Chapter 19: Spending Time in a Carriage.

On the carriage of the Sacred Order, I was heading to the noble district of Euphemia.

This city is ruled by Ulysses, but there are also residences of other nobles. Having a mansion in Euphemia is a status symbol among nobles, regardless of faction.

“…yawn…”

I let out a yawn while being jostled in the carriage.

According to the coachman, it will take about twenty minutes to reach Marquis Ignat’s mansion.

I stayed up late last night as it was my first time in Euphemia, so I’m a bit sleepy. Resting at this time would probably be best.

“…let’s sleep.”

Just relax for about twenty minutes.

I closed my eyes so as not to show Ulysses a sleepy face.

── I knew I was dreaming soon after.

When Ren closed his eyes, he fell asleep almost immediately and was dreaming at the same time. Strangely enough, unlike his usual dreams, this dream was vivid and all his senses were clear.

In it, Ren was shown around as a spectator.

There, a large number of knights had been mobilized.

Their swords were top-notch, and if they could handle magic, they were even top-notch. The assembled power makes Leomel the world’s strongest military power.

With magical weapons, any country would avoid a fight. The place is unfamiliar, probably the Marquis Ignat’s mansion. It’s in front of its gate.

“Well well, it’s dangerous in the master’s absence.”

Unlike reality, it seemed to be in the middle of winter, with a thin layer of snow on the cobblestones.

An elderly gentleman stood in front of the gate, welcoming the many knights.

Among the knights, there were not a few who were trembling with tension. Even the knights proud of the Lion Holy Order, standing in the frontline row were clutching their sweaty hands and looking at Edgar without looking away, falling into extreme tension.

One of the knights stepped forward.

“Lord Edgar, accompany us to the imperial capital.”

“Hmm, why?”

“…You should know about the incident where the prince was kidnapped.”

“Hehe, it seems you are worried about our relationship.”

“Gah─── It’s not a place for jokes, I can’t imagine you don’t understand that!”

The elderly gentleman who sighed took off his jacket.

Despite the winter, he didn’t seem to mind and changed into a white shirt and suspenders.

He further rolled up his shirt sleeves and exhaled white breath.

“I’m sorry, but I can’t obey.”

The knights drew their swords all at once.

Hundreds of knights immediately took a battle stance.

Edgar, looking up at the winter sky, seemed lonely.

He turned around to look at the Marquis Ignat’s mansion. His hands were trembling, his fingertips were trembling, and he couldn’t resist the shaking around his mouth and eyes.

There’s not a soul left in the mansion. The key had been locked by Edgar a while ago.

Knowing that it won’t be opened again, the key is kept carefully.

When Edgar turned around, the knights saw the tears running down his cheeks.

“Let me warn you one last time. If you all step back, I won’t have to draw my sword.”

“You should know that we can’t do that.”

“Then, do we have to fight?”

“If Lord Edgar desires it. We must detain you and search that mansion.”

“…That’s inconvenient.”

Edgar’s tears dripped onto the snow that had accumulated on the cobblestones.

But the snow soon erased the trace of the tears. Edgar saw that and mocked himself.

“The mansion is my soul itself. I would like to leave my proof of serving the Ignat family alone. Even if you have reasons, I can’t give in.”

There’s no choice but to cross swords.

Even if there are no more words between the two, it’s definitive.

The knights stepped forward so as not to be caught off guard, at that moment.

The old gentleman disappeared. Only where his shoes had been, the snow was not accumulated.

The snow around, carried by the wind, swayed irregularly for a moment.

“…huh?”

Before the knights in the front row could spill fresh blood from their chests, two silver swords had penetrated their bodies.

Then, the scene changed rapidly.

Despite being seriously injured in the battle at the Marquis Ignat’s mansion, Edgar managed to escape and was in the hideout prepared by Ulysses.

The servant of the Ignat family took care of the severely injured Edgar, and he had saved his life.

In exchange, he lost one eye and wore an eyepatch, and his left arm became a prosthetic hand.

Regardless of these, Edgar calmly asked the servant what he should hear now.

“How much time has passed?”

“…A very long time.”

“Then, tell me. What happened while I was asleep?”

Ulysses lost his life in the Baldr Mountains, and a new hero was born in Leomel.

Knowing this fact, Edgar was ashamed that he was the only one who survived, and he shed tears.

“…Lord Edgar, you should do what you can.”

The servant said, crying.

“There’s nothing I can do. I couldn’t work for the master and Lady Fiona, even as a butler. What do you want me to do?”

“…We, the servants, don’t know either. But if Lord Edgar commits suicide, the master won’t come to pick you up.”

If it were Ulysses, surely.

The two who knew the Ignat family well looked at each other and cried quietly again.

At first, Edgar became a wanderer without purpose. The Ignat family no longer existed in Leomel, and he spent his days reminiscing about his master and Fiona.

However, in a corner of a town outside of Leomel, he mused…

“There are still many things that need to be investigated, it seems.”

Seemingly blending into the hustle and bustle of the town, he murmured…

“This old body has one last job. Before I go to my master, let’s accomplish what needs to be done.”

The true meaning behind his whisper was unclear, but within the scenes that Ren was shown, Edgar traveled to various places.

Ren continued to witness a long period of time condensed into a single moment.

Eventually, Edgar returned to Leomel after a long absence.

A knight from Leomel found him. Upon receiving this information, the lion holy church’s knights and other forces were dispatched to his hiding place.

Naturally, Edgar noticed and escaped.

However, having lost an eye and with a prosthetic arm, he could not fight as he wished, and it was difficult to escape as before.

When he took refuge in the town’s slums, he leaned his back against the outer wall of a dirty house.

He, who had begun a journey chasing after a certain entity, mumbled…

“I’ve tried so hard, please welcome me, Master.”

Preparing for death, he closed his eyes.

“Master, Lady Fiona, your unworthy servant will be with you soon. Please allow me to be by your side again.”

He heard hurried footsteps approaching.

He was waiting for his final moment.

“Eh?”

The knights who were supposed to have arrived suddenly fell to the ground, all without exception.

No blood was flowing. They had all been hit hard in the neck or abdomen and had lost consciousness.

Seeing this unexpected scene, Edgar noticed someone standing nearby, wearing a dirty robe.

“Are you Sir Edgar?”

“You don’t look like a knight at all.”

“That’s right. Rather than an enemy of the knights… I am an enemy of Leomel.”

The one who appeared was someone hidden in a robe.

The person showed their face by removing the hood.

It was a boy. A boy with a androgynous face. The boy walked up to Edgar, lifted him on his back, and started walking.

It happened while Edgar was still caught off guard.

“I was looking for you. I thought you would have some of the information I’m chasing after.”

“I don’t understand. Why you too?”

“Well, I have my own objectives too, don’t I?”

With that, the boy energetically kicked the stone pavement and ran over the roofs of houses.

Flying through the sky swiftly with light footwork, Edgar muttered, “Hmm.”

It seemed that it was too early to head to the other side where his former masters were.

“Young man, may I have your name?”

When trying to leave this town,

Edgar asked the name of the boy who found him and helped him for some reason.

The boy, without stopping, opened his mouth and said,

“I’m Ren Ashton, the sinner who took the life of the White Saintess and the head of the academy.”

Upon hearing the boy’s self-introduction, Edgar was lost for words due to the overwhelming truth.

◇ ◇ ◇ ◇

“Mr. Ren Ashton.”

Ren awoke to the voice of a coachman trying to wake him by shaking his shoulder.

Just a while ago, he had been having a dream that had condensed a long, long time.

Was that…

Was that a memory from another timeline?

Where Ren Ashton and Edgar had some kind of connection and started to act together – that much was clear.

He had no idea why he had such a dream or why it was shown to him.

It was like the dream he had when he was abducted by Jerukku long ago.

Blinking blankly, Ren rubbed his eyes and looked at the coachman without understanding anything.

“Sorry, I fell asleep a bit.”

“No, I’m sorry. We’re almost at the destination mansion.”

The carriage carrying Ren had stopped some distance from the Marquis Ignat’s mansion, a ten-minute walk away.

The carriage wasn’t moving any further because the knights were blocking the road.

According to the knights, there was something wrong with the underground water supply, and they were currently checking the situation urgently.

“For a while, you can only get to the next place on foot…”

“Then, I’ll walk. There are a lot of knights around here.”

Ren himself opened the door of the carriage, stepped lightly onto the cobblestone, and bowed his head to the coachman who was pulling the reins at the front of the carriage, and began to walk on his own.

Oh wow, it’s true.

Ahead, about a dozen mailboxes away, the road was blocked.

As he walked past the knights, one of them called out to Ren.

“Hey kid, where are you going?”

“I’m visiting the Marquis Ignat’s mansion just ahead.”

“To… the Marquis’s mansion?”

Although the conversation ended with simple words, the knight was taken aback.

But they didn’t think Ren was lying.

The knights had seen Ren come out of a carriage from the nearby mystic church.

Since the knights didn’t stop him, Ren proceeded without hesitation.

After walking for a few minutes, the Marquis Ignat’s mansion came into view. A grand mansion that even Licia was amazed by. As he walked up to it, he realized that the Marquis Ignat’s mansion was about the size of a small country’s castle.

Ren mumbled in his mind, ‘It’s huge’.

Then, as if repeating, he exclaimed aloud,

“It’s huge.”

As if to repeat himself, the second time he took the trouble to say it out loud.

Previous chapter | TOC | Next chapter