TMKWPL CH 2

Chapter 2

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Strange Regression

“To the glorious Eldarion Empire’s Black Knights! We greet the commander!”

“……!”

As soon as she opened the door, she was startled by a loud cheer. What unfolded before her eyes were men lined up precisely like machines. Standing in an attention stance, the familiar uniform of the Order of the Black Knights clearly outlines their rippling muscles without a single mistake.

Flutter. Flutter.

The sound of birds fleeing late in surprise echoed in the silence due to the furious roar. What she had expected was Berl fighting against the fearless monsters that had crossed the barrier, or maybe someone skilled he had brought along. Lucia froze like a statue by the unexpected turn of events.

Her long moment of silence made Berl, kneeling before her, raised his head.

“Commander Lucia. It's been a long time.”

After hearing his firm voice, Lucia lowered her gaze, which had been staring at the crowd and looked at him. And upon seeing his face, she was doubly surprised.

You look just like him.

Human genetics are truly fascinating. Without a doubt, even the straight gaze looking at her was exactly the same as the Berl she knew.

“In the end. You went first.”

There’s only one reason why his son, who looks exactly the same as him came and brought all these people here. Although he was taller and of a similar age to her, Lucia was calm about him passing away first.

“You don’t need to call me commander, like your father did.”

“…Pardon?”

“There's no need for formality. If it's a funeral, you didn't have to come all the way here to fetch me. You've gone through unnecessary trouble to come to this place.”

Berl, startled by his commander's sudden words, raised his bent legs. Then, he flailed about as if a fire had broken out, and eventually bowed his head deeply in panic.

“I apologise! Doing something like this without even knowing the atmosphere...!!”

Those rotten bastards…! They should have at least given me a hint. No wonder I didn't see their faces today. If the captain hadn't brought me here herself, I would have kicked them out a hundred times. Those cunning bastards!

As Berl’s anger exploded, the key figures who had to attend the surprise welcoming ceremony to celebrate the birth of the Sword Master, which he had prepared so thoroughly, was nowhere to be seen.

Lucia sighed sadly as she looked at the completely dejected man in front of her. Even though it was his father’s funeral, his loyal habit of not letting a single unpleasant remark go was exactly like him.

“Then I’ll get ready and come out again.”

“Yes, commander. Oh, wait, co-commander. Oh, no. Leader? Boss…?”

Berle was broken when his commander told him not to call him commander. Lucia went inside the house and headed to the dressing room to get dressed up.

She wasn't keen on wearing the imperial uniform after a long time, but since it was the death of someone who had been with the Knights for a long time, she decided to be as formal as possible.

As she looked around for the uniform, she saw a large mirror that wasn't originally in the dress room.

It was a mirror that she had used for quite some time to adjust the angles of her uniform during her time as an Imperial Knight, so it wasn’t unfamiliar, but she had no memory of bringing it here.

Feeling a strange sensation, she slowly approached the mirror and looked at it. But the figure looming there...

"……!"

'What…on earth...'

Lucia's body froze at the unbelievable sight.

Instead of white hair and wrinkled skin, there was lush, long black hair that reached her waist even when tied, and lively skin with a faint cherry blush.

And instead of faint rim of her pupils, she had bright blue eyes that looked like they had stars embedded in them.

There was no mistaking it. It was her appearance in her twenties.

Lucia, with trembling hands, carefully touched her face as if to confirm. And the conclusion she reached was,

“…Did I finally lose my mind?”

And just like that, her composure for more than ninety years has collapsed. Was a natural death this difficult?

For her, dying without her mind was one of the most miserable deaths, so she hoped that this would not be her last. She was frustrated by the misery that weighed her down.

Knock. Knock.

“Bo-boss. This is Berl.”

Berl, was timid enough to purposely call her boss because she told him not to call her commander anymore.

He wasn’t a narcissistic person who would even name his son after himself.

She felt bitter once again at the stupid misunderstanding she had toward him. Lucia, barely holding onto the mirror, deliberately didn't answer his voice, not knowing if it was a hallucination or a crazy memory.

“I apologize if I’m bothering you. There’s someone from the imperial palace here right now. He seems to have brought a letter from His Majesty asking you to enter the imperial palace tomorrow.”

Enter the imperial palace?

That couldn’t be true.

It was a waste of time silently listening to the emperor’s nonsense. Lucia had been holed up here for forty years in order to escape that place. Moreover, the young emperor now doesn’t even know her face.

If that's the case, it was even stranger. Even if she had dementia, there was no way she would miss and reminisce about such meaningless times.

“…Surely not.”

Lucia looked at herself in the mirror again with doubtful eyes. She still looked young. But that wasn’t what she was curious about. She roughly pushed aside the blouse she was wearing. Then she examined the scars that marked her body like tattoos.

This one, the war in the Heverney Valley, this one’s from the monsters of Palail Mountain....This...

What Lucia was looking at was the unforgettable reminder of her past, a testament to her history and memory. But, again.

“Nothing.”

The last scar she was looking for was inflicted by one of the most ferocious and fearsome creature, known to dwell in these mountains. The scar on her shoulder earned by slaying that monster had vanished without a trace.

Her suspicions heightened and she hastily opened the door and scanned the house.

"Co-commander!?" Ah, no, boss! No matter how much I respect you, why would you do such a thing...!”

Berl, who was waiting at the door, turned around with a flushed face as the half-open blouse revealed her cleavage. Regardless of his fuss, Lucia walked around the house with a serious face to confirm her suspicion.

It was a familiar place. Perhaps that was why she hadn't noticed the sense of incongruity. As she had expected, this was the imperial training centre where she had lived for nearly twenty years, the entirety of her time while serving as an imperial knight.

…So, that’s it.

A strange word and story that had been passed down as a song by old bards who had wandered the world for generations. Regression.

“Berl, what year is it?”

Berl, who was turned away in the corner, answered his commander's question immediately.

“Ye-yes! It’s…the fifth year of the New Empire!”

The fifth year of the New Empire. That was the year that she began her training as soon as the war ended, became a sword master.

She sent Berl away and stared at her reflection with a stunned mind like a clock that has stopped ticking. She was frozen in the mirror for so long.

As time passed, a ray of sunlight flowing in through the window illuminated the smooth corner of her eye, where white traces had dried. That awkward thing in her memory was a tear mark.

The only regret in the panorama of her dreams last night. So small and white. Still too young to be called a girl.

“......Mommy......?”

The faint words from that child's mouth at that time and the clear golden eyes of the small child became dizzying as they were compared to the descending sunlight.

If her memory was correct, she would receive a Sword Master-level mission from the emperor tomorrow. That was the first step in the sacrifice of the saintess that she had regretted so much.

Has she finally realized the fate of the opportunity given by heaven?

Only then did all the things floating in Lucia's mind begin to connect as one.

With a clumsy hand, she wiped the dryness from the corners of her eyes, and a gleam of determination glistened in her young eyes.

 • ───────── ☽༓☾ ───────── •

Late at night.

The third training camp on a hill just behind the imperial palace. Lucia was there, looking out the window. To be exact, she was looking at the Imperial Palace, brightly lit with lights, under the window of the training camp.

"……."

If I remember correctly, I have to report the results of my training to the emperor early tomorrow morning. And the mission I’ll receive……Was there such thing as a special-grade mission like that?

Before regression, the special-grade order from the emperor had no mention of the saintess anywhere.

I thought it was just a task to escort a noble of some kingdom who had run away from home to the temple.

But it turned out to be escorting the saintess…

No, the word escort feels disgusting. Because that path was the first step to brutally sealing the saintess.

With my own hands, that child…….

“.......”

In the silence, she swept her darkening face and shook his head as if to clear her mind.

I must not repeat the sin of that day.

Lucia immediately looked at the paper in her hand. It was the document she'd snuck into the temple as soon as she came to her senses. She had learned the location of the classified document after becoming the Commander-in-Chief.

Remembering that location, she went there again and checked the ongoing plan for sealing the saintess. As expected, there were more than fifty documents containing information on quite a few children.

But according to her memory, there were seven saintess candidates.

It seemed they hadn't yet narrowed it down to the seven children with divine power among these many.

It wouldn't be difficult for her, who was going to fetch the child, to pick out the real saintess' information from among them.

The prophecy from the temple side is simple, like a heroic tale. A prophecy that the saintess will appear and resolve everything.

That black contamination rotted the land, creating a great famine, and spread, foreshadowing the end of the continent. And as much as that belief, the saintess appeared as prophesied.

The sacred tree that appeared with her quickly restored nature, and that became the foundation for the abundant and peaceful empire. It really was resolved as prophesied. But the truth was not all of that.

In the confidential documents she saw after becoming commander-in-chief, there was the original text of the prophecy she didn't know and the accurate information about the saintess.

The day the saintess was born with black hair is the day of awakening.

She understood why the temple hid that information. Because if it were known to the public, protecting the saintess would become difficult.

But after checking the subsequent records, Lucia despaired. It was recorded that to extract the life force of the saintess, they had sealed the saintess who had awakened at the tree of life.

While she was still...alive.

It was a horrific truth.

Before she could recover from the shock, Lucia had a question. According to the interpreted prophecy, there should only be the saintess, and the sacred tree is nowhere mentioned.

No matter how one looks at it, this must have been someone's plan to usurp the saintess’ power and profit from it.

But the imperial family, who would benefit the most at the time, had short lives, and almost everyone in the temple had changed. And nowhere in the document was a specific name mentioned.

In the midst of the vague truth, the only fact that remained for her was that Lucia herself had guided the pitiful saintess to her death.

Even if she didn't know, she couldn't forgive herself for protecting the people who had grown fat from the saintess's death. That was the real reason she lived the rest of her life in lonely solitude.

Lucia threw the paper with the real saintess' information into the fireplace. The start of the event that had tormented her for half a lifetime turned into ashes and fluttered meaninglessly as the fire quickly caught.

She placed her hand on the sword on her waist and gave it strength. Whether it’s will, or fate. It didn't matter even if it was just a boring prank by the gods.

If I could save the child in this moment, this will be my chance to atone for my sins.

Lucia solidified her resolve, set off towards the place where the young saintess was.

Chapter 1

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Chapter 3