Chapter 77
Chapter 77
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: penny
Chapter: 77
Chapter Title: Paladin's Pursuit
-----------------------------------------------------------------
"77화"
"Don't listen to that bastard, Sister!"
"Y-Yes!?"
She startled awake, snapping back to her senses.
"Listen only to me. Then I'll show you something fun."
"Wh-what......"
"Hold on tight."
"Damn it!"
*Whirrk, tap tap tap!*
"Kyaaak!"
Spinning in the air with the pilgrim named Maria, I sequentially kicked off the walls and leaped up onto the rooftop.
*Thud.*
"Th-that scared me...."
"Kallias!! Hand over the Sister!"
He was still chasing me, even now.
Thinking of him like a leech, I looked down to see Brans waving his hand in front of the crumbled wall.
'Crazy bastard.'
Waving his hand in this situation?
But beside him, Vivi was clinging on.
Vivi was saying not to worry.
"Useful little thing."
So, what now?
Killing them all feels a bit off.
After all, these women had said they liked me. Killing them seems wrong.
"Wh-what are you going to do now?"
Maria asked cautiously.
Still held in my arms, her face was flushed, and I could feel her heart pounding like mad.
"What do you think I should do?"
"R-run away, please. Word that Kallias has appeared is drawing lots of Sisters here. Even more Paladins will gather than before."
"Cute."
"Y-yes?! H-haang......"
Maria's face exploded red, and she promptly passed out.
I flinched at my own words.
But I quickly regained my composure.
It was probably the trait.
In the North, the wastrel trait had been a nuisance at times, but here, the prodigal son trait seemed to be the one bothering me.
"Forgot about the traits."
While playing Heretic Inquisitor and beating down the corrupt, I'd forgotten about traits. What a blunder.
*Click!*
"Kallias, you bastard!!"
It was that Paladin from before.
The moment he climbed onto the roof, he charged at me and swung his sword.
*Boom-!*
I dodged lightly, and he smashed the roof. I scooped up Maria.
"What did you do to Maria!"
"Nothing."
I just called her cute.
"Don't lie! She wouldn't collapse like this if you did nothing!"
"I'm innocent."
But he wouldn't believe me, so I picked up Maria's sword.
Not a famed sword—just a carcass sword.
Its faint blue blade was proof.
A plain longsword with no special features.
But the sword in the Paladin's hand was a famed sword. It resembled a saber, with a blade slightly curved upward.
"Kallias. So the rumors about you obtaining a sacred relic are true. Your movements are worlds apart from three years ago."
Such rumors had spread.
Didn't matter.
They'd all vanish in a few days.
"You seem awfully interested in me. Why not confess your true feelings? Of course, I wouldn't accept."
*Grind.*
"Shut up!! Failing to kill you three years ago is my eternal regret. Even with a sacred relic's power, a wastrel's swordsmanship can't touch me!"
"You have a different charm from Maria. Did you visit my bedroom too?"
More unintended nonsense slipped out.
Trembling with humiliation, the Paladin kicked off the roof and charged.
"Die!!"
He unleashed his holy power in an instant.
His pure holy power wasn't bad, and his sword path was concise.
Decent swordsmanship.
But.
*Slide.*
It didn't work on me.
Our clashing swords spun around, now pointing from above downward.
The startled Paladin leaped back.
"!"
He glared with eyes wide in disbelief.
"I clearly clashed swords with you......"
"No sound, right."
There was a sound.
Just too faint to hear easily.
I wasn't even using holy power or strength enhanced by divine grace.
I merely deflected his force.
In front of the Warlord, with not a scrap of strength left, I'd deflected his axe.
It had been the power of Death-Time Insight, but I'd long wanted it as my own.
'Not yet.'
It wasn't the deflection from back then.
When fighting the Warlord.
With a body that used not a shred of strength, I'd deflected the Warlord's ferocious axe.
That sensation.
I wanted to reclaim it, but it seemed impossible for now.
Not satisfying at all.
"What did you do!"
"Nothing."
New sensations flooded my body and dominated my mind, different from before.
The instant our swords met, a wave of information surged in.
The Paladin's nature.
His sword path and habits when swinging.
How many years he'd trained with those movements—it all came through.
No, I grasped it instantly.
An amazing sensation, but it left me even more deflated.
This Paladin's level was below that of a random orc warrior who'd come to the North.
I'd expected as much.
Carpe's standards were quite low.
"Need help?"
A familiar voice called then.
"Helena. You hadn't left yet?"
"No, I was finishing business when it got noisy, so I looked and saw you fighting. How about it? Want help like three years ago? Special sale right now—I'll do it for a thousand gold. You've got money now, right?"
"No need."
I didn't need help that badly.
Just annoying.
"Paladin Helena!! Because of you back then, I couldn't kill that bastard—do you know how hard it's been!"
"Don't talk about killing like it's natural. And people have their reasons. You get it? So here's a deal! Give me a thousand gold, and I won't help. What do you say?"
A thousand gold.
How could a mere Paladin casually hand over that sum?
"I don't have that kind of spare......"
"Too bad. Right now, I could knock it down to eight hundred gold."
The pondering Paladin tossed a pouch from his pocket.
"This is all I have right now!"
*Whoosh.* Helena snatched the flying gold pouch, stuck out her tongue to gauge the weight, and said,
"Eh, just a hundred?"
"Ten minutes, then!"
"Sure, whatever."
But.
"Kallias is already gone?"
Kallias had vanished at some point.
"Damn it!!"
He spat curses and looked at Helena.
She was gone too.
With his gold.
* * *
*Step step.*
*Pat pat.*
Brushing dust off his shoulders, Kallias left the market district, pulled up his hood, and melted into the crowd.
"Settling old grudges is fine, but the holy alchemist comes first."
Heading to the area bordering the forest on Kaladi's outskirts.
A barrage of chemical scents assaulted his nose.
This was the district where Kaladi's holy alchemists gathered.
Kallias needed to find one here. One who would later become a pillar of Carpe Kingdom, creating powerful artifacts and holy swords.
"Beatrice."
She could solve his troubles adequately.
* * *
"I-Isn't that Lady Esther!"
"An honor!!"
They were soldiers guarding the capital.
In Carpe, no one disrespected swordsmen. Raised watching knights with swords from birth, tales of spearmen came only to the sharp-eared.
Thus, strong knights.
Paladins received due respect.
Even if the Church's reputation had fallen, the sword was equal to all.
So they couldn't hide their admiration for the once-in-a-century genius, Esther.
"We were deeply impressed watching you win against a famed sword Paladin with an ordinary carcass sword at the royal tournament!"
"With a divine presence like Lady Esther in the kingdom, everyone's expectations are sky-high......"
"Yes."
Esther found their attention grating, but the soldiers seized any chance to speak.
"What brings you here......"
"I was passing by when I sensed a disturbance and came to check."
Disturbance.
Her keen senses had drawn her here while passing through the streets.
"What happened."
"Uh...... well, we just arrived, so we haven't grasped the details yet."
However.
"From the traces, it looks like a small skirmish. We've got testimonies from nearby witnesses too."
The soldiers looked displeased. Pilgrims swinging swords recklessly was commonplace.
Reading their expressions, Esther calmly struck the core.
"Was it pilgrims."
"Yes? Ah, y-yes. A group of pilgrims. Don't know why, but fewer than ten of them were brawling."
"May I take a look."
"Ah, of course. This way...."
In this narrow alley, a dozen had fought as a group.
Esther didn't believe the soldier.
'It was one against many.'
Over ten attacking one.
Chaotic sword marks on buildings and ground.
From the footprints, she could picture the fight.
"Two of them."
"Yes? What do you......"
Ignoring the soldier, Esther sank into thought.
First, two.
But one collapsed immediately.
No footprints left with the wall crumbled.
Then the remaining one.
"Amazing."
"What's... amazing, milady?"
Clearly outnumbered.
Over ten pilgrims attacked one, yet oddly, that one's sword marks and footprints were absent.
As if fighting a ghost.
'Of course, not entirely traceless.'
Suddenly, from here, two sets of footprints overlapped in combat.
He'd captured an enemy and toyed with him. No great master would do otherwise.
"And......"
She saw it.
Kicking off the wall to ascend.
Three leaps to scale a five-story building's height to the roof.
Even Esther couldn't do that easily.
Incredible physical prowess.
While carrying someone else.
"Who could it be."
A figure pilgrims fought.
Perhaps an imperial knight hiding in Kaladi?
Plausible.
He hadn't drawn his own weapon.
*Whirrk, tap, tap, tap!*
"Whoa! L-Lady Esther!"
Ignoring the soldiers, Esther scaled the wall like the mystery knight and reached the rooftop.
"Vanished from here."
Even here, no footprints of his.
Pilgrims' strength transcends normal humans.
Superhuman force naturally leaves marks on terrain.
Yet his were absent here too.
Despite clearly fighting someone, no trace of that someone.
Even against the Paladin's final powerful strike—no trace.
Intriguing.
A strong knight accomplishing what she couldn't.
To Esther, who'd honed only the sword, the strong were the world's sole fascination, her one amusement.
"Heave-ho, heave-ho......"
As she smiled with interest.
A cute voice came from somewhere.
Looking up, a girl was cautiously climbing out of a hole in the blasted roof, afraid it might collapse.
"Got it!"
"Who are you."
"Mommy!!"
*Rumble! Crash!!*
"Kyaaak!"
Overexerting, she fell as the roof crumbled again.
"Whoa! Whoooaa!! I almost died......"
"Are you alright."
"Y-yes! L-Lady Esther?"
"You're... pilgrim Maria."
"Y-you know me?"
"We're cohorts, aren't we."
"Th-that's right! I didn't think you'd remember... Th-thank you."
Pulled up onto the roof, Maria bowed deeply to Esther.
"But what are you doing here?"
"Ah, I left something behind...."
She frantically looked around as if just remembering.
Even years ago as an ascetic, she had that vibe, so Esther remembered.
Kind-hearted and considerate, few disliked Maria.
But Esther didn't fancy her warmth.
"By any chance, did you see a sword around here?"
A sword. Only one reason to search for it here.
"Were you the one fighting here."
"Yes? Ah, well...... it was a fight, but not quite—a vague thing."
"What do you mean."
"Ah, that is......"
Esther's brow furrowed.
Maria's behavior was off. Face red, fingers fidgeting, body twisting.
'Like a cute earthworm.'
She seemed immensely embarrassed. But only briefly.
She grew restless.
"Lady Esther, haven't you seen my sword? It's so precious to me! Without it, I'm done for!"