Minte held her breath.
A pain, as if someone were squeezing her heart, was felt. A stifling sensation, as though she had forgotten something terribly important, welled up, and irritation surged abruptly.
Her mind, which usually judged any situation rationally, was utterly failing to exert its abilities at this very moment.
At that moment, Minte, who had been anxiously looking back and forth between Bark and Anelli, finally wedged herself between the two.
"I will also retrieve my head here."
Then Anelli's gaze, which had been fixed on Bark, shifted to Minte.
Anelli parted her lips as if to say something, but before she could, Minte continued in a resolute voice.
"Please delay Bark's rest just a little, Captain."
Bark, who had been ignoring Minte all along, now finally looked at her. But now, Minte did not give him her gaze.
"I will retrieve my memories right now."
Without giving anyone a chance to stop her, Minte quickly turned her body.
"......"
The ramparts, it must be on the ramparts. Even without Tristan's words, she had a strong intuition that she would retrieve her head from the ramparts.
Minte ran faster than ever before. Leaping over the stairs in bounds, she ascended to the top of the watchtower in one breath.
Upon reaching the open, roofless summit, a cold wind blew fiercely.
The summit, having been untrodden for a long time, was covered only in dust.
A few weapons, rusted and corroded to the point where their shapes were barely recognizable, lay scattered on the floor, but they were useless junk. Beyond that, nothing particularly caught the eye.
Yet to Minte, it was a somehow familiar space.
Panting, Minte slowly turned around. The summit space was so narrow that even in her cat form, it wouldn't require many steps.
How many times did she circle the same spot?
Minte's steps finally stopped. Where she stopped was the center.
The stone floor she stood on at this very moment felt intensely familiar.
「Saving someone from here was not a feasible concept.」
Minte recalled Bark's words from earlier.
He was right. 'Saving' was something that could not exist among knights.
The only one who could save knights was the Captain. All other knights could choose was the order of death.
'The order of dying.'
That's why Bark had chosen.
「It is true that I died before Minte.」
Minte, who had been standing motionless in the center, slowly approached the railing.
The watchtower was high enough to overlook parts of both the inner and outer fortifications. So naturally, the scenery directly below was also visible at a glance.
Anelli and the fellow knights gathered down there, and.
"Bark……."
Despite the considerable distance, Minte instantly recognized Bark's gaze fixed directly on her.
A sense of déjà vu washed over her. Unconsciously gripping the railing and leaning forward a little more, Minte belatedly realized her perspective had changed slightly.
Since opening her eyes in the Dullahan's body, she had mostly lived in her cat form. Her line of sight had always been low.
The current angle was only possible if she were standing on the railing.
To be able to stand like this and look down upon all of them……
'I've retrieved my head.'
She had mindlessly wandered around this watchtower and retrieved it without anyone, not even a mouse or bird, noticing. Bewilderment took precedence over the situation that had unfolded unconsciously.
Minte's hair whipped against her cheeks as it fluttered wildly. Unlike Bark, who had shed tears and expressed anger immediately upon retrieving his head, she felt everything with an eerily profound stillness.
"......"
Bark, who was watching Minte, moved his lips. No sound was heard.
But Minte recognized the shape of his mouth. The color gradually drained from Minte's face, which had frozen in bewilderment.
"Bark."
It was a familiar composition. Her looking down from atop the watchtower, and him confronting the traitor down below.
The traitor's target was Minte, but due to Bark's intervention, he was pinned down there.
Bark was originally in the training grounds, and the front courtyard was being guarded by Minte, but Bark had recklessly come out here.
Minte's face slowly contorted. Everything was the same as that day. Bark blocking the way with his whole body, as if to buy her even a little time.
His actions seemed to say, escort the Captain and flee, plan for the future.
「I'm sorry, Minte.」
A soundless apology conveyed by the shape of his mouth. Everything was the same.
"That fool……."
And also, Minte's muttering.
* * *
[Minte…….]
Zigore let out a sigh-like mutter and looked up at the watchtower. I also tilted my head back and stared upward.
Minte was visible, leaning precariously against the railing and looking down. Minte's face was pale and rigid.
Her light brown hair fluttered wildly in the wind. Minte, not even thinking to tidy her hair, simply looked down upon this place with a bloodless face.
"Please grant me rest."
Drawn by the voice, I turned from blankly staring up at Minte to look at Bark. There was no wavering in Bark's gaze as he requested rest.
"I willingly took up the sword to judge the enemy and exact due retribution. If my devotion is satisfactory, no... even if you deem it insufficient, please take pity on me."
Bark's will was firm. He sincerely wished to receive his rest right now.
I looked up at Minte again. Minte was contorting her face as if sensing something.
"Is this truly what you desire?"
When Minte is right there. I didn't add the inner thought, but Bark seemed to understand.
After a brief silence, he lowered his gaze and answered.
"I am a coward."
His quietly opening manner seemed both indifferent and resigned.
"......Whether in the past or now, I have no confidence to see Minte close her eyes before me."
I unconsciously swallowed a sigh. Because I instantly understood clearly what Bark's confession meant.
My lips twitched as I retorted in a suppressed voice.
"You could at least say goodbye."
She just retrieved her head. Both of you, facing each other in your complete forms, must have things to say.
At my words, Bark gave a bitter smile.
"If we say goodbye, won't it feel like we'll never see each other again? Leaving behind lingering attachment will only deepen the earnestness, so it's fine."
Bark took a deep breath and completely wiped away the bitter smile he had briefly worn. He faced me again with a resolute expression.
"Captain, my rest is not an eternal farewell."
Bark's voice was filled with conviction.
And I realized at this moment that the object of the farewell Bark spoke of was not limited to Minte alone.
Bark desired his rest with a standard as firm as Dasha's.
Simultaneously, his clearly conveyed wish evoked an indescribably strange feeling within me.
"We will meet again."
Bark promised thus. His voice was clear, as if he believed it would surely be so.
Also, it was an urging for me to give the predetermined answer.
"Very well."
I had no certainty about the future whatsoever. Nevertheless, I uttered the answer he desired. It felt distant and daunting, as if pushed to the edge of a cliff, but there was no other way.
"Until we meet again."
Because this is the answer Bark wants to hear, and also the answer I want to give.
As I reached my hand toward him, who bowed his head, the power that had been surging in my hand stretched out like a spider's web, as if it had been waiting. A green light enveloped Bark. Bark was obediently bowing his head.
"......Kuh!"
Just as I thought Bark was submitting to rest without moving, he suddenly looked back.
Minte, who had descended from the watchtower unnoticed, was running toward us. A faint smile appeared at the corner of Bark's mouth upon discovering her.
"Bark!"
Bark parted his lips as if to answer that call. But ultimately, he could not utter a sound.
Because before he could speak, the green light swallowed him first.
The swirling power vanished, and a faintly whirling gust of wind stirred up dust, leaving an afterimage.
Minte's hurried running steps gradually slowed, then came to a complete stop.
Her gaze was fixed on the spot where Bark had been. She watched the gradually subsiding wind with vacant eyes.
"Minte."
At my call, Minte finally came to her senses. Minte, who had trudged forward, looked at Samuel with a face twisted in malice. It seemed all her displaced emotions had been converted into rage toward the traitor.
But she did not rush at him like Bark had. She clenched her fists, but did not swing them.
Instead, Minte bent down and lightly swept the earthen floor where Bark had been with her hand.
It was a touch filled with surging emotion. Considering how stingy she usually was with Bark, her current reaction was enough to surprise anyone.
'Bark would have been so happy to see this.'
Since he was always being scolded, he would have been overjoyed to know Minte expressed affection for him.
Was granting him rest first perhaps the wrong choice after all?
'Should I have given them even a little time to talk?'
The moment I thought that, Minte calmly straightened up. Minte's face, as she raised her head, was surprisingly composed.
She had gathered all her emotions in an instant.
"Captain."
Minte bowed respectfully toward me.
It was a formal greeting, full of decorum, the kind one might see when dressed in ceremonial attire.
"I greet you. I am the fourth knight of the Round Table, your adjutant who has always coordinated situations with cold composure."
Her voice, devoid of emotion, was eerily monotone.
"I have long awaited the rest that would be granted to me. Now, I request my rest from you."
It was a clean and simple request. Unlike any other knight who had requested rest so far, not a speck of lingering attachment was visible.
"You request rest."
"Yes. I wish to correct a life that has strayed from its orbit and obtain a proper life."
Within her unwavering answer was a word that caught my ear.
"Life?"
"I do not believe this is our end."
As I muttered in a puzzled voice, Minte slightly raised her pupils and looked directly at me.
A faint emotion settled into her gaze, which had felt artificially indifferent.
"Because that fool would never give up on me."
Minte's wish, as firm as Bark's, was conveyed.
"I believe I will see you again soon, Captain."
It was a will as terrifyingly solid as Bark's. I neither affirmed nor denied her words. I merely idly clenched and unclenched my fist, briefly staring blankly at my hand.
Then I quietly extended my hand. Minte, in a respectful posture, kissed the back of my hand.
Until the moment she vanished, having received her rest, she stood before me with unbroken composure.
Bark and Minte's rest was life.