Chapter 148
Chapter 148
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>Translator: Ryuma
>Chapter: 148
>Chapter Title: Sword God, Slumbering Here
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“Eh, what’s his problem now.”
Shine turned away from Aster, who was trudging off, and started walking.
He couldn’t for the life of him figure out what had soured the guy’s mood this time. Well, that was to be expected—Aster had always seen the world all crooked anyway. No way to know what went on in that head of his.
‘Tch, and on this monumental day when the pecking order’s getting reshuffled, no less.’
Shaking off his regret, Shine headed lightly toward the Sword God’s tomb.
“Hmm, so this is the place?”
“Yes.”
The attendant bowed his head politely.
Before entering the Sword God’s tomb, Shine took in the sight of it.
“More modest than I expected.”
The Sword God’s tomb looked exactly like the entrance to an underground prison.
A grandiose name like that, yet such a shabby exterior.
Perhaps sensing Shine’s impression, the attendant—who had been guiding him silently—added awkwardly,
“There was a lot of talk within the family, but... it was the 13th patriarch’s dying wish, after all...”
Even as he spoke, the attendant wondered why he was making excuses, but he soon realized the reason.
“Makes sense.”
“...Pardon?”
“A simple soul, through and through.”
“What do you...”
“Never mind. Just nonsense.”
The attendant looked up at Shine with unfamiliar eyes.
Clad in pitch-black armor.
His face was hidden, but there was something inexplicably forlorn about his aura.
It was that natural air of command, combined with the strange vibe, that had swept him up.
Thinking that far, the attendant realized Shine’s demeanor had been odd the whole way to the Sword God’s tomb.
He hadn’t said much... but yeah, it was like he was reminiscing about old memories from long ago.
“By any chance, have you ever visited Lortel before?”
The attendant realized as soon as the words left his mouth that it was a ridiculous question, but Shine just chuckled softly.
“As if.”
But for some reason.
His response sounded unusually wistful. Like he was yearning for a time that would never return.
As the attendant grew puzzled by the odd atmosphere, Shine spoke up.
“Let’s head in. You coming with?”
“Ah, no. I’ll stop here.”
The attendant withdrew his gaze from Shine and shook his head.
“Oh, and you have to keep that promise from earlier.”
“No damaging artifacts, no recording images, and don’t stay longer than a day. Right?”
“Yes.”
“Got it. I’ll keep it in mind.”
“Very well, then...”
The attendant unlocked the door with the key he’d brought and stepped aside.
Shine stood at the top of the stairs, peering down into the pitch-black darkness.
He lingered there for a moment.
“Oh, by the way, think you could get me a single flower?”
“I could, but... why a flower...”
“No need. I won’t bother.”
Shine plucked a wildflower growing by the entrance.
“I’ll be off.”
Clutching the single wildflower, Shine stepped into the darkness.
Pretty pathetic, sure, but knowing the guy’s personality, he wouldn’t mind.
“......”
The attendant watched Shine quietly.
It didn’t take him long to grasp the meaning of the flower.
‘Someone bringing a condolence flower to the Sword God’s tomb... is this a first?’
At least, in all the time he’d managed the tomb, it was.
* * *
By common rumor, the Sword God’s tomb—or rather, the “Hall of Challenges”—consisted of three stages total.
The first one.
Stepping stones.
Shine stood in a space filled with water like a swimming pool and gazed ahead.
“Damn... you really put effort into this.”
He’d wondered why they called it the “Hall of Challenges” instead of just the Sword God’s tomb, but seeing the scene before him made it clear.
This wasn’t anyone’s “tomb” so much as a gateway.
Anyway.
Shine shifted his gaze to the stepping stones floating at regular intervals.
It was obvious how to clear the first trial.
“Step on the floating stones and cross?”
Probably. Otherwise, they wouldn’t have bothered with these useless things.
Of course, someone like Shine could leap across without touching them, but instead of jumping right away, he stood still, carefully memorizing the spacing of the stones.
Something about the pattern felt familiar.
After a while.
“...Tch.”
Shine clicked his tongue, as if displeased.
“Never seen such a petty bastard.”
Shine kicked off immediately, leaping up and landing on the floating stones in sequence.
His steps were unflinching.
Not once did he step wrong and fall in—he moved like he knew the order by heart.
When he finally reached the other side.
Shine glanced back briefly.
- Hahaha, you idiot. How the hell can’t you even match Lortel’s footwork when I can? Huh? Watch this. Your genius here will refine it for dullards like you.
“Even after beating the crap out of you, you still wouldn’t do it right...”
Shine mulled over the memory for a moment, then left the first trial behind and pressed on.
Next, the second stage.
Shine took in the stone chamber, a circle etched into its center.
The walls held magic circles and artifacts, but figuring out this stage’s method wasn’t hard either.
Stand in the circle and endure for a set time.
‘I’ve done this training... a ton of times.’
And so, as Shine positioned himself in the circle.
It wasn’t long before magic arrows shot out from the artifacts on all sides.
Pew-pew-pew-pew!
Shine watched the arrows pouring in from every direction.
Blue trails etched into his red irises.
Shing—!
Shine’s sword sliced through the air.
It began with a gentle curve.
The trajectory swirled smoothly like flowing water, cleaving the magic arrows, sometimes batting them away, sometimes deflecting them.
There wasn’t a hint of hesitation in the flow.
It was as if... a single sword dance.
When the flurry of blade work finally ended.
Clank, thud—!
With a harsh metallic groan, the door to the next stage slid open.
But Shine didn’t move right away. He stood still, taking in the surroundings.
A memory flashed through his mind from some long-ago day.
He’d forgotten it completely, but swinging his sword along the arrows’ paths had dragged it back up.
- Ah, that’s not how you swing a sword. Watch. I’ll personally broaden your horizons. It’s Lortel’s swordsmanship, but I’ve reinterpreted it... yeah, let’s call it the Shine style.
Seeing it like this...
“I really gave you hell, didn’t I.”
Whenever Lortel and Remang exchanged techniques, it was usually like this.
He’d eyeball whatever swordsmanship the guy brought back, slap his own interpretation on it, and demonstrate.
Childish stuff.
‘Couldn’t even grasp the essence of the secret arts... just flashy on the surface.’
Fresh shame from the past welled up, and Shine spat a curse.
“Damn bastard.”
Shine shook his head briefly and moved to the next stage.
Now, the long-awaited final stage.
To be honest, the first two were gateways anyone with enough grit could pass, even if not the rightful heir.
Sure, without knowing the secret in the stepping stones’ layout or the sword paths hidden in the arrows, it wouldn’t be easy—but still, they weren’t discerning enough to pick out the true inheritor.
So.
“This must be the real one...”
Shine stood in the final chamber and looked around.
Nothing particularly special about the chamber.
“What, nothing here?”
Unlike the prior two, no specific trial presented itself, no door to the next phase.
Just empty.
The only oddity was the sun emblem carved into the wall directly opposite the entrance? But even that wasn’t so unusual.
Lortel’s symbol was the sun, after all.
“Hmm...”
As Shine let out a low hum.
In that instant, a structure protruded from the center of the empty chamber.
Grrrrrind—
“This is...”
Shine peered closely at the stone slab and tilted his head.
‘Put my palm on it?’
As Shine moved to place his hand on the palm-shaped indentation atop the slab.
One phrase suddenly caught his eye.
The sun does not set.
“......”
The sun does not set.
A common metaphor among Lortel’s kin, meaning “Lortel’s might endures eternally.” Shine tilted his head.
“What? What am I supposed to do?”
For now, he placed his hand on the slab and channeled ether.
Immediately after, a sweltering heat rose in the room.
Szzz—
The sun emblem glowed, the space heating up fiercely. So intense even Shine struggled to bear it.
The temperature climbed endlessly the more ether he poured in!
Shine reverted his heated armor to shadow, pulled his hand away, and scowled fiercely.
“No way that punk...”
Was this fuck-you heat supposed to be payback?
‘Because I messed with him so much?’
But that thought lasted only a moment.
“Phew, I’ve been tainted by that wicked thing.”
The world hadn’t gone rotten.
No—even if it had, not everyone was like that wicked sort. No way the guy entrusted with a magic sword would stoop to some petty prank like “Lortel is great!”
But.
‘...It’s plausible?’
He’d give when it was time to give, but screwing around like this? Not out of character.
The Shamid in his memories wasn’t like that, but personalities could change—who knew.
“No doubt, I should’ve smacked him harder... wait.”
A certain memory flitted through Shine’s mind.
- The sun does not set.
‘Did that punk ever say this?’
He rummaged through his memories briefly. No.
As a kid, he’d chant it like a spell every defeat... but after one incident, he stopped.
- The sun does not set.
- But you lost, didn’t you?
- ....
‘Just... didn’t like the look in his eyes.’
So he beat him.
When both families’ elders were away, he seized the chance to “correct” him, thrashing him thoroughly.
One backtalk, one beating.
‘And then... what’d I say?’
Ah, right.
- Say that sun crap one more time in front of me, and you’re dead. Got it?
- ....
- Answer.
- The sun... guk!
A memory from when he and Shamid were both very young.
Realizing that far.
Shine lifted his gaze to the sun emblem on the wall.
“......”
If Shamid were standing here now... and spouted that sun nonsense to his face, what would he do?
He didn’t know anymore.
He was a vampire who’d crash-landed from the future, and Shamid was the patriarch lying in this tomb.
But back in the past, some 200 years ago, probably...
Step, step.
Shine stood before the sun emblem and stared at the wall.
A short, deep breath.
And—
Bam!
His fist crashed into the wall.
It didn’t stop at once.
Bam! Bam! Bam!
Pummeling again and again, destructively, until the wall bearing the sun emblem crumbled completely.
‘Yeah, that’s it.’
If Shamid were here, he’d have beaten him just like this.
When the wall finally collapsed entirely.
Rustle—
Amid the scattering stone dust, a new space revealed itself.
“As expected, that was the answer.”
Shine smiled in satisfaction and stepped inside.
Two tombstones stood before him.
‘...Two tombstones?’
Shine sprayed ether to clear the haze and focused on one. Reading its opening line.
“......”
Shine’s pupils dilated, returning to their original state.
And he savored it.
Shine von Lormang.
My most brilliantly shining friend
Sword God, slumbering here
Etched into his retinas.
Endlessly, endlessly.