Immediately after using divine power for Bark and Minte, my head throbbed.
It was an intensely strong headache, to the point where I couldn't move any further. Xenon strongly insisted that I needed to rest.
He said that because I had used too much power in a short time, side effects were appearing. The other Dullahans also agreed with Xenon's words.
Only four Dullahans remained by my side.
I wondered what meaning there could be in resting a bit longer in this cramped inner fortress where I might recover my head at any moment, but I obediently accepted their suggestion. Not only because of the headache, but also because I was mentally overwhelmed.
"This appears to be a duty room that the soldiers on watch used."
Below the watchtower, there was a small single room that looked like it could accommodate three or four people for rest.
It seemed like a place that soldiers on duty primarily used, just as Xenon said.
Inside the quarters, there was a wooden bed. Lifeless bedding was spread over it, giving off a musty smell.
"...."
When I lifted it slightly, hidden insects scurried away.
Xenon saw this and, looking repulsed, cast a spell.
I didn't know what kind of magic it was, but something shaped like a soft jelly formed over the bed.
Covering the bed, it was quite soft to the touch, enough to rival high-quality bedding.
"I can maintain it just long enough for you to rest briefly, so please lie down."
Xenon forcibly made me lie on the bed. Then he picked up a wooden chair lying around and took a seat beside the bed.
"I'm not a sick person."
"Yes, I know."
Xenon took out some of the bedding he normally used when camping and covered me with it, nodding perfunctorily.
I felt a bit sulky at his attitude of not even listening to my words properly, but it was true that lying down was comfortable.
As I lay quietly, Mori and Jigor, who had been watching, took their places at the corner of the bed.
[We'll guard the Commander, so please rest comfortably!]
[D-don't worry and sleep.]
A fist-sized small bird and a snake similar in size to an earthworm declared boldly that they would protect me. I chuckled at how ridiculous that was, and Xenon gently patted the back of my hand.
It seemed like his attempt to put me to sleep. When I closed my eyes, I clearly felt the sensation of him rhythmically tapping the back of my hand.
Focusing on that warmth, my body gradually grew languid. My consciousness steadily sank into sleep's embrace.
Sleep was an excellent rest.
* * *
Nadav, Jigor, and Mori guarded the sleeping Anelli's side.
Soana too was contemplating whether she should rest for a moment. Having watched her comrades find rest had been more exhausting than she thought, and she too was in a considerably mentally drained state.
However, the moment she saw Samuel walking alone, Soana had no choice but to follow in his footsteps.
'Traitor.'
Samuel was clearly a traitor. Even if she couldn't remember, the comrades who had regained their memories all pointed to him.
Anelli had said she chose Samuel as the one to guide her. With just those words, the other Dullahans tacitly accepted Samuel's existence.
But Soana couldn't bring herself to look at him with an easy mind.
That was only natural, for was that one not a traitor? The first knight who had reduced all their efforts to a handful of ashes in the past.
So Soana followed Samuel.
Samuel walked slowly, observing the inner fortress. As if he knew all the internal geography of this place, his steps showed no hesitation.
Occasionally he stopped abruptly and stared vacantly into the air. He seemed to be recalling the past.
Following him, Soana too became immersed in incomplete memories of the past.
'The training ground where Tristan and Jigor used to spar....'
The training ground that had once been piled high with wooden swords for sparring, and—
'Is that the corridor connected to the dining hall? Bark always seemed to be first in line.'
The open corridor leading to the buildings.
'The plants Mori raised are all dead.'
The backyard garden, now desolate and cracked, where carefully tended plants had disappeared.
As Soana made a full circle around the inner fortress with the main tower at its center, she recalled traces of their past from various places.
It was to the point that she momentarily forgot her original intention to monitor Samuel. Thus, Soana, who had been keeping an uneasy company with Samuel, finally reached a certain building.
It was a small building located in a corner of the backyard, slightly apart from the main tower. A building one wouldn't discover unless they deliberately sought it out.
Soana recognized what kind of place it was at a glance.
'Chapel.'
That place was a chapel. A chapel that enshrined no god.
It was precisely the place where Soana had primarily stayed.
Creeeak.
Samuel, who had been only observing the exterior, pushed open the chapel's main door and entered. Along with the sound of rusty hinges, dusty debris fell from above the door.
Soana hesitated for a moment before the chapel's open door.
Instinctively, she wondered if her end might lie within. But at the same time, she thought that might not be the case. Because....
'I died at the very end.'
There were other knights who died trying to guard the Commander inside the main tower.
For Soana, who remembered all their deaths, she expected it wasn't highly likely that she had met her end in this isolated chapel outside.
Or perhaps she hoped it wasn't so.
Compared to the other knights, her loyalty to the Commander was on the lower side, but nevertheless, she was a Knight of the Round Table.
If possible, she hoped her end had been at the Commander's side.
Beyond the open door, shadows lay thick and visibility was poor. Soana, who had been gazing blankly beyond it, cautiously flapped her wings toward the inside.
What she saw upon entering were scattered chairs and floor tiles broken here and there.
If it were an ordinary chapel, a divine statue would have been placed at the end of the main path. However, there was nothing there.
Instead, a large stained glass window occupied the front wall. What the geometric lines and colorful hues faintly depicted was a single woman.
'Goddess?'
Soana tilted her head.
That was because, despite the long time that had passed, the stained glass maintained its complete form.
"Have you given up on following secretly?"
Samuel, who had been kneeling in the center, glanced back. She thought she had entered smoothly, but he seemed to have sensed her presence.
However, Samuel only called out to Soana and did not continue speaking further.
Soana, having settled on the floor, looked at Samuel briefly before turning her attention to her surroundings.
Whether unfortunate or fortunate, aside from the chairs being in poor condition, the overall state was largely intact.
'Ah, that seat is where Nadav used to sit.'
Soana, who generally faced situations with detachment and composure, couldn't hide her inwardly pleased feeling as she encountered these familiar memories one after another.
She ignored Samuel and wandered here and there in the chapel.
"Soana."
A low call broke the chapel's silence. Soana, who had been following traces of the past with a wistful gaze, turned her eyes toward Samuel.
Behind him as he rose, the massive stained glass was visible.
She had found memories of the past from various places in the chapel, but nothing came to mind regarding that alone.
"Has that one awakened?"
Soana was currently in the form of a hawk. Even if he asked like that, there was no way Samuel could understand Soana's answer.
Yet Samuel was demanding an answer from Soana.
Soana faced Samuel with an indifferent gaze, then ignored him and approached the stained glass.
Seen up close, it was even larger.
"Do you wish to go berserk?"
Samuel asked again. Soana glanced at Samuel with some irritation.
He continued saying what he wanted to say, as if completely unaware of Soana's displeased attitude.
"Even if you recover your head now, you won't be able to enter rest immediately."
At those words, Soana's gaze wavered slightly.
"Still, your patience was quite excellent. You'll hold out longer than the other knights."
Samuel mentioned Soana's end very calmly. Even without memories, his composed attitude was infuriating enough to churn with displeasure.
However, instead of getting angry at him, Soana turned her gaze to the stained glass.
'Recover my head?'
Here?
Having the fact she had been inwardly considering confirmed by that traitor's mouth left her feeling not at ease.
'Did I die here, then?'
The stained glass was within reach. Soana stood still without flapping her wings and gazed at it.
'Why here?'
She had been a clergywoman who worshipped Birth, but upon betraying Birth, she became a body that denied and fell.
Her circumstances were different from the other knights who had simply ended at being saved. Being a clergywoman meant she had been very close to Birth.
The price of that returning betrayal was equally great.
She lost all the power she had as a clergywoman. Death gave her freedom but did not grant her power.
This meant that Soana could not become a clergywoman serving Death just because she had betrayed Birth.
「The chapel holds no meaning for me.」
「But it is also the space most familiar to you, Soana.」
It was the Commander who had built this small chapel building in one corner of the backyard.
「You also need a place to rest comfortably.」
「A chapel is a place for worshipping god. A building that exists to revere god and pray to god. Do you wish for me to serve Death here?」
What did the Commander say in response to Soana's question back then?
「I won't erect any divine statues here. Soana, the one you will serve is....」
Perhaps at that time, the Commander.
「You yourself. Your prayers will, only by your own faith, head toward wherever you wish.」
Yes, that's what was said. With a very gentle smile.
"Ha...."
Soana finally recognized the stained glass. That geometrically shaped person was not a goddess.
It was Soana, herself.
The Commander had personally ordered it to be carved and placed there.
"In this place...."
Recognizing the figure in the stained glass, she inevitably recovered all memories of her final moment.
Originally, the reason Soana died last was because all the knights had trusted her.
They had believed that if it was her, she would guard the Commander's side until the very end.
However, Soana betrayed their trust. The place she chose as her deathbed was not the Commander's side but this small chapel.
Just before dying here, she offered a prayer commemorating the other comrades who had died before her.
"I."
She had earnestly prayed that the broken comrades' wishes would not be extinguished like a lamp, that opportunity would come to them once more.