Ch.13Dream

“Ah, Master. My one and only Master.”

The jellylike, melting hand caressed my cheek. Each time the fingers touched and pulled away, bits of flesh stuck to my cheek.

The skin, or rather, something too pitiful to even call skin anymore, couldn’t bear its own weight and fell away in clumps with each movement of the arm.

The mouth continued to move incessantly afterward, but nothing formed into words.

The lips quivered and disappeared, exposing gums and teeth completely. The inside of the throat must have started melting too, as a bubbling sound emerged from the small hole where the mouth had been.

Soon, the flesh, blood vessels, and muscles that formed the arm all melted away, revealing stark bones. Before long, even those bones slowly corroded and collapsed.

The spectacle of a human being melting alive was unfolding before my eyes.

In the human form slowly but surely turning to liquid, the last things to remain in place were two round eyes.

Those eyes remained fixed on me until the very moment when all the flesh supporting them melted away. But even they couldn’t last long before falling to the ground and rolling away.

Just before meeting its end, the liquid that had once been human squeezed out final words. That voice contained no terror, no fear, no despair, no sadness. It was a voice filled with ecstasy, joy, and happiness.

“I love you. My—”

I woke up with a loud crash. A cool sensation spread across the back of my head, and my neck was bent awkwardly downward.

The smell of soil and grass came from right beside me. My body transmitted pain signals faster than my brain could assess the situation. A stinging pain surged through the back of my neck and head where they had hit the ground.

My body was upside down. My lower half was still half-draped over a long bench while my upper body was sprawled on the path.

From the looks of it, I must have fallen headfirst to the ground while thrashing about in my sleep on the bench.

I forcibly lowered my lower body to the ground with a thud that sounded like a sack dropping.

Without the strength to get up, I just lay there staring blankly at the sky. Unlike my gloomy mood, the still-dim sky was perfectly clear without a single cloud.

How many years has it been since I last had that dream? 10 years? 20 years? Maybe even longer?

One thing was certain—however many years it had been, I was fortunate not to have heard the end of it.

If I had heard those final words, I would have drawn a knife and taken my own head the moment I woke up, regardless of my mood.

I forced my trembling hands to move and pressed against the ground. Having just woken from such a disturbing dream, I couldn’t properly muster my strength.

My legs shook the entire time I tried to stand, and my knees nearly buckled several times. I leaned against a tree and took several deep breaths.

I shuddered at the feeling of long-forgotten sensations coming back to life. Nausea rose in my throat. After retching into the air a few times, my stomach finally seemed to settle.

I roughly wiped my mouth and leaned back against the tree.

It was about time for the castle to wake up. If anyone saw me standing like this from dawn, they’d think I was crazy, but I didn’t care to check if anyone was around.

There was no reason to be concerned about others noticing me. If Charlotte or Serena were determined to secretly observe me, it would be impossible for me to detect them anyway.

And if they had seen me in this state, they wouldn’t still be watching from afar but would have rushed over immediately to ask what was wrong.

So the only remaining people who might notice me would be the butlers, maids, or royal knights working in this castle, but to them, I literally don’t exist.

They cannot perceive my existence at all.

Not only can they not see me, but they can’t hear my footsteps or voice, and if I had any smell, they wouldn’t detect that either.

Even if I openly touched things everywhere, they wouldn’t recognize that fact. I’ve never tried it, but apparently, they wouldn’t taste or feel anything even if I stuck my finger in their mouths.

It’s because of Charlotte’s existence erasure magic. In this castle, only Charlotte and Serena can perceive my existence.

The royal knights are no exception—they’re all under the existence erasure magic, but Serena simply overpowered that magic with her own strength.

The reason was that she didn’t want other insignificant beings even looking at me, at least within this castle.

If she had her way, she would have erased my existence from all humans on the continent so that only she would know of me, but she’s restraining herself.

What’s scarier is that this isn’t just empty talk—she could actually do it if she wanted to.

“I really shouldn’t have fallen asleep.”

I grumbled as I pushed myself away from the tree. Fortunately, my mood had calmed down after taking several deep breaths.

I silently offered sarcastic praise to this cursed body for waking me up before I could hear those final words.

Now I probably won’t be able to sleep for at least 3 or 4 years. Not that I’ll die or accumulate fatigue because of it.

Clutching my throbbing head, I started walking. I believed this direction led to the royal knights’ training ground.

Originally, I wanted to move more leisurely, but I wasn’t in the mood for that now. If I stayed idle, I’d just keep thinking about the dream. I wanted to force myself to do something or move my body.

Fortunately, I seemed to be heading in the right direction. As I got closer to the back of the castle, the sounds of things colliding and shouts grew louder.

It was just at the time when the dim colors of dawn were lifting and everything was beginning to brighten, yet the royal knights were already showing diligence befitting the kingdom’s elite forces. As I turned the final corner, the training ground came into view.

The training ground at the back of the castle was already filled with knights in training. Since they couldn’t spar with full armor and real swords, they were all wearing moderate steel armor and wielding wooden swords.

Of course, even that “moderate” armor was of quality that could make high-grade adventurers’ armor look like trash.

Since leather armor properly infused with mana is stronger than steel armor and steel swords without mana, their attire shouldn’t pose any problems.

At the pinnacle of mana manipulation, a royal knight commander could tear steel with bare hands.

True to the name of the Royal Knights, their movements were beyond imagination.

I couldn’t even follow the speed of their sword swings with my eyes, yet they were all reacting to and blocking those attacks, sometimes even launching counterattacks.

Every time the wooden swords collided, mana scattered in all directions.

There seemed to be an agreement to compete with pure swordsmanship alone, as no techniques were being exchanged between them.

Since the training ground didn’t appear to have protective magic, they were probably concerned that using techniques would devastate the area.

Among all those knights, Serena stood out distinctly.

She was one of the few female knights, with overwhelming beauty visible even from a distance and swordsmanship skills to match.

Her slender arms and legs, exposed beneath ordinary short-sleeved shirt and shorts without even wearing armor, were a bonus.

It seemed to be a many-against-one match, with five or six knights attacking her together, but Serena was overwhelming them by either avoiding or blocking all their attacks, demonstrating an absolute difference in skill.

Even attacks from behind were useless against her.

If the other knights’ swords were at a level where I could see them but couldn’t react in time, Serena’s sword was at a level where I couldn’t even see it at all.

As soon as a wooden sword flew toward Serena, she would vanish, and with a dull sound of striking something with a wooden sword, the attacker would instead be clutching their forearm, thigh, or shin while rolling on the ground.

The number of knights lying on the ground nearby had already approached twenty, yet Serena still hadn’t allowed a single attack to land on her.

Knights who couldn’t contain their competitive spirit suppressed their pain and charged at her repeatedly, only to be struck down by her wooden sword exactly as many times as they attacked.

Suddenly, our eyes met. Upon seeing me, Serena’s body emitted mana at a level incomparable to what she had shown until now.

As the surrounding knights turned in surprise to look at her, Serena disappeared from her spot and appeared as if teleporting a few steps away from me, kneeling respectfully on one knee with her head bowed.

The impact sounds came afterward.

With dozens of overlapping striking sounds, all the knights in the training ground tumbled to the ground. Seeing how they trembled and went limp, it seemed they wouldn’t be getting up anytime soon.

I couldn’t see it, of course, but even if those knights had known Serena was coming, they probably couldn’t have reacted.

Kneeling on one knee with one hand brought to her chest, Serena raised her head and met my eyes.

“What brings you to this humble place, my lord?”

“What brings me? I came to get you.”

“Me?”

Serena’s eyes widened slightly in surprise.

“Why are you so surprised? We still have unfinished business. Both you and I.”

“Unfinished business, you say?”

“The dragon. Have you forgotten why you came looking for me?”

“I remember. I was just a bit surprised that you referred to it as ‘unfinished business.'”

“Surprised? What do you mean?”

Finding it uncomfortable to continue the conversation with her kneeling, I gestured for her to stand, and Serena rose.

Despite having just been in combat, not a single drop of sweat was visible on Serena’s body. Her breathing was as calm as someone who had been resting for a while.

“I was surprised that you were still concerned about that incredibly disrespectful lord. He insulted you by implying that I served that woman. And since you didn’t immediately return there, I thought you weren’t particularly concerned about it.”

“…Ah.”

I had just been walking slowly to come up with an excuse while also timing my arrival, but I see how it could be interpreted that way.

Indeed, from Serena’s perspective, it would have seemed like I heard everything she did but dismissed it as nothing important and walked away slowly.

For someone like Serena who doesn’t pay particular attention to her surroundings, it would be easy to misunderstand that the incident was nothing.

“Still, you went there as the Royal First Knight Commander. We need to clean up the mess. It’s probably chaos there by now.”

And I can take care of my own business too. If anyone asks why I returned so quickly, I can say I met with the Royal First Knight Commander and came back early.

Since Serena would vouch for the truth of my statement, no one would dare question it.

…But as I’m talking now, I’m getting anxious that the city might be in much worse shape than I thought.

The lord’s mansion is half-destroyed, several soldiers had their heads cut off by Serena, a rift suddenly appeared in the sky, the dragon problem remains unsolved, and the Royal Knight Commander who came to help has disappeared somewhere.

It would be fortunate if the lord didn’t faint after witnessing the sky-splitting technique that flashed before his eyes, or if he fainted but woke up quickly.

The problem would be if he’s still unconscious. If there’s no one to handle the situation, who knows what strange rumors might spread. In the worst case, the lord might lose credibility.

For now, I can only hope the lord didn’t faint. Dragon-related matters are extremely sensitive issues.

Since I definitely had a private conversation with Serena, I can use my authority to insist that what the lord heard was a misunderstanding, and reassure everyone that during my absence, I searched the forest and found that the dragon had left.

The beheaded knights are a bit awkward, but I can blame them for that.

As I was mentally drafting a scenario to handle the situation, Serena slightly bowed her head again.

“If that is what you wish, my lord, I shall follow.”

“Alright. First, let’s ask Charlotte to open a warp gate—”

“First Knight Commander Elizabeth?”

A voice calling for Serena came from across the training ground.

Soon after, a female knight with bright red hair appeared. After scanning the knights groaning and sprawled across the training ground, she stomped the ground with a contorted face and charged toward Serena.

With a single dash, she closed the distance of several dozen meters in an instant, arriving in front of Serena with her arms crossed and a sullen expression as she stared straight ahead.

It was clearly an “I’m angry right now” face. No, more than that—she was incredibly fast too. Is this level of physical acceleration standard for the royal knights?

“Is this your doing, Knight Commander?”

Though the sentence lacked a direct object, its target was obvious. She must be referring to the knights sprawled across the training ground.

Serena seemed to catch the implied meaning of the question. She glanced briefly at the training ground, then nodded slightly in affirmation.

“Yes, it is.”

“Why did you do this?”

“I have no obligation to explain myself to you.”

When Serena drew the line, the red-haired knight’s eyebrow twitched slightly.

“Then I’ll take it to mean you had a definite reason, but one so secret that you can’t even tell me, the Seventh Knight Commander.”

“Interpret it however you wish. Now get lost if you’ve said your piece.”

Whether it was because our conversation had been interrupted, Serena’s tone was quite sharp.

The red-haired knight, who had asked politely only to receive insults in return, twisted her expression even more. Her crossed fingers twitched up and down nervously.

“Superior ability alone doesn’t make one a royal knight, First Knight Commander Elizabeth. One must also have the honor and dignity befitting—”

“Shut your mouth, Alesia Beneviento.”

Serena cut her off with a growl. So the red-haired knight’s name was Alesia. I just learned that. When Serena suddenly became angry, Alesia hesitated before retorting incredulously.

“Now you’re getting angry at me? What exactly did I do wrong to deserve your anger? Do you have something to hide? You won’t even explain why you did such a thing during training, so what else is our First Knight Commander hiding from us?”

“This is your final warning, Beneviento. Insult my lord one more time, and I won’t let it slide.”

“Insult? When did I ever insult His Majesty the King? If anything, isn’t it you, Knight Commander Elizabeth, who insults His Majesty by doing such things to the knights who serve him?”

Ah, that’s a landmine. Just as I sensed this and sighed, mana began to rise from Serena’s body.