Chapter 78
The Flower That Bears a Sword - Chapter 78
Translation: godsn
"Did I perhaps disturb your rest?"
"...I wasn't about to sleep, so you needn't concern yourself."
Her eyes gazing at him held no ulterior motives. Unlike himself, in whom all manner of desires had begun to seethe. Unable to face her, Yurien turned away. He didn't look back until Echinacea had left.
The monster subjugation had begun.
Though Yurien trusted in Echinacea's abilities, he couldn't stop worrying about her nonetheless. Even while recognizing how absurd his concern was, his entire consciousness remained fixated on the woman right behind him.
And he found himself marveling anew. Though she should have had no experience with this style of support, she was assisting him with flawless precision. He'd gone through many temporary squires who rotated based on rankings, but someone like Echinacea was a first.
It was as comfortable as fighting alone, yet so seamless he didn't need to worry about his back. Had his awareness not been entirely focused on her, he might have forgotten she was there at all.
'I want to cross swords with her.'
His knightly ambition surged once more. That the person he desired as a man and the one he desired as a knight were the same—moreover, this was the first time he'd felt such desperate longing, whether as man or knight.
Yet he couldn't express either. She kept her distance from him while concealing her true abilities. And he, too, had sins to confess to her. Having her within reach yet feeling bound hand and foot was maddening.
'This is torture.'
Yurien took out his frustration on the monsters. As his mana surged like raging tides, Langiosa, who'd been amplifying it, muttered dryly:
[Are you venting your anger...? No, taking it out on monsters is healthy enough. Go wild while you can.]
By noon, Yurien, who'd been advancing in a near-trance, called a halt to the subjugation squad. After granting them time to eat, he studied the sky. Regardless of his turbulent emotions, he absolutely had to prevent a repeat of the disaster from before the regression.
The specters would swarm tonight. He remembered the rain beginning at sunset, turning into a downpour after dark. The heavy, leaden clouds suggested the rain would come as expected, unchanged. He intended to block the specters from reaching the camp entirely, but just in case, he needed to preserve the squad members' stamina.
He should order their return. As he lowered his gaze with this thought, his eyes met Echinacea's. She had followed his lead in observing the sky and seemed to have anticipated the coming night's storm as well.
Echinacea's pupils dilated. Beneath unblinking, frozen eyelids, her irises trembled. Her entire body stiffened before beginning to shake slightly. The implication was clear—she had noticed something from his actions.
'Does she realize I have memories? That I know what happens during this subjugation? She should be under the magic sword's sway at this time—how could she...?'
Flustered, Yurien avoided her gaze and ordered the retreat. Approaching the petrified woman, he lightly touched her shoulder and said:
"Cadet Echinacea. You've done well. Get proper rest when we return to camp."
She didn't respond. The skin beneath his fingertips was cold as ice. Had she become certain? Or was she just beginning to suspect? He couldn't grasp her thoughts. And thus, he had no idea how to act.
Act 7. What Must Be Watched and What Cannot Be Abandoned (2)
Yurien spent the pouring rain inside his tent, agonizing. He'd never imagined she might know about this incident. Though he'd resolved to feign ignorance, this particular worry hadn't crossed his mind.
Had he given away a crucial hint? Had Echinacea realized he had memories of the future? Or was she merely suspicious? No conclusion emerged. Probing her was impossible—he couldn't dredge up her wounds if she refused to speak first. That would only aggravate the scars.
Yurien abandoned his fruitless brooding and stepped out of the tent, gazing toward Baraha's quarters. Baraha was the squire Baron Tilius cherished like a son. Yurien knew well how devastated the Baron had been after losing him. The thought of Baraha standing by Echinacea's side twisted his gut, but he had no intention of leaving the boy to die. He hadn't lost his mind to that extent.
Not yet...
Did that mean he could lose it further? He didn't know. Due to his father and brothers' constant scrutiny, he had never allowed himself to grow attached to anything. He had been too afraid. And yet, this—this was the first desire he couldn't abandon despite his fear, the first love he had ever dared to begin. He couldn't even fathom how he might change because of it.
He headed toward the location where the Specters had swarmed in the past. Since he had prepared in advance, tracking them down wasn't difficult. Only, their numbers were greater than expected.
[So not all of them attacked the camp back then. There's at least twice as many here.]
"No matter."
Specters, no matter how numerous, were powerless against physical force—and he was a Master, wielder of a Holy Sword. Though their sheer numbers delayed him slightly, he successfully eradicated every last one. With this, he had perfectly averted the tragedy of the erased past. A weight lifted from his chest.
As he exited the mist-choked ravine, Yurien's thoughts remained consumed by whether Echinacea had noticed his memories, and if so, how she would react. But the moment he cleared the fog and glimpsed the camp, all those worries shattered into nothingness.
[What in the world—since when did that appear?!]
A Node swelled ominously above the camp.
Nodes were akin to natural disasters. He had heard accounts of them but never experienced one firsthand—though he had witnessed someone else's ordeal. Through Langiosa, he had seen Echinacea swallowed into a Node.
Yurien sprinted like a madman. But before he could reach it, the Node fully detached. Even the clamor of the camp's emergency bell was devoured, leaving only the sound of rain behind.
Most of the unit members had evacuated safely, crowding outside. His eyes darted rapidly through their ranks. No pink hair. No soul radiant as the sun. Ice seemed to crawl up from the tips of his veins.
No. Echinacea. Please.
He scanned the survivors again. Neither Echinacea, Ian Pelletro, nor Baraha Islaf were among them. The moment he realized this, a single image crystallized in his mind.
A Node. A camp thrown into chaos. A situation where disappearing wouldn't raise suspicion—and where those who vanished would most likely die. A terribly rare opportunity. Ian Pelletro, brimming with malice. In the erased past, though evidence never surfaced and the truth remained unconfirmed, Yurien had been nearly certain: Amidst the Specter rampage, Ian had murdered Baraha Islaf, disguising it as an accident.
Faced with similar circumstances, he must have acted similarly.
Then why was Echinacea Roaz missing? The odds of her accidentally getting caught in the Node were vanishingly low. Had she tried to stop Ian and been dragged in instead? Even she wasn't divine—she might have let her guard down.
Either way, the result was the same. She was gone. Echinacea Roaz no longer existed. The ice in his veins crushed his heart.
I should have killed Ian Pelletro in advance.
If Echinacea had disappeared while Ian—his soul festering with malice—remained here, Yurien might have slaughtered him on the spot and lost his right to wield the Holy Sword. Only now did he understand why Langiosa had so fiercely warned him against falling in love.
Baron Tilius stood blankly at the edge of the land where the entire camp had vanished. Yurien pushed through the knights and approached him.
"What... just happened?"
The Baron turned to him, about to say something, then closed his mouth after seeing Yurien's face. Yurien couldn't tell what expression he was making or what state he was in. His brain felt like it was boiling over, turning to steam that clouded his vision entirely.
"Echinacea Roaz? What happened to her?"
"It seems... she was swallowed by the Node."
"Where did the Node go? Has it already separated?"
"Yes, it just separated."
There was no way to enter a Node that had already separated. Yurien stared at the empty space.
As Zenith, there were almost no situations that could threaten Echinacea's life. But the 'Node' was among the few exceptions—and the worst possible one. Since normal laws didn't apply within that space, no one could predict what might happen inside.
In truth, during their time collecting Giosas, she had narrowly escaped death several times within Nodes. There were even instances where, after barely defeating the monsters, she had nothing to eat and ended up poisoned from consuming their flesh. Luck couldn't always be on her side. This time, she might not survive. She might never return. He might never see her again.
Was it because of his greed for her? Was that why tragedy was coming in a different form than before? His breathing grew labored, as if he were drowning.
[If she had something to believe in, she would have entered willingly. As the master of the Magic Sword, she could have avoided it if she wanted—the fact that she was swallowed means...]
The Holy Sword's consoling words provided some small comfort. Yurien clung to them as a lifeline to maintain his rationality.
The Subjugation Squad took roll call and held a meeting to decide their next steps. Since there was a chance those swallowed might return, they resolved to remain until the Node was released. Supplies were airlifted from a nearby fortress, a temporary camp was set up, the knights were reorganized, and the monster subjugation proceeded as planned.
Yurien did not join the hunt. He stayed in the tent, staring endlessly at the empty space. The ordinary knights didn't fully grasp his state, but Baron Tilius and Dietrich, who had known him for years, immediately realized Yurien was not in his right mind. Barely eating, not sleeping, staring at the void whenever possible—no one in their right mind would act like that. Even Baron Tilius, grieving Baraha's disappearance, wasn't that far gone.
"Hey, what's the point of this? You still need to eat."
Dietrich, who had brought food in place of the missing squire, snapped irritably. Yurien didn't even respond. His bloodless face and cracked lips contrasted sharply with his blazing blue eyes. He looked like he might dismember the next person who crossed him—or collapse like a sandcastle at the slightest touch. The fact that he was still meticulously handling his duties as Captain made it all the more unsettling.
Dietrich had never seen Yurien like this before. If Echinacea Roaz truly didn't return—or came back as a corpse—the Yurien he knew might cease to exist. He would become someone entirely different. That was the foreboding Dietrich felt.
'Damn it, he really was in love with her after all.'
He'd seemed so indifferent, never showing jealousy, that Dietrich had assumed otherwise. He should have trusted his instincts more. Uneasy, he watched his friend.
That bastard wasn't usually this kind of lunatic. Well, except when it came to swords—then he lived like a monk, which was its own kind of madness. They say the quiet ones are the scariest when they snap. His straightforward, upright friend had now become a Node—unpredictable, volatile, ready to explode at any moment.