CH 24

Lloyd didn’t try to hide his alarm. But at the word “home,” there was clearly misgivings in his eyes. Like a beast stalking its prey from the darkness, he quietly stared at Wisteria.

It was Salutis who, as if growing impatient, spoke up.

“Don’t you know any manners, child? You would have died if you were left alone, but she is the one who saved you and brought you here. She’s actually an old hag, so you don’t have to pay much attention to her, but you were saved by an old lady and you didn’t even tha–oi, stop swinging me, Irene!”

“Do you have some kind of disease that makes it impossible for you to speak without embellishment? Why can’t it let you sincerely thank me for my friendship?”

While Salutis and Wisteria exchanged lighthearted banter, Lloyd remained silent, his eyes probing.

But caution soon gave way to suspicion, and a hint of puzzlement began to creep into his golden eyes.

“What do you want from me?”

“That’s supposed to be my line. Do you think I would just leave alone a person who suddenly appeared and collapsed right in front of me?”

Wisteria said, half-fed up. Something like hesitation slowly spread in Lloyd’s eyes. He seemed to be shaken by doubt and unable to make a decision.

Eventually, he spoke.

“Are you…really Wisteria Irene? The adopted daughter of the Lafferty family?”

Wisteria shrugged lightly.

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“I don’t know how word got around after I was gone.”

“——Wisteria Irene Lafferty would have been three years older than my mother. If you’re really her…you’ve become the Guardian, and yet you survived, and your appearance is odd.”

Lloyd said, wrinkling his brow.

Wisteria couldn’t help but laugh at the frankness of the word “strange.” Lloyd was the first person to express himself in such a straightforward manner. No one but Salutis knew about Wisteria’s situation.

“Don’t you know that I had resistance to the miasma from the start. The only reason I’m still alive after all these years was because of that resistance and this dear friend of mine.”

“Stop it, you’re creeping me out! To be correct, you should say that I’m your great benefactor, the great holy sword worthy of reverence, and the greatly esteemed protec–Eek, d-d-d-don’t try to sheathe me in front of other people, you idiotic shameless hater!”

Side-eying the sword shrieking like a maiden, Wisteria told Lloyd her story with the <Great Dragon Tree>.

Lloyd was indeed at a loss for words.

“Apparently, I won’t die immediately even if I’m exposed to thick miasma. It just built up in my body…and eventually, I mutated.”

I guess you can also call it adaptation, Wisteria said lightly.

“The nature and effects of the miasma are still largely unknown. One of those great mysteries happened to me. In other words, my body’s time stopped.”

She tried to keep her tone casual, but Lloyd still seemed stunned. Golden eyes stared at Wisteria.

“You’re saying you’re immortal…?”

“No. I don’t think I’m immortal. I don’t know because I’ve never died, though. I’ve only stopped aging, and if I get injured, it will take time for me to recover, like a normal person. I also need sleep when I’m tired, and I can get laid up in bed with fever.”

Wisteria suddenly remembered Lloyd’s word from earlier. Witch.

Frozen words that were completely aimed at an enemy–at something that looked like a demon. The young man now seemed like he was looking at a human being. There, she thought she saw the honesty of his nature.

But not only that, there was a faint flickering in his eyes.

“Have you…been living like this all this time? As a Guardian?”

Lloyd sounded like he was trying to suppress his emotions. Hesitation. Or shock.

His piercing hostility was considerably lessened.

Wisteria, a little surprised, replied, “Well, pretty much.”

(Where else would I be?)

The words of self-mockery that were about to go up to her throat were stopped just short.

Feeling somewhat embarrassed, she changed the subject.

“Now then, young man. You must return as soon as possible. If you came here by a <Gate>, you must have a way to go back, right?”

Lloyd stared at Wisteria with a quiet and watchful eye.

“…If I send the signal to return, the <Gate> will be opened once again.”

“I see. So the only way to open the <Gate> is from the other side. Your plan was to retrieve the holy sword <Salutis> and return immediately. So, what are you going to do, Salt?”

In the latter half of her words, Wisteria looked the holy sword in her hand.

“Don’t ask me that, you fool. This child is not my master. Even with my gracious compassion, I will only make one person my temporary master, and I have my hands full just babysitting you―”

“…Temporary master?”

Lloyd reacted to Salutis’s words. One of his eyebrows twitched. And then he stared suspiciously at Wisteria and the sword.

“Does that mean…you’re not acknowledged as its true master?”

“…Well, yes. This pompous and meddlesome sword had taken pity on me and became my companion.”

“How insulting, Irene! Weep for my mercy, worship me and prostrate yourself! It’s only by my grace that you’re alive!”

Lloyd gave a suspicious look at the shouting Salutis.

While pretending she hadn’t heard anything, Wisteria smiled wryly inside her head.

Although its way of speaking also had the blame, Salutis was much more emotional than humans.

The holy sword <Salutis> was once taken out of a demon by a demigod hero in the age of myths.

As its name suggested, it was powerful, self-possessed, and chose its own master.

After the age of myths passed and the great hero passed on, Salutis was unable to find a master.

From heroes of the age and those called sword saints to drunken ruffians, people tried to draw Salutis and wield its power, but in every case, they were unable to do so.

The sword, which couldn’t find a master, was kept in the royal treasury, which was managed by the Institute of Magic, for a long time. It was also said that it was left in a warehouse.

The sword, which had been left in such a state of misfortune for a long time, one day took an unexpected action.

——How pitiful, girl.

Wisteria still vividly remembered the first time Salutis said that to her.

When she decided to become the <Guardian> in place of her adoptive sister, Wisteria had gone to the Institute of Magic herself and made her appeal.

The holy sword, which was supposed to have been sleeping in a vault at the time, apparently took an interest in, and then pitied, this girl named Wisteria.

——I’m bored to death. I’ll keep you company for a little bit.

He told her this like this was a light way of killing time, and then he voluntarily fell into the stunned Wisteria’s hands.

It was a sight to behold when the old sword, which had refused anyone’s hand, suddenly fell into the hands of a woman who had never even learned martial arts.

(How could it ever think of following me?)

Although she’d never say it out loud, the fact was that without Salutis, she wouldn’t be alive today.

And the fact that the sword, which had refused the hand of anyone else, recognized only her–even if only temporarily–was something that gave her a feeling that couldn’t be described as a faint sense of superiority or hope, and it was one of the reasons that kept her alive.

Wisteria was in a pensive mood when she saw the sharp glint in the golden eyes and came to her senses.

“So, all I have to do is to get it to recognize me as its true master.”

Lloyd muttered, and the corners of his lips lifted up.