WeTried Translations

Translator: ZERO_SUGAR

Editor: ZERO_SUGAR

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

Chapter 497: Interlude, One Step Forward (5)

──────

White Spear, Bedivere.

The last knight left at the Round Table.

"I am late, my king."

He emerged through the cloud of dust thrown up by his descent. He looked the same as always, but his breathing was rough, and sweat ran down his forehead.

It could only mean one thing.

For the body of a Transcendent, who had perfect control over their own flesh, to be in such disarray, he must have run an immense distance without even a moment to rest.

"I should have joined you sooner."

Bedivere pointed to his leg.

Blood seeped through the leg that had only been hastily wrapped in bandages. As Najin blinked, Bedivere gave a bitter smile, as though ashamed.

"Shamefully, the wound slowed my steps. Merlin, could I ask you to treat it?"

"Why is your leg...?"

"For all that I've been called the most loyal knight of the last thousand years, I couldn't let the Witch's scheme turn my spear against my king."

Wiping the cold sweat from his brow, he continued.

"Just before the Witch took control of me, I stabbed my own leg and pinned it to the Round Table. I could not become an obstacle when I should have been helping you."

So that was why Bedivere had not been on that battlefield. Najin had never imagined he would resist the Witch's scheme in such a way. Looking at Bedivere's worsened wound, Najin let out a quiet sigh.

"That is why I was a little late..."

"No, you came exactly when I needed you."

Najin shook his head.

"As you can see, I'm in a difficult situation."

He pointed ahead.

Thorn trees filled the way before them. Drinking in the falling rain, they grew taller and sharper. They had become a wall of thorns blocking Najin's path.

Najin had broken the trees growing around him, but countless others still stood before him.

"I see."

Bedivere nodded.

"Beyond those thorn trees, that massive tower must be where you need to go."

Pointing to the enormous tower formed from all the other towers tangled together, a tower rising to the sky, Bedivere steadied his breathing. Then he stepped ahead of Najin.

"My king."

He looked back at Najin.

"I will open the way. Even if this body crumbles apart, I will make a place for you to set your feet."

A Knight of the Round Table looked upon the master of the Round Table.

"Preserve your strength. Forgive my boldness, but this is not your battlefield."

Najin looked into Bedivere's eyes.

They were filled with resolve.

The kind knight who had always welcomed Najin with a warm smile, Sir Bedivere, was not here. The one standing before him was the last knight of the Round Table, a knight who had carried regret for a thousand years.

"Please, give me this chance."

Bedivere said.

"The honor of opening the way for my king."

Give him the chance to do what he could not do that day. Give him the chance to repent for the disloyalty of being called the most loyal knight, yet failing to stand beside his king on the final battlefield.

"I cannot make the same mistake twice."

Their eyes met.

Najin saw the resolve filling them.

"......"

Then there was no need for more words.

"Bedivere."

"Yes, my king."

"Open the way."

As if he had been waiting only for those words, Bedivere raised his foot.

He stamped down.

Boom!

The ground caved in beneath him as Bedivere gripped his spear shaft. He had only one arm, but no one considered that arm a weakness.

Bedivere of the One Arm.

A man who had defeated countless powerful enemies with that single arm, a man who could wield the strength of hundreds with one arm alone. Once, he had lived drunk on that power, but after meeting King Arthur, he had lived a life worthy of the name knight.

"Bedivere, Knight of the Round Table."

The oldest knight of the Round Table.

The last knight who had witnessed King Arthur's end.

"I accept your command."

The knight who had endured for a thousand years for this day kicked off the ground. Gripping his spear shaft, he charged toward the surging thorn trees and the raining spells.

Kwwwaaaaaang!

Each time he swung the spear shaft with brutal force, explosions shook the ground. As though he would not allow anything to reach his king, he swung his spear with all his strength.

The earth burst apart. Dust rose into the air.

The force created by Bedivere's immense strength and the weight of the White Spear, said to be too heavy for even a hundred knights to lift, was astonishing even to Najin.

'But...'

Najin knew Bedivere could not open the way alone. Bedivere was strong, but he was not stronger than Najin. Even Najin, fighting alongside Merlin, had not been able to break through properly. Bedivere could not do it by himself.

Leaving the front to him, Najin gripped his sword to cut down the raindrops and thorn trees pouring in from every direction.

Bedivere knew it too. No matter how firmly he steeled himself, he could not overcome this obstacle alone. He understood better than anyone that resolve alone could not make everything work out.

"I told you."

Even so, he shook his head.

"There is no need, my king."

Bedivere knew that though he had arrived here before the others, he was not the only one who would help his king.

"I am not the only one opening the way."

And then.

"Waaaaaaaaaah!"

A roar erupted.

Not from ahead of them, but from behind.

2.

The Dawning Star rose in the sky that had held only the Blight Star.

The sky was still covered in dark crimson. The Witch was still stirring people up and turning them against one another. But her influence was no longer as strong as before.

The Blight Star was no longer the only star in the sky.

Her influence had weakened, if only a little.

A crack had opened, however slight.

The Warden of the Sealed City did not miss the weakness God had revealed. She had experience breaking through a place much like this.

"Will you live as beasts?"

She awakened the frozen Stars.

"Or will you die as humans?"

Walking through the land lit by the Dawning Star, she spoke. Remembering her days ruling the city as the Warden of the Sealed City, remembering how she had demanded that the people of her city die as people, she continued.

"It is always a difficult question. Survival matters. There are plenty of people who say that even if they must crawl through shit, life is still better. I do not deny their way of thinking. Once you die, that is the end..."

But she smiled.

"But aren't you heroes?"

At the very least, had they not once been heroes?

"Heroes are not people who choose how to survive. They are people who must choose how to die. They are moths that willingly fly into hell for a great cause."

That was how they had lived.

"You are standing here now because you were people who threw away even your lives for your convictions. So let me ask you, is this truly your conviction? Holding spears and blades at others' throats, demanding that they sacrifice themselves?"

She threw out a small spark.

"Will you survive, even if it is ugly?"

She touched a flame to their kindling.

"Or will you meet the most glorious death?"

What will you choose?

* * *

The Dawning Star rose over the Empire's sky as well.

At the highest point of the Empire.

The Emperor, who had been seated upon his throne and looking up at the sky, slowly rose. As he walked, he looked back on his life. He was an ordinary man, yet he sat at the highest place in the Empire.

'Eldwin, what are you?'

The Emperor asked himself.

You have no Star. You have no will as strong as the knights'. You have no exceptional skill, no shining talent. Yet he sat above all, above every living thing.

'Why?'

The answer was simple.

'Because you are a Pendragon.'

Long ago, King Arthur had bestowed the name Pendragon upon the squire who followed her. She had left them with these words.

When I am gone, remain in Britain and protect the Empire.

Those who inherited the name Pendragon according to her command protected the Empire, and helped it flourish.

Countless predecessors had done the same.

They had done their best so they would not be ashamed when their king returned one day.

"......"

Walking through the corridor lined with portraits of emperors past, Eldwin could not help but laugh. He headed for the balcony overlooking the Empire.

"Eldwin Pendragon."

He stopped after quietly repeating his own name.

Before he was an emperor, he was a Pendragon.

What choice should one who inherited the name of a great hero make? He did not know the answer. But he knew, at least, what the wrong answer was.

The shame he had felt while walking through that corridor of portraits told Eldwin plainly.

Your choice is wrong.

'Live in a way that does not shame the name Pendragon.'

Remembering his predecessors' final words, he fell silent.

"I see."

He stretched out his hand. The officials following him obeyed the Emperor's command. It did not take long for amplification magic that could carry across the entire Empire to be completed.

"Knights of the Empire."

The Emperor's voice rang through the imperial palace.

"Soldiers of the Empire."

Beyond the palace, beyond the training grounds.

"All people who live beneath the stars, listen."

The Emperor's voice echoed across the Empire.

As he began his speech, the Emperor looked up at the sky.

King Arthur's Star could no longer be seen.

But a new Star had taken its place.

* * *

The Dawning Star shone over the Continent.

At first, it had only glimmered faintly beside the Blight Star. But as time passed, its light grew brighter and brighter.

Countless people were looking at that Star and making wishes.

The Emperor's speech was short and direct.

He told them that instead of looking at the Blight Star and praying for the end, they should look at the Dawning Star and pray for the night to end. He stirred all people by reminding them that they all lived on land left behind by heroes.

A spark that began somewhere started to grow.

The spark became a blaze.

The Emperor's speech spread everywhere. A merchant's distribution network, which connected the far reaches of the Empire, was now used to carry the Emperor's voice. The fire that had begun in the imperial capital started spreading across the entire Continent.

"Do you know where Dawn Horn was born and raised?"

Others added new fuel to that fire.

Like the marquis of a certain domain.

"You do know. You cannot say that you do not. Lately, so many people have been talking about Dawn Horn's birth!"

The lord of Trebache.

"Your words are correct. Dawn Horn was born and raised in the Underground City, just as you say."

Marquis Adelmar raised his voice.

"Artman, the Underground City. A city filled with the filth that those of us living above threw away. Dawn Horn was born and raised in that place full of discarded things. He spent eighteen years there. In a land where he could not even see the stars!"

He gave a hollow laugh.

"Can you even imagine it? He did not know what stars looked like. He did not even know the light of the sun. He did not know what color the sky was. Even after pulling out Excalibur, Dawn Horn had to live on the run for a time. He was exposed to human malice again and again."

That was the situation. That was the environment he had grown up in.

"It would not have been strange for him to become disillusioned with people. It would not have been strange for him to curse humanity. But what did Dawn Horn do?"

He saved people. He learned honor and called for pride. Remembering the boy who had once come to see him, the boy from before Najin became Dawn Horn, the marquis spoke.

"He fought for humanity."

He stopped Mordred. He defeated the Carnival King. He prevented a war that had nearly broken out across the Continent. Again and again, he saved humanity, bleeding so people could greet a peaceful tomorrow.

"Even now, he is fighting and bleeding."

One person was struggling to save humanity.

"Even though we condemn him, even though we make him lose faith in us, even though we heap unbearable insults upon him, he has not abandoned humanity. Even now, he is fighting that terrible Witch!"

With the veins in his neck standing out, he shouted.

"How long do you intend to remain spectators? No, even spectators are better than us. At least they do not throw stones at actors giving their all on the stage! If you mean to remain spectators, then at least applaud!"

Pointing at the sky, the marquis spoke.

Pray.

If they could not help the Dawning Star against that terrible Witch, then they should at least applaud. Though the Blight Star's light made him bleed, the marquis clapped with his own hands.

Pray to the Dawning Star.

Pray that this long night would end, and morning would come.

3.

Hearing the echoing cheers, Najin unconsciously turned around.

"...Ah."

At first, he doubted his eyes. Then he doubted his ears.

Finally, Najin burst out laughing.

"Really."

An interlude was not a stage only for the protagonist. An interlude was a brief gap between acts. During that short time, actors prepared for what came next, and cheered on or aided the lead who would take the next stage.

So an interlude was.

No, an interlude was the stage for all.

Glitter.

Stars appeared one after another, piercing through the deep darkness that blocked the path to the Abyss.

'How?'

How had they passed through the labyrinth that even he, with Merlin at his side, had barely made it through? Najin wondered for a moment, but the answer was simple.

Because Najin's footprints were there.

The footprints Najin had left in the darkness remained. Those following only had to walk in the footsteps of the one who had gone ahead. Following the footprints Najin had left behind, the Stars gathered.

One became two. Two became ten. Ten became dozens.

Countless Stars appeared one after another.

All people had gathered.

Not by God's will, but by their own.

Author's Note

I'm a little late!

Footnotes:

Join our discord at https://dsc.gg/wetried