670 – 8. Will (44)
“Does it make sense, risking tens of thousands of lives for self-defense?!”
Immediately after the meeting ended, I was speaking passionately alone. In fact, it was a claim that was repeated countless times during the meeting.
Dalton’s opinion was reasonable. However, he could not forgive the underlying intention.
Discussing issues that may determine the future of humanity for the sake of Ilshin’s safety?
It was an action I couldn’t understand. To be precise, I was offended by the fact that he was proud enough to reveal that fact in public.
Nevertheless, the middle-aged man in front of me didn’t say anything. The man, whose strong body contrasted with his gray hair, sighed quietly with his eyes closed.
“What should we do with a matter that has already been decided?”
“But, old man swordsman!”
“Stop.”
I finally silenced him with that low word.
I knew. The fact that it’s already too late. What I was doing now was just complaining. Because I did not have the ability to overturn the issues agreed upon by the representatives of each country.
Even the eldest member of the imperial family and the best swordsman on the continent keeps silent.
He comforted me in a quiet tone, as if he were scolding his young child.
“Even if the intention is impure, isn’t it reasonable to argue that the last resort should be considered? Above all, it is literally just a ‘last resort’. “If we protect the relics well, it’s not worth considering.”
It made sense. It was also the reason why I could no longer refute Dalton’s claims at the meeting.
If only my body was fine.
If I had done that, I would have been able to do anything, and I would have been able to ease the burden on my mind even a little. But, having lost my strength, I felt helpless and miserable.
After chewing my lips for a while, I felt a hollow gaze. Since it was just me and the swordsman in the empty conference hall, the owner of those eyes was obvious.
He seemed to hesitate for something, but then quickly changed the topic.
“I may have to leave the academy for a while.”
“What does that mean… Ah.”
There was a memory that crossed my mind as I was taken aback by the sudden declaration.
Come to think of it, Patriarch Eindel said he was requesting an external investigation.
The topic that Dalton brought up today was so provocative that it seemed to be in vain. Instead, Patriarch Eindel must have taken the time to convey a request to the swordsman.
Of course, it was an issue that should be opposed.
“But, old man swordsman. “If you vacate the academy, the power here will be vulnerable.”
“I know too. I almost didn’t want to leave my seat…….”
The swordsman looked unusually tired and took out a few documents from his arms and threw them away. Suddenly, a bunch of documents were scattered on the marble table between me and the swordsman, revealing several images.
Buildings in ashes, monsters with faces whose features are not even clear.
My hand began to slowly scatter the documents and trace the type. And right after reading the eyewitness account of the female swordsman with a sword wrapped in fire and the girl in black robes wielding a blood-red whip, laughter burst out of her mouth.
This is so blatant.
“It’s a trap. “There is no reason to reveal your actions so openly.”
“I guess so. But victims continue to come forward, and we cannot hope for any more reinforcements.”
That was the essence of the problem. Furthermore, the history of the ‘Seven Sins’ was also terrifying.
The previous ‘vampire’ decided to confront the Master head-on, but if beings that could not be dealt with without the Master were wandering around the continent, the response was bound to become extremely difficult.
Just look at it right now.
The Seven Sins has been spotted nearby, and unless the swordsman leaves the academy, he can only see a future where he will be helpless. What if this was done on a continental basis?
Somehow, I had to end this here. At least the life of one of the Seven Sins must be taken.
Perhaps the reason for hesitation in swordsmanship was also related to this.
“As long as they are protecting the relic, they will focus on the academy for now. But what if you give up and expand the front a little further? “If massacres are repeated from a distance so far that I cannot respond in an emergency, I have no choice but to choose the empire over the relic.”
“Are there already casualties?”
“Not yet, but it will come out soon.”
I groaned and turned my head away.
There was nothing wrong with what the swordsman said. It was the right time to suppress them while they were still active nearby. No matter how much it seemed like a trap was being dug, the swordsman had no choice but to move.
“Don’t worry too much. Of course, I will bring a scroll containing space transfer magic… “If you attack the academy while I’m away, I can come back right away.”
“Couldn’t one of the Seven Sins be buying time?”
“You can stop me with just one thing?”
It was a retort uttered without even a laugh. It was indeed an arrogant remark, but it was a fact that had no choice but to be acknowledged if the subject of the remark was the best swordsman on the continent.
Master swordsman of the empire.
There are only two beings on the entire continent who can stop him. The fact that even the ‘Seven Sins’ was no match for him had already been verified.
But I was never able to shake off my frustration. That was why he sighed and rubbed his face with both hands.
“If only my body had been fine…….”
If that were the case, the swordsman’s range of motion would have changed as well. One way or another, among all the forces gathered at the Academy, I was the next best swordsman in terms of combat power.
It was the first feeling of helplessness I had felt in a very long time. So it was even more terrible.
The fact that I can’t do anything, the reality that I have no choice but to depend on others.
I was so angry that I could taste a faint metallic taste on my chewed lips. After I controlled my emotions like that for a while, the swordsman looked at me again without saying anything.
How much is that?
“Sweetheart.”
A quiet call shook my eardrums. When I opened my eyes and let out a long breath, there was a swordsman sitting there with a face I had never seen before.
A face that looks somewhat tired or sad.
Did the unshakable pillars of the empire also have this side? Having witnessed the weakness of the superman, I was as perplexed as the priest who found a minor error in the scriptures.
Because sorrow was not suitable for the Absolute.
“Don’t be too anxious. “Were you scared because your strength suddenly disappeared?”
“Rather than that, the fact that I can’t do anything on my own… ….”
“It actually worked out well.”
It was something I had never imagined, so my mouth dropped shut. The swordsman’s expression was still calm.
“So to speak, you are on the way to becoming an adult. “Everyone has to go through those times at some point.”
“What do you mean?”
“Not being able to do anything.”
The middle-aged blue eyes were reminiscent of stars made of ice. That cold light that settled down calmly.
“I desperately want it, I want it at any cost… That it can never be reached. “I am helpless, and even though I despair, cry and pray, I can never achieve anything.”
“Are you saying that if you learn that much, you will become an adult?”
It was a question that came out like a seizure.
Each and every word of the swordsman seemed to pierce his heart. Wasn’t this a fact he had already repeated countless times? I couldn’t help but wonder why I had to despair once again.
Of course, the swordsman didn’t seem to even care about my situation.
“Be humble.”
“Being humble, what…?” ….”
“You will stop saying arrogant things like saying you won’t give up anything.”
A phrase I have heard many times, and a phrase that comes to mind often.
I shrank like a nerve plant leaf touched by my fingers.
“There was a time like you in the past. It was a time when I traveled across the continent with only a sword. “I was born as the eldest son and was promised the next throne, but I liked the sword and the world better than the throne.”
The middle-aged man’s eyelids slowly closed as he recalled the past. I, who had no idea that I would hear the old story of a swordsman, also remained silent in a dazed mood.
“I had no worries because I had a smart younger brother. He was such a deep-hearted child… I thought that child was better suited to be an emperor than me, who was immature. So I lived as a wanderer for decades, and from that day on, no one dared to compete with me. “I felt like I could do anything.”
At the end of the memory that continued like that, the middle-aged eyelids opened again.
Blue is said to be a sad color.
I suddenly realized this.
“It was outrageous arrogance. Do you know how I felt when my younger brother was going through life and death due to illness? I kept thinking about what I could have done, but I couldn’t find an answer. Because the knife was a tool for killing!”
The swordsmith’s eyes, speaking as if he was chewing, showed pain that could not be hidden. You could call it despair, or you could even call it sadness.
Either way, a wound remained deep in his heart.