Laura was in quite the mood, and the group was paying dearly for it.
“The boy says he wants a lesson, but what kind of lesson could he mean?” asked the usually silent assassin Jamagar absentmindedly.
He then received a punch in the face.
“Zara, are you and the lady betrothed?” asked the defensive specialist Moura earnestly in a moment of down time.
He was then kicked into a spring.
The uncompromising Shariabro asked Zara his age, and Zara said he was about to turn eighteen. Shariabro then glanced at Laura, said “hmm,” and seemed to fall deep into thought.
Laura then cut off his proud beard.
The usually eloquent Orien was wise enough to keep his mouth shut, but that seemed to get on Laura’s nerves as well, and she kicked him in the back of the head.
When Laura’s attention turned to the guide, he went ahead and jumped into the spring himself.
After Laura calmed down, Zara sat at a distance from the spring and looked up at the stars. The sorcerer Orien came over and sat next to him.
“The original Red Knight was the lady’s uncle. The next Red Knight was her older brother. The rumors you heard were likely about him. He was kind and strong. He gave his life protecting the city and its people from monsters.”
“May I ask a question?”
“The lady is twenty-two years old.”
“It’s not about that. Why does Laura want to defeat the Sazardon minotaur?”
Orien answered after taking a moment to think.
“Human lives are fleeting in the desert. Your life vanishes without a trace the moment you are unable to escape the jaws of death. Right now, you are holding countless grains of sand in your palm, but when tomorrow comes, you won’t remember a single thing about any of them. Yet if just one of those grains of sand was to be illuminated by the stars and shine with a quick, beautiful flash of light, it might stick in your memory. The lady surely wants to leave proof of her existence. She also believes it will make her brother proud.”
“There have got to be plenty of stronger magical beasts and spirits. I’m sure there are also monsters and bad people nearby who are making people suffer. Why the Sazardon minotaur?”
“Probably because it’s far away. We don’t get much information about the north in this region. We don’t know how true the rumors about the minotaur are. To us, it’s a mythical monster from a distant land we know little about. That is probably what has spurred the desire in her heart to fight it.”
“So she’s not actually serious about fighting it?”
“Oh, she’s very, very serious, I assure you. You can see how our party formation is better suited for fighting a small number of strong enemies than it is for taking on many monsters at once, right? Our training is geared specifically toward fighting the Labyrinth King, and we are readying equipment for that purpose as well.”
“But you have all devoted yourselves to fighting monsters here every day. Wouldn’t that be difficult for the city if people as skilled as you left for a long period of time?”
“I’m sure it will be. The lady has an extreme sense of responsibility. She has made it her life’s mission to defend the populace that her brother fought to protect.”
“Then wouldn’t preparing for a fight with the minotaur be a waste of time?”
“Working as hard as you can toward achieving a dream cannot be considered a waste of time. We all love that aspect of the lady.”
For some reason, Zara remembered a conversation he’d had with Barrast Logan, the instructor who sent him on this trip.
“Uncle, earlier you said that there was no way that Father did not know the pain of human life. What did you mean by that?”
“Ah, that. When your old man, Panzel, was born, his family ran a sword training hall, and they were quite well off. I’m sure they were the envy of many. But when Panzel’s old man fell sick, their lives were flipped upside down. It sounds like it was a real struggle for Panzel’s mom to support the family. After his old man died, whenever his mom’s body failed her, they would have to go without food. Panzel started supporting when he was five years old. There isn’t much work a five-year-old can do, though, as you can imagine. They did their best to scrape by, but when he turned seven, his mom’s condition took a nosedive. He then started going into the labyrinth to get enough money to buy medicine, and that’s when he encountered the minotaur. Even at his young age, he already knew the futility of human life to a tragic extent. His old man was dead, his mom was growing thin, and he experienced many nights with the knowledge that they had no food to put on the table. It was all hopeless. But even within that hopelessness, he did have some constants. There were things to be happy about. His mom’s attitude toward his old man or him never changed, regardless of whether or not they had money. After they fell into poverty, his old man’s pupils would come to check on them and bring them food. They were even kind enough to give Panzel work. Panzel once said something to me. He couldn’t even allow himself to hope that he would live to see the next day. But even then, he decided he would love his mom and do everything in his power to support the family. That was when he found something he could do. He said he was very grateful for that. People who only think in terms of victory or defeat, strength or weakness, can’t fight like Panzel. If you understand what it means to fight honorably but are unable to put everything else aside, you can’t fight a monster like the minotaur. Knowing the pain of human life allows you to give your all without being distracted by things such as greed or insecurity.”
Barrast’s words had been like a riddle to Zara at the time. But now he felt like he had an idea of what he meant.