Chapter 204: Vanessa Olson (4)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 204: Vanessa Olson (4)
‘A reward.’
Jin cheered internally. He had expected as much, but hearing it with his own ears felt different.
“First, go catch those horses you let loose. At my age, I have no desire to walk through this wilderness for days on my own two feet.”
“Understood.”
Jin set off to find the horses. Since the wilderness was covered in their tracks, tracking them wasn't difficult.
Fortunately, the horses were well-trained and hadn't fled too far. Jin soon found them quenching their thirst at a drying puddle.
By the time he led them back, night had fully fallen.
“Good work. Sit.”
Crackle, crackle…
A well-tended campfire blazed before Vanessa. Grease sizzled from jerky skewered on wooden sticks, and there were even a few cleaned fish—though where she had caught them was a mystery.
There were also three large jugs of alcohol. Vanessa opened one and filled two iron cups to the brim.
‘She loaded quite a few things into the carriage before we left; I guess it was all booze. She spoke as if I wouldn’t pass the test, yet she prepared for a moment like this.’
Jin smiled and gave a slight bow.
“You worked hard as well, Lady Vanessa. I didn’t expect you to prepare such a wonderful spread.”
“I was treated well the whole time I was in Tikan, after all.”
Clink. The iron cups collided, and the liquid sloshed.
The alcohol warriors drank was potent. Unlike ordinary people, their tempered bodies didn't easily succumb to intoxication from average spirits.
In that sense, the alcohol Vanessa had brought was terrifyingly strong. The moment he swallowed, the Ten Thousand Poison Liquor within his body reacted; it was a brew most warriors wouldn't be able to handle.
‘This is even stronger than the Jewel Liquor I drank before I obtained the Heart of Light.’
He found it impressive that Vanessa was gulping down such a drink without the aid of something like the Ten Thousand Poison Liquor.
She drank in silence until she had emptied an entire jug. Jin tried to keep pace but soon realized she was lost in her own thoughts and decided to wait quietly.
In the firelight, the wrinkles around her eyes seemed to hold a trace of sorrow.
“Do you remember me saying back in Tikan that there was a time I often thought of while idling away the hours?”
“Yes, I remember.”
“It was because I was thinking of my younger brother. I’ve grown this old, but the boy in my memories is still a youth like you. It makes me forget my own age sometimes.”
Her voice was calm.
The sorrow Jin perceived was a projection of his own. To her, her brother’s death was an event from far too long ago. What she felt now wasn't grief, but a profound sense of loneliness.
“You’re probably wondering why I’m suddenly telling you this.”
“Is it because I resemble your brother?”
“You don’t resemble him at all. He wasn't as handsome as you, nor was he strong. He was special to me, but objectively speaking, he was just an ordinary boy you could find anywhere. We were orphans, not nobles.”
Gulp.
Vanessa emptied another cup and pulled out a cigarette. She lit it with an ember from the campfire and finished it in a single, long drag. Thick smoke momentarily obscured her face.
“On the other hand, I was born with immense potential, just like you Runcandels. I was preparing to become a knight of the Schuteron Kingdom when, at seventeen, I got into a minor scuffle at a tavern. I beat a man up, thinking he was just some thug, but it turned out he was a knight from the capital.”
“That knight must have been quite surprised.”
“He was on vacation in his hometown and happened to run into some trouble at a local tavern. I didn't even know his status until he left the pub with blood streaming from his nose. The owner, the only witness, told me then—that the man was a knight of the Schuteron capital.”
“You must have been shocked to hear that as well.”
“I was incredibly shocked. I didn't think a knight would pick a fight with a commoner girl drinking alone for no reason. He told me to get out if I wasn't going to serve him. How was I supposed to think a man like that was a knight?”
Vanessa pulled out another cigarette and finished it in one go.
“The next day, the knight didn't kill me; he killed the tavern owner. Then he started killing or capturing the few neighbors I knew. The Lord himself fabricated charges and even sent troops. He wanted to get on the capital knight's good side.”
At that time, Vanessa wasn't transcendentally strong like she was now. She merely had immense potential; she was just a seventeen-year-old girl.
“So I tried to run. But, damn it… I made the decision too late. My brother was taken by the Lord’s soldiers, and I had no choice but to go to the Lord’s castle. Without even a single sword.”
Vanessa’s brother had been tied up in the courtyard of the Lord’s castle, severely beaten. The knight then ordered Vanessa to strip and crawl toward the castle. When Jin heard this part, his fists trembled, but Vanessa waved a dismissive hand.
“Pfft. Fortunately, I never had to comply with that humiliating demand. Just as I was about to take off my clothes, a deafening roar echoed from somewhere… and fireballs began to rain down. Of all moments, a dragon attacked the castle right then. It was a Fire Dragon.”
That Fire Dragon leveled the castle in an instant, killing the Lord, his soldiers, and the knight.
Paradoxically, it was Vanessa who survived to fight that Fire Dragon.
“It was absurd. In the chaos, prisoners escaped, soldiers fled, and the Lord and that knight died the moment the dragon appeared. But my brother, who was tied to a post, luckily survived the dragon’s breath. So, I had to fight.”
In that battle, Vanessa awakened.
The potential she never knew she had blossomed, unleashing a monstrous strength that even she couldn't comprehend.
“I used the dead knight’s sword to protect my brother. The very sword of the man who had taken him. And apparently, that sight looked quite amusing to the Fire Dragon—the way I desperately hugged my brother while striking down its flames.”
Even though she had awakened, handling the power of a Fire Dragon was impossible.
Before long, the Fire Dragon snatched her brother away and intentionally left her alive.
“After burning down the village past the castle, it told me to come to the Ante Mountains if I wanted my brother back. So I went, and I met the Fire Dragon again in a cave.”
Her brother was already dead.
“And the Fire Dragon didn't fight me. It just flew away, leaving me there. It simply wanted to see me in despair. It realized that was far more entertaining than just trampling some country village.”
“…Have you been in the Ante Mountains ever since that day?”
“Yes. I couldn't even think about leaving to find it. I was exhausted.”
Jin was now emptying his cup as quickly as Vanessa.
After that, Vanessa didn't leave the place until she met Cyron. When dragons came, she killed them; when people came, she killed them. There weren't many people she killed, but among them were a few warriors whose skills were nearly on par with hers.
They were all people who held a grudge against the Fire Dragon or had come to challenge it.
“I was going mad. No, I was mad. I killed over a hundred dragons, but that Fire Dragon never showed up. Over fifteen years passed. Then your father, Lord Cyron, came looking for me.”
Cyron was the first human to defeat Vanessa.
“The day after your father subdued me, he immediately captured that Fire Dragon and all of its offspring. As it turned out, the creature was the kin of Kadun, the Guardian Dragon of Kelliark Zipple. So Kadun came too, intending to protect his kin. What do you think happened?”
“I imagine my father killed them all. And Kadun likely fled with injuries.”
“Lord Cyron only helped by ensuring Kadun couldn't interfere. He left the task of fighting the Fire Dragon and its offspring entirely to me.”
The revenge belonged to Vanessa.
She was finally able to kill the Fire Dragon, and before she did, she asked it over and over: Why? Why did you do it?
“As I said before, the creature killed my brother because it was fun. It killed him because watching me despair was fun… Whether it feared Lord Cyron, or it just wanted to spite me one last time since it was going to die anyway, it honestly told me it was all just a game.”
“Hah.”
“I naturally became Lord Cyron’s knight. After putting on the black helmet, the days were so difficult I couldn't even think about the past. Then, as I got used to it and came to my senses, I found that my words and actions had become those of a proper knight.”
Jin didn't answer, but refilled her cup.
“Even if you become stronger, do as your father did: create opportunities for your subordinates to take their own revenge. It is a virtue you must possess if you wish to become the King of the Sword Ghosts.”
“I will take those words to heart.”
“Also, if possible, do not give your heart to ordinary people like my brother. Unlike us, they die far too easily, and they tend to break just by being at our side. If you ever fall into despair…”
Vanessa paused for a moment and met Jin’s eyes.
“It won't be because you were defeated by the sword of someone stronger than you, but because of the tragedies suffered by the ordinary people around you. Both I and your father were wounded by such things and became monsters. Now, I don't even feel sad that my brother is never coming back.”
A long silence followed as the campfire burned down. Eventually, Vanessa opened the last remaining jug of alcohol.
“As for your father’s story, you should hear it from him directly if you ever get the chance.”
“Yes.”
Is becoming a transcendent figure a process of castrating one's natural human emotions? As the thought occurred to him, his comrades in Tikan came to mind.
“I think that’s enough advice… Take this.”
Vanessa pulled a folded piece of paper from her robe.
It was a map. However, it was completely different from a standard map and far removed from the general shape of the continent Jin knew. A significant portion was blank, showing it was unfinished, and many areas were intentionally obscured, making it difficult to recognize at a glance.
“It’s a map of the Black Sea. Go to the region marked in red. It doesn't matter if you go with your comrades, but from that marked area onward, you won't be able to withstand the toxicity without the Ten Thousand Poison Liquor.”
“Is this the reward you mentioned?”
This was the first time Jin had ever heard that a map of the Black Sea even existed. The former Black Knights had spent nearly their entire lives creating it, a task that was still ongoing.
“Lord Cyron entrusted that map to me as soon as it was made. He told me to give it to whichever of his children I deemed worthy. Therefore, this is a reward from me. And it is also a new test.”
“If I ask what’s there, you won't tell me, will you?”
Vanessa shook her head.
“No, why wouldn't I tell you something so obvious? There is a monster in the red-marked area. Defeat it. I heard it was a creature once kept by the Witch Heluram long ago.”
Jin’s pupils dilated.