Friede is Friet.
Literally, an identity no one could have imagined.
The shocking revelation spat out by Friede, wielding the Holy Sword, threw all the old party members present into a chaotic confusion from which they could not escape.
The only common traits with the hero Friet are hair color, eye color, and the weapon she’s holding.
There was an enormous gap between her appearance before my eyes and the image of Friet in my memories.
Above all, something that should exist has disappeared, and something that shouldn’t exist has manifested twice!
A being who once bore the Holy Sword has now become the sheath of the sword.
It was simply unbelievable, something I couldn’t accept.
Even I, who was directly experiencing it.
◆◆
“…Friet? You?”
After a deathlike silence, Imelia finally spoke, her voice full of disbelief.
“No, what the hell. What kind of nonsense is that? Is she that guy? Where do you see that?”
Irina cursed, incredulous, asking how that was even possible.
“He was at least somewhat decent-looking, but that’s obviously a little girl?”
“I don’t believe it either, but that sword… it is the sword, right?”
Indeed.
A perfectly fine guy suddenly turned into a little girl. It was something utterly impossible to accept logically…
“The Holy Sword of Rhine, Nibelung. Holding it means…”
There was undeniable and clear evidence gleaming brightly in Friede’s hands.
Nibelung.
A national treasure of the Kingdom of Rhine, permitted only to heroes.
“…Is it really you, Friet?”
Irina murmured, swallowing hard.
She didn’t seem tense about encountering a hero turned enemy; rather, her reaction was one of shock at something totally incomprehensible.
“I’ve discarded that name.”
Friede replied, saying she had cast aside that name and adopted a new one.
…In other words, she was indeed once called Friet.
“Ha, unbelievable. This is just ridiculous.”
Irina scratched her head roughly, like a fish out of water, bewildered by the absurdity of the situation.
“…Okay, it’s absurd, but let’s say you are Friet. Then what’s with that appearance?”
She pointed at Friede and asked,
“Seems like you can’t compare with Gunther as a male, so did you decide to become a girl instead?”
What could have possibly happened to turn into a teenage girl?
“That’s right. What on earth has happened to make you look like that…?”
Imelia nodded in agreement, echoing her curiosity.
In fact, the shock was likely far greater for Imelia than for Irina.
Although she now completely belonged to Gunther, Imelia had once loved Friet… No, she was under the illusion that her feelings were love.
After tasting Gunther, she probably had no fragments of affection left for Friet, but just because her feelings had been suppressed didn’t mean her memories had vanished, so the shock would indeed be significant.
What about me?
…Do I even need to ask?
I couldn’t even think straight enough to open my mouth. The shock I felt was monumental and profound, unlike anything Irina or Imelia could comprehend.
Isn’t it obvious?
Right in front of me might be the transformed Kim Seung-woo. How could I not be shocked?
My heart felt as cold as the Antarctic Sea, frozen by fear or horror.
Seriously, what the hell is this?
Friet is Friede. Friede is Friet. Friet is Kim Seung-woo. Kim Seung-woo is Friede. What kind of insane nonsense is this?
Damn it, so this girl has been clinging to me, rubbing her cheeks against mine… It was actually Kim Seung-woo targeting me all this time?
Did he act as an innocent girl to steal my heart?
Everything up to now.
And even this effort to protect me?
Good grief.
I realized that when fear exceeds a certain level, all the blood in one’s body rushes straight to their toes.
It was truly, truly chilling.
Gunther envies my body and abilities, while Kim Seung-woo desires my body and heart.
Choosing between a cruel death and a painful one is like making a horrific choice between two types of torture.
No, it was even worse. At least those options give a choice. I had none.
I was a trophy. If Kim Seung-woo wins, I belong to him. If he loses, I become Gunther’s treasure.
It felt terrible.
That feeling I thought I might actually find appealing when I decided to rescue me had instantly cooled down to the chill of a corpse.
So, I simply closed my eyes.
I shut my eyes and gathered my stamina and spirit, preparing to crawl away from this place or, if that didn’t work out, to stab my heart and commit suicide.
…Though the likelihood of success was not too high.
======[ Friede ]======
Friede could not imagine what Hilde was thinking at the moment.
“I’ve always been a girl. The time I was called ‘Friet’ was when my body was actually not mine. The reason for my transformation… I’m not quite sure about it either.”
She rebutted Irina’s mockery with a rigid expression and aimed Nibelung’s blade at her old companions.
In the past, she had believed she could leave without grudges or feelings of betrayal, understanding their circumstances… but now, it was different.
Just a moment ago, seeing Brunhilde collapsed, covered in wounds, grinning with arrows and a mace between her legs, was the moment it shattered.
“I won’t forgive.”
Malice glinted brightly in Friede’s golden eyes.
The camaraderie that had lingered like a faint trace on a foggy window, and the guilt-ridden empathy of feeling inadequate, all evaporated in a whirlwind of rage.
To the current Friede, the two women before her were no longer old companions but merely evil foes to be torn apart.
Yet, she didn’t immediately charge in and swing Nibelung for only one reason.
‘…I can’t let her out of my sight. The moment I pull away from Brunhilde, Irina will relentlessly target her.’
It was to protect Hilde, who lay defenseless.
If Hilde had been capable of moving, Friede would have rushed at the enemy without hesitation, slicing them apart. However, Hilde was clearly in no condition to even twitch a finger.
If Friede targeted the two while distancing herself from Hilde, Irina would soon focus her attacks on Hilde, aiming to create an opening for Friede.
Even with the Holy Sword’s power, protecting Hilde would be unattainable without risking injury.
Thus, Friede suppressed the urge to kill and issued a warning to Imelia and Irina to back off instead of swinging the sword at them.
Regrettably for Friede, the shock had left the two women unable to register her warning.
“So that’s how it was…? Wait a second. Then that clumsy behavior of yours, was it because it wasn’t your real body?”
Irina’s eyebrows twitched like snakes as she asked.
Her muttering was more of a question to herself than demanding an answer from Friede.
Perhaps because of years of experience, as soon as Irina heard that Friede was originally born as a girl, she immediately understood why Friet was so weak.
“That hellish time, that pointless struggle—it was all for that reason? You knew and kept your mouth shut? Really, you little mayfly. This isn’t a joke.”
Thus, Irina was furious. She believed the former hero Friet had deceived her.
How could someone with the title of hero be so weak?
She mistakenly believed Friet had known the reason and kept silent, acting as if she knew nothing.
“I was never joking. Not then, not now.”
Of course, the one who had the right to be angry wasn’t Irina, who hadn’t helped at all, but rather Brunhilde, who called herself Friet’s mentor.
“…It’s shocking. The reason I got no reaction despite showing you affection was actually that you were the same sex.”
Imelia clutched her necklace and let out a hollow laugh. She suddenly thought about all the pointless things she had done.
After all, flirting with a girl while attempting to seduce her like a guy—could anyone expect that to work?
“……You expressed your affection?”
This was also a misunderstanding.
Friede didn’t reject Imelia’s feelings because she was the same sex but simply because she didn’t even realize it was a declaration of affection.
Her body was male, but her mind was purely that of a girl.
To the Friede of that time, Imelia’s advances felt like the usual playful antics of girls her age.
So how could she have noticed Imelia’s feelings?
Even if she had, she probably wouldn’t have reciprocated.
At that time, Friede was weighed down by the responsibility of having to become strong like a hero, leaving no room to turn to feelings of love.
Moreover, even back then, Friede’s preferences leaned more toward Brunhilde than Imelia. So it could be said there was never a chance for Imelia.
“Anyway, for someone who deceived us so thoroughly, you were merrily enjoying your adventurer’s life with that Brunhilde?”
“Honestly, it doesn’t matter now… but it’s a bit unpleasant.”
Regardless, having finally shaken off the confusion, Irina and Imelia didn’t withdraw but instead gripped their weapons and necklaces, clearly showing their hostility.
‘That weak insect has regained her true form, but how strong could she possibly have become?’
‘If even Brunhilde couldn’t defeat us, how could ‘that’ Friet hope to succeed…’
Even if she drew the Holy Sword, it wouldn’t pose a threat. The two women concluded that confidently, a belief borne from preconceived notions.
They vividly recalled Friet’s past as the incapable hero, fully convinced they would win if they fought her.
“Haah…”
Seeing the two of them poised to fight, Friede lifted her head, took a deep breath, and swung Nibelung wide, cutting through the air.
In that moment, a brilliant crimson light erupted.
The light gathered along Nibelung’s edge and transformed into a crescent-shaped slashing strike, extending toward the two women.
– SHWOOOSH!
The ground struck by the light slashing explosion split with a tremendous roar, and the light and arrows shot out by Imelia and Irina were halved and disappeared.
“What the hell is this?!”
“Eek…!”
Irina’s complexion changed as she pushed Imelia away and leaped onto a tree, narrowly evading the slashing glow.
The misdirected strike cleaved right through the trees behind her. It was a scene reminiscent of a blade-swept wave washing over a sandcastle.
Only after she had sliced through more than ten trees like tofu did the radiant strike fade.
Imelia and Irina, sweating coldly, gazed at the destruction left in the wake of Friede’s swing before turning back to look at her.
The confidence and malice that had filled their expressions had vanished, replaced by a pale look of tension and bewilderment.
“I won’t warn you again.”
The second warning shot through the air.
At that moment, Irina’s face twisted in fury, gritting her teeth violently. She quickly grabbed Imelia’s waist and launched herself into the trees.
Then, running along the trunks, she vanished in an instant.
Did she firmly believe they couldn’t win in a slightly depleted state after battling Brunhilde? It was a speedy retreat that deserved applause.
Friede stared at the direction they had fled for some time before sighing in relief and turning away.
She had no intention of pursuing them. She couldn’t leave the incapacitated Brunhilde alone here either.
“Hey… are you okay? I mean, are you alright? Brun… Hilde?”
Thus, turning her back on them, Friede, concerned for the still-unable-to-move Brunhilde, sought to reassure her.
“Hah…”
Brunhilde—no, Hilde looked at Friede with a fatigued expression and let out a faint sigh, responding.
“You damn man, piece of shit.”
…Fortunately, Friede didn’t understand that. It was a language and sound she had never heard before.
“Wha…? Uh…?”
Thus, Friede blinked and questioned, filled with the purest curiosity about what the words meant.
“……No, it’s nothing.”
Staring at Friede’s face, Hilde fully relaxed, relieved to see her not show any sign of shock at the insult.
During the argument between Friede and the two women, Hilde had desperately pondered a possibility.
Could the Friede before her really be the original hero and not Kim Seung-woo? To confirm this possibility, she included a curse that Kim Seung-woo would inevitably react to.
“…Thank you for saving me, Friede.”
Finally, Hilde softly smiled and expressed her gratitude to Friede.
Seeing Friede stay calm and not react at all to the sudden curse was reassuring enough for her to feel that this girl was surely not Kim Seung-woo.
