WeTried Translations

Translator: Coughing Baby

Editor: Coughing Baby

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

Chapter 145: Apostles

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Click.

The photograph was taken.

Helenas was usually expressionless, but given the occasion, Kyle had asked her to smile. So she lifted the corners of her mouth ever so slightly, putting a faint curve in her eyes.

Compared to her usual expression, it was a tiny change. Still, the fact that the Sword Church Master had made an effort to smile would surely make a strong impression on Imperial Newspaper readers and foreign nations alike.

Having done her best to smile, Helenas shook hands with Alero, whose back was soaked in cold sweat from nerves. Alero looked ahead while feeling his facial muscles scream, and Helenas faced forward as well, maintaining her faint smile.

"All right, good. Next, Crown Prince Alero and Sir Kyle. You two address each other like brothers, so please stand close together and pose as though you were actual brothers."

Akarion, rather than a professional photographer, was handling the shoot. Peering through a camera as large as a cannon, he called out.

"Did you come here just to take photographs, Lord Akarion?"

"If the Sword Church Master and Sir Kyle had ignored this place and passed by, I wouldn't be leisurely carrying around a camera."

"You would've stopped them with everything you had?"

"Not everything I had. Even if I gave it my all, I couldn't have stopped them. Still, I would've shown some sincerity. Hmm, my actual role was likely to flee with His Highness the Crown Prince if the worst happened."

Akarion pulled his face away from the camera and gave a short laugh.

"The Grand General would lose to the Sword Church Master and die, while the Lastea Tower Master would flee the disaster with the Crown Prince. That was the worst-case scenario."

[Though perhaps it would've been an ideal scenario for someone.]

Along with the voice reaching his ears, Akarion's voice flowed into Kyle's mind.

[You came here because you didn't want that worst-case scenario either, didn't you?]

[You're speaking politely out loud, but casually in my head.]

[I didn't want us to look too close. The Mage Association and the mage tower masters are neutral. If that cowardly... haha, trouble-ridden Emperor misunderstands the relationship between you and me, it would be a nuisance for both of us, wouldn't it?]

[We aren't that close.]

[That hurts to hear. Sir Kyle, you know my secret.]

[Does the Grand General not know you're a vampire, Tower Master?]

[Who knows? The Emperor knows, but I don't know whether the Grand General does. At the very least, he's never asked me if I'm a vampire.]

Akarion pressed his face back to the camera. Kyle calmly moved beside Alero and draped an arm over his shoulder.

"Wow, damn. What's with you, hyung? Why are your clothes so damp? Is that sweat?"

"H-haha. I... get hot easily."

"You know it's January, right?"

"This room... has excellent heating, doesn't it?"

"It does."

Kyle smiled brightly at the camera.

"You smile too. We aren't blood-related, but we're still brothers, aren't we? You could call us sworn brothers."

"..."

"What, you don't like that? You're the one who suggested we call each other hyung and dongsaeng. Isn't this the sort of relationship you wanted?"

"Haha... of course. We're the ones who will stand at the center of the Empire in the future. We should start building brotherly affection now, shouldn't we?"

Alero quickly composed himself. He had only been nervous because the Sword Church Master standing before him seemed inhuman, or rather, actually wasn't human. Alero was still a bold man worthy of being the Crown Prince of the Empire.

"Right. We should build brotherly affection. Not some relationship where one's a sword and the other's its master."

Kyle wasn't the type to hold a grudge, but Alero's words and attitude at the last imperial party had been so arrogant that he still remembered them. There was no telling whether the man would truly become Emperor one day, but Kyle intended to establish some discipline early.

"H-haha, I understand what you mean."

Alero smiled widely enough to show his teeth and wrapped an arm around Kyle's shoulder.

[You think the Emperor is suspicious too, don't you, Tower Master?]

[Anyone who sees him like that and doesn't find him suspicious has something wrong with their head. He's not even a vampire, and he's a human who hasn't properly mastered magic or a cultivation technique. Ah, I haven't met the Emperor in person since he regained his youth. The holy arts in the audience chamber reject me.]

"All right, taking it now."

Akarion kept pressing the shutter as he changed their poses from one angle to another.

[But I know the Emperor regained his youth. Just this time, the Emperor personally contacted me through magic and made the request.]

[Why do you follow the Emperor?]

[The Lastea Mage Tower receives a great deal of support from the imperial family. If I refuse, he'll throw a fit about that too.]

[That must be fucking annoying.]

[Sir Kyle, use nicer language like the young master of a distinguished house. And why would it be fucking annoying for me? It isn't as if I had to risk my life like the Grand General. You can't imagine how much support has been promised to my mage tower just for standing here and pressing a camera shutter a few times.]

[Doesn't the Lastea Mage Tower receive plenty of support from all over?]

[No matter how much support you receive, it is never enough. My mage tower's research costs an enormous amount of money. I have plenty of personal ventures as well.]

[May I ask what they are?]

[Haha! Magical research is secret, but I can tell you about my personal ventures. I personally help vampires like myself, aberrations, and the byproducts of dark magic.]

[Is that why you wanted to take Lucia?]

[There was a relief aspect to it, and a research aspect as well. Is Lady Lucia doing well? If she is, send me some blood. She said she'd send some when she felt like it... but no blood has arrived yet.]

[Then I suppose she doesn't feel like it.]

Kyle did not bother mentioning that Lucia's origins might lie in a Crow research facility in Erebos, run by the Crows' Northern Branch. That was Lucia's matter, and Akarion had no place interfering.

For the same reason, he had not told Desmond that Galea Rubalt, head of the Crows' Southern Branch, might harbor ambitions for continental hegemony. Nor had he told him that Galea had joined hands with a group of dark mages in the southern Avara Plateau.

'The Emperor tried to pressure Alastor by tying us to the Sword Church. Even if the Southern Branch has different intentions from headquarters, they're still the Crows.'

Word had already spread that Kyle had visited the Central Branch this time. If he told them about the Southern Branch, the trouble-ridden Emperor might try to tie the Crows and Alastor together. The Emperor would widen his eyes once Kyle began investigating the Moon Church anyway, but there was no need to sharpen the Emperor's vigilance before anything had properly begun.

'And before she starts talking about continental hegemony, she's the bitch who stirred me up first. If anyone's going to cut her down, it'll be me.'

That was why he did not want Helenas's help either.

[By the way, Lastea Tower Master, why are you personally taking the photographs?]

[Photography is one of my few hobbies. Don't worry, Sir Kyle. You look absolutely perfect through this lens. Since the original is so good, there won't even be a need for retouching. Crown Prince Alero will need a little work, though. Standing beside you makes the Crown Prince look like a squid.]

After their light exchange, whether Akarion was joking or serious, he lifted the camera with magic and joined everyone for the final photograph.

"These photographs will be on the Imperial Newspaper's front page tomorrow. The reporters will decide the headline, but it will probably be something like... Alastor and the Sword Church. A meeting between the Empire's two great, time-honored pillars. An unshakable alliance. Making the great Empire even greater. Something like that."

Akarion smiled as he put the camera away.

"Once again, thank you for making time for this."

Alero smiled with a pale face. After neatly wiping the cold sweat from his palm, he held out his hand to Helenas, but Helenas naturally ignored it.

"Please convey my apologies to His Majesty the Emperor for causing him concern. The radiance of the Imperial Palace is far too dazzling for me to dare approach and greet him in person."

After saying that to Desmond, Kyle turned his gaze to Alero.

"Give Princess Ludmia my regards too. I said I'd visit whenever I had time and tell her stories of my exploits, but it's not easy to get to the Imperial Palace."

The image of the frail princess lingered in his mind. A pitiful girl who might be having her vitality drained away by her own father.

'Should I at least write her a letter?'

She was someone he felt human sympathy for, and it left a bitter taste in his mouth.

* * *

Karent's western gate.

The Apostles of the Sword Church stood there.

They had gathered because of an order from Obion, the First Apostle. Of the Sword Church's seven Apostles, Obion was the eldest and had served the Sword Church Master the longest. Helenas was the Church Master, yet did almost nothing when it came to running the Sword Church, so Obion had managed it in her place. In the extremely rare event of the Church Master's absence, Obion was also the one who commanded the Apostles.

"It seems they truly are having a conversation."

A huge man leaning against a greatsword as large as himself, planted in the ground, muttered to himself. Tebar, the Fourth Apostle of the Sword Church. He was the most violent and arrogant person in the Sword Church, a man who believed that anyone holding a sword was a Sword Church member, an Apostle even more extreme than Lamika.

"I can't believe it. They're really having a conversation? I thought she'd naturally ignore them. Isn't that why we're all out here?"

Tebar gave a hollow laugh and looked around. Every Apostle of the Sword Church had gathered here. They were prepared in case the Empire's Grand General and the Lastea Tower Master dared to pressure the Church Master. It was absurd to think those two alone could restrain her, but imperial reinforcements might arrive at any moment. They had come here prepared even to fight the Empire itself.

Yet, by Obion's order, none of them could enter.

"I told you. The Church Master has changed a little."

Lamika spoke with a frown.

Lamika, who had traveled with Helenas, was here, as were Ronia and Evan, who had led the followers who insisted on joining the pilgrimage.

Lamika disliked Tebar. That ignorant man attacked the Sword Church Master whenever he saw an opening. Each time, his sword broke under the Church Master's single strike and he was sent flying, but the fact that he dared to attack her at all was enough reason for Lamika to dislike him.

'That isn't even a spar.'

At the same time, loyal devotion for the Church Master welled up from deep within Lamika's heart. His attacks and defeats were one-sided things that could not be called a conversation between swords. Lamika, on the other hand, had genuinely sparred with the Church Master dozens of times over their three-month journey. They had truly conversed through their swords, and, embarrassingly enough, Lamika had even shared the scenery within her heart and mind with the Church Master...

"Changed... changed? Are elves the kind of race that can change?"

"Haven't we already seen it?"

Obion, who had been standing with his hands behind his back, spoke.

"She took an interest in the boy who became Fenris's master and went to meet him. She worried for the boy and left the Sword Grove again, then now she has returned. She even crossed imperial territory at a leisurely pace for three months."

"No matter how many times I hear it, I can't believe it."

"We must understand all of this as sacred glory. The Church Master remained at the Sword Grove for hundreds of years. The previous Apostles, and even we ourselves, came to take that time for granted. The Church Master stayed at the Sword Grove and swung her sword, the Apostles remained by her side, and the followers devoted themselves to their own swords so they could witness the Church Master's sword. That was all the Sword Church was."

"Isn't that the Sword Church? What's so new about it?"

Tebar grumbled.

"Yes, that is the Sword Church. The Church Master herself is the foundation of the Sword Church. In the forty-five years I have served at her side, she has not been different for a single day. Every day, she swings the same sword. Unless I tell her, she does not even distinguish the beginning of one day from its end."

Obion slowly turned his head to look at the Apostles. His eyes were as still as a deep lake.

"At first, I considered it an honor to stand at the Church Master's side. As time passed, it became ordinary. Then, after even more time passed... it became frightening."

"Frightening?"

"The Church Master's day will be the same as yesterday, the same as last year, the same as it was a hundred years ago. Tomorrow will be the same, next year will be the same, and a hundred years from now will be the same. We humans will grow old and die, but the Church Master alone will remain stopped in the same place. As Apostles change, and followers succeed one generation after another, the Church Master simply swings her sword."

With his wrinkled hand, Obion lightly stroked the hilt of the sword at his waist.

"The fear I feel may be the rambling of an old man, but at some point, I began to think this. Is the Church Master I serve truly a living being, or a monument shaped like a sword?"

"First Apostle! Those words go too far!"

Lamika cried out indignantly, but Obion shook his head.

"I know they are irreverent. But Lamika, don't you know better than anyone? You traveled with her for three months. Is the Church Master now the same person as the Church Master you have served at the Sword Grove until now?"

"..."

Lamika closed her mouth.

She was not the same. The Church Master Lamika had admired ever since becoming an Apostle had been a quiet and flawless existence, like dawn meditation. She thought of nothing but swinging her sword, needed nothing else, and possessed neither likes nor dislikes.

Yet the Church Master during their journey had asked for the carriage to slow down, had suggested they take a longer road, and had looked at the sunset with regret as the day faded away.

While Lamika attended to her bath, the Church Master had suddenly asked about her hair. During meals, she had even briefly commented on the taste of food.

And beside one boy, she had smiled ever so slightly.

"She... was different."

Lamika had no choice but to admit it.

"The Church Master... compared to when I served her at the Sword Grove... became far more colorful. As though she were living in the same time as us..."

"The same time."

Obion repeated those words and smiled gently.

"That is a good way to put it. Yes, that is the sacred glory I speak of. For the first time in five hundred years, we are serving a Church Master who lives in the same time as us."

"Hmm..."

Leaning against his greatsword, Tebar made an unconvinced face.

"I understand what the old man is saying. But why did the Church Master change? Because of that little brat, Fenris's master? I know Fenris is a special sword to the Church Master, but what could a sixteen-year-old brat have done to change her?"

"You can confirm that question with your own eyes."

"Yes, that is what I intend to do."

Tebar snorted and shrugged.

"Let's see just how impressive he is, to have changed the Church Master. And... her companion?"

"He is someone who may become her companion."

Lamika glared at Tebar with wide eyes.

"Do not call him a little brat."

"Ha! Companion or whatever, I will not acknowledge it. No matter how impressive his bloodline might be, a green little brat who still smells of milk... the Church Master's companion?"

"It is the Church Master's will. Who are you to speak of acknowledging it?"

"If she means to take someone unworthy as her companion, I would rather cut him down and kill him myself."

"Do you think the Church Master would allow that?"

"And if she doesn't? Will she personally cut me down and kill me? That would be glorious too."

Tebar meant every word. He did not formally request sparring matches and instead attacked the Church Master whenever the mood took him because he longed to die by her sword.

"Quiet."

Obion spoke.

"The Church Master is coming. Everyone, show proper respect."

"Well... it seems they truly only had a conversation."

Tebar gave a hollow laugh and looked to the sky.

Slowly, the Sword Church Master and Kyle came flying through the air.

Footnotes:

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