act30side

Hey, maid, everyone else about has already scarpered off. Why are you still here?

Shouldn't you have left as well, Madam Sciurus?

Do I really have to, just because you tell me to?

This statue is the fruit of everyone's labors. If anything happened to it, how could I break the bad news to them?

Is it the fruits of everyone's labors, or Enciodes's?

No wonder I saw the Saintess hold you back just now. Think I saw her tell you something too.

You hardly sound surprised.

I'm not an idiot. She looked completely blindsided, but how could that possibly be?

It's just that, looking at it from her perspective, the best position she can be in is knowing a little bit, but not too much.

And so she sent you to go the last mile for her, huh? Well, what is it then?

Of the people currently drawing close, one is Degenbrecher, while the other is a Trilby Asher from Victoria.

A Trilby Asher?!

He couldn't... No, he wouldn't go that far...

Did the Saintess ask you to stay, just so you could warn me about this?

Let's go with that.

Allow me to look after the statue in your stead.

This ends here.

Urk...!

Sure enough, you are the Black Knight. I will not underestimate you.

But that is precisely why you should realize that you cannot best me.

Oh?

I like the confidence.

But my patience runs thin.

The way you scurry and flit about has already started to bore me.

My apologies, Madam. I have been derelict in my duty, if you feel that way.

However, if I may speak freely, Madam Degenbrecher, I feel no murderous intent in your swings.

You were invincible during your days in Kazimierz, the Black Knight that struck terror into her opponents with her mighty blade, but now you're reduced to using these edgeless toys—

Grkh!

These edgeless toys will be enough for the likes of you.

I only ever used that Leithanian greatsword in competitions. The sponsors demanded it.

'The greatsword-wielding Leithanian warrior', 'the Artsless freak' ...Call me what you will. It matters not.

But it's time to cut this dance short. You seem to have forgotten something.

The reason why I started using these degenbrechers in the first place—

What...Ugh!

The frosty bite of her blow stops his words before they leave his mouth.

The frigid winds of Kjerag stab him, the unfeeling mountain snows crush him, and the ice-cold degenbrechers slam into him with all the force of a glacier.

There is no resisting such an attack.

Gah...

This is but a warning.

There are many who wish to cause trouble for Enciodes, and if I could crush them all dead, there would be a lot less trouble for me.

But unfortunately, there are some people who are much more useful alive than dead.

You, for example.

*cough*, *cough*... I see.

I thank you for your mercy, Madam Degenbrecher.

These weapons.

I use them for a very simple reason.

They have no edge, so it's much easier for me to keep men like you alive.

If I were to use a little more force with these blunt weapons, most would become nothing more than mincemeat.

That's how it's always been, from the very start.

Among those who step up to fight me, many would be easily crushed.

It does not matter if you are a caster of Leithanien, or a knight of Kazimierz. In the end, you are the same.

Faith, ideals, grit and perseverance, firm determination. They all fall before sheer brute force.

It's hilarious.

Being broken too easily is its own complication.

The woman who took her weapon's name looks down disdainfully upon the Victorian before her. He had been by no means an easy foe to handle, so it was up to her, and only her, to face him.

But even so, it has not been particularly difficult to defeat him.

The road from being a destitute, Artsless nobody to becoming the Black Knight, three-time consecutive champion, was not an easy one to walk.

Compared to that, anything that came after was only a trifle.

Hah... By your standards as the Black Knight, the 'natural-born warrior', there can't be many who aren't considered 'fragile'.

Hardly.

If you had been even the slightest bit more serious, I would have had to put in a lot more effort.

Unfortunately for me, as an intelligence officer, it is not in battle where I have to get serious.

Wow, they've already climbed up all the scaffolding.

These Trilby Ashers are skilled indeed.

There is not a person in all of Kjerag who could scarper from the mountains to this island while getting hunted by Degenbrecher.

Could there be many such people in Victoria?

Truly, there are terrors all about these lands.

Indeed. There are terrors all about these lands, and we must cope with them in our own way every day. I have half a mind to find a replacement for myself as Saintess.

Oh, perish the thought. Wasn't it you who sought to be Saintess in the first place?

You truly do resemble your brother in that regard. You both love giving yourselves things to do.

I am nothing like him.

Oh, yes, alright, he's very much like you, then. Is that better?

Kjarr.

Yes?

Do you still remember our agreement?

Hmm? Which one?

This is no time for jokes, Kjarr.

Yes, of course I remember. 'Kjeragandr need only watch over her people, nothing more'.

Yes.

At the time, I had already begun doing some things under the table... If we depended on Her even for this matter, then whether it was him or me, our ideals would be but empty words and bluster.

It's not quite so easy being a bystander, you know.

I ask Her only to be patient for a little while longer.

Alright then, although I'm not sure if She can even hear our little agreement.

Anyway, I just came to see if we could change this statue a bit is all.

I can't believe you haven't given up on that ye—

This is one matter that I'm definitely not giving up on.

Wow. I think the statue might be a bit slanted after Degenbrecher's kick just now.

That Trilby Asher isn't half bad either. Him grabbing the statue's finger to adjust the balance of his body sure was a surprise. That there's the real deal.

Do you think they could help me thin out the face a bit?

*sigh* I was far too naïve from the start, thinking that it didn't matter what I looked like on the outside. Made me not really care much about my appearance.

After many interactions with others, my aesthetic senses changed alongside the people, and so we end up with the look I have today.

But those drawings in those ancient tomes persisted all the while. I should have taken those books away from the Edelweiss clan when they were out of the house.

Who expected them to suddenly decide to build a statue of Kjeragandr anyway?!

Those two sure climbed up to the top of the statue real quick.

Ah, that's right, shave the cheek on that side down a little bit more.

Damn it, don't shave down the sides of Her hair too! I quite like those!

Hmm... From this angle it doesn't look half bad though, does it?

Where was I? Right, after getting to know Enya, I started to look after my appearance more.

I would always go with her when she would sneak out for walks, recommending me various cute ornaments and trinkets. After who knows how long, I started to like those things myself.

Hmm. Maybe we can replace that lock of hair that got shaved off with a big piece of jewelry.