WeTried Translations

Translator: ZERO_SUGAR

Editor: ZERO_SUGAR

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Chapter 499: Interlude, One Step Forward (7)

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Countless Stars opened the way.

Heroes who had fallen in the past rose again and shattered the Wall, while the army of the Conqueror King, who had challenged the Witch ten thousand years ago, cleared the path. It was a road built by all people.

Opening it, breaking it, clearing it.

At the end of that straight road, a Knight of the Round Table bent his knee. He willingly became a stepping stone for his king. The most loyal knight cried out with a smile.

"Go, Your Majesty."

Najin stepped onto Bedivere's spear shaft. The instant Bedivere swung it, Najin's body soared into the air. In a moment, every part of the landscape grew distant. The Stars' cheers, the heat they gave off, the clash of weapons, and the explosions all faded away from Najin at once.

Whoosh!

Flying swiftly toward the tower, Najin looked down at the ground. He saw Stars shining not in the sky, but on the earth. He saw Stars willingly throwing away their lives for him.

-Go!

-Stop them! Even if you have to throw yourselves in the way!

-Dawning Star is reaching the tower! We're almost there!

-Grind your teeth and hold onnnnnn!

He heard their cries.

-Please.

-We'll leave the rear to you.

-Please, we beg you.

-This is as far as we can help.

-So please.

He heard their prayers, prayers reaching him even from places far beyond this battlefield.

-Save the world.

-Let us see the Stars.

-Let us see the sun again.

He listened to their wishes. Some wishes could reach even the Stars in the night sky. Just as Najin's voice had reached Merlin in the past, the wishes of all people reached Najin.

"......"

The tower drew near. Najin twisted his body in midair and landed on its wall. With his feet dug into the wall of the colossal tower stretching straight up to the sky, the only path to the Witch, Najin let out a long breath.

Tsssss.

Platinum particles burst from Najin's body. They looked like fireworks exploding. Steam rose from him as his muscles tensed. Lowering his stance, Najin steadied his breathing one last time.

Then, boom.

He kicked off the tower wall and ran. Intending to climb the tower's vertical wall by running straight up it, Najin sprinted with all his strength. His speed increased with every step. At some point, he could no longer hear the wind rushing past his ears.

Run.

Looking only ahead, Najin ran. Thorn Trees suddenly shot out before him. Spiked walls formed as parts of the tower jutted out, and vines tried to block his path, but Najin did not slow down in the slightest.

Horn Charge.

First Horn, Triumph.

A storm launched from the ground below shattered the wall. A single slash cut down every Thorn Tree. Leaping over the scattered debris, Najin kept running.

Accelerating, his speed increased with every step.

As he ran along the tower wall, Najin remembered.

He remembered his beginning, those days of pursuit through the Underground City. Thinking back, it had been much like this. The moment he pulled out Excalibur, his hardship had begun.

I was chased by the Order's covert agents.

While being pursued by the covert agents, Najin had repeatedly fled and ambushed them by running along walls. He had probably spent more time running on walls in those few days than he had in the rest of his life combined. Remembering that day, Najin picked up speed.

Countless obstacles blocked his path.

Covert agents, soldiers, and holy knights descended from above, declaring that this was where Najin would meet his end. They had done everything they could to keep him from escaping the Underground City. They had forced him to die underground in darkness, never seeing the Stars.

That won't happen.

So Najin ran. He ran along the walls, dodged the covert agents' attacks, survived, and all the while searched for a way to reach the surface.

「Tch. They say raising a disciple is useless, and you start by doubting me.」

「Come out. I don't intend to kill you.」

Still, it would have been impossible alone.

「From now on, you'd better move without leaving footprints. Pursuers will be on you soon.」

「What do you think? Can't you see I'm helping you escape?」

Offen had thrown Najin a bag filled with the tools he needed, told him what was happening, and showed him the only way out of the Underground City. Because Offen had been there, Najin had learned how to escape the city.

「Tell that brat this.」

「I won't repair it if he breaks it this time, so tell him to use it carefully.」

Because he had the sword forged by old Hogel, Najin had been able to deal with the covert agents without being discovered. Without using Excalibur, he had been able to reach his destination.

「......」

And then.

「That damned brat.」

Ivan.

「Listen. You know I hate repeating myself.」

「Cross the line, Najin.」

「Reach for what you cannot touch. Anyone who mutters that you should know your place, drive a fist into their face. How far you can go is something only you know.」

Because Ivan had bought him time, Najin had escaped the Underground City and reached the surface. Remembering Ivan, Najin let out a laugh without meaning to.

Yes, thinking about it, that was right.

Najin had always received help from countless people. Merlin had helped him, Dieta had helped him in Cambria, and in the Outland, he had received help from countless Constellations, including the Helmeted Knight.

It's the same now.

He could not see them, but he could hear them. Even now, he heard the voices of Stars burning themselves away for him.

They were opening the way for Najin.

Because of them, Najin could keep running without stopping.

Tap.

At some point as he climbed and climbed the tower, Najin finally saw the black barrier covering the sky. The path continued beyond that barrier. To reach the sky, he first had to cut apart the barrier that divided heaven and earth.

There was no need to ask how.

Najin already knew the way. Running up the tower without slowing down, he drew his sword back. Excalibur's twelfth Star rang out loudly.

He had climbed upward from the earth, so it was Reverse.

He had reached the sky, so it was Heaven.

Najin swung his sword toward the sky. A single streak of Sword Aura tore the barrier apart. Najin threw himself toward the path revealed as darkness split open.

2.

He felt as if he were passing through clouds.

It was like passing through a transparent film wrapped around the world and stepping into a different world of Stars, stripped of one more layer. Najin slowly stepped forward.

Splash.

The sound of water rippling reached him.

What awaited Najin after he broke through the black barrier and rose into the sky was a dark sea of night stretching to the distant horizon. People often compared the night sky to a Dark Sea. It was an accurate comparison.

"Merlin."

"Yeah, I'm here."

Merlin, who had risen into the sky after Najin, immediately stood beside him. The darkness was so deep that he could not see even an inch ahead. In that endless darkness, the sound of rippling water came again.

Splash.

Ripples spread from far away.

Splash.

Then, light appeared in the darkness. It was not the kind of light people imagined when they heard the word. It was a bright red, ominous glow, like the eyes of a beast encountered in the dark, floating in the air.

Blink.

The eyes submerged in darkness opened. Bright red eyes stared at Najin. It reminded him of the first time he had met the Witch.

"It would have been better if you had fallen on the ground."

A voice.

"And yet you climbed into the sky."

The owner of this space emerged from the darkness. The woman's eyes were red as she walked out draped in shadow. Each time she stepped forward, the night sea trembled lightly like a living creature. The red energy spreading from each footprint looked almost like veins.

Morgan le Fay, the Witch of the Abyss.

The being who had sat upon the Sky Throne and become a god tens of thousands of years ago stopped walking and quietly looked at Najin.

"Since you've come this far, I suppose there is no helping it."

The Witch shrugged. Until he had climbed into the sky, she had driven Najin relentlessly without giving him even a moment to breathe, pushing him away so he could not approach her. Yet now that he had come this far, she seemed to have no reason to rush. She did not attack Najin right away.

She did not cast magic or prepare a trap.

She simply raised a finger. The tip of that finger pointed at Najin. Pointing at him, the Witch slowly opened her mouth.

"I still have not heard your answer."

She tilted her head.

"When I met you, when I prepared a stage for you, did I not ask you? Why do you try to save people? Why do you want to become a hero? Is this world worth it? That is what I asked you."

The Witch had certainly asked him that.

"And you did not answer. You gave an answer of your own, but while it may have been an answer for living your life, it was not an answer to my question. Is that not so?"

Najin had reached this place by using his origin as a guidepost. The Witch asked him again. She understood his driving force, but she still had not heard the answer to her question.

"......"

Najin looked straight at the Witch.

This was not a trap.

No device had been prepared. This answer would not change the result or course of the battle, and it would not affect the fight ahead in the slightest. That was why this question was a pure curiosity.

The Witch was asking Najin.

Why did he save people? Why did he want to become a hero? Why would a human as remarkable as him devote his whole body and sacrifice himself for people?

The question was not directed at Najin alone.

The Witch had asked King Arthur, and the heroes who had come before King Arthur.

She had asked countless people who had devoted themselves to humanity. Were beings like that truly worth saving?

"You asked why I want to become a hero?"

"That is what I asked."

"You asked why I want to save people."

"Yes."

The Witch nodded.

Najin smiled without meaning to.

"Why are you smiling?"

"For a question asked by the Witch of the Abyss herself, I thought it was remarkably simple."

"The simplest things are often the hardest. Is that not true of all things in this world? You too wandered for a long time because you could not answer such a simple question."

The Witch shrugged, and Najin nodded.

It was true. Back then, Najin had not been able to answer.

Why do you want to become a hero?

In other words, why did he want to save people?

Najin asked himself.

Unlike in the past, he could now find an answer to that question.

At first...

At first, it was because heroes had seemed cool. Living in the Underground City, Najin had vaguely admired heroes. He had wanted the Stars said to shine in the sky. At first, that must have been his reason.

If someone had asked him back then, "A hero is someone who saves people. Do you want to save people?" he would have raised his middle finger and told them to screw off.

Because he had not liked people much.

He had lived while seeing filthy things. The people of the Underground City were mostly faithful to their desires. For their own benefit, they would betray others, stab them with blades, and sometimes commit acts no human should ever commit without hesitation.

Because he had thought they were filthy.

Including himself, Najin had thought humans were filthy. That was why he had admired the Stars. The Stars shone. Unlike ugly, pathetic humans, they looked radiant. That must have been his starting point.

But Najin had seen them.

Humans who shone.

Ivan and Offen had been the beginning. After that, Najin had seen more people who shone. He had seen the knight who endured while dying after losing to the Demon Knight, all for the pursuers who would come after him. He had seen the knight who willingly bent his knee for his lord.

They do not always shine.

They are fickle. They go back on their word. Sometimes, they betray others for profit. They make mistakes. They can become ugly. There are more filthy people than radiant ones.

Even so, at certain moments, they shine.

They can make noble choices. A person who had lived filthily can repent at the final moment and throw themselves forward. If humans could become as filthy as they wished, then humans could also shine as brightly as they wished.

They are foolish, and that foolishness makes them beautiful.

"It is a simple story."

Najin smiled. He finally knew the answer.

"There is no grand reason. There does not need to be one."

There was no grand reason to save people.

"People in this world are not especially beautiful. They can become filthy, and they can become ugly. But that is why the ones who shine stand out. Sometimes they shine so brightly that they blind those who look at them."

The times Najin had risked himself for someone on the Continent, bled for someone in the Outland, and fought with his life on the line in the Abyss could all be explained by one reason.

"I thought people like that were beautiful."

"Beautiful?"

"Yes. Perhaps not to you, but to me, and to the eyes of most heroes, they must have looked beautiful."

Najin thought they were beautiful.

He had not wanted their lives to be trampled upon.

"To cherish what you find beautiful, and to go further and try to protect it..."

Najin smiled.

"That is human nature."

That was human nature itself.

That was why he had fought demons, fought those in power, fought clowns, stood against the Carnival King, defeated the Heralds of Destruction, and finally challenged the Witch.

"So I will cut you down, Morgan le Fay."

That was reason enough to challenge a god.

Footnotes:

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