WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: ZERO_SUGAR
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Chapter 6: Heavenly Pivot
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Memories of riding in a freight wagon came back as vividly as if it had been yesterday.
Back then, I had been no different from the people in this wagon.
I knew who they were, but they had been forcibly abducted without knowing a thing.
Not knowing what lay ahead filled a person with endless fear.
‘Because days like hell are about to begin.’
That fear would soon become reality.
I was living proof of it.
“What do you mean, days like hell?”
The SoDam Sword's voice rang in my head.
It was the SoDam Sword that had spent the entire night crying and making a fuss because its tip had broken off.
It seemed to have calmed down at last.
‘That’ll happen soon enough.’
“How do you know what will happen?”
‘What good would it do you to know?’
At my curt response, the SoDam Sword spoke in a sulky voice.
“That’s low. You owe me, remember?”
‘We agreed that getting you repaired at a smithy would settle that debt.’
“Is that more precious than your life?”
‘You said your head was more precious than life.’
“You're really stingy. You and I are bound by fate. When you're in trouble, I help you. When I'm in trouble, you sharpen me a little. That’s the kind of relationship we have.”
Listen to this little thing talk.
If it had been a person instead of a Short Sword, it could have talked anyone into anything.
‘Are you trying to persuade me?’
“Come on. What persuasion? Just tell me. Please? I'm curious.”
It seemed unable to stand being curious about something.
It kept trying to persuade me.
“Hoo...”
In truth, I had been frustrated by everything that had happened so far.
From the moment I found the Secret Records of the Sword Sage until now, events had unfolded one after another, leaving me no time to organize my thoughts.
I stared intently at the SoDam Sword.
‘You won't tell anyone, right?’
“...Hey. What crazy bastard talks to a sword?”
‘So I'm crazy?’
“Come on, you're not crazy. You're just a little special.”
It really must have been curious.
It was even trying to flatter me.
‘Ah...’
Right. How could a Short Sword possibly spread rumors?
Who would have thought I would one day pour out my frustrations to a Short Sword?
It did not seem like such a bad idea.
After all, I would be stuck in this freight wagon for nearly fifteen days before reaching the Blood Cult's hideout.
‘You know I was called trash by my Clan, right?’
“Yeah. Trash Third Young Master.”
Ha... This thing really had no consideration.
What could I expect from a Short Sword? As though grumbling to myself, I began telling it about my life.
At first, I intended to keep it brief.
But that changed as I went on.
Having lived as a Spy all my life, I had never confided my secrets to anyone.
Perhaps that was why, with emotions welling up inside me, everything poured out as though a dam had burst.
I told it everything, from being born to a servant and becoming known as trash within the Clan, to leaving home, wandering, being abducted by the Blood Cult, and working as a Spy.
‘...Then, when I opened my eyes, I had returned to ten years ago.’
It had been a life story that took half a day to tell.
It was my life, but I had truly lived a turbulent one.
After hearing it all, the SoDam Sword spoke.
“You're not very good with words.”
‘What?’
“You could've summed it up by saying you returned to the past. Why list every little detail like that? If a storyteller did business like that, all their customers would leave.”
For a moment, I almost cursed.
It had even chimed in that the story was interesting while I spoke, and this was all it had to say. Ugh! Maybe I should just snap it in half.
“Don't do that. I'm your mother's keepsake.”
‘...Be grateful that you're a keepsake.’
Otherwise, I would have broken it immediately.
I did not like its reaction, but after pouring out everything I had kept inside for the first time, I felt much better.
Still, what lay ahead would not be easy.
The SoDam Sword spoke to me as I worried.
“Hey. If you know so much about what will happen, isn't that good for you?”
‘What?’
“Think about it. You know the bad things that will happen to you in advance. You can avoid them... or make them turn out better.”
‘!!!’
“I'm right, aren't I?”
‘...Ha!’
I had been foolish.
I had only worried about how I would endure the things I would have to experience again.
But looking at it differently revealed an entirely different answer.
‘You're smart.’
“Yeah, that's true. But let's just say you're the fool here.”
Even at its sarcastic words, I burst out laughing.
“Ha ha ha ha ha!”
Thump! Thump!
At the sound of my laughter, someone outside pounded on the wagon.
It was a warning to be quiet.
I had gotten carried away and made a mistake without thinking.
The SoDam Sword was right.
I knew what I would experience in the future, and I remembered many of the great events that would occur in the martial world.
That was practically a great asset.
The SoDam Sword, which had given me this realization, suddenly seemed admirable.
“That’s unsettling. Stop looking at me like that.”
It spoke seriously.
In any case, this was good.
If I could turn the coming events to my advantage as the SoDam Sword said, I might be able to change everything.
“What are you going to do? Escape and return home? You said that was better, even if they called you trash.”
I shook my head at the SoDam Sword's question.
Escaping was practically impossible.
The freight wagon was covered in iron bars. How could I get out?
Besides, dozens of Blood Cult members guarded the outside.
“Then what will you do? Are you just going to the Blood Cult? You said they were frightening.”
‘They are.’
“Then why go to the Blood Cult?”
‘If I run, my lie will be exposed.’
Fourth Blood Stars, one of the Blood Cult's high-ranking executives, already knew of my existence.
If I fled in such a situation, could I really remain safe?
Not only I, but the Yiyang So Clan would be in danger as well.
“You're kind of a sucker.”
‘What? A sucker?’
“They looked down on you and called you trash. What does it matter if that measly Clan falls apart?”
‘...If it falls, I'll be the one to bring it down.’
“Huh?”
I could not let it be destroyed by the Blood Cult.
Though the man who was my father, the Clan Head, had treated me as though I were no longer his child after I suffered Ki Rampage.
“...I understand. It’s because of your younger sister.”
I did not answer.
Because that was correct.
My younger sister was the only blood relative I had left in the Clan.
“Then you're going to the Blood Cult after all. What exactly are you thinking?”
I snorted at its question.
‘Do you know what I resented most in life?’
“Being trash?”
‘...I'll break you. I mean it.’
“Then what was it?”
‘Being treated like a dog as a third-rate warrior!’
If my dantian had not been damaged, my life might have been different.
Being a third-rate warrior who could not even cultivate internal energy had made the Clan cast me out, and the Blood Cult that abducted me had used me as nothing more than a Spy.
Until now, I had lived a life of being pushed around.
I did not want to live like that anymore.
“Fine, fine. But how are you going to do it?”
‘I’ll change it. Starting now.’
“You may be able to change what happens. But if you really want to stop being pushed around and live as you wish, you need to learn Martial Arts. How will you cultivate internal energy when your dantian is shattered?”
‘There’s a way.’
“There is?”
When I entered the Blood Cult, one incident occurred.
If I had not missed that opportunity then, I might have been able to restore my dantian.
‘If I'm lucky, I might be able to cultivate internal energy again.’
“Oh. Really?”
‘I don't know. I have to try first.’
It would not be easy.
If I lacked luck, I could fail.
Even so, I could not let the only chance to restore my dantian slip away.
“Ahem. Say, if you become able to cultivate internal energy, should I teach you some Martial Arts from my owner two masters ago?”
‘What?’
“I told you. Even a dog that spends three years at a village school learns to recite poetry.”
I felt strangely moved at the SoDam Sword's offer to teach me Martial Arts.
Come to think of it, I had survived because of it.
I had wondered how it knew so much, but the answer was that its owner two masters ago had been a martial artist who practiced Martial Arts.
‘Are you serious?’
“Ha! Have you spent your life getting fooled? I'm telling you I'll teach you. What's the problem?”
Without being asked, the SoDam Sword began reciting the verse formula of a martial art.
It was Martial Arts that made use of a Short Sword.
As I listened to the verse formula in amazement, something strange happened.
Fwoosh!
Blue flames suddenly flared from my right hand.
‘Gasp!’
They were not large flames, but I was startled by the sudden occurrence and waved my hand wildly.
Yet the flames would not go out.
‘What, what is this?’
More strangely, the flames were not hot at all.
Then a voice echoed in my head.
“Now that you have acquired Sword Heart, Heavenly Pivot shall open.”
It was not the SoDam Sword's voice.
The blue flames blazing from my hand then subsided.
Thinking I might have been burned, I looked at the back of my hand, only to see the fading flames being drawn somewhere.
Sizzle!
‘Huh?’
A blue dot had formed on the back of my hand where the flames had seeped in.
But the blue dot was not the only mark.
I had not realized it before, but there were seven dots on the back of my hand.
Their positions looked too much like the Big Dipper in the night sky to be ordinary marks.
‘What is going on?’
One of the seven dots on my hand had turned Blue.
‘Heavenly Pivot?’
Its position corresponded to Heavenly Pivot, the first star of the Big Dipper.
I could not understand this sudden occurrence.
‘What is this?’
It was difficult to guess why this had happened.
Then the Secret Records of the Sword Sage suddenly came to mind.
Come to think of it, there had definitely been a passage in the Secret Records of the Sword Sage about the mysteries of the Big Dipper or something similar.
Could this be related to that?
“Hey!”
The SoDam Sword's irritated voice sounded.
“Will you focus? I'm going out of my way to teach you a Martial Arts verse formula, so why are you waving your hand around like a madman?”
‘Didn't you see that just now?’
“See what?”
‘Something like blue flames appeared on my hand.’
“...Are you sick?”
The SoDam Sword had not noticed the blue flames on my hand at all.
It only thought I had been waving my hand around like a madman.
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