Chapter 38. Courage Training

Each day in the North was arduous.

In fact, on days when we didn’t go out for subjugation, there was no reason to be tired as I could just lie comfortably in the warm castle. Despite being a barren territory, food was well distributed, so there was no risk of starvation.

Nevertheless, I was having the hardest time of anyone. I can say with certainty that the special training I endured in the Imperial Palace was cute compared to what I’m going through now.

Claude, you cruel bastard.

I muttered curses inside my mouth in a voice so small that no one could hear.

Far away, Claude was watching me with stern eyes, his arms crossed. He shouted in a loud voice.

“Congratulations on graduating from ghouls. From today, it’s banshees.”

“……”

I didn’t particularly want to be congratulated.

Seeing two knights approaching, pulling a large wheeled iron cage, I felt even less like being congratulated. Inside the cage was a terribly ugly banshee.

“Banshees have weak attack power. Instead, they induce fear with their cries.”

That’s right.

I was in the middle of courage training.

Because I fainted during the subjugation, I was practicing not to faint at the sight of undead. The problem was that it wasn’t just about building courage by having a staring contest or something…

“Release it.”

Clang.

Wooooo…

I had to fight directly with the undead released from the iron cage.

The use of purification ability was prohibited. More precisely, it was possible to use it after enduring for a set time limit. Or before that, if I could defeat it by swinging my sword.

But I didn’t have that level of swordsmanship.

“Aaaaah!”

There was no choice but to run away.

“Your running is quite decent.”

I’m running because I don’t want to die, you bastard!

He had a talent for irritating people with his stoic face. It was different from Johann teasing with a smile…

But in the end, the effect was the same, you could say.

Anyway, the two of them had some similarities even though they seemed to hate each other’s guts.

They’re both so good at pissing people off!

Woo… Wooooo…

“Kyaaaa!”

The banshee approached me, floating like a ghost. As it gradually increased its speed, the distance between us was slowly narrowing.

The eerie cry that pierced my eardrums grew louder. A chill ran down my spine and fear began to spread inside me like a worm eating away.

The banshee’s cry.

It was said that this, which foretells someone’s death, makes those who hear it fall into endless sorrow. At the same time, it also makes the fear of death grow stealthily.

However, banshees don’t cry only when foretelling someone’s death. Sometimes they cry when they find a target to attack and torment.

I’ve heard that the cries in these two cases are different, but as someone seeing a banshee for the first time today, I had no way to distinguish.

Still, I could guess.

Probably the current cry belongs to the latter category.

Judging by Claude’s calm expressions and the knights’.

Wooooo…

“Kyaa! Stop following me! Don’t come! I said don’t come!”

I ran like mad across the snow-covered training ground.

I know in my head. That if anything happens, Claude and the knights will protect me. That a single banshee like this is nothing to them.

But overwhelmed by the fear induced by the terrible cry, I couldn’t make rational judgments.

“Aah!”

That’s when it happened.

I slipped on patches of ice and fell.

In an instant, the banshee closed the distance.

“Ugh…”

Tears welled up in my eyes.

I’m dying. I feel like I’m going to die. Stop crying. Please stop, I don’t want to hear it anymore!

Whoosh!

Instead of covering my ears, I drew my sword. The banshee that had come close retreated.

But this was only for a very short time. The banshee, floating high up, laughed kikikiki, and then started crying even louder.

Wooooooo…!

“Please stop!”

Swish swish!

I swung my sword but it didn’t reach.

The banshee was floating at an ambiguous distance, as if mocking me.

“Time limit over.”

At that moment, Claude’s voice echoed across the training ground.

Good.

Banshee, you bastard!

You thought you could toy with me?

I threw the sword to the ground, discarding it, and stretched my hand straight up. I could see the banshee flinch as it sensed something was wrong, but…

“It’s too late now, you bastard!”

Fwooosh…!

A bright light shot straight up towards the sky.

Kieeeeek!

The banshee let out a bizarre scream before turning into black ashes and disappearing. The wind that blew at that moment carried away the filthy ashes that were about to fall on me.

Wheeee…

A biting wind slaps my cheeks.

Only then did I feel that my senses had returned. As the fear disappeared, I finally felt the cold.

The moment I realized this, my strength drained away.

Thud.

I sat down on the ground and let out a long sigh of relief. My white breath rose in the air, scattered, and disappeared.

“Excellent.”

At that moment, Claude approached me.

Having exhausted all my energy, I looked up at him silently. Looking down at me with indifferent eyes, he said something cruel as if it was nothing.

“Tomorrow we can do three.”

“……!”

What did you say, you bastard?

Even one was this scary, and now three…?

I cursed him with my eyes, but unfortunately, it didn’t seem to have any impact on Claude.

He ordered the watching knights in a blunt tone.

“Capture plenty.”

“Yes, Your Grace!”

I wanted to cry.

The fear from one was considerable, but how terrifying would it be if a group of banshees attacked? Wouldn’t it feel like facing the abyss of the deep sea?

Just imagining it felt like a cold wind blowing through my heart.

But my worry didn’t seem to reach them even a speck. Watching the knights discussing where to go capture banshees in one mind and heart, I let out a dumbfounded groan.

They’re all the same.

Claude, the knights here, Johann, Jesuf, the Imperial physician Bremen, and all the others are the same!

They were all desperate to squeeze even a little more use out of the purifier.

I felt somewhat lonely.

“Wash up and come to the dining hall.”

But Claude’s following words made me feel a little less lonely.

“Yes!”

I answered vigorously.

There’s one thing I’ve realized since coming to the North…

‘The food here is delicious.’

Considering the harsh environment and rough ingredients, it was really unexpected. From what I’ve heard, it’s the result of Claude inviting an excellent chef with tremendous conditions.

When you see things like this, he might have quite a few similarities with Johann.

Thinking of the food at Hilton Castle, which was not at all inferior to what I had tasted in the Imperial Palace, I got up from the cold ground.

My mouth was already watering.

* * *

After filling my stomach satisfyingly, I was lying quietly on the bed.

My body was exhausted and had become one with the bed, but contrary to appearances, I wasn’t just lazily sprawled out. My mind was continuously rolling.

‘It’s a useless training to begin with…’

The courage training, that is.

I didn’t faint out of fear of the undead in the first place. In fact, during the past few weeks of courage training, I hadn’t fainted even once.

What’s different?

I use the same purification ability, so why did I faint only that time?

I recalled the memories from the subjugation battle, retracing them. It was like a ritual I had been doing every day since waking up after fainting.

I chewed over each feeling from that day one by one.

When climbing the rugged mountains, even doing rock climbing, I was just filled with anger, and when we arrived at the point overlooking the gorge, I felt a momentary sense of achievement.

When I first saw the skeleton and lich, I was scared, but I also had a sense of reliance because Claude and the knights were with me, and when I jumped into the middle of Fjord Gorge in Claude’s arms…

“I was scared of the free fall.”

Right.

I think that was about it.

That was just a drop in the bucket compared to the fear the banshee gave me today.

After that, I was dumbfounded seeing the enchantment Claude cast, and he shouted at me to snap out of it as I stood there with my mouth wide open.

When I realized that the liches all around had targeted Claude and me.

Right at that moment.

A chill ran down my spine and spread throughout my body.

A sensation I feel like I’ll never forget for the rest of my life.

Is it something you can only feel when death is right in front of you?

It was a bit different from the fear of death artificially created by the banshee today. What was it? The fear of facing real death?

As I tilted my head, not knowing the exact difference, something I had forgotten suddenly struck me like lightning.

“I…”

The moment I unleashed my purification ability.

I was glaring at the lich. In a state of intense anger at those who made me do rock climbing, unnecessarily using their brains to make people suffer.

Right.

“I… was angry.”

It was the last emotion I felt before fainting.

“Purifier Seraphina.”

At that moment, Claude’s voice was heard from outside the door.

“Come in.”

He never opened the door and entered until I gave permission, but it seemed he was trying in his own way to make up for his rudeness at the inn on the first day.

Anyway, with Claude coming, I got up from the bed with my heavy body.

“What’s the matter? I know it’s three banshees tomorrow.”

When I spoke in resignation, Claude just stared at me silently.

Why is he staring like that?

It’s embarrassing.

Complex emotions seemed to ripple in his red eyes. But those shallow ripples of emotion quickly disappeared, making me wonder if it was just my imagination.

Unable to bear the uncomfortable silence, I opened my mouth again.

“Your Grace, what…”

“Purifier Seraphina.”

Claude also opened his mouth at the same time.

Our eyes met. I swallowed dry saliva at the gaze that intertwined minutely without gaps.

An unsettling feeling brushed my heart.

“I have news to tell you.”

Claude’s brow furrowed as he opened his mouth hesitantly. Then, with a look of antipathy towards someone unknown on his face, he continued.

“There will be a change in your deployment location.”