episode_0011

“Hehe, now Alice is a senior too! Ahem!”

One golden-haired girl, jumping for joy like a child, oblivious to the world.

“……”

Besides her, there were two young women, silent and radiating extreme awkwardness, as if they’d just come from a funeral.

Aria and Jeanne.

Not that I expected them to have a friendly chat and make conversation, so I just accepted it and turned my head.

Beyond the train window, the madder-red twilight and the purple night sky meshed together like cogs.

Inside the passenger car of the train, cutting across the Bretona Empire’s territory.

As the train glided smoothly along the tracks, I was just about to close my eyes amidst the rapidly passing scenery.

Thump!

With an unexpected jolt, the train car shook violently. It was the impact of the train suddenly braking to a halt.

“Kyaa!”

At the unexpected impact, Alice’s upper body lurched forward, her head hitting the cabin seat with a thump. Aria reached out her arm towards Alice, who was on the verge of tears.

“Ugh, ugh……”

“Alice. Does it hurt much?”

“Hiccup, Alice got thumped! It hurts.”

“Oh dear, really. You have to be careful.”

Seeing Aria anxiously ask about Alice’s condition, Jeanne let out a cold snort.

Her gaze was as if she were watching monsters play house. Then again, it wasn’t entirely incomprehensible.

“What happened?”

“It seems the entrance to the rock mountain tunnel has collapsed.”

Aria replied. Even with her eyes covered by a black bandage, no, even if she could see perfectly, she spoke of the scenery beyond, which would be impossible to see.

Just as we were about to enter the rock tunnel, its entrance collapsed. A landslide of rocks blocked the railway, so we’ll have to stop the train and clear the obstruction.

The timing feels truly coincidental in many respects.

“Did they notice the Saintess was on board?”

“!”

“No, they’re not pursuers.”

Jeanne gasped in surprise, and Aria gently shook her head. All the while, she softly stroked Alice’s injured head.

“It just seems we’re a bit unlucky.”

Just bad luck. It didn’t take long to understand what she meant.

Before long, screams and commotion erupted from the front car, and as passengers whispered at the sounds, the true nature of their misfortune revealed itself.

“Everyone, move quickly!”

“Don’t even think of anything foolish!”

A group herded the passengers from the front, like cattle, all the way to the last car.

“This is the domain of the Rockwood Knights, led by Sir Rockheart, Knight of the Proud Rock Mountains!”

Their true identity was train robbers who called themselves ‘knights,’ in other words, a gang.

“And to dare to pass through Sir Rockheart’s domain without paying tribute! You deserve to die!”

Men armed with tomahawk axes and such shouted, menacingly brandishing their blades.

Before the pale gleaming edges, several passengers, paralyzed with fear, buried their faces into the floor.

Just then, a man emerged, cutting through the group of men.

He was armed with impenetrable heavy steel armor, and two longswords and a small knife hung crossed on his sword belt.

“Those who pay the toll will be spared.”

The man spoke. His appearance was unmistakably that of a medieval knight.

To be precise, not just a knight, but a robber knight.

“Those who value their lives would do well to calmly pay the price and pass.”

A world where trains run on tracks laid down and powered by steam, yet medievally armored figures openly stride about, and tales of swords and magic unfold. That was the world I was in.

“Did you hear Sir Rockheart’s merciful words!”

“What are you doing! Hand over everything you have at once!”

“If you try to save a few coins and get caught, this is what happens!”

Saying that, one of the bandits held something high. It was a freshly severed human head, dripping with blood. At the sight, ear-piercing screams echoed among the passengers.

“Bandits!”

As if to confirm her title as Saintess, Jeanne, unable to tolerate injustice, was already attempting to rise.

“What do you intend to do?”

Then, I stopped her actions and asked.

“What do I intend to do? Well,”

“I’ve heard the Saintess never strikes down humans.”

“—That’s right.”

Jeanne replied. That’s true.

The Saintess only wields her sword to strike down demonic beasts, not to harm humans. That was the setting, and it was indeed the case.

That was the Saintess’s rule of non-killing, and it was also the reason she refused to become a soldier of the Holy Kingdom, leading to the current outcome.

“I intend to subdue them without killing them.”

At those words, I scoffed again. I was speechless at the utterly absurd purity she displayed.

“Why not kill them?”

“What did you say?”

“Do you think they’re worth keeping alive?”

At my question, Jeanne shouted.

“That is not for us to decide!”

Hearing those words, I realized. Her beliefs and will hadn’t changed in the slightest.

The woman before me was still, without a doubt, the Saintess.

“That’s right. As Jeanne-nim says.”

At the same time, Aria opened her mouth as if to cut me off.

“That is not for you, or me, or us to decide.”

The blind female swordsman, her eyes covered by a black bandage, spoke.

“It is only for the Commander-nim to decide.”

“—”

“Who to kill, who not to kill. What to do, what not to do, what to think, what not to think.”

There’s nothing to see. There’s no need to see anything.

“Our job is simply to obey the Commander-nim’s orders.”

Just as Aria of the Black Sword calmly continued speaking, saying that.

“Hey you guys, what have you been muttering about since earlier!”

Before we knew it, the robbers’ attention turned towards us. Even then, Aria calmly continued the conversation in her seated posture. The rest of the party wasn’t much different.

As if the presence of the bandits there was utterly invisible to them.

“Commander-nim, your orders please.”

“Don’t be ridiculous!”

At Aria’s words, Jeanne raised her voice.

“I am not a puppet that moves according to your will!”

“Aren’t you?”

Aria tilted her head and asked back, truly bewildered.

“I, I…”

Before that question, Saintess Jeanne swallowed her words.

“Wasn’t that how Jeanne-nim has lived her entire life?”

“!”

“I like Jeanne-nim. And I like the way Jeanne-nim has lived her entire life.”

Saying that, Aria smiled. It was a dark and cold smile that sent chills down one’s spine.

“That’s enough, Aria.”

Before that smile, I cut her off. I cut her off and silently extended my arm.

Crackling!

As I extended my arm without even looking, a current of lightning surged from my fingertips, streaking through the air.

It was the same lightning magic that had once been cast against my body at the Imperial Hotel.

But when the blue sparks, which held no effect on me, enveloped the bandit there.

—There was no pain or scream.

There was none of the shaking or foaming at the mouth typically imagined when someone is electrocuted.

There was only a charred lump.

A lump so blackened by fire that its form was unrecognizable, barely clinging to the difficult shape of a human.

“A-a wizard! It’s a wizard!”

“That’s no ordinary skill!”

“!”

Along with that, Jeanne’s expression froze. All the fame that once adorned her became meaningless; it was the look of an ordinary person terrified before a corpse.

The passengers there were no different.

Even if they were villains, even if they seemed to deserve death, treating life so carelessly was not right. That’s how ordinary people think.

—But we here were not.

Neither was I.

I recalled the day I first killed a person after falling into this world. A past that was only a few months old now felt so distant and hazy that I could barely remember it.

Therefore, after dispatching one bandit, I spoke to the remaining bandits.

No, I commanded.

“Kill them.”

A purple glow rose along the back of my hand, and the emblem emitted light.

The magic of slave obedience, carved to make the Saintess there obey and control her at will.

“Wh-what are you doing!”

“Ah, Commander-nim. How kind of you.”

Seeing the purple glow emanating from Jeanne’s body, Aria smiled. Her words were right. This was my own form of consideration I could offer.

“Now, Jeanne-nim. There’s nothing to be afraid of.”

Towards the Saintess, who was desperately trying to resist, Aria stroked her nape as if winding around her from behind.

“Because this isn’t your will.”

Before long, Jeanne drew the short sword hanging at her waist. However, that action was by no means her own will.

“Jeanne-nim hasn’t done anything wrong. Right?”

“Yeah, that’s right. It’s not Unnie’s fault! The Commander is bad!”

Aria whispered into her ear. Alice giggled and nodded.

“!”

When she realized it, the puppet named Saintess moved.

Following the magic of slave obedience, which even she could not defy, regardless of her will, solely to carry out my command.

The Saintess’s sword was swung.

It was the first sword of killing that took her first.