ERTHMB Chapter 50

Irreversible Moment

“You have too strong a tendency to avoid confrontation. You instinctively avoid clashing with others. That’s why you’re specialized in defense, but it’s disadvantageous when it comes to attacking someone. You’ve never attacked anyone before, have you?”

“……I don’t want to.”

“I feel the same way. There’s no way harming someone could be enjoyable.”

At that moment, Sakin, who had been listening quietly from behind, suddenly stood up.

“Lies! That’s a blatant lie, miss!”

As if he had much to protest about, he raised his clenched fist high in the air and waved it.

Ian didn’t stop Sakin. He didn’t even look at him or turn his head, maintaining his position with his back turned.

He simply tossed the wooden sword, now completely cleaned of dirt, lightly backward. The wooden sword hit Sakin’s forehead with a crisp thwack, carrying far from light force.

“I wonder if you know the feeling of your legs going weak just from someone’s gaze… Ugh!”

The tattletale’s voice was cut off abruptly with the sound of impact.

Ian continued speaking as if nothing had happened.

“I know you’re not used to harming someone, but a sword has two edges. As much as you use the sword’s power, you must also understand the sword’s cruelty.”

He approached a pile of bricks a few steps away. Then he drew the greatsword that Sakin had placed on top of it and swung it.

The wind created by the blade cutting through the air stirred Helena’s bangs. As she stepped back slightly, the sword made several more whooshing sounds, stirring the air currents.

“It’s a weight that anyone who wields a weapon must bear. Protecting one’s domain sometimes means having to kill those who invade it.”

The violet eyes, always so upright, wavered for a moment. Helena watched him intently, just as he had watched her.

What memories were flowing through that settled sediment now?

‘What did you… have to kill to protect what?’

Her mind, filled with thoughts, became complicated. Her throat, where words had stopped, felt rough.

‘At least it’s better than me, who foolishly dropped my own head to protect love.’

She felt herself becoming infinitely small in front of him again. She felt pathetic for only knowing such methods.

However, her self-reproach was interrupted when Ian handed her the greatsword. Both her arms dropped down with the suddenly added weight.

“There’s no need to be serious about it already.”

Ian, who had quickly returned to his usual expression, lightened the mood. Hearing him, Sakin complained from behind, “And you were just scaring us!”

Ian took Helena’s wooden sword and aimed it at him once more. Sakin, clutching his swollen red forehead, dragged a long bench toward them.

Ian kept looking only at Helena as he took the greatsword back. His touch gently stroking the back of Helena’s hand seemed to try to capture her scattered attention back to himself.

“Anyway, there might come a moment when you’ll have to do it someday. That’s why we train. To prepare.”

While Ian sheathed the greatsword, Sakin seated Helena on a chair. He also handed her the water bottle from his waist and placed his hand on Helena’s shoulder.

As he loosened her tense muscles with appropriate pressure, Helena let out an unavoidably soft moan. A satisfied smile spread across Sakin’s lips.

“Hehe, I was famous in our house as the filial son with magic hands.”

****

Eugene, as usual, conveyed the search areas to the knights and went out to the streets with Walter. It was a routine that Helena had created for him. He hoped it wouldn’t become just a daily routine.

While walking, Walter suddenly stopped. He was looking at the street on the opposite side. It was uncharacteristic sudden behavior, so Eugene followed his gaze.

A well-built man with blonde hair was approaching, waving his hand as if pleased to see them.

Eugene kept his gaze fixed straight ahead while slightly turning his head to the side.

“Do you know him?”

“Well… I had a small friction with that man’s brother in an alley last time. We resolved the misunderstanding through a fairly decent sparring match… He said he was a regular knight belonging to a merchant group.”

Walter, who had been standing behind Eugene, moved closer to his back to answer. Meanwhile, the man had reached within arm’s length of them.

“For a city not small enough to run into someone you’ve brushed past again, meeting like this again makes me think it might be fate. Anyway, it’s good to see you.”

His manner of speaking was as smooth as his impression. Walter didn’t dislike the man’s brazen attitude, but Eugene was beside him now. He needed to first ask for permission to step aside.

However, before Walter could even open his mouth, Eugene asked the man:

“Haven’t we met somewhere before?”

Walter’s slightly parted lips froze as they were. Eugene was not the type to ask such questions, nor did he easily take interest in others.

Of course, that wasn’t an important fact right now either. The flustered emotion had to be discarded immediately.

Probably, given that man’s behavior, he wouldn’t distinguish between beast and human when blocking his path…

“What kind of pickup line is that? No matter how much you rely on your looks, I’m not falling for it.”

Because he would dare say such things to Eugene.

Walter couldn’t help but press his forehead, unable to make a sound of distress. The hair on the back of his neck stood on end. Eugene was surely emanating killing intent.

It was fortunate that he couldn’t see Eugene’s expression from behind.

However, even facing him directly, the man still seemed to lack the sense to discern the situation.

“Oh my. I heard that men who joke well are popular with ladies, but it doesn’t seem to work on gentlemen. Or perhaps this gentleman doesn’t understand the aesthetics of humor?”

Seeing him offer his throat to be cut of his own accord.

He was too valuable a man to be called a passing connection, though awkward to call fate. Walter hoped he could at least serve as a buffer and hurriedly stepped forward.

“Stop it. He’s not someone you can exchange jokes with. If you attack him with crude words one more time, I won’t stand idly by.”

Walter swallowed dry saliva and finally checked Eugene’s face. As expected, it was full of anger. But his expectation was off in another direction.

Eugene, who seemed ready to draw his sword, simply turned around coolly.

“Let’s go. You too, don’t associate too much with that madman. Life is tiring enough as it is.”

Eugene urged them along the path they had been taking, passing by the man. Walter also followed behind, sending an understanding look to the man.

The man stepped aside as a sign of understanding. At least that’s what Walter thought.

“Memory is quite spiteful, isn’t it.”

Until he dropped those unbelievable and incomprehensible words again.

“The person who forgot is fine, but the person who remembers repeats irreversible moments alone, carrying the burden of the one who forgot.”

Eugene’s footsteps stopped abruptly. Walter prayed he wouldn’t turn around. He hoped the man would finally shut his mouth.

Of course, in his life, situations rarely flowed according to his wishes.

“My master is in quite a pitiful situation, you see. The first love, who was willing to even hang by the neck, has been erased from his memory. Yet he keeps running forward, looking only ahead, saying it doesn’t matter.”

Now was just one of those situations. The man finally cast new bait, and Eugene faced him with eyes thickened with even more killing intent.

Finding something so amusing, the man continuously let out silly laughter.

“Isn’t it quite remarkable? Such people must meet each other. Fortunately, I’m an expert at catching bugs.”

He approached Eugene with relaxed breathing. Walter was amazed at how easily that was possible.

Meanwhile, the meaningfully extended hand lightly scratched the air as if catching something.

“I’m thinking of helping a little.”

The man kept his crooked smile as he opened his palm. From within, the remains of a bug, crushed beyond recognition of what it originally was, crumbled out.

“Whether it’s a pest or beneficial insect, I’m not sure either. Since you’re someone much more knowledgeable than I am, you might know.”

He looked down at the remains that fell like ash with emotionless eyes and brushed off his hand. Then he placed it on Eugene’s shoulder. It seemed his last bit of sanity had finally disappeared.

Horrified, Walter inevitably reached for his sword hilt. It would be better treatment for the man if he stepped forward before Eugene. However, the hand that had just grasped the handle stopped there.

The man’s eyes, which had changed in an instant, made it so.

Red, intense, and darkly boiling eyes. As if he had completely transformed into a different person… a different being, then returned.

“Well then, good luck.”

The man’s calm voice touched the momentarily stopped time again. Like a small water balloon bursting, pop.

When Walter blinked, everything had disappeared. The coldly hardened expression, the inexplicable sense of unease. As if it had all been an illusion, the man walked away with the same leisurely steps as when he had arrived.

Walter forced his stiff neck to turn and look at Eugene. This time, surely he wouldn’t hold back, he thought.

Surprisingly, he was still in place. Standing there dazed. He just stood there with empty, hollow eyes fixed somewhere.

“Your Grace…? Are you alright?”

Walter asked carefully, but his words couldn’t reach Eugene at the moment.

It was because of a memory that had pierced through his mind like an electric shock the moment he brushed past the man. No, could this even be called a memory?

‘This is impossible.’

Eugene clutched his head. A scene that was too untrue to be a memory, yet too vivid to be a fantasy, kept flowing.

Himself, unknown and never experienced, unfamiliar yet not strange, and… Helena.

Whether he closed his eyes or opened them, the scene wouldn’t disappear.

He felt as if he had been pushed against his will before an unavoidable wave. Yet there was no pain in his head either.

‘Why would I, why would I… you?’

It was just a day that pierced his heart.

A day I forgot and you alone mulled over, an unknown day.