Chapter 69
It was the day of the Ajenka Military Academy Cadet selection exam. Yuriene was passing by the administration office when he heard a commotion. Clerks were chattering. Curious, he asked what was going on, and one of the clerks grimaced before explaining.
"There's an unusual applicant, so we were joking about it for a moment!"
"Unusual?"
As he questioned, the clerks quickly stepped back and pointed to the window.
"Over there... you'll know as soon as you see."
Yuriene approached the window and looked outside. There were many people. He habitually activated True Sight. The moment he did, his gaze was caught. His vision was trapped, as if caught in a snare.
The sun was there.
A dazzlingly burning soul amidst the gray shadows. A light like a flame soaring alone. An overwhelming fire, wreathed in a pale, almost white, violet light like radiance, that seemed as if it would never be extinguished.
He recognized her at once. It was a woman he knew. There was no way he could not know. He would have recognized her even if she were wearing rags.
She exists. The person he had doubted was real, the person he had suspected might not exist, was right here, right now, existing. More dazzling and more beautifully radiant than in his memories.
The emotions that swept over him at that moment were impossible for him to describe himself. Emotions that were difficult to define as any one thing passed through his entire body in a matter of seconds.
Finding it difficult to stand properly, Yuriene tightened his grip on the window frame.
Memories he had tried to forget flooded back, surging up. Nightmares covered in blood, corpses, and malice.
And even in those nightmares, her figure, which had not collapsed until the very end, until the very last moment. The sight he had kept in his eyes until the moment before he breathed his last.
The small seed had not withered away in the malice, but had instead burned and become a flame. She, who had not collapsed in the end, had now appeared as a clear, shining sun.
He felt dizzy. His stomach churned. And a strong conviction came over him. The conviction that all those memories could not possibly be just a dream.
Her existence, the emotions that surged within him the moment he saw her, were so powerful.
"I didn't expect to see an applicant in a dress at the Ajenka Cadet selection exam."
The clerk's muttering next to him slowly reached his ears. Only then did he feel a sense of reality. The sensation of the window frame clenched in his fist, the murmuring from outside the window, the breeze brushing his cheek, and, her soul reflected in True Sight.
But what did she say?
"...Applicant?"
"Yes. I don't know what she thinks the Military Academy is... She seems like a naive young lady."
A Military Academy applicant. An applicant?
She was shining so dazzlingly, yet the clerk next to him was speaking as if it were obvious that she would fail. He felt a surge of anger at the dismissive tone towards her.
No one should disregard her. She was not someone who deserved such treatment. He asked, almost mockingly, without realizing it.
"Do you think that woman will fail?"
"Huh? Well... Isn't she?"
Yuriene closed True Sight. He watched her take the preliminary exam with his naked eyes. According to the future he knew, she was supposed to be a woman who would become a demon and go on a rampage around this time. That she would draw her sword wearing a dress, just like when he first saw her at the banquet.
"I would bet on her passing the exam with top marks."
She swung her sword. It was not a soul engulfed in malice, nor a body with dirty appearance and black hair. Although the distance was far, everything was clearly visible to him, a Master.
Light pink hair fluttered over her fair skin, free of dark blemishes. Violet eyes sparkled with vitality. Rosy lips curved slightly.
A body in harmony with her soul.
The original her, whom he had always wanted to know, was there.
Even without True Sight, she was dazzling. His body leaned forward involuntarily over the window frame. He wanted to be closer, to face her. He wanted to hear her voice.
He had never heard her voice before. He wondered what her voice would sound like, speaking with meaning, not growling, tainted by the Demon Sword.
Yuriene belatedly realized that he was leaning out of the window and quickly turned his gaze away in surprise.
In any case, she would pass the Military Academy selection exam as if it were a game, even if he didn't watch her. It wasn't an illusion, so she wouldn't disappear somewhere.
Besides, she said she was an applicant. If she became a Military Cadet, she would stay close to him.
Instead of a soul struggling beyond the iron gate, she, alive and breathing, would exist in his city.
His heart stirred strangely. He barely suppressed his surging emotions and turned away from the window. He was about to leave, but then, on a sudden thought, he ordered the clerk.
"Bring me the application."
Until now, he had not investigated her because he thought it would be dangerous. In fact, that incident happened with just one glance, so his fear was not unfounded.
But there was no problem in looking at the applicant's application. This was not the Empire, but Ajenka, his territory.
While the clerks searched through the pile of documents for her application, Yuriene seemed to be standing there calmly. But inside, there was turmoil. It was only natural. He would soon know her name.
Yuriene accepted her application. More clearly and larger than all other details, her name caught his eye.
Ekinesia Roaz.
The name of a pink flower. A flower that grows well in fields despite being an ornamental plant. The moment he read it, it was deeply engraved within him.
A name he had always wanted to know, but should not have found out, so he had inwardly hoped to hear it directly from her someday when she overcame all of that, but had thought he would never know it as he watched her die, such a name.
"Ekinesia..."
He quietly savored it. As he rolled the name around in his mouth, his heartbeat quickened slightly.
She had a name. She was a real person. The woman who had been in his memory.
'...What happened to the Demon Sword?'
In the 'future' he knew, in that memory he thought was a dream, she was not a Military Cadet. She was a demon. But now, he could not see the malice that had been like a swamp in her.
Moreover, her essence had changed from the spark he had first seen, or the flame he had last seen, to an overwhelming sun.
Where on earth was the Demon Sword? Why had she appeared here with such an intense soul?
"You've changed."
"Yes?"
"Nothing. Then, you may go."
Everything had changed. His head became complicated. Yuriene returned the application and left the administration office.
* * *
Holy Sword Rangiosa awakened late the next night. Yuriene was looking at the records of the future he knew, which he had been organizing all day yesterday, in his bedroom when he heard Rangiosa's call.
[Master.]
"...Rangiosa?"
[What day is it now?]
"It's April 11, 1629. Have you been asleep all this time?"
[More like a faint. I was sorting out the tangled memories caused by the shift in time... Even though it's the second time, I can't get used to it.]
"Second time?"
[I'm talking about time turning back.]
Yuriene paused for a moment. He had thought so because nothing else could explain the discrepancy between the present and his memories. But hearing a vague guess and a confident answer as if it were obvious were quite different things.
He composed himself and asked in a trembling voice.
"So, time really did turn back? To three and a half years ago?"
[Three and a half years? No, it should be 15 years... Ah, I see.]
"15 years?"
An incomprehensible number came out. Yuriene asked back in bewilderment, but the Holy Sword did not answer for a while. It seemed to be contemplating something. Yuriene asked another question.
"What do you mean by 'second time'?"
[It's not the first time time has turned back. Time was turned back once several hundred years ago. It was the power of Kairos Giosa.]
Divine Sword Kairosgiosa is a sword made from time.
Yuriene, the captain of the Azure Knights who protect the Giosa, recalled the Giosa legend as soon as he heard those words. The legend that if you gather ten Giosas made by humans, the Divine Sword would lend its power.
He had a strange premonition. He rubbed his face and said.
"Tell me more about it."
[Wait a moment. I've just woken up. I'm not sure how much I should tell you.]
"...Does that mean there's something you have to hide from me?"
[Rather than hide...]
The Holy Sword hesitated. Then, reluctantly, it continued.
[I don't know if it's right for you to know what happened after you died. This is the first time this has happened, so it's ambiguous. The last time time moved, I didn't have a Master.]
What happened after he died.
Not three and a half years, but 15 years.
The legend that if you gather the Giosa, the Divine Sword will lend its power.
Kairosgiosa.
The words the Holy Sword had let slip were connecting strangely in his mind.
Could it be.
Yuriene groaned softly.
"After I... died, someone gathered the Giosa and turned back time with the power of the Divine Sword."
[That's right. Those turned-back times are engraved on the Giosa. Therefore, by awakening the Giosa, the Owner whose soul is connected to the Giosa can retain their memories.]
"You mean my memories are being retained through you?"
[Yes. The other Giosa also know the erased times, so if you awaken another Giosa besides me, your memories will be retained through it even without me. On the other hand, those who have not awakened the Giosa remember nothing. So if you abandon me, you will forget those times.]
Yuriene realized something from Rangiosa's explanation. The reason why Teresa and Baron, who were Giosa Owners in 1632 and are still Giosa Owners now, don't know at all that time has turned back, even excluding Dietrich, who is not yet a Giosa Owner. Because they have not awakened their Giosa.
"I'm lucky."
Rangiosa is a Giosa that is always in an awakened state. As long as you don't commit evil deeds, there is no need to awaken it separately. Rangiosa, who understood Yuriene's words, replied bitterly.
[Well, is it a good thing to remember? I don't know. Wouldn't it be better to forget?]
Memories that are better forgotten?
Yuriene looked down at his palm with a bewildered expression. Rangiosa continued as if he had made up his mind.
[Forgetting is simple. Abandon me and take in another Giosa. As the captain of the Azure Knights, you are more than capable of doing so.]
