It was the time when the morning sun was just about to appear from the edge of the mountain.
Kaya stood in the twilight of dawn.
She had already put on her armor.
Shining in the morning sun was polished silver armor, but with the marks of her long battle experience etched in various places. It was probably made of mithril, which was lightweight and suitable for magic.
Mithril armor was relatively inexpensive, but mithril equipment with various types of magical effects would be outrageously expensive. Kaya’s armor was probably of that kind.
She wore tights-like chainmail over her undergarments, and over that she wore only a breastplate and sleeves, in the same style as yesterday. Through the gap in her full-face helmet, she breathed long, thin, white breaths like the breathing of a dragon.
The winters in Ciel-Terra were cold, and wearing ordinary metal armor could cause the body to get cold, which could impair one’s strength, or lead to frostbite.
Therefore, it was necessary to keep warm by some means. Kaya, who had led a squad in the royal knight order, was well-equipped and must have been properly protected against the cold.
Kaya easily pulled her sword from her waist and held it up to the sky.
And then she swung.
She swung it in an exaggerated manner, stepped forward, scooped it up, spun around and slashed while checking her back, and thrust left and right at a blinding speed.
It was not a “form” to show to someone else. But to trace the path of the sword she wielded on the battlefield, and to ensure that she never forgot it.
It was a rugged and terrible sword dance, but it was also beautiful. The remaining melted snow was cut by the pressure of the sword, causing many sharp lacerations.
The sword dance, which seemed to continue endlessly, came to an abrupt end.
Catherine, who was watching from the shadows of the building, was startled when Kaya put away her sword and turned around.
Catherine, who had somehow woken up early, saw Kaya outside the inn, put on a cape, and came to check on her.
“I-I’m sorry. Am I interrupting you?”
“No. It is unbecoming of a knight to be distracted by the mere sight of another person.”
Lifting the helmet’s mask, Kaya smiled at Catherine.
She was not sweating, but her breath was as white as a cloud.
“It was Catherine-sama. Are you so interested in my swordsmanship?”
“… I am. My family and my father’s knights are all … men who wield swords.”
Needless to say, the knights of feudal lords were all men, and the royal knights, who were (by nature) a meritocracy, were mostly men. Female knights were only in the rare cases where someone with a talent for magic became a knight in order to make use of that talent.
Kaya Lanner, a female knight who rose to prominence through her swordsmanship, was a bit of a celebrity, attracting the attention of the public.
Kaya was different from any other woman Catherine had ever seen in her life.
If she had to say so, she might have even resembled Priestess Diana of the “Dragon’s Throat” in some ways.
Imposing and powerful.
Catherine wondered if Kaya’s sword would break through her own feelings of impatience, just as it had broken through the freezing wind.
“Um, Knight.”
“Please, call me Kaya.”
“… Kaya. What are you thinking about when you fight?”
Kaya smiled and tilted her head.
“That’s … too broad a question. It depends on the time and situation.”
“Yes, it does, doesn’t it? I’m sorry.”
Catherine was ashamed of her own haste. It was out of character.
She was not sure what she wanted to ask. She had been taught that words should be chosen in such a way that they convey the intention without excess or deficiency.
Thinking for a moment, Catherine reiterated.
“If your enemy is some unfortunate … opponent whom you can’t hate for some reason, can you still fight them?”
“If it is the Lord’s command … No, if it is for the good of this country. There is no use in dressing it up … and so on. There will be times when you will fight a battle you don’t agree with. But I will still fight. Someone has to.”
“Yes, of course…”
Unfortunately, that was not the answer Catherine sought.
atherine had to push past her disappointment. She fought on with her feelings of being unable to separate the two. She wondered if she would have to do so after all.
“Thank you, Kaya. Well, I’ll leave you now.”
She thanked her and was about to leave.
“The ‘Rose Princess of Hell’. … No. René “Rosey” Ruvia Ciel-Terra.”
Kaya’s words are as quiet as snow.
The fact that she didn’t shriek was a testament to her education as a noble.
Still, Catherine couldn’t tell if the agitation was showing on her face or not.
“Was I right? I see that you were thinking of her.”
“Knight. That’s not a very nice thing to say.”
“Pardon me.”
Kaya was mischievous. Like a child playing riddles.
“Kaya, you…”
“I am a knight who has dedicated my sword to Ciel-Terra. I would take on any monster that would harm this country, even if it were the orphaned child of King Elbert.”
“Do you not wish to fight René?”
“I sympathize with the tragedy that befell her. Although I cannot speak openly about it. And I am ashamed of my failure to stop it.”
Kaya’s words had the prudence of a professional soldier.
“Fighting with hatred in your heart is not the way. I am a knight. Fighting is my job, and I fight because I feel the need to fight. There is no need for hatred there. I could not hate the farmers who were so hungry in a bad harvest year that they were banditizing the whole village, nor could I hate Mother Yeti, who wandered around looking for food to feed her children.”
Kaya was a knight, and her job was to fight to protect her country.
Well, what constituted a “country” and what constituted “protecting” varied from time to time, but that was about it.
“But, Catherine. You are not a knight, so you are not even obliged to fight. You don’t have to hate; you don’t have to fight. Why don’t you think about what you want to do?”
Catherine was flabbergasted by Kaya’s subsequent words.
Somehow, Catherine had tied herself up in her own mind, thinking that she was not allowed to feel sorry for René.
René had killed or impoverished many people and was still on the rampage.
She felt that to pity René would be a disservice to those who had been killed, to those who had mourned their families, and to those who had lost their homes.
Still, Catherine could not help but feel sorry for René.
“Kaya. I feel sorry for René.”
“I see…”
“I want to help her. But how I can help her, I … don’t know.”
What is salvation for René?
Is it to complete the fight for revenge?
Could it be the healing of a broken heart by the love of someone else?
Or, if fighting was hard for her, was it salvation to even collapse in the midst of her path…
“The Temple teaches that the undead must be cleansed by an attack with holy energy to send their souls to God…”
Kaya did not give any assurances.
“I can’t say anything too careless either. If it were the Commander, he might be able to be a little more certain than I am.”
“Commander… Bertil Lagerbeck, right?”
“Yes. I have heard that the Commander also exchanged words with the “Rose Princess of Hellrage” during the battle.”
The Commander of the Second Order was now in Terra Kaine.
This was also the reason why Catherine was going to Terra Kaine.
She was not able to stand still when she thought that Bertil, who was familiar with that day in the capital, might be able to tell her something.
Bertil was also eager to meet Catherine, so she was sure he had something in mind.
“The Commander is thoughtful, knowledgeable in various fields of study and politics, and adept at winning people’s hearts and minds. Even on the battlefield, his ability to read several moves ahead and move his allies is like that of a magician manipulating the magic known as the military. He is a man who can see things that I can’t even begin to see. … Oh, and just so there is no misunderstanding, it’s not all brains. Now that he has lost his arm, he may not be as good as he used to be, but he was once said to be second only to Lawrence Reinhardt, Commander of the First Order, in terms of his swordsmanship. Come to think of it, the Commander of the First Order was said by a bard to be “more brilliant than the seven moons of the night combined”. If so, our Commander is like a green summer forest. Quiet and unassuming, yet with a whiff of mystery and danger in the air. His appearance alone would be worthy of praise, yet why are people always attracted to things that shine so brightly!”
Kaya proudly proclaimed, looking the other way and digressing a little too quickly. She seemed to trust Bertil to have an answer for everything.
Catherine used to think Kaya had the eyes of a hound, but now she had the eyes of a lapdog.
“Kaya. You…”
As expected, Catherine felt a pinch. Regardless of rank or age, it was a timeless subject of gossip among women.
“Are you asking about me and the Commander?”
“Eh… what, eh!?”
Catherine’s somewhat indirect question seemed to have made Kaya immediately understand her intention, and she raised her voice in a nonchalant manner.
“Please don’t joke about it, there is no such thing! I don’t mean to imply that he’s a bad person… but he’s an ideal superior… and a woman of my age… Ah… the Commander is older than me… but I’m just a merchant’s daughter whose only talent is her sword… and that’s all. “
“I’m sorry, Kaya! I understand now!”
Catherine stopped in a panic as Kaya, who had turned bright red, started banging on her helmet.
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