Ch.19Side Story – One Day, the Dream of a Fallen Knight

# A Knight’s Dream

“Ah… Agh… Ah…”

A hideous metallic sound echoed through the dark, deep mountains. Anyone else who heard it might have mistaken it for a blacksmith sharpening a blade.

It was such an ugly sound that no one would ever guess it was a human’s groan.

“Agh… Uh… Ugh…”

With a mangled tongue and damaged vocal organs, she could only express her pain through incoherent sounds. But there was no one to help her. Even if there were, she knew painfully well that she didn’t deserve any help.

It would be nice if tears could flow from loneliness and suffering, but her tear ducts had long since ceased to function.

Screech, screech.

The full plate armor, dripping with rust from head to toe, made a spine-chilling noise with every movement. Her dirty ash-gray hair swept the floor like a broom, looking utterly wretched.

When she turned her head, she could see a blood-soaked nodachi-style greatsword haphazardly stuck in the corner. The woman recalled a perfectly fitted ceremonial sword of faded silver-white.

A fragment of her ignorant past when she vaguely believed everything would turn out well.

“Uh… I… Ah… I… Eh…”

Now, only the filthy armor and the eerie greatsword symbolized her existence. People called her “Irefi the Terrible Destroyer.”

Her once beautiful appearance had rotted away as she became the target of countless grudges, and her once-powerful strength had faded with age. Inside the armor was a shriveled naked body, covered by rag-like coverings, crumpled like a piece of paper.

The Terrible Destroyer—could there be a more fitting title for this wretched woman?

She now sat on a chair that looked as if it might break at any moment and closed her eyes. Perhaps because she hadn’t had proper sleep for years, today she felt she might be able to sleep a little.

Nod. Nod.

Screech, screeeech!

“…”

Her eyes, which had only seen a murky and blurry world, closed peacefully.

Even the slightest movement caused the armor to scrape, creating a spine-chilling friction sound. It was like an old woman sobbing. The armor wept continuously, as if representing her tears that no longer flowed.

Complete silence would fall upon the hut shortly after.

It was dawn when Irefi fell into a light sleep.

◇

I existed in a white space devoid of anything. Somehow, my body felt light and full of energy.

Unfortunately, I quickly realized it was a dream.

[A dream… I see. If this is a dream… I hope I don’t wake up…]

Even if it was an endless prison-like space of emptiness, it was still better than the hellish reality.

Did the dream god read my wish? Suddenly, my vision captured a world under clear skies, showing someone’s peaceful daily life.

I was now an observer from a third-person perspective.

[An unfamiliar mansion…]

I was looking around a huge mansion I’d never seen before. The relaxed atmosphere among the servants was unusual, something not typically seen in noble households.

[Larger and more splendid than the four ducal houses. I wonder who the owner is…]

The owner of such a mansion must surely be a remarkable noble. It doesn’t match the gentle atmosphere of the estate.

Just then, I heard a complaint from one of the servants.

“Please, Marquess. I beg you to stop the other Marquess from cooking.”

“Even the chef can’t explain why there’s a metallic smell coming from the kitchen!”

I couldn’t help but snicker at the servants’ ridiculous fuss. The pleasant feeling I was experiencing after so long wasn’t bad at all.

A man scratched the back of his head in response to the servants’ desperate request.

“But he eats it with enjoyment. Isn’t it just the smell that’s strange?”

“If I may be so bold, Marquess, your sense of taste can only detect sweetness. I stake my lifelong career on this statement!”

The servant pounded his chest. I covered my mouth and sneered.

[Pfft. What a fool. How could such a person exist in this world?]

I watched the situation with interest.

“Hmm, can’t the servants just do it instead?”

“Oh my, it’s already too late. Somehow, he’s taken a liking to cooking and plans to have lunch in there as well.”

“Such a terrible thing must not happen! I must go negotiate right away.”

“Well thought, Marquess Alteon!”

[So he’s called Alteon. A family name I’ve never heard before.]

This is definitely a dream after all. A family I’ve never heard of owning such a grand mansion? Even fiction has its limits.

As Alteon moved, my vision automatically followed him. The mansion was so large that the journey to the kitchen was quite long.

At some point, a childish humming that even a child might sing could be heard. It was coming from inside the kitchen.

“Hmm~ Hmm~ I’m feeling good today?”

The sound of chopping and something boiling.

Unusually for a dream, there was a smell—and quite a pleasant one at that.

[They said it smelled like metal, but it seems fine. Rather good, actually…]

Meanwhile, Alteon and the servants were showing the exact opposite reaction to my muttering.

The servants simply covered their noses, but Alteon seemed to be pressing his nose down hard.

[Come on, these men are being dramatic.]

How pathetic.

Alteon strode forward, flung open the door to the kitchen, and shouted.

“Hey! I told you to ventilate well when cooking! Is this a blacksmith’s forge or a kitchen?”

Alteon shouted boldly. But the answer that came back was exquisite.

“I think I must have misheard you. Say that again, Nepy.”

[So his name is Nepy. Sounds like a girl’s name.]

The woman’s voice contained an icy coldness. Nepy trembled all over, lowered his head, and then spoke with a suddenly warm expression.

“No, I mean… there’s something called communal living manners, you know. They exist in this world. So maybe you should stop cooking…”

It was an attitude of utter servility. Seeing his future so clearly laid out, a smile lingered on my lips.

[If they’re living together, even if not married, she must be at least his fiancée. Looking at how quickly he backs down, he’s destined to be under her thumb for life, heh.]

The woman immediately cut off Nepy’s words and boldly retorted.

“I didn’t know cooking in the kitchen wasn’t good manners. To think I knew less about etiquette than you, Nepy—how should I apologize?”

“S-stop with that romance novel villain-like sarcasm…! I just… yes, I meant ventilation is good for health… you know?”

“Romance novel? Villain? I don’t know what those are, but if your words are kind, Nepy, my response will be kind too.”

“Ah, um… I’m sorry.”

[Pfft, how spineless. But kind of cute.]

His rambling attempts to somehow escape the situation made him look just like a henpecked husband. The servants shot him glares of contempt at the suddenly reversed situation.

“That’s enough, come here.”

“Huh? Um…”

Nepy reflexively nodded and entered the kitchen. Naturally, my vision shifted to the kitchen as well, and I saw a woman clumsily cutting with her back turned.

With her back turned, I couldn’t see her face, but her white hair, as if imbued with the brilliance of the moon, was beautiful. Whenever her hair moved, it gave the impression of clear, undulating waves.

[Did I used to be like that too…?]

At least I probably never wore an apron like Nepy’s fiancée.

Memories of the past were buried and vague. Still, I think I was told I was beautiful quite often.

“Ugh. Metal smell…”

[It smells good though…]

Nepy whispered. Fortunately, the woman presumed to be his fiancée didn’t seem to hear.

“I’m here… do you need something from me?”

“No, I don’t need anything from you, but I have something to give you.”

“Something to give me?”

Nepy pondered for a moment, then forced a smile with a completely distorted face.

“W-wait. I’m always satisfied with what I have. My life is abundant. There’s nothing more I want! Ha ha ha ha ha…!”

“No. There’s one thing you don’t have, even though you have everything else.”

“That’s because I don’t need it!”

“Anyway, come closer.”

Her attitude was forceful. Nepy trudged over and stood beside her. His drooping figure looked just like a puppy waiting for punishment.

“Here, my special sauce dish that even you, who has everything in abundance, don’t have. Consider it an honor.”

“Ugh… Ah… Argh…!”

As the fork with its contents approached, Nepy let out a groan like a death rattle.

[Just like me in reality. Such dramatics.]

“W-wait. I’m not mentally prepared…!”

“My cooking doesn’t stop, you know?”

Her attitude was confident, paying no heed to Nepy’s complexion turning blue. As declared, the fork steadily closed the distance to Nepy’s mouth.

“Come on, say ‘ah~’. Aang~ Even a child can do it, surely Nepy can too?”

“If you did this to a child, it would be child abuse!!!”

Just as I was curiously observing what reaction he would show, murmuring from the servants outside the kitchen could be heard.

“Wow. Of all people, ‘that Marquess’ is saying ‘aang~’ and feeding him. I’m not jealous at all.”

“I know, right! After serving them for a while, all the fantasies shatter.”

“I don’t even know what kind of relationship they have. Sometimes it seems like friendship, but seeing things like this… even a couple married for decades wouldn’t feed each other that.”

“Phew! If my wife tried to feed me something like that, I’d grab the divorce papers and head straight to my parents’ house.”

I tilted my head at the servants’ unfiltered assessments.

[It looks delicious to me. Why is everyone acting like that? Sharing food like this is obviously a sign of love.]

Maybe it’s because the household is so relaxed that everyone is being overly dramatic. I watch Nepy with the interest of an engaged spectator.

“Hey, hey… I’m still not mentally prepared…!”

“No more questions.”

Swoosh!

The fork, which had been right in front of his lips, suddenly accelerated and entered Nepy’s mouth.

“He ate it!”

“He ate it!”

[Oho.]

The servants’ and my exclamations flowed out simultaneously. I was so curious about what reaction Nepy would show.

Nepy’s hypersensitive attitude was clearly because he was embarrassed. After all, food with such a fragrant smell couldn’t possibly taste bad.

“Nepy, if you share your impressions, I’ll store them as learning material for reference.”

“Ugh… Urgh… Urgh…”

“Oh my. Is that a new organ? Foaming at the mouth like fresh seafood, how novel, hehe.”

“Huh… Oh… Ohhh…”

[Hmm, so it tastes good after all. One bite to die for. His fiancée must be quite something.]

If I have another life, I might want to learn a thing or two from her.

Nepy convulsed several times before finally regaining consciousness and focusing.

“Huff! Huff! I think I saw something like a river.”

“This pasta boasts a deep flavor like a flowing river… Me… mo…”

“No!!! That’s the kind of river you shouldn’t see! Besides, was that pasta? I couldn’t tell at all!”

Nepy shouted as if wailing. A grown young man being so shy, really.

“I’ll have to research the recipe a bit more. Next time, I’ll send you not to a river but to heaven!”

“Is that a death threat…?”

“Look forward to tomorrow morning too. I’ll let you taste an unimaginably extraordinary dish.”

At this bolt from the blue declaration, Nepy reflexively called out her name.

“Hey, Irefi!”

[What?]

As she turned around, the woman’s appearance, which had been invisible to me, was fully revealed.

Skin gleaming like white jade and eyes reminiscent of a lake surface sparkling in the sunlight. Beauty so stunning that anyone, regardless of age or gender, would turn to look at least once.

There stood my past self, whom I thought I had long forgotten.

“As always, Nepy has no right of refusal.”

[W-wait…!]

Just as I desperately called out, trying to see more clearly, the world blurred opaquely and was engulfed in darkness.

It was as if the dream was asserting that it was just a dream, telling me not to cross the line.

Creak, creak, screeeech-!

A familiar sound. The filthy armor covering my entire body making the sound of metal gnawing on itself.

“Ah… Aah… Ueh.”

Unlike the dream where I had briefly found freedom, a cursedly hideous metallic sound forced its way through my throat. It was so lamentable that it made me depressed and miserable.

Just then, a man’s roar thundered from outside.

“Irefi Justitia, the Destroyer, come out and face your death!”

A familiar man’s voice.

He was one of the valiant generals of the fallen Eld Empire. Tirelessly coming after me, he was a renowned commander who had overcome countless hardships.

His skills befitting a warrior of the Chester family, once one of the four ducal houses, had kept him alive until now.

I wonder what he has prepared today.

No, actually, I’m not curious.

The result was always the same.

“Eh… Aah… Uuh…”

The thought suddenly occurred to me.

A ghostly appearance and a hideous voice. A dirty and contaminated body and mind. The malice that has been unintentionally flowing out since some point. The monstrous nature that defines me has grown more and more conspicuously as time passes.

Is there any meaning in my continued existence? Am I right to hate someone? Is there any value in enduring countless grudges and hatred to continue living?

Now even the face of my beloved younger sister Miren has become blurred. I can’t remember what color her eyes were or how tall she was.

“Uh… Uh… Ah…”

Yes, today will be no different.

Let’s fight once more.

You weak traces of my enemies.

If you wish to kill me, do so gladly. But if you cannot, everything you have will be destroyed.

“The Destroyer has appeared! Zikharun, are you ready?”

“Yes, today the deep darkness of the Empire will be extinguished.”

An unfamiliar voice and a powerful unfamiliar energy. My gaze turned toward him. Under the hood, I could see pale skin and red eyes containing powerful energy.

Soon, the man began to chant.

“Spirit bell that races across the earth…”

As the man chanted, the ground around began to boil. Golden pillars enveloped the world, emitting a radiance more brilliant than starlight.

I thought this must be what the light of salvation would feel like.

“Ah… Uuh…”

Enveloped in light that seemed as if it would blind me, I unconsciously recalled the dream.

Of my younger, beautiful self, leisurely cooking in some unknown mansion. The relaxed atmosphere of the grand mansion and the gentle servants.

‘I don’t know much, but it looked nice. Would it be an exaggeration to call it happiness?’

Nepy, was it?

For a character in a dream, he’s quite likable. His actions are cute, and I like how he eventually gives in when pushed.

He seems like a decent man.

If it wasn’t a dream but reality. If I could really spend such gentle and blessed times. If the same luck shimmered before me like a mirage.

I would surely sell my soul to achieve it.

‘If it were really possible… then I’d like to live not as Irefi the Terrible Destroyer… but as an ordinary Irefi Justitia.’

Hoping for a miracle that could never happen, I charged with all my might toward the endless army.

Someone, if you’re okay with someone like me, please save me.