Chapter 205
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Translator: Prime Works
Chapter: 205
Chapter Title: Unexpected Encounter (2)
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“Are you going to be okay?”
A concerned voice reached her ears.
Serazad turned her head at the sound.
She looked down at Julian’s eyes, which were about a handspan below her own line of sight.
“Step back.”
A frail guy who only fiddled with pens at a desk.
A soft, fluffy young punk who was utterly useless.
That was Serazad’s impression of Julian.
It had been the same when he first spoke to her.
‘Even though I moved openly through the bushes, he didn’t notice until it was too late and only then freaked out.’
Pathetic.
What if she’d had bad intentions?
He wouldn’t have been able to defend himself and would’ve been killed.
Julian’s behavior afterward was no different.
‘He just let me drag him along like a puppet.’
Did he even gasp in surprise and ask who she was?
She’d answered crisply, without any fluff.
Her name was Serazad.
A guest from the Sultanate.
Staying at the Frontera family estate.
She’d come this far for a walk and happened to spot him.
She’d overheard his conversation with the attendant next to him without meaning to.
So she intended to help.
Before Julian could even respond, she’d stated her business quickly and precisely, point by point.
Then she’d stared straight into his eyes and asked.
Where was the rock?
She’d clear it away.
‘His reaction was even more ridiculous. With that utterly clueless look, he pointed out the path blocked by the rock.’
Even that was full of openings.
Regardless of whether his attendants hurriedly went on guard.
The way he’d widened his eyes like a startled rabbit and shown her the blocked path.
‘Lloyd Frontera, that obnoxiously cunning guy’s brother? Hard to believe.’
Serazad shuddered.
Lloyd Frontera.
Just thinking of him irritated her.
She’d secretly expected his younger brother to be just as sharp.
But meeting him like this, the brother turned out to be an unexpectedly empty-headed know-it-all.
‘Just a bookish nerd who’s good at studying.’
With that thought, she stared straight at Julian.
She spat out curtly in a flat voice.
“Farther.”
“Ah, yes.”
Julian stumbled back a few more steps.
The men around him shot wary glances her way.
The men, covered in mud from trying to move the rock.
They were the attendants who had escorted Julian from the capital.
They were also skilled knights at the mid-level Sword Expert rank.
“…….”
But she didn’t care.
Whether they were on guard or not.
She just needed to clear the rock and help.
That would make it much easier to get the lullaby from Lloyd.
With that in mind, Serazad turned to face the rock.
“…….”
The oval-shaped rock was huge.
Its short diameter alone seemed over two meters.
The long side reached four meters.
It had completely blocked the path for carriages.
The road itself was narrow, hugging the side of a steep slope.
In other words, the rock had rolled down from the upper left slope and lodged right in the middle of the not-so-wide path.
‘Hoo.’
Serazad took a deep breath in front of the rock.
Her hand was already gripping the scimitar’s hilt.
More loosely.
Yet more precisely.
She heightened her senses.
She glared at the rock, searching for weaknesses, baring her fangs.
Slash!
The scimitar flashed coldly.
It sliced clean through one face of the massive rock.
Crash!
A chunk the size of a fist broke off from the edge.
“……!”
Julian and the attendant knights’ eyes went wide.
But this was just the beginning.
Slash-slash-slash-slash-slash!
Countless lines etched the air.
Serazad’s form blurred amid dozens of sword gleams.
At the same time, the rock blocking the path began shrinking from the edges.
No, more precisely, it was being ‘whittled away’ bit by bit.
Chop! Crash! Crunch!
Like carving meticulously stitch by stitch.
Or trimming vegetables for fried rice.
“That looks just like…… peeling potatoes…….”
One of the attendant knights muttered dazedly.
The others nodded in agreement.
Peeling potatoes.
That image sprang to mind amid the astonishing sight.
Serazad’s swordsmanship and power shocked everyone.
‘Is that even possible?’
They all felt grave doubt.
Slicing a rock in two with a sword.
High-level swordsmen could manage it.
For example, the top tier of upper-level Sword Experts.
But even those elite Experts couldn’t cleave a rock multiple times.
It was due to the sword’s own durability limits.
‘Of course. A sword is just a sharpened metal bar at the end of the day.’
Striking a rock with it?
The blade would suffer major damage.
Even slicing through leather or meat would wear it down.
Expecting the blade to stay intact after hammering a huge rock was wishful thinking.
That’s why ‘aura,’ which could cut anything without damaging the blade, was called the Swordmaster’s ultimate technique.
But this woman?
‘She’s not using aura. She’s not a Swordmaster. So how is she slicing the rock dozens of times without her sword taking damage?’
They stared at Serazad’s back in awe and confusion.
Of course, they didn’t know.
That Serazad was already at the cusp between upper-level Sword Expert and Swordmaster.
‘Hup!’
With each swing of the scimitar, Serazad’s eyes grew calmer.
Her sword path became even more refined.
The sword energy concentrated further.
She wasted not a single bit of sword energy.
While swinging, she used the bare minimum mana to maintain it.
Only at the instant the blade met the rock.
She focused her mana solely then.
Maximizing the cutting power.
She executed this flawlessly in every storm-like barrage of strikes, in every fleeting gap.
A superhuman focus that would’ve been impossible before.
The fruit of her hellish training with Haviel.
Of course, she hadn’t fully realized her own growth.
She focused solely on eliminating the rock before her.
‘Sshup!’
Ssst-!
The rock, subjected to over two hundred potato-peeling(?) cuts.
Finally, the last slice struck the rock, now reduced to about fifty centimeters.
Tsssh!
The remaining piece split cleanly in two.
Serazad sheathed her scimitar.
She blew on the heated blade, worn from countless frictions.
As if nothing had happened, she slid it into its scabbard.
She turned back to everyone.
“This should do it, right?”
Behind her, where the massive rock had been.
Heaps of fist-sized cubic rock fragments from endless dicing piled up.
Julian and the attendant knights couldn’t respond easily.
A smirk tugged at Serazad’s lips.
“Clean it up.”
With that, she turned and left without lingering.
Only then did the attendant knights snap to and start clearing the debris.
♣
The evening deepened as usual.
But that night, Serazad’s evening was a bit different from normal.
Her help with Julian during the day.
Because of that, she’d been invited to dinner with the Frontera Count family.
“If it weren’t for Miss Serazad today, our second son would’ve been in real trouble. Thank you so much.”
“No need.”
A table modest in size for a count’s family.
Simple yet neatly prepared dishes filled it.
Over those dishes came the Frontera Count’s thanks.
Serazad shook her head and replied again.
“I just happened to see you in distress while out for a walk.”
“That chance encounter could’ve gone to someone else and led to worse. Turning coincidence into kindness was purely thanks to Miss Serazad’s good heart and goodwill, wasn’t it?”
“…….”
Such praise felt burdensome.
Serazad gripped her fork and thought quietly.
She’d only done it to more easily get the lullaby from Lloyd.
She’d just helped Julian’s group for that reason.
Why was everyone making such a fuss?
‘Uncomfortable.’
Truthfully, she wasn’t used to praise.
She’d heard flattery from subordinates, but pure compliments and gratitude from equals or superiors? Rarely.
That’s why.
The dinner felt awkward.
Like forcing herself into ill-fitting clothes.
Moreover, this family’s atmosphere was utterly alien.
Far warmer and more affectionate than expected.
“So, was the journey here tough?”
“Not at all. The attendants took such good care of me.”
“Is that so? They’re truly grateful people.”
“Yes, Mother. And as I mentioned, Miss Serazad gave us great help too.”
“I see. Thank you, Miss Serazad. Our family owes you a great debt today.”
“……Ah, yes.”
She bowed awkwardly at the countess’s warm smile toward her.
Serazad poked at her salad while listening to the family’s conversation.
“Second son.”
“Yes, Father.”
“Studying alone in a strange land must’ve been hard all this time.”
“No, Father. I lacked for nothing. Thanks to you, Mother, and Brother.”
“You say that, but your father knows better. How could I not? The loneliness of being alone in a place with no one you know…… *Sniff*.”
Overcome with emotion, perhaps.
The Frontera Count downed three glasses of champagne in a row.
Julian asked worriedly.
“Father? Are you okay?”
“Haha. Your father’s fine. Just in too good a mood. It’s an endlessly joyful day. How could I not be happy?”
“Ahaha, y-yeah.”
“So here’s the thing.”
The count’s face flushed red from the quick intoxication.
With moist eyes, he looked back and forth at Lloyd and Julian, his two sons.
“Your father is happy. To be your father.”
“Father…….”
“To be honest, I don’t know how to put this feeling into words. I’m proud of you. The proudest in the world. Because you succeeded? Because the eldest made a big name and the second graduated the academy brilliantly? No.”
The count’s voice choked up.
“Your father isn’t glad just because you succeeded. I’m thankful that you grew up healthy, kind, just like this. No, I’m endlessly grateful that this unworthy father could be your father. I even want to thank fate for giving you to me as sons.”
“U-um, Father, you seem pretty drunk…….”
“No, Julian. And Lloyd. Your father could give you everything right now. If cruel fate up there said I must roll through life to protect you? I’d gladly tumble forward and backward a thousand, ten thousand, a hundred million times, laughing all the way. As long as it makes you happy. Gladly. Understand?”
“Ugh…… Father…….”
Julian cringed, limbs curling up.
Beside him, Lloyd’s duodenum twisted into a ball.
Across from them, the countess covered her flushed face with both hands. As if thinking, ‘He’s weak to alcohol, and of all days, with a guest here today…….’ She seemed deeply embarrassed.
So Serazad was inwardly shocked.
Because the count, drunk for once.
Emotions surging.
Poetry exploding.
Freely pouring out cringe-worthy affection?
No.
Quite the opposite.
She was struck with envious shock.
‘Is this…… what a family is like?’
She’d thought families like this only existed in sweet, naive stories.
Never imagined seeing it in real life.
‘So different…… from mine.’
Under the table, Serazad secretly clenched her fist tight.
Suddenly, the Sultan came to mind.
Her father.
No, less a father than a ruthless ruler.
To earn recognition from that Sultan, how had she lived?
Amid dozens of princes and princesses, clawing for even a sliver of trust, acknowledgment, visibility—how desperately had she pushed herself?
Not a day without the sword in hand.
Even as blisters burst and rebursed.
Even as her father never spared her a glance.
If she became strong someday.
If she somehow reached Swordmaster.
Then her father would finally recognize her.
Treat her as a proud daughter, a child.
She’d lived believing that firmly.
Even now.
Seeking the lullaby from Lloyd.
All to struggle toward Swordmaster.
To earn her father’s approval sooner.
“…….”
But this felt unfair.
No need to strive so desperately.
No need to wet the pillow with tears every night.
No need to comfort herself.
Even without that.
‘Was recognition something I didn’t need?’
It wasn’t needed.
That was normal.
That was an ordinary family.
Just happy because you’re my daughter, my son.
That was family, parent and child.
Yet she hadn’t grown up in such a family.
No, only now did she realize and feel it.
It felt so unjust, so empty.
Her life so far.
The time spent struggling.
What was it all for?
“…….”
What am I?
Her tightly clenched fist under the table.
Her trembling hands.
Suddenly felt so small.
Her drooping shoulders, her bowed head.
All seemed worthless.
From then on.
Serazad finished the meal in a daze, unaware of what she ate or what conversations passed with the Frontera Count family.
She didn’t even think of re-negotiating with Lloyd as originally planned.
Back at the guest quarters, she sat blankly on the bed for a long while.
Night deepened further.
The tactless moon and stars rose.
As pale moonlight tickled the window.
Serazad rose as if entranced.
She began packing her things haphazardly.
‘Let’s go back.’
She didn’t even know why herself.
Just emptiness.
Her efforts so far.
Her father’s longed-for approval.
The Swordmaster realm she’d yearned for.
All felt vain and hollow.
She just didn’t want to think anymore.
She wanted to rest, just a little.
‘Let’s go.’
Creak.
She slipped out of the room.
A dark corridor stretched before her.
A inexplicable sigh escaped before the bleak sight.
“Hoo.”
Why this sigh?
Everything just felt futile.
Unbearable.
She took a step.
One step, two.
Dragging her feet down the hall listlessly.
A tear, then two.
Trickling down her cheek to her chin.
The moment she foolishly tried to wipe her eyes with the back of her hand.
“……Miss Serazad?”
Suddenly, Julian’s cautious voice tugged at her sleeve.