Chapter 27
Chapter 27
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 27
Chapter Title: House Jerban's Twins
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House Jerban's Twins.
The children of Killaban, the core of the next generation's power.
Orphin, assigned to guard Rivan and Rini, hunted beasts with her body but couldn't shake a certain someone from her mind.
His name was Kallias von Jerban.
The one who appeared out of nowhere and vanished just as suddenly.
More precisely, it was the sword of the man who had abandoned the name of House Jerban to become a pilgrim.
His swordsmanship haunted her thoughts relentlessly, tormenting Orphin.
'Silver Flower Sword Wave.'
The glimpse she'd caught of his sword then was undoubtedly.
Silver Flower Sword Wave.
It resembled the Silver Flower Sword Wave that the legendary Stella Saintess had wielded.
There was no mistaking it.
The swordsmanship that shattered one's own sword aura and shaped it into flower petals was one of a kind in this world.
'How could a wastrel wield such a technique.'
And wield such a sword.
No matter how remarkable the swordsmanship, if the practitioner's skill was lacking, it was just swordsmanship.
But Kallias was different.
He possessed strength worthy of that swordsmanship.
And right now.
Orphin watched Kallias grip the fork and arrived at a certainty.
'He was deliberately hiding his true self.'
Even if Rivan's sword was that of a child, a blade cloaked in holy power was not to be underestimated.
Moreover, he was of House Jerban's bloodline.
Manipulation of holy power, House Jerban's unique circulation method, and swordsmanship fused together.
Yet he did it with a fork? Absurd.
But even so, he succeeded.
Not to mention.
'Breaking a sword with a fork.'
Kallias effortlessly blocked Rivan's sword with the fork, slipped his own blade through the gap, and snapped the wrist with a precise twist.
Immense power and technique.
A realm achievable only through precise control and mastery of holy power.
'Why...'
She didn't know why someone with such skill had such faint holy power.
But in Orphin's eyes, Kallias's sword was among the elite even in the North.
At least, that's how it seemed to her.
"M-My sword... No, how could Father's sword break against a mere fork... W-What is this..."
Rivan seemed to be in a panic.
Even as a collateral branch, born into a famed swordsmanship house with pride in his blade, seeing it snap against a fork—how could he not?
Even a full-grown adult would struggle to endure this, let alone Rivan, who was barely fourteen.
"The sword Father specially gave me, broken by a fork..."
He couldn't collect himself.
He kept glancing back and forth between the fork in Kallias's hand and his broken sword, biting his lip hard.
"D-Damn it!! What are you all staring at!!"
Rivan's furious shout snapped the knights out of their admiring spectatorship.
Shring!
Five knights drew their swords.
Orphin hesitated, wondering what to do, but reluctantly drew hers as well.
'Can we do this?'
Against one who mastered the Stella Saintess's sword, with just six knights?
Orphin bit her lip.
"Drag that bastard over here and make him kneel before me!! Humiliating me is the same as humiliating House Jerban!"
"Hmm."
Kallias eyed the approaching knights with a bored expression.
The brat's impudence grated on his nerves, but what could he do.
Nobles were all like that.
Kallias glanced at Emily amid watching the knights close in.
The girl was clutching her stomach, chuckling nonstop as if it were hilarious.
Just when he thought it might end in blood.
"Halt."
A low, heavy voice stopped the knights in their tracks.
Snow-covered bushes rustled, scattering flakes, and a stern-faced man emerged.
The knights bowed their heads in shock at the sight of his face.
He was House Jerban's next head.
The count's adopted son.
And the father of Rivan and Rini.
Killaban von Jerban.
"F-Father!!"
"Father!"
Rivan and Rini beamed and ran toward Killaban the moment they saw him.
But they halted abruptly—his sword was drenched in beast blood.
"Father! That guy's insulting me!"
"Yeah! He insulted big brother! Broke his sword with a fork! How could he? It's amazing! Big brother's sword snapped like firewood!"
Rivan ranted about how not making the guy kneel would tarnish House Jerban's honor, while Rini parroted words that were praise or insult, who knew.
Killaban shook the blood from his sword and asked Orphin.
"What happened?"
"Well..."
A moment later.
Having heard the full story, Killaban regarded Kallias with an odd look.
Then he made an offer.
"Pledge your loyalty to me."
"F-Father... what are you..."
"I'm a man who values talent above all else. I don't know what drew you into the Wheel of Patalite, but whatever it is, I can make it yours."
I have that power.
Everyone was stunned by Killaban's sudden proposal.
Emily included.
"K-Killaban, sir."
Emily jumped in front of Kallias in alarm, spreading her arms wide as if to say absolutely not.
"Emily."
Killaban narrowed his eyes at her.
"He's my guard."
"...Emily. Sorry to say this, but the choice isn't ours. If you have any pride as a knight, respect his decision."
Brushing past the stammering Emily, Killaban addressed the hooded Kallias.
"My son's sword may be one a child wields, but it wasn't so brittle as to snap against a mere fork."
Thus, no need to see more of the fork—or Kallias's skill—that broke it.
"That's sudden."
"Not at all. If you seek honor, pledge to me, the next head. If you seek advancement, follow me all the more. Isn't that right?"
Irrefutable logic.
Adopted son of House Jerban.
Next head.
With exceptional swordsmanship and leadership.
A kind father to his children, a vessel worthy of knights' loyalty.
Any wandering knight, even with Emily watching, would find it hard to refuse.
"I refuse."
But not Kallias.
Killaban's face twisted, unaccustomed to flat rejection, then softened into a faint smile.
"May I hear why?"
"Neither honor nor advancement. I need them not."
Watching Kallias's back, Killaban asked again.
"Then what do you seek?"
"The sword. A stronger sword."
With that, he led Emily and the attendants away. Killaban watched his retreating figure into the forest, smacking his lips in regret.
"F-Father, that guy insulted me..."
"Rivan. Whatever honor was tarnished, this time you must endure."
"Why..."
"That one is no knight."
"Then what is he?"
A stronger sword.
Its meaning was clear.
Stroking his innocent son's head as he asked, Killaban replied.
"Most likely, a pilgrim."
* * *
Crackle, crackle.
The boisterous White Forest fell silent under the moonlight, as if nothing had happened.
Gathered around a single campfire, Kallias and his group finished a simple meal and rested.
"Why'd you do it?"
Emily, gaze fixed on the fire, asked while poking it.
"Do what?"
"The fork. You didn't have to go that far with Rivan."
She meant the earlier incident.
Kallias thought a moment, tossed another log on the fire, and said.
"That matched his level perfectly."
"That's all?"
"That's it."
It wasn't.
Rivan and Rini.
Kallias knew their natures well.
As collaterals of House Jerban, infamous troublemakers in youth, but with the right trigger, they reformed into fine knights.
'There was that route.'
He knew because he'd cleared various paths. Plus, Rivan and Rini were more obnoxious than expected, their actions irksome.
So he deliberately bruised Rivan's pride and ultimately snapped his sword.
With a fork.
He'd wondered if it were possible.
But the fork cloaked in Silver Flower Sword Wave aura snapped Rivan's blade flawlessly, crushing his pride properly.
'Whether he pulls himself together or not... there's time.'
It had better be so.
With the Wheel of Patalite quest active, even a child's sword would be needed in the North.
"Thanks. Felt good watching that."
Emily tossed another log on, then rose and slipped into her sleeping bag.
Kallias watched her curiously, then drew Roas.
'It's grown a bit.'
Roas, half-broken before, had grown slightly from entering White Forest and hunting a few beasts.
Not like shedding a lizard tail, but intriguing.
[Devouring Sword - Roas]
Grade – Famous Sword.
Indwelling Spirit – Mixed Spirit.
Unique Ability – Devour.
Devours Consumed – 723
'About five hundred from clearing those bandits.'
While in the North, scouring White Forest for Bernard now and then, he'd hunted over two hundred beasts.
Three hundred more, and Roas would upgrade—smooth sailing.
Once the Wheel of Patalite spun fully, three hundred beasts would swarm easily.
Roas reaching Spirit Sword was just a matter of time.
Then even against Lakan, it wouldn't snap easily—he could finally test it.
'That aside...'
Kallias scanned his surroundings, eyes sharpening.
Crack, crackle.
Only the campfire's sound.
The forest was eerily quiet.
No presences in his senses—odd. Most White Forest beasts were nocturnal; this silence was suspicious.
'About time.'
Clouds veiled the moon.
The full moon hidden, White Forest—its name a joke—plunged into darkness.
Then a foul stench grazed his nose. The forest stirred.
Presences shifted.
Clouds parted again; moonlight illuminated Kallias.
Before him loomed a massive axe dripping blood.
And gripping it, a hulking greenskin with huge tusks and primitive tattoos.
Sons of the Axe God, mounted on giant beasts.
They looked down on him.
[The Chains of Fate turn.]
[Survive the Fate of Death.]
People called them many things: barbarians, greenskins, fiends, demonkin spawning beasts.
Beings beyond White Forest, at the North's edge—not human.
Primitive and savage warriors fearless of death.
Clutching axes in one hand, invoking gods' names, seeking battlefields to die as warriors.
But the most accurate name was.
"Orcs."
The northern savages warring with House Jerban across White Forest for centuries.
Orcs.