Chapter 220. Target Strike (5)
Enoch quietly watched Alicia as she continued to avoid his gaze as much as possible.
Her face was still flushed bright red, probably aftereffects of approaching mana exhaustion, and it worried him a little, but for now it seemed best to be considerate and ask things calmly.
Enoch leaned his head closer to her ear so she could hear clearly and asked in an even voice,
“How are you so sure this place is a ruin? You said you recognized the symbols here.”
“E-eh?! T-too close…!!”
Alicia stiffened and turned toward him in flustered confusion.
Enoch studied her carefully.
There was no way a country girl like Alicia secretly had some shocking past as a former treasure hunter who roamed the entire Empire.
Even Enoch couldn’t easily imagine how she could be this confident.
“W-well… where should I start explaining?”
Still bright red in the face, Alicia kept avoiding his eyes as she stared at the map.
“Um… I guess I should start with why I think this is a ruin.”
She pointed to the location Enoch had mentioned earlier on the map.
“This is just a guess, but I think there was a treasure hunter who used to serve in the Victoria military.”
“The military?”
“Yes. Treasure hunters are people who search for ruins, right? I think one of them must have been a former soldier.”
“What do you mean by that?”
“Well, I may not recognize most of the symbols on this map, but this one here is definitely a Joint Military Symbol that was used in the past.”
Alicia spoke, then suddenly turned toward Enoch to elaborate.
“Oh! Joint military symbols are used to mark tactical objectives, units, equipment, and facilities. They’re used in Victoria territory and in some of the major noble domains too.”
She placed her pale finger on the map.
On the terrain they would have to pass through to reach Indiviltal’s main force,
A simple symbol, a rectangle with arrows crossing outward from two corners.
Pointing at it, Alicia explained carefully.
“And this symbol represents a ‘target.’ It’s a symbol that Victoria’s army has used since the Old Civilization era, even before the Empire was founded.”
“A target? So it’s not used anymore?”
“Right. At the academy, we learned that it was one of the traditional, unofficial symbols used by the ancient Victoria army before the Empire was established.”
She added with a light laugh,
“Ahaha, well… things have been modernized now, and all unit symbols have changed, so you won’t find these used in the military anymore.”
“I see. That’s probably why it was written here.”
If you mixed a symbol that disappeared ages ago with countless other cryptic markings on a map, hardly anyone would be able to recognize it.
Just then, Alicia’s eyes sparkled as she suddenly turned toward Enoch.
“So? What do you think~? I hope it helped you even a little, Young Master!”
“It did. You helped a lot.”
Enoch nodded slowly, thinking it over.
“A target symbol… That does make sense.”
Even so, there was still something that bothered him, and he tilted his head.
“But even if it really is a ruin… what kind of ruin would be sitting in the middle of a forest like this?”
“Uuuum… good question…….”
A ruin in a forest this vast, it did feel rather out of place.
Enoch suddenly asked her,
“Do you know anything about Victoria’s past?”
“Victoria’s past?”
At his question, Alicia thoughtfully pondered for a moment, then suddenly clapped her fist into her palm.
“Oh! I learned this back when I studied history at the academy! Apparently, long ago, Victoria wasn’t just a noble domain, it was a very powerful country!”
“A country?”
“Yes. A kingdom. We were even taught that there was a time it was called the Victoria Empire , long before the Magitech Empire of Atlas was founded!”
She crossed her arms proudly beneath her chest, smiling as if showing off her knowledge.
“And that’s why even now, the head of the Victoria noble domain is still called Her Majesty the Queen of Victoria!”
Her Majesty the Queen of Victoria.
Considering that major noble domains within the Magitech Empire were practically nations unto themselves, that wasn’t all that unusual.
Typically, once a family head reached first rank, even if they didn’t formally take the title of king, they were treated as such, or even beyond that.
Still, separate from that, Enoch already knew that Victoria had once flourished as a full-fledged nation.
Memories from the time of inheritance suddenly surfaced in his mind.
***
[-The Guardian Knights of Rhodes were victorious… over the soldiers of the Victoria royal family.]
[-Weren’t the Victoria soldiers our allies…?]
[-That was merely a figure of speech.]
[-There was a joint front between the Guardian Knights of Rhodes and the Victoria soldiers, but they achieved lesser military merit than we did.]
[-……So that’s why you said you also claimed victory over the Victoria soldiers?]
[-Yes. Because our order fought more bravely than the Victoria soldiers who joined us as allies…….]
***
Now that he thought about it, there had been brief mentions of Victoria territory during the inheritance of the Azure Sword Saint.
From those memories, Enoch had already suspected that Victoria had once been a massive nation in the distant past.
Judging by names like the Kingdom, or Empire, of Victoria, it might even have been the strongest power before the rise of the Magitech Empire.
Old Victoria also seemed closely tied to Rhodes, where the Azure Sword Saint once lived.
Perhaps in the next inheritance, he would see memories connected to the history Alicia just mentioned.
“Even so, it’s still strange to find a ruin deep inside a jungle like this.”
Enoch slowly shook his head.
“But thinking about it any more won’t get us anywhere.”
“Yes. We don’t know what we’ll find there, but there’s no choice except to pass through it……”
Alicia nodded in agreement.
Come to think of it, there was one thing Enoch needed to be clear about regarding this so-called ruin.
His guess that it might be related to a Sword Saint was, to be honest, just wishful thinking.
As Alicia said, it might instead be a ruin from the so-called Old Civilization, the chaotic era before the Magitech Empire, when mages ran rampant and ancient artifacts were created.
“And there’s an even bigger problem.”
His inner world was already being eroded by the Sword Saint.
The reason he failed to continue the sword inheritance the last time he entered his inner world was exactly that.
In such a state, if this ruin turned out to be connected to one of the past Sword Saints, that could be a problem in its own way.
Continuing inheritance from any Sword Saint while he still didn’t fully understand himself could very well make things worse.
Even if he found something useful for inheritance there, it might only become a headache.
Setting aside the unavoidable facts for now, Enoch looked down at the map and said,
“Either way, this ruin is just the least bad option. There’s no guarantee we won’t be attacked while moving there. It won’t be an easy route.”
“It’s fine! I’ll take the lead, !”
Alicia, who had been sitting with her knees on the ground, shouted energetically as if to reassure him and tried to stand up on the spot.
But then,
She suddenly lost her balance, her legs giving out, and nearly collapsed.
“Huh?”
“Alicia, are you alright?”
Enoch quickly grabbed her shoulder to support her. Looking up at him, Alicia gave an awkward smile.
“Ah, ahaha… my legs aren’t really moving properly….”
Watching her scratch her cheek with her finger, Enoch said calmly,
“Aftereffects of mana exhaustion.”
At that, Alicia’s expression darkened slightly as she turned her face aside, lowering her eyes.
“I’m sorry… because of me… At this rate, even if I rest for a night, I won’t be in condition to carry out the operation……”
“It’s fine.”
Mana exhaustion was different from physical injury. Even if she took emergency healing ampoules, they wouldn’t help much.
But Enoch had something else he had received as a “gift” from the Cathedral.
“I happen to have another medicine I got from the Cathedral earlier.”
Without hesitation, Enoch took out a different kind of ampoule from his pocket and held it out to Alicia.
“Drink it.”
“Um… what is this?”
“An emergency mana recovery potion from the Cathedral.”
Alicia gasped and accepted it with both hands, hesitating. Then she looked up at Enoch with an almost reverent expression.
“W-wait, isn’t this the one you only hear about in rumors…?! And something this expensive and rare…?!”
She stared at him and asked,
“Y-young Master, is it really okay for me to drink this?”
Enoch silently nodded.
When he tested it before, because he used unique mana rather than standard mage mana, the potion had only worked on him like a mild fatigue recovery drink.
But for a proper mage, it would definitely show its true effect.
“If you drink this and get some sleep, you won’t need to worry about mana exhaustion tomorrow.”
As he said that, Enoch felt reassured once again that the preparations he had steadily made until now had not been in vain.
The emergency healing ampoules from Amelia, and even the mana recovery potion to prevent loss of combat power during an operation,
Everything he had done in the past was now serving as vital supplies in this brutal mission.
At that moment, Alicia clutched the potion tightly with both hands and looked up at Enoch.
“B-but… are you okay, Enoch?”
“Me?”
“Yes. I saw it earlier.”
She glanced toward his waist. The bloodstains from when he was attacked by the hound-type beasts were still visible on the shirt beneath his blazer-like jacket.
“That blood… you definitely joined the fighting this time too, right? You were injured because of that……”
“I’m fine. And don’t worry about it.”
Enoch glanced at her and added lightly,
“Even if you’re not officially inducted yet, you’re basically an important vassal family member. Alicia.”
“I-is that… so…….”
For some reason, Alicia stared at him blankly, clutching the potion tightly in both hands.
The way her gaze lingered, unfocused and uncharacteristic of her, might just have been Enoch’s imagination.
***
There wasn’t much to prepare for camping.
The ground covered in leaves was soft, and there was a thin waterproof sheet in the duffel bag that worked well enough as a blanket to retain body heat.
Rien had already disappeared somewhere after saying she would check the surroundings.
When Enoch briefly turned on his terminal, he saw that it was already past 10 p.m.
Perhaps because the temperature was unexpectedly chilly, there were no insects, only silence.
The wind rustled through the trees, whispering loudly in his ears.
Enoch lay there, eyes open, gazing up at the night sky.
Without the lights of modern cities like the outer district or noble domains, the stars seemed to spill across the heavens.
Everything that had happened during the day replayed in his mind.
Could he really do it?
In this dangerous world where even meticulous plans fell apart, could he survive on sword talent alone?
The silence rang in his ears. The wind howled relentlessly.
“Young Master… are you asleep?”
At that moment, a soft rustling reached his ears. It was Alicia.
Enoch replied as calmly as he could,
“Can’t sleep?”
“Yeah.”
That was understandable. Lying so close together like this, it wouldn’t be easy to fall asleep.
He remembered Alicia hesitating earlier when she suggested sleeping close together to conserve body heat.
Turning his head in the darkness, he saw Alicia had edged closer beneath the sheet, staring at his back.
“Um… um, maybe……”
She leaned close to his ear and whispered softly,
“Could you… talk with me for a bit?”