95 – Teacher and Disciple (2)
If you wanted to kill him, you could. Granddaughter of the Sword Master, his sister-in-law.
Killing Aria wasn’t that difficult.
But why didn’t you do that?
Why didn’t you take the easy way?
“… ….”
It would be a lie if I said I don’t know. Because I was not foolish enough to not know the simple reason, and the truth was not so overwhelming that I turned away from it.
‘I didn’t want to kill him…’ …. ‘That’s all.’
It would have been easier if he had been killed.
It’s much easier than dealing with the Sword Saint directly.
But I couldn’t do that.
Both 7 years ago and at this very moment.
You can achieve revenge by killing someone precious to the Sword Saint. But as a result, if it is the child who has to be killed.
I felt like I couldn’t do that.
And changed the direction of the plan. He kidnaps her and attracts her sword spirit.
It may be impossible to compete head-on, but if we can decide on the battlefield.
It may be possible.
I may be able to take revenge.
I thought so.
‘…… It was a trivial idea.’
Suddenly-
Raise the sword and summon the sword form. The devil’s core was shattered with a single cut.
The devil lost his power and began to slowly disappear.
He probably wouldn’t be far away himself.
I will die soon.
The chest pierced by lightning wasn’t a big problem…….
The instrument that crawled through that gap was constantly digging inside.
“… ….”
Suddenly a thought occurred to me. Didn’t you expect it?
You didn’t expect this result.
Probably not. You must have known.
The devil of devastation, probably vaguely since I borrowed the power of that devil lord.
Because I didn’t know that devils are that way.
No matter how much our goals overlapped, we probably shouldn’t have held hands.
“…… Phew.”
Just letting out a breath, Jihad turned around.
Maybe it was a problem before the devil.
I repeat, you knew, right? Didn’t you see the evidence with your own eyes?
Their actions, their evil deeds. And the victims they created.
‘…… Still, I didn’t want to believe it.’
I don’t want to believe it.
Was that a simple denial of reality?
Well, that may or may not be the case…….
At least it wasn’t an important issue right now.
Now, it is meaningless anymore.
“Death, death penalty.”
“… ….”
Jihad turned his head when he suddenly heard a voice.
A girl who falls down helplessly and looks up at herself.
Aria’s eyes were shaking endlessly. And at that sight, Jihad suddenly burst into laughter.
…… It seems that it was she, not him, who was denying her immediate reality.
I am an innocent child.
She probably doesn’t know what she was trying to do to me, but she probably hasn’t forgotten either.
Nevertheless, he appears to be reaching out his hand with a very shocked expression at the end.
That appearance is so funny, it just doesn’t change, it’s consistent.
Jihad approached her side with a bitter smile. With a weak gait, but trying to remain calm.
I approach her and kneel down in front of her.
Aria’s eyes were still filled with agitation.
“Death sentence, mother, body… ….”
Her trembling hand touched Jihad and then she fell helplessly.
Probably because her condition is not very good.
It doesn’t matter. All she has to do is say what she has to say.
Jihad thought so.
“… ….”
Suddenly, she wondered what she should say, and as she thought about that, she fell into silence again.
Words, words. It’s something that needs to be said.
What is it?
What was it?
…… What should I say? I guess I should say something.
And yet I can’t find anything to say, which is a ridiculous contradiction.
What to say and what to say.
I’m sorry, I was wrong. Or, I did something bad to you.
Actually, there may have been a lot to say.
I just can’t spit it out.
‘What shame.’
Jihad just continued to laugh. Helplessly, helplessly, but kindly.
I want to remain as I was before, at least for the end.
‘Aria.’
Jihad chanted his sister’s name in his mind.
I said what I had to say internally instead of saying it out loud.
‘I truly had no intention of harming you.’
It was a shameless statement, but it could not be seen as an apology at all. Still, I honestly had no intention of causing any harm.
I didn’t want to do that.
But, yes. No matter what, I couldn’t say those words directly.
What does it mean no matter how it is packaged?
Even if Geomseong is truly my enemy, that doesn’t matter.
She is also certain that she tried to take away her grandfather.
She didn’t let herself go through situations where she almost got kidnapped two more times.
It would be a shame for her to confuse herself with empty words now.
“…… Aria.”
So, I decided to just say something else.
It has no meaning at all in the current situation, and there is no reason to bring it up.
“When I was your age, I didn’t reach that level.”
Such useless words.
“It was rather insufficient. I became like this by training and taking time to build up my level of knowledge. “But it’s nothing compared to your growth rate.”
Aria’s expression, although it’s hard to say, was quite comical.
In this situation, she brought up the topic out of the blue, and it seemed like it wasn’t something she wanted to say, but anyway.
“With your talent, you will be able to establish the sword style in the not too distant future. “Maybe I can reach the level of a teacher.”
So, Jihad added, placing her hand roughly on Arya’s head.
“…… Cheer up. To work hard. “Let’s quickly get rid of the ugly death penalty issue.”
And at the same time, blood transfusion is pointed out.
“Sa…… !”
Her eyes widened for a moment and she quickly tried to speak out, but she quickly lost consciousness and fell down.
“… ….”
After carefully laying down her limp Aria, Jihad walked her away.
It’s not a long way. She just sits down, leaning her back against the wall a little away.
Jihad’s expression seemed tired, or just relieved.
‘That’s pathetic.’
He was just thinking.
It was going to end up like this anyway, it would have been best if I hadn’t started in the first place.
…… It was something that could not be undone.
I couldn’t do it with something that didn’t exist.
Jerbeok-
Jihad, however, lifted his gaze upward while breathing heavily at the sudden sound of footsteps.
For some reason, the hem of his clothes was completely blackened. A boy with silver hair.
It was he who approached.
*****
“…… Boy.”
“… ….”
“What is your name?”
Jihad asked, and I was silent for a moment and then answered briefly.
“Dante.”
“Okay, then boy.”
“… ….”
From noble mtl dot com
I frowned slightly at the title, which didn’t really change anything, and Jihad burst into laughter cheerfully.
And when the laughter subsides, he separates his lips again.
“…… I have a naturally soft personality. “Aria is.”
I didn’t really reply, but I seemed to be concentrating on what he was saying.
Jihad seemed to be aware of me and continued speaking while carefully hiding his pierced chest.
“So, if the boy is Aria’s friend, well. I want her to stay by that child’s side and swear at me as well. If possible, you can think of me as someone worth dying for. Of course, that’s true, but…….”
“… ….”
I still haven’t answered. And this time, Jihad seemed to understand the meaning of that gaze.
“…… Yes, of course it will be difficult. I know it’s difficult for him to harbor such thoughts. “It’s just because we have a lot of affection.”
“Do you still want me to swear at you?”
I asked, and Jihad shook his head.
“It was a mistake.”
“I guess so.”
“Hmm… ….”
A hollow laugh escaped Jihad’s lips. Also, the black, dead blood.
After a moment of silence, Jihad spoke again.
“Do you know anything about the circumstances of this matter?”
The question was asked appropriately, and it didn’t seem like it was something I really thought I would know.
Still, after a moment of hesitation, I nodded.
“…… “Yeah, whatever.”
And Jihad looked up at me with surprised eyes at my hesitant nod.
“Arya brought up her old story?”
“That’s not true…” ….”
“Then?”
In response to Jihad’s question, I kept quiet for a moment and then gave my answer at intervals.
“I heard it from the Sword Saint.”
“Ah, Master… ….”
Jihad trailed off as if he understood. I almost failed to control my facial expression, but Jihad didn’t seem to notice that.
He just brought up something else.
“Then you must have heard something related to me.”
“…… Um, yeah.”
It felt like the lies kept piling up, but I couldn’t help it.
Otherwise, I don’t think the conversation will proceed.
Still, I should say I’m glad that he doesn’t seem to doubt my words.
Jihad continued speaking in a calm voice.
“It seems that the teacher views the boy quite favorably. “If only I could say something like that without hesitation.”
“… ….”
“…… I am a horse, boy. I’ve been thinking about it for a long time. “I thought about it every night.”
His tone of voice was serene, if not calm, and it would also be correct to say that it was filled with strong emotions.
“Were the two of you really murderers with no excuse…? ….”
At the same time, his eyes were already losing their light.
Nonetheless, he didn’t care and continued talking.
“In fact, rather than simply denying reality, it was closer to not understanding it. Similar words, but slightly different. “I really didn’t understand it.”
What are you looking at?
What are his eyes looking at now?
“Even after looking for evidence, I was not convinced and looked back several times. Digging through his data, praying for his hands to become his feet in front of the witnesses of the day…….”
It wasn’t a problem I could understand.
“…… “Please think about it one more time.”
However, there was one thing I could guess.
It’s not the scenery he’s looking at-.
About the secret story related to the person called ‘Jihad’.
“As a result, there was one thing we could know. “It’s not enough to prove their innocence, but it’s still just one thing.”
It was a question that suddenly arose. At that last moment, I remembered Jihad acting as if he was protecting Arya.
If he was truly a villain as described, he would have no reason not to kill Aria.
There is no reason to go far by kidnapping, and there is also no reason to lure the Sword Saint to my hideout.
…… I may have gone a little far in thinking.
I got the feeling that perhaps killing the Sword Saint in the end wasn’t the ending he originally wanted.
At least this man doesn’t seem to be the type of person who foolishly clings to revenge like I knew him to be.
Jihad’s words continued at that point.
“As far as I know, both of my parents used swords. “It was decades ago, but I also heard that he was Master’s former student, so it must be true.”
But, I did it.
For the first time, Jihad let out a firm voice and lifted his closed eyelids.
“…… Of the twenty-six victims, seven had particularly grotesque scars. Not a sword, not any other weapon…….”
“… ….”
“Wounds as if they had been torn and bitten by fingernails and teeth.”
Jihad’s cloudy eyes stared straight ahead, empty.
“There is no doubt that it was the two of you who killed them. That’s what I also confirmed. However, I couldn’t let go of the questions and doubts that kept arising. Okay… ….”
He spit out the question, ‘Why?’
“Why did you commit such a cruel atrocity? “Why was there a need to betray humanity?”
These would be cruel words to the victims. It would also be a shameless story.
But I also have doubts.
Why? Why was it necessary to do that?
‘Why do people who are disciples of the Sword Master leave their swords behind?’
Is it just because they are pleasure killers who enjoy the very act of damaging the body? Is this just such an absurd truth?
…… Or was there really something more?
‘No way… ….’
I suddenly thought about the existence of the ‘jar’ that Jihad used to kidnap Arya at this moment.
“‘I will take revenge on the Sword Saint’, I came this far with that thought and determination.”
At about that time, Jihad spoke once again.
“I only vaguely thought about that.”
I didn’t notice it, but I was already listening to his story with a serious expression.
“But deep down, maybe I just wanted to ask…” ….”
Jihad’s expression was covered with indescribable deep resentment.
But, nevertheless, he spoke.
He wanted to ask his teacher, Reinhard Ten, not the sword saint who killed his parents. He said he wanted confirmation.
“…… “Really, were this poor student’s parents such heinous villains that they had to die?”
I wanted to ask that.
Jihad spoke in a heavily suppressed voice.
And.
“I just… ….”
“Did you want to ask?”
It was at that moment that a third party’s voice intervened for the first time.
I stopped and raised my head and-.
It was no different from jihad.
“… ….”
He didn’t even close his mouth, and his body was visibly shaking. Raise your head. Look upward.
Even so, eyes that have lost their light cannot capture the other person’s appearance.
I repeat, even so.
“…… “Master?”
Jihad let out a trembling voice.
“You are right, Jihad.”
There was a sword castle there.
“You really are such an ugly disciple.”