Chapter 92

Chapter 92

***

It was a very, very faraway place. Haiden Village. Even the name Haiden was slowly fading from people's memories.

It was a place where people herded sheep and planted barley or buckwheat. It was a barren land, but since so few people lived there, they managed to scrape by somehow.

Gazing at the tragic ruins completely overgrown with clumps of grass, Rickart felt the fleeting nature of time.

I didn't have to be hurt that much. I should have forgiven them, even if it wasn't out of love, but out of hatred. After all, didn't I show mercy to Besprim, the meat chopper?

Rickart finally began to understand the 'Lord's' words, even if just a little. The one who cursed and burned me wasn't the world, it was myself.

The wind felt cold. For some inexplicable reason, his chest felt tight, and a sense of melancholy washed over him.

Rickart wandered through the ruins. He even looked around the temple where the villagers had locked people inside and burned them alive. Not even white bones remained.

Eventually, the boy who had never known what happiness was, arrived at the honeymoon home where he had learned it for the first time. It was the starting point of the tragedy.

Rickart couldn't easily bring himself to step inside. He merely hovered around the perimeter. The memories of his happiness crossed paths with the memories of his hatred welling up and his anger exploding.

Looking back on it now, after living a new life, there were things he could finally see. I was the only one who loved her.

The wife the village chief had introduced to him was a widow. It wasn't a marriage born out of love to begin with. The village community merely needed a man capable of taking responsibility, and simply handed off a woman with nowhere to go to Rickart.

I must have been unreliable to her. Everything I did was so clumsy.

Rickart calmly recalled a past he hadn't particularly wanted to dig up. Refusing to be bound by it, he let his old memories ride the wind, handful by handful, as if scattering the ashes of a cremated body into the sea.

Rather than making some grand resolution, he simply stepped calmly into the abandoned house. But unexpectedly, a pale girl was crouched in the corner. What the hell?

It was so out of the blue that Rickart blurts out without realizing it.

"Huh? There's someone here."

Simultaneously, the girl shot her head up. Squinting slightly against the sunlight, she stared intently at Rickart.

In that moment, Rickart felt as though he had seen the girl somewhere before. However, the last time he had seen Daisy, she had been incredibly filthy and grubby, making it difficult to recognize her immediately.

"Huh?"

"Someone's here? Is she a spy?"

Marie, who had been inspecting the ruins, walked over. At that moment, the girl threw herself into Rickart's arms.

"Honey!"

The memory flashed through Rickart's mind like lightning. She was the girl he had saved when he left his home and crossed the mountain pass with Arno. Daisy.

Because he was just recalling Daisy, even Rickart, with his monster-like reflexes, failed to react in time. As a result, he ended up catching her.

"Daisy?"

"That's right! It's me! Ricky! You came looking for me! You came to save me! I'm so happy!"

"Uh? U-uh... that's not it, I was just looking around here... but what are you doing here? Oh right, I met your mother once. She said you became a nun?"

"That's right. Michela, Nun of Prophecy of the Judgment Cult. That's my name as a nun."

"But what brings you here?"

"Well, because I had to meet my husband, of course?"

Daisy wrapped her arms around Rickart's waist and showed absolutely no sign of letting go. And just like in the past, she called him 'honey' entirely on her own accord, without his consent.

Rickart felt a mix of bewilderment, gladness, and utter confusion. Then suddenly, a cold chill ran down the back of his neck. When he turned around, he almost stopped breathing.

Perhaps due to Marie's unique Mana Drive, her hair was wildly splayed out as if struck by severe static electricity. And she was staring at the two of them with somewhat unfocused eyes.

"M-Marie? Hold on, let go of me for a second, Daisy."

"Who is that woman? She looks like a witch. I'm scared, Ricky."

Daisy buried her face into Rickart's iron-plated chest, cleanly covered in cloth, while staring blankly at Marie. Contrary to her words, there was virtually no fear in her expression. The only one scared was Rickart.

However, Marie didn't shout or explode in anger as one might expect. She spoke in a remarkably calm tone. Which made it even more terrifying.

"I highly suggest you think carefully before answering right now. If you don't, everyone here might die. Who is she?"

"Ah, sh-she, she's... in the past..."

"Excuse me, we're already married. We exchanged rings and everything. Right, Ricky?"

"What are you talking about!? When did I ever?"

Rickart's eyes widened at the potentially fatal remark. In truth, his memory was hazy. A precious memory that could last a lifetime for one person might just be a passing incident to another.

In any case, right now, it was an intolerable statement for Marie. Without even drawing her sword from its scabbard, she took a wild swing in the air. A blade radiating light burst outward, slicing through the scabbard itself and revealing its true form.

Under the midday sun, wielding a purplish flash of light, Marie spoke.

"Fine. Let everyone die. Don't worry, Ricky. I'll follow you soon."

"Wait! Waiiiiiit! Calm down! Calm down! Nothing like that ever happened! No! It did happen! But it was just a flower ring, a flower ring! I was ten years old! I wasn't even a legal adult, what kind of marriage is that!?"

Terrified, Rickart squeezed his eyes shut and shouted desperately and frantically. Amidst it all, memories began rapidly piecing themselves together, leading him to babble incoherently.

Despite being a man who was usually indifferent and devoid of emotional fluctuations, never in his past life or this current one had he ever panicked and trembled like this.

"What do you mean? You said thank you, Ricky! When I pointed out that it meant we were married, you said you understood!"

"I never said I understood! Never! We were both just kids back then! Don't make her angry!"

Rickart forcefully pried Daisy's arms from around his waist and violently pushed her away. The powerless girl crashed into the wall of the ruined house and slumped to the ground.

"Ouch!"

Going to such lengths caused Marie's anger to subside a little, but Rickart simultaneously felt terrible for pushing Daisy.

Daisy couldn't even stand up; she simply stared at Rickart with a shocked expression before starting to sob.

"Every day... every single day, I only thought of you, Ricky... I don't care about gods... I don't care at all..."

Rickart, having done nothing particularly strenuous but entirely overwhelmed by intense emotions, found himself slightly short of breath. His lungs ached.

"S-so what do you want me to do!? I never agreed to that..."

In his past life, he felt like he was going to go crazy from hatred and anger; now, he felt like he was going to go crazy from shock, awkwardness, a sense of injustice, and guilt.

With complex emotions all tangled into a single mess, he had no idea what to do.

Fortunately, Maire seemed to have calmed down slightly. The light receded from her sword. However, since the scabbard had been destroyed, the cold steel gleamed nakedly to the world, nowhere to return.

"So, when you were kids, you got married? At ten years old?"

"Right! That was it! But I never agreed! And she was even younger than me! How old are you anyway!? Arno told me not to be nice to people, I shouldn't have been!"

Out of pure panic, Rickart spoke rather coldly.

"A marriage made as minors without the permission of the heads of both families is invalid. So we're done here."

"Noooooo! Invalid or whatever, it was just when we were kids..."

"Then I'll just die. I understand."

Daisy, still slumped on the ground, spoke. Tears streamed endlessly down her face unquestioningly, but her expression was vacant. The shock was seemingly quite significant.

"W-why are you being so extreme too? Just leave memories as memories, please!"

"Stop yelling. Everyone can hear you."

"......"

Marie subdued the agitated Rickart instantly. She then silently looked down at Daisy.

Seeing the girl crying endlessly, Marie felt a strange sense of empathy. After all, she had also spent many nights crying because of Rickart. Consequently, her burning anger cooled off even more.

"Hey, is your name Daisy?"

"......Yes, you witch. You must have threatened Ricky with that sword, didn't you? Am I wrong?"

It sounded like a ridiculous false accusation, but it was actually true. There was a time when Marie had confessed to Rickart while pointing a sword at him.

"You'd better drop your resentment towards me. Ricky isn't going to look at you any more favorably just because of it. Ricky isn't that kind of man."

At the words 'Ricky isn't that kind of man', Daisy trembled. But she immediately tightened her adorable lips and glared at Marie with tear-stained eyes. She found it frustrating and bitter that this woman appeared to know Ricky better than she did.

"I knew him first. And we're husband and wife. Even if you deny it, it's the truth."

Marie scoffed. If mere stubbornness could win his heart, she wouldn't have suffered so much emotionally; she herself would have gotten together with Rickart ages ago.

"There are many ways I could make you angry, but I won't bother. First, you said you were a believer in the Cult? So are you an enemy or what? Let's get that straight. If you're an enemy, I have to kill you. I'm telling you this in advance—there won't be a single shred of personal feeling involved."

"T-that's a bit..."

Rickart, who had been standing with his head bowed deeply like a sinner, stepped in. But Marie ignored him and focused intently solely on Daisy.

Daisy didn't back down; she glared right back.

"I'm not a believer. I've never believed in any god, not even once. I only believe in Ricky. And we are one. In that sense, you and I are enemies, witch."

At Daisy's audacious reply, Marie smirked chillingly. Whether it was a mocking smile or an expression of confidence was unclear. It could easily have been both.

She simply spun around and started walking back toward the campsite.

Rickart hesitated on whether he should follow her or what to do. The pitiful sight of Daisy sitting there tugged at his heartstrings.

"I'm sorry for pushing you. But I hope you won't misunderstand. It's a bit late to say this, but it's nice to see you anyway."

"Ricky..."

"Regardless, it's dangerous around here. I don't know what's going to happen, but I hope you stay safe."

"Can't I come with you?"

"......"

This was an incredibly difficult situation. He was currently on an operation to subjugate the Cult, so telling her to go back to the Cult was difficult, and telling her to go somewhere else was equally problematic as Daisy had nowhere else to go.

Rickart couldn't figure out what kind of mindset he should adopt toward Daisy—whether he should reject her cold-heartedly or what.

The decisiveness that shone so sharply on the battlefield wasn't functioning at all in this kind of situation.

Seeing Rickart at a total loss for what to do, a gleam sparked in Daisy's eyes, swiftly followed by her adopting the most pitiful expression she could muster, standing up weakly.

"Alright... I'll go... take care..."

Then, she limped off in the direction of the Cult. It looked as if she had sprained her ankle, but the reality was she hadn't at all. She was just pretending.

However, Rickart, mistakenly believing Daisy was injured because he had pushed her, couldn't just stand by. Damn it!

"Wait. Let's go together for now. I'll carry you."

At those words, Daisy hopped onto Rickart's back as if she had been waiting for the exact moment. Smiling brightly behind him, she buried her face deeply into his neck.

"Am I heavy?"

"No."

"Since we parted ways, Ricky, I only thought of you every single day. What about you? Did you think about me?"

"Sometimes."

"That's mean."

"I can't lie."

"Then can't you only think about me from now on?"

"Daisy, you can't act like a child forever."

"But I can't lie either. I like you so, so much, Ricky. You're my prince and my savior."

"......Who am I to save someone else......"

Rickart didn't know what to say to her. A woman's obsession was truly terrifying. He felt like he was finally beginning to understand some of the things Ice often said.

The northern fields were vast and wide. The once-green plains were slowly drying to a yellowish hue right from their tips. The wind was cold, but not enough to make one shrink back.

In the distance, a young swordswoman walked ahead, followed by a man carrying another girl on his back. Far, far away from the ruins. Just like the present pushing away the past.

Rickart's melancholy mood had vanished so completely he couldn't even conjure the memory of it. Not that this was the situation he had hoped for, though.