Chapter 78 : Chapter 78
Chapter 78: Bahab (5)
The door flew off and covered the office.
“Exa Baperr, as I have said repeatedly, you too must now realize that you are a noble…”
“Where are my kids?”
“I sent them to the north. It seemed Mectera was having trouble with personnel recruitment.”
“What? Fck. Why did you just arbitrarily…”
“You don’t have to thank me.”
“What?”
“I did it because I had some spare time. It was your duty, but were you not in the Black Land until yesterday?”
“……”
“Exa, your unit’s operational methods have many flaws. For your unit to be idle just because you are absent is a waste of military strength…”
“I told you not to touch my unit.”
“Exa, this is a battlefield. Your unit is lowly, but their abilities are quite useful. They have the strength to sacrifice themselves for the sake of the noble.”
“Sacrifice, my ass. Don’t tell me you sent them with Gerehk?”
“The 3rd Head of the Sword died recently, so they were in trouble. So I appointed Lete Dujeu as the temporary commander and dispatched them. She is the most suitable. Since they’ve been dispatched, I’m considering a transfer.”
“By whose authority.”
“Honestly, Baperr is hardly a unit, is it? It’s too small. A squad is more appropriate. Including you, there are only eight. It’s purely thanks to you that it’s even considered a unit.”
“So what? It was all approved. What about it?”
“It means that the Dujeu side will also welcome the transfer. The 3rd Head of the Sword’s position is vacant. Let’s just have her fill that role during the war.”
“Bullsht. You’re just looking for spare lives, aren’t you? The 3rd Head of the Sword died? He must have died in Gerehk’s place again. Like the 1st Head of the Sword and the Head of the Bla+
0.ck Sword. That son of a b*tch doesn’t even know the value of a swordsman’s life.”
“It is only fitting.”
“The authority over my unit belongs only to me. This is an imperial order.”
“I know. That is the only privilege you, a humble Grand General, possess. But considering Dujeu’s authority, this is correct. She is not a subordinate material. Yes, how about this? You come to me, and your unit goes to Mectera…”
Bang!
“If you touch my unit one more time, know that I will kill this bastard first.”
Exa threw Akarr’s adjutant, who was entering through the empty doorway, at Akarr and left for the north.
***
Should I go easy on him?
Such a thought briefly crossed my mind.
I was on my way down the stairs.
‘Why bother?’
What followed was a denial.
Today was his coming-of-age ceremony, he had said. He had reached an age where he should be responsible for his own words and actions.
There was no need to hold back. Hejel, having become an adult, had to take responsibility for disrespecting Mectera.
‘The justification is, well. Sufficient.’
It was a result of considering my current position.
Mectera’s youngest and Haryun Bahab’s partner.
‘Isn’t it fine as long as I don’t kill him?’
Simurtr arrived at that conclusion.
Victory was for Haryun Bahab.
Defeat was for Hejel Bahab.
‘Akarr would naturally welcome the latter.’
But from a third party’s perspective, in the end, either way was for Bahab.
Even if Akarr had designated Hejel as the successor, he couldn’t openly disrespect Haryun.
‘Later, maybe, but for now, the banquet is in full swing.’
If it was Akarr who prioritized authority, he wouldn’t want to reveal such things to the attendees.
Since most succession competitions, excluding Mectera’s, usually involved disgrace.
‘This is right.’
Then doing as I pleased was the right thing to do.
***
The Doom War. And the 20 years after.
An era where numerous families fell, and numerous families newly emerged.
It meant that the empire did not have many deep roots. The number of newly emerged families had surpassed the number of families that had supported the thousand-year-old Melken Empire.
As proof, hadn’t Harkinwagen, a country bumpkin from the east, become a stiff-necked Margrave? A seed that should have been groveling. How dare he.
‘Alkanka was like that too.’
The eldest son of that viscounty had been Haryun’s partner last year, and he had possessed a vulgar skill and dignity befitting a family with no roots.
I don't remember his name. It wasn't worth remembering. And, that scion of Mectera resembled the eldest son of that Alkanka.
‘Vulgar and ignorant.’
Just because they were grouped together as a Hero Family, they really thought they were on the same level as Bahab.
‘Mectera. They have roots, but their substance is vulgar.’
The companion of the thousand-year-old Melken Empire.
Mectera was evaluated and passed down as such, but its inside was a rag stitched and stitched together with clumsy needlework.
‘They only look at talent.’
In the first place, the name Mectera was like that.
Mectera did not mean blood. The greatest sword in the continent, the sword of the empire.
The first Mectera had called his position, not his bloodline, Mectera.
All Mectera had respected that will. Though they had never lost their position in the past thousand years, they had taken in countless adopted sons.
The adopted sons who had grown and been defeated had established numerous collateral branches. Mectera was in all of their names, but in Hejel’s eyes, they were not of the true Mectera bloodline.
‘Half-breed.’
Contempt filled his eyes as he looked at Simurtr.
Mectera’s youngest. As far as Hejel knew, Mectera’s fourth was an adopted son. That meant that fellow was a street urchin with unknown origins.
“This is a place for a test. I have no intention of harming your body. You need not worry.”
Kiiing. Hejel drew his sword. The Slaughter Sword Aranta. One of Akarr’s favorite swords in his youth and one of the representative weapons of the Doom War.
“It’s a pity that I haven’t tamed it yet.”
He had been bestowed the sword yesterday.
Hejel was certain that this Aranta symbolized the successor of Bahab.
‘Haryun cannot catch up to me.’
The banquet at Pakun also lost its reason to be held from next year. Due to today, the gap had widened significantly.
The still unfamiliar Slaughter Sword Aranta proved it.
The humiliation he had given Haryun every year had finally borne fruit this year…….
“Oh.”
Simurtr recognized the sword Hejel was holding.
The Slaughter Sword Aranta.
‘It’s an embarrassing name.’
A Slaughter Sword, he said.
Even kids these days didn’t give such names to their things.
But Akarr had been very proud after giving such a name to that by-product.
‘It’s usable, though.’
It was a perfect match for Bahab’s Swelling Flame, but it was a sword that also suited the Star-Breaking Style plausibly.
“Can we start? What about the observer?”
Plausibly. Meaning there was no need to covet it.
He was just curious. No greed was present in his eyes.
‘My sword is better.’
He wasn't talking about the sword in his hand now.
His beloved sword from his past life. Simurtr had yet to see a sword more satisfying than that.
‘Where could it be?’
Mectera had the Pagna, and Basor had the Pegna.
Then what was left was the Imperial Family, Bahab, the Prophet, and the Saintess.
‘Bahab is the most plausible.’
Among them, only Bahab handled swords.
“An observer. I will call one if you wish.”
Hejel’s expression was unchanged. However, Simurtr knew that that face was smiling unpleasantly.
It wasn't something he could tell from his expression. It was just a feeling. Because he had dealt with that damn Akarr so many times.
This grating feeling he was having now was proof that that fellow was smiling slyly.
“Are you sure? It doesn’t matter to me, but that fckingly noble Bahab will be embarrassed.”
“Last year’s partner also said such things.”
“Oh really? He was a true partner.”
“In the end, he was not suitable as my younger sister’s partner.”
“Oh really? From what I see, it looks like you’re not suitable as Haryun’s older brother.
What’s with ‘older brother’ in this day and age, older brother. You’re not an old man.”
Simurtr suddenly felt his back itch and turned around. Haryun was pressing her index finger to her lips.
“Why, I’m praising your last year’s partner.”
Vrooom.
At that moment. Simurtr turned his head again.
The sound of something activating. Hejel Bahab’s hand had pressed a button located on the iron cage.
Beeeeep!
The button flashed, and soon, red lights turned on all around.
One on each of the four sides of the iron cage.
And one from each corner of the ceiling.
“Wow.”
A total of eight lights. Simurtr recognized them as transmission crystal orbs.
So that the duel could be watched from various angles. 8 transmission crystal orbs shone from all over.
“Are you showing your mom?”
…Grind. Hejel feigned composure.
The noble do not listen to the words of the lowly.
“Did you not want an observer? The attendees of the banquet castle are the observers of this duel.”
The dueling arena would be broadcasted on all floors of the banquet castle.
At Hejel’s words, Simurtr’s expression became strange.
‘He’s thorough, but… what on earth is he believing in?’
Openly.
Simurtr understood what Haryun had meant.
Every year, under the pretext of checking if the partner was worthy of Haryun, he must have revealed the partner’s defeat to the attendees.
‘Discernment is also an ability.’
Though the partner was not Haryun’s skill, it was ultimately Haryun’s discernment that had selected the partner.
Of course, the level of the candidate pool itself had been lowered overall due to Hejel’s careful selection.
‘That’s not for others to know.’
Even if they knew, they wouldn’t want friction with a Hero Family.
The current position of the Hero Families. They played with the lower nobles, used them as tools for their succession competition, and gave them humiliation.
‘They just condone it even when he’s pulling this kind of sht?’
Above all but one.
A Hero Family that had seized the next greatest power in the empire after the Imperial Family.
“I will yield the first move. I must show that much consideration.”
Hejel smiled slyly.
Is this okay? Simurtr suddenly thought.
With all those numerous attendees watching. Is it okay to laugh so openly?
‘He must be doing it because it’s okay.’
A ridiculous worry.
The corners of Simurtr’s mouth went up. Since visiting the banquet castle, he had been constantly realizing the prestige of the traitor.
‘That’s right. It would be disappointing if it weren’t like this.’
It was an authority gained by killing Exa of his past life.
If Akarr’s position had been no different from his past life, he would have been even more displeased.
“You come. Consideration is for the stronger one to give. Not for the f*cking weakling.”
Crack.
Though not visible, Simurtr heard it.
The sound that occurred on Hejel Bahab’s face.
***
Swelling Flame.
The flame of magic possessed by Bahab.
A double meaning. The bluish flame of magic expands.
Whoosh.
Like a meteor, a blue flame chased the tail of the Slaughter Sword Aranta.
Simurtr leaned his back greatly and shifted the center of his body to the side. When dealing with Bahab, one could not just look at the sword.
Hoo. Hejel retrieved Aranta to his bosom, but the Swelling Flame still flickered in the trajectory Aranta had passed.
“How annoying.”
Taking a step back to recover his balance, he reached out and swatted at the flame as if swatting a fly.
The magic of the Star-Breaking Style extinguishes the blue flame stained in the air.
‘He has some sense, at least.’
Bahab’s fire expands.
The Swelling Flame left in the trajectory the sword had swept through does not disappear easily. If left alone, it swells up on its own.
The time it takes to swell. The one who decides that is, of course, the master of that magic.
Hejel could have made the Swelling Flame explode immediately, yet he just watched. It must have been to check how his opponent would react, to see if he had knowledge of the Swelling Flame.
“Ho. So you know about the Swelling Flame. I’m surprised, it’s unlike you.”
‘How presumptuous.’
Swelling Flame.
Bahab, who had been a marquisate, with a short history.
The reason they stood on the same level as Mectera and Basor, who had been ducal houses since the founding of the empire, and were eventually promoted and became a Hero Family.
Bahab’s Swelling Flame.
It enabled a slaughter on the battlefield that Mectera could not imitate. It was more efficient than what Basor’s magic perpetrated.
The reason Aranta’s name was christened the Slaughter Sword.
‘Equally presumptuous.’
Swelling Flame. He hadn't experienced it often.
Exa of his past life had never faced the Swelling Flame. Though duels with Akarr were frequent, he had not shown the Swelling Flame in the process.
‘He wanted to hide his secret technique in front of me.’
However, he had seen it several times on the battlefield.
Akarr disliked and tried to block overlapping battlefields with Exa, but the Doom War was a history that had mostly gone according to the Doom Species’ thoughts.
That unsightly flame of magic. That bluish fire, Exa did not like it much. In fact, he hated it.
‘It would have been better if Bahab didn’t exist.’
On the battlefield, Akarr did not distinguish between friend and foe.
If an ally was caught in it, it was the fault of the lowly ones who could not match the pace of the noble…….
Simurtr recalled Akarr’s assertion and let out a hollow laugh.
“Well. Is this the Swelling Flame?”
“Hmm?”
“No, it’s different from what I knew.”
“What did you say?”
“Ah, is it because the caster is a weakling?”
The reaction was immediate.
The Swelling Flame flowing on Aranta dripped, dripped onto the floor. Aranta scattered flames and ran rampant in all directions around Simurtr.
“The noble Bahab has a weak mentality too.”
Bahab’s sword path was not very difficult.
In the first place, the sword style was that of a simple military family, and the Swelling Flame was a secret technique developed targeting many-on-one or war.
‘Simply, rather than complex.’
He had focused his efforts on expanding the range and power.
Every time Aranta was blocked, the embers of the Swelling Flame scattered here and there.
The floor of the dueling arena was gradually being covered with the Swelling Flame.
‘What should I do?’
Those embers that were gradually accumulating would one day expand.
Hejel was timing it. While contemplating when to make it explode. Simply but steadily.
He moved Aranta diligently. Swinging it without rest, he was looking for an opening for expansion.
‘Should I end it?’
The Slaughter Sword Aranta? Hejel’s swordsmanship? It wasn't threatening at all. Exa of his past life had easily dealt with Akarr.
Though Akarr had hidden the Swelling Flame then, it was not something to be compared.
Hejel, who was showcasing the Swelling Flame, was ridiculously weaker than Akarr at that time.
Simurtr too had become incomparably weaker than in his past life, but now. Even now, he could pierce his neck and knock him out.
Meaning, there was no part in all that comparison where Hejel could intervene.
Kwaang! As the swords met, a booming sound echoed. The sound was loud, but there was no burden. 3-Star. Hejel’s level was sufficient even with 3-Star.
‘When should I end it?’
Hejel.
He was not considering a counterattack.
Because until now, Simurtr had not attacked even once. He had come to think that just defending was all he could do.
‘Now?’
Even at this moment, an opening was visible. Consistently. Since the duel started until now.
Simurtr had seen Hejel’s openings dozens of times.
It would end if I stabbed his side with a sword right now.
It would end if I knocked away the leisurely flying Aranta and kicked his solar plexus. Or I could just extend my sword and pierce his neck.
‘No. Then he’d learn something.’
Distance, the gap of the sword.
If I were to win with the sword, Hejel would gain something. Simurtr did not want to help Hejel.
‘Even if Hejel loses, that damn bastard won’t get angry.’
The floor of the dueling arena was gradually becoming invisible.
Most of it was covered by the Swelling Flame. Embers were even stuck to the iron cage here and there, wriggling.
‘Authority is not military might. The fact that a successor who has not yet bloomed has lost is not such an embarrassing thing. And dueling is not Bahab’s specialty either.’
Dueling. And with a sword.
This was Mectera’s area of expertise.
On the other hand, Bahab was weak in duels. The Swelling Flame showed its effectiveness when committing mass slaughter.
‘A sufficient excuse. Still, when it comes to swords, it’s still Mectera.’
Those embers that were gradually filling the dueling arena. It was not a suitable method for dealing with a single person.
If Hejel’s opponent had been not just Simurtr alone but many, those embers would have expanded long ago and annihilated the enemies in an instant.
No, even before expanding, the enemies would have lost their footing.
Without needing to create embers, Hejel would have slowly cornered the enemies with the Swelling Flame. And without needing to cut their necks one by one with Aranta, their bodies would have melted in the Swelling Flame.
‘But I shouldn’t win too easily. It doesn’t matter if I get Akarr’s attention, but getting too much is also not good.’
But I couldn't end it too late either.
Mectera’s reception. The turn was definitely last, but the exact time was unknown.
How much time was left for the preceding turns?
Hoo!
Suddenly, Hejel spun and Aranta aimed for the back of his neck. Killing intent. Killing intent was now imbued in it.
It seemed that just evading had ignited Hejel’s heart.
‘Still, this is too much.’
A power was imbued to the extent that his neck would be severed if he made a slight mistake.
‘Did last year’s partner die by any chance?’
Pegna. Half a step from 3-Star. Simurtr easily deflected Aranta. Kaaang. Aranta hit the iron cage, creating a noise. Even though soundproofing magic was engraved, it seemed to pierce his ears.
As expected. He was different from Gerehk Adre. Without even going to 4-Star, the sword of Hejel, who had just come of age, was as light as a feather.
“Heok!”
The surprised Hejel gasped. His wrist throbbed. His palm throbbed in time with his heartbeat.
As he lost his grip on Aranta, the calluses that had formed on his hilt were torn off at once.
‘…I can’t believe it.’
But Hejel doubted his ears more than the pain. The loudness of that noise was proof of the gap.
The magic of that half-breed had overwhelmed his, of the noble Bahab…….
‘White.’
It wasn't Mectera’s black.
White. The symbol of the hero Exa Mectera, which he had once heard about from his mother. But it was a coincidence.
Hejel did not think that that half-breed would possess the same magic as the hero.
‘Expansion.’
Rise. Hejel muttered.
The Swelling Flame reacted to his will. A handful of his magic drained away. The blue light contained in the embers that had filled the dueling arena grew a notch brighter and swelled in size.
The iron cage began to melt slowly, and the floor bubbled and boiled, gradually becoming like that of a swamp.
The dueling arena became filled with heat. To the extent that even ordinary knights’ skin would stick to their armor and their eyeballs would dry up.
But it was a heat that the master, Bahab, could not feel.
The Bahab bloodline was more accustomed to the Swelling Flame than anyone else.
‘Now.’
The dueling arena was engulfed in the Swelling Flame.
Now that the scattered Swelling Flame had expanded moderately.
-
‘Detonation.’
Since the opponent was only one. It was right to make it explode at once rather than repeating the expansion.
Hejel diverted all his remaining magic to its operation. The Swelling Flame that filled the dueling arena crouched at once.
And just as it was about to rise up all at once and explode.
“This won’t do.”
I have to go and wait.
Simurtr muttered and swung his sword greatly. Exactly one rotation. His body spun, and the sword followed behind.
3-Star Star-Breaking Style. The superposition of rotation through Pegna. The amplified magic sword wind swept through the entire dueling arena.
“Huh?”
Hejel’s red hair fluttered back in the sword wind.
He forcibly centered his body which was being pushed back. But his insides churned. It felt like something had dropped. His trembling eyes scanned the dueling arena.
“What… what the…”
The Swelling Flame that had just begun to rise was extinguished in an instant. Like a fire being put out by a downpour, it subsided at once.
Swaaa. Warm smoke took the place of the heat. The magic that had been flowing to the Swelling Flame stopped abruptly. Not a single ember remained in the dueling arena.
“Let’s stop.”
Simurtr approached Hejel, who was denying the situation, and gently pushed his chest.
Thud. Hejel’s body was pushed back lightly. He lost his balance, stumbled, and fell on his butt.
“I have to go to the reception.”
Creak.
Haryun looked at Simurtr, who was descending from the dueling arena, with confused eyes.