episode_0024

“You want *me*… to retreat?”

The undying Sword Princess there asked. The princess of the sword, who, just as the deceased Colonel Hydra had said, was consumed by the 《Black Serpent》 yet did not die, and was reborn as an undead being who couldn’t even die.

“Yes.”

“…Look at me now.”

Alina laughed self-mockingly.

“This hideous, nauseating monster’s appearance.”

With an expression that made the days she had pursued justice, following the back of the man she loved, feel so distant and long ago that she couldn’t even remember them.

“Even after seeing this state, do you truly believe I can retreat?”

“I am not the one who resurrected you as the .”

I replied matter-of-factly, leaving behind the corpses of the Duchy’s necromancers, which lay scattered like a sea of blood across the area.

“It seems you’ve already had your revenge on those responsible for that matter.”

“So, you’re saying I should just retreat quietly like this?”

“Precisely.”

At my answer, Alina sneered coldly, as if putting on a facade to hide her weakness.

“You… killed Zeruel.”

“…”

“Zeruel, and all the comrades of the Knights Order, all died by your hand.”

I didn’t particularly deny it. Nor did I intend to. They blocked our way. They didn’t heed my warning, and in the end, they didn’t retreat. So I killed them.

They knew our name, received a warning, and in the end, even mercy was extended. Yet, it was the Knights Order’s decision not to retreat until the very end.

And so, I killed them.

For me, the name of the 《Black Serpent》 had to be absolute. Therefore, anyone who blocked our path and threatened the name of the 《Black Serpent》 could not be forgiven.

─Because that name was all I had in this unfamiliar world.

Without that name, I was nothing.

Therefore, in front of those who knew our identity yet refused to retreat, we also had to show them a fitting display.

That was why the Knights Order had to die, and it was their misfortune. That was all.

“Do you regret their deaths?”

“─.”

“Didn’t you fight, even prepared for death, so you wouldn’t regret it?”

At my question, the Sword Princess silently bit her lip. So hard it should have drawn blood. But no more blood flowed.

“What could a monster like you possibly know about us to babble so presumptuously?”

“My answer is the same now as it was then.”

I continued, unconcerned.

“─Your beliefs are none of my concern.”

「Your beliefs are none of my concern.」

I had told the Knights Order that then, from the sky, and now, on the ground, I was saying the exact same thing.

─It was at that moment.

The undying Sword Princess, clad in jet-black heavy armor, with no trace of the dazzling white of her past, replied.

“Foolishness… is simply foolishness.”

Repeating the exact same words I had uttered that day, in her own voice.

As if to say, this was the price of that foolishness.

“Alright, I’ll retreat. ─As you say.”

She said, utterly spiritless. At the unexpected words, I silently swallowed.

“So, please, can you let me go unharmed like this?”

“…From the start, I had no business with any of you.”

“Well, that’s kind and gracious of you to say.”

Saying so, the Sword Princess smiled faintly. A cold, mocking smile on a pale, bloodless face, devoid of the vitality of her past. I didn’t bother to ponder its meaning.

The undying knight, returned from death and now possessing freedom, turned her back on me and walked away.

I silently watched the Sword Princess’s back as she receded, a back I had no intention of pursuing.

“You’re… just letting her go like this?”

Aria asked cautiously, having approached my side at some point. I nodded.

“Is there any reason I shouldn’t?”

“The Sword Princess will not forget her revenge for the one she loved.”

“Probably.”

“Then why…”

“That is the serpent’s phantom she must bear.”

I said.

“Even in death, she won’t be able to forget the serpent’s name, and so she will wander her entire life in the shadow of the 《Black Serpent》.”

“─.”

“Wherever the Sword Princess goes, people will see our shadow superimposed upon her, and each time, they will recall the serpent’s name.”

“Oh, my.”

At those words, Aria twisted the corners of her mouth and smiled, as if enraptured.

“Ah, just imagining it sends shivers down my spine.”

It was a smile twisted with uncontrollable ecstasy and delight, unlike her usual self.

“Ah. My dark, shadowy eyes cannot even dare to imagine the sight that Captain-nim beholds.”

“…”

I didn’t reply, silently taking out a cigarette and putting it in my mouth.

For the record, what I just said was complete nonsense.

Yet, for impromptu nonsense, it sounded convincing enough to satisfy Aria. I should remember it and use it often when I want to save someone later.

Anyway.

The undying Sword Princess, Alina, unbelievably retreated quietly. This must be what they mean by ‘hard to believe even after seeing it.’

I had safely acquired the from the Vulture Leader, and the tasks that needed to be done were finished.

Therefore, I silently turned my back.

Towards her, who was finally realizing our true identity there, and was more terrified than ever.

“You, you…”

“I kept my promise.”

I said in front of the trembling Hella.

“W-what, a promise?!”

“You haven’t forgotten, have you?”

Furthermore, just in case she had forgotten, I kindly reminded her of the contract terms.

“As promised, the will be protected in the safest and most reliable place in the world.”

“The safest and most reliable place in the world, surely you don’t mean─.”

“Is there a better place?”

It was me.

Hella let out a disbelieving scoff and replied.

“There couldn’t possibly be, could there?”

A way to protect it more safely than when Rain Grey, the leader of the 《Black Serpent》, carries it himself. There probably wasn’t anywhere in the world.

“If you don’t trust me, I can return it to you.”

“No way.”

Hella laughed.

“It might actually be better. Than it falling into the hands of this country’s military, at least.”

“Why are you trying so hard to prevent that?”

I asked back.

“No matter how valuable the is as a grimoire, for a powerful nation like a Duchy to covet it…”

I realized mid-sentence.

It could be Rain Grey’s passive skill that I wasn’t aware of, or perhaps it was thanks to somehow getting used to living in this world. Either way was fine.

“As expected, there’s no hiding anything from the formidable Captain of the 《Black Serpent》.”

Hella gave a wry smile and shrugged. I didn’t answer, just in case my guess was wrong.

“That’s right, what I truly wanted to hide wasn’t the grimoire itself, but…”

“The ‘something’ you additionally wrote in it, right?”

I didn’t know what kind of scribbles she had hastily written in the grimoire.

“Don’t worry. I don’t particularly want to know who scribbled what.”

It wasn’t my concern. I didn’t want to know. Even if it were, I had a mountain of things to worry about right now.

“It’s enough to simply fulfill our contract.”

“Alright. It’s not a secret story to begin with.”

Hella replied, as if she had no intention of hiding it.

The necromancer girl, looking younger than Alice, her entire body simultaneously covered in burns and terribly crushed wounds. There was no way to know if even that was her true form.

“As I said before, he is already─.”

It was irrelevant. She wasn’t what interested me.

“He is, already. Already…”

Hella trailed off, repeating the same words like a parrot. Was he already no longer of this world? I didn’t mind and waited for her to speak.

“He is, already…”

“Already, what happened?”

My patience finally ran out, and I questioned her.

“Already…”

Hella continued.

“Already.”

But it wasn’t continuing the conversation. It was merely endlessly repeating the same words like a parrot.

“You’re not planning to break your promise after coming all this way, are you?”

And so, I pressed her in a cold voice.

“Ah, the promise. That’s right. Yes, he, he is already─.”

At that voice, Hella finally seemed to snap out of it, gathering her wits and clearing her throat.

“Already, he is… he is… he is…”

She gathered herself and continued speaking.

“Who… was he?”

Her eyes blinked, as if she couldn’t understand herself.

“Me, just now… who was I talking about?”

“About that man.”

“That man?”

“Yes.”

Hella tilted her head, as if she couldn’t understand, as if she was hearing it for the first time.

“The man who, when I last heard, ran a bakery on the streets of this city.”

“A bakery…?”

“And in the past, he was an unnamed hero of this country.”

“Ah, ah, that person!”

Only then did Hella exclaim as if remembering.

“That’s right, that person. That person was my─. My…”

No, she *tried* to exclaim.

“My… who was he?”

But she couldn’t exclaim.

A voiceless hollowness swirled within her, preventing her from crying out the name she desperately wanted to utter.

“Who were we talking about just now…? That’s strange.”

At some point, her eyes blinked as if she truly couldn’t understand.

“It seemed like a really important story.”

She didn’t appear to be lying. Nor did it seem explainable by an easily understandable reason like dementia. From the start, neither her current self nor her old woman form seemed to be suffering from dementia.

Rather, Hella was displaying on her face a desperate will to remember that man, more than anyone else there.

I couldn’t know what meaning he held for her.

When I realized, tears were flowing down Hella’s cheeks.

And at some point, she had even forgotten why tears were flowing down her cheeks.

“…Thank you for helping me.”

At the same time─ that was all she had forgotten.

“Ahaha, I never would have imagined that the formidable 《Black Serpent》 would be renting the second floor of our house.”

As if she hadn’t forgotten anything else. As if everything remained exactly as it was.

“Well, it’s not like I’m in a position to preach about justice or morality in front of you people, either way!”