Chapter 130
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 130
“How dare you!”
An infuriated Gormsen took a step forward. It was an impulsive action, driven by the blood rushing to his head.
Felicia snapped her head toward him. “Are you next?”
Gormsen flinched at her icy gaze. He knew instinctively that if he picked up a weapon here, his head would roll. Though he felt a pang of shame at his own reaction, he couldn't let this go. He shouted at the top of his lungs.
“How dare you use magic in a Divine Duel!”
“Magic?”
“Chieftain! You must immediately punish this woman and her master for defiling the duel! Please, make a decision!”
Felicia tilted her head as if she didn't understand. Magic? How could she use magic when she didn't know the first thing about its principles?
However, the other tribespeople nodded as if Gormsen’s words made sense.
“Magic! Right, she used magic!”
“I knew it. How else could she do that unless it was magic...?”
“I thought something was strange, and now I see it.”
“Silence.”
At Ivar’s single word, the whispering stopped instantly. In the ensuing silence, Ivar looked at Felicia and spoke.
“Woman, do you have an excuse?”
“An excuse?”
“You have mocked a warrior by using magic in a Divine Duel. This is a great crime. Neither you nor your lord shall escape punishment.”
Felicia said nothing. Instead, she wore a strange smile and raised her sword.
Just as Ivar’s eyes sharpened, wondering what kind of magic she was about to cast, a bluish light shimmered along Felicia’s blade.
“M-My God! It’s the Dragon’s Blessing!”
“Such a brilliant light!”
The tribespeople cried out in shock the moment they saw the manifested mana. Even a decent warrior could barely produce a faint glimmer, yet this woman was radiating such brilliance.
But Felicia didn't stop there. She continued to draw out more mana.
Wooooong—
“W-Wait... it’s growing?”
“What is this? Am I seeing things?”
Not only the common tribespeople but even the warriors rubbed their eyes repeatedly. They had a vague idea of what mana was, but they didn't know how to control it properly. At most, they used it to enhance their bodies or release it outward.
Seeing the ‘manipulation of materialized mana’ for the first time was an immense shock to them.
“Magic, you say?”
Whoosh—
Muttering softly, Felicia swung her sword. Simultaneously, the mana erupting from the tip of the blade sliced through the air. It carried a sharp energy that felt as if it could easily rend human bone and flesh upon contact.
Only then did the people realize what had happened moments ago.
“Does this look like magic to you?”
“....”
“....”
The warriors lowered their heads, unable to say a word. It was a silence filled half with awe for a realm they had never seen before and half with shame for failing to recognize it.
Gormsen, who had been the first to denounce it as magic, felt the strength leave his legs and slumped to the ground.
However, the one most shocked among them was not Gormsen, but Chieftain Ivar.
Damn it. Of all things...
If Gormsen had been the only one to accuse Felicia, it wouldn't have been a problem. Ivar could have made the excuse that he was merely watching to see how she would handle the situation.
But Gormsen had sought Ivar’s agreement, and Ivar had jumped on the bandwagon to pressure her. It had now been revealed that even Ivar, renowned as the Chieftain and the strongest warrior, possessed skill inferior to Felicia’s.
“Since no one is answering, I shall ask the Chieftain.”
After scanning the warriors, Felicia shifted her gaze to Ivar. She asked with a slight, mocking curl of her lips.
“Is this magic?”
“...No.”
Ivar’s face flushed with humiliation, but he had no choice but to deny it. It was clearly the power of a warrior, and he couldn't stubbornly insist it was magic when it was so obvious to everyone else.
Having received confirmation, Felicia withdrew her mana and spoke.
“Next.”
The tribespeople’s gazes turned toward the Chieftain’s sons. Amidst the curious stares from all sides, Einar stepped forward.
“I will not challenge you.”
“What do you mean?”
“I cannot drive my subordinates to their deaths for the sake of vain pride. You are undoubtedly the strongest warrior. Please forgive my foolishness for failing to recognize a warrior because I was blinded by prejudice against your gender.”
Having finished, Einar knelt and pressed his forehead to the ground. It was a humiliating posture, but no one mocked him. The realm Felicia had shown was so supreme that no one in the history of the Snowfields had ever reached it.
“I give up as well. Challenging a warrior whom no one in the Snowfields can match would only make me a sacrificial offering.”
Brunda also knelt beside Einar. With the two of them surrendering, only Gormsen remained.
Gormsen, who was still slumped on the ground, grit his teeth at the surrounding stares.
If I back down now, my reputation will hit rock bottom.
His maternal uncle had been killed, and he had denounced Felicia’s power as magic. Unlike the other two, who could excuse themselves by saying their eyes had finally been opened, a deep grudge had been formed. If he gave up on revenge and surrendered now, he would become the laughingstock of the entire tribe.
“Rodbrook!”
Unable to let go of his pride, Gormsen scrambled to his feet and called out another warrior. The named warrior flinched for a moment but soon stepped forward boldly.
Felicia scanned the warrior called Rodbrook and asked, “Are you the next opponent?”
“It seems so.”
“Come.”
Fwak!
There was no signal from the Chieftain to start the duel. He simply charged in response to Felicia’s short command.
If I am to die, I will die showing the spirit of a warrior.
With that resolve, Rodbrook swung his greatsword with all his might.
Slash!
Before the greatsword could even touch the ground, Rodbrook was split in two from the crown of his head to his crotch. The flying greatsword tumbled across the ground before burying itself deep in a snowbank.
Felicia adjusted her grip on her sword—no one had even seen her swing it—and spoke again.
“Next.”
“Torving!”
Gormsen’s voice, calling out the third warrior, was close to a scream. The named warrior looked at his lord with pitying eyes before bravely charging at Felicia.
And just like his predecessor, he died in an instant.
“Next.”
“Yorvik...!”
Gormsen called the fourth warrior in a strained voice. After the fourth died, the fifth came out; after the fifth died, the sixth. All of them died facing Felicia, unable to refuse their lord’s unreasonable command.
By the time the blood flowing from the corpses had stained the surrounding snow crimson, Gormsen had no more warriors left to call.
“Next.”
“....”
Gormsen stared blankly at the corpses scattered on the ground. Rollo, Ketil, Floki, Hafdan, Horik. Among the comrades who had braved the Snowfields with him, not one was left alive.
Felicia’s voice reached Gormsen’s ears again, his soul feeling as if it had been hollowed out.
“Next.”
Gormsen could do nothing in the face of her continued urging. Originally, the purpose of this trial was to showcase the strength of one's subordinates. Since all his subordinates were dead, he had essentially failed the trial.
However, Felicia repeated the same word as if she didn't care about such rules.
“Next.”
“Enough! The trial is over!”
Unable to watch any longer, Ivar roared. It was a warning for her to stop and back off.
Felicia glanced briefly at the glaring Ivar before opening her mouth once more.
“Next.”
“Why, you...!”
Just as Ivar was about to explode in rage at her blatant disregard for his warning, Gormsen, who had been half-dazed, picked up his own sword and stepped forward.
“Gormsen! What do you think you’re doing?!”
“....”
Ivar shouted in shock at his son’s sudden action, but Gormsen acted as if he hadn't heard.
Felicia pointed her sword at Gormsen and asked, “Any last words?”
“None.”
“Come.”
As soon as the brief exchange ended, Gormsen kicked off the ground. He swung his weapon just as the warriors he had sent before him had done. It was as if he wanted to meet the same death as his comrades as a final act of atonement.
Slash!
“Kegh...!”
As Felicia’s sword grazed Gormsen’s throat, a faint cry escaped him. Gormsen instinctively clutched his neck, but it was not enough to stop the blood pouring out like a waterfall.
Wheezing for breath, Gormsen looked back and forth between Felicia and Lucian before wearing a self-mocking smile.
“Heh....”
With a sound like air escaping a lung, Gormsen’s body collapsed to the ground. He didn't die as quickly as his subordinates, but his corpse remained whole.
Once Gormsen was dead, Felicia returned to Lucian and knelt, as if her task was complete.
“Your Highness, I have returned after dealing with the enemies.”
“Well done.”
Lucian praised Felicia and personally helped her up. As the tribespeople watched the scene in a daze, a solemn voice rang out from behind them.
“A foreign monarch shall come from beyond the Snowfields. In the year the sun changes, he shall gain the right to challenge the heavens. He is our King, who shall conquer all in this land and lead us to the path of glory and peace.”
People turned their heads in surprise at the prophecy they had heard many times before. Marius, who had been nowhere to be seen, had appeared at some point and was walking among them.
Marius stepped through the crowd and knelt before Lucian.
“O King.”
That one phrase was enough.
A superhuman who had reached a supreme realm that no warrior of the Snowfields had ever achieved, despite being a woman. Just how noble and majestic must the lord be whom such a superhuman served?
When the Guide’s prophecy was added to this, it even created the illusion of a halo shining behind Lucian.
“O King!”
“King of the Snowfields!”
“Our King!”
Unlike their previous hesitation, the tribespeople fell to the ground like a wave and shouted toward Lucian. They seemed to have forgotten that this was merely the first trial to select a new Chieftain, and that they already had a Chieftain.
Watching this, Ivar turned around and entered his quarters without even declaring the end of the trial. The sound of the door slamming shut was drowned out by the enthusiastic cheers.
Amidst the people’s cheers, Lucian’s party moved to Marius’s quarters. It was because Marius had stopped Lucian, saying he had something to tell him.
“He was a pitiful fellow.”
Marius, who had invited Lucian in, sighed and muttered. There was no need to ask who that pitiful fellow was.
“Even though he looked like that, he used to be a guy who wandered all over the place wanting to become a great warrior. At some point, he started enjoying schemes more. I suppose he got addicted to the taste of gaining benefits easily.”
“Hmm.”
“Still, his old comrades believed in him. They thought that even though he had strayed onto the wrong path for a while, he would one day remember his old pride. In the end, it turned out that way. Though I wonder what the point is in remembering it after losing everything.”
Only after hearing Marius’s words did Lucian’s party understand why the warriors had been so loyal. They had thought he was just a cunning and crafty man, but it seemed he had an honorable side in the past.
When Lucian remained silent without much reaction, Marius continued.
“Anyway, that was amazing. I heard she was the disciple of the Sword Saint, but she was beyond imagination. You have overturned the common sense of the Snowfields. Do you know what the tribespeople are calling her now?”
“Old man.”
Lucian spoke quietly to Marius, who was continuing his small talk.
“Let’s stop here. I no longer have any need for you.”