The Signal (8)

The Roach knights' hooves pounded the ground, shaking the earth as they charged forward.

Uncharacteristically, their formation was slightly disarrayed, and their pace betrayed a sense of urgency. However, Commander Sylvain paid it no mind. None of the knights bothered to correct their ranks.

The truth was, no one cared about such trivial matters at this moment.

Thud, thud, thud-!!

Instead, the knights' horses picked up speed, as if sensing the burning intent of their riders, pushing forward with even greater force and momentum.

They reached the Manggot in the blink of an eye.

The faces of the Manggot came into view.

Those who dared to wage war against the Empire.

Those despicable wretches who sought to collaborate with the outside monsters.

Those wretched dogs who had destroyed the barrier and slain soldiers and knights alike.

As their faces became clear, the knights' patience, led by Sylvain, finally snapped.

"Kill them all-!!!!"

It was a cry that was neither knightly nor particularly Sylvain-like, but...

As if it were a perfectly clear command.

"Uwaaaaah!!"

The knights charged forward with the sole intent to kill,

Crunch, crunch!

Crackle, crackle!!

They spurred their horses onward, crushing those who were slow to react into a pulp on the ground.

"Ugh... Hrk, aaakkk!!"

"It's the Roach Knights! Roach Kni, gahk!"

Amidst the chaos caused by Mei and Selena's surprise attack, the Roach knights slammed into the right flank of the group.

Those who were trampled by the horses had no chance of survival, and even those who managed to evade were cut down by the knights' precise swordsmanship.

"Ugh...!"

Meanwhile, Mei and Selena had retreated upon seeing the knights' arrival, but they worried about being swept away by their overwhelming momentum.

Just then, a riderless horse galloped towards them from afar.

Selena recognized the horse at once.

"Cassian!"

Cassian landed precisely beside Selena, and she gently placed her hand on its body.

"...Did Lord Frondier send you too?"

Cassian simply looked at Selena in response to her question. It was unclear whether the horse understood or not.

To Selena, that silence was an answer in itself. A faint smile graced her lips.

"...Let's go!"

Selena mounted Cassian's back and extended a hand to Mei.

"Get on, whoever you are!"

"...!"

Mei was momentarily startled.

She currently wore the face of Adela, one of the Manggot's shepherds, whom she had replicated. Selena would naturally recognize that face.

Of course, Mei didn't know Selena and had no idea if she was acquainted with Adela, but Selena's act of offering her hand to a complete stranger was undeniably strange.

"Hurry!"

At Selena's urging, Mei took her hand and climbed onto the horse behind her.

Cassian gracefully retreated from the battlefield. Once they had a moment to breathe, Selena asked Mei,

"So, who are you? Why were you wearing a mask and charging into such a dangerous place?"

"...A mask? What are you talking about?"

Mei's innocent reply caused Selena to turn her head back to look at her. Cassian was practically self-driving, so there was no need for Selena to keep her eyes fixed forward.

"Your face... I know it. But that person is from Manggot, so I assumed someone was wearing a mask to impersonate them. Am I wrong?"

"...I don't know what you mean by a mask, but..."

Mei hesitated for a moment before saying,

"I am impersonating someone, yes."

As she spoke, she transformed back into her true form.

With chestnut hair and a face resembling Frondier and Elodie, just like back then.

"...!"

Selena's jaw dropped in astonishment. If Mei had transformed instantly without hesitation, she might have screamed.

In the past, while the Manggot War loomed, Selena had barely any access to Frondier. As a result, she knew nothing about the devil incident at the Imperial Palace or about Mei.

"Is that your real face?"

"Yes."

Although she had only recently regained her true face, Mei answered curtly.

Looking at her face, Selena thought,

'...She resembles Frondier.'

Mei's resemblance to Frondier wasn't just a vague similarity; it was, to put it simply, a logical resemblance.

Since Frondier and Elodie's features were blended in her, she looked even more like them than a parent and child, and the aura she exuded was similar as well.

"What's your name?"

"Mei."

"Mei, I'm Selena."

Mei gave a brief nod at the introduction, then suddenly spoke as if something had occurred to her.

"Ah, Selena... Frondier..."

Selena's eyes widened at those words.

"Y-You know Lord Frondier?"

"Yes, I'm learning various things from him."

Learning? Learning what?

What could Frondier possibly be teaching a child like this?

Was it not just a coincidence that she resembled him?

"I heard about you from Frondier."

Mei's quiet words.

That single sentence cleared away all of Selena's thoughts, her attention now focused on what Mei had said.

"W-What did he say?"

"Hmm, he said you were his escort."

It was a simple statement, and a fact, at that.

Selena felt a slight pang of disappointment.

"So, actually, he said he lied."

"...What?"

─Selena is still my escort, so I guess I lied.

"That's what he said. He said it to himself, but I couldn't understand, so I kept remembering it."

"..."

"Do you know what he meant?"

Frondier's puzzling words that he had uttered to Mei.

Just like Mei's perplexed expression, Selena tilted her head in confusion, then...

Suddenly, her last conversation with Frondier came to mind.

─Selena, farewell means...

─That we are severing the roles we have played together.

─So, you are no longer my escort.

Frondier had said those words just before parting ways with Selena.

It was to hear Selena's honest feelings. Free from their roles and formalities, he had asked her to raise her head.

And so, Selena had raised her head and met Frondier's gaze. Her true feelings were reflected in her expression and tears.

But Frondier had told Mei that it was a lie to say she wasn't his escort.

In other words,

'He still considers me... his escort...'

Selena blinked for a moment.

Although Frondier had mostly been authoritative and strict in front of her, as time passed, Selena remembered his face gradually softening.

When they first met, he had simply been frightening.

But as she got to know him little by little, Frondier sometimes seemed like just an ordinary boy of his age.

Despite how natural that was.

That natural face surfaced in Selena's mind, and she tilted her head slightly.

His voice echoed in her ears like the wind.

─I said farewell, so I guess I have to hire her again if I want her as my escort. No, I haven't even fired her yet. Can't I just say it was a lie?

It was undoubtedly just her imagination, but...

It felt like something Frondier would seriously contemplate.

Something that would

leave Selena, who naturally considered herself his escort, momentarily speechless.

"...Pfft."

A laugh finally escaped Selena's lips.

Seeing this, Mei asked,

"Did you figure it out? What did Frondier lie about?"

In response to Mei's question, Selena gently shook her head.

"No."

Her eyes, gazing ahead, were clear as if they had washed away all the dust of the battlefield.

"There were no lies."