636 – 8. Will (10)
Time limit.
It was a term used to refer to those whose lifespan was short. Originally, the word ‘life’ should have been added, but these words had a sense of overemphasizing the fact that life ends.
Because death was a tragedy for everyone.
It was the same not only for the person concerned, but also for his relatives. Therefore, they deliberately leave out the word ‘life’. As if he didn’t want to stare at the end of one life somehow.
Nevertheless, the truth is always brutally plain.
I die.
And within a month.
Cien couldn’t say anything about the reality that had suddenly arrived. A look of disbelief and bewilderment emanated from his face, which only opened his mouth.
It’s as if he’s faced with a vicious joke.
The swordsmith’s calm revelations continued.
“I heard that the body is breaking down. Because of the overflow of images, the body just collapses again no matter what I do?”
My eyes, chewing on my lips, looked at the princess’ face. The white girl’s face was like a drawing paper on which all emotions were bleached. I didn’t want to know the pure white name that covered it.
I just closed my eyes and let out a sigh.
On the other hand, the swordsman showed no sign of anything. The man’s tone, plain and straightforward to the point of being brutal, proved this.
Denial was useless.
The opponent was the eldest adult of the imperial family and the strongest swordsman on the continent. There is no reason why my death should be consumed as the subject of a joke.
Even if you hit the hammer right now, Shien’s clever brain would soon realize.
The fact that the swordsmith’s testimony is correct.
In the end, a voice mixed with a sigh came out of my mouth.
“For now, yes.”
“Hey, you learned a useless pun. What is ‘once’? So if you think about it a little more, is there a way?”
It was a sharp point. Also, it was an unnoticed counterargument.
The princess, who had already lost her blood for a long time, was making a hiccup sound. Her trembling hands and eyelashes made her guess the typhoon in her heart.
This is why she was trying to hide it.
Despite my resentment in my eyes, the swordsman remained calm throughout. To be more precise, it had a rugged expression, as if he didn’t like something.
It was just unfair to me.
What’s wrong with me?
It was just that he fought hard and was judged terminally ill. Even if you can’t receive comfort and sympathy, you have to accept the old man’s grumpy.
My lips were about to pout out.
The swordsman hit the desk with a bang.
“You idiot!”
The master’s sincere words had power beyond imagination.
A heavy shockwave spread through the atmosphere. The air waves beating my heart like a drum, to the extent that even I was startled and straightened my posture.
It was the same for Shien, who was engrossed.
The startled girl’s body stood up as if it had been subjected to an electric shock. Because of that, she stays in the air for a while, and then goes back into the chair again.
Before long, her dainty lips pressed against her, and her nervous voice leaked out.
“Yes, yes… great grandfather.”
Though it wasn’t Shien who was actually scolded by the swordsman.
The swordsman didn’t particularly care about the princess either. Because it was such a small voice, he might have thought that there was no need to react on purpose.
The swordsman’s burning blue eyes were aimed at me.
“Then you should have informed me immediately and sought help! What can you do on your own! So, did you find a way to survive?”
“I, still… ….”
“You still haven’t found it?”
I had no choice but to break out in a cold sweat at the sudden wrath of the swordsman.
It feels like being a child scolded by parents. Or, it was fine to say that he was a disciple scolded by his master.
As soon as my mouth came to mind, I started picking up excuses.
“There were too many challenges at hand. First of all, there is an intelligence that one of my relatives may die in Celine’s raid on the Alpenhauser family…….”
“Is that more important than your life?”
Of course.
I was about to say that, but I had to shut my mouth and lower my gaze.
Because the swordsman’s stare at me was so severe.
It was the first look in my life.
“Tsk tsk, you are still young. I’m still a baby… Your life is no longer yours. You are the morning star representing the empire, and you are the one who carries the hopes and expectations of countless people. Did you think your death would end with you alone?”
“But… ….”
“You cannot die.”
It was an assertion.
Speaking in a firm tone, as if he would not allow any objection, the swordsman gazed at me with a more deeply sunken gaze. But why?
I thought those eyes looked a bit lonely.
“You must not die. For that, what you have already carried is too big and heavy. Got it? This is not sympathy or caring. These are the shackles to which you must live.”
Tsk, that voice sounded like scolding at first glance.
Nevertheless, I feel like I know a little bit about the swordsman’s sincerity.
I had no choice but to hang my head in silence and pretend to listen. On the contrary, there was another person who opened his mouth on my behalf.
“Yes, yes!”
It was the princess.
Her The girl who had kept her mouth shut all this time immediately rolled up her tiny fists and shouted. Her complexion still hadn’t returned to her complexion, but her eyes were as bright as the shipwrecked sailors who discovered the island.
“It’s not over yet, Sir Ian… That, ‘image’? That’s it, you can do anything! Yes? If you borrow the power of the imperial family…… !”
“Even the imperial family has no support whatsoever.”
A declaration like thunder from the blue sky.
Once again, all life activities detected in the body of the girl named ‘Shien’ stopped for an instant. And she pounded, and as her heart started beating again, she began to see light water in the woman’s eyes.
Even in front of the crying princess, the swordsman’s words were unstoppable.
“It is unclear what ‘image’ is in the first place. Numerous scholars have rushed at it, but they have only given a rough definition of what ‘imagery’ is, and have not been able to come to a detailed analysis… What is more, ‘runaway of images’? I’ve lived for over a hundred years, but this is the first time I’ve heard of it.”
“Well, then…… !”
“But there is only one way.”
The princess, who was about to shed her tears drop by drop at any moment, turned bright.
A primitive man who saved the embers that had gone out could not have made a happier expression than this. Facing her niece’s granddaughter’s shining eyes with respect and admiration for her, the swordsman crossed his arms and burst out laughing.
I was convinced after seeing that scene.
You didn’t tell me until the very end on purpose.
The fact that there is a way to save me.
Anyway, he was an elderly man with a childlike side. It seems that they decided to create a dramatic effect, but the strategy worked for the princess.
Cien’s eyes shimmer with starlight as he holds his hands together. A ceaseless compliment flowed from her pretty lips.
“Awesome, great grandfather! After all, I thought that my great-grandfather would be able to do something!”
“Heh heh, with nothing special… If anything, would I ever let my heir die? He’s the one who will become the protector of our empire in the future!”
“Surely swordsmith! Guardian of the imperial family!”
The proud swordsman’s smile grew thicker and thicker at the admiration of her beloved niece and granddaughter.
Hey, I was even treated as a b*tch at one time.
I decided to understand the series of processes as the patriarch’s sad struggle to recover his wounded self-esteem. Even so, I couldn’t suppress my beating heart.
Can you live?
I had so much work left to do. Also, there were a lot of precious people who didn’t want to say goodbye yet. If I could live, I wouldn’t have to worry about this anymore.
The swordsman spoke only after enjoying the support of her niece and granddaughter for a long time.
“Okay, then let’s move!”
About the means to save my life.
**
“The problem is that your body and image are not in harmony.”
A secluded courtyard somewhere in the academy.
There, the swordsman was conducting a lecture with the princess and me as students.
“Your image is bloated and dizzy. Maybe it’s because I learned too many visions. That’s why your body tries to follow that condition and is destroyed.”
“Then what should I do? You can’t forget the vision you’ve already learned.”
“There is no need to forget.”
To my question, the swordsman smiled as he answered.
“Rather, you should train those visions to the limit. No, you don’t even have to learn all the visions… What if even a single vision could reach its peak, peek into its true intentions, and cross the ‘boundary’?”
Only then did I realize what the swordsman wanted to say.
Because there was only one realm that could only be reached by mastering the vision to the limit and crossing the ‘boundary’.
‘Master’.
The swordsmith was now recommending that I become the fourth master of mankind.
“If that happens, you don’t have to worry about it anymore. A ‘master’ is a state where the body and image completely match, and there can be no disharmony between the body and image in the first place.”
“Even if the imagery is unstable?”
“If even one image reaches its peak.”
As the swordsman said that, he tapped the sword hanging from my waist. Since he was a person who had trained his sword all his life, his image must have walked a single path.
“I can integrate the rest of the images into one. In fact, that is the way to become a ‘master’ in the true sense of the word. Anguish, stubbornness, lingering… Melt all of them into one image, and use it as your body and weapon.”
sh*t.
The swordsmith didn’t even move, but the wind of the sword gently brushed my skin. A touch so light that it doesn’t even leave a scratch.
But what if this slash was aimed at my uvula?
Neither distance nor intensity matters. Acquisition of full power of the body through imagery, furthermore, the deterrence power that dominated and distorted the whole area was right in front of my eyes.
That is also a task.
“From now on, visit me whenever you have time. Let me help you refine your image.”
“Can I become a Master just like that?”
“You never know.”
Spitting out an answer as cool as irresponsible, the swordsman threw a silent gaze at me.
“But if you are a master, there will be minimal results. Even that much would help prolong your life… So, would you like to try?”
Would you like to try it?
From noble mtl dot com
It was a matter of life and death. Of course, it was as if I had no choice.
So I sat cross-legged in front of the swordsman with a serious expression and the princess with sparkling eyes. As the swordsman said, it was for mental training.
“Now then, the first step… Raise your image. No matter what, something buried deep in your heart.”
It’s in the depths of my heart.
Close your eyes and slowly blur the boundary between consciousness and unconsciousness. It was a meditation I had done countless times. It wasn’t difficult at the moment.
And I saw.
In other words, ‘something’.
What should I say about that?
Sword or dragon? A tiger or a demon, a whale or a beast. Or some kind of eyes staring at me.
I didn’t even know if I should describe it as amorphous. The existence that had been sleeping under the horizon of language was staring at me without a word.
I slowly moved my hand to draw out that image.
“Cool!”
I collapsed vomiting blood.
And darkness.
*
Fluffing.
Even after Ian vomited blood and collapsed, the swordsman could not open his mouth for a while. Shien was just watching the scene with devastated eyes.
Is it because the expectations were too high?
There was no voice that spat out after hitting Shien’s throat. I just pointed at my unrequited love several times with my eyes wide open.
There was even a kind of earnestness in that hand gesture.
How long to do that.
The swordsman carefully sighed and said.
“…… f*ck you.”
Ian Perkus, judged to be unable to regenerate.
The swordsmith’s hands covered my skin.