Chapter 101 - Wings (4)

“I wonder whether the seeds I scattered are doing their work.”

“There will be no problems. Are you not always perfect, Your Highness?”

“Indeed. I never doubt myself. But I cannot trust anything other than myself. I alone am flawless and perfect on this continent.”

“...”

“Carlos, did you truly do a fine job of sowing the seeds of the maelstrom? It is not that I distrust your abilities, but I find it difficult to trust those paltry convictions you harbor.”

“Do you?”

“Yes. Is the descendant of steel not still alive because your blade grew dull for an instant? An executioner who ought to obey his master’s wishes in full, acting on his own judgment. How amusing.”

“... You need not worry. I handled this matter perfectly.”

“Can you swear to that on your honor?”

Those words from the Iron Prince carried immense weight. Even the atmosphere was different from when he had been tossing out light, almost joking remarks a moment ago. His voice seemed weighted. Carlos met the blade-sharp eyes directed at him—a gaze that seemed to pierce his soul.

“Yes. I can.”

Carlos answered beneath that gaze.

“You need have no concerns. The young master of Rhapsody’s soul is utterly broken. He looks unharmed on the outside, but beneath that shell, he is in tatters.”

“Is he?”

“Yes. The young master fled, sobbing in a most ugly fashion, and will have begun spouting nonsense the moment he reached his estate. Not about what actually happened, but about false events forcibly implanted in his mind. Just as you wished, Your Highness...”

“What did you make that precious young master say?”

“He will be saying precisely this.”

Carlos opened his mouth and spoke in a flat voice.

“Father, a gladiator from the outskirts of the Iron Kingdom attacked us like a coward. He insulted me, insulted Rhapsody, and brutally murdered innocent Joseph, who knew nothing of fighting. I barely escaped using what little skill I possess. But I loathe myself for fleeing without fulfilling my duty as a noble. I want to drive my sword into my throat. I no longer want to live. I cannot live beneath the same sky as that bastard. So please avenge me. Avenge me and Joseph, Father. That bastard said his name was Liam, the Sword Demon...”

As Carlos’s voice continued, Iron Prince Ian Chervil still looked displeased. Ian Chervil’s pathological distrust had long been well known. Yet his executioner had indeed performed his duties admirably. Far away in the six free cities, the utterly broken young master was saying exactly what Carlos had recited.

“... So, please avenge... me. Avenge me and Joseph, F-Father. That bastard’s name was...”

Truly, not a single word was different.

* * *

All 「paths」 are connected.

My training revolved around that statement. Rather than approaching a new concept called 「wings」, I developed the 「paths」 I already understood, and my training progressed smoothly.

From the moment I focused on connections, the way I used 「Gale」 began to change as well. Until now, I had only used its arcane power in a one-dimensional fashion: hindering an opponent’s movements and disrupting intertwined groups of enemies.

But as I began acting on the premise that all paths were connected, Gale’s arcane power grew stronger still. Now I could incapacitate ten enemies with a single gust. Even swinging my sword from afar, I could produce the same effect as actually cutting them with its edge. I felt I was beginning to grasp how the wandering swordsman had seen the world, and what his sword had sought to cut.

My enlightenment did not stop there.

The essence of 「Lantern」: the arcane power of combustion.

A sword that burned me to let me surpass my limits. The blade wielded by the first king, who had yearned for the Age of Stars. What convictions had that first feudal ruler held, the one who had founded the fallen peninsula? His dream passed down to later generations like a beacon fire. That, too, must have been a connection. His will endured, his dream endured, and his purpose endured. And so all the kings dreamed of stars. They dreamed of an age and a nation that shone like the stars.

“Ah...”

Two blades.

As I came to understand the lives within them, I gradually began to understand the arcane power a swordsman brought forth. The world they beheld, the gaze with which they watched it, became that power. Once I understood that much, I wondered: What sort of world was I looking at, then?

[“Young master.”]

What was the world I beheld like?

[“Only a swordmaster can kill another swordmaster.”]

I was not a wandering swordsman.

I could not become a storm that would sweep away everything in the world for a woman to whom I had given my wholehearted love. Everything I loved had vanished that day.

I was not a monarch.

I did not know the Age of Stars, did not yearn for it, and could not abandon everything for future generations. All that mattered to me was my revenge. I could do anything to kill the bastard who had destroyed my world. Sell my soul to the devil? I would gladly do so—if only I could.

“Ah...”

What was my world?

What lay at the end of the path I wished to follow? From the moment I reached that thought, the sun in the blue sky looked especially dazzling. It was a sight I had seen over and over: the sun that shimmered before my eyes whenever I surpassed my limits through 「Lantern」. I saw the sun blazing fiercely. Beneath it lay a rusted blade. A sword of steel embedded in parched earth.

Was this the world I beheld?

Then what was my world connected to? Was my world a sun that would burn anything, or was it steel, standing proud and steadfast beneath the sun’s rays? I could not tell.

“Whew.”

I closed my eyes, then opened them.

The scene that had unfolded before me was gone, replaced by the familiar Caravan estate. Looking out over the estate, I raised my gaze to the sky. The sun was no different from usual.

I had glimpsed a clue to reaching 「sword runner」.

The sun, and steel.

I had to discover which of the two was ‘my world.’

That was not something anyone else could tell me. Only I could find the answer.

Yes. I alone.

“Ugh.”

The moment I realized that much, dizziness washed over me. I could barely stay upright. I had not done any strenuous training, yet my body was drenched in sweat. I moved, panting, then collapsed where I stood. There was no strength in my arms or legs, as though I had spent the entire day running.

“...”

I lay there in a daze, looking up at the blue sky.

A pleasant breeze was blowing.

The Caravan estate had changed a great deal. It was different from when my parents and cherished neighbors had been here, and different from when it had become a land of death after everyone vanished. But the sky was the same.

I, too, had changed a great deal. The curious boy was now growing into a young man with pathological Suspicion. Muscles had filled out my once-scrawny body, and the boy who could never win a contest of strength against other boys his age had become a swordsman on the verge of 「sword runner」. But the sky was the same.

Time had passed, and so many people had died.

Though every landscape had changed, the sky alone remained the same.

The sky never changed. Never.

“...”

For some reason, I felt an image surging through my mind. Alongside the enlightenment I had just experienced, another revelation seemed about to pour forth. Like a thunderclap.

“Ugh...”

But I was far too exhausted to move now. I tried several times to get up, only for my legs to give out and leave me slumped on the ground. After that, I gave up and lay down. As I lay there, Master spoke.

「Have you come out for a picnic? How leisurely of you.」

“... I want to swing my sword too. But what am I supposed to do when I have no strength?”

「Yes, I know you have reached your limit.」

Liam looked down at me and said,

「Get a little rest for now.」

“... What’s gotten into you?”

Get some rest.

That was something he never normally said.

When I asked in bewilderment, Liam answered after a moment.

「Because this will be the last moment you can rest with an easy mind.」

The last moment?

What did he mean?

Was he planning to put me through even harsher training starting tomorrow? Perhaps. When I had dangled from cliffs to become a 「sword beginner」, fought on the brink of death in the Arena, and entered the orcs’ holy ground to undergo their coming-of-age rite, I had truly had no time to catch my breath. This time, I was on the verge of 「sword runner」, so it might be incomparably harder. The mere thought was horrifying.

Still.

“In that case, I’ll make myself comfortable and rest.”

If I could not avoid it, shouldn’t I enjoy it?

“How long has it been since I last had a nice, leisurely break? Heh heh.”

With that thought, I even cracked a joke and laughed foolishly. Watching me sprawled in the grass, Liam smiled silently for a moment. Strangely, there was something sad about Master’s smile.

Perhaps that was only natural.

「Yes. Rest while you can, my young descendant.」

Because Master must have known, even then, what was going to happen.

* * *

I spent that entire day resting.

I lounged in the grass, gazing up at the sky. The sun was warm and the breeze cool. Some of the new residents of the Caravan estate even brought me delicious food, saying it was a gift for their new young lord. I refused at first, but they kept insisting, so I bantered with them and sampled a bite of everything. The food was delicious. Truly delicious.

Two days passed after that.

I made small advances and gained new insights, which Tom and Seolyun praised. They told me that at this rate, I would become a 「sword runner」 in no time. I was happy. I was having fun.

For the first time in ages, I laughed without a care.

On the day I burst into carefree laughter, Haylin came to see me.

“I tried using the magic I learned, and I saw something strange. I couldn’t possibly interpret it on my own, so I came to tell you. I saw seven swords.”

“Seven swords?”

“Yes. They were very sharp. There were swords in this estate’s future.”

Seven swords.

I could not tell what it meant. Was it connected to the maelstrom the Iron Prince had said he was planning? Was another trial coming because of my fucked-up fate? Or perhaps Haylin’s shamanic art had been wrong. This young girl was still a novice in magic, and the art she had demonstrated was not even a human one, but an orcish one. With nothing certain, a strange sense of foreboding swept over me. And as always, my foreboding had never been wrong.

That afternoon, visitors came to the Caravan estate.

Unwelcome, uninvited visitors.