WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: Irevi
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
Chapter 16: D-1
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Cecilia stood in her family’s training ground, dressed in a sleeveless training top.
Though sweat streamed down her entire body like rain, she gripped her sword with both hands, held it toward the training ground wall, and remained motionless for a long while.
“Phew…”
She recalled the man she had seen a few days earlier.
Her first impression of him, now a man rather than a boy, had been utterly terrible.
His face had been consumed by burn scars that reminded her of old nightmares, making it impossible to even make out his expression properly.
He had saved Senia, whom Cecilia could have saved herself, trampling all over her pride in the process.
But after sparring with him, Cecilia had no choice but to change her mind.
Was it because she was a daughter of the Ren House? Until now, most opponents had never given her their all.
They swung their swords while pretending to be serious, but most were visibly holding back.
But what about that boy?
He had treated Cecilia as a true opponent and come at her with his full strength, without a moment’s hesitation.
His slash had been so fast that she could barely follow it with her eyes.
In the blink of an eye, his sword touched her side, and Cecilia was finally able to meet his gaze head-on.
What she saw in those reddish eyes was a resolve to stake everything on a single strike.
With a desperate, fierce will that could almost be called madness, he had been moving straight toward something.
‘How can someone have eyes like that…?’
But that had only been the beginning.
The boy hadn’t dodged her attack.
Judging by the speed at which he swung his sword, he should have been able to avoid it with ease.
Yet he had deliberately taken the hit.
“A true knight never dodges an opponent’s sword swung with all their might.”
Then, as if nothing had happened, he pointed his sword at her again.
‘A knight…?’
His blank, emotionless face seemed to be telling her this.
‘Your attack means nothing to me.’
A great mountain.
Why had those words come to mind?
For a moment, Cecilia felt as though the burn scars had vanished from his body.
In their place shone a brilliant ash-gray radiance.
‘Am I… losing like this?’
Crushed beneath that brilliance, she made a choice she never should have made.
Using an Art.
The moment she activated Shattering Light, Cecilia realized her mistake as she watched the boy collapse.
He hadn’t seemed to have the slightest intention of avoiding her Art.
If that attack killed him, or left him with an injury he could never recover from…
‘I’ll never see that brilliant sight again.’
But Halibal endured.
His body swayed, and his legs staggered.
Then, in the end, he clenched his fist and struck her.
Her memories after that were hazy.
Still, one thing was certain. Cecilia had lost to someone her age for the first time, other than Senia.
As her consciousness faded, Cecilia heard Halibal’s final words.
“…So this works.”
Only then did she understand.
The boy hadn’t been certain either.
Even so, he had kept moving forward.
When he saved her sister and when he challenged her to a spar, he hadn’t acted because he was certain.
He had simply acted.
Certainty wasn’t his responsibility.
His responsibility was to prove it.
The moment she heard his words, Cecilia didn’t even feel jealous.
All she felt was the desire to prove herself too.
Next time, she would prove herself before that boy.
Her hand suddenly moved to her side.
Then to the pit of her stomach, and finally over her face.
The ash-gray traces that had flowed from the boy had been carved deeply into her body and heart like agonizing pain.
Afterward, Cecilia entrusted the boy with the keepsake of the person she cherished most.
It was a paltry Standard-Issue Core.
Still, she secretly hoped.
‘Can you prove yourself even with a core like this?’
Before she knew it, the boy had grown into a man.
And a few days ago, that man proved himself.
He had become the first person in human history to conquer the Evil God’s Abyss.
As she watched his stoic face while he received a knighthood from the Imperial Princess, Cecilia could read the same emotion as before.
He hadn’t done it because he was certain.
He had done it because he had to.
‘…I thought I’d caught up to him, but the gap has only grown wider.’
Cecilia had no intention of wandering any longer.
‘That’s right. You proved yourself. Then this time, it’s my turn.’
“Haah!”
Cecilia swung her sword with all her strength.
KWA-BOOOOM!!
A white flash burst from the blade and melted an entire corner of the training ground wall, along with the surrounding area.
Rumble!
The flash was soon absorbed back into the sword, and the shockwave caused the entire training ground to sink.
“……It’s done.”
The Art she had just completed.
It was not a sword form passed down through the Ren House, but an original technique created by Cecilia herself.
Radiant Chain Fang.
It was her own sword, meant to prove herself not to that man, nor to anyone else, but to herself.
‘That man will probably show himself tomorrow too.’
At tomorrow’s exam, Cecilia intended to seize first place by an overwhelming margin.
No matter what, she would defeat him.
And she would reclaim Renee.
That would be her proof.
When she looked down at the Abyss Core in her hand, she saw the seven White Shards embedded in its center.
They were what that man had given her as repayment.
As she stared at them, her hand once more moved to her side.
Then to the pit of her stomach.
Finally, to her face.
“Hah…!”
Ever since then, it had become something like a ritual she repeated at the end of every training session.
There were no wounds.
There was no pain either.
Yet whenever she touched those places, the faint ash-gray pain from that day returned like an illusion.
That pain was what drove her forward.
Her eyes having lost focus, Cecilia muttered with her sword hanging loosely.
“Wait for me, Halibal Velder. This time, I’ll defeat you completely under the same conditions.”
Hah.
A breath mixed with excitement and fighting spirit echoed through the training ground.
Someone was watching Cecilia from outside.
“…Cecil is doing that again.”
Senia Ren.
The future head of the Ren House and a woman called the greatest sword talent of this century.
Whenever Cecilia acted like that, Senia found her so cute that she didn’t know what to do with herself.
When they were young, they had been forced to live apart according to family tradition. The first time Senia met Cecilia, she had been like a silver chick.
Small and dazzling. The sight of her awkwardly swinging a sword as she ran toward Senia had been so adorable that Senia had wanted to hug and bite her every time.
She couldn’t bear to look away from that child as Cecilia desperately struggled to get closer to her, with Senia as her goal.
Of course, sometimes Senia wanted to tell her this.
‘Cecil, don’t try so hard. You know it’s pointless.’
Cecilia would probably look as though the sky had fallen if she heard that.
So Senia swallowed those words.
The sight of Cecilia struggling desperately to catch up to her was too cute and precious. Senia couldn’t bring herself to make her stop.
But at some point, Cecilia stopped making Senia her goal.
There was another man where her gaze now rested.
When Senia was trapped in a dungeon after falling victim to the schemes of a follower of the Evil God who had infiltrated the family, the one who saved her was Halibal Velder, the man who had become Cecilia’s new goal.
The first time Senia properly faced him was at the medal ceremony.
The thought that came to Senia’s mind when she personally presented Halibal Velder with his medal was surprisingly ordinary.
‘Someone this weak can save me too.’
That was all.
If she hadn’t been drugged, Senia was confident she could have cut down a Human-Faced Spider with a single stroke.
If anything, it was interesting that the man who had saved her looked even weaker than Cecilia.
“You’re the one who saved me that day?”
“It was thanks to His Majesty the Emperor’s grace.”
“Thank you so much. You saved my life.”
Senia held back a laugh.
‘If he’s weaker than a chick… is he an egg?’
But the unexpected change came afterward.
Halibal and Cecilia’s spar had come about naturally.
After that, Cecilia changed noticeably.
Senia still remained ahead of her. That wouldn’t change easily. Senia had been the person Cecilia pursued her entire life.
Yet somehow, Cecilia’s eyes no longer rested on Senia alone.
She had begun looking at someone else.
‘Halibal Velder.’
Senia instinctively recognized the moment of change.
The yearning and obsession that had always been directed at Senia were now shifting toward that man.
‘The chick is about to leave my hand.’
The emotion that fact brought was difficult to describe.
Jealousy?
Obsession?
Or anger and hatred?
It wasn’t anything so clichéd.
Did Senia dislike Halibal? No. He was, without question, the person who had saved her. There was no reason to dislike him.
Then what was this vague, inexplicable feeling?
‘…I don’t know.’
With that thought, Senia casually gripped her sword.
Unlike Cecilia, she used only one hand.
Swish.
As she swung her sword, the entire wall of the training ground collapsed, and a blue-white flash was drawn into her blade.
Radiant Chain Fang.
It was the Art Cecilia had spent months creating to prove herself to that man.
Senia had seen the technique just once and copied it perfectly on the spot.
The only difference was that ice flowers slowly bloomed beneath her feet, completely unsuited to the approaching spring.
“What are you going to do, Sis?”
“Hm?”
“About the entrance exam. Are you planning to aim for first place?”
“I don’t know. You know I don’t really like drawing attention.”
“Sorry, but I want you to aim for first place, Sis.”
“Hm…?”
“Because I plan to defeat everyone, including you, and take first place in this exam.”
A laugh slipped from Senia’s lips when she saw Cecilia’s determined expression that day.
‘When did you grow up so much, Cecil?’
It felt as though a longing for the sword, long forgotten, was blooming once more.
‘Still, your big sister wants you to stay in my arms.’
But it would never be a warm blossom.
And so, the Sword Princess of the Ren House, Senia Ren, made her decision.
‘If I overwhelmingly defeat Halibal, that man, in the exam, will that child return to my arms?’
In this entrance exam, Senia would take first place.
That was decided.
No one would be able to stop her.
Not Cecilia, and not Halibal.
⁎⁎⁎
Inside a carriage aboard the Christoph Cross-Country Train, a rare black-haired youth sat by the window with his chin propped in one hand, letting himself drift through a flood of thoughts.
His face was androgynous and still youthful enough that it was difficult to tell whether he was male or female.
But the youth, who was probably a boy, looked out at the passing scenery and recalled his hometown and his master.
“I’m still inexperienced, Master. I’m not worthy of carrying the Ultimate Divine Sword.”
“Inexperience is like a blade. Only when you temper the blade with the steel known as experience will it finally gain sharpness.”
The boy looked down at the sword resting on his lap, tightly wrapped in bandages.
When he loosened the bandages slightly, he saw the inscription engraved below its hilt.
Unity of Body and Sword
“Haah… It’s not as easy as you make it sound.”
The boy suddenly stood and looked around.
“…There’s no one here, right?”
After muttering to himself, he aimed his sword forward.
Slice! Slice!
The wind scattered with two successive swings.
It looked as though the sword had cut nothing, but that wasn’t the case.
A single stream of wind blowing into the carriage had been split in two by his slashes.
It was a technique so refined that anyone who had not reached that level would struggle even to see it properly.
That was when it happened.
“Passenger. I’m sorry, but swinging weapons inside the train is prohibited.”
“Ah, ah! I-I’m sorry!”
The startled boy shrank back.
‘There was someone here…!!’
“If you don’t mind, could I see your identification?”
“Ah, yes!”
The boy quickly took out his identification and handed it to the train attendant.
[Name: Aren Bright]
Once the identity check was complete, he hurried back to his seat with a face as red as a tomato.
“…That was embarrassing.”
Before he knew it, an entirely different landscape had begun unfolding beyond the window.
“Wow…!!”
Beyond the majestic mountain range stood colorful buildings unlike anything he had ever seen in his hometown.
That was Nevil, the academy city.
At its center, the most noticeable structure was the main building of Ruidel Academy, the place he had set his sights on.
“W-Will I pass?”
D-1 until the Ruidel Academy entrance exam.
Footnotes:
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