It wasn’t like I chose to be burdened with memories of a past life, Bart thought to himself as he readied his shield and watched Gadhio prepare for his next attack.
To me, these memories were like a curse. Since childhood, my parents found me unsettling, and I couldn’t confide in my close friends and tell them my troubles, so I had no choice but to bear it alone.
Gadhio charged toward the barrier and struck it with his sword. He continued to do so relentlessly, single-mindedly.
But why? The suffering that Gadhio Lathcutt bears is similar to mine… No, since he experienced it in this world, I’m sure it must be much more painful than mine.
Bart could acutely feel Gadhio’s morbidly pathological concentration, obsession, and tenacity. Why is he wielding his sword so single-mindedly? Just looking at him makes me feel disgusted by the difference between us.
Neither of them spoke a single word, and with no signs of Chimera around either, it was eerily quiet. Gadhio put a little distance between himself and Bart, readied his sword, and concentrated for a moment. Then once his breathing had steadied, he closed the distance in one swift movement and unleashed a powerful attack, putting his entire body into it. How many times have I repeated this, he wondered. It would have been more accurate to have called this training rather than combat.
“I still haven’t managed to reach perfection yet. But I should be able to grasp it soon.” Gadhio remembered how he had lost his wife and friends and spent his days devoted to practicing the Cavalier Arts to fill the void left by their loss. “The secret technique of Cavalier Arts.”
He had learned about a secret technique that no one had ever mastered, something that existed only in theory. Gadhio was so exceptionally skilled that he had been able to master most of the techniques, but in the end, he was unable to master that one. Since Cavalier Arts were sword techniques that consumed physical strength, that was only natural. Because no matter how much you trained, the amount of physical strength that a human being could accumulate was not enough to use the secret technique.
“I will master it, without fail. As my…ultimate goal.”
However, he believed that it would be necessary at some point. He was convinced that in order to carry out his revenge, it wouldn’t be enough for him to remain as he was now.
“Gadhio Lathcutt.” Bart called his name. “Though I am a knight in name only, I had once thought about learning Cavalier Arts myself. I didn’t have the talent to master them, but I have the knowledge. Which is why I understand. You are quite literally fighting with your life on the line.”
Cavalier Arts: Sacrifice. The technique that Gadhio had come up with was, as Bart had pointed out, a technique that consumed life in order to produce Prana.
“Why? Why are you able to fight this much? You lost your wife and friend, didn’t you? And yet, you still live on as a noble hero! How can you manage to do that?!”
The church had even preserved Gadhio’s wife’s body, so it wasn’t surprising that they knew about Gadhio’s past. But Gadhio felt like Bart had significantly misunderstood.
“I do not think that I am ‘admirable’ in any way.”
“If you’re not admirable, then I’m absolute garbage.” Gadhio couldn’t help but force a wry smile at these words, which seemed to be far too self-deprecating to be coming from an enemy. “Did you know? Those who can wield the power of Justice Arts all have memories of past lives. Justice Arts is the power to transform remnants of that past life that are still in one’s soul into power used to fight.”
That was something that even Gadhio of all people didn’t know. It was a deeply fascinating story, but at the same time, Gadhio realized that they were sword techniques that were impossible for him to master no matter how hard he struggled, so, in a different sense, he lost all interest. Talent was everything. It was questionable to him whether something like that could even be called swordplay.
“But…I didn’t want something like this. The memories of my past life that have remained with me were those of losing my wife and daughter in an accident. We went for a drive on a day off, and… Oh, I suppose you might not understand what I mean by ‘went for a drive.’ Basically, it means a trip. I decided to do something fatherly by refusing my boss’s request for me to work on my day off, which was unusual for me. But that had been a mistake. While we were on our way home from our trip, the car I was driving collided with a runaway truck. When I came to, I saw that the people I loved had been crushed. They were dead. I was the only one who survived. I remember carrying that sadness within me, living a lonely life until I withered and died. Those memories have been stuck in my head since I was a child, and I can’t get rid of them!”
Memories that he himself didn’t have, of people he didn’t actually know. Only the person in question could understand the pain of having something like that inside of them, which was likely why Bart was tormented by a sense of isolation that those around him couldn’t understand.
“This is the power that I’ve awakened to. It’s simply a wall to protect myself, to ensure my own survival. It’s not that big, it can only be used from the front, and it’s a shield to protect others; it’s a shield for self-preservation!” Bart continued to single-mindedly spew out self-loathing.
“I feel so miserable and wretched that I’m ashamed to be alive! I’m sure that even my wife and child in the afterlife are disappointed in me! But…I’m scared of dying. Being alone is hard, too. Which is why I have no other choice but to cling to the Church Knights! Because there isn’t anyone who understands! How could I become someone like you?! I wanted to live like you, as a hero that people look up to!”
He had the accumulation of two lives. Gadhio had no way to resolve Bart’s issues, and since they were enemies, there wasn’t any need for him to resolve them in the first place. However, he had his own thoughts on the matter.
“The power to protect, huh…” He remembered Kleyna and Hallom. The woman who loved him and his best friend’s daughter, who looked to Gadhio like a father. Gadhio thought to himself as he looked at his open palm.
“If I had I had chosen to fight to protect myself, would the future have been different, I wonder.” However, what he held in his hands was a jet-black sword. Thoughts of his friend, lingering attachment for his wife. With those things in his hands, he continued to fight, even now.
“Bart Charon. I will now perfect the secret technique of Cavalier Arts and shatter that shield.” Gadhio, facing Bart, made that declaration.
“Is that to make me even more aware of my own wretchedness?” In response to Bart’s unendingly spineless, self-abasing words, Gadhio shook his head.
“You ought to see for yourself, with your own eyes, if there is a noble hero worthy of admiration here.”