Chapter 28 - Legacy
Legacy
Translator : Elizabeth
Chapter 28. Legacy
Dayrolls, who was leading the way, suddenly stopped and opened his mouth.
"Hey, by the way. Isn't it a bit sad to just go like this? Let's have a bout before we go."
Dayrolls grinned and tapped the handle of the huge greatsword on his back. Danel let out a hollow laugh as if dumbfounded.
"Are you speaking seriously right now? I won't even be a match for you, is there a need?"
"Kuhahaha! Look at this bastard? Don't you remember trying to rush at me with your eyes rolled back as soon as you heard Barkas's name just now? Where did you sell that spirit and act all dignified suddenly?"
"That… the situation was a bit different…."
Danel scratched the back of his head awkwardly. It was true. The killing intent he emitted earlier was real. But now that he knew the opponent was his master's master, his 'Grandmaster', crossing swords itself was discourteous and reckless. In the first place, he wasn't an opponent Danel could beat even if he died and woke up again.
However, Dayrolls' eyes contained sharp sincerity within playfulness.
"Fine, then let's call it 'instructional sparring' not a duel. I am the Mercenary King, you know. Getting instruction from such a person for free, are you still going to refuse? Do you know how much my hourly rate is in this field and playing hard to get?"
Danel pretended to ponder for a moment. Instructional sparring from a human in the ranks of the continent's strongest. Refusing that would be certifying oneself as an idiot.
"……If you say so, there is no reason to refuse."
The two men headed outside the castle walls like that. The place they arrived was none other than the 'Black Moon' mercenary guild. It was midnight when it should have been closed, but a faint light was leaking through the window.
Creaaak―.
As they opened the door and entered, old man Maro, who was tipping a liquor bottle behind the old counter, raised his head.
"Oh, old man. How did you know and not sleep yet?"
Dayrolls asked entering confidently like his own home. Old man Maro put down the glass as if annoyed and grumbled.
"Let's call it an old man's hunch. Felt like a welcome guest would come on a day like this."
"Kuhuhu, going to use the training ground a bit. Is it okay if it breaks a little?"
"The gold coins you scattered in advance are a mountain, what can't you do. Break it as much as you want or whatever."
Danel laughed hollowly watching this scene from the side.
"When did you become so close? First time seeing old man Maro this obedient."
"Isn't it all because of you bastard. Do you even know how much this old man whined to me?"
Danel murmured with suspicious eyes.
'……Surely…….'
Dayrolls snickered.
"He says you're like a grandson, you grandson bastard."
Maro slammed down the glass he was drinking with a 'thud'.
"Geez, the guy called Mercenary King speaks unnecessary words well."
"So what, old man. Such things are known only when spoken."
"…Tsk, loose-lipped guy."
Center of the guild training ground.
The chillingly bright moonlight of the North settled down, elongating the shadows of the two men.
Even the air sank heavily.
Danel drew 'Hayang' and took a stance, saying.
"I will do it with the intent to kill."
At those words, Dayrolls held his belly and laughed loudly.
"Puhaha, this guy is a headache. Do it, do it. Try killing me once."
Even rushing with the intent to kill, it's unknown if he can even brush a hem of his clothes.
But Danel's eyes were serious. The martial prowess of a strong man close to a Master.
It was a good opportunity to confirm with his two eyes.
The calculation was that Dayrolls would be stronger than Veron at least.
"Here I come!!"
Flash―!
Danel's figure blurred. Explosive acceleration applying the improved 'Snow Treading'. Danel, who dug into Dayrolls' blind spot in an instant, swung his sword.
Dayrolls' eyebrow went up.
"Hoh?"
Acies Style 1st Form - White Dog.
Thud―!
But what returned was only heavy vibration transmitted through his wrist.
Dayrolls lightly blocked Danel's White Dog with the sole of his foot without even drawing his greatsword.
"Hoh, interesting technique. Rather than ending it, seems like a first move to drive prey."
It was absurd that Dayrolls grasped his intention clearly in just one exchange.
'Damn it. Loaded full of Aura but blocked by a sole, what should I do.'
Aura spewing from Dayrolls' body covered Danel like a tsunami.
"Show me everything you have!"
"Damn!"
Even in the suffocating pressure, Danel desperately unfolded his swordsmanship.
2nd Form, 3rd Form……. All forms he had improved and refined while vomiting blood poured out.
The trajectory of Aura was precise, and the body movement pursued extreme efficiency.
But Dayrolls stood there as if reading the future even before Danel's sword tip reached.
Clang! Clash! Bang!
After a few explosive clashes, Danel was pushed back greatly and gasped for rough breath. His whole body was soaked in sweat.
"Haah…… Haah…… Really dog-like, this."
At those words, Dayrolls laughed heartily.
"Puhahaha. You are the amazing one. Honestly a bit surprised. Every movement of muscles is accurate like a machine. No flaw at the Ascendant level."
"Is it that serious?"
Dayrolls' eyebrow twitched.
"Puhuhu, I gave a compliment though?"
"The problem is it doesn't sound like one. The compliment sounds exactly like 'You are honest like a machine'."
Dayrolls giggled and continued.
"Quick-witted bastard. If I have to pick weaknesses, there are two. One is the absolute amount of Aura. This is a problem time will solve so let's leave it…… the other is your terrible 'stubbornness'."
Danel's eyebrow twitched.
"Stubbornness?"
"Yeah. The smell of Acies Mercenary bastards vibrates from the tip of your sword."
"……."
Danel didn't deny. Because that was the path he chose.
"It is insignificant now, but I am continuously improving it."
"Ha, absurd. Why the thorny path? You would become strong enough just following the path of proven strong men, orthodox swordsmanship? Honestly, swordsmanship you can buy with money might be a hundred times better than that hodgepodge swordsmanship you made."
Danel put strength into the hand holding the sword.
"Yes, I know. But this is my way of comforting the brothers who went first. I will prove that the techniques they left behind were not wrong."
"……."
A heavy silence flowed for a moment. Dayrolls stared at Danel's unwavering eyes, then smiled bitterly.
"Kuk kuk kuk……. Even this stupidity is identical to that guy. Right, Barkas that stubborn guy was like that too. Never believed what others taught even if he died, only satisfied after rolling and breaking with his own body. Fine, do as you please. You just have to prove what lies at the end."
After the sparring ended, the two sat facing each other at a creaking table in the corner of the guild.
The snacks were just a few pieces of crude jerky and cheap liquor Old Man Maro brought out.
"How did you find me? Surely rumors of me didn't spread to the East Continent."
When Danel asked filling the glass, Dayrolls smirked and shook his head.
"Didn't come to find you."
"Yes?"
"Just working, and you were 'found'. Well, shall we say lucky? Or maybe Barkas got bored in the afterlife and connected us."
A sorrowful light brushed Dayrolls' eyes for a moment.
"Mercenary life is like that. Even between master and disciple, if battlefields are different, you live without seeing each other's face once until death. Then one day what comes on the wind is only obituary news……. Right, only the passing time is heartless."
Danel drank liquor silently. A corner of his chest throbbed.
"So, what work did you come to do in Ashuhalt?"
Dayrolls' glass stopped in the air. He stared piercingly at Danel, then laughed again.
"Kukuku, as expected. Barkas this guy raised one disciple amazingly well. Asking me that now? Not the master's past history? But the dangerous mission I'm performing?"
"You just said it. Only heartless. Past is past. I am more curious about your 'present' in front of my eyes than Barkas's past. Barkas would want that too."
"Kuhahaha! Right, right! That is a mercenary! Crying clinging to the past isn't our style!"
Dayrolls poured liquor down his throat as if enjoying it. But soon he stiffened his expression and lowered his voice.
"But I can't tell you."
"Why?"
"If I tell you, you die. You just hold your breath by the Lady's side for now."
Danel didn't ask anymore.
If a monster like Dayrolls warns 'you die', it meant it wasn't something a mere mercenary could handle.
"Understood. Then let's drop the heavy talk."
"Right, rather than that, tell me about your life."
"Shall I, Grandmaster (Sa-Jo)?"
Dayrolls' eyes grew big.
"Grand… master?"
"Isn't it so? You are my master's master, so Grandmaster. Not like the genealogy is twisted. Surely you aren't younger than me?"
Dayrolls was dumbfounded.
"Isn't this a crazy guy?"
Dayrolls rolled the word 'Grandmaster' in his mouth and laughed loudly.
"Right, Grand-disciple. The way you approach boldly is very daring. I like it. Right, how did you live? Where should we listen from?"
Danel opened his mouth calmly looking at his face reflected in the liquor glass.
"Hmm… where should I start. Should I tell you from when I was five, seeing my parents' necks pierced by bandits' swords right in front of my eyes? Or from the moment Barkas's head flew off and I rushed at the nameless knight?"
Dayrolls' hand trying to bring the glass to his mouth stopped.
He read the weight of hellish years this guy must have carried from Danel's indifferent eyes.
"…Hey, you bastard. Isn't it too strong from the first word. Dropping the taste of liquor."
"Isn't mercenary life originally strong. Like this cheap poison that burns the throat when swallowed."
"Kuhuhuhu, right. That is our life. Take it."
Pour—
Clink—
The sound of two men's glasses clinking resonated in the silence.
"Give me too, you bastards. That's my liquor."
Old man Maro added a word.
The night deepened, and Dayrolls emptied glasses feeling the traces of his dead disciple from Danel, and Danel feeling the master's warmth from Dayrolls.
"So… back then Brother Barkas…."
"Kuhahahaha!! Like him. A total idiot!"
Why does the usually long night pass so short. Danel felt his heart filling up for the first time in a while.
'Kiddo, you aren't alone.'
Such a voice was heard.
It was a legacy left by the master, stronger than cheap poison.
'I know. That I'm not alone, you damn brothers I can't see even if I miss you.'
It was when the atmosphere ripened like that.
Dayrolls opened his mouth heavily.
"War will break out, Danel. A very huge war."