ALL NOVEL Chapter 490
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EP.490 The Path Continued from the Past (1)
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In the land where death is silent, Gehete.
Despite the master of this land having vanished, the wilderness showed no signs of change. It was merely filled with traces of swords, and the wilderness remained just that – wilderness.
In the center of the severed wilderness, a single sword stuck among countless sword marks was all that remained of Ganikalt van Galatrick. Swoosh, a breeze swept through the wilderness, scattering the soot that clung to the sword.
Pfft.
The removed soot glimmered as it caught the sunlight peeking through the shredded clouds. Ganikalt van Galatrick had found eternal rest. Kyle looked down at the remnants of his former master, now reduced to ashes, with a bittersweet smile.
“Consistent until the end, huh?”
He offered a brief salute to his former senior, who faced death not as a Demon Lord but as a hero. As he recalled Ganikalt, who had proudly shouted until the very last moment, Kyle exhaled deeply.
Then, thud.
Kyle turned his head at the sound beside him. There sat Raniel, having slumped down and exhaling heavily. Looking at her, Kyle had the distinct impression that something was amiss.
“······.”
“What?”
Raniel tilted her head.
“Is it your first time seeing someone fall down?”
“No, it’s not that.”
“Then why?”
“You’re just… really strange like this.”
Snicker, Raniel let out a laugh.
Still smiling, she stretched out her arm and tugged at Kyle’s ankle. With a ugh, Kyle fell to the ground.
“Don’t just clench your teeth and stand there, sit down. It’s tough for both of us to move even a finger, so why bother?”
She was right.
Kyle’s body was pushed to its limits by the backlash from Yeocheon. Standing was a challenge, but still, he looked at Raniel suspiciously while kneeling.
“······.”
“What are you staring at? No one else is around, it’s just us, and we’ve done what we needed to do. What’s wrong with taking a seat?”
“That’s not entirely incorrect, but…”
“Why? Are you reminded of the past?”
Raniel shrugged.
Kyle could understand why she would consider that. After all, on the day they defeated the Black Dragon and the first time they took down Skebal, he had always gritted his teeth and stood tall.
He thought he could never allow himself to slump down.
He believed he should always stand straight and be an example.
But since that day, she had freed herself from such compulsions. Raniel chuckled and snapped her broken finger bones back into place with a crack. As she did, she continued.
“It’s been years since then, and you’re still like this?”
“…It’s not incorrect.”
Kyle let out a small laugh.
After all, it had been several years since he had been out cold. At least 4 to 5 years had passed. A sufficient amount of time for a person to change.
With a crunch, Raniel clicked her thumb back into place, then clenched her fist and relaxed it a few times.
Then she seemed satisfied and with a thump, she reached out her fist towards Kyle. Blinking in surprise at her clenched fist, Kyle couldn’t help but chuckle in disbelief.
“Long time no see, Raniel.”
Thud.
Their clenched fists met lightly.
“I’ll be heading back to the Royal Capital.”
After a moment, Kalt, with bandages wrapped around him, groaned as he rose from his spot.
“My sword’s broken, and in this state, I doubt I can be of any help in the next battle.”
Originally, the mission to defeat the Demon Lord was set up for Raniel alone. Kalt knew well that his part was done, and sticking around would only be a hindrance.
“I plan to return to the Royal Capital to announce that Death’s Blade has been defeated and take charge of the Hounds. There are still mountains of things left to do.”
The critical battles for humanity’s fate were taking place at both ends of the continent, yet knights weren’t merely idling about. The masses of beasts stirred up from the movements of the Demon Lord needed to be quelled, and Kalt expressed his intent to assist.
“Under normal circumstances, I would have insisted on following you, but…”
Kalt shrugged and glanced at Kyle.
“Now, there’s no need to worry.”
“What worries?”
“You thought I wouldn’t know?”
Kalt chuckled bitterly.
“You’re planning to burn through your lifespan again, aren’t you? It’s clear you came here intending to die, so ordinarily, I would have stuck it out until the end of the Demon Lord’s defeat.”
Flinch, Raniel shivered.
“…Were you aware?”
“Of course, I’ve been following you for more than a day or two. Regardless, I expect you’ll be waiting at the Royal Capital, so please come back alive. I want to receive a magnificent building from you.”
Kalt began to pack his things. While doing so, he suddenly turned his head and looked at Kyle.
“Above all, please take care of my senior. Kyle… or what should I call you? Just wait a moment.”
Rubbing his chin, Kalt murmured for a while. Sword Master? Senior? Hero? Former Hero? After pondering for a good while, Kalt finally spoke a title.
“…Sword Saint.”
“Sword Saint?”
“Yes, Sword Saint.”
Like a child who had just lost their most cherished possession, Kalt sighed as if feeling regret.
“That title originally belonged to me, but isn’t it a name given to the strongest swordsman of humanity? It’s also a name meant for the rightful heir of Galatrick.”
Sword Saint.
It was a title he had quite liked, but now that its true owner had appeared, it was only right to return it. Kalt rummaged through his belongings and handed Kyle a medal engraved with the emblem of Galatrick.
“I think it suits you better, Kyle.”
As Kyle looked at the medal Kalt presented, he slowly shook his head.
“Sword Saint, Hero, the strongest Hero; I’m done with such heavy titles. I’ve had enough of those roles.”
Kyle tapped the hilt of his own sword at his waist with a thunk.
“For me, being a knight is enough.”
“…Is that so?”
Kalt looked pleasantly surprised.
Well, it is true. Murmuring to himself, Kalt reattached the medal to his chest.
“A knight. You truly have an appreciation for romance. It’s befitting of someone who has bested the first Sword Saint. After all, a knight…”
“Aren’t you just reluctant to let go of that title and medal?”
Hah! “You, as a mage, may not know, but in the world of swords, there exists a profound and mysterious… a romance that cannot be fully described by words.”
“What utter nonsense…”
With a serious face, Kalt completely packed his belongings. He whistled as a wyvern swooped down from the sky towards him. In the chaos of the sky flipping upside down, most of the wyvern’s armor was torn away, yet it seemed to have no issue flying.
“Are you not taking that sword with you?”
Pointing to the sword of Ganikalt lodged in the ground, Raniel asked as she turned to Kalt. The sword, now a mere ordinary blade, had lost its ominous shadow.
To that question, Kalt replied, “Not yet. I’m not prepared to serve him properly. Once all the battles are over and Kirmelt Canyon has been restructured… I’ll have to bring it over then.”
“And besides,” Kalt smiled, “Isn’t it better for that sword to remain here for the time being? Here, where the view is open, we can see both the fighting at the temple over there and the sky clearly.”
“Then I’ll see you in the Royal Capital.”
With those words, Kalt departed for the Royal Capital.
“So.”
Breaking the silence that had lingered over the plain, Raniel opened her mouth. Glancing at Kyle, she asked.
“How the heck did you do that?”
“What?”
“What do you mean what? You little brat.”
Raniel looked at Kyle in disbelief.
“You waking up. And what’s with that?”
She pointed towards the place where Ganikalt’s sword was stuck. The place where the sword of Yeocheon and Ganikalt had crashed. From that spot where severed rocks jutted out, a line was drawn towards the sky.
A line crafted from the clash of Yeocheon and Yeocheon.
Following that line, the scenery was split in half. Even the clouds and the blue sky above were split in two. Raniel chortled as she pointed at the severed world.
“How did you achieve all that? It wasn’t like that when you fought me, right?”
“Well…”
Where should I start explaining?
As Kyle pondered which words to choose, he suddenly let out a laugh. He was reminded of a particularly annoying wizard and, with a hm, cleared his throat.
“I just did it, and it worked.”
As if it was nothing.
As if it just happened coincidentally. Kyle imitated Raniel’s tone as closely as he could, and Raniel’s expression scrunched up as she witnessed it.
“What? It just worked out? No, what?”
With a notably sour expression, Raniel tilted her head, causing Kyle to burst into laughter. Stifling his laughter with a cough, Kyle finally exhaled deeply.
“Ha…”
As he breathed out, Kyle raised his head.
With a tilted gaze, he looked up at the sky—the scenery of the half-split sky. Gazing at the view created by the Sword of Yeocheon, Kyle spoke.
“On the day I defeated the Demon Lord, I stood at the end of the path of the sword. Ordinarily, I should have died there.”
“…That is.”
“Yes. That is when the Demon Lord revived me, and you returned me to humanity after the Demon Lord had changed me.”
With the price of life, he completed the Sword of Yeocheon.
He reached the limit of the sword by burning through his life. And now, having found a second chance at life thanks to Raniel, Sara, and the Goddess of Ashes, he had returned to being human.
“And that sword, which I thought I might one day wield… I swung it like crazy while fighting you. That greatly helped me adapt to the Sword of Yeocheon.”
Raniel sighed with an “Ah.”
She pressed her palm against her chest, as if recalling the moment her heart had been pierced.
“It was disgustingly strong.”
Just like how Raineal had grown into a superhuman after losing Starlight in that battle, Kyle was saying that he too had undergonegrowth. Not just that, but Kyle let out another deep breath.
“There were various reasons. There were also things I dreamed about for a long time, but… it’s not something for here.”
“A dream? What kind of dream?”
“Something like that. Anyway, a lot of things piled up on top of each other, leading to this point… Now it’s just a matter of proving it with my abilities. And that’s what I did.”
That he had surpassed her.
That his sword had reached her. Kyle managed to prove this, and the result was the half-split scenery.
“What about you?”
Kyle looked sideways at Raniel.
“You seemed to have prepared something too earlier. Why didn’t you use that?”
The fragments of truth that Raniel had shown to Ganikalt as he faced his end were something Kyle could vaguely understand, just like Ganikalt had done.
“I don’t know much about magic, but isn’t that the peak of your sorcery?”
“That part is correct.”
“Then why…”
“If I used it, I wouldn’t have won anyway.”
Raniel sighed.
“You swordsmen… no, you knights pursue something entirely different from what mages pursue.”
While swordsmen hone their craft meticulously to cut through everything with a single blade… mages pile up their magic not for the enemy before them, but to reach the far sky.
“And even if I’d demonstrated it to Ganikalt, I wouldn’t have won. It was unfinished to begin with.”
Sighing, she reached her hand towards the sky.
“It can only be completed when I reach up there, and I need to go there to use it.”
“…What exactly are you trying to do up there?”
“Curious?”
Raniel smirked.
With a smile, she mentioned something to Kyle, and as he listened, he couldn’t help but chuckle in disbelief.
It was an utterly absurd story.
The kind of tale that felt like it belonged in a fairytale.
A story that could easily be dismissed as fantasy.
Yet, it was a tale Raniel van Trias would tell. Given that it was her speaking, it was not merely a simple fantasy. Therefore, Kyle asked her.
“Are you serious?”
“I’m serious, of course.”
“So you want my help?”
“I didn’t say that.”
Kyle chuckled softly.
“I’ll just have to treat it like I’m repaying you with expensive drinks.”
“No, I didn’t ask for your help!”
“Then consider it a debt’s repayment.”
With that, Kyle stood up.
This time, it was Kyle who rose first, not Raniel. Standing up first, Kyle extended his hand towards Raniel, just as she had once done.
“Get up, Raniel.”
Kyle smiled.
“We still have things left to do.”
“Honestly.”
With a grab, Raniel took his hand and stood up. Standing side by side, the two gazed beyond the wilderness. The vast wilderness stretched out, with shadows of the temple, Arcadia, waiting on the other side.
“Just to warn you, using the Sword of Yeocheon any further is impossible.”
“Not needed, buddy. I was planning to take it down alone.”
“And the method?”
Cha-rrrck.
“Will this do?”
“Indeed, that would be sufficient.”
“What’s more… I’d like to repay a request too.”
Ganikalt met death, satisfied as both a disaster, hero, warrior, and knight. However, there was one thing he couldn’t achieve.
“He must be completely freed.”
To bring peace to the Queen of Arcadia. That was a wish that only Raniel could fulfill.
Clap.
Raniel took a step towards Alkeia.
Moving in sync with her, Kyle followed suit. Though the roles had shifted from warrior to another, their tasks remained unchanged.
「Let us proceed to the next.」
Onward to the next stage, where they had once fled.