episode_0098

“Suddenly, what…?!”

A tearing sound that pierced the air.

Was it a judgment that it was too late to unfold the divine barrier, or was it a conviction that it would be pierced if unfolded?

Emelia, whose complexion changed drastically, urgently twisted her body and widened the distance.

– Kwaah!

She fearfully avoided her position, and the greatsword that passed by cut through the ground, scattering a fountain-like pile of dirt.

The destructive power that easily shattered the ground like a snack. It was a scene as if some kind of shell had fallen.

“Interferer…!”

“What is that guy doing!?”

Apparently an ominous force in their eyes, Emelia and Irina hastily took combat stances and aimed at the direction where the greatsword flew.

I, too, turned my head in the same direction as them.

“…Friede?”

It was an unmistakable voice. Just a few hours ago, we were laughing together and sharing various stories.

I couldn’t have imagined meeting in this way.

“Hilde, no!”

A black-haired girl with an indescribably desperate expression on her face rushed towards me.

With her cloak fluttering like a bird’s wings, she dashed between trees, and with such swift movements, by the time I blinked a few times, she had already reached my side.

– Thud!

Kicking the last tree with force, Friede descended in an arc and landed in front of me.

“Hilde, are you okay!?”

Immediately turning her head to look at me, she urgently asked about my well-being.

“Are you okay?!”

Eyes filled with worry.

Her pale face was drenched in cold sweat.

…What should I say in response?

Does this look okay to you right now?

Thank you for saving me when I was about to be hit?

Neither was the answer. The former was too lacking even without shame, and the latter could not be the truth.

“Why did you come here…! Stupidly… didn’t you see my letter…?”

So, I just spat out a sincere word that emerged from within me.

Do you know where this is and followed me?

Didn’t you even read my letter, you coward?

– Ugh…!

Freder quickly scanned my appearance, grinding his molars instead of answering, and furrowed his brow.

“…I saw it, so I came looking for you! What’s that about!”

He raised his head, took a deep breath, and shouted as if he were angry.

He said he hadn’t come chasing after me because I hadn’t left a letter, but because he had read its contents.

“Leaving with just one letter, trying to leave on your own, and not being able to leave at all, what in the world is this!”

“Sorry….”

Indeed. What in the world was this?

Abandoning everything and trying to escape, only to be caught and facing the danger of being robbed by a mace without even making it far.

It was truly pitiful and utterly disgraceful.

“…We’ll talk about the details later.”

Once again, Freder ground his teeth and reached out towards the greatsword embedded in the ground, his golden eyes flashing fiercely with anger.

“Starting from those who made Hilde like this, all of them must die!”

…We can deal with that later. For now, I should probably save myself first.

In my situation, I should have properly bowed my head and expressed my gratitude…but unfortunately, I couldn’t do that.

“No…just retreat. Your opponent, no… ”

I appealed to Freder to just run away with my trembling voice.

If it were just an ordinary thief, it might be different, but his opponents were Emelia and Irina, both stronger than before.

Even I, fighting with all my might, couldn’t win against the two, so how could Freder possibly confront them.

Trying to save me was appreciated, but it would only increase the sacrifice to be offered to the military.

I didn’t want to see that outcome.

So, my advice was spoken.

Being defeated like this is really…really something I’d rather not experience, but does that mean I should drag Freder into this as my comrade?

That wasn’t just something I disliked; it was something that shouldn’t be done.

“…That’s not something for Hilde to decide.”

However, instead of following my advice, Freder refused it with a firm tone I had never heard from him before, and got up.

…Well, I did tell them to back off, but even as I said it, I already had a feeling that this kind of talk wouldn’t work on Freide.

Freide wasn’t the type to leave behind a party member in crisis and run away alone.

Especially when the other person wasn’t just any party member, but someone she had feelings for.

Right before the girl she liked was about to be taken away, was there any chance she’d just step aside quietly? It was advice that was never going to be heeded from the start.

“Are you an idiot… Wasn’t that name a lie from the beginning…? If you saw the letter, you’d know. I… I am…”

So, as a last resort, confessing that the renowned adventurer Hilde, whom you knew, was a fabricated existence from the start.

I wasn’t actually an adventurer from Herbor, but rather a fugitive named Brünhilde, who had lived by deceiving and masquerading as an adventurer, even confessing—

“What does it matter? You knew all along about Miss Hilde’s true identity?”

“…You knew?”

More shocking than anything, I lost strength in response to the confession.

“You knew all along, not just me. Amy and I pretended not to know for Hilde’s sake, and Kikel simply had no interest from the start.”

“……”

Goodness. I thought I had been deceiving everyone well all this time, but was that all just my own delusion?

It was only then that I finally realized.

I wasn’t a genius actor who had deceived all of my party members with acting skills and eloquence, but merely the protagonist of a Truman Show… No, a True-Woman Show.

“So… all the excuses I’ve made so far weren’t actually believed….”

Even though everyone knew it was a lie, they smiled and went along with it because they thought I was trying so hard?

All the behaviors and actions I had put on to hide my true self came flooding into my mind like a torrent.

“……”

If there had been a blanket, I would have wanted to kick it beyond the stratosphere.

The overwhelming sense of shame was incomparable to anything, as my face turned bright red with embarrassment.

The intense heat made it feel like my face would melt.

“So…,” Prede, who seemed about to say something about my appearance, suddenly narrowed her eyes and drew her greatsword, swinging it forcefully.

Clang!

A sound like metal splitting echoed. Deep gashes marked the blade of the greatsword as it deflected the shrapnel.

Prede’s greatsword, thicker and harder than my armor, didn’t break or pierce in one blow, but…

“No, I can’t endure this. I’ll definitely break soon if I keep taking the same attacks.”

If I were to lose my weapon, Prede would end up just like me, rolling on the ground, contemplating defeat.

“Just run, Prede!”

Prede didn’t respond.

“Shrapnel…?”

She just seemed bewildered, turning towards the direction from which the arrows flew.

“No, it can’t be…”

As Prede turned away from me, she finally faced the enemies she had to confront.

Their faces, too urgent to be recognized from a distance, were beyond confirmation. Well, even if I saw their faces, could I immediately identify them?

“Emelia, Irina? Not pursuers from the Kingdom of Eimeria…?”

This was unexpected. I didn’t expect to recognize them at first glance. Were these faces I already knew?

“Ugh, of all people…!”

Prede grimaced, adjusting her greatsword diagonally. Her raised voice betrayed her confusion.

“What’s with you? How does a little brat like you know us?”

Irina, seeming displeased, bit her tongue and nocked a new arrow. Whether it was discomfort at revealing her identity so quickly or being called out by name so abruptly, maybe it was both.

“I don’t know who you are, but if you know us, please step aside. This is a matter between former party members. It’s none of your business as a third party.”

Emelia urged Prede to step back in a relatively calm tone.

This is an old party of heroes… So, it’s an internal problem among the three betrayers of the kingdom.

They seemed calm and courteous, but in reality, they were telling me to stop being annoying and just disappear.

“……Ugh.”

Fride groaned softly and gritted her teeth. There was a momentary hesitation even in the enemy.

Yes, she could understand. There was no choice but to hesitate.

Recognizing the true identities of Emelia and Irina meant realizing that the opponent knew they were members of the hero party.

If it had been an ordinary pursuer, Fride might not have hesitated despite the situation of regarding the hero party as enemies, she could only anticipate defeat and cower.

Therefore, she couldn’t help but hesitate to rush in and swing her greatsword.

“…Run, Fride. You know it too now. We can’t win.”

So, I tried to persuade her once again, but it was ineffective.

Now that she knew who the opponent was, she should change her mind and run away.

In fact, I wanted to ask her to let me go without suffering… but I didn’t dare to say it as if those words were stuck in my throat.

“It’s okay, I won’t blame you if you run away…”

“…It’s not because of that.”

Fride reluctantly replied through clenched teeth, her voice lowered as if forcibly suppressing her emotions.

“Haah… really, this is the worst. There’s a limit to misfortune, isn’t there?”

Then, with a deep sigh, she gripped the greatsword that had been hanging diagonally and slammed it into the ground, muttering deeply.

“That’s the only way… but… haah…”

A murmuring filled with immense inner conflict.

If it wasn’t about whether to flee or not, what on earth was she hesitating and pondering about? It was a reaction I couldn’t even fathom the reason for.

“Oh… really, if it’s like this… it won’t do. I didn’t plan to reveal it like this…”

Fride lamented, covering her face with her left hand.

After taking another deep breath, she turned her head to look at me, pulling up the corners of her mouth with a stern expression.

“Miss Hilde, you promised to grant me one wish, didn’t you?”

And then she asked me.

“Uh… yeah, that’s right.”

“I’m going to use that now.”

With a forced smile, Freide extended her right hand, holding the hilt, towards the empty space.

An incomprehensible question. An incomprehensible action.

“In this situation, what are you asking for…?”

So I replied. Even if I ran away right now, it would still be an inadequate situation.

“…Forgive me.”

Freide answered.

Still, an incomprehensible answer.

“Forgiveness… What do you mean?”

Grasping the empty air as if clawing at it, Freide spoke with a bitter smile.

“This.”

The next moment.

– Crack.

With a sound like a frozen river breaking, the space in front of her shattered like a glass window.

“…Huh?”

An utterly surreal sight. I blinked and stared at the broken hole in the air.

…No, more precisely, at the golden light bursting from within.

Whooosh!

A flash so intense that the surroundings momentarily brightened.

Within the pierced hole, something golden with a hint of pale red was slowly revealing itself, like the rising sun beyond the horizon, piercing through the darkness of night.

“Wait, that’s…!”

“Huh, no, that can’t be. That’s impossible…?!”

Irina and Emellia, who had been about to attack Freide, were astonished, mouths agape. Honestly, I felt the same.

All three of us knew all too well what that phenomenon was.

The two of them due to actual experiences, and me through descriptions in writing and illustrations.

Amber Steel. A rare metal more valuable than gold of the same weight.

A piece of reddish-gold steel emitting its own light was being slowly drawn out, serving as the blade of a massive greatsword, through the hole in the air.

No, Freide was drawing it out. Firmly gripping the newly formed hilt in her right hand.

A long hilt. A splendidly crafted golden crossguard. And a more splendid crimson-gold blade.

Everyone present knew the true identity of that greatsword. Including me.

“Nebelung…?”

I murmured the name of the greatsword in a dull tone. The sword drawn by Freide. The name of the sword that should not be here.

Nibelung.

The holy sword of the Line Kingdom shone with a golden light, scattering its brilliance throughout the world.

As it should have been, it was not Kim Seung-woo, the prime contractor who should be gaining strength at this moment, but a small girl standing before me, holding onto the hilt.

“This, this can’t be happening. Nibelung, why…?”

It was unbelievable. How could that sword be here, and how could it be in Freide’s hand?

The shock was enough to shake the knowledge I had—knowledge from the original novel.

“Freide, what on earth…?”

I stared back and forth between Nibelung and Freide with wide eyes filled with trembling pupils.

“I’m sorry for deceiving you. Miss Hilde, no… Miss Brunhilde.”

Freide turned to me and apologized, then aimed Nibelung’s golden blade at Emelia and Irina.

“The third party was told to step back, Emelia. I will return those words as they were.”

Then she spoke.

“Go back. Go back and tell Gunther. If you come back again, I will definitely kill you. Both you traitors and Gunther who employed betrayal. I will definitely, definitely kill you.”

Her true identity, which she had always hidden.

“In the name of Nibelung’s owner, the hero of Line, Freit.”

Her past name that they knew.

“No, in the name of the hero Sigfreide.”

And her current name that they didn’t know.

Silence fell.

A deathly quiet, covering the entire forest.

The three women, struck with unspeakable astonishment, stared blankly at the girl wielding the golden greatsword.