Chapter 47
Chapter 47
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Translator: Ace
Chapter: 47
Chapter Title: Successor
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The battle didn't last long.
Unlike the first fight, where they were overwhelmed without a chance to fight back,
this second clash ended in a crushing victory for the allied forces.
"......"
But no one cheered carelessly.
They still hadn't confirmed the most important thing.
"Father! Where is the Grand Lord?!"
Elena Sobkov, who had led the charge just moments ago.
Her eyes searched for only one person.
Victory and glory meant nothing.
Only the ominous premonition squeezing her heart.
"......!"
A short while later.
They reached the center of the fiercest fighting.
The brutally torn corpse of the Twin-Headed Ogre.
Beyond the mountain of monster bodies piled around it.
"Sir Damian!"
Damian Winter came into view.
Covered head to toe in blood.
Traces of a desperate struggle for survival.
And behind him.
"......Father?"
Grand Lord Mikhail Sobkov.
He lay there quietly.
With a more peaceful expression than ever.
Without the slightest twitch.
"Ah... Aaa......"
Elena approached slowly.
She touched her father's face with trembling hands.
It was cold. Incredibly cold.
"Daddy......?"
No breath could be felt.
"......No."
An unbelievable reality.
A tragedy too hard to accept.
"Please open your eyes... I beg you......!"
She collapsed.
Clutching the Grand Lord's cold corpse.
"Daddyyy......!"
Not the knight who had led the battle moments before.
But the figure of a daughter who had lost her only father.
Roar...!
A massive bonfire lit up the dark night sky.
The crackling of burning logs filled the quiet night.
'The Grand Lord's funeral.'
The victory that had burned everything away.
About three days had passed since then.
Today, many from Sobkov Territory gathered in one place.
To bid farewell to the east's guardian, Grand Lord Mikhail Sobkov.
"......"
The funeral followed Sobkov Territory's unique rites.
Placing the body in a wooden coffin and burning it in a massive pyre through the night.
In a solemn and majestic atmosphere, the hero's flesh returned to a handful of ashes.
'He was a great man.'
Damian, having recovered, attended the funeral as well.
He stayed until the very end.
'On a level I can't even compare to.'
The Grand Lord's final moments flickered in the flames.
Always hearty, yet always shouldering responsibility.
Right up to the moment he drove the sword into his own heart.
'This is what it means to call someone a hero.'
The east's hero.
No, the kingdom's hero.
Having met such a man.
Having forged a bond with such an existence.
Having inherited everything from such a hero.
'The right choice.'
The Grand Lord's dying words.
Make the right choice.
Honestly, he didn't know.
What the right choice was.
'......For now.'
He had to wrap things up here first.
The Grand Lord would have wanted that.
'However.'
There was one thing bothering him.
Elena Sobkov.
'She can't not know.'
The wound on the Grand Lord's chest.
And the outsider who had inherited the family's swordsmanship and secret techniques.
How would Elena accept all this?
If misunderstood, was there a way to explain?
"Sir Damian."
Just then.
Elena Sobkov approached him.
"Lady Elena."
She too gazed at the roaring flames.
Reddened eyes, yet a composed expression and posture.
The figure of a new lord rising above grief.
"......"
A brief, awkward silence followed.
Elena broke the quiet.
"How is your body faring?"
"Much better."
The aftermath of mana awakening had been severe.
Even half-opening it brought massive side effects.
But Damian's case differed from the Grand Lord's.
'The abilities I've absorbed so far shone through.'
For instance, bodily durability, recovery, regeneration.
Such abilities had greatly mitigated the side effects.
"I'm glad."
Elena nodded at Damian's reply.
"......A few days before this battle broke out."
She continued slowly.
"Father told me."
A calm voice.
Yet laced with deep sorrow.
"No matter what happened to him, it was all a path he chose himself."
"......"
"Whatever results that choice brought, it was all for Sobkov Territory."
Elena's gaze turned to Damian.
"So even if I can't understand it, advance without a shred of doubt. That's what he said."
Unyielding eyes without a hint of wavering.
"As the new Grand Lord inheriting Father's will, I've decided to follow those words."
In other words.
She would set aside all her doubts.
And not make an issue of it.
'A decision as Grand Lord.'
She wasn't a fool.
The peculiar wound on her father's body.
And Damian Winter's changed swordsmanship.
She knew what had transpired.
"Moreover, Sir Damian."
Elena continued.
"You risked your life for our territory three times, despite having no ties to us."
The deathmatch with the troll berserker.
The suicide squad mission with seven members.
And this battle.
"You also took on the heavy duty of escorting His Highness the Prince at Father's request."
Strictly speaking, that was true.
Damian had no connection to Sobkov Territory.
Not his homeland, certainly no blood ties.
He had only come once at the Grand Lord's invitation.
Yet he showed tremendous devotion.
"As I said before, I will repay this debt."
Elena, who knew this better than anyone.
Strength entered her voice.
A vow filled with firm conviction.
"Never forget that Sir Damian is always an honored guest of our territory—and a hero."
Unwavering trust toward Damian.
That was Elena's conclusion.
Not as someone's daughter, but as Grand Lord.
"......"
Damian understood her intent.
No further explanation was needed.
'Like father, like daughter.'
The dignity of a Grand Lord already emanated from her.
She too was a noble of exceptional caliber.
"......I as well."
He couldn't just listen.
Damian responded to her resolve.
"Made a promise with the Grand Lord."
A promise with the Grand Lord.
Or perhaps his request.
"To make the right choice."
"What choice is that?"
"Who knows. Honestly, I still don't quite get it......"
A moment's contemplation.
Damian continued.
"......For now, I think it means finishing what has already begun."
What had already begun.
Wrapping up everything that happened in Sobkov Territory.
Fulfilling the Grand Lord's long-cherished wish and revenge at once.
Elena nodded at those welcome words.
"I sincerely thank you for your choice, Sir Damian."
Her eyes sharpened once more.
No time to grieve forever.
Now, she had to carry on the Grand Lord's will.
"We have two options."
Her gaze turned far away.
Toward the great jungle shrouded in darkness.
"The first is to wait for further royal support, then launch a full-scale subjugation."
"......"
"The second is to not miss this chance, while they've suffered massive losses too."
Wait and go safely.
Or seize the moment.
The former would take time.
And time bred variables.
"What are your thoughts, Sir Damian?"
"Now is the opportunity."
A straightforward answer.
The reason was clear.
"They have limits too."
In the end, it was a war of attrition for them as well.
Nearly a year of accumulated troop losses would be enormous.
Moreover, they'd lost their linchpin, Grol Dash.
"We mustn't give them time now."
On the contrary, now was the chance.
No matter how he looked at it.
"Of course, I don't know what threats lurk inside."
Deep within the great jungle.
Fear of the unknown territory.
Yet, even so.
"Judging solely by the situation before us, now is the perfect moment. That's undeniable."
Elena nodded at Damian's words.
She thought the same.
She just wanted support from someone reliable.
"As expected."
For example, Damian Winter.
Now, undeniably Sobkov's strongest force.
With his backing and intent to join.
No need to hesitate anymore.
"Very well. Then."
Elena, resolve hardened, turned.
She walked a few slow steps forward.
Toward the soldiers, knights, and commanders at the funeral.
"Proud soldiers of Sobkov. And my brothers."
Her voice cut through the night air.
All knelt on one knee to the new Grand Lord.
Elena Sobkov.
"Today, we bid farewell to a great hero. The guardian of the east, my father, Mikhail Sobkov. He fought for us until the end, and thanks to him, we have the chance to rise again."
Elena's gaze turned to the blazing flames.
"Behold those flames. Father's flesh turns to a handful of ashes, but the unyielding will he left burns fiercer than ever in all our hearts at this moment."
A voice brimming with power.
The resolve rising above sorrow.
"For centuries, we have guarded this land. We endured, spilling blood against the great jungle's monster waves. Others called it our fate. But I ask you all."
Elena drew her sword and raised it high.
The blade gleamed coldly in the moonlight.
"Is that truly our fate? Merely enduring, spilling endless blood?"
The most fundamental question.
Or the root of all this.
"Having succeeded in defense, must we return to that worn-out fate?"
The worn-out fate.
Choosing it might bring temporary ease, but another monster wave would come someday.
They'd have to endure, spilling blood again.
"Or must we forge a new destiny with our own hands?"
A new destiny.
The path to subjugate the great jungle once and for all.
The two paths Elena presented were starkly different.
"Which will you choose? Fleeting peace? Or cross the Spine of Sighs with me, drive out the jungle's beasts, and make the sacrifices of our late Grand Lord and fallen comrades meaningful?"
At her cry, Adnen Mount, who had been kneeling, sprang up and shouted.
"Lieutenant Adnen Mount will fight alongside the Grand Lord!"
Then others began responding one by one.
"I too will follow the Grand Lord's will!"
"We'll break the chain of monster waves!"
"Revenge for the late Grand Lord and our comrades!"
"For our sons and daughters, no matter what......!"
Fervent responses.
And burning fury.
The new Grand Lord nodded.
Having received their full resolve.
"By the will of all, we now commence the subjugation of the great jungle."
No longer mere defense, but total subjugation.
The moment a new page in history was written.