In a single, fluid motion, she dropped into a sliding tackle, diving beneath the charging boar’s belly. While skimming across the ground, she unleashed a swift upward slash with her sword.
A torrent of entrails spilled out onto the forest floor. At the same time, she rolled free from beneath the beast and sprang to her feet.
The boar, its gut torn open, crashed heavily to its side. Cordelia leapt onto its now motionless flank, raised her longsword once more, and brought it down cleanly across its neck.
The head separated from the body in that one stroke, a crimson mist spraying across Cordelia’s cheek like battle paint.
“Job’s done. Let’s have boar hotpot for breakfast!” she chirped, grinning with childlike glee.
You’ve got to be kidding me… I winced at the vivid splash of blood on her face, striving to maintain a neutral expression.
Sensing my evident shock, I forced my features into something resembling a smile.
“Meat is rather… excessive, for so early in the morning, wouldn’t you agree? And I mean… you’re seriously insane, in more ways than one…” I muttered, still shaken.
Cordelia seemed to notice the flicker of emotion on my face. She sat down on a rock and let out a long, weary sigh.
“Earlier, you asked about my reason for bringing you here, didn’t you?”
As she spoke, she pulled out a cloth and began carefully wiping the blood from her cheek.
“Yeah. What about it?”
“The truth is… I wanted you to know,” she said, her gaze fixed distantly upon the sky.
“Know what?”
“My real self. The part of me I never show in the village. Since I was ten, I’ve been mixed up in things like this, with knights and adventurers. Performing all the dirty work…”
A moment of silence followed her words.
So, my reaction to the blood—yeah, that was definitely a mistake. I regretted it instantly.
Possibly sensing my internal turmoil, Cordelia continued speaking.
“Soon, I’ll be formally joining the Knights’ Order. I’ll go through a year of rigorous training, and then when I turn sixteen, I’ll be enrolled as a scholarship student in the Royal Academy of Magic. It’s all part of the strengthening regimen that the Divine Prophecy has laid out for me. All to prepare for the impending Great Calamity.”
“Yeah, I’ve heard.”
“That’s why I wanted you to see the real me. Just you.”
“Huh? Isn’t Moses always seeing the real you?”
Like Cordelia and me, he too was a childhood friend—but unlike me, he’d been granted the class of Sage. Another absurd cheat of a class.
Seriously, what were the odds? In this tiny village, how did two individuals born in the same year come to possess such extraordinarily rare and powerful roles?
To be blunt, a Hero constituted a veritable weapon of war, capable of altering a nation’s destiny. A Sage, moreover, represented a tactical asset capable of reshaping entire battles.
Most kingdoms would be lucky to have even one person like them. That’s why I was in such an awkward position here.
Putting all that aside, Cordelia was trembling, not from fear or cold, but from pure frustration. Her slender shoulders quivered with every breath as she glared at me, her voice rising with an unusual sharpness.
“Moses and I might always be together because of our training schedule,” she yelled, fists clenched at her sides, “but I told you, didn’t I?! It’s you! I wanted to make sure you knew! Just you!”
The silence echoed with her words. We both remained silent for a moment. Behind us, the fire crackled softly. The forest became quiet, shrouded in a stillness so total that it seemed as though the shadows were listening as well.
“We… We won’t be able to see each other like this anymore,” Cordelia whispered.
I looked at her, the weight of her voice finally sinking in.
“I had a feeling. Joining the Knights will change everything.”
With a sudden, fierce expression, she stepped forward. “And that doesn’t bother you? Not even a little? After everything I just said… Don’t you have anything to say to me?”
Her gaze burned through me, and for a second, I faltered.
“I’m sorry,” I muttered. “I just… I don’t really get what you’re trying to say.”
Cordelia inhaled sharply, as if to brace herself. Then, she rose to her feet, marched over to where I was sitting, and crouched down in front of me. Her blue eyes locked onto mine—firm, unwavering, and impossibly close.
“I’ve always… always…” she began, voice quivering, “I’ve…”
Before she could finish, a voice called out from across the clearing.
“Ryuto-san!” Moses’s voice rang from the direction of the river, cheerful and oblivious as ever. “Could I trouble you for some help? Washing things in this cold is… honestly a bit much!”
Cordelia went still. A long, loud tsk slipped from her lips, her mood visibly souring. I blinked, caught between confusion and guilt.
“I’ll go check on him,” I said cautiously, rising to my feet. “You mind keeping the fire going?”
She didn’t respond. She just turned her face away with a dramatic huff, her cheeks flushed crimson and her mouth twisted into a stubborn pout.
“What’s with the look?” I asked, brow raised.
With a small stomp of her foot, she snapped, “I don’t care anymore! Go help that idiot already, you moron!”
As I turned to leave, her voice grew softer and she called out to me once more.
“You’re a Villager, so if a monster shows up, you scream, okay? As loud as you can. I mean it, Ryuto. I’ll come running. Well, not that there’s anything strong lurking nearby. Most monsters can’t even get close when I’m around.”
“Yeah, yeah, I know,” I said, waving a hand behind me as I started toward the river. “Besides, Moses is there. We’ll be fine.”
She didn’t answer. The fire popped once behind me as I walked away, its glow casting long shadows into the forest.
As I waved a hand behind me toward Cordelia, I let out a long sigh and muttered under my breath, “‘You’re a Villager,’ huh? Even Cordelia sees it that way in the end. I suppose that’s how it is… I really am just a Villager.”