Chapter 104
Chapter 104
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 104
Chapter Title: Sword's Holy Land
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The incident inside the Anti-Magic Barrier unfolded with extreme urgency.
The retainers, not to mention Dallas or Faruzan, couldn't accurately grasp what had happened.
'What...?'
Dallas calmly retraced his memories. He had walked toward Shakiya, where Damian had collapsed.
But suddenly, Shakiya bolted upright and grabbed Damian's shoulder.
He knew the man's body was anything but ordinary.
That was why he had dragged Shakiya to the palace, even using forceful methods.
Yet the Shakiya who rose again seemed somehow different.
How to describe it—it felt like he was human, yet not quite human.
But there was no time to linger on the impression.
Whoosh. In an instant, the Anti-Magic Barrier erupted in green flames.
"Is that his unique color?"
"That must be what billowed up from the annex a few hours ago."
"But how? Damian was inside the Anti-Magic Barrier."
The Anti-Magic Barrier Dallas had prepared was of the highest caliber.
Even Michael would need about five minutes to break it.
So it was impossible for Damian to have destroyed it from the inside.
'What is that? A rock?'
Amid the confusion, Dallas's gaze fixed on an object at the center of the training ground.
"Kyaa! Kyaa!"
The black shard let out a cute cry as it spewed green flames.
Looking closer, faint features like eyes and a nose were visible atop the flames.
The familiar. A small flame infused with Damian's unique color had destroyed the Anti-Magic Barrier.
"Small. But. Strong."
Shakiya stared at the bone shard and backed away.
"Full. Power. Fight. Shakiya. Wants."
Roooar. A translucent energy surged from the giant's body.
Though he had imperfectly inherited Derek's swordsmanship, Shakiya's aura was far from ordinary.
Moreover, that peculiar energy lingered as well.
Even Damian couldn't easily classify what it was.
"Kyaaaak! Kyaaaak!"
As the opponent's demeanor grew hostile, the bone shard unleashed its flames with wild fury.
The blaze now far surpassed what it had shown Arkin, as if that had been mere child's play, enveloping the surroundings in even greater power.
"Damian!"
Faruzan charged into the training ground as well. Unlike the other onlookers, she had clearly sensed Shakiya's malice.
Damian readjusted his grip on his sword.
If Shakiya crossed that line here, he would make him pay dearly.
To bare clear hostility against a member of the imperial family—even summary execution would leave Dallas with no grounds to complain.
"Shakiya, stop."
Just as the giant stepped forward, Dallas's voice rang out, and he froze instantly.
His foot hovered in midair.
"What a hopeless guy."
Dallas and his butler entered the training ground. With Shakiya halting, the bone shard withdrew its green flames.
"I'll apologize first, Damian. Shakiya can't control himself around strong opponents—it's a bad habit. You know how the northern minorities can be fanatical about battle."
Dallas bowed his head to Damian. After all, he had arranged the spar, and Shakiya was his retainer.
"You must value him highly."
Dallas was known for cherishing his people. But his attitude toward Shakiya went far beyond that.
"There's a complicated backstory with him."
He promised to discipline Shakiya thoroughly for this incident.
With Dallas humbling himself like this, Damian had no choice but to yield a step.
"You, go inside for now."
At Dallas's single command, Shakiya's battle lust vanished entirely. He turned and left without so much as a glance at Damian.
'Was a guy like that originally in the orthodox faction?'
He had never directly clashed with Dallas's retainers, so his intel was limited.
But the reformist-shared information contained nothing on Shakiya.
Had this man appeared before him due to the regression as well? At least he seemed unrelated to the saviors—that was a relief.
"Thanks for today. My retainers got a good boost from it."
Sure enough, as the situation calmed, the retainers dove back into training. Far more fervently than when Damian had first arrived.
Damian and Shakiya had demonstrated remarkable prowess using only raw physical ability, without relying on aura. It was bound to inspire them.
"Then I'll take my leave."
"Of course. I'll send those two ancient tomes, plus some other gifts, to the annex."
Damian and Faruzan offered light bows before departing Dallas's residence. Sometime during it all, the bone shard had climbed onto Damian's shoulder.
'Huh. Just... how?'
Dallas shook his head at the shattered Anti-Magic Barrier.
As a knight, he knew little of magic.
Most of his retainers trained in aura, with only a handful of mages.
Even so, it was clear this familiar was off the charts.
It wasn't merely a matter of power.
The familiar had independently assessed its master's crisis and acted on its own.
"Ezekiel the Oddball has real expertise on familiars. Though he doesn't use them for combat."
Dallas's butler offered further insight.
"Haha. Looks like my little brother's got more freakish talent than I thought."
He needed to align with the Empress's faction.
But if he could take it further, he'd love to bring Damian under his own banner.
Empress Abigail was dead set on seating her bloodline on the throne.
Her biggest roadblocks were 1st Prince Michael and Rubia. Her and Dallas's plans centered on crushing those two.
So if they triumphed over them—who would be the next emperor?
By convention, 2nd Prince Dallas. Imperial tradition favored the eldest son, after all.
But objections would arise.
Dallas himself wasn't the eldest, yet he had inherited—so what good was tradition?
Erwin and Arkin aside, Boris harbored his own ambitions. He had gathered his own followers, outside the Empress faction.
A pointless endeavor, of course. He should focus on Michael and Rubia instead.
If they failed, Michael would simply lop off their heads.
It was the natural outcome once they'd boarded Abigail's ambitious chariot.
"Has Ciel left?"
"Yes. I can no longer sense him. He's likely gone to report today's events to Her Majesty the Empress."
"And the matter I told you to investigate last time?"
"It's certain he has ties to Prince Boris. But it seems independent of Her Majesty's intentions."
"I see..."
No matter how Boris thrashed about, he couldn't defeat Dallas alone.
Hence the gathering of allies.
'He must have made a play for Damian too.'
The Boris he knew would absolutely try. Damian was undeniably prime talent.
But Dallas wasn't pulling Damian in just to counter Boris.
'Mother...'
Dallas fell into thought as he listened to his butler's report.
He couldn't live as a puppet for that ruthless, ambitious woman. Victory for the Empress faction wouldn't end the battles.
There would only be another civil war after the first.
At that point, Damian as his own would prove an immense asset.
* * *
"Um, Lord Damian..."
Anna bowed her head deeply. Faruzan had ultimately fled, unable to endure the etiquette lessons.
It was no surprise. Saliba, on the other hand, was mastering imperial etiquette better than expected.
His sister Shea had talent for martial arts, so perhaps Saliba excelled in such refined pursuits as well.
He had received replies to the letters sent to the Mage Tower.
Dennis had given a polite refusal, Ezekiel a firm one.
And Ariella...
...I'll be in the capital soon—let's talk then.
There was plenty of chatter, but that final line was what mattered most.
'If Saliba could truly study under Ariella...'
Even Damian couldn't fathom the outcome. Saliba would reach heights incomparable to his pre-regression self.
"Focus more on Saliba."
The "traitor's descendant" label couldn't be erased overnight. Damian's presence merely restrained it—it wouldn't change people's minds.
So at minimum, he had to be flawless on the surface.
Dennis faced the same stigma, yet no one dared mess with him. Why? His position as the Mage Tower's guardian.
Saliba couldn't be granted a title yet, but Damian would ensure no one could nitpick his etiquette.
"Yes. I'll instruct him rigorously, so he brings no shame to your reputation, Lord Damian."
"Kyaa! Kyaa!"
The bone shard on the table let out a cry. It almost seemed like it was cheering Anna on.
"Thanks, bone shard."
Anna gave the bone shard a gentle poke.
Besides Damian, the only humans who could communicate with this bizarre demon were Faruzan and Anna.
"Now, time for you to come down with me."
"Kyaa..."
The bone shard let out a deflated whine. Damian was taking it to the underground training ground.
He had already fed it the two Mem tomes from Dallas. No major change in firepower, but its intelligence had noticeably improved.
"This time, burn only the third target."
"Kyaaak!"
A fireball launched from the bone shard's body struck the target dead-on.
Not a single spark touched the others.
It now handled complex commands flawlessly.
Of course, without Damian's orders, it still acted on instinct.
That had helped against Arkin and Shakiya, but who knew about later? He needed to cultivate its reasoning and judgment.
It had the potential to become a key asset. Far superior to a one-off demon summon.
"Kyaa..."
If there was an outlier, it was how utterly unlike any demon he'd encountered so far. It even resembled a pet in many ways.
Showing reluctance to training, like now. Would other demons act this way? He knew nothing of demon ecology.
'Molech's gone awfully quiet too.'
No—beyond quiet, eerily silent. The contract was still there, but it felt like it was asleep.
Was it connected to the bone shard's awakening?
"Here—your favorite applewood."
"Kyaa! Kyaa!"
He tossed it a chunk of applewood, and the bone shard cheered. Its flames intensified, filling the training ground with a smoky, woody aroma.
Just as other demons enjoyed observing the human realm, the bone shard loved burning wood.
"Da—Damian!"
Faruzan rushed down in a panic.
She wore her usual active attire. A dress had suited her too, but this felt more like the real Faruzan.
"What is it?"
"That bald guy's heading here!"
Shakiya.
"Da.mi.an."
In the annex garden, the bald giant sat cross-legged.
Beside him loomed a large wooden barrel, from which a potent alcohol scent wafted as they approached.
"What's this without warning?"
Shakiya grinned at Damian's question, filled a horn cup to the brim with liquor, and downed it.
Then he refilled the same cup and offered it to Damian.
"Spar. Reward."
It was one northern minority custom: sharing a drinking horn with someone you wished to bond with.
The stench was brutal. Even Faruzan grimaced beside him.
*Gulp. Gulp.* Damian drained the cup dry and handed it back to Shakiya.
Rough and crude, but the taste wasn't bad. It was like the man himself distilled into liquor.
"So. You came all this way just to share a drink?"
"Qualified. Plenty. Iron. Wolf. Damian. Goes."
"What are you getting at?"
The words came in fits and starts. Something about Damian and the Iron Wolf, but the intent was murky.
As Damian scowled, Shakiya bared his teeth in another grin.
"Sword's. Holy Land."
That was the true reason he had sought out Damian.