< 69 : The White Knight (3) >
A deep dream.
A slow illusion unfolds in my head, straddling the boundary between reality and fantasy.
In my blurry vision, I looked at the face of the girl I met for the second time.
A black-haired girl with an umbrella.
She was the mysterious girl who appeared in my dream last time.
Estel, who faced me, smiled and greeted me.
“We meet again.”
“Yeah.”
There were only two of us, me and Estel, left in the empty alley.
It was the same as the last dream.
If this was a lucid dream like last time, I could also create things as I did then.
I imagined a table in my head and looked ahead.
Then a table appeared between me and Estel, just as I imagined.
“Have you been well?”
Estel sat down on the opposite side of the table and asked me.
It was a simple question of how I was doing.
I sat down on the chair in front of me and answered her question.
“Have I been well? Well, I guess…”
“I see.”
“But don’t you have to win a game to ask questions?”
I remembered the last dream as I listened to Estel’s story.
I had to play a poker game to hear her name.
In the end, I cheated and won.
Estel shrugged her shoulders at my question.
Then she lowered her umbrella that made a shade, looked at me and said.
“That’s only for valuable questions.”
“Is asking your name that valuable?”
“Don’t you think your name has that much value?”
“Hmm… Now that you say that, it seems like an important question.”
What value does a person’s name have?
It was a difficult question to answer if I received it.
I didn’t think giving my name had much weight, but I couldn’t deny the value of the name itself.
The name and role of each other form relationships between people, don’t they?
In that sense, Estel’s claim that her name had enough value made sense.
Estel added a little more to her argument, as if to back it up.
“Not many people know my name.”
Not many people know Estel’s name.
That’s what she said.
Well, who would know the name of someone who appears in my dream?
It might be something only I know.
I don’t know if that fact has any value though.
“That’s what you say.”
“Yes.”
“I guess I have to play a game again if I want to ask something.”
“Of course.”
To ask a question, I had to play a game.
That was the rule that Estel told me in my dream.
She didn’t answer any questions that didn’t follow that rule.
I had enough time in my dream, so there was no reason not to go along with her request.
I tapped the table and asked Estel.
“So, what game do you want to play this time?”
“I think it would be fair to let you choose the game.”
“…Are you confident you’ll win?”
“I’m pretty good at games.”
She said she was good at games.
Listening to Estel’s words, I felt like I shouldn’t play a game that required skill.
I wasn’t very good at games either.
I just played games I liked for a long time.
I looked into Estel’s eyes and thought of a few games.
Most of them were games related to luck.
“Okay. Let’s go with a simple game.”
If it was a game of luck, I wouldn’t lose because of skill.
If I lose because of bad luck, there’s nothing I can do about it.
I accepted Estel’s request and said to her.
“Which game is it?”
“Coin toss.”
“A simple game indeed.”
“Simple is good. You only need this one thing.”
A silver coin appeared on my outstretched finger.
It was a coin with markings on both sides.
I made the coin and put it on the floor and asked Estel.
“Which side do you want?”
It was a question asking her to choose either heads or tails.
Estel picked up the coin and looked at it for a moment.
She tossed it lightly and caught it, then handed it to me.
“Tails.”
“You want tails?”
“Yes. I’ll go with tails.”
“Then if heads comes up, I win.”
Estel chose tails. I chose heads.
If I tossed the coin and heads came up, I would win.
The betting was over, so it was time to toss the coin.
I put the coin on my finger and tossed it up, then caught it on the back of my hand and covered it.
Thud.
Estelle looked at the covered coin and opened her mouth.
“I won.”
“How do you know without looking?”
“Because I’m lucky.”
Estelle’s words made me move my hand slightly to the side, revealing the coin.
The shadowy shape of the coin was visible on the back of my hand.
The coin that appeared where I moved my hand showed the back side, just as Estelle had said.
I had lost the coin toss.
“…You were right.”
“I won, didn’t I?”
“Yeah. Go ahead and ask whatever you want.”
I clenched the coin in my palm and leaned back on the chair, saying so.
It was a simple matter of answering her question as promised.
I didn’t think there would be anything remarkable to ask.
As soon as I accepted my defeat, her pitch-black eyes reflected my image.
“Then I’ll ask you something?”
“Sure.”
“Do you like doing bad things?”
The question that Estelle asked after winning was short and simple.
Do you like doing bad things?
It was a philosophical question that I had only heard in moral classes at school.
Since it was a dream, there was no need to hide my answer.
I just had to tell her the truth.
I told her what came to my mind.
“Sometimes?”
“Sometimes?”
“Well, I don’t really feel like doing anything too bad.”
My personality was just average.
Sometimes I was moral, sometimes I was indifferent, and sometimes I was evil.
I was an ordinary human being.
Estelle nodded her head with a smile, hearing my answer.
“I see. I like doing bad things.”
“I see. That’s your preference.”
What does it matter what the preference of someone I met in a dream is?
I agreed with her casually.
She seemed like someone who could make such a joke.
“That’s why I’m doing it right now.”
“…What?”
If it weren’t for the last sentence, that is.
With the last sentence full of doubt, I woke up from my dream.
The summer sky with the window open.
The sound of cicadas echoed under the midday scenery, and I sat up with a rough breath.
Cold sweat ran down my forehead as I woke up from my sleep.
“Ah…”
I breathed heavily and looked at my palm, soaked in sweat.
It was a realistic dream.
Only my empty palm proved that it was a dream.
***
Serena found the mercenary group while she was moving along the road, wary of her surroundings. It was at dusk.
She had escaped from the rugged mountain road and found the mercenary group resting at the end of the road.
They all had sturdy physiques and were sitting on the road, tearing apart jerky.
They looked like seasoned mercenaries, except for the mage who hugged his staff.
And at the end of the mercenary group, there was a man with a familiar face sitting there.
Gilford Proud.
He was a mercenary that Serena had seen familiarly in the oracle.
“You are…”
Serena stopped walking and looked at Gilford as she passed by.
The mercenary in front of her was too familiar to her.
And for good reason, she had been traveling around looking for him.
The Ascalon on his waist proved that her eyes were not mistaken.
Serena and Lian stopped in their tracks, and Gilford lifted his head and looked at her as he ate his jerky.
He lifted his head and his cheerful face showed his personality.
“What’s up?”
“…”
Serena and Gilford’s eyes met.
The hero who fled from the temple.
And the saintess who searched for such a hero.
Their strange encounter took place here.
Serena wondered what to say to him and looked at him, when Gaff, who was eating a potato, intervened and said,
“Hey, miss! Our leader is quite popular! You’d better come back when you’re older!”
Serena and Gilford both looked at Gaff as he spoke with a potato in his hand.
Lian, who was behind Serena, was also provoked by Gaff’s voice.
He flicked his cloak and stepped forward in front of Serena.
He grabbed the white holy sword on his waist and said to Gaff,
“Shut up, mercenary. How dare you be rude in front of someone who is not your equal?”
“…What did you say?”
“I said shut up. She is not someone who should hear such words from you.”
Lian’s cold eyes looked at Gaff.
Gaff heard Lian’s warning and picked up an axe that was nearby and got up from his seat.
He stuffed all of the potato in his mouth in an instant.
He dragged his axe and walked towards Lian.
Screech.
When Gaff reached Lian with his axe, their eyes met in the air.
Serena, who was behind Lian, sighed and looked at the two of them.
“You look like a knight, but do you think your head will be fine after being hit by an axe?”
“You’re as vulgar as your profession. You’re a perfect match for a mercenary.”
“It seems like our knight’s head is badly damaged! I’ll have to fix it with my axe!”
Lian and Gaff glared at each other with hostility.
Gaff’s arm, holding the axe, was bulging with thick veins.
A knight and a mercenary.
Two incompatible beings stared at each other with murderous intent.
Serena spoke with concern as Lian tried to draw his sword.
“Settle it at a reasonable level.”
“I understand.”
It would only make things worse if he killed his colleague in the place where he came to take the hero.
He had to guide the situation at a reasonable level, with his sword drawn.
Lian nodded at Serena’s warning.
Swoosh.
A white holy sword emerged from Lian’s waist with a sharp friction sound.
As soon as the holy sword, shining with white light, appeared.
Gaff, who was facing him, swung his axe first.
“I’ll split your head in two!”
Shriek——!
Gaff’s heavy double-edged axe cut through the wind and flew towards Lian.
With a blast, the axe rushed towards him.
Lian caught the swinging axe and moved.
Clang!
The white holy sword stretched out and deflected Gaff’s axe to the side.
Gaff’s eyes widened at the sight of his twisted axe.
“…!”
As his axe went astray, Gaff showed a gap.
Lian’s holy sword moved to take advantage of that gap.
Thud.
The white holy sword pierced Gaff’s shoulder, who was holding the axe.
Gaff’s face turned pale as the holy sword pierced him.
“You’re as crude as your skill.”
Lian pulled out the holy sword that pierced his shoulder and immediately stepped back, saying so.
Blood spurted out from where the holy sword was pulled out.
Gaff screamed and covered his wound with blood flowing from his shoulder.
Thump!
The heavy axe fell from Gaff’s hand and rolled on the ground.
“Aaargh…!”
“Are you ready to take responsibility for tarnishing her honor?”
The fight ended in an instant.
A mere mercenary’s skill was not enough to compete with the vice-captain of the Holy Knight Order.
Lian claimed the right of the winner and pointed his sword at Gaff’s neck, who had dropped his axe.
Gaff bit his lip and looked at the holy sword flashing in front of him.
The price of losing a duel against a knight who claimed her honor was always one thing.
Gilford glanced at him and moved his holy sword to cut off Gaff’s neck.
At that moment, Gilford, who had been watching their fight, shouted in a loud voice.
“Stop!”
A hearty voice echoed, and people’s attention turned to Gilford.
Gilford threw away the jerky he was eating and stepped forward with his unarmed hand.
Gilford’s eyes stared at Lian as he stepped forward.
Lian sneered at Gilford and said to him,
“Why should I?”
“…I’ll apologize for Gaff’s rudeness.”
He said so and bowed his head to Serena.
Lian had claimed her honor, so he apologized directly to her, who was the party involved.
But Lian didn’t care about Gilford’s attitude and pressed his sword against Gaff’s flesh.
Blood flowed along with a thin line as the sword touched him.
“Apology? Is that all his life is worth?”
“What do you want then?”
“A duel with you.”
“A duel…?”
A duel.
Gilford looked surprised by the unexpected proposal.
And that was their trick.
They wanted to make a big deal out of it and reduce Gilford’s options.
Lian tapped Gaff’s shoulder with his holy sword and made a proposal he had prepared for Gilford.
“Let’s have a duel. If you win, I’ll spare him without any conditions.”
“And if you lose, you’ll kill Gaff?”
“If you don’t accept my condition.”
“What condition?”
If he won, he could save Gaff.
But even if he lost, there was a way to save Gaff.
It was too good an offer for Gilford to look at Lian’s sword with suspicion.
Lian told him his condition.
“If you lose, come back to the holy land quietly. The Hero of abundance, Gilford Proud.”
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