Echi's expression faltered.
Squire to Baron, the Vice-Commander. The moment she heard those words, one thought rose above all others: I'm in trouble. No wonder Brad had tucked his tail in the moment he saw Baraha.
"...You're a squire?"
"Two years now. If I say I'll train you, even the cadet representative won't object. You won't have to deal with anyone from that idiot's club either - they won't dare say a word."
She would have vastly preferred dealing with that club's nonsense over receiving training from the squire of the Giosa owner whose head she had once cut off. Echi shook her head quickly.
"I'll be fine, Senior. You don't have to go this far."
"I'm doing this because it's necessary. Once you become a full squire, we'll be working together frequently. My lord is the Vice-Commander, and you're the Commander's squire, after all."
"...Ah."
She had been so preoccupied with Yurien that she had completely lost sight of what being his squire meant in practice. It meant regular contact with the other Giosa owners. Any of whom might remember her.
A dark, oppressive weight settled over her immediate future.
Baraha shrugged. "The cadet representative put an idiot in charge instead of handling it himself. If I leave things as they are, I'll end up suffering when we have to work together. Better to start teaching you properly now."
"Th-thank you."
She didn't want any closer involvement with Baron's squire. But she had no valid reason to refuse, and avoiding the Giosa owners would eventually become impossible once she was formally a squire regardless.
...I need to get more hats. More gloves. More makeup, probably.
She made a grim mental note to dress even more extravagantly - thoroughly enough to make recognition impossible. Baraha, as if counting something on his fingers, turned briskly.
"Follow me. I have something to give you."
"Oh - of course."
He walked out of the training ground. Echi followed. His shoulders from behind were remarkably broad; without his cadet jacket, the muscle under the fitted shirt was plainly visible.
He was conspicuous by any measure, and Baron's squire to boot - why had she no memory of killing him? Among the victims of Azenka she could bring to mind, he wasn't one of them.
She turned it over as she walked, digging through memory. Then a fragment of conversation surfaced.
"Did the Vice-Commander visit the grave again?"
"Of course. After losing his squire like that… he must think of him whenever there's a storm."
"It's been about three years now, hasn't it? Since that monster subjugation."
"The casualties were so terrible..."
Voices of guards through a door, partially heard. Not exact, but the substance was clear. Conversations like that had repeated themselves every time lightning flashed and rain came down, and she had retained the shape of them.
Echi looked up, her face pale.
When she had destroyed Azenka, Baraha hadn't been there. He had already been dead for years by then, killed in an accident before that point.
Three years before her imprisonment was this very year.
During the monster subjugation this year, Baraha Islaf was going to die. And the Vice-Commander who had stood against her until the end, defending Azenka's citizens, had visited his squire's grave every time there was a storm.
She walked into Baraha's back, he had stopped ahead of her. They were in front of the men's dormitory.
"Wait here."
He went inside. Echi stood still.
Her gaze rested on the ivy climbing the red brick wall, but she wasn't seeing it. Cadets passed, noticed her dress, whispered. None of it reached her.
She was thinking.
She had come back to be happy. She had wanted everyone she had killed to be alive, she had not thought much beyond that. She hadn't fully grasped what reversing time actually meant.
'Knowing the future. And if you know, you can change it.'
She had come back to change things. Simply arriving had already half-achieved her goal. But she had not considered what she could do with her knowledge of what was coming.
She knew the major events. Not every detail, but the things too significant to go unnoticed even during her chaotic years of wielding the cursed sword. And she had the power to change them.
'I'll change what I can. What falls within my reach.'
Not every event, she had no intention of engineering the world. Only what was near her. Only what she didn't want to watch happen, in the people around her. Quietly, carefully, without attracting attention.
Like saving Baraha Islaf, who was going to die in the coming monster subjugation.
'And I can observe. If any of the Giosa owners remember, they would know Baraha is going to die. They'd move to prevent it. Watching them will tell me who still carries memories of the erased timeline.'
And if no one else moved, she would do it herself.
'There's no reason to let someone die when I can prevent it. Yes — I'll save him.'
Echi closed her eyes briefly, then opened them. Her violet eyes steadied.
"Sorry for the wait."
Baraha came back out carrying a book. In his large hands it looked like a pamphlet, but it was a standard-sized volume. He held it out.
"Read this first. Homework."
She took it, more of a bundle of notes and memos than a formal book, in a worn leather cover inscribed with Squire's Manual.
"Collected experience from senior squires. No need to return it, keep it and pass it to your own junior someday."
"Thank you."
"I need to see my lord now. Review that and meet me at the training ground tomorrow morning at the same time."
"Senior, one thing."
"What?"
"...The Celestial Knights' monster subjugation happens every spring, doesn't it? As a squire, would I be able to join?"
"This year it'll be difficult. It's on the tenth of May, before your probation period ends. You'd need to be a fully qualified squire."
"Is there no way to participate?"
Baraha studied her, and a faint smile crossed his face.
"Eager for field experience?"
"Yes, Senior."
"More proactive than I expected."
"It's natural, for someone who handles weapons."
"Mm. You don't actually seem that attached to swords, though."
The observation landed like a quiet blow. Was it that obvious? She didn't love swords, given everything she had been through with them, it would have been strange if she did. She kept using one because it was what she was good at.
"...Does it show?"
"Forget it. If you want to participate, place in the top three in the upcoming freshman ranking competition. The top three are taken as provisional squires."
The ranking competition was open to all grades, but a separate preliminary was held for new students shortly after enrollment to establish their standing.
"Only the top three?"
"The Celestial Knights' subjugation isn't a display for foreign dignitaries - it's real. You need that level of skill to avoid being a liability."
"...I understand."
"Lacking confidence, top-ranked freshman?"
His amber eyes glinted with something playful. Echi lifted the corners of her mouth.
"Not at all."
She gathered her dress in one hand and curtsied lightly, meeting his gaze.
"I look forward to the subjugation, Senior Baraha."
His golden eyes gleamed with something that looked like satisfaction.
"Good. A cadet the Commander handpicked on day one should have that kind of backbone. I'll look forward to the ranking competition, Echinacea Roaz."
"Thank you, Senior."
"Do your homework, I'll check it tomorrow."
Baraha walked away smiling. Echi turned back toward her dormitory, gripping the manual. The demonic sword murmured in her mind.
[Master, weren't you planning to avoid high rankings? Now you're aiming for third place?]
"No. First."
[Huh?]
"I'm already a squire. There's no longer any point in staying out of the Giosa owners' sight."
It was true. The reason to stay ranked low had been to minimize encounters with them. That reason was gone.
Better now to make her presence undeniable, to drown any doubts or resentment under the weight of sheer ability.
"Besides, I need to put those ridiculous rumors to rest. The ones about night shifts."
Echi smiled, and the glint in her amethyst eyes was sharp as a drawn blade.