Chapter 37
Chapter 37
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 37
Chapter Title: The Siege of Jaybarshu
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Whiiing.
The northern gale blew impartially toward everyone, as it always did.
The dry wind whipped up the thinly piled snow, forming a whirlwind before vanishing into the sky.
Yet on the snowfield on the ground that the wind hadn't fully cleared.
Thud-!
An orc's footprint was imprinted.
Ahead of the great orc army stood a fortress with sturdy gray walls.
Jaybarshu Castle loomed like an iron bastion, denying them entry.
And atop those walls, the soldiers and knights glared at the orcs with murderous intent, locked in confrontation.
The war was as quiet as the calm before a storm, yet tense like a fully drawn bowstring, allowing no relaxation.
"Not yet."
Kallias folded his telescope as he gazed at the war that could erupt at any moment.
"Why are you watching like that?"
"I told you to become a hero, not a murderer."
"I cut him down to become a hero."
"You lost your temper and slashed him, then call yourself a hero? Do you think that's what I taught you to do with a sword!"
"I didn't draw my sword out of temper. He kept provoking me, and in the end, challenged me to a duel without weapons."
Kallias had accepted the duel, and this was the result.
A new sword hung at his waist.
Its name was Jornik, given in honor of the fallen Jornik.
Poor guy.
"And I never learned the sword from you, old man."
"Sometimes you scare me."
Bernard shook his head.
"Honestly, I'm surprised by my own talent sometimes."
"Is murder a talent now?"
"In a situation like this, if murder counts as talent, it's not so bad."
At Kallias's joking response, Bernard pulled a pipe from his bosom.
He drew Rakan from its scabbard and lit the pipe with a flash of lightning fire.
Soon, puffs of tobacco smoke rose.
"Are you signaling the enemy with 'we're here' or something?"
"This much won't show, you fool. I know better than you how keen orc noses are!"
"..."
Lost for words, Kallias glanced around.
Behind him stood Brans.
Emily, Allen, Aaron, and the other knights lined up.
Their number was roughly forty.
Including the knights who had followed Jornik.
"It was a fair duel, though."
"You didn't need to kill him."
"If I kill extra orcs to make up for his share, it doesn't matter."
"Wasn't he some distant cousin?"
"I don't care about that. What do you expect from a wastrel?"
"..."
This time, Bernard was truly speechless. Kallias rolled his eyes at the old man's incredulous look.
Honestly, he wasn't entirely blameless.
The guy had picked the fight first and demanded a duel.
He didn't necessarily need to kill him, but things had escalated that way.
'It happens when you get heated up.'
He felt a bit of regret.
[Jornik]
Grade: Famous Sword
Soul Within: Jornik von Jerban.
A collateral kin of House Jerban.
A promising knight called the Herculean Jornik for his innate strength since youth.
But after losing his life in a duel with Kallias von Jerban, he became a sword.
'If I'd killed him after he'd grown more, he might have reached spirit sword level.'
Perhaps because he died before fully blooming, the carcass sword made from Jornik failed to ascend to spirit sword rank.
Regrettable, but what could be done.
It was already done.
Was it because they were nearing Jaybarshu?
The wastrel trait kept trying to dominate Kallias.
"They say more swords are always better, but three is enough."
He didn't need more.
Kallias tried mouthing Jornik but spat it out, feeling it wasn't right.
"What the hell are you doing?"
"Nothing."
Instead, he examined the blade closely.
Short blade.
Sized to fit entirely in one hand.
'For throwing.'
It was a throwing dagger.
If it had been as huge as Jornik's build, he would have given it to any knight who wanted it.
But since it was compact yet usable and easy to throw, Kallias kept it.
Of course.
The sword Jornik had wielded wasn't a carcass sword he'd made, so it didn't vanish.
Thus, the greatsword went to Aaron.
The longsword to one of Jornik's knights.
"What's your name again?"
"Jack, sir."
He was the leader-like figure among Jornik's knight group.
Anticipating their resistance, Kallias had given him a longsword comparable to the famous sword Jornik wielded.
Pilgrims or knights, they all lusted after better blades equally.
Jack accepted the sword and quietly followed Kallias.
Of course, that alone wouldn't make him follow, but the rest was obvious without thinking.
More pressing issues faced them now.
"What do we do?"
"What else? We break through or sneak in to enter the castle."
Even at a glance, the army numbered thousands.
Regular orcs and warriors.
And at the rear, red-haired figures that seemed great warriors flickered into view.
Break through an army that size?
With just over forty knights?
Absurd.
"We wait until dawn."
"Yeah. They won't keep up that racket until dawn."
Kallias closely observed the orcs encamped on the snowfield.
Especially the red-haired ones.
The great warriors.
'Not there.'
Honestly, they all looked similar from afar, so he couldn't tell which was the one.
The distance was too great.
But he'd know soon enough.
It wasn't someone who would die easily.
* * *
Dark night sky.
The northern winds grew sharper as time passed.
The skin-cutting gusts intensified after sunset.
Camping in this weather?
It was as good as a death sentence from frost.
But it had to be done.
"Not even allowed a fire—it's brutal. I'll get frostbite."
"If a northern knight gets frostbite, he retires. Bundle up tight."
It was a conversation between Allen and Aaron.
The two had grown close before long.
But they showed no signs of befriending the northern blizzard.
This was wartime.
Not having set up a proper camp, Kallias's group couldn't light fires.
They relied on moonlight to adjust their eyes to the dark, staying vigilant through the sleepless night, waiting for an opportunity.
"Kallias."
"What."
"If you want to be a hero, how about you act as bait to draw their eyes?"
"Why the hell would I do that?"
"For us. If you die, I'll turn you into a sword, polish you meticulously so not a speck of dust touches you, and pass you to Emily."
"Don't talk nonsense."
Kallias and the nearby knights relaxed their faces at Bernard's chuckling joke.
But the returning icy wind soon made them grimace again.
"We'll freeze waiting for an opportunity. Is the old man's wisdom bag empty? Do something."
"You think an old man has some clever trick? Wisdom fades with age. An old man can't even remember what he ate earlier—what do you expect from me."
Tsk. Kallias clicked his tongue, pondering how to break this situation.
'The area around the castle is completely overrun by orcs.'
What to do.
How to enter the castle safely, with minimal losses.
Was there no way to safely link up with Jaybarshu's forces.
He pondered deeply.
But no clever solution came.
Kallias, cloaked in the Twilight Mantle, fiddled with his sword's pommel and exhaled white breath.
A night deep in thought.
Looking up at the sky, stars poured down.
Even in such circumstances, the stars emitted their light, forming the Milky Way.
That was when.
Whoosh! Hwoong!
The sound of a sword cutting through the wind came.
Wondering what it was, he walked into the woods and spotted Emily swinging her sword from afar.
While the knights huddled against the cold, Emily swung her blade, steam rising vigorously from her body.
"She'll get frostbite once the sweat cools."
"She swings her sword like that every night before bed, without fail."
It was Brans.
He had approached unnoticed and spoke admiringly as he watched Emily.
"Watch and learn. If you're a squire, shouldn't you aim to become a knight?"
"I'm content as a servant."
"No ambition..."
Flashy yet practical.
The concise, practical movements were Jerban swordsmanship.
But something was mixed in.
Jerban blended with flashy speed and unpredictability.
A sword like him.
"Jerban's restrained swordsmanship infused with flashy speed and variations. Like a tiger ripping through a flower field."
It was Jack.
The man with a large scar on his mouth praised Emily's swordsmanship in noble-like speech. But it was quite exaggerated.
"You're overpraising her."
"Children that age easily take after those close to them."
Kallias knew what Jack meant.
Emily's sword was strikingly similar to his own.
Her genius in swordsmanship allowed her to mimic Kallias's style after seeing it just a few times.
'The sword I struggled years to master...'
To incorporate it so easily into her own.
Hard to believe for a mere twelve-year-old's talent.
And she put in effort on top of it, making "genius" feel insufficient.
"It's a shame. I've heard of Lady Emily's genius, but seeing it up close makes it even more regrettable."
Talkative guy.
Maybe because his mouth is scarred.
Kallias agreed even as he thought that.
Emily's swordsmanship wasn't perfect, but she found her own path without guidance.
Such talent in swordsmanship was rare. But it was a pity her sacred bloodline was blocked.
If her sacred blood opened, she could wield holy power throughout her body and face stronger foes.
'With a child's body.'
Even catching a single orc or beast would be hard.
Kallias pondered the impending war while watching Emily's sword.
'A troublesome kid.'
An accidental connection.
Nothing special, just camaraderie from traveling together.
"It's a talent too good to waste."
Maybe help her a little.
Bernard seemed to favor Emily for some reason too.
"Emily. Follow me."
"...Suddenly? Where to?"
Interrupted in her training, Emily furrowed her brow.
But she followed without protest.
Before, she wouldn't have, but the aspiration-filled girl had come to acknowledge him deep down.
Not just a wastrel.
No, in the girl's mind, Kallias was no longer a wastrel.
Passing through a quiet forest path deeper in, a suitable cave appeared.
"Go in."
"You're not locking me up, are you?"
"What do I gain from locking you up? Quit talking nonsense and go in."
Even at Kallias's urging, Emily hesitated.
Her front teeth bit her lower lip, clutching her pants hem.
"...You're doing this because I'm in the way of the war!"
A normal person might soothe her with denial, but Kallias was no normal person.
"You know that already."