Arc 4 Chapter 38 : Truth

[Siena POV]

Standing before me was an eighteen-year-old man with black hair—three years younger than me. His hands were shackled behind his back, and his expression still looked weak from the large amount of blood he had lost during our battle three days ago.

“Miss Siena, how am I supposed to eat if my hands are shackled behind my back like this?” he complained, sounding like a child.

On the table before us was a sandwich and a glass of water for the man sitting across from me.

Earlier, when I was about to interrogate him and ask him a few questions, the only response I received was the pitiful sound of his growling stomach.

I agreed to his request and asked the ship’s cook to bring him some food.

“I already fulfilled your request, and now you’re complaining instead of being grateful for my kindness,” I replied.

Hearing my words, Raul pressed his cheek against the table. He moved his mouth from side to side, trying to reach the sandwich on the plate. I had deliberately placed it in the middle of the table, far beyond the reach of the black-haired man.

His ridiculous expression as he struggled to reach the sandwich made me want to laugh.

I knew I shouldn’t feel this way toward someone who had slaughtered my men.

However, this was war.

If we didn’t kill one another and exploit each other’s weaknesses, then what else could we do to achieve victory?

Soldiers from every side had died in this war. That was precisely why unnecessary sentiments like these should not interfere with my judgment.

After several minutes, Raul finished the sandwich I had given him.

“I never expected that the person who made an army of 40,000 struggle to the point of abandoning the Eastern Territories of the Empire would be nothing more than an academy student,” I said to him.

Not only that, despite being only eighteen years old, the way this man fought was comparable to that of a Knight who had experienced hundreds of life-and-death battles.

He could also use the Reject Impact spell, something that only a handful of people in this world could master.

Yet, when he fought me, I never once saw him use Nature Mana or his Prodound Codex.

Was there a particular reason he hadn’t used them against me?

“Miss Siena, you’re saying that without looking at yourself in the mirror,” he retorted. “You’re only three years older than me, yet your strength is equal to—or perhaps even greater than—that of a Grand Espada. Your intelligence is also renowned throughout the entire continent because you successfully revolutionized various systems in the Republic of Venetia, along with countless other remarkable innovations in your homeland.”

I lowered my head slightly upon hearing his words.

All the knowledge I possessed was not purely the result of my own efforts.

It came from peeking into the memories of two women whose lives I had dreamed about while I was in a coma several years ago.

In other words, none of those miraculous achievements were entirely my own.

I looked back at the man before me, this time with a sharp gaze.

“Then how were you able to enter our territory? There’s no way you climbed over the Montana Mountains, and you certainly couldn’t have crossed the Mazovia Forest, which is filled with countless ferocious beasts.”

My plans in the Eastern Territories of the Empire had been ruined because I never expected them to be able to cut off the logistical supply lines of the 40,000 soldiers of the Draconia Kingdom.

Furthermore, the Intelligence Unit and I had thoroughly investigated the entire mountain range and found only one secret passage that could safely be traversed by an army.

Yet they couldn’t have used that route because we had guarded it heavily.

Which meant they had found another secret passage through the mountains.

“Will I be treated well if I tell you the truth?” the man asked me.

“At the very least, you won’t lose your life while you’re my prisoner,” I replied.

“Fair enough,” he said. “Before fighting me, you chased after my other companions but failed to find them, didn’t you?”

I nodded in response.

The juniors and I had been the ones chasing his companions at the time. However, after following the route they had taken, we found absolutely no trace of them.

Back then, I had desperately tried to figure out how they had suddenly disappeared.

But not long afterward, I realized that the group we had been following was merely bait. They had used it to buy enough time for Raul de Garcia to slaughter the Seniors who had been pursuing him.

That had been my greatest mistake.

I had assumed that this man had made himself the bait.

But it was the other way around.

“We found the dwarves’ labyrinth in those mountains,” he revealed casually.

Dwarves...

A race that had not made contact with humanity for hundreds of years.

How had the Imperials managed to find them?

And what kind of agreement had they made with the dwarves that allowed them to pass through the dwarves’ labyrinth beneath the mountains?

It seemed I needed to reevaluate the operations carried out by the Intelligence Unit so that we would never repeat such a fatal mistake again—one that had completely thrown the flawless plan I had prepared into chaos.

“Then how were you able to communicate with your spy in the Military Logistics Department?”

Hearing my question, Raul’s expression changed slightly in surprise.

He then stared at me sharply, his expression completely different from before.

“Did you execute him?” the man asked, his voice devoid of emotion.

“You’re right. He refused to open his mouth,” I answered as I pointed my revolver at his forehead. “You’ll suffer the same fate if you don’t answer this question.”

Yet even after being threatened with death, the man before me continued staring into my eyes without showing the slightest trace of fear or resignation.

This text was taken from NovelPhoenix. Help the author by reading the original version there.

“There’s an artifact called a Light Bubble that allows us to communicate over long distances,” he revealed. “We obtained this artifact from the dwarves as part of our agreement.”

“What kind of agreement?” I asked.

“You know, dwarves love alcoholic beverages. In exchange for the alcohol we supplied them with, the dwarves gave us several valuable artifacts they possessed.”

I detected a lie in his body language.

However, I had indeed read before that dwarves were extremely fond of alcohol.

Was what he said half-truth and half-lie?

“I received a report that the Empire employed a Scorched Earth tactic against the Draconia Kingdom’s army by burning food supplies and fields throughout the Margraviate of Cataluna. Does that mean you had already planned to cut off their logistical supplies from the very beginning?”

To be honest, I felt that the Empire had already known about our secret strategy to attack them from the east.

Every move they made had been far too swift and effective, as though they had already anticipated every strategy I had meticulously prepared.

“Exactly. The Empire, especially me, already knew that you would attack us from the east,” Raul admitted. “That’s why we were able to counter your tactics in the Margraviate of Cataluna so easily.”

Hearing his answer, I lowered the hand that had been pointing my revolver at him.

So that was it.

My suspicions had been correct.

My strategy had already been exposed before the war even began.

I had underestimated them far too much.

“How did you know we would attack the eastern territories of the Empire?” I asked curiously.

Hearing my question, the black-haired man before me smiled.

“Melissa...”

My eyes widened in shock when I heard him mutter the alias I had previously used while spying on the eastern territories of the Empire.

Several months before the war broke out, I had disguised myself as a shopkeeper at a beverage store to gather information and incite several groups that were dissatisfied with the Empire.

It was during that assignment that I first met this man—Raul de Garcia.

We had often talked about various things back then.

I never expected him to realize that I had been a spy from the Republic of Venetia all along.

But how had he realized I was Melissa?

At the time, I had altered my appearance with an artifact given to me by my mother, making it impossible for anyone to recognize me.

“I still want to taste one of the drinks you made, you know,” the man said teasingly.

I glared sharply at the man before me once again.

He...

He knew everything.

I never expected a man who was still attending an academy to be this dangerous and possess such extensive knowledge.

I suppose I really shouldn’t judge a book by its cover, even if he looked so unimpressive.

I thought I had finally stopped underestimating my enemies and was acting cautiously.

“How did you discover my disguise back then, Raul de Garcia?”

I needed to know how my supposedly perfect disguise had been exposed so that I would never make the same mistake again.

“Do you remember when you were about to leave the Fortress City of Cataluna after the monster and demon attack?” Raul asked in return.

I merely nodded.

“I remember you asked me to donate some blood before you left, didn’t you?” I said.

Raul then explained that he had suspected I was a descendant of a Hero from the Mier Race.

That was why he had asked for my blood—to open a secret chamber within the ruins of the Mier Race located in the Mazovia Forest.

He then pointed toward my neck, specifically at the pendant hanging around it.

“You possess an artifact belonging to a Hero of the Mier Race that can alter your appearance, don’t you?”

I opened the pendant and showed him the artifact my mother had passed down to me.

“You mean this?”

I pulled the pendant from beneath the collar of my uniform.

“Exactly. The Hero of the Mier Race possessed two artifacts that could be paired together, creating an entirely new and more powerful artifact.”

Once again, I was shocked that Raul knew about this.

Only my mother and I knew about this artifact—and even the fact that it had a counterpart.

Yet neither of us knew where the other artifact was.

He claimed that if the two artifacts were brought together, they would unleash a new power far greater than the sum of their individual abilities.

After hearing this information from Raul, countless questions began filling my mind.

How did he know that I was descended from a Hero of the Mier Race?

How did he know that I could alter my appearance using an artifact?

There was simply too much information coming from him.

“I know where the counterpart to your artifact is.”

—Thump!

He knew where its counterpart was?

For years, my mother and I had wanted to uncover the truth behind our bloodline.

Why had I been born capable of using magic despite being descended from the Venetian Race?

Was it merely a coincidence, or was there another reason that made me special?

And now, all the answers I had been searching for seemed to be in this man’s possession.

“I’ll tell you why you were born capable of using such a rare form of magic, and I’ll also tell you the truth about your bloodline, Miss Siena,” the man said. “But first, you must answer a question I’m going to ask you honestly.”

Hmm...

What kind of question did he want to ask?

“Have you ever entered someone else’s body? Or had visions of a world different from this one?”

—Thump!

Again.

How did he know about this?

Was he merely making a guess?

Did he know the reason behind the phenomenon I had experienced?

How should I answer him?

This was the greatest secret I possessed.

Yet I also wanted to know the truth about what had happened to me—and about the counterpart to the artifact my mother had given me.

“I’ll answer if we perform a Blood Pact,” I offered.

The man nodded.

He then stood up and turned his back toward me.

I stood as well, took out a knife, and sliced across my palm.

“Hey, can’t you remove these shackles? It would be much easier,” the man complained.

“Stop whining.”

—Slash!

“Arrgh!” the man cried out as my knife sliced across his palm.

I then pressed our palms together, allowing our blood to mix.

“Swear your oath,” I ordered Raul.

“I swear that I will not reveal any information Siena de Reginossa gives me, whether intentionally or unintentionally, and I will never use this knowledge or ability to harm her or her nation.”

“I swear that I will answer Raul de Garcia’s questions truthfully, without lying.”

After we finished reciting our oaths, a red Rune appeared on both of our hands.

The Rune slowly sank into our skin before disappearing completely.

Once the ritual was complete, I made him sit back down so we could continue our conversation.

“Then, what is your answer?”

I could only sigh upon hearing his question.

“You’re right. I have experienced visions of the lives of two women,” I revealed.

“The first was Liana de Grantz—the strongest Hero and Grand Espada in the history of the Empire.

“And the second was Liana Rosentina—a woman from a world called Earth.”

Hearing my answer, Raul showed absolutely no surprise.

Had he already predicted my answer?

“That’s why you were able to use her swordsmanship technique during the final attack in our battle, isn’t it?” Raul remarked.

“Exactly. I can use all of her knowledge in battle because I experienced her life from Liana de Grantz’s own perspective,” I answered.

I then began telling him about Earth—the world where Liana Rosentina had lived.

That world was vastly different from the one we inhabited.

There, humans could not use magic like the Venetian Race could here.

However, their civilization was far more advanced.

The technology they had created could accomplish things that seemed almost like magic itself.

Because of that, I admired the humans of that world.

Even without magic, they had managed to make life easier and more prosperous than the one we lived in.

“And what about this woman named Liana Rosentina?”

I began telling Raul about Liana’s life.

Liana was the daughter of a renowned businessman who manufactured weapons and equipment in her country.

From an early age, she had always possessed a different perspective on the lifestyle of the people within her family’s social circle.

She had also experienced something terrible when she indirectly caused her first friend to take her own life.

Because of that, she became reluctant to socialize with people who saw her only through the lens of her family background.

She began living alone, isolated and lonely, unable to share the beauty of life with anyone.

However, her colorless life changed when she met a man named Evans Baxter.

They met while preparing to enter a prestigious university in their country.

From there, they gradually grew closer and came to understand one another.

Because of the vast difference between their family backgrounds, their relationship was constantly plagued by problems caused by the people within Liana’s family’s social circle.

Yet they faced those obstacles together and eventually became an ideal couple.

As I told him about Liana’s life, for some reason, Raul’s expression looked as though he were reminiscing about the past.

However, I paid it no mind and continued my story.

Their relationship began to deteriorate when Liana’s family attempted to arrange her marriage to the son of a renowned oil tycoon in their country.

Liana asked Evans to marry her as soon as possible.

However, Evans was busy working on a project he had described as his lifelong dream.

I didn’t know what kind of project he was working on, but because of this, the two of them decided to end their five-year relationship.

Liana then went to Evans’s residence to say their final goodbye.

But...

“What happened after Liana said her final goodbye to her former lover?” Raul asked, looking curious.

“She died,” I answered simply.

“After leaving her former lover’s residence, Liana and her fiancé were involved in a transportation accident that killed her at the scene.”

Not long after Liana died, I woke up from the coma I had been suffering from in my current world.

Being able to dream of her life had drastically changed my own life in this world.

After finishing my story, I looked back at Raul.

But unlike before, his expression now appeared completely empty.

As though there was no soul left inside his body.

“Hey, what’s wrong with you?”

I tried calling out to him, but he remained silent and did not respond.

What had happened to him this time?