Training Complete
"Hey, even so. Is it really okay to just walk out like this?"
"...I don't know."
"But it's been five years. Shouldn't you at least say hello properly? From Rubia's side it's only been a week."
"I-I'm not in the mood for that."
I sat perched on a rock somewhere deep in the mountains, fingers tracing the bracelet Sirin had given me.
Five years.
A full five years.
And the number of times I died...
How many was it again?
"Eight thousand. I lost count of the rest."
Right.
Eight thousand times.
In five years I had died a full eight thousand times.
Even Sirin, who always strutted around so full of herself, had praised me.
Even Cartia, who spent every day getting on my nerves, had praised me.
I had endured that truly, truly hellish stretch of time thinking only of Rubia...
"Still, Rubia was at least wearing underwear. The spirit mage was completely naked."
"Ugh..."
"She said it was part of the healing, so... what can you do? Feeling the flow of mana or qi is definitely easier without clothes. Can't argue with that."
Yeah.
According to Rubia, it had been part of the healing.
Still... she herself had at least kept her underwear on.
She had apologized, but...
"...H-how was it?"
"How was what?"
"Ser's... body."
"Insane."
"...Really?"
"Yeah. Flat-chested little things like us shouldn't even dare compare."
"A-ah...! D-don't say weird things like that!"
"But Rubia doesn't like you because of your body, right? Or does she...? Tsk... I dunno. Your lower half is pretty solid, so maybe that's fine."
Under Cartia's endless teasing I buried my face deep into the knees I was hugging.
"Anyway. There's zero chance Rubia's gonna run off with the spirit mage. You know that. Rubia doesn't like women—she likes you."
"D-don't say embarrassing stuff..."
I know that already...
"Then what's the problem? You've gotten strong enough to wipe the floor with most people, she said she'd turn the Fragments of the End into whatever jewelry you want, and Rubia still likes you."
And.
"You even got a ridiculously good bracelet from Sirin."
Cartia's finger pointed at the bracelet I had been stroking.
"What was it called again? Bracelet of the Immortal?"
"Immortal, my foot... It's the Bracelet of Verdure."
The name Sirin had given it was the Bracelet of Verdure.
Its effects were... uh... there were a ton of them.
The most important one, though—
was that it erased the disconnect with reality that had formed inside Sirin's space.
Chief among them: the sense of danger toward death.
After dying eight thousand times, my wariness of death had completely vanished.
She had told me it was dangerous and never to take it off, but...
Honestly I wasn't sure if it was even working.
Hmm... I felt pretty much the same as I did back then.
"No."
"...Huh?"
"You were completely different. Don't you remember how you'd just kill yourself whenever things got annoying? Toe broken, hairline fracture in the leg—anything that made moving hard and you'd twist your own neck with your bare hands."
"W-wha... eh? M-me?"
"Yeah. If we counted the suicides too, it would've gone past ten thousand."
...The effect was apparently incredible.
"Anyway. Like me and Sirin both said—there aren't many beings who could kill the you of that time. But you still need to keep that wariness. You might unconsciously pour out every last drop of True Qi like when you first killed Sirin."
"...S-stop praising me so much... hehe... heh..."
I forcibly dragged down the corners of my mouth that kept twitching upward.
I was in depression mode right now.
"Of course, I'm talking about the you of back then. Not the you who's got everything sealed up like now."
Ah... right.
The second effect of the Bracelet of Verdure was sealing, just like Cartia said.
It gathered up the power that leaked out because I still couldn't control the terrifying strength I'd gained through that insane training...
No, she said it wasn't mana.
Anyway, a seal that reined in the power I couldn't regulate.
On top of that, if I could originally output a hundred, it locked me down to about forty.
When I asked why it had to go that far, she said ordinary people might drop dead just from brushing against the power I leaked.
And... that power mismatched to my rank would slowly kill my body as well.
She had gone on about mind-body-spirit and a bunch of other stuff, but there were so many Chinese characters I just let it all wash over me.
"W-well, that was still me, and this is still me..."
"True. But don't get cocky. Your rank's risen thanks to Frey and all, so you've got fewer weak points, but you're still stuck in an ordinary human body. Beating the ones you people call Masters is gonna be tough."
"...You didn't say I couldn't win. Heheh..."
"I haven't seen those bastards myself so I don't know for sure... but I figure you'd win."
"But... Sirin's a Master too. I had to die almost eight hundred times just to kill her once..."
The moment I said Sirin was a Master, Cartia let out a short snort of laughter.
"You seriously think that? That Sirin's a Master?"
Hearing the mockery in Cartia's voice, I kept my mouth shut for a while.
Master...
Yeah, calling her a Master did feel... a little off.
"...I dunno."
I mumbled something noncommittal and let my body go limp against the rock.
Sealing the senses of that time.
Sealing the power.
Didn't mean the memories were sealed too.
Well... there were stretches where I'd completely checked out and had no memory, but
I still remembered most of it.
Yeah... I remembered.
The techniques Sirin used.
Word of Power, ancient magic, Breath.
"She's a dragon. That one."
"...Yeah."
"Not just any dragon... probably a Primordial."
"Probably..."
The Primordial Dragon.
The sealed ancient dragon.
Sirinias.
At first she had hidden it thoroughly.
Toward the end I had no idea why she started flaunting it so openly.
And why a dragon that should have been sealed
had broken free.
Why she was living as an adventurer in human form.
Why she used a greatsword she clearly wasn't used to.
Why she knew me.
Why she destroyed the Magic Tower.
Why.
Why.
Why.
Why she claimed to be my master.
I understood nothing.
"Uuuugh... my head hurts..."
"Just keep it simple. To you she's a master and the strongest card you've got, right?"
"R-right... Calling her master feels a little... heavy. Umm... just teacher...?"
"Teacher my ass. You little brat."
"A-anyway. For us... she really is the strongest force we have..."
She was, but...
I felt uneasy.
The final condition for reaching the last chapter had been the subjugation of Sirinias.
Unease, worry, fear.
Why were these feelings blooming?
Because I might lose if I ever had to fight Sirin?
Or
because we had grown too close?
"Why the hell do you look so pathetic again."
"...Cartia."
"Yeah."
"If... it had been Cartia in her prime, could you have beaten Sirin?"
"If I used my Unique Ability, no contest."
The answer came without a shred of hesitation, leaving me a little stunned.
"Uh... r-really? Then... what was your Unique Ability, Cartia?"
"Victory."
"...Huh?"
"Absolute victory."
I wasn't holding the greatsword, so I couldn't see Cartia's expression.
Only her slightly subdued voice spoke for her feelings.
"Victory...?"
"Yeah. An ability that brought victory in exchange for one of the things I possessed."
"Th-that's incredible, isn't it...?"
"Sounds great when you just hear the words... but there were a whole lot of fucking annoying parts."
Cartia let out a deep sigh, her voice drawing a little closer.
"What do you think victory is?"
"Winning...?"
"Pffft... Yeah. Winning. In the end it's the result. Whether it's a fight or a war. The result of something."
"O-ohhh..."
"For simple things like beating an enemy into the ground and claiming victory... no problem at all. But... the ambiguous ones had a ton of issues."
"Ambiguous ones...?"
"Say you and I made a bet on who would live longer."
A self-mocking laugh reached my ears.
"It wouldn't make me live longer. It would make you die early."
"...Ah."
"Once wished for, it couldn't be defied."
Cartia's voice sank even lower.
"Absolute, twisted victory. That was my Manifestation of Will. So I can always win."
"Ah, um... uh..."
Maybe I shouldn't have asked...
Something... something bad had clearly happened...
Wh-what do I do...?
"Anyway, that was it. The price it took was a pain in the ass and it pissed me off, so I didn't use it often, but toward the end I used it quite a bit. Didn't want to die."
I was curious about the prices it had taken.
Really, really curious, but
I was sure... only bad stories would come out.
I didn't have the confidence to endure an even heavier atmosphere than this...!
"Th-that's—"
"The price for wishing victory against three dragons was my womb."
"Hic...!"
"It stole the dream I wanted most. For victory."
"Th-that must have been... upsetting..."
Upsetting?
Upsetting?!
Th-the best I could manage after hearing something like that was just... upsetting?!
"Still, cheap enough, right? A cheap leather armor, a cheap greatsword, a cheap mercenary like me. And I beat dragons."
"...Even so."
"Drop it. It's all in the past anyway, and the feelings from a thousand years ago are completely gone."
A heavy sensation settled on my head.
Rough, violent, careless fingers.
Cartia's hand.
Sometimes she would suck out my mana like this and form a body, but
why now...?
"Manifestation of Will... no, wait. Unique Abilities bloom for the thing the person wants most."
"...Seems that way."
"Even me, connected to you, don't know what you wish for or what you want. So I can't give advice or lectures."
That... might actually be a relief?
Smack—!
"A-ack!"
"You little shit... I was trying to say something sappy for once. Anyway, steel yourself before you take the trial. Unless you want some half-assed ability to pop up."
The trial...
According to Rubia it proceeded based on past memories.
The past of the person who originally owned this body?
Or
"Huff! Huff! Ha!"
I shook my head hard and stood up.
To shake off the useless thoughts I stretched my body out long, rolled my shoulders, and started stretching.
"What the fuck are you doing all of a sudden... Hey. Grab the greatsword."
Cartia's voice turned urgent.
"Y-yes? The greatsword?"
At the same time—
Clatter— scrape-scrape-scrape—
the sound of the greatsword I had leaned against the rock on my right sliding away reached me.
"Huh...?"
"We're fucked... What I can see right now is forty knights and thirty mages."
"W-why all of a sudden..."
"Noah. First, calm down and listen carefully."
Before Cartia could continue—
Crunch— crunch—
"Apostle of the Evil God."
The sound of dried leaves being crushed underfoot, and then—
"I am the Eleventh Master, Mern."
"...That thing's a Master?"
"Eleventh...?"
A middle-aged man's voice rang out.
"I have come to reclaim the Tower Master you kidnapped and our Priestess."
Reclaim who?
Priestess.
Rubia?
Us?
No—mine.
"Master or not. Hey, hey. Calm the fuck down. Listen to me. Control your power carefully. Screw up and the whole mountain could come down with Sirin's barrier."
"I know that without your greatsword you cannot see. Moreover, two more Masters are climbing up behind me. Hand those two over, and I shall kill you cleanly before you are sold off as a breeding sow."
A greasy laugh echoed through the mountains.
"What the hell is that word-count-wasting bug dialogue? Is he begging us to kill him before he talks more?"
I stretched my hand forward.
"Heh, so spineless you'll surrender right awa—"
Thump—
No surge of mana like the first time I gripped Frey.
No dramatic flourish like when Sirin drew her greatsword.
Just quietly.
It appeared naturally in my outstretched hand.
"Yeah. Just kill that bastard. Leave one of the ones coming up behind for interrogation."
"That ominous greatsword... what in the world...?"
Qi Sensing painted the man's figure a beat late—Melon or Mern or whatever his name was.
Weapon: twin swords.
Probably because he had only just become a Master, he looked weaker than Kalt on the surface.
Unique Ability still unknown.
And behind him
dozens of magic circles and knights stood arrayed.
"Twice."
Cartia snickered as she spoke.
I shook my head and answered.
"No. Once."
I slowly raised Frey overhead.
"You—!"
At the same time the twin swords charged and the magic circles began to move.
The knights surged forward in the twin swords' wake.
Downward.
I brought it down in a single precise stroke.
Slash—
"Of all things they had to mention Rubia. Fucking idiots."
Behind Cartia's cackling voice,
half the mountain vanished.