Gruon held her tightly as he spoke. Tears flowed from his own eyes as well. Though he made no sound, those tears conveyed deep empathy for Daphne’s pain. Even Bagan, who had not shed a single tear during the entire ordeal, could not suppress the sadness he felt. While he didn’t cry, his heart grew strangely heavy.
Once he had collected himself, Gruon turned to Arien, who had withdrawn all her divided bodies.
“Thank you so much, Miss Arien. I don’t know how I can ever repay this kindness…”
Seeing Gruon’s heartfelt gratitude, Arien smiled softly and replied, “It is nothing. Arien is also happy to have successfully treated her first proper patient. Please direct your thanks to Lord Bagan. If not for him, Arien would not exist.”
Arien had always thought this way. She had vowed to follow Bagan for life after he saved her from becoming nothing more than a hunted monster.
“Huh? You don’t have to go that far…”
Bagan scratched his head awkwardly at the embarrassing praise, but Arien’s words were not wrong. If Bagan had not recognized her trait and given her those books, the current Arien would not exist.
“Y-yes! Bagan! I knew you would pull it off! My last remaining hope has come true!”
Gruon was overwhelmed with emotion.
“Thank you. Truly, thank you!”
He even grabbed Bagan’s hand and shook it vigorously. Daphne, who had finally stopped crying, did the same.
“R-really… th-thank you. All three of you.”
Her speech was still slightly awkward since she had only just regained her voice, but it was a pleasant, gentle tone. Just as Bagan was thinking this—
“A-and there is something I would like to tell only those of you here.”
“Hm? What is it, Daphne?”
Gruon was, of course, the first to show interest.
“A-after regaining my voice… I realized something.”
Since she was speaking to Bagan’s group as well and not just Gruon, it seemed to be related to her voice. Bagan listened with great curiosity.
A new blessing has been born.
Heavenly Decree (天命)
“What?”
Bagan reacted first this time. He had not expected those words at all. As someone obsessed with traits, he couldn’t help but be interested.
“It must be that the gods have answered your voice,” Gruon said, even invoking gods he didn’t believe in.
“Y-yes, it seems so. The blessing that appeared is called ‘Heavenly Decree.’ I will need to examine its exact abilities more closely, but… from what I can vaguely sense, it seems to grant power to my voice.”
Bagan was stunned when he heard the name of the new trait. He knew exactly what it was.
Of course I know it… It’s an S-rank trait, for crying out loud.
Heavenly Decree was a top-tier trait for command and leadership. It was incredibly useful when directing troops, subordinates, or even managing a nation. Its greatest effect was that it infused the user’s voice with divine power. Just the name “Heavenly Decree” made its nature obvious. Thanks to it, male characters could become paladins, and female characters could become valkyries.
In other words—
It means she could become a target of the Holy Kingdom of Prien.
After thinking it through, Bagan spoke.
“Obtaining a blessing is a good thing, but it would be best not to reveal it publicly.”
His words were meant for both Daphne and Gruon.
“I agree. She still needs time to stabilize, and there’s no reason to expose our full strength.”
“That too, but Heavenly Decree feels like the kind of blessing the Holy Kingdom would target.”
“A target of the Holy Kingdom… That is certainly possible. If they suddenly get involved, things could become dangerous. Those who claim to carry out the will of the gods rarely listen to reason.”
Gruon understood Bagan’s meaning immediately. He also thought it best to keep it hidden for the sake of Seiros Kingdom’s current political situation.
“It was wise of you to tell only us, Daphne.”
“N-not at all.”
Daphne seemed to have something more to say. She hesitated, lips moving silently as she looked at Gruon.
“Your mouth looks itchy. Go on, say it! Speak freely! Hahaha.”
Gruon, not understanding the weight of what was coming, simply encouraged her with his usual good nature. But when he heard what Daphne said next, he doubted his own ears.
“Fifteen years ago… thank you so much for saving me.”
This time, she spoke without a single stutter, enunciating each word clearly with all her strength. She even bowed deeply. Her sincere effort touched Gruon’s heart deeply.
“…I should be the one thanking you. For always staying by my side.”
And so, their love deepened once again.