WeTried Translations

Translator: Coughing Baby

Editor: Coughing Baby

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

Chapter 124: You Have No Tact

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"That took a while."

After a long conversation with Orban, Kyle stepped out of the hospital room and heard Helenas's indifferent voice.

They had spoken for a little over an hour. Helenas was exactly as she had been before the door closed, even standing in the same spot after taking a few steps back.

"My apologies."

Orban apologized in Kyle's place. When Duke Oun had first told him to cooperate fully in regard to the "compensation," he had looked brimming with confidence. Yet after being led around by Kyle throughout the conversation, Orban's face had gone pale.

"Do you still have business at the nest?"

"No."

Unlike Orban's pale face, Kyle looked refreshed. Duke Oun probably hoped that this cooperation would bring Kyle to the Dark Front as soon as possible, but Kyle had no intention of changing his mind.

At most, ten years. He might need to go before then, but at present, there was no reason for him to head to the Dark Front. Cyrus, his friend from his previous life, had descendants stranded in a distant land, but...

Honestly, that was none of Kyle's concern. If it had been Cyrus's actual child, perhaps things would be different, but these were descendants from five hundred years later. They might bear the Rubalt name, but after that much time, a friend's descendants were no different from strangers.

'And something about this still feels off.'

Orban had desperately fallen to his knees, but he had mixed lies into his story here and there.

'If things were truly urgent, they would have tried to drag me there by force.'

Asking for a "favor" and a "deal" meant Duke Oun still had room to spare.

"Then... Sir Kyle. We will send the items you requested to Gladiheim in stages."

"You don't need to rush. Quality is what matters."

"Yes... naturally. My reputation, the company's reputation, and the chairman's reputation are all on the line. We will select only the finest quality and send it to you."

Orban smiled through his pale expression. The eagerness Kyle had seen earlier still remained in his eyes. He was the youngest member of the chairman's family. Considering status within the family, ability, public support, and everything else, Orban could never become chairman of the Crows.

But if he worked with Kyle, he might be able to change his future. This was a boy likely to become the next Family Head of Alastor, favored by the Sword Church Master and watched by even Duke Oun. Orban had no intention of letting this opportunity slip away. He would maintain this cooperation with Kyle, even if it meant pushing himself beyond his limits.

"Central Branch Head!"

A corridor door flew open, and Aia stuck her head out. With deep dark circles under her eyes, she shouted.

"Did you get his consent for the detailed examination?!"

"Sir Kyle refused."

"What?! Why?!"

Aia cried out with a devastated expression.

"He said he cannot casually provide the body of an Alastor pureblood. It is an understandable answer."

It was only an excuse. Kyle's body was unusual in many ways, and he had no desire to expose it to a detailed examination by the Crows. The results would surely reach Duke Oun, not just the Central Branch.

'If I'm ever getting examined, it'll be at Alastor.'

He felt bad for Aia, who had gone on about humanity's progress, but he doubted a detailed examination would create an antibody against mana. This resistance came from the Spirit Root Kyle had been born with, then strengthened by consuming the byproducts and scraps of the outer sea with the Fragment's help.

"If I receive permission from my family, I will consider it again then."

After cutting off Aia before she could shout anything else, Kyle grabbed Helenas's wrist. Helenas's expression did not change, but one of her eyebrows twitched faintly.

"Sword Church Master, let's go."

"All right."

Helenas walked as Kyle led her away. Watching the two of them leave, Orban could only marvel quietly.

'The Sword Church Master is being led around by someone...'

He could see it with his own eyes and still could not believe it.

* * *

She could have shaken off the hand holding her wrist at any time, but she did not.

Being led by the wrist like this brought back a very old memory. The first time she met Raikal. The first time she saw Raikal from inside a cage fit for holding animals.

The little elf girl had been crouching there blankly, and when Raikal cut through the bars and entered, Helenas had not thought of him as a savior. At the time, being in a cage, being sold to someone, or being rescued, none of it felt emotionally different to her.

[That takes all the fun out of rescuing you. Are all elves like this?]

[Why are you rescuing me?]

[It's not like I came here to rescue you for some special reason... I didn't come here because I wanted to rescue you, either. It just happened.]

Raikal had reeked of blood and death back then. As he said, he had not come for some noble or grand reason, intending to save slaves. He had only heard that the owner of the slave market and the guards around it were strong, so he had come to attack them.

[Ah, don't worry, this isn't my blood. There were a lot of people blocking the way here.]

Raikal cut through the shackles around her ankles with his sword, then took Helenas's hand and pulled her up.

[I heard you're the most valuable and expensive one in this market, so I came for you first. If I take you outside, they'll do everything they can to kill me. Do you understand what I mean?]

[I do not.]

[I'm taking you outside. Aren't you happy?]

[I do not understand.]

[You don't need to understand. Just follow me. Ah... I hear elves live a long time. How old are you?]

[I am eleven.]

[You're really young. This isn't something a kid should see... Hmm. Just look at my back. Don't look anywhere else for no reason.]

Raikal's back had been large, drenched in red blood.

Now...

Instead of a blood-soaked back, she saw red hair. The hand holding her wrist was different from the one that had held her then.

'Even though this hand has held a sword.'

Hands carried habits. Raikal's swordsmanship was not clearly imprinted on Kyle's hands. They sought a new sword, different from his previous life, not identical to Raikal's.

'It is not completely different. Some of it remains.'

No matter how much one wished for a new sword, it was impossible to discard everything one knew and start anew. Raikal's sword clearly remained in Kyle's hands. Helenas felt nostalgia in that, along with an odd fluttering and anticipation.

She did not dislike Kyle's hand.

"What are you getting from the Crows?"

Helenas, who had silently walked while looking at Kyle's back, finally spoke. The question itself felt strangely unfamiliar to her. Elves took no interest whatsoever in things that did not interest them. Yet Helenas was asking because she was interested not in a "sword," but in "Kyle."

'Did the promise at the Blade Mountain Range become a new fate for me?'

She had lived for five hundred years, but this was the first time she had experienced anything like it.

"Several things."

They stepped outside the Central Branch headquarters. An automobile like the one Kyle had ridden before was waiting on the road, but he politely declined and walked with Helenas instead.

"That capsule they used to treat me, something called a training simulator, and Elixirs and magic tools made by the Crows."

He had picked them after looking through the list of products Orban had shown him. None of them had entered the market yet.

"And access to the Crows' database."

"Database?"

"It is apparently a server that stores the classified information of every Crows branch."

The Crows' new products were all valuable, but the thing Kyle wanted most from his deal with Orban was Crow's Eyes. Information.

Alastor also possessed its own intelligence organization, but the information held by a Martial family could not compare in volume to that held by a company, especially one that had sold war for centuries and become the continent's largest power.

"What are you planning to do with the Crows' classified information?"

"I'll decide what to do after I see the information."

More precisely, he would find out what he could do. At first, he had planned to use Crow's Eyes to learn about the imperial family and the Moon Church, but Duke Oun's desperation had earned him more than expected.

'The northern branch in Erebos. The southern branch on the Avara Plateau.'

The two branches controlled by Duke Oun's second son and eldest daughter might also turn up something. The southern branch could even be behind the destruction of Narua's tribe, while the northern branch might possess information about the succession war among the Demon Kings currently unfolding in Erebos.

"I don't fully understand what you mean, but it sounds like you are about to get involved in something dangerous again."

"I told you not to make such a fuss."

"Is worrying about you also making a fuss?"

"I'm saying you're worrying too much. Let's stop talking about that and go get something to eat."

Come to think of it, he was still holding Helenas's hand. There was no need to keep holding it, so Kyle let go.

"?"

He released Helenas's hand, only for it to be caught again. Helenas turned to face him, her expression blank. Gripping Kyle's wrist firmly, she spoke.

"Food? Are you hungry?"

"Uh... yes, I am. I was unconscious for two days."

"What do you intend to eat?"

"Hmm... What do you normally eat, Sword Church Master?"

Helenas did not look like she intended to release him.

That was not all. She gave Kyle's hand a small pull, then placed her own wrist against Kyle's palm. Kyle snickered and took her hand.

"If we walk around holding hands like this, strange rumors will start."

"What rumors?"

"That a five-hundred-year-old Sword Church Master is being led around by a bright young fifteen-year-old boy. Wouldn't rumors like that damage your dignity?"

"I do not care about public gossip."

Helenas answered in an indifferent tone, then tilted her head.

"You asked what I usually eat. I... eat offerings."

"Offerings?"

"Food the Apostles bring me. I have never asked them to bring food. I passed the stage of being bound by meals long ago."

"Do you perhaps... eat pills or something?"

Kyle recalled the jars filled to the brim with pills he had seen in Aslan's Cultivation Chamber. Those pills, used as meal replacements, were meant purely for survival, stripped of every pleasure that came with food.

"How did you know?"

"..."

"I do not eat only those all the time. Sometimes I eat fresh vegetables and fruit."

"You don't eat meat?"

"No."

"Didn't you used to like meat?"

"Are you talking about the old days? I did not eat it because I liked it then, either. I ate it because it was given to me."

The more he heard, the more elves seemed like a race with no joy in life. Grateful that he had not been reincarnated as an elf, Kyle took Helenas's hand and began walking.

"I like meat, so let's go eat some meat."

"How are you planning to return to Sword Grove?"

"You flew here, Sword Church Master, but I don't have that kind of talent... Or do I? Can I fly now?"

Kyle stopped mid-sentence and gave a small jump. He imagined himself floating through the air like Julius and Helenas, but his lifted foot naturally fell right back to the ground.

"What's wrong with this?"

"Hehe."

Kyle froze at the sound and turned his head. To his surprise, Helenas's lips had curved into a smile.

"You opened your Upper Dantian, but you do not know how to handle it properly."

"Is it different from how it was in the old days?"

"I had not reached that realm in the 'old days' you speak of, so I do not know. But it is probably different."

"May I ask why you're smiling?"

"Seeing something you cannot do made me smile without thinking."

"You have a mean personality."

"I am not laughing at you. I am happy because now I am... stronger than you, and I can teach you something."

Helenas chuckled and stroked the back of Kyle's hand.

"As you said, I flew here. But I will not fly when we return. We will return slowly together, and I will teach you."

Teach him.

Kyle would learn from Helenas.

That stirred something in Kyle as well. Five hundred years ago, he had taught that little elf girl in his previous life. Now he would learn something from her instead. Kyle blinked a few times, then gave a quiet laugh.

"That sounds good to me."

He had not planned to rush back anyway. He intended to travel around the continent for at least a month.

"It is too far to walk. Should we find a carriage?"

Kyle was hungry too, so he entered a nearby restaurant first. He opened the door and went in, then turned back to see Helenas turning her body slightly as she passed through.

The reason was the large pauldron on her shoulder. Kyle stared at the black pauldron, as long as his forearm, then asked out of pure curiosity.

"What exactly is that pauldron?"

"The symbol of the Sword Church."

"Who came up with such a symbol? Don't tell me you designed it, Sword Church Master."

"Cyrus Rubalt."

"What?"

It was a completely unexpected name. Why would Cyrus, who had turned the Crow Mercenary Band into the company it was today, also have designed the symbol of the Sword Church?

"Some time after you died, Cyrus came to find me. Many swordsmen who had followed you in the past remained by my side then."

The origin of the Sword Church was not those who followed Helenas, but those who followed the Sword Demon. Humans grew old and died, while elves did neither. Even after every follower of the Sword Demon had died, Helenas remained, so naturally, followers of Helenas came to gather around her rather than followers of the Sword Demon.

"Cyrus Rubalt was the first to call the group that followed the Sword Demon the Sword Church. He made me, an elf, its Sword Church Master, and made the pauldron the symbol of the Sword Church."

"Why would he do that?"

"He said it was mourning for the Sword Demon."

Helenas looked steadily at Kyle.

"The Sword Demon died and left nothing behind. Many people still remembered you in that era, but most humans do not live even a hundred years."

"..."

"I did not understand it then, but after living five hundred years, I understand Cyrus's intention a little. If only I had remained, the Sword Church would never have been born. I was weak back then, and I did not possess a sword worthy of anyone's reverence."

Hearing that, Kyle could understand why Cyrus had presented Helenas and the Sword Demon's followers as the Sword Church. Helenas was revered as the Sword Church Master who had lived for five hundred years, but the Sword Church's core doctrine was faith in the sword.

'He created a religion that worshipped the sword, as mourning for me, who died leaving nothing behind.'

As a result, the Sword Church had endured for five hundred years through Cyrus's work. Helenas had also come to feel that the Sword Church was necessary. Unable to find joy in the sword alone, she had hoped to find it through the swordsmen who gathered in the Sword Church.

Though Helenas's wish had not come true.

"Cyrus said a group needs a symbol to display. It also needs a hierarchy. He put pauldrons the same color as Fenris on me and gave differently colored pauldrons to the followers. He continued to support the Sword Church after that, and Cyrus Rubalt's descendants still support it."

Helenas had said that the Crows were the Sword Church's greatest benefactor. Thinking about it, the reason Helenas and the Sword Church had been able to exist for five hundred years, despite her personality, was likely because the Crows had continuously supported them to keep the Sword Church from withering away.

"The intention is good, but..."

Kyle made a conflicted face as he looked at Helenas's black pauldron.

"You have no tact."

It was the sort of taste one would expect from someone who named his company Crow Company.

Footnotes:

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