Chapter 81
Chapter 81
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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 81
Chapter Title: Adaptable
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“My lady.”
Daisy shuddered at that single phrase.
“Ugh! Stop it! Please? Uncle Balseon. I'm begging you. Please!”
My lady.
Daisy was cringing so hard she thought she might die.
Everyone was happy about Balseon's recovery.
But they all found his sudden change in demeanor awkward.
Daisy, in particular, found it the most awkward.
Young Marquis Daisy Julien.
The sole heir to the House of Marquis Julien.
What was the point of all this?
The Vanroah Kingdom fell when I was three! I don't even remember it!
But Balseon, who had changed overnight, stubbornly kept calling her "my lady."
“Lady Daisy. A diamond is still a diamond, even if it's baked in mud. The time has come to break free from the mud that hides your brilliance…”
“Ugh! You still have that obsession with profound sayings?!”
“…In any case, you must start getting used to it. You must rebuild your family. It won't be long now. His Highness Lansen will soon establish a kingdom.”
“Eek!? Uncle Lansen is now His Highness Lansen?!”
Daisy was utterly horrified, but Balseon couldn't yield on this.
“Hmph… Very well. Young Marquis. Since you dislike being called 'my lady,' I will address you as Young Marquis. I would prefer to call you 'my lady' out of personal affection, but if you wish it, it is proper to address you as Young Marquis. However, His Highness Lansen is His Highness Lansen. You, too, Young Marquis…”
“Aaargh! I don't like 'Young Marquis' either!”
In the end, Daisy couldn't take it anymore and ran away.
But Balseon's expression remained unchanged.
“A year? Three years at most? If I keep calling her that, the Young Marquis will eventually come to accept it.”
Persevering and pushing forward with patience.
That was Balseon's specialty.
Just then, Mika came into Balseon's view.
Mika Seitus.
The sole heir to the House of Duke Seitus.
Balseon quickly approached, grasped his sword hilt with his left hand, and bowed his head in the military salute of Vanroah.
“My lady. The weather is quite fine today.”
At that, Mika's eyes sparkled.
Balseon, who had always spoken to her casually and familiarly, was suddenly using honorifics and showing formal respect?
Most people reacted with reluctance. Daisy had been tormented as if she were dying.
But Mika, on the other hand, was delighted by the situation.
“Hoh? And who might this be? Is this not Sir Balseon Valancha, the Knight?”
“Indeed, my lady.”
“Stop. 'My lady' does not suit me.”
“Ah, yes. Young Duchess.”
“Ahem! This Young Duke is a knight in her own right! Addressing me as Sir Mikiciella, the Knight, will suffice.”
Then, she whispered softly,
“Kukuk... Though I wish to live as an ordinary knight, hiding my identity, I am shackled by the truth of being the second most revered person in the kingdom... Such is my destiny, as Mikiciella...”
He couldn't quite understand it, but Balseon was pleased nonetheless.
He was a knight now, and he could finally address the young masters and ladies with their proper titles.
“Yes, Sir Mikiciella, Young Duke!”
“Ah! It follows me so relentlessly... What meaning does this wretched bloodline hold...!”
That day, Balseon was caught up in a rather long role-playing session with Mika before he could finally escape.
But he wasn't tired at all.
He had no reason to be.
Fresh aura poured from his vibrant aura core, and his whole body was filled with a life and vitality he could never have imagined before.
Riding that momentum, Balseon entered the instructors' meeting.
He carried himself with an entirely different air of gravitas than usual.
“Um... Head Instructor. How about we just remove this part about offense-defense unity? We can't teach something we don't even grasp ourselves…”
“Stand up.”
“Sir?”
“I said, stand up.”
With that, Balseon shot up from his seat and moved to an open space.
The instructor, who couldn't comprehend offense-defense unity at all, followed him hesitantly.
“Draw your sword.”
“Sir?”
“Draw your sword.”
Balseon drew his sword first, and the instructor followed suit.
“You said you don't understand offense-defense unity?”
“Yes, sir. No matter how many times I hear it, I don't get it. Offense is offense, and defense is defense. The idea that they are one and the same…”
“Attack me.”
“Sir?”
“Attack me with all your might.”
At those words, the instructor's demeanor changed.
After all, the warriors of Roverland were not ones to hold back.
‘Oh... Is this my chance? A chance to beat up this old man who only ever engages in armchair theorizing?’
He even had such seditious thoughts as he readied his stance.
“I won't go easy on you.”
“I wouldn't have it any other way.”
“Then... Hyaaaah!”
He didn't use aura, but the sword of a warrior twenty years Balseon's junior was packed with ferocious power.
Claaaang!
However…
The instructor's vertical slash was futilely blocked by the blade and protruding crossguard of Balseon's sword, which he had raised high and thrust downward.
“Hiek…!”
Meanwhile, Balseon's sword not only parried the attack but also aimed for the young warrior's throat.
No one who hasn't experienced it can know.
The chilling sensation of a real sword's sharp edge touching one's neck.
Balseon spoke to the startled instructor, who had fallen on his rear.
As if releasing a long-held grudge.
“That is offense-defense unity.”
That day's meeting became a meaningful time for engraving various concepts, which had previously been difficult to convey, into the instructors' bodies.
After successfully concluding the instructors' meeting, Balseon headed out to the streets for his next task.
He was responsible for a wide range of duties, not just training but also weapon production at the smithy, managing the warhorses, and repairing the castle walls, so he was always busy moving about the city.
However, as he was passing by a vacant lot where children always played, he witnessed a scene that made him frown.
“Scram, kids! Scram!”
“Shoo! Shoo!”
“Kekeke. Look at their eyes. I bet they're about to swing at us.”
Three drunken warriors, carrying a crate of liquor bottles, had chased away the children who were playing in the lot.
Among the children being chased away were young members of the Lansen Family.
“We were here first!”
Just as expected of the Lansen Family, a thirteen-year-old child talked back. But,
Thwack!
What came back was a kick from a warrior.
“Tsk! How dare a little brat stare at me like that. Hah! Should I just stomp you to death?!”
The warrior threatened the child who had fallen backward, as if he were about to stomp on him.
It was unbearable.
This was a common sight in Roverland, but Balseon was not the type of person to just let it slide.
Not even during the past fourteen years when his core had been damaged.
“If you're going to drink, you should do it gracefully…!”
He embraced the fallen child and checked his condition. Fortunately, the warrior wasn't completely insane; aside from some scrapes from the fall, the child didn't seem seriously injured.
‘He kicked, but it was more of a light push... is that it?’
It might be grounds for extenuation, but it was still unforgivable.
Guilty!
“What's with this old guy?”
While Balseon was passing judgment in his mind,
the three young warriors, in their twenties and thirties, swaggered and surrounded Balseon.
One of them recognized Balseon.
“Huh? Isn't this that old guy? The one who always comes to the tavern and acts like he knows everything.”
“Ah? Ah~ you're right. Last time I challenged him to a fight, he scurried away. Got brave all of a sudden?”
“Hey, old man. You got a problem? Wanna go?”
Balseon didn't waste his breath arguing with the swaggering provocateurs.
“You all need to make a living... It would be a problem if you were limping, wouldn't it?”
After muttering just that one line,
Crack!
Snap!
Crunch!
He grabbed one man's arm and broke it, twisted the next one's wrist until it snapped, and kicked the last one, breaking his arm bone clean.
“Gyaaaaaah!”
“Hiiiek! Uwaaah!”
“Gah! It, it hurts so much! Aaargh!”
Looking down at the warriors crying and screaming like cowards, Balseon asked.
“Do you really want to have a proper go at it?”
At the chilling killing intent flowing from his words…
these warriors, who worked mainly as mercenaries, could only stare at the ground.
* * *
Having regained his strength—no, having become even stronger—Balseon was a true workaholic.
He already had many duties, but now he went even further, personally leading troops and carrying out military operations.
Guarding trade routes, suppressing magical beasts, maintaining public order... He handled everything like a superman, without picking and choosing.
Balseon, who brought back results without even being asked.
Thanks to him, I received an unexpected gift.
Balseon knelt on one knee and spoke.
“Your Highness the Grand Duke. I wish to report a strange monster.”
The small ripple started by Lenajora.
Now, everyone called me Grand Duke.
After hearing it so often, I'd grown accustomed to it, to the point that when someone occasionally called me "Count," I would turn with a look that said, 'Count? Me?'
The other person would then turn pale and hastily correct themselves, "Gr-Grand Duke, Your Highness!"
Power... this is pretty fun, huh?
In any case,
the monster carcass Balseon brought was something I hadn't expected at all.
‘...I was planning to go hunt it myself, but he went and caught it for me?’
The new function added to the Book of Fate, [Search].
The twisted worldline marked there as a red dot was this very monster before my eyes.
It was a task I kept putting off due to recent battle fatigue….
Is this why it's so good to have a competent subordinate?
It was truly convenient and nice.
“Knight Balseon. What was this monster like?”
Balseon answered in a solemn and serious voice.
“It was truly formidable. Even with my full strength, it was not easily cut.
“Even while wearing Magic Armor?”
“I did not use the Magic Armor, as this also served as training. I used only my Aura Blade. Perhaps because my aura is still weak, it was difficult to pierce its hide with that alone.”
“A Sword Master-level monster...? Then how did you catch it? Did you use the ancient Sword Ki?”
“No, sir. Dozens of Experts engaged it in a series of attacks to damage its hide and wear down its stamina, after which I delivered the final blow.”
“You went through a lot of trouble.”
“It even possessed the cunning to flee when the situation turned against it... To be honest, it was quite a struggle.”
The reason Balseon was saying all this was likely to look out for his subordinates.
He was thinking that while he himself might have been fine, his men had fought to the point of exhaustion.
And yet, there were no casualties... a testament to Balseon's seasoned command.
‘A Sword Master-level monster. No wonder it looked unusual... It was a monster among monsters.’
It was a hideous and intimidating creature just to look at.
Overall, it had the appearance of a massive, muscular bull with two human-like legs and hands.
Up to this point, it seemed like a fairly ordinary magical beast, but the details were quite grotesque.
Its entire body was covered in thin, parasite-like hairs that were still squirming, it had horns like a mountain goat on its head, and its tail was like a snake.
The creature was even holding a weapon of some sort—a mace made of a fleshy mass.
A huge, gruesome mace that looked as if it had been kneaded from human heads.
It still seemed to be alive, its countless mouths opening and closing.
‘Is this what it takes to be considered a twisted worldline?’
Previously, the Emperor had sent me the heart of a legendary monster called a Goenggo as a supposed gift.
The Book of Fate had devoured it and acquired a 'twisted worldline.'
At the Lorraine Laboratory, I obtained a large amount of twisted worldlines when I defeated the 'Apostle.'
In other words, the monsters the Book of Fate consumed were not ordinary monsters.
They were the most twisted among monsters.
New and unique beings, never before witnessed anywhere.
A power on a different level from ordinary magical beasts.
Only something of that caliber could contain a twisted worldline.
‘So, are there no more twisted worldlines nearby?’
I took out the Book of Fate to check, and sure enough, the red dot was gone.
Excellent.
It felt like a piece of homework that had been weighing on my mind was finally resolved.
“Good work, Knight Balseon. There will be a reward. For you and for all the warriors who fought alongside you.”
“It is an honor.”
Uncle Balseon now treated me as his lord, a true knight.
I knew it brought him joy, but I couldn't help but feel a little sad about it.
I'll have to ask him for a casual drink sometime, just like in the old days.
Bzzzzzzzz-
Just as I was thinking that, the damn Book of Fate started vibrating like crazy again, pestering me.
“Alright, alright. Eat. Eat your fill.”
The monster's corpse was currently lying in a small training yard.
I had already dismissed everyone, so it was just me and Balseon.
So, without worrying about being seen, I held out the Book of Fate.
Krrunch! Krrunch-krrunch!
The monster's corpse began to crumple, and finally, it was compressed to the size of a bean and flew toward me.
Gulp!
The Book of Fate swallowed it in one bite.
[Absorbing a small amount of twisted worldline.]
Huh?
A small amount this time...?
I quickly flipped through the pages of the Book of Fate.
[Epilogue 1/1]
There was no change.
‘Hmm... I guess a small amount isn't enough.’
Feeding it just one Goenggo unlocked the [Epilogue] function…
But this time, it remained the same.
‘I'll have to feed it more to find out.’
Either a new function will unlock, or the number of epilogues will increase. If I keep feeding it, something is bound to change.
[Epilogue].
To be honest, it wasn't a function I felt a great need for at the moment.
It lets me visit places where I've already altered history... Maybe I can go there to train if I hit a wall with my swordsmanship? That was about the extent of my thoughts on it.
But I had a gut feeling. That this was actually something very important and precious. The more, the better.
‘Right, I'll just keep feeding it. Something good will happen if I feed it a lot, anyway.’
Having roughly sorted out my thoughts, I helped up Uncle Balseon, who was still kneeling.
“Uncle. You worked hard today. How about a drink tonight?”
Ah, whatever.
I just wanted to be friendly like before, so I spoke to him casually, and,
“Hehe. Sounds good. Let's meet after my shift.”
Uncle Balseon also grinned, his bear-like face crinkling, and played along.
Ah, this is why I like this old man.
The man is adaptable. So adaptable.