It wasn’t exactly pleasant to kill monsters with my own hands that took the form of my loved ones.

Nevertheless, I didn’t stop.

Father, mother, friends, fellow apprentice knights… I continued to cut down the monsters that stole their forms.

“……”

The Duke silently watched me as I swung my sword.

It wasn’t difficult to guess what he was thinking.

He’s probably inwardly criticizing me again.

Thinking I’m a cruel and terrible woman who would cut down even her own family and friends without hesitation.

If he really thought of me that way, it would be a good thing for me.

What the Duke needed right now wasn’t a gentle lady who couldn’t hurt an ant.

A cruel and cold warrior was exactly what he needed.

Slash.

After cutting down the last monster, I looked at the Duke.

The monster’s disgusting bodily fluids had splattered on my face during the battle, but I didn’t bother wiping them off as there was no need to look pretty for him.

I simply asked:

“Do I seem useful?”

He stared at me, covered in monster blood and fluids, with an unreadable gaze for a long time.

Only after a desolate wind swept through the barren wilderness could I hear his evaluation.

“To be honest, I wanted to criticize you. I wanted to rebuke you for having terrible skills unlike the rumors. But… I simply can’t tell such a lie.”

He approached and patted my still-dirty shoulder in encouragement.

“Your skills were so excellent that I couldn’t find fault even if I tried. It seems the rumors about your outstanding martial prowess weren’t just empty talk.”

“Thank you. I will strive harder not to bring shame to the name of the Order.”

The Duke’s reaction was unexpected even for me.

I thought he would try to find fault with me even forcibly, but fortunately, he wasn’t that petty of a person.

He honestly acknowledged the skills I had built up through painstaking effort.

Thanks to that, I could somewhat understand why the members of the Silver Knight Order followed him so devotedly.

Feeling a slight wave of emotion, I was about to tell him again that I looked forward to working with him.

Suddenly, his expression hardened.

“Oh my. Was there still one left?”

When I turned around at his words, it was true.

I thought I had taken care of them all, but one more monster was belatedly emerging from the mirror.

Once again, in the form of one of my loved ones.

“……”

After getting a good look at the monster, I momentarily forgot what I was supposed to say.

The Duke spoke in my place.

“This one might be a bit difficult for you. Someone as loyal as you probably can’t bring yourself to cut down His Majesty the Emperor.”

As the Duke said, this monster happened to be imitating the appearance of my most precious person.

The form of Emperor, my most cherished lord and the object of my love.

The Duke glanced at me as I stood frozen with my sword lowered.

“If you take care of that one too, I’ll acknowledge you as vice-captain.”

I couldn’t readily agree.

This time, I wasn’t confident.

From the moment I became a knight, I had lived to protect His Majesty.

It was the sole purpose of my life, and the only reason I was alive.

But to swing my sword at such a target…

Even knowing it was just a monster, it was a hesitant act.

So while a voice in my mind shouted to give up here, I forced out a different answer.

“…I can do it. I will do it.”

Even if it was something I truly didn’t want to do, I had no choice.

Now was the time to set aside my loyalty to His Majesty for a moment and show behavior that would impress the Duke.

Meanwhile, the monster had approached me closely.

With a face exactly like His Majesty’s, it spoke.

“Yulia……”

I didn’t expect it to even speak.

Moreover, even its voice was perfectly identical to His Majesty’s voice that I remembered.

Because of that, for a moment the strength left my hand and I almost dropped my sword, but I managed to grasp it again.

Raising the sword with force, I quietly muttered.

“Please forgive my disloyalty.”

I swung the blade, which felt unusually heavy, towards the monster’s neck.

I felt the sensation of cutting, but the attack was too shallow.

It seems I had unknowingly lost strength in my hand, as I failed to completely sever the monster’s neck.

Seeing the monster retreat intact, the Duke muttered.

“Tsk, is it too much after all?”

If I showed any more of this pathetic display, I might not be able to become vice-captain.

This time, I gripped my sword firmly once more.

And I swung with all my might again.

Thwack—!

I bisected the monster’s head with my sword.

Along with the gruesome sound of the skull being crushed, His Majesty’s body—the monster’s body—collapsed.

Averting my gaze from the terribly mangled monster, I looked at the Duke.

“Are you satisfied now?”

“Are you angry?”

“No. I’m just asking. Whether I’ve met your standards.”

To be honest, I was feeling a bit irritated.

To give me such an unpleasant task.

The sensation I felt when I cut down the monster with His Majesty’s face still lingered on my fingertips.

In the meantime, he approached and stood beside me, quietly looking down at the monster’s corpse.

“I saw hesitation.”

“…I’m sorry.”

He didn’t respond as I bowed my head in apology.

That silence felt ominous, so I carefully asked.

“Have I failed?”

“No. You pass. You did take care of it, after all. I’ll be expecting your future accomplishments.”

“Thank you.”

“However, I’d like to give you one piece of advice.”

Thinking he was going to reprimand me, I waited tensely.

But the words that came out of his mouth were no rebuke.

“You are a useful sword. But a sword is just a tool in the end. Tools are discarded once their usefulness is over.”

I think I understood what he meant.

But I couldn’t understand why he was saying this to me.

Did he want to say that I would be discarded someday?

As I was about to ask what he meant, he passed by my side and said.

“Now, let’s look for the magic stone.”

“…Yes.”

In the end, I couldn’t ask about the intention behind his advice.

He started searching the area, saying we needed to find the magic stone, and I also moved to look for it.

Afterwards, we continued searching around the vicinity for a while.

It wasn’t found as easily as expected, so it was only when the sky had turned pitch black that we finally managed to find that glowing stone.

“I didn’t expect it to be buried in the ground. We wasted time because of that.”

The Duke, whom I should now call ‘Captain’, complained as he shattered the magic stone.

With that, our role was finished.

All that remained was to exit before the rift closed and return to the base.

The Captain, as if he didn’t want to stay any longer, broke the magic stone and immediately walked towards the rift exit.

I too was not keen on staying here any longer, so I was about to follow him out.

That’s when it happened.

“Mother.”

There was no way an ordinary person could be inside the rift.

Then the being calling me from behind must surely be a monster.

Making that judgment, I quickly drew the sword I had sheathed and swung it towards the direction the voice came from.

But in the end, I couldn’t cut it.

“You are……”

Upon confirming the appearance of the being that called me, I stopped the sword just before cutting that ‘child’.

I had vaguely expected it from hearing the voice, but that being, whether monster or human, had the appearance of a young boy.

An incredibly lovable child with the same hair color as mine.

Even though I thought it must be a monster, for some reason I couldn’t cut it down.

While I was hesitating ambiguously, the child approached me.

“Wait, don’t come. Stop.”

Hurriedly saying so at the thought that it might be a monster, the child abruptly halted his steps.

His face looked so sad, as if he was about to cry, that even my heart ached.

Eventually, the child spoke in a clear and quiet voice.

“I have a lot I want to say. But there’s not much time. So, I’ll only say what I really wanted to tell you.”

I listened silently, as if entranced, to the story of this strange child who suddenly appeared.

“You will face many crossroads in the future. Some paths will lead to happiness, and some to hardship. But even if you enter a path of hardship, don’t worry too much. Because you will always choose the best option in each moment, you will overcome hardships when you face them, and in the end, you will live a life without regrets.”

“What on earth are you talking about—”

“And.”

I was about to ask what he was talking about, but quickly closed my mouth.

In that gap, the child continued speaking.

“I’m sorry. I’m leaving first without even returning half of the love I received from you.”

“……”

“Although it was a short life, not a single moment of my life was without light. It was all thanks to you, mother.”

After hearing that much, I really had so many things I wanted to ask.

But I couldn’t ask.

The moment I lowered my sword to approach the child, his body scattered in the wind and disappeared.

Regretting that I had pointed my sword at him initially, I belatedly approached the spot where the child had vanished.

There was nothing left already.

All that was grasped in my hand as I clutched at empty air was meaningless dust.

It was a brief encounter, and equally regretful parting.

Translation complete. 100% of original text translated.