Chapter 115
Chapter 115
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 115
Chapter Title: Back to Where It Belongs (3)
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I thought he would take at least a few more days to deliberate, but he was faster than I expected.
“There are a few things I need to confirm before I give you your reward.”
The Vice Director paused for a moment before asking me.
“First, who else knows of this ledger's existence?”
“Only the one who created it and myself.”
It wasn’t a difficult question to answer.
“Second, have you read the ledger?”
“Yes.”
I answered truthfully.
The Vice Director’s gaze sharpened.
It was a natural reaction, considering I had peered into what could be called the Cradle’s shame.
“Third. What did you trade for this ledger?”
This, too, was a question I had anticipated.
If one knew the ledger’s value, it was only natural to verify its origin and how it was obtained.
“I recommended Sir Jamal to His Highness, the Crown Prince.”
So that sly Jamal was looking for a chance to switch banners.
The Vice Director nodded.
“The final question.”
He paused and looked at me intently.
His gaze was so clear it felt like it could see right through me.
“Are you the one who distributed the Prophecies of the End?”
For me, who had expected him to ask only about the ledger, it was an unforeseen question.
I was genuinely surprised.
But my facial muscles, seasoned by all the trials and tribulations of my past life, maintained a nonchalant expression even in this situation.
“Me?”
When I asked back, feigning bewilderment, the Vice Director cleared his throat with a “khm.”
“Let’s just pretend you didn't hear that last question.”
Damned man, making a fool of himself with such pointless words.
He grumbled under his breath.
It seemed the last question was just to test me.
It appears someone around the Vice Director suspects me.
But it seems they only have suspicions, no conclusive evidence.
If they did, he wouldn't have asked a probing question like that only to immediately back down.
I'll have to be more careful from now on.
I made a mental note and asked the Vice Director if he was finished with his questions.
“That’s all for now.”
Clearing his throat once more, the Vice Director spoke in an even sterner voice.
“I'm saying this out of an abundance of caution, but the ledger's existence…”
“I won't speak of it to anyone.”
It was a pointless thing to say.
It looked like they were planning to weed out those who made the Secular Vow to the Empress all at once, and I had no intention of ruining things by running my mouth.
If anything, I’d help.
“Then I shall present your reward.”
This was the moment I had been eagerly awaiting.
I clasped my hands tightly before my chest and waited for the Vice Director to speak.
“First, the Cradle can offer three possible rewards for the ledger, and naturally, the choice is yours.”
Thinking he meant I would get all three, I broke into a wide grin, only to quickly become sullen.
“There's no need to be disappointed. Whichever of the three you choose, they are treasures more than worth the price of the ledger.”
The Vice Director said with a displeased look on his face.
*Ssk.*
He then rose from his seat and opened a large chest that was placed in a corner of the Director's office.
Inside were three long objects, each wrapped in red, blue, or white cloth.
“These are masterwork swords a pipsqueak like you wouldn't get to touch in a hundred lifetimes.”
They were swords.
And not just any swords, but masterworks rarely seen in the world.
My skin tingled.
He hadn't even unwrapped the cloth from the swords, yet I could already feel their sharp aura.
It was proof that the Vice Director's words were no empty boast or exaggeration.
Every knight dreams of the moment they acquire a beloved sword to spend their life with.
I was no different.
My heart pounded.
I pleaded with my eyes.
Stop dawdling and show me the goods.
Perhaps my earnest feelings got through to him.
“Hwaryeong, Changrin, and Baegya.”
The Vice Director unwrapped the cloths from the swords all at once.
“Hwaryeong is a legacy left by the elves, presented to the Great Emperor as a gift of friendship. The Emperor then bestowed it upon his favored knight, and it has been passed down through generations since. Like other elven legacies, Hwaryeong also contains the essence of nature…”
The Vice Director's ensuing explanation didn't even register.
“Changrin is a divine sword crafted from the wing bone of a blue dragon. It ranks last among the twenty-eight dragon-bone armaments officially recognized by the Imperial family, but it is a cut far above the one hundred thirty-three dragon-scale armaments…”
Hwaryeong, with its beautiful blade that seemed to shimmer with flames.
Changrin, with its mystical, translucent bluish blade.
And a simple, pure white longsword that looked plain in comparison to the other two.
But from the moment I saw the pure white longsword, I couldn't tear my eyes away.
Because I knew just how many masterwork swords that seemingly ordinary pure white longsword had broken in my past life.
「Baegya」
The pure white masterwork sword was the beloved blade of a knight I knew well.
「The Successor Knight」
The one I had served until the moment of my death.
「The Knight Who Fells Stars」
The shameless Master who abandoned his pitiful squire on the battlefield and ascended alone.
“Roman…”
That damn man's cherished sword was Baegya.
*Rub, rub.*
I rubbed my eyes and looked again, just in case I had seen wrong.
It was indeed Baegya.
Then again, it would have been stranger if I hadn't recognized it.
After all the time I spent sharpening, maintaining, and polishing that thing.
“I've made my choice.”
The Vice Director's eyes widened.
He must have thought I would deliberate a little longer.
“As I just said, once you choose, you cannot take it back. So, choose carefully.”
He once again advised me to think it over.
But no matter how many times he asked, my answer was the same.
“I'll take this one.”
Baegya. It had to be Baegya.
***
“What's with that look?”
Henkel Heinz was jolted from his thoughts by a familiar voice.
His superior, who had appeared out of nowhere, was staring intently at him.
“He's gone.”
When he answered with a sigh, his superior chuckled.
“That brat must be having a hard time deciding.”
He wondered what kind of face the pipsqueak made when faced with two masterwork swords as rare as Hwaryeong and Changrin.
“He didn't hesitate.”
“What?”
“He just chose.”
Without a moment's hesitation, at that.
At his words, the superior's eye twitched.
“…What did he choose?”
The mischievous chuckle from moments ago was gone.
To Henkel Heinz, his superior's anxious expression looked utterly pathetic.
“It's a wonder you even considered offering Changrin if you were going to be this attached to it.”
“That's because it was the only thing I could offer on such short notice.”
In truth, the swords offered as a reward were not assets of the Cradle.
They were the private property that he and his superior had reluctantly put forth.
“Who was it that said the ledger might be exposed if the matter went up to the steering committee?”
“That was me.”
The Cradle's steering committee was a secret organization.
It was so thoroughly veiled in secrecy that even those in the positions of Director and Vice Director could not obtain a list of its members.
Therefore, they couldn't rule out the possibility that one of the names in the ledger belonged to a committee member.
“Judging by your face, he picked Hwaryeong. See, I told you we should have just given him Changrin. Why do you always have to complicate things?”
His sneering was truly detestable.
“Whose fault is all this in the first place!”
If his thoughtless superior hadn't rashly offered up Changrin, Henkel Heinz would never have had to offer his own beloved sword as part of the reward for the ledger.
“Do you really not understand what it means for a Zodiac Knight to give his beloved sword to someone else?”
“I told you, it's not my beloved sword. I just carry it around because His Majesty the Emperor bestowed it upon me.”
“It looks like your beloved sword to everyone else. And are you even allowed to just give away something bestowed by His Majesty?”
“Why not? He gave it to me, so that's the end of it. Who I give it to is none of his business.”
His superior was always thoughtless, but this time, his utter lack of consideration made Henkel Heinz burn with fury.
“Officially, you're the Director of the Cradle. Privately, you're a Zodiac Knight. What do you think people will say if they hear you bestowed a sword upon a mere cadet?”
“They’d probably say, 'That brat sure is ambitious,' wouldn’t they?”
“Ah, come on!”
Henkel Heinz finally exploded at the playful retort.
“They'll think that since a Zodiac Knight gave him his beloved sword, he must be a candidate for the next Zodiac Knight!”
“Nah, they won't. They won't. And even if they do, so what?”
“...?”
He froze, taken aback by his superior's nonchalant reply.
“No way, right? It's not true, is it?”
“What's not true?”
“You weren't really thinking of passing on the Zodiac Knight title to that pipsqueak, were you?”
“…”
Seeing his superior avoid the question instead of answering, it seemed he really had been planning to pass the Zodiac Knight title to the pipsqueak.
“Fine, I was! So what! I'm so swamped with Cradle business I can't even take on a squire. Is it such a great sin to want to take a kid I like as my squire?!”
Finally caught, the superior confessed.
“You wouldn't take a squire when I told you to! And I'm the one swamped with Cradle business, not you! You dump it all on me!”
“I was busy in my own way…”
“Busy avoiding the Black Knight, you mean.”
“…Khm.”
Watching his superior clear his throat and look away, Henkel Heinz couldn't help but feel he was pathetic.
Of course, considering who they were dealing with, he could understand to some extent, but right now, his anger far outweighed any understanding or sympathy.
How could he get under that carefree man's skin?
As Henkel Heinz pondered, the perfect method came to mind.
“The pipsqueak didn't choose Hwaryeong.”
“Huh? Then did he take Changrin?”
His superior's expression changed in an instant as he asked.
“…No.”
When he deliberately paused before answering, his superior tilted his head.
“If he didn't take Changrin, and he didn't take Hwaryeong… then what in the world did he take… Don't tell me?”
Seeing the look of disbelief on his face, he nodded.
“Yes. The pipsqueak chose Baegya.”
“Why? With divine swords like Hwaryeong and Changrin right there, why Baegya?”
“When you say it like that, it sounds like we scammed him. Baegya is an excellent sword too, you know.”
“That's only if that picky Baegya accepts the pipsqueak as its master.”
His superior narrowed his eyes.
“I explained everything from the sword's origin to its abilities, so could you please stop looking at me like I'm a con artist?”
What do you take me for?
He clicked his tongue with a ‘tsk,’ and his superior gave him an apologetic look.
“No, I mean, even after hearing the full explanation, he chose Baegya over Changrin and Hwaryeong? But why?”
This time, Henkel Heinz fully understood his superior's reaction.
He also couldn't understand why the boy would choose Baegya, a sword of a lower class, over divine weapons like Changrin and Hwaryeong.
“Didn't you ask why? There must be a reason for his choice.”
“I did.”
“What did he say?”
Henkel Heinz relayed the boy's answer, word for word.
“Because if I don't take this sword now, I feel like someone else will snatch it.”
“…What?”
“I don't know. That's really the reason he gave.”
***
“Ahahahaha.”
Laughter kept bursting out of me.
I felt so good, it was as if I were flying.
“Looks like you'll have to use a sword other than Baegya in this life. What a shame.”
It was my own little revenge against the irresponsible man who worked me to the bone for ten years before ascending all by himself.
Of course, the Roman of this life wouldn't know that Baegya was his beloved sword, but what does it matter?
What's important is that *I* know.
And so, I savored the sweet taste of revenge.
For a while, just looking at Baegya would probably make me happy.
“Let's get along from now on.”
Revenge was one thing, but I was also incredibly proud that such a masterwork sword had become my own.
At least, that's what I thought.
“Huh?”
It seemed Baegya had other ideas.