Chapter 107
Chapter 107
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 107
Chapter Title: Chilly Winter (2)
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“If you don’t get some romance, even for a moment, thorns will sprout in your mouth.”
It was something Julius used to say constantly in his youth.
In fact, during his flower-boy days as a young man, he never stopped dating for even a second.
He scandalized countless noblewomen and secretly enjoyed watching young ladies fight over him.
But at some point...
Romance like that started to feel utterly pointless to Julius.
Even as he kept himself insanely busy, he always carved out time for it.
Then suddenly, it all lost its appeal.
He burned every love letter he’d been hoarding and cut off contact with all the noblewomen he’d been secretly meeting.
Back then, he hadn’t understood why those feelings had come over him so abruptly.
But now, having come to truly understand his own heart, he thought he knew.
“Hello! I’m Evelyn Nereville, the new recruit assigned to the White Dragon Knights!”
It had started the moment he first laid eyes on Evelyn.
* * *
“You!”
Wolfgang, who had been waiting for Julius to step up, twisted his face at the sight of the final challenger.
-What’s this?
-Didn’t the Demon Dragon come up?
The crowd began to murmur.
Not the Julius they’d been expecting, but Evelyn Nereville—the very source of this mess—as the last opponent.
“Captain?”
Theo, on his way back, froze in surprise at the sight of her.
“Good work. And thank you. But this is my fight to begin with, so I’ll finish it.”
Evelyn nodded calmly, gave Theo’s shoulder a pat, and strode past him into the arena.
Theo whipped around, staring at her retreating figure.
She looked like a sword, honed to perfection.
“You trying to mess with me or something?”
Ignoring Wolfgang’s vicious killing intent, Evelyn calmly drew a dagger and sliced through the hem of her flowing dress.
Her long, elegantly toned legs gleamed into view.
She tied her hair up with a strip of the fabric.
“Whew! That’s more like it.”
Evelyn’s eyes sparkled with life.
She slowly raised her sword.
“You’re really saying this wench is the final challenger?”
“Why? Does seeing me here scare you, Father?”
A casual toss of words.
But the ripples they caused were anything but.
-What? The Elder Council Leader is her father?
-What the hell does that mean?
-Come to think of it, they do look a bit alike...
-No, forget that—how old even is the Elder Council Leader to have a daughter that age?
Wolfgang’s face flushed beet red.
A past he never wanted exposed was about to be dragged into the open before everyone.
“What nonsense are you spouting! When did I ever father a wretch like you!”
“You forced a marriage on me just because I had a pretty face despite being a bastard child, and when I refused, I lost an arm for it. Guess you’ve forgotten. Must’ve been hard to forget, though.”
“This is no place for you to spew such lies...!”
“Oh, and you said even the little value I had was gone, so trash like me was hopeless after all? Sorry about that. Sorry for standing before a noble lord like you.”
“You filthy wench! Shut your mouth!!”
BOOM!
Wolfgang could hold back no longer and stomped the ground hard.
Even before Niel could signal the start of the duel.
His mind was filled only with the need to silence Evelyn somehow.
-A bastard child?
-The Elder Council Leader’s pushing a hundred, so that means at least in his seventies...
-Is he insane?
-No, but did it even work properly?
The controversy snowballed amid the whispers.
‘So that’s what happened. That’s why Evelyn’s arm...!’
Theo, stunned by facts he’d never known, admired how she shrugged off that past so casually.
CLANG!
Evelyn calmly drew her sword higher, roughly deflecting Wolfgang’s assault.
[Demon Dragon Six Limbs – Sword Veil]
[Flying Sword Steps – True Heaven]
The fusion of Julius’s swordsmanship with the Wind Lord’s secret arts hit the crowd like a fresh shock.
-Wind...?
-It’s different from the Demon Dragon Six Limbs. What is it?
-Wind Lord! It’s the Wind Lord’s sword!
-What? She inherited the Wind Lord’s true legacy? Her?
The emergence of the successor to the absolute being once called the greatest obstacle to Kyle claiming the throne left many in shock.
-No, but she deflected an Origin Dragon strike! And she’s just an upper swordsman!
-Even if the Elder Council Leader’s injured... that puts her at Dragon Gate swordsman level at least?
-I thought she’d lost her edge with that arm.
-So the Wind Lord’s successor really is different!
Others marveled at how her skill had advanced beyond anything she’d shown in the past.
-Theo Ragnar and the Ranke siblings joining as recruits was a surprise, but now their captain’s the Wind Lord’s successor? The gap in strength between the four major units is only gonna widen.
Some envied the White Dragon Knights for reeling in such talents wholesale.
“Ahem!”
Julius reflexively cleared his throat, then sent Theo a subtle transmission.
「Did you know Evelyn got the Wind Lord’s manual?」
「Yes. I knew.」
「Then why didn’t you report it to me separately?」
「The captain said she’d report it herself. She wanted to see the look on your face when you were surprised.」
「...」
Julius was speechless for a moment.
‘No way... it’s because I sneaked a few wines from the lodge lately...? Me?’
Still, it irked him that she hadn’t reported such a major matter directly to her superior.
...Though she had cherry-picked the pricier ones.
Julius couldn’t tear his eyes from Evelyn for a long while.
Butterfly wings seemed to flutter gorgeously behind her, ready for flight.
And then...
‘Could it be?’
Theo sensed something off in Julius’s gaze toward Evelyn and quietly activated his power.
[Observing ‘Julius Ragnar.’]
+
Julius Ragnar (41 / Male)
· Title: Demon Dragon
· Talents: Leadership. Swordsmanship Genius. Talent Collector. Purest Devotion.
· Status: Having belatedly realized his feelings for ‘Evelyn Nereville,’ he’s flustered and doesn’t know what to do.
+
Theo barely suppressed a laugh threatening to burst out.
‘No way [Purest Devotion] was aimed at Evelyn? No wonder he’s been picking on her so much.’
The fact that just that part was bolded was the funniest bit.
The status description went without saying.
CLASH CLANG!
Meanwhile, Evelyn and Wolfgang’s clashes continued.
“I’ll kill youuuu!”
Unable to contain his rage, Wolfgang maxed out his aura. Madness flickered in his eyes.
The onset of heart devil possession.
Evelyn sensed the change and calmly drew on her mana to counter.
FLASH!
RUMBLE—
Just as Wolfgang’s sword arced down toward Evelyn’s neck,
「That’s enough.」
Something dropped abruptly from the sky between them.
BOOM!
RUMBLE—
Evelyn and Wolfgang staggered back, unable to withstand the mana within it.
They snapped their heads upward.
Intense intent swirled down from the heavens.
Six Harmonies Omnipresence.
A supreme technique that echoed one’s voice across a wide area.
“Family Head! What is the meaning of this—!”
Wolfgang roared, recognizing the voice belonged to Kyle in the Half-Sword Tomb.
The sword that had blocked his attack was the one lodged there.
But Kyle seemed utterly unconcerned, calmly continuing.
「All Nine Dragons, assemble at the Mountain Lodge.」
Then the intent vanished.
“Family Heeead!”
Wolfgang bellowed in fury.
The Family Head’s command always took precedence over all else.
The duel had to end here.
“Because of you lot...! You’ve ruined me...!”
But Wolfgang couldn’t let it end like this.
Theo, Evelyn, and Julius had dragged every shred of his honor through the mud.
If it stayed like this, the Elder Council would end up trampled under the White Dragon Knights’ heel.
And after that?
Nothing.
Nothing at all.
HUM HUM HUM—
In the end, Wolfgang’s eyes filled with madness.
Unrefined killing intent flooded the Water仙 Palace.
“You’re disgraceful, Elder Council Leader. Way too disgraceful.”
Tsk.
Niel clicked his tongue in distaste and drew his sword.
Julius, the Plum Palace Lord, and the Black Dragon followed suit, swords in hand.
If Wolfgang defied Kyle’s order and went after Evelyn, they’d execute him on the spot.
At that moment,
CLANG!
Kyle’s half-sword in the ground resonated.
A fierce wave rippled outward in concentric circles, instantly engulfing the banquet hall and Water仙 Palace.
“...!”
“...!”
“...!”
The wave forcibly dispelled all mana and killing intent.
Not just Niel, Julius, the Plum Palace Lord, and the Black Dragon’s, but even Wolfgang’s madness.
Every gaze in the crowd turned to the half-sword. Wolfgang snapped to his senses, staring at it in horror.
「Assemble. I won’t say it twice.」
A clear final warning.
Wolfgang bit his lower lip hard, glared at Evelyn, then hurled himself toward the Half-Sword Tomb and vanished.
The other Nine Dragons melted away just as swiftly.
The killing intent that had filled the banquet hall moments ago faded as if it had never been.
“Ha...!”
Only then could Theo breathe easy.
And once more, he realized.
The realm Kyle stood in was no human’s.
* * *
Wolfgang felt like he’d go mad with no outlet for the layered rage piling up in his chest.
But he couldn’t show it.
This was the Half-Sword Tomb.
The sanctuary within the sanctuary, where Kyle resided.
‘Someday...!’
As Wolfgang glared at Julius, the Black Dragon, and Niel’s profiles,
STEP STEP!
Eight figures had already gathered in the Half-Sword Tomb.
Each different in gender, age, and aura of nobility.
All Nine Dragons except Ed Troyvan, assembled.
But Kyle, who should naturally be there, was absent.
Only his cherished sword lay plunged in the ground, keening.
HUM, HMMM—
「‘He’ has returned.」
No trace of Kyle’s presence anywhere in the Half-Sword Tomb.
He was away.
Yet no matter the distance, his intent could reach anywhere like this.
A realm unbound by time or space.
The domain only legendary gods were said to tread—and he stood there.
And...
That single statement shook every one of the Nine Dragons present.
Even Wolfgang forgot Evelyn in that instant.
“What do you mean, Family Head! Who’s ‘He’!”
The Black Dragon stepped forward, shouting.
But the sword resonance didn’t fade.
「Exactly as I said. ‘He’ has returned. The mechanisms of heaven are shifting. That’s why I’m on the move as well.」
“...!”
“...!”
“Impossible...!”
“He was definitely...!”
Ignoring the Nine Dragons’ clamor, the resonance continued.
「So steel yourselves, all of you. This war won’t end easily.」
The Nine Dragons groaned.
Julius squeezed his eyes shut, Niel clicked his tongue.
The Plum Palace Lord ground her teeth, the Black Dragon roared at the sky.
Wolfgang clenched his fists.
The Azure Dragon and the other two dragons sighed or trembled in fear.
「This northern winter will be bitterly cold...」
As if on cue, Kyle’s half-sword shivered faintly in the winter breeze.
As though chilled to the bone.
HUM, HUMMMM—
How the Illegitimate Son of the Regression Sword Family Lives