Chapter 52
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: 8uhl
Chapter: 52
Chapter Title: A Promise and Two Holy Swords
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Just as my consciousness, ensnared by the light, felt itself plummeting into darkness, it suddenly awakened in a space of pure white.
It was an immaculate white space.
A peaceful space, as if to say that everything that had just happened was merely a nightmare.
The area was filled with children's doodles and toys, and at the center of this peace stood Isla.
“Isla.”
Though the space should have been overflowing with laughter, it was filled only with a bitter silence.
“Did you… finish it properly?”
And so I asked, just like that, with a hollow smile.
I didn't utter unrealistic phrases like, “You’re safe,” or “I was so worried.”
I knew such words were meaningless in this world.
“Where is this?”
“This is the space within Isla’s heart. I thought I wanted to talk with Kaisen just a little longer, and this happened.”
“Is this also the power of a dragon?”
“It is! This is the power of a dragon!”
Isla smiled innocently.
So, I smiled with her.
It was less a smile that lifted the heart and more a bitter one that slowly sank it.
“Isla was always inside a test tube. Only once a year could Isla leave the test tube to meet Kasena and Prisvia.”
Kasena, Prisvia.
Both were figures from 300 years ago.
Legendary adventurers who existed 300 years ago. Not only that, but Prisvia was something of a progenitor of steam engine technology.
“Prisvia always said! To become a great dragon like Akina or Mir. To become a dragon and establish peace upon the land.”
So those words became your creed.
Did my thoughts reach her?
A flicker of sorrow crossed Isla’s eyes as she chuckled and lowered her gaze.
“From a certain year, Prisvia stopped coming, and only Kasena came. Her face was wrinkled and her hair was white, which made my heart ache for some reason.”
That was probably…
Because Prisvia had died.
“Kasena said Isla didn't need to be great. She said to become a dragon that could help just one person, even one, with all her heart. Then, when we met again, she would be truly happy.”
“Is that so?”
“And then Kasena didn't come anymore. Forever, after that day. It was only after Halvaron and Ryunel woke me up later that I came out of the test tube.”
Forever, after that day.
As she said that, Isla’s smile, brighter than usual, looked sadder than any sorrow.
Because I knew that sadness, knew it better than anyone, my chest ached as if it were being torn apart.
“So Isla tried to become that kind of dragon, but failed at everything. No matter how hard I tried, they all died. I couldn't keep any of my promises.”
“It’s the same for me.”
“But I was able to help Kaisen! Kaisen is humble, but thanks to you, I think I can make Kasena smile when I meet her! I came to say thank you for that one last time.”
That small body.
Along with this pure white space.
As it crumbled into particles of light and scattered, my heart began to pound like mad.
“Isla was lonely. But when I thought of my promise to Kasena, I could go ‘kyaang’ and find strength! Since Kaisen is weak, I will make a promise with you so you can do the same.”
Tottering, she approached lightly.
She placed her small finger over my own limp one.
“Isla failed, but Kaisen will become a great hero who helps everyone! Then, when we meet again, Isla will praise you lots and lots!”
The light within her body… vanished with the last smile that bloomed on her face.
Isla, too.
And that space.
And once again, the nightmare called reality encroached upon my five senses, reviving with clarity.
*Cough…*
I regained consciousness, spewing out the dirt and rotten flesh that had been blocking my throat and esophagus.
A terrible stench pricked my nose.
When my senses returned, waves tainted with the blood, flesh, and bone of the ancients were lapping over my body.
“The coast…”
The backlash from the Dragon Spirit Liberation subsided, and my memories began to awaken.
Gaumuris's special ability and Isla's berserk power had opened a small crack in the inner wall of Behe-Rik.
After pushing Kaisen, wrapped in a barrier, through it, Isla must have plunged the Sword of Resonant Light into her soul's core.
When the soul is imprisoned, the body collapses. The flesh and blood that blackened this coast were the evidence of the Old Noble's subjugation.
“Right, you finished it properly…”
The world was covered in sand and the dregs of death. Through a gap in the sky not yet swallowed by the sand, the dawn descended.
The dawn of a new day.
Like the unforgettable days of my youth, it was a new day I was seeing again, having stepped over the death of someone close.
Again…
Again, like this…
Am I to live on because someone else died in my place… and live the rest of my life bearing that pain?
*—Then farewell, my humble friend, Kaisen.*
I wanted to lie there forever, just like that. If only something hadn't approached and started licking the mud and blood from my face.
“Bloodwind.”
How did he find me?
Did he pick his way through the places where the Reptilians' killing intent had vanished, all the way to this place of death to find me?
As I grabbed Bloodwind's harness and barely managed to pull myself up, he let out a whinny.
*Woong, woong, woong…*
Aradamanthel, slung on my back, sobbed in red light. As if embracing another's cry.
I turned my head in that direction.
In the middle of the shore, I could see a masterless holy sword sobbing along with it.
The Supreme Holy Sword, Gaumuris.
Its flickering, unique golden glow somehow looked like it was weeping in grief over its master's death.
“Gaumuris.”
Limping in pain, I approached and grasped Gaumuris's hilt.
“Come with me.”
In my hand, Gaumuris felt familiar and comfortable, its texture and weight like that of a long-lost friend's hand clasping mine.
As if in answer to my question, Gaumuris emitted a golden radiance. I took it as a sign of acceptance.
I slung Gaumuris onto my back, took a step, and plunged the one remaining Dragon's Blood serum syringe into the center of my chest.
Why?
The missing part was my leg.
As the Dragon's Blood traveled down my veins and my broken leg regenerated with a bubbling sound, I repeatedly stabbed the empty syringe into my chest. Again, and again, and again.
Why…
Why on earth…
Why does the hole in my chest, in my heart, just keep getting bigger, and never heal…?
It was still the height of summer. In the midst of summer, enemies were swarming over the land, drawing near.
So I must press on.
Repeating this to myself over and over, the fake hero, carrying two holy swords, mounted his horse. A single drop of rain fell at his feet.
Another drop.
And another.
That day, the dawn sky, hidden by the ancient sandstorm, was clear.
***
Simultaneous Fronts,
Halting the Bone Archon Hairkan (1)
Just returning to the mountain range after completing the Behe-Rik subjugation mission was an ordeal.
The defensive line on the plains of the Red Mountains had collapsed. There were no post stations to use, no railcars.
All the ramparts had crumbled into ruin amidst the sandstorm, and the corpses strewn over them were melting away.
‘The Reptilians are nowhere to be seen… They can't have retreated, so they must have pushed north.’
I have to hurry.
I needed to rejoin the main force as soon as possible. I spurred Bloodwind's flank with my boot.
As I crossed the plains, the private homes that had sprouted up like mushrooms in every sunny spot were all abandoned.
“…”
But my body, having starved for nearly two days, was beginning to feel dizzy.
It was a stroke of luck that I found half-made oat bread dough in a house with a broken door and bloodstains.
I brushed off the sand, toasted it roughly over a fire, then chewed and swallowed. Being oats, Bloodwind seemed to like it too.
“Feeling better? Good. If you’ve got your strength back, let’s hurry.”
As I neared the mountains, the sounds of cannons and explosions grew more intense, showing no sign of stopping.
What was the current situation of the main force…?
I couldn't tell, but it was clearly dire. Humanity wouldn't be shooting off fireworks and partying with the Reptilians.
“Look at that, Bloodwind. The mountains have been swallowed by sand.”
The sight of humanity's sacred Red Mountains, withered and extensively covered by the sandstorm, was deeply despairing.
“The Reptilians must be swarming in there… Bloodwind, follow carefully from behind.”
The ones who now ruled the western part of the mountains were no longer humans, but Reptilians.
As the creatures feasting on the flesh of corpses charged, Aradamanthel’s blade was instantly drawn from its pure white sheath.
No…
Against these ones…
I sheathed the half-drawn Aradamanthel and gripped the hilt of Gaumuris on my back.
A single strike.
There was no need to activate Gaumuris’s light pressure ability.
*Boom!* A single swing was enough to pulp the Reptilians' entire bodies into bloody messes.
With Aradamanthel, it took three to five strikes to neutralize a Reptilian, but with Gaumuris, one was enough.
‘These are just grunts, and not many of them. The main force must be elsewhere… If so, then yes.’
Cutting through the Reptilians, I found a power station covered in corpses and bloodstains.
All the steam engines had been destroyed.
However, the emergency generator, concealed as a classified secret, seemed to have been overlooked by the Reptilians.
‘The manual.’
I read the manual for the emergency generator.
Being inept with machines, I had to look up and down several times before the steam engine finally sputtered back to life with a hiss.
And when I emptied all the sacks of [Emergency Coal] inside, the automated stairs began to function again.
The automated stairs were a major means of transport connecting key points in the mountains. Thanks to them, my travel speed increased dramatically.
[…This is Julius Page. All mounted military police, secure the escape route for the refugees. Artillery, provide rear support. We must accommodate as many as possible in the city.]
It seemed I had re-entered human-controlled territory.
Battlefield reports were transmitted directly into my mind due to the influence of the Thunderous Fragrance Sympathetic Resonance Formation (FakeWarriors, with their second-in-command status, receive most communications).
But unlike before, the connection was faint and loose, and the fact that it occasionally cut out was ominous.
‘That’s not the only reason.’
The absolute authority that had unified and commanded the battlefield, the voice of Mirngadia of the Blue Star, was absent.
Now, communications were just flaring up and disappearing in sporadic bursts, far from being a unified whole.
[Thank you for your kindness, Margrave. What is the state of the city?]
[No problems so far, but it would be best to hurry. I’ve received reports of Reptilians appearing west of the city as well.]
[Yes, the west of the mountains has already been taken by the Reptilians. We will make haste.]
The Page Margraviate.
The Empire's most prestigious family of mages.
Throughout its long history, the Page family had been the masters of <Goldenrose>, the imperial city closest to the Red Mountains, and the chancellors of <Delaiten>, the Empire's foremost magic university.
When the family's previous head (Roveris's father) was executed at the start of the religious reformation, the Page family was swept up in the storm of change.
They should have been swept away.
But Roveris's eldest younger brother, Julius Page, prioritized the fate of humanity over personal grudges.
With the start of the ‘Red Summer,’ countless refugees flocked to <Goldenrose>.
Julius turned none of them away, taking them all into the city, housing and feeding them by depleting the family's private funds and storehouses.
And that wasn't all.
North of the Red Mountains, where the foothills ended and the plains began, lived the families of soldiers from fallen kingdoms. He provided them with food as well.
‘Just how serious is the situation?’
It seemed that even those people were now evacuating to the city.
If they had to evacuate from the mountains…
It meant the mountain defense line had either already been breached or was on the verge of being breached… I prayed it was the latter.
“This is Kaisen Alter Aradamanthel. I have just returned. Awaiting operational orders.”