After making up my mind, it wasn’t as if I was relieved right away. I was still nervous. I meant, what if I had to fight the beast who sent me here? I was no longer Lyra who had great magic power. My swordsmanship…Sure, I still remembered them, but what if they were lacking?
Thus, I spent what little time I had to practice my swordsmanship before going to the Silent Forest.
Titus-sama had some matters to tend to, so he didn’t accompany me in sparring. What a shame, I’d like to know how it felt like sparring with him!
But in exchange…Trevant was there to accompany me practice. And he seemed delighted when I offered him to spare with me.
“…Do keep in mind that I might not be as good as you thought I was. But please, don’t hold back,” I said with a smile. The kind of smile that I always wore whenever I was going to engage in swordplay. Because it was fun.
“I will, Mother!” Trevant said, and I could see the same fiery gaze in his eyes.
Perhaps he took after me—after Reinst, his mother, in this aspect.
But when we started sparring, one thing became clear. Trevant’s swordplay followed the royal family’s more than the Grabberton family. He was also using a rapier, just like Luca. Heck, I felt like their rapiers were one and the same! That made me think of Luca more. Which caused me to be a little bit distraught mid battle.
Luckily, I managed to dodge Trevant’s swing by a hair’s breadth. His style was a balanced royal family’s, but I saw that sometimes, he’d switch to a Grabberton’s forceful moves at times. Seeing that, I believed that the Reinst of this world indeed spent time with Trevant, and perhaps she taught Trevant herself.
Obviously, Trevant didn’t switch styles like crazy. He put some thoughts into the battle pacing and switched between both styles whenever he saw one style would give more advantage in this situation. Blending the two styles might be hard, but I saw some of what I thought to be a blended style.
I learned first hand in my life as Lyra that adapting to new style would be hard, and combining two different battle styles would require some time.
Through our exchange of swords, I came to understand Trevant better. It was true that we could see someone’s character through battles.
Trevant—although I saw him as someone who’s obedient, someone who would go by the book, just like my past self, Reinst—he also possessed Titus’ traits, surely. He has foundation. He isn’t like the past me—‘blank’—he is with color. He is brave and strong.
…Even if this world is in a bad situation, I somehow can feel more rest assured now. For I believe that this child will be able to handle whatever is coming his way.
My last night in this world (hopefully) was the best I had ever since I was thrown to this unknown future. I got to swing a sword and did a great match with Trevant. The dinner was nice.
Since it would be my last night, I decided to access my queenly Provice, to learn things that I might not be able to learn in my world. Though I might not use them for anything, I was here to satisfy my curiosity.
But then again, will I be able to use the information I obtain here in my original world? Will they be the same? Perhaps it’s wise for me to just take everything here with a grain of salt, then ascertain the truth if it’s necessary in my original world.
Due to my treasuring what little time I had left in this world, I didn’t get much sleep that night. However, I still woke up pretty easily the next morning. Since I would be ‘home’ soon…! There’s no way I’d try to dilly dally and postpone it.
I want to go back as quickly as possible.
With that determination in mind, any fatigue and sleepiness wore off just like that.
Right after breakfast, I would be departing. As promised, Titus-sama assigned several guards and escorts to be with me. We agreed and told them in advance that they would only be escorting me until we reach the entrance of the Silent Forest.
Be as busy as they were, Titus-sama and Trevant were there to send me off. I didn’t have any kind of strong bond or familial love towards them, but nevertheless, my heart was warmed by this simple gesture.
“Take care, Mother,” Trevant said as he waved at me, a bit of reluctance was there in his eyes.
Seeing him like this, I…
This will be my last time seeing him.
I felt my breath getting stuck in my throat, as I would be leaving him for good. Since this was the last time—I mean, most likely it will be—I decided to give him a parting hug.
“Thank you, be a good boy,” I said. I didn’t say much because I believe I had said the things I wanted to convey him yesterday. Besides, I didn’t want to make him feel paranoid and think that this would be our farewell.
Technically, it would be my farewell with him, but I was sure it won’t be his farewell with his mother.
After that, Titus-sama approached me and I was already stiff when I thought that he-he-he… he wouldn’t be doing the ‘parting hug’ that I just did, right? What about p-p-parting kiss? N-no way, right?
Luckily for me, Titus-sama stopped before he was so close to me. He took my hand and gently kissed it.
“Take care, I hope you’ll really find the answers there,” Titus-sama said.
I sighed in relief. I was so nervous that he’d do any intimate gesture to me, but luckily, it was just the normal gentleman greeting to a noble lady.
Titus-sama laughed a little from seeing my reaction. Perhaps he realized that I wouldn’t take it well since I practically had no memories of us being together. If so, he was indeed very considerate.
I glanced at Trevant and thought to myself, ‘I hope you won’t inherit Reinst’s dense head! Just inherit your father’s nice considerate mind!’
That way, he would turn out to be a dreamy gentleman prince. I would weep myself if he were to take after the dense Reinst—okay perhaps I was still dense even if I became Lyra.
I waved my hand to the two of them, and when I was about to enter the carriage, I halted. Then, I turned around to look at Titus-sama and asked, “What about Damon?”
Titus-sama looked at me in surprise and amusedly said, “He’s already with you.”
“Huh?!”
Right after I said that, the ground behind me formed some dark ripples, from which half of Damon’s body popped out.
“Aaah, okay, okay, you’re already with me, you can go back now,” I said in my surprise. It was a bit scary seeing him like this, you know!
Damon was obedient enough to my words, as he quickly retreated back, and the dark ripples in the ground returned to nothing.
Titus-sama and Trevant—the two of them looked at me with amusement in their eyes!
Geez, like father like son!
I’m not some amusement!!
I could retort and scold them, but that would expose the inner me who was Lyra—it would be a childish thing to do. Therefore, I decided to pay no attention to them and just proceeded to the carriage.
My escorts helped me enter the carriage and right after it was closed and the driver got ready…
“We’re going fast, please grab on. You might feel some dizziness, my queen,” The driver warned me, but he didn’t give much time for me to react, sadly. Or was I too slow in my reaction?
Luckily, I still managed to hold onto the part of the carriage that was nearest to me and suddenly—I felt a weird sensation. It was akin to being warped…
Just when I felt the world returned to normal, the driver’s voice echoed back, “We’ve arrived, my queen.”
…I almost puked after hearing his words. Not because of my dizziness due to my unprepared departure, but it was more due to this sickening fact…
Right, the carriage we used was the fastest one, one with a teleportation ability, you see! That warped feeling and my dizziness were all caused by the momentum the carriage took when it teleported!
Heck, Titus-sama, you could just teleport me inside the Silent Forest, and these escorts wouldn’t be wasting their time accompanying me like this, hello?!
Ah, but well, I guess that would be the way of the royal family. Let’s just accept this. It’s not like everyday I can taste something like this.
Yeah, moving leisurely and enjoying the nature would be nice, but for this current situation, the faster it is will be the better.
So, I will keep my mouth shut.
My escorts helped me go down from the carriage and handed me the sword I prepared. They escorted me all the way until the entrance of the Silent Forest—which was only several steps away from the carriage.
I glanced towards the direction that I thought would be pointing towards the Flugel residence (I am not good in direction, so I…can only guess), and I thought it was unfortunate that I couldn’t see them directly to know how much difference they are from my original world.
But still, I hope you guys are alright and happy even here.
I turned around right after praying in my heart, then I waved my hand to my escorts, signaling them to stop. They bowed in consent to me, so I walked inside the forest alone. Nah, Damon was probably tailing me from the shadows.
I had to admit, despite me being all determined to walk around, I was directionally challenged, so I was prepared to just get lost in the middle of the forest.
However, I suddenly noticed a dark ripple on the ground in front of me. Part of Damon’s body popped out as his eye was looking at me. He then turned to look in front of him as he shook his body.
“…You’re telling me to follow you?” I asked.
Damon nodded, so I decided to just trust this little fellow.
Perhaps fellow beasts could sense each other better.
After walking for a while, I saw what seemed to be a seal or a path marker. It was a rope and several bells.
How the hell did I miss such a marker?! Ah right, I was chasing after someone, wasn’t I?
I felt like part of my memories became clearer the closer I was. Then, I was so sure that the beast I wanted to see was right beyond this area.
Damon seemed like he sensed that I knew the way now, so he retreated.
Or perhaps he felt like his mission was accomplished, so he went back into the shadows.
In any case, it was my battle from now on.
I gulped and grasped my fists.
I am ready.
I walked past the rope and the bells—straight ahead until…
There he was—the exact same wolf beast that I last saw as Lyra. He was lying on the grasses, seemingly resting.
But as I approached, he immediately opened his eyes and stood up.
“You’ve come. I’ve been waiting,” he said.
“…Fenrir,” I called out his name—yes, I finally remembered everything!
I was prepared to talk, negotiate, argue, or even fight him.
“Fenrir, bring me back—”
But before I could even finish my words, a blinding light was emitted from Fenrir’s horns. And again, reflex got the better of me as I closed my eyes.
And when I opened my eyes again…
