The girl’s first mory was when she was four years old.
A gentle tone and a cold gaze.
Even a hedgehog thinks its younglings are beautiful, yet the faces of the parents looking down at the girl showed no trace of affection.
“Did you know? In the past, when entering a coal mine, they used to bring a canary. Canaries are sensitive to harmful gases that humans can’t detect, so when the canary died or showed abnormal symptoms, people realized it was dangerous and evacuated,” they said.
A bird that signals danger with its death, the canary.
“And that’s why your na is ‘Canaria.'”
Please, willingly die for us.
The little bird of the coal mine.
***
A face dripping with concern.
How long has it been since I’ve seen soone look at like that?
In fact, there’s no need to count the ti.
I’ve hardly received such a gaze from anyone else before.
Those aligned with the royal family or the aristocracy were busy mocking and belittling , while those beneath believed in , feared , knowing my strength.
Of course, the Empire had no reason to be concerned about .
From the mont my mories began, I had only received feelings far removed from warm affections; thus, the expression on that person’s face felt very foreign.
…It’s uncomfortable.
For so reason, a part of my heart felt unbearably ticklish.
When it itches, it’s fine to scratch it, but I didn’t know how to relieve the kind of itch I felt now.
***
“Canaria Grasis. That’s my na.”
As I averted my gaze from the heart that charged straight toward and organized the swarm of flies that had dashed in without knowing the topic, the ticklish feeling finally settled down.
I lightly brushed off my sword and walked towards the only remaining fly.
Fortunately, there was no accident of my sword turning into powder.
***
— “Ku, cough…!”
“How unfortunate.”
You’re really a pitiful creature.
What on earth did you do to be out of the snake’s favor?
Sotis people deceive themselves into thinking that their choices were made entirely of their own will.
It’s natural. How could one know that a great being exists if they couldn’t even perceive it, let alone know that it governs their fate?
In this case, that being was the snake.
Perhaps I might be the sa.
***
“If only you had more ti, you might not have known.”
Even though it wasn’t an all-out attack, judging from the fact that you survived an attempt to kill you, you aren’t completely lacking in talent.
It’s true that I’m rely existing, but I suppose it’s fair to say I have so talent.
But what can I do? I’m not the kind of person who would spare the life of soone who tried to kill .
I raised my sword indifferently.
The commander clutched his waist, which had been sliced through his armor, gasping for breath.
“P-please… save …”
“Ah, I know that line well.”
Surely, he was begging for his life, right?
“Yeah, sorry about that.”
Thud.
“Grrr…”
With a sound like bubbling blood, the light faded from his eyes, and I felt the last breath of life vividly transmitted through my fingertips.
There was nothing novel about it.
A person who casually attached eyes to cat dolls one day wouldn’t feel any special sentint upon doing the sa to a dog doll.
To , this was exactly that level of event.
Ah, but maybe I shouldn’t have used a sword.
It feels a bit uneasy returning sothing soiled that I borrowed.
“Well done.”
In an attempt to make up for it, I wiped off just enough blood and returned the sword to Joanie.
Perhaps she didn’t like my action. Instead of accepting the sword I offered, she had a look that seed to convey she wanted to say sothing.
“Grasis…? Wow, was she royalty?! No wonder she looked so extraordinary; what if I get arrested for blasphemy? But it’s already been destroyed, so what does it matter? No, still… huh? Just ask her directly?”
Joanie, mumbling earnestly in archaic speech, cautiously asked .
“Kana, Grasis?”
She drew sothing that resembled a crown above her head with her finger.
Though her grasp of the archaic language was clumsy, I understood what she was trying to say.
I shook my head.
“No.”
How could I be related to such terrible people?
The very thought of having the sa blood as those who lounged around in a castle without doing anything sent shivers down my spine.
She seed to have so knowledge of Grasis, but perhaps she didn’t know everything.
Well, it’s understandable; only nobles would know such information.
After all, the story about the origins of Grasis and the customs surrounding it were almost like relics, basically just shells of what they once were.
According to the “Zigrid Adventure,” Grasis is a kingdom founded by the first king, Zigrid, with the help of the red dragon Grasis.
Whether it was Zigrid’s sincerity in naming the kingdom after himself or so other reason, I don’t know.
For whatever reason, Grasis provided Zigrid with the Granic language and treasures, one of which was a ring nad “Grasis’ Blessing.”
This ring, created by Grasis and imbued with mana, beca an invaluable treasure for Grasis, but…
The problem was that very few could handle the ring’s overwhelming power.
It felt wasteful to keep it in the treasury, too dangerous for the king to wear, and yet giving it outright to soone who could handle it wasn’t a feasible option.
While troubled by this, Zigrid devised a clever plan.
He decided to create an order of knights and appoint the strongest person in Grasis as the commander of that order, entrusting them with Grasis’ Blessing.
Since it was a position to protect the kingdom, it fit well with the na “Grasis’ Blessing,” and as Grasis was incapable of pointing a blade at royalty due to Grasis’ arrangents, there was no reason to hesitate.
Moreover, given Grasis’ sentint of reverence for the red dragon, it was impossible to look down on soone who could wield dragon mana, so they bestowed the title of “Grasis” and regarded it highly.
It was like being a representative.
In reality, it was a way of blinding ourselves to the truth.
Regarded highly? Nonsense. Over ti, the aning faded, and by my ti, it had beco a completely hollow and ineffectual custom.
So, the average citizens of the kingdom would know nothing about it. The royal family ntioned it only during ceremonies.
Anyway, it was only natural that I possessed the title of Grasis.
After all, I was the last commander of the Crimson Aegis.
“—But saying this won’t make any sense anyway.”
Instead of explaining in detail, I lightly brushed off Joanie’s question with a vague denial.
Joanie still looked utterly confused.
“…Is that a no? It must be a no, right? Ugh, then what…? No, more importantly, that’s not the important thing right now….”
The more I looked, the more I realized she had a lot of inner monologue.
I ant to convey with a gesture to take the sword and leave, but Joanie fumbled to grab it.
Then, suddenly, she bent forward at the waist.
I was taken aback by her sudden and unexpected action.
“Sorry. Secret, na.”
“Oh.”
Only after hearing her stamring in Granic did I understand Joanie’s behavior.
A re three-word apology.
But for so reason, those clumsy words resonated deeply within .
From her reaction, it seed that the word had spread because of her, but she hadn’t inford the Empire…
Despite being a coward, she didn’t hesitate to confront the Imperial Army, so it wasn’t as if she hadn’t made an effort to redeem herself.
More than anything, for so reason, looking at her made the suppressed itchiness within try to rear its head again.
“Well… it’s fine.”
I averted my gaze from her.
Then, as I waved my hand to adjust my hood that had been pulled down, I rembered that the connection had torn and awkwardly ruffled my hair.
“Um, do you want to fix it?”
“…?”
“I’ll repair it, repair it.”
Joanie, who had been looking at with guilty eyes, this ti waved her hand.
With one hand, she seed to hold sothing broad while the other grasped sothing long.
“‘Repair’…?”
“Yes! Repair!”
So, she ant to say she would fix it?
As I stared blankly, Joanie moved her hands again.
This ti, it was a gesture closer to sewing.
I tilted my head slightly, then accepted it without much thought.
After all, it was a ruined garnt. I didn’t care whether she repaired it or sold it off sowhere.
Still, I hoped she could at least fix it.
As I took off the cape, a gust of wind brushed past my arm.
Thud.
“Hello.”
“Greatsword chick?”
While I was talking to Joanie, an Apostle wielding a greatsword stepped closer to to greet .
Then, she thrust the greatsword, about my height, towards .
“Let’s fight.”
“…?”
“Yuki!”
“Hey!”
There didn’t seem to be any malice behind it.
When I tilted my head at the greatsword thrust toward , the people around began to panic even more.
Joanie had seen this so often that she was unfazed.
The man behind was… well…
Thanks to Edel’s protection, his face still wasn’t properly visible, but in another sense, he felt familiar.
Like soone I had crossed swords with several tis.
Right?
Wham.
Thud.
“….”
“….”
“…Ha, haha.”
…It’s a bit unsettling, but considering the effort of those Imperial bastards coming here claiming they want to take down, I’ll let it slide this once.
But there won’t be a second ti.
As I turned my gaze away, I could hear a sigh of relief.
I looked into the eyes of the Great Sword Chick and tried to read her emotions.
In her eyes, a quiet fla flickered.
‘Aha.’
There are sotis people like this.
They possess high self-esteem, charging forward without hesitation even when faced with a superior opponent.
Such individuals usually have a strong desire for self-improvent, and rather than scheming in secret, they prefer to confront openly, so I don’t mind them too much.
It’s just that it’s botherso that they have set their sights on .
As I pondered, I reached out to Joanie instead of responding.
“…Huh?”
“Can I borrow your sword, just once more?”
Especially this Great Sword Chick, whether in battle or now, is the type to annoyingly follow around, even if I ignore her. It’s better to just give her what she wants and send her on her way.
“No way, Yuki! Are you really going to fight with that? Are you out of your mind? Really? For real?”
“Isn’t it more fun that way?”
“Not at all.”
Joanie shook the Great Sword Chick’s shoulder vigorously, but the Great Sword Chick remained unyielding.
“Even if you can’t understand, just don’t kill …”
I chuckled and shrugged at Joanie, who was extending the sword towards .
I really have no idea what she’s saying.
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