Chapter 100
Chapter 100
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 100
Chapter Title: Unexpected Training (1)
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Life in Pendel wasn't so bad. To be precise, it was better than expected.
The Revolutionary Corps had provided them with proper beds in a lodging, and even the meals were decent enough. But of course, that didn't mean their minds could relax.
Ban approached Anya, who was gazing out the window. She hadn't spoken properly for the past few days. Anya glanced at Ban briefly before turning her head away again. Ban stared silently at her face. It was a face he often recalled. Yet each time he looked at her, it seemed a little more unfamiliar.
'......Were her eyelashes always that long?'
Ban continued to gaze at her like that for a long while. Finally, unable to bear it, Anya spoke first.
"Why."
"Hm?"
"Why are you staring like that."
"I thought you might have something to say."
"......Not in the mood to talk."
"Anya. We're in the heart of the enemy."
Ban said quietly.
"There might not be a later."
"......A guy who thinks that way."
Anya's lips trembled. She glared at Ban, her eyes flashing. In her pure white irises, only Ban's forlorn reflection filled them.
"And yet, in that crucial moment, you tried to die alone?"
"I wasn't trying to die. I was trying to save you."
"Why don't you save yourself?"
Unlike you all, I had the expectation that I would survive. Would saying that calm Anya's anger? Or would she use Ban's true identity as another reason to be furious? Worried about that, Ban ultimately couldn't speak the truth.
"I'm sorry."
And he couldn't tell her that he might make the same choice again someday.
Anya breathed heavily, her emotions surging. Strands of White Flame clung to her breath. Ban felt the White Flame occasionally touch him but didn't avoid it. He knew her White Flame would never harm him. No matter the situation. No matter how much anger or hatred accompanied it.
"I don't care if you don't like me, Ban."
"........"
"But don't try to leave me behind. Whether you like it or not, for whatever reason...... don't walk alone....... Please."
Why was this woman making such a request? If he didn't know the answer, it might have been less bitter. The boy raised as an orphan couldn't find words to say while looking at the enemy of his clan...... the kin of that enemy.
"Leave together or die together. Do that for me, Ban."
"......Who's dying?"
"If I leave alone, you might think that's saving me."
Anya glared at Ban.
"That would be giving a wretched life instead of an honorable death. I would never be grateful for it. Do you understand?"
"I do. So let's drop it. My ears are going numb."
"You're the type who......!"
Anya bristled for a moment, bit her lip, and let out a sigh. Continuing this conversation wouldn't make Ban bend to her will. She waved her hand dismissively.
"Get out. Just. I don't even want to look at you."
"......What do you think of this village?"
Ban smoothly changed the subject. Anya didn't answer, her face sulky. Ban slowly surveyed the village scenery. In a world without sunrise, the street's bustle never faded.
"I always thought night was something you had to fight...... Never believed coexistence was possible."
"......Is this really coexistence? Isn't it more like a transaction?"
"Even seeing it as a transactional relationship is fine. Just like between humans."
Ban replied. Anya fell silent. Honestly, Pendel's sight had shocked her quite a bit too. She still believed night creatures needed to be exterminated...... but.
"Who started the fight first, anyway?"
Ban muttered. Who began the original conflict? Who turned it into the current rebellion, into war, imprinting hatred as tradition?
Who could end this fight, and how?
Ban touched his empty waist.
He recalled Ropo's final words.
— Cut what no one else could.
How? He still had no answer.
But somehow, he felt he knew what needed to be cut.
"Ban."
It was then. Kizl called to him. His face had grown haggard in just a few days. He spoke in a slightly cracked voice.
"Can you find Lady Shiraz?"
"......Lady Shiraz?"
"If we find her, we can contact the Lighthouse. And we'll know more clearly how to respond. The Lighthouse will know we're still fine right away too....... We need to prioritize contacting her."
"Understood. I'll try."
"......And for now, win over that Commander. It won't hurt."
"Yes."
Ban answered curtly. The group thought Ban had been summoned by the Commander simply for persuasion. Ban couldn't say more. Hwan could guess the reason without being told, but the others, unaware Ban was actually Seonwoo Ban.......
'What will Anya say when she finds out later.'
It was unknowable. And something he didn't want to know.
For now, what Ban could do was as Kizl said: win Ubowo's favor. Ban visited Ubowo every day. Ubowo never rushed. He said he'd waited decades. He was used to waiting.
"You want the fighting to stop......?"
Ubowo gave Ban a strange look after hearing his words.
"You're less like a swordsman the more I see you. Isn't a swordsman's path one that advances only without rivals?"
"......There was a time when I swung my sword without care for what followed."
Ban said quietly.
"That's why my sword was light."
"Good point. But that makes it even better to join me."
Ubowo smiled faintly.
"At the end of my revolution, conflict will vanish."
"Ending conflict only with more conflict. Ironic."
"Only swordsmen wish for fighting to stop?"
"......There's one thing I'd like to say."
Ban looked at Ubowo.
"I know you want me to side with the revolution. And not just in action, but truly follow you."
"Hm, and?"
"I'm a sword not yet sharpened."
It was vague, but Ubowo understood what Ban meant.
"......You mean you need to meet the previous Guardian?"
"If I'm 'weak' like this, I won't be of much use to you either."
"Heh...... Few at your level call themselves weak."
Ubowo smiled appreciatively. But his voice soon turned cold again.
"But you're right. If you go to Kalsmori Library like this......"
Ubowo chuckled.
"You'll die?"
"......I have no intention of fighting him. Still, as his successor......"
"That's why you'll die—with such half-baked thoughts. Just thinking you can talk it out with words is already a huge mistake. If you understood his resentment toward your fate, you wouldn't charge in so recklessly."
'Any advice?'
"Hm...... How about this."
Ubowo scanned Ban's body.
"I'll make you stronger. So even if you 'talk with swords' with him, you can survive."
"What do you gain from that?"
"I already said. Fate is set. Whether you oppose or join me, you'll give this revolution its answer. In that sense, you've already done everything for me."
"Even if I end up blocking your path......?"
"Everyone has their role given to me."
Only a man no longer attached to honor could wear Ubowo's expression now. That smile, detached from all, somehow reminded him of Ropo.
"The one shouting revolution loudest might be its biggest obstacle. If you block my path, I'll think my role was the lizard's tail."
"You really believe in vague fate so devoutly."
"Nothing else to believe in. I have nothing."
He smiled quietly.
"So don't think you owe me. I'm repaying a debt now."
"If you think that way, can't you send my group back?"
"Not that simple. I'd like to favor you, but it's between organizations. Even as Commander, I can't decide everything alone. Of course, if you joined me now, I'd risk it...... but timing's off. ......Heavenly Spirit!"
Ubowo called someone. At that moment, a figure with eyes covered by bandages entered. A man with a strange aura. Ban frowned.
'......Can't gauge his strength.'
Not impossibly higher than Ban's, but unreadable. His presence was so faint, Ban wondered if he was even there.
"Ban, this is Heavenly Spirit. You've met?"
"Met? This is our first......"
Ban frowned. Then it happened. Heavenly Spirit turned toward Ban, and Ban felt an uncanny sensation. Like being stripped bare from head to toe, nothing hidden.
It was the same gaze that had peered into them while climbing the mountain where the foothills were.
"He'll be your master from now on."
"Doesn't look like a swordsman."
Ubowo replied quietly.
"Only those without swords can teach certain things."
§
The new master's training was bizarre. First, he gave Ban no sword. And he never showed himself. The single assignment: whenever he threw a stone, at any moment, dodge or block it.
'......Driving me mad.'
Thanks to that, Ban couldn't relax for a second all day. Eating, sleeping—if he loosened even slightly, a stone flew to torment him.
The problem: no sword. With one, he'd feel secure—deflect or strike. Now, only dodging.
Heavenly Spirit never appeared before Ban. Ban had heard him speak only twice: 'I'm throwing a stone.' 'Dodge on your own.' And for a fortnight since, Ban spent days waiting for stones.
'Enhancing senses?'
'Reason for no sword? Too reliant?'
'What's the point?'
'......How to get stronger?'
Only questions arose. Ban took over ten hits daily. Bruises everywhere; sometimes couldn't sleep even without stones.
If Heavenly Spirit appeared, Ban could ask and vent, but no—only poison built up. Ban ground his teeth.
'Alright, show me. I'll see if your teaching matches Lord Ropo's.'
The poison sharpened his nerves. Heavenly Spirit's stones came when Ban grew careless—to the bathroom, or as sleep began.
But without a sword, Ban's sword intent didn't crumble. He spread senses everywhere, detecting even an ant entering his boundary instantly.
And daily, that boundary widened bit by bit.
Thus, stones hitting him decreased daily. From twenty to ten. Ten to five. Five to two. Two to one. And today.
"......Too easy. Lame."
Ban smirked at the stone in his hand.
He no longer got hit by stones.