WeTried Translations

Translator: Coughing Baby

Editor: Coughing Baby

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

Chapter 127: Let's Smile Often

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Kyle had been the one to first teach Helenas the sword, and the one who told her to swing it often.

'I can hardly say I taught her. I only taught her how to hold a sword and the basics, and even that was for only about five years.'

Kyle gave a bitter smile and tried to rise.

He couldn't. Helenas had placed both hands on his shoulders and pressed him back down. Kyle blinked up at her.

"Why?"

"Lie down a little longer."

Helenas whispered.

"You just woke up. I only swung with the intention of hurting you a little, but you were still hurt. You won't be able to move right away."

"That's not true."

His head was ringing, but that was all. He hadn't been injured badly enough to keep him from moving.

"I can move..."

"Lie down a little longer."

Helenas spoke before Kyle could finish. Like the branch she had wielded, like her sword, her words were simple and absolute. Nothing else was permitted.

"Understood."

In the end, that was all Kyle could say. He lay still and looked upward while Helenas looked down at him. Her eyes beyond her thick lashes. Those faded blue eyes seemed darker than before.

"Earlier."

Kyle opened his mouth.

"You smiled a little while swinging your sword, didn't you?"

"..."

"Why did you smile? You said swinging a sword wasn't fun."

"Swinging a sword is still not fun."

Helenas answered.

"Even when you're swinging one with me?"

"Yes."

"Then why did you smile?"

"Your sword was a little fun."

Helenas tilted her head slightly. The hair draped over her shoulder slid down and tickled Kyle's cheek.

"You're cowardly and mean."

"Out of nowhere?"

"I've seen swords stronger and more exceptional than yours many times. The Thunder Emperor's sword is stronger and more exceptional than yours."

"That's true."

"But I've never felt fun from the Thunder Emperor's sword. I felt it from yours. That's because you were the one swinging it."

"My pride is getting shattered today."

Kyle grumbled with a smile as he played with the strand of Helenas's hair that had fallen across his cheek.

"So what you're saying is, the sword I desperately swung was fun purely because I was the one swinging it?"

"Yes."

"Well, it couldn't be helped. It's true that I'm still immature."

He said his pride had been shattered, but he did not truly feel humiliated. Even Kyle thought the sword he had shown earlier was immature and incomplete.

He had been born with the Chaos Spirit Root, but he had never devoted himself to fully incorporating its potential into his sword. He had only used the efficiency and senses that came with such an exceptional Spirit Root.

Still, that attempt had taught him something. Kyle possessed endless potential that even he had yet to understand.

"I need to see the world."

Playing with Helenas's hair, Kyle smiled.

"Only by seeing the world can I see and experience the swords within it. The more swords I see, the more battles I fight, the stronger I'll become."

"..."

"And once I've become stronger that way, I might reach a sword you find fun even if I'm not the one wielding it. A sword you don't know yet."

"You mean you can't do that while staying by my side."

"Yes."

Kyle slowly nodded.

"I could feel that your sword is exceptional. It's simple, strange, and a sword that carves what it considers inevitable into reality. A sword that cuts beyond perception. Your sword will probably be able to do many things beyond the realm of a sword."

"..."

"But that's a little different from being exceptional as a sword. What you can do with a sword is possible because your intent is strong."

It was an ironic thing. Helenas's intent had grown powerful because of her destiny with the sword, yet her intent itself was not exceptional as a sword. Put bluntly, Helenas's sword without any intent behind it would not be nearly as difficult to face as it had been earlier.

Helenas's sword, unable to make itself inevitable, was left with only the weakness of being simple.

"You don't understand why a sword has to move the way it does in battle."

"..."

"That is why your sword has no process. To a bizarre degree. You simply reach the result you consider inevitable with an absurdly powerful intent."

Kyle had no intention of disparaging Helenas's efforts or her sword. She had swung it countless times over five hundred years, so her cuts and thrusts were surely flawless.

Yet in a fight where swords clashed fiercely and lives were on the line, Helenas could not wield her sword according to the situation. She did not enjoy fighting, nor did she enjoy killing. She could never understand why she needed to swing her sword that way, and she had never found joy in the act of wielding a sword itself.

"Of course, you've crossed plenty of life-and-death battles in your own way."

Kyle's hand, which had been stroking her hair, moved higher. Still smiling, he placed his fingers on Helenas's cheek.

"Five hundred years is a long time."

Life did not always require understanding. Sometimes, people had to do things they did not understand and could not understand. If that was true in a single year of life, then how much more so in five hundred.

The Sword Church was an organization belonging to no kingdom. Fanatically devoted to the sword and its master, they had long been a nuisance across the continent, as well as a military force coveted by anyone with power.

The Sword Church still existed as the Sword Church after five hundred years solely because Helenas had never wished to belong anywhere. Helenas herself might not have thought of it as struggle, but Kyle saw that her life had been full of struggles.

Helenas had said it in the Blade Mountain Range. Her life had contained a great many defeats. Her sword, forged through countless struggles she did not even enjoy, was not something that could be dismissed.

"Someone might realize something or learn something from the way you wield your sword. But I can't."

Bitterness touched Kyle's smile.

He already knew a sword that was utterly simple, intricate, complete, and like truth itself. The sword of Ruin Alastor, who had killed the Sword Demon. Before that sword, which Kyle could see through Fenris, Helenas's sword could not be inevitable.

And Helenas's sword, unable to be inevitable, was left with only its simplicity as a flaw.

"I understand."

Helenas, who had silently looked down at Kyle, let out a quiet sigh.

"You're drawing another line between us."

She had wanted to teach him about the sword.

Helenas was neither accustomed nor talented at teaching. Having lived for five hundred years as the Sword Church's idol, she had felt that truth more times than she could count.

Yet even if she lacked talent for teaching, the Sword Church had existed for five hundred years. Whenever Helenas swung a sword, everyone marveled and revered her. The Apostles who resided in the Sword Grove considered it great authority and honor to see the Sword Church Master's sword up close whenever they wished.

The Sword Church's followers were ranked by their pauldrons. Other than the Apostles, they could see the Sword Church Master's sword only during their promotion ceremony. Seeing it just once was enough to captivate them.

"I thought you might want to stay by my side if you saw my sword."

That was what seemed natural to Helenas. But just as Helenas had denied Kyle's sword several times during their spar, this time Kyle had denied what Helenas considered natural.

"My sword can't keep you here."

Helenas's fingers stroked Kyle's cheek. For a while, neither spoke as they stroked each other's cheeks.

"You don't have to hold me here by force. I know you, and you know me."

He should be able to get up now. Kyle smiled and tried to rise, but Helenas's hand pressed him down by the shoulder again.

"Lie down a little longer."

"I'm really fine."

"Your condition doesn't matter. I just want to look down at you like this."

The hand that had stroked his cheek traced the corner of Kyle's eye.

"Even in that body, you're taller than me. I enjoy looking down at you like this."

"Huh."

"Go on with what you were saying. You don't need to keep me by your side. We know each other. So?"

"It means we can meet whenever we think of each other. Even now, I'm with you."

"..."

"I'll go with you as far as the Sword Grove."

"Even if you can't learn from my sword?"

"I think I can learn things other than the sword. There aren't many people in the world better than you at handling intent."

The Ten Peaks were naturally inferior to Helenas in that regard. The only one who might compare to her was...

'An Ascendant, perhaps.'

Helenas silently traced the corner of Kyle's eye. Her fingers touched his lashes one by one, then moved upward to trace his eyebrows.

"Intent..."

Helenas murmured softly.

"Elves do not possess Spirit Roots."

Helenas slowly leaned closer to Kyle. The hand that had traced his eyebrows moved even higher and gently stroked the top of his head.

"In some ways, we are similar to the Demon Tribe. From the moment we're born, we naturally sense mana and know how to handle it."

"That's true."

"The world changed a great deal after you died. Humans developed something called Spirit Roots. Only humans awaken Spirit Roots, and they do so at the age of ten."

"..."

"I've lived a long time and seen many swordsmen, but before I learned of your reincarnation, the most surprised I had ever been was three hundred years ago. From that point onward, the followers of the Sword Church changed completely."

A Spirit Root was not an organ that physically existed in the human body. Three hundred years had passed since every human began awakening Spirit Roots, yet the only interpretation was that it was an organ or sense that existed spiritually.

In other words, it was something mixed into the soul rather than the body.

"Humans can only handle mana of the attribute determined by their Spirit Root. To escape that limitation, they have no choice but to open the Upper Dantian and reach the Boundary Realm. Earlier, you wielded many different swords. It wasn't just that your swordsmanship was varied. The mana and intent you placed in your sword changed."

"Strictly speaking, reaching the Boundary Realm isn't what made that possible. My Spirit Root is very different from ordinary people's, so I've been able to change mana's attributes since before that."

Helenas continued stroking Kyle's hair. Until now, only Arian and his relatives had stroked his head this way, but Helenas had joined their ranks.

"Of course, now that I've opened my Upper Dantian, I can change mana more intensely than I used to. My intent changed as I did it, too. The world has gotten so strange. Mana handled by people becomes flame, water, lightning... it's not even magic."

"Didn't you learn how to handle intent from the Thunder Emperor?"

"My family doesn't really believe in teaching things early. I guess they're worried that if I learn things I can't use yet, I'll pick up strange habits."

As Kyle said that, he recalled what the demon had said.

"What is spiritual energy?"

"It is power that has made intent concrete. Just as mana is refined into Aura and Sword Force, intent refined into something tangible is called spiritual energy."

"That wasn't a concept five hundred years ago."

"The world has changed a lot. Your sword clearly carried spiritual energy earlier. You've never learned it, but you know how to use it?"

"It's not so much because I'm amazing. It's because the Spirit I'm raising inside me works hard."

"Then I'll have to teach you how to handle spiritual energy first."

A faint smile touched Helenas's lips. She could not teach Kyle about the sword, but the thought of teaching him something else he did not know made her smile.

"After that, I'll teach you about Sublimation."

"Sublimation? What's that?"

"The pinnacle of the Boundary Realm."

With a clear smile, Helenas whispered to Kyle.

"I'll show you later. We still have a long way to go before reaching the Sword Grove."

"Huh."

Kyle stared up at Helenas's face and blinked blankly for a moment.

"You look much better when you smile."

Thinking back, he had rarely seen Helenas smile even in his previous life. The smiles he had seen had all been faint ones, as though she might be smiling or might not.

But now, Helenas was smiling clearly enough that anyone could tell she was happy. She was not crying. She simply looked delighted.

"Let's smile often from now on."

Helenas could be unsettling sometimes, but Kyle was happy about her change too.

* * *

"The Sword Church Master left the Sword Grove?"

Thud.

The woman must have been deeply shocked. Her mouth fell open, and she dropped to her knees in bewilderment.

"Suddenly? Why?"

"The Sword Church Master wished for him."

The First Apostle answered as he stared at the empty hut with his hands clasped behind his back. The kneeling woman's shoulders trembled at his words.

"For what reason?"

"Fenris's master."

The First Apostle turned around. The kneeling woman had green hair. Her worship of the Sword Church Master was so great that she had dyed her natural hair the same color as the master's, and even changed the color of her eyes with magic. She was the Sword Church's Fifth Apostle.

"Kyle Alastor. The Sword Church Master went to meet him."

"That boy? Again?"

The Fifth Apostle, Lamika's eyes trembled. She clenched the fist that had been hanging limply at her side.

"It was only a few months ago that the Sword Church Master left the Sword Grove to see Fenris's master. The Sword Church Master went to see that boy again?"

"Yes."

"Her curiosity should have been satisfied after the last meeting!"

"The Sword Church Master did not go because of curiosity. She went because she was worried about the boy."

The Apostles of the Sword Church each devoted themselves to the church and served the Sword Church Master in their own ways. Those different ways meant they each held different feelings toward the Sword Church Master.

Some wished to use the Sword Church Master, while others wished to surpass her. As a result, the Apostles held differing opinions about how to interpret the Sword Church Master's every action.

The First Apostle was among those who viewed the Sword Church Master's changes positively. He was the oldest of the Apostles, had devoted himself to the Sword Church the longest, and had served the Sword Church Master in the Sword Grove longer than anyone else.

"Isn't it wonderful? This is my forty-fifth year serving the Sword Church Master in the Sword Grove, and until this year, the Sword Church Master had never left the Sword Grove even once. In all of the Sword Church's history, the only times the Sword Church Master left the church due to personal feelings were several times five hundred years ago, to cross blades with Ruin Alastor."

The First Apostle smiled warmly and looked around the hut again.

"This year alone, the Sword Church Master has already left the Sword Grove twice because of personal feelings. It may be strange to say this of an elf, but the Sword Church Master, who had none of humanity's warmth, has become rather more human since meeting that boy."

"Worried..."

Lamika bit her lip before speaking.

"What could have happened for the Sword Church Master to leave the Sword Grove because she was worried?"

"I hear he went to Avens on a request from Crow Company's Central Branch. That is all the information I have."

"You told the Sword Church Master!"

"The Sword Church Master has great interest in that boy. As the one serving the Sword Church Master from the closest position, I simply passed it along for her sake."

For hundreds of years, the Sword Church Master had not been consumed by personal feelings, had followed only fate, and swung a sword. The First Apostle revered the Sword Church Master, but he also pitied her. If the Sword Church Master came to have a life different from those five hundred years for any reason, he would sincerely be happy.

"..."

Lamika, who had been biting her lip, sprang to her feet. Sensing her turn sharply behind him, the First Apostle spoke.

"Where are you going?"

"I'm going to attend the Sword Church Master."

"Hmm, someone will be needed to look after her."

The First Apostle smiled.

"Young Master Alastor will have no experience with that sort of thing."

"Are you insane? You sent the Sword Church Master off without anyone to attend her?!"

"The Sword Church Master left before I had a chance to suggest it."

Lamika's face twisted at those words.

For decades, no, hundreds of years, the Sword Church Master had lived in the hut at the Sword Grove. The Apostles had cared for everything, and the Sword Church Master did nothing but swing a sword.

"She can't even bathe alone!"

Lamika shouted and ran out of the Sword Grove. Watching her back quickly disappear, the First Apostle shook his head.

"It isn't that bad... What does she think the Sword Church Master is?"

It was not that the Sword Church Master could not do things. Others simply did them, so there was no need to do them personally.

Footnotes:

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