048 - Interlude : Serena III

"You are at fault."

"You killed my people."

"You stole what was mine."

"So, you are at fault."

Serena recalled those words as she touched the fold. It was when she saw her breath turn white on a cold winter morning, or when Kirina, her foster child, began to walk three days later, or when Euphemia Grimwood appeared and invited her into her home.

Serena suddenly remembered the one-sided condemnation of the Lion King, Randall.

Ignoring their own circumstances, without bothering to understand the situation from the beginning, disregarding fairness and consideration altogether, it was bare emotion.

"So, you are at fault."

The initial trigger was the tyranny of the racoon beastmen. It was before Serena took in Kirina ten years ago.

Near the fox people's village was a settlement of racoon beastmen. They were a similar race to those racoon people who had been skimming wheat under the pretext of taxation from the Sutin orc village. They were cunning, petty, despicable, and ugly.

Those people "attacked" Serena and her kin. So the fox people "counterattacked." Because they would suffer if they didn't.

With no intention of backing down and no intention of submitting quietly, and in direct combat, Serena and her fox people were stronger.

The racoon beastmen fled easily halfway through, and they appealed to the Lion King. If it was a story of artfully framing the fox people as villains, Serena would have harbored even more resentment towards the racoon beastmen.

In reality, anyone who listened to the story properly would have realized that the fox people were not at fault. Even Lex Asuka, who was still a teenager at the time, advised Randall of the innocence of the fox people, but her opinion was never considered.

"So, you are at fault."

She wasn't convinced. How could she be? But in the end, Serena and her kin were not allowed to remain together and were scattered to various places.

Swept away by greater forces.

While gazing at Euphemia Grimwood, who was peacefully asleep on the opposite side of the box carriage, Serena looked back on herself and couldn't help but smile bitterly.

For over ten years, Serena had secluded herself on the frontier.

Because of royal orders? That was certainly true.

Because Kirina was entrusted to her? That, too, she believed.

But now, as she moved towards the Lion King, Serena felt that she had just been stagnating. She was tired of being swept away by something that didn't consider her righteousness or will. Protecting the deserted frontier where no one came meant no change. No being swept away. Entrusting Kirina to her was like a godsend for Serena. Thanks to that, she never had time to be bored. Days flew by just raising her friend's daughter, and she was swept away again.

Swept away by the "current" of Euphemia Grimwood.

She didn't try to stop Stella—Kirina's mother—from being killed.

She was a friend. Maybe not a good friend, but they were born and raised in the same village.

Yet, she abandoned Stella. Though she didn't particularly agonize over it. It only occasionally pricked her heart. Serena felt disgusted with herself for feeling that way.

In short, she disliked not being "swept away" but being "pushed into unpleasant things." Because being swept away by Euphemia wasn't unpleasant. Though she felt anxious and worried as Kirina changed, it was surely better than stagnating on the frontier while Kirina grew up. Or perhaps, without Euphemia, Kirina would have been taken away by Stella, and Serena herself would have been swept away by the "unpleasant current" named "Anti-Lion Alliance."

But that didn't happen.

Because Euphemia Grimwood was there.

The immortal girl.

If you just looked at that aspect, she was a fearsome monster.

But Euphemia was only "not dying."

She had virtually no combat abilities. At least when Serena faced her, Euphemia never made any real attacks but she could tell Euphemia has more than in her that was evenly terrifying.

Serena doesn't know, she's curious and felt that inherent power and yet she baffled at the contradiction.

Euphemia seemed to be able to use a little magic, but it was just small-scale magic like igniting burning grass or maybe she's hiding her true power?

In terms of physical abilities, she was incomparable to beastmen. Probably even lower than kobolds. However, perhaps because of the fact that she was an "immortal," she didn't seem to get tired. It's a story about someone with physical abilities lower than kobolds not getting tired. But Serena felt that she had lost to that girl who just wouldn't die.

It was a fair defeat —she thought now.

Euphemia didn't say, "You're at fault."

Even afterwards, Serena felt like Euphemia never said "You're at fault" to anyone. Or maybe she just didn't care, but Serena could tell that Euphemia Grimwood didn't pay much attention to good and evil. Righteousness wasn't necessary. So what if it's bad? It felt like a kind of unapologetic attitude.

If asked who was at fault, this girl would probably say, "It's me." With her usual confident smile, she would stand proudly.

So, perhaps—Serena wanted to see it.

The confrontation between Lion King Randall Kruger and Euphemia Grimwood.