Scoundrel. The moment I heard that word, Xenia came to mind. Cesare seemed to have thought the same thing, for we exchanged a single glance and immediately moved.
The shouting had come from the mill. The windmill had stopped, and the face of a middle-aged woman who seemed to be the miller was flushed red.
The angry woman huffed and puffed, then glanced toward us.
“Are you customers? You seem to be from outside, but we cannot do business right now. The windmill is broken.”
Come to think of it, the innkeeper had said so yesterday. She had said Xenia broke cowsheds and caused trouble.
“Did Xenia perhaps do this?”
“You know Xenia? Yes. She broke it. She said she was curious about the structure of the windmill and took one of the gears.”
The miller grumbled in an indignant tone.
“She used to be quiet, at least, but ever since she lost her memories three years ago, she has become a complete wild child. Goodness, truly.”
Three years ago? I fell into thought for a moment, then opened my mouth.
“What kind of child was she before that?”
“She was a child who did anything Mr. Gainak told her to do. According to Mr. Gainak, perhaps because of the memory of being abandoned, she was afraid she would be abandoned again.”
Had Xenia thought Arkel had abandoned her? Meanwhile, the miller continued grumbling.
“I have no idea why a child like that suddenly became so strange. Goodness, and it is not as if I can go complain to Mr. Gainak.”
“Shall I find the gear for you?”
At those words, the miller looked at me as if surprised.
“Why would you?”
“Because I used to live with Xenia. Our child has caused you trouble. I apologize.”
I apologized and handed over the box of fatigue recovery tonics. The miller looked embarrassed, then accepted it as though she could not refuse.
“Well, as long as you find the gear.”
“Do you know where Xenia went?”
“I am not sure. She did head toward the hill.”
The hill. After giving her a light farewell, I walked in the direction the miller had indicated. Cesare, who was following behind me, suddenly spoke.
“Master.”
“What is it?”
“Are you a pushover, Master?”
What was this now? When I stopped and turned around, Cesare was looking at me with a dissatisfied expression.
“Calling your master a pushover. Shall we begin with you taking a hit?”
“That is not what I mean……!”
Cesare flinched, then scratched the back of his head roughly.
“You are apologizing when you do not need to, Master.”
“Our child did wrong.”
“Does it not hurt your pride?”
“There are times when it does.”
Many things had happened while raising the children. There had been countless times when I took the children who caused trouble and went around apologizing.
There were times, in front of people who were excessively angry, when I wondered why I had to bow my head so far.
“But for your sake, my pride is nothing.”
With force, I could have subdued anyone. I could have smoothed everything over that way, but even if the “swordsman” in me could do that, the “master” in me did not want to.
Cesare still seemed quite displeased by my answer.
“I do not want your pride to be broken, Master.”
“Why?”
“……Because you are our master.”
I laughed softly. Though his words were a little prickly, in the end, he was saying that because he was worried about me.
“Thank you. For now, shall we split up and look for Xenia?”
“Yees.”
Whether or not we found Xenia, we agreed to meet under the camphor tree ahead after one hour.
Then I parted from Cesare and walked around the village. Xenia was not on the hill the miller had mentioned.
I headed toward a place where many flowers might be blooming. I remembered that Xenia had liked flowers ever since she was young.
Although what she liked was disassembling every flower and understanding its structure…….
At that moment, I sensed something rapidly approaching through the air.
―WHOOSH!
As soon as I hurriedly stepped back, pink tentacles flew at me one after another. I leapt into the air, avoiding the tentacles that clearly intended to seize me.
When I widened the distance, I saw Xenia sitting on top of a tree. She was holding a gear as large as her own head in her arms. Xenia said with interested eyes.
“Fast.”
I could have allowed myself to be captured, but Xenia was greatly interested in things she did not understand and could not obtain. I held out my hand toward her.
“Xenia, give me that gear. The mill owner is in trouble because she does not have it.”
“I am not in trouble.”
She truly was my precious child, as difficult as gold, ever since she was young.
Seeing her answer like that reminded me of when we had first brought Xenia in.
How many things had I told Xenia, who did not understand other people’s feelings?
After a long time, Xenia had eventually come to understand my words, but now there was not enough time. Xenia stared at me with clear eyes and said.
“By the way, you said you know me, right? Who are you?”
“Give me the gear first. Then I will tell you.”
“No.”
Xenia flatly refused, then lightly jumped down to the ground. The instant her feet touched the earth, countless tentacles stabbed down toward me.
Partly to observe how Xenia attacked, I did not counterattack and only dodged, but that seemed to provoke Xenia.
“Why are you doing it half-heartedly? Do it properly. I will do it properly too.”
Suddenly, her face distorted, and in an instant, she changed into a bizarre form.
She was a pink slime. Her grotesque body and tentacles writhed. It was a sight that would make anyone else recoil in horror, but I felt proud.
When she was young, she could only transform part of her body. Xenia had grown too. That made me quite happy. The fact that she had grown strong, even while I had not been there.
Before I knew it, a smile spread across my face. But being proud of her was one thing, and scolding her was another.
Once again, I caught Xenia’s tentacles and subdued her. If it were Xenia, she would quickly transform her body and slip free, but this time was different.
“Huh? I cannot transform.”
The slime wriggled as it spoke. After restraining Xenia, I took the gear from her arms. She looked at me with four curious eyes.
“Did you do something?”
“I blocked your mana.”
A slime used mana to change its body. That was why, if its mana was blocked, it became powerless for an instant. Had Gainak not taught her this?
“I see. I did not know.”
“I will release you if you stop attacking.”
“Yes. I will not. Release me, because I want to transform.”
It was a statement that others might misunderstand. Xenia’s manner of speaking needed to be corrected as well.
I freed Xenia’s mana circuit again. After changing back into human form, she looked at me with shining eyes.
“You are strange. Your name was Dane, right?”
“That is right.”
“What kind of relationship did you and I have? For some reason, when I look at you, I feel good, and my chest feels warm. Were we lovers, perhaps?”
“Do not say such frightening things. There is a thirty-five-year age difference between you and me.”
I told Xenia about Balanus. That we had been family, that I had been her master, and even that I had come back to life after dying. Xenia tilted her head.
“I do not remember any of it.”
“Then do you have this, perhaps? It is the necklace shared by the family of Balanus.”
I took off my necklace and showed it to her. Then Xenia also pulled out the necklace that had been hidden inside her shirt. It was the same necklace.
“They are the same. But this was given to me by my master?”
“Mr. Gainak did?”
“Yes.”
Gainak had given it to her? That was absurd. Xenia held the necklace tightly and said.
“I do not remember well, but I remember that this necklace is important. Because my master gave it to me……. But why does it look the same as Dane’s?”
It seemed Xenia herself had begun to wonder. Then, as if realizing something, she said,
“I heard people wear matching accessories when they are lovers.”
“Cesare has the same necklace too.”
“Can three people date each other too?”
I had to stop the misunderstanding from growing further. Just as I was about to tell her more of the old stories, Xenia sprang to her feet.
Where Xenia turned, Gainak was standing. Since when had he been there? Gainak was looking at me with a somewhat cold gaze.
“Come here, Xenia.”
“Yes, Master.”
At Gainak’s call, Xenia went to his side without hesitation. I could not stop Xenia as she left. Gainak said,
“What did you discuss with Xenia?”
“Only a little about the past. I happened to meet her on my way to see you, Mr. Gainak.”
“It seems you have something to say. I have a prior engagement, so come tomorrow.”
After saying that curtly, he left with Xenia. I stared at the two of them as they moved out of sight, then headed toward the tree where I had agreed to meet Cesare again.
“Master, why are you so late?”
Cesare had already arrived. When I told him what had just happened, he frowned.
“Something feels off. Shall we go wreck Gainak?”
“Mr. Gainak said he had a prior engagement today, so let us go see him tomorrow. We also have to go to the mill.”
I went to the miller and returned the gear I had promised to bring back. Then I walked around the village asking questions, but I only heard similar stories.
Xenia, the scoundrel monster. Gainak, the good man who cared for such a Xenia. Because Gainak had contributed much to the village, the atmosphere was such that people tolerated Xenia.
By the time I had asked around for quite a while, it was already late at night. It seemed I should stop here for today. When we returned to the inn, Cesare let out a long yawn.
“Hwaaam, I am tired. Shall we sleep now?”
“You go to sleep first. I will take a walk at night. Do not even think about drinking.”
I left the building. To clear my head, I climbed a nearby hill, and white flowers were blooming in the flower field there.
I looked at the flower field where Xenia had stood, though it was now empty. What had happened to my disciple over the last fifteen years? Why was she under a restriction? Why had she lost her memories?
If I had been strong, if I had not died, my disciples would not have been scattered like this, their fates unknown. Even now, I had to fulfill my responsibility as their master.
If I could at least recover Xenia’s memories first…….
As I stood there lost in thought, I quietly gripped the hilt of my sword. In the moonlit flower field, my sword-bearing shadow stretched long.
I slowly turned around. There was only darkness there. Darkness filled with killing intent.
When I drew my sword, malicious presences began walking out of the darkness one by one. At a rough estimate, there seemed to be several dozen of them wearing black hoods.
It was an ambush.