SBTMK Chapter 5

"Why are you looking at me like that? Wrong answer? Were you expecting otherwise?"

This world runs on profoundly unfair terms. It would have been better had Izenerus granted equal magical power to all of humanity—but Izenerus had not.

All manner of people existed in this world. Those who possessed great magical power, those whose power was negligible, and those who had none at all.

Those who carried large reserves of magical power were constitutionally weak in body. The more mana they held, the more so.

And so mages and knights had inevitably separated into their own kinds. Mages could not take up swords; knights, who could not become mages, took up swords in their stead.

But this was a world in which even magical beasts could produce variants. Humans were no exception.

Those who, despite possessing great magical power, could also wield a sword simultaneously. They were called Masters.

Masters channeled their magical power through their swords. When one made up their mind and let a blade swing, they possessed enough force to leave not even a corpse of a lower-class magical beast behind.

"Even if something happens to me, I won't hold you responsible for it. So don't worry. Satisfied now?"

She felt it again—how profoundly unfair this world truly was.

The only thing the gods had withheld from this man was dignity. No. Perhaps they had given him that, too.

Because that voice, just moments ago with its feigned edge of anger, had carried a weight that made kneeling feel inevitable.

"So then. Shall we move on to the next subject? Who were the people who attacked you?"

Simen moved the conversation along at once.

The shock of learning the Emperor was a Master lasted only a moment. Flora bit her lower lip slightly at the difficult question.

Whenever someone asked about things she couldn't speak of, it became rather troublesome. Engaging with him further really had been the wrong choice.

But leaving him alone had worried her—what if something befell him?—and the fact that she'd injured his leg weighed on her as well.

Looking at it now, he would have managed perfectly fine without any of her worrying. The worry had been excessive.

"That infuriating habit again."

Simen clicked his tongue.

"Not telling me only makes me more curious. That's simply how human psychology works."

"…Just as I am not a subject of the Haenkan Empire, neither are they. I cannot say more than that."

Flora took care not to meet his eyes.

When she looked into Simen's mysterious eyes, a strange impulse swept over her—the urge to lay everything bare.

"You seem to be in a difficult position, so it can't be helped. I'll look into it myself. I cannot simply ignore the fact that there are those who have barged into my empire and disregarded law and procedure to do as they please."

Shouldn't he be threatening to kill her if she didn't speak? Isn't that what an ordinary emperor would do?

"Thank you for understanding."

A memory surfaced, unbidden—of Laviu, who had once been her lord, and of the various kings of various kingdoms she had encountered throughout her life. Against those figures, she found something discordant in Simen.

Flora had finished tightly binding Simen's herb-treated thigh with cloth, and she rose from her place on the floor.

It was then that Simen seized her arm, and seized it firmly.

"…Ugh."

Flora threw him down by reflex. By the time her mind caught up with her body, she was straddling him with her hands pressed down against his throat.

Which is to say—it wasn't that she had any intention of killing him. It was simply habit.

Simen lay on the bed, brow furrowed, making a strangled sound.

'She might actually kill me this time.'

This damned reflex of hers.

Flora regained her senses, released her hold, and arranged her expression into something as apologetic as she could manage.

The shimmer that seemed to surface in Simen's orange pupils—that might not have been her imagination.

"You just…"

"…"

"You knocked me down?"

He asked it with a face that seemed genuinely shocked. That was all he had to say. The anxiety that had been coiling tight through her nerves went completely flat.

"I'm sorry."

That she hadn't merely knocked him down but had in fact been attempting to kill him—she chose not to mention this.

When Flora moved quickly to pull away, Simen in a single motion pinned her back down.

Flora struggled in surprise, but she could not break free.

"Pretty One—don't you think we're moving a little fast?"

"…Please move."

"I don't mind, personally."

Simen's face, looking down at her, was full of mischief. Flora's brow furrowed slightly.

"Your leg… you are all right, aren't you?"

"Is anyone all right after being stabbed? It hurts. I'm simply enduring it."

'You're putting rather a lot of weight on it for someone who's simply enduring it.'

Flora gave up on moving. The advantage had already shifted. In situations like this, there was no getting free without harming the other person—or killing them.

But she could do neither of those things to Simen. She had no choice but to be still.

"There we go. A little more cooperative."

Rip. Simen tore one side of Flora's robe, and it happened in an instant.

"What are you—!"

He lowered his head and drew close. A breath she was unfamiliar with, warm and gentle, brushed against her arm—and her eyes shut, against her will entirely.

"You're wounded here, too."

"…"

Hoo. At the breath blown softly across the graze, pain registered in her arm for the first time. It seemed to be the wound from the arrow that had caught her while fighting the knights earlier.

Heat rose in her face at the improper thoughts she'd been having without meaning to.

"What were you thinking to make that expression?"

"I wasn't thinking anything."

She had, in fact, been in the process of deciding that if he tried anything, she would knock him unconscious even if he was the Emperor.

He laughed in that wry, knowing way—as though he already saw through the lie entirely—and it irritated her enough that she bit down hard on her lower lip.

"Let's test whether what you applied to me was an herbal remedy or a poison."

Simen pressed herb medicine onto his fingers and began applying it gently along Flora's jaw and arm.

"You seemed like the type who wouldn't bleed a single drop even if stabbed—and yet here you are, bleeding and feeling pain."

Flora winced slightly, her brow tightening, and his voice followed with a teasing edge.

"If it hurts, don't hold back. You can scream."

Some contrary streak rose in her, and Flora gritted her teeth all the harder.

"It's a deep cut. Without proper healing treatment, this will take a long time to recover."

"If you're finished, please move."

"Yes. All done."

"…Thank you."

He climbed off her only after he had finished applying the medicine.

"I'll turn around, so cover yourself properly. If you stay like that, I really will have a problem. I'll say it again—I'm young, and I have a great deal of vigor. It's a physiological response; it's beyond my control."

With one side of the robe torn, the slightest movement would expose far too much.

It didn't bother Flora herself, but since it seemed to cause the other person difficulty, she changed her clothes as a matter of courtesy. She also needed to leave this place now, in any case.

"Are you leaving?"

"Yes."

Simen asked this as he watched Flora, who had changed.

"Do you have somewhere to go?"

"I'll have to find somewhere. I find myself briefly indebted to Simen's empire. Thank you."

Flora offered him a polite farewell bow. Then she quietly gathered what she needed.

She had run from place to place, always fleeing—but she had stayed in this mountain cave longer than most. She'd thought there would be much to pack.

When it came to it, there was almost nothing. Same as she had come, she would leave with nothing but her weapons.

Somehow, that felt hollow.

Simen, who had been watching her gather her things, suddenly narrowed his eyes.

Flora caught the shift and turned her full attention to listening.

"Someone's here."

Flora and Simen both turned toward the cave entrance at the same moment.

Just as both of them had sensed it—someone was approaching the cave.

"…Simen, please take cover now. These will be people after me. I'll draw them in another direction."

Flora was certain it was the Cenkan knights she hadn't finished dealing with earlier.

"Flora! Wait—!"

She was out of the cave before Simen could catch her. She heard him calling from behind, and she did not fail to hear it—but there was no time to delay.

She didn't want Simen drawn further into this because of her. Before he was a Master, he was the empire's Emperor, and a person.

Even with extraordinary capability, anyone could make a mistake when they were human. Today might be that day. And Simen's leg was injured besides. Taking care could never be a bad thing.

She concealed herself behind a large rock. The moment she tried to lean out to assess the situation, an arrow came flying and buried itself close—very close.

Only one arrow. A warning shot. The implication was clear: surrender quietly, and she would not be killed.

She had no intention of surrendering. But it was still too early to engage. She needed to make sure these people wouldn't notice when Simen left the cave.

Flora counted to three silently. Then she ran with deliberate noise, drawing the enemy in another direction. Footfalls followed. They had taken her bait.

Swish. Swish.

"…Ugh."

Arrows came simultaneously from multiple directions. She had barely managed to avoid them when she noticed something embedded in her arm.

It wasn't until her vision inverted that Flora understood it was a sleeping poison.

Flora had endured inhuman experiments and brutal training. After becoming a full knight, she had never once failed to complete a mission, and Cenkan's title of hero had come to follow her because of it.

Even she had once been an ordinary human—in a time she could no longer remember—and because of that, she was not invincible.

Called a monster, and yet merely human. With only one life, like anyone else.

Finding herself in danger, she was glad she hadn't brought Simen into this.

Drowsiness crashed over her in waves. Her focus scattered. Flora forced her eyes wide open, her body shaking with the effort of fighting the drug.

She had also trained in methods for resisting poisons and sedatives. She could hold out longer than an ordinary person.

There was no time. She had to deal with these people before she ran out of it.

She hauled her attention back into place, barely managed to conceal herself behind a tree, and pulled the arrow free from her arm. A groan escaped through clenched teeth at the sharp, wrenching pain.

'She would repay this pain with their deaths.'

Flora raised her bow with a hand that was trembling. Her stomach lurched as her vision split in two, merged, then split again.

'I will not be taken back like this.'

The arrows had come from specific directions—enemies were there. Flora fired the bow as her body's memory directed her.

"…Ugh."

Bile rose even though she had eaten almost nothing. She spat it onto the ground and shook her head to clear herself.

Whatever vile alchemy had gone into creating this poison—if her concentration slipped even for a moment, she felt she would lose consciousness entirely.

Several more arrows came, and Flora barely managed to avoid them, using those moments to grip her mind with both hands and bring down several of the knights.

But she had truly reached her limit now. Muscle cramps began seizing the arm she used to draw the bowstring.

And while she hesitated—another arrow found its mark. This one went through her right shoulder.

The days of flight flashed through her mind like scenes from a dream.

Is this the end.

Thud.

Flora collapsed.