IBTRFL Chapter 20

From ages past, idle gossips—that breed—always loved wagging tongues sly as snakes.

They'd trade in pointless arguments now and then, and some of those topics could make even a monastery monk's ears perk up.

Who were the strongest people on the continent right now.

Some drew a line and called it a meaningless debate, but storytellers and bards didn't see it that way.

Carried on beautiful voices, the names of powerful figures destined to become new legends spread far and wide, and taverns sometimes saw fistfights break out over the topic.

But there were a few names everyone agreed on, names that never failed to come up.

Unfortunately, one of them was Valor Remisa. The man currently chasing her down like he meant to kill her.

Honestly, the ending of this chase had been decided from the very start.

Her current self was a fourteen-year-old brat, and her opponent was one of the top ten strongest people on the continent.

A lamb thrown before a wolf, a fish already speared on a harpoon.

A cold, low voice came from behind.

"Stop!"

"No!"

No answer came back to that. She felt a hot gaze at the back of her head, like a fire arrow lodging itself in.

Aer glanced back over her shoulder, cold sweat breaking out. A massive wild bear wearing a human's mask was running at her without so much as a blink.

Aer straightened her stiff neck and squeezed out every last drop of strength she had. Her overworked leg muscles started to cramp. Her lungs had swollen to their absolute limit and felt ready to tear apart at any second.

Even so, the reason she couldn't stop was that if she got caught, she really felt like she'd die.

But the desperate flight ended in fate's mockery. Her toe caught on a root that shyly poked out of the ground. Her balance gave out, and the hard-packed dirt rushed up to meet her.

Bracing for the dull impact she was about to feel, Aer squeezed her eyes shut.

A long moment passed and no pain came. Instead, she felt a solid, thick arm wrapped around her waist.

Aer opened her eyes, trembling. Contrary to what she'd expected, Valor's face was calm. His dark brown eyes, which had been burning with such ferocity, had melted soft.

"U-Uncle?"

Valor didn't answer. Instead he set Aer upright and brushed the dust and bits of grass off her clothes.

Cowed, watching for his reaction, Aer opened her mouth carefully.

"Uncle?"

The hand brushing off the dust stopped. Valor pulled Aer into a crushing embrace with everything he had.

"Scared me half to death, you brat!"

A pressure like a giant boulder bearing down on her. Aer couldn't even manage a scream. Her ribs shuddered unsteadily, like they were about to shatter at any moment.

"You're not the kind of kid who dies that easily!"

Valor said it in a voice thick with emotion. Aer shook her still-free neck back and forth and shouted.

"Ah, I'm about to die right now! I'm gonna get crushed to death!"

"Hm?"

Only then did Valor notice that Aer was half-fainted. Valor let out an awkward laugh and released her.

"Ah, that could've been bad."

"Ugh."

Finally free, Aer swayed weakly and sank down where she stood.

Her crushed ribs ached, and after running for her life like that, she had no strength left either. Watching Aer quietly catch her breath, Valor sat down calmly across from her.

"Now then, want to explain? How exactly you're sitting here perfectly fine, without a scratch on you, when you supposedly died attacked by a chaos beast."

Aer flinched, her shoulders jerking, and turned her gaze aside. Valor smiled pleasantly, then leaned in to meet her eyes.

"Explain."

Valor's eyes were gentle, but his voice wasn't. There was nowhere left to dodge to.

Scratching irritably at the back of her head, Aer let out a deep sigh.

Lying wasn't going to work anyway. Running wasn't possible either, so all that was left was to just come out with it honestly.

Aer straightened her back and spoke with a serious face.

"Would you believe me if I said I died once and came back?"

Valor, arms crossed, had been waiting. He pulled a clear bottle out of his robes and, without hesitation, popped the lid and splashed it over Aer.

"Wicked demon, be gone this instant."

Doused in holy water, Aer stayed perfectly calm. No ominous black energy rose from her body, no eyes rolling back, no foaming at the mouth.

Instead, the holy water soaked in with a warm light and left her exhausted body feeling refreshed.

"Works great, huh."

Aer said it, looking down at her own faintly glowing body. Valor stared at her, brow furrowed, eyes trembling.

Right then, some realization flashed through his mind. Ah, poor thing.

"You've really lost it, haven't you. Purely and completely."

Valor said a short prayer and made the sign of the cross. Aer sighed.

"I haven't."

"Oh, really?"

"Yeah."

Valor watched her clear purple eyes, brow still furrowed. He didn't sense the anxiety or nervousness that liars usually gave off.

Which meant it was the truth. That absurd claim—that she'd come back from death.

Valor's face was full of disbelief. It was the reaction she'd expected. Rubbing her stiff shoulder, Aer asked calmly.

"This story's gonna run a little long—you got the time?"

"I'm a busy man. But for you, I'll make an exception."

"Ugh."

"What?"

Valor narrowed his eyes playfully. Letting out a deflated laugh, Aer finally began to speak.

"There was a huge war, and the world half fell apart. The whole continent turned into a battlefield. No way to avoid it, nowhere to run to. It got bad enough that you'd rather just die fighting. I went to the battlefield. I was a mercenary, you know. And, well, mercenaries dying in a war—that's not exactly rare, right?"

Despite the content, Aer's voice stayed as calm as if she were describing an ordinary day.

The gap between what she was saying and how she was saying it left Valor unable to get a word out. All the more so because every word of it was true.

"I died. And I came back. I don't know why. I opened my eyes again, and I was back in the worst years of my childhood, and I'd gotten the chance to change the future. Funny, isn't it? That someone like me—an ignorant mercenary—of all people, got that chance."

Even at the joke she'd deliberately added, Valor didn't laugh. As if she'd expected exactly that, Aer smiled and kept going.

"So that's why I left the orphanage. To get strong somehow, so I don't die again this time. Well—if I go all out and get strong enough, maybe I can even stop the war from happening in the first place."

She'd left plenty out, but everything she'd said was true.

She had no intention of telling him everything she knew. Especially anything connected to the Extinction Cult.

After a long silence, Valor spoke carefully.

"I don't know what to say to that."

Aer replied smoothly.

"Not gonna say I'm lying?"

Valor studied her for a moment, then let out a sigh. Then, with a sly grin, he shrugged.

"Well. I know a thing or two myself."

"What?"

Aer's eyes went wide, completely out of her control.

He already knew about the Extinction Cult? That didn't make sense.

Valor wouldn't learn about the Extinction Cult's existence for years yet. Even now, the Cult was keeping as low a profile as it possibly could. There shouldn't be any trace to find.

Reading Aer's alarm, Valor asked back.

"I'll tell you if you tell me a bit more first. Like the cause of the war, for instance."

"...No."

"Aw, c'mon. Don't be like that."

Aer clamped her mouth shut, sulking. She looked like an angry, poisonous toad with absolutely no intention of opening up.

Honestly, you. Valor clicked his tongue like there was nothing to be done, and pointed a finger up at the sky.

"You know ancient astrology? It's a dead field now, but it used to be studied a lot back in the day."

A single book flashed through Aer's mind out of nowhere. The Director's book, the one she'd ended up borrowing.

"I know it. Our orphanage Director studies it, you know."

Valor blinked his round eyes.

"To think there's still someone who knows about that."

"So what about astrology?"

"When I was at seminary, I ran into an astrology book in the library by chance. After that I'd sometimes read the stars, just as a hobby."

Valor sighed.

"Then one day, I couldn't read anything anymore. Some strange energy started clouding the sky, blotting out the stars."

"..."

"Why. Did the me you met before you came back not tell you this?"

Her purple eyes went wide. Aer's mouth opened as if to say something, then shut again.

Chuckling, savoring his small victory, Valor kept going in a low voice.

"Even in that sky, there was one blue star shining especially bright. Probably the star of a hero who'd carve his way through this troubled age. But right next to it..."

Kardo. Her heart gave one hard beat. Aer clasped her hands together and waited for what came next.

"..."

"..."

"..."

"Why aren't you saying anything?"

Aer scowled fiercely. Valor stroked his rough beard and spoke.

"No, it doesn't make sense that you won't tell me your own business but you want to hear mine. Well—if you open up a bit more, I might tell you too. Like answering my questions, say..."

The look he shot her, blatant and shameless. More like facing a crooked loan shark than a priest.

Honestly, this man. Aer bit her lip once, hard, and accepted the trade.

"Fine. Let's hear it first, though."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah."

"Then why fake your death? Running away would've done the same job."

There wasn't a trace of a smile left on Valor's face. The look he gave Aer carried an unmistakable reproach.