WeTried Translations

Translator: ZERO_SUGAR

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◈ I Pulled Out Excalibur

Chapter 294

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The Road to the Grave (5)

A constellation with many stars diversifies itself.

It keeps the core that makes up its being, the essence worthy of being called its root, then stretches its branches high into the sky. The growth of a Transcendent is like the growth of a single tree.

Here stood a demon of merriment.

Her essence was merriment. Her starting point was merriment, and over long years she kept expanding that word. What is merriment? Joy. What is joy? Laughter. Laughter has many forms, and among them, the Carnival King chose mockery.

Mockery, ridicule, pleasure, delight, ecstasy.

Where does ridicule ring the loudest? In absurd clown plays. Merriment and clown are closely linked. People who live their whole lives through laughter. People who live to be laughed at by someone else. Are those not clowns?

Clowns, masks, scorn, comedy, fables.

From there, one more step.

Stage, dream, lies, hallucination, actor, performance...

The Carnival King kept widening herself without end. The tree called merriment had become a giant and rooted itself in the earth. Every kind of concept hung from branches spread wide enough to cover the sky.

Where it started and where it ended.

How far it reached, and how it kept extending.

No one could know any of it.

That was the essence of the constellation called the Carnival King.

"A horrifying Authority."

Back to back with Najin, Kirchhoff spoke.

"The first contact is trivial. It starts with a slight blur at the edge of your vision. A blur that vanishes with one blink. From that blur, the Carnival King's Authority starts to invade."

If she planted a strong suggestion from the start, it would break. If a person were a bucket, her Authority was like dissolving dye into that bucket. If she poured in a vivid color, enough to stain the whole bucket at once, would they not notice?

Of course, ordinary people could notice and still be unable to change anything.

But Transcendents, especially powerful ones, could tip the bucket over and refill it with fresh water at once. Or purify the water itself.

"Something trivial at first."

So the Carnival King used another method.

"From the edges, slowly, very slowly, it stains you. It swallows you at a crawl. Throw a frog into boiling water and it leaps out at once, but raise the temperature slowly and the frog dies without even noticing it's being boiled."

It gnawed from the edges. It widened its zone of influence. It did not matter if they sensed something strange. If they were consumed slowly, very slowly, even discomfort became familiarity.

"That was what happened to Londinel."

Still back to back, they swung their swords. As he swung, Kirchhoff spoke. A bitter smile touched his face. The Authority of Forgetting cast over his mind was not perfect.

Led by Azure Spear, Crimson Spear, and Golden Spear.

The wishes of every citizen of Londinel dwelled in Kirchhoff. It was impossible to completely erase the memories of a being like a walking nation. Clear cracks remained, and whenever he saw scenes similar to the past, he felt the fog in his mind thinning.

They were coming back. His memories.

Because those memories remained, Kirchhoff had been able to break free of the Carnival King's Authority. Of course, that was also thanks to the young man at his back, who had opened a gap for him.

"It started with beggars in alleyways. With drifters. Then slaves. Then market merchants, and from there, commoners."

Kirchhoff spoke as he recalled the past.

"When I came to my senses..."

He looked ahead.

"Everything around me was dyed with paint."

"Like now?"

"Yes. Seems she got stronger than back then. I had already been hit by this Authority once, yet it still took me a long time to break free."

Kirchhoff gave a bitter smile, as if ashamed.

From his perspective, Najin was the unbelievable one.

Even while the Carnival King spread an Authority vast enough to swallow an entire nation, and focused her full strength on a single human named Najin, Najin was holding on.

'So this is the kind of man who pulls Excalibur.'

Kirchhoff took a breath.

"It will be here."

"..."

Najin did not ask what.

Kirchhoff swung his sword and said,

"Even the Carnival King cannot project this much power without revealing her True Body. Somewhere in this place, one of her apostles is here."

A being that could activate the Stars' Graveyard at once.

A being that could wield the Carnival King's Authority.

A being that could stand on top of that paint with complete certainty in itself.

"Star of Scorn."

Najin said it under his breath. Kirchhoff nodded. There was, of course, a chance the Carnival King's True Body had descended here herself, but if that were the case, this would not have ended at this level.

More than anything...

Kirchhoff's eyes turned toward Merlin, who hovered beside Najin. The Carnival King was afraid of that Archmage.

"The Carnival King will not descend here."

As if she had sensed Kirchhoff's gaze, Merlin nodded.

"Because she thinks if she moves rashly, she might have to fight my True Body. What that demon truly fears is me beyond you."

Najin nodded. That was a last resort, yes. But from the Carnival King's position as she faced Najin, she had no choice but to account for that last resort.

The moment she tried to kill Najin.

Merlin would appear there without fail.

No matter how strong the Carnival King was, she had no odds of victory if she fought Merlin outside her own domain. She knew that.

"That is why she stays inside her domain."

Najin remembered something Merlin had once said.

If the Carnival King came outside her Starfield, Merlin would win all ten times out of ten. But if the Carnival King fought on her own stage, Merlin might lose once or twice out of ten.

"She probably thinks that only if she fights inside her own Starfield can she still handle the worst-case outcome."

Merlin snorted.

But she knew as well.

"..."

That was when the Carnival King had ten stars. Now, the Carnival King had the same eleven stars as Merlin. She had her own Starfield where she had gathered stars over hundreds of years.

Still, that was not the problem to think about now.

First, they had to smash this stage.

"Then first, let's clear these..."

"No. No need."

Just as Najin was about to say they should wipe out the surging paint and the clowns rising from it together, Kirchhoff cut him off. He pulled away from Najin's back and stepped forward.

It was forward for him.

But backward for Najin.

Stepping back once, Kirchhoff said,

"In the end, unless we bring down the star at the center of this stage, the stage will keep going. It will force a war of attrition. If it comes to that, the Carnival King wins."

That could not happen.

It could never happen.

"I'll open the path."

Kirchhoff raised his star.

"I will show a road to those buried in this grave. You find the Star of Scorn and bring it down. And..."

Kirchhoff gave Najin's back a light push.

Najin turned around. Kirchhoff smiled at him.

"Be the lighthouse, Star of Dawn."

The Star of Dawn.

The star that lights the dark.

"Tell them the long night has ended. Tell them it's time to wake from this vicious nightmare. Tell them dawn has come."

Tell the stars wandering in the nightmare of the Stars' Graveyard that morning had arrived. Shouting that, Kirchhoff raised his sword. A deep blue sword aura rippled like flower petals scattering in the wind.

"The one who opens that road is me."

Kirchhoff shouted.

"Kirchhoff, last knight of Londinel."

The Star of Culmination shone.

2.

Najin nodded and dashed forward. At the same moment, Kirchhoff moved backward toward the wave rushing at Najin. Their paths went opposite ways, but their goal was the same.

Kirchhoff raised his sword and smiled bitterly.

His memories were returning.

The things he had forgotten were beginning to surface.

"Ah..."

Not everything came back. Until he defeated the constellation of Forgetting, he could not recover all his memories. Even so, there were things he could recall.

The scene from the day Londinel fell.

That day, he had run through Londinel dyed in paint. Kirchhoff lied often and was full of bluster, always puffing himself up, but even for him there had been one person he could never lie to.

The liege who took him in.

Yuria, the last monarch of Londinel.

The benefactor who took him, no more than a drifter who had only pretended to be a knight, and made him a real knight. His liege, who gave truth to a life that had been nothing but lies. Even at the moment the nation collapsed, Kirchhoff broke through the paint and raced to the top of the royal castle to protect her.

"You came, Sir Kirchhoff?"

She was smiling at the top of the castle.

It was the same smile as always.

Yet it was a smile he could not accept as always.

Grit.

In front of that smile, Kirchhoff ground his teeth and explained the situation. They could not stop it anymore. She had to evacuate. He would help her. He would save her even if it cost his life. He remembered spilling out words like that.

And his liege had only smiled.

Kirchhoff knew too. His liege had already made her choice. She had ascended to the throne at a young age, and in the final moment, she chose.

"Sir Kirchhoff."

"Yes, Your Majesty."

"I have one request for you."

"Please command me."

"It is not a command, but a request. You may refuse. Will you take responsibility for Londinel's end?"

It was a heavy burden. He would have to live with it for a long time, and he did not even know whether the day would ever come when he could set it down. That was why it was a request.

"You keep calling yourself a false knight, a knight full of empty bluster."

She smiled.

"No. Your bluster is not for lifting yourself up, it is so your comrades do not tremble in fear. Your lies are not for deceiving others, they are for deceiving yourself."

Shouting that even the impossible was possible.

Smiling as if saying he could do it.

She had watched Kirchhoff run at the enemy with full confidence, and now she tilted her head toward him. Her hair slipped down, revealing her eyes.

Her whole body trembled with fear.

Her lips shook.

Even so, for her knight, she accepted her life as monarch until the very end with unwavering dignity.

"My beloved knight, Kirchhoff."

"Yes, Your Majesty."

"You are Londinel now. So live a life worthy of that. As Londinel's knights always did, you too must wield your sword for humanity."

"I will."

"And... if possible, do it in style. Make it splendid. So the bards can sing of it."

She said that, then tapped his heart.

Kirchhoff remembered the touch of his liege's hand. As he remembered, he opened his eyes.

What rang in his ears was his liege's voice.

As if answering that voice, Kirchhoff smiled bitterly.

"...How could I possibly refuse?"

The voice of his liege he had forgotten, and the voice of his teacher Azure Spear that he had forgotten, echoed in his ears. Before he knew it, the Azure Spear was in his hand.

The Azure Spear that only the noblest knight of Londinel could hold.

He had received that spear from Najin, but he could not bring himself to hold it. He had believed he was unqualified. How could a knight who failed to protect his nation deserve to wield the Azure Spear?

But not now.

"Lift your head."

"Straighten your shoulders."

"Are you not already a knight, Kirchhoff?"

The voice of Azure Spear echoed. Kirchhoff swung his sword hard and hurled it high into the sky. While the thrown sword spun in the air, Kirchhoff gripped the spear.

Now he could remember.

The spear art he had learned from that person.

"I am."

Boom, Kirchhoff struck the ground. Staring at the surging paint, waves, clowns, and the Carnival King's Forgotten Ones, Kirchhoff smiled.

A knight had to be stylish.

"I am Kirchhoff, last knight of Londinel."

He swung the spear. Petals bloomed at the tip of the Azure Spear.

"As long as I still breathe, Londinel's history will not end. Londinel exists here, in this very place."

A star dwelled in every petal. The stars that formed the Star of Culmination scattered, spread through the petals, and surged in every direction.

Londinel's national flower fluttered across the battlefield.

As he swung his spear, Kirchhoff remembered. Azure Spear had always said this. Even if we met miserable deaths and left no proper stories behind, we could all become stepping stones for someone. The value of our lives would be decided by future generations.

Kirchhoff looked on.

There was a young man moving forward without stopping. Watching Najin's back, Kirchhoff willingly offered himself as that stepping stone.

"Come, Carnival King."

Dozens, hundreds, thousands, tens of thousands of clowns surged up from the paint. Sensing that things were going wrong, the Carnival King had started committing her army.

Stabbed by them, cut by them, broken by them, Kirchhoff still did not lose his smile.

Wearing a stylish smile, he struck the ground. Petals burst out in even greater splendor. Those full-bloom petals settled over the paint-stained Stars' Graveyard. They were flowers offered to a grave, and they were also a flower offering.

Fully bloomed blue flowers.

Blue flowers that would become signposts for those wandering in the Star's Tomb. Kirchhoff gathered those flowers together. Following the wind raised by his spear, everything in the area was drawn toward him.

Azure Hydrangea.

The technique Azure Spear had left behind.

As petals scattered thickly, Kirchhoff pulled in demons, the Forgotten Ones, and clowns, then let go of the spear. He grabbed his sword, now falling from the sky.

"To show you."

Kirchhoff swung his sword.

"That things are different from three hundred years ago. That you did not defeat Londinel."

A deep blue sword aura swept across the battlefield.

The Star of Culmination dyed the battlefield in blue.

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