Immediately after using my power for Bark and Minte, my head throbbed.
It was a headache so severe I could hardly move. Xenon strongly insisted I needed to rest.
He said it was a side effect from using too much power in a short time. The other Dullahans also agreed with Xenon.
Only four Dullahans remained by my side.
I wondered what difference a little more rest would make in this cramped inner fortress, where I had no idea when or where I might recover my head, but I readily accepted their suggestion. Not only because of the headache, but because I was mentally exhausted as well.
"It seems this was likely the duty room used by the guards on watch."
Below the watchtower, there was a simple, single-room space that looked like it could accommodate three or four people for rest.
As Xenon said, it seemed a place the guards on duty would have primarily used.
Inside the quarters was a wooden bed. A blanket that had long lost its life was spread over it, smelling of mold.
"......"
When I lifted it slightly, bugs hiding underneath scurried away with a rustle.
Xenon saw this, grimaced, and cast a spell.
I didn't know what spell it was, but something that looked like a blob of jelly appeared.
Covering the bed, it felt quite plush, not inferior to high-quality bedding.
"It should hold up long enough for you to rest a while. Please lie down."
Xenon forced me to lie down on the bed. Then he picked up a wooden chair that was lying around and placed it beside the bed.
"I am not an invalid."
"Yes, I know."
Xenon, who had taken out some of the bedding we usually use when camping, covered me with it and nodded perfunctorily.
I felt a bit sulky at his appearance, not even listening to me properly, but it was true that lying down felt comfortable.
As I lay quietly, Mori and Zigore, who had been watching, cautiously took up positions at the foot of the bed.
[We'll protect the Captain, so rest easy!]
[D-don't worry, just sleep.]
A sparrow-sized bird and a snake the size of an earthworm boldly declared they would guard me. I found it amusing and chuckled, but Xenon carefully patted the back of my hand.
It seemed like his attempt to put me to sleep. When I closed my eyes, the sensation of his hand tapping rhythmically on the back of my hand was distinctly felt.
Focusing on that warmth, my body gradually grew languid. My consciousness slowly sank into slumber.
Sleep was an excellent rest.
* * *
Nadav, Zigore, and Mori kept watch over the sleeping Anelli.
Soana was also contemplating whether she should rest for a while. Watching her comrades find peace was more taxing than she had thought, and she too was quite mentally fatigued.
However, the moment she saw Samuel walking alone, Soana had no choice but to follow him.
'Traitor.'
Samuel was a clear traitor. Even if she didn't remember, her comrades who had regained their memories unanimously pointed him out.
Anelli had said Samuel was chosen as the one to guide her. That single statement made the other Dullahans tolerate Samuel's presence.
But Soana could not look upon him with a clear conscience.
And why would she? Wasn't he a traitor? The first knight who turned all their past efforts into a handful of ashes.
So Soana pursued Samuel.
Samuel walked slowly, surveying the inner fortress. As if he knew the entire layout of this place, his steps held no hesitation.
Occasionally, he would suddenly stop and stare blankly into the air. He seemed to be reminiscing about the past.
Following him, Soana too became immersed in the incomplete memories of the past.
'The training grounds where Tristan and Zigore used to spar...'
The training grounds once stacked with practice wooden swords, or
'That corridor leads to the dining hall, doesn't it? I always remember Bark being the first in line.'
The open corridor connecting to the building.
'All the plants Mori tended are dead.'
The carefully cultivated plants were gone, leaving only a desolate, cracked backyard garden.
As she circled the entire inner fortress with the main tower at its center, Soana recalled traces of their past everywhere.
She even momentarily forgot her original intention of surveilling Samuel. Thus, in this non-companion companionship with Samuel, Soana finally reached a certain building.
A small building located in a corner of the backyard, a little distance from the main tower. A building one wouldn't find unless deliberately seeking it out.
Soana recognized at a glance what place it was.
'The chapel.'
That was the chapel. A chapel that served no god.
It was precisely the place where Soana had primarily resided.
*Creak.*
Samuel, who had only been looking around the exterior, pushed open the main door of the chapel and entered. Along with the sound of rusty hinges, hazy dust fell from above the door.
Before the open door of the chapel, Soana hesitated for a moment.
Instinctively, she wondered if her final moments might be inside. But at the same time, she thought they might not be. Because...
'Because I died last.'
There were other knights who died protecting the Captain inside the main tower.
As Soana, who remembered all their deaths, she estimated it was unlikely her final moments were in this isolated chapel outside.
Or perhaps she hoped they were not.
Compared to the other knights, her loyalty to the Captain was on the lower side, but she was still a knight of the Round Table.
If possible, she wished her end had been by the Captain's side.
Beyond the open door, shadows lay thick, making it hard to see. Soana, who had been staring intently beyond it, cautiously fluttered inside.
What she saw upon entering were toppled chairs and floorboards broken in places.
In an ordinary chapel, a divine statue would have been placed at the end of the central aisle. But there was nothing there.
Instead, a large stained-glass window occupied the front wall. The geometric lines and colorful hues dimly depicted a single female figure.
'A goddess?'
Soana tilted her head.
And for good reason, for despite the long passage of time, the stained glass maintained its intact form.
"Have you given up on following me secretly?"
Samuel, who was kneeling in the center, glanced back. She thought she had entered smoothly, but he seemed to have sensed her presence.
However, Samuel only called Soana and did not continue speaking.
Soana, having alighted on the floor, watched Samuel for a moment before turning her attention to her surroundings.
Whether unfortunate or fortunate, aside from the chairs being in poor condition, the place was generally intact.
'Ah, that seat is where Nadav usually sat.'
Though generally detached and composed in facing situations, encountering these familiar memories in succession made her inwardly unable to hide a sense of gladness.
She ignored Samuel and wandered around the chapel.
"Sir Soana."
A low call split the chapel's silence. Soana, who had been tracing the vestiges of the past with a wistful gaze, turned her eyes to Samuel.
Behind him as he rose, the massive stained-glass window was visible.
She had found past memories in various places within the chapel, but nothing in particular came to mind regarding that.
"Has that one awakened?"
Soana was currently in the form of a hawk. Even if she asked like that, Samuel had no way of understanding her answer.
Yet Samuel was demanding an answer from Soana.
Soana met Samuel's gaze with a cold stare, then ignored him and approached the stained-glass window.
Up close, it was even more immense.
"Do you wish to run amok?"
Samuel questioned again. Soana glanced at him somewhat irritably.
As if completely unaware of Soana's awkward attitude, he continued with what he had to say.
"Even if you recover your head now, you likely won't be able to enter peace immediately."
At those words, Soana's gaze wavered slightly.
"Then again, your patience was exceptional. You'll probably hold out longer than the other knights."
Samuel mentioned Soana's end very nonchalantly. Even without her memories, his composure was enough to provoke displeasure.
But instead of getting angry at him, Soana turned her gaze back to the stained-glass window.
'Recover my head?'
Here?
Having a fact she had privately considered confirmed by that traitor's mouth left her feeling quite unsettled.
'Did I die here?'
The stained glass was within reach. Soana stood still without fluttering her wings and stared at it.
'Why here?'
She had been a cleric who served Life, but by betraying Life, she became a defiled and fallen being.
Her circumstances differed from the other knights, whose redemption was simply a matter of being saved. Having been a cleric meant she had been very close to Life.
Thus, the price of betrayal that returned to her was also great.
She lost all the power she had possessed as a cleric. Death gave her freedom but did not grant her power.
It meant that just because Soana betrayed Life, she could not become a cleric serving Death.
「A chapel is meaningless to me.」
「But it's also the space most familiar to you, Soana.」
It was the Captain who had this small chapel building constructed in a corner of the backyard.
「You too need a space to rest comfortably.」
「A chapel is a place to serve a god. It is a building that exists to worship a god, to pray to a god. Do you wish for me to serve Death here?」
What had the Captain answered to Soana's question then?
「I won't erect any holy statues here. Soana, the one you should serve...」
Perhaps at that time, the Captain said.
「...is yourself. Your prayers will be directed solely by your faith, to wherever you wish them to go.」
Yes, he had said that. With a very affectionate smile.
"Ha......"
Soana finally recognized the stained-glass window. That geometric human figure was not a goddess.
That was Soana, herself.
Something the Captain had personally instructed to be engraved.
"Here......"
The moment she recognized the figure in the stained glass, she inevitably recovered all the memories of her final moments.
The reason Soana had died last in the first place was because all the knights had believed in her.
They believed she would protect the Captain's side until the very end.
But Soana betrayed their trust. The place she chose to die was not by the Captain's side, but in this small chapel.
Just before dying here, she offered a prayer mourning her comrades who had died before her.
"I..."
She had fervently prayed that the extinguished hopes of her fallen comrades would not fade like snuffed lamps, that they would be given another chance.