Chapter 208
Chapter 208
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 208
Chapter Title: The Solond Prince
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"Come here, Setsnen!"
A sudden confusion shook his brain.
Thanks to Rain's shout as he chased after the assassin, Rem barely regained his senses and immediately helped Miria to her feet.
"What's wrong, Ghost? You get cut too?"
"No, this is……"
Miria gasped for breath with difficulty.
The old man Biram knelt by the kid's side, clutching his hand, while Aki just stood there blankly, unsure what to do.
Rem propped Miria against the wall before rushing to the fallen kid.
"What the hell? How dangerous a guy are you being hunted by?"
In the instant of the tragedy, a few citizens screamed and fled.
The commotion spread through the city, but since everyone had run away, the epicenter was eerily quiet.
Just then, the kid—who was left with only his upper body and coughing up blood in his death throes—suddenly grabbed Rem's wrist.
"M-My commission, the commission, don't……"
There, Rem felt two sources of confusion.
First, the kid's hand felt larger and stronger than it appeared visually.
And second, the pronunciation was far more precise and the tone archaic compared to before.
"My true name is…… Bisram of Solond Kingdom's Royal Guard…… This one…… Prince Obin…… I must, must escort him back to the kingdom…… Before it falls……"
Solond's prince?
What the hell was this? He couldn't follow the story.
"Then the royal family…… will give you…… immense rewards……"
Suddenly, something like a tropical haze rose over the old man and the kid.
A hallucination?
No, this is……?
Incredibly, their positions had swapped.
'Not just positions.'
It had clearly been the kid Obin whose upper body was severed. But somehow, Bisram's upper body was the one cut off instead.
"Solond Royal Guard's forbidden alchemy, huh."
"Alchemy, alchemy, alchemy."
That's when Valensidis appeared from the right alley. There was no time or reason to brighten at the healer's arrival.
Modern medicine using spells can't regenerate missing body parts.
For the same reason, someone with their upper body severed can't be saved, no matter what.
No matter what.
"When the target faces mortal danger, it swaps their positions along with an illusion. A technique that makes one die in the other's place."
It was a somehow mischievous tone.
Even as he said it, Valensidis chanted holy words from his lips, placing a hand glowing with mystical light on Bisram's forehead.
Bisram's breathing eased. It had alleviated the pain of approaching death.
"Don't cry, Your Highness……"
As Bisram placed a hand on Obin's head, tears streamed from the young prince's eyes.
"This old, worthless life…… To serve someone as kind and gentle as you, even at the end…… It was my honor……"
Rem could hardly believe his eyes.
The prince clung to the old warrior's hand, shedding endless tears, yet not a single sob escaped him.
He was biting his lower lip with all his might to suppress his grief.
'At an age that can't even be ten.'
How many bloodbaths, how many pains of severed bonds, had he overcome until now?
"……"
As Aki stared silently at the carnage, the blood, the tears, Miria's voice revived in his mind.
- People die someday. And when they die?
For a moment, Bisram and Obin overlapped with Rain and himself in Aki's mind. It was just an illusion.
- They can never meet again.
It wasn't real.
Just a bodiless phantom.
Yet, even so, a faint glimmer of moisture welled in one of the young dragon's eyes. Even without fully grasping death.
- Come here, Aki.
* * *
Jesa Chaeryeon: Thunder Formula.
Crackle…… The chains wielding thunder that plunged from the sky moved at the speed of light.
Less powerful than chains of flame, but the essence of the thunder formula lay in that speed.
"……!"
The assassin's movements—mid-leap from railing to rooftop—halted for an instant.
'As expected.'
But by the slimmest margin, he evaded with artful poise and continued his sprint.
'I never planned to catch him outright.'
The goal from the start was to control his path. A mage's feet couldn't outpace a swordsman's anyway.
He ran.
Through narrow alleys, over fences, cutting southwest through Orbenheim's bustling market.
'Not shaking him off.'
Roof tiles and planks shattered noisily as the nimble figure leaped between rooftops, still in sight.
In normal circumstances, the swordsman would've shaken the mage long ago.
But with Jesa Chaeryeon's chains spread like a net across the city, it was different.
'Impressive, Setsnen.'
The ritual's casting speed was several times faster than calculated, nearly drawing an exclamation unfit for the situation.
This was the imperial dragon's power. The might of the absolute being that commanded lightning.
A whimper echoed in his soul, overlaid with the pearl Setsnen.
[Aruu…….]
His foot kicked a tub that had held fish. Splashing water, the furious owner's shouts.
"Hey, you bastard!"
Seletesia's wildly flapping clothes.
Pedestrians gaping up at the lightning storm crashing from a clear sky without warning, collisions in succession.
A chaotic, violent pursuit, but proceeding as planned.
'At this rate, the gates—no, the towering walls—will block his path.'
Then, he gathered the widespread chains into one.
'Just like this.'
The assassin, whose path was funneled by the chains—where no chains blocked—halted before a rooftop.
Rising despairingly before him: the city walls.
Even a great swordsman needed a running start to scale those walls.
"Got you."
The imagery of concentrating vast dispersed mana to a single point—innumerable chains ensnared the airborne assassin.
Just before the dazzling chains surged from all directions to pierce and bind his flesh.
He suddenly turned this way.
And gripped the greatsword's hilt, assuming a draw stance.
Mystical radiance bloomed over the massive blade, unleashing slashes too fast for the eye to follow—twice.
'I wasn't seeing things.'
In that moment, he had to press his fist to his fiercely pounding chest.
'It's Spacetime Annihilation.'
Along the slashes' trajectories, dimensions cracked, fractures spreading through space-time.
And the next instant, they shattered like glass.
Cleanly severing the lightning chains belonging to that dimension, as if by magic.
'And that sword.'
The aftermath of shattered space-time whipped fiercely, savagely fluttering Seletesia's clothes.
'Supreme Star Sword Shyrfang.'
The assassin landed effortlessly on the wall, then leaped beyond, vanishing.
'The holy sword Rista used.'
Staring blankly at the empty space he left, deep breaths over and over…… His heartbeat slowed, but the turmoil didn't.
'Shyrfang, why you?'
Rista's swordsmanship wielded by someone other than Rista?
The questions didn't end there.
Only a FakeWarrior could wield a holy sword in the first place……?
Did they resurrect Rista like the Slayers……?
No, impossible. Karenden said my comrades didn't sink into the abyss.
And Rista's body should be sealed in the Holy See's underground mausoleum. But what if?
"Abut!"
Aki's voice snapped him from the ominous delusion.
[Aru!]
Before pearl-state Setsnen could cheerfully respond, Aki came barreling in, slamming into his chest.
Such force that he lost balance and tumbled onto the pavement.
Was he playing around without knowing the situation? But the mood felt off.
"What's with this guy all of a sudden?"
Stroking Aki's sunset-glowing head in the fading twilight, Aki finally lifted his face with all his might.
"Abut, don't die!"
"What?"
"Don't die!"
Unsure what was going on, as he peered into Aki's clear eyes, a smile formed—joyful yet lonely, and sad.
- Come back alive, no matter what, Lin.
- Master Lin!
- You'll come back, right? You'll return, right?
Sorry, Aki.
I've decided not to make promises like that to anyone anymore. Especially not to you, who must live eternally.
Aki in his arms, and Setsnen's power in his hands, felt heavier than usual.
* * *
"No reason to help. No value in it."
He rejoined Valensidis in the suburban woods after nightfall.
After being questioned by the Red Witch leading the city guard, alongside Rem and Miria.
Rem testified that the assassin killed the kid, and his companion—the old man—was taken by some dark mage (Valensidis) and vanished.
"No reason to help?"
So Bisram's death wouldn't be in vain. The enemies would think Prince Obin dead for a while.
"Those who seized Solond Kingdom now are the Dawn Brigade."
"What's the Dawn Brigade?"
Miria asked, her condition suddenly improved after earlier.
"The Black Church's second pillar, Elamas's elite unit. Kartphirim in elven tongue."
Silence fell for a moment.
A low, deep hush in the night woods, enough to hear awakening predators' breaths.
"As the name implies, every member is an elf. Any reason to walk into the tiger's den?"
Elves, first descendants who aided gods against ancient kings in the gods' war, surpassed humanity vastly in body and mind.
As if born solely to fight.
Wielding gods' miracles diversely, sparse in number but their influence shook both continents immensely.
'But that's weird.'
Can elves wield holy swords?
Elves use holy lances, derivatives of holy swords.
So how could a swordsman wield Shyrfang?
"No value?"
Bart asked.
Valensidis pointed to Obin, whose eyes were red from tears.
"Solond Kingdom, in central-north Adrion Continent, runs a slave system of sorts. A bizarre caste system dividing subjects by birth rank."
"……!"
"And when the kingdom faced crisis, the prince fled first. Abandoning his people."
"Crisis?"
"Rumor has it Soulblight plague spreads there now. The royals ignore it."
So he really was the prince.
That gem converting light to sound earlier—it rang a bell.
Solond Dynasty's heirloom from Archmage Rigwind.
So that's what he meant by asking for help.
"Ah, n-no, no. I-I, th-this, I hafta borrow it, hehe."
His common tongue, fresh to speech, was even worse than Aki's.
Yet his spirit was on a higher plane, unbroken even before his retainer’s death.
The boy drew a weathered bamboo flute, widening Rain and Valensidis's eyes instantly.
'No way.'
'Rigwind's flute?'
Rigwind: first disciple of Great Sage Emita Page, first Archmage, Solond Dynasty founder.
Progenitor of music-wielding mages.
And that flute, elegantly engraved with Rigwind's name…… The forgotten treasure mentioned in countless tomes.
"Th-this, if played, stops what Lamaesa priest does."
Is that why he left to find it?
It fit perfectly—why the Dawn Brigade hunted the prince here.
If he were just an incompetent runaway, why bother killing him?
"Lamaesa priest?"
From the stammering prince's explanation: Soulblight stemmed from that elf priest (likely Elamas)'s scheme.
Spread the plague, then "cure" it to shatter royal prestige and boost his own.
Royals powerless against the priest, so prince fled with five guards.
To find Rigwind's flute, which could recreate gods' melodies purifying ancient kings' abysses.
Location passed only to royal heirs. Found it, but all five guards, including Bisram, died en route.
Now, must hurry back before too late…… But impossible alone.
"I oppose it, Rain Ludwig. Don't forget your journey's purpose. And is the prince's intent truly pure? Not for his throne?"
Valensidis shook his head in denial, while Bart, after thought, nodded.
"I want to help. We can detour on the way, right?"
"Not that simple. Traveling with him means constant Brigade attacks."
"I oppose too. This…… Well, I'd help normally, but it reeks of danger. Danger we don't need to step into."
Surprisingly, Rem sided with Valensidis, not Bart.
That assassin's skill looked insanely dangerous. And if just a grunt, not a leader……
Fine alone, but with Aki to protect now.
"I say we should help."
Miria voted yes.
The long-ear probably wished it too. Wanted his power used this way.
'And for some reason…… Feels like we must go there.'
All eyes turned to the last voter and final decider: Rain.
'Spilling his guts to total strangers like us—means he's truly desperate.'
This kid bearing the Black Church's trials alone?
Suddenly, childhood memory surfaced: shivering in the slums' alley. Heat rose in his chest.
Black Goat Lin.
'To Solond?'
If that's your will……
Stroking sleeping Setsnen's head, calculating, Rain finally spoke.
"I see no need to help either. Journey has a true purpose. I'm bound by promises on lives."
The prince's eyes filled with despair.
Bart and Miria looked baffled. We thought you'd help for sure……
Rain boldly ignored their stares, flashing Aki an irresponsible smile.
"Right, Aki?"
Aki blankly met his eyes.
Usually, eye contact alone cheered them both, but today felt different.
As if asking if Aki agreed too. Aki caught his breath, then walked to the prince.
"First. Like dragons, martial arts must protect the powerless and weak!"
"……?"
"Second. Like dragons, martial arts must illuminate the world's dark corners!"
Out of nowhere, shouting loud enough to shake the woods—Cheonhwa School disciple's creed learned from Selene.
Forge body and mind to dragon realm, teacher's precept.
His shout so thunderous, Setsnen stirred in his pocket, squinting at Aki's face.
"Third. And harbor a dragon's heart in your chest!"
Finished, Aki stared straight at Rain with eyes dazzling and pure as a torch lighting the world's final winter.
"Abat, gotta help."
In that instant, the forest's darkness held a stillness revering the noble will of an absolute being.
"Gotta, gotta, gotta."
In that instant, the comrades' faces watching Aki bore varied expressions.
'Did that guy test Aki on purpose?'
And in that instant, feeling warm, poignant pain at Aki's growth, Rain turned away.
"Hmm, even weighing all factors, not helping is right, but Aki says so—can't help it."
Valensidis sighed; Rem shook his head in disbelief.
"You planned this from the start, yet spout nonsense."
He'd intended to visit Solond alone anyway, to uncover the Shyrfang swordsman's identity—even without the prince.
It felt ominous.
Didn't know why, but had to investigate.
Still, giving Aki the choice was to see how his tender heart viewed this.
The best possible answer emerged, but it felt like…… Reaching 5th-circle after agonized deliberation……
- You're amazing, Lin!
Like when Aunt Headmistress first smiled solving her math problem.
Ah, so that's the feeling back then.
The smile tugging ear to ear wouldn't fade. This pride?
"Abat."
"Abat, abat, abat."
Hand on Aki's head as he joyfully rushed in at his decision. Their laughter made Setsnen laugh too, clueless.
"Aru."
Ala Kish overlaid as pearl in his soul seemed to smile.
"Alright, shall we go? To Solond."