Chapter 97
Chapter: 97
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>Translator: penny
>Chapter: 97
>Chapter Title: Logan (4)
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>From the start, the Demon King had been quite curious about the twins, Hernah and Gades.
When he got caught in the aura storm and flung all the way to the dimensional boundary, those kids had approached Seongjin and subtly revealed that they knew of the Demon King's existence. They'd even put on a puppet show about the Dream Demon King and the Fire Demon King.
So he'd expected the guy to make a racket, chattering away with a ton of questions once he met them.
But after actually encountering the twins, the Demon King fell silent for a long while, as if lost in thought.
Then, after a good stretch of time, the only thing he finally asked was this.
[Those little brats... they're human, right? They couldn't possibly be monsters, could they?]
...What?
'What nonsense is this all of a sudden? If they're not human, then what?'
There was no such thing as a monster that looked perfectly normal like that.
Even if there were, Hunter Yi Seongjin wouldn't fail to detect its monstrous aura.
And that went double for Gehenna's Demon King—the guy himself.
[Yeah, you're right. Thinking about it, they're not monsters. I know that. But still...]
The Demon King hesitated for a moment before explaining to the baffled Seongjin.
He'd seen the plasmic crystals shining in the twins' minds.
They were sizable and well-formed, meaning the two were almost certainly channeling ability users.
'No wonder...'
It was sudden, but things were starting to click for Seongjin.
After meeting those twins, exhaustion would always wash over him, accompanied by that strange sense of déjà vu.
Their roundabout way of talking, circling topics endlessly, or jumping haphazardly from one subject to another.
They weren't as bad as Sir Sharon, but those two didn't exactly seem mentally all there either.
'But a plasmic crystal is a plasmic crystal, and a channeling ability user is just that. Why bring up monsters out of nowhere?'
They were none other than the prince and princess of the Holy Empire, no less.
No way they were monsters.
[No... it's just that their position is a bit off.]
To the Demon King, the two were innate channeling ability users.
Delicately shaped plasmic crystals stably embedded in the proper location. That kind usually meant they could wield fairly advanced channeling abilities.
[It's on a whole different level from that klutz captain's. A plasmic crystal that forms spontaneously can't be that smooth. So there's bound to be a limit to the ability.]
But that wasn't the only difference.
Unlike Captain Bruno's near the frontal lobe or Sir Sharon's near the hypothalamus, the twins' plasmic crystals were lodged deep in the occipital lobe of the cerebrum.
And that was the problem. It wasn't a position where they normally appeared in humans.
Plasmic crystals in the occipital lobe were a trait of swarming monsters that channeled. Like the Bartosi, located in the occipital neural system.
[That kind of trait is hereditary. So, what does their mom do? No way she's a monster on that side...]
'Hey, hey.'
What kind of ridiculous speculation was that?
From what he'd heard, the twins' mother was living perfectly fine in the capital's bustling districts, even if she hadn't been formally instated as an imperial consort.
'What about the possibility they take after their father?'
If anything, Seongjin thought that was more likely.
The Holy Emperor could see souls and traverse dimensional boundaries by manipulating souls alone. It'd be weirder if he wasn't a channeling ability user.
That made things simple. Next time they met, he could poke around in the man's head and check for a plasmic crystal.
But the Demon King's reaction to that suggestion was odd.
[You want to go looking for a plasmic crystal in your father's head? Ahahaha!]
He let out a hollow, incredulous laugh.
[You think that's possible? Your father... he's just light. Light! A massive holy power source glowing like a star! You gonna distinguish a faintly shining plasmic crystal in that soul? You gonna?]
Might as well tell him to find a candle dropped in lava. Or jump into the sun to hunt for a campfire! At least that way, there'd be no risk of his soul disintegrating.
The Demon King went on like that, sniffling and rambling.
[I swear... every time I'm near your father, I feel like I'll just burn up—even though I don't have a heart, it shrivels up anyway! How long do I have to live like this? Huh? *Sniff*!]
Ah.
Lately, he'd been seeing the Holy Emperor's face pretty much every day.
The Demon King must've built up a fair bit of stress without realizing it.
* * *
The next morning.
Having received permission from the Ninnia Medical Office to resume training, Seongjin dashed excitedly to the training grounds. His body was itching to test his expanded aura.
Conveniently, he'd been working on the Fifth Form of the Imperial Standard Swordsmanship lately.
Since it was composed mainly of bold thrusting motions, he anticipated some tangible improvement in his swordplay.
"...Hmm?"
But contrary to his expectations, his muscles twitched and popped like they were surging forward abruptly, preventing smooth transitions. It felt just like that time when he'd unconsciously woven aura for the first time and his movements kept breaking off.
He broke out in a cold sweat trying to move as fluidly as possible, when Masain, who had been watching, cautiously suggested.
"The aura has increased too rapidly to control in one go. Why not start from the First Form again and carefully readjust it step by step?"
Ahh, the tedious First Form once more.
Still, his past efforts hadn't been in vain. By repeating the form he knew best, Seongjin soon regained his sense for controlling the aura's flow.
But as he was deep in adjustments, he snapped to his senses and noticed the training grounds' atmosphere was more chaotic than usual. The resident knights were huddled in one corner, whispering among themselves.
Lady Maria, sensing Seongjin's puzzled gaze, sidled over and whispered.
"[Lilium] is arriving in the capital soon."
A grand triumphal parade was planned, so some resident knights would be pulled for duty, and the shifts adjusted accordingly.
But Lilium? What was that?
"It's the detachment from the Saint Bastian Knight Order. The elite unit formed to subjugate sea beasts."
Masain, standing nearby, quickly explained to Seongjin.
Saint Bastian Knight Order.
The order that upholds the legacy of Saint Bastian of [Forgiveness], taking [Generosity] as its virtue. Ironic, though, since despite that motto, they were known for being as strict as the Saint Marthias Knight Order.
Based out of the Saint Bastian Church, they were also infamous as the Orthodox Church's enforcers.
And the one leading that detachment against the sea beasts was...
"With the Nativity Festival approaching, Prince Logan is returning."
A faint look of joy crossed Masain's face as he spoke.
Delcross's Second Prince, Logan.
The young holy knight hailed as the swordsmanship genius who would succeed the Holy Emperor.
-I'll teach you this one just a little. It's a secret no one else knows.
The boy who had whispered that secret in his dream.
-It only looks like I'm good because I learned it before.
That couldn't just mean early education.
What if—and it was a stretch—but what if he wasn't just an ordinary kid?
Like, say, a soul possession, the way Seongjin was...
'...Wait a sec! That actually seems pretty plausible. How can I be sure I'm the only case like this?'
It hit him like a splash of cold water to the head.
Come to think of it, even in the dream, he'd felt unusually mature for his age.
"Prince Logan has always been remarkably adult-like for his age, even as a child."
When Seongjin asked about the Second Prince, Masain smiled and replied.
"Now that I think about it, he felt like an old knight wearing a child's skin."
Seongjin felt cold sweat trickle down.
No, really?
"His swordsmanship was the same. He learned so effortlessly, like he was reviewing what he already knew. I was called his instructor, but honestly, I have no idea if I actually taught him anything."
Captain Bruno chimed in from the side.
"I've met many of the continent's top swordsmen, but I've never seen talent like Prince Logan's. I often thought he might even surpass Gael the General, the strongest sword in the East."
When Seongjin asked who Gael the General was, he was told the man was the greatest genius of his era.
"It's a shame he fell in the Ortona civil war, but as a swordmaster, he was unrivaled on the continent. Truly one-of-a-kind, a knight among knights."
Masain cleared his throat beside him.
"The continent's greatest knight is Lord Balthazar, Captain Bruno."
"Of course, no one disputes Lord Balthazar as the finest knight. His feats are living legend. But Gael the General holds the record for the youngest Sword Master on the continent, doesn't he? And this isn't just me saying it because I'm from Ortona."
Well, that record might be broken soon, Captain Bruno continued.
"At this rate, Prince Logan will likely become the continent's youngest Sword Master. We don't know exactly when His Majesty became one, but the two started swordsmanship at different ages. He might even reach that realm far sooner than His Majesty."
A Sword Master was one who achieved both aura weaving and the pinnacle of swordsmanship.
There could be Decaron Knights who weren't Sword Masters, but no Sword Master who wasn't a Decaron Knight.
And Prince Logan was predicted to reach that realm faster than anyone.
He'd said it himself: he was good because he'd learned it before.
"......"
The more he heard about Logan, the less it felt like a mere hypothesis that he might be a possessed soul.
As Seongjin furrowed his brow in thought, Masain seemed to misunderstand and added reassuringly.
"Of course, Your Highness is remarkable too. The speed at which you build aura is truly unparalleled. Even Prince Logan couldn't expand his aura layers this much in a single day."
A rapid shift from the 6th to the 7th aura layer.
Fortunately, Masain assured him there were no major issues with his physical condition.
The stable activity of the surrounding aura indicated the sudden influx wasn't burdening his body at all.
He'd been a bit surprised at how Seongjin had amassed aura so explosively in one day, but figured the Holy Emperor must've done something. After all, an aura vortex had lingered around His Majesty during the treatment, so it was probably his doing.
"But I've been wondering for a while—why do people say Sir Balthazar is the strongest on the continent? No matter how I look at it, my father seems stronger."
At Seongjin's question, Masain and Captain Bruno both looked puzzled.
"Isn't it because of His Majesty the Holy Emperor?"
"His Majesty is His Majesty."
...Ah, Seongjin realized.
To these two, the Holy Emperor was no longer in the realm of humans.
In any case, Seongjin felt a bit relieved and settled into meditation.
No point dwelling on Logan when he wasn't even here.
He'd be back in the capital soon enough; he'd figure something out when they met.
As Seongjin focused intently, the gentle breeze swirling around him grew distinct enough for the surrounding knights to feel it. By now, most of the resident knights were somewhat accustomed to this bizarre sight from the prince.
"If meditating alone causes his aura to materialize like that, no wonder he stacks layers so fast."
Lady Maria clicked her tongue in amazement, and Sir Kurt, polishing his sword nearby, nodded.
"It's the sheer volume he absorbs and circulates at once—that's the difference. The blood of the Holy Emperor's line is something else entirely."
It wasn't just Mores.
Imperial Princess Amelia, recently praised as a rare talent by the spearmanship master and deputy Dimros.
Prince Logan, expected to become the continent's youngest Sword Master.
And Prince Owen, who hadn't stood out much upon entering the palace but had recently gained fame on the southern front for his monstrous feats.
"Hmm... somehow, my motivation's just vanished."
When Haven muttered glumly, a heavy silence fell over the entire training grounds.
Joining the Imperial Knight Order meant they weren't outmatched in swordsmanship talent anywhere.
But in front of geniuses like those, even they felt infinitesimally small.
"...Let's just train."
"Sigh......"
They shuffled back to their spots.