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“Huh? What did you say? Sir Tieck and Imitia are sparring?”
“Why?”
“I don’t know. But the air around them was stuffy.”
“The Boss must have definitely offended Sir Tieck in some way.”
“But wasn’t she the one that asked him to go outside?”
“You’re right…”

“I haven’t seen Imitia this serious in quite some time.”
“She looked really scary when she told us not to follow them.”
“Ugh, not fair. We haven’t seen a pretty boy in ages. I don’t want there to be any bad blood…”
“What, did you set your eyes on him?”
“Who wouldn’t? Have you seen the men here? They’re all filthy!”

The Belbed Caravan’s ladies were vivid this morning as well.

Each of them shared what they knew while skillfully packing, and the conversation just kept escalating and expanding, just like popcorn. After all, the topic was about Imitia and the beautiful boy Tieck.

The girls could tell that something had happened between the two of them after they saw Imitia leave the hotel alongside Tieck, with an ugly expression on her face. In the end, however, they managed to reach no conclusion.

Despite this, the women here loved to engage in such conversations.

Clap! Clap!

Two claps echoed. That sound was familiar to any of the caravan’s members.

“Come on everyone, move your hands! We’re not packing for a trip!” Remilia said, scolding the women.

The women responded with a curt, “Yes,” and began to work in a quiet and efficient manner.

Remilia let out a sigh and pushed up her glasses.

“Boss…” Remilia muttered. In her eyes she could still picture the uncommon behavior that Imitia had shown.

(That Seletina girl… Just what did she say to the Boss in that room?)

This wasn’t something that Remilia could figure out by just thinking about it, as such she discarded the matter and moved on to her work. After all, Imitia was not someone that she needed to worry about. She’d told Remilia that she’d take care of it herself, and Remilia trusted that fully.

◇◇◇

“My handicap?” Seletina asked as she took out Elyutinias.

Imitia, in turn, frowned when she heard that.

Handicap, Seletina hadn’t said that to belittle Imitia. With Seletina’s current strength even a slight handicap would surely make a huge difference in her fight with Imitia.

The handicap was something that Imitia had once imposed on Orthus because he had been too strong. If she hadn’t imposed a handicap or two on him, then it wouldn’t have been fair at all.

In the worst situations, she would even bind his hands and feet or force him to keep a bitter candy in his mouth that had enough flavor to knock out a dragon. It took this much to make them even.

And even at that point, Orthus had added even more modifications to those handicaps.

Upon hearing the word handicap, Imitia would declare that spar’s handicap with a disgusted look on her face.

By that point it had become a nostalgic exchange that took place only between the two of them. A nostalgic feeling took place in Imitia’s mind. She could recall the memories as if they had happened yesterday.

Imitia was left somewhat taken aback by all of this.

“It’s fine. Don’t need one.” She said, shaking her head to the side.
“I see.” Seletina said, returning a smile.

(What’s with that face!)

Imitia was left even more puzzled after seeing that smile. Seletina’s air, the pauses in her voice and her soft smile all reminded Imitia of the knight she’d once loved. The more she took notice of everything, the more the image of Orthus overlapped with Seletina. She couldn’t help but see it.

Imitia scrubbed her eyes with the hem of her robe and pulled out a dagger from her waist belt.

“Do you know the rules?”

Imitia asked. Even before she asked this she knew that it was a stupid question, that was because she believed that Seletina already knew the answer. Seletina, in turn, nodded, confirming this.

“The match is over when either of our butt, knee, back or hands touch the ground or when one of us calls it quits. The loser buys a round of drinks and will listen to a request… That should cover it.” Seletina answered after diving through her memories.
“You forgot one.”
“If I lose I have to call you Master Imitia, right?”
“Y-Yea…”

(That’s right, that’s totally right!)

The moment Imitia agreed to it, her mind became even more messed up. The girl before her, Seletina, was answering all of her questions.

If it had only been that, then maybe Imitia would’ve been able to rationalize it, however, every single one of Seletina’s words and actions had Orthus’ air about them.

“Argh!”

Before she knew it, Imitia found herself swinging her dagger. This was something that she did to shake off her hesitation.

Seletina, in turn, carefully caught the attack with Elyutinias and redirected it with a flowing motion. A sharp sound echoed a second later. Imitia’s attack had been similar to an assault, however, Seletina said nothing. That was because their matches had never had a start signal to begin with.

“D-Do–” Imitia spoke as she repositioned her dagger, “Do you know where I’m from?!”

Imitia asked while thrusting her dagger. Seletina’s petite frame slipped past the stab,
and she replied while crossing swords, “You told me you were a slave.” Seletina said, somewhat struggling to return Imitia’s attack, as she was no match for Imitia in terms of strength.

Only a handful of people knew that Imitia had once been a slave. It was something she would only tell to those she trusted wholeheartedly. Yet, Seletina had answered that too. An answer that only Orthus could have known.

All of the goosebumps on Imitia’s body stood up and she continued to attack with an even faster pace.

“Then what’s my favorite fruit?!”
“Balliets. They come from the Empire. The weird star-shaped ones.”

This too was correct.

“What country did I say I was going to when I left the kingdom?!”
“The Holy Kingdom of Elhaim. Though I’m not totally certain about that.”

Likewise, this was correct.

“What was engraved on the ring I gave to Orthus?”
“A Steller’s sea eagle. You gave it to me for my birthday.”

This was also accurate.

Even in between the fierce match, Seletina always managed to give the right answers. At this point, Imitia knew that this was no mere knowledge. They were genuine memories.

It happened when Imitia finally realized this–

“Imitia… Are you crying?”

A tear trickled down Imitia’s cheek. It was something that had overflown without any intent or notice.

“I’m not!!!”
“No, but…”
“I’m not crying!!!” She yelled, but then her tears trickled down as if they’d broken through a dam.

Yet, Imitia’s dagger didn’t slow down, and became even fiercer.

“I… I…!!!”
“Imitia…”
“Why are you always like this?! You go die on your own and then you come back!!! You go around saying how people should take care of themselves while not sparing to look at your own life at all!!!” Imitia cried, almost as if screaming.

Her emotions were welling up from the bottom of her heart. With each word, her body seemed to fall apart piece by piece. Fourteen years. Imitia had longed for the deceased Orthus for fourteen whole years. It had been a lonely and difficult fourteen years.

Even though her feelings had been one-sided, they never lost their spark, and continued to burn brightly in her heart. And what now? Imitia couldn’t comprehend this reality before her.

Her loved one was back but in a different body and gender, and was shameless on top of it. She couldn’t help but feel angry at Orthus for this, and the ooze of emotions in her heart continued to pour out in the form of tears.

“What’s the last thing we promised?!” Imitia asked, swinging her dagger.

She simply kept swinging without any technique or thought. She simply swung her weapon as a kid throwing a raging tantrum.

The moment Seletina heard her question, her expression turned slightly bitter. She remembered that promise. The promise that she hadn’t been able to fulfill.

Seletina muttered weakly.

“‘Let’s meet again. And let’s not die on one another.’”

Clang!

The dagger easily slipped from Imitia’s hand. Imitia embraced Seletina’s petite body, her large, ragged tears falling down endlessly¹. It was a soft embrace.

“Say, Orthus… Why did you go away by yourself²…”

1. Robinxen: I feel more exhausted now it’s happened than rewarded.
2. Silva: Now I am sated. This was the moment I’ve been waiting for since forever ago.