Chapter 48
Chapter 48
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 48
Chapter Title: To the Cradle of Stars (6)
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By the time I came to my senses, the duel had already begun.
In truth, it was merely me facing Navian Gaznae, who wasn't even holding a sword.
But that alone exerted an incredible amount of pressure on me.
“Hoo.”
I took a deep breath.
“Hah.”
As I exhaled, I let out my tension along with my breath.
My stiff body relaxed, if only slightly.
*Swish, swish.*
I lightly loosened my wrists and took my stance.
I extended the Swordbreaker in my left hand forward and brought the tip of the longsword in my right behind my shoulder.
My eyes scanned Navian Gaznae’s entire body.
A physique superior even to that of most men.
With her hands clasped behind her back, she looked as leisurely as if she were out for a stroll.
Dressed in light, casual clothes instead of black iron armor, every part of her seemed to be an opening.
And yet, none of them were.
I drew imaginary lines in my mind.
Countless trajectories overlaid the empty space.
But not a single one of them reached her.
“Hmm.”
I couldn't figure out where or how I should attack.
It felt like standing before a colossal wall.
A familiar feeling.
My duels with Roman were always like this.
Thinking and rethinking.
To fight with a physical weakness, I always had to be one or two steps ahead of others.
My bad leg didn't allow for free advance or retreat.
So even a single attack had to be made with caution.
I took another deep breath.
I shook off my impatience and erased all the trajectories I had hastily drawn.
Only then did Navian Gaznae begin to look different.
She was similar to Roman, yet different.
Unlike Roman’s presence, which was as sharp and well-ordered as a finely honed sword, hers was more relaxed and leisurely.
If Roman was a sword, Navian Gaznae was a lion.
And before her, I was nothing more than a rabbit.
The only fortunate thing was that the lion didn't seem particularly hungry.
This was an opportunity.
A duel with a knight who had reached absolute mastery was not an opportunity that came easily.
I had to gain as much as I could from it.
Abandoning impatience, with humility.
I looked at her as she was.
“Hoh.”
A strange light flickered in the Black Knight’s eyes.
A small admiration, and interest.
Through it, a mischievous air began to rise.
She had the face of a troublemaker.
*Flicker.*
Her pupils shifted minutely.
In that instant, her form magnified.
I instinctively raised my Swordbreaker to guard my neck and swung my longsword down.
“Gasp, gasp.”
When I came to my senses, I had retreated several steps and was gasping for breath.
At my feet, countless marks were carved where a sword had swept past.
I looked for Navian Gaznae.
She was standing in her original spot, watching me without having moved an inch.
There was no sign that she had moved at all.
It was as if I alone had caused a commotion while my opponent stood still.
I didn't even have time to feel embarrassed.
I just wiped my neck with the back of my hand.
My head had just been cut off.
By something that had slipped between my frantically swinging swords.
But the feel of my neck against my hand was clean.
Not a single scratch, let alone a wound.
It felt like I’d had a nightmare with my eyes wide open.
“You, why do you act as if your leg is injured?”
Navian Gaznae asked, tilting her head.
“Your weight is shifted to one side. Like a cripple.”
My heart stopped.
I instinctively moved my feet around, checking them without thinking.
“Ah.”
Fortunately, both feet were perfectly fine.
“Sometimes, the scars left on the body remain on the soul.”
She was right.
“You, you injured one of your legs once, didn't you? And quite severely.”
It seemed the habit from my past life, when I used to limp, had remained and unconsciously emerged in a moment of urgency.
I thought I had completely shaken off the weaknesses of my past life.
I adjusted the distance between my feet and redistributed my weight again.
“Thank you for your guidance.”
As I bowed my head slightly in thanks, Navian Gaznae let out a hollow laugh.
“You fixed it after just a single word? I can’t believe what I’m seeing.”
But her laughter was brief.
Her eyes narrowed.
“And you reacted properly to the Heart Sword.”
The Heart Sword—literally, the sword of the heart.
Legends say one could cut down an opponent with a single sword held in the heart, but in reality, the Heart Sword was a technique closer to imbuing a sword with one's will to disrupt an opponent's senses.
Even then, it was a skill rarely used in actual combat, as its effects were minimal compared to the energy and mental strength it consumed.
However, since it allowed for an exchange of offense and defense with will alone, it was perfect for sparring without causing physical harm, and I had heard that high-ranking knights of noble houses often dueled using the Heart Sword.
“Even among the knights of the Eight Families, it is rare to see someone as attuned to the Heart Sword as you.”
Despite Navian Gaznae's admiration, I answered inwardly.
*It’s a technique I’ve experienced countless times in my past life, so I’m used to it.*
It was because of Roman, that monstrous man.
While other knights used the Heart Sword sparingly due to the heavy toll on their mental and physical energy, Roman unleashed it on his squire every single day.
It would be stranger if I didn't react sensitively to the Heart Sword.
Unaware of this fact, Navian Gaznae looked at me again and again, as if she had a strange animal before her.
My shoulders straightened on their own.
If there was one thing I was confident in, it was my senses.
Even Roman, who treated me like a worthless piece of trash, had acknowledged—if you could call it that—that my senses were the one thing that wasn't completely unbearable.
I puffed out my chest and preened.
I shouldn't have done that.
“This is perfect.”
I realized that fact far too late.
“As it happens, I couldn’t find a sparring partner, and my sword was about to rust.”
By then, it was already irreversible.
*Pop.*
Out of thin air, a greatsword suddenly appeared.
It was the beloved sword of Navian Gaznae, renowned throughout the Empire as a divine blade.
“Thanks to you, my Manwol will be able to shake off all its rust today.”
Holding the divine sword, she smiled.
Baring her teeth, fiercely.
“Try to last as long as you can.”
As the price for a moment of carelessness.
“Ah?”
The gates of hell opened.
* * *
“Hah, hah.”
I lay sprawled on the floor, breathing raggedly.
The sky was spinning.
My body felt like it was sinking into the ground.
A constant *beeeeep, beeeeep* rang in my ears.
My limbs had been severed by the Heart Sword dozens of times, and my head had been detached dozens more.
It was a miracle I hadn't gone mad.
“That was fun.”
As I gasped for breath, I heard Navian Gaznae's voice.
I didn't have to look to know what kind of expression she was wearing.
She would undoubtedly have the face of a well-fed cat.
“Child.”
Instead of answering, I just rolled my eyes toward her.
Just as I expected, wearing a look of satisfaction, she asked me.
“Will you not live with me?”
“I-I refuse!”
The answer flew out of my mouth before I had time to think.
A cough mixed with my words as I shouted with a parched throat.
“Absolutely not!”
In case she hadn't heard me, I squeezed out all my remaining energy to once again declare my intentions.
If I stayed here, I would wither away and die.
Tormented by Roman in my dreams at night, and by the Black Knight during the day.
Death was certain, no matter when it came.
“What a shame.”
Navian Gaznae licked her lips.
She had swung her sword enough to make a butcher who considered human lives no more than flies repent and vow to turn over a new leaf, yet she still had the gall to say it was a shame. Her character was simply astounding.
“I thought I could solve the mystery by experiencing it firsthand.”
But what she found regrettable wasn't the lack of a good fight.
“Now I’m just more anxious than before.”
*Shhhk.*
A cascade of dark blue hair fell over me.
“So I’d rather just ask.”
Through it, I saw a pale face.
“Child.”
She cupped my face with both hands.
“I am curious about your life.”
Her transparent gaze ensnared me.
* * *
Navian Gaznae was born a lion from the very beginning.
Things that others had to train and strive for to the point of death were given to her as naturally as growing taller over time.
She never once found this strange.
The world that surrounded her had taught her so.
That it was only right for one who carried the blood of the Gaznae family.
That it was the same for anyone born with a natural talent for the sword.
However.
“You are too much.”
“Your talent is… strange.”
At some point, that world began to speak differently.
It was around the time she defeated her own father, who was called the greatest knight in the Empire.
Even the members of her clan, known to be beloved by the sword, could not comprehend the talent she was born with.
For her part, she could not understand what it was that they found incomprehensible.
This was because the talent given to her was not limited to mere physical skill.
Her insight regarding the sword was her greatest weapon.
Of course, her insight was not omniscient.
But at least in the fields she was interested in—the sword and martial arts—it was absolute.
If she wanted to know, she knew. If she wanted to see, she saw.
That became her poison.
She grew bored.
Everything seemed trivial.
Navian lost interest in this world.
Naturally, her gaze turned upward, toward the sky.
She hoped there was something up there that could pique her interest, and she wished to encounter such a thing even a day sooner.
The star of the Gaznae family, which had been with her since birth, tried to dissuade her.
*You are not yet ready.*
It said that due to her excessive talent, she lacked certain things that should have inevitably come with the process of growth.
She responded to the star's advice with indifference.
Wouldn't it be interesting in its own way if she failed?
She felt it was enough if she could soothe the growing emptiness within her, even in that way.
There was nothing left in the mortal world to appease her.
So she thought.
Until she met a certain kid.
“Is it not rather unknightly to covet something that already has an owner?”
Just what kind of kid was this, making the Crown Prince act like a dragon guarding its nest full of treasure?
Her interest was piqued.
But it was merely a small diversion to soothe her emptiness before the Ascension Ceremony.
It was supposed to be.
“Child. I am curious about your life.”
At some point, she genuinely wanted to know.
Just what kind of life had he lived to be like this at such a young age?
“It's just the life of a country boy, the kind you could hear anywhere. It’s not a story worthy of the interest of the Empire’s greatest knight.”
But the child seemed to have no intention of easily satisfying her curiosity and slipped away as if fleeing.
Watching the boy’s back recede quickly, as if afraid of being followed, Navian muttered to herself.
“I should gather the elders and knights. It’s been a while.”
She was not one to dwell on her thoughts for long and immediately summoned the core of her family.
“I will postpone the schedule for the Ascension Ceremony.”
And there, she made her declaration.
The Gaznae knights flinched and looked at her.
The eyes of those who were rarely shaken were now trembling like never before.
A knight who had been urgently summoned back to the castle cautiously asked for the reason.
She answered without a moment's thought.
“I thought it was only up there, but it was down here, too.”
Something that could soothe her boredom and emptiness,
Something that she could not fathom even with her insight,
Something like that existed in this world, too.
* * *
“We’re moving out!”
The departure was much, much later than expected.
I glanced back for a moment.
I could see the vibrant city of Sodien and, rising in its center, the castle of the Gaznae family.
I took in the sight for a long time.
Leaving without being able to offer any pretext to stop Navian Gaznae's ascension.
Even if I were to pass this way again, it wouldn't be the same as now.
A bitter taste filled my mouth.
I even considered turning back right now to warn them of the impending doom.
Of course, it was just a thought.
For a mere squire to ramble on about how the greatest knight of the Empire’s Ascension Ceremony would end in a horrific failure was no different from asking to be killed.
I had to admit it.
Right now, I was nothing more than a lowly squire.
It was impossible for someone like me to change everything.
The fate of the Gaznae family was just one of the many things beyond my control.
It was a relief that I had at least found a clue on the Crown Prince's side.
I tried to console myself with that thought.
*Trudge, trudge.*
I forced my reluctant feet to move.
[We will meet again soon.]
A farewell, whispered as if right in my ear.
I didn't bother to look back again.
Sodien, Gaznae. My connection with them ended here.
*Shake, shake.*
I shook my head violently, trying to cast off any lingering attachments.
“Happy thoughts, happy thoughts.”
What was important to me now was not yesterday's failure, but tomorrow's success.
And my destination was just such a place.
The Empire's finest academy, a place I couldn't even step foot in during my past life.
After all, the Cradle of Stars was as good as a guaranteed ticket to success.