Chapter 71 : Chapter 71
Chapter 71. An Unwelcome Guest in Broad Daylight
I calmed my breathing and gathered my mana. But Adellian was looking at me with a strange expression.
“Why?”
“Who’s coming? Are they dangerous?”
“I don’t know anything either. We’ll have to meet them to find out, won’t we?”
“How about running away?”
At Adellian’s words, I looked around. Besides the path we had come up, there were two other paths. One led to a cliff, and the other to the summit. Either fall off a cliff or be cornered at the summit like a mountain beast.
“Or we could face the ones coming head-on.”
I had to choose one of the three. So, following my personality, I had no choice but to opt for a direct confrontation.
“You’re going to fight?”
To Adellian’s question, I replied, ‘If I have to, I have to.’
A shadow fell over Adellian’s face. She didn’t say anything, but it seemed she was doubting her own skills, thinking, ‘Will I be of any help?’
“I have a question.”
Uh… it wasn’t a shadow of worry, but was she just thinking? Come to think of it, there was a large tree shadow where Adellian was standing.
Hmm. That could be it.
“What kind of power do you use?”
I couldn’t understand what the words ‘what kind of power’ meant, so I just blinked my eyes.
“Odekerkh said that you seem to use a different power from us. That’s why I’m asking.”
Come to think of it, I don’t think I’d ever told her about the Mana Heart.
“I’m not a Mana Circle user. So I’m bound to be different from you all.”
“……Then what do you use?”
“A Mana Heart.”
Adellian looked at my face and my heart alternately, as if she found it absurd. She tried to say more, but it seemed she couldn’t find the right words, her lips just moving silently.
“For details, you can read the history of knights.”
“……Ah, uh. Then who is the god you’ve sworn an oath to? If I know that, we can come up with a strategy when we fight together.”
I looked at Adellian silently.
A knight is not one who merely prays to a god for strength.
“None.”
A knight is a being who stands in the world with the story they create.
Unaware of this, Adellian let out a long sigh with a troubled face.
“Found them!”
One of the men who had been coming up ahead shouted loudly from beyond the bushes.
Following that, a crowd so large it was hard to count with one’s fingers poured out from the narrow path.
“They look like bugs popping out of a glass bottle.”
They looked rather shabby, too. But what are those things, coming all the way up here to find us?
“Do you know who they are?”
Adellian asked quietly, standing behind me.
I shook my head.
“Really? I don’t know them either…… Could they be related to the Black Market?”
Probably so. They might even be from the Hoso Merchant Guild. My gut feeling said no, but just in case, I figured I should ask.
“Are you Homilia Sotolts’ bastards?”
“Homili… what?”
The guy in front scowled, as if he didn’t know what I was talking about.
Then again, they did look too poor to be from the Hoso Merchant Guild. If they were Homilia Sotolts’ bastards, one or two would have come, not dozens of them swarming in like this.
“So you’re not from the Hoso Merchant Guild.”
“Hoso!”
This time, another guy shouted, as if displeased. Even at the Black Market, there were guys who showed extreme dislike when the Hoso Merchant Guild was mentioned. I think they were called… Jordi.
I readjusted my grip on Dawn and scanned them one by one. About 30 of them. Each was holding a weapon.
“You don’t seem to have come up here together for exercise. What business brings you all the way here?”
“My one and only little brother has been talking a lot lately. So I came to have a little chat.”
The crowd parted, and a man in white clothes swaggered out.
“Hans Caesar?”
Adellian looked at me with a face full of question marks. It was as if she was asking me why Hans was here.
“He said he came to talk.”
So I relayed Hans’s words exactly as he had said them.
Of course, Adellian had also heard it from behind me, and she scowled, exuding an aura that asked if I was joking.
“You’ve gotten healthier, looks like you’re enjoying life, huh? Even dating.”
“Dating? Who?”
“What’s he talking about?”
At Hans’s words, Adellian and I reacted sensitively.
“Hey, Adellian. I have no business with you right now, so you can go down.”
At Hans’s words, the others split to the sides, making a path for Adellian to leave.
Adellian blinked her eyes as if she couldn’t understand what was happening.
“Go when I’m giving you the chance. Don’t piss me off.”
“What are you trying to do?”
“Ah, shit. I said we’re talking. So go. Before you get killed….”
“Talk, my ass.”
Hans, who had been showing his irritation to Adellian, clenched his jaw tightly. He glared at me fiercely, as if he could eat me alive. I’d cut off his bullshit about talking, and it seemed to have displeased him. Not that it mattered.
“Your older brother is talking, what’s with the disrespect?”
“So you wanted to be treated like an older brother? You should have said so earlier. I would’ve done it with all my heart and soul.”
“Hah, this is why I had to come myself, you see?”
Hans cracked his neck, the sound of bones shifting echoing. He then drew his sword with a loud clang of metal.
“You little bastard brother. You should be preparing for the exam, not wasting time on dating.
After lying there like a cripple for half a year, shouldn't you be working twice as hard?”
“Did you come all this way just to lecture me? Dragging all these lackeys with you?”
Hans’s expression twisted grotesquely.
“Or were you in love with her?”
This time, Adellian’s expression turned indescribably fierce. I’d have to smooth things over later by saying it was a joke.
“There’s no helping you. I guess beating you to death is the only answer.”
Hans spat on the ground and brandished his sword.
“Ah, really? Then let me ask you one thing before we do. Why do you hate me so much?”
“Is there a reason to hate trash?”
“Really? Then that’s a relief.”
If there had been a reason, I would have considered controlling my strength, but since there was no reason, that was no longer necessary.
“Hey! Are you really not going to get lost?”
The kind Hans threw a final question at Adellian.
Adellian sighed and shook her head.
I watched her quietly. Over 30 men were exuding killing intent. Anyone who wasn’t a fool would know they had to fight for their lives. Yet Adellian refused to back down.
‘Is it something like a sense of responsibility?’
The kind of responsibility where, since she was the one who dragged me here, she wouldn’t leave me alone.
“There are about 32 of them, will you be okay?”
So I asked. Just in case she got hurt fighting alongside me.
“You want me to run away alone? Are you crazy?”
A corner of my lips twitched at Adellian’s answer. It seemed she felt both a sense of responsibility and camaraderie.
‘Just because we fought together a few times. This kid.’
In that case, I should actively help her for the sake of her growth.
“Don’t look at the enemy, look within yourself.”
“What does that mean?”
“It’s the realm of the heart. You have to know what picture you’ve seen to be able to empty it.
After emptying it all, you must re-establish the sword of Poinus.”
Adellian’s pupils wavered.
“If you just fix the shell, trying to correct it right away, you might die. Using a sword consciously means you’re that much slower. The opponent extends their sword along a path etched into their body, but you have to think and then move. So find what you’ve stored beyond your consciousness. And let it go. I’ll buy you the time to find it.”
“……Here?”
“You grow by fighting.”
I patted Adellian’s shoulder and stepped forward.
“Hey, big bro. I’m going to say one thing, so listen carefully and think about it.”
Hans smirked and retorted, ‘Spit it out.’ It was as if he was saying this was my last chance, so I could talk as much as I wanted.
“I heard that until the exam, it’s personal training, and getting injured during personal training is each person’s own responsibility. What do you think?”
A vile smile filled Hans’s face upon being questioned.
“A good answer. Whatever happens here is your own responsibility. No tattling.”
This time, a coldness spread across Hans’s face. He had a variety of expressions, belying his appearance.
“Kill him.”
At Hans’s command, the 32 lackeys gripped their weapons and started running.
I opened my Mana Heart and circulated mana throughout my entire body.
Woong.
The Talisman of Murti I was wearing emitted a faint light, stimulating the mana flowing through my body to the fullest. I felt a denser vitality from the mana than before.
‘The aura of mana is close to the 3rd Star.’
The Mana Heart refines mana according to the user’s level. The items being refined include impurities, but also vitality.
The denser the vitality, the more power one can exert. But not everyone can use mana with dense vitality. If one’s achievement is not high, the user’s Mana Heart and body cannot handle mana with such dense vitality.
That’s why I had wanted the Talisman of Murti so badly.
Klang! Kakagagak!
Three swords struck Dawn simultaneously.
I breathed slowly and looked at the ones who had attacked. Their dirty smiles entered my eyes, as if they could kill me at any moment.
“Don’t blame me.”
Dawn, imbued with dense vitality, scattered a pure white light.
Clang!
Their swords shattered into pieces.
The sharpened Dawn, boasting a faint light, mercilessly destroyed the next guy’s attack.
‘This is pretty good.’
I hadn’t reached the 3rd Star yet, so I couldn’t use Aura, but the power Dawn displayed was similar to it.
Schwing!
The arm of the guy who lost his weapon was severed, and blood splattered.
The guy next to him flinched and stepped back.
“What are you doing! There’s only one of him! Attack simultaneously!”
Hans, standing at the very back, shouted at his lackeys. But the guys who had witnessed their comrade’s defeat and pain hesitated to attack.
“You’re not entirely stupid. But you know. Waiting won’t change the outcome.”
Droplets of blood clinging to the tip of Dawn’s blade dripped off. The sunlight filtering through the trees highlighted it, creating an eerie atmosphere.
“Here I come. Try to block this well.”
I announced the start of the attack.
Dawn, moving forward parallel to the ground, shook off the remaining blood. The silver killing intent enveloping the blade growled as if craving new blood.
***
Adellian watched Maxim’s battle. He was cutting down numerous enemies with concise and precise movements.
‘Will I be of any help?’
She once again brought up the worry she’d had all the way up here.
Before going to the Black Market, Adellian had been a person with strong self-confidence.
This was because praises followed her wherever she went, whether at home or at school. It was true that she was lacking to become the head of the family, but she had thought she was not lacking to become a single knight.
But after arriving at the Black Market, the thoughts she held had crumbled to dust and blown away.
‘I was just mimicking.’
In a real battle where her life was on the line, she hadn’t accomplished a single thing properly. Odekerkh had risked his life to clash with Gwanju. Piontek had also faced battle, prepared for death. But Adellian herself…….
‘I did nothing but tremble.’
Adellian resented herself. She was ashamed of all the compliments she had ever received.
She was disgusted with her past self who had been so proud. That’s why she wanted to be completely reborn.
Pang!
Maxim’s sword made an enemy who had jumped high into the air fall like a dead leaf. He drew a boundary line with the enemy’s blood through a heavy slash.
‘Unwavering choices, a clear gaze.’
Adellian read Maxim meticulously. He was not the weak person she had known before. He was a person stronger and wiser than anyone. Though he was also incredibly flippant…….
Anyway, Adellian thought she needed Maxim to be reborn. Because he, too, had been reborn.
‘He told me not to abandon myself, but to look at myself…….’
Maxim had told her to look at what was held inside. It was a message to face the fundamentals, not just think about reaching the 2nd Circle.
Rustle.
A presence was felt behind Adellian. She quickly drew her sword. And she stabbed at the swift shadow rushing toward her.
“Keuk!”
A straight, heavy thrust. It was the basic movement of the so-called Poinus sword.
Adellian recalled her action just a moment ago.
‘A heavy sword.’
And the sword full of variations she had used until now.
She thought about the two swords repeatedly.