Chapter 49: What Truly Matters

The battlefield for this round of the "King’s War" was a forest.

With trees scattered everywhere, it seemed like an extremely difficult battlefield for a spearman wielding a long weapon. But when I thought about it more carefully, I couldn’t imagine Shion struggling over something this trivial. She wasn’t the type to make beginner mistakes like smashing her spear into trees, either.

≪Now then, the "King’s War" returns after two whole months!!! The previous battle was incredibly exciting, but this one shall be on an entirely different level!!! Because this time, it’s a TEAM BATTLE!!!!≫

Last time, we had simply stepped directly into the arena.

This time, however, we were transported to the battlefield through a glowing door that appeared before us. Naturally, I’d been separated from the others—Hikari and Shion included.

Some kind of magic or magical tool, perhaps something related to light magic like Alicia’s. But there was neither the time nor the composure to think deeply about it.

Just like before, the announcer’s voice echoed from somewhere unseen. It sounded like the same person from the previous King’s War. Maybe they handled every single tournament. Something about it felt strangely off, but the overwhelming pressure coming from directly ahead forced me to ignore it.

≪The "Sword King" Toma, who defeated the leading candidate for Spear King in the previous tournament!!!! And standing before him now is the Spear King candidate, Lyra Kate!!! An intense battle right from the start!!!!≫

"...So loud."

"I seriously agree with that."

Was the voice echoing so strangely because of the Holy Sword’s second ability, "The Strong One, Cress," strengthening my senses overall? Or was it because my intuition—far sharper now than during the previous King’s War—was blaring warnings inside my head?

Maybe both.

Either way, I focused on the opponent before me.

"...Lyra Kate. I already want to go home."

"Toma Swordria. If you want to leave, I can escort you out?"

"...Can’t do that. Lyra would scold me if I tried. Fighting is a pain, but compared to one of Lyra’s lectures, this is still more enjoyable."

The rhythm of her speech was peculiar. Her laid-back tone somehow drained the tension from anyone listening. For a moment, I almost let my guard down—but the overwhelming confidence of a true powerhouse more than made up for it.

I could only sense that now thanks to all the mock battles I’d had with Shion and Hikari. Before, I never would’ve noticed something like this.

Yeah... this might actually be bad.

Just like Shion said, my instincts were screaming that the best option was to defeat her before she got fully serious.

The girl before me was someone said to potentially surpass even Shion and bring her spear to the throat of the Spear King if she ever truly gave it her all.

"I’ve heard plenty about you, so I’m going all out."

"...You’re awfully eager. We could take things slower."

"Not happening. If you want to relax, do it after the fight."

With strengthened legs, I crushed the ground beneath my feet and exploded forward.

Sword and spear.

Different weapons, yet the battlefield remained close-range combat all the same.

"I’ll enjoy a nice meal with everyone afterward while laughing together!!!!"

"...Hope you can."

At point-blank range, we bared our teeth and grinned at each other like wild beasts, surrendering ourselves to the instinct to fight.

Once the King’s War began and I leapt into the light, I managed to reunite with one of my teammates almost immediately. That itself was lucky, but of all people, I ended up with Shion instead of Toma.

Not that I disliked Shion.

I didn’t.

But after she’d spent the past few days shutting herself away and drowning in her thoughts, I had no idea how I was supposed to interact with her. So, for now, I simply pointed in the direction I wanted to head. Shion silently nodded, and we started moving.

"........................"

"........................"

The atmosphere was painfully heavy as the two of us walked through the forest without saying a word.

I’d spent dozens of days surviving inside that "Forest of Demonic Mist," even if it had only been within a dream, so traversing terrain like this posed no problem. Shion, meanwhile, seemed experienced with this kind of environment as well, moving smoothly without hesitation.

But like I said before—the air was unbearably heavy.

If Toma were here, he’d probably start chatting without caring in the slightest about the mood. Unfortunately, unlike him, I could read the room well enough to know I couldn’t pull that off.

To begin with, I’d never been especially good at talking. Quietly working on something suited me far better than socializing with people.

Well... talking with Toma was an exception, I guess.

And Shion was more like me than Toma or Alicia. She was the type who didn’t mind silently focusing on things alone.

As a result, this situation had gathered together two people who wouldn’t willingly start a conversation.

Which naturally led to this suffocating atmosphere where both of us felt awkward as hell.

"...Hikari-dono, why do you follow Toma-dono?"

"Huh? Ah... mm... follow him? It’s more like... being apart from him just feels unnatural, I guess? Hard to explain."

We’d been together for as long as I could remember.

My oldest memory was Toma getting all excited while watching a pair of birds together.

Thinking back on it, he really hadn’t changed much since childhood.

Though at the same time, there were definitely things about him that had changed too. Whether that counted as growth or not, I wasn’t sure.

Still, his core had never changed.

That much I could say with certainty.

And as long as that remained true, I’d promised myself I’d stay beside him forever.

"He’s always doing reckless stuff right away. Keeping things from me, from Alicia... trying to carry everything himself without telling anyone. If I’m not nearby watching him, I start worrying so much I can’t stand it."

"So that is why you stay with him?"

"Nobody wants to watch the person they love die a miserable death, right?"

He’d always been unpredictable, but after he gained the ability to fight, that tendency became even more obvious.

He didn’t particularly enjoy fighting, but if fighting became necessary, Toma was the kind of person who would never run from it.

Even if the opponent was overwhelmingly stronger than him, I could say with certainty that while he might feel fear, he would never hesitate.

And I hated that.

"I hate seeing him get hurt. I hate seeing him hurt others. I hate seeing him lose the ability to smile. If that happened, my whole world would fall apart."

"........................"

"Toma is my entire world."

Once I said it out loud, I realized those words fit perfectly.

Because Toma had been there, I chose to connect with other people. Without him, I probably would’ve spent my entire life alone, chasing strength for no real reason.

"Then... you love Toma-dono."

"Ah... yeah, I do. I love him a lot. ...Man, saying it out loud like this is actually pretty embarrassing."

Even if it was the truth, being forced to recognize my own feelings like this was rough.

I could practically feel my face turning red.

And doing something I wasn’t used to—like saying all this to another person—made it even worse.

Toma himself said things like this so casually that I sometimes worried he’d completely lost all sense of embarrassment somewhere along the way.

Though after remembering what happened in the bath, I couldn’t exactly criticize him too much.

"...I don’t know what I should do."

At some point, Shion had stopped walking.

Her head lowered as she stared at the ground. Her long hair hid her expression, but I could tell she probably looked pale.

"After Toma-dono told me the truth, I couldn’t believe him at first. I even cursed him for it. But the more I thought back, the more memories surfaced that forced me to accept his words as truth. The mother from my memories and the mother now... they don’t overlap at all. I understand now that they truly are different people."

Toma had dropped something absolutely devastating on her.

Something so earth-shattering that even after days of agonizing over it, she still couldn’t find an answer.

To Shion, it must’ve felt like the very purpose that had defined most of her life had been denied.

"Of course I feel anger at being deceived. There’s a part of me screaming that I can never forgive the one who defiled and stained someone precious to me. And yet..."

I remembered Ciel-san.

The furious outburst she showed inside the carriage had been genuine. Alicia, Toma, and I all knew how deeply she cared for Shion.

And even knowing all that, Toma had told Shion not to run away.

Maybe that was because he’d recognized that Shion herself was trying not to run from reality. Was I giving him too much credit thinking that?

Honestly, I already knew I couldn’t stay objective whenever it came to Toma.

"I can’t bring myself to truly hate her. The person who hid the fact that my mother died long ago and deceived me by pretending to be her. Or Toma-dono, who told me the truth. I don’t know what I should do. My mother was my world... and I can’t believe that world had already been broken long ago."

Drops falling from her eyes darkened the ground beneath her.

She looked like a lost child, unable to tell which memories were real anymore.

That was probably why Toma couldn’t leave her alone.

And while I wasn’t as kind as him—or even as kind as Alicia—I still cared enough to worry about someone.

"I heard the whole story, but I’m still an outsider here, so there’s only so much I can say. I can’t sincerely stay by your side worrying over you like Toma would. I’m not that nice."

I couldn’t say things as skillfully as Toma.

I couldn’t comfort people the way Alicia could.

So instead, I said something only I could say.

Hoping it might help Shion somehow.

"Instead of overthinking what’s real and what’s fake..."

"........................"

"I think you should focus on what truly mattered."

"What truly... mattered..."

Precious memories.

Precious feelings.

Precious people.

There were plenty of things you could never give up.

But if you chose the one thing you absolutely wanted to protect above all else, then maybe your hesitation would finally disappear.

Though if someone tampered with my memories like Shion’s and tried impersonating Toma, I could say with absolute certainty that I’d kill them no matter what.

Still, that would be my choice—not Shion’s.

"No matter what you choose, Toma and I will stay with you. You’ll never be alone. So think it through carefully."

"...You are rather harsh."

"Not everyone can be as kind as Toma. Honestly, the guy’s way too kind."

To be honest, I still didn’t understand how he could push himself so hard for people he’d only known for such a short time.

I didn’t understand it... and yet, I’d fallen in love with that part of him anyway.

Maybe I’d chosen an incredibly troublesome person to love.

But from the bottom of my heart, I was glad I had.

"Well then, looks like chatting time’s over."

"So it would seem."

I raised my sword.

Shion readied her spear.

Ahead of us stood someone radiating naked killing intent while openly provoking us.

And because I knew they were someone capable of hurting him, I could unleash my own fighting spirit without restraint.

Alright.

Let’s begin the battle.