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Karnak felt his heart drop, but he tried hard to maintain his composure.

Just that alone isn’t enough to conclude that the memory seal has failed.

For now, he responds calmly.

“Of course you’d know me. We’ve been fighting for days now, so it’s only natural that I seem familiar.”

“Fighting?”

“Yeah.”

Laficel had a blank expression.

“What are you talking about?”

Karnak and Baros exchanged glances.

[How should we explain this?]

[Why not just tell her the truth?]

Serati scoffed.

[As if you two would ever tell the truth.]

She had plenty of experience with how conveniently these guys twisted their version of the “truth.”

Anyway, Karnak opened his mouth calmly.

“Let me tell you what the King’s Order investigated.”

Given the circumstances, it appears she was originally just an ordinary girl from a rural village. Somehow, she must have encountered the cursed sword Mareda, and ended up under its control.

After that, she wielded the cursed sword, committed countless killings, and even fought against the King’s Order. But that was all the sword’s doing—it had nothing to do with Laficel. She was merely under its control.

Naturally, the King’s Order has no intention of holding her accountable for what happened.

“The King’s Order couldn’t figure out your identity or origin before you fell under the control of the cursed sword.”

Karnak finished his explanation with ease.

“To be honest, we didn’t even try to investigate. The sword was what mattered, not you.”

It wasn’t a lie.

In fact, that’s about all the King’s Order had uncovered.

“I see…”

Laficel murmured as if she had accepted it.

“So, we really have no connection at all.”

Then, as if something didn’t make sense, she lifted her head again.

“Then why?”

“Hm?”

“…Why does my heart race when I see you?”

The expression on Laficel’s face changed.

“…My heart pounds. My face gets hot.”

Her breathing quickened, her cheeks flushed, and her heart beat faster.

It was a face as if she had fallen in love.

‘What’s going on with her all of a sudden?’

As Karnak grew flustered, Baros spoke up.

[Uh, could that be anger?]

It could also be described as heavy breathing, a flushed face from excitement, and a racing pulse.

“And for some reason, there’s this dull ache in my chest. It hurts.”

Serati chimed in as well.

[It’s probably fear.]

Laficel still looked at Karnak with sparkling eyes.

It was an extremely burdensome gaze.

Karnak subtly averted his eyes.

“Well, I don’t know. I have no idea why that’s happening.”

[Why pretend? It’s just the suspension bridge effect.]

[Shut up.]

Unlike the flustered Karnak, Laficel seemed convinced of something.

“I think you’re a very important person to me.”

Well, of course he was. He was her mortal enemy she had to get revenge on, after all.

“So, um…”

The girl shyly crossing her fingers as she asked,

“…can I stay by your side?”

Her face looked like a newborn chick gazing at its mother, just having emerged from the egg.

For a moment, Karnak furrowed his brow. It felt like a needle was pricking his chest.

[Kuh, guilt, guilt is… creeping up.]

[Congratulations, Lord Karnak. You’re finally experiencing what everyone else normally feels.]

[Do other people live feeling like this all the time? They must have incredible mental strength.]

[It’s not really that big of a deal, you know?]

Laficel anxiously waited for an answer.

Looking at her, Karnak forced himself to appear calm and replied,

“Your future is something the King’s Order will decide. I can’t give you a definite answer before that.”

“I see…”

Laficel’s shoulders slumped in disappointment. Then, she began blinking her eyes.

“…I’m sleepy.”

Well, after all the chaos, it was no wonder she was exhausted.

Her body was still that of a child, untrained and undeveloped.

“Rest a bit more.”

At Serati’s gentle words, Laficel collapsed into sleep.

“Mm…”

After laying her down carefully, Serati turned to Karnak.

“What are you going to do now?”

Feeling troubled, Karnak turned to Baros.

“When is Laficel supposed to become Beltia’s disciple?”

Though it wasn’t typical for Baros to know someone else’s personal affairs, Laficel’s case was rather well-known.

“I think she was around 16 years old.”

Martial arts training should ideally begin at the age of five or six to properly lay a foundation. Starting at 16 was much too late.

And yet, Laficel had awakened her aura after only two years of training. Ten years later, she had inherited all the techniques of the Martial King, Beltia Crotéum, and in another 20 years, she became one of the new Martial Kings herself.

It was a well-known story.

“How old is Laficel now?”

“Who knows? I can never tell how old girls are.”

Serati, who had more common sense, answered instead.

“I can make a rough guess. She hasn’t hit puberty yet.”

Unlike nobles or children from well-off families, commoners often experience delayed puberty due to poor nutrition.

“She’s probably about twelve or thirteen.”

“As expected, Serati knows her stuff.”

Originally, Laficel was supposed to meet Martial King Beltia in two years and become her disciple.

“So, what are you going to do, young master? Let her follow her fate?”

“No, I’ll keep her by my side for now.”

Though he had fumbled earlier, Karnak had always planned to keep Laficel with him.

“I need to make sure the memory seal is working. It would be a disaster if her memories came back.”

“That’s true.”

Serati nodded.

She had also seen firsthand what would happen if the Laficel from that nightmarish future reawakened.

“Surprisingly, you didn’t consider killing her to remove future problems?”

Realizing what she just said, Serati quickly added,

“Of course, you wouldn’t do that now, considering how you’ve changed.”

Karnak responded with a wry smile.

“I can’t kill her. There’s something I need to confirm.”

This Laficel was from the future, just like Karnak and Baros—someone who had gone through space-time regression.

“I need to find out how she regressed in time, like us.”

This was something he couldn’t figure out right away.

To discover the answer, he would need to probe into Laficel’s sealed memories, but if they were accidentally restored in the process, it could become a serious problem.

“What about making her a subject, like me?”

“That’s just as dangerous. If we mess with her soul, it could trigger the return of her memories.”

The best course of action for now was to keep her close and monitor her until a way to extract the necessary information without reviving her memories was found.

Karnak muttered while gazing at the sleeping Laficel.

“Now, how do I explain why I’m keeping her with me?”

***

The next morning, Jiken and the rest of the King’s Order woke up without any lingering aftereffects.

Naturally, they were curious about the events of the previous night, so Karnak mixed lies with the truth to explain.

Why had the girl displayed such overwhelming power, even after being freed from the cursed sword?

-As it turns out, the King’s Order just didn’t notice, but it seems the sword’s evil spirit had transferred into the girl.

Why did Karnak’s group disappear until all the other members had collapsed?

-The girl’s abilities, having essentially become the cursed sword itself, were far too powerful. We needed time to prepare for the unexpected situation.

And what kind of preparation was that?

-Twenty golems.

Is it even possible to control twenty golems? That seems impossible with magic.

-That’s why we retreated. While the rest of the King’s Order bought us time, we prepared the golem summoning circle. Then, we lured the girl in and engaged her with the golems, one by one.

I see. You might not be able to control all twenty at once, but summoning five at a time is feasible.

-Exactly. Now, here are the traces of that battle.

A brilliant strategy. So, even though the girl with the cursed sword was incredibly strong, you were able to subdue her?

‘No, it was incredibly difficult. If the other members of the King’s Order hadn’t weakened her first, they would’ve been defeated.’

…Well, the explanation went more or less like that.

It was a pretty convincing story, and since the evidence from the battle matched Karnak’s explanation closely, everyone accepted it and moved on.

Next was the issue of handling the cursed sword Mareda.

The clerics who had recovered the sword carefully examined it with their divine power. They came to a conclusion.

“It’s certain.”

“The evil spirit in the sword is gone. It’s now just an ordinary sword.”

However, it still couldn’t be treated lightly, so according to protocol, the cursed sword Mareda was sent to the royal capital’s main temple for further investigation.

As for the former host of the cursed sword, Laficel, she was also subjected to further examination.

The conclusion came quickly.

“There’s no trace of any malevolent energy in this girl. She’s just an ordinary village girl.”

Karnak asked, “Does this girl also need to undergo additional investigation at the main temple in the capital?”

Meili shook her head.

“There are no such procedures for her.”

Unlike the cursed sword Mareda, the girl was just a common human host. If anyone else had been under the sword’s control, they would have acted similarly. There was nothing suspicious about her.

“Then, what will happen to the girl now?”

“She’ll likely be placed in a nearby temple and cared for until she reaches adulthood.”

Karnak spoke with a hint of pity.

“Her life ahead won’t be easy.”

As a commoner herself, Meili gave a faint, bitter smile.

“You nobles may not realize it, but life is rarely easy for commoners.”

The smile quickly faded as she noticed Karnak’s unexpected comment.

“May I take her in?”

“That girl?”

Meili looked at him with a wary gaze.

“If it’s just a moment of sympathy, I’d like to stop you.”

A grown man taking in a young girl could easily lead to suspicions—suspicions that would not be good in any way.

Of course, Karnak was well aware of this.

“Serati says the girl seems to have talent with the sword.”

As if waiting for this moment, Serati stepped forward as well.

“I’m thinking of taking her in as my squire. Would that be alright?”

Meili’s expression visibly softened.

“If an Aura User says so, then I suppose…”

This had been discussed between Karnak and Serati beforehand.

“Is there really a need to take her in as my squire? We could just use her as Lord Karnak’s maid.”

“That way, it won’t seem strange if Laficel later shows her talent, don’t you think?”

“…Are you really going to teach her swordsmanship? Isn’t that dangerous?”

“It doesn’t matter. She’ll become strong anyway, even if we teach her nothing. Just watching from the sidelines, she’ll likely surpass you.”

“Is she really that talented?”

“She only lost her memories. Her soul is still that of the future Martial King.”

She had forgotten what she’d learned, not erased it entirely. Just by observing others’ battles, she would recover some of her skills.

“In that case, it’s actually safer to teach her swordsmanship from the beginning. With her personality, even if her memories return, she wouldn’t strike down her teacher.”

It was a way to bind her with the chain of fate and create a safeguard, should something go wrong.

“How do you only think of things in this manner?”

“Huh? Is this another bad thing I’m doing?”

“It’s worse because you can’t definitively say it’s wrong.”

“Then what should I do?”

“…Honestly, I can’t think of anything better, either. For our sake, and for hers.”

In the end, Serati took Laficel in. No one opposed the idea.

It wasn’t unusual for a female Aura User to take interest in a talented young girl. Swordswomen were rare to begin with.

“Poor girl, but it seems things turned out well for her.”

“Under Dame Serati’s guidance, she could become a great knight.”

And so, the cursed sword Mareda incident was officially resolved.

The only lingering question was Jiken’s unresolved doubt.

“So, what was the connection between the cursed sword and the 7th Battalion, anyway?”