Chapter 134 - An Unfinished Story (1)
This is a trivial epilogue.
What happened next can be roughly guessed without adding various embellishnts.
In the instant after witnessing the rings of light, the spear strike that extended from Serene's hand annihilated the horde of undead that had been trapped in Car 5. That thing, which had been a hideous sight of various corpses tangled together.
Kwaaaaaang-!!
Along with the explosive sound and blast that erupted with a ti lag after the spear strike hit.
In that situation, the train continued to run as a minimum amount of magic had been left in its engine, and as a result, we weren't caught up in it.
“……What a spectacle.”
I muttered to myself.
The scene of the mass of bizarrely entangled corpses being incinerated without a trace by an erald-colored explosion was enough to give such a sense of elation.
‘Serene is……’
I was montarily captivated by the scene, but I soon turned my gaze back to Serene. I was wondering about her condition.
Since it was a strike that poured out all the magic she possessed, it wouldn't have been strange if she collapsed from magic exhaustion.
However, my worries seed to have been unfounded.
“……”
Serene was still standing firmly in the spot where she had thrown the spear, watching the scene of the explosion disappear beyond the horizon with her eyes.
Thud.
I slowly walked over to her side, and I could barely feel any sense of fatigue on her face.
“It’s beautiful.”
Perhaps that shouldn't have been the first thing I said. 'Good work,' 'That was amazing,' 'I was impressed,' and so on… there would have been many other good things to say.
However, the first words that ca out of my mouth were words of admiration for the beauty of the scene.
‘It’s similar to Arien’s case.’
Was it just my imagination that the feeling from that ti, when Arien decided her own fate and overca adversity with her own power, overlapped with this mont?
However, to my remark, Serene gave a sowhat unexpected answer.
“……It’s all thanks to you.”
Thanks to , she said.
Serene said so, even though I had done nothing.
Even though all I did was push her from behind.
“……”
I couldn't answer her and lowered my head. In the first place, I probably didn't even have the right to answer.
***
Rattle, rattle-
Not long after, the train ca to a stop.
It was a natural outco. We had absorbed all the magic, leaving only the minimum power to create distance from Car 5.
Of course, Regina had a plan for what to do after the destruction of Car 5 as well.
The plan was to identify our current location and dispatch soone to the nearest knight order garrison to request rescue.
“Shouldn’t we check if Car 5 was properly destroyed?”
I went to see Regina and asked, but… Regina, sitting in her seat, put a finger to her chin and replied.
“Hmm… I certainly thought it would be more certain that way. But don't you get that feeling?”
“That feeling…?”
“The feeling that you can tell the result without opening the lid.”
Hmm.
Regina was right. Separate from the thought that we needed to check for sure, I had a strange sense of certainty for so reason.
A certainty that the 『Despair Without Cost』 in Car 5 had been completely destroyed.
And it seed Regina felt the sa way.
“……That being said, I agree. We were planning to send a reconnaissance team from the beginning.”
Of course, Regina, the embodint of caution who would tap a stone bridge before crossing, would not neglect post-event confirmation.
“In that case, may I go……”
“Hmm?”
When I volunteered to go in response to Regina's words, she shook her head.
“Are you trying to make into a shaless monarch who orders soone who was unconscious just a few hours ago to go on reconnaissance?”
“……That was not my intention.”
“I know~”
She said, with that sly smile and malicious joke.
Well, from my perspective, it could also be seen as concern.
“I can roughly guess what stimulated the young master, but I don’t think there’s any need to be hasty, you know?”
What followed from Regina's mouth was that, and it might have been true to so extent.
After Serene accomplished sothing of that magnitude, was it okay for to just sit back and reap the benefits? It wasn't that I didn't have such thoughts.
“You were magnificent enough. Along with the young master of the Cardenas family, you two broke through to Car 1, defeated the enemy leader, and saved .”
“You praise too much.”
“No, you were truly just as I expected.”
“……”
As she expected.
Was my evaluation that high in Regina's eyes? Or was there another aning?
Such questions arose, but I didn't voice them.
Regina probably wanted it that way.
“Go and get so rest, Sir Knight?”
As the conversation was about to end, Regina smiled with playful eyes and said that to .
“……I appreciate your consideration.”
Having spent quite a long ti with Regina, I knew that this was her own way of showing consideration.
Sir Knight.
That's a nice word to hear, I thought.
And while such a conversation was taking place.
Knock, knock.
A knock echoed in the princess's office. For a knock on the princess's door, it was a rather thoughtless and loud sound.
“Co in.”
After the princess replied, it was natural for the owner of the knock to enter the room, and I couldn't help but be surprised to see who it was.
A characteristic ponytail, a nonchalant impression.
Those were the physical characteristics of Croban Trase, one of the seven protagonists of .
Croban faced the princess, but I couldn't sense any particular sign of him showing great courtesy.
In the first place, he probably didn't know such etiquette himself, and he himself was aware of that fact.
Nod.
The fact that he handled the greeting simply with a silent bow was typical of him.
“I ca because I have sothing urgent to tell you… but were you in the middle of a conversation?”
Croban looked at once and then spoke to the princess.
“……Should I excuse myself?”
Feeling that an important conversation was about to take place, I asked the princess, but…….
“No- Young Master, please listen in as well. To what he has to say.”
“If you say so.”
At the princess's words, I remained in my seat, and we focused on the ‘story’ Croban was about to tell.
“What I am about to tell you is the full account of the attack on the Railroad Mysterium.”
Croban said that the mastermind behind this attack was the Hardline Faction of the rebels, an attack instigated by those among them who had crossed the line.
Well, I had expected it to so extent.
Those who openly showed such animosity towards the Empire, and those who would attack the Railroad Mysterium, which was filled with high nobles, were just about that kind of people.
“However, my superior has asked to convey that this incident does not represent the consensus of the rebel army.”
His superior.
‘If it’s his superior, is it the current leader of the rebels, Enrique?’
Originally, in the scenario, he should have been killed by Gabriel by this point… but since Gabriel had been eliminated, he must have been the one who gave the order.
“Hmm……”
Tap, tap, tap.
Even after those words ended, Regina seed lost in thought, continuously tapping the desk with her index finger.
In fact, when you think about it, it's a funny situation.
A ssenger from the rebel army is standing before the princess, making excuses that it wasn't their intention.
Normally, the right thing to do would be to arrest him on the spot, find out the rebel army's base, and wipe them all out.
However.
“I understand your intention.”
Regina was not that foolish.
She naturally knew that if things went that way, it would only strengthen the opinion of hardline suppression from Claudio's side, which led the Conservative Faction.
Enrique probably foresaw this and sent Croban.
After Croban, who had delivered such a short ssage, left, I asked Regina.
“How do you plan to handle this matter?”
“Well, we’ll have to treat it as the work of simple train robbers. It doesn't seem like any of the passengers have figured out the inside story or the identity of the enemy.”
I silently nodded my head in agreent with that solution.
In these matters, we were on the sa page in many ways.
***
After that, nothing particularly eventful happened. After exchanging so idle chatter, I left the princess's room.
And then, what to do? I realized that my schedule was completely free.
I thought about using this ti to train a little more, but my body was not in good shape, so I put that thought aside.
No matter how much I valued training, I wasn't out of my mind.
Thud.
Instead of returning to my room, I went outside the now-stopped train. A few trees stood here and there on the vast plain.
It was ant to be a simple walk. Having lived only inside the train for the past few days, I missed the outside air a little.
And it seed there were a few others who thought the sa as , as quite a few people were out.
‘Should I go in a little deeper?’
Thud.
As soone who doesn't enjoy crowded places, I avoided them and went a little deeper.
And as I approached a tree in a quiet area of the plain, I found her.
“……”
A girl sitting cross-legged in front of the tree with a lantern placed before her, staring blankly at the sky.
Golden hair that shone reflecting the moonlight, erald eyes that resembled that beautiful explosion.
Serene El Stellia.
“……Rain-ssi.”
The girl, seeming to have sensed my presence, slowly turned to look back at .
Co to think of it, I still had an unfinished story with the girl.
For instance, the story about my past that Serene occasionally hinted at.
The story of why she showed such deep trust in .
The story of why I was her idol.
The night was still long, and the lantern's fuel seed plentiful.
It was ti to tell the unfinished story.
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