TMKWPL CH 3

Chapter 3

• ────── ✦ ────── •

Operation: Rescue the Saintess (1)

Early dawn, on a small harbour near the capital.

As dawn approaches, the eerie dawn light seeps into the labyrinth-like alleys. This place was the small harbour where they came to pick up the saintess on that fateful day.

Lucia, wearing a black cloak used for infiltration, stood in a narrow alleyway and scanned her surroundings.

'…It’s definitely one of these.'

Back then, she had come here without any suspicion, solely to carry out her mission.

But now, as she looked at the place again, she knew from experience that a place filled with warehouses were more likely to be a black market where smugglers stored and traded contraband.

The sight of these greed-filled warehouses made her head throbbed at the thought of rummaging through them to search for the child. But she soon shook her head as if trying to come to her senses.

'It’s better to search the warehouse now than to escort the child after she became a candidate for saintess.'

She stealthily hid her presence and surveyed every corner of the warehouse.

'This is disgusting. At this rate, it wouldn't be surprising if it was an old animal carcass.'

The rotten smell hit her noses as she approached the warehouse, it was old enough to be considered the oldest in the area.

'She can’t be here. There’s no way a person would be in a place like this…….'

Despite her thoughts, Lucia strangely couldn't bring herself to leave. Moreover, the warehouse's lock was as sturdy as new, as if it's guarding something.

A fancy lock on this rotten warehouse….

Lucia touched the lock. Unsurprisingly, not a speck of dust stained her white gloves. The lock wouldn’t be spotless unless someone touches it every day.

The thick iron lock was tightly secured, seemingly impossible for anyone to open, but she was already a swordsmaster.

The aura blade she created sliced through the lock effortlessly like she was cutting pudding. And when she pushed the door open, the stench of filth and other foul odours wafted out of the door, making her frown.

'…It’s worse than a battlefield.'

It was a place where, even if it’s not a saintess, something alive might be present.

Just as she was to open the door again to leave. Suddenly, a chilling sound echoed, and Lucia quickly closed the door again.

'Was that an alarm?'

Hiding herself as she can, the sound soon died down. Fortunately, there was no sign of anyone coming to check on her, so Lucia quietly lit the lantern she had brought.

“…!”

The rare colours of the feathers and the exotic and splendid appearance. They were birds with such noble appearances that any aristocrat full of greed would go crazy over them.

Wild birds, which had never been seen before, were trapped in cages, filling the dilapidated warehouse.

'Is it the cause of secretions and stool? I shouldn’t have underestimated this small harbour.'

The value of the bird trade here was undoubtedly worth an unimaginable high price.

Lucia slowly looked around the warehouse. Fortunately, the rare birds were quiet even if she made eye contact. It was as if they were seeing a human for the first time.

'Are there only birds? Where could...'

Lucia set the lantern on the ground and removed her hood. She then concentrated and unfolded her spatial embodiment. Spatial embodiment was one of the techniques of a grand swordsmaster, a way to synchronize with your body to scan a space.

The more she closed her eyes and concentrated, the more her keen senses recited this warehouse in detail.

She detected an irregular small heartbeat.

It was not the steady heartbeat of a bird, but something else—an indication of a presence.

Lucia withdrew her technique and approached the source. An uneasy, tense feeling. The ragged breathing that accompanied it was enough to make her the boldest of women, nervous.

“.......”

A small child huddled and clutching a tattered cloth on top of a pile of feathers. The only thing that made her think it was a person was the dark hair that flowed out from the worn and tattered cloth.

The first evidence of the saintess; black hair the same colour as Lucia's hair. The second evidence, the tender age of about five, just after shedding her baby teeth.

And if the third evidence, which is the divine power, were to emerge. This little child would be undoubtedly the saintess. But before she could even confirm it, Lucia saw the child's hand peeking out from the cloth.

Small, tiny white hands.

It was the same as that day, the image she had tried to forget for half her life.

'It is you.'

What an irony that the saintess sent by God existed in a place full of such filth.

“… Ah.”

Just as she was about to say something to the saintess she had finally found, the child flinched in surprise at the sound, and Lucia was left speechless.

'...Have I ever spoken to the child? Or, has a child around this age ever spoken to me?'

She had no idea.

Lucia had never attended her close comrade’s wedding nor the birth of that comrade’s granddaughter. And the young maid she'd been with her in her last days was barely old enough to be called a child.

In other words, she realized she had no meaningful connections with any children throughout her life.

Although she rushed to the saintess' rescue, she had no idea what to do with the child.

Lucia stopped in her tracks and stood still, looking down at the child.

A dirty old cloth stained with grime; feathers soiled with filth; and tangled hair.

The child was shaking all over that it was hard to tell if she’s shaking from fear or cold.

The appearance of such a pitiful child was so miserable that it seemed to have the right to resent God more than anyone else born into the world.

Lucia looked at the lantern in her hand which was the only light luminating this place. When she heard the sound of the lamp being placed in front of her, the child was startled and shrank further into the corner.

Lucia suddenly remembered the child she had picked up on the battlefield when she was seventeen. The situation was similar, but even that child was older than the saintess.

'He… He must be about eighteen years old by now.'

The image of the eccentric kid who had become a member of her troupe with his natural talent flashed through her mind.

She just sat in front of the child without saying anything and was thinking about various things, when she heard something rustling. Perhaps because Lucia was just staring for a long time, the child hiding, lowered the cloth to see the situation.

Finally, she saw those clear eyes hidden underneath the child’s long hair.

“......Mommy?”

Lucia’s body stiffened instantly.

Those clear golden eyes and the last words the child had said before letting go of her hand.

 • ───────── ☽༓☾ ───────── •

Fourth year of the New Imperial Era.

A nursery in a small rural village, Geraci Province.

Late at night, when all the lights are out.

Moonlight streamed in through the old windows, illuminating the two-story bunk beds that filled the room. And from somewhere on the edge of those beds, a small groan was heard.

On the first floor of the bed where the sound came from, a small girl with rare black hair was having a nightmare and her forehead drenched in cold sweat.

*Squeak*

It was the sound from the second floor of the bed where the black-haired child was lying. The flimsy bed shook a little, and a girl who looked to be about ten years old climbed down and approached little girl's side.

“Annie, wake up. Annie.”

The girl, who looked quite tidy for someone who grew up in an orphanage, whispered softly into the sleeping girl’s ear and gently woke her.

“U-ughh!”

“Shhh.”

“…Um, big sister.”

“Yes, It’s big sister Mia. Did you have a nightmare again?”

The child, who had been sweating, was startled and woke up from her dream, but the girl named Mia seemed familiar with it and patted the child.

“.......”

Though still young and unable to pronounce words properly, Annie knew the word nightmare. But she couldn’t tell if it was a good or bad dream, so she said nothing.

The dream was about her mother coming to her in a splendid carriage. A nightmare, but also her happiest dream.

“Here.”

The reason the girl naturally held out her hand was because of the child’s habit of desperately holding her small hand after having a dream. Mia, who had wandered through many orphanages, had met many children with this habit.

From what she had observed, when parents abandon their children here, the last thing they lose is the warmth of their mother’s hands, and this was one of the habits that developed.

But strangely enough, Annie was a child who had been abandoned since birth and lived here her whole life.

"......I’m going to get scolded."

Annie said worriedly, lying beside Mia.

There was a rule in the orphanage that even in such a cramped, shabby place, each child must have their own bed. A somewhat cruel rule, but it was meant to prevent children from forming attachments before leaving the orphanage.

“Don't worry. I'll go back to my bed when you go back to sleep.”

"......Ugh."

The child nodded weakly, as if exhausted.

"Annie, was work really that hard today?"

Mia felt Annie fidgeting with her hand as if it was difficult for her to sleep again, so Mia quietly spoke gently,

"That despicable trash of a director. How dare they use a child like you to fill my empty spot while I’m going to be adopted by the baroness."

Mia’s harsh words seemed to be because she felt sorry that Annie had to take her place because of her being adopted tomorrow.

“Someday, when I succeed, I’ll come get you. I’ll work hard so it won’t take long, so just hold on until then. We’ll definitely meet again.”

Annie nodded slightly at Mia’s promise mixed with regret and anger.

“And I told you, when the arrogant village kids bully you, throw that shovel at the kids who are teasing you. Got it? They’re really nothing.”

“Dirty Annie! Stinky Annie!”

Annie squeezed her eyes shut as the sound of the village kids mocking her echoed vividly in her head at Mia’s words.

When the support from Baron Geraci decreased, the orphanage in this small town made the child do chores for the town.

It was the job of cleaning the village’s public toilet, which even adults avoided because it was dirty, but it was the best job to give to the unfortunate children who had lost their parents.

The village children, who had parents like that, were just like their parents, and always went there to bully the children in the orphanage.

“Hahhh, with your kind-hearted personality, you won’t be able to do it properly. Now, go to sleep.”

Mia closed her eyes and pretended to sleep.

When Annie holding her hand and finally closed her eyes. Mia, who had been harshly cursing, opened her eyes again with a worried look and looked at the child.

Annie knew that Mia was worried about her even though she had closed her eyes. But more than Mia's concern, Annie was lonely, knowing that there was no one to hold her hand right now.

But Annie believed. Mia, the smartest person she knew, had once told her that dreams are opposites.

Though her mother had let go of her hand many times in her dreams, she believed that when she finally appeared before her, she would hold her hand tightly and stay with her.

So, even if she always felt sad and disappointed, she knew this was not a nightmare.

Chapter 2

Chapter List

Chapter 4