461: Monster

Monster

A knock sounded.  2

"… Leonel? Aina? Hoho, feel free to ignore big sis if it's inconvenient to—."

Before Mordred could finish her words, the door to the room opened.

Mordred's words were caught in her throat as she blinked speechlessly. 

Aina stood before her with an equally questioning glance. It had already been more than a week since they came here, but this was the first time someone had come to check on Aina. Well, aside from the usual delivery of food that came every so often. 

Camelot wasn't clear on Aina's strength while King Arthur believed that Leonel wasn't quite strong enough to make a big difference either. 

Though King Arthur had battled and lost to Leonel before, those circumstances were quite special. Back then, due to his pride, he fell into Leonel's rhythm and tried to compete with him in speed casting. 

Objectively speaking, back then, if Leonel had to battle either Mordred or King Arthur, it would have been a difficult and long fight even after grasping the Winter Realm with his bow. This was how much strength these two legends had. 

Had King Arthur been more level headed back then, Leonel wouldn't have been able to make such a fool out of him. This much should have been clear by the fact that, despite the optics of it all, Arthur came out of their battle completely unscathed. 

And now, King Arthur had finally crossed the barrier he had stalled at for so many years. 

This wasn't all either… Because now, the people of Camelot were considered to be people of Earth. As the world evolved, the people of Camelot, too, began to awaken to their own abilities. 

This was all to say that the King Arthur of now was by far and away stronger than the version of himself Leonel would have already struggled mightily to defeat. So, despite the fact that Leonel had grown since then as well, he was unlikely to last a few exchanges with the current King Arthur even now…

So, it made sense that no one had come to communicate with Aina and Leonel. In their minds, what difference could these two children possibly make?

The only person who knew that it was inadvisable to underestimate Leonel was Mordred and this was because she knew everything about him, even secrets he had never exposed to another before. 

But, there was one interesting thing about that trial that Mordred hadn't told Leonel about…

Back then, the first part of the trial was a test of sifting through information. It took some time for Leonel to realize that the 'main character' of his trial was actually Mordred and not someone else. 

Mordred, of course, had to deal with this same issue. But, compared to Leonel, she had a much harder time deciphering the truth. 

This wasn't only because Leonel had an ability conducive to such analysis while she did not, but it was because it almost felt as though Leonel's life had not one… but two main characters to it. 

And the other character? It was exactly this young girl before her. 

When Mordred laid eyes on Aina, a welling of almost motherly sympathy burst out from her heart. 

"You poor girl, you have to treat yourself better. Your scars have flared up again."

Aina flinched when she heard these words and involuntarily took a step back. 

Unlike Leonel who had been there, she wasn't aware why Mordred would somehow know so much about her. 

Saying that her scars had flared up would be a simple observation for anyone. But, to say 'again' so familiarly… why did it feel like Mordred knew this wasn't the first time this had happened?

Aina's scars had, indeed, been inflamed once again. In fact, they had a raging violet redness to them that was even more severe than when Leonel had seen them at their worst. 

After using the cleansing waters, they had calmed and appeared like normal scars. Though they were still ever present, they looked like normal knife wounds. But now, they looked like they had been infested by a nasty infection once again. 

Having seen almost as much of Aina's life as she had seen of Leonel's, Mordred knew well that Aina's scars only flared up like this when she used them to facilitate her training. 

Mordred sighed seeing Aina's reaction. She too felt that she was a bit too rash with her words. Aina had no idea that she had seen most of her life as well. 

"… May I come in?" Mordred asked. 

By now, Mordred was certain that Leonel wasn't present. 

'Damned boy, how can you be so bad with women? She's clearly in a distressed state yet you've gone off and disappeared.'

As much as Mordred knew about Aina's life, she knew even more about Leonel's. She knew how easily he detached himself. Whether it came to his mother or James, she didn't think that anything would change when it came to Aina either. 

Unfortunately, Leonel might have high emotional intelligence, but even he couldn't be perfect. He still had some things to learn, it seemed. 

"Mm." Aina nodded. 

Mordred sighed. "Come, come. Let's get you an ice pack, I'm sure that this can't feel very good."

Aina wasn't sure why she allowed Mordred to enter, truthfully. Despite Mordred's talks of an ice pack, Aina never mentioned the fact Leonel's cleansing waters could likely heal her back to her previous state. 

"Em, I want to fight." Aina suddenly said. 

"Fight?" Mordred was stunned. 

"Yes, I want to join the battlefield. But, I wasn't sure who to talk to, so I've been waiting here."

"This…"

Mordred hesitated. She was hoping to help Aina out a bit, maybe spend some time with the young girl. After all, if there was anyone who understood what it felt like to be alone, it was Mordred. 

But, something about it made her realize that it was almost too difficult to say no to this girl. It looked as though if she said no, Aina would go off on her own to find her own battles. 

Thinking back to the scenes Mordred had seen of Aina's life, Mordred could only grit her teeth and agree. 

'… The last time that monster came out of her, she and Leonel were in that 'French' Zone. I need to be there if it happens again…'

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