Chapter 223. Ruin in the Forest (3)
In an instant, all manner of questions and emotions crossed through him.
Enoch glanced around at the knights arrayed on every side with their swords planted before them, and he unconsciously took a step back.
Of all the times — why now, in a situation where enemies might be lying in wait anywhere. That something like this would happen.
No, more than that — a ruin connected to the 'Sword Saint of the Waves'? It couldn't be any stranger. Enoch slowly took in the surrounding fortress.
This was not the ruin of Rhodes, where he had obtained his sword.
To begin with, the distance between the Victoria Domain and Rhodes was over a thousand kilometers. Why, then?
"Young Master."
Just then, an emotionless voice came from beside him. Glancing over, he saw Lien in her maid attire watching him with cool eyes.
"Are you alright?"
"……Yeah. No problem."
Thanks to Lien's ever-steady, clear voice, Enoch was able to pull his scattered focus back together once more.
Get it together. Whatever happens, Lien's at your side, and Alicia's on point.
Besides, there was no use in thinking about it any longer here. Entering the World of Impermanence right now was hardly a good thing, but he had no real choice either.
Finishing his judgment quickly, Enoch stared ahead and tilted his head slightly forward.
"Let's keep moving quietly, without getting caught."
As Enoch decided to press on through the corridor and walked forward, he felt Lien's gaze fixed on him from behind.
Alicia nodded as well, quietly re-gripping her lance as she slowly set her steps in motion.
For now, whatever the reason, entering the World of Impermanence was something he couldn't help at the moment. In that case, finishing the inheritance before they engaged the enemy might even be a viable strategy.
Walking the path of stone and vines where the knights stood arrayed, Enoch slowly closed his eyes.
And when he slowly opened them again.
"……!!"
Enoch unconsciously flung his eyelids wide open.
A vast, undulating expanse of lake was filling his vision as far as it could reach.
Rhodes of the past — a scene that had become all too familiar by now. The clear, sprawling surface of that lake was overlaying itself onto reality, growing vivid.
It was not the abandoned corridor — but a corridor of Rhodes.
Looking around, then bringing his eyes back forward, Enoch unconsciously drew in a sharp breath.
Right before him. A delicate, slender girl was standing there.
With beautiful water-colored hair falling down her back, she was gazing blankly out at the sky through the corridor's dim window.
"It feels like it's going to rain."
Enoch didn't miss her soft murmur between her lips.
"─My lady!"
Just then, the girl, upon hearing a familiar voice calling her, smiled faintly and turned to look behind her.
In the middle of the elegant corridor hung with chandeliers. There, a beautiful girl wrapped in a water-colored dress that shimmered like a lake was looking toward her.
"Yes, Nanny."
Then, clasping both her hands lightly together, she walked forward with precise little steps. Her translucent water-colored dress, through which her slender legs showed, fluttered long with every movement.
Enoch was witnessing the past of the Sword Saint of the Waves.
Relying on nothing but the memory of his vision from just before it faded from reality, he walked forward, and suddenly he understood.
He could tell.
The vision unfolding before him was someone's memory from long, long ago. The past of the Sword Saint of the Waves, when she had been nothing more than a delicate young girl — the backstory of the life she had lived.
Just then, someone swept past Enoch's side.
A young, tidy woman wearing a white apron over a dress of a darker shade.
"My laaaady!!"
She ran to the girl with spirited energy, wrapped her up in an embrace, and began ruffling her hair as she spoke.
"Ahh! Truly, truly beautiful! My lady! Truly, you were born for this day!!"
"Yes, thank you. Nanny. But my hair will get mussed up."
"Ah! Oh my, look at me. You're right!"
As if she'd just remembered, the nanny hurriedly set her own hands to neatening the girl's hair once more with careful attention.
Then, seeming to calm down a little, the nanny stepped back one pace and faced the girl as she asked,
"My lady, are your preparations for today's debut complete, then?"
"Yes, Nanny. I have the etiquette for the social hall down perfectly now."
The girl smiled gently.
"You've truly worked hard. Nanny."
"Oh no, I'm only doing my duty!"
The nanny moved close to the dressed girl without hesitation, and set her silver hair ornament straight for her.
"My lady. Since this is probably the last time I'll say this, I'll say it one more time at the end."
Then, looking down at the girl as if urging her to take this to heart, the nanny added,
"My lady. As I've told you many times, here in Rhodes, everyone born must fight in their own way, on their own battlefield, from the moment they're born. That goes for me and for you as well."
"Yes. Nanny, I've heard it often. Father taught me the same."
"Right? Hohoho."
Saying so, the nanny spun once, turning her back. Beyond the massive window of the corridor she had her back to, gray sky poured in.
The girl looked briefly at the very cloudy sky — as if rain were about to fall — then turned her eyes down beyond the window.
Beyond the high corridor window, the vast cityscape of Rhodes spread out so far it seemed to reach into the distance.
Tall, graceful stone buildings; people of all kinds in every manner of dress moving through the city; and knights in steel helms and armor patrolling — the bustling streets of Rhodes.
With her back to the sprawling scene beneath the gray sky that threatened rain any moment, the nanny smiled widely.
"The noble Guardian Knights, and every single person who lives in Rhodes — each has their own battlefield in life. And you see!"
Lifting the small hand mirror she had tucked into the apron at her back, she brought it up with a ta-da! and held it in both hands to show the girl her reflection.
Then, peeking out from behind the mirror, she gave a playful smile.
"This is the battlefield given to you, my lady!"
The girl looked into the mirror.
Her delicate figure, adorned with a water-colored dress and light makeup, looked back at her from the mirror.
"Mm~ As I thought! Your beauty is peerless!"
Watching the girl closely, the nanny beamed as though she found her utterly adorable.
"It all makes perfect sense — how many young nobles of the Kingdom of Victoria have been showing interest in you, my lady, even before your debut into society!"
The girl, embarrassed, turned her face aside with a flush on her cheeks. But the nanny paid her no mind and approached her all the same, pulling her into a tight hug.
"But it's really true! Your mission, my lady, is to use the social world to capture the hearts of everyone — regardless of age or gender — with your charm, and raise the standing of Rhodes!"
"Yes, I suppose so. Then what about you, Nanny?"
"Me? My battlefield is to watch over you, my lady, so that you can fulfill your mission to its very end!"
Speaking cheerfully, the nanny planted a hand on her hip with the cityscape of Rhodes as her backdrop beyond the window.
Then she raised her index finger toward the girl, who was watching her fixedly from before her.
"I said before, didn't I? My lady, you weren't born with the talents of the Guardian Knights, but you can distinguish yourself with your own talents. That is the mission you've carried since birth."
The nanny smiled warmly at the girl.
"And that, too, is what we call destiny."
"Destiny…"
The girl brushed the sleeve of her dress lightly with her other arm and turned her face to the side for a moment. Then, as if having resolved something, she quickly turned back to the nanny.
"Nanny. If I really follow this destiny, will I be able to protect you, and everyone in Rhodes?"
Seeing the earnest expression on the girl's face, the nanny crinkled her eyes softly and smiled, as if to say how admirable.
"My my. You truly never change, my lady. You've said things like that often since you were small."
"Nanny. I was also born as a daughter of the Rhodes nobility."
She placed a hand over her chest, still clad in her dress, and said,
"At the very least, I want to fulfill my own mission and protect the people here!"
"Truly admirable, as always."
The nanny laughed once, then walked spiritedly forward and gently tugged at the sleeve of the girl's dress.
"Then let's get ready! The banquet begins in just a few hours, so if you don't want to be late, my lady, you'll have to go now!"
Led by the nanny, the girl walked down the long stone corridor, the hem of her water-colored dress flowing behind her.
"Besides! At this banquet's preparations, as you know, many of the Guardian Knights of Rhodes will be in attendance too!"
"The Guardian Knights as well?"
"Of course! It's the special triennial event, you know! The other knights will be preparing the banquet while they wait for you, my lady, so let's hurry!"
The girl quietly nodded. With those words, the two figures grew distant, fading toward the far end of the corridor.
Enoch watched the two women crossing the middle of the corridor in silence.
Traditionally, the children of Rhodes nobility, regardless of sex, held the duty of forging alliances with the nobles of neighboring kingdoms through socializing and marriage, securing their bonds — that, he seemed to recall her saying once.
[There was no question about that truth.]
In that instant, at the clear voice that sliced into his mind, Enoch stared at her with no expression.
It was, without a doubt, the voice of the Sword Saint of the Waves.
The girl, being led away by the ever-smiling nanny, kept her composed eyes on the cloudy sky beyond the window as she murmured.
[My role is, as a leader of the fortress city Rhodes, to fulfill the mission given to me from the moment of my birth.]
Rhodes at that time was a geographical key point connecting it to the Kingdom of Victoria — then at the peak of its prosperity — and was therefore also a place frequented by foreign incursions.
For the citizens there to survive, each and every one had to remain faithful to their own role and mission.
[That was the means of survival for those born in the city of Guardian Knights, Rhodes.]
The girl slowly raised her head.
[As a matter of course, I too was scheduled to debut into noble society even before my coming-of-age ceremony, in accordance with my destiny.]
Someone considered fated to elevate her value through beautiful features and proper conduct.
That was the course of the girl's life.
Enoch understood, through the inheritance, in a sudden flash. It was now the afternoon of a milestone day for her — the day she was about to make her debut in Rhodes' social circles.
The girl, having finished her dress and makeup, was exchanging farewells with her nanny in the hall of her sprawling mansion just before heading to her life's first banquet.
Grasping all of it at once, Enoch watched as the nanny, holding the girl's hand, suddenly turned back to her.
"We're about to depart!"
They had now come before a towering flight of stairs leading to the entrance of their enormous residence.
And at the bottom of those stairs, servants in formal dress with longswords at their hips stood lined up in rows, waiting there.
The nanny turned sharply once, and gave a brisk sweep of her arm to direct those gathered.
"All of you. To the young lady who will bear the future of Rhodes in the social world, pay your respects!"
At once, all the servants on both sides, without a word, drew their swords and held them pointed downward with both hands.
Then, raising their arms up to their chests, they rendered a sharp salute toward her.
Seeing that, Enoch was surprised in spite of himself.
The gazes of every single one of them, directed toward the girl in her water-colored dress, were filled with a startling degree of reverence and expectation.
It became perfectly clear what her duty — shouldering the future of Rhodes — meant to the people here, and how weighty that meaning was.
The nanny, watching the girl look down quietly at those people, pressed her hand in both of her own with tears welling in her eyes, then pulled her into a tight embrace.
Then, as if touched beyond words, the nanny ran her fingers through the girl's hair affectionately and whispered,
"Ah. At long last, to be able to send my lady — whom I've raised since she was little — off into society like this. I'm truly overwhelmed…!"
"Honestly, Nanny. You're being silly…"
The girl welled up a little too, dabbing lightly at her tears with the hem of her dress.
"You've worked truly hard all this time, Nanny. Rest a little. I can manage the banquet tonight on my own. And the other servants will be with me."
"Now, now, what are you saying! I have to see you off, of course!"
The nanny smiled brightly and ran her fingers through her hair.
"My lady, you're so emotional and so soft-hearted, I worry you might break down crying at the social hall!"
KRRRAAAAASH!!
But just at that moment, the sound of the mansion's enormous door being slammed open — as if about to be torn off its hinges — rang out.
And from there, a single guard burst in with the color drained from his face.
"My lady! Emergency report!!"
The man, blood spattered thick across his silver iron helm, rushed in between the lined-up servants and dropped onto one knee.
Propping himself on his blood-soaked spear, he looked up, his eyes wide with rage and panic.
The girl's eyes widened in shock.
"What's happened?"
The soldier kneeling on the floor gasped as if his breath were about to give out and cried in desperation,
"Taking advantage of the Guardian Knights' absence — Suleiman's 0th Special Operations Unit scouting party has attacked!"