Chapter 44
Chapter 44
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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 44
Chapter Title: Grace Period
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He is so far away, and I cannot send him any news,
But one day, a letter arrived from him.
---
[Luceras Calendar, Year 4676] May 1st. Flowers bloom.
I dreamt of my junior, Lansen, today.
It’s been a while.
I find myself wondering about him from time to time.
Where is he now, and what is he doing?
Just what kind of person is he?
Does this junior of mine… ever think of me? We were comrades who fought together, after all.
---
I stared blankly at the Book of Fate.
This page had appeared one day after my last trip through time, suddenly and shamelessly, without any warning.
It read:
[Iodine Serom is thinking of you. You have cleared a total of two episodes related to her. Two random entries from her diary related to you will be revealed.]
This thing really has all sorts of features.
That was my casual thought.
At first, anyway…
But for some reason, I kept rereading the sentences written here.
For some reason, I missed her.
We hadn't known each other for long, nor did we know each other well.
But a tremor rose from a very deep place, as if I had always longed for her.
“Ahem.”
No. This isn't the time to get sentimental.
I cleared my throat once to compose myself and quickly turned the page.
What I needed to focus on now wasn't this, but another entry.
---
[Luceras Calendar, Year 4674] January 10th. It snows.
Today! I visited the ‘Chamber of Glory’!
A place where my esteemed seniors of the Horizon Knights, those who achieved great deeds, are enshrined with their cherished weapons.
Just walking among them made me feel as if the path I must take had become clearer. Could I, too, be buried here one day?
Normally, not just anyone is granted the right to pay their respects… It seems my master thought highly of my achievement in taking Kashigiere’s head.
Yes. I, Iodine Serom.
I’ve made it this far.
So that I do not forget this place, I will record the positions of the Thirteen Principal Gods as I saw them, looking up from the front of the Chamber of Glory.
…(Omitted)
But,
Where in the world did my junior Lansen go?
My master hasn’t said anything either…
It was an achievement we accomplished together… It would have been nice if we could have come together.
---
The ‘Chamber of Glory’.
I constantly checked the Book of Glory and went to find that place.
It wasn't hard to find, as my senior had kindly recorded the positions of the Thirteen Principal Gods.
A remote region about twenty kilometers from Glowingsteel.
Her diary said it was located on a mountaintop, but when I arrived, there was no mountain, just a slightly elevated hill.
It seemed ten thousand years was enough time to bury even a mountain.
“Shall we begin?”
I stirred my Aura and excavated the earth.
It took quite a bit of effort before I could find the entrance.
I had worried it might have collapsed, but it was preserved in surprisingly good condition.
It seemed to have been protected by magic.
The inside was a bit damp and dark, but the statues, stone tablets, and decorations were all clearly preserved.
“This should be… more than enough.”
The Chamber of Glory.
A place where knights of the Horizon Knights who had achieved great deeds were enshrined ‘together with their cherished weapons.’
Large halls and corridors repeated, flanked by magnificent tombs on either side.
Various weapons were displayed in each tomb.
All of them were ancient armaments, ranging from masterpiece-grade to treasure-grade.
This was more than enough to secure all the weapons I needed.
I’ll have to give the especially good ones to my siblings and vassals.
I carefully placed just what I needed into my subspace, and I also made rubbings of the tombstones to match them with the weapons.
I was taking them because I needed them… but I wanted to show a minimum of respect.
Since I came alone, I had to do everything myself, so it took a considerable amount of time, but I didn't leave immediately after finishing the work.
Instead, I looked around every corner of the ‘Chamber of Glory.’
I just felt like it.
Iodine had wanted to come here with me… I wondered what it would have been like if we had.
I imagined it.
Perhaps I was searching for something without even realizing it.
Even if I wasn't conscious of it.
And in the deepest, most ornate tomb, I finally realized what I had been looking for.
- The great ⬛⬛ …ster, Iodine Serom. Rests here. (4649 ~ 4⬛⬛⬛)
“Ah…”
A sound escaped my lips unconsciously.
I traced her name, engraved on the tombstone, with my fingertips.
Over the long years, some letters had been erased and were no longer visible, but her name alone remained clear.
Thump. Thump. Thump.
For some reason, my heart was beating fast.
So fast that even I, a Sword Master, couldn't control it.
“You were… really here…?”
Something I couldn't tell if it was elation or sorrow stung the tip of my nose.
My senior, so far away that I couldn't even ask how she was.
So this was your end.
What kind of life was it?
Were you satisfied…?
Suddenly, a certain passage came to mind.
Even though I was a stranger to literature, it was as clear as if someone were whispering in my ear.
- The silence of the dead leaves such a loud echo in the hearts of the living. That is how we are connected. A life may be extinguished, but some echoes remain, resounding through this world forever and ever.
The sentence was so cheesy that I couldn't believe I'd thought of it, but it strangely stuck in my mind.
I slowly rose to my feet.
“We’ll be able to see each other again.”
In the distant past. Surely. Once more.
*Clack.*
Facing my senior's coffin, I placed both hands on the hilt of my sword in a gesture of respect and turned my back.
I didn't touch a single thing inside that tomb.
* * *
Time passed quickly.
From the lowest-ranking soldiers to the Expert-level commanders.
It was a time when everyone was engrossed in training.
No one uttered a word of complaint.
We are all in the middle of a once-in-a-lifetime gamble, and everyone knows it.
For the first week, I personally commanded the training.
But from the second week on, the training began to run on its own.
I did that on purpose.
In an actual battle, I'd be busy hunting down Harun anyway.
I entrusted most things to the field commanders from now on so that the chain of command would function well even without me.
So I had some free time.
Thanks to that, I was able to visit the Chamber of Glory.
Whenever I had spare time, I would go around the castle, checking on the training and giving feedback.
While making my rounds, I saw Kalserik and Saltsran training.
The twenty-year-old Saltsran. With his bulging, well-developed muscles, he had already reached the high-Expert level, a younger brother with a promising future.
They were in the middle of a tactical drill, each commanding their own soldiers.
Kalserik led the cavalry, and Saltsran led the heavy infantry.
Kalserik, upon his horse, spotted me and raised his voice.
“Hey, Commander! I need a favor!”
“What is it?”
“Could you please break this brat’s stubbornness!”
Kalserik's tone was one of frustration.
“Stubbornness?”
“Yes! Barkan’s cavalry charge can’t be blocked with a shield, can it? So I told him to put his soldiers in front and stab from behind with a glaive or a long spear… but he just won’t listen.”
Ah…
I think I get it.
But it probably won't work even if I say it.
As expected, Saltsran raised his voice in protest.
“Sir Kalserik! If we do that, the soldiers in the front line will keep dying! Since I’m stronger, it’s only natural that I block from the front.”
Right. That was the spirit of Saltsran’s family, the House of Count Juan.
To break the enemy’s spearhead from the most dangerous position. To protect one’s allies.
Kalserik, who seemed to dislike that sort of Gloryland-style chivalry, bared his teeth and growled.
“So have you ever, not even once, blocked my cavalry charge until now?”
“I failed because I wasn't used to the timing. I can block it if we do it again.”
“Ha! You brat. I admit you’re a noble and you’ve learned some fancy martial arts. But if you act up trusting in that, you’ll be found as a corpse, you hear?”
“I will block it this time.”
Saltsran’s blue eyes burned with a firm will.
“Fine… If you can’t block it this time, you’re on your own.”
Kalserik, who had been asking for my intervention, suddenly flared up on his own.
“Let’s go! Charge!”
The cavalry led by Kalserik charged toward the heavy infantry led by Saltsran.
Kalserik was at the very front of the cavalry, raising a long lance, while Saltsran was at the front of the heavy infantry, raising a kite shield.
‘…He’s not holding back at all.’
A top-tier Expert. Kalserik, who boasted skills near the pinnacle of his class, was thrusting a full-powered strike at Saltsran, a twenty-year-old high-Expert.
‘I’m very satisfied.’
Yes, this is how training should be.
The moment they finally clashed,
“Hraaaah!”
Saltsran’s battle cry thundered through the heavens and earth.
Simultaneously, Aura exploded from his shield.
‘Whoa!’
I was startled.
“Aura Repulsion!”
That technique.
I’d seen it before.
On the day the Vanroah Royal Palace burned and we were hastily fleeing.
A knight from the House of Count Juan had received a Sword Master’s attack with that technique.
That back, which felt like a great mountain at the time.
That sturdy shield that protected us all.
It felt as if the shadow of that knight was cast upon Saltsran’s back.
Aura Repulsion.
An ultimate defensive and counter-offensive technique that explodes an Aura with extremely strong repulsive force upon impact.
Right now, it had precisely struck the tip of Kalserik’s lance.
*Kwaaang!*
“Guahk!!”
Kalserik let out a strange scream and was thrown from his horse, tumbling across the ground.
*Thud, thud, kaboom!*
With Kalserik, who should have been their axis, collapsing like that, the cavalry charge was futilely blocked by the long spears and shields of the heavy infantry.
*Step.*
Saltsran looked down at the sprawled-out Kalserik and extended a hand.
“Are you hurt?”
Gentle concern was evident in Saltsran’s eyes.
Kalserik shook his head and got up on his own, dusting himself off.
“Shit, the commander’s kids are all monsters.”
Dusting off his clothes, Kalserik prepared for the next round of training.
In front of him, Saltsran looked at me and smiled brightly.
As if to say he could do it. As if asking me to watch over him.
That kid…
I gave him a slight nod, and Saltsran’s eyes burned even brighter as he firmly held his shield.
To be honest, I was finally feeling a bit relieved.
‘If I give him a treasure-grade ancient shield on top of that…’
It was definitely doable.
I had been worried I was giving him too difficult a task, but…
He had improved in that short time.
My younger brother.
* * *
I left Saltsran and continued to meddle here and there.
Then, in a certain training yard, I saw Katrina and Baren engrossed in training.
“Grind!”
Baren Rodona. Twenty-four years old. A top-tier Expert.
This guy usually walked around with a sleepy look in his eyes, but today, they were filled with venom.
It seemed Katrina was helping Baren with his training.
“Baren. The strategy Sir Kalserik came up with is good. It’s good, but it’s meaningless if your fundamentals can’t hold up.”
“Fundamentals?”
“Yeah. Reaction speed.”
Oh…
Katrina, your feedback is quite sharp.
“Jahir is a veteran warrior. If it comes down to a battle of wits, you’re bound to lose.”
“…You’re right. It was like that last time, too. What should I do?”
“It’s simple. Just react even when you get hit.”
“React even when I get hit?”
“Yeah. It’s something I’ve been feeling lately while sparring with Lansen. When you’re fighting someone stronger than you, you have to be able to react no matter what happens, whenever it happens, to survive.”
Katrina drew her longsword.
“Alright, I’m going to attack, so you just block or dodge. With the resolve to react to all of my attacks.”
“Alright.”
An intense sparring session began between the two.
‘This is good.’
There was nothing to criticize. Their training was heading in the right direction.
I nodded and went to see other places.
And then a few days later, I went to check on them again, and…
‘Huh?’
One more person had been added.
Rivera. The best marksman in our camp.
“Are we really doing this?”
He asked Katrina with a reluctant expression.
“Are we?”
Katrina passed his gaze back to Baren.
“Yes! Please do it!”
Baren’s eyes were blazing.
What in the world is going on?
He wasn't originally this passionate…
“Young Master Baren. Be careful. My arrows are a bit cowardly. I’ve even been called Rivera the Swindler before.”
“That’s even better, Sir Rivera.”
As Baren’s will didn't waver, Rivera and Katrina exchanged glances, and then,
“Chaaah!”
*Twang—!*
One with a sword, the other with an arrow, they aimed for Baren.
‘Is that okay?’
Just blocking and dodging is not easy even against one opponent…
There’s a reason they say the best defense is a good offense.
Not attacking was practically the same as fighting with both hands tied.
I was worried he might get injured unnecessarily.
But…
‘He’s doing pretty well?’
With venom streaming from his eyes, Baren swung his one-handed sword freely, blocking and dodging quite well.
That should be fine.
I felt relieved and passed by again.
And then after a few more days, I went to see how they were doing, and…
‘What is that?’
I witnessed a sight that was hard to believe even seeing it with my own eyes.
“Archers!”
As Katrina raised her hand, the archers all drew their bowstrings toward Baren in unison.
They were all Expert-level warriors, their arrows shimmering with Aura.
Although they were training arrows with the heads removed, if an Aura-infused arrow hit properly, it wouldn’t end with just a little pain.
Among them, Rivera, holding his bow, looked at Baren with a confused expression.
“…Is this right…? If he gets hit by all of these, his bones will break… and there’s a war soon…?”
Rivera’s concern seemed very appropriate.
Right now, Baren’s appearance was… wretched.
His clothes were all torn, making him look half-naked, and his handsome face was swollen like bread dough.
He must have used a lot of potions, as there was a pile of empty potion bottles in one corner.
Despite all that, Baren’s will was firm.
“Come on!!”
The killing intent, the venom, blazed in his eyes.
Katrina stared blankly at Baren for a moment before asking.
“What’s the reason? The reason you’re going this far.”
“I’m definitely going to kill him. Jahir.”
“Why? Your mission isn't to kill him…”
“I’m going to kill him!”
“…Is it because you got hit back then? Weren’t you the type to easily forget getting hit a few times?”
“It’s not because I got hit!”
“Then what’s the reason?”
Baren ground his teeth. *Grind.*
“There is one. A reason I can never forgive.”
At this point, I was also curious.
What is that reason? Why are you so venomous?
What I asked of you was to tie Jahir down, not kill him. But why are you going this far…?
It didn't seem like an ordinary reason could make him do that…
*Swiiissssh—!*
Finally, a rain of arrows was loosed.
The surprising thing was,
‘He’s dodging that.’
Baren’s movements had improved by leaps and bounds in just a few days.
That kid is a genius in his own right.
On one hand, I was worried, but on the other, I was relieved.
Yes. You have to get stronger. That’s how you’ll survive.
Steadily, the soldiers, my siblings, and my vassals were getting ready.
Two weeks passed like that.
As everyone had expected, the Gale King did not keep his promise of a one-month grace period.