Chapter 29 - Stage
Stage
Translator : Elizabeth
Chapter 29. Stage
"War…… you say?"
At Danel's question, Dayrolls' hand bringing the liquor cup to his lips stopped.
"Right. Peace has lasted too long. Peace makes humans indolent, and indolence makes humans rot from the inside. The current Empire has done too many idiotic things. It's time for the festering wound to burst."
Danel fiddled with his empty glass.
Fragmented information he had bought for a long time began to fit together in his head.
'Was that why. Nobles recently started increasing private soldiers like crazy and expanding their influence?'
"Are you talking about the movement in the East?"
"Not just the East. Western Alliance, Southern Alliance…… everyone is eyeing the prey called the Empire. No, precisely, they want to bring down the Empire and become another Empire themselves. Turbulent times are coming, Danel. A bloodbath different in trajectory from the trivial incidents you've experienced so far will blow in."
Danel was silent for a moment, then raised the corners of his mouth.
"Then it's rather an opportunity for a mercenary like me."
Dayrolls narrowed his eyes as if dumbfounded.
"……What?"
"Isn't it obvious. The battlefield is a stage for mercenaries."
At Danel's words, Dayrolls burst into hearty laughter.
"Kuhahaha! Right, I like that guts very much! But you have to choose the battlefield well. No matter how outstanding your skill is, one dies a dog's death by a blind arrow on the battlefield."
"I'm not that stupid."
Dayrolls giggled and stared at Danel, then suddenly changed the topic.
"By the way, when did you learn Aura? I didn't feel it at all when I gave you the mushroom in the mountain that day. Looking at your level now, it doesn't seem like you learned it in a day or two… and that energy… did you perhaps learn Daeryeo's Aura Cultivation Method?"
Danel cheered inwardly.
He was at a loss how to explain the path he obtained Aura, but he was falling into the swamp of misunderstanding on his own.
Danel opened his mouth brazenly without changing his expression.
"How did you know?"
"Kuh, kuhahaha! As expected of a grand-disciple, you learn the same continent's thing even if you learn! Daeryeo's cultivation method is famous for being secretive. It's much more detailed and developed than the crude method of our continent. There's nothing like it for hiding energy."
Danel asked back, inwardly surprised.
"Did Grandmaster also learn Daeryeo's cultivation method?"
A strange pride dwelt in Dayrolls' expression.
"I also obtained a serendipitous encounter when I was young. I once saved a Daeryeo person just before he died a long time ago. What he passed down as a life price saying thanks became the foundation of my Aura. Where would there be a noble to teach cultivation method to a lowly mercenary bastard back then?"
"I am similar to Grandmaster."
"Hmm, must be. The person who taught you the cultivation method probably isn't in this world now either."
"Why do you think so?"
"The physiology of those guys is like that. They hate teaching the secret of cultivation method to others more than death, yet hate their lineage being cut off even more. He probably realized it was time for him to die and passed down the cultivation method marking you as a successor."
Danel acted a sad expression and nodded.
"So that was why. The reason he disappeared suddenly as soon as he taught me the cultivation method."
"Right, he must have ended his life quietly somewhere. But let me ask just one thing. The person who taught you the cultivation method, what is his surname?"
Danel pondered for a moment, then recalled the excuse he gave Vince half-jokingly before.
"It was Cheok."
At that moment, Dayrolls' eyes grew big.
"Cheok? Really? You learned from a person with the surname Cheok?"
Thinking 'oops', Danel asked back.
'What…… surely…… does it really exist?'
"Why? Is there a problem……."
"Look at this lucky bastard! If it's Cheok, it's a seongmun (prestigious clan) noble of Daeryeo! Think of a family like Ashuhalt in terms of the Empire. Don't know how you obtained such a serendipitous encounter, but you are truly born with heavenly luck."
It was a fact Danel didn't know at all, but he nodded cunningly playing along.
"I see. No wonder every single teaching was extraordinary."
Dayrolls opened his mouth somewhat seriously.
"Hmm… May I take a look at your Aura Cultivation Method?"
Danel hesitated for a moment.
Letting another's Aura inside oneself was an act of entrusting one's life entirely.
A situation where the opponent could burst blood vessels if he set his mind to it.
But Dayrolls was a strong man who crossed the threshold of Master, and his master's master.
"You mean looking to see if there are points to fix, right? It's an honor for me."
"Ha! Bold fellow. How do you readily give your back knowing what I'll do?"
"Isn't saying such things itself proof you won't do anything. Grandmaster wouldn't be such a person."
"Kuk kuk kuk. All talk. Right, sit down."
Dayrolls' thick palm touched Danel's back.
Instantly, hot energy rushed in riding Danel's blood vessels. It was a property opposite to Ashuhalt's cold energy.
It was after one grand circulation like that.
Dayrolls took his hand off as if despondent and burst into a hollow laugh.
"Damn it…… you really learned from a seongmun noble, huh?"
"Why? Is something wrong?"
"No point to improve."
"Yes?"
Dayrolls clicked his tongue and continued.
"Tsk, embarrassing to say but there's no room for my advice to intervene. I prided myself on encountering quite many cultivation methods, but haven't seen one as precise and complete as yours. Understand to some extent why you shouted about seeing the end with beggar-like swordsmanship. Since the foundation is this solid."
Danel admired the perfect efficiency Trace created once again.
But Dayrolls didn't stop here.
"Good, then I'll teach you my Aura Cultivation Method now."
Danel opened his eyes round in surprise.
"Yes?"
"Why so surprised. Originally intended to teach Barkas and raise him as the Mercenary King. Since the guy died, shouldn't you, the grand-disciple, learn it?"
"But I have no interest in things like Mercenary King."
"Kuhuhuhuhu, do you think I'm called Mercenary King because I want to be called that? That's a name others call me. Or what, you intend to become a noble or something?"
Danel recalled Lorraine's face for a moment.
"……If necessary."
"Kuhuhuhuhu, peculiar guy. Mercenary King origin noble, that would be a quite interesting picture too."
If it's an Aura cultivation method capable of climbing up to Master level, it would never lag behind Ashuhalt's secret technique, no, a tremendous item superior to it.
Missing this opportunity was akin to being an idiot.
"Can't not learn when given for free."
"Kuhuhuhu, of course. What I'll teach you is of the 'Yeon' family who served as Mangniji (Generalissimo) of Daeryeo. Probably quite different from what you learned."
"How so?"
"If yours feels like very refined and cold ice, the Yeon family's is a very rough and burning fire-like cultivation method. If you truly have talent, you'll learn something through these two conflicting properties."
"I thank Grandmaster for his grace."
"Stop the creepy greetings there and sit. And put your hand on my back and follow the Aura path well."
"Understood."
Yeon family's Aura Cultivation Method obtained like that.
'Incredible. The trajectory is completely different from what I learned.'
The moment he put his hand on Dayrolls' back and followed the flow of energy, Danel was astonished. A cultivation method even Trace couldn't find a better path for. It was already perfectly complete in itself.
"Phew…… how was it, remembered?"
"Yes. Clearly."
"Kuk kuk, amazing guy. Remembered all this at once? Your head is extraordinary."
"Not a lie."
Dayrolls filled the glass again as if satisfied.
"Right, a guy worth Barkas writing a letter to send."
"By the way…… there is one thing I'm curious about."
"What."
"Why didn't you teach this to Barkas?"
Silence flowed for a moment.
"Do you resent me?"
"A little. If you did… he might not have died."
At that, Dayrolls smirked and looked at the glass filled with liquor.
"When I taught the guy, it was when he was young. Naturally when I didn't know the cultivation method either."
"……I see."
"Isn't it the same for you. Just because Barkas didn't teach you cultivation method, is he not your master?"
Danel shook his head vigorously.
"No. How could that be."
"Right, it's like that."
Old man Maro had passed out long ago, and Danel and Dayrolls tilted glasses silently.
'Ugh…… damn…… my head…….'
Next morning, Danel woke up clutching his head in a splitting headache and visited Lorraine's office.
"Danel, are you okay? Your complexion is very bad. Did something happen?"
Lorraine, leaving the office, approached with a worried face.
Danel forced himself to alert and answered brightly.
"Ah, yes…… I'm fine, Lady. Slept badly due to expectation yesterday."
If he hadn't driven out the hangover with Aura cultivation method, he probably couldn't have gone to the banquet today.
Although the hangover was shitty, the harvest obtained from Dayrolls yesterday was a serendipitous encounter worth a thousand gold that couldn't be exchanged for anything.
"Preparation is all done, right? N, now let's depart."
Lorraine walked ahead resolutely.
"Excuse me…… Lady. You are moving same side hand and foot together right now."
"……!?"
Lorraine stopped in surprise.
"I, I must be too nervous. It's my first banquet too…."
Danel glanced at Kailey next to him.
"W, what? Why look at me like that?"
"Lady also knows the Unique Training Method?"
"S, shut up……"
Danel chuckled and said to Lorraine.
"Don't be too nervous. Perhaps today might be the golden stage to raise the status of our 'Lorraine Squad'."
"L, Lorraine Squad……?"
"Yes, well. Since Lady Lorraine is the captain."
"Pfft……! Thank you, Danel. Thanks to you, tension relaxed a lot. Let's go, squad members."
Lorraine walked ahead with a much more comfortable smile than before.
Like that, Danel also moved his steps to the banquet hall with flashing eyes following Lorraine.
'War, huh…. It has already begun here. Grandmaster.'