Chapter 20
Heavy rain battered the balcony door. It wasn't even dawn yet.
"Damn it..."
My whole body was slick with sweat.
A dream. That damn dream again.
For a while, I had worried about this. How could I distinguish between the visions that came to me and ordinary dreams?
Now I see that these visions or whatever they were couldn't be mistaken. They were seared into my mind like a branding iron.
The horrific scene from that workshop still lingered in my mind.
Those thugs seemed to be gathering people connected to me, searching for my whereabouts.
The silver-haired woman seemed familiar. That hair, which I felt I could never forget, was the same as Lisa's.
Remembering the existence I had buried for a while made my heart ache.
Lisa is looking for me?
A few months ago, I might have been happy. I would have been all excited, trying to find her before she found me.
After parting with Lisa, I had fantasized hundreds of times about her coming back to me.
It was sweet just to imagine, but now I knew well that fantasy could never become reality.
There was no reason for Lisa to give up stability and greater happiness to look for me.
And now, I had no intention of going back either.
No matter how I thought about it, there was no reason for Lisa to come looking for me.
Yes, it isn’t Lisa. I want to believe it isn’t her.
I don't want to reunite like that.
Silver hair isn't unique to Lisa.
When the Magic Wellspring bloomed, the Pascal clan's hair color turned silver like Lisa's. The leader of this affair could be a blood relative of the Pascal family.
I didn't know what business they had with me. Anyway, they probably thought poorly of me, so it was entirely possible.
They were willing to harm people around me to find me.
The priests and nuns of the Akates Temple. As long as they were associated with me, they were in danger too.
If so, I had to take action first.
But how?
What can I do?
No clear method came to mind.
***
Silveryn was looking out the window for a moment. It always rained heavily when the seasons changed.
When it got cold, it became difficult to obtain medicinal herbs. Before winter came, we needed to stock up on herbs in the warehouse.
A maid brought a steaming potion, supporting the bottom with a thick cloth.
"How much of the ingredients are left?"
"Only enough for two weeks."
There wasn't much left after pouring potions into Damian and the girl.
There was quite a lot to do.
She looked at the girl lying on the bed. She still hadn't regained consciousness since going into shock after being attacked by the ghoul.
Silveryn called the butler. The butler approached her.
"It's time for Damian to wake up now, so tell him we're taking a break from training today. And prepare a carriage to go to the village."
"Understood."
A moment later, the butler came running to Silveryn with urgent steps.
He was out of breath.
"Master Damian has disappeared."
"What do you mean?"
"We've searched the entire mansion, but he's nowhere to be found."
Silveryn sighed.
Silveryn walked along the lakeside, holding an umbrella. The rain was so heavy that she could barely see a few steps ahead. The umbrella couldn't block all the rain.
Walking like this, Silveryn arrived at Damian's training ground.
A boy was moving logs, soaked like a drowned rat. It was Damian.
The logs were waterlogged and stuck in the mud. His feet slipped as he dug into the mud, trying to push them. It was clearly beyond his strength. But he didn't seem to have any intention of giving up.
His shoulders, arms, and sides were scraped by the tree bark, turning the rainwater red, as if he had used his whole body to push.
It was pitiful, even heartbreaking.
Perhaps because of the noisy rain, Damian didn't realize Silveryn was watching nearby.
Silveryn's complicated feelings were evident on her face.
"We have enough firewood to last until next spring now."
At Silveryn's words, Damian finally turned his head.
"Thanks to someone working so hard."
"...Teacher."
Damian's face was shadowed.
Silveryn looked at the blood-stained piece of wood and said, "Haa this is why I didn't want to train on rainy days. What are you doing coming out here without saying anything?"
Silveryn slightly lifted the hem of her skirt. Although she had an umbrella, most of her clothes were wet due to the wind.
"Even the outfit I rarely wear is ruined now."
"I'm sorry."
Damian's face looked strange.
He wasn't the usual Damian that Silveryn knew.
She knew Damian had a dark past he couldn't talk about. But this was the first time the darkness within him had cast such a deep shadow.
"Damian, what's wrong?"
"..."
Silveryn's expression hardened.
Something must have happened.
"It's nothing."
She approached Damian. She didn't mind her feet sinking into the mud and getting dirty.
Then she stood in front of him, bending slightly to meet his eye level.
She raised one hand and placed it on his cheek. Then she wiped away the flowing rainwater with her thumb.
"You don't know how lucky you are. I don't take just anyone as my disciple, you know."
"..."
"You're still young, so you might not fully grasp the meaning of responsibility. Only when you grow older and gain status and power will you understand how heavy the word responsibility is."
"..."
"Listen. I didn't just bring you here on a whim. I brought you here intending to take responsibility for you."
Silveryn spoke in an admonishing tone, "So, from now on, it's okay to rely on your teacher."
After keeping silent for a long time, Damian finally raised his head.
Damian and Silveryn were returning to the mansion.
Damian told Silveryn about his dream. The thugs that appeared in the dream. The people kidnapped to find Damian's whereabouts. And the mass slaughter.
Even the ominous feeling that this dream might come true.
He didn't mention anything about Lisa.
"It could be a vision. Since you stayed at the Akates Temple, there's a slight possibility. But don't put too much faith in dreams. Seeing the future, you know, it's not as rare and amazing an ability as you might think."
"It's not rare?"
"Don't you know that most children with magical talent have the ability to look into the future?"
"I've never heard of that."
"These children see the future from the time they're infants. So vividly that they can't distinguish it from reality."
This was hard for Damian to comprehend.
"Then, as they gradually grow up and learn language and human knowledge, their souls start to become polluted, and the ability completely disappears. After their minds grow, they even completely forget that they were once able to see the future."
"Magic is still a mystery to me."
"Right? What comes out when that ability is dying is prophetic dreams. By that point, it's mixed with the subconscious and comes out all jumbled, so it's inaccurate and useless."
"...!"
"Your dream is a dying prophecy. Well, it might be somewhat useful if you use it well."
Even if it was dying, it was valuable information to Damian.
"Still, I want to prepare thoroughly."
"How do you plan to prepare?"
Damian fell into deep thought at Silveryn's question.
Silveryn seemed to have given up on blocking the rain completely, as she just folded her umbrella in the heavy downpour.
Even her upper body and hair, which had somehow survived until now, got soaked in the rain.
For some reason, she seemed excited as she ran forward and jumped with both feet into a puddle.
The collected rainwater splashed in all directions.
Following that, Silveryn kicked the puddle, enthusiastically splashing water on Damian.
"This is payback for getting my outfit wet."
The puddle water splashed all over Damian's body. However, he was already completely wet, so it had no effect.
"Teacher...?"
How could she be so innocent in this situation?
When he called her with a bewildered face, Silveryn finally returned to the main point. She continued kicking.
"You just need to keep doing what you've been doing. What are you worried about when I'm here?"
"If we just keep hiding like this, those guys will find and threaten the people around me."
Silveryn stopped playing with her feet and made a meaningful expression.
"No, you're not hiding."
"...?"
Silveryn changed the subject smoothly without any explanation.
"We need to hurry because we have to go buy herbs later."
Then she turned around and went ahead.
***
A black carriage entered the village market. Due to the continuous rain, there were no people on the streets.
The carriage stopped in front of a small shop.
The coachman got down, opened the carriage door, and held out an umbrella to block the rain, waiting.
Silveryn, who had finished bathing and changed into clean clothes, came out of the carriage.
Damian followed her out.
Silveryn opened the shop door first and went inside. Damian followed and looked around the interior.
Baskets full of herbs, sorted by type, were densely displayed.
A middle-aged woman who was organizing herbs greeted them. When she saw their faces, she narrowed her eyes and then suddenly became startled.
"Welcome... Oh my!"
Damian made a puzzled expression.
"Oh my, oh my, please wait a moment. It'll just take a second!"
Then, she hurriedly entered a room with a curtain at the entrance. Soon after, the sound of a small argument could be heard from inside.
"No, Mom, wait! I'm not ready!"
A young woman, after resisting, was finally pushed out through the door.
She stopped breathing for a moment when she saw Damian and Silveryn's faces.
"Ah, welcome!"
She bowed her head and glanced at their faces with slightly raised eyes. When her eyes met Damian's, she quickly averted her gaze.
Then she casually tucked her slightly disheveled hair behind her ear.
"Do you need anything?"
Silveryn handed over a note and said, "Yes, give me what's written here."
She took the note and mumbled its contents.
"Black kale... moon leaf... Melinda stem... Ah, we don't have Deronia root and eagle flower petals here, they're in the shop next door on the right. We'll prepare the rest for you."
"Good."
Silveryn looked to the side and said, "Damian, do you need anything?"
"I... just a moment."
Damian was checking the displayed herbs one by one, holding a note with the necessary ingredients and an herb encyclopedia. He was struggling, not knowing what to buy.
The employee glanced at Silveryn and then subtly moved closer to Damian.
"I'll help you."
Then she peeked at Damian's note.
"This is a list for Colohest-based manufacturing."
She pointed directly at the herbs with her hand.
"Then you definitely need to get this, this, and this first. If you need any help, come back next time. You don't need to bring money. I'll help you."
The employee approached Damian with a very proactive attitude.
"...Thank you."
After finishing their order and coming out to move to the next shop, the employee followed with a small wooden box.
Then she handed the box to Damian.
"Um, these are tea leaves we grow in the shop ourselves."
The box looked expensive just from its craftsmanship.
Damian looked at the box with a face that said, “Why this?”
The employee said in embarrassment:
"It's... not for money, it's, um, a gift! It's good for strength!"
Damian intuitively sensed an ominous sign at that moment.
When they entered the next shop, even stranger things happened.
The owner welcomed them with open arms. He recognized Damian and offered a handshake.
"It's truly an honor to meet you."
Then he told him about the nickname "Young-faced Slayer”.
He said that was what the villagers were calling him.
Damian was momentarily speechless upon hearing the terrible nickname.
They could hear many stories as they walked around the market.
On the way back to the carriage, Damian asked Silveryn, "Since when did Wiesel become my soul's hometown?"
It was an old folk song about the many figures who had passed through Wiesel, but a wandering poet had inserted a story about Damian into it.
Though his birthplace is unknown, his soul's hometown is Wiesel.
They were mistakenly thinking that Damian had been rooted in Wiesel for a long time.
"I told you. They're so peaceful that they're crazy for new stories. Did you think they'd leave a hero who saved the village alone?"
It was just a ghoul, but it had endangered the entire village. Even if it wasn't Damian, the ghoul would have been eliminated somehow, but Damian had stepped up alone and left a strong impression.
Add to that Damian's appearance, the halo of the Eternia Academy, his veiled swordsmanship skills, and the subtle endorsement of the Knight Order, all of these combined led to the current situation.
Silveryn sang teasingly, "He slew ninety-nine ghouls~"
Damian was too embarrassed to raise his face.
Damian thought the villagers' fuss was excessive.
"You don't know what you've done, do you? It might be less exaggerated, but rumors have probably spread widely to the Knight Order and the high-ranking people of Wiesel."
"..."
High-ranking people meant the noble social circles.
Silveryn smiled brightly.
"Do you still think you're hiding? My disciple, those guys from your dream might already be rushing to Wiesel to find you."
If so, Silveryn would inevitably be involved too. But she looked like she was rather expecting them to come.
***
Just a bit further, and it would be the border of Wiesel.
Five black carriages with the Eternia emblem were moving in a line across the prairie. At the very back, a huge wagon carrying something unidentifiable was following.
In the front carriage were Gael, the associate professor of Eternia's Combat Division, and her top disciple Flynn, a second-year student in the Combat Division.
Flynn couldn't relax for a moment.
In the carriage following behind was a person he had never expected.
Only when Flynn heard that someone who rarely showed themselves was joining the evaluation did he realize this was no ordinary matter.
He didn't know exactly what kind of evaluation this was, but he knew that all these people were going to evaluate just one child.
For just one.
What on earth is this all about?
"Professor."
"What is it?"
"Did you know it would be like this?"
"I didn't expect this either."
Suddenly, the carriage came to a stop. The coachman shouted, "G-ghouls!"
Flynn looked out the window.
A carriage that seemed to belong to a noble was stopped at a distance, and knights surrounding the carriage were facing off against about a dozen ghouls.
Gael hurriedly got out of the carriage to help them.
Flynn followed her.
Flynn drew his sword. Soon, light emanated from the runes engraved on the sword, and smoke began to rise from the blade.
Until then, Flynn didn't realize.
That he would hear the name of the child he was going to evaluate from them.