Chapter 10 (2/2)

And again, she tried to stand.

“Ow-… Aah…”

But her legs had reached their end a long time ago. It was impossible to stand while they were cramping that way.

Attempting to do so had only worsened the pain.

“I can still… I still haven’t… lost…”

Even so, Fii gripped her sword, and struggled against the ground to rise.

She didn’t want to lose. She had come all this way. Even though everything was just a single step away…

When the masked man presented her that question, Fii had taken it to heart.

There was n.o.body in that villa. Besides Fii, not a single soul. And that was where Fii’s life was destined to end. In the villa, surrounded by the tall walls, alone. In that gloomy place, alone. Always alone.

It was the resting place for an outcast who would fade away in solitude.

Fii couldn’t accept it.

She wanted to walk where the sun shone. She wanted to spend her life there with other people.

Fii thought that back when she was a child and still adored the tales of knights, she had seen light there.

As she approached marriageable age though, she was forced to quit the sword, and before she knew it, she had forgotten her dream.

But now, she felt it more strongly than ever.

Somebody like Crow-san. Some special person she had yet to meet. Friends, companions, seniors she had yet to meet. People who would look at the real her. Fii wanted to live in the place where she could find all that.

“I can’t lose… I can’t… give up… aahhh…!”

She struggle desperately against the ground, despite the tears from the pain, and the crowd silently watched her.

Even Gorms just stood stock still, dumbfounded.

It continued for a whole minute.

The referee knight shook his head sadly.

“With your body like that, you’re done…” he judged. “The winner of the match is Gorms!!!”

The moment she heard his voice, the power left her body.

(I lost… I couldn’t win…)

A cold despair permeated her heart.

(In the end… I couldn’t grab hold… of anything…)

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