“Today went splendidly, Vice-Captain Lagnica!”
“Yes. Captain Lily should be pleased with this. Everyone worked hard.”
“Then can we expect drinks on the Vice-Captain today!?”
“Fine. But only after today’s training menu.”
"""Ehh~!"""
Booing erupted behind me, but nobody was truly angry.
These were soldiers I’d personally trained — all of them grit. I had confidence none would crack at this level.
I’d been promoted and given a unit, and we were on our way back from a Demon-beast hunting expedition.
I expected to return to the Holy Knight Order’s quarters with my precious subordinates and have an ordinary day flow on as always.
“All right, let’s wrap up the report quickly. For the fun afterward——”
If only I hadn’t seen the quarters — floor, walls, ceiling — dyed crimson.
“Wh-what is this……?”
“Eh…… blood……?”
The soldiers behind me went pale, stunned.
Judging that losing composure would be worst, I shouted instructions.
“All units, draw your swords! Those with little combat experience, head to the palace and report! Those remaining, pair up and sweep the building! Shout the instant you find the perpetrator! Move!”
"""Understood!"""
The soldiers recovered just barely and split into the quarters.
After issuing orders, I, too, swept through alone.
The path was a hellscape painted.
Dormitories, training hall, mess hall.
In every place, dead Holy Knights.
And among them, only one figure still moving.
I doubted my own eyes.
“Wh-what are you doing……?”
I wanted to believe it was a mistake. That this was a nightmare and I was still in bed.
But my quickening heartbeat. The smell of blood in my nose. Reality forced itself on me.
“What are you doing, Captain Lily!?”
She stopped — and turned her face to me with the jerky movement of a doll.
Silver hair gone dark with dried blood, robbed of shine.
Skin a muddied mix of white and rust-red from dried blood.
And what most cut me — the crimson eyes I’d loved were drained of life.
The one who’d killed the Holy Knights — expressionlessly cutting them down — was the very person all of us admired.
“——Gh!”
”…………”
She kicked off the floor and closed the distance instantly. I caught her sword.
Heavy as ever……!
“Captain! Answer me! Why such atrocities!”
”…………”
“Why……!?”
But no matter how I asked, Captain didn’t answer.
Only her sword swung — as if to say that’s the reply.
“Ugh…… ngaaah……!”
I kept catching her blade. About to be overpowered, I forced it into a deadlock.
The Captain before me was like a living corpse.
Could a human give off this much death-stench?
Every spark that made Lilyshane Spride had dimmed.
Was she under some magic……?
But human-controlling magic — I’d never heard of it. Let alone the Captain falling to such dangerous magic — unthinkable.
“Answer me, Captain! Did you kill all our precious comrades!?”
”…………”
“Gh……!?”
A front kick — her reply — slammed into my stomach. I rolled to gain distance, immediately rose.
”…… So that’s your answer.”
”…………!”
…… Like the soldiers killed in the quarters, Captain Lily means to kill me.
The one who has to set resolve is me.
She’s no longer the Lilyshane Spride we admired.
I readjusted my stance, faced the monster before me.
”…… No choice but to do it.”
Against her killing intent in earnest, no luxury of holding back.
To prevent further casualties, I kill her here.
Even if our positions were swapped, Captain Lily would make the same choice.
Above all, I cannot let the other soldiers’ admiration and memories be defiled.
Let me alone bear this pain.
The next blow — I’ll settle it.
I drew a deep breath. Tightened grip on the hilt.
Lowered the sword to hip level, took a left-side stance.
A counter-targeted defensive stance — one I’d never take normally.
But the current her has no reason in her swing. No fear in her blade. No prior feelings or experience — none of it was in those attacks.
”…… Stop calling yourself Lilyshane Spride.”
That’s why this stance lands. Against a deranged monster!
“Come!”
”…………!”
Her reflexes and sword-speed remained fast.
But these were just brute-force attacks riding her specs.
Not anything you’d call swordsmanship.
”——[Bee-Sting Bore (Hōshin Senkō)].”
I watched the slash aimed at my head down to the last possible moment — read it — and slid my body inside the arc.
With the distance closed, the slash lost power and left only a small wound on my shoulder.
And then — like striking down a fluttering butterfly in a single shot — I drove the sword precisely into her chest.
“Aaaaaaaaa!!”
The sensation of flesh and bone giving way — one I’d known many times.
Pulling the sword out was the most agonizing few seconds of my life.
Captain’s sword fell with a clatter.
Drained, she crumpled where she stood.
“Hah…… hah……”
”…… Chris.”
”——!? Captain Lily!”
I rushed over — she called my name in a thin voice unlike herself.
But her eyes had returned to the gaze I loved.
Unmistakably different from the lifeless monster of moments ago.
”…… See? Didn’t I tell you? Chris would surpass me one day.”
“Sp-speak no more! I’ll stop the bleeding now! Someone! Anyone with [Heal], here, now!”
“The promise…… remember? My sword…… for you……”
She took my hand and put it on the sheath at her hip.
Her beloved sword. Her soul as a Holy Knight rested there. Through this atrocity, that one sword she never drew.
“I haven’t won! Against the real you, not once! That sword is still yours, Captain!”
I used my own coat to slow the blood, anything.
I pressed the wound desperately. She couldn’t lose more……!
A hand placed on my head. No warmth. No movement.
I understood she was dying. And accepted it.
”…… Chris. ……Last…… my……kof…… under…… ”
Her words were already fading, barely audible.
”…… Thank…… you, Chris. ……Glad it was……you……”
”…… Captain? Captain……!”
I called — no response.
Her eyes again lost their shine.
No……! She didn’t die……! Like before — yes, like before! That’s all this is……!
“Vice-Captain Lagnica! I’ll take over!”
“Ah.”
My subordinate arrived, moved me aside, and they began taking turns casting magic on Captain Lily.
But no magic could make her speak again.
After that, it was a whirlwind.
The unprecedented atrocity by the Holy Knight Captain was, by the country’s decision, never made public; her death was attributed to battle against monsters.
Citizens she’d protected mourned her death and wept. Just a fraction of relief.
I succeeded her as Captain of the Holy Knight Order.
And now, wanting something — anything — of her existence, before things were disposed of, I sat in her chair and slumped onto her desk.
A soul-emptied face.
Maybe — if I stayed like this — the Captain would come comfort me again.
But however long I waited, no warm hand or gentle voice came.
”…… Captain Lily.”
That wasn’t all.
Tomorrow, everything in this room would be disposed of.
The proof of her existence vanishing piece by piece.
The only thing left was the sword at my hip.
How lonely. Was there nothing…… nothing else?
A goodbye like that shouldn’t have been allowed.
Captain Lily’s last words burned into my mind.
”…… Speaking of which.”
In her last moments, she was trying to tell me something.
I’d been too desperate to save her to grasp it then, but——
”…… Chris. ……Last…… my……kof…… under……”
Think, think. She was thinking of me to the very end.
She wouldn’t speak meaningless words.
kof…… under…… kof…… underside……
”…… Desk underside?”
I lifted the desk and flipped it.
I could see it now. The skirt panel underneath was unusually thick.
Thick enough to hide documents.
”…… Excuse me, Captain.”
Using her sword, I cut the panel away.
A hollow inside — and a stack of documents tied with string.
“This is……!”
Listed: corrupt nobles and their deeds.
All things outlawed by national law. And the names included major figures.
At the top — Juke Andrews.
The evil name she could not punish.
The lingering regret she’d entrusted to me alone.
I held them tight, tighter.
”…… I will avenge you, without fail.”
It felt as though Captain Lily had given me a reason to live.