Chapter 19
Chapter 19
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 19
Chapter Title: And So the Story Begins (2)
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# 19
3. And So the Story Begins. (2)
#2 Their Circumstances: Lea El Nermia's Circumstances
“Gah!”
A light blow.
But the intense pain from that light blow was so overwhelming that I couldn’t even breathe for a moment.
“Damn it!”
“Die!”
“Heh heh, how weak.”
Leisurely moving hands and clubs.
Yet that slow movement easily blocked the strikes from No. 1 and No. 1000, who were already faster than the family’s regular knights.
“Speed overcomes weight, weight overcomes variation, and variation overcomes speed. That’s what the instructor said when I was learning swordsmanship. No matter how powerful the strike, it won’t land if it’s slower. No matter how fast the swordplay, it’s blocked by a blade adept at variation. And no matter how skilled in variation, it crumbles before a powerful strike. And...”
A grinning expression accompanied the slowly extending club.
I dodged immediately, but my body had already taken the hit.
“Urk… how!”
“Haha, you greenhorns. Let me teach you the instructor’s truth. As I said, swordsmanship has its counters, but in the end, the strong one wins! The victor is the truth! If a powerful strike falls to speed, make it powerful and fast! If a fast strike falls to variation, make it fast and variable! If variation falls to a powerful strike, make it variable and powerful! Master a swordplay that’s fast, powerful, and variable, and you’ll beat anyone!”
“Kyaa!”
“What nonsense!”
No. 1000 screamed and collapsed. No. 1 charged with a trembling hand gripping his sword, but the result was miserable.
The slowly moving hand suddenly seemed to multiply into eight, striking No. 1’s entire body.
“Gah, heuk, ugh! Ba, bastard… aaagh!”
“Foolish whelp, greenhorn who hasn’t yet felt the pain of the bat! Let me teach you the truth of life!”
The senior, who seemed like a completely different person from when we first met, cried out with eyes like a demon worshipper—no, something even more terrifying, like a zealot of an evil god.
“Endure! Endure this pain! If you want to see the end of life, endure this pain and look beyond!”
“Gah, keuk, aaaagh! You crazy bastard! Try enduring it yourself!”
“I endured. We endured. But beyond that… the moment we saw the silver glow, we were defeated. Anyone who kneels before a mere wooden bat has no right to be our junior!”
The madness in his eyes filled us with fear, and No. 1000 and I involuntarily stepped back.
“No way… something like that can’t exist!”
“Something above that lunatic?”
“Keuk, l-lies!”
Even No. 1, screaming under twelve attacks per second, turned pale at those words.
But the senior who said it—no, the monster possessed by something—nodded.
“That’s why you’re greenhorns.”
I wanted to argue back. But his aura, and the unwavering conviction plain before my eyes, sealed my lips.
“Do you know it? That pain. Despair. Humiliation!”
“Gah!”
A powerful blow. No. 1, who took it to the gut, flew back to us, gasping roughly.
Looking down at No. 1’s contorted face glaring up at him, the monster seemed extremely pleased.
“Does it hurt? It doesn’t hurt me. So take it.”
“Think you can’t win? I thought so too. But humans adapt if you keep taking hits.”
“I was the weakest in our cohort. A fool who lost even to the desk-job types, just like the instructor said.”
“What should I call you fools crawling on the floor before such a fool? Trash? Parasites? Maggots? Choose. With my great magnanimity, I’ll call you whatever you pick!”
“Hahaha, hahahahaha!”
Ah, that guy’s done for. Fallen to heart demons. That club must be a cursed magic weapon.
The victim screams in agony, the user loses their mind—the worst kind of magic weapon! What kind of person makes something like that? Is the instructor insane?
Is this why evil organizations are evil? Is this place full of people like this?
Is this the reason the empire hasn’t wiped them out yet?
“Bat style, self-imposed death march. Deng deng deng deok kung.”
“Surtr, block!”
“Anything but that, please not that!”
Incomprehensible words, and then the attack came.
I quickly reverse-summoned Surtr and summoned him again.
Even if the empire abolished slavery, this is a summon.
It’s overkill enough to get a complaint from the association, but I haven’t joined yet, so who cares.
-Roaaar!
Continuous attacks poured onto Surtr’s massive body.
But thanks to Surtr’s sacrifice, I figured out the pattern!
Deng means right-hand bat and left-hand fist together, deok is right-hand bat, kung is left-hand fist.
Valuable intel from Surtr’s noble sacrifice.
“Try blocking this too: Semachi style, deng deng deok kung deok!”
“I’ve already read the pattern!”
My prediction was spot on!
Dodged both attacks, then left hand, right hand, left hand again!
“Not bad for a mage. Then block this!”
“I told you, I’ve read the pattern!”
“Hahaha, I showed you the pattern for this exact reason! Take this: Good Distance style, deng…”
First both hands. Then…
“Gideok kung dererere kung gideok kung dererere da!”
“Wh-what? Kyaaah!”
Bat and fists flew at my whole body. What’s dererere!? Suddenly changing patterns like that!
“Not bad footwork for a mage, but stupid like one too! Who reveals their full pattern while attacking? I showed you the pattern to change it!”
“Coward!”
“Didn’t learn? ‘Coward’ is what you say when you’re hit by something you didn’t imagine or your weakness is exposed. Before crying coward, blame yourself for not even imagining the enemy’s attack. Despair at your exposed weakness. And I hear it all the time, but this is basically an evil organization that trains villains. Cowardice is a virtue here, right?”
“Ah…”
The bat swung with a laugh smashed my jaw, and my mind went hazy. Amid No. 1000’s faint scream, my vision turned white…
“Wouldn’t be fun if it ended already.”
Before it did, another brutal thigh strike forced my mind back.
“D-devil…”
“Heh heh, the real devil’s someone else, I tell ya.”
At the monster’s cheerful grin, I felt true despair for the first time in my life—and it lasted until this organization fell.
#3 Their Circumstances: A Certain Empire’s Circumstances
Ask anyone on the continent today: the strongest nation? Ten out of ten, a hundred out of a hundred—they’ll all say one name.
Karan Empire.
The continent’s current hegemon. In the fierce Great War, where thirteen kingdoms and empires clashed for over five years.
The result: overwhelming victory for the Karan Empire and its allies.
Among neighboring kingdoms, only Merdea Kingdom could check the empire, but it lost over half its power—now, no kingdom threatens the empire’s borders.
In that Great War, the one expected to gain the most spoils and claim the throne was the First Imperial Princess, who’s officially in seclusion after yielding it to her younger brother. Two people gathered in her room.
“Howling accepted the deal, Your Highness.”
“Lea. We’ve prepared for over ten years. That’s only natural.”
The princess elegantly lifted her teacup, wearing a smile that would trigger an imperial emergency evacuation if seen by other royals.
“Ten years. Since everything was forcibly taken from me, stolen, and I wept in miserable defeat.”
“Um, Your Highness. That sounds so open to misunderstanding.”
“Misunderstanding? I just stated exactly what happened. No room for misunderstanding.”
“Your Highness, Sir Ast acted for your sake.”
“No, he said he didn’t save me. I just got saved on my own terms.”
“Even if Sir Ast says that…”
“No, he doesn’t lie. It’s true. He acted for himself, and I just happened to be saved in others’ eyes. So I won’t accept it. I wasn’t saved. If anything, everything was taken from me.”
“Your Highness…”
“So I’ll find him. And claim compensation for what was taken. If he can’t return it, he’ll pay in something else.”
Gossips call her the Iron-Blooded Sovereign, the Cold-Blooded Witch—who enjoyed blood and screams at the war’s heart while others socialized. Yet her pitiful expression made Lea bitter-smile, too fragile for that ruthless empress-in-waiting.
“It’s forcing it.”
“I know.”
“Sir Ast will refuse vehemently.”
“I know. I’ve been through it plenty.”
“Even if successful, the palace will flip.”
“I know. But it’s already over. From that day, Father acknowledged him. The useful little brother yielded the throne, ending the talk. If the little brother turns out useless and stupid, give it to the next useful brother and replace him.”
“Um, sis? Scary stuff to hear after you summoned me.”
A slight door creak, and a handsome youth entered with a wry smile.
“Doesn’t matter. I said it for you to hear.”
“Wow, sis is so scary, where would I even hide?”
He joked approaching, expression unchanged.
He owed her for the crown prince seat, but once shared imperial power threefold with the northern warlord brother and witch sister.
Even he, with unofficial authority second only to the emperor, was utterly outmatched by her.
“Kill me for real?”
“Sorry.”
…Overwhelmed.
“I said it before: I chose you for one reason. He liked you more.”
“Yes, yes. I heard. Especially docking points for brother’s annoying face. If he knew the truth, he’d faint clutching his neck or steel himself for rebellion—still fresh in my mind!”
“Good, as long as you know.”
Setting down her empty cup, the princess smiled again.
The crown prince stepped back two paces at the smile, but she ignored him, letting Lea refill her tea and sipping.
After brief silence, the princess spoke.
“So handle it well.”
“Urgh… You give the toughest jobs, sis.”
“Just exterminate some cockroaches?”
“Cockroaches that came with the empire’s founding—capable ones.”
“If you’re to be the empire’s best, you need that capability. Hate it? Quit.”
“Ah, makes me question becoming crown prince… self-loathing and misery…”
Rubbing his eyes with a weary face, the princess just savored her tea, ignoring him.
“Didn’t you deal with Howling, sis?”
“I did. On info secrecy. I broke no terms. Never leaked info, never attacked via proxies. Just didn’t write I’d end the org myself in the Geass Roll.”
“No need to destroy them? They’ll revive under new names post-chaos.”
“But I can smash their nest.”
The crown prince backed to the wall at her captivating smile—enough to charm any man.
“Ah, sis. Don’t smile like that, it’s scary! Bad for my heart, please!!”
“Oh? No need to fear. I’m in a great mood.”
“Huh? Even Lea—your direct subordinate—is trembling in the corner! Her trauma’s flared again!”
The princess dropped her smile, seeing Lea huddled in the corner, head between knees, mumbling.
“What did I do wrong?”
“Bring your direct troops, mage corps, staff—you’d gear for war instantly? That pre-massacre smile from the war, everyone knows.”
“Hey, killing enemies in war’s one-sided. Not massacre.”
“Normal, right? I misheard ‘one-sided’ as similar-sounding word?”
“Hm? What? Can’t hear the thrice-defeated-by-Merdea crown prince well.”
“Yes, I’ll shut up before the undefeated war princess.”
She reached for her empty cup, pleased at his grimace, but no refill—Lea broken in the corner. Sighing, she stood and stretched.
“Haa~ Little brother, listen well. What he took is half the empire.”
“I know. The empire’s foundation. But it’s a curse.”
“Yes. And it returns to us when he dies.”
“Per the pact.”
“So we protect him.”
“For the empire?”
“Yes.”
“Not a lie? Looks like personal greed.”
“Real. 1% for the empire.”
“99% personal?! At least two digits as royalty, sis?”
“No.”
The crown prince shut his mouth at the raw sincerity in her last words.
“1% is plenty. Be grateful for that from a princess. Ten years. Weak, powerless, talentless me couldn’t approach for ten years. Half-ass it, he flees. Fearless in weird places, fearful in others. Digs two holes, no—ten, twenty. So I’ll smash them all. Leave only my fence. Make him see it as safest. Never flee again.”
“You might not know everything about him. Name was different, right?”
“Doesn’t matter. Ast, Naruan, whatever. Fact is: he forcibly took my fate, future, everything, and fled. Even if I don’t know all, what I know suffices. So…”
Pausing, she beamed at the approaching crown prince.
“Fail, and I might really kill you.”
‘I’ll really die.’
Seeing her smile, he realized: if Howling survives, he won’t.