Chapter 104
Chapter 104
A heavy silence settled over the entire training ground. Everyone’s eyes were on me, yet no one could bring themselves to speak.
They had been overwhelmed.
By this match.
By the power I had shown.
The blemish of Winterbell. Ran Winterbell, who had been cursed with countless insults such as half-cripple, cripple, vermin, and coward, the youngest young master of Winterbell, had thoroughly proven himself.
Everyone was stunned.
Because in their minds, I was still a half-cripple who could not even move properly.
It felt strange.
Pride? Exhilaration? Or perhaps…… sorrow? Emotions I could not define surged up in a tangled rush.
This very moment was…….
Van Descartes had asked Ran Winterbell.
-Ran Winterbell. Are you even a little satisfied?
Naturally, there had been no answer in return.
Because right now, I was Ran Winterbell.
I shifted my gaze toward the VIP seats. There sat Arkan Winterbell, the Chancellor of the Empire, and the Patriarch of the Helios Family.
Arkan was looking at me with his usual expressionless face. He wore the sort of expression that seemed to say that this level of proof was only to be expected.
‘Well, I did promise I’d win, so I guess it’s only natural.’
However, Rayven Helios, who was watching me, had a face full of curiosity.
As if he had discovered an exceptionally fascinating jewel.
“Splendid. You surpassed what I had heard.”
Rayven Helios once again clapped with force.
Clap! Clap! Clap!
Even though it looked like he was clapping lightly, the sound was grand enough to resound throughout the entire training ground.
“Come now, come now, what are you all doing without applauding? Applaud those two young men for showing us such a magnificent match!”
When Rayven Helios began to clap, the spectators in the stands also started applauding one by one. In an instant, the entire training ground was filled with applause and cheers.
“Damn it! Ran Winterbell! I believed in you!”
“The best! Ran Winterbell! That match sent shivers through me. If I get the chance next time, I’d like to learn a move or two from you!”
“Waaaaaaah!!! Ran Winterbell! Thank you! Thanks to you, I’m sitting on a pile of money! Uahahahahahaha!”
“Young Master Ran Winterbell! You’re so handsome, and so amazing! If we get the chance, let’s have a meal togetherrrr!!!”
From martial artists fired up by the match, to gamblers who had made a fortune by betting on me, to the daughters of noble families, countless people were cheering for me.
When was the last time I had received this much attention?
To be honest, this level of attention itself did not matter all that much, but what this place meant to me did.
To shatter everyone’s prejudice.
To prove that I was whole.
To brand that fact into everyone’s minds.
I was no longer Winterbell’s disgrace or stain.
I felt a gaze from far away.
My master, and the second highest-ranked figure in the Winterbell Family.
Darkin Winterbell, the Elder Councilor, was looking at me with a proud expression.
I lightly bowed my head toward him.
His temperament might have been eccentric, but he was without question someone I could call my master.
When I came down from the training ground, Cecil approached me. Holding out a handkerchief, she wiped the blood off my body for me.
“You’ve worked hard.”
“What do you mean, worked hard? It was only natural.”
Cecil let out a soft snort of laughter.
“Well……. you have the memories of your previous life and the body of a Winterbell. If you were to lose to brats of this level, that would make no sense. Right?”
She was right.
Unlike them, I possessed special advantages.
What could not be bridged by talent alone was experience.
Experience was something one could only gain by risking one’s life and crossing the line of death again and again. For a martial artist, accumulating countless experiences meant staking one’s life countless times. And in that process, countless martial artists had lost their lives.
That was why the martial artists who survived were able to pass their experiences on to later generations. But even though no one had passed any experience on to me, I possessed experience.
Because I had been Van Descartes.
More than anyone, I knew that the reason I, who had been half-crippled, was able to climb this far was precisely because I had that experience.
It was too early to rejoice.
I had only just fought the first round.
There were still many mountains left to cross.
There were plenty of monsters among them whose strength I could not tell whether even my experience would be enough to overcome.
“I should rest well today and take care of my body.”
“Yes. As it happens, I’ve acquired some good medicinal herbs, so I think it would be best for you to wash with them and rest.”
“Good medicinal herbs? Where did you get them?”
“You haven’t forgotten that I’m the one managing the Annex’s assets, have you? The wealth we’ve earned recently is quite considerable. And through this round of gambling as well, we made a substantial profit. Thanks to that, I’ve been gathering medicinal herbs and spiritual medicines whenever I had the chance.”
My maid was almost too competent for her own good.
But there was one thing that kept bothering me.
Her arm and her eye.
Whenever I looked at the empty sleeve and the eyepatch, an indescribable bitterness and guilt welled up inside me.
In my previous life, Ryeong had been a girl with a competitive spirit as fierce as Ivaki’s among our companions. She had not shown it outwardly, but on days when she lost during sparring, she would stay up without sleeping and train all day long.
No matter how strong the current Cecil was, she would not be able to display the same level of martial prowess as back then.
What could be more important to a martial artist than an arm and an eye?
‘Should I at least get her a prosthetic arm?’
A high-ranking mage.
Among them, those who specialized in artifact creation also sold magic tools.
If I paid enough money, it would not be impossible to obtain a prosthetic arm or an artificial eye suited for Cecil.
“Cecil. I appreciate you taking care of me, but how about you take some spiritual medicine too?”
“I’ll think about it.”
When she answered like that, I knew there was a high chance she would not take it.
“Mm. That’s an order from your master.”
After hesitating for a moment, Cecil replied,
“……Understood.”
“And if you have time, find me a mage who specializes in artifact creation.”
“An artifact? Is something the matter?”
“It must be inconvenient for you too, swinging a sword with only one hand.”
“I’m fine.”
“No. I’m not fine with it. Cecil, you’re my maid, but……. you’re also my guard, aren’t you? If you’re going to protect me, then it would be best for you to be in peak condition.”
“…….”
“I’m telling you in advance, but no refusal means no refusal.”
“…Understood.”
---
After arriving at the Annex, I got into the medicinal herb bath Cecil had prepared and soaked my body in it.
“Khh. This is nice.”
There was no helping the old-man-like way of speaking that slipped out.
Because when you entrusted your body to hot water, words like that coming out were simply a natural human instinct.
I felt intoxicated by the warmth covering my whole body.
The faint scent of medicinal herbs stinging the tip of my nose was also rather satisfying. The mana dwelling within my body circulated, and I felt my body growing lighter.
I closed my eyes and savored the sensation.
And when I focused my mind, I fell into a trance.
How much time had passed?
Ten minutes? Twenty?
Maybe more than an hour had gone by.
When I opened my eyes and looked at the water, it had turned black.
An overwhelming foul stench even stabbed at the tip of my nose.
“……This is embarrassing.”
The impurities that had built up inside my body had been discharged.
“Ahem.”
A strange sense of embarrassment washed over me.
After quickly washing myself, I cleared out the murky water that had filled the bathtub and left the bath chamber.
---
I had intended to go straight to sleep, but for some reason my body felt restless. It felt a little wasteful to fall asleep just like this.
‘Even I have to admit, this recovery rate is astonishing.’
All the wounds I had sustained during the friendly match had completely healed. The medicinal herb bath’s efficacy surely played a part as well, but the biggest factor was that my ability to control my body had been maximized as my realm rose.
Ever since my days as Van Descartes, the thing I had been most confident in was neither swordsmanship nor magic, but rather my ability to handle mana with meticulous precision.
That was why, even now, I was making good use of enhancement magic that I had improved and adapted in my own way.
‘This won’t do. I should swing my sword for a bit.’
But lately, Behemoth had been unusually quiet.
Usually, the bastard would chatter nonstop at all hours, so with him this silent, it felt strangely off.
‘Behemoth.’
[Why do you call me?]
‘Is something wrong? Why have you been so quiet lately?’
[…Do not concern yourself with it.]
The moment he told me not to concern myself with it, it naturally made me worry even more.
‘You’re not sick or anything, are you?’
Even I found that absurd the moment I said it.
Who was worrying about whom?
Had Behemoth not once been a Magical Beast of the Mythical Age, one who had been compared to the First Patriarch of Winterbell?
[What nonsense. I was organizing the piece of my soul that we retrieved last time. Now that I have entrusted my body to this worn-out sword, such things will happen from time to time in the future as well.]
‘Once this friendly match is over and I’ve firmly established my position, I’ll put more effort into finding the rest of your soul too.’
[Very well.]
There was a mountain of things I had to do.
I had to recover Behemoth’s soul.
I had to solidify my standing within the Winterbell Family even further.
And I also had to track down my comrades’ keepsakes, as well as the traces of those accursed bastards.
‘For now, winning comes first.’
Clearing away my thoughts, I headed out to the training ground.
But there were already visitors there.
It was the Harlan Mercenaries.
The moment they spotted me, Captain Camille, Legion, and the mercenaries all greeted me at once.
“Good evening, Young Master!”
“We watched your match today, Young Master!”
“As expected of our Young Master. We believed in you!”
Seeing them, people with whom I had already grown attached before I knew it, a smile rose to my face in delight. I had sworn never to trust people again, but it seemed there was no helping the way affection accumulated.
“Why is everyone still up?”
The mercenaries’ bodies were drenched in sweat. It was proof that they had been training without rest until now.
“Well, that is…….”
Legion and Camille answered in their stead.
“All the members said their hearts were pounding after watching your match today, Young Master. They said they were too restless to bear it, so we gathered like this and started training.”
Hearing that, I burst into laughter.
“Hahahaha!”
What an admirable sight this was.
When I laughed, the members, whose faces had been tense, gradually began to relax as well.
“Was today’s match really that inspiring?”
Darius and Helen replied with shining eyes.
“It was truly the best, Young Master!”
“I already knew how skilled you were, Young Master, but I never imagined you would display swordsmanship of such a high level even with your mana sealed!”
They were the ones who would become my knights.
That meant they now belonged to Winterbell.
The reason these people, who had once been nothing more than a mere mercenary group, had deliberately remained in the North and were training like this was likely because of that very expectation.
Still, I felt grateful to them.
They may have made this choice because they wished to belong to a family like Winterbell, but that was only natural.
What mattered was this.
In the end, they had acknowledged me as their lord and staked their futures on me. I had never once guaranteed them that they would be able to become knights.
And yet, without complaint, they had stayed behind, trained every single day, and developed themselves.
At that moment, when I confirmed that my judgment had not been wrong,
the exhilaration I felt could not be compared to anything else.
Smiling, I gripped my sword.
“Then today, I’ll personally instruct you as a special favor. The one who wants it first, come out one by one in order!”
The mercenaries, who had been watching each other’s reactions, all rushed forward at once. Among them were Camille and Legion as well.