Chapter 66: It's Been a While (2)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 66: It's Been a While (2)
Calian let out a soft breath, as if brushing away the killing intent Gray was pouring over him. From inside the carriage, Gray’s menacing voice drifted out.
“Stop the carriage.”
The carriage, which had been speeding along, finally came to a halt.
Calian turned his head to check on his companions.
Just as he’d expected.
Kyrie, sensing Gray’s killing intent, looked ready to pounce at any moment. Mana crackled around Arsen’s and Rachel’s hands.
Calian raised a hand, signaling them not to act rashly. He shot a particularly sharp glare at Arsen, who was sizing up the pink carriage as if calculating the trajectory for a spell.
Then, turning to Yan, Calian said, “Go on ahead, but leave Kyrie here. I’ll catch up soon.”
What was about to happen was something only Calian could handle. No one but Kyrie, who knew his secret, could remain.
Seeing Calian’s grim expression, Yan obeyed without a word. He immediately led the rest of the group away, continuing down the road toward the Royal Capital.
As he watched them go, Calian closed his eyes for a moment.
He needed to become Bern, not Calian.
Gray must not go to Kairisis. But I can’t kill him. Nor can I just rough him up and leave room for future trouble.
Calian intended to drag Gray down to the absolute bottom. He had to force Gray to expose his underbelly completely, to ensure he would never dare stand against him again.
Rattle!
Gray slid open the carriage window.
At that moment, Calian opened his eyes.
Now harboring the cold gaze of Bern, Calian looked down at Gray, who was peering out from the window.
Unaware of this change, Gray clicked his tongue. He sneered at Calian, who sat atop a massive black horse, looking down on him.
“How dare the blood of a lowly wench—!”
Calian’s hand shot straight through the open window.
He grabbed Gray by the collar and yanked him forward with brute force.
Thud!
“I’ve tolerated this for—ack!”
With his neck suddenly pinned against the carriage wall, Gray let out a choked gasp.
Gray had been the one to release his killing intent first.
Gray had been the one to insult him first.
Therefore, everything that happened from this point on was self-defense.
Calian leaned toward Gray, who was still trapped in his grip, and unleashed the rage he had been suppressing for days.
“Tolerated what, exactly?”
A savage smile spread across Calian’s face.
Bam!
Calian extended his arm, slamming Gray back against the carriage wall. Trapped in his grip, Gray’s head bashed against the wood once more.
Gray glared up at him, his eyes wide.
“You—cough!”
Bam!
From the moment he’d encountered Gray, Calian had been releasing the mana that suppressed his aura. Gray hadn’t even noticed.
He was one of only six Sword Masters on the continent, yet he couldn’t even sense the presence of Calian, who had only recently become one himself. It meant that after stepping onto the Path of the Sword, Gray had all but abandoned his training.
Therefore, Calian was the stronger one.
“You, what?”
Crash!
As his head was slammed against the carriage wall again, Gray’s reason shattered. His hand finally reached for the hilt of his sword. Watching from outside, Calian didn’t miss the movement.
Bam!
Calian leaned in even closer, his face right next to Gray’s freshly battered head. He whispered through the window, his voice a low growl.
“Get out.”
At that moment, Calian’s killing intent exploded.
Lennon, Gray, Silike, and Franz.
All the resentment he harbored against the Brissen family erupted at once.
“Unless you want to die.”
Amidst the sudden commotion, Gray’s entourage emerged from their carriages. The butler and coachman stood frozen, utterly at a loss. Everyone’s eyes were fixed on Gray and his six escort knights.
Those six knights were backing away, one by one, their faces as pale as death. They were choked by a killing intent so suffocating that even Kyrie, standing far away, felt his breath catch in his throat.
Calian had never unleashed his killing intent to this extent before. This was the same killing intent that, even when briefly leaked, had put Alan Manasil on edge. One could only imagine how it felt for Gray, who was taking the full, unbridled force of it directly.
Gray’s entire body froze solid.
“I told you to get out.”
At this point, Gray couldn’t tell if “get out” meant from the carriage or from the land of the living.
Finally, Calian put more strength into his arm.
Crash!
Crack!
The carriage wall couldn’t withstand a limb reinforced with aura. Calian dragged Gray out through the splintered opening, window frame and all.
“Wait, wait a minute!” Gray shrieked in panic.
Calian lifted Gray by the collar and threw him to the ground. Then, he dismounted from Raven.
Like master, like disciple.
As his master had said: as long as it wasn’t a sword, he was free to cause as much trouble as he wanted.
Hummm!
A transparent light shimmered at Calian’s fingertips, shaping itself into a long, round rod. Simply put, it was a club.
“Time for a beating.”
The moment the words left his mouth, the thrashing began.
Gray couldn’t even draw the sword at his waist.
He was a Sword Master, yet the club moved so fast he couldn’t dodge, let alone draw his weapon. All he could do was coat his body in aura to lessen the pain of the blows.
Gray had beaten countless people in his life.
Just recently, he had taken his anger out on the four knights he’d thrown into the lake, breaking every bone in their bodies.
But being on the receiving end was a first for him.
Thanks to his family and his own strength, he had never been hit in his entire life.
Once I get out of this, I will absolutely kill him.
Though the physical pain was blunted by his aura, a wave of intense humiliation and rage washed over him. Naturally, his killing intent flared up once more.
Seeing this, Calian smirked.
“Do you really need to lose everything before you snap out of it?”
He kicked Gray in the stomach.
Thud!
Once, twice, three times—he kicked, stomped, and trampled him relentlessly. Calian didn’t even bother to take Gray’s sword. If Gray drew it, Calian was more than prepared to deal with it. But Gray couldn’t even bring himself to think about drawing it.
Finally, a wheezing gasp escaped Gray’s mouth. With it, the aura protecting his body dissolved like sugar in water.
His aura was depleted.
In the hands of Calian—who had just reduced the continent’s number of Sword Masters to five—a slightly larger, longer rod materialized. In short, a bigger club.
The beautifully glowing, transparent club began to dance, carving brilliant arcs through the air.
“How dare you, in front of me…”
Thwack!
“…speak of bloodlines?”
Thud!
Gray writhed on the ground, spitting up a mouthful of blood and broken teeth.
His anger had long since vanished, replaced by a desperate, shredding pride.
Seeing this, Calian moved his hand again.
Aside from what Gray spat out, no blood splattered. No bones cracked. Calian was meticulously striking spots that were excruciatingly painful but not fatal, beating him with absolute precision. Each blow landed with a vicious sting.
“Wait, wait a minute…”
Calian’s hand paused. Gray pushed himself into a sitting position and glanced briefly at his two concubines. Seeing that Gray still clung to that shred of pride, Calian resumed his work.
Gray was going out of his mind. He understood why he was being beaten, but he had no idea how to make it stop. So the beating continued. Where on earth did that club keep coming from?
Gray’s expression seemed lost in thought, so Calian kept hitting him.
Even without his aura, Gray didn’t pass out.
Calian was specifically avoiding any spots that would knock him unconscious.
It hurt so much.
Though he had held a sword for a long time, he had never experienced pain like this. Finally, after enduring over an hour of this thrashing, Gray fell to his knees before Calian.
Only then did the club vanish.
Calian took a step toward Gray, who flinched and shrank back. Calian reached out, grabbed him by the collar again, and lifted him up. Deep-seated terror filled Gray’s eyes.
Calian asked in a low voice, “Who beat you?”
His voice was thick with killing intent. It was a warning to answer carefully.
Would the Marquis pay to get rid of his eldest son who covets the title of Marquis?
Perhaps it was survival instinct that made Gray recall the words Calian had spoken earlier. He quickly opened his mouth.
“Evan… Marquis Evan Brissen…”
He surely knew the implications of the answer he had just given.
What a truly heartwarming father-son relationship.
A cold sneer played on Calian’s lips.
To Gray, even that sneer was utterly terrifying.
With that same expression, Calian looked around. Gray’s entire household, including the six knights, were frozen in place, barely able to stand.
Calian released his grip. Gray’s body collapsed limply to the ground with a thud. A chilling voice drifted from Calian’s lips.
“To do this to his own son… What a truly heartless father.”
With those words, Calian stomped on Gray’s back.
Crack!
“Aaargh!”
From the agonizing pain of a broken spine, Gray finally foamed at the mouth and fainted. Calian watched with indifferent eyes, then turned his gaze to Gray’s butler.
“You. Do you have the brains to understand what I’m saying?”
The butler nodded so vigorously his neck seemed to click.
“We will return to Margrave Brissen’s territory immediately! And we will report the injustice of this incident. We will say that the Marquis… that Marquis Brissen had a deep feud with his son, sent people here, and did this to him!”
“But the Margrave took the same route as I did. Is that a coincidence?”
The butler scrambled for an answer.
“No, no! The Margrave was attacked… t-two days from now! Your Highness was in the palace at that time, so you never crossed paths by coincidence!”
Satisfied with the answer, Calian nodded once. Then, he delivered his final warning in a voice cold enough to freeze blood.
“Good. If my name is mentioned even once in those rumors…”
Seeing the faces of everyone, including the butler, turn ashen, Calian grinned.
“…I will find you. Wherever you are.”
“Y-Yes, yes! Understood!” the butler whimpered, nodding frantically again.
Calian finally turned around.
Mounting Raven, Calian looked at Kyrie and said, “Consider this payback for you, too.”
Kyrie, whose face was still pale, nodded.
*
It was nearly two hours later when the rest of the group, waiting out of sight, spotted two horses trotting toward them.
As a result, they only managed to enter Nensia, their final stop, well past dinnertime. Having gotten a proper workout for the first time in a while, Calian skipped his meal. After giving Alan a brief summary of what had happened, he fell fast asleep.
Kyrie stayed by Calian’s side all night, worried that Gray’s knights might come for revenge. Of course, Gray’s knights shuddered at the mere thought of Calian’s face, but one could never be too careful.
The next morning, Yan and Hina were a whirlwind of activity.
Their bustling was so familiar it made Calian wonder if he was back in Chermil Palace instead of a lord’s castle in Nensia.
“I heard a massive crowd has gathered!”
When Calian suggested entering the capital in the same casual attire they’d set out in, Yan had coaxed him with those words. Now, Calian stared at the Prince’s Formal Attire, wondering why on earth they had even packed it for this journey.
“…I don’t think this is necessary.”
Ultimately losing the battle against Yan, Calian put on the formal attire. Since he was fully dressed, the rest of the group couldn’t remain casual either. As the prince’s Roselita retinue, they had to dress the part.
Thus, everyone bathed and groomed themselves early in the morning before mounting their horses. Leaving the lord’s castle of Nensia, they arrived in Kairisis, just an hour’s ride away.
The moment Calian stepped inside the Outer Castle, he immediately regretted his choice of clothing. The cheers of the crowd were deafening.
Sometimes, being too beautiful and handsome could be exhausting.
In any case, the roaring cheers reached all the way inside the royal palace, startling Lemain and Alan, who were waiting for Calian in the study.
“They must have arrived.”
With those words, Lemain, who had been sitting stiffly, finally lifted his teacup. He looked as though he had been quite tense, worried that something might have gone wrong.
And with good reason, considering the first thing Alan had said upon entering the room:
“I hear Your Majesty’s son has broken someone’s back this time.”
The phrasing was familiar, but the specific injury was new. Hearing that a back had been broken this time, Lemain buried his face in his hands. Then, he asked the correct question Alan had taught him.
“Whose back was it?”
Alan smiled with satisfaction. “I hear it was Gray Brissen’s,” he replied commendingly.
So, how could Lemain possibly feel at ease?
When he asked how on earth Calian had managed to break a Sword Master’s back, Alan replied:
“It seems it just happened somehow.”
Surely he didn’t face him alone, and they say Calian isn’t hurt. So perhaps they fought and he fell or something. Hearing Alan’s vague explanation, Lemain barely managed to nod. Alan looked at him with a gentle expression and spoke.
“Since the father lacks the strength to protect himself, the child stepped forward to chase away the thief.”
The remark pierced Lemain’s heart deeper than ever before.
A short while later.
The moment Calian entered the palace grounds, he leaped down from Raven and threw himself straight into the arms of Alan, who had come outside to greet him.
“Master!”
Alan wrapped his arms tightly around his lovely disciple, who had run to him right after breaking someone’s back.
“Welcome back. You’ve worked hard.”
Then, Alan looked toward Lemain with a triumphant smile, piercing the king’s heart once more.