Useless (3)
The snow crunched beneath my boots with every step—crunch, crunch. I had walked without rest for two full days, the white powder giving way underfoot. Even though I had stuffed my leather boots full of wool, my toes felt frozen solid. Each step sent a sharp stab of pain shooting through me.
“Hoo…”
A deep sigh escaped my lips, and thick vapor billowed out, spreading wide. Beyond that misty breath, I could see trees rising so high they seemed to pierce the sky, packed so densely they blocked out everything else.
This was the Dyer Forest, the very place where Saren and I had first set foot together. Even on a clear, sunlit day like this, the thick canopy of towering trees cast the ground in perpetual shadow—an eerie, unnatural darkness.
From a distance, the forest radiated pure gloom. But I had entered it countless times before, so fear no longer touched me. If anything, it only brought discomfort. Every time I looked at those trees, the image of Saren smiling with Chloe’s severed head in her hands flashed through my mind.
“…!”
I stopped dead in my tracks. Quickly, I ducked behind a thick tree trunk and hid my body.
At the forest entrance in the distance, a line of imperial soldiers stood waiting. Two high-ranking knights on horseback and about a dozen foot soldiers. It seemed the rumor that the one-armed demonic swordsman had cleared out every request again had drawn them here.
Still, this was far too fast.
There had been one previous occasion when imperial soldiers had come into the forest to capture me. That time, I had already been inside. This time, they had set up an ambush in advance.
Could all these requests have been bait? It wasn’t impossible.
Rumors had begun to spread that the one claiming the quests was Serion. The imperial family must have been watching closely. From their perspective, they had nothing to lose. If asked why they had come for Serion, they could simply claim they were here to exterminate undead.
I had used magic to change my hair and eye color to black, but that wouldn’t let me slip past them. Unless they were fools, at least one of them would know a dispelling spell.
There was no need to take unnecessary risks.
After all, there were many other paths into the forest. I didn’t think I would be unable to enter at all. It had simply become a little more troublesome.
Whoever was more desperate always had to yield first, didn’t they?
“Tsk.”
I pulled my hood over my head and turned away.
After circling around for nearly another full day, I arrived at a different entrance. Sunlight cut across the ground in a sharp line, as if measured by a ruler. This path led through another section of the woods.
As expected, there were no soldiers standing guard here. They were probably monitoring from much farther ahead. These ignorant, frightened humans who didn’t realize this was just an ordinary forest had unwittingly helped me.
After only a few steps, the sunlight vanished completely. Most notably, the ground here was pristine—not a single snowflake had touched it. That was simply how this place was, so it didn’t surprise me.
The problem was that I couldn’t head straight to the request location like this. Soldiers were surely lying in wait there as well.
Fortunately, my true goal wasn’t the request itself but finding Chloe, so it didn’t matter. Still, since I could run into soldiers at any moment, I decided not to dispel my disguise magic.
[Grrrr—]
Well, I would probably encounter far more undead than soldiers anyway.
Three undead werewolves slowly emerged from the dense underbrush. One of them wore armor of a distinctly different color.
I had never seen anything like that before. Perhaps it was the leader or something.
“Whatever…”
I drew a dagger from my coat.
[Krrraaaagh!!]
The three beasts charged at me at the same time. I leaped forward, slipping between them.
One by one. Shunk—! I drove the dagger deep into the gaps in their armor, into the rotting flesh, then tore it open without hesitation.
There was a reason undead extermination requests suited me perfectly. It was all thanks to the title Chloe’s Blessing. When incoming damage was zero from the start, what was there to fear?
“Ugh.”
A wave of nausea hit me.
It would be nice if the blessing also blocked the stench of decaying flesh. Even the slightest brush against an undead left a horrible smell clinging to the body.
“Looks like Vivian’s going to scold me again.”
I left the corpses where they were and continued on. They might serve as markers later, so I didn’t bother burning them. Setting a fire would only risk drawing attention.
About an hour later, the first request location came into view in the distance. Strangely, a group of human undead had gathered there. I didn’t remember seeing them last time. Had more been added because of me?
And as expected, signs of humans were visible nearby. How did I know? Because undead didn’t light fires or unpack lunch boxes.
Imperial soldiers wouldn’t be so careless. They must be people from the adventurers’ guild.
They seemed desperate to uncover the identity of the one-armed demonic swordsman after all.
No matter how curious they were, was it really worth risking their lives to come this far? Whether in the world I came from or this one, it seemed there were always people willing to gamble their lives on curiosity.
“Tsk. I’ll have to turn back.”
I clicked my tongue softly and reversed direction.
My first destination wasn’t the request site but the waterfall where the water crashed down violently. It was the exact spot where Saren had slit Chloe’s throat.
Since this was where I had first met her, I had developed a habit of visiting it first—like a pilgrimage to a holy site—before beginning anything else.
Shaaaaaaa—!
I gazed up at the falling cascade and fell into thought for a moment.
What was Vivian doing right now? She needed to eat properly. She wasn’t skipping meals out of anger because of me, was she? Had I been too harsh with her? Maybe I should buy her a pretty gift on the way back.
Should I… suggest we start making a baby soon?
“…”
I missed her. I missed her remaining blue eye so much. I wanted to press a hot kiss to her soft, full lips. I wanted to smell that warm, comforting scent that always enveloped me when she held me.
Even if I returned now, it would probably exceed the promised week. Would she put her hand on her hip and scold me again?
Just imagining her furious expression brought a natural smile to my face.
“Hoo.”
I quietly steadied my breathing. The moment I turned my head—
“Hello? It’s been a while, hasn’t it?”
My breath caught in my throat. Not far away, on top of a large rock, sat a familiar pink-haired saintess. She was waving at me.
My heart raced. My breathing grew ragged. I clenched my teeth so hard they felt like they might shatter and forced down the rising emotions as best I could.
“…Chloe.”
“Hehe, you remember me.”
How could I forget? I had spent over two years searching for no one but you.
I flicked my cloak aside and stretched my right arm into the empty air.
Shiiiing—
A pure white light bloomed there, and a very long sword materialized in my grasp.
At the same time, Chloe’s eyebrows twitched slightly.
“Oh my, that sword looks exactly like the one I broke?”
“Because it’s the one you broke, repaired.”
The Elsia Sword. The blade Saren had used when she cut off my arm and fought Chloe. Its original owner was my father, Dannes Elsia. But since both Saren and I had inherited his blood, we could summon it as well.
“There have been rumors of a black-haired man searching for me everywhere. So it really was you, young master, hiding your appearance?”
“Then I don’t need to explain why I’m looking for you, do I?”
“No, you do.”
Chloe hopped lightly off the rock and landed gracefully on the ground. With her hands clasped behind her back, she approached me slowly, grinning the entire time.
“I came all this way to hear you explain why you’re so desperately searching for me.”
“Are you asking because you don’t know?”
“If I already knew, would I have come back to this dangerous forest?”
“…”
What was she really after? She couldn’t have come just to chat. As she herself said, this wasn’t exactly the best place for casual conversation.
“Excuse me for a moment.”
Before I knew it, she was standing right in front of me. She lifted my cloak and peered at my empty left sleeve with clear interest. Then she snorted and let the fabric fall again. I suppose it must have looked strange that my right hand was still attached.
“So, what’s your business? Are you here to question why I fought Lady Elsia that day? That’s the only thing that would connect us, right?”
Was she mocking me, or did she truly not know? Her constant smiling made it impossible to read her intentions.
“Why did you kill her? My sister.”
At that single question, her expression vanished.
“Hmm.”
She let out a very quiet sigh. A strange chill ran down my spine.
“Don’t tell me you came here for revenge?”
“Isn’t that obvious?”
“Well, you could try. After all, I did provide the cause. Ah, no—that’s not right. The one who provided the cause was your sister.”
My brow twitched.
“But before that.”
Chloe suddenly grabbed me by the nape of my neck and yanked me toward her. The crumpled cloak tightened around my throat, making me frown.
“That maid of yours. Did you take revenge on her before coming to me?”
“…What?”
What on earth was this woman saying? Why would I take revenge on Vivian…?
“Pfft!”
Chloe studied my dumbfounded face and burst into laughter. Her spit sprayed across my cheek.
“That innocent look that says you really don’t know anything. Well, I suppose that makes sense. After all, it was that maid who took you away. She must have hidden the truth.”
“What are you talking about? Speak clearly so I can understand.”
Only then did Chloe release my collar. She brushed the wrinkles out with a few light pats and continued.
“Do you remember when I called your maid a heretic?”
“And?”
“Among our religious followers, heretic refers to someone who has committed the sin of murder. Did you know that?”
“…Murder?”
Who? Vivian? Vivian had killed someone?
“Once someone has killed, doing it a second time isn’t so hard, is it? True to her heretic nature, she killed your sister quite brutally. She blew her head clean off.”
“…”
I must not believe her. This was clearly an attempt to sow discord.