< chapter 15>
“I really don’t understand what you’re talking about.”
“I told you I don’t remember anything, so please believe me…”
“It was quite the trick, something that might work on someone who lives off memories.”
“It’s special, but I was shaken quite a bit.”
“Whoever that person is, it has nothing to do with me.”
“Please explain it in a way I can understand.”
I shoved him away with all my strength.
This time, unexpectedly, I was released easily.
Because of the recoil, I alone stumbled backward and fell.
Shaikan scratched his eyebrow with his thumb and then shifted his weight onto his front foot, sitting down to meet my eyes.
“Seems I’ve indulged this far too long.”
“Since you look exactly the same, I let it slide, but now even I’m starting to get confused.”
“Wait—”
“……Let’s stop here.”
The faint smile that almost seemed nostalgic split apart mercilessly in an instant.
He grabbed my flailing ankle and dragged me in front of him.
“If you wanted to run, you should’ve gone farther than this, miss.”
“The sea is my territory.”
It was a terrifying expression I had never seen before.
In the split second I missed, there was a sickening crack as something broke.
Only when the distant agony surged through me did I realize it was my leg.
“You people are truly the worst.”
“You dig into desperate hearts, tear them apart to the very bottom, and push them into despair.”
“A–Ahhh—!”
Even as I twisted and screamed, he growled viciously.
“Speak.”
“Who sent you?”
I sobbed and crawled backward away from him.
My mind went blank, and I moved only by instinct.
But just as I barely escaped the alley, a black blade blocked my path.
When I lifted my gaze along the long pillar of legs, the breath that had nearly spilled out caught tight in my throat.
Even through my tear-blurred vision, I recognized the silhouette that was both hateful and familiar.
“There you are.”
It was Roakin.
A broken sob and hiccup burst out instead of words.
Startled, I reflexively crawled backward again, only to collide with Shaikan this time.
I was surrounded by enemies on all sides.
I did not know what to do, nor what more I even could do.
Like a cornered rat, I trembled helplessly.
Shaikan suddenly scooped me up in his arms.
“I told you not to wander alone.”
“There are a lot of strange guys out there.”
He made a shushing sound as if soothing a crying child and wiped the tears from my cheeks.
It was a hand that felt deliberately gentle, like someone breaking a swallow’s leg only to mend it again.
The drastic shift in his attitude only left me more disoriented.
“……Sir Lekitas.”
At last, Roakin’s burning eyes met Shaikan’s.
Shaikan pulled me deeper into his embrace and took a few steps back.
“I wondered where this suddenly popped up from.”
“So it belonged to you.”
“If you know, then return her.”
“Then I suppose she’s not meant to assassinate me.”
“Is she good at warming your bed?”
“Your tastes have become rather cheap.”
Shaikan glanced at my broken leg dangling in the air and sneered.
“Even the lack of holy power is the same.”
“Did you copy that too, hmm?”
Roakin immediately released killing intent at his mocking remark.
Shaikan lightly twisted his body to evade and leisurely slipped into the dark alley.
Whatever connection they shared, it seemed certain that I would be the one beaten between them.
With the last of my strength, I struggled wildly.
“Let me go!”
My flailing hand scratched against Shaikan’s chest before catching on something.
It was the pendant hanging around his neck.
Then everything happened at once.
Shaikan dropped me amid my fierce resistance.
Roakin reached out and grabbed me.
And the gem from the pendant slipped neatly into my grasp.
As each scene unfolded in slow motion, a window of unfamiliar color appeared before me.
[‘Bashati’s Tear (Legendary)’ has been acquired!]
[As a reward, (Memory Fragment) has been collected.]
[-Synchronization will begin.-]
My vision spun violently.
Roakin’s figure flickered and scattered, replaced by acrid dust that filled the space.
When I opened my eyes, only the dry whisper of wind brushed my ears.
The smell of something burning mixed with the metallic scent of blood.
It was like an empty battlefield after all fighting had ended.
After blinking a few times, I finally recognized where I was.
‘You are…’
I was still in Shaikan’s arms.
However, I was wrapped in cloth, repeatedly clenching and unclenching tiny hands.
When I opened my mouth, only the cry of a baby came out.
It seemed that in this memory, I was a newborn infant.
Shaikan, too, had gone back over a decade in time.
His face was that of a smooth young boy without a single scar.
Despite looking filthy as if he had rolled in mud, his former vitality shone brightly.
“Waaah!”
When I cried, he panicked and awkwardly shook the bundle.
There was not a trace of the composure he possessed now.
“Please don’t cry.”
“Are you hungry?”
“Or does something hurt?”
He ran around in all directions, doing everything he could as if soothing me were his sole mission.
Perhaps even his clumsy touch was comforting, because I soon stopped crying and began to smile.
“Baa—ah!”
At last, a smile spread across Shaikan’s lips.
“That’s right.”
“Come with me.”
“I’ll protect you.”
As if I understood, I laughed even louder.
I toyed with the soft sweat on the boy’s skin and grabbed at the sparkling pendant on his chest.
His gaze lingered briefly on the jewel.
“………………Lamia.”
After soothing me once more, he gently pressed his forehead against mine and whispered.
“No matter what happens, you alone…”
“You alone, I will protect for sure.”
His breath trembled as if he were desperately holding back sobs.
With that scene, my vision flipped again.
[-Synchronization has ended.-]
[Synchronization Rate: 8%]
Along with the refined memory fragment, branches of the past returned as well.
So according to the synchronized memory, Shaikan picked up Lamia, who had been abandoned as an orphan on the battlefield, and raised her.
In the end, he was practically Lamia’s father.
When I grew older, he even became a proper Holy Knight Commander and took on the role of my teacher.
Even without sharing blood, the depth of his affection was extraordinary.
That explained, at least somewhat, why he had reacted so furiously when he thought I was a deliberately made doll or substitute.
Though it was unfair for me, lying here with a shattered ankle.
Shattered ankle… ah, my leg!
