WeTried Translations

Translator: Coughing Baby

Editor: Coughing Baby

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Chapter 163: It Is an Illusion

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During his days at the Sword Grove, Kyle had swung this sword every day and thought about it.

He had succeeded in making it part of himself to some extent. Kyle could now wield this sword in real combat, not just training.

But he could only wield it. He could not adapt it. Ruin's sword was perfect in itself, so it could not be mixed with the many swords Kyle knew how to wield. This sword could only be wielded as itself.

'And swinging it even once like that burns through an enormous amount of mental force.'

It was fucked up and bitter in many ways. Kyle's sword had grown tremendously through his time at the Sword Grove, but it still had not connected with Ruin's sword. Yet the sword engraved in his mind remained as clear as ever.

"I see."

Julius slowly nodded and put Thunder Roc away. Crackle! Thunder Roc broke apart into lightning energy and vanished. Julius opened and closed the hand that no longer held a sword as he thought for a moment.

"You cannot wield it... Yes, the Founding Ancestor's remarkable sword is different from yours. You saw it and learned to wield it, but you have not fully made it your own."

"Yes. Thanks to that, Grandfather gets to keep his position as Family Head."

Julius could only snort at that answer. It was arrogant and rude, yet no one in the Sword Hall could scold Kyle. The sword Kyle had just displayed had been that remarkable.

If Kyle had fully made that sword his own and learned to wield it freely, Alastor's Family Head would have changed today.

"It is only a matter of time."

Julius calmly acknowledged that fact with a smile.

"The day will come when you fully obtain the Founding Ancestor's sword. When that day comes, this seat will be yours. Alastor is that kind of family."

A quiet stir passed through the Sword Hall. It was no different from the Family Head personally declaring his successor.

Julius's favor toward Kyle was different from the affection a grandfather showed his young grandson. Kyle was exceptional material, a sword that kept reaching for more no matter how often it was wielded. He had displayed that from an early age, so such favor was only natural. And as favored as he was, he kept growing and proving his sword. Everyone could only assume Kyle would one day become Family Head.

They had only become certain that day would come far sooner than anyone expected, and that no one else would stand between Julius and Kyle.

Yet no one objected. Karthan, who would have been the strongest candidate for that place in between, was nodding with a satisfied expression. Katarina and Barkas were the same.

After seeing that sword, they could not object. It was the sword of Alastor's Founding Ancestor, the Sword Saint. The sword that had been recreated time and time again, yet never successfully, had been fully inherited by Kyle.

It had not connected with him yet, but as Julius had said, that was only a matter of time. Everyone there knew Kyle possessed the sword talent and longing necessary for it.

"Well, I am not particularly interested in becoming Family Head."

"Even if you are not interested, you must sit there. Power comes with responsibility."

Julius paused at his own words.

Power came with responsibility. The sword he had just faced in Sword Talk was a sword that had lived by those exact words. A sword born with power so great it was almost absurd, and one that had spent its entire life repaying the responsibility that power demanded. Julius felt the weight of the words he had spoken without thinking.

Alastor.

The entire family was like that. Since the Founding Ancestor entered the Sword Tower, this family had carried the burden called responsibility. They could not compare to the Founding Ancestor, but they were called the continent's foremost Martial family and possessed much because of the glory he had built.

"Kyle."

Julius spoke again.

"You have witnessed the Founding Ancestor's sword. You have wielded it and carved it into your body. Then you... must understand that sword more deeply than I do."

Julius chose his words for a moment. What he wanted to ask was clear. Asking it was difficult.

"While speaking with that sword just now, I received answers but heard no question. That sword was clearly asking something, yet I could not even understand what its question was."

Julius's golden eyes fixed on Kyle.

"Do you know what that question is?"

The Sword Hall fell silent. Every relative held their breath and waited for Kyle's answer. The Founding Ancestor's sword. The question the Sword Saint, who Ascended four hundred years ago, had left behind through his sword. Everyone there wanted to know what it was.

Kyle was silent for a moment. He watched Julius, then smiled bitterly.

"What Grandfather felt was an illusion."

Julius's eyes widened at that answer. The Sword Hall could no longer remain silent.

"Kyle!"

Karthan shouted. He was fine with the position of Family Head not coming to him. That was simply because Karthan was lacking. He recognized Kyle's talent and skill. But that answer had gone too far.

"What did you just say?!"

"I said it was an illusion."

Kyle gave the same answer. With a bitter smile, he looked around the Sword Hall. Everyone except Arian and Kaya, who did not wield swords, was staring at him with the same shock and anger.

"What I..."

Julius spoke. His voice was trembling with rare anger. No, anger was not the only thing making it tremble.

It was humiliation.

"You said what I felt was an illusion?"

Julius had wielded a sword for decades. He was Family Head because he was the strongest in Alastor. He had lost to the Sword Church Master, but Julius had surely filled his sword with thoughts and reflections far deeper and more numerous than Helenas, who had only swung her sword while trapped by fate.

That was why he could only feel anger and humiliation. The sword he had just felt with his entire body, the question he had felt from it, the weight he had considered himself unworthy to answer, all of it was an illusion?

"Yes, it is."

Kyle answered calmly.

"This sword asks nothing."

The Sword Hall stirred. Everyone who had watched the Sword Talk had felt it. That sword was asking something. Something great that they could not dare comprehend. Yet the person who had wielded the sword was saying that question was an illusion.

"I felt it clearly."

Julius refuted him in a trembling voice.

"That sword was asking something. I simply could not understand its question."

"Is conversation made up of only questions and answers?"

Kyle asked.

"Pointless jokes, meaningless nonsense, ordinary talk with no weight or seriousness, if two people share those things, that is conversation too."

"..."

"The Founding Ancestor's sword is too perfect. It is too remarkable. So every swordsman standing before it will likely think the same thing. If this is such a great sword, it must be asking something profound. I must answer that question."

The trembling in Julius's eyes grew stronger.

"Everyone must have felt that way. The second Family Head, every Family Head after him, everyone here. Before this sword, they created questions, despaired because they could not answer them, fell to their knees, and looked up at it. But those were all things this sword never wanted."

Kyle looked down at Fenris.

"That is why I told you. This sword will not entertain the conversation Grandfather wants. Grandfather has placed too many fantasies upon it."

"Then..."

Julius asked in a hoarse voice.

"What conversation does that sword want?"

"I have already answered you."

Kyle could only smile bitterly again. Could he really say it? The most shabby and pitiful truth of the sword everyone there revered as myth.

"Pointless jokes. Meaningless nonsense. Ordinary conversation without weight or seriousness."

"..."

"Keeping company. Swinging swords together. Standing face-to-face with blades pointed at one another. Just... playing."

The relatives in the Sword Hall tilted their heads as if they did not understand, but Julius shuddered. His fingertips trembled for a moment before he let out a sigh and covered his face with both hands.

"This worthless descendant... was about to make the Founding Ancestor lonely once more."

It was a sword that had carried responsibility its entire life. A sword that pursued perfection and became perfect. What remained for a perfect sword? There was nowhere left to climb. It had already reached the end. All that remained was eternal proof, and no one doubted it would continue proving itself. It was a sword that had protected and cut without end. It saved the world and even achieved Ascension, completing the sword.

What had remained for that sword, for the swordsman who wielded it?

Loneliness.

There had been no one to stand before Ruin. His children devoted their lives to recreating his sword, and everyone revered it, but none dared to keep him company.

Everyone fell to their knees before that sword and despaired. Looking up at it, they created illusions. Then they despaired before those illusions again.

'I was the same.'

Overwhelmed by its wonder, Julius had stepped back on his own. He had not tried to stand before it and swing his sword again. He could not. Before that sword, his own sword felt shabby.

"Kyle."

Julius lowered the hands covering his face. Self-reproach filled the eyes that looked at Kyle, but the anger and humiliation from before were gone.

"Do you want to keep the Founding Ancestor's sword company?"

"Yes."

Kyle nodded.

"This arrogant, fucked-up sword is like a proud young lady. It wants conversation, but its nose is so high that it pushes away everyone who approaches in despair. But I was born remarkable with nothing lacking, and I am shameless enough not to despair after being pushed away a few times. If anything, I resolve to pluck the flower on the cliff no matter what."

Kyle raised Fenris and swung it down. Ruin's sword was recreated once more.

"I am working hard, but I have not seduced this proud sword yet. Still, what tree does not fall after being struck ten times? If I keep seducing it, it will fall for me. When that happens, this sword will keep me company and connect with me."

"Ha ha..."

Julius laughed heartily and shook his head.

"You are saying you will seduce not only women, but swords too, you womanizer."

"No... It is not as if I seduced any women..."

"Thanks to you, my greed has grown in my old age."

Julius gazed at Kyle's Fenris.

"I do not know whether this worthless descendant can truly play with the Founding Ancestor's sword, but if that is the wish of a sword that was lonely all its life, then I should strive to grant it."

"Do not see illusions."

Kyle met Julius's gaze.

"Do not hold fantasies either. Rather than having his sword revered, the Founding Ancestor would find joy in someone charging at it, determined to defeat it somehow."

"That is difficult to say. How can one see something remarkable and not be awed by it?"

Julius chuckled and shook his head.

"But that is what I must do. If I am awed by something remarkable, I will only end up revering it..."

Those words struck the hearts of every swordsman in the Sword Hall. Before hearing that conversation, they had all thought exactly as Julius had. But now, they too knew what they had to aim for.

The Founding Ancestor had Ascended long ago, and only his sword remained, miraculously returning in the present age. If they revered a sword from centuries ago as people had in the past, it would only prove that his descendants were still worthless and lacking. One could only welcome new glory by surpassing old glory.

"Kyle."

Julius's voice changed. He looked at Kyle with a solemn expression as he spoke.

"I have seen what you gained on your previous journey. So, was the Founding Ancestor's sword the only sword you obtained?"

"The Founding Ancestor's sword is the greatest thing I gained, but the swords that helped me grow as a swordsman were other swords."

"What swords?"

"I crossed blades with the Sword Church Master and with the Sword Church's Apostles. I am confident that I have taken their swords into myself."

"They would not have offered their swords easily."

"I did not ask them to give them to me. I took them unilaterally. That resulted in me becoming a Sword Church Apostle, but well, my sword, the sword of Alastor's future Family Head, improved in the end. What problem could there be?"

After saying that, Kyle continued while cautiously reading the room.

"Oh, and I showed the Founding Ancestor's sword to the Sword Church Apostles a few times too."

"What?"

Gerhard, who had been listening, parted his lips. His monocle slid down his staggering face.

"You showed the Founding Ancestor's sword to the Sword Church Apostles?! You brat! You showed that sword, which could be called the foundation of this family, without even asking the family's permission?!"

"No, it was not like I wanted to show them and said, come over here and take a look! Uncle Gerhard may not understand, but enlightenment arrives suddenly. If you miss that moment, it slips away like smoke, so when the feeling comes, you have to swing your sword."

Gerhard's eyes trembled as he listened to Kyle. Gerhard was not weak with the sword, but it was true that he fell behind his other siblings. Hearing his nephew say something like that made his insides twist.

"You arrogant little shit, is being good at swinging a sword all that matters to you?!"

"In this family, being good at swinging a sword is everything, more or less... Anyway, I ended up showing the Founding Ancestor's sword without meaning to. They say joy doubles when it is shared, and I had taken quite a lot from them, so I showed it a few more times."

"The Sword Church is not Alastor!"

"Still, we and the Sword Church are both swordsmen. I do not think the Founding Ancestor believed only his descendants should ever see his sword."

"Even so..."

"If the problem is that the Sword Church is not Alastor, then we can bring the Sword Church into Alastor later. Oh, do not misunderstand. I do not mean I will definitely marry the Sword Church Master. After I defeat her, I might become the Sword Church's new master."

Gerhard staggered again.

"You will become... the Sword Church's new master? What are you talking about now?"

"It is the same as Alastor. The current Sword Church Master is the master because she is the strongest swordsman in the church. If I win, the strongest swordsman changes, so... I could become the master. Anyway, if that happens, the Sword Church will come under Alastor. Would that not be a boon for our family?"

Gerhard could only stare with his mouth agape, unable to continue. The massive organization called the Sword Church would come under Alastor. It was not something that could simply be brushed aside as a boon for the family, as Kyle claimed. Merging one organization into another required an immense amount of work and process.

And handling that work and process was the duty of Gerhard, the family's administrator. How could he even begin taking in an organization whose numbers were unknown, whose members' identities and beliefs had not been understood? On top of that, the imperial family kept the Sword Church in check. It was still unknown how their relationship with the imperial family would turn out, but Gerhard felt his hair roots giving out as he clutched his head.

"It is all for later, so do not get stressed already."

"Y-you... without even discussing it with the family..."

Gerhard's stammering words were abruptly cut off by Julius's footsteps. Julius strode over and placed a hand on Kyle's shoulder.

"Showing the Founding Ancestor's sword to outsiders is not something to scold. You are the one who inherited that sword in the end, and if another swordsman can come to keep the Founding Ancestor's sword company... that too would fulfill the Founding Ancestor's will. As descendants, we should be glad."

With Julius saying that, no one could complain that the Founding Ancestor's sword had been shown outside the family. Julius patted Kyle's shoulder as Kyle smiled contentedly, then continued.

"Thankfully, the Founding Ancestor's sword has crossed four hundred years and connected with a descendant. It may not be complete, but we should go greet the Founding Ancestor. Kyle, follow me."

"F-Family Head?"

Gerhard, still reeling, looked at Julius in alarm.

"Surely... you are not going to the Ascension Platform? Only Family Heads may enter that place..."

"The succession has not happened yet, but Kyle has brought the Founding Ancestor's sword across four hundred years. I believe he is more than qualified to enter the Ascension Platform."

"That is... but..."

Gerhard closed his lips without answering further.

The Ascension Platform.

The very top of the Sword Tower.

It was where the Founding Ancestor, Ruin Alastor, had Ascended four hundred years ago.

Footnotes:

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