198. Successor of the Giant
198. Successor of the Giant
"Gh... hrrrgh..."
"How does it feel to be looking up?"
Carlos's physical condition was far from good.
The fate of a greatsword user who lost a contest of strength was gruesome.
Like a fly flattened by a flyswatter, his entire body had been crushed. Especially his legs, which had borne his weight, were completely broken and twisted at bizarre angles.
I coldly looked down at the bloodied Carlos.
Only once their roles were reversed—once Carlos was the one looking up—did he finally seem to realize exactly who he had crossed swords with, laughing in disbelief.
"S...o... the Rock Sword was... definitely not... it.... Hue... hue..."
"...."
As slow-witted as he might be, as a noble of the Blade Mountains, after being beaten like this, there was no way he wouldn't know.
Because in the entire Empire, there was only a single family that could wield such a sword.
"You used to lament so much... that your crop of children had failed... and yet, damn, they've flourished..."
"That man went around spouting that kind of nonsense?"
"Yeah... seeing this, that really was a complaint born from a full stomach."
Blood trickled from Carlos's mouth.
A thin nimbus of light swirled around his body—the artifact he wore had apparently activated its healing function automatically.
Looking down at the fallen Carlos, a sharp pang stabbed at my chest.
Something similar had happened once before.
A clash of greatswords, a giant fallen, and me looking down upon him.
Back then, it had been a rainy night, but I hadn't been any different.
Because my height back then was the same as it is now, with no real change.
If anything had changed, it was that I'd grown about 0.4 since then, and the one lying defeated wasn't my own blood relative. That was about it.
Maybe that was why Carlos overlapped so strongly with the image of a man I knew very well.
Impulsively, strength flowed into the hand gripping my sword.
'Should I just kill him now?'
That was an unacceptable thought.
If I killed Carlos now, Lucia would forever lose the chance to step forward and rise on her own.
Only by overcoming the very person suppressing her with her own strength could Lucia rise to a higher level.
Whether that was as a swordswoman, or as a person.
The one lying on the ground was Carlos.
He wasn't my father, so I mustn't confuse him with my father.
To go any further here would clearly be crossing a line.
But still, my rage refused to die down.
The anger that had lost its target was burning ever darker, blacker, within me.
The boiling impulse made cold judgment impossible.
That day, I had failed to kill my father.
After succeeding in bringing him down, I had wanted to kill him as an outlet for my fury, but an interruption had prevented me from severing the chain of our blood relation.
Looking back, I'd often thought that killing him then would have made me feel so much more relieved.
It was because I never imagined that after leaving home, thinking I could just kill him later, he would go and die of his own frustration and vexation.
Though he had been a man like a mountain, in the end, he was human.
He was a fragile person, a weak man easily swayed.
My rage had nowhere to go.
It was because I had let that chance slip away.
I could feel my vision gradually narrowing.
Just before my reason was completely devoured by fury, there was someone who stopped me.
"S... stop!"
"Are you alright??"
At the sound of Lucia's voice, the heat clouding my mind eased a little.
Behind her, several knights Carlos had brought were following.
"....."
Looking at me, standing wordless, Lucia, with sad eyes, laid her own hand over mine as I gripped the sword.
Lucia's hand was trembling.
I could tell without her needing to say a word.
Right now, the one Lucia was terrified of was me.
Some of the strength drained from my tightly clenched fist.
"F-Family Head?!! You bastard!!! "
Right after that, the knights, upon seeing Carlos in his ruined state, wrapped their swords in aura.
Carlos was down, yet they were such models of loyal knights that I almost wondered what kind of guts they had to act that way.
"Uwaaaaaak!!!"
I simply swung my sword—burdened with aura, yet light in motion—and a storm surged forth, sending all the knights flying like autumn leaves.
"Hiiik??"
"Young lady, please get away from that monster!!"
"Do not be afraid, protect the Family Head!!"
"The Family Head has fallen, so what on earth can we even do?!"
"You idiot! Buy us even some time!!"
Once a single stroke had blown away over a dozen knights, they looked at me as if I were a monster.
They had done no wrong.
This was merely me venting my anger.
I lowered my sword again and warned them.
"Take that and get the hell out."
——————————
"....."
After confirming that the knights had rushed Carlos off to the academy hospital, I sat down in the rubble of the demolished annex and replayed what had just happened.
I'd meant to beat him up in a more cheerful spirit, but my emotions had gotten the better of me.
It was a truly bad habit.
A nasty, ill-tempered, and pathetic act.
Seeing someone else's father and projecting my own onto him—where else could you find such a miserable, pathetic thing to do?
"Are you a little better now...?"
Lucia approached, stealing cautious glances at me.
I must have been wearing a fierce expression, my nerves on edge, but she came to me casually, without a care.
"... I'm sorry."
"Don't say that... you were doing it to help me, right?"
No.
I only raged because your situation overlapped with mine.
I was simply pretending to be a good person in order to resolve my own unresolved trauma.
"I tried to kill your father. I meant it."
"...It's.. okay."
As I lamented, drowning in self-loathing, Lucia embraced me.
"Everything's okay... in the end... you didn't do it. Even though you were that angry... you held yourself back for my sake."
Lucia affirmed all of it—my rage, my mistake.
In her words, all I felt now was sadness.
Looking at me, as I lamented, she was filled with deep sorrow.
I had intended to make her laugh, so why had it turned out like this?
"Everything's okay... it's fine. So please... don't make such a pained expression..."
------------------------
"...."
"...."
Carlos, wrapped tightly in bandages, and I were locked in a glaring contest.
Carlos had been hospitalized in the utmost secrecy and given intensive treatment.
Perhaps because he was on the verge of becoming a Master, or simply because he was big-boned, with just a little treatment, he recovered completely in less than a day.
I knew this world's medical technology healed trauma frighteningly fast, but his recuperative power was so rapid it made me doubt he was even human.
Carlos, who must have figured out my identity from that final strike, wore an expression of something like acceptance.
"I did consider your height a stumbling block. On that point, there is no room for compromise. Because our family must be tall, you see."
"What? You wanna go again?"
"Atlas..!"
Lucia hugged me and stopped me from lunging forward.
I could have shaken her off anytime, but I held back because of what I had said.
And also because it was amusing to see Carlos's eyebrows twitch every time Lucia hugged me.
"Originally, I had planned to change or eliminate the method for selecting the fiancé. However... it seems I am rather... satisfied instead."
Carlos seemed to be trying to speak without emotion, but irritation seeped into his voice.
"...Lucia, step outside. I need to speak with him alone for a moment."
"Mm... no. If you two are alone... you'll just fight again."
"That won't happen."
"He's right. I won't fight him, so don't worry."
"Ugh... I'm worried, but..."
Though worried, Lucia reluctantly went outside.
As soon as the door was clearly shut, Carlos asked me.
"I heard you were missing. So why is the eldest son of Titan in a place like the academy? I'm asking why your younger sister sits as Family Head."
"It's a family matter, so mind your own business."
"Still, we are distant relatives. Your choice of words is far too harsh."
Titan and Russell were distant relatives.
The founders of both families started from the same school of swordsmanship before diverging, and in ancient times, they had even been linked by blood relations.
They were quite closely connected families.
But as someone who had practically left Titan, I had no need to care about such things.
"If my way of speaking bothers you, you should have won. I don't have a habit of talking politely to people weaker than me, you see."
When I used strength as justification for dropping formalities, he seemed to accept it.
"...Does Lucia know you are from Titan?"
"I haven't told her yet. And speaking of things that keep annoying me—don't order Lucia around."
"It is a matter of the household. Lord Chronos would not have been any less harsh than I, but probably more, wouldn't he?"
"That's exactly why that man is dead. What, do you want to join him?"
At the words I spat out laced with killing intent, Carlos broke out in a cold sweat.
"D-don't tell... me...."
"It's a joke. When those two died, I was somewhere else."
Although I said it was a joke, Carlos's tension did not ease.
"Do not interfere with Lucia anymore."
"...Lucia is my heir."
"I'm saying butt out, because I'll train her to be so strong that she surpasses you."
"...You're going to do that much for her?"
When I said I would personally train Lucia, Carlos's eyes sharpened.
"I'll train her in earnest in the 'Blade Mountains'. Since Lucia and I are friends, I can do at least that much for her anytime.
So stop worrying. She's a kid who will become far stronger than a weakling like you, so just butt out now."
"....If you are offering up the Blade Mountains, then I can believe it."
The Blade Mountains were mountains possessing incredibly powerful earth veins.
Since the Rock Sword was also a school that utilized earth veins, training in a place within the Blade Mountains where the veins were felt especially strongly would allow for even faster growth.
He seemed satisfied up to that point, but suddenly, Carlos brought up something else.
"But do you have the leisure to be here doing this? The situation on the Titan side isn't exactly good..."
"What are you talking about?"
What on earth was he talking about?
Was he saying Titan had gone to ruin or something?