Chapter 414
Chapter 414
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: Vine
Chapter: 18
Chapter Title: Railed (18)
-----------------------------------------------------------------
****
“Ugh. Urgh....”
“Volteus!”
“Volteus! You haven’t forgotten everything again, have you? Look at me. What’s my name? Who’s this? Do you even know where we are?”
“Ughhh....”
Volteus came to quickly. And then,
“I have committed a grave sin.”
His face grew even darker as he saw me being held down and stitched up by Naelda.
“Ah, well, you didn’t know either, and I didn’t know Shard Knights were so vulnerable to mental shocks—Ow!”
“Quit whining. That potion’s super expensive and has numbing agents in it, you know?”
“Damn it, I can still feel the needle going through my skin! You expect a nine-year-old to just sit still while watching a needle come at his eye?”
“If it bugs you that much, act like a nine-year-old? Then I’ll treat you like a kid.”
Volteus wallowed in self-recrimination while Naelda acted utterly shameless. With all the machinists gathered around too, it looked like the train maintenance Volteus had mentioned was already finished.
“It’ll scar a bit, but it’ll heal fast enough. Volteus, you took a pretty big shock yourself, so don’t make that long face.”
“I can’t do that. Even if the wound heals, the memory of being injured doesn’t vanish. For a Shard Knight, memories are akin to lifespan. The Professor aspired to be a Shard Knight, so the memory of being tortured by me as a boy might one day return as a great disaster that devours his mind.”
Er.... He was apologizing so profusely that I started feeling bad. To begin with, I’d only shoved my face in at an angle that looked bad but couldn’t actually hurt much. I knew Volteus wasn’t used to that kind of thing, but I hadn’t expected him to pass out.
“Um.... Volteus? Can I ask you something?”
“Anything.”
Snap—
While Naelda bit off the thread tied to her needle with her hair, I asked the dejected Volteus.
“The deal between shards and Shard Knights. How does it work exactly? You always say mental discipline is key for Shard Knights, and earlier, just getting shaken up seemed to render you combat-ineffective....”
I didn’t say it outright, but my question carried the nuance of ‘Isn’t being a Shard Knight a job with some serious drawbacks?’ Volteus answered seriously.
“....Right. Come to think of it, there’s a lot I need to tell you.”
Scrape, scrape.
Volteus rummaged deep into his pocket.
In his hand was a small box similar to the one Naelda had shown me.
****
“Like you did in the tail car, put your hand on it.”
Whoooosh—
“....It’s real after all. I wondered if I’d been mistaken.”
“Uh.... So this means it’s activated?”
“Yes. Do you feel any other sensations at your fingertips? Dizziness in your head? Or any sense that you’re making an effort right now?”
“Nope? I just put my hand there.”
“....Good. Now move your hand over here.”
“Got it.”
“Don’t touch it directly. Shake your hand as if brushing the mist around the crystal—”
Flash!
Craaaaaack!!
“Whoa!”
“Back! Now!”
No sooner had I moved my hand nearby than it emitted light and grew toward my fingertips with terrifying momentum. Thanks to Naelda yanking me back—she’d been standing by—just in time, or my palm would’ve been pierced by that transparent crystal right now.
Whew~
“Kid, you’re popular, huh?”
“Didn’t you see it lunging at me? It was out for blood!”
“That’s how badly it wants you. Right, Volteus? What’s the expert’s take?”
“Same here. This is.... beyond imagination.”
Volteus shook his head as he scooped the shrunken shard back into the box from the floor.
“My ‘Dawn Fragment.’ And the two colorless shards I owned after soul mage verification deemed them unsuitable for me—one with ‘Weak Calf Strength’ and the other with ‘Slight Dynamic Vision’—all reacted to the Professor. Intensely. No city has ever reported talent like this.”
“Talent.... you say?”
“Yes. Talent. Three separate shards that can’t merge with each other all reacted, so theoretically, you have compatibility with at least three colored shards. There must be colored shards somewhere in the world to merge these colorless ones.”
‘....That’s weird.’
Talent. Talent. None of my status window traits listed anything like ‘Miraculous Shard Knight Talent,’ yet suddenly I had unprecedented talent in human history.
Of course, having talent wasn’t bad, but it being Shard Knight talent rubbed me the wrong way. After all, Shard Knights had hefty risks with their power?
Colored shards with special powers and colorless ones with ordinary powers. Their commonality: they take memories in exchange for power from compatible Shard Knights.
Volteus seemed to share my concern; his face wasn’t exactly relaxed as he explained Shard Knights.
“Unlike mages or Aura Knights, a Shard Knight’s talent is a sort of.... right. The right to sell yourself more than others. It’s not purely a good thing.”
“So, overwhelming talent means....”
“You’ll face more temptations. More power. More abilities. The lure of abandoning yourself to achieve more.”
Click. Click.
“That’s also why I won’t give you these two shards confirmed compatible with you.”
“....Because I might lose memories?”
“Precisely, a child has a very high chance of losing important ones.”
Volteus set down two boxes he’d pulled from his pocket.
“Research on which memories shards take is ongoing. Nothing’s clear, but there’s one commonality.”
“What’s that?”
“They only take ‘good memories.’ From trivial to important—all memories of good moments.”
Volteus closed his eyes and rummaged through his memories. He liked drinking tea, but couldn’t recall when it started. He enjoyed views from high places, but every time he picked up a chair, he awkwardly lifted a second one too before setting it down.
That awkward spot held a differently colored memory. Blurry like a rough ink sketch, yet intense. Sharp metallic clangs and blood scent. With it came untaught swordsmanship and a moment of searing pain.
“....I don’t even know what I’ve lost. I just vaguely sense some moments are gone.”
“So, the more shards you absorb....”
“The worse it gets. That’s why your talent isn’t just a blessing.”
The more shards absorbed, the more good moments vanish. What remains is a hollow shell of a human, fused with one’s own pain and the pain of strangers.
And when that surpasses the limit,
“You become a monster. One filled only with malice, destroying everything around you.”
That’s how Shard Knights meet their end.
Volteus’s subdued voice and heavy gaze came from telling me a story that was also about himself.
“How far along are you, Volteus?”
“I don’t know. As I said, I can’t tell what I’ve lost.”
“Is passing out and babbling nonsense from agitation common among Shard Knights?”
“Not common.... no.”
Meaning not much time left. Until Volteus became the monster he described.
‘Oh ho. So this guy.... planned to drag a random nine-year-old he met on the road into this hellish job?’
From Naelda’s story, unlike someone who’d resolved themselves, Volteus hadn’t given up on the Railship crew’s survival.
Mix his condition, the Railship, and the suddenly talented boy....
“Am I hired as your replacement?”
“I thought your talent too precious to pass by.”
“Volteus.... You’re not as nice as you seem?”
That was the conclusion.
Volteus was the Railship’s sole knight-level fighter. Without him, the crew would be slaughtered by swarming assassins.
No, not even assassins—once devoured by shards, it’d end. His first targets as a monster would surely be the closest Railship folk.
So Volteus recruited the station-loitering boy onto the Railship. His Shard Knight senses detected the talent. Even knowing the horrific future awaiting the boy, to protect the Railship after his death.
‘....He’s in a really precarious state.’
I didn’t doubt his good nature. That meant Volteus was desperate. With threats to the Railship growing bolder and his own end looming, no wonder he was impatient.
Smack!
“Ow! Why hit me! Did I say something wrong?”
“Don’t be so hard on Volteus. If he were truly bad, would he tell you all this? He’d just say ‘Shards are good for you~’ and shove them in. And you, Volteus! Fix that self-flagellating habit! Why so negative? You didn’t just bring him to use.”
“....The Professor’s words are undeniable facts—”
Smack!
“Want another? Misunderstandings from things left unsaid already made this mess. Why hide more? Keep it up, and the other eye gets wrecked too? Then I pull out more of my beautiful, expensive hair to fix it? Until circular baldness rumors spread in Polgrad?”
Smack! Smack! Smack! Smack!
As the mood grew heavy, Naelda returned from stowing potions and tools, mercilessly hammering Volteus’s head with her wrench as usual.
“Everything Volteus said is true. Choose the Shard Knight path, and you pay with happy moments, big or small. One step closer to a doomed future.”
“But! Our shy Volteus left one thing out?”
Riding Volteus’s back, Naelda raised her index finger.
“He plans to raise you ‘properly.’ Does our smart guy know the difference?”
“No clue.”
How would I?
“You know he wants you as his replacement. With the whole island against us, you’d need to be a pretty strong Shard Knight—not Lord Slayer level, but solid. That means absorbing lots of shards.”
“So, that’s the path to ruin—”
“And the currency for shard-Shard Knight trades is good memories, happy ones?”
“....Huh?”
Unlike Naelda’s sly grin, Volteus pointedly looked away like at distant mountains.
“I said I wouldn’t give you shards yet. You only have nine years of memories.”
“Yeah, sure....”
“Raising a Shard Knight from childhood without immediate absorption, growing them right before turning them into one—that’s tantamount to filling their life with happy memories. Enough so even after absorbing shards to be strong, they won’t destabilize. So our shared past becomes a sturdy pillar, strong enough that a few holes won’t make them lose themselves.”
“Kid. To Shard Knights, a ‘seed’ means that. Cherished like blood kin, maybe more. Filled with bright life so they won’t waver at the fated loss. Even more intense moments, as they’ll bear my duties. Kyaa~ Isn’t it romantic? ‘Seeds’ are rarer than Shard Knights, actually?”
“....Naelda.”
“What! With your personality, you’d never say it, even on your deathbed! You’d just mope ‘I led you to doom.’ Not ‘I’ll make you a happy Professor Brasol.’ Am I wrong? Or wanna say it yourself?”
“Volteus. Is that it?”
“Ughhh....”
Volteus turned his back entirely, but his hands glistened with sweat.
I thought he was gruff. Maybe his original personality vanished with memories.
“One more thing? If you’d stayed in Brasol, you might’ve died. Nah, you would’ve. Definitely!”
What? Suddenly?
“Why?”
“They have Shard Knights too. They’d sniff out your talent soon enough.”
“Probably....”
The switch happened yesterday. Like Volteus sensing something odd upon meeting me, other Shard Knights would notice eventually.
“So, when they learn the bastard they treated worse than a stray dog has insane talent, what’s the ‘best’ use for the kid? One, spare no family support, raise him diligently into the world’s strongest Professor Brasol. Two, ship him to a mainland great house and toss him into their mountain of shards.”
.
.
.
.
.
Damn. If I’d sat idle, I’d really have died.
“....The second one.”
“No doubt.”
Naelda was right. Staying in Brasol would’ve killed me for sure.
‘Used as a fusion agent, absorbing shards to the limit.’
Bastard origin. History of neglect.
They’d never let me grow strong. Easy to imagine me breaking free of control.
Instead, a faster, efficient way. Toss into shard pile, as Naelda said.
Compatible shards absorb wildly, merge inside me, then devour me completely—
Bang!
Instead of a vengeful talented bastard, out pops a shard of immense value: my corpse fused with countless shards!
One way to boost shard value: have a Shard Knight absorb and merge them. For noble houses, rational and safe. Use the grudge-filled bastard as a disposable shard furnace and discard. Obvious.
“Now you get why the reclusive machinist—most depressive among them, Volteus—personally recruited an outsider? Volteus’s seed~?”
“Enough. I can’t.... listen anymore. Ahem!”
Unable to withstand Naelda’s barrage, red-faced Volteus turned back.
“....Life on a rundown magic train isn’t pleasant, obviously. Especially with Railship shunned across Polgrad....”
“Still, train life isn’t all bad. Crossing vast lands is a privilege for this era’s machinists. Comrades facing hardships back-to-back feel like family. Station towns, soft earth depots, exploring old continent ruins—could be pretty exciting....”
Like giving a pitch, Volteus rambled fervently about ‘Life and Romance on the Magic Train.’
“I’ll do it.”
“Noble houses shun us, but common folk still admire....?”
“I said yes. You guarantee that life, in exchange for taking responsibility for Railship after you’re gone? Chained to this rustbucket with us poor machinists?”
“....Refuse if you want. Knowing your water-vein mage talent, I wouldn’t have brought you. Better futures await elsewhere.”
“Come on, how glorious could it be? Stuck here with nothing but rocks, can I even cast 1st circle magic in 10 or 100 years? Gotta go out, find mana clumps like in leylines, suck ’em dry to cast.”
Disbelief flickered across Volteus’s cowed face, followed by relief. Then guilt.
“Good! Deal done! You said you’ll stay? Out loud? Swore before the sacred Mother Tree and pure whatever elves? Keep it!”
Unlike Volteus’s complicated expression, Naelda—now off his back—grinned so wide it seemed her face skin was short.
“Baby bro, what job you wanna learn? Fireman? Engineer?”
“Wasn’t it guarding with Volteus?”
“Everyone here does that. Even Volteus shovels coal. What’ll you do? No engineer thoughts? Small body perfect for crawling under the engine for maintenance!”
Wh-what about happy life? Happy memories to endure grim future? This child labor hell?
“V-Volteus?”
“....Hard labor ends with a sip of water. A breath of cool wind. Lower your standards, and small things bring happiness.”
....This guy?
Pssshhh!
Engine heating up, freshly maintained train spewed steam, signaling ready to roll anytime.
“Signal departure to Brasol. Two hours from now, at sunrise.”
“Got it.”
“And baby bro.... Like we said, stall them as long as possible if they contact.”
“Uh.... We’re going like this?”
“Duh. Or you got other plans?”
“Nope.”
Are they idiots? Fleeing enemy territory, just go?
“How long.”
“How many.”
“How long to prep?”
“Till departure?”
Creaaak—
Naelda kicked the train door open in reply.
“Go quick. Caused this mess, can’t leave you behind even if late.”
“Yep.”
Dash!
Naelda eyed me like she wanted to tie me up and store me, so I bolted before she changed her mind.
“Two hours, two hours....”
Tap tap tap tap—
My steps quickened across the station outward. Not a huge city, but endless for a nine-year-old’s short legs.
Clang clang!
“Mister! Stationmaster!”
“Gah—Huh?! Oh, young master? What at this dawn.... Wh-what happened to your eye! Did those machinist scum—”
“Never mind, open the gate! Let me out!”
“Y-Yes sir!”
Creaaak—
“Know the way to the temple? I can guide if not.”
“The temple....”
Temple options flashed, but two-hour limit made them impossible.
Something faster, surer existed.
“Stationmaster mister.”
“Yes.”
I looked up at the sleepy stationmaster with the innocent eyes of the boy whose other eye remained intact.
“Know where the oil depot is in this city? Coal storage, fuel handlers?”
I was innocent. Truly.
As a Railship terrorist accomplice, purely innocent thoughts.
****
****