Chapter 72
Chapter 72
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 72
Chapter Title: What Does the Sword Cut? (3)
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'......This guy, why is he taking so long?'
Munet bit her nails as she glanced back. It had already been quite some time since they escaped the territory. Ustain's Forest. Surrounded by the forest's druids, Munet slowly watched the place from which she had fled.
While escaping with Emily, not a single vampire had followed them. That meant Ban had firmly held them back.
If that was the case, it should mean his skills were working effectively, so why hadn't he shown up yet?
'That idiot, don't tell me he's gotten too absorbed in the fight......?'
That was the extent of Munet's guesses. It was then. Emily, who had been watching Munet sigh heavily, wore a wilted flower-like smile and asked.
"You said you were by Erok's side. So, is he still the same......?"
"......Even if you ask if he's the same, I don't know what he was like before."
"That makes sense. Then let me rephrase. Is he still...... as willful as ever?"
"Probably."
Munet's tone was quite insolent. It was understandable. To her, Emily could only seem like a romantic rival. No, it wasn't even at the level of a rival. Watching her life visibly drain away moment by moment, seeing the 'proof of love,' Munet couldn't help but question herself.
If Erok left the same curse on her, how strongly...... how long would her feelings for Erok endure against that curse?
Compared to this woman who had lost her life over hundreds of years, facing curses more than blessings day by day yet never losing her love...... could she claim her own heart was greater?
It was a question she couldn't answer. Not because she didn't know the answer, but because she didn't want to.
"I thought I'd never have to leave this forest...... But I knew that eventually, I would have no choice but to go out."
"......When you meet Erok, what will happen?"
"I suppose I'll have to ask him."
Emily answered in a calm voice.
"To end the curse he placed on me now."
"......Why did you receive the curse in the first place?"
A power that shared her abilities with everyone in the world. That alone might have been fine. But somehow, she had gained the power of 'immortality,' and her very existence became a threat from some point on. And Erok had cursed her, diminishing the value of that eternal life.......
"My power always drew envy. When immortality was added to it...... there's no need to say more."
"Were you...... in love with him?"
Even though she knew the answer, Munet asked the obvious question. And instead of answering, Emily silently looked at Munet. Only then did Munet realize that the person before her had endured hundreds of years. It felt similar to standing before Erok. An gaze that seemed to read everything in her from a single expression or gesture......
"Arotep. What a beautiful daughter you have."
"......Thank you."
Arotep smiled quietly. It was the first time. The first time she realized he could make that expression, and that his long-held disgust for his life as a vampire stemmed from such deep resentment.
'You're so young, Munet.'
Munet clamped her mouth shut. It was natural for her time to feel short before those who lived on a different time axis from humans, but it still made her frustrated somehow.
"......If the curse is lifted, what will happen to you?"
"The deferred years will probably come rushing in."
"That means......."
"Don't worry. I won't die. The years I gained by relying on your immortality are less than thirty. Even if that much time comes at once, death won't be right in front of me. It might get a little closer, though."
"Who said I was worried about you......"
Munet turned her gaze away from Arotep and grumbled. Then she looked back toward the forest. She and Ban weren't exactly friends, but that didn't mean no bond had formed between them. She had asked him to hold them back because she believed he could shake them off and escape.
Was it overconfidence? Or had she underestimated the vampires too much?
"He should have arrived by now......"
Munet glanced at Jeo. He was sitting on a tree stump, staring piercingly toward where Ban should be. The tendons in his arms and legs bulged and relaxed repeatedly. Munet approached him cautiously and spoke.
"Hey, young master."
"......Oh, what's up?"
"You seem to know this forest well, so I wanted to ask...... If there's no word like this, how should we judge it?"
"The forest isn't kind."
Jeo replied in a low voice.
"Even after living decades, people still get lost inside the forest."
"Does that mean Ban got lost?"
"Of course not. Ban and I learned how to find our way in any situation at Citadel Academy. Ustain's Forest is proud but not overly finicky. The forest won't torment Ban."
"Then why hasn't he come yet?"
"If we think rationally, yeah, he's probably still fighting. None of the pursuing vampires made it here. Yet Ban still hasn't returned. He's holding them back. For a very long time."
"......Aren't you worried?"
Jeo didn't answer. But Munet soon realized it was a foolish question. Just looking at those wide eyes showed how many thoughts were racing through his mind.
"......We don't invade vampire territory. That's the agreement. And Ban will be fine. He's survived far worse brushes with death. I can't even imagine him dying in a place like this. I trust Ban."
"Your agreement isn't one I have to keep."
Munet turned her back on Jeo and started walking. Jeo's peculiar gaze followed her.
"Are you really leaving? You might cross paths with Ban. When you face enraged vampires, who will protect you?"
"Why not? My sword is right here, perfectly sheathed."
"......If you go, I have nothing to lose. It even increases the chance my friend returns safely. But be careful."
Munet hurried her steps without fully heeding his words. But then, a man dropped like lightning in front of her.
"Don't go, Munet."
"......Get out of my way."
"Ban's role was to hold their ankles. If he couldn't do that properly, it's entirely his fault. You don't need to blame yourself."
"Even so, I can't just sit here twiddling my thumbs."
"Then change direction—at least try to get her to Erok faster. Going alone into their castle like this, you can't do anything. Instead, if you get Erok to lift her curse and let those deferred years come...... that might actually help Ban."
"We're heading to him right now!"
"You don't need to worry about that."
It was then. Cutting through their argument, Emily spoke with a faint smile, as if she had been there all along. Emily looked up at the sky. Thick clouds had gathered, filling their sky.
"The moment I left the castle, he promised to appear before me."
There was no need to ask what that meant. Lightning flashed between the dark clouds, and in the next instant, at the spot where it struck, a man in a robe slowly raised his head. Beneath hair as bright as the sun, a sorrowful shadow fell over his indescribably face.
Erok looked up at Emily.
Emily smiled quietly before that gaze.
"To end my life."
§
Slash. Slash. Slash again.
What he must cut, what he had been cutting for—all reasons and causes lost their light. No, they never had light to begin with. In the end, he was one who slashed for the sake of slashing. While others chased honor and wealth through the sword, he simply pursued the traces left by that blade.
—Wasn't that where it all went wrong?
From long ago, Obun—the first one he had granted death—appeared and asked. Facing Obun with his blackened whites, Ban responded with a slash instead of words. But Obun wasn't the end. The bandit who threatened him. The murderer who ravaged seven women. The rebel spy. Sometimes missions, sometimes circumstances forced him to cut them one after another.
—Not knowing what you should cut, why did you even pick up the sword?
Wrong. Wrong. Ban knew what he had to cut. He would cut the sky. Cut mountains, cut the sea. His dream was to become a Sword God who......
—Then why did you cut me?
They all wore the faces of the vampire he had just slashed. He didn't know. Ban couldn't answer. He said he would cut the sky, yet all this time, what he had cut was human flesh.
Perhaps he had been complacent. In his life as a swordsman, maybe he had only seen what he wanted to see.
The blade he thought so beautiful, the edge he found so magnificent,
was actually forged not for the heavens...... but to sever life.
—Haha! No matter what life it is, does it mean nothing before your romantic notions?
Mocking laughter. He whipped his head around in anger, and there stood Obun again, staring straight at him. Ban answered.
You killed people too. You tried to kill me. I had no choice but to cut you, and I feel no shame in that.
Obun asked.
—Even if there was reason to kill me, did every one of your actions have such justification? No, did you ever seriously confront the justifications you claimed?
—No. You didn't. What mattered to you was becoming invincible under heaven, not some boring debate on good and evil.
—That's why you're here now. Look.
Obun turned his head. The moment Ban followed his gaze, his face drained to a deathly pallor. It couldn't be helped. The corpses he had killed were crawling toward him one by one. Not fast. He could run if he wanted. But he couldn't. Obun's voice wrapped around his chest like a snake.
..... When you become invincible under heaven, your heaven will hold an even more tremendous scene than this.
Wrong. What he wished for, what he wishes for.
—No matter how much you try not to care, try to ignore it, you'll keep facing this scene. You'll realize it. That your heaven is nothing like what you imagined. You'll never forget. All the lives you took.
Obun laughed.
—Just as the dead won't forget you.
"......Hah! Heh, gasp, kuh......"
Ban rose with a half-swallowed scream. He looked around with a face pale as death. An unfamiliar room. Rough blankets. A worn chandelier. A moldy bookshelf, half-torn curtains. Nothing looked familiar.
No, there was one thing that wasn't unfamiliar.
"Awake?"
A wrinkled face looked at him.
Ban's eyes trembled.
"......Ropo?"