Chapter 8: To the Place Where I Fought the Sword Demon.

On a mild day in early February, Ren arrived at the Imperial Military Academy. He had contacted the academy in advance and arranged to meet Chronois that morning.

“Thank you for making time for me today.”

Ren said this as soon as he entered the dean’s office.

He wore ordinary clothes rather than his uniform because he had other plans afterward.

“You are welcome, Ren! Come and sit over here!”

“I am sorry for asking on such short notice.”

“Do not worry about it. I had something I wanted to suggest to you as well.”

Ren accepted Chronois’s invitation and sat on the sofa opposite her.

Her lustrous hair, bright as spun gold, looked as radiant as ever. Chronois—one of the world’s greatest magicians—possessed an elegant, captivating beauty despite her playful manner.

She greeted Ren with a cheerful smile.

“Then, to get straight to the point—”

The smile vanished the moment Ren began.

“Huh…?” Her expression stiffened into a mixture of disappointment and bewilderment.

“Are we already moving to the main topic?”

“Well, since you went to the trouble of giving me your time…”

“No, no, that is fine! But come on—you became a Sword Saint, did you not!?”

That was what Chronois wanted to discuss. She knew they could talk after the winter break, yet she had been impatient to hear about it as soon as possible.

Ren, however, had already returned to the purpose of his visit.

Chronois still wanted to hear about his growth. When she saw that he remained as composed and unhurried as ever, she said,

“Ha ha. I suppose that is simply who you are, Ren.”

“Is it?”

“Yes. You became a Sword Saint, yet you have not changed at all. It surprised me a little.”

“Oh, so that was what you meant.”

It was not that Ren felt no joy. Becoming a Sword Saint during the battle with the Giant God’s Messenger Wadatsumi had given him a profound sense of achievement. He had simply regained his composure soon afterward.

“I still have a very long way to go.”

His ultimate objective, the rank of Sword King, remained far ahead. He was proud and delighted to have become a Sword Saint, but thinking of the path still before him set his heart racing.

Chronois heard his answer and smiled gently.

“I see. That sounds much more like you.”

The real purpose of Ren’s visit concerned what Ragna had told him about a sacred relic associated with the Goddess of Water.

A little later, Ren and Chronois walked through the Imperial Capital together. She wore the robe she often used outdoors and moved with a light, cheerful step through the winter streets.

Beside her, Ren looked up at the sky that heralded the approach of spring.

“Graduation is almost here, is it not?”

“Yes… Another group of children will soon leave the nest.”

Chronois sounded lonely, but happy as well.

After watching the students persevere through four years at the academy, she could not help celebrating their graduation.

Before long, flowers would bloom in the academy gardens and along the streets, announcing spring’s arrival.

This was an exceptionally busy season for her, yet she had taken time away from work because Ren had sought her help.

Their walk took them to the Imperial Capital’s magic-ship dock. It was smaller than Elendil’s Hanging Garden, so most travelers preferred the latter and the dock was comparatively quiet.

After a short flight, they reached the dock near Roses Caitas. Temporary facilities built for pilgrims during the recent Lion King Grand Festival still stood nearby, leaving the area much as it had been when Ren and Licia came to hear the Elfen Church choir.

They crossed the gangway, descended to the ground, and proceeded toward Roses Caitas without paying the pilgrims around them any particular attention.

The area was now under strict joint security by Leomel and the Elfen Church. Knights, soldiers, and priests guarded the bridges and surrounding routes. Ordinary pilgrims could approach only as far as the bridge, from which they offered prayers toward the unsealed Roses Caitas.

“They asked me to inspect the site again, so your timing was perfect.”

“Thank you for accommodating my request.”

“It is no trouble at all. You came to consult your big sister, so leave everything to me.”

Chronois was affiliated with the Silver Holy Palace of Nodias, the Elfen Church’s headquarters in the holy land.

Even now, the imperial government occasionally asked her to examine the condition of Roses Caitas.

That day, she approached the guards and requested entry.

“Lady Chronois Highland!”

“That is me,” she replied to the Leomelian knight who called out.

“Could the young man with you be the Sword Saint we have heard about?”

The knight directed the question at Ren.

Before Ren could answer, Chronois did so for him.

“Yes, he is. May he accompany me inside?”

“Understood. His identity has already been confirmed, so there should be no difficulty. However…”

“Is something wrong?”

“He is not here as your escort, is he?”

Chronois Highland was one of the greatest magicians in the world.

Even though Ren had attained the rank of Sword Saint in the Mighty Sword Style, there was little reason for someone of his age to serve as the escort of a magician as formidable as Chronois.

“No. I simply wanted him to come with me.”

“I-I see…”

“Although that answer might get me scolded, so let us call him my escort. Will that do?”

“That will not be a problem. We have orders to accommodate your wishes.”

An ordinary visitor could never have pushed such a personal request, but Chronois was no ordinary person. Her mischievous tone made the knight wonder what she was planning, yet he had no intention of prying into the affairs of someone with her standing.

Chronois did not radiate the overwhelming pressure of a Sword King, but that did not make her someone to whom unnecessary questions should be directed.

“Please proceed.”

This was Ren’s second journey toward the plaza at the heart of Roses Caitas, where the divine statues had once stood. It was his first time following the proper route through the mountain, but because the ancient seal had only recently been broken, the experience was new to almost everyone.

When he glanced back and could still see the world outside, Ren felt an unexpected sense of relief.

During the Lion King Grand Festival, he had effectively been trapped inside the seal and unable to see anything beyond Roses Caitas. This time, the visible exit—and Chronois beside him—gave him a reassuring sense of security.

“The destruction is extensive.”

Chronois surveyed the devastated interior of Roses Caitas.

The aftermath of Ren and Licia’s battle with the Sword Demon had split parts of the mountain and dramatically altered the terrain. It had not been nearly this ruined when they first wandered through it.

Walking a few steps ahead, Chronois stopped and looked back.

“Are you all right? You are not forcing yourself, are you?”

“Me?”

“Yes. You and Licia went through something terrible here. I was worried returning might affect you. You must not push yourself.”

“Thank you. I truly am fine. I do have complicated feelings about the battle here—and about the Elfen Church—but…”

There was no false bravado in Ren’s wry smile.

Chronois understood what he meant.

“Still, there seems to be no one here.”

“Perhaps they are occupied with the Demon King cult.”

“Oh, yes. I heard about that.”

Kaito had told Ren about it aboard the Guardian Knight during their journey to Eupheim. The Elfen Church had apparently been fighting the Demon King cult with unusual intensity of late.

(Perhaps they are desperate to restore their honor.)

The plaza that had once held the divine statues—sealed together with the Sword Demon—was now almost completely destroyed. Great holes still opened onto underground rivers and lakes, while most of the statues had been reduced beyond recognition.

Ren had not forgotten why he had returned to this painful place. Together with Chronois, he crossed the surviving platforms in search of the statue of the Goddess of Water.

No Leomelian knights or Elfen Church priests were present this far inside. Only Ren and Chronois remained, their voices and the faint scrape of loose debris echoing through the ruins.

“When I visited regularly, people were always working here. But several months have passed since then.”

Chronois drew her staff from beneath her robe and swept it through the air. A golden, shimmering image appeared before them.

“This is what the statue of the Goddess of Water looked like before its destruction.”

“That is remarkably clear. But…”

Ren spoke while picking his way across the treacherous ground.

“The answer is rather obvious.”

“You noticed, did you? Yes—that is the statue you are looking for…”

Chronois gave a soft, rueful laugh as she walked beside him.

“There is almost nothing left.”

Despite saying something so bleak, Ren did not sound devastated. He had come only in the hope that some remnant of the Goddess of Water’s power might remain—something Ragna could use to repair the key.

What he found was scarcely enough to identify the statue at all.

Only fragments of the carved feet and the pattern of its robes remained recognizable.

The statue of the Goddess of Water had been completely shattered. Judging by the fragments around the great hole, it must once have stood roughly thirty meters tall.

Ren understood at once that finding a usable relic here would be extraordinarily difficult.

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