Chapter 73
Chapter 73
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 73
Chapter Title: I Must Pass Through (3)
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Lordr's eyes wavered.
He could sense that my expression was far from normal.
What in the world is this?
“……Why are you like that?”
“Just a moment.”
I gazed at the faint cluster of light rising from his chest. Pushing aside the ragged prisoner’s garb that resembled tattered cloth, I saw a magic circle etched into his chest.
It hadn’t been there before.
He followed my gaze downward, his face showing clear bewilderment as well.
“What is this?”
A magic circle glowing with an ominous crimson-black hue.
This was what had been devouring Lordr’s life force up until now.
It seemed the enemies had been able to pinpoint our location because of this.
“Let me try to dismantle it.”
I drew out my internal energy as finely as a thread and peered into the structure of the magic circle.
The complex flows of qi intertwined in my mind’s eye.
I gave it a slight prod.
“Cough!”
Lordr convulsed as if seized by a fit, coughing violently. When the coughing finally subsided, the palm he had clamped over his mouth was drenched in red blood.
He looked at the blood he had spat up and gave a bitter smile.
“These bastards. What the hell did they do to my body?”
I stared at him silently.
His resolute gaze met mine.
“Can you break it?”
I stated my judgment as calmly as possible.
“I can break it. But you won’t be able to endure it.”
“I see.”
He nodded weakly.
“How much time is left?”
I wasn’t a doctor, so I couldn’t precisely diagnose his condition.
But I could tell how rapidly this magic circle was consuming his life force.
This hadn’t just manifested now.
It had likely been deeply embedded in his body even before I rescued him.
It had grown gradually by feeding on his vitality from within.
So, for it to surface onto his skin like this meant his time was almost up.
I wanted to berate myself for not discovering it sooner, but there was no room for that.
I wasn’t a doctor or a mage.
It had only become detectable now because it had grown large enough to react to the internal energy I had infused into him—I hadn’t neglected to examine his body.
And even if I had found it earlier, I wouldn’t have known how to dismantle this magic circle.
His death had been predetermined even before he ascended to the graveyard of stars.
It was all part of Halent’s scheme.
I looked at Lordr, who awaited my answer.
Considering the rate at which this damned magic circle was draining his life and the limits of what he could withstand, I could roughly calculate his remaining time.
I spoke without a trace of falsehood.
“You have three hours left.”
* * *
Lordr closed his eyes quietly, recalling the moment Halent had come to see him.
It was a month before his execution.
That day, he realized his death sentence had already been carried out.
Thud. Thud.
The sound of boots echoing through the pitch-black underground.
Clank.
A thick iron door swung open, revealing a familiar face under the dim torchlight.
“Heh heh. It’s been a while.”
Lordr curled the corner of his mouth as he looked at Halent. His voice cracked, dry from lack of use. He continued.
“It seems you have good news for me.”
There was only one reason Halent would come all the way here.
To inform him that his execution was imminent.
His life had ended long ago.
He had thought death preferable to this existence.
“Finally decided to kill me?”
“It’s been a long time. I hope you’ve been well.”
“Hahaha!”
Lordr burst into hearty laughter at Halent’s greeting. It was a refreshing laugh that cleared his long-silent throat.
Once he barely contained his laughter, he regarded Halent steadily.
“Thanks to you, I’ve been perfectly at peace.”
Halent met those blazing blue eyes and spoke.
“You haven’t changed. We’ve announced a public execution. In one month.”
“Why not come a day earlier? Age has made you impatient, I see.”
“Aren’t you curious why now?”
“Curious? On the eve of death?”
Lordr dug in his ear, feigning disinterest.
“There’s a new fire rising lately.”
“So you’ll kill me to put it out?”
“The most effective way, isn’t it?”
“Do as you please. What power do I have to stop you?”
“Will you go out like this?”
“What?”
Lordr’s brows furrowed fiercely.
“Don’t you think it’s a waste? Lend me your strength.”
“I’m the one locked in prison, yet you’ve gone mad?”
“What does it matter if it’s not Francia?”
“Are you saying that after what you did to Francia?”
“You knew?”
“The country split in two. Half betrayed, half died. The Empire stands atop it. Do you think I don’t know what the people are suffering?”
In the long annals of history, Francia wasn’t the only fallen nation.
The agonies inflicted on the people of conquered lands were all recorded.
Though he had spent long years in prison, he knew the people’s pain.
“It was a nation doomed to fall anyway. Don’t tell me you never thought their lives might improve with me in power.”
“Is that something you can say? It’s just a seat you seized for your greed! How dare you speak of the people with that filthy mouth!”
Lordr’s roar echoed thunderously through the prison.
Halent didn’t so much as twitch an eyebrow.
“You’re still so idealistic. So devoted to the people. That’s why you’re in that position now.”
“What?”
Lightning seemed to flash in Lordr’s eyes. A murderous glare fixed on him.
“What a shame. Our differences remain irreconcilable even after all these years.”
“I’d rather die than bridge gaps with the likes of you.”
“Well, I expected as much. That’s why I came to bid farewell in person. With your death, Francia will vanish completely into the dustbin of history.”
Halent continued firmly.
“I will be the one to sever its last breath.”
* * *
I watched Lordr lost in thought.
“One month ago, Halent came to visit.”
He slowly opened his eyes and said.
“I don’t know how, but it must be something he planted then. Damn bastard. As meticulous as ever. Heh heh.”
“You’re laughing?”
“I can’t cry, can I?”
Even I was grinding my teeth, yet here he was, facing his own death with a smile.
“What fun is life if you just do whatever you want? Regret is part of living too. In a way, this is for the best. What new world for an old man like me? Twilight suits my end.”
It wasn’t a forced smile; he seemed somehow relieved.
He was more steadfast before death than I had imagined.
As if he had long prepared for this moment.
Though his vitality had faded since earlier, he looked serene, like one who had attained nirvana.
He was that strong a man.
I knew that only those who could embrace death were truly strong.
That was why I didn’t pity or sympathize with him recklessly.
I knew such emotions would only diminish him.
“Since it’s come to this, let’s talk for the time we have left. What do you say? Without me, you could step forward easily.”
“You know it well.”
I plopped down onto the ground.
I had decided to follow his will.
There were no other options anyway.
Lordr spoke.
“This time, I want to hear about you all. The nation you wish to build.”
“I don’t know much about that.”
“Is that so? Hmm. A pity. Though to reach your level of strength, you’d have focused solely on the sword.”
He grumbled regretfully.
I continued.
“But I do know some stories.”
His eyes sparkled instantly, regaining their vigor.
“First, let me seal your acupoints.”
I couldn’t stop his body from weakening, but at least the remaining time wouldn’t be painful.
“Ho. Much better indeed. Why didn’t you do it sooner?”
“It’s just a temporary measure.”
He twisted his body this way and that, seeming lighter.
I told him about the nation Lucian dreamed of.
Thanks to the conversations I’d had with him that night and those from our past life together, I could share more than I expected.
Lordr listened attentively, occasionally asking questions.
As I spoke, the night gradually faded, and by the time the bright moon began to set, I had shared all I knew.
At the end, Lordr fell silent for a moment before erupting in loud laughter.
“Hahaha!”
It was a clear laugh that could wake the sleeping forest.
I looked at him like a crazy bastard.
Still chuckling, he opened his mouth.
“I’m just thrilled. Thrilled. Halent thought my death would end Francia’s last gasp, but Francia isn’t finished yet. Heh heh. He probably knows it too. That a new breath is rising. That’s why he planned the public execution. Oh ho ho! Shame I won’t see Halent’s face after that blow.”
He smiled like a child.
“So, who is this guy you keep mentioning?”
I had been referring to Lucian as “that guy” throughout.
“Do you know the Serious Duke House?”
“Of course. Treter Serious was close to me! Do you think me senile already?”
“His eldest son, Lucian, is the one I mentioned. He and his younger sister were the only survivors, and they raised an independence army in the north.”
“That guy’s son?”
His eyes widened as he rummaged through his memories and continued.
“Yes, I think I remember. That bright-eyed kid, full of promise alongside the Crown Prince. He survived? What fortune. But you know, I still don’t know your name. My apologies. Who knew I’d be such a scatterbrain.”
He seemed amused at himself. Up until now, he probably hadn’t had the presence of mind to ask. With his weakening body, just being carried must have been a huge strain.
Only facing death had given him this peace of mind.
I told my name to his sparkling eyes.
“It’s Jenes.”
His eyes widened even further.
He stared blankly for a moment, as if speechless, then steadied his breath before continuing.
“……The same name as the Crown Prince.”
“Yes.”
“What a strange coincidence. The firstborn of the ducal house, Francia’s sword, claims Francia’s throne, while one named like the Crown Prince calls himself Francia’s sword.”
“It is amusing.”
I nodded readily.
It would be even more amusing to tell the full truth, but I didn’t.
There wasn’t enough time left for such tales.
I could see him growing wearier by the minute.
The light in his eyes and the strength in his voice were fading.
“It would’ve been nice to talk more together. Though regrets linger, isn’t that how endings always are?”
He smiled faintly, gazing at the brightening sky. Deep night had passed, and dawn was breaking.
“A new era is beginning.”
He said, looking at the light of dawn.
“The old must fully set now.”
His gaze turned to me.
The blue eyes that had shone fiercely even on the scaffold were dimming.
Yet his expression seemed even more serene.
“I think it’s time for me to sleep now. My eyelids are too heavy.”
He smiled weakly. It was hard to believe we’d been talking just moments ago—his life was ebbing so swiftly.
“Thank you for your service all this time.”
At my words, he, with eyes closed, curled his lips and nodded.
I watched him quietly.
Outwardly, just a shabby old man in ragged clothes, but to me, he appeared as a blazing flame.
Francia’s prime minister, head of the Idrel school, and the people’s spiritual pillar.
Francia’s final star.
The sage, Lordr Heiser.
Who had burned more fiercely than any, now gradually lost his light until he fully set.
* * *
Lordr leaned against the tree stump and closed his eyes.
Sleep came rushing in the moment his eyes shut. His eyelids felt as heavy as mountains.
He instinctively knew his life was ending.
He had lofty ideals, yet he would close his eyes without achieving them.
But.
‘Why, then, do I feel so at peace?’
Even at the final moment of his life, he felt no resentment or regret.
Perhaps because he had already died once when Francia fell.
Life in prison had been no different from death.
But that wasn’t the only reason.
Unlike then, when he had let everything go.
Back then, he was dead before dying, but now, even as he died, he felt alive.
Because he had seen that Francia still lived, that others shared his ideals.
He had devoted his life to Francia.
The nation’s prosperity and the people’s happiness had been his purpose, his everything.
Yet through Jenes, he vividly felt that Francia, which he thought utterly extinguished, would rise again.
The sword blooming amid chaos was sharper than ever, and the ideals forged in turmoil stood unshakable.
Jenes and Lucian.
Together, those two would make Francia greater than before.
‘Pedric Kuhn Francia.’
In his fading consciousness.
In the hazy boundary where he couldn’t tell life from death.
He called out to his king and friend.
‘Are you watching?’
The voice echoed clearly in his foggy mind.
-Watching.
‘Heh heh. No more fighting for us now.’
-As if you’d dare fight knowing who I am. Ridiculous.
‘You pathetic guy. Still the same!’
-You too, you arrogant bastard!
‘I was going to say something nice since it’s been so long.’
-Heh heh.
‘Ha ha ha.’
Ha ha ha ha ha!
Their laughter shook the heavens.
Hearing that voice after ten years brought laughter unbidden.
After laughing long, Lordr stopped first and spoke. The fierce flame in his blue eyes spoke of certainty.
‘Francia isn’t finished yet.’
-Yes. Francia will shine even brighter ahead.
For once, they nodded in agreement.
Their ideals, thought severed, had passed to the next generation despite the decade-long void.
And they believed those successors would surpass them.
Thus, Lordr could face his end smiling.
Having witnessed the newly blooming hope before his eyes, he gladly accepted this death.
The old era’s time to set had come.
It was time to yield to the new current.
He entrusted himself to that vast flow of fate.
* * *
Rustle.
Red petals fluttered and settled in the gentle breeze. I sat quietly before the massive plum tree stump.
Lordr had scattered like flames.
As he wished, I spread his ashes before the plum tree.
“Watch from there.”
The white bone dust scattered on the wind.
“The reborn Francia.”
With my own hands, I sent off Francia’s final star from the past.
But it didn’t signify an end.
An era had merely set, and a new one begun.
The origin of a new history was unfolding.
.
.
.
From earlier, rustling noises had grown loud in the forest.
The enemies were approaching.
A siege wall thickening behind me.
Yet I continued gazing at the great plum tree, mourning Lordr’s passing.
Soon after, heavy footsteps piled up through the underbrush.
The enemies revealed themselves.
Ones with blade-sharp auras chilling the air around them.
Special Task Force, Royal Knights.
A heavy voice came from behind.
“Looks like you’re alone now.”
Shing.
The sound of swords being drawn rang out simultaneously. The already taut air sharpened to a razor’s edge.
He continued.
“Now do you see? How meaningless your struggles were? You could never do anything from the start.”
A sharp sword gleam aimed at my back.
“We’ll carry out your delayed execution.”
I slowly turned to face them.
Soldiers packed thickly between the trees, and those before me leveling their swords.
“You’ll never leave this place alive.”
He sneered at me.
Hearing his confident words, it was laughable.
I drew my sword from my waist.
The keenly honed white blade slowly emerged along my hand.
I said.
“Guess I looked easy to you.”
It was understandable.
For the past three days, I’d only fled from them, dodging here and there.
I had someone to protect, someone to care for.
That was why breaking through the forest and their encirclement had taken longer than expected.
So they were cocky.
But they’d regret it soon.
What had held my steps back was gone.
I had no one left to protect or care for.
So now.
“I must pass through you.”