Elf Sword God 14
Everything moved at lightning speed.
The kidnapped children returned to the haven that had been waiting for them, and the survivors among the worshippers spilled everything they knew deep in the heart of nature. And I, too, changed.
“Jayeon-nim, Jayeon-nim! Are you going to train again today?”
“Why are you following me! Jayeon’s going to train with me!”
“I promised to serve God and Jayeon-nim. In a cruel world like this, you never know what might happen, so I can’t leave Jayeon-nim’s side.”
I’d acquired a little clingy thing.
Hayang.
I only learned her name later.
Hayang really was a Saintess. The proof was the Stigmata manifested in her eyes, and the fact that even when she used a great deal of divine power to work miracles, it only strained her body. It didn’t endanger her life.
The claim that she could hear a voice helped, too.
She could have lived somewhere else if she wanted, but of her own stubborn will, she chose to stay in our house.
Why don’t you come to our house?
There was also my mother, insisting she’d take Hayang in and raise her herself. Even the leadership of Jayeon couldn’t budge my mother’s iron will when she decided she’d seize the next Jayeon’s power for herself.
“What about my opinion?”
“You should be grateful to your mother, son. I’m planning out your future for you personally.”
My voice was buried beneath my mother’s.
Future plans? What future?
“So, what—”
While I was still flustered, Father jumped in.
“You’ll understand everything later. Don’t come crying and thanking me afterward. Having two beauties in the house—how touching is that? Hm? Isn’t the dream of every man having flowers in both hands?”
“Honey.”
“Huh?”
“Could we go inside for a moment and talk?”
“W-wait just a sec—”
Father was dragged, kicking and screaming, into the room by Mother’s hand.
Bang!
So you lied to me with sweet words when you were pulling me out of the kingdom? “Flowers in both hands”? Is that really what you wanted?
No, no, that’s not it. Nature Mom, listen to me—
This is what peace looks like.
Anyway, at least there weren’t swords and spells flying through the air.
In my past life, whenever my parents fought, it was a complete disaster.
The black-hooded guy, also known as Kim Hajin.
Kim Hajin had entered Jayeon to atone for the sins of being a worshipper. He started out as a noncommissioned officer and held the rank of sergeant.
More than that, I’d heard he always took only the most dangerous missions—always at the very front lines.
Right now, I’d been told he was in Africa, in the territory where the demon race lived.
“You were apart from your brother for so long. You still want to stay with me?”
“Yes.”
The cross in Hayang’s eyes shone brightly.
It really is strange every time I see that.
“I see...”
“Isn’t it nice to have me here?”
Honestly, it was convenient.
Whenever my stamina dipped, Hayang would immediately heal me with divine power.
“That part is true, I guess...”
What bothered me wasn’t that, though—
“You like that?”
Yehwa lifted her eyes like a cat.
“Ha...”
This was why.
The so-called cat fight.
Since the only people these two could really call friends were me, I could understand a little possessiveness.
They were just kids, after all.
The problem was that they knew it, too.
And yet they didn’t fix it.
On the contrary, they flaunted it proudly.
“The only person who’ll be my friend is Jayeon!”
“I don’t even get the chance to make friends!”
“Liar! I saw you ignoring everybody at school!”
“My, my, were you spying on me? And isn’t that exactly the same for Yehwa? Unless Jayeon-nim is the one speaking to her, her expression is already—”
Ha... this was bad. Really bad.
“Just... fix it. What are you going to do later if you keep this up? At this rate, neither of you will ever get married.”
“Hm? What are you talking about?”
They looked at me with the kind of eyes that said marriage wasn’t something they needed to worry about.
“Father and Mother said it was fine, too.”
What in the world did that mean? Fine for what?
“And where exactly did my opinion go?”
“You don’t like it?”
As if she’d show me what happened if I said no, Yehwa stepped closer with a cool expression.
Oh, I don’t know. I’m not answering.
“Don’t. You. Like. It?”
“Let’s just train. Draw your sword.”
“Hmph! You’re running away again?”
This isn’t running away. It’s called a tactical withdrawal.
“Haha, you two really do suit each other.”
“If you know that, go play somewhere else.”
“I’m afraid I can’t do that.”
“%&%^!”
Seriously.
“If you’re going to keep fighting, then the two of you should just spar.”
“Oh?”
“Me? With her?”
Yehwa’s expression changed strangely.
Ah, maybe kids these days really don’t know.
Then again, if you looked at books, saints usually just appeared as support characters handing out healing or potions from the back line.
Fine. Learning is best when you experience it with your own body.
“Hayang, you okay with that?”
“Of course. I was hoping to test myself at least once.”
The one lending her strength was right there with her, so she’d probably already know how to use that power.
“Wait, wait, you’re really doing this? Are you sure?”
Wow, that look.
It was the confidence of someone who genuinely believed she couldn’t possibly lose.
I understood.
I’ve never lost to anyone my own age other than you...
She had every reason to be confident.
“Yehwa, you don’t need to worry about that. Just give it a try.”
I’d already warned her. If I explained everything, it wouldn’t be fun, so I only gave her this much.
I didn’t know how Hayang fought, either.
Depending on the god they served, the method could vary wildly.
The thing that restored my body back then wasn’t recovery through divine power...
I had a god in mind, but...
Had that god ever chosen an apostle before?
As far as I knew, only once.
Yehwa and Hayang stood facing each other.
Yehwa held a sword. Hayang held nothing.
Seeing that, Yehwa voiced her confusion.
“Jayeon, is this really okay?”
She really is a good kid. She’s even worried about her opponent.
“I’m sure Hayang has her reasons if she’s doing that.”
“Of course. I was worried, so let’s begin.”
“Mm...”
With a nagging sense of unease, Yehwa’s lips twitched.
“Then we start. Ready... go!”
The instant I dropped my hand, Yehwa vanished like a afterimage.
Bang!
In the blink of an eye, she reappeared in front of Hayang and swung her blade at her head.
Huh? This might be dangerous...
Just as I was thrown off by Hayang’s complete lack of reaction—
The cross in her eyes slowly began to turn.
And then came the ticking sound of a second hand.
Tick—
I blinked once, and Hayang vanished from where she’d been standing.
“Huh?”
Yehwa couldn’t hide her surprise at the opponent who had suddenly disappeared.
“W-where...?”
“Here.”
She appeared behind Yehwa.
A pure white palm touched Yehwa’s back.
And then—
Ka-bang—!
Yehwa’s body shot away at high speed and slammed into a tree.
“Ghk—!”
The light in Yehwa’s eyes vanished, then returned.
Did she lose consciousness for a moment?
Watching that brief exchange, I was certain of one thing.
...She really had been chosen by that god.
That was insane.
And unsettling.
Why would that god, the one who never chose apostles even during the Great War, choose one now?
“Kraaaah—!”
Yehwa focused all her strength into her legs and lunged at Hayang.
“I surrender.”
The moment the back edge of the sword was about to strike Hayang—
Hayang raised both hands high.
“W-what! Don’t mess around! You can still keep going!”
“No... this is my limit.”
Hayang spread her hands out for us to see.
They trembled, as though her muscles had reached their limit.
“Tch...”
Seeing that, Yehwa clicked her tongue and held out her hand.
It was the first thing I’d taught her.
Sparring is just sparring. You can’t carry those feelings with you after it’s over.
“?”
“I said shake hands. The spar’s over, isn’t it? What, do you hate that?”
“N-no. It’s not that, I was just surprised.”
“Then that’s that. Sparring is just sparring. More importantly, what was that just now?”
“It was the power of Chronos.”
At my words, Hayang’s pupils widened.
“H-how?”
Chronos. The god of time.
The god who had made a contract with only one person in history.
The first. The strongest.
The regressor.
I’d heard that from my mother, but since she wasn’t my mother in this life, I just brushed it off.
“I read about it in a book, that’s all.”
“That shouldn’t be possible...”
“Oh, so there really was a god with that name.”
Probably, kids these days didn’t know about it.
Even in my day, only a tiny handful of people did.
I wonder if the people of Jayeon know this.
Maybe. Maybe not.
“From now on, Hayang will train with us, too.”
“After seeing that, I can’t exactly deny it.”
Yehwa acknowledged Hayang’s strength from that brief display.
The problem was—
“Ah...”
Hayang herself looked very unhappy about it.
Does she hate moving her body that much?
“From what I can see, using your abilities puts a lot of strain on your body. Is that right?”
“Y-yes... that’s right.”
“Then you need to train. You’ll be with me this afternoon, too. Got it?”
By the way, refusal wasn’t an option.
“Huh.”
Maybe old memories had come back to her, because Yehwa drew in a sharp breath.
After the incident, Yehwa had realized how lacking she was.
And she’d gone through both first-stage and second-stage training with me.
In the end...
“By... afternoon training, you mean... that thing you do every night...?”
“Guh—”
Yehwa gagged.
Just imagining it turned her stomach.
“It’s not that bad, is it?”
“If I hadn’t seen you do it every day, I’d have told you not to lie.”
Was it really that bad?
“One thousand downward cuts with a wooden sword weighted down by a 200-kilogram weight. Five hundred pull-ups with a rock strapped to your body. Ten minutes of forced aura squeezing, draining every last bit of mana at once. Then a ten-kilometer run at full speed.”
Hm. I thought this was all pretty manageable.
No, if you want to get strong, this is what you have to do.
“Jayeon-nim’s monstrous growth wasn’t because of talent.”
“Hm, really? Since it’s your first time, Hayang, I’ll lower the difficulty for you.”
“I’m suspicious, but... understood.”
“M-me too.”
“You already ran away once.”
Yehwa clenched her fist.
“I-it looks bad for a boy and girl to exercise together like that!”
I was left speechless by Yehwa’s completely unexpected remark.
What are you talking about, Yehwa-yehwa?
No, seriously—was that really something a child that young should be saying?
“I have no idea what sort of Confucian logic that is,” Hayang muttered with a sigh, sounding exhausted by the remark.
“Yeah. If that’s the case, then we’ve been training together for years. So that means Yehwa has been insulting our four years together, huh...”
“N-no, noooo! That’s not what I meant!!”
Yehwa’s face flushed bright red.
Even her tail had gone rigid, and the sight of her like that was rather amusing.
“Hahaha!! Fine, fine, I get it! Good! Since it’s come up, let’s start right away today!”
“Ugh...”
“For the record, even if you say you want to stop now, I’m not letting you go.”
I’m going to turn them into monsters, that’s what.
At the very least, if they were ever going to stand on the same battlefield as me later, they’d need to rise to the level of my father from my previous life.
I’d make them strong enough to hunt down a Demon King on their own.
“Heh-heh-heh...”
“I didn’t want to say this, but... every now and then, Jayeon-nim is terrifying.”
“I feel that pretty strongly, too...”
That evening—
-Kyaaaaaaah!
-M-mother! Mother!!
-My, you’re all working hard. Keep it up!
-Kyaaaah! Save me!
-You’re not dying, you’re not dying. Just one more!
-Aaaaagh!
What a beautiful sound.