Chapter 227. Path Forward (2)
The pause of his memory inheritance from the Inner World — that this situation, effectively a suspension, would end based on Enoch himself.
Persona's strange words carried a hint of unease. Feeling that inexplicable intuition, Enoch raised his head calmly.
"What exactly does that mean?"
Glancing to the side, Enoch saw the olive-colored crystals of light drifting around him like fireflies.
"That restarting this pause of the inheritance comes down to my simple act of decision? I find it hard to believe it'd be as simple as flipping a switch."
"Right, it wouldn't. But one thing is certain."
A pale, slender finger pointed at Enoch.
"No matter how uncontrollable it is. If you desire it strongly, it'll definitely be possible, Enoch."
Persona sat with both arms propped against the ruin and rested her cheek against one shoulder.
"Engrave this well, Enoch. This is no one else's Inner World — it's yours."
"……What?"
Persona's words brought a flash of confusion, but there was no time to chew on them at length. Paying him no mind, she gave a small scoff.
"Well, that just means your influence here is absolute. They say fluctuations in mana are fluctuations in emotion. Even mages who use Unique Magic are no different."
"Even though Unique Mana isn't the same as mages' magic?"
"Even mages like me are just drawing on the mana that exists in the world and using it. Once you've taken it into your body, the property of the mana itself doesn't change. In other words, the fact that emotion and mana are linked doesn't really differ between you and me."
Persona looked around and laughed soundlessly.
"Just like this."
"……"
"The way you're being eroded by the Sword Saint's memory, and the way this world — built from your Unique Mana and reflecting your inner self — is steadily wavering. You understand that much, don't you?"
Enoch tilted his head.
"If you say it like that, I only get more curious. Just how much more do you know?"
"Who knows? But I can at least pose the question. The beginning of gaining wisdom comes from the raising of a question after all. That was Lord Tantalus's favorite saying."
Persona held her hair against the wind that blew in the Inner World and closed one eye slightly.
"You know this too. Those who, like you, have been forgotten by the Empire but rose into the ranks of swordsmen — those who manifested Unique Mana — can never become mages."
"This is sudden. But I'm well aware."
"Of course you are. But how about this?"
She raised a finger and pointed at Enoch.
"Enoch. Have you truly never wondered? 'Unique Mana' and 'Unique Magic.' Both have incredibly similar names, yet a Sword Saint and a mage can never become each other. Why are they so different?"
"……"
"And what on earth happened in the Empire's past that left not a single trace of the once-mighty Sword Saints in the Empire's history? And…"
She narrowed her eyes softly and added,
"The swordsmen who manifest Unique Mana. And the mages who manifest Unique Magic that draws on external mana. What, exactly, is the true difference between the two?"
"You talk as though you know everything."
"Oh? Unfortunately, I don't know most of it either. These are half questions I'm posing to you, really."
"What?"
Persona crossed her legs the other way atop the ruin. Then she tapped her own head lightly.
"In the first place, even the Academia couldn't find answers to those things, let alone Lord Tantalus. Setting aside those half-wits at the Academia, there's no way I could keep up with Lord Tantalus's genius intellect, is there?"
"I can't tell if it's true, but at least I now know I asked the wrong question of a fool who only strikes poses."
"Fufufu — overly clever women aren't very attractive, you know? You have to know when to play a little dumb to be popular. Don't you think?"
Persona, with her legs crossed and the mask half-covering her cheek, smiled gently as if seeking agreement.
"Play a little dumb…"
Enoch gave a wry smile.
Even if Persona really did know, there was no way to draw it out. Perhaps the only means would be torture, like last time, but…
He simply wasn't fond of that method.
Of course, there was a sound reason for it too. If they were going to build a cooperative relationship, forcibly wringing information out of her with torture or similar means could very well yield false information instead.
Since they would be together in this Inner World going forward, he didn't want to bear that risk.
That was probably his most rational reason.
"Your slippery way of speaking hasn't changed."
"Fufu, right? Still, keep in mind that this older sister has quite high expectations of you."
With her arms crossed, Persona propped one elbow up and rested her chin on it, grinning.
"Honestly, I'm really curious about how you'll overcome this mission and these trials. Sword Inheritor."
"Is that so."
Persona rose from atop the towering ruin and looked down at him with clear eyes.
"So, it's not a lie."
Wreathed in crystals glinting olive-colored like fireflies across the dark-blue Rhodes lake, Persona smiled faintly.
"Come now, show me the path you open with that sword of yours."
***
Enoch slowly opened his eyes.
A sharp scent of grass brushed the tip of his nose.
Had he come out of the World of Impermanence?
When Enoch looked around, he found he had reached the end of reality's long abandoned corridor.
A beat late, the chill characteristic of a long stone hallway stabbed into his skin. At some point, he had fully exited the World of Impermanence.
Just then, a high-pitched voice shouted at his ear.
"Direct Lineage, get down!"
Planting a hand on the ground and quickly bending his knees like a spring, a heavy wind sound whooshed past just over his head.
With her lance thrust forward, Alicia — spinning her body horizontally at drill-like speed — pierced clean through the enemy.
Like a bolt of lightning, the conical lance-tip tore through with a beam of light, and the magical beast's rock-hard carapace shattered, the fragments exploding and scattering brilliantly into the air.
"Haaaaaaah!!"
Alicia, having impaled the lance through the enemy's waist, tore through the air with it still lodged, kicked off the wall, and shifted sharply toward the ground.
Swinging the lance down from above, she hurled the magical beast's massive body and drove it vertically into the ground.
A roar that shook the entire corridor of the ruin erupted, and the beast's body embedded in the ground, along with shattered carapace fragments, sent dust scattering in every direction.
A beat later, Alicia landed behind it.
The impact of her plunging descent shook the whole corridor, cracking the ground beneath her. Alicia skidded smoothly backward and spun the lance once before gripping it again. Only then did the dust that had filled the space clear.
Glancing over as the magical beast, rising unsteadily from the dust, collapsed limply again, Enoch finally took in the scene behind him and could not hold back his astonishment.
"This is…"
Around the corridor he had passed through up to now, magical beasts were scattered everywhere, crumbling into black ash.
The bodies of these inhuman monsters, torn to pieces in a one-sided battle, lay strewn on both sides and across the floor of the corridor.
The remnants that had been experimental magical beasts were draped over the knight statues, their severed bodies looking like grotesque pieces of modern art.
In the moment Enoch took in all of that, half-turning his upper body.
"There was an ambush by magical beasts during our advance."
A clear girl's voice came, and he glanced the other way. Standing there was Lien, in her black-and-white maid dress.
Lien tossed her silver hair back with a flick, walked forward with precise steps, and before Enoch could even open his mouth, she passed by his side and stopped. A cool, sweet fragrance wafted from her hair.
"Are you alright?"
When he was at a distance where Alicia could no longer hear, Lien drew in close with an emotionless gaze. Then she narrowed her eyes.
"……I can tell because it's the Young Master's body. You, you look strange."
Had she noticed it from his earlier behavior? Enoch nodded. If it was Lien, of course she would.
"Yeah. It's not exactly a good situation."
"The wound should have healed with the Holy Séjour's ampoule?"
"Yeah. It's not because of a wound. Explaining it all here will take time. Later."
Lien shifted her gaze, watching Alicia approach from further off. Then she gave a small nod.
"Alright. It's better not to have ears listening in."
Enoch nodded back.
In any case, he still hadn't revealed his abilities to Sirocco or Amelia, who were of the same Follower Family. Alicia was no exception either.
To avoid raising Alicia's suspicions, he lifted his head as though naturally discussing the plan with Lien.
"The plan's set with this."
Enoch glanced over at Alicia.
"Alicia's been on point all this time; she must be exhausted. Lien, switch with her and break through the path ahead."
"Yes. If it is your wish, Young Master, gladly."
She gracefully lifted the hem of her maid-dress skirt with one hand and lowered her head. Lien's long silver hair fluttered in the wind.
Watching Lien, Alicia beside them let her lance droop limply from beside her and gave a small murmur of admiration.
"Wo, wow. As expected! Even in the middle of an operation, the Elsyde family's maid is incredibly elegant and obedient…"
Obedient — it was certainly true.
Enoch couldn't help smiling wryly.
Perhaps because of the atmosphere between them, his relationship with Lien was still far from anything one could call close. But undeniably, he could tell that she was, little by little, opening her heart to him.
…Of course, that the reason was 'because you're so similar to the original Young Master' was also extremely like her.
Just then, Alicia, having regained her composure, approached and glanced around.
"Direct Lineage! I felt something pushing through these ruins. The number of Experimental Subjects is just way too many for an ambush."
Alicia pointed with the tip of her lance at the remnants of magical beasts scattered nearby.
"If the Maid hadn't handled most of them, with my lance out of ammunition, the numbers would have made it impossible for me to break through."
It was certainly true.
Enoch nodded as he looked around. Just from the 'things that had been magical beasts' scattered in every direction, you could tell how many of the Experimental Subjects had charged in here.
"At first I thought they were simple scouts, but is that really it? These ruins…"
Alicia trailed off. Enoch stepped closer to her and asked calmly,
"What are you trying to say?"
"Something's off. Even accounting for them being on guard against intruders, there's no reason for this many magical beasts to be lurking inside the ruins."
"Then it isn't just simple reconnaissance or a perimeter…"
Enoch glanced past the collapsed walls of the ruins.
"Meaning these ruins are closer to the magical beasts' encampment than we thought?"
"Yes. That's right."
Alicia nodded gravely.
"And these ruins happen to end just up ahead."
At her words, he looked ahead, and the end of the corridor cutting across the ruined castle had drawn close. The end of the long passage, fittingly for a ruin, was collapsed open and connected to the garden behind the castle.
Beyond that garden, at the foot of the towering cliff the castle sat upon, a sweeping view of the forest stretched into the distance.
Looking at the green-filled scenery visible at the far end of the open corridor through the gray passage, Enoch narrowed his eyes against the dim sunlight filtering into the dark passage.
And when he confirmed the landscape stretching across the sky beyond it, Enoch gave a thin smile.
"At the very least, we haven't come the wrong way."
In the sky above — a mere few hundred meters beyond the countless trees — more than a dozen flying-type magical beasts were circling in place.
Winged creatures that looked as if carved from stone, green mana spilling from the cracks in the carapace of their split backs, scattering halos of green light — pterosaur-like forms of inorganic appearance.
Experimental magical beasts transformed to such a degree that they could not possibly be considered naturally formed life.
What would be on the ground, under the protection of enemies like those, was obvious without even needing to look.
"Indiviltal's encampment. Right up ahead."
"That place…"
With resolve in her gaze, Alicia gripped her lance across her body and quietly murmured.
From the sky, where dark clouds were slowly gathering, deep shadows passed over Enoch and the two girls.
Enoch lowered his head.
As if to remind him that it was time to begin the final stage of the solo mission — with the target just ahead — the weight of the air around him felt somewhat stifling.
Without warning, the thought crossed his mind of how Sirocco and the others were doing.
It had already been more than half a day since he'd rushed out last night. By now, everyone in his squad beyond Nano would know that Enoch had vanished.
How had Nano relayed the truth to Sirocco? Had she told her straight that he'd left to carry out a mission with no chance of survival, or had she wrapped it in the hopeful words that he'd return soon?
Probably the latter.
If it had come across as his life being in genuine danger, Sirocco might have taken off after Enoch into this forest, risking secondary distress or drawing enemy attention.
Of course, he'd given her thorough instructions, and Nano — whose role was to soothe Sirocco — would certainly understand that.
Still, exactly how skilled she was at lying, given her usual openness, Enoch himself wasn't sure, despite having asked the favor…
Suddenly, the memory of Sirocco's soft body pulling him tight into her embrace the other time surfaced. Enoch gave a brief, sour smile.
Funny. Why would that come to mind now.
He slowly raised his head.
In any event, everything came after defeating Indiviltal. If he completed the mission safely, Shepherd too would no longer have anything to carp about.
Either way, defeating Indiviltal was the priority.
Enoch stared straight at the encampment of the experimental magical beasts.
"Let's go."