Chapter 147
Chapter 147
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>Translator: Ryuma
>Chapter: 147
>Chapter Title: Is This My Grave Site, By Any Chance?
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After wrapping things up, I headed to Flick Mountain, gathered the group, and returned to Lortel.
For reference, Shine and Parun were found in Lortel's underground passages.
“……Why the hell did you go in there?”
“Ahem, even if you kicked the bucket, we had to find the Sword God's tomb, right?”
“That's bullshit. You were freaking out, insisting it was dangerous as hell. I didn't even have a chance to stop you…… Gah!”
“Shut your trap. When has this body ever!”
Shine hurriedly clamped a hand over Parun's mouth.
His gauntlet clashed against teeth with a sharp *clang!* That was the moment Parun's hatred for Shine spiked.
Meanwhile, I eyed Shine with newfound suspicion.
‘Freaking out, huh?’
This bastard……
‘Is even more of a dick than I thought?’
While his comrade was rolling between life and death, this guy was losing his shit over finding the Sword God's tomb?
Sure, I got it, kinda.
Miss this chance, and who knows when he'd get another shot at the Sword God's tomb.
From Shine's perspective, it was a situation worth the risk.
But still……
“Tch.”
That's why they say you don't take in black-haired beasts. Anyway, shoving aside my disappointment in Shine, I dragged the beast and the man back to Lortel.
Personally, it had been a close call.
‘If I'd been even a little later, it would've been disaster.’
The secret passage I'd told them to head to beforehand was our designated rendezvous point.
Flick Mountain was the easiest escape route from Lortel, and the terrain map we all shared only marked that one secret passage.
But.
‘If shit hit the fan, I said don't wait—just bolt. And you crawl into the secret passage?’
Getting caught meant infinite chains or whatever be damned—we'd all lose our heads to the Patriarch.
Lucky for us, Shine hadn't spotted the hole midway through the secret passage, or we'd have been in round two of the Lortel chase.
For reference, that hole midway through had been repaired by someone—no trace left. That's why they'd gotten lost. Worked out for me.
Later, Parun told me……
[The mechanism hid it.]
[Mechanism?]
[Yeah. I found it, but didn't say a word.]
Smart move.
Anyway, we decided to lay low in Lortel for a while. Courtesy of Young Patriarch Sion.
With all the midnight commotion drawing eyes to Lortel, he'd set us up with a safe house out of sight.
Oh, and the Empir family matter? They'd handle it in due time, with seals and all.
I asked if the mole wouldn't notice, but apparently the wyvern-obsessed elder—Pahren or whatever—was already locked in the underground prison.
Now, about handling that mess……
“He's already in the underground dungeon. They nabbed him while you were causing a ruckus.”
“……Already?”
“Yep. Didn't know about the Empir family angle, but Father had his eye on him. In a way, the intel you brought was the spark.”
Just listening made my blood boil.
‘That rotten……’
So he was gonna do exactly what I said(?) anyway, but tried to screw over the innocent mage with all that disappointment bullshit!
How come every damn patriarch of a noble house has the heart of a thief?
And so, the tumultuous night passed.
The next day, morning.
I headed to the small garden attached to the Minor Sword Hall at the summons of First Sword Hamelan.
“What's up?”
Hamelan came out swinging from the first word.
“Short on words, aren't you?”
“……”
“Even if I'm the nagging senior type, that's awfully curt.”
“I'm a mage. So knights are my seniors……”
“Mages dodge the sword, huh?”
“……Senior's a bit much. How about big bro?”
“Don't feel like we're at that age.”
In the end, we settled on Sir Hamelan.
Normally I'd bump up his age for fun, but he looked ready to take my head, so I humbly bowed to superior strength.
Anyway.
“What's the occasion, sir?”
“Walk with me first.”
Sir Hamelan led me through the small garden.
It was a lazy morning.
The previous night's chaos felt like a lie under the brilliant sunlight.
Well-manicured garden paths chirped with mountain birds, and a cool summer breeze tickled my hair.
“Nice garden, eh?”
“Y-Yeah.”
“Obviously, the Patriarch used to live here back in the day.”
Sir Hamelan strolled, reminiscing about old times.
“Lemme see…… One day, assassins broke in. Right here, actually. The Patriarch collapsed on this spot, and over there, the assassins lay scattered.”
“……”
“Probably around here? The assassin leader's head rolled by. And over there……”
At seven, the Patriarch did this.
At ten, he sliced that many assassins.
Over there in the garden, such-and-such happened; here, so-and-so……
These were tales from when the current Patriarch was Young Patriarch—mostly bloody, beautiful stories.
That's when Sir Hamelan was on his seventh assassination tale under the big tree.
I couldn't help but ask.
“By any chance, is this my grave site?”
“……?”
“If we're picking, somewhere sunnier than this……”
“……”
Wrong guess?
Sir Hamelan stared at me like I was insane, then asked in a deflated tone.
“How exactly do you see Lortel?”
“0.5 Decullan?”
Meaning half as shady as Decullan.
“……If the Patriarch heard that, he'd have your head.”
“Y-Yeah.”
Even I thought it was too honest.
‘Should've bargained at 0.25 Decullan.’
With that, conversation stalled, and a faint silence settled between us. *Rustle*—grass swayed in the breeze.
Sir Hamelan, stroking the big tree with misty eyes, finally spoke.
“The Patriarch lived that kind of life. Even after being named Young Patriarch, he schemed against his brothers. Can you imagine? All that under the name Lortel.”
I was shocked.
The Lortel Sir Hamelan described was far from the one I knew.
The Lortel I knew was noble-house worthy: stained, dirty, petty, but it upheld some good.
But.
“The Patriarch said it himself. After taking the throne.”
- Honor and pride are just whips and carrots.
“Once seated, the honor and pride we knights revere looked like tools to control knights.”
Lortel…… had none of the romance knights dreamed of.
The ‘knights' house’ image was just a mask the leadership wore to control them.
Yet.
Listening to Sir Hamelan, a thought struck me.
“So…… you want me to understand the Patriarch? Forgive him? That it?”
To me, everything he said sounded like packaging for the Patriarch.
But Sir Hamelan tilted his head at my question.
“Why would you?”
“Huh?”
“Why understand the Patriarch? Forgive? Who's forgiving who? Are you above Lortel's master? Forgiveness is the right of the powerful.”
Knightly words, yet they rang awkwardly true.
Only the powerful can forgive.
Sure, the powerless can too, but only if their heart's infinitely vast.
So.
“Then what the hell are you trying to say?”
In other words, why drag a busy guy here?
That's when Sir Hamelan's eyes sharpened.
“I'm heading to Baidun Village soon.”
“Yeah, I figured.”
Even breaking the deal, announcing it on the day meant leaving today.
But why bring it up?
I tilted my head, puzzled, and Sir Hamelan spoke.
It was pretty shocking news to me.
“I'll reveal there that I handed Infinite Chain to the Magic Tower and Sword Institute.”
“You've lost your……”
“Hear me out.”
What Sir Hamelan said was this.
“I'll declare Lortel's backing of the Magic Tower and Sword Institute.”
“……Do you know what that means?”
“Heavenly Origin Art? Pfft, hilarious. We just handed over Infinite Chain. Heavenly Origin Art? Never heard of it.”
“But to Decullan……”
His voice cut me off.
“Then, who are we?”
“……”
That said it all.
Yeah, Lortel.
But I couldn't wrap my head around it.
“Even so, that's……”
“Useless clash from Lortel's view? Clashes are inevitable anyway. Empir family. You know.”
So, clash was coming regardless……
“You're saying back the Sword Institute and Magic Tower, rack up some debt?”
“Exactly.”
“Why?”
I couldn't fathom it.
Clashing over Empir family versus backing Magic Tower and Sword Institute to clash—worlds apart.
Pointless sacrifice for Lortel……
Sir Hamelan answered.
“The Lortel the Young Patriarch builds will be a true house of knights.”
So.
“I'd like the Magic Tower and Sword Institute as sturdy allies for the Young Patriarch's Lortel.”
I stared at Sir Hamelan, dumbfounded.
“Have you gone mad? What makes you think……?”
Perfect terms for us.
But why?
“Not trusting you lot. Trusting the Patriarch's eye. Don't know the full power of Magic Tower and Sword Institute, but…… you'll grow even bigger.”
So, basically.
‘Trust the Patriarch's judgment…… and bet against the odds?’
Of course…… I know.
It's a sure bet.
As long as I don't croak, the Magic Tower will rise tall, become the continent's top library. Not just any library—a filthy strong-fighting one.
World's strongest library, say.
For Lortel, one word(?) secures the world's strongest library as ally!
But.
I couldn't understand.
That's when.
“You sly bastard! Where are you?!”
Shine's voice from afar.
“Think on it till lunchtime. I'll send someone then.”
Sir Hamelan turned and left.
Grateful for the favor, but……
‘Am I just twisted inside?’
Unexplained favors didn't sit right.
* * *
For now, shelving Sir Hamelan's offer.
I met up with Shine, who was hunting me down like a prepaid colt.
“Tch, busy or not, where've you been roaming?”
“Didn't think ‘not busy’ meant roaming. Whatever, why'd you want me?”
“The Patriarch sent for you. Says he'll open the Sword God's tomb.”
No wonder he seemed hyped. He could finally enter the long-dreamed Sword God's tomb.
But hold on.
“You meet the Patriarch yet?”
“That pompous brat? Ah, you were passed out, huh. Around dawn, I think? Kid's got no sense of sleep, sends for me at the crack of dawn…… Tch, these young punks.”
Shine grumbled about the early summons from the Patriarch, and I had a hunch.
“Didn't he say anything?”
Sir Hamelan's out-of-left-field offer.
No obvious trigger, so I'd wondered. Maybe Shine held the key.
And my guess hit dead-on.
“Nothing special…… Ah, he postures all fancy, glares hard, asks to see a sword swing.”
“……Sword swing?”
“Something like, ‘Can you put everything into the sword?’ All…… style over substance. Just swing full power, duh.”
“And?”
“What ‘and’? I showed him.”
“……Then?”
“Dunno. Shut his eyes? I bailed when I got the hint. Rude little shit…… I'm kin who crossed blades with his ancestor, even. Tch.”
Shine grumbled on.
I stood frozen, watching his back.
So he didn't scout me—he saw Shine and decided to invest?
No, that wasn't the point now.
The voice still rang clear in my ears.
- Disappointing.
One gets disappointment, the other……
I'd just thought that far when Shine whipped around.
“What're you doing? Hurry up!”
“Go alone.”
I slouched off, shoulders slumped. Shine yelled something behind, but it didn't register.
Should've sent Shine yesterday too.
……Filthy depressing day.