Banishment is Fine: As a Genius Saint, I Can Shine Anywhere. - Chapter 5

“Here. You must be thirsty.”

An hour later, Lionel returned with a cup of warm milk.

Milk was a luxury here—cows and goats were rare in this region.

“You’re running a fever. At least have something good for your body. Besides, you’re the most valuable asset in this fight.”

“…Thank you. I’ll take it.”

Meteora accepted the cup with both hands, her eyes lowered in embarrassment and were still red and swollen from crying.

“…It’s delicious. Just the scent alone is comforting.”

“Milk has that effect. I used to drink it a lot whenever I got sick as a kid.”

“You did…?”

Meteora blinked in mild surprise.

“You wouldn’t guess it now, but I was a sickly child. I had asthma and was always collapsing. They told me I needed fresh air, so even though I was born in the capital, I spent most of my childhood recovering out west.”

“The west… not the south?”

“My nurse’s family lived out west. She was the one who took care of me. Up until I was seven, I actually thought she was my real mother.”

Lionel chuckled, looking slightly embarrassed as he reminisced.

“She had lost her own child when he was only two months old, so she treated me like her own son. But while she was gentle when I was sick, she was strict otherwise.

She always said the best way to overcome asthma was to build stamina so she hired a retired knight to train me in swordsmanship and horseback riding.

I hated it back then. But…”

A shadow crossed Lionel’s eyes.

“…She died protecting me. A monster ate her alive.”

Meteora gasped.

Lionel’s expression was unreadable as he continued.

“We were out riding near the border—part of my training. It was a few days after a terrible storm had passed.

It must have knocked down the border stakes, because a lone monster strayed across and came straight to us.”

His voice remained steady, but his grip on the cup tightened.

“She made herself the decoy and ordered the knight to take me and run.”

“No…”

“I refused, of course. But the knight grabbed me and fled.

It was the only choice. A child who couldn’t even hold a sword properly was nothing but a liability.”

The knights arrived later and killed the monster.

All they found of my nurse was—a single human arm.

Bloodied, covered in mud.

But on the ring finger—her wedding band remained.

“That was all that was left of her.

She died a gruesome death to protect me.

The first person to sacrifice herself for my sake—because I was powerless.”

A self-mocking smile crossed Lionel’s lips.

“From that day on, I trained relentlessly. Five years later, I entered the knight academy and graduated at sixteen, ahead of my peers.

But classroom knowledge is nothing like the battlefield.

I became a knight to prevent another tragedy like hers.

And yet…”

On the battlefield, he had seen comrades fall.

Civilians slaughtered.

No matter how skilled he became, there were always those he couldn’t save.

“Even when you’re the best, it means nothing if you can’t protect what matters.”