The sword princess' tale

Volume 4 epilogue - Seperation and...

Like that, things progressed to a level where I could not help but wondering if it's good or not.

To be honest, I don't get it all as my health became unstable for a few days after the unofficial meeting. Elliot did say that I don't have to worry but truthfully...

I wonder if everything's fine. Everything felt hazy for me...

Elliot and Seina handled the rest since it seemed they preferred things like this rather than battling. Other than that, Gram is supervising the reconstruction while the soldiers are dealing with the rest of odd jobs along with the lizardmen.

I think I forgot about something else but it must be unimportant if I don't care about it.

Rather, doesn't this mean my presence is nothing here? Why do I have to be here then?

After another day of rest, I could walk around the palace. While looking over the interior, I realized that there's a park with a huge crater in the middle of it.

Near the crater was a half bitten mound with a giant tree which stood unyielding against the uneven ground and pieces of stones. Its branches and trunk are distorted beyond the norm though.

"Ah." I made sound as something clicked in my mind.

I walked with quick pace, circling the huge, ruined palace in search of staircase to descend from. Then I took another route to enter the park but once I drew closer to the unyielding tree...

"Geh. It's you again." I took a step back.

"This is MY palace, you dumb girl." Valden retorted with a condescending glare.

Shut up! I had enough of seeing this foolish guy! He even gained some territories and slaves to use with some complains! How cheap can he be?!!

"...Where's that guy?"

"Your ex-fiancee is repairing the main roads."

"I don't have any fiancee, much less an ex! Also, stop comparing me with Iris!!"

"Even though you're like her in a sense?"

Oooh, so this guy knew too... does that mean my parents know it too? Mh... I don't like how everyone is keeping it a secret.

"Whatever. I just want to pay my respect to Iris." I muttered and stood next to Valden.

In front of us is a grave. It was in a pretty bad shape but I heard the remains were already cremated long ago.

The grave was carved with simple ornaments and there were words written in native beastman language. While demi-humans possess many variations, it seems they speak of the same language.

The only differences are intonation and vocabularies. For me, it's still a pain though.... oops, no time to sidetrack. I clasped my hands and prayed for Iris and while doing that...

"...did you inherit her memories?" Valden suddenly asked.

"...Nope. Her Soul Essence isn't enough to let her presence be more than subconscious behavior and she used the rest of hers to extend my lifespan." I answered without batting an eye. "Probably."

"Hmph. So typical of her." Valden snorted.

But - I sensed some emotions in those words. Is he lamenting? Or did he expect this? Either way, I don't have any interest to know more of him. He's as rude as Takeru and far worse in terms of behavior.

"...could it be. Was I called here in order to meet her?" I realized once I was done praying.

"Possibly. Only Arthur can do this kind of thing so openly."