Chapter 21
Chapter 21
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 21
Chapter Title: A Stepping Stone to Strength
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Darling swept away the shards of the vial that turned one into a woman and placed another vial in front of Krash instead.
"This is a different transformation potion. It lasts a week— a special custom job I made recently. It won't show up on magic scans or doping tests yet."
He wouldn't offer the same type as the one he'd just shattered.
So Krash took the vial and examined its contents.
"For disguising your identity?"
"Just register as a commoner from the kingdom."
Should've done this from the start.
"By the way, the appearance is just an image I imagined based on the kid's personality."
Darling was talking nonsense, but Krash ignored it.
It looked perfect for using at the martial tournament.
'Perfect timing.'
He needed to absorb more World Erosion power anyway to master Extreme Blood Poison Infusion.
The lawless zone between the kingdom and empire borders was rife with World Erosion—he could stock up there if time allowed.
"More importantly, you confident about placing in the top three?"
Darling asked with a sly smile.
Krash, who until recently had been branded a halfwit of Valheim.
For such a Krash to aim for top three in the grand imperial martial tournament? It sounded absurd.
Of course, if Krash were still his old self.
"The guys entering the tournament are just those not guaranteed a spot at Raheln Academy anyway."
Those confirmed for Raheln were training for the academy's entrance exam, not wasting time on the tournament.
The downside? Almost none of the entrants would have contracts with gods.
'Not many have god contracts to begin with.'
Valheim was an extreme outlier. In average families, it was one in five at best.
Which meant Krash absolutely had to get into the academy.
'It's crawling with skill users there.'
And above all.
"I'll be fourteen when the tournament starts."
The division Krash was entering was for boys under fifteen.
Krash was still only fourteen.
"I won't lose to kids."
No matter how talented, they were still at a level he could crush with experience.
Anix was proof of that.
Unless it was someone on Charlotte's level from the Generation of the Sky, Krash was confident he could beat anyone.
"You're a kid too. Though I'll be sixteen soon. Not a kid anymore."
Darling, whose eye makeup had gotten a bit heavier lately, flashed a grown-up smile.
Krash just pitied the sight.
Only kids like growing up.
In that sense, Darling was still a kid.
"Enough. Time to go."
"Aw, I wanna hang out more since I'm here."
"You're almost an adult now. What's the point of playing with kids?"
"You're using that against me?"
As Darling refused to leave and Krash pushed her out, their bickering dragged on.
Then the door they'd been talking by creaked open.
Krash turned at the sound, and there stood Bianca.
Her hair was slightly mussed from sleep as she stared at the two before muttering to herself.
"...Adultery?"
Where did she pick up a word like that?
Krash quietly resolved to gag the chatty maid who hung around Bianca.
Valheim training grounds.
Krash stood sword in hand, facing Crimson Garden.
His eyes were closed, but he sensed more than his eyes could see—through his body.
The Sixth Sense he'd learned through secret arts.
It was still rudimentary, but the influx of information was overwhelming compared to before.
Then, a presence stirred near his left ear.
Ching!
His sword shot out, claiming the spot in an instant.
A blade of wind appeared there.
But strangely, Krash's sword had occupied the space before the wind blade even formed.
Had it not moved preemptively, he couldn't have blocked it.
Then presences flared one after another at his waist.
His sword preempted them again, blocking the wind blades.
It was practically precognition.
Ching, ching, ching, ching!
The movements continued relentlessly.
Krash's sword filled each space faster than the wind blades could manifest, over and over.
But Krash was in worse shape than if he'd taken the hits.
His breathing was ragged, his arms trembled violently.
Sweat dripped from his body, threatening collapse from exhaustion.
"That's enough."
Crimson Garden's voice rang out, and the wind blades ceased.
"Kuhk!"
Krash exhaled and tumbled to the ground.
"Hah, hak, hak."
Desperate for oxygen, he gaped his mouth wide.
Crimson Garden watched and chuckled.
"Sixth Sense, was it? Interesting. Combined with your accumulated experience, it's forming a fascinating sword style."
What Krash had just done was push Sixth Sense to its limit, reading the opponent's intent and preempting with the Dull Sword realm.
A technique even geniuses struggled with—but during training, Crimson Garden had noticed Krash suited it surprisingly well.
"Dull Sword's keys: first, no fear. Second, perfect read on intent. More important than swordsmanship itself. And those come from experience, not talent."
Crimson Garden giggled, nudging Krash's head with her foot.
"You're exceptional there. Your innate perceptiveness meshes with Sixth Sense, bordering on true foresight."
Krash's sole innate gift: perceptiveness.
Endless battles alongside the Generation of the Sky against World Erosion.
And newly acquired Sixth Sense.
These three intertwined, letting him step into Dull Sword's gateway.
An incredible feat, but with one glaring flaw for Krash.
"But your body's trash. What's the point of foreseeing every attack if it can't keep up?"
Dull Sword dominated by reading moves first, achieving spatial control.
It might look slow, but it seized every option.
The opponent would suddenly find the blade inexorably closing in, powerless to stop it.
That was Dull Sword.
But useless if you couldn't block.
Proof: Krash's muscles screamed from overexertion just fending off wind blades.
His body couldn't match his foresight.
'This must be the talent gap.'
Krash had been born with scant physical gifts.
Valheim blood gave him sturdier build and better recovery than average, but that was mortal tier—geniuses had it innately.
"Pathetic."
Crimson Garden's curt assessment made Krash lift his head, arms still quaking.
"...Once more."
"And you won't break."
Krash's feral blue eyes gleamed fiercely.
Even devouring experience, secret arts, skills, and World Erosion— this was his limit?
Others would shatter here, accepting defeat. But Krash's will refused.
Crimson Garden laughed in admiration.
"That's why I took you as disciple."
The contract began with erasing her immortality.
But she was growing fond of him.
Talent meant nothing to her.
Just that feral will to endure her training.
With that alone, she could forge him into the strongest.
"But today's the limit."
"What?"
"Didn't you say? Schedules align only if you leave for the tournament today."
Krash scowled at the abrupt end to training, then snapped to.
Right—departure day, as she said.
"Training's fine, but you need spirit herbs first. Nothing beats them for fixing that sorry body."
Krash grudgingly rose, legs and arms still shaking, but he powered through.
"Damn, gotta hurry."
Realizing he'd lost track of time in training, he rushed off, quickly changed and washed up, then headed to the prepared carriage.
"Young master Krash."
There he met Aliod, waiting by the carriage.
The day Darling brought the discoloration cure.
Krash had handed it straight to Aliod.
Aliod had been puzzled at first, but upon learning it cured discoloration disease, he took leave to see his daughter.
And the next day.
Aliod came to Krash, knelt, and wept his thanks.
He'd loved his daughter so fiercely he'd agonized over betraying his lord for her.
Her cure left him with no regrets, even in death.
"Don't die."
Krash had told him.
"I saved your daughter's life. So Aliod, don't die until I allow it. Fair price for my help, right?"
Hearing that, Aliod bowed his head to Krash.
Etching eternally who his true lifelong lord was.
'Good.'
Krash felt he could now forget the day Aliod died by poison in his memories.
Curing her was for Aliod, but also to erase that scene from his past.
His life's first betrayal gone, his heart lightened.
"Take care of Green Pine Pavilion while I'm gone."
"Yes, sir. No one enters—not even the family head."
Krash smirked at his ironclad vow.
That mindset would do.
As he left Aliod and approached the carriage, Krash spotted a familiar figure.
White hair. A girl.
Bianca Hardenharts.
She stood demurely, holding a single bag.
"Lord Krash."
Her usual flat tone calling his name.
The reason for her bag was simple.
Returning to Hardenharts.
At Krash's request, no less.
To fetch White Snow Flame Mushroom, one of Darling's two ingredients.
Her status there should make it easy.
"Long trip home—rest up while you're at it."
He'd be gone quite a while himself.
But Bianca shook her head.
"I'll be back soon."
Back soon.
To Bianca, Green Pine Pavilion was now home too.
Catching her meaning, Krash chuckled despite himself.
She wasn't treated well in Hardenharts.
The curse diminished her noble value.
And he was Valheim's worthless halfwit.
In a way, Green Pine Pavilion was her sanctuary, like his.
Krash reached out and stroked her hair.
The pure white strands shifted under his hand, worth the touch.
"I'll be back soon too."
Unaware he'd started softening only toward her lately, he said it.
Meanwhile, Bianca opened her bag.
Out came a lunchbox.
"Eat on the way."
So that's what she'd been bustling about yesterday.
"Who told you to make this?"
"Ellie."
Of course.
Her maid Ellie must've nagged her.
The gag order hadn't stuck.
"Thanks, I'll dig in."
Still, since Bianca made it—and he was starving post-training—he took it.
"Safe travels."
Bianca left after him.
He promised to return, boarded the carriage.
As it rattled off, he peered out the window at her still form.
A face he'd see every day, now gone for a while.
"You look heartbroken. That fond of the girl?"
Crimson Garden, slipping in through the window, teased.
"Feels like gaining a little sister I've never had. Just uneasy."
His bond with Bianca had improved lately.
Plus personal guilt.
"Tsk tsk. Calling your fiancée a sister? Let's see you say that after knocking her up."
"Shut it or I'll pluck every feather."
"Kekeke. Think you can catch me?"
Krash clicked his tongue at Crimson Garden preening vulnerably on purpose.
He opened the lunchbox instead.
Sandwiches and colorful salad.
Efficient, just like Bianca.
'Not bad.'
Biting into a sandwich, Krash recalled her sweet tooth.
On the way back from the empire, he'd grab some imperial chocolates.