Chapter 133 - Dragon Slayer (3)

Everyone seemed to have a lot of questions, but they spared their words, perhaps out of consideration for my physical condition.

Only the Commander of the Royal Knights, with the permission of the King, confirmed a few facts necessary for the security of the royal palace.

I was out of breath, but I gave them brief answers.

The existence of the Elder High Elf, the ill-fated relationship between her and me, and the three-year grace period.

People found it hard to believe that the temper of an angelic elf could be so nasty.

The legacies about elves known to the public had been far too romanticized.

But that didn't mean they didn't believe my words either.

It was thanks to the ample trust I had built up until now.

Compared to when I first woke up and no one believed a word I said, it was truly a massive improvement.

"To think such a terrifying being was roaming around the kingdom."

"I never dreamed that an elf could be so dangerous."

They were greatly astonished by the power of the Elder High Elf and felt burdened by it at the same time. In particular, the Commander of the Royal Knights, who was responsible for the defense of The Capital, found Sigrun's existence extremely unsettling.

He seemed worried that she might storm into the royal palace.

I informed the Commander that she wouldn't be visiting the kingdom for a while.

He asked for the reason.

"Because she got what she wanted."

The Commander frowned at my words.

He asked me if it wasn't a huge problem that such a terrifying being had obtained what she desired, regardless of what it was.

He wasn't wrong.

That is, if she had truly gotten exactly what she wanted intact.

However, I wasn't foolish enough to hand over what she wanted so easily.

Numerous Poems of Martial Deeds existed in the world, but not all of those songs were merely auspicious and beneficial.

Though rare, some of them were ominous, harmful, and sinister.

Desire, greed, loss, and emptiness.

Impure songs that beckoned ruin.

The few who knew of their existence called these songs [Poems of Disaster] and guarded against them.

What I handed over to the Elder High Elf was one of those very impure songs.

The greedy fairy, who was obsessed with poems, was mesmerized by the lyrics of an unfamiliar format she was hearing for the first time in her life.

Not even realizing it was a terrible poison.

It was a given.

The [Poem of Disaster] was a song of a broken lineage rather than a legacy, and even in the past, those who knew of its existence were extremely few. And now, with the passage of time, there was no one left who remembered the existence of the [Poem of Disaster].

Because they were all devoured by the poems and died.

Save for one exception—a single impure Demonic sword that had become the lyrics for several [Poems of Disaster].

"What a nasty turn of events. She filled her belly, but it turned out to be spoiled food."

I spoke as if I were truly feeling pity.

But among those around me, no one actually thought I was feeling sorry.

They just figured my temper for enjoying messing with others had flared up again.

"I can hear everything."

The knights cleared their throats and feigned ignorance.

The Commander of the Royal Knights opened his mouth as if he suddenly remembered something.

"Then who exactly left behind those massive traces?"

I didn't answer.

"Y-You don't mean..."

Silence meant affirmation, and astonishment surfaced in the eyes of the Commander of the Royal Knights as he stared at me, who kept my mouth shut.

"That's enough for now."

To him, who was about to ask me again, I pleaded fatigue and promised to explain next time.

Truth be told, my body was genuinely not well.

To feed the fairy poison, I too had to hold the poison in my mouth, so even at this moment, the unresolved impure malice was encroaching on my body. If I didn't want to end up like the ancient beings who were swallowed by the poems and met their ruin, I had to drop everything and focus entirely on recovery for the time being.

I closed my eyes.

It meant that everyone should leave now.

"If there are questions to be asked, it won't be too late to ask after he has recovered. It would be best for everyone to clear the room now."

The Queen chimed in to help me.

I heard the sound of the door opening and closing, and soon even the footsteps could no longer be heard.

Opening my eyes to a slit, I saw Adelia seated beside the bed.

Her face was quite haggard, even though it hadn't been many days since I last saw her.

Since she and I were bound by a relationship of [Domination] and [Subordination], I could well imagine the anxiety she must have felt.

It was obvious she had been worried sick that I wouldn't return. Perhaps that nasty trait of hers had even triggered.

Adelia fidgeted with her hands, then quietly held my hand.

Seeing me looking at her belatedly, she froze in place.

"Hic."

Letting out a bizarre squeak, she looked away in a panic. Yet, she still didn't let go of the hand she was holding.

Even when I endured and endured until I finally lost consciousness as if fainting, and when I regained my senses again, she was constantly by my side.

For some reason, that brought me relief, and I was able to invite sleep once again.

* * *

I had been passed out for two whole days.

As soon as I regained my senses, I asked the royal physician about the Sword Maiden's progress.

I had already heard and known that she, who was carried in with me, had passed the critical point and was entering a phase of recovery.

Still, I felt I could only be at ease if I saw her face directly.

People immediately expressed their opposition. They made a fuss, asking where I was going with a body that couldn't even walk properly on its own.

However, I didn't bend my stubbornness, and eventually, the knights threw their hands up in defeat and decided to move the Sword Maiden to the room next to mine.

Upon hearing a knight's report that it was done, I got out of bed. Supported by Adelia, I headed to the very next room.

On the bed, there was a woman lying as if dead.

Half of her face and body were wrapped in bandages, and seeing the exposed bare skin completely covered with scars that I didn't even know when she got, I let out a sigh as I looked at the poor half-elf.

The sound of her crying out like a wounded beast was still vivid in my ears.

["Ah, aaaaaah!"]

The screams let out by the dying Sword Maidens were vividly echoing in my head.

* * *

"Ugh, aaaaaah!"

The Sword Maidens who suddenly appeared howled like beasts and rushed at Sigrun.

I ended up flustered by the Sword Maidens' sudden rampage. Sigrun was the same as me.

If there was a difference, it was that a thick anger lay at the base of her bewilderment.

"How dare you."

Spitting out a single word coldly, she adjusted her grip on her sword.

It wasn't even a sword dance.

She merely drew her sword from top to bottom, then again from left to right.

SLASH.

With just that, the bodies of the Sword Maidens were torn to shreds.

But the Sword Maidens continued to charge at Sigrun.

I stared blankly at the sight.

Because I had forcefully drawn upon the power of the poems in succession, my head wasn't working well.

I had definitely ordered the Sword Maidens to stand by nearby.

The Sword Maidens had never once disobeyed my orders before.

Just why were the Sword Maidens dying right before my eyes in such a state?

I couldn't understand it.

"Stop!"

I shouted as I watched a Sword Maiden whose right arm was severed by Sigrun's sword switch her weapon to her left hand and rush in.

But the Sword Maiden eventually swung her sword, only to end up brutally massacred by Sigrun.

I gripped my sword tightly with both hands.

"I said stop!"

I tried shouting again, but the Sword Maidens didn't listen to my words.

"Just why?"

As I was about to step forward, Gunne blocked my path.

SWIPE.

She smiled softly and wiped the blood smeared on my mouth.

["Run."]

Only after seeing her hand gesture did I realize the reason why the Sword Maidens were recklessly throwing themselves at Sigrun like that.

Something hot surged up from within me.

I couldn't hold it in without letting it out.

So I screamed.

You idiots. I'll take care of that on my own. So back off.

Gunne shook her head.

["She, already, decided."]

Her hand gestures sped up.

["Death, worse than."]

She meant that Sigrun would never let me go easily.

I knew that too.

That was why I had made my own preparations.

I prepared a gift enough to make the greedy Elder High Elf feel full. I also gathered enough strength to protect myself from the poison hidden within it.

I had definitely done so.

Gunne said that wasn't enough.

Her hands, which had been moving busily, grabbed both of my cheeks.

"Sh-he in-tend-s to k-eep y-ou b-y her s-ide fo-re-ver."

Then she spoke to me with a pronunciation that was completely mangled from having her tongue cut out.

She intends to keep you by her side for the rest of your life.

I think she said something along those lines.

Even at that moment, the screams of the Sword Maidens continued.

"Aaaaaaaaah!"

The Sword Maidens dying before my eyes while howling like beasts.

"Just why!"

At that meaningless death, I asked.

["Revenge."]

To me, Gunne said.

That this was to protect me, and at the same time, their own revenge.

The moment I heard those words, my mind went blank.

Until now, I hadn't known what the Sword Maidens lived for. And I hadn't cared either.

Because to me, they were merely hidden daggers in the dark.

My prejudice against the wicked elves,

The fact that half the blood flowing in their bodies was elven,

Made me so blind.

Even though they were pitiful souls whose tongues were cut out by their masters and were ultimately discarded,

I simply used and exploited them just like their masters did.

It was exactly like my past self.

Robbed of all glory, unable to leave even a name behind, forced to remain as nothing but a sword.

"Aaaagh!"

One Sword Maiden received a long gash across her waist. She was someone whose name I didn't even know.

Clutching her wound with her slender hands, she wailed and charged at Sigrun.

"R-uuuhn!"

Mangled pronunciations and desperate screams erupted from all sides.

Gunne pulled me into a hug.

Of all times, having continuously used poems and even inhaling the poison known as the [Poem of Disaster],

At a moment when I needed some time for the severed flow of mana to reconnect,

I was dragged away by her, even as I struggled.

I felt a sense of déjà vu.

It was a sight I felt I had seen somewhere before.

And I soon realized.

Winter Castle. The Warlord. My uncle. And the knights.

The memory of that day when I lacked the strength and had to run away, leaving my uncle behind in a place of death, churned in my head.

But today was not like that day.

An Elder High Elf was not a Warlord, and she was a being several times more greedy. Sigrun began striding towards me and Gunne. The Sword Maidens who blocked her path dropped dead.

Now, the number of Sword Maidens left was only three, including Gunne.

The two Sword Maidens danced a sword dance and rushed at Sigrun.

SLASH.

Before the sorrowful humming of the tongueless Sword Maidens could even finish, Sigrun's sword flashed brilliantly.

THUD.

The Sword Maidens' arms were lopped off.

THUD.

Their legs severed, the Sword Maidens collapsed on the spot.

STAB.

Sigrun's sword pierced through the Sword Maidens' hearts.

"Ah..."

Gunne picked up her pace.

But it was completely inadequate to shake off the Elder High Elf.

I shook off Gunne.

"Ughhh! Uwaaaaaah!"

Gunne got angry at me for the first time.

Taking on a monster that I couldn't face even in perfect condition was an idiotic thing to do. Her eyes said as much to me.

To her, I shook my head.

That I couldn't run away anyway. And that there was no need to run either.

I looked at the corpses of the Sword Maidens and lamented.

"If only you had just told me."

No, it wasn't their fault.

This was my own negligence for keeping them close and yet failing to realize.

"No, if only I had realized a little sooner."

If I had recognized how much they desired revenge earlier,

If I had known that their resentment was so deep-seated in their bones to the point of running amok like today,

If so, no one would have died.

Clenching my jaw tightly, I adjusted my grip on my sword.

Sigrun approached.

Covered in blood, she smiled brightly and held her hand out to me.

Then she whispered with an angelic voice.

Let's go together.

I shook my head. And I raised my sword high.

What was contained in the edges of her eyes, curved up like crescent moons, was blatant disregard and mockery.

She said to me.

That there was nothing I could do. That the outcome wouldn't change.

"You know it, don't you? That your current grade isn't enough."

After saying that, she boldly stepped toward me.

Looking at her, I,

STAB.

Plunged the sword into my own stomach.

Dragon Slayer, my true body.

Sigrun's eyes widened. Gunne, who had been groaning as she pulled at me, froze in place.

The world stopped.

In that frozen world, I whispered low.

"Here I call with crimson blood."

It was a spell I would never have uttered out loud normally.

"Primeval winter, frozen world, master of the howling gale and frost."

Words of magic that forcefully awakened the deeply slumbering Demonic sword at the cost of one's lifespan.

"Answer. Gruhorn."

It was the song of the oath.

PULSE.

My true body, which had been shoved into my stomach,

The Demonic sword Gruhorn began to ravenously devour my blood.

I put strength into both hands and pulled the sword out.

"Hurts like hell."

No blood flowed.

I couldn't tell if that was because my true body had completely devoured all the blood, or because the wound had frozen over.

It didn't matter either.

The only thing that mattered right now was the Elder High Elf in front of me.

"Watch closely. Elder High Elf."

Looking at Sigrun, who was completely petrified,

"This is what you've so desperately desired."

I raised the sword high.

"The Poem of Martial Deeds of the Dragon Slayer."

And with that, I swung the sword down.

While singing in my heart the karma of brutally massacring the Mad Dragon.