WeTried Translations

Translator: ZERO_SUGAR

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◈ I Pulled Out Excalibur

Chapter 276

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Who Am I? (1)

Every person has a limit.

No matter how delicious the food is, even if the whole table is covered in it, once you are full you cannot keep eating. Once you cross your limit, your body rejects it first.

And that is not just true for your stomach. Shock, especially mental shock, works the same way.

This girl was a perfect example. She met a young man in an alley, he was handsome, seemed special, and had shining eyes, so she bought him a meal. Then it turned out he was the youngest seven-star, the youngest Sword Master, and a once-in-a-thousand-years genius with the makings of a great hero who had even drawn Excalibur.

That shock went far beyond what she could handle.

The moment Dieta Arbenia saw Excalibur glittering before her, she made a gulping sound and fainted.

Dieta opened her eyes a few minutes later.

Faced with a shock beyond her capacity, she chose to run from reality and tell herself, Ah, I must have had a really strange dream.

“I had the weirdest dream. You drawing Excalibur and all that...”

Click, flash.

“Gulp.”

She fainted a second time.

Thankfully, she woke up faster this time. Excalibur was still shining in front of her, and Dieta stared at it with trembling eyes.

An absurdly dazzling sword.

Was that really the legendary Excalibur? The Holy Sword and Star Sword used by King Arthur? With her pupils quaking, Dieta called for her escort knight.

“Um, Pasion?”

“......”

“Pasion?”

She had meant to ask, That is Excalibur, right? I did not see it wrong, right? But no matter how many times she called, her escort knight did not answer.

Why is he not answering? Dieta turned around.

Tremble tremble tremble tremble.

There was Pasion, his pupils shaking twice as fast as Dieta’s. He kept opening and closing his mouth, gasping as if he were hyperventilating. Dieta tilted her head.

“Uh, Pasi...”

“Pasion, knight of the Empire!”

Thud! Before Dieta could finish speaking, Pasion dropped to one knee. Then, without a moment of hesitation, he bowed his head.

“I greet the greatest knight!”

He was a knight of the Empire, but even beyond nationality, anyone bearing the title of knight would have reacted the same way. Excalibur was the symbol of Arthur, the greatest knight and the Knight King.

“......”

Dieta looked at Najin in silence.

Najin silently shrugged.

“That is how it turned out.”

2.

Najin tried to brush it off with a simple “That is how it turned out,” but this was obviously not something that could be dismissed so easily. In the end, Najin told Dieta everything in detail, and after hearing it, Dieta...

“Good heavens.”

She ran a hand down her face.

Thanks to fainting twice already, she barely managed not to pass out again, but she was utterly confused. The story was far beyond anything she could have imagined.

Buy low and sell high might be a merchant’s virtue, but there are still limits. If you pick up a strange-looking stone on the street and it turns out to be a diamond, sure, you can accept that happily, but...

It is not easy to accept that a stone from the roadside was actually a priceless treasure, the symbol of a legendary hero lost a thousand years ago. And what was unfolding before Dieta right now was no less than that, if not worse.

“So, let me get this straight?” Dieta said in a trembling voice.

“You are now the youngest Sword Master?”

“Ah, only when I am holding Excalibur.”

“You are the youngest Free Knight, the youngest seven-star, the youngest person selected as a candidate for the Empire’s Pillars, and once this situation is resolved, His Majesty will personally show you respect and award you the Empire Hero Medal?”

“I did get an invitation.”

“And on top of all that, you drew Excalibur?”

Click. Flash.

“That is how it turned out.”

“Ah, that is a bit too bright...”

“Should I put it away?”

“Yes, for now...”

Najin obediently stored Excalibur. It almost felt like he was enjoying her reaction, and Dieta let out a long sigh.

“I did suspect you might be the one who drew it, but seeing it right in front of me feels... what should I say, unreal.”

“Does it?”

“You seem calm.”

“It feels like what was bound to happen finally happened.”

In truth, he was not calm.

Since drawing Excalibur, countless knights who came to see Najin had knelt and paid their respects. Even the Emperor had sent him a handwritten letter in honorific language.

It was only natural for that to make him stand a little taller.

Of course, he did not show it outwardly. On the surface, he was as modest and restrained as ever. Even in front of the Emperor, he had stylishly played humble and said, “I only did what I had to do.”

The pride, satisfaction, and sense of achievement he did not express outwardly kept piling up inside him. Normally, things that pile up like that burst eventually, but...

In Najin’s case, it was a little different.

‘Merlin.’

-......

‘Merlin?’

-......What.

He had been relieving his need for recognition on time. Wearing an extremely smug expression, Najin shrugged at the Constellation inside him. Look. This is how amazing I am. Merlin’s face crumpled like she had bitten into a bug.

‘Who am I?’

He was asking the exact same question for the 57th time.

‘You saw that, right, Merlin? Who am I?’

-Aaaaaaah!

That made it a total of 58 repetitions. Merlin finally snapped and screamed. Her face bright red, she grabbed Najin by the collar and shook him side to side. Naturally, no one could hear her scream. Tragically.

“So, Najin?”

After settling her confusion, Dieta stared at Najin as if asking what he would do next.

“I think I will stay here for a while. I can only move once the Empire’s situation stabilizes, and it looks like that will take some time.”

Tilting his teacup, Najin looked at Dieta.

She flinched and her whole body stiffened.

“S-stay here? You mean at my estate? Not the villa, but here?”

“Of course, if you are okay with it.”

“Uh, uhhh...”

Dieta stammered. Even for a mansion, this place was enormous. It was the main residence of the Arbenia ducal house, after all. Still, Dieta focused on one point: she would be living under the same roof as Najin.

“Ah, if that is inconvenient, I can find another...”

“No, no!”

Dieta cut him off.

Bang, she slammed the table and stood up.

“Pasion? Prepare an empty room right now. Tell the head butler. I do not need to explain what to say, right?”

“Huff, Excalibur...”

“Pasion!”

“Hk!”

Pasion, still dazed, snapped to attention, bowed to Najin, then ran into the mansion.

“B-but what brought this on? Staying at my estate. I mean, I like it, of course, but...”

Dieta asked with a sidelong glance at Najin. It was rare for him to ask for something first. She wanted to test his intent.

“Well.”

Najin rubbed his chin as he answered. To be honest, the current Najin would be treated as an honored guest anywhere, and many places were calling for him. The Emperor himself had offered to prepare a place for him in the imperial palace.

Even so, Najin came to the Arbenia ducal house.

After thinking it over, he said,

“Because it is where I feel most comfortable?”

“What?”

“When I am with you, I feel the most at ease. Stable, I guess, and like I can rest.”

There were probably many reasons he felt that way. Since the Cambria days, whenever things settled down, Najin would go find Dieta, whether to report, ask for help, or for any number of reasons.

And if Najin did not go to her, Dieta came to him. Even when he was bedridden, she was the first to visit.

That did not change much even after Najin crossed into the Outland. Every time he came to the continent, and every time things ended and he decided to rest, he headed to Dieta without much thought.

Closer than just a friend.

He could not call them lovers yet, but even so, the first face that came to mind at times like this was Dieta’s. Najin often felt familiarity and comfort around her.

“H-hk.”

Dieta swallowed hard. Najin had said it casually, but to Dieta, it landed like a critical hit. She covered her mouth and whipped her head away.

‘Is this not basically a confession?’

It was not. It was not a confession.

Still, what did that matter either way. Dieta’s excited eyes spun. Saying, So that is how it is, she stood and held out her hand to Najin.

She said she would personally show him around the estate.

Normally that was the head butler’s role, but none of that mattered. Covering the corners of her twitching mouth with her hand, Dieta started planning in her head. What they would do while living under one roof, and how to make that time count...

Screaming inwardly, Dieta began to walk.

-Stop! Stop! You, you do that one more time and I swear?!

‘Who am I?’

-Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!

By pure coincidence, Merlin was also screaming inside Najin, her face red for an entirely different reason from Dieta’s.

3.

A few days after Najin chose to stay at the Arbenia ducal house, the eyes of the entire Empire turned toward Arbenia. He had rejected countless invitations and come here, so that was only natural.

And in some cases, it did not end with just watching.

Many Transcendents announced their intent to visit the Arbenia ducal house. Dieta had refused most visits so she could enjoy private time with Najin, but even she could not refuse visits from Transcendents.

The first to arrive was Sword Saint Karan.

A Transcendent from the Order of the Sword had come to Arbenia.

“Hey, Najin.”

“Yes. What is it, Master?”

“Right. I am still your master for now, am I not? Ah, wait. Should I use honorifics? Even the Emperor uses honorifics with you now, so maybe I should...”

“We are in private, so what does it matter?”

“Thanks for that.”

Sword Saint Karan rested his chin on his hand.

In the middle of the Arbenia ducal house garden, two Transcendents sat at a table and talked.

“......”

Meanwhile, Arbenia’s knights swallowed hard as they watched the two men. On one side was Lord Karan, Sword Saint and master of the Order of the Sword. On the other was Lord Najin, the Empire’s hero revealed as the one who drew Excalibur.

What were those great Transcendents discussing?

They were dying to know, but they did not dare approach. Surely they were discussing matters of immense importance, something tied to the fate of the world itself. Extremely high-level topics beyond ordinary people like them.

That was how it looked from the outside, too.

Lord Sword Saint Karan was carrying on with an extremely serious expression. They could not hear his voice, but his face alone made the gravity of the topic obvious.

...Of course, that was only what the knights thought.

Najin looked at Karan, seated in front of him.

“Do you remember what I said before?”

“What are you referring to?”

With an extremely grave face, Karan continued, as if nothing in the world was more important than this.

“Excalibur.”

“Yes.”

“Could I hold it just once? I am begging you here.”

“......”

“I can kneel too.”

He was not joking. Najin had to break into a sweat stopping Karan, who was already fumbling to his feet and looked ready to kneel on the spot.

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