#04. Rose Selion

"…"

Knights apprenticeship program was not nearly easy, regardless how small kingdom Perriun was. With only 3 months left until completion, Perriun's apprentice knight training center Swordlam was packed with people. Knights from Swordlam were supposed to go through a mandatory hands-on training curriculum for one year under local lords after their completion. Of course, the objective of that period was sort of 'to reborn as a genuine knight', but most of them considered it a 'promotion period' to make names for themselves. After all, it was the fact that making their names known to the ones in power as much as possible would turn their present and future lives a lot more abundant and easier. (But in fact, they thought of these networks as kind of their private 'shield' against the law.) Anyhow, back to the topic, a timetable of Swordlam near graduation date was as follows.

9am – Midday: Swordsmanship training

Midday – 1pm: Lunch break (Swordsmanship training anyway)

1pm - 7pm: Swordsmanship training

7pm – 8pm: Dinner break (Swordsmanship training anyway)

8pm – 11pm: Night swordsmanship training

…So beautiful that it made me want to know who had come up with it! If our training followed through on this schedule, our Ensis Knights and Hellon Knights would have been the knightages as powerful as Shadow Pain of Cheheran! To no one's surprise, in fact it was harder to find a knight doing the training as scheduled than a knight that goes out on a field, strolls around and hunts hares or other mountain animals for their meals. And I was not that different, either. However, my only friend in Swordlam, Kiriyan was too far from that kind of lifestyle. He was the man who would go out to a front yard with his sword without a word, even when other knights would stay in their room doing nothing during the training hours. One day, I hid myself and peeped at him out of curiosity, only to find out he was doing practice for cutting falling leaves into the same 4 pieces. What a guy.

But today, when I sneaked in my warm room over the window after small dinner, the scene that met my eye was enough to completely blow away all my thoughts about Kiriyan so far. So, in my room lit from the soft moonlight, Kiriyan was up to…

"Sir Kiriyan. What are you doing alone with a glass of wine --?"

On the table in front of Kiriyan's red face was a bottle of wine from Zenoa. I was lost for words. Could it be that Kiriyan was actually a heavy drinker, mad at alcohol so he could not put up with his ascetic life and ended up robbing the high-quality wine… No, that's bullshit. I did not know how to react at this nonsensical scene, but part of me was enjoying a fragrance of red wine. To be honest, I wanted to welcome this situation with my both hands up and say "Let's drink together!", but if I did that, I would have been stabbed to death by my dear friend.

"Rose, it's you."

Though it should have been alright to give himself some slack for a change if he was shaking off his pain by the power of alcohol, his voice was still clean and disciplined. Surely in this case, he must be 'pretending' not to be drunk. What the heck made this stoic man drink wine? I already knew that he generally refused to drink no matter what I put right under his nose. I sat opposite him with pure curiosity. I do not force other people to be consoled. It is the same context I do not want to be consoled by other people. But if it's Kiriyan, at least I could just listen to what made him so suffer like that. I blinked my eyes without a word.

"Hey." After drinking like a fish for 10 minutes, he finally opened his mouth. I made a big smile and replied to that black-haired handsome guy.

"If you clammed up a bit longer, I would've just gone."

"Shut up! I never said that I had something to say to you!"

"Oh! Then who the hell was it that called me just now?"

I teased him with a smile and he suddenly stood up towards me. Well, he tried to stand up, to be precise. Damn, how much has he drunk?

"Change that sly manner of speaking!"

"What about it? You've never told me about it until now."

When it comes to being sneaky, I was head and shoulders above anyone in Swordlam. To be frank, I thought I would be the top in regards to that even in the whole kingdom! He was so cute in his drunken vibe. I meant, his blushed face and eyes gazing at me. I looked away from him and whistled.

"…Rose. I got something that worries me."

As expected. Even if he was posing as not being drunk, I could guess it easily. Anyway, did I just hear the word 'worry' from Kiriyan's mouth? You live and learn. By the way…

"Pfff."

I started laughing so hard because of his closed eye, small voice and face like a girl confessing her love.

"Rose! I'm serious! You must take it seriously too!"

"Haha! It's your fault that you said it with such a cute face!"

"You freaking scum!"

"Argh! What are you doing with a sword in my room?!"

"Shut up! I know I can't hit you anyway!" Kiriyan shouted.

But in fact, it was hard even for me to avoid his sword. Anyway, every time when a swordsmanship contest was held by Swordlam, the first place was mine, but the second place was always taken by Kiriyan. Given that he had not had a real experience ever before, his swordsmanship made me think that he would be the best knight in Perriun kingdom in near future. After brandishing his sword in every way for a while, he gave up and flopped down on the couch. Lots of debris from broken vases and glasses were around me. Breaking into another person's room through window and making a fuss like this… I sighed deeply.

"Sir Kiriyan. Please send me clean-up money till tomorrow morning… um?"

I stopped talking and made a puzzled look seeing the cold sweat on his face. Even he got drunk, was he the one that would be exhausted by that bit of brandishing? It was not long before that I saw bandages around his body through a disheveled shirt. The problem was that those bandages were not even doing their jobs. I looked at his shirt and realized that it was soaked with blood.

"Aaaaaaaaaaaaaarh! Sir Kiriyan! What happened!"

"Ha, don't make a scene, Rose." He said with a frown. I went up to him without a word and started taking his shirt and bandages off.

"Rose! What the hell are you doing?"

"You just stay put."

"It took me forever to wrap these bandages on my own!"

I pressed his thrashing body with my knee, naked his upper body and grasped my hairs as a lot of wounds caught my eyes.

"Urgh, Sir Kiriyan. You are like a child! Till when should I take care of you like this?"

"Like I asked you for it! I can go back to my room right now if you want!"

"Are you serious with these cuts? If you don't disinfect and bandage them properly, you will die of tetanus, blood poisoning, excessive bleeding and lovesick!"

"I don't buy the last one!"

His resistance only fell on deaf ears. I poured the whole remaining wine on him.

"Argh! It's stinging!"

"It's for disinfection. Just be grateful that you were drinking strong alcohol."

His whole body must have been covered with dim pain revived from alcohol. I brought a new bandage and face his back. He was silent, and I started to wrap it around his chest. Why did I have spare bandages ready in my room? It is no-comment. One thing for sure, I was a pro at bandaging.

"…"

"Are you okay? Sir Kiriyan?"

"You used to be a medic before?"

"I don't follow."

"Don't play dumb! I'm seeing your bandaging skill right now!"

"I hope you don't have to be as good as me at this."

I could feel he flinched. My voice must have given away something.

"…Rose."

"I know what you want to say."

Yes. There must be only one reason for his wounds. Needless to say, the condescending sons of aristocrats must have looked down on and attacked our commoner apprentice, Kiriyan. The funny thing was, he had never avoided those silly fights. For all I know, most of them must have been 'laid' already at the cost of injuring him. Kiriyan was that kind of a guy. 'Fights cannot be avoided even if you want.' His words wandered in my head for a while.

"Is this human beings' damn true color."

"…"

"I live everyday with serious contempt for human beings. They commit an evil that shouldn't even be said by anyone without any guilty conscience. It can't be the will of God that they get to persecute others just because they were born noble."

That was like an eruption of a hot sphere Kiriyan's little mind could not get over. He, being the introverted one that keeps all emotions to himself, must have wanted to express his pent-up feelings by any ways possible. Even though he always pretended to be strong and unshakable, I knew this was his real self.

"Sir Kiriyan."

"…"

"Do you know why things such as rank, power and greed that have lasted over the long history don't disappear and still stick around?"

"…"

"Because they are needed."

It was too old for the apprentice knight in his 20s, but Kiriyan silently swallowed it.

"In this world, what do you think we can do to make things right?"

"Well," I tilted my head.

"While getting stomped by sons of bitches… I was thinking about revenge. But there was one thing that I realized at the same time. Revenge is like shooting an arrow that will only return and strike your own heart."

"Well said, Sir Kiriyan."

"Rose, what is your way to live in this world?"

"…"

"I wanna hear."

He was lying on his belly, so I could not see his face as he said it. But I thought it was fortunate to be that way. He was the person who could not say things like that looking someone in the eye. I did not expect that I could see his sincerity in this way, but then again, somehow Kiriyan's attitude at that time inclined me to tell him my sincerity back.

"Hatred wouldn't exist in our ideal world. In reality, however, hatred is like the mold in an apple, so let alone disappearing, it becomes bigger and bigger by sucking blood from us."

"…Funny. I wouldn't have guessed that I would hear that kind of line from Rose 'Smiley' Selion."

'My smiling face… it's my own way of struggle to that hatred.'

It might be the same with an actor's persona. But at that time, it was about to crack. The face hidden behind the persona was inherited from my older brother, so I really did not want to let him see it. I managed to pull myself together. It wouldn't be too late to put it down after Kiriyan goes back to his room. As always, I wore my smile back.

"Like revenge, hatred is like an arrow shot to our own hearts, too. The feeling that you want to destroy someone only becomes a huge snowball and runs over yourself. So, there's no way but to forget it."

"Forget it…?"

"Yes. Oblivion."

"That's idealism."

Kiriyan boiled my sincerity down to one word.

"Idealism, indeed."

"You are not denying it?"

"Just because it is idealism doesn't mean we don't have to make any effort for it."

"…"

"My way of living this world is... to try to love, try to appreciate every moment of your life. Someday Duke Guillermo said something along these lines, 'There are a lot of assholes, but we don't need to hate anyone. That's our way of living together.' … I'm with him. We have to love, not to hate."

"…"

He did not speak for a while, but soon got himself up, sat on the couch and said the phrase which happened to be my watchword.

"Just like the master of Shadow Pain said before, 'Life is short, so smile'."

"…That phrase, is the saying that suits you very well."

That night was very satisfying, that we got to open up and share what was on our minds. It was very strange feeling for me. When would I be able to have this kind of conversation with him again? In fact, in the future he gets to hear the phrase directly from the master of Shadow Pain, Mikael Sepavile himself. It is the story of the very far future, when Kiriyan becomes the master of Ensis Knights and the idol of all knights as the 'sword emperor'.

‎

𝘌𝘢𝘤𝘩 𝘰𝘧 𝘶𝘴 𝘩𝘢𝘴 𝘱𝘪𝘤𝘬𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘥𝘪𝘤𝘦𝘴 𝘯𝘢m𝘦𝘥 '𝘭𝘪𝘧𝘦'.

𝘞𝘦𝘭𝘭, 𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦. 𝘏𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘳𝘦𝘦 𝘤𝘶𝘱𝘴.

𝘍𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘯𝘰𝘸 𝘰𝘯, 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘨𝘰𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘰 𝘱𝘶𝘵 y𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘥𝘪𝘤𝘦𝘴 𝘶𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘳 𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘴𝘦.

𝘞𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘐 𝘮𝘪x them 𝘶𝘱, 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘪𝘵'𝘴 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘯 𝘵𝘰 𝘧𝘪𝘯𝘥 𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘥𝘪𝘤𝘦𝘴 𝘢𝘳𝘦.

𝘚𝘩𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘸𝘦 𝘴𝘵a𝘳𝘵?

𝘞𝘩a𝘵 𝘪𝘴 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘤𝘩𝘰𝘪𝘤𝘦?

𝘈𝘳𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 '𝘭𝘪𝘷𝘦𝘴' 𝘶𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘤𝘶𝘱 𝘺𝘰𝘶'𝘷𝘦 𝘤𝘩𝘰𝘴𝘦𝘯?

‎

...𝘕𝘰.

𝘛𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦'𝘴 𝘯𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘶𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘳 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘣𝘦𝘭𝘪𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘥 𝘸𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘣𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘳𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘰𝘯𝘦.

𝘛𝘩𝘦𝘯, 𝘥𝘰 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘬 𝘪𝘵 𝘸𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘣𝘦 𝘶𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘤𝘶𝘱𝘴?

𝘔𝘢𝘺𝘣𝘦 𝘺𝘦𝘴, 𝘮𝘢𝘺𝘣𝘦 𝘯𝘰.

𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘴𝘸𝘦𝘳 𝘰𝘧 𝘭𝘪𝘧𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘸𝘦 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘣𝘦𝘦𝘯 𝘵𝘳𝘺𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘰 𝘧𝘪𝘯𝘥 𝘪𝘴 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘴𝘦 𝘥𝘪𝘤𝘦𝘴,

‎

𝘐𝘵 𝘮𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘦𝘹𝘪𝘴t, 𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘩𝘢𝘱𝘴 𝘪𝘵 𝘮𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘯𝘰𝘵.

‎

𝘚𝘰, 𝘶𝘯𝘭𝘦𝘴𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘪𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘶𝘯𝘦𝘲𝘶𝘪𝘷𝘰𝘤𝘢𝘭 𝘢𝘯𝘴𝘸𝘦𝘳 𝘰𝘧 𝘭𝘪𝘧𝘦

𝘞𝘦 𝘴𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘫𝘶𝘥𝘨𝘦 𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘴 𝘣𝘺 𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘰𝘸𝘯 𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘯𝘥𝘢𝘳𝘥 𝘶𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘭 𝘸𝘦 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘧𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘥 𝘪𝘵.

𝘕𝘰 𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘩𝘢𝘴 𝘧𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘢𝘯𝘴𝘸𝘦𝘳 𝘴𝘰 𝘧𝘢𝘳.

𝘐𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘭𝘥, 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘪𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘰𝘯𝘭𝘺 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘸e can d𝘰?

I𝘴𝘯'𝘵 𝘪𝘵 𝘫𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘶𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘯𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘦𝘢𝘤𝘩 𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳?

𝘉𝘦𝘤𝘢𝘶𝘴𝘦 𝘪𝘵 𝘵𝘢𝘬𝘦𝘴 𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘴𝘰𝘳𝘵𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘮𝘢𝘬𝘦 𝘢 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘭𝘥.

‎

"Sir Rose! Wake up!"

"Haaaammmm *𝘺𝘢𝘸𝘯*… No… let me sleep just a little more…"

"Aaa! Can't you see I'm cleaning your office? Take this! A rag of anger!"

"Argh! What are you doing to your superior?!"

"Shut up! A wicked pimp! Get up and do your job! Don't get in my way at least!"

The young guy yelling at me was Sir Louis, at the blooming age of 20, newcomer of Hellon Knights.

"Sir Louis, if you are angry from this early in a day, it will secrete heaps of stress hormone and you will end up getting deep nasolabial folds… Argh! You are throwing it again!"

"You think nasolabial folds are the real problem? You said your doctor had told you that if you keep sleeping like this, you will evolve into something like a koala or a sloth! Behave like a being on earth!"

"Zip it up! You are the one who must behave like a new face! The master of knights is like your father."

"Mind of your own business! Did you see the person walking around and cleaning shits in front of you when you open your eyes for a second in every morning? It is me! Who the hell didn't behave like a newcomer?!"

"Aaa – I don't even know where your respect has disappeared to…"

"Ridiculous! Don't come close to me! You are rubbing off on me!"

"Am I kind of typhoid or something?!"

"Black death! Alzheimer's! Flu!"

"Dermatitis! Lung cancer! Parasite!"

I ended up being muscled out from my own office by Sir Louis. Of course, I didn't forget spitting curses continuously while being pushed out. After Sir Louis entered our knightage, this kind of ruckus has become normal. If he did not come in, I would not have had to wake up and could have lain in my couch till 6 pm. Dang.

Hellon Knights was one of the Perriun kingdom's knightages and was called 'God's knight'. Unlike Ensis Knights, the formal palace guards, we usually played the role of a guard for clerics or female shamans of the kingdom. And if war took place, we would be under the control of Croa kingdom's Curia, the central administration governing the Church. (So, to be precise, Hellon Knights was Croa kingdom's knightage.) Listing our duties up, it would look like we got our hands full, but we were mostly free since our almighty Sir Kiriyan usually dealt with all the important businesses by himself. It was why I had been thinking that I had made a good friend since I had become an apprentice. Anywho, because of this loose atmosphere, our knights tended to act freely as though all of us were friends. Naturally if Sir Kiriyan saw this scene, he would wield his sword saying, 'It isn't the right demeanor of knights!'. Especially towards me. Dang.

I went to the room next door, sat on a chair and looked up at the blue sky. I was fully awake from Sir Louis' 'rag of anger', (seriously…?) so I started recalling the incident I had left to Kiriyan. It was not something you would want to do in the bright morning sunlight, but it kept making its way in and sitting on the back of my mind like a pest, though I was refusing to remember it anymore. I did not want Kiriyan to take it all over. Surely it would be too much of a burden for him, and above all, if my hunch were right, it would be the thing I must resolve on my own at the end.

You must finish what you started yourself.

I decided to follow that principle, but I had just entrusted part of it to Kiriyan. He was the finest when it comes to an investigation. I needed his ability. And as I wanted, he walked into the center of the whirlwind of fate, Cellen.

However, I would not leave him alone just like that. At the end, I would have to be the one standing there. It would be the right way. It would be the right way to unravel a bunch of tangled threads.

"Rorens." Though nobody was around, I quietly named that specter.

I closed my eyes. No, it was closed. My mind stopped itself from recalling his name.

‎

*𝘏𝘶𝘧𝘧... 𝘩𝘶𝘧𝘧…*

Hard to breathe. I was leaning against the wreckage of a collapsed building. The disastrous vibration of ground which had seemed to devour the whole world had gradually died down, but only a tall pile of stones was waiting for my family, leaving no way out. Such a bad joke. Earthquake in Cheheran, located at the center of the north continent, was like an ice cream merchant in the middle of winter, so there was no way that an earthquake-resistant construction design had been adopted to any building. That is the human being. Once we take the pill of oblivion, we forget everything that worries us before we know it. And we never re-think anymore.

My whole body had been numbed already. It was the miracle that I could even keep thinking. Oxygen deprivation. The only space the fallen rock heaps had allowed us was just about four-square meters. And it was only a natural result given there were three of us trapped for who-knows-how-long. We were not conscious of how much time had passed. It felt like we had spent at least half a day in here, but it didn't matter.

Where was a rescue team? Where was my mom that had disappeared since everything had started? And, my older brother next to me. My father.

Brother, father…

I wanted to stop them.

But my body was not under my control. Since when had I passed out? The reason why I could regain my consciousness for a while… it was, my brother and father.

Father was choking brother's neck.

Brother, Rorens was glaring at his own father with bloodshot eyes. The man at the opposite side had the same eyes.

Both of them, had murderous feeling. Way murderous feeling.

Rorens moved his quivering hand to his pants' pocket. Come to think of it, his inner pocket had a weird shape of bulge. What did he want to take out in this situation? Only what I could do was watching them, and my eyes became as big as they could in an instant. Pistol. Pistol? Rorens. Why did he have a pistol with him? And why did he happen to have it at a time like this? But those were not important. What mattered was that Rorens was pointing it at his father's temple. And that his index finger moved slowly.

*Bang!*

Thundering sound resounded in the narrow space, and acrid gunpowder smell attacked my nose. I was still awake, and I could not even tell whether it was fortunate to be awake or not.

I could not help but witness my father's last moment. It was like a dream. In my memories from only few days ago, father, mother, older brother and I were sitting around in a huge palace hall with beaming smiles. But it had disappeared in a second. Everything was gone, and only futility and self-mockery remained in that place.

My brain was barely thinking. The reason why my brother killed my father. And my father had tried to kill my brother. Was it just a mere struggle for more goddamn oxygen? When someone is cornered, they do whatever it takes to survive. Well. No more than that reason. I made a bitter smile.

It would have been only natural for him to put me next in line. It would have been only natural for those who had already crossed the line.

Oddly, it felt like I could close my eyes and pass out without hesitation.

The only thing my blurred vision was displaying was the pure grey of the ruin. I did not want to see his face anymore. Was that supposed to be my last moment…?

That would be fine, too. Unknown voice came somewhere from my inside. Laughed. Laughed out loud.

‎

People usually say dreams are normally black-and-white, but strangely the hopeless grey from the pile of stones and the murderous red from my brother's eyes were the only colors consisting of my dream. As far as I remembered, I did not have any kind of obsession at the moment, but it might not have been true. Word has it that if you dream of anything non-black-and-white, it is because you had any kind of obsession over it. And its extent can be guessed by how vivid the colors are. I did not know what I had that much of an obsession over…

But one thing for sure, I had to go and meet Rorens before too late.

It was the time for him to end. And for me, too.

All the things.

It was the time to harvest things that we had sown.

‎

…Now I am thinking, does that mean I am awake?

"Haaaaam."

I stretched my body with a big yawn. Hands of the clock on the wall were pointing to 6 pm. Outside the window was dyed deep scarlet of sunset. And that person leaning against the windowsill reflecting the sunlight is…?

"Sir Kiriyan."

I called him with a half-awake voice and smile. He would always grumble to me with a frowned face, 'I don't know why I lose my face every time in front of you.' But I was the same. Even though I would always smile, the only one I could ease myself in front of was Kiriyan. His young, handsome face combined with the solemn twilight made me think it was like a well-painted masterpiece.

"Rose Selion."

My name that came out of his mouth, sounded somewhat odd. Sort of grim, but at the same time a little bit of a hesitating voice. Come to think of it, his thin, black sword was out of the sheath, held in his hand. That was like his best friend. He always carried the sword by his principle, 'Knights should not leave their swords even an inch away from them', but this time it was giving out a very bizarre feeling. I stepped back as fast as I could by instinct, not by my thought process.

With a loud sound, the wooden desk I had been resting my head on up until a moment ago broke in half. Kiriyan kept brandishing his sword to me. Belatedly, I ended up being able to think again when the sharp air from his blade drew a blood line on my cheek.

'It's dangerous.'

There had been quite a few times that Kiriyan had attacked me out of the blue, but this was totally different. There was still not enough time to think about the reason, and my awakened sense made me avoid his sword with my best effort. His black sword rapidly flashed its sharp teeth again.

*𝘒𝘬𝘢𝘯𝘨*

The black line cut through my chest skin, and penetrated a tasteful copper ornament beside the fireplace. Swordsmanship that breaks through metal.

"Rose, you better do your best."

His low voice clearly enlightened me on the meaning of the scene just a few seconds ago. I made the distance between me and him and picked up my old sword next to the door. As I stripped off the cloth around it, I pulled out another sword from the wall.

Dual wield.

Coldness from the hilts of the swords ran through my body.

"Just as I thought…"

He murmured, though there was no way for me to know what was just as he thought. He frowned at me as much as he could.

"Rose. I don't want this kind of ending."

"You don't understand things without context, especially right after you wake up ---."

"…Do you admit that you are the culprit of Cellen arson incident?"

"…"

I lost my words. That was the most ludicrous joke I could not even laugh off. Given his investigation skills, I had expected that the real criminal of this incident would have been a piece of cake for him to deduce. But this nonsense?

"Bad joke. Are you saying the client who had requested your investigation is the very criminal?"

"…Tell me your game. We've come too far, you know you can't wriggle your way out of this."

"Ha, it's too tiring. Sir Kiriyan. I want some more sleep so let's stop this crap. I'll claim the repair cost for this desk from Ensis Knights HQ."

"You!"

As soon as I finished talking, he rushed towards me. And again, it was the swordsmanship to 'kill'. How on earth did I end up on the other side of his killing move. The question that I had not been able to answer no matter how hard I had thought was cleared up through a totally unexpected way, after my two swords crossed before me blocking Kiriyan's black sword arduously. It accompanied some kind of feeling like getting hit square by a stone flying at random direction, which I thought might have been a mix of half self-contempt and half being speechless.

"Answer me. I asked if you admit to being the culprit of Cellen arson incident,

Rorens Selion."