Chapter 233 : Chapter 233
Chapter 233 : Neutral Zone (3)
“Every time we meet again, you have become a different person. Now it is at the point where I have to worry about what to call you.”
“It has been a long time, Sir Jayden.”
I shared a light hug with Jayden. A heavy warmth was transmitted from his hand as he patted my back.
“It feels like only yesterday when I told you not to carelessly attach ‘Sir’ to just anyone, so this is truly deeply moving.”
“I have plenty of qualifications now.”
At my answer, Jayden merely smiled in silence. It was a smile that seemed pleasant, yet somehow lonely.
Quite some time had passed since arriving in Pretoria. Because we were chased by our respective duties, this was the first time we were properly catching up.
‘The distance between us is widening bit by bit, just like the speed at which we’re moving forward.’
I don’t feel hurt. It’s a strangely pleasant sense of alienation, so to speak.
Looking at it now, Jayden’s current smile was expressing this emotion, which was hard to explain in words, very accurately.
“Erasing Callence’s ghost and reorganizing the regular army was the biggest hurdle. There was nowhere deep within the military where his influence had not reached. Uprooting those roots was no ordinary hardship.”
The last place we met was Aldenfort. Jayden began to bring up stories from much earlier one by one, as if he had made up his mind.
‘He must’ve accumulated a lot during this time.’
The exhaustion of a man suffering from overwork was entirely evident in his voice.
An already taciturn man, since he had nowhere to unburden his grievances, his mental fatigue must have reached its peak.
‘Since he lost his family early on, the time he had to endure alone must’ve been quite painful.’
For a man with no place to return to, the post-war cleanup must have been his entire life, and his loneliness would have piled up layer by layer just as much.
I silently nodded, taking everything he said to heart.
“What happened to the people from the Gunbel Trading Company? I left Aldenfort in such a hurry that I couldn’t hear about the subsequent situation.”
I asked casually around the time his grievances were finally dying down. In fact, it was what I was most curious about, but it was hard to interrupt Jayden, so I had only been biding my time.
“…….”
Walking side by side, Jayden suddenly stopped his steps.
I only looked back after taking three or four more steps.
Jayden, who had been looking at the ground, belatedly became conscious of my gaze and offered an embarrassed smile.
“Ah, forgive me. I was lost in thought for a moment.”
“Are you alright?”
“No, I am fine. The Gunbel Trading Company, was it? Vice Director Jewelina left in a hurry as soon as she regained consciousness. She arrested Administrative Officer Max and set sail immediately. Maserin…… that fellow left together with them as well.”
His voice trembled at the part where he mentioned Maserin.
‘……They were master and disciple, those two.’
The Gunbel Trading Company, by its very existence, was no different from a bridgehead for the Empire’s invasion of the Kingdom.
If Jewel completely withdrew from the Kingdom as she had promised me, and Maserin decided to follow her, they would never be able to return here again.
‘From Jayden’s perspective, it’s like he’s lost family again.’
When I first saw them, the two of them were the spitting image of a father and daughter.
I felt like I knew the reason why the shadow cast under Jayden’s eyes had grown particularly darker during the time we hadn’t met.
‘In my past life, I took his life, and in this life, is it his family?’
A situation where debts of the heart that I couldn’t repay to Jayden kept piling up layer upon layer. I felt only irony at my path, which could only be completed by stripping away the things precious to him.
It was the exact moment I turned my gaze elsewhere while exhaling the heavy breath rising from within through my nose.
“Da— r— li— ng—!”
Jayden and I were walking down a corridor shaped like a cloister. The echoing voice came from the very end straight ahead.
THUDTHUDTHUDTHUDTHUD—!
It was Bonnie, sprinting toward me at full speed. My heart sank involuntarily. Even though she was merely running, the ground was shaking as if an earthquake had occurred!
‘What an incredible force……!’
Did she load mana into every footstep? I felt like I was suffocating from the fearsome pressure. Rather than a sprint, it was closer to a destructive footwork technique.
At that moment, something flashed across my mind.
‘……It’s truly worthy of being called the Heavenly Demon Reigning Step.’
There was room to delve deeper. Inspiration arrives without warning at absurd moments like this.
But my admiration lasted only a moment; when I belatedly snapped out of it……
Before I knew it, Bonnie had leapt high into the air, completely airborne as if about to throw herself into my arms. If I dodged like this, she wouldn’t be able to handle her own momentum and would be seriously injured.
‘Dammit!’
In the end, I opened my arms and caught Bonnie.
CRACK! CRACK!
“Ohohohoho! Darling! Your body’s gotten even firmer in the meantime! Ah, youth truly is something!”
“…….”
I slowly set Bonnie down. It was hands down the most powerful blow I had received recently.
“How’d our darling become such a big shot? It’s at the point where it’s truly hard to even say hello. You aren’t hurting anywhere, right? Are you eating your meals on time without skipping?”
Bonnie grabbed my cheeks with both hands with a sharp slap! and examined my head, turning it this way and that without mercy.
“I wanted our darling to be happy, I didn’t want you to become this famous. Life’s bound to be painful when you’re famous.”
"I’m fine, so let go of me now."
After barely escaping Bonnie’s thick grip, I exchanged a nod with Clyde, who was following behind her.
Seeing the couple’s complexions look so good side by side, a corner of my mind was relieved.
Jayden, who was watching from the side, chimed in.
“If it were not for these two, it would have been truly difficult. Thanks to them, suppressing Callence’s remnants was much easier.”
If my memory serves me right, the couple Bonnie and Clyde entered under Adeline’s command on the condition of restoring their status and reclaiming the honor of their respective families.
Seeing how well they got along with them until now, it seemed they had settled well into Conwell.
“Hmph! It’s useless to sugarcoat it like that now, Sir Jayden. Once we finish this job properly, our couple intends to take a long sabbatical for the time being.”
Bonnie snorted, crossing her arms. Jayden scratched the back of his head with an awkward smile.
The sight looked exactly like an anxious employer and a successful mercenary.
“We decided not to accept a title.”
Clyde spoke as if he had read my thoughts. Bonnie shrugged her shoulders.
“I guess our time as mercenaries was too long. Thinking about wearing a tight formal dress again at this point makes me feel suffocated, you know?”
Bonnie and Clyde looked at each other and grinned. It was an expression where nothing remained if you took away love and happiness.
“Instead, because we ended up becoming the most famous mercenaries in Conwell, we didn’t realize we’d get tired in a different sense.”
Come to think of it, the paths of Jayden and this couple were highly contrasting, which was interesting.
One side escaped the shackles of a commoner to rise to the rank of a knight, while the other side laid down their noble title to choose the life of a free commoner.
A position that someone desired so desperately, someone else brushed off without a single regret and turned away from.
‘Perhaps this is the true meaning of equality that Partizan cried out for.’
It was impossible to judge which life was more valuable, but it seemed certain that they had found and put on the clothes that suited them best in their respective positions.
“Ah, Bihen. If you’re fine with it, won’t you come with us?”
“Where?”
“We’re on our way to watch Janson and Joel’s spar. The kids’ll really like it if you come.”
Fortunately, I have some free time for the time being. I willingly followed along.
At a training ground not far away, Joel and Janson were in the middle of a spar. They held a wooden sword and a wooden staff in their respective hands.
CLACK—! CLACK! CLACK!
It had been a while since I heard the sound of wooden weapons clashing. The disciplined sound was friendly and pleasant to hear.
That aside, the movements of the two sparring were out of the ordinary. The clumsy appearances I had seen back in Conwell were nowhere to be found.
Setting Joel aside, Janson truly seemed like a different person.
‘You’ve really put in the effort, Janson.’
The traces were visible right from his appearance. Because of his scrawny physique with not a single shred of excess fat, his impression had become recognizably sharp.
‘It feels like only yesterday when I confused him because he looked exactly like Bill.’
My gaze lingered for a while on that razor-sharp face.
A black eyepatch crossing over his left eye.
I heard from Adeline. She said he lost it to Crow—that is, the Sword Demon—who had raided the Conwell army’s camp alone.
‘He said he took it as the price of his life.’
No matter what whim blew through the Sword Demon to make him do that, preserving his life at the cost of a single eye in that desperate moment was close to a miracle.
Another fortunate thing was that even after becoming one-eyed, Janson showed no signs of severe frustration or despair.
‘He’s truly become a different person.’
In my past life, I blamed my imperfect body until the moment I died.
Compared to me, who had wasted time obsessing over that deficiency, Janson, who was sweating silently like that, was a far better human being.
“Still, his movements have improved a lot. That is a relief.”
Jayden, who was watching, spoke to himself with mixed relief. Yet a sigh was steeped within, as if he could not completely hide his complicated feelings.
“His body will suffer, but he has no choice but to endure and find the answer himself. The only thing we can do is cheer him on from the side.”
At Clyde’s words, Jayden nodded bitterly.
Both let out sighs one after another. Handing down mere warm encouragement and advice laced with consideration was the absolute best they could do.
‘That alone isn’t enough.’
What a person who has fallen into a pitch-black pit needs isn't a vague hope that they can get out. Even if it's only the size of a pinhole, letting them capture the sky above directly in their own eyes to make them realize the direction to move forward is more important than anything.
Thud.
Leaving Jayden and Clyde’s helpless conversation behind, I stepped forward.
The realm of darkness that those with ordinary vision wouldn’t know even if they died and woke up again—I decided to hand Janson the answer that only I, who had experience searching for a path within that darkness, could give.
“Oh! It’s Bihen!”
Bill, who was watching nearby, recognized me first and shouted.
Janson and Joel also came to a dead stop and stared at me.
Several of the Conwell and Pretoria soldiers who had been sitting around freely even sprang up from their seats.
“Whoa, Bihen! What brings you here? You’re such a precious body that I thought you’d leave without us even getting a proper look at your face!”
Janson spoke in a welcomed voice. The fellow, who wore a somewhat puzzled expression, soon stroked his eyepatch as if he had guessed something.
“Janson. If you don’t mind, I’d like to help you out a bit.”
“Uh, huh? Help? What kind of help?”
Janson offered an awkward smile as if realizing it belatedly. I admired him once again. At the tail end of his smile, the characteristic uprightness of a martial artist who was wary of others’ sympathy was steeped within.
“Ah, this? It’s fine, it’s nothing much. If you’re thinking of giving some half-baked comfort, don’t bother. Honestly, my impression’s become way more menacing than before, so there’s a part of me that’s quite satisfied with it.”
“You don’t need to struggle so hard not to lose it.”
“……Huh?”
I asked Joel for understanding. Taking over his spot as he stepped one foot to the side, I simultaneously received Janson’s wooden staff as if snatching it away.
“Don’t force yourself to look to the left. The obsession to look is what makes you dull. Fully accept the fact that your left field of vision is gone.”
Flinching at feints or reacting a beat late to actual attacks is a matter that time will solve. It means you can overcome it with experience somehow.
The real problem is that you get scared in advance and excessively predict the opponent’s moves, creating an illusion that doesn’t even exist by yourself.
‘A subconscious struggle to fill the lost vision.’
The illusion forced out by the brain like that makes the entire body dull, and furthermore, carves in fear, nailing the soles of your feet completely to the floor.
“Escape from the swamp of illusions, Janson.”
“…….”
I readjusted my grip on the wooden staff. Although the spear isn’t a standard issue weapon, basic spear techniques were recorded in detail in the Empire army’s basic manual. At the very least, I wouldn’t look as clumsy as a complete beginner.
“In spear techniques, the sense of measuring distance is more important than anything. It’s a battle over a hair’s breadth of distance that ordinary people find hard to gauge.”
I signaled Joel with my eyes. Joel paid his respects to me and took a stance. For some reason, as if thinking this was his chance, a competitive spirit surged in the fellow’s eyes.
“Trap the enemy within your available field of vision. Don’t match the weapon held in your hand, but establish an absolute sense of distance yourself.”
I slowly closed my left eye. In an instant, the familiar darkness that had accompanied me for my entire past life returned.
As I nodded, Joel’s wooden sword thrust in without mercy.
WHISH—! WHISH—! SWISH—!
Joel’s Destreza had also become quite mature. Although I wanted to give him some praise in my heart, what was important right now was Janson, who would be watching from behind my back.
CLACK—!
As if brushing away the wind sweeping past my left cheek, I flicked the tip of the staff and struck the wooden sword away. Subsequently, the opposite end of the wooden staff, spun fluidly, stopped right beneath Joel’s chin.
“……!”
“Rely on your senses, not your eyes, for attacks from the left. The sound of tearing air piercing your ears, the wind brushing your cheek, the killing intent piercing your skin—if necessary, click the tip of your tongue to mobilize echolocation. Cast away predictions and tenaciously pursue only real clues.”
Turning around, I gave the wooden staff back to Janson. The fellow received it with a dazed expression.
I tapped Janson’s shoulder and handed down the words that my past self could never bring himself to say to himself.
“No matter what anyone says, you must believe only in yourself.”
Clap, clap, clap……
Suddenly, the sound of clapping was heard from around us. The sound, which was heard sporadically as one person clapped slowly, soon spread as if infecting the person next to him, and then the person next to him.
Clap, clap! Clap, clap, clap!
Soon, the clapping sounds were added one by one, piling up in an instant and rushing over like a fierce wave. Starting with Bill, whose mouth was hanging open with a dumbfounded face, all the soldiers surrounding the training ground poured out shouts without exception.
“Waaaaah!”
“Did you see that? He deflected that fast sword like a ghost even with his eyes closed!”
“Bihen Benkou! You’re the best!”
……Dammit, my face flushed hot. I absolutely never develop an immunity to such blatant cheering.
I tried to hurry out of the training ground as if fleeing.
At that moment, before I could even take a few steps, those waving their hands from afar caught my eye.
‘Henry, Gaff, and Ayan.’
They said they’d bring them through the Spatial Transfer Gate, and it seemed they’d just arrived.
Gaff was Gaff, but Ayan was also a critical key holding the success or failure of my plan this time.