Interlude: Lisa – Part 02
This wasn’t something that only happened today.
Lisa often visited the graves of Luke’s father and his childhood friend, doing so quietly, without telling him, to clean their tombstones. Her master had never cared much for such tasks, and even though it wasn’t required of her, Lisa felt an obligation to take care of their graves. Over time, it had become a habit.
The water in the bucket was cold. Shivering, she dipped a cloth into it, then gently wiped away the dust from the tombstones before scrubbing them clean.
“I’m sorry I couldn’t clean for two months,” she murmured to the stones as she worked. “But it couldn’t be helped. We were in the Militant Nation, after all.”
“It was so tough,” she went on, recounting the journey in detail. “The carriage ride was bumpy, my backside hurt, I got motion sickness, we were attacked by assassins, the Militant Nation’s sacred swordsmiths didn’t welcome us, I had to forge all night, and in the end, I couldn’t even eat meat. I… couldn’t eat meat.”
She visited regularly, cleaned the graves, and shared the events of her days. That was Lisa’s way of paying her respects, her own method of visiting graves, since she didn’t know how to pray to the gods.
“It was really, really hard.”
She usually smiled when she gave an update, but today there was something important she wanted to share.
“Luke… he…”
The words caught in her throat. Just thinking about it caused guilt and bitterness to surge within her.
Pull yourself together, Lisa.
She had to convey Luke’s determination, his will, to the people important to him. She couldn’t finish today’s cleaning without saying it.
“Luke is fighting while sacrificing his own life.”
She meant it literally.
Lisa’s ability, Infernal Bladecraft, took pieces of her flesh and the forger’s soul each time it was used. Its effects were already manifesting in Luke. His eyesight was deteriorating, and eventually, he would go blind. If he kept using her powers, it would only get worse. He had to be aware of the warning signs by now.
“I think I should stop him.” That’s what she believed.
But Luke had said, “I have so many things I want to protect now. And you’re one of them.”
“Please… let me keep doing what I do.”
“He said he had things he wanted to protect. He wanted to sacrifice himself for them.”
“We promised we’d keep losing, together.”
“We made a promise.”
So Lisa lowered her gaze.
“I’m sorry, but I won’t stop him. After all, I’m his disciple. If Luke wants to protect something that desperately, then I want to protect it with him. I will be his eyes.” She closed her left eye and laid a finger on the lid. “This is how I will repay him for the eye he gave me. Please, watch over us—both Luke and me.”
She ran her finger over the names worn by the passage of time and bowed her head, asking for their blessing.
She often wondered if there was any meaning in this act of visiting, giving an update, and sometimes bowing. Maybe she was just doing it to ease the guilt she carried with her.
The guilt of being here because of Liza’s flesh and blood. The guilt that her power was causing Luke’s soul to wither.
She cleaned the tombstones to ease these feelings, to seek some kind of salvation. Not intentionally, but it might appear that way to anyone else.
But I have to deliver it.
That was the duty that came with the life she’d been given.
Lisa lived the best she could, alongside Luke, giving updates on the life she had borrowed from Liza. She conveyed, as much as possible, the moments she shared with Luke, the emotions they experienced together.
That was Lisa’s way of praying.
Please accept this.
For a long while, Lisa kept her head lowered.
Once she confirmed that the tombstones were mostly clean, she divided the bouquet of flowers the lady had given her into two and placed them on both graves. The white petals swayed gently in the wind.
“Ah, that’s right.”
Something important suddenly came to her mind. She almost forgot.
“Please listen carefully, Liza.” She turned toward Liza Oakwood’s headstone and straightened her posture a little. “Luke has fallen in love with someone.”
Of course, there would be no answer. Still, she waited for several seconds before continuing.
“She’s someone he wants to protect with his life. He’s trying to hide it for a stupid reason, but I won’t let him. I’ll make sure it works out. So, well, um… earlier, I asked you to watch over us, but maybe you could overlook this?”
She was requesting for Liza to forgive Luke for falling in love with someone else.
“Please forgive him.”
“What’s this nonsense you’re saying?”
Lisa nearly jumped out of her skin. She turned around cautiously and saw the very young man she was talking about standing there.
“Wh-What are you doing here?” she stammered.
“You said it yourself,” Luke grunted. “That you were going to do a thorough cleaning today. So I came here and found you.”
Lisa’s back was drenched in cold sweat.
“Well, this is… It’s not that I was trying to keep it a secret or anything. It’s just, you know, I had a feeling you might not want me visiting the graves of your father or Liza. But since they took care of you when they were still alive, I-I thought at least I should clean their graves.”
“Stop being scared for no reason. I’m not mad at you. And this is not the first time, is it? You’ve been coming here whenever you had the time.”
“Y-You knew?!” Lisa yelped. She had tried to be as discreet as possible.
Luke sighed. Of course I did, he seemed to say. “Whenever I came, there wasn’t as much dust as I thought there would be. So I noticed.”
Whenever he came?
Lisa didn’t miss that. That meant Luke had been visiting the graves too, without telling her. Just like she had kept it a secret from him, he had kept it from her as well.
She chuckled dryly. There had never been any need to sneak around.
I guess we’re two of a kind.
Luke stared at the gravestones over her shoulder.
“Liza was headstrong and reckless.”
Lisa wasn’t sure where his words were coming from. She didn’t fully understand, but as Luke began to speak, she listened closely, not wanting to miss a single word.
“She used to drag me all over the place, calling it an adventure. Whenever she saw a dangerous spot, her eyes would light up, and she’d want to jump right in. I had no choice but to follow her and nearly die every single time. And I’m not even joking. Remember Clawmark? I almost fell off that cliff once. I honestly cried.”
It was a little much, but Luke was smiling wistfully, so it had to be a fond memory for him.
“Also, since she wanted to join the Knight Guard, she made me train with her countless times. She was ridiculously strong, so I ended up half-dead every time. She was better at thrusting than slashing, so she’d hit all the vital points with a wooden sword. When she got me in the side, I always threw up. Try imagining that kind of pain.”
Lisa didn’t want to.
“When she brought out my father’s chokutō, I honestly thought I was going to die.”
The memory took a dark turn.
“She really was headstrong and reckless,” Luke murmured as a cold breeze brushed past.
Watching his profile, Lisa thought, You truly cared for her.
She felt a twinge of envy but kept it to herself. Instead she let out a soft chuckle.
“She reminds me of Cecily,” Lisa said.
“Now that you mention it, maybe. But they’re two different people,” Luke said, then turned to look at Lisa. “Thanks, Lisa. I’m sure Liza and pops are happy too.”
Lisa’s throat tightened. She felt like she might cry. Because she wanted to thank him instead.
Thank you for telling me about Liza.
But this wasn’t the time to cry. So she held it back.
“Are you done with the cleaning?” Luke asked.
“Yes, just now,” Lisa replied.
“I see. Then let’s head back.”
Before she could respond, Luke turned and started walking away.
“Aren’t you going to do something? Like clean the grave yourself?” Lisa asked.
“I’m sure just showing my face is enough. This is pretty much how I always do it.”
It felt too quick, but Lisa, though a little exasperated, understood in her own way.
Just as her way of praying was cleaning the gravestones and giving updates, Luke’s way of praying was simply showing up and being present.
Lisa followed after him. “That’s it for today’s cleaning. Good work.”
“You too.” Luke paused, then added, “Oh, right. I’ve been meaning to tell you this for a while. Starting today, you can sleep in the main house. I remember you complaining about the draft. Sorry for making you sleep out there all this time.”
Lisa blinked, caught off guard.
The reason she’d been sleeping in the forge was because Luke had told her to. At first, she’d thought he just didn’t like her, which often left her depressed. But she soon realized the real reason.
He didn’t want his suffering to be heard by his apprentice. Nightmares had plagued him for three years. To keep her from hearing his cries, he moved her bedding to the forge.
Lisa knew this, and Luke knew she knew.
“Can I ask why?” she asked.
“I’m fine now.”
That was all he said, but Lisa understood the rest of what he was trying to convey.
“I’m not haunted by nightmares anymore.”
Liza, are you watching? We’re moving forwad, step by step.
Lisa smiled and followed after Luke, walking alongside the man she held dear.
“All right, I’ll sleep in the main house starting tonight. But don’t go trying anything funny, okay?”
Luke smirked. “I’m not a weirdo.”
“That’s true. You like big things, don’t you?”
“Stop saying things that’ll get misunderstood.”
“Luke, you pervert! You like big breasts!”
“Fine, you can go back to sleeping in the forge.”
“No way,” Lisa said with a bright grin.
Luke gave a smile in return. When he turned his eyes forward again, words slipped out from his lips, words that lingered in Lisa’s ears.
“A chokutō, huh?”
And with that, the day’s cleaning came to an end.
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