Rokujouma no Shinryakusha!? - Volume 18 - Chapter SS2

Side: Ruthkania

Ruth held the proud title of guardian knight, but knew good and well that fighting wasn’t her strong suit. She’d gotten much stronger after training under Koutarou, but she was simply peaceable by nature. Being from a renowned family of knights, she could never say it out loud, but she knew that—at best—she’d only ever be able to guard her loved ones.

“Yet... why did I take up the sword to begin with?”

Clan had given Ruth the swords her legendary ancestor Flairhan once used, and Koutarou had taught her how to use them. With both of their help, she’d grown much stronger and much more capable. But now, after all that, she couldn’t really remember why she’d wanted to get stronger in the first place.

“I feel like I’m forgetting something...”

Ruth quizzically tilted her head as she looked down at the beam swords in her hands. Up until now, she’d been motivated by an urge to get stronger. Despite being timid and demure, she was absolutely driven in her quest for strength... but she wasn’t sure why.

“W-Well, what does the reason really matter?”

Theia, who was accompanying Ruth in her training, did her best to thwart any discussion of this matter. She knew exactly why Ruth had taken up the sword, and was well aware of the danger that might befall them all if Ruth remembered what had inspired her to do so.

“But it feels like something is off...”

Ruth studied her swords with a perplexed look. She’d felt compelled to learn to fight, but why? Was there some enemy that she was afraid of? One she sought to defeat? The lingering thought that there was some lurking threat she needed to protect Theia, Koutarou, and everyone else in room 106 from kept eating at her, pushing her further and further towards an answer that Theia absolutely did not want her to find.

“Wh-Why you did it isn’t as important as what you’ve achieved! You can now wield Flairhan’s swords of light thanks to your training—isn’t that enough? Reason aside, surely this is the will of the Goddess of Dawn.”

In truth, Ruth first desired to get stronger after losing to Shizuka, disguised as Kabutonga, last year at the amusement park. She was so blinded by rage at the time that she didn’t remember it now, but she wanted to become strong so that she would never, ever lose to a beetle again.

And that was precisely the realization that Theia was terrified of Ruth reaching, so she was desperately trying to change the subject.

“That’s true... It’s certainly romantic and wonderful to think it was fate that guided me here.”

Ruth was quite attached to Flairhan’s swords, so what Theia had said struck a chord with her. Perhaps there was just something special about them. And with that thought, Ruth readily put the discussion aside and got back to her training, swinging her swords just like Koutarou had taught her.

“Phew...”

Seeing this, Theia let out a small sigh of relief. She then watched Ruth train in admiration.

“I wonder if Flairhan fought this way.”

“I believe so, Your Highness.”

Ruth did her best to copy the footage of Flairhan that had been stored in Koutarou’s armor, swiftly and gracefully swinging a beam sword in each hand. It wasn’t like Ruth didn’t have any talent for swordsmanship. As long as there were no enemies, her form was quite composed and beautiful. Just like Flairhan, she was a splendid whirlwind of deadly finesse.

“Huh?”

But suddenly it hit her—a strange sense of deja vu. She felt like she’d fought against someone like this not long ago.

“It’s coming back to me... It was when we were taking down the radical faction... There was something in their base...”

“Oh no! Stop it, Ruth! There was nothing there! Don’t think any more about it!”

“It was a... Yes, they were...”

“Ruth-chan! We have a request, ho!”

“But first things first, ho! We brought you a cake, ho!”

“Curse you, beeeeetles!”

Vrooosh!

“Why, ho?!”

“Do you hate us that much, ho?!”

In a moment of intense fervor, Ruth saw an illusionary swarm of beetles coming at her and swung her swords wildly, which sent the innocently haniwas flying. Fortunately, the swords were set to training mode so the haniwas were unharmed, but they wisely decided their point of improvement for this day would be to never get close to Ruth when she was holding swords again.