Chapter 19
Chapter 19
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Translator: uly
Chapter: 19
Chapter Title: Thrill
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From that moment on, everything changed.
Intense euphoria. The sensation of every cell in my body awakening.
As [Nano Machine Zero] activated, it began supporting every part of my body.
Just as Croft had done. In the exact posture he had moved in instinctively.
I followed the 'basics' of the swordsman called the Sword King, the strongest of them all.
'It's slowing down.'
The world.
The second time I experienced a distortion in time.
It could only be called a miracle.
The falling leaves felt as if they had completely stopped.
More, more, endlessly approaching zero.
This was the world Croft saw.
'Your world is this slow.'
It was on a completely different level from the first time I had experienced a time distortion.
The black sword hadn't even been drawn forward yet.
But if I could just swing it, it felt like I could cleave that tree, the mountain, even the world itself.
The ultimate realm.
The dreamlike state every swordsman yearned to reach!
I had ascended to that height.
'But this isn't the end.'
Yet I wasn't satisfied.
This wasn't enough to quench my thirst.
The emperor who knew no satisfaction.
I was a predator that devoured everything.
More, more, more.
Deeper, reaching into the abyss.
The world had now completely stopped.
At the center of the world, there was only me.
And then I saw it.
Beyond that.
I shivered briefly.
A massive moon.
A blue moon right before my eyes.
Shining brighter than the sun, its glow overwhelming everything.
What should I call this sensation, one I'd never felt even upon ascending the throne or conquering foreign lands?
'This is.'
I understood.
This was what people called...
'The pinnacle.'
The pinnacle.
The supreme realm no one could reach.
[The simultaneous activation area of the brain expands to 20%.]
[Limit reached. Exceeding the replication domain may cause abnormal cell mutations.]
[Forcing program termination.]
However, the intense euphoria didn't last long.
I, who had never properly learned the sword, had mimicked the strongest swordsman, if only for a moment.
In real time, it was barely around one second.
'A shame.'
In the end, I couldn't even swing the sword.
Replication required the body to keep up.
Had I been too greedy from the start?
But that sensation, that time at the pinnacle, was unmistakably etched into me.
Into my brain, my entire body, every single cell.
The difference between those who knew it and those who didn't was stark.
"......"
Croft, Edis, and Germin watched me silently.
They were probably disappointed.
I couldn't even swing it properly, so I understood.
"It's not as easy as I thought."
"D-Did I just see that right?"
Germin exclaimed at the same time.
He rubbed his eyes and shook his head.
To confirm that what he saw wasn't an illusion.
But neither Edis nor Croft answered him.
They simply remained silent, sending me gazes that were profoundly subtle.
So, I couldn't help but ask.
"What did you see?"
"A... Aura, Your Highness. I'might be mistaken, but clearly, a blue aura like moonlight rose from Your Highness's entire body."
Aura.
The miracle only swordsmen who had reached that realm could wield.
Also called the symbol of a master, only those who could manifest it were treated as true powerhouses.
Those who could produce aura were defined as Aura Masters or Sword Masters.
At most two or three per kingdom.
Just manifesting aura was enough for countless kingdoms to grant noble titles and territories.
And I, who had only just picked up a sword, had produced it.
'Aura is mana too. Does replication mean it can even produce aura?'
Of course, it could also be a result exceeding the replication domain.
And all mana in this world was 'unlicensed nanomachines.'
Mages stored it internally and developed ways to use it by infusing will.
Swordsmen stored mana and used it solely for self-enhancement.
The result was aura.
But since aura was mana, and mana was nanomachines, if I knew the method, I could imitate it briefly too.
It was regrettable that it was only for an instant, but that was natural.
The amount of nanomachines needed to produce aura was overwhelmingly insufficient.
'If I increase the amount of nanomachines, I can sustain aura longer.'
The nanomachines I had were 0.1% of Croft's.
A mere one-thousandth.
But if I could dominate a massive amount of rampant nanomachines, this issue would be somewhat resolved.
'A fake Sword Master.'
The moment a fake Sword Master who used aura was born.
"Have you... ever learned swordsmanship?"
Croft, finally regaining his composure, asked.
This was a first for him too.
He had never seen someone who had just picked up a sword produce aura.
But Croft knew better than anyone that Crown Prince Reinhardt had never learned swordsmanship.
Mania that appeared whenever there was an opening.
Because of it, there wasn't even a single blade in the crown prince's palace.
Naturally, he hadn't held a sword since childhood.
'Was the rumor true?'
The rumor that Knight Captain Alberto had lost to the crown prince in a spar.
A rumor that had spread quietly, but he hadn't believed it.
No matter that the 3rd Prince's 'Golden Lion Knight Order' consisted of knights chosen for their looks by Empress Josephine, they were still knights.
For one of them to lose to the crown prince would be the ultimate humiliation.
But if the rumor was true?
Had the crown prince secretly learned swordsmanship?
He needed to find out whose help he had received, as it had even fooled his own eyes.
"I've never learned properly. You know that better than anyone, don't you?"
"......May I check your pulse?"
"Go ahead."
It wasn't difficult.
As I casually extended my hand, Croft took my pulse.
'No foreign energy. Then.'
Forbidden black magics.
Some amplified mana by devouring life.
But no such traces were felt.
Croft infused his mana into Reinhardt.
[Unauthorized nanomachine intrusion detected.]
[Nano Machine not subject to domination.]
[Destroying.]
"Hup......!"
Croft hurriedly pulled his hand away.
It was more like he was repelled.
'The mana I infused was completely annihilated?'
He was dumbfounded.
Over half a century, he had trained countless knights, many reaching Sword Master.
But he'd never seen anything like this.
Forcing infused mana to dissipate!
And it wasn't ordinary mana.
It was his mana, the Sword King's.
Yet the crown prince, whose mana should be far less, had erased it.
Impossible by common sense.
'It was only an instant, but he clearly mimicked me perfectly.'
And not just that.
He hadn't swung the sword, but the aura was exactly like his.
Just seeing it wasn't enough to imitate.
Matching the presence honed over decades was far beyond copying posture.
There was only one thing that could explain all this.
'A late awakening of bloodline talent?'
Reinhardt's constitution had changed overnight.
Gaining a metabolism thirty times that of a normal person.
Croft thought it stemmed from the imperial family's special blood.
The crown prince had awakened his talent late.
But what if even more talents were blooming at once?
What if talents hidden by mania were finally flowering?
'......The absolute being who founded the empire. They say he was similar, achieving ten feats.'
The first founding king who built the empire a thousand years ago.
Called the absolute one, he could produce aura without learning the sword.
But it was myth, dismissed as nonsense.
Because it was impossible.
Croft didn't blindly believe in the 12 Feats either. He'd met achievers in his youth, but they were no different from strong infants.
Yet now, before his eyes, stood the embodiment of those disbelieved tales.
The synonym for incompetence.
The madman.
The crown prince scorned by all, burdened with an ill-fitting crown.
What if.
What if he had truly awakened the absolute one's talent late...
'Dangerous.'
Far too dangerous.
The crown prince's existence.
Even more than when he was mad.
***
A week later.
After barely crossing the mountain range, the rugged northern lands came into view.
'I'm going to die.'
Reducing sleep time and training even in the carriage had nearly driven me insane, but I'd somehow held on.
Thanks to [Nano Machine Zero]'s recovery ability.
The perfect support was shining so brightly it was almost resentful.
Finally crossing the mountains, we began searching nearby villages.
The north was vast. Endless blizzards and shifting terrain made navigation impossible without a guide.
Guides had to be hired locally, so checking villages was natural.
"......Just corpses."
But Germin frowned upon entering the village.
The first village we'd found with difficulty.
Everything burned, countless bodies strewn about.
Regardless of age or gender.
In the village center, several flags were planted.
'Carlos Grand Duke.'
Flags bearing the eagle emblem of Carlos Grand Duke.
The second village, the third.
All filled with corpses.
Not a single living soul.
Carlos Grand Duke, who had left with a great army for the northern conquest, was massacring all northern tribes.
Planning to eradicate them completely?
'I expected it, but it's worse.'
After my ascension, this situation would replay across the empire, the entire continent.
And I would approve every war.
As my mouth grew bitter from wandering more villages,
"Amora Apir!"
A woman screamed from afar.
Soon, a spear flew and embedded in her back.
Instant death.
The two children running after her collapsed in terror.
"Kahaha! As expected, Young Master! Your spear-throwing has improved again!"
"To think the one who couldn't hit something right in front back then!"
"What, why aren't you running? You brats! If you want to live, run!"
Amid the rowdy voices, hundreds of soldiers gathered.
In the center, the eagle flag.
But the fun didn't continue.
They'd spotted our carriage.
"Huh? A carriage?"
"Who's getting out?"
"Huh? That face looks familiar..."
Even from a distance, they recognized us instantly.
Proof they were skilled to a certain degree.
Spotting Croft, they rubbed their eyes.
"K-Knight Croft?"
"Why is he in the north?"
"Look closely!"
"He does look a bit like... Crazy!"
If you named the empire's top five famous people, Croft was always included.
Knights especially couldn't not know him.
The knights' faces paled upon confirming Croft.
But one man.
The one called Young Master, who threw the spear, grinned.
Germin spoke with a wry expression.
"......Lord Thebeus."
Thebeus.
Carlos Grand Duke's third son.
He approached the carriage with the knights.
"Sir Croft, what brings you to this remote north?"
Thebeus extended a blood-soaked hand.
So thick with the scent of blood, impossible to count the kills.
"Just stopped by for some business."
Croft shook hands and answered curtly.
"Sir Croft's business. Now I'm curious."
Glancing at Germin and Edis, Thebeus's eyes stopped on me.
"Hm, a familiar face."
Frowning as if recalling, Thebeus's eyes widened.
"Could you be His Highness Reinhardt?"
"It's been a while."
Indeed, a long time.
We hadn't met since childhood.
I'd only seen him when they entered the capital after a successful northern campaign in the past.
Carlos Grand Duke and his children smiling brightly, ignoring the grim emperor and princes—I remembered it clearly.
Like then, Thebeus's smile deepened.
"Perfect timing. To celebrate our reunion after so long."
He looked at the two trembling children near their dead mother, then handed me a spear.
"Two prey left. Let's enjoy it together, Your Highness."