We had known each other for only a little over a year.
Amid the flames of war sweeping the continent, even love that seemed unlikely ever to take root would sometimes blossom.
“I hear you know your way around a sword.”
That was how my acquaintance with Renia Erahan von Benheim began.
“Reagan, the wandering mercenary. The natural enemy of mages. They call you the Sword God, don’t they?”
Renia Benheim seemed to have heard the rumors about a mercenary known as the Sword God.
Needless to say, that mercenary was me.
At the time, I made my living as a mercenary on the battlefield.
I hadn’t joined the war for any grand purpose.
I had begun my mercenary career with nothing but a sword style I had learned in the marketplace, and discovered my talent along the way.
Perhaps it was because I had been born with nothing. I was quick to learn, too.
The Sword God. It was a nickname I had somehow acquired while swinging my sword to survive the war that had broken out just then.
“The Sword God, huh? It’s nothing special.”
“Oh, please. As you know, Reagan, someone with the strength of a Sword Master can hardly remain unaffiliated in times like these.”
“What do you mean?”
“This is a little late, but allow me to introduce myself. I’m Renia Erahan von Benheim, heir to the House of Count Benheim. Though that means little now that my family has fallen.”
Renia, the last surviving member of the Benheim bloodline, extended her hand to me. She intended to recruit me.
“I would like to formally hire you, Reagan. I’ll pay you generously. I still have money left from selling the family jewels.”
“What business does a noble daughter of Benheim have on a battlefield like this?”
“I have business here precisely because I am a noble daughter of Benheim. I intend to kill the Sorcerer Archduke—the man who started this war and brought about my family’s downfall.”
The Sorcerer Archduke.
He was the chief instigator of the war engulfing the continent, and the man who had come closest to divinity, having broken through the Eighth Tier while still human. By destroying several prestigious houses of magic and stealing their secret tomes, he now stood on the threshold of the Ninth Tier.
Renia Erahan von Benheim was the second daughter of House Benheim, a count’s family that had once numbered among the Five Great Houses of Magic before collapsing utterly during the war. Apparently, she had come to the battlefield to avenge her family by killing the Sorcerer Archduke.
Intense rage burned in her eyes.
Even after repeatedly braving death with a sword in hand as a wandering mercenary, I found the emotions in Renia’s eyes difficult to bear.
“…Payment up front.”
“Of course.”
I had no desire to join some brat’s little game of revenge, but the payment Renia offered was tempting.
For a mercenary who had lost his employer to the war, the resistance army she led was an appealing final destination.
“Now, then. A handshake.”
“Is that really necessary?”
“It matters to me.”
Reluctantly, I took her hand.
It lacked the softness typical of a woman’s hand. Instead, it was rough with calluses. I could tell how hard a life Renia had led.
“I look forward to working with you. Let’s do our best to end this war.”
“…All right.”
That was how I joined the continent’s resistance army under Renia Benheim.
It was a sizable force, and its members were highly skilled.
Even I, who had initially joined simply as a hired mercenary, began to feel a sense of belonging as I spent more time with Renia.
For a wandering mercenary who had lived without a place to call his own, it was a feeling I hadn’t experienced in a long time.
Together, we traveled the length and breadth of the continent, fighting the Sorcerer Archduke’s forces.
Our results were quite impressive.
The imperial family still held firm then, so we were optimistic.
We hoped that, however powerful the Sorcerer Archduke might be, the war would soon end.
But a year later, our hopes shattered.
The imperial family fell.
In the aftermath, we were defeated.
***
I ran through a dense forest.
Renia lay in my arms with an injured leg. Her face was pale, and her lips trembled as she clutched a pendant.
The long battle had ended in disaster.
The resistance army had been annihilated.
“It’s all my fault. Because I wasn’t good enough….”
“Don’t blame yourself. The difference in strength wasn’t something one person could overcome.”
That was the truth.
Before the Sorcerer Archduke’s forces, Renia’s resistance army hadn’t amounted to even a speck of dust.
We had been vastly outmatched in both numbers and the quality of our troops, and even our supply routes had been cut off. Not even a god of war could have turned the battle around.
“For now, we escape and plan our next move. If we reach the Great Forest to the south, there’ll be plenty of places to hide….”
While I was speaking, Renia quietly slipped out of my arms.
When I turned around, she was standing alone with a bitter smile.
“I’ll stay here.”
“What?”
“This place is ideal. If I block the narrow passage through the canyon and fight a battle of attrition, you should be able to make it back alive.”
“…Are you planning to die?”
“We’re defeated soldiers anyway. The resistance has scattered, and we’re the only ones left. Then shouldn’t at least the one of us whose legs are sound live on? Besides, I don’t intend to die quietly. I’m going to kill the Sorcerer Archduke. That is my last remaining duty.”
Renia smiled a desperate smile.
Something about it displeased me.
That detached air, as though she had already lived out her life, grated on my nerves.
So I made my decision.
“I’m staying, too.”
“…What?”
Renia’s eyes widened, as though she hadn’t expected that response.
“I have no more money to give you.”
“I’m not staying for the money.”
I knew that myself.
A mercenary’s cold reason told me I would be better off fleeing.
But as people often said, reason drew conclusions, while emotion gave rise to action.
“If you die, the continent’s future is finished, too. In that case, I’d rather stake my life on whatever slim chance we have. Even if we fail, we might leave our names in a corner of the history books.”
Now that the imperial family had fallen, Renia was the only archmage capable of standing against the Sorcerer Archduke. If she died, no one on the continent could stop him.
Nor did I think that, after conquering the continent, the Sorcerer Archduke would spare a wandering mercenary who had been one of the resistance’s leaders.
Better to land one final blow than survive miserably, struggle, and die anyway. That was how a gambler thought.
Of course, I wasn’t a gambler.
Renia gave a small laugh.
“This isn’t like you.”
“No, it isn’t. Someone must have rubbed off on me over the past year.”
“Still, I will pay you.”
“Didn’t you just tell me you had no money?”
“Yes, that’s right. So I intend to pay you another way.”
Renia slowly approached and took my hand. Then she drew our joined hands up to her chest.
“Take me.”
“…Are you serious?”
“I don’t tell lies. And when a lady has worked up her courage, isn’t it good manners to hold her instead of questioning her?”
Renia winked as she spoke. Her open eye shifted toward a cabin that happened to stand beside the path.
“That cabin looks nice. We should have about a day’s reprieve. It’s rustic, but wouldn’t it be enough for our final night?”
Renia led me into the cabin.
Hidden away there, we enjoyed a night’s reprieve that could have been called either brief or long.
“Did you know?”
“Know what?”
“I was actually in no position to become the head of the family.”
During that time, I heard all sorts of stories from Renia.
Most were about her past. Naturally enough, since there was little unusual about my own life to tell.
I heard her childhood memories of being raised as House Benheim’s precious jewel, along with stories about the power struggles among the Five Great Houses of Magic and the Sorcerer Archduke’s decision to raise an army.
“I was a terrible troublemaker as a child. Exceptionally so, even by Benheim’s standards. I gave my father no end of grief.”
“You look the type.”
“Haha. Is that how you’re going to be?”
Our conversation continued.
We were facing our final battle. It was impossible not to grow sentimental.
I kept Renia company throughout the night.
Then, as dawn drew near, she took a pendant from inside her clothes.
It was the same pendant she had clutched throughout our retreat.
“Please take this.”
“…Isn’t that precious to you?”
“Yes. It’s the last payment I can give you, Reagan. It’s an artifact passed down through my family for generations. You could call it the symbol of the head of House Benheim.”
“Are you sure you should give me something so important?”
“By taking me, you have taken Benheim. So the symbol of the family head belongs to you, too. Do you see this? The pendant is inscribed with the final rune, which no one has ever deciphered.”
As Renia said, a geometric pattern stood out clearly on the pendant’s central ring.
I intuitively understood that it wasn’t so different from the structure of the rune magic she normally used.
“If you survive this war, Reagan, please rebuild the House of Count Benheim. And decipher this rune, then share it with the world.”
“I’m no mage. I’m just a swordsman.”
“That’s all right. Your magical talent is far greater than you think. Greater than mine, even. You would have achieved great things if you had studied magic instead of the sword.”
I couldn’t bring myself to smile.
I had understood the meaning hidden in her words.
“…That sounds like you don’t expect to survive. However I look at it, you’re leaving me a memento for after you’re gone.”
“Oh, how cruel of you. If you’ve noticed, isn’t it good manners to accept it without a word?”
“…I’m sorry.”
Reluctantly accepting Renia’s pendant, I said,“I’ll make sure to return it.”
“…I hope you do.”
Renia added those hopeful words.
In the end, her hope never came to pass.
During the battle the following day, a spell from the Sorcerer Archduke pierced her chest.
***
“Magnificent, last of the Benheim bloodline.”
The Sorcerer Archduke repeatedly voiced his admiration as he watched Renia kneeling and coughing up blood.
“Amazing. Truly amazing. To think that Benheim would produce an archmage who surpassed the Eighth Tier. What a pity that I must kill such a talent with my own hands.”
The Sorcerer Archduke said something, but I didn’t listen. All I could see was Renia, with a gaping hole in her chest.
The bright red blood spilling from her lips, her trembling eyelashes, and her limp, pale hand told me everything.
It was clearly a fatal wound.
At that moment, Renia turned her head. Her violet eyes, suffused with the color of death, came to rest on me. With her lungs pierced and unable even to speak, she could only give me a desperate smile.
As though telling me that I, at least, should escape.
As though telling me to survive somehow and fulfill her last wishes.
“You’re just a brat.”
Who was she to tell me what to do?
I drew my sword and charged. If fleeing now would only lead to ruin anyway, I felt I wouldn’t be satisfied unless I took at least an arm from the loathsome man who had stolen Renia’s life.
“Who are you? That girl’s partner?”
“…No. I work for her.”
“So yours is a relationship bound by money. Then you should know the value of your life. Turn around and flee this instant. I may yet let you live.”
The Sorcerer Archduke prattled on as he pleased.
With a sneer, he spread both arms.
“Well? If you flee and preserve your life, you may get another chance to kill me.”
I stopped listening.
Deep down, I knew.
Without Renia, living wouldn’t be living.
I would never find another bond as precious as the one I had found in my short life.
“Shut up!”
I lost myself in swinging my sword.
It was the culmination of all the martial skill I had built up.
For an instant, admiration crossed the Sorcerer Archduke’s face.
“A Sword Master at your age…. They say troubled times breed heroes. Though you fall short of Benheim’s daughter, your attainment is impressive, too. But what a pity. You can never defeat me.”
The Sorcerer Archduke launched a dark crimson spearhead.
The spell flew at me without a sound, carrying a sinister force. I swung my sword, pouring every ounce of aura I could muster into it.
SLICE.
My sword cleaved the Sorcerer Archduke’s spell.
“…What?”
For the first time, the Sorcerer Archduke showed surprise.
He seemed considerably taken aback that my sword had cut through his magic.
“Well…. You cut through my magic? Are you a mage?”
Muttering to himself, the Sorcerer Archduke soon shook his head.
“No, you aren’t. How fascinating. A talent I have never seen or heard of. I must take back what I said earlier. I cannot let you live. You are more dangerous than that bitch.”
“I told you to shut up!”
Gritting my teeth, I charged. But the instant the Sorcerer Archduke unleashed his full power, my desperate resistance became nothing more than a futile struggle.
His magic reached the heavens. My martial talent did not. I drew upon even the life force of my entire body to fight him, yet far from taking him down with me, all I managed was to leave a long sword wound across his face.
Before long, drenched in blood, I drove my sword into the ground and clung to my fading consciousness.
“…Pathetic.”
My life had been wretched, and its ending was just as hollow.
I laid a hand on Renia’s cold corpse at my feet. Blood covered her face, leaving it unrecognizable.
Then my vision warped.
The Sorcerer Archduke chanted a spell. Great magic of unfathomable depth surged toward me, crushing my body together with Renia’s corpse.
That was how we met our end.
For Benheim’s last heir and a mercenary known as the Sword God, it was a hollow demise.
***
Yes.
I had met a hollow death.
I was certain I had.
“Hey!”
That memory was from barely a day ago.
No, I wasn’t sure whether it was a memory from a day ago or from ten years in the future.
“Hey, you! Reagan! What are you doing? Get moving! Do you want to starve? We’ve got mountains of baggage to carry!”
A middle-aged mercenary with a long scar across his face was bellowing at me. His face was familiar. He was the leader of a mercenary band I had briefly belonged to as a child.
This place, too, was the mercenary band’s camp.
My memories of the past were vivid. They even stirred a strange sense of nostalgia.
The face reflected in the broad puddle at my feet belonged to a teenage boy. It was unmistakably my younger self.
“…I’m sure I died….”
Then what in the world was this situation I now faced?
Was my life flashing before my eyes at the moment of death?
“No.”
As I stared at the scene before me, I felt something unfamiliar and cold against my chest.
The source of that sensation was none other than the pendant.
The symbol of the head of House Benheim, which Renia had entrusted to me on our final night together.
The pendant inscribed with the final rune.
Renia’s memento had traveled back through time and was now in my hand.
“…That brat.”
I didn’t know how much of this Renia had intended.
But one thing was certain: the final charge she had left me had been no mistake.
I had returned to the past.