Chapter 202
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「Master」
The woman before me—Sword Saint Eris Gladius—calls out to me.
Sensei sits beside me, while across the small table sit two swordsmen—Eris herself and Sword Dance Orphelia Verite. Sena, meanwhile, sits behind me, leaning against the wall.
Her calling out to me breaks the silence that had lasted several minutes.
Eris looks even more unwell than before. The dark circles under her eyes are terrible.
「May I… may I still call you ‘Master’?」
She asks me in a hoarse voice.
「Of course you can! Why are you even asking something so obvious?」
「I’m glad…」 she whispers, tears streaming down her face.
She wipes them away with her sleeve and straightens her posture.
「Master, please allow me to properly apologize here and now.」
There’s a slight heat in her voice.
Though I can’t tell what emotion that heat stems from.
「I’m so sorry for betraying you.」
She bows her head deeply.
「Eris, when we crossed swords that time, I fully understood your feelings. So you don’t need to apologize anymore.」
Was she always this small?
She’s always been delicate, but the frail figure before me is just too—
「Master, I wanted to stay by your side.」
—I didn’t want to leave you alone
I could never forget those words she spoke back then.
Back then, how much those words had saved me.
「And yet I…」
she says, gritting her teeth.
「For someone like that, I betrayed you. That’s why I… that’s why I—」
Her words are trembling.
Before I know it, I’ve rushed in front of her.
「It’s okay, it’s okay, Eris…」
I embrace her from the front, patting her back as if soothing a child.
She lets out quiet sobs against my chest.
But she pushes against my chest with both hands.
「Thank you, Master. I’m… I’m alright now.」
She roughly wipes away her still-flowing tears with her sleeve.
「There’s something… something I must do.」
Her words come out broken, mixed with sobs.
「I thought I should accomplish everything before meeting you again, but things didn’t go so smoothly—」
「Don’t worry about it. You’re my disciple, after all—」
「I’m so grateful you’d say that. Being your disciple was my honor and pride.」
I sense some kind of inexplicable resolve from Eris.
「What’s wrong? Did something happen?」
She weakly shakes her head at my question, stands up, turns her back to me, and faces the exit.
「Well then, Master… thank you for everything up until now.」
—I’m thinking of going to a monastery at the northernmost edge, away from the secular world.
For some reason, I’m reminded of Mika from that day.
「Eris!! Wait!!」
I have a feeling I can’t let her leave like this.
「Hey! You! You idiot!」
But Eris brushes off both Orphe’s and my attempts to stop her—
「Sena」
She’s holding her back… or rather, doesn’t she look rather limp?
「In this condition, she can’t do anything. Whether she leaves or stays, the result would be the same. In her current state, she can’t accomplish anything.」
Eris had lost consciousness in Sena’s arms.
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「Well, where should I start…」
Orphe looks upward as if trying to recall.
After laying Eris down in the blessed futon prepared by Sensei and Sena, we gather to hear the story from Orphe, who had arrived here with her.
「I was planning to say goodbye to Sophia and the others and leave Boldaf quickly. I wanted to return to Seventh Blue as soon as possible, resign, and start training with you right away.」
Such initiative!!
I’m internally overwhelmed by her way of thinking that embodies ‘strike while the iron is hot.’ However, while thinking this, neither Sena, myself, nor Sensei interrupt unnecessarily.
「Right around then, I met Eris as she was leaving Boldaf. No matter how many times I asked where she was going, she wouldn’t give me a straight answer. Finally, after asking repeatedly, I got her to tell me she was returning to the royal capital. She looked so unhealthy that I thought she might die if left alone, so I had no choice but to accompany her on the road that happened to overlap with my return to Seventh Blue.」
「That’s not the whole story, is it?」
This explanation doesn’t account for why they’ve returned here.
「You’re right. There’s more to it.
Originally, Eris’s goal was to clear your name and reveal the whole truth. At first, she said that if she went to the royal capital, she had an influential person who had helped her since long ago, and if she told them everything, they could help reveal the truth.」
Orphe speaks almost musically, lost in some thought.
「That idiot was so determined, saying ‘After I get the Arcana Kingdom to recognize Master’s achievements, I’ll return to Master’s side’ and ‘I’ll do whatever it takes to stay by Master’s side.’」
I can easily imagine her clenching both fists and steeling her resolve with a ‘hmph!’ But—
「Yes. As you thought, things didn’t go according to Eris’s plan.」
The moment Orphe says this,
「Please, let me tell that part of the story.」
Eris has awakened.
Though she’s in terrible condition, I can clearly sense something fierce burning in her eyes.
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