Chapter 268: The Tin Knight and The Banquet of Madness (8)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 268: The Tin Knight and The Banquet of Madness (8)
Once upon a time, in a forest in a certain kingdom.
There lived a monster called a man-beast, who was the object of all people’s fear.
The story of the boy—who had the form of a human but could not understand their words, who possessed physical abilities far greater than any magic beast, and who devoured raw flesh like a wild animal—circulated among the local residents like a ghost story. Eventually, that story reached the ears of a curious prince.
The prince fearlessly sought out the forest where the boy was said to live and was driven to the brink of death at the boy’s hands.
Had it not been for the loyal knights who served the prince, the boy’s fists would have crushed the prince’s head like an apple.
However, no matter how outstanding the boy’s physical abilities were, they were not enough to overcome trained knights.
Dismissing the counsel of his retainers, who insisted the boy be executed for the crime of attempting to assassinate royalty, the prince took the boy in.
The boy, who knew nothing of civilization, began to learn many things under the prince’s care.
Language, academics, etiquette, swordsmanship, horsemanship, and much more.
Many questioned and complained about providing a boy of unknown origin with an education befitting a noble, but the boy silenced all the whispers by demonstrating an astonishingly fast learning speed.
In time, the boy grew into a handsome young man, possessing etiquette and knowledge second to none in the kingdom, as well as a martial prowess that no one dared to challenge.
And the prince, who had discovered the young man and given him the name Geisel, had since become the king of the nation.
It was a turbulent era where nations competed, devouring one another. Geisel repaid the king who had taken him in with great military achievements.
To his enemies, he was a cruel, hateful, and ferocious beast.
To his allies, he was an undefeated general who always brought them victory.
It was on a day like any other, as he was steadily accumulating victories, that Geisel met his fated opponent.
On a different front from where he fought, there was a mercenary in crimson armor who had repeatedly dealt defeat to his country.
Hearing of this, Geisel confidently set out to find the mercenary, only to soon face a life-or-death crisis.
The mercenary was a being far more powerful than Geisel could have ever imagined.
The battle, which he had expected to win easily, raged for three days and three nights without a victor. It was brought to a forcible end by the enemy’s scheme to use the mercenary as bait to bury Geisel.
Arson, a volley of arrows, magical bombardment, a fall from a cliff.
Exhausted from their long duel, the two suffered grave injuries amidst the fierce onslaught, which seemed driven by a desire to kill them by any means necessary. They were left isolated, just the two of them, in enemy territory.
It was undoubtedly a great crisis, but it was also a great opportunity.
Since the enemy nation that had hired the mercenary had betrayed them first, the mercenary no longer had a reason to fight Geisel. As for Geisel, he had grown immensely curious about the mercenary who had fought him as an equal.
The mercenary’s name was Kalidahs, and she was a beautiful woman with red hair and violet eyes.
And that was all.
Because Kalidahs had no memory.
That she had fought something huge, truly immense.
That she had fallen into a long sleep after that battle.
That after waking, she had worked as a mercenary to survive.
That was all Kalidahs knew.
She said she didn’t know who her parents were, where she was born, or anything else about her past.
Hearing her words, Geisel felt a sense of kinship.
His own memories from before he met the prince were also faint.
That someone very dark, solemn, and overwhelmingly powerful had told him to ‘live freely.’
That was Geisel’s oldest memory.
Geisel couldn’t remember if the person in his memory was his parent, why they had sent him away, or how he had been left in the forest.
Was it the result of his repeated efforts to grow closer, or did their need to cooperate for survival play a larger part?
The two became intimate, and their relationship continued even after they escaped the encirclement and returned to the kingdom.
Because Kalidahs always remained by Geisel’s side and never revealed her true form, always clad in armor, some mistook her achievements for his, saying, ‘The Lion Duke of the Lydia Kingdom possesses golden mana like fire and violet mana like lightning.’ But Kalidahs seemed not to care.
As long as she could be by his side, she seemed to say, the world’s opinions mattered little.
Geisel, too, loved such a partner dearly.
It felt as if their happiness would last forever.
But catastrophe arrived without warning.
One day, as he was preparing to formally propose to Kalidahs, Geisel had a nightmare.
It was a dream where a mighty monster, wreathed in turquoise light, threatened him, baring its sharp teeth and claws.
He struggled desperately to survive and, after a fierce battle, plunged his blade into the monster’s chest.
However, what awaited him when he awoke from the dream was his lover, drenched in blood, and his own self, having driven a sword into her.
Geisel could not understand what had happened.
The sword he had plunged into Kalidahs’s chest turning into light and being absorbed into his body.
Kalidahs’s expression, filled with betrayal, as she saw the violet lightning now dwelling within him.
The grief-stricken scream that escaped her lips—none of it felt real.
“Was this your plan all along?” she cried.
“Did you covet that power so much?” she wailed.
Geisel wanted to say no.
He wanted to deny it, to tell her that such a thing was less than dust compared to her.
But before he could utter a word, a brilliant flash of light enveloped Kalidahs’s body, and in the next moment, she was gone without a trace.
From then on, Geisel’s life was a long journey to find his lost love.
If he heard a rumor of Kalidahs, he would go, not caring if it was the heart of an enemy nation.
If any stood in his way, he swept them all aside. The new power he had received from her made it possible.
But he could not find her. No matter how much he searched, he couldn’t find even a trace of her.
It was as if Kalidahs had never existed on this earth in the first place.
Powered by Geisel’s deeds, the kingdom grew into an empire, and the young prince became an emperor.
He gained greater glory than anyone as a founding hero of the Empire, but his heart was always filled with emptiness.
He eventually started a new family, partly due to the urging of the emperor, who pitied the suffering of his friend and loyal subject, and partly for the practical reason that a high-ranking official of the state could not remain single forever. Yet, the longing never disappeared.
Then one day, a fortune-teller came to him.
The fortune-teller spoke.
Kalidahs was a heavenly angel who, after distinguishing herself in a war long ago, had fallen into a long sleep on the surface world due to its aftereffects.
The heavens, upon discovering that the angel they thought dead was alive, urged her to return, but she had refused.
To change her mind, the heavens had concocted a scheme to drive a wedge between Kalidahs and Geisel.
Not only that, but they had also planted a deadly poison in Geisel’s bloodline, which was destined to become a core power on the surface, in order to drive the world to ruin.
“That lightning is a seed of destruction. It drives its wielder’s emotions to extremes and makes them prone to rampage. Your descendants will prosper easily with their superior, strong power, and then, because of that very explosiveness, they will bring a great disaster upon the surface. The powers of the surface will weaken, and civilization will stagnate. They have always sown such seeds on the surface. It makes it easier to manage. So that no one dares to challenge the heavens.”
“But rest assured. I shall help you. I will strengthen the power that flows in your blood. Spurred by the lightning, your bloodline will endlessly run rampant toward destruction, but there will also be those who embrace the golden flame to stand against and suppress it. As long as the two are in balance, your bloodline may fall, but it will not be destroyed.”
The fortune-teller was an incredibly suspicious being, but Geisel trusted him.
No, he wanted to trust him.
To Geisel’s request to meet Kalidahs and clear the misunderstanding, the fortune-teller replied.
“I am inclined to grant your request, but it is a very difficult task. Terrible waiting, loneliness, suffering, and the endless temptation of corruption will assail you. This is not because I wish to torment you, but because it is the nature of the power we possess. Furthermore, there is no guarantee that you will be rewarded for such a wait. Will you still attempt it?”
Geisel did not hesitate.
Though he had spent his life repaying the Empire and his benefactor, the emperor, he wanted to use the very end of his life solely for himself and his lover.
“O creature spun by our great king, you who are not our kin but share the same roots. I shall pray for your wish to be granted.”
The fortune-teller.
The shadow prime minister, whose features could not be clearly seen, replied thus.
And so, the long, long period of waiting began.
The power of the underground, which enveloped Geisel’s soul like a shell, was both a protective barrier and nourishment that allowed him to endure for a little longer, but it was also a deadly poison.
Endless hatred for the heavens. Grudges and a thirst for revenge against those who had stolen the ■ that was originally theirs. An intense yearning for the rich, warm surface.
The contradiction of longing for Kalidahs, a heavenly being, while absorbing the emotions of those who hated the heavens was more than enough to make the great hero’s soul wither and die. Yet, he did not give up.
To tell her the truth.
To clear the misunderstanding.
For his lover, who was surely still bound in the heavens, being used without knowing the truth.
He endured, and endured, and endured.
“Great Lion Duke! A crisis has befallen the Lennart. The Imperial Family has forgotten your military deeds and betrayed us. Now, they are trying to eliminate us. Please, save your descendants…!”
The moment he realized all his suffering had been for naught and his one and only chance had vanished.
Something that formed the core of the hero shattered.
The pride he held as a hero of the Empire was no more.
Any sense of discretion about potential innocent victims crumbled away with the last fragments of his reason.
Only one thing remained.
A monster that would destroy everything bearing the name Lennart, until the very last of its power was spent.
The eyes of the monster, once a hero, saw the golden hair that resembled his own.
He saw the violet eyes that resembled his beloved, the eyes he had unwillingly stolen.
In that case, what he had to do was already decided.
《──■■■■■■■!!!!!!!!!!!!!》
[The ‘Tin Knight’ declares a raid battle!]