She Who Became Immortal

While dreaming, there are moments when one realizes it's just a dream.

Volte knew the scene unfolding before his eyes was a dream, because his deceased wife, Eirena, was smiling at him.

Their married life had lasted only a year.

Yet during that time, Volte had seen her smile only a handful of times. He had left the knighthood immediately after their marriage, spending their days together alone.

It was as if they were holding their breath, waiting for the end of the world, enduring the passage of time in silence.

In his dream, Eirena smiled without reason, as if simply being there brought her joy. She smiled happily, looking at Volte.

—It was the worst kind of dream.

 

---

He opened his eyes.

What he saw was an unfamiliar ceiling. It was wooden. Lowering his gaze slightly, he noticed a small fire burning on a candlestick. The bed beneath him felt neither hard nor soft.

"Are you awake?"

A person sat on a chair a short distance from Volte's bed, speaking without much emotion.

She was a beautiful blonde girl.

Her attire, unlike that commonly seen in the Louisse Kingdom, draped loosely around her. The atmosphere she exuded was not that of a commoner but rather of a noble from a foreign land—Volte thought this before recalling what had happened just before he lost consciousness.

Beastmen had descended from the fortress walls.

The first was a lion-like girl.

The other, a giant resembling a boar.

His memory ended there.

"Where is this...?"

As Volte raised himself slightly on the bed, he noticed his armor had been removed and there was no sword at his waist. His body and face had been wiped clean, devoid of the feel of dust.

"This is inside the fortress you attacked."

The softly smiling blonde girl approached Volte's bed.

"Inside the fortress? Then this should be the fortress of the beastmen...? You appear to be human, though...?"

Volte expressed his confusion aloud, but the girl maintained her smile.

"Did you attempt to understand what we are? Please, tell me. Why such a sudden attack?"

Her tone was firm yet devoid of accusation, which only added to Volte's confusion.

"Am I... a captive then?"

Volte didn't know if the concept of captives existed among beastmen, let alone much about them.

Moreover, the blonde girl clearly wasn't a beastman.

"That might be the case. May I have the name of the knight?"

"I am Volte Claus. Vice Captain of the Tiant Order of Knights, though... I wonder. Given the circumstances, I wouldn't be surprised if I were demoted."

How foolish to have allowed such a reckless assault. As Volte lay on the bed, contemplating this, he wondered what judgment the commander, or perhaps the 'Prodigal Prince' or Lord Slack Tiant, would pass.

"Why did you invade the territory of the beastmen beyond the border?"

"It was our mission."

"So you don't know what the aim was?"

"No—"

If he asked why, there was a reason, or rather, an excuse.

"—There was an incident where an aelv, residing in the Tiant domain, was assaulted and valuables were taken by the beastmen. It happened in the border. This incident became the pretext to mobilize the Order of Knights and invade the territory of the beastmen."

"Aelv? What about this Aelv?"

"She came with this unit. It was her who delivered powerful arrow fire. She sought revenge against the beastmen with her own hands."

"I see... By the way, there was another person who seemed different from the knights. Who was that powerful swordsman?"

"He's the escort of the 'Saint of Healing'. He agreed to lend us his strength for this first battle."

"Saint of Healing?"

The blonde girl tilted her head slightly, perplexed. If she were a noble from the Louisse Kingdom, she should have known at least some rumors...

"Who exactly are you?"

"You finally ask," she replied, her lips curling up slightly more than before.

The girl lacked the typical allure of beauty—she wasn't the kind of beauty that was too beautiful to approach, but rather, there was a certain aloofness that made it feel futile to get too close.

In simple terms, her beauty lacked realism.

From her loosely draped black attire emerged delicate limbs, a neck so slender it seemed almost like a joke, and a face with a crafted semblance yet warmth. Long blonde hair cascaded straight down to her waist.

"We are a group born from coming together," she murmured softly, like breath on a cold winter day.

But Volte didn't understand the meaning.

"Coming together...?"

"What happens to those who can no longer stay where they used to be? Drifting aimlessly, unknown, eventually wearing down—such is the nature of the world."

That might be true.

It was common for someone who had left the knighthood due to injury to end up as a lieutenant in a band of bandits. Naturally, if the bandit group grew large enough, it would become a target for retribution, and such former knights would be killed by current members who didn't even know them anymore.

In poorly governed villages, youths incompatible with village norms might leave. With no education or skills, they would inevitably join the ranks of the destitute or become prey.

Indeed, the world took such forms.

"That's why we came together. It's too cold alone. Too harsh alone. We decided to be with someone else like us. And thus, we brought those same others into ourselves."

This was no different from the way 'thieves' expanded their power.

Yet, unlike the destitute Volte had seen before, there was something missing from the blonde girl. Whether bandits, robbers, or mercenary groups claiming to be outlaws, such people scattered their grievances against the world. Almost invariably.

It's their fault, this happened because of that, because of reasons like this, because of a past like this, because the world was merciless to them.

So, it was okay to degrade others.

So, it was okay to steal from others. After all, they had been stolen from by the world. They had every right to take it back. That was how it was supposed to be. Otherwise, it wouldn't make sense.

Volte found it strange.

If their arguments were correct, they should be more proud. Yet they weren't. They seemed to feel ashamed of being villains, having more or less dipped their hands into wrongdoing.

The girl before him was different.

Standing tall, with no hint of shame.

"So... you're not even subjects of the Beast King?"

"People who couldn't stay where they were, gathered here."

If that's the case, even the lion-like girl who claimed to be the 'Beast King's sister' would be the same. Volte couldn't imagine the circumstances, but for whatever reason, people were excluded from groups.

"Yes, that's right. This isn't the Louisse Kingdom, and we're not Louisse Kingdom citizens. So why should we hesitate to resist an act of invasion? Do you think we should just let our place be taken away?"

This is—clumsy.

That's what he thought. Because their reasoning was sound, devoid of any guilt. In other words, there was no flaw in their thorough resistance against the invasion operation of the Tiant domain.

Even now, as Volte's forces fled in defeat, the captain of the knights probably didn't believe for a moment that they could lose.

Therefore, it would likely continue.

The unjust invasion and their resolute resistance against it.

"This is who we are. I'll explain more if necessary."

Smiling too perfectly, like something not quite human, she spoke.

But Volte didn't understand.

"...Why did you save me?"

The question slipped out of his mouth unintentionally. The girl raised her eyebrows slightly and chuckled softly, as if to say, "Oh dear, how careless of me," just like a girl of her age.

"Yes, it was to hear your story. I ended up telling ours inadvertently, but—yes, let's have some tea."

She smoothly walked to the entrance of the room, just before opening the door, turned back to Volte and smiled again, lightly.

"Tell us not only your story, but also about yourself."