Chapter 227: My Name Is

Saaaaaaah.

A fierce wind swept through the forest, shaking it violently. The sound of blades of grass and leaves colliding echoed through the woods like waves. The birds perched on the branches startled and flew up, and for a while the sound of flapping wings could be heard.

Ren flinched as well and turned his head.

It felt as though some whisper had brushed past his ear.

His heart churned with some indescribable emotion.

“What is wrong?”

The knight, who had been tidying their place, turned toward Ren and asked.

“No, it’s just......”

Ren looked beyond the thicket. Inside the layered shadows piled between the dense trees, it was dark enough that it would have been difficult to distinguish anything even in broad daylight.

Ren’s heart had already become too clean to grasp what emotion was lingering within it.

Ren did not spend long agonizing over an answer he could not know.

“Let us go. We must depart now.”

“Ah, yes.”

The two of them set out.

They had to go to the northern end of the forest. The knight advanced along the path exactly as Giselle had instructed him. Multiple paths split apart and tried to confuse them, but the knight never once strayed from the designated route. He neither looked back nor hesitated. Veron had parted from them just before this. And Ren did not look for the vanished Veron. It was as though he could not remember him.

The knight scattered away the pity beginning to rise within him.

Long ago, he had already settled his thoughts that this was not an area the knight should agonize over.

“Do your legs hurt?”

The knight worried only about Ren’s condition.

“No, not at all.”

Expression had vanished from Ren, but it seemed he had at least regained his health. Ren’s complexion looked better than ever. His eyes, carrying no emotion at all, were transparent like glass marbles. The moment the knight met those green eyes reflecting his own appearance, his chest dropped.

For some reason, he felt ashamed.

As though his inner self had been exposed. As though he had been stripped naked.

Why did he feel this way?

Perhaps it was because a trace of guilt existed in the knight’s heart.

Even if this was giving him freedom, should he not have explained everything properly?

Did it truly mean anything to become free after losing all memories?

The knight firmly sealed his trembling lips again and hurried his steps.

There was no way to turn back something already begun. Once he had decided and followed that will, all he could do was properly see through what he believed was right to the very end.

And so the two of them walked and walked again.

The forest floor was soft and damp, so even after walking for a long time, it did not hurt. It felt as though the forest itself was opening a road for them. As though it were telling them to come this way, that this was the road they sought.

And as the forest offered the way, they moved forward.

Northward, northward.

Until the midday sun sank and deep darkness came rushing in, they walked without rest.

Without stopping even once, until they became soaked in the blue light of dawn.

Until the morning sun rose and light poured between the trees like spears.

Then until that sun sank again and night settled once more, until they were dyed again in blue light, and another new sun rose.

Without exchanging a single word, without either of them suggesting rest first, they climbed northward.

There lay the answer they desired.

At the end of the final stretch, the trees thinned, and a small clearing appeared. In the middle of the clearing stood a clean white altar.

On top of the worn-looking altar was a faintly glowing holy relic.

It was what the knight had been searching for.

“Lucia. You must go to that altar.”

The knight pointed toward the altar. A reddish-brown stain smeared across the sleeve of the arm he raised brushed through Ren’s vision for a moment.

After staring at him briefly, Ren walked toward the altar.

Ssssss.

Wind filled the clearing, and white light began to shine from the altar. The light flickered with deep warmth. As though it had been waiting for Ren to come, it looked almost welcoming.

If he left his name upon that altar, the ritual would end.

If he endured one month and offered his name to the altar, all traces of his existence could be erased. The moment he left the forest, even the knight would completely forget Ren.

And Ren too would forget every relationship he had ever formed.

That was the only path by which one could escape the shackle called “Hero” beneath the kingdom’s power.

“—If you truly wish to become free, then follow that will......”

Within the wind wrapping around his body, the knight gave his final warning.

Had his warning reached Ren?

Their eyes met, then separated. It was too short a moment to read what was reflected within those eyes.

Ren, who had seemed to pause and listen to his words, moved his steps once more.

The knight pressed his trembling lips shut and silently watched him.

The forest was different now. The wind blew savagely. The forest ground that had embraced all of Ren, that had taken away his pain, pulled at him. It felt as though it were returning every pain it had taken from Ren. Agony rose through him, enough to feel like his head would split apart and his soul would be carved open. His steps felt heavier than iron. It was as though the entire earth was dragging him downward beneath it. Even a single step was not easy. His breathing grew ragged, and his entire body became drenched in sweat. Before he knew it, droplets rolled down from his soaked bangs. As though it were telling him this was such a road. That abandoning one’s name and becoming free was this kind of path. That the pain of forgetting one’s past and connections would likely be pain incomparable even to this. It felt as though the forest was whispering so.

But Ren, too, merely walked according to the predetermined ritual.

It felt as though tears with no understandable reason were soaking his face.

It was as though only this place within the forest had frozen over.

In a place where the heavy heat of summer should have been felt, it seemed as though icy wind was rising instead.

The feet planted on the earth were cold, his fingertips trembled, and his cheeks felt frozen stiff. His entire heart was cold.

It felt as though winter had descended again, a winter where all reason and emotion froze over and could not emerge.

One step, then another.

The road to the altar, not even twenty steps away, felt distant enough to take years.

Yet nothing rose within Ren’s heart.

He only felt cold.

The moment he thought he smelled snow in the air, sleet scattered down.

Ren’s eyes briefly glimmered before dimming again.

The instant snow clearly entered his vision, tears welled up once more.

Before he knew it, the sun had set, and at last Ren reached the altar.

White light wrapped around him.

Staring at the marble-like orb of light floating above the altar, Ren moved his lips.

It was as though the orb of light was speaking to him.

Asking him what his name was.

Asking whether he had prepared himself to leave it behind.

His frozen lips moved, forcing him at last to spit out his name.

My name is Ren.

Light burst out in white radiance, and a flashing brilliance illuminated every direction.

The entire world was dyed white. Storm-like winds swept through the area.

For a fleeting instant, it felt as though some enormous power beyond human understanding brushed past them.

“......”

Ren’s condition was exactly the same as before.

The one who was different was the knight.

He felt an extremely subtle sensation.

It felt as though he had lost something that once belonged to him, yet no matter how desperately he thought, he could not remember it. And he had the intuition that he would never remember it again.

It felt as though even if that lost thing stood right before his eyes, he would not recognize it.

“Let’s go.”

The beautiful voice containing nothing at all guided the knight.

The knight nodded and started walking.

They were heading for the end of the forest.

If they simply kept walking south like this, that would be enough.

Just as it had when they came north, the forest opened a road for the two of them.

The long grass bowed its waist, and the sharp branches avoided brushing against their fingertips.

The cold winter air had already receded far away, and suffocating heat wrapped around them instead.

The hot air filling even their lungs made their bodies heavy.

But they walked without resting.

After passing through several nights, at last the forest’s greenery seemed to grow thinner.

From the direction leading outside, a long beam of light shone straight toward them.

It felt as though they only needed to follow the light that stretched like a road.

This time too, there was no hesitation.

The one walking ahead was Ren.

Watching the back of the small boy slowly growing farther away, the knight too shed tears for reasons he could not understand.

At last, bright light greeted the two of them as they left the summer forest.

The cries of insects and the heavy heat clung unpleasantly to their skin.

As they stood blankly for a moment beneath the explosive sensation that had come all at once, they sensed a presence.

Turning their heads, they saw a carriage waiting beside the entrance.

“Lucia. Is that you?”

“Yes.”

“I have come under my master’s orders. Then I shall escort you to the estate.”

The person who recognized the blond-haired boy approached and called his name. Lucia followed after him. He acted as though he was completely unaware of the knight who had exited the forest together with him.

But the knight, too, merely stood there quietly, his gaze still wandering somewhere through empty space.

Lucia climbed into the carriage. The person who had come to retrieve Lucia departed immediately with the carriage, leaving the knight behind.

Until another carriage came two hours later to pick the knight up.

With his brow tightly furrowed, the knight spent a long time agonizing over what exactly he had left behind in the forest.