Chapter 385
Chapter 385
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 385
Chapter Title: Rak's Resolve
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Lania spent a while chatting idly with Rak. How had he been over the past three years? She'd heard bits and pieces here and there. Nothing particularly substantial.
"They call you the Guardian of the North, don't they? I spot your name in the papers every now and then."
In truth, it was closer to every day than just occasionally, but Lania had no desire to reveal her secret hobby to her former student. She played it off casually, pretending to have little interest in worldly affairs.
Rak, who had grown wiser with age and sharper in perception, saw through the act to some extent. He gave a wry smile inwardly, thinking, Some things never change. He kept it to himself, of course.
"......"
As their conversation dragged on.
Lania let out a short sigh. She wiped the faint smile from her face, steadied her breath, and spoke.
"I've heard about what happened in the North."
The emergence of the King of Beasts.
This was the main point. Rak's expression hardened.
"And I have something to say about it."
Lania had already attended the funeral and offered her condolences. She hadn't dwelled on the warriors' deaths—a considerate choice, since Rak seemed reluctant to bring them up himself.
"I'm sorry."
Lania slowly bowed her head.
Toward Rak. And toward the North.
"It was my mistake."
Lania van Trias was someone who never bowed her head to anyone—not even the king of this nation. Yet here she was, lowering it before Rak.
I'm sorry, she said.
"Letting the King of Beasts escape, failing to track it, misreading its path—that was all me. My error. Because of my mistake, the King of Beasts reached the North..."
And caused the disaster there.
Inflicting irreparable damage.
"......Someone had to pay the price. It didn't have to be that way."
You can blame me if you want.
Rak could only manage a bitter smile at Lania's demeanor.
"Please don't, Professor."
Rak said in a rueful tone.
"This isn't something you need to apologize for. I don't think it's your responsibility at all. Truly."
Lania lifted her head to meet Rak's gaze.
His red eyes, ever steady, held no resentment or rage toward anyone.
"If anything, the one who deserves blame is me."
Rak exhaled deeply as he spoke.
"......You once told me an opportunity would come."
Three years ago, on the day Lania left Aphria.
She had planted a seed in his heart and said as much. An opportunity would arise someday. Though she surely hadn't wanted it to come in this form, for Rak, this incident was undoubtedly that turning point.
A chance for self-reflection.
Motivation to steel his resolve.
Confronting the King of Beasts and suffering defeat had made it clear to Rak just how complacent he'd been.
"This time, I realized how much I've relied on you, Professor. How carelessly I've lived."
Lania remained silent.
Rak pressed on.
"I thought I was strong enough in my own right. Not on your level, and maybe not fit to stand at your side, but sufficient to protect what was mine. What an arrogant delusion."
"You are strong. This incident..."
"No."
Rak shook his head.
"That strength only holds because you're there. Because you're holding back the calamities, watching over me, ready to help whenever I ask."
Every trial Rak thought he'd overcome in his past life had been only half the battle. Lania van Trias, that unparalleled powerhouse, had always filled in the rest.
"That's the foundation of my strength."
Rak stared at his own hand.
The hand that had lost its sword.
The hand that had failed to grasp pride, honor, or anything at all.
"I'm weak. Pathetically so."
Too weak to protect. Too weak to avenge his brothers against that beast that had mocked them. Rak had no intention of blaming others for problems stemming from his own weakness.
The cause—and the solution—always lay within oneself. That was the lesson of the warriors.
"That's why I need to move forward."
Loss changes a person.
It was no different for Rak.
"Now I have a reason to grow stronger. I have to challenge that beast again. I have a duty to restore the honor of those insulted warriors."
"......And so?"
"Yes. Absolutely."
Lania gazed at Rak wordlessly.
When heading north, she had worried deep down.
Worried that the warriors' deaths might lead him astray. Lania had seen far too many people broken by loss. There was no guarantee Rak wouldn't follow suit...
......Worried for nothing.
She knew it the moment she looked into his eyes.
No eyes of vengeance, no madman's glare, no hollow gaze of one who'd lost everything. These were the eyes of a man with a clear goal, forging his own path.
"You've grown so much."
Lania murmured without thinking.
She relaxed her shoulders and smiled.
The one sitting before her now wasn't the academy boy who needed her help. The boy had become a young man, choosing his own way forward.
A bit sooner than expected, but...
Lania spoke.
"Rak."
"Yes, Professor."
"For now, I'm planning to concentrate forces in the North. I can't fully replace the fallen warriors, but I'll select a few capable knights under me and send them your way."
And then, Lania continued.
"You're planning to step beyond the North, aren't you?"
"......How did you know?"
"I can tell just from your eyes."
It was the same look Kyle had.
A larger battlefield. A grander stage.
Those resolved to advance never stagnate in one place. But there was a hint of hesitation in that gaze—doubt about leaving the North in its current state.
"Rak."
Lania intended to resolve that doubt.
"You've reached the transcendent realm, haven't you?"
She'd already heard the report from Natida.
That Rak, now transcendent, had wounded the King of Beasts in a fierce clash. And that the King of Beasts had awakened as a result.
......A nuisance, but.
It wasn't Rak's fault.
What mattered now was that Rak had become a transcendent. A force even she could deploy, capable of introducing massive variables on the battlefield.
"If you want it, I'll hand over the front Draka was holding to you. And I'll position Draka near the North for any emergencies."
The Sword Ghost, Draka.
Even as a puppet with a dulled blade, he was still a transcendent. Lania was offering to cede that front if Rak desired it.
"If you're prepared for that..."
"I am."
Rak answered immediately.
"I'd need to discuss it with Father first... but if possible, yes."
To a stage like yours.
Where I might encounter the beast again.
Where I can grow even stronger.
"It won't be easy."
"I know."
"You'll see things you won't want to."
"I know that too."
"Still going?"
"Yes. Now I have a reason to go."
The resolve of one whose determination was set.
Lania let out a long sigh and smiled wryly. She'd half-expected this. What Rak needed now wasn't a guide to lead the way.
"If you're that set on it..."
He needed comrades to walk the path beside him.
And she had just the one in mind.
A bit... unusual, but still.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇ 2.
After a brief talk with the Northern Duke, Lania returned to her own front. A few days later, Rak received a summons from the duke and headed somewhere.
Creeeak.
He entered an armory, lined with weapons of every kind. There sat Eryahl van Grace. The Northern Duke and Rak's father. He spoke slowly.
"Rak."
"Yes, Father."
"I heard from the Hero who visited recently. You wish to head to the frontlines."
Rak nodded silently.
"You are my son, and the future lord of the North. Do you understand that?"
"Yes."
"No sane father sends his son to war, let alone a ruler sending his only heir. They'd call him mad."
All true.
True, but Eryahl looked at the son before him. A fine warrior now. His eyes held no tremor—the gaze of one with his path decided.
"But that's mere common sense."
Eryahl rose slowly from his seat.
Aged and weathered, yet still a warrior. Not quite transcendent, but close. His body, honed on countless battlefields, defied the ravages of time.
"The lord of the North must be more pioneering than any other, live a fiercer life. He must be the warriors' idol, never content with the present. I've always told you that."
Eryahl reached out.
"So, live a splendid life."
His rough, calloused hand seized an axe from the wall. A pair of axes, forged from rare Northern metal, gleaming with a mysterious night-sky hue.
"I meant to give these to you the day you succeeded me as lord of the North, but you need them now."
Eryahl fastened the axes to Rak's belt himself. Then he patted his shoulder.
"You've done well."
The farewell was brief. As always.
As he passed Rak, Eryahl added shortly.
"Your mother's been worried. See her face before you depart."
"Yes, understood."
Rak bowed slightly to his father's receding back. Then he moved on.
* * * Time passed, and the day of departure arrived.
Amid the warriors' farewells, Rak set out. Countless Northerners blessed his path, praying for his glory.
Clack.
Exiting the gates under their salutes, he found a carriage waiting.
And her.
"Hoo..."
A woman leaned against the carriage, smoking. The smoke she exhaled carried no acrid, choking bitterness—instead, an artificial scent like a potion or medicine, soothing like a nerve calmer.
"You've arrived?"
The Saintess, Natida.
She stubbed out her cigarette underfoot and extended a hand to Rak with a smile. Their second handshake. The first time, she'd introduced herself as "the Hero's aide, Lania van Trias's assistant."
This time.
"I'm Natida."
Neither Saintess nor aide—just her name.
She stated it plainly.
"Looking forward to working with you, Hero."
"I'm no Hero."
"Close enough, isn't it?"
The drug-using Saintess and the warrior with the holy sword.
The two boarded the carriage bound for the frontlines.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇ 3.
"Star."
I murmured, chin in hand.
There was only one reason I called for Star, so it promptly showed me what I wanted. A contract forged centuries ago by the Great Sage, now passed to me.
Alongside the contract document lay a map and a clock.
On the vast map glowed three points. And one that had gone dark. I knew the name attached to the extinguished point.
'Bertha Gorge.'
Nest of the black storm, the black dragon Belial.
Where we'd felled the black dragon.
I shifted my gaze to the remaining three points. Places humanity had never reached in centuries, unrecorded in any history book.
But I knew their names.
I'd learned them upon inheriting the full contract. I pointed to each, murmuring the labels.
'The place where all filth flows.'
The land for the faithless, Arkeia.
'The place torn skies point to.'
Where death lies silent, Gehete.
'The edge of the world.'
Temple of Shadows, ■■■.
......Until recently, there had only been these three. But now a new point had appeared. Near Arkeia. I didn't know its name.
But I knew what lurked there.
The King of Beasts, Barta.
I clicked my tongue briefly at the birth of a new calamity.