Chapter 67 : Chapter 67
Chapter 67: Serepes (3)
Sword Master.
The Duke of Mectera, the master of the sword.
The position he had once longed for had, at some point, started to seem quite ridiculous.
‘Was it since Gerehk became the Sword Master?’
That seemed right.
Before meeting his master, Medeoban Mectera had been a truly colossal existence to Exa.
‘Any Tom, Dick, and Harry can be a Sword Master.’
Gerehk, whom he had met during the war, was like that.
His skills were not to be ignored, but the rest was the problem.
The Sword Master that Exa remembered had to have all his focus on the sword. Just as Medeoban had been in his prime, he had to be honed like a sword.
Mectera did not mean bloodline. Mectera did not accept the act of riding on the coattails of one's own lineage.
The position of Sword Master was one that required proof. One had to spend seven days and nights drinking the blood held by the sword instead of water. One had to overcome and convince the Heads of the Sword who had sworn allegiance to Mectera.
‘How could a bastard like that beat Aran, and all the Heads of the Sword?’
Gerehk became the Sword Master at the same time the Melken Empire declared war.
Then what about the Gerehk of that time? Simurtr could be certain. That guy could not break Aran's sword. He would have never been able to surpass the former 1st Head of the Sword who had died in battle at that time.
Yet, he became the Sword Master. Come to think of it, Medeoban's ideology might have been slowly deteriorating for a very long time.
‘Is this prejudice?’
That's why it was unfamiliar. The feeling was new.
The name Sword Master, which he had started to despise in his heart at some point, came to mind anew.
This is a Sword Master. Simurtr thought, looking at Orde. Certainly, he was not a fake Sword Master like Gerehk.
‘I thought it would be the same this time.’
Orde was soft. He was kind, a person who didn't know how to say harsh words. Perhaps it was a prejudice born from that.
Because the family of Mectera had never heard a single common rebuke from Orde.
The same went for Simurtr. Even though he was an adopted son with not a drop of their blood, his treatment was not enviable by a biological child.
Orde had truly loved his mother Anna, and he embraced her son, Simurtr, as family as well.
‘Is this family?’
To be honest, it was embarrassing.
It was cringey, and he felt sorry. He had never really thought of him as a father, and on the inside, he wasn't a child but a middle-aged man.
‘...I should treat him well.’
This was the first time in this life that he had been treated as family. He had been loved quite a bit, but that wasn't the kind between family.
He would have to correct his thought that all of Mectera's adoptive fathers were the same.
Even if Simurtr had no talent, Orde would have half-destroyed Raphaelo's office just as he had now.
“Sword Master of Mectera!”
“My son, are you alright?”
Orde ignored the shouting Raphaelo and asked. A large hole had appeared in the window.
Raphaelo, who had been sent flying far away, landed in the courtyard. He was looking up this way with a murderous look.
“Sword Master, Serepes will not stand by and watch your atrocity.”
“It's fine.”
“...Are you sure it's fine?”
The reason he hadn't left Serepes yet was to persuade Raphaelo.
But now? At this rate, he might have to wage war with the innocent Serepes. The face of the demonized Raphaelo painted such a future.
‘Just kill him?’
Raphaelo and Aran were of similar status, and their levels were also similar.
Even though his opponent was Orde, it was inevitable that time would be delayed. It was enough time for all the forces of Serepes to gather.
‘No. Am I crazy to go against Serepes?’
It was a thought he had in a fit of anger.
Serepes was not an option for the reincarnated Simurtr. The Grand Duke of the North would not have been involved with the traitors.
The Exa of his past life had a pretty good relationship with the former Grand Duke of the North. Although he had retired, and the current Grand Duke was his daughter.
‘So I shouldn't touch them even more.’
He had many reasons to feel sorry for the current Grand Duke, Lushuala. He also had to think about the debt he owed to the former Grand Duke of the North.
“Father.”
Simurtr requested a private meeting with Raphaelo.
***
“That's refreshing.”
“……”
Raphaelo granted the meeting more easily than expected. It was an office with a gaping hole in the wall. At Simurtr's words to meet alone, he had immediately kicked off the ground and come up.
“Serepes will not forget Mectera's atrocity.”
However, there was no change in his attitude. Raphaelo had not forgotten the recent insult.
“Mectera won't forget Serepes's atrocity either. The Black Tower kidnapped the direct line of the main family.”
“...The Black Tower is not Serepes.”
“But it is in the territory of Serepes. Do you really think Serepes won't receive any criticism for the Black Tower's atrocities?”
“……”
“Ruo will also throw a fit. Are you confident?”
Even that heavy Papal Office would have to get off its butt this time. They were the ones most sensitive to heresy.
‘To be precise, only when it's a profitable heresy.’
The situation was different from wartime. An era of peace. They could no longer pretend not to know about heresy even when they did.
“So let's call it even, Raphaelo. You didn't really come here expecting this kind of conversation, did you?”
If he had really wanted to have a go with Mectera, Raphaelo would have aimed for Orde's weaknesses, Simurtr and Beden, first.
He would have ordered his rangers to capture them, and then forced Orde to apologize.
Raphaelo was that kind of man.
“Since my father isn't here either, let's talk comfortably.”
Raphaelo let out a hollow laugh.
The way he changed as soon as his father was out of sight. That was his true nature.
Raphaelo recalled the Simurtr he had met at the ruined Black Tower.
He didn't yield even when he was injured to the point where it wouldn't be strange if he died.
He didn't cower even when facing a stronger person. He was utterly composed.
“The last will. You're curious, aren't you?”
“It is not something a brat like you could know.”
The timing didn't match.
Exa and Simurtr were not people of the same era. They had timelines that could not overlap.
“Do you know how many people even know the name Star-Breaking Style?”
Even Medeoban doesn't know that name.
Exa is a hero of Mectera, but the number of people in Mectera who know the Star-Breaking Style can be counted on one hand.
“...You must have heard it from Lubeil.”
Aran Lubeil is one of those fingers.
He, the most famous in Mectera after the Sword Master, is a famous devotee of Exa Mectera.
“Aran? Is he the type to just spill something like this?”
“...Lubeil must have gotten very old. He wouldn't have just left a rude brat like this alone.”
“Really? He treated me very well. You two must not be very close.”
“He must have gone senile.”
No. Looking at the grinning Simurtr, Raphaelo thought. Aran Lubeil did not tell him.
“Come to think of it, Grand Duke Lushuala is the same. Why be curious about the words of a dead person? Isn't that right?”
“...It is not wrong to miss the dead.”
Raphaelo's momentum stirs once again.
Simurtr clicked his tongue internally. As expected. It seems he couldn't end this vaguely. He would have to think of a last will.
“Grand Duke Lushuala?”
“She is away.”
I know.
That's why she wasn't showing herself despite all this commotion.
The reason he had a private meeting with Raphaelo with a light heart. He didn't have to make up the last will right now, in a hurry.
“Why?”
“She has business in the forbidden zone of Aitentel.”
The end of the northern continent is the territory of the mystical species Aitentel.
The border with that territory, which the Empire has designated as forbidden, has been under the jurisdiction of Serepes for generations.
“Alone?”
Aitentel was a place and an existence he had no connection with, even in his past life.
However, he knew of its danger.
The Doom Species. Even they could not penetrate Aitentel. At least, that's what Simurtr knew.
“That's right.”
“Alone, she went alone? To the forbidden zone?”
“...She is someone who cherishes her subordinates.”
Raphaelo hesitated.
Simurtr, having confirmed this, grinned.
“It's dangerous, isn't it? It's a dangerous place, so she left you and the other rangers behind and went.”
During the Doom War, Raphaelo had sat in the position of commander. The right-hand man of the former Grand Duke of the North. In fact, that position should have been Lushuala's.
“...That's ridiculous. She went alone because it is safe.”
“Hey, you know better. If it were a safe place, she would have taken her retainers. That's who Grand Duke Lushuala is, right?”
She didn't suit a commander.
She was a commander who couldn't choose the option of sending her soldiers to their deaths. She was a vanguard who would rather sacrifice herself.
The reason the former Grand Duke of the North had not given Lushuala a responsible title.
“If it's dangerous, she takes responsibility alone, and if it's safe, she gathers as many people as she can to share the glory, right?”
“……”
The reason Her Highness the Grand Duke had held her former fiancé in special regard.
Raphaelo thought, looking at Simurtr.
Though they both volunteered for the vanguard, they always showed different results. She had said so every time she reminisced about the past.
This young brat strangely knew the Grand Duke's true nature and weakness, which she had hidden from the outside world.
“No wonder. I was wondering why a big shot like you was patrolling the northern end. So that's why. To stay on the border and prepare for any eventuality.”
“...This is a topic unrelated to the current problem.”
Raphaelo had been hit right on the mark.
The brat had figured out his situation in an instant and was even seeing through his inner thoughts.
‘He must be trying to seize the initiative.’
The word 'tension' sprouted in Raphaelo's mind.
It felt like having a private meeting not with a Mectera, a master of the sword, but with a central noble serving the Imperial family.
“That's true too. But are you confident? If you refuse our proposal, what will you say when Grand Duke Lushuala returns?”
All information obtained by the rangers must flow to the Grand Duke. This was also a rule of the North. It was something Raphaelo held more important than his life.
“When she returns, you'll probably run to her like a dog wagging its tail and tell her everything. But do you really think the Grand Duke will welcome your choice?”
The last will.
Raphaelo, who had been tempted by it, had already broken the rules once. He had a record of not killing the unpermitted outsiders, Deban, Beden, and the children.
“What matters is the present. Serepes is a place maintained by rules.”
“Didn't you say it's not wrong to miss a dead guy?”
Simurtr's eyes curve up mischievously.
“……”
“Right. Let's say that's true. I think so too. Right? What's so important about a guy who's already dead?”
“Your words are harsh towards your family's hero.”
Raphaelo frowned.
The brat's words and actions had been consistently rough, but this crossed the line.
The name Exa Mectera did not end as a mere device to glorify a family. He was a hero of the continent, praised by all.
“It's the truth, isn't it?”
“I see you were a scoundrel.”
He was skilled at threatening others, and he did not hesitate to insult his own family's hero.
In front of his father, he had acted deceptively polite, but this was his true nature.
“If, later. Much later, I happen to meet Grand Duke Lushuala by chance. Or if the Grand Duke comes to me and asks about the last will, I won't tell her.”
“What?”
Raphaelo's eyes widened at the suddenly brought up main topic.
“I'm a scoundrel, aren't I?”
“Ha.”
Is he that petty?
As Raphaelo was thinking, Simurtr spoke again.
“Raphaelo. Because you refused Mectera's proposal back then, I cannot speak of it even if I die. That's what I'll tell the Grand Duke. Is that okay?”
“……”
“The first time is always the hardest. The rules of the North. You've already broken them once, haven't you?”
Mischievous. He wanted to beat him to death.
Raphaelo clenched his fists as he looked at the brightly smiling scoundrel.
***
“...Mectera, having witnessed firsthand the connection and atrocities of the heretical Kua, has punished the Black Tower with the authority granted by the Imperial family.”
“That's right.”
That's how it will be known to the world now.
In return, he had to make up a last will left for Lushuala.
“Now tell me. What words did he leave for Her Highness the Grand Duke?”
Raphaelo's tone had changed at some point.
His inner thoughts had already been exposed, and to him, the Grand Duke was more important than the rules of the North.
“What? Tell you now?”
As if asking what nonsense he was spouting, Simurtr's eyes widened.
“Wasn't that the condition?”
“What are you talking about? Why would I tell you?”
“What?”
“It's a last will left for Grand Duke Lushuala. She has to hear it herself.”
“……”
“The Grand Duke didn't even permit it. That's an invasion of privacy.”
“...She is a busy person. She is different from a loafer like Mectera who only needs a sword.”
Raphaelo's fists tightened again.
“Then that must be the Grand Duke's priority.”
Simurtr needed time to make up the last will.