Chapter 92

Chapter 92: Chapter 92

Heiden Village belonged to a very, very distant past. Even the name Heiden was gradually fading from people’s memories.

It had been a place where people raised sheep and planted barley and buckwheat. The land was barren, but because so few people lived there, they seemed to have managed well enough.

As Rickart looked upon the tragic ruins buried beneath masses of grass, he felt the transience of time.

He had not needed to be so deeply wounded.

Even if he could not forgive them out of love, he could have done so out of hatred. Had he not shown mercy even to Vesprim the Meat Cleaver?

Only now did Rickart begin to understand, at least slightly, what the "Lord" had told him.

It had not been the world that cursed him and burned him at the stake.

He had done that to himself.

The wind felt cold.

For some reason, his chest felt tight, and melancholy settled over him.

Rickart wandered through the ruins. He also looked around the temple where the villagers had been imprisoned and burned alive.

Not even their bleached bones remained.

Eventually, he reached the newlyweds’ home where a boy who had never known happiness first discovered what it was.

It was also where the tragedy had begun.

Rickart could not immediately bring himself to enter. Instead, he loitered around it without reason.

Memories of happiness crossed with memories of swelling hatred and exploding rage.

Only after everything had passed—after living a new life and looking back—could he finally see things that had once escaped him.

I was the only one who loved her.

The wife introduced to him by the village chief had been a widow.

They had never married for love in the first place. She had merely needed a man to support her, and the village community had entrusted a woman with nowhere else to go to Rickart.

She must not have trusted him.

After all, he had been inexperienced in everything.

Rickart calmly recalled the past he had never wanted to unearth.

He did not allow it to bind him.

He merely released those old memories into the wind, one handful at a time, like scattering cremated ashes across the sea.

It was not that he had reached some grand resolution.

He simply stepped calmly into the abandoned house.

Unexpectedly, a girl dressed entirely in white was crouching in a corner.

What was this?

Her presence was so abrupt and inexplicable that Rickart spoke without thinking.

"Huh? There’s someone in here."

At the same moment, the girl abruptly raised her head. She squinted slightly against the sunlight and stared intently at Rickart.

Rickart immediately felt as though he had seen her somewhere before.

Daisy had been so filthy and bedraggled in the past that recognizing her was difficult.

"Huh?"

"There’s someone here? Could she be a spy?"

Marie , who had been looking around the ruins, approached.

At that moment, the girl flung herself at Rickart.

"Honeeeey!"

The memory flashed through Rickart’s mind like lightning.

When he had left home and followed Arno across the mountain pass, he had rescued a girl.

Daisy.

Even Rickart, whose reflexes were monstrous, failed to react because he had only just remembered her.

As a result, he caught Daisy in his arms.

"Daisy?"

"That’s right! It’s me! Ricky! You came to find me! You came to rescue me! I’m so happy!"

"Huh? Uh, no, that’s not why I’m here. I was just looking around... What are you doing here, anyway? Oh, right. I met your mother. She said you became a nun."

"That’s right. I’m one of the Order of Judgment’s Sisters of Prophecy. Michaela is my name as a nun."

"But why are you here?"

"Because I had to meet my husband, of course."

Daisy wrapped both arms around Rickart’s waist and refused to release him. Just as she had in the past, she called him her husband without obtaining his consent.

Rickart felt bewildered, pleased to see her, and utterly dumbfounded all at once.

Then the back of his neck suddenly went cold.

He looked behind him and nearly stopped breathing.

Perhaps because of Marie ’s unique Mana Drive, her hair had spread out in every direction as though charged with intense static electricity.

Her strangely unfocused eyes stared at the two of them.

"M-Marie ? Wait. Let go of me, Daisy."

"Who’s that woman? She looks like a witch. I’m scared, Ricky."

Daisy buried her face against Rickart’s cloth-covered metal breastplate while staring directly at Marie .

Contrary to her words, she did not look particularly frightened.

Rickart was the only frightened one.

Unexpectedly, Marie neither shouted nor erupted in anger. She spoke in an extremely composed tone.

That made her even more terrifying.

"You should answer very carefully from this point onward. Otherwise, everyone might die. Who is she?"

"Uh, well... A long time ago..."

"Excuse me, but we’re already married. We even exchanged rings. Isn’t that right, Ricky?"

"What are you talking about? When did I ever do that?"

Rickart’s eyes widened at her catastrophic declaration.

In truth, his memories were vague.

A precious memory that remained with one person for life could be no more than a fleeting incident to another.

Regardless, Marie could not tolerate what she had just heard.

Without even drawing her sword, she swung it sharply through the air. Light burst from the blade inside the scabbard, slicing through the sheath as the sword revealed itself.

Holding a violet flash beneath the midday sun, Marie spoke.

"Fine. Everyone can die. Don’t worry, Ricky. I’ll follow you soon afterward."

"Wait! Waaait! Calm down! Calm down! Nothing happened! No—something happened! But they were just flower rings! Flower rings! I was ten years old! How could it have been a marriage when I wasn’t even an adult!?"

Terrified, Rickart squeezed his eyes shut and shouted with desperate urgency. Memories were returning to him one after another, causing him to ramble incoherently.

Rickart was normally calm and unemotional in everything he did. Yet even when combining his previous and current lives, he had never felt as terrified and flustered as he did now.

"What are you talking about, Ricky? You thanked me. When I said that meant we were married, you said you understood."

"I never said that! Never! We were both children back then! Don’t make her angrier!"

Rickart forcibly pried Daisy’s arms from around his waist and shoved her away.

The powerless girl struck the wall of the abandoned house and collapsed to the ground.

"Ow!"

After Rickart went that far, Marie ’s anger subsided slightly.

At the same time, Rickart felt guilty for pushing Daisy.

Unable to rise, Daisy stared at him with a shocked expression and began to tear up.

"Every day... Every single day, I thought only about you, Ricky... I don’t care about some god... I don’t..."

Rickart had done nothing, yet his emotions had risen enough to leave him slightly short of breath.

His lungs began to ache.

"W-What do you expect me to do...? I never agreed to anything like that..."

In his previous life, hatred and rage had nearly driven him insane.

Now, bewilderment, embarrassment, resentment, and guilt threatened to do the same.

With so many complex emotions blended together, he had no idea what to do.

Fortunately, Marie seemed to have calmed down slightly.

The light faded from her sword. However, its scabbard had been rendered useless, leaving the cold blade gleaming beneath the open sky with nowhere to return.

"So you’re saying that you married when you were children? When you were ten?"

"That’s right! That’s what happened! But I never agreed to it! And she was even younger than I was! How old are you!? I should’ve listened when Arno told me not to be so nice to you!"

Overcome by panic, Rickart spoke somewhat harshly.

"A marriage entered into while underage without the permission of both family heads is invalid. Then the matter is settled."

"No! It isn’t about whether it was valid! We were just children..."

"Then I should simply die. I understand."

Daisy spoke from where she sat on the ground.

Tears continued streaming down her face without pause, but her expression was blank.

She seemed deeply shocked.

"Why are you being so extreme now? Just leave the memory in the past!"

"Stop shouting. We can all hear you."

"..."

Marie silenced the agitated Rickart at once.

Then she silently studied Daisy.

For some reason, the endlessly flowing tears inspired a sense of kinship in her. Marie herself had spent many nights crying because of Rickart.

The anger that had burned so fiercely cooled even further.

"Excuse me. Is your name Daisy?"

"...That’s right, you witch. You must have threatened Ricky with that sword, didn’t you?"

It sounded like a ridiculous accusation.

In truth, however, it was accurate.

Marie had once confessed to Rickart while pointing the tip of her sword at him.

"You should stop resenting me. Resenting me won’t make Ricky accept you. Ricky isn’t that kind of man."

Daisy flinched at the words Ricky isn’t that kind of man.

She soon pressed her dainty lips tightly together and glared at Marie through tearful eyes.

She was furious and resentful that Marie claimed to understand Ricky better than she did.

"I knew him first. And we’re married. Even if you deny it, that remains the truth."

Marie snorted.

If stubborn insistence were enough to make something true, she would have ended up with Rickart long ago without suffering so much heartache.

"There are plenty of ways I could make you angry, but I won’t bother. First of all, you said you belong to the Order. Does that make you our enemy or not? Let’s establish that first. If you’re an enemy, I have to kill you. And I should warn you in advance that no personal feelings will be involved."

"Th-That might be going a little too far..."

Rickart, who had been standing with his head lowered like a criminal, tried to intervene.

Marie did not react to him. She merely continued staring intently at Daisy.

Daisy refused to yield and glared back.

"I’m not a believer. I have never believed in any god. I believe only in Ricky. And Ricky and I are one. If that makes us enemies, then you and I are enemies, witch."

At Daisy’s audacious answer, Marie smiled in a way that sent a chill down the spine.

It was impossible to tell whether the smile expressed mockery or confidence.

Perhaps it expressed both.

Marie abruptly turned around and began walking back toward the encampment.

Rickart hesitated, unsure whether he should follow her.

Seeing Daisy sitting there so miserably made him feel sorry for her.

"I’m sorry I pushed you. But I hope you won’t misunderstand our relationship. It may be a little late to say this, but I’m glad to see you again."

"Ricky..."

"Anyway, it’s dangerous here. I don’t know what’s going to happen either, but I hope you’ll be careful."

"Can’t I come with you?"

"..."

The situation could hardly have been more awkward.

They had come to participate in a campaign against the Order, so Rickart could not exactly tell Daisy to return to it. Yet he could not tell her to go elsewhere either, because she had nowhere else to go.

Rickart did not know how he should treat Daisy or whether he should coldly turn his back on her.

The decisiveness that shone so sharply on the battlefield failed him completely in situations like this.

Daisy noticed that Rickart did not know what to do.

Her eyes briefly brightened before she assumed an utterly pitiful expression and weakly rose to her feet.

"All right... I’ll go... Take care..."

Then she began limping toward the Order.

It looked as though she had sprained her leg.

In truth, she had not.

She was merely pretending.

But Rickart believed Daisy had injured herself when he pushed her and could not simply stand there doing nothing.

Damn it!

"Wait. Come with us for now. I’ll carry you."

As though she had been waiting for those exact words, Daisy immediately climbed onto Rickart’s back.

Smiling brightly behind him, she buried her face against his neck.

"Am I heavy?"

"No."

"After we separated, I thought about you every day, Ricky. What about you? Did you think about me?"

"Sometimes."

"That’s cruel."

"I can’t lie to you."

"Then could you think only about me from now on?"

"Daisy, you can’t remain a child forever."

"But I can’t lie either. I love you so, so much, Ricky. You’re my prince and my savior."

"...Who am I to save anyone...?"

Rickart could think of nothing else to say.

A woman’s obsession was truly terrifying.

He felt as though he finally understood some of the things Ice occasionally said.

The northern fields stretched endlessly into the distance.

The once-green grass was gradually drying yellow from the tips of its blades. The wind was cold, though not enough to make them hunch against it.

Far in the distance, a young swordswoman walked ahead.

Behind her followed a man carrying another girl on his back.

They walked farther and farther from the ruins, like the present pushing away the past.

Rickart’s melancholy had vanished so completely that he could no longer even remember it.

That did not mean he had wanted to find himself in a situation like this, of course.

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