WeTried Translations

Translator: ZERO_SUGAR

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◈ I Pulled Out Excalibur

Chapter 281

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Wings of Icarus (1)

There was a Constellation called the Heaven-Flowing Star.

Literally, the name meant a star flowing through the sky, and people also called it the sky’s meteor. When you watched the Heaven-Flowing Star flying on a sky whale, the nickname did feel fitting.

A sky whale, a whale that ate stars, scattered bits of digested starlight every time it moved. Those scraps were not as bright as real stars, but they still glimmered. They streamed from the whale’s tail and traced a path like a meteor crossing the sky.

So, Heaven-Flowing Star.

A star flowing in the sky, a meteor of the heavens.

Most people never questioned that interpretation. But Constellations who had lived in the age when that star first became famous tilted their heads.

Because it was the wrong notation.

Not Heaven-Flowing Star.

It was Heaven-Wandering Star.

Reading it as a sky meteor was wrong. The proper sense was closer to a star at play in the sky, or a star swimming through the sky. Of course, very few still knew that now.

“And one of those rare people is standing right in front of you.”

Merlin gave a little ahem and squared her shoulders.

She explained how to deal with the Heaven-Wandering Star, and the imperial officials and commanders listening in turned pale. Their faces said only one thing.

You want us to do this? Seriously?

Do you think humans get ten lives each? That was the look they wore, but Najin only nodded after hearing the plan.

“It’s doable.”

“It is doable.”

Yuel Razian was the same. It might have looked insane from an ordinary person’s perspective, but from a Transcendent’s perspective, it was a valid strategy. As they kept talking and refined the operation in detail, Merlin suddenly looked at Yuel and asked:

“You there.”

“Me?”

“Yeah.”

Merlin leaned to Yuel’s ear and whispered. Others could not hear her, but Najin could.

“Do you know the name Hermann?”

“Hermann?”

Yuel tilted her head.

“I don’t. It’s my first time hearing it.”

“...I see?”

Merlin muttered, “Then fine.”

When she came back to his side, Najin asked who Hermann was.

“You know, I told you before.”

Merlin whispered to Najin.

“That in my era, there was a lunatic who proposed a theory that you could become a Sword Master just by killing lots of people.”

“Ah, right.”

That was what she had said when he first met Yuel.

“That lunatic’s name was Hermann. I asked in case she knew her, but if she doesn’t, then whatever.”

She said it like it was nothing, but something still seemed to bother her. Najin asked again, yet Merlin gave no answer.

2.

The whole continent moved as one, including the Empire. Countless knights, knight orders, and mercenaries gathered. No one forced them. They came on their own.

A legend that Arthur’s successor would write.

They were people who wanted to carve their own names into a page of that legend. The continent had no shortage of those willing to throw away their lives for honor.

“So you really were Excalibur’s owner.”

First Horn of the Empire, Gerd. Standing atop the First Horn Tower and looking down over the Empire, he spoke.

“You already knew?”

“No. I only guessed. When I first met you, I was suspicious. When you brought news of Master, I had doubts. By the third time, I was almost certain.”

Gerd stroked his beard and hummed.

“After Excalibur was drawn, you rose fast, and in less than two years you came close to Transcendence. It is less that Excalibur gave you that talent, and more that you could draw Excalibur because you already had that talent.”

The old man knew.

Excalibur selected those with talent. It did not grant talent to the one who drew it.

Watching Najin, Gerd remembered the past.

Gerd himself had tried many times to draw Excalibur. Why had he obsessed over it so much? He had not known until now, but after reliving Aldaran’s memories through Najin, he remembered why.

Because his master had challenged Excalibur.

And failed to draw it in the end.

Maybe he had wanted to prove something to his master. I drew the sword you could not draw. The greatest glory a master could have was for a disciple to surpass him, so I will become your glory.

That was what he had thought.

“Master would be pleased.”

The old man smiled at the young man who had shared his master. He still regretted that he had never drawn it himself, but joy outweighed regret. Gerd let out a long breath.

“The Empire’s seven Magic Towers have gathered.”

He pointed to the heart of the imperial capital. The Tower Masters representing each tower were gathering in the square. Each was a great mage, or near that level.

The towers gathered under the Red Tower Master.

Strategic weapons, each capable of burning down a city alone, were assembling one by one.

“The Empire’s knights have assembled as well.”

Gerd moved his finger. Knights were moving along the Empire’s outer lines. They were mobilizing. Not only the knights stationed in the capital, but those spread across every region of the Empire too.

“And the Empire’s pillars have gathered.”

Boom. Gerd struck the ground with his sheathed sword. As a solemn bell rang from the First Horn Tower, three towers, including the First Horn Tower, vibrated as if resonating.

First Horn, Gerd Isabalt.

Eternal Radiance Horn, Cipria Gachevskaya.

Purity Horn, Loren Aresche.

And.

Dawn Horn, Najin.

Four pillars resonated, excluding the one pillar seat still vacant. Stars blazed in the imperial sky. Beneath those shining stars, Gerd spoke.

“The whole continent moves. It has become one and marches toward a single destination. And the one who created this current is you.”

Gerd pointed at Najin.

He looked directly at him. He did not speak in cliches about a great war or the Outland shaking. He compressed all of that into one sentence.

“Are you prepared?”

It was your role to cut down the Carnival King.

We would only open the road.

You were the one who would face the Carnival King.

“If you were not prepared.”

Najin smiled.

“Then I never would have drawn this sword.”

Gerd nodded, as if that was exactly the answer he wanted.

Gerd raised his sword and swung it toward the sky.

Sword aura shot up like fireworks and split the clouds.

That became the signal, and they started moving one by one. To the Outland. To the Outland’s border line. To kill demons, knights, mages, and mercenaries moved as one.

Humanity marched.

As the whole continent trembled under their steps, Najin stood before Gerd.

“Sir Gerd.”

Then he struck his shoulder guard, the battle standard of Aldaran Vasaglia tied to it, with his fist. Gerd laughed out loud at the sight. Then Gerd also struck the emblem of the First Horn of the Empire tied to his shoulder with his fist.

The commander of the Golden Horn Knights.

And the First Horn of the Empire.

They faced each other.

Both had once been names for a single knight, but now they were seats divided between his two disciples. After a brief salute, they each went to their own position.

3.

Forces gathered at the Outland border.

A few Transcendents were among them, but only a few. Most were ordinary people who had not reached Transcendence.

Naturally, in a battle between Transcendents, there was not much ordinary people could do. Everyone knew that. Even so, countless people gathered at the Outland border.

They were not trying to become the protagonists of this war. They were not trying to become heroes here either.

They knew they could not.

They could not carve a path. They could not break through enemies blocking the way. But they could run along the path the heroes opened. Their role was to keep that path from closing again after the Transcendents tore it open.

They were the rear line.

They could move only after the Transcendents in the vanguard opened the way.

Tension hung in the air.

Then the continent’s Transcendents started moving one by one.

Thousand-Sword Star, Karan.

Heaven-Slaying Star, Yuel Razian.

Star of Polar Night, Star Incarnation.

Constellations from the Order of the Sword, the Starblood Sect, and the Starbody Society.

First Horn, Gerd Isabalt.

Eternal Radiance Horn, Cipria Gachevskaya.

Purity Horn, Loren Aresche.

Constellations belonging to the Empire.

Following behind them, the few remaining Transcendents on the continent also stepped forward. And at the very front stood Najin. Najin, who walked furthest ahead, drove the Lance of the Crossed Star into the ground. Boom, and the earth shook.

The vanguard of the vanguard.

Najin stood at the foremost point.

At the border, everyone held their breath, while Najin alone began walking toward the Outland. The moment he crossed the border and stepped inside.

Tap.

With that one step, the blue sky that had stretched over the continent vanished. All that remained was a shattered sky and a pitch-black night horizon stretching to the edge of sight. It was the Outland landscape Najin had grown used to.

And the countless stars embedded in that night sky.

The eyes of countless Transcendents.

The endless starlight those eyes created.

All of it poured onto Najin in one instant. He felt their gaze. The whole world was looking at him. That was not just a figure of speech. Those Transcendents, each carrying a world of their own, were watching Najin.

Silence, ominous enough to shatter at any second.

The stillness before a storm broke.

About ten seconds passed like that.

For ordinary people it was only a moment, but for Transcendents it was a long time. More than enough to make a decision.

Crack.

Without warning, without any omen, the sky tore open. Beyond it, split like the jaws of a giant beast, stars spilled out. One, two, three, dozens, hundreds descended.

For one purpose only.

Kill Arthur’s successor.

Bury that dreadful light.

If this had been on the continent, maybe not. But this was the Outland. Even accepting losses, they descended to kill Najin. Najin realized that the hole in the sky had been opened by the Carnival King.

Stars that hated Arthur.

Fallen stars, stars turned into Forgotten Ones, inverse stars, and witches, along with jesters. So many stars descended all at once. Their light made the dark Outland sky glow like broad daylight.

But not every descending star was Najin’s enemy.

Stars of old heroes, stars indebted to the Round Table, stars still shining for humanity, stars ready to give anything to kill demons, poured down one after another.

The Outland was, in truth, a battlefield of stars.

Standing in a battlefield where dozens, hundreds of Transcendents would descend, Najin raised Excalibur.

A light intense enough to swallow all other light.

Platinum starlight flooded out. That light was about to provoke the Constellations, draw them in, and heat the battlefield.

Then.

Flinch.

Every star froze at once. The stars that were about to descend suddenly looked behind themselves.

...

A sound came. At first faint, then clearer by the second. Beyond the torn sky, a beast was crying.

Booooooo...

A bizarre cry. Rather than an animal’s howl, it sounded more like nature itself, like vibrating water. It echoed across the battlefield. The stars trying to descend paused and fell silent.

They all knew.

It was coming.

Boooooooooooooo...

It was coming, that mad star.

RUMBLE!

Noise overlapped. Resonance layered over resonance. A vibration beyond written words swept through the battlefield. Then something with enormous mass appeared beyond the torn sky.

The oldest whale.

Mother of all whales.

A whale larger than the imperial capital revealed itself beyond the broken sky. Then it leapt upward again. As if the night sky had become the sea, it began swimming through the heavens.

To the whale, the sky was one sea.

For the Heaven-Wandering Star, the star that swam through the sky, the sky was its playground and an endless open ocean. An infinite sea where one could sail forever.

The Heaven-Wandering Star’s star shone.

He unfolded his stage.

【Did you say there was no more sea left to swim, friend!】

【Is it not up there in the sky?】

【By day it is a Blue Sea bluer than anything, and by night a Dark Sea dyed black!】

【Come, to the sky!】

The sky heaved. Each time the whale swam, the night sky shook and rolled like waves. Stars swept by those waves were swallowed silently by the Dark Sea.

The night sky turned into the Heaven-Wandering Star’s stage.

...He might have fallen now, but the Heaven-Wandering Star had once held ten stars.

The moment he spread his stage, Najin understood. Back when they were heading to La Mancha, the Heaven-Wandering Star they met had chased them while treating it all as play.

And now?

It was different.

The Heaven-Wandering Star had not appeared here for fun, nor to gulp down prey.

「The Heaven-Wandering Star admired Arthur.」

「Heaven-Wandering Star, Icarus, was originally an adventurer who wanted to become someone like Arthur. An explorer too.」

「He loved the adventure stories Arthur told him.」

「He wished he could have adventures like Arthur’s too.」

A being who became a Transcendent more than nine hundred years ago, and the greatest navigator who moved hundreds of thousands of whales into the sky.

「Even after forgetting himself.」

「He still wants to reach Arthur’s star.」

「Because that was Icarus’s very first wish.」

The Heaven-Wandering Star, Icarus, was drawn to the starlight Excalibur produced. That unfortunate star, who wanted to reach Arthur but never could and fell instead, was still dreaming.

No longer hundreds of thousands, now millions of whales.

Whales enlarged several times over by the stage all plunged toward Najin at once.

To reach the star.

To reach Arthur, whom they never reached.

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