Chapter 71
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 71
Chapter Title: Emperor's Sword (4)
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Skreeeeeech-!!
The horrific roars of the four corrupted beasts,
screams as if shrieking in unbearable agony,
echoed through the ruins of the village, filling every corner.
'Ugh...'
For a brief moment, repulsed by their grotesque and repulsive forms,
Aden quickly snapped out of it and began preparing for battle.
"No real threats here. Let's clear them out fast."
Once he was ready,
Reinhardt had also finished his preparations to face the monsters.
He called out to dispatch them swiftly at top speed,
and took the lead, moving first.
Seeing that, Aden charged toward the corrupted beasts as well.
Boom-!
Channeling {Mana Manipulation}, he kicked off the ground in an instant,
closing in on the nearest monster.
The beast, surprised by his unexpected speed, hurriedly twisted its body to attack him...
Slash-!
But Aden's mana-infused strike came even faster,
severing its neck without any resistance.
Having cut down one goblin like that, he then
sensed the presence of another monster behind him with {Space Domination},
Slash-!
spun around in a flash,
and sliced off the arm and neck of the orc lunging at him.
'They're weak...'
Even with the power of nightmares infused in them, were they just orcs and goblins?
A single mana-charged attack was enough to fell them,
revealing how feeble they truly were.
With Reinhardt taking down two and Aden the other two,
they swiftly moved on to the next location.
Skreeeeeech-!!
However,
this village held no particularly
strong or troublesome monsters.
'At best, just orcs and goblins...'
The strongest among them were orcs and goblins—
in the original world, a handful of grown men could fend them off with ease.
Such creatures had overrun the entire ruined village.
"Just weaklings here."
As Reinhardt said,
even these feeble monsters had overwhelmed them.
Looking at the village reduced to rubble,
Aden could finally grasp, even if just a little,
the peril of the Nightmare Era... an age he'd only seen on screens or read about in text.
'The nightmare corruption plays a part too, of course.'
Sure, even goblins and orcs gained far greater strength from the nightmare corruption,
which explained why the village fell so easily.
But from Aden's firsthand experience fighting them,
they still weren't overwhelming enough to wipe out a whole village without a fight...
After the Nightmare Era,
shortages of food and manpower were likely the real culprits—
no strength left to resist, even against the weakest monsters, and no people remaining.
"P-people...? Are you knights...?"
And sure enough, once every monster was slain,
people from inside the village began emerging,
as if to prove Aden's point.
'Not a pretty sight...'
Roughly a dozen or so survivors,
but most were in dire straits, bones visible beneath their skin.
Even the few who weren't that bad
looked gaunt beyond measure, as if starved for days...
"Knights, here to purge the monsters that attacked your village."
Aden stared in shock for a moment.
Reinhardt, acting as if such sights were routine now,
continued speaking matter-of-factly.
After a routine exchange of questions to assess the situation,
he explained who he was, outlined their plans moving forward, and shared the evacuation site for survivors.
With that, he wrapped up the talk and approached Aden again,
resuming their conversation.
"On to the next village now."
"Right now...? Leaving these people here...?"
Aden voiced the obvious question,
but Reinhardt looked at him like he'd said something absurd
and pressed on.
"What are you talking about? Our job here is done."
"But what if monsters attack again..."
Aden started to ask what would happen if they got hit midway,
but then...
"To think they'd survive this long..."
"In an era like this, do we even need to cling to life...?"
"I'm tired now. There's no safe place anyway."
The survivors' murmurs drifted over,
silencing him completely.
These weren't words of joy for survival,
nor talks of hope for the future or plans to endure.
No pleas for help from them,
no signs of moving to evacuate or rebuilding the village.
Just despair.
Or bewilderment at the unforeseen reality of still being alive.
They exchanged only such sentiments.
"Ah..."
In that moment,
Aden had nothing left to say.
"Why act like it's your first time seeing this? It's always been like this after the Nightmare Era. There's nothing more we can do."
Only Reinhardt remained unfazed, as if accustomed to it all,
speaking to Aden.
'Ah...'
Come to think of it,
it felt familiar somehow.
"That's why all I can do is build renown like this and gather survivors to forge a nation."
He'd definitely heard something like that before.
[The Nightmare Era plunged the world into chaos.]
"I hate this era too. I hate seeing people's despair, and I want to rekindle their will to live."
[The fall of dynasties thought eternal sowed terror across the lands...]
"To save those shattered, unable to unite... trapped in despair."
[Then the child of the Emperor appeared, boldly driving out the fear.]
"I'll create a nation that serves as their sanctuary."
[Uniting the hearts of the people, he founded the Empire.]
The tale of Emperor Reinhardt,
who always showed unyielding strength.
The Nightmare Era and its aftermath, as depicted there,
were unimaginably devastating.
'Seeing it with my own eyes makes it clear.'
Witnessing it firsthand drove the point home even more.
Aden could finally comprehend that devastation.
"Let's go..."
Even so, for now, he had to turn away.
Avert his eyes from the misery.
They had to leave them be.
You couldn't force aid on those who didn't want it.
'It's all an illusion anyway...'
Just phantoms.
Everyone here except Reinhardt
was a mere illusion conjured by the Emperor's Trial.
That misery,
their despair— all of it
would vanish once the trial ended.
"Yeah... on to the next village."
And so,
they headed to the next one,
to save more people.
Hoping these folks would rediscover hope.
Praying everyone here stayed safe...
That in the Empire Reinhardt would build,
they could live peaceful days... looking forward to tomorrow...
A sense of dissonance.
Something...
off, twisted in a way that didn't feel right.
Reinhardt,
the man with grand ambitions to found an empire,
had felt this unease constantly since meeting the one called Aden.
'What is that guy's deal...?'
The being who called himself Aden,
possessed extraordinary power.
'At least my equal...'
The strength he sensed now wasn't all that shocking.
Not even what he'd shown slaughtering those monsters earlier.
But that mana control skill, impressive even to Reinhardt's eyes,
combined with his precise movements and battle sense...
All screamed that his true power went far beyond what he'd displayed.
From their first encounter,
considering the glimpse of force that had slammed him into the ground...
Aden was at least his equal,
possibly greater.
'I thought everyone on my level died during the Nightmare Era...'
After the Nightmare Era,
he believed all at his level had perished.
So this Aden, appearing out of nowhere like he'd dropped from the sky, seemed suspicious...
'And his goal's weird too...'
Seeking the Genesis Dragon,
a being that vanished after sealing the nightmares—
an utterly bizarre objective.
'Can't trust him...'
His power, his purpose,
and that air of knowing Reinhardt all too well...
Nothing trustworthy about any of it.
Even so...
Right now, more than anything,
he desperately needed an ally.
That's why he'd accepted,
even someone so untrustworthy,
under the terms of a deal.
At least that bound him somewhat
within the framework of their agreement.
'Still... doesn't seem like a bad guy...'
Well,
judging by how he cut down monsters and fretted over the people,
he didn't seem evil-hearted.
'Hope it's not an act...'
At least, with his goal of founding a nation,
he had no desire to clash with someone of equal power right now.
As they moved to the next site,
Reinhardt hoped what he'd seen
was genuine, not pretense.