225 – Four Swords (6)
Kalios opened his eyes first and got up.
Then he wandered around with his luggage on his back.
He picked up a fist-sized stone from the weeds and tossed it up and down in his hand.
He explained to Damian, who was still meditating with his eyes closed.
“When we reach the realm of observing others, we express it as having opened our third eye. What’s important to you is to open your eyes. You don’t need to look deeper or further than that.”
Damian couldn’t help but ask.
“What do you see in others?”
“You’ll first feel the most intense emotion that humans, no, all living beings can emit.”
“What is that?”
Kalios threw the stone he was holding at Damian.
It grazed Damian’s ear and shattered against a rock. Damian belatedly opened his eyes and looked back, startled by the sound of the explosion.
“Killing intent.”
“…If it had been something like happiness or familial love, the world would have been a little more beautiful.”
“I agree. Humans have always had to kill and prey on other living beings to survive. It’s been that way since the moment this world was born. You won’t die from not feeling familial love, but you will definitely die if you can’t sense killing intent. Emitting and sensing killing intent is the most primitive and fundamental sense.”
“…”
“Unfortunately, the fetters of having to kill and prey on other living beings are intertwined with all living beings in the world.”
“There must be some who live well alone. For example, plants that live in harmony.”
“Do you think plants are any different? You just don’t see their struggle. Do you think plants secrete deadly poison because they like alchemists? They created it to kill those who try to eat them. Even now, a bloody battle is taking place underground to absorb the nutrients and magic power of the earth and kill other seeds. If plants had mouths, this world would be filled with screams.”
“…I thought meditation was something pacifists liked. I guess it doesn’t matter.”
“Nature always eradicates pacifists first. Always.”
“The more I listen, the more my troubles deepens.”
“I’ll keep clouding your concentration in the future. Focus again.”
“…”
Damian closed his eyes again and steadied his breath.
Kalios picked up another pebble and threw it at Damian with killing intent.
Then, a strange plant stem stretched out from beneath Damian and knocked the stone away.
“…?”
The sapling sword that Damian had thrown far away had somehow crawled back and sensed the killing intent, protecting him.
This was not the situation Kalios had intended.
“Hmm.”
Kalios pondered for a moment, looking at the sapling.
Damian felt the stem wrapping around his body and opened his eyes. Then he looked at the returned sapling sword in surprise.
“This is…”
“Focus once more.”
Kalios approached and picked up the sapling. He then placed it about ten steps away from Damian. Then, he drew his own cursed sword, Lunatic, from his waist and gently laid it across the wooden sword.
Kalios watched the sapling’s reaction intently.
The sapling recoiled as if burned, trying to absorb the cursed sword’s energy. Soon, it struggled to writhe on the ground, its stem crushed by the unbearable force.
It quickly began to take root in the ground in order to survive.
It was quite an interesting sight for Kalios.
“Did you, by any chance, sleep while holding the wooden sword?”
It was clear that its vitality and activity had increased compared to when he had seen it before.
“…How did you know?”
“Keep doing it from now on.”
It was an unusual occurrence. Kalios had prided himself on having experienced most of the swords that existed in the world, but Damian’s sword was something he had never experienced before.
The fact that it was blindly loyal, going beyond mere possession, also felt strange to Kalios.
This was because cursed swords had a habit of opportunistically changing masters in search of a strong host.
It was also rare for it to remain so devoted even when faced with a perfected host like Kalios.
Kalios muttered softly.
“This is getting more and more interesting….”
***
Delphion cleared his throat while standing outside the door for a moment. He then checked the collected documents one more time and knocked on the door.
Knock knock.
“Enter.”
Delphion entered and gave a salute to Kalios in the Imperial style.
Kalios looked the same whether he was in the Empire or in Leiburg.
He was always engrossed in books filled with complex characters, with Hubert by his side. As always. He had not given up this habit for the ten years since he had begun assisting him.
“These are documents that have arrived from the Empire. There are a little over fifty requests for guidance and meetings.”
“Ah, I see.”
Kalios responded appropriately, considering Delphion’s efforts, but he did not show any interest. Kalios had excellent cognitive abilities, but if he was not interested, he would not remember even if it was repeated ten times.
“The Royal Academy has requested that His Majesty request your return.”
“Ah, I understand.”
“This year’s new students are said to be the children of Dalixia.”
The children of Dalixia was an expression used when a grade had an abundance of talent, forming a golden generation.
“……”
“Shouldn’t you take a look?”
Kalios never missed out on such occasions. He gathered the top students, or those with low grades but exceptional talent, and personally taught the selected few.
The knights trained in this way were now active all over the country.
Kalios moistened his fingers and turned a page. It was a sign of disinterest.
“Kalios-nim?”
“Ah, um, why is that?”
“Shouldn’t you find a successor?”
“I’ve already raised my successors. Aren’t my disciples active all over the country? I think I’ll finish farming people and start farming for real. We’ll sell wine with your name and mine on it. We’ll be rich soon.”
“Aren’t you already a millionaire, Kalios-nim?”
“Aren’t wine connoisseurs more welcome at parties than sword masters? The only ones welcoming us are married women with sons.”
Delphion’s voice was raised in frustration.
“Are you just going to let Lunatic become a disaster?”
Lunatic, who was called one of the Four Great Demon Swords, was like a devil bound in chains. If that restraint, Kalios, were to be released, Lunatic would bring hell upon the world once more.
That was precisely why Kalios was so obsessed with a successor.
He had the ambition to be recorded in history as an educator and leader, but he also had the purpose of fostering someone who could control Lunatic.
Kalios leisurely sipped his tea.
“Hmm, it won’t do. Will you take responsibility?”
He spoke lightly, as if he were passing on a household chore, about an event that could threaten the lives of tens of thousands and overturn the power structure of the empire.
Delphion sighed.
“I don’t want to die of a heart attack.”
Delphion was also someone who had received Kalios’ teachings. He had once dreamed of becoming a Sword Master and had been the object of his professors’ expectations and favor.
However, he faced the limitations of his talent and gave up the sword. He did not regret it, having seen up close the devilish talents who entered under Kalios.
The reason he was able to stay by Kalios’ side until now was because he was tight-lipped, loyal, and had a greater talent for clerical work than swordsmanship.
Once, a student had coveted Lunatic. The student ignored the warnings and secretly held Lunatic, only to die of a heart attack. The cause of death was rejection. His heart had been forcibly devoured.
The student had reached the level of swordsmanship that Delphion had barely achieved at thirty by the age of fifteen, but he had lost his life so meaninglessly.
“Ah, right, that was it.”
Kalios replied indifferently again and flipped through a book. Delphion sighed and changed the subject.
“…I heard that Lady Syrinx is visiting Ligved. She is visiting as an inspection tour ahead of the exchange competition.”
“Hmm, is that so?”
He was indifferent even to the news that his granddaughter was visiting.
“Did you know that Lady Syrinx entered the Imperial Academy?”
“Is that so? Well, I must respect my granddaughter’s choice.”
“Do you have no intention of guiding your granddaughter?”
“That child is greedy, but her vessel is small. Even as a child, she was more interested in my wealth than in me.”
Kalios was mercilessly blunt with his own flesh and blood, as he always had been.
It hadn’t been like that from the beginning. It had been the most ideal picture for both the empire and Kalios for his own flesh and blood to inherit his sword, and he had once worked tirelessly, but in the end, things did not go as he wished, and he gave up.
Kalios’ two daughters had neither interest nor talent in the sword, and of his four granddaughters, only one was interested in swordsmanship. However, even she did not inherit the talent of her ancestors.
“Are you really okay with not meeting her?”
“It’s fine.”
Delphion knew. When he lost interest in his surroundings, it meant that he was deeply immersed in something.
“Is the Divine of Eternia… meeting your expectations?”
From Noble mtl dot com
“Expectations, huh…”
Kalios closed the book. Then, as if lost in thought, he blankly looked up at the ceiling.
“…Sir Kalios?”
“…Many will retire because of that guy.”
***
I continued to train for several days, but I didn’t feel any noticeable growth. I also wondered if I had become more mature emotionally, and nothing like living or living actually touched my body.
Priscilla still didn’t talk to me. I wondered if it had something to do with my poor spirit.
Kalios had told me that meditation training should not be done until it was mastered.
As if there was one more thing that had to be done in life, like eating, washing, and combing.
Time passed like that, and before I knew it, the day of the appointment with Cecil was two days away.
Since it was a formal occasion, I needed decent clothes, so I went to stay at Silveryn’s mansion for the first time in a while to get my dress uniform.
“Damian-nim…”
In my room, the maid Lilia, whom I hadn’t seen in a while, trailed off her words, subtly expressing her resentment.
Since Lilia had few peers she knew well and could talk to, she must have been quite lonely without me.
“I’m sorry I haven’t been able to visit often, Lilia.”
“If Damian-nim is enjoying the academy, that is enough…”
“…”
“While Damian-nim was away, I made a lot of extra potions. I also received a lot of letters. Not as many as before, but…”
I felt even more sorry for not being able to visit.
“Thank you. You can burn all the letters. What’s important is what comes directly into my hands.”
Lilia brought a basket and placed it gently on my desk.
“That… I burned it as Damian-nim said, but… there was this strange smoke, so I couldn’t help but keep it.”
“…Strange smoke?”
“Black smoke kept swirling over the wood fire and put it out. So I put it directly into the fire, but the letter wouldn’t burn. I did keep some of the charred parts…”
“…”
From what Lilia said, it seemed like it wasn’t an ordinary letter. Was there magic on it?
I checked the contents of the basket. There were several black envelopes inside. They weren’t charred but were originally black, and judging from their uniform size, they seemed to have been sent by the same person.
“When did these start coming?”
“They’ve been coming steadily since Damian-nim’s entrance ceremony.”
When I touched them lightly, I could feel the texture of the letters written in black ink. Were they runes?
Who sent them? If it was something related to magic, it could be Silveryn or Princess Vivi. But those two had stitches directly connected to me, so there was no reason to send them like this.
It might be something important, so I sent Lilia away first.
“Thank you. Can I change my clothes for a bit?”
“Oh, yes…!”
Lilia hurriedly left the room, and I took off my clothes and changed into my dress uniform.
“…Hmm.”
I looked in the mirror and moved my body around. There was no part that didn’t fit.
My shoulders were tight and stuffy, and my wrists felt empty as if I had rolled up my sleeves. The hem of my pants, which used to fit perfectly on my instep, now revealed my ankles.
I had it custom-made with Silveryn, but how long has it been? My body was growing rapidly, giving me no time to wait.
Fortunately, I was able to fix it with alterations thanks to the extra length in the lining.
I quickly took off my stuffy top. Then I picked up the basket of letters that Lilia had left and threw myself on the bed.
I reached into the basket and picked up a random letter.
Suddenly, I felt strange. Why was I putting so much effort into someone who hadn’t even replied once?
The sender’s name was written on the black envelope in black ink. I couldn’t tell what the intention was. I tried reading it with my eyes and gave up, eventually using my fingertips to rub off the dried ink and check.
An unfamiliar name was written there.
“Ama… Rielis.”
It was a name that had never been connected to my life before. I couldn’t even guess how or where she knew me.
On my fingertips, something dark red, not ink, was smeared. When I brought it to my nose, I could smell a pungent and unpleasant odor. It wasn’t spilled grape wine. It was the smell of blood.
wow, i completely forgot about liria.