Volume 5 Chapter 2 The Yearning Girl
Edited by: Kanaa-senpai
Just as she thought—there was no doubt about it. That girl stood apart from all others.
On a night when the moon had shifted its shape countless times, in a crumbling house so full of holes that even beggars would have turned their noses up at it, she sat cross-legged on the dusty floor. Lost in her usual state of contemplation, she roamed endlessly along the boundless path of time. When her soul’s wandering finally came to an end, the answer she had sought presented itself, drawn from the fragments of knowledge she had gathered throughout her journey.
What came to mind was the image of a blonde girl, seen from behind—cute, delicate, with hair and stature that reminded her of her little sister. Yet that girl possessed astonishing strength. A member of the hero’s party, like Princess Hermine and Priestess Oriana.
”I had never paid her any mind until now, but she was an important factor,” she murmured to herself. “It is no exaggeration to say that her value is on par with that of the hero.”
The companions of the hero wielded powers far beyond those of ordinary humans. Their prowess in magic and combat placed them firmly at the pinnacle of A-class adventurers.
”It is understandable that in the future, a special S-rank will be established just for them. There’s too much disparity in strength within the current ranks. It would not be an exaggeration to say that the hero’s companions are truly representative of the world’s mightiest.”
Her gaze sharpened, her voice barely above a whisper.
”However… they are merely supporting characters.”
”The hero is quite literally on another plane of existence. A divine antidote sent by the gods to cleanse the world. She has the potential to destroy a nation single-handedly. Calling her ‘strong’ doesn’t even begin to describe it.”
”Which is why, no matter how powerful the companions may be, they are merely support. But even her subordinates and disciples are impressive enough to etch their names into history books—and still, they wouldn’t even qualify as appetizers next to the hero.”
”Everyone around her is just a passing existence,” she said, as if stating a fact. “With that in mind, I had always ignored those around me throughout my journey. I didn’t care about other women. My only concern was carving out a future with her.”
There was no room for doubt.
”She is one of the Five Chosen Ones—the Pursuer.”
Chosen by Goddess Teekua, the Five were deemed necessary for the world’s salvation. She recalled those words but, truthfully, hadn’t paid them much mind. She had assumed the others were operating independently, guided by revelations or visions—just like herself.
”I think I’ve failed. It was only recently that I realized… that might not be the case. When I found myself at a dead end, unable to see the road ahead, I turned my eyes to the other Chosen Ones… and saw no sign of activity from them. Of the five, only the hero and I seemed to be taking action.”
”If I had just been a bit more aware, I might’ve realized this earlier. But without knowing who the others are, it’s nearly impossible to come to that conclusion.”
”I was told I am the one who leads. And the hero… is likely the one who confronts. She’s the one who stands against the Demon King—the threat to humanity.”
In other words, the words of Teekua referred to roles. If leading and confronting were roles, then pursuing, binding, and shooting down must be the same. And given that the hero and the saint’s roles clearly hinged on their personal abilities, it stood to reason that the roles of the remaining three were tied to theirs as well.
Holy Knight Tiet’s tracking abilities were on another level entirely. She had always been a thorn in the side of her calculations, pursuing targets with maddening persistence and terrifying accuracy.
Though she acted as the party’s vanguard, she was by far the hardest to deal with.
To escape her, there were only two options: flee overseas, where tracking was impossible, or get caught early and pray for mercy. Any normal attempt to run would only result in being relentlessly pursued—and promptly beheaded.
There was no doubt about it—Tiet’s abilities were specialized for pursuit. And her combat strength rivaled that of the hero. She was a being of undeniable talent.
Letting out a sigh, she felt as though she had finally found the third person. It was a step forward—but one that had taken far too long.
Tiet herself likely had no idea about her own role. She was far too free-spirited. There was a very real possibility she’d abandon everything and vanish on a whim. Even if Teekua reached out to her, she might simply refuse.
Still, thanks to her, the future now had a direction.
Improving her relationship with Holy Knight Tiet was now a necessity. Not just because Tiet was one of the Chosen, but because that relationship would undoubtedly influence the fate of “that person.”
Fate. A word she loathed.
Something had bothered her for a long time—how that person always seemed to attract the worst kind of company. That, in turn, led them into mortal danger again and again. The odds of them dying in some grand heroic sacrifice were far too high.
How had it come to this? He had only been a thief.
Yet wherever he ended up, he always chose to fight. “Men tend to act cool just before they die,” he’d say, and then he’d really go and die. Were all men like this?
What she really wanted was for him to take her hand and say, “Let’s run away together.” But he never did. He always wandered off somewhere and never came back.
She looked up at the ceiling, so dark that the grain of the wood was invisible. Letting out another sigh, she leaned back against the vacant bed. Beyond the open window, the stars twinkled across the sky as she stared into the void, lost in thought.
Even if she fulfilled her promise to Teekua, it would mean nothing if that person died.
She would go forward with the plan—to take him to the Beast Continent (T/N: a distant region inhabited by beastkin, often isolated from the mainland). There, where no information from the outside world could reach them, they would live quietly together.
Let the heroes save the world. Ordinary people didn’t need to throw themselves into that kind of chaos.
Her thoughts turned bitter.
She used to take pride in her role in saving the world. But now, she found herself caring less and less. Ever since the winds began to blow through her heart, she realized just how insignificant it all was.
Perhaps it sounded better to say she had simply sharpened her focus.
If not for her interest in that person, she would’ve abandoned her promise to Teekua long ago.
If she weren’t clinging to the hope that her sister might enter paradise, she would already be headed to the kingdom alone.
If she tried her best, many people might be saved.
But she didn’t know those people. She would never meet them.
What was the point of saving strangers? They wouldn’t give her bread.
The only one who would hold her hand, lead her to peace, and love her for life was that person.
So, wasn’t it only natural for her to devote herself to him alone?
Even if people called her cold, she didn’t care.
She had been treated coldly since the day she was born. Now that her only warm relationship was gone, it was only natural for her heart to become as cold as a corpse.
──Ah.
Her eyes suddenly turned toward the stairs.
She’d heard something—someone speaking. It lasted just a moment, but she felt certain it was a man’s voice.
Today was supposed to pass without incident.
A terrible premonition seized her, and she quickly began rotating her magical energy.
The future unfolded in her vision—a new possibility she hadn’t seen before.
An unfamiliar figure was approaching.
The future had changed.
Today had been supposed to be safe.
She had always known that even a small action could shift the future slightly. But sometimes, it changed dramatically—and that was always a problem.
Rising to her feet, she grabbed a nearby blanket.
It seemed the time had come to part ways with this ruined house that had sheltered her for so long.
She peeked out through the open window.
No shadows in sight.
If she moved quietly, she could slip away unnoticed. She had already mapped out an escape route—every twist, turn, and blind corner committed to memory. As long as she stayed calm, she could manage.
With that resolve, she prepared to vanish once more into the darkness.
* * *
Placing her foot on the windowsill, Cynthia paused and turned around.
A gray bed sat quietly in the room—unused, unloved, and nothing more than a piece of junk. Still, it felt like if she called out, a voice might answer back. The lump rising in her throat made her want to claw at her chest, to scream.
No. She forced herself to look forward.
”I’m going now, Elder Sister,” she whispered.
With a deep, steadying breath, she leapt from the window.
How many days remained until the revelation?
Somehow, she had to survive until then.
Leaving behind the shabby little house that had sheltered her and her sister from the biting cold for years, she broke into a cautious run, mindful of each footstep.
Even when she glanced over her shoulder, no pursuers were in sight.
It seemed her escape had succeeded.
The people she’d seen earlier—one of them was likely the baker.
She’d been identified without realizing it.
In this country, disparity determined a person’s worth. The commoners didn’t think twice about doing awful things to the poor. If a beggar sat in the street, they’d throw stones. If one tried to buy something, merchants often wouldn’t even sell to them.
If a boy disappeared in the night, it was almost certainly because he’d been kidnapped and sold into slavery. Girls? More often than not, they were brutally assaulted and killed—for amusement.
Conversely, sometimes commoners would be cornered and beaten to death in the slums.
”They say it’s not bullying, but retaliation for past wrongs. Yet when it comes time to pass judgment, it’s always the poor who are cast as the villains.”
The country didn’t even see the poor as human.
This country was already finished.
As she ran through the narrow alley with a blanket clutched in one hand, a foul stench suddenly hit her—so vile it made her nose feel like it might rot away. She instinctively brought the blanket to her face.
The smell of decay.
A corpse.
It was relatively common in the slums, but judging by the freshness of the stench, the body hadn’t been dead for long.
All around her were cramped wooden houses, pressed so tightly together it was impossible to know where she was anymore. Midnight cloaked everything in deeper confusion.
But that worked in her favor.
In this kind of stench, people wouldn’t approach. Wandering the slums at night was no different from asking to be kidnapped.
Eventually, she emerged from the narrow path into a slightly wider space—the boundary line.
The Nihan River split the town in two. There, a large stone bridge spanned the divide between rich and poor. Cynthia made her way down to the riverbank and ducked under the bridge.
No one was around.
For now, it looked like she could safely spend the night here.
With the blanket, she should be able to stave off the cold.
All that remained was to endure the days to come. If she did, people from the country would come to the slums—just to meet her.
Wrapping the blanket tightly around her, Cynthia sat quietly beneath the stone bridge. She wouldn’t die, probably. But it wasn’t comfortable enough to sleep, either.
That person… She’d found it suspicious that they sold bread without saying a word, but with how smoothly it went, they must’ve done it countless times before.
Vile. Disgusting.
Everyone in this country was the same.
Beasts, all of them—monsters blending human malice with base animal instincts.
Once her heart settled, Cynthia began analyzing the situation anew. The reason she was targeted was clear—people believed she lived alone. Those without the promise of help were the easiest to harm. Boys and girls always seen alone were practically walking bags of money. They were said to be more convenient than animals, since they didn’t need to be butchered or skinned.
Her home being broken into wasn’t a random act—it had been targeted.
From now on, even the simple act of walking through town could mean danger.
Still… it’s okay.
She could handle this much.
Soon, she’d meet him. Her destined one—her savior.
On the cold stone by the riverside, Cynthia looked up at the sky, pouring her hopes into the stars to fill the gnawing emptiness inside her.
In her heart, she conjured the image of the one she had never met.
Sir Klock.
Her future. Her fated one.
Your Adelina—this Cynthia—lives on in a world you do not know, surrounded by beastly desire and the malice of innocence. Today, I’ve protected this body, which I offer only to you. Clinging to the promise we exchanged, I scrape by, day by day.
Please… come soon and steal me away.
She offered a prayer.
Its recipient—a man she had yet to meet.
Even if her feelings never reached him, she didn’t mind.
This was like her diary.
Someday, she would tell him how she admired him even before they met. She would shower him in so much love that it would be troublesome.
Surely, he would call her noisy and silence her with a kiss, then push her down onto the bed.
Love—a thing that never suited her—had the power to unravel her completely.
But Sir Klock was known for his infidelity.
”Heh…”
A quiet laugh escaped her lips.
Was it really fair to blame a man she hadn’t even met yet for being unfaithful?
She had lived her life surrounded by filth—just a pitiful, wretched girl.
Someone like her, who deserved to die unloved, had no right to meddle in the affairs of a man who had even risen to the rank of hero.
If he called them both thieves, then surely she was the one better suited for it.
Sir Klock preferred a woman who followed quietly, a half-step behind.
So she would become that woman.
Other women might change to match his color after meeting him, but Cynthia—she would already be dyed in his color before their first meeting.
That was her one advantage.
She had been Sir Klock’s woman since the day she was born.
The moon drifted in the sky.
Its round light glowed clearly above, with only the stone bridge as an obstruction. Cynthia closed her eyes and began weaving the magic of obstruction.
Soon, the time of revelation would arrive.
A grand event that would turn her entire life upside down.
But for her, it was a sight she had already seen countless times before.
Irrelevant.
More pressing matters required her attention.
Today, as she unfurled the fibers of time, she observed the strands carefully.
She drifted down the boundless river of fate in her own little boat.
Casually averting the extinction of humanity along the way, she continued in search of the most convenient ending—one that included only him.
Cynthia, who had grown used to solitude, somehow found herself reversing her priorities—her role, her goals.
Again today, she wandered through the possibilities of the future, searching for the moment he would come to find her.
A few days later, when the divine oracle proclaiming the saint’s descent was delivered, the entire Theocracy was thrown into upheaval.
Her name was Cynthia.
The daughter of the Boston Archbishop.
Born of a prostitute, Cynthia had always been treated as a cursed child.
When it was revealed that the Saint—an existence equal to the child of God—was living among the poor, the entire country descended into chaos.
Notes:
• Hermine – Daughter of the Emperor of the Second Empire of Dusselhelm. A companion and friend of Anna. The mage. She is pragmatic and encourages Anna to focus on her duties as a hero rather than her personal revenge.
• Oriana – A Princess. A companion who assists in explaining the situation to the kingdom. She is supportive and helps Anna navigate her responsibilities. Her appearance is slender, with dark hair and sharp features.
• Goddess Teekua – The deity who saved Sylvia after her death and granted her rebirth as a hero.
• Tiet – A companion and friend of Anna. A holy knight from the royal capital. She wears light armor and carries a shield adorned with a dragon holding a sword, indicating her affiliation with the National Military Police. She is concerned about Anna’s well-being and tries to support her emotionally.
• Adelina – The slave girl.
Please bookmark this series and rate ☆☆☆☆☆ on here!
Edited by Kanaa-senpai.
Thanks for reading.
Leave a Reply