Chapter 40: Farewell
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 40: Farewell
Piiing-! I shot forward at the sound of a bowstring twanging past my ear. A moment later, three or four arrows slammed into the spot where I had just been. I confirmed the direction they came from, kicked off a tree, and leaped up, predicting my opponent’s escape route.
Whoosh- Despite my sudden appearance, Ludwig swung his weapon without a hint of hesitation. It was his signature explosive swing, one that seemed to lack any acceleration.
Seeing this, I drew my own weapon and swung to meet his. I couldn't accelerate from zero to a hundred in an instant like him, but my mana-enhanced body could more or less keep up with his movements.
Claaaang—.
As the sound of clashing steel echoed through the area, Ludwig swiftly tossed his weapon aside and grabbed me with his bare hands.
With a motion so fluid it made me wonder if he was even thinking, Ludwig seized my wrist and twisted it against the joint.
In response, I used the techniques I had learned over the past month. I was still clumsy, but I managed to use my strength to break his grip.
I escaped his grasp, blocked his punch, and parried his weapon—I defended against all his attacks almost perfectly.
It was a huge improvement, considering I had been covered in blood and bruises on the first day.
“Stop.”
Swoosh-! I was in the middle of a swing, but I immediately halted my weapon at his command. As I brought the blade down from mid-air and plunged it into the ground, Ludwig nodded as if to say this was enough.
“This should do. Excellent. To come this far in just one month… You might have a talent for this.”
“Oh, come on, Instructor. A genius worthy of the history books? I’m not that good.”
“…I never said that.”
Ludwig stared at me, dumbfounded. But perhaps because it was our last day, he decided it didn't matter. He let out a hollow laugh and gazed blankly at the sky.
A clear sky, without a single cloud. The sun beat down intensely, as if heralding the dawn of a new day—.
“Heh, a good day to die.”
The promised month had passed.
The day I was to kill Ludwig had arrived.
Back at the cabin, Ludwig seemed to be in a hurry. He held out a dagger and urged me on.
“Here. Stab me.”
“…Why say that the moment we get back? That’s so cold.”
“Cold? Are you planning to break our promise because you’re tied down by such feelings?”
“No, a promise is a promise. But what if I need to learn more from you later?”
“I’ve taught you everything I can. Now it’s your turn to master it on your own.”
“Come on, I might forget things.”
“…In that case, I’ll tell you of a swordsmanship guild you can visit. Will that suffice?”
With that, Ludwig told me the name of a city. He said there was a guild there, founded by a disciple he had taught long, long ago. He also advised that if I mentioned his name, I would be able to learn his techniques.
However, upon hearing the city’s name, my expression hardened as I looked at Ludwig.
“That city was destroyed a while ago.”
“…What?”
“You didn’t know?”
At the news that the city had been destroyed, Ludwig’s face was a mask of shocked disbelief. The story was causing such a stir in every city that I thought it was impossible for anyone not to know…
But thinking back, when we first met, he had been dressed like a homeless man, drunk and getting kicked out of a tavern.
A drunkard soaked in alcohol wouldn't have paid any mind to other people’s stories. For a homeless man seeking a drink, the most important thing is booze, and the next is the money to buy it.
“I can’t believe it.”
“It’s true. I have no reason to lie about something like this…”
“…Yohan, can we go to that city? I feel like I need to see it with my own eyes.”
He pleaded with me. More accurately, he was pleading with Margaret—but I readily nodded.
Whether Margaret agreed or not, I was planning to persuade her. Because in that moment, hearing that his disciple might be dead, I sensed a will to live in him.
“Alright, wait here a moment. I’ll go get her.”
I immediately headed inside the cabin to find Margaret.
“…It’s in ruins.”
“I told you.”
Ludwig let out an empty laugh as he gazed at the city. Even for him, a human who had lived for a very long time, a city being annihilated overnight must not have been a common sight.
After all, if such things were common, humanity would have perished long ago. The fact that it hadn't meant this was a rare occurrence.
“How did this happen?”
“Because of a witch.”
“I see. A witch.”
He chewed on the word “witch” and stared silently at the ruined city. As if to mourn with him, dark clouds began to gather in the clear sky.
The brilliant sunlight that had illuminated the earth was completely blocked, and black clouds continued to mass, looking as if they would unleash a downpour at any moment.
In a situation like this, I couldn't offer clumsy words of comfort.
Most of the witches I had met, like my Teacher or Margaret, had been friendly to me.
‘Well, there were some crazy bitches, too…’
At least I hadn't experienced tragedy because of a witch, as Ludwig had. Humans can’t truly empathize with things they haven’t experienced themselves. Pretending to understand wouldn't be much of a comfort right now.
I simply waited in silence for him to overcome his pain. After some time, Ludwig seemed to have composed himself and spoke lightly.
“Is that witch dead?”
“Huh? Yes. She’s dead.”
“That’s a relief. I didn’t want to live any longer, you see.”
Hearing his words, I wondered if I’d said the wrong thing, but at the same time, I didn’t want him to live a pointless life chasing a witch who was already dead.
Hadn’t he suffered for far too long already? There was no need to make him live longer and endure more pain.
But paradoxically, I also wished for him to live.
“Um… maybe he was in a different city, not this one?”
“It was this city. I may have been a drunken homeless man, but I haven’t forgotten that much.”
“Maybe he moved to another city, or happened to be somewhere else at the time…”
“Either way, that’s just wishful thinking with a low probability. Yohan. Do you want me to live? Or have you suddenly become reluctant to keep your promise? Are you afraid to kill me with your own hands?”
It was neither, and yet it was both. I wanted him to live, but I also wanted him to find peace.
There was also the fact that my modern-day morals, which were overly conservative about murder, made me reluctant to kill.
I couldn't bring myself to tell him either of those things. It would be betraying his expectations from the past month. So, I just shook my head.
“Then kill me now. Right now. This is perfect. No one will find a corpse in a place like this suspicious.”
“…You think so?”
“If you burn the body after.”
Saying this, Ludwig tossed me the sword he always carried. I caught it, drew the blade with a shing, and pointed it at him.
Now that the time had come to actually fulfill the promise, my hands began to tremble, despite all the mental preparation I’d done for this moment.
Seeing this, Ludwig scoffed.
“Just use your magic. I’ll walk into it.”
Thud- Ludwig pressed his neck against the tip of the unenchanted sword, urging me to use my magic.
I squeezed my eyes shut and gathered my mana. I never thought it would end like this, in a place like this, but…
“Farewell, Instruc—”
“—Heyyy! What are you doing?!”
Just then, in the distance, armored knights came running toward us, blowing whistles. Ludwig sighed as if greatly disappointed and looked down at me.
“Don’t hesitate next time.”
The knights rushed over, surrounded us, and shouted for us to drop our weapons.
Seeing the knights warily circling us, Ludwig scoffed and took the sword back from my hand.
“Sirs, this is a toy sword. A toy sword.”
“…What?”
“Look at this.”
Ludwig immediately swung the sword at his own neck. It wasn't a full-force swing meant to decapitate himself, but the knights, who had expected the blade to at least pierce his skin, watched wide-eyed as it bounced off his neck without leaving a scratch.
Seizing the opportunity of their surprise, Ludwig continued his story.
“We were rehearsing a play with this.”
“…Why would you rehearse a play in a place like this?”
“Ah, well, we came all the way from our distant hometown to perform a play in this city. But when we arrived, we found the city like this, the weather’s getting worse… it’s a funny situation, so here we are.”
“This city fell a while ago… The people who were here have already moved elsewhere.”
“…Pardon?”
At the knight’s words, Ludwig’s eyes lit up. Whether he noticed the look or not, the knight continued nonchalantly.
“There were quite a few survivors at the time, and most of them moved to the next city over. If you want to perform a play, you should go there…”
“Yohan.”
“Yes, Instructor.”
Hearing the knight, I immediately looked at Margaret. She nodded in understanding and transported us to the neighboring city.
A moment later, our vision blurred—and we arrived in the next city.
As we landed in a back alley, I asked Ludwig how we would find his disciple.
“How are we going to find him in this big city?”
“We just need to find Carlos, who runs a swordsmanship guild. The chances of two people with the same name working in the same profession in the same city are slim…”
Following his words, we wandered the city, searching for a man named Carlos who ran a swordsmanship guild.
Just as he’d said, while the city was large, there weren’t many guild masters named Carlos.
When we found the guild run by Carlos, Ludwig saw his face from a distance and nodded with a satisfied expression.
“That’s him. You can go there, mention my name, and receive training.”
“…Aren’t you going to go see him?”
“Are you saying that because you think I’ll have lingering attachments?”
Ludwig scoffed, saying that wasn't possible. I asked him to prove that he truly had no lingering feelings, and he readily accepted.
“Come to think of it, since this is the end… it wouldn’t be so bad to say goodbye.”
It seemed he figured that since it was the end anyway, saying a final farewell wouldn’t hurt. Ludwig entered the guild with me.
The moment we stepped inside, the smell of blood hit us, and we both frowned.
“…The smell of blood?”
“What the—”
We followed the scent and found Carlos lying on the floor with a gaping hole in his chest. Standing over him was a woman in a Holy Knight uniform.
Thump-!
Her back was familiar. Her short stature, her blonde hair in twin braids, and the distinctive Holy Knight uniform coat draped over her shoulders…
“Oh? You’re…”
Hekaterina turned around. She looked at me and smiled, a smile so wide it felt like the corners of her mouth were shooting up to her ears.
“Isn’t it Yohan?”
She, who should have died with her head exploding, was standing right here.
At the same time, Ludwig exploded in rage and charged forward.