Secret (3)
Secret (3)
At least the Sword Saint didn't try to cut me with a real blade.
The problem was, that particular improvement wasn't the kind of "improvement" that made much difference to me.
I could rewind time and return to the moment before I was cut even if I was struck by a real blade. Being cut by a sword was therefore no different from simply "getting hurt and that being the end of it." And since the sword Lucas wielded was a famous blade, as sharp as befitted an imperial prince's weapon, the pain didn't rush in the instant after I was cut. My brain also frantically released endorphins once I was slashed.
Consequently, "getting hit and hurting" wasn't all that different regardless. In a sense, this "club", which didn't even provoke an endorphin response, actually hurt more.
On top of that, getting hit once still meant I had to rewind all the same.
Unlike Lucas's swordplay, which usually ended after a single swing that I would dodge, the Sword Saint's strikes flew at me in rapid succession, several in a row, which made it a hassle in its own right.
"Hm."
The Sword Saint, who had forced me to rewind time over a dozen times by launching the Fivefold Strike in the blink of an eye, rested his sword on his shoulder with a light clack and raised one eyebrow.
"How peculiar."
He then muttered words I had heard a few times before.
"You have no talent at all."
"Talent...?"
Leo, who had been listening from the side, murmured with a surprised look on his face, and then—
Thwack!
"Gahk!?"
After taking a blow to the forehead from the sword the Sword Saint held, Leo let out that sound.
"You, who are supposedly my disciple—can you not even discern whether a person has talent or not? By any measure, this child has no talent. To be honest, to my eyes, the way you dodge appears to be nothing more than relying on luck."
It was an extremely accurate assessment. I was dodging haphazardly, after all.
I did try to make my movements as elegant and clean as possible, but it was true that there was no system to them. Just body movements without any discernible school or style, reacting as I went.
In that sense, the Sword Saint's teaching ability alone was far superior to Lucas's. Regardless of whether Lucas surpassed him in raw combat ability and talent, Lucas would have looked at my movements and judged that my 'physical ability' was simply extraordinary.
... And that was probably the reason he'd declared he would cut me down.
"You bastard, just what is your—"
"Ma-Master."
The moment the Sword Saint openly used the expression "you bastard" toward me, Leo, who stood awkwardly to the side, flinched in alarm.
"Hm? What is it?"
"Th-that is..."
Leo approached the Sword Saint, raised a hand to shield his mouth, and whispered something to him. It was probably concerning my identity. To be more precise, concerning my identity as an 'imperial princess of the Empire.'
Thwack!
"Gahgh!?"
However, as soon as the Sword Saint heard that, he immediately struck Leo's forehead.
"Is being an imperial princess or whatever else so terribly important? Have you ever stopped to consider why I built a hut like this on a cliffside and live here? I am sick to death of matters like status and politics. Within these walls, swordsmanship alone determines a person's standing. Therefore,"
The Sword Saint, Frederick, raised his sword and pointed it toward me as he spoke.
"You bastard, are no different from the lowest-ranking wretch in here."
My appearance was one that could never conceal its femininity, so why was he using the word "bastard" toward someone like me?
... Well, come to think of it, 'bitch' might sound a little too harsh. He was already a character with a somewhat old-fashioned, rigid side, so it'd be troublesome if he came across as outright unlikable.
Of course, seeing his own master use expressions like 'low-ranking' toward me, Leo's face was no longer merely 'pale' but was gradually turning closer to 'blue.'
To be honest, well, I was a disciple too. Though my master did not remember me.
In that sense, Leo and I were fellow disciples.
"Understood."
So, well, I could at least say something like this for a fellow disciple's sake.
"Ho-oh."
The Sword Saint pulled up one corner of his mouth as if amused.
"Well, very well. Seeing as you came all this way to find me yet haven't used that firearm, you don't appear to be an enemy. I'll hear your story."
He then pointed to an empty chair as if telling me to sit.
*
Once seated, I honestly laid out the reason I had come seeking him out.
Leaving out the parts concerning my abilities or bloodline, of course. It wasn't something to be revealed right then. The time to talk about it would probably come someday, but for now, I thought I should handle the situation directly before me first.
"So, to put it simply: your stepbrother wishes to cut off your head, and you wish to find that stepbrother?"
"Yes."
"And you have something you wish to discuss with this stepbrother."
"Yes."
"This stepbrother is presumed to be stronger than I am."
"That is correct."
"... Do you have a death wish or something?"
The Sword Saint asked me that with a look of utter disbelief.
Well, I didn't think he was exactly in a position to talk.
The moment he heard the words 'a swordsman stronger than me,' his expression had flickered with interest; and when we'd met before, he was the kind of man who, upon hearing me say I'd introduce him to Lucas, had immediately taken me as his disciple. It felt a little amusing that a gentleman who regarded 'having a death wish' far more lightly than I did was asking me such a question.
I didn't actually laugh, of course.
I was, after all, someone who could at least read the room.
"......"
And while the two of us sat and talked, Leo's face, as he stood beside us pouring tea into the cups, was rigidly stiff.
When I didn't answer, a brief silence drifted through the hut.
Without a word, I lifted the teacup and took a sip—then, for the first time in a very long while, I furrowed my brow purely because of the taste and looked up at Leo.
Leo, meeting my eyes, wore a deeply unjust expression on his face.
What Leo had brewed... seemed to be something different from the tea I usually drank. Looking again, its color was pitch black, appearing closer to an herbal medicine than tea leaves. Perhaps he had steeped those weeds that had been inside the basket the Sword Saint had thrown earlier.
"Is there no sugar?"
"Ha."
At my brazen request, the Sword Saint let out a hollow laugh as if dumbfounded.
"Are you speaking seriously right now? You want to put sugar into medicinal herb brew and drink it?"
"......"
Thinking it over again, it didn't seem like a very good idea.
Wordlessly, I set the teacup back down.
Then I spoke toward the Sword Saint.
"I have no wish to die. However, there is something I must urgently ask you about."
I needed to hear more details about why Lucas had chosen me. Besides, if Lucas had been watching that facility from the start, I might be able to learn at least something about how I had ended up flowing into it, or whether I had simply popped out of nowhere.
And the place Claire had come from, for instance.
I might not be able to learn many things, but right then, the only person I could extract information from was Lucas.
If things went wrong, I could simply rewind time and erase the entire incident. Then Lucas would not kill me, and while I was at it, I could also erase the humiliating memory of calling Jaden 'Elder Brother.'
That image of him heading toward the front lines and boldly introducing me to the commander with a face radiantly beaming, calling me 'his little sister'... was, if possible, a sight I wished to forget.
"Hm."
Having heard my story, the Sword Saint turned his gaze toward Leo.
Leo's face was rigidly tense.
"What I'm curious about, however, is the reason you made a point of coming to me while searching for this figure named Lucas."
Turning his gaze back toward me, the Sword Saint leaned slightly forward over the table and asked.
Clear interest was coloring his face. More than when he had heard the information about me.
"... Lucas,"
I spoke slowly, hoping the Sword Saint would be persuaded by my words.
"Will most certainly view you as an intermediate objective and seek you out before he attempts to cut down his final target."
In truth, in the original work, the Sword Saint's death lay far in the future.
And I didn't know whether Lucas was currently pursuing me or not.
So expecting Lucas to suddenly appear before me within a few days' time was unreasonable.
However, at the very least, I could make it so Lucas would show up 'whenever' it happened.
If I heard word that Lucas had appeared before the Sword Saint, I could simply rewind time to just before that moment and come to seek out the Sword Saint myself.
And to make that happen, having the Sword Saint Frederick end his seclusion and come down from the mountain was the best approach. If he was out in the open, he'd be that much easier to spot, and he'd also be all the more inclined to act.
If possible, bringing him somewhere near the imperial capital would be for the best.
"Ho-oh."
In response to my words, the Sword Saint spoke while wearing a far more vicious smile than when he had first seen me entering his hut earlier.
"You're saying this man considers you a more 'dangerous thing' than myself."
"That is correct."
"How insolent."
"......"
Seeing the Sword Saint's hand move to grip his sword hilt again, I stiffened my body rigidly with tension.