Chapter 61
Chapter 61
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Translator: Ebonarch
Chapter: 22
Chapter Title: Dark Forest (2)
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Sears first met Beryl around the age of seven.
"It's been a while, Marquis."
"Indeed it has. How many years has it been?"
The head of the Onyx family was a longtime friend of the Bell Marquis and they occasionally kept in touch.
Sears vaguely remembered seeing him, but the head of the Onyx family had never brought his children along.
But that day was different.
The head of the Onyx family brought Beryl along, saying he wanted to introduce his eldest son.
"It's been a while, Beryl."
"It's been a long time, Marquis."
The Marquis and Beryl seemed to know each other.
Sears watched Beryl, who was ten years her senior, from behind her father. He was younger than her second brother, but still seemed like a distant elder to her.
Beryl at that time was an endlessly kind boy.
"Go play together."
At the adults' words, Beryl went outside with Sears and walked through the Marquis's garden.
Sears as a child resembled Sara in many ways overall, but the difference was that she wasn't shy around strangers.
"Brother, look at this!"
"Haha. What is that, Sears?"
Beryl smiled happily even at Sears's antics.
Despite the ten-year age gap that might have made her a nuisance, Beryl cherished Sears like his own little sister.
And so a year passed, then another.
The two grew very close.
Sears thought of Beryl more like a real brother than her two actual brothers and followed him devotedly.
Of course, due to the distance between their families, they couldn't meet often.
Still, Sears wanted to see Beryl as soon as possible, even if just for a day.
Soon, the Onyx family's carriage arrived.
"I have no face to show."
The head of the Onyx family looked unwell.
"I told you not to do it. I warned you multiple times that man is dangerous."
"I had no choice. I couldn't bear the insult to our family."
"Haa-"
The adults exchanged serious words.
Sears was a quick-witted child. So she cautiously looked for Beryl.
Beryl's expression was dark too, but he tried to keep a bright face in front of her.
And so another three years passed.
The Onyx family fell.
Competition over nearby territories and gold mines had drawn in other surrounding domains, escalating the situation.
The problem was that the family they had initially competed with had orchestrated the whole thing. It seemed they had conspired from the start to destroy the Onyx family.
To swallow up the territory ruled by the Onyx family.
"Brother......"
The family head hanged himself.
The Bell Marquis held the funeral in his place.
That's when Beryl began to change. It was around then that his obsession with Sears started.
Another four years passed.
Beryl swung his sword relentlessly. The only one he allowed near him was Sears.
Sears, too, had grown into a young woman on the cusp of her coming-of-age ceremony.
The Bell Marquis seriously considered marrying the two.
The problem was that the Marquis was unaware. Unaware that Beryl's obsession had crossed all bounds, and that Sears feared him.
Around that time, the new head of the Welton family, who had just inherited the countship, visited Abton.
"I am Argent Welton, newly taking over the Welton family in my father's stead."
"Haha! The child called a genius with the sword has grown so much?"
The Welton Count, on the verge of becoming a Sword Master at the time, had long conversations with the Marquis.
And by chance, he ran into Sears.
The two didn't exchange a single word, but they knew they were destined for each other.
While the Welton Count stayed in Abton, they kept encountering each other.
Even to the point where the Marquis called Sears aside separately to ask about Beryl.
"What are your intentions with Beryl, that you're getting close to the Welton Count?"
"......Dad. I don't want to keep seeing Brother Beryl."
They had been like family with Beryl, but starting a few years ago, his attitude had completely changed.
His obsession grew worse with each passing year.
He had even stalked her multiple times and been caught, and out of jealousy just because she was with another man, he had nearly committed murder.
Sears was afraid.
The kind and gentle Beryl of before no longer existed anywhere. The current Beryl was a monster going mad day by day.
But she didn't tell the Marquis that much. She didn't want to wound him further when he was already crumbling.
"I understand your feelings."
After Sears left, the Marquis pondered.
For the sake of the Onyx family head, she should meet Beryl, but marrying her into the Welton family, renowned as one of the world's top swordsmanship houses, would strengthen their political position.
Above all, his daughter wanted the Welton Count.
The Marquis made his decision, and Beryl learned of it too.
"Sears! Let's talk!"
"Brother, why are you doing this!"
Beryl's violent behavior.
Sears panicked, but he was blind with rage.
"Didn't you like me? I've only had eyes for you!"
"Brother tried to imprison me. To cage me like an animal! How could I like someone like that?"
It wasn't wrong, so Beryl could only rage.
"You-!"
Unable to hold back, Beryl raised his hand against Sears.
At that moment, the Welton Count blocked him.
"Get out of my way!"
Beryl, filled with fury, tried to push the Welton Count aside, but shaking off someone on the verge of Sword Master was no easy feat.
Beryl couldn't believe it.
He too had been called a genius with the sword since childhood. He didn't know the Welton Count's level, but he was confident in his own skills. Moreover, ever since that incident five years ago, he had swung his sword like a demon every day.
Beryl glared at the Welton Count and challenged him to a duel.
"A duel."
"I accept."
Sears tried to stop them, but the Welton Count reassured her it was fine.
Seeing that, Beryl turned even more monstrous.
And on the day of the duel. In front of the Bell Marquis, the two future Sword Masters crossed blades.
It was a day when rain poured as if a hole had opened in the sky.
The victor was the Welton Count.
The next day, Beryl vanished from Abton.
Only the Bell Marquis knew his whereabouts, but he told his daughter nothing.
Two years passed from then.
The Welton Count became a Sword Master and married Sears at the same time.
And around the same period, news of Beryl arrived.
He too had ascended to Sword Master and exacted bloody vengeance on the three families that destroyed the Onyx house.
After that, bad rumors kept coming.
"And that's how we met for the first time."
Finishing her tale, Sears looked at her dazed son.
She smiled and stroked Jamie's hair.
"You were curious about Mommy's old stories?"
"Hehe."
Jamie smiled instead of answering.
But inwardly, he was quite shocked despite his expression.
'They had that kind of relationship?'
That explained Beryl's bitter expression.
Now that he thought about it, that look seemed like a sinner seeking atonement. Whether that was truly his mindset, who knows.
Regardless, he hadn't expected Sears to tell it in such detail.
He thought she'd just say they were childhood acquaintances or something vague.
'Father beat him.'
Even before becoming a Sword Master, a duel was a duel.
The duel between the two men over Sears ended with the Welton Count's victory.
Hearing it like this, the Welton Count back home seemed a bit cooler. On the other hand, he felt some pity for Beryl.
No salvation had come for him, after all.
'Though it's all karma.'
What he did to Sears was unforgivable.
Facing the duel in a state plagued by mania, it couldn't have been a fair fight.
"Anything else you're curious about?"
"No. I'm fine now."
"That's a relief."
Sears sipped her tea, gazing at distant mountains.
A person once so close was now farther than anyone, so she must be troubled too.
She just didn't show it.
A brief silence fell.
"Vena, ah-"
Chirp chirp!
On the grass, Sara was playing house with Vena.
Vena shook his head as if he hated it, but to Sara, a mere squirrel's antics just looked cute.
Still, he could understand why Vena acted that way.
-Master! Dirt! It's dirt!! You can't eat dirt!
A round dirt ball.
How did she make it so perfectly round?
"Sara. You're not really going to eat that, right?"
At Jamie's question, Sara blinked her already round eyes and looked at her brother.
Then she looked back at the round dirt ball in her hand.
"Can't eat it?"
"......No, sweetie."
Pondering at the word "no," Sara cleanly discarded the dirt ball.
"My little sister is so good."
"Hehe-"
"Jamie has become a good big brother, huh?"
"He was always a good big brother."
Jamie coughed awkwardly out of embarrassment, and Vena cried out telepathically as if he were a lifesaver.
-Thank you, Master!
Vena must have been having a really tough time to be this grateful over something like this.
Jamie gave Vena a pitying look before turning back to Sears.
"By the way, Mom."
"Something else you want to ask?"
"What's Mirene Forest?"
"How does my son know about that?"
"The steward said not to go there because it's dangerous."
Sears narrowed her eyes and probed Jamie.
"Did you go out somewhere?"
"N-no way."
"Then why would the steward say that?"
"He was just cautioning me, right? Hahaha."
Even with Jamie's excuse, Sears didn't drop her suspicious gaze.
"You mustn't go out alone, okay? Even skilled mages don't know what dangers lurk since you're still a child. Got it?"
"I'll keep it in mind."
"Mirene Forest, huh. It's been ages since I last heard that name."
As expected, Sears knew about it.
She seemed to ponder for a moment before suddenly standing and scooping Jamie into her arms.
"Eh, Mom?"
"See that over there?"
She pointed somewhere, to a densely wooded ridgeline.
"I see it."
"That's Mirene Forest."
It was closer than he thought.
He hadn't expected it to be right under their noses.
"Is it dangerous there?"
"Jamie, do you know about the Six Forbidden Zones of the world?"
"I think I read about them in a book."
"Beyond that forest lies one of the forbidden zones, the Ariazad Great Forest. Or rather, Mirene Forest is part of the Ariazad Great Forest."
Ariazad Great Forest.
One of the six forbidden zones, and the border with the Blony Kingdom.
It teemed with incredibly dangerous monsters, but fortunately, they never ventured outside the forest.
To intruders, it was hell due to the monsters, and it was said that modern humanity hadn't even mapped half of it.
In fact, they had sent an expedition led by a Sword Master, but even that Sword Master had barely survived and returned.
"Mirene Forest isn't as bad as the Great Forest itself, but monsters defeated in territorial battles within sometimes wander there."
Hence its other name: 'Shelter of the Defeated'.
"You must never go there. Never. Understand?"
"I'll keep it in mind."
Jamie nodded with a smile, and Sears smiled back, reassured.
"My son is good, so he'll listen to Mommy."
"Of course!"
Sure. Of course he would.
I will definitely go there, Mother.
'It seems like the dark forest Pyro mentioned.'
She had said that if he entered there, he'd know why only he could resolve the incidents in Abton.
Descending from Sears's arms, Jamie gazed at Mirene Forest.
'I'll go check it out tonight.'
As he resolved himself and turned to leave, a place name from Gaon's final diary entry came to mind.
"Garmon."
"Hm? What did you just say?"
"Nothing."
"This kid."
Sears sat back down and watched Sara play with fond eyes.
Jamie glanced at the forest and swallowed dryly.
'No way.'
Garmon was said to be northwest of the Mayatrei Mountains.
'Then. Garmon might be......'
One of the six forbidden zones.
But entering the Ariazad Mountains with his current power was suicide.
'Focus on the present for now.'
Having narrowed down 'Garmon's' location somewhat was achievement enough.
The corners of his mouth curved upward.
He felt like he'd taken a step closer to his goal.
And night fell.