106 – Trigger – 2
“Whoops.”
I sighed and quietly looked at the sky.
Autumn was just around the corner, and the sky was blue without the slightest speck of dust.
“Are you ready?”
At my father’s question, I quietly nodded.
Only me and my father were standing in the arena.
In the same situation I’ve been used to for three months, I quietly picked up Neia and pointed it at my father.
Tomorrow is back to Arcana, so today was the last sparring with my father at my hometown.
“Ike.”
“Yes.”
“I said I didn’t know if it was true that I became stronger.”
“… That’s right.”
No matter how much he trains, the question of whether he will be among those geniuses will not disappear.
I still have the same concern that even if I participate in the battlefield with this skill, I will only get in the way.
“Then why are you standing here holding a sword? Why are you trying to be strong? If you’re not sure, it’s okay if you don’t step forward in the first place.”
“Because I want to protect my precious things. Because I have a responsibility.”
“Then prove it.”
“Proof, is it?”
“Yes. If you had determination and responsibility, you would have put in effort. Prove that effort. If that’s not possible, I won’t allow you to fight Avatar.”
“… Father?”
Suddenly.
And I couldn’t continue with the incomprehensible story.
“It was an obvious decision, so why are you so surprised? For someone with no skills to go to the battlefield is an act tantamount to suicide. You can’t just watch your son go to the limb, can’t you?”
“But I….”
“I don’t need words anymore. If necessary, prove it yourself with your sword, Ike.”
My father’s sword slowly points towards me.
I could tell just by that.
“Anyway, it’s the last sparring, so I won’t do any hand-to-hand combat. So, seriously, do you dare too? Bet your everything, do your best, throw away all your thoughts, and defeat me, the enemy.”
The absolute wall of skill that exists between my father and me.
“… I am not confident that I have become stronger, but I go to the battlefield to take responsibility, Rani.”
And at the same time as his father’s lamentation.
“That sounds really irresponsible.”
Silver brilliance flew in.
★
“Keah!”
The feeling of all the air being pulled out of my lungs swept down my back.
Now I can understand what my father said about not doing hand-holding.
“Is that really the limit? Ike!”
Attack from all directions, each and every one was aiming at a vital point.
Block it, block it, block it.
The attack does not stop.
It’s twice as fast as me, and it’s heavy.
As if all of the sparring so far had been a joke, I found it difficult to even extend my sword.
Left leg, right shoulder, chest, both arms, left side.
It is colored with pain without rest.
“aaa!!!”
I tried to shout to overcome it with spirit, but it was useless.
What is needed to break down a wall is not spirit, but overwhelming power.
“There’s no way you can survive on the battlefield with those skills! 3 Months is just that much time for you!”
“Ugh!”
What kind of answer did the father really want to hear?
Would it be better if I just collapse now?
I don’t know.
My thoughts are hazy, as if my head is fogged.
Why am I even here?
“Admit it, Ike. You have no talent.”
… I know.
“You are not a genius.”
I know.
“And being a knight means being talented.”
Isn’t that why you’re working so hard to overcome that wall of talent?
“By the way, Ike, why are you trying to move forward without knowing that?”
… When did I fall down?
My father walks slowly and hurriedly.
I have to get up, but I hate to get up.
It wasn’t very refreshing to hear my father say that my efforts were denied.
“Ike, again, you have no talent.”
Damn it.
“I know, I have.”
The reason I woke up again was because of what came.
You know better than anyone that you can’t refute that statement.
“And the knight must have talent.”
“I know, I do.”
“Seriously?”
For some reason, I couldn’t answer.
I don’t know why.
I simply had an intuition that I shouldn’t answer that question carelessly.
“You, who have no talent, really know what it means to dream of becoming a knight who must have talent, right? Are you serious?”
My father stopped walking.
As if to give me time to think and answer.
“….”
What the hell does your father want to talk about?
Let’s think about it.
Why are you suddenly against fighting Avatar?
Is it simply because my skills are not enough?
You’re not sure that if I fight Avatar, I’ll come back alive?
If that’s the case, why did you say it now, on the last day?
If you really felt that way in the first place, you should have said it right away yesterday.
“… Genius, talent.”
I can see the road.
A road that shines so brightly that I can never walk to the end.
Even knowing that, why am I trying to reach out to the road?
“The Difference Between Talent and Effort.”
Bumjae with no talent.
A path that only geniuses can walk.
“Ah.”
My mind, which had been foggy and foggy, gradually clears up and begins to form an outline.
“Ah… !”
Yes.
I have no talent.
And a knight is the crystallization of talent.
In the first place, it was an impossible path for me to walk.
But why did I reach out thinking that only that road was the correct answer?
A place I must look at.
“To believe in the efforts accumulated so far.”
“That is correct.”
At the same time, my father’s sword attacked me again.
“You don’t have to wear clothes that don’t match. Believe in the hard work you have built up. Believe in the path you have walked, not the path created by geniuses.”
Yes.
Even if that path shines, I can’t reach it.
No matter how much you stretch out your hands, you can never become the same.
So let’s admit it.
The road I have walked, and must walk, is arduous and rough.
The fact that that, too, is a definite path.
It’s foolish to turn a blind eye to that effort and envy the talent you can’t even reach.
★
“Keuugh!”
Of course, even if I acknowledged that, I cannot surpass my father.
But it was possible to change the way you deal with them.
“Huh!”
The moment my father’s sword grazed my right shoulder, I thrust myself forward, extending the sword.
As I gritted my teeth at the pain of tearing my flesh, I was certain that it was the best judgment possible for me.
But my father knocked me off balance as he backed away lightly.
At the same time as the feeling of the body floating in the sky.
“Ugh.”
In the end, I let go of Neia and fell to the floor.
“Is this the end? Ike.”
My father asked.
Unfortunately, even getting up now was too much for me.
I just wanted to lie on the floor without answering.
But I had to say this.
“Yes. That is my answer.”
“… That was it.”
I turned over and looked up at the sky.
My father’s face suddenly appears.
The cheek of that expressionless face was obviously a shallow but sure scar.
“Father.”
There were many things I wanted to say.
To be honest, I wanted to ask if it wasn’t enough to explain it simply from the beginning.
But I didn’t feel the need to say it.
This must be the correct answer.
“I’ll be back.”
“… Okay.”
A drop of red blood flowed from his father’s cheek.
My father quietly turned his back without even wiping it.
“Ike!”
Just before getting on the carriage.
My mother, who came out to meet me, called me.
“Yes, mother.”
“Cheer up. And you must come back unscathed. Got it?”
A gentle, warm smile.
“Because I will be cheering you on.”
If I looked at my mother’s face and answered, I felt like tears would come out for some reason.
“… I’ll be back.”
“Okay, go home!”
I greeted her mother with my back turned and vows.
I will definitely come back here.
★
“Ike said he would come.”
“They said that to me too.”
Four years ago, after that day.
When Ike went somewhere, he never once said hello.
He always simply said that he would go.
Nia felt sorry for that fact.
She wondered if she did something wrong, she said she even thought she did.
Because those few little things made Ike feel distant.
But now I know.
Ados, Nia, and Lucal knew that Ike wasn’t ‘Ike’.
Even though I tried to treat him as usual with Ike’s request.
To Ike, the members of the Axus family were literally a new ‘family’ that was created out of nowhere.
It was more strange to say that I didn’t feel a sense of distance.
“We should talk more next time we come back.”
But this time Ike said he would come.
That’s just it.
The fact that Ike now considers this place a home to return to makes Nia so happy.
“I really want you to come back safely without getting hurt.”
I sincerely prayed for Ike.