Chapter 39: Fragments of the Past (2)

Manya blankly watched Signa subdue the fully armed knight.

Inside the makeshift magician’s prison, magic was scarce, leaving Manya with no way to support Galar.

Even with magic, keeping up with Signa’s movements and supporting Galar in close combat was beyond Manya’s capabilities.

Signa staggered to her feet over the unconscious Galar.

She seemed barely able to lift the holy sword she had thrown beside Galar.

Her shoulder was twisted at an odd angle, her fingers crushed. Yet, she aimed the sword’s tip back at Manya.

Stepping over Galar’s unconscious body, she walked toward Manya.

She was severely injured, clearly in no condition to continue fighting.

However, Manya was overwhelmed by the weight this small girl carried and could only retreat.

One step, two steps, three steps.

“How could she possibly handle the holy sword…”

Confusion reigned.

‘Is she really the reincarnation of that person? No. It can’t be. That’s a lie I made up.

Then, is she just an ordinary girl?

That? That appearance?

Then who is standing in front of me?

…But that’s her appearance.’

Manya repeated the fact she already knew.

However, more than she had imagined, Signa’s current appearance was too much like ‘her’.

Transcending age, an overwhelming aura.

It was hard to believe it was a fake she had created herself.

Manya was different from Galar, who had accepted it as soon as she drew the holy sword.

She, like Yukomis, knew too well where the girl standing before her came from.

Clearly, it was a boy she had personally kidnapped from Irendel and transformed into a woman.

Staggering. With each step Signa took, she left a bloody footprint.

Her soft, bare soles were already torn.

“D, don’t do this.”

Manya soon found herself with her back to the entrance of the prison.

“Heal her.”

Signa said softly.

“It’s not too late. Manya… heal Yukomis now. Tell the elves the truth.”

“I, I can’t…”

“Yukomis wasn’t a bad person. She wasn’t some kind of black witch. Tell them I want to be with her.”

“I can’t!”

Manya cried desperately.

“I’m right!”

She took another step back.

“That woman left indelible scars on Lady Thermis. I can never forgive her.”

“Manya…”

“She cast such terrible magic, set her up as a shield, and after she died, she stole all her achievements. Does that make sense?”

“That’s all a misunderstanding. Yukomis wouldn’t do that.”

“You don’t know anything!”

“Then what do you know?”

Signa retorted.

“Everything you’ve said is just ‘it seems like.’ Did you actually ask Thermis?”

Signa gasped for breath.

“But… I saw it. I clearly saw the magic corroding her body…”

“What if that’s what she wanted?”

“…What?”

“What if she knew everything and endured it? What if there was no other way?”

Manya was speechless.

“Why are you so obsessed with that person? What is Thermis to you?”

Signa asked the question she should have asked from the moment she first met Manya.

The sudden question made Manya stammer.

“It’s… she was always kind, leading the way… supporting my dreams… that’s why…”

“Manya. If she was someone you liked that much, someone you couldn’t accept dying and wanted to meet again, wouldn’t she have willingly borne such a burden?”

“You’re saying she wanted to be abused? That can’t be!”

“Manya. It was war. There’s no war where no one gets hurt and no one dies.”

“Then, why did only she have to bear all that burden…”

“It’s not a big deal. It’s just something someone had to do.”

“Don’t talk like that!”

“Was the Thermis you knew someone who would pass that on to others? Is that the kind of person you respected?”

“Th, that’s…”

Manya protested again.

“If it was unavoidable, she should have been recognized by everyone, even after death!”

She pointed to Yukomis, who was still collapsed by the fireplace.

“What is that woman? She passed all the burden onto her, and after she died, she stole all the achievements, acting all high and mighty as a great magician, a princess, a war hero!”

“Manya. Yukomis isn’t that kind of person.”

“Not that kind of person?”

Manya’s emotions gradually intensified…

“You don’t know anything either!”

Her voice filled the room.

“How can you speak like you know everything? You haven’t known that woman for very long either, have you?”

“…?”

“She recognized your talent, was a little nice to you, or maybe you just liked her pretty face?”

“It’s not like that.”

“Or is it because she’s rich? Because she buys you whatever you want?”

“It’s not that either.”

Manya began to be unreasonable.

“You know it if you’ve been with her. You know how arrogant she is. You know she doesn’t care about other people’s feelings at all!”

“Yukomis isn’t like that!”

“Why do you keep taking her side! What has she done so well!”

Manya knew very well in her head that the girl in front of her would never take her side.

She was the one who kidnapped her, forcibly changed her gender, and inflicted these severe injuries.

There was no way Signa’s heart would ever be directed toward her.

“Why is everyone, even you, only taking her side!!!”

But Manya couldn’t accept it.

Even if it was a fake, a replica, she couldn’t accept the fact that ‘even the second Thermis’ was only protecting that woman.

“She’s a witch who devoured Lady Thermis. Why don’t you understand! You’re no exception! Everyone will be unhappy if they’re next to her!”

“Manya…”

“Come here. Forget about that woman and please come to my side. My love… I’ll make you happy. I’ll treat you so well that you won’t even think about her. I’ll apologize for everything that happened in the basement, here. I’ll grovel to you as much as you want later.”

Manya began to beg.

“I just wanted you so much… I wanted to have you so much. You know. If we can just go somewhere where no one can see us, such a thing will never happen again.”

However, while listening to her pleas, Signa simply stood there, looking sad.

“Let’s go somewhere else. Somewhere no one can see us… I’ll do anything for you. If you just become my new Lady Thermis, we can definitely live happily. Please… do that.”

Manya couldn’t help but know.

After seeing Signa’s appearance just now, she had reaffirmed that if there was only one person in this world who could become Thermis…

It was the girl in front of her.

No one else could do this. She couldn’t imagine anyone in this world being like this girl.

She had chosen the right person. This was the first and last opportunity given to her.

But the girl in front of her simply shook her head slowly.

“Manya, you know I won’t do that.”

“Please, I’m begging you.”

“There are only two things I want. First, to safely return Yukomis.”

Even though she was pleading with all her heart, there was no sign of her wavering.

“And to return my body to its original state.”

“Really, no matter how much I beg, it won’t work?”

“I promise. You’ll be just as happy as I am. Becoming Lady Thermis would be really great for you too. I’ll definitely make it that way. Please…”

“I refuse.”

None of this was what Manya wanted to do.

“…Why. Why are you doing this? I really, truly love both of you…”

As she realized that Signa’s will was firm, Manya’s face began to distort with desperation.

“You only go to such a heartless woman who doesn’t know anything about love. After that person, even you…”

Manya took a few more steps back, and from there, she was finally outside the prison.

“Why does she take everything. She has so much already. She’s broken so much already.”

Reaching a place where magic could reach, Manya began to prepare to cast a spell, holding her staff.

“Not only her own, not only Lady Thermis’, but now she’s taking you too…”

“Manya. Don’t do it.”

“Give it back. Give me back my Lady Thermis. Tell me you like me. Tell me you’ll come with me.”

“I warned you.”

“Just tell me the words you said back then, even just once… I want to hear them again in that voice!”

With that cry as the last, Manya’s mouth began to whisper something in a small voice.

Signa raised her sword again, preparing to defend.

Although she couldn’t hear the sound clearly, Signa quickly recognized what kind of magic’s abbreviated incantation it was through lip-reading.

‘It’s coming. A vision-blocking spell.’

[Yes! Master!]

A black projectile flew quickly towards the room.

Overexerting her body, which had almost reached its limit, Signa began to run quickly towards the incoming projectile.

As Signa raised the holy sword, Manya’s projectile, blocked by the holy sword’s dazzling radiance, soon disappeared into the air without a trace.

“It’s not a bad thing! It can’t be helped!”

The ability of Prvannol is great magic protection.

Just basking in that radiance would nullify almost all magic.

Its blade was too dull to kill people, but,

It could cut down any magic, no matter how powerful.

And Manya was by no means an excellent spellcaster. She was closer to a magician as a scholar.

That was a fact she knew best herself.

A few more projectiles flew, but they all evaporated in the air without even reaching Signa’s feet as she ran.

“Manyaaa!!!”

Just before their small bodies collided,

Signa let out a metallic-sounding shout, and Manya, daunted by her spirit, cowered.

Clang!!

The staff slipped from Manya’s grasp.

The extreme pain that came as soon as she knocked away the iron staff made Signa’s mind momentarily hazy.

“Keuh…!”

Broken shoulder, crushed fist, torn soles, muscles that had long surpassed their limits…

Signa, who had forcibly endured everything, pushed Manya over, just like she had done to Galar.

Clang.

As soon as it fell from Signa’s hand, the holy sword lost its light in an instant.

Signa, who was on top of Manya, grabbed her by the collar with both hands and shouted.

“Call the elves and tell them! That it was all a misunderstanding!”

“I hate it!”

“Heal Yukomis right now!”

“I hate it! I can never do that!”

“Manya!!!”

Signa, gritting her teeth, raised her small fist over Manya’s face.

Just as Manya closed her eyes tightly, ready to be hit…

“Lady Thermis! Please get off!”

Another woman’s voice was heard.

When Manya opened her eyes again, something like a magic bullet flew and hit Signa’s chest.

Signa, who had received a strong impact, fell off Manya’s body.

“Lady Thermis, I’m sorry, I’m really sorry! I’ll take any punishment later!”

It was Vena who came running while shouting.

“Manya. The situation isn’t good right now. Well, outside, Silissa who came back is unilaterally defeating everyone! We have to escape right now!”

Vena first supported Manya’s body, which had fallen.

As if the situation was very urgent, her body was emitting heat, and her breathing was wildly rough.

“Vena, what kind of magic did you use?”

“It’s just a binding spell. It’s a completely harmless spell.”

As she said, what Vena used was a spell that bound the target to the ground.

Of course, she had no intention of hurting her.

However, Vena’s face could not completely erase the anxiety.

“Oh my god, what happened? What on earth happened that she looks so angry… Did you two happen to fight?”

Having said that far, Vena stopped breathing as she looked closely at the state of the fallen Signa.

“L, Lady Thermis!!!!”

The girl, whose whole body was in such a terrible state that it was pitiful to see, was fixed to the floor a few steps away from Manya.

“Oh, what should I do, could it be because of me…? No, I just used binding magic…”

“Vena, it’s not like that. Calm down first.”

Manya said that, but she couldn’t make eye contact with Vena.

“Ugh…”

Ignoring the conversation between the two, Signa, who was stuck to the floor, forcibly reached out and grabbed the holy sword.

As soon as she grabbed the holy sword again, a voice flowed into her head again.

[Binding magic. I’ll release it now! Master!]

‘Please…’

The moment she heard Prvannol’s words, something like a chilling premonition flashed through her head, but,

Signa, who was injured and in a hurry, couldn’t afford to be picky about this and that.

The magic that the holy sword ‘sent out’ to Signa soon worked in reverse on the magic of the binding spell, canceling it out.

Signa, whose body was freed in an instant, tried to stand up again, holding her sword.

‘The opponent has become two people… Two people might be a bit much…’

Signa retraced the desperate situation.

Could she subdue two magicians again in this physical state?

What should she say to persuade them?

Would persuasion even be possible?

Vena seems more likely to be persuaded than Manya. Now that things have gone this far, even if it’s just Vena…

In fact, it was a reckless situation from the start that she had engaged in this head-on confrontation.

‘But still, I couldn’t avoid it…’

Kneeling and raising her head, Vena’s figure was visible.

“Lady Thermis, I…”

She was making a face somewhere between ‘how on earth’ and ‘I’m really sorry.’

“Vena… listen. I have a request for you…”

At that moment, when she was struggling to speak to the tearful Vena,

Signa’s heart stopped beating.

‘Ah.’

It was a symptom without warning or foreshadowing.

Along with the shock that pierced through her whole body, Signa instantly lost strength in her whole body.

Signa, who collapsed on the holy sword stuck in the floor, began to pant like crazy.

‘Keuh…
Keuh…’

[…Master?]

‘Ah… Ugh… Breath…

I can’t… breathe…’

[What’s wrong, Master? What’s wrong? I released the magic, but what…?]

The voice of the holy sword became urgent in an instant.

[As I thought, you overdid it too much! This body is still too weak. It had already reached its limit when you subdued Galar…]

‘It’s… not that feeling…’

The holy sword found something strange in its owner’s body.

[Wait a minute. What is this? Two kinds of magic are fluctuating wildly in your body! ]

‘Keuh…’

[There were signs, but it wasn’t supposed to be this much… Oh my god!]

The holy sword kept saying something, but Signa, whose breathing was cut off, couldn’t even hear it properly.

Her heart. The area around her heart was burning hot.

[Where did all this magic inside your body come from? There wasn’t this much originally? On top of that, it’s colliding and creating vortices…]

‘Get it out… outside right now…’

Signa briefly felt the magic in her body being forcibly manipulated.

But the pain didn’t go away at all. The voice of the holy sword, which was heard again, was even more desperate than before.

[…It’s not working. I can’t do anything with my power either. The magic refuses to leave your body. As if it has an enormous obsession…]

‘Somehow…’

From Signa’s suffocating hand, strength gradually drained.

[A non-magician’s body can’t withstand this storm of magic. Oh no. This is the first time since the battle with the Demon King. Neither release nor neutralization works. What should I do!]

As the strength in her grip weakened, the voice of the holy sword also began to fade away.

[You’re not thinking of leaving me again, are you? You’re not planning on doing something like meeting and then breaking up again, are you? You said everything would be okay! You promised! Wait!]

‘It hurts…’

[…Master? Master? Get a grip. You can’t lose consciousness now! I’ll try to do something… Ma…!]

Just before losing consciousness, Yukomis’s words that she had said one day flashed through Signa’s head.

‘Isn’t it okay? It’s your body condition. Above all, you have to remember it best.’

Ah.

Is that it…