Chapter 13
Chapter 13
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 13
Chapter Title: He Who Sold What Cannot Be Sold (6)
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Under the cold night sky where even the sun had completely cooled, he stood alone with his sword.
What he bore on his shoulder—was it merely a greatsword? Or was it the loyalty he offered until the very end?
No answer came. He simply swung his sword beneath the night sky, all alone.
The battle had already come to a complete end. Ended by the betrayal of one he had once believed to be a comrade.
The armies surging in like a tide through the wide-open north and south gates were a veritable wave of death.
Yet even so, the earl stood tall without flinching. Instead, he bellowed defiantly.
"I am Earl Sandwy of the Arpen Kingdom! Who among you will face my sword!!" He was a man with a rugged appearance. No amount of flattery could call him handsome.
Yet he displayed his bear-like massive frame and the spirit to match it before everyone.
I could tell for certain. His eyes had been prepared for death from the very start.
Soon, I opened my eyes again. Of all places, an arrow had pierced right through my eye. What rotten luck.
'Now I get the picture. That guy I've been seeing and hearing over and over—he's definitely the earl.'
I'd been suspicious at first. But this time, seeing the sword he held made it crystal clear.
Not so much a sword as an outrageously massive black iron club.
There probably wasn't anyone else in the kingdom who swung around such a brutish greatsword besides the earl.
"This is your final warning. Drop your weapon and surrender to the empire."
"What the hell are you doing?! We need to kill that monster right now!"
"Shut your mouth, Viscount Dermus. Can't you see I'm trying to persuade him?"
"……."
The viscount's voice was still frantic as ever. After running away with his tail between his legs like that.
In the end, the only place left to turn was the earl's territory that he'd sold out himself. How pitiful.
Then again, I wasn't in any position to judge. I was single-handedly carrying out this siege.
'The gates are tougher than I imagined. Way more solid than that madman Valentis I cleaved before.'
Obviously, one might think city gates made of wood and iron would be tougher than a human body of flesh and blood.
But the Valentis I meant was one who'd reinforced his body with mana.
They say once you reach Sword User level, you can harden your body like steel using mana.
'So I figured I could smash through gates like that... but now I see they've done something tricky to these gates too.'
In my first death, I'd charged straight at the gates. But the moment I collided...
I felt a force so overwhelming it wasn't even comparable to what I'd sensed from Valentis before.
Probably some kind of magic. An all-purpose power that handled both offense and defense.
But nothing changed. Once more, I poured strength into my legs. No holding back—an all-out sprint.
And once more, I failed to breach the gates, tumbling pathetically to the ground.
"What a pity, Viscount Blackguard."
Judging there was no intent to surrender, the enemy commander's order brought a rain of steel.
I deflected the arrows and counterattacked somehow, but they still couldn't reach the ramparts.
On top of that, the recoil snapped both my arms. In the end, I couldn't hold out long and collapsed.
It wasn't until over a dozen arrows pierced my armor, flesh, and bone that I finally died.
And as always, I opened my eyes again. That's how it had been so far. But this time was different.
"What a pity, Earl Sandwy. You could have become a fine knight of the empire."
[…….]
"I'll give you one last chance. Drop your weapon and surrender now. I swear on my honor to spare your life." Beneath the cold night sky that cooled even the brief heat that had risen in him...
In the end, he fell to his knees. The enemy was simply too formidable for one man to overcome.
One arm was already severed, and with his mana depleted, not a trace of aura remained.
Yet his will did not break. Instead, he roared defiantly.
"Is your loyalty the only true loyalty? Kill me! What face does a defeated general have to live on and hold his head high?"
"……A talent too good to waste in this kingdom. But don't you have family you must protect?"
"Surely……?"
"Rest assured. The precious treasure you've hidden away in a safe place—I'm having it brought here without so much as a hair harmed." Could repeating death let me even read memories of other deaths? I had no idea why.
But once that scene ended, I opened my eyes again. And with it came a voice.
"This is your final warning. Drop your weapon and surrender to the empire."
"……."
The surrender demand rang out true to form again. After hearing it over ten times, I was sick of it.
If I kept repeating deaths like this, eventually I'd slice through even the gates.
Of course, it'd take at least twice—no, way more—than the deaths I'd gone through at the start.
I thought this time would be no different. At least, until I saw that.
"……?"
The reason I hadn't touched the greatsword wasn't out of any respect for the dead.
Where's respect in war? You grab the good stuff and use it first, right?
The simple reason I hadn't used the greatsword was that I just couldn't wield it.
'It looks ridiculously heavy. I knew I couldn't handle it.'
Even Earl Sandwy himself had swung it only after reinforcing his body with mana.
No way could I swing something like that. So I'd just ignored it.
But this time, for some reason, my eyes were drawn to the greatsword. How should I put it?
It felt like the greatsword was calling to me. I must be losing it. No way that was true.
"……."
But the moment I faced the sword, the visions started again. Even though I hadn't died this time.
The figure that appeared was a familiar one. A small-statured man covered in beard.
Viscount Dermus was dragging a blonde woman out by force from the warehouse basement.
But the viscount had no choice but to let her go. A chilling blade pricked his hand.
"Arghhh! This bitch had a dagger hidden?!"
"That I can't slit your filthy throat is my one regret. You vile traitor!"
"Your sister-in-law knows it too! The tide has turned! The moment those idiot royals betrayed the empire, the kingdom's fate was sealed!" '……Betrayed?'
Viscount Dermus's completely unexpected response left my mind blank for a moment. What the hell?
But there was no time to get lost in thought. The blonde woman sneered back.
"You talk a good game. A trash heap not even worth a whore's time, eaten up by inferiority and jealousy."
"Watch your mouth. That pretty face might get hurt. Then your fool of a husband's heart would shatter."
"Foolish if foolish, stupid if stupid. But if that's my lord husband's will……." Right then. Without the slightest hesitation, the woman plunged the dagger into her own throat.
Viscount Dermus rushed to her in shock, but it was already too late.
The dagger, thrust in without a moment's pause, snuffed out her life in an instant.
"Stupid woman. If only you'd become my woman sooner…… You could have lived……!" His anguished scream lasted only a moment. Soon, madness lit his eyes.
"……At least the warmth is still there."
"Urgh…… Uweeeek!!"
I couldn't hold back the surging nausea and ended up vomiting up everything inside me.
I'd puked from fear of death before. Even pissed myself in my pants once or twice.
But... purely from disgust? This was the first time. Damn it all.
Only then did I realize who had shown me this horrific scene.
"……It was you. You've been showing me everything from start to finish."
The pitch-black greatsword stood like a gravestone, silently saying nothing.
Even without the earl's head, blood kept flowing down its surface.
It looked just like it was shedding bloody tears... so without thinking, I reached out my hand.
The sword that had failed to protect its lord and all his lord loved, now reduced to a mocking symbol.
"Fire! Fire, damn it!! Kill him quick!!"
Apparently, someone up on those walls feared even this masterless blade.
The moment I reached for the greatsword, a steel rain poured from the ramparts once more.
The steel from the sky pierced my armor and easily crushed the flesh and bone within.
Yet even that steel came nowhere close to penetrating the pitch-black greatsword.
The instant I hefted the pitch-black sword onto my shoulder, I knew exactly what I had to do.
BOOOOM!!!
The sturdy imperial gates, never once breached before, shattered in an instant.
Striding boldly into the fortress with the greatsword on my shoulder, I bellowed.
"I am Cain Blackguard."
Who among you will face my sword?