Chapter 237
Chapter: 237
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>Translator: penny
>Chapter: 237
>Chapter Title: Sword Master (1)
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Flash!
At the moment an unidentified flash burst in the sky overhead, Logan happened to be not far from the Sigismund Territory.
“Urk!”
The light was so intense that the night sky turned blindingly white in an instant, scrambling his vision mercilessly.
Logan, who had been channeling aura into his eyes to run along the dark road, suddenly lost his sight completely.
Neigh!
The startled horse reared up on its front legs, bucking wildly.
Worried the horse might strain itself, Logan let go of the reins entirely and tumbled off.
Fortunately, the senses of a Sword Master, which surpassed those of ordinary humans, allowed him to land safely on the ground even with his eyes shut tight.
“Roxana!”
Neigh! Neiiigh!
Logan rushed to his terrified, prancing steed and snatched the faintly visible reins. A powerful holy power was already beginning to restore his vision bit by bit.
“Whoa, whoa.”
After carefully checking the horse’s condition and patting its neck and back repeatedly, Roxana caught her master’s familiar scent and soon calmed down. The now-settled horse docilely let Logan rest his hand on her, channeling holy power into her eyes.
Tending to his mount like this, he peered northward at the sky with his still-blurry vision.
‘…Seongjin?’
For some reason, Logan felt a strange certainty that the earlier light had nothing to do with Seongjin.
The odd part was that the light had erupted from a direction far more toward the territory than the demon realm.
‘It’s clear. Something unexpected happened in the Sigismund Territory!’
The air’s vibrations already felt ominous.
Logan’s keen senses had picked up the peculiar prickling tension emanating from the battlefield.
The Seongjin he knew would never abandon such a precarious situation on his own. And Brother Masain wouldn’t stand by and let Seongjin do that either.
Which meant, for their safety, Logan had to head straight to where the light had flashed.
‘But Roxana’s already exhausted. It’d be faster if I went alone.’
He took a moment to survey his surroundings.
Fortunately, there were no signs of magic beasts nearby. The wolves prowling the area should have migrated north to Ortona by now.
Plus, Roxana was a reliable partner who could fend for herself.
Logan rummaged through the horse’s saddlebags and pulled out the insignia of the Saint Bastian Knights, emblazoned with the imperial crest. He carefully draped the cloth over her neck and body.
Just in case any scoundrels dared to harm Roxana.
“Sorry, Roxana. Rest here a bit. I’ll come back for you soon. Or if you recover, come find me in the Sigismund Territory?”
The intelligent beast, who had synced with Logan for quite some time, understood his intent from those words alone.
She gazed at him with wise eyes, then nudged him with her head and snorted softly.
“…Good girl.”
Logan affectionately patted Roxana’s white muzzle and forced his reluctant feet to turn away.
Even for him, leaving his beloved horse alone in such a remote spot was something he wanted to avoid if possible.
‘But…’
Something felt terribly wrong.
The Holy Emperor’s words—“Bring back Morres safely”—had been stuck in his mind since earlier, refusing to leave.
‘If I’d known, I never would have let him go alone from the start!’
He should have ignored the Frontier Count’s watchful eyes and followed boldly, or better yet, held Seongjin back and refused to let him go.
Too late for regrets now. Biting his lip, Logan wrapped aura around his legs and dashed off at high speed.
His eyes, severely impaired earlier, now only held a faint stinging sensation.
* * *
The Sword Master, moving faster than any horse, soon arrived at the battlefield.
“What in the world…!”
The scene that greeted him was far worse than he’d imagined. Soldiers from the Sigsmund Territory were surrounded by countless Lycanslopes and struggling desperately.
And the newly appeared giant magic beasts were a problem too.
Ice giants Logan was encountering for the first time—likely Glacier Trolls. Dozens of them were charging toward the battlefield in unison.
Thud. Thud. Thud.
Despair spread across the soldiers’ faces.
If those beasts joined the fray as is, the barely maintained battle line would surely crumble.
‘The magic beasts crossed the ice wall? How?’
Such questions flooded his mind momentarily, but Logan pushed them aside and raced across the battlefield, tracking the familiar presence of Seongjin.
He felt puzzled by how faint and flickering that presence was, unlike usual.
Why is his presence like this? Is he injured somewhere?
“……!”
Finally spotting him atop a rear watchtower, Logan was left speechless.
The frontline situation? The soldiers’ despair?
No, Logan was certain nothing in this world could be as dire as Seongjin’s current state.
He was leaning precariously against the watchtower, blood streaming from both eyes—for reasons unknown.
Moreover, the aura emanating from his body was so unstable that, left alone, it seemed his entire form might disintegrate and scatter into the air at any moment!
Shocked, Logan rushed over and caught Seongjin’s body just as it began to collapse.
“You okay, Seongjin?”
The moment he grabbed him, he knew he absolutely wasn’t.
Logan’s senses, finely attuned to aura, instantly grasped what was happening in Seongjin’s body.
‘…His aura flow isn’t just weak—it’s frayed and broken in places!’
There weren’t fixed paths for aura to flow through the body.
But after prolonged aura cultivation, habitual routes often formed—like shortcuts or circuits.
Yet in Seongjin’s body, those routes weren’t just damaged; they were sporadically severed, as if external energy had ravaged him entirely.
—If you knew how recklessly he handles his aura, you’d be shocked too. Just recently, he ignored cultivation methods and stirred it wildly inside him, nearly dying in the process.
It was exactly as Sister Amelia had said.
‘He had to scrape his aura down to rock bottom multiple times. He took on feats beyond a low-rank knight’s total capacity, and before he could recover, the same situations repeated!’
Forcing aura depletion, then yanking more aura out rapidly—it had damaged all the tissues along those routes.
So even as his dantian’s aura began recovering, it couldn’t flow properly and rampaged in wrong places.
“Logan? How are you here…?”
The Frontier Count and Bruno Captain, dazed by the Glacier Trolls’ appearance, finally noticed Logan and widened their eyes.
But there was no time for chit-chat. Ignoring them, Logan began channeling holy power into Seongjin’s bleeding eyes.
He was likely the only one here who truly understood Seongjin’s condition.
Aura fundamentally protected the body. How could aura meant to benefit harm its user? Unthinkable.
“The holy knights treated you earlier, but your condition hasn’t improved at all.”
Even Bruno, a former Decaron Knight, thought the same.
He approached with a deeply worried face, but it was on the level of, ‘His aura’s this weak? The prince must be exhausted.’
That alone showed how abnormal Seongjin’s state was.
“Stay still. Your aura flow is a total mess right now. And what happened to your eyes?”
Calming the flustered, squirming Seongjin, Logan worked to stabilize him. Channeling holy power while guiding Seongjin’s lost, rampaging aura back to proper paths.
Normally, he’d sense any external aura interference instantly, but now Seongjin just blinked blankly, sensing nothing.
“Why are you here like this? What the hell happened? Where’s Brother Masain?”
Logan asked calmly, but his mind raced with anxiety.
Could this really recover? Would he end up crippled forever?
If this sword-obsessed guy could never hold a blade again…
Suddenly, Seongjin jolted as if struck by a thought, fumbling at Logan’s sleeve.
Even ignoring his blindness, his hands lacked proper sensation too.
“Logan! Logan!”
Logan knew this symptom well.
The final battle at Andres Plain, where he met his end.
After days without food, sleep, or rest, fighting an army onslaught, even a Decaron Knight’s mighty aura eventually depleted.
He’d scraped every last wisp of aura, overexerting to the point his sword-grip hand went numb, circuits torn apart—dying by Saylor Captain’s hand.
‘Even if I’d survived then, I’d have been crippled.’
Even a Decaron Knight, perfected in aura balance, had ended up that way.
But Seongjin, you’re not me back then.
With no nation or kin to protect, why push yourself this far…
“There’s no time for this! You’re the only one who can do it. You have to catch that bastard!”
Yet Seongjin seemed unsatisfied. Logan’s voice rose unwittingly at his urgent plea.
“Do you even know what you look like right now?”
Even scolding him, Logan’s heart filled with self-loathing.
He shouldn’t have taken the letter at face value as a casual invite.
If he’d mobilized Lilium immediately upon receiving it, or rushed here that very evening…
“You idiot! That’s not what matters now!”
He was angry at Seongjin for neglecting himself to this point.
“If we don’t catch that bastard soon, half the people here will die! The territory’s damage will be irreparable!”
But above all, he raged at himself for letting this happen while sitting idly by.
Part of him thought this too.
What are they to you?
‘…Why go this far?’
Even I, a prince of Delcross, can’t shake resentment toward the Empire whenever Ortona memories surface. I can’t erase the thought that this is karmic retribution they must bear.
Born a prince, he’d thought to fulfill his duties. But now, Logan felt bitter doubt.
‘Yet you, Seongjin—you’re from another world? Why care about their fate?’
Oblivious to Logan’s turmoil, Seongjin rapidly poured out his words.
“Listen. Beyond that mountainside—there’s a demon! Looks like a young woman in a hood.”
Hurry and deal with it, or the Sigismund Territory…
Watching Seongjin’s desperate face explain his tasks, Logan suddenly realized.
Ah, yes. I know why you’re like this. I’ve known for a long time.
You pretend otherwise, but Seongjin, you’re incredibly kind.
That sullen face seems disinterested in everything, but you never miss a single detail around you.
Otherwise, Sister Amelia and Sisley’s faces wouldn’t have brightened so much lately.
Even the inscrutable Holy Emperor seems subtly changed by you lately.
—But you already gave your life! What more could you have done?
Above all, who else in this world would get this genuinely angry in his place?
What had Logan said to such a Seongjin?
—If Morres returns… could you promise to give his body back?
To such a cruel demand, what was Seongjin’s reply?
—Sure, no big deal. I’m dead anyway.
Had he lost his mind?
How could he so casually demand something so terrifying from this guy?
“Haah…”
Suppressing the anger surging from deep within, Logan let out a deep sigh.
‘What a ridiculous situation.’
He needed to find Morres.
Was he now anxious about failing to find Morres’s soul, or fearful that Morres’s return would erase Seongjin without a trace? He couldn’t tell.
But one thing was certain.
Logan couldn’t lose Seongjin like this.
—I can’t be sure republican ideals are worth all these sacrifices. But I can become the sword to realize Your Highness’s conviction in them.
He’d once said that to his friend Benicio.
And now, he felt it again.
‘I don’t believe this Empire holds such value. But Seongjin, if you’d stake your body to protect Delcross, at least I can be the sword to fulfill your will.’
So Logan answered Seongjin thus.
“Got it. Calm down first and explain slowly. What do I need to do?”