Lili was a small girl who had been part of a traveling troupe. However, the troupe, by sheer bad luck, wandered into a battlefield, and everyone but Lili perished. It wasn’t even clear whether the troupe had been wiped out by the Republic Army or the Kingdom Army.

Given that the troupe had neither worn the armor nor carried the swords of either nation, it was likely deemed a necessary measure by both countries, wary of espionage. Still, as a conclusion to one’s life, it was among the worst imaginable.

By the time I received the report and arrived at the carriage, everything was already over. A squad from the Republic Army had discovered them and delayed my arrival with a skirmish. I hadn’t made it in time.

But as I was about to turn back, I noticed something. Through the gap between the shattered and broken wheels, I found a small girl hiding beneath the carriage bed, crying.

When she saw me, Blythe, peering in at her, she was utterly terrified. She screamed and cried, scrambling back. But it was under the broken carriage—there was nowhere to run.

She was beyond the point of conversation.

It was such a hassle that I forcefully dragged her out from under the carriage and put her on my horse to take her back with me.

From that day onward, I was at a loss as to how to deal with the girl.

The girl, who had been an apprentice dancer in the troupe, introduced herself as Lili Ituka. It was an unusual name. She must have been part of a nomadic people who had drifted over from another continent.

There was no way a knight order could take care of her, so I pushed her off on Kilpus—no, I mean, making her serve wasn’t an option without knowing her background.

Thinking she might as well stay at a brothel inn, since she was an apprentice dancer, I suggested it, but she adamantly refused. The dancers of the troupe had also served as courtesans. Perhaps observing them had left her with certain feelings about it.

Next, Blythe tried reaching out to orphanages. However, during wartime, the orphanages in the royal capital were overflowing with war orphans, and none had the capacity to take her in.

At the time, the state of affairs wasn’t merely a quagmire of war—it was a blood-soaked hell.

I didn’t regret saving her, but I was at my wits' end. As a man who had never married or had children, it was an unprecedented dilemma for me.

In the end, I had no choice but to have her work as a servant for my small group of disciples, the Blythe faction. At least she wouldn’t starve.

Even so, both then and now, we had no formal school or style. “Formless,” as it were.

During training, everyone swung their swords as they pleased. We trained in a live combat format, sparring with each other. It was like kids playing at sword fighting, constantly refining each other's techniques, debating what worked and what didn’t.

Lili, while doing chores like cleaning and laundry, would always watch us enviously. It must have looked like we were playing. In truth, our swordsmanship research was as enjoyable as playing for us.

One day, noticing her watching, one of my disciples, half-jokingly, handed Lili a wooden sword. That was the beginning.

From then on, she would wake up earlier than anyone else, finish her cooking and laundry, and join our training after lunch. The disciples all doted on the little girl like a younger sister—almost excessively so, like his current classmates protectively shield Eremia.

Lili back then was probably around the same age I am now.

One day, during a battle against the Republic Army, I realized, to my shock, that Lili, holding a wooden sword, was behind me.

I was so startled I thought my eyes would pop out. On a chaotic battlefield, it was impossible to sense her presence. I hadn’t noticed her following me.

The battle that day was a disaster. I carried the useless child under one arm while desperately swinging my oversized sword with the other, running all over the battlefield.

It was long before I would be called the Sword Saint. The knights laughed at me, saying it was like a stray dog picking up a pup. But in this case, I couldn’t blame them for laughing.

I laughed too. That night, my disciples and I all had a good laugh.

Even in the next battle, Lili followed me.

Of course, I never gave her permission. She would see us off, then sneak off to arm herself and follow us in secret. No matter how much I scolded her, Lili kept following me. As a result, for a while, all my disciples had to pitch in to protect her.

Looking back, those were tough times. We didn’t even have the chance to earn any accolades because we were so busy protecting Lili. It was exhausting. It was laughably exhausting. It was ridiculously fun.

The Blythe faction enjoyed the chaos of those days. “What will this puppy do next?” they’d wonder.

Years passed, and Lili’s arms and legs grew.

She was about the same age as my current classmates. By then, she was no longer being protected by my disciples. She had become capable in her own right.

Or rather, she had become something else entirely.

…She had learned how to kill.

From the day she first held a sword on the battlefield, I knew this day would come. But when it finally did, I had mixed feelings.

I should have never let her set foot on the battlefield, even if I had to beat her senseless to stop her.

I should have broken her sword and replaced it with a hoe.

I had turned Lili Ituka into a killer.

All I had ever wanted was for her to survive… but no matter how I tried to justify it, the fact remained that my own reluctance to abandon the sword had dragged her into this life.

I was unfit to raise a child. That much I had come to understand.

“Haa…”

Sitting against the wall, lost in thought about the past, I looked up to see Void standing before me. His shadow fell over me.

Void was covered in mud.

The stairs we had climbed earlier had been blocked with rocks and rubble by the male students. They were fortifying this area as a new base, ensuring the goblins couldn’t get up.

“Yo, Eremia. Tired?”

“Not exactly. I just didn’t help carry the rocks because I’m not strong enough.”

I gestured toward the now completely blocked stairs.

“I was resting my body to be ready to swing my sword. I’m fully recovered now. Aren’t you tired, Void?”

Void stuck a pinky finger in his ear and grimaced.

On his earlobe was a piece of metal—a fashion accessory called a piercing. It was something we didn’t have back in the Blythe days. Apparently, it involved poking a hole in the earlobe and threading a decorative needle through it.

Why anyone would willingly put a blade to themselves was beyond me. The battlefield was more than enough for getting pierced.

“Hah? Who do you think you’re talking to? If you’re not tired, get up. Squad Three is heading out to scout. Or, if you’re just pretending to be tough, feel free to sit here.”

At the edge of Void’s gaze, Miku and Oujin, who seemed to have finished preparing for exploration, were discussing something.

Noticing my gaze, Miku smiled and waved at me.

“Alright. Let’s go.”

“Seriously, don’t overdo it. You’re just a kid. It’s fine to let yourself be protected sometimes.”

That kid had once been dragged into battle by me. There was no way I could rest now.

Dusting off the sand from my seat, I stood up and gave Void a kick in the rear.

“Persistent delinquent. Don’t you dare slack off just because carrying rocks wore you out.”

“………Hah, hahahaha.”

Void, taken aback, suddenly burst out laughing.

For some reason, his laughter was infectious, and I laughed too.