Chapter 52.2: Hallmenta (4)

"What's your dream, Sister?"

Asher stopped the sword she was wielding and turned her head.

It was the question of my younger sister, who had thrown away the water lily and was lying on the grass.

"What are you talking about?"

"Literally, what do you want to do? Or what you want to be."

She had never thought of that.

My sister would often ask her such silly questions from time to time.

Asher pondered for a moment before answering.

"I don't know what I want to do… I want to become the best warrior in my clan."

Her sister pouted her mouth.

"Ah, is that really what you want to be, Sister? That's what the adults wanted! Every day, they praise my sister as a genius, and all they say to you is to train hard."

"No. I want to do it."

"That's a lie. Don't do it, consider it carefully, you dull older sister. What you really want to do in your heart. Surely there must be something?"

Asher thought about it again.

But nothing came to mind.

"I don't think there's much. I'm satisfied enough even now."

That answer must have sounded boring to my brother.

Her sister sighed deeply.

"I don't really understand you sometimes, Sister."

"What about you? What do you want to do?"

"Me? Of course I'm going out of the mountain range!"

She jumped up and pointed to the other side of the mountain range and shouted excitedly.

"One day I will definitely go out to the outside world and explore the continent! And I will make my name known as a great adventurer all over the world!"

"You're saying that again. Are you serious?"

"Then, are you going to live here for the rest of your life until you die of old age?

Asher shook her head.

It was taboo for the members of the tribe to go out into the world outside the mountain range.

If that happened, all the tribes in the mountain range, that was, the entire tribe, would come forward to block it.

Because that was the only way they could protect their home from the outside.

Her sister was having an absurd dream that would be blocked from the start.

"Aren't you curious about the outside, Sister? What kind of world lies outside the mountain range?"

"Well, if we go out, we will just be rejected."

"Grandpa Plovik told me. To the north of the continent, there is a land called Calderic, where all kinds of races live."

Plovik was the eldest of the tribe and was one of the few who had experienced first-hand what it was like in the outside world.

"He said that no race was rejected there. And the one who rules it is a dragon!"

She said, with a twinkle in her eyes.

"So, if we go out, we'll start there. A new adventure! A new companion! And a new love!"

"Hmm."

"How come there are only boring and pathetic men around me? If I go out, I will find a true companion for me."

Then she suddenly turned her head and asked.

"How about it, Sister? You train, eat and sleep, train, eat and sleep, and after living like this, who else are you going to marry?"

"Why are you suddenly talking about marriage?"

"You need to find someone you really love! As long as our parents bring some guy, you're probably going to marry him. Like the son of the chieftain, for example."

"I won't."

Her younger sister rolled over the grass again with a dissatisfied face and murmured.

"Anyway, so… Yeah, that's all right. Later, when I'm going to leave the tribe, my older sister, who became the best warrior in the clan, could stop all the others by herself."

At the absurd remark, Asher started laughing.

"Why are you laughing? I'm serious? Still, it's your sister's lifelong wish, so won't you grant it?"

At that moment, the sisters turned their heads at the same time at the voice calling from afar.

A woman was smiling softly and beckoning them. It was their mother.

"Ah, I think the rice is done. Training is over."

"You didn't even swing your sword a few times."

"Hehe, let's keep it a secret from Dad? Mom!"

Seeing her younger sister running fast first, Asher also moved slowly.

In her mother's arms, she waved her hand to Asher as if asking her to come quickly.

Peaceful, warm, and comfortable

Asher wanted nothing more special.

She practiced, she hunted, she ate with her family; she laughed and talked, and she chatted with her little sister.

Even if it's just a monotonously repeated daily life, she wanted the happiness of the present to continue forever.

…But the peace that seemed to last forever collapsed too suddenly and easily.

"Run away, Asher! Don't look back!"

Her father, who was covered in blood, stopped the assailants and shouted desperately.

In his arms was her mother's body, which had already turned into a cold corpse.

A stormy night.

Those in armor slashed the members of her tribe with their swords, and those in robes burned them. A monster with a spear brutally slaughtered all the warriors of the tribe.

Even the ferocious thunder could not hide the clan's screams echoing throughout the mountain range.

Asher took her sister's hand and ran. Stepping on blood, jumping over corpses, wielding a sword like a demon, and moving her body that was becoming crippled.

When they reached a place so far from the village that she could no longer hear the screams, there were no more monsters.

However, the monster who seemed to be their leader did not lose sight of them.

He walked towards the two of them, who were thrown at the edge of the cliff. His spear blade, soaked in the tribe's blood, gleamed coolly.

Asher pushed her sister behind her back. She raised her sword with the thought of dying, fighting to the end here.

Then, suddenly, there was a pain in the back.

"···!"

Her sister's hand was holding her wound tightly.

Why, there was no time to even ask questions.

Her sister suddenly pulled her body towards the cliff. Asher was thrust into the air helplessly.

She reached out and tried to grab her sister's hand. But it didn't reach.

Her body slowly fell into the river below the cliff.

Only the murmur of her smiling little sister with a sad face reached her ears faintly.

"···Survive, Sister."

The younger sister, who turned right away and rushed towards the monster, and the silver spear that pierced her chest, finally reflected in Asher's sight.

Asher slowly sank into the water.

Vision was blurred. Silence descended on the world.

Soon something hot flowed down the cheek, without stopping.

Why…

She wasn't even curious about the outside world. If she could live in the mountains in peace forever, that was enough.

It filled her with regret and anger.

She shouldn't have turned her back on her father. It should have been her sister who survived. She should have died fighting to the end with everyone.

Why the hell did she survive alone?

Now there's nothing left by her side. No clan, no home, no parents, no younger sister, nothing. But for what?

Crumble.

The body that had been sinking down endlessly came to a sudden stop.

I heard an unknown sound. A faint light shone through the closed eyelids.

Asher slowly opened her eyes.

The scenery unfolding before her eyes was not in the water, but in the forest. She saw a face looking down on this side.

"···I was worried about whether you are alive, but it seems that you're just sleeping."

Asher blinked her eyes, unable to grasp the situation.

The Seventh Lord, who brushed away the tangled stalks of grass, stretched out his hand.

"Let's get up."

Asher stared blankly at the white hand, then reached out to it.

Whatever it was, she didn't want to lose it again, so she grabbed it.