Chapter 689: Destiny for Two (3)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 689: Destiny for Two (3)
"It wasn't that I didn't become one. It was that I couldn't."
"I would have thought your martial prowess was more than sufficient."
"Lord Cyron didn't just say that as a figure of speech; he truly did not see me as human. How could a being that isn't human ever become a knight?"
"Still, I'm sure it would have been no trouble for my father to keep you by his side and educate you until you became a person."
"You can't possibly think your father is the type of man to put effort into taming anyone, much less a beast."
"That's true. If Father didn't personally recruit you, the Black Knights wouldn't have bothered trying to persuade you either."
"I didn't particularly want to be Lord Cyron’s subordinate, anyway. I only desired to reach the realm he had attained. The Black Knights offered the greatest challenge I could find, so attacking Lord Cyron and his knights became my most important daily routine. However, it soon became common for them to trivially suppress me several at a time, rather than facing me one-on-one."
"Even if they didn't recruit you, there was no reason to go all out against an opponent they didn't want to kill. From your description… well, it almost sounds like they found you cute."
"And whenever I was suppressed, I always ended up eating with the Black Knights at their camp. Even if I tried to run away, they would catch me, bind me, and force-feed me."
"They went that far? Did they have orders to eat with you whenever they found you?"
—I’d rather just kill him. What is this nonsense?
—It's the Patriarch’s order. Now stuff your face.
"So they said."
At that, Jin fell into thought for a moment. He wondered why Cyron had given such an order. For some reason, he wanted to figure it out himself rather than hear the answer directly from Hedo.
"I think he believed that the act of sharing a meal… would be a good way for you to acquire humanity. He also likely thought it would benefit the mental state of the Black Knights. The Black Sea is a dreadful land, after all."
"I think so too, 12th Flagbearer. It was only possible because I was a beast."
Though neither of them knew it, Hedo had essentially played a role similar to that of Ozdok, who was currently part of the expedition.
Hedo spent a considerable amount of time with Cyron’s knights during that period. They would eat together, sit blankly by the campfire, and then depart. Sometimes they shared conversations; sometimes Hedo would suddenly pounce even while eating, only to be subdued again; and sometimes the knights would offer Hedo advice on the sword.
They were becoming something akin to friends.
"Ah, at that point, it seems like you should have just become a Runcandel. How on earth did you end up falling in with the Zipple and taking such a long detour?"
"Because it wasn't meant to be."
At first, it seemed that if things continued, Hedo would soon blend in among the Black Knights. Both Hedo and the knights themselves thought so.
But that was only for a brief period.
"I was a beast, and Lord Cyron and his knights were human. But in the end, we were all becoming monsters. My desire to emulate Lord Cyron’s sword also began to fade. Madness was overtaking my motivation."
While the Black Knights were struggling against the Black Sea, Hedo was being devastated by an increasingly mysterious madness. It was the same for Cyron. The peculiar demonic nature of the Realm of Creation continued to isolate him from others, and the frequency of their somewhat cozy meals decreased over time.
Cyron’s order had certainly helped those who were withering away, but it was merely a temporary reprieve.
"The Black Sea is a place where one cannot survive without discarding humanity, and Creation is a realm that cannot be controlled without transcending the human state."
The timing, the location—everything about the encounter between Hedo and Runcandel was ill-fated.
Without anyone needing to say it first, from the moment they stopped eating together, Hedo and the knights once again drew their swords only to kill each other.
"And so, we all reached middle age—the Black Knights, Lord Cyron, and I. Every time we met, we could see the hollow traces of passing years on each other's faces. It felt like looking into a mirror. They must have felt the same looking at me."
The past shared between Cyron’s Runcandel and Hedo was much longer and more melancholy than Jin had imagined.
"And finally, I decided to challenge Lord Cyron one last time."
"...Judging by the flow of the story, I don't think it was out of fighting spirit or a desire for competition."
"Correct. I intended to die. Just as I had learned shame and the desire for revenge through Vanessa, it was only at that age that I first understood what it meant to be empty. It was an emptiness that had always filled me; I simply hadn't known it."
Hedo’s gaze remained fixed on the sky.
That emptiness was the very cause of his madness.
"As soon as I realized it, an insane impulse surged through me, telling me there was no reason to live any longer. The past days spent exploring the sword and merely surviving meant nothing."
At least the knights, even as they became monsters, had clear goals and loyalty, giving them no reason to give up on life. But Hedo was different.
He was a man who truly possessed nothing.
"I met Lord Cyron again and drew my sword. Previously, whenever I aimed my sword at him, the other knights would deal with me. But this time, no one stepped forward. Instead, Lord Cyron drew Barisada, just as he had when silently cutting down challengers in the past."
At that time, Hedo’s skill was only a few steps below what it was now. His achievements had exploded thanks to decades of training in the Black Sea, combined with the advice and frequent sparring with the Black Knights.
Even so, it wasn't even a fight.
Cyron, a wall that remained insurmountable even now, had already reached completion long ago.
"When I regained my senses after the fight, Lord Cyron was looking down at me as I lay collapsed. When I told him to kill me, what do you think he said?"
"Hmm…"
Jin once again tried to imagine his father's thoughts. Since nothing specific came to mind, he simply gave the answer he would have given in the same situation.
"I think he would have asked why you had no intention of leaving the Black Sea."
At that, Hedo’s eyes widened.
"Indeed… you truly are his son."
—Why are you still in the Black Sea?
"Thinking back, despite having attacked him for so long, it was the first time he had ever asked me that. The Black Knights never said such a thing to me either. It was likely for the same reason one doesn't ask a wild animal why it lives where it does."
In other words, it was only then that Cyron had begun to see Hedo as a person rather than a beast.
—Go out and live the life of a human. Stop chasing us.
"When I heard those words… I felt like I was going mad. I screamed at him to just kill me instead. I tried to grab Lord Cyron and the knights as they walked away, but my shattered body wouldn't obey. They had things they needed to do, but I had nothing."
Hedo lay there for three days. He couldn't move, but he hoped that the monsters that usually roamed the area would attack and devour him.
However, just as beasts avoid the scent of a predator, the monsters didn't even come near, repelled by Cyron’s residual energy, until Hedo finally stood up again.
"And so, I went outside. I was exiled from the Black Sea by Lord Cyron. I didn't know the way back, but I just walked aimlessly until I found myself in the human world. I wasn't attacked by a single monster on that journey. I even thought that the creatures were following Lord Cyron’s will."
The human world, which he had left at fifteen and returned to only in middle age, was nothing short of hell for Hedo.
Because he had nowhere to go.
"12th Flagbearer, I have always called the Black Sea a place of escape."
"You have."
"A person cannot grow in a place of escape. When I returned to the human world, I was no different from the fifteen-year-old who had left for the Black Sea. I had become a warrior close to 10-star, but internally, I was still the same as when I killed the orphanage director."
The same situation as before he went to the Black Sea continued. The only difference was that now, no one dared to look down on Hedo and challenge him.
His physique was similar to his current one, he looked like a disheveled madman with a massive longsword, and he overflowed with a peculiar, empty gloom. He never got caught up in the petty quarrels of ordinary people. Furthermore, except for a few times when he took a wrong turn, Hedo didn't seek out inhabited places at all. He mostly spent his time staring blankly at mountains, the sea, or deserted islands.
"Did you not think to visit the Garden of Swords?"
"Because I was a wreck. I suppose you've never been like that."
Jin recalled that before his regression, after being exiled from the family, he too had been a mere wreck until he met Valeria.
"I suppose that's possible. In that case… I imagine the Zipple found you around that time. The Tower Keeper said he had served Sandra since she was very young. Based on the timeline, that's the only thing that fits."
"That is correct. The White Night suddenly came for me while I was on a deserted island."
"Why did the White Night seek you out?"
"It seems that among the unfortunate challengers I killed in the Black Sea, there were a few from the Zipple. I heard that one who survived and returned to the family reported my existence. They had been waiting for me to leave the Black Sea ever since."
Even if it wasn't for Hedo, the Zipple always planted people near the Black Sea. It was the only way they could monitor the Runcandels entering and leaving the area. It was almost inevitable that Hedo would catch their eye and be tracked after he entered the human world.
Hedo had been starving for days, but he wiped out the White Night without much difficulty. However, he could do nothing against the Wraith Squad that attacked him afterward.
"Instead of being killed, I was imprisoned. I thought that if I stayed still, they would eventually stop trying to persuade me and just kill me. My body was alive, but I was already dead. All the conditions the family offered were meaningless to me."
Of course, the Zipple did not kill Hedo in the end. Losing a few members of the White Night was a small price to pay if they could gain an unaffiliated superhuman. Moreover, the Zipple were already researching mind control even back then. If Hedo ultimately refused to be recruited, they could simply use him once their mind control magic had advanced.
Hedo didn't know of such plans, but even if he had, he wouldn't have acted differently.
"How on earth did Sandra move your heart when you were in such a state?"
At those words, Hedo turned, leaned against the railing, and looked at Sandra across the restaurant.
She was laughing even louder than before, as if something was incredibly delightful.