Thank You for Saving Me
With a dull, heavy thud, the pallid carcass crashed against the earth. Beside it, the demon's severed head rolled across the dirt.
"Whew... That's the last of them!"
A burly boy with dark reddish-black hair wiped the sweat glistening on his brow and surveyed his surroundings. Aside from the trampled grass left in the wake of their brief clash, the plains remained serene, as though nothing out of the ordinary had occurred.
When he released his grip, his halberd clattered heavily onto the soil. With an axe blade forged seamlessly alongside a lethal spearhead, the weapon had been his steadfast companion ever since the moment he had awakened into this world with an utterly hollow mind.
Recalling the instructions he had received earlier, he drew a hunting dagger from his pocket.
'Mr. Gardner, today you need only retrieve what you usually bring back.'
With practiced ease, he carved open the demon's chest. After a few deft strokes, the prize he sought revealed itself.
It was a rough, stone-like nodule shimmering with ripples of golden mana. Ryan wiped it clean with a scrap of cloth and slipped it into his pocket.
His task for the day was finished. Mounting his mana bike, he set off on the return journey to the research facility.
A solitary building of ash-gray concrete stood amidst the open plains. When Ryan pushed the door open, a neat-looking man with light blond hair stepped forward to greet him.
"You have worked hard today. No abnormalities with your body, I trust?"
"None. I'm fine, as you can see."
"What a relief. I noted as much when we first crossed paths, but your combat prowess is truly exceptional. I had worried you might sustain an injury."
"The demon I fought back then was stronger. Besides... I suppose I've grown more accustomed to fighting."
"Accustomed, you say... Every time I observe you, Mr. Gardner, you never cease to amaze me. Handling such a foe alone would have proven difficult for an ordinary knight. You have been of tremendous help."
"It's all thanks to you, Mr. Robert. If you hadn't taken me in, I'd probably still be wandering from place to place with nowhere to go."
"Have you happened to... recall anything new? Any memories resurfacing, perhaps...?"
Ryan scratched the back of his neck with an awkward grin.
"No... nothing at all."
"I see. Should you happen to remember anything, please inform me right away. I will do whatever I can to investigate on my end."
"Yes, sir. Thank you!"
Robert accepted the harvested object from Ryan's hands and turned toward the research wing. Watching him disappear into the restricted sector where he himself was never permitted, Ryan let out a faint sigh and returned to his quarters.
He leaned his halberd against the wall and sank onto the bed. The plush mattress was an incomprehensible luxury compared to the damp forest floor where he had once spent his nights. A warm blanket kept the bitter chill at bay, and while the food here could hardly be called delicious, it was more than enough to fill his stomach. Coming to this facility had been an undeniable stroke of luck.
The more I think about it, the luckier I feel. If I hadn't met another person, I'd still be sleeping under the open sky... I never want to go back to that.
Ryan rolled onto his side. His gaze drifted toward the bookshelf, catching on a bookmark nestled between the pages of an open volume.
Right. I still need to finish reading that...
Almost immediately upon arriving at the facility, Ryan had taken up reading. Aside from his first and last name, he possessed no memories whatsoever. Where he had lived before, or why he had opened his eyes in the middle of a barren wasteland—none of it came back to him. His only conduits for information were Robert and the books lining those shelves.
He picked up the volume and flipped to the bookmarked page.
An elite initiative designed to grant exceptional underage Awakeners early field combat experience...
It was a promotional periodical published by the knight orders. Although it was the very first printed material he had laid eyes on after waking up with amnesia, comprehending the text had posed little difficulty. He hadn't forgotten how to read, and the sentence structures felt entirely intuitive.
As his fingers slowly turned the pages, one particular spread caught his attention. Pictured there were young knights who looked markedly different from the hardened veterans depicted elsewhere in the magazine.
Ryan studied their faces with quiet curiosity.
An Awakener... Robert mentioned before that I'm an Awakener, too. Does that just mean someone capable of fighting demons?
Skimming idly through the column, his eyes suddenly locked with the photograph of a petite girl with light brown hair and vivid blue eyes. After having merely glanced at the portraits before, he now found himself looking closely, promptly checking the personal dossier printed underneath: Ceria Bless, second daughter of the Commander of the Western Knights.
...She's cute. Her family must be incredibly wealthy.
To be featured in an official military publication at such a tender age, she was undoubtedly a knight of immense talent, born into vast privilege. What sort of life she led was something Ryan couldn't begin to fathom. More than anything, her soft, delicate features carried not the slightest trace of hardship.
He spent the rest of his evening turning through the pages until sleep claimed him.
During a quiet dinner hour, a married couple who had recently been spared from mortal peril sat on an outdoor terrace, reminiscing over the day's harrowing events.
"Honestly, if it weren't for Ryan, I dread to think what would've become of us," the husband remarked, shaking his head.
"Dear, the boy saved our lives," his wife chided gently. "Calling him just 'Ryan' as if he were your own son feels a bit improper..."
"Does it? But didn't he look around that age? A high schooler at best."
"He certainly seemed young... Could Mr. Ryan be a knight from that, ah... Training Team 2?"
"You mean those kids featured in the promotional magazines? I don't recall seeing his face among them."
"Hmm, really? Come to think of it, didn't a young lady knight arrive in town recently? Word had it she hailed from Training Team 2. Should we ask her the next time we cross paths?"
"Ah, that cute young lady? We could. And he wielded such an unusual weapon, too—surely someone in the orders would recognize it. A spear with an axe blade attached..."
Patter, patter, patter!
Before the woman could finish her thought, furious footsteps came tearing toward them. Just as the couple turned their heads toward the sound—
Thud!
A pair of hands slammed down onto their table, making the couple jump in their seats. Between them stood a stranger who had materialized out of nowhere.
Light brown hair, radiant blue eyes, and a pristine knight uniform draped over a petite frame. It was an undeniably cute young girl, though she was currently drawing ragged, breathless gasps as if she had sprinted across the entire district.
"Hah... hah... Could you... please tell me more...?"
"M-More about what, miss...?"
"That axe-bladed spear... Where did you see it?!"
A few days later, amidst the dull routine of his daily life, Ryan rode his mana bike toward a set of coordinates Robert had provided.
As the wind whipped across the vast plains, he recalled the researcher's briefing.
"Judging by the mana wavelength, it appears to be a B-Rank demon. It shares the same rank as the creature you defeated on the day we first met, but with your current strength, Ryan, you should handle it with ease. The condition of the corpse matters little, but please bring back our usual prize—along with one of its arms."
Facing a demon of that caliber stirred a flicker of tension in his chest, but he steadied his nerves with the thought that he was far stronger now than he had been back then.
Before long, as he neared the designated area, a sharp cry sliced through the air.
A woman's voice? Why would anyone be this far out in the wilderness?
Accelerating toward the disturbance, he arrived at a clearing to find a young woman with light brown hair gripping a sword, locked in combat against a humanoid demon built like an adult man. She didn't appear severely injured yet, but her chest heaved as she fought for breath.
She's still holding her own. Should I step in?
Before his thought could settle, the girl lunged forward, swinging her blade. Her attack was blindingly swift—an explosive burst of speed entirely belying her petite stature. Caught off guard, the demon failed to evade, and her steel sheared across its chest.
A knight? She's fast. But the slash was too shallow.
Realizing its wound was superficial, the demon immediately retaliated with a vicious counter. The girl sprang backward just in time to dodge the blow, but the sight of her opponent unfazed by her decisive strike sent her temper flaring.
"Seriously?! Can't you just stay down like a good monster?!"
...Was that supposed to be an intimidation tactic?
A demon had no reason to cower before the shrill shouts of an angry teenage girl. At this rate, her stamina would deplete long before the beast wore down. Yet even as he stepped forward, Robert's stern reminder echoed in Ryan's mind.
"You must never let other knights discover that you are an Awakener."
While that warning held his feet in place, the demon lunged once more. The girl slipped past the first few swings with remarkable grace, but as she stepped back, her heel caught on a jagged rock, and she tumbled backward onto the dirt.
"Kyaah!"
The demon raised a razor-sharp limb, poised to plunge it downward and impale the fallen girl. In that fraction of a second, Ryan's body moved entirely on instinct.
A heavy spearhead surged forward, skewering the demon straight through the ribcage.
Before the creature could even comprehend the sudden ambush, Ryan ripped the spear free and pivoted with crushing momentum, sweeping the axe blade in a lethal arc that severed the demon's neck clean off its shoulders.
Yet he didn't stop there. Memories of a past encounter—where a decapitated demon had nearly killed him in its final death throes—flashed through his mind. Remembering Robert's request as well, he brought the halberd down in a final cleave, lopping off one of its arms.
When the monster crumpled to the ground and ceased all movement, Ryan turned toward the girl and extended an open hand to help her up.
The girl lifted her head. Pale porcelain skin, round blue eyes, and an unmistakable countenance caused Ryan's eyes to widen.
This girl... I saw her in that magazine... No, wait. Have I seen her somewhere else before...?
At first, he had merely been startled to encounter the person from the photograph. But the moment their eyes met, an unexplainable sensation washed over him—a haunting intuition that he had known her for a very long time.
The girl's eyes widened in equal measure. Her vivid blue irises locked onto his face, trembling as she stared without blinking.
Why is she just staring at me like that...? Does she know who I am?
Her piercing, unblinking gaze made him subtly uncomfortable. If he didn't say something, it felt as though she would remain frozen there forever. First, he needed to confirm whether she truly was the knight from the article.
"...Are you, by any chance, Lady Ceria Bless? I'm—"
"Ryan Gardner! Is that really you?!"
Her voice shook as she cried out his name. Ceria blinked repeatedly, looking as though she could scarcely believe the reality unfolding before her eyes.
A single, desperate thought consumed her entire being: I have to hold on to him. I can never let him go again.
