Chapter 36: 35.5

He checked the silver bracelet on his left wrist.

There was a cold and hard sensation under the fingertips of his right hand. The same thing was on his right wrist.

Lloyd looked at the bracelets on both wrists with his golden eyes.

“How do they feel, Mr. Lloyd?”

“There doesn’t seem to be any issues. This will do.”

“No, wait a little longer. I’ll check them a second time just to be sure.”

Benjamin Labra smiled wryly and soothed Lloyd, who was restless.

“No need to be in a hurry. The <Grey Lands> won’t run away. ——The holy sword as well.”

For a good natured man, those words sounded somewhat like self-mockery.

Lloyd let out a shallow breath and obeyed Labra. For this, he wouldn’t have been able to accomplish it without Labra’s help.

The research facility he had been accustomed to going to now had a somewhat tense atmosphere.

Lloyd himself, who had brought about this atmosphere, even felt a faint sense of elation.

——He was going to open a <Gate> and go to the <Grey Lands>.

It was unprecedented for a man who hadn’t even become the Guardian to take such an action.

This was made possible by several factors, including Lloyd’s combat ability, his past record of defeating demons, the progress of Labra’s research, and the “White Rose’s” recommendation.

Lloyd wasn’t afraid. Nor did he underestimate the importance of going to the <Grey Lands> to retrieve the holy sword Salutis.

But the elation of proving his strength by doing so and the curiosity towards the unknown drove Lloyd on.

(…The holy sword was taken by Wisteria Irene.)

It was definitely in the <Grey Lands>, but it was unknown what state it was even in right now.

“Mr. Lloyd, I know I’m being long-winded, but let us go over this one more time. The <Gate> will open at the same place it was twenty-three years ago. If the situation is favorable, the holy sword Salutis may still be there…”

“If we’re unlucky and it has been moved, I won’t find it. I need to search the surrounding area. These ornaments are here to ensure a extension of time for that.”

Lloyd took over and said, and Labra nodded.

“An extension is not a very long time. If you don’t find it, send a signal immediately. We can’t send any reinforcements or help, so please keep yourself safe at all cost until we open the <Gate> again. The <Grey Lands> are a different world, and there must be many unknown demons there. Even if there isn’t, if you’re exposed to a certain level of miasma, death awaits you.”

Lloyd nodded his head in agreement as the man spoke eloquently with an unusually stern face. No one knew more about the <Grey Lands> than Labra.

As Lloyd checked the ornaments on his neck and wrists once more, Labra fell silent.

And then, he spoke in a less stern voice.

“I have one favor to ask of you, Mr. Lloyd. ——I know it’s not possible, but…”

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Lloyd raised his eyes and looked at the man, who sounded hesitant.

“If you find Lady Wisteria…”

Lloyd blinked his silver lashes.

Labra’s eyes were downcast, hesitating over his words.

——No one who had gone to the <Grey Lands> as a Guardian had returned alive.

Not even a corpse had been found.

None other than Labra should have known that.

Lloyd waited a little while for the rest of his words, and then finally spoke, as if to get rid of Labra’s doubts.

“If I find her corpse, would you like me to take a part of it back?”

“N-No! That’s not something that someone like…me should be asking you to do. But, um, if you find her…can you hold a memorial service for her, even just a simple one?”

Okay, Lloyd replied shortly.

Labra looked somewhat fretful, and then sighed deeply. Then, after another silence that indicated hesitation, he opened his mouth heavily.

“…The demons that live in the <Grey Lands> are far more diverse than the demons of this world. We don’t know what will happen. The records say that some of them even copied human form. Whether that is imitation or…another effect, we don’t know.”

Labra looked up at Lloyd. There was a tragic hue in his eyes, which had noticeable wrinkles around them.

“Or, if…there is something in the form of Lady Wisteria, please, let her sleep in peace.”

——In order to not defile that person any further.

The urgent eyes and words stole away Lloyd’s voice.

This was something that wouldn’t allow him to take the easy way out. A plea–or something akin to a prayer.

Lloyd never told a lie or broke a promise.

After a few beats, Lloyd closed his eyes once. Then, he slowly opened them.

“Understood.”

He said shortly and succinctly.

Labra’s face changed to a look of relief that bordered on a tearful smile.

Lloyd himself had no sentimentality or connection to Wisteria Irene. If the opponent was no longer a human, and if it was necessary for Salutis, he would not hesitate to swing his sword and cut them down.

But that was why when he swung his sword, he didn’t care if there was another shred of reason mixed in there.

(——At least, a quiet death.)

Even if she was a woman who was condemned to death as a Guardian, she should have been allowed that much.

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