41 – 41. Two Women’s Resolve

“Hah! Hah!”

“They’re retreating!”

Above the ramparts.

Even though they’d repelled yet another swarm of demonic beasts, the soldiers released sighs that were closer to complaints than relief or joy.

A month and then some since the discovery of the Great Swarm.

Even the soldiers of the Maliduan Wall, they’re growing weary, body and soul, worn down by the monsters that press in each day.

Lately, the attacks come more often, sometimes twice in a single turn of the sun.

The fight with fatigue itself, before ever meeting the monsters.

“…This won’t do.”

Silberna, captain of Recon Team Five, muttered, leaning on her spear.

She, too, seemed to feel the increasing monster incursions, in her own way.

“…”

Amid the exhausted, standing proud, Rianna Helmundt.

Her red hair, scattering in the wind that swept over the wall.

No hint of weariness in her gaze, fixed on the monsters beyond the wall; it reminded one why the Helmundt was so formidable.

Slowly, Rianna’s head turned.

Among the other soldiers, a man with black hair pulled into a tail sat slumped, tired, sharing talk with those around him.

Though far, their words reached her ears whole.

“I almost died this time, truly.”

“Thank you, Isaac. Had you not shoved me, I’d have been knocked out with a concussion from that rock.”

“It’s nothing, you pulled me out before, remember?”

“Did I? “

“Wasn’t it you? I have had so many of those sorts of days, my memory is going a bit fuzzy.”

He joked with the others, laughing, but the words themselves were not ones to pass by easily.

And around Isaac were two broken swords, wasn’t there?

A danger so great, it shattered two swords, that meant.

Is it alright to go on like this?

Thoughts deepening.

Kuroong! KWAHaaaNG!

“Ugh, what’s that?”

“Lightning? It was lightning, right?”

“Thought it was a monster.”

Beyond the mountains.

Rianna’s eyes widened as she saw lightning strike from a clear sky.

* * *

“This is dangerous, as it stands.”

Inside the war tent.

The first company commander of the Malidain Barrier, seated at the head, pleads with Uldiran as if begging.

“We’re being gnawed away, bit by bit. Never mind the rising number of wounded, the morale inside the barrier is… beyond dismal.”

Each day, they swing their spears, kill beasts. Yesterday, a comrade who laughed and joked alongside them is seen today, dying from a flying rock.

The weight of the front line pressed down on them, heavier than it had ever been.

“The beast hordes show no sign of lessening. Lately, we’ve even seen beasts from other regions, leading us to believe they’re swarming in from distant outlands.”

“Hmm.”

The Margrave, having seemingly shared this thought, stroked his beard while examining the map.

“As commander, I implore you, make a decision.”

As the company commander’s report, his proposal, ended, another company commander sitting across the tent raised his hand, requesting the floor.

“Your Grace, the purpose of the Malidain Barrier is defense. Although our wounded numbers are rising, conversely, the number of beasts we’ve dealt with is beyond count.”

“To abandon such advantageous formation and sally forth to subjugate? The risk is too great. Moreover, we have yet to uncover the identity of the beast commanding them. To venture out is… premature.”

Both company commanders had their own reasonable logic.

They both lead men from atop the barrier and, although their opinions clashed, there was a mutual respect between them.

“Hmm.”

Uldiran, naturally, fell into contemplation.

To continue this war of attrition, with no end in sight?

Or, utilizing the thinning beast numbers, to venture out now and drive the beasts back?

Silberna’s mouth itched to speak, but she was just the scouting fifth squad captain here.

Knowing she was in no position to simply speak, she bit her lip tightly and her leg bounced.

“What are your thoughts, Lady Rianna?”

Uldiran, seeking an opinion from Rianna, the dispatched noble representative.

Rianna, a Helmundian, hadn’t expected him to ask anything of her, slowly turning her gaze towards Uldiran.

“Just before-.”

*Uldiran Caldius, such a man,* she silently repeated within herself, letting the words she had held back, loose.

“After the beasts withdrew, I detected a faint magical residue in the few lightning strikes.”

“Hm?”

“Tsss.”

Subtle groans rippled amongst those inside the tent.

Because none of them had noticed it.

Normally, they’d have scoffed at such a sound.

‘Why Helmunt, of all people?’

‘Maybe… just maybe.’

‘This is troubling.’

It wasn’t merely Helmunt’s reputation that made it troublesome. Rather, it was their intimate knowledge of his… anatomy that caused the issue.

If Helmunt said it, it likely wasn’t nonsense.

But blindly believing just one person was difficult, wasn’t it?

“I believe it might be the work of the beast that has rallied this Great Swarm,”

Of course, Rianna calmly voiced her thoughts, ignoring the reactions around her.

“If we go there, we can find it?”

“I cannot say for certain… but I believe an investigation is warranted.”

* * *

Kaaang!

The clear chime of a sword spread from the corner of the training ground.

A spot that had become almost Isaac’s designated place.

As his katana extended in a straight line, Sharen’s greatsword responded, moving along the same trajectory.

But, like a rabbit, Isaac leaped into the air, spun once.

Sharen’s greatsword passed through where he had been.

Landing, he immediately swung his katana again, aiming for Sharen’s neck.

“Ho, Crimson Flare!”

Faster than Sharen’s hurried shout, a scarlet burst of red energy erupted from her greatsword.

It expanded, touching Isaac, and his airborne form flew away, without a chance to land.

“Sir Isaac! Oh dear! Sir Isaac!”

Jonathan, who had been watching the spar, came rushing over, fussing.

Isaac tumbled across the training ground.

Managing to stop, he abruptly lifted his head and yelled.

“I told you not to use the red energy!”

“Heh, heh, Helmunt knows no defeat!”

Clearly, before the spar, she’d said, [Submission? Hah, I had no intention of using it.]

Yet, when she found herself in a tight spot, Sharen ruthlessly unleashed her Submission to counter.

“Hoo, alright. I’ve got a rough feel for it now.”

Isaac dusted himself off and stood. Sharen, shuffling closer, looked embarrassed, searching for words.

She wanted to apologize, but Isaac instead asked something else.

“How was it?”

“Huh?”

“The sword, how was it? Before you used Submission, wasn’t it, like, kinda even?”

“……”

She didn’t want to admit it, but Isaac was right.

Sharen had actually struggled quite a bit against Isaac’s blade.

Of course, a Helmunt without Submission was effectively half his power gone.

But, conversely, it meant Isaac, who couldn’t even wield a sword before, had caught up to half of Sharen’s level in just a month.

“Just tell me honestly. How it felt to you, raw.”

At Isaac’s request, Sharen placed a finger to her lips, pondering, then, glancing warily, she spoke.

“It, it was annoying.”

“……”

“Something felt off. It was like Isaac knew everything about how I’d swing my sword.”

“……”

“Just now, after our third exchange. You knew I intentionally sped up, right?”

“Yeah, I knew.”

“But Isaac knew I’d get angry and speed up and he reacted?”

It was as expected.

He had judged Sharen would try to show the difference at that point, and he’d been right.

“It’s annoying… I, it’s ‘cause I’m tired! Only thirty minutes after my barrier defense ended, and Isaac suddenly asks for a spar-!”

Sharen, pouting, made childish excuses, realizing she’d been completely read.

Conversely, Isaac was extremely satisfied.

That made two of Helmunt’s swords he’d broken.

Sparring with Jonathan felt like child’s play now, and Sharen, who he couldn’t even touch at first, he could now defeat by decision.

‘Of course, things change if I used power-up.’

He could handle Jonathan’s shoddy power-up, but the moment Sharen used hers, the difficulty spiked sharply.

That was why Isaac’s thoughts were growing deeper regarding the issues concerning aura.

“……”

“……”

A mismatched pair, for sure.

Rianna and Silverna were walking towards them, together.

Neither of them looked at the other, but their direction was the same, so they ended up walking side-by-side.

“Wow, those two really don’t match.”

Seeing Sharen mutter that, Isaac asked something he’d been forgetting.

“Sharen, you didn’t say anything to Silverna about me and Rianna, did you?”

He’d asked because Jonathan was here, but Sharen flinched, then replied, baffled.

“Am I, am I a fool?! Would I say something like that?”

“Really, you didn’t?”

“No! I’m not a fool!”

* * *

“Hey.”

While heading towards Isaac who was bickering with Sharen,

Silverna called out to Rianna, quietly.

“……”

Rianna didn’t really respond, but it wasn’t hard to notice that she was listening.

“For this upcoming mission, Isaac is being left out.”

But, at Silverna’s next sentence, Rianna finally turned her face and looked at Silverna.

And then.

“Wise.”

She nodded her head.

“If it’s a magical beast that handles lightning like that, just being close to it would be dangerous for Isaac.”

“Yeah, we think alike.”

He knew they were trying.

He was sure to become a great prosecutor someday, too.

But.

“It’s too early still.”

“Right.”

Two women, judging it was too early for him to step onto their battlefield.

“……”

“……”

To hope for one man’s safety.

It was the first time the two agreed on something.

* * *

That evening.

Silberna arrived, hastily throwing on her robe, after Anna said she was being sought at the smithy.

The smithy wasn’t run at night due to the noise.

That was why Silberna’s pace quickened.

“Finally?”

Silberna asked Antonio, grinning brightly as soon as she arrived.

Especially since Isaac’s face, upset that he was excluded from the operation today, still lingered in her mind.

She figured gifting him a sword would quickly soothe his feelings.

“You came quickly?”

“Enough with the greetings. Is it done? Show me!”

Antonio sighed, stopping Silberna who was pressing him.

“Aigo, it is almost done. But, that’s not why I called you, young lady, today.”

“What.”

Her shoulders, that had been bobbing, slumped.

Anticipation instantly turned into disappointment.

“Then why did you call me?”

“There’s some leftover frost silver ore. What should I do with it?”

In Antonio’s hand was a finger-sized piece of blue-green ore.

“I thought you’d just gobble it down if there was some left.”

She almost thought that the old man was being uncharacteristically honest.

“What’s to be done with this bit of lamb?”

Antonio, clicking his tongue in regret, eyes it wistfully. Had it been more, he’d probably just have kept it for himself.

“Hmm, with this bit of lamb…”

Silberna, the frost-silver ore catching the light, turns it over in her hand, lost in thought. Then, as if struck by an idea, she startles slightly, testing the waters.

“Um. Antonio? Do, uh…do you happen to make things like… rings?”

“……”

“Oh, no! It’s just! It’d be nice for me to have a keepsake!”

“I did have a student who worked with jewelry… but at best, he could make one ring from this.”

A disappointing reply.

*‘Right, well. I got ahead of myself. It’s not like I have anywhere to wear it anyway.’*

Even as she told herself to rein it in, Silberna’s mouth was already moving on to other things.

“How about earrings? Single ones, to be worn on just one ear.”

Since she keeps her hair tied back, exposing her ears often enough.

“That, I think I could manage.”

At Antonio’s indifferent answer, Silberna smiles brightly and hands over the frost-silver ore again.

“Please? Something not too flashy, but kind of… still. That sort of thing suits me.”

“……Understood.”

Antonio just acted like he hadn’t heard or seen a thing.

He’d accept the request, and just focus on hammering metal.