The Road Home
“Arrest the intruder the moment you confirm him!”
““““Yes, sir!!””””
The instant I slipped into the ventilation shaft, the guards came flooding in by a hair’s breadth. A moment later and a clash would have been unavoidable. Yet no matter how doggedly they hunted my trail, the chance of them actually catching me was vanishingly close to zero. At best they would only find the traces of the intrusion after the fact.
Without so much as a whisper of presence I retraced the path I had taken earlier. Through the vents, back to the warehouse at the heart of the complex, I opened the hidden door and stepped into the secret passage.
If I can just make it back to Decarabia Fief, this is over.
A flicker of regret crossed my mind—if only the intrusion hadn’t been discovered midway—but there was no time to dwell on such idle thoughts now.
I pulled the communication artifact from my pocket.
“Requesting connection to Erbel Aren.”
Saaaah—! The moment the chant ended, a wave of stars gathered and formed Erbel’s image.
“Argent? Haa… what is it?”
She had clearly been asleep; her red hair was a tousled mess as she answered the call. Instead of explaining, I simply held up the Release Artifact. The red gem, brimming with light, glowed softly.
“The Release Artifact…! You actually got it?!”
Erbel’s eyes flew wide in shock.
“What the hell are you even— No, never mind. When do you think you’ll arrive?”
“By tomorrow morning.”
At the news that I would return within two days of setting out, she nodded.
“How are the children?”
“Everyone’s in a foul mood without you. Me included.”
“…I see.”
Asking after them confirmed they were all safe… yet the household pillar was gone, and the air seemed drained of life.
“Hurry back. This house only comes alive when you’re in it.”
“…I’ll get there as fast as I can.”
“Mm.”
—Flash.
After that brief exchange of greetings I ended the call. Perhaps it was the confirmation of everyone’s safety, but the strength that had been steadily leaking out of me felt as though it had recharged.
The moment I knew the girls and Erbel were unharmed, my energy returned. …I’m an open book, aren’t I.
The longer time passed, the more I felt I understood my father’s heart.
Before I knew it I had reached the ladder at the end of the secret passage. The guards would still be under the illusion that I was hiding somewhere inside the national treasury. From here on, the plan was to escape the city with all possible speed.
I climbed the ladder as though I were flying. Click—. At the top I carefully lifted the manhole cover.
“….”
Not a single patrol was in sight around the manhole. Not even a civilian. I slipped out of the passage in a flash and closed the cover behind me. Pulling my robe lower, I strolled down the street as if I belonged there.
Word of the treasury intrusion had not yet spread; the city guards passed me without a second glance. In that manner I arrived at the stables.
“I’ve come to collect the horse I left in your care.”
“Ah…! Young master of the Caelum family! Leaving already?”
“Yes. I only came to Basago Fief briefly to see my father.”
The stable hand, recognizing me despite the robe, laughed heartily and turned to fetch the saddled horse—
“A moment.”
“Vice-Captain Hector…?!”
“Would you give us the space? I have something to discuss with my son.”
“Y-yes, sir! Of course!”
As if he had been waiting for me to arrive at the stables, my father appeared and dismissed the stable hand.
“….”
The unease that had settled in one corner of my heart finally took its worst possible form. The reality of crossing blades with my own father. Hiding the bitterness, I laid a trembling hand on my sword hilt.
“Son. Are you leaving just like this?”
“Yes.”
“You could have stayed another day at least.”
“I’m sorry, Father. Time is of the essence.”
A father speaking from the heart, and a son who could not. Their words could never mesh.
“—Draw.”
In the end it was Father who drew first. Head of the Caelum family that carried on the Redemption Sword, and my swordsmanship master. A crimson thread of intent etched itself along his blade and aimed precisely at my throat.
“—Draw.”
A heavy stroke came flying. Kang—! I drew and successfully parried Father’s attack.
“…You’ve improved a great deal in so short a time.”
The blade pressed against mine trembled.
“It’s as if… I’m looking at you ten years from now.”
I stepped back one pace and caught my breath. Father’s judgment was exact. My swordsmanship had, upon regression, accumulated a full decade of experience.
“But it is still lacking.”
“…Kh?!”
“Your sword holds no longing.”
Before I even realized it, the joint of my shoulder had been cut. My father was strong—strong enough to draw cold sweat even from me, the Empire’s greatest swordsman.
Not a difference in skill, but in resolve?
I had poured hesitation into raising my blade against Father. He had poured none into raising his against me. That single trivial difference had reversed our strengths.
“Steady your sword, Argent. I am your enemy.”
“….”
Father’s blade split into two paths, targeting vital points of my upper and lower body. There was no need to distinguish which was real. Every stroke was genuine. Instead of dodging I stepped into the line of fire and thrust. The sword that swung true for Father’s throat—
—halted.
It stopped a hair’s breadth from piercing flesh.
“Ghk…!”
Unfazed by my hesitation, Father kicked me hard in the stomach, opened the distance, and lowered his stance. Wind began to stir through the quiet stable, whipping up chaos. Like a whirlwind swallowing falling blossoms, silver trajectories swirled and sang of a spring already ended.
“Why didn’t you stab me?”
“…….”
“I am your enemy. That fact will not change.”
Hundreds of petals flared in fury and rushed at me. Cheek, shoulder, leg, arm—every path the petals brushed was bitten raw.
“…Truly.”
I didn’t know. I didn’t understand this situation in which I had been forced to cross blades with my father.
“Must it really be this way?”
I knew. The same man who never hesitated to swing his sword to protect the children… could not swing it against the father who stood in his way. The paradox was painfully clear.
“You have made no resolve at all, Argent.”
“…….”
Father was right. I had not resolved myself to abandon something precious in order to protect something precious.
“With that sword you will protect no one.”
A question handed to a son who had not even made the resolve. Father and son did not converse. They only continued their dialogue of blades. My whole body was being painted in blood, yet paradoxically I had taken no fatal wound.
“….”
It was not that Father was going easy on me. I was simply catching the oncoming strokes while groping for an answer that hovered just out of reach, half-visible. A sword that could protect no one…
“….”
Father’s blade punched through a gap and came crashing down. My arm was a breath from being severed. In that instant I struck his sword aside with all my strength. The clashing blades shattered; shards skittered across the floor. Shing—. I leveled my sword at Father’s throat.
I no longer swung a blade for slaughter. For Estia. For Mirca. For Maris. I would swing only a sword meant to protect. That was the resolve I formed.
“There are children I must protect.”
Father seemed not to hear; he swung the shattered blade anyway.
“….”
Thup—. I caught the edge with my bare hand and stopped the motion cold. His gaze quietly traced my face. The son who had hesitated to swing now aimed at his father’s throat with resolve.
“Children you must protect, is it…”
A hollow laugh escaped him as the strength left the hand that held his sword.
“So it was you.”
In a bitter voice he confirmed that the one who had stolen the war weapons was me.
“Son. Are those children so precious to you? Precious enough to stake your life?”
“…Yes.”
The moment I died at Estia’s hands and regressed, I had decided. I would never let the girls I had taught walk that same path again. Those who had once stared blankly at flowers would one day look at them with real emotion. I would atone to the ones who had died because of my mistakes.
“Now, at last, your eyes are worth looking at.”
Only then did Father allow himself a faint smile.
“Sometimes love becomes a driving force stronger than anything else.”
“….”
“When I met your mother Elisa, I paid no mind to the family’s opposition either.”
Father and son could not help but resemble each other—especially in temperament.
“I need ask nothing more.”
“….”
Whatever thoughts moved me, Father had already seen straight through them.
“Cut me down and go.”
“….”
“Do not hesitate now.”
Even though the outcome of the fight was already decided, I had no choice but to cut Father down. If I did not swing the blade here, he would never escape the Empire’s demand for accountability.
“…I’m sorry.”
“No. I’m glad to have seen your sword surpass mine.”
I adjusted my strength so the wound would be critical yet not fatal.
——————.
I cut him down.
“….”
Father collapsed in the stable, gasping for breath.
“I will come to see you again without fail.”
“…Y…es.”
I resolved that someday, when everything was settled, I would visit him once more, then walked toward the saddled horse.
“…Let’s go home.”
…At last, it was time to return home.