WeTried Translations
Translator: Coughing Baby
Editor: Coughing Baby
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Chapter 191: Familiar Emotion
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Five hundred years ago.
News of the Emperor's death reached Velatus's nest as well.
More precisely, she overheard the dwarves who came and went from the nest with tribute whispering among themselves. The Emperor had died suddenly without naming an heir. War had broken out. The Demon Tribe had crossed into the continent.
Velatus merely lounged upon her throne, examining the craftsmanship of a newly offered necklace. She had no great interest in such news.
There was no reason for her to care. It was a war among humans. A squabble between weak, insignificant creatures over their narrow patch of land. To Velatus, it was no different from an anthill collapsing beneath her feet and the ants fighting among themselves.
No dragon cared about an ant war.
The war dragged on.
Ten years passed, then twenty, and the dwarves' whispers grew darker with every passing year. A city had burned. A kingdom had vanished from the map.
Velatus still did not listen.
All she cared about during those years was that the gems from a newly excavated mine did not shine brightly enough. That the jewelers' craftsmanship had declined from the previous generation. That there was no longer enough room in the nest's treasury to display weapons.
Nothing more.
Dragons lived for thousands of years. The continental war had continued for forty years by then, but forty years to a dragon was no longer than a single nap. Velatus had already lived for 4,700 years, and she would live for nearly another thousand.
The war had begun because the Emperor died. His children had begun biting and clawing at one another in their struggle to become master of the Empire.
Yet even that Empire was only a thousand years old.
Before the current Empire, there had been another empire with another name. Velatus had watched the rise and fall of the continent and humanity over the ages. Even if the current Empire fell, a new empire would arise in about a hundred years.
There was no reason to care.
No matter how long the war lasted, humanity would not die out. The world would remain prosperous as ever.
The war ended.
That was not surprising. Even an ant war ended eventually.
But they said a single human had ended it.
He had killed every imperial heir but one, suppressed rebellions and independence movements throughout the Empire, blocked the alliance of Demihumans that held sway in the west, and ended the continent's Dark Age.
"Sword Saint?"
Velatus scoffed from atop her throne.
It was a grandiose name. Whenever humans found one among themselves who was slightly better than the rest, they always gave them such grandiose titles. Sword Saint. Great Sage.
Velatus had lived for thousands of years, and there had been around ten people called such things.
Even so, they were a species that could not live a hundred years and were not worth even one of a dragon's claws. Even the greatest among them was merely the largest ant in an anthill.
Still, she was somewhat intrigued.
Looking back, Velatus's first interest in Ruin Alastor had not come from Ruin's deeds alone.
Dragons were the greatest beings in the world, while every other race was insignificant. Yet even among the insignificant, there were ranks.
Humans were undoubtedly the weakest. Orcs were barbaric and ignorant, not worth discussing. Beastfolk stank of animal musk. Dwarves were laborers born to serve dragons.
That left two races.
Elves lived long lives, but they were pitiful creatures who could not become masters of their own lives.
The Demon Tribe was irritating.
They lived slightly longer than humans, were violent, and were rather strong. No dragon lived in Erebos, the land beyond the North Sea where the Demon Tribe dwelled. Demons were born knowing how to command mana, and they were faithful to their own desires. Since ancient times, they had been an irritating race to dragons.
Who avoided filth because they feared it? They avoided it because they did not wish to get dirty.
That was how dragons had always been. The Demon Tribe remained shut away in its own land, so there had been no reason for them to meet.
But now the Demon Tribe's king was trying to cross into the continent.
That could not simply be ignored. Velatus did not wish for the world that existed for her to be dirtied by the filth that was the Demon Tribe.
Still, it would lower the dignity of the Dragon Queen, the greatest among dragons, to personally block the king of filth.
So Velatus decided to leave the task of stopping the king of filth to that grandiose human called the Sword Saint.
He should consider it an honor. The Dragon Queen herself would visit him and deliver her supreme and magnificent command.
And so she met him.
The hero of insects, the hero of humans, was...
Beautiful.
From far above the sky, she watched the beautiful one wield a sword.
It was made from the black metal called Onyxia. Velatus possessed several swords made from Onyxia herself. The metal was difficult to work, but when made into a sword, it never broke and always retained its sharpness.
The sword itself was plain. It had not been made as decoration, but faithfully for the sole function of being a sword.
Normally, Velatus would not have spared such a sword a glance. She had already indulged in the beauty of functionality thousands of years ago.
And yet, she could not look away.
‘I want it.’
The thought came as naturally as breathing.
The human wielding that sword was more beautiful than every treasure Velatus had ever seen, every treasure she possessed combined.
It was not love.
The concept of love did not exist for Velatus.
Beautiful things had to belong to her. Everything in this world existed for her, so of course she should possess such beauty. It was only right that whatever shone beautifully should adorn the side of the greatest being.
What kind of life that human had lived. What he carried. What fed the radiance that burned within him.
At the time, Velatus did not wonder about such things.
Why a gem shone. How much delicate craftsmanship had gone into creating that shine. What feelings the jeweler had held while cutting and polishing it.
Velatus had no interest in such matters.
She simply wanted it because it shone beautifully.
But she could not have it.
At first, she stated it proudly.
Beautiful one, become mine.
When he refused, she changed her offer. If there was anything he wanted, she would give it to him.
She made an offer.
"Ruin."
She reached out to possess him and was refused. She wanted him desperately enough to capture him, but she feared that beauty might break, so she could not truly fight him. Even so, she could not let go. She continued circling at his side, helping with what Ruin wanted and giving him gifts.
"Why do you go so far?"
The king of filth's advance was blocked, and the continent became peaceful.
That was how it appeared from the outside.
Velatus had thought so too, but Ruin's eyes were fixed not on the world Velatus saw, but on something far beyond it.
Velatus had circled him for decades, yet she still could not understand all of Ruin. She had tried to understand him, but perhaps their brains were simply structured differently because they were fundamentally different species.
She could not understand him at all.
"You are human. In the end... you are human. At most, you have a little over ten years left to live."
"That is likely so."
Was he truly human?
Even Velatus had such doubts, because Ruin remained vigorous. At an age when a human's face should have been covered in wrinkles, their muscles withered, their back bent, and their hair turned white, Ruin had not changed since the day Velatus first met him decades ago.
If anything, he had become even more beautiful.
His red hair remained as vivid and smooth as a ruby. His eyes glittered gold. There was not a single wrinkle on his face, and his trained body resembled a finely crafted sculpture.
The only plain thing on that beautiful body was the pitch-black sword at his waist.
"Why do you grieve over what will happen after your death?"
Velatus asked quietly.
"Why do you devote yourself so completely to your species when you do not even worry about yourself? Beyond the world? The outer sea? Its waves will never reach you while you are alive."
Velatus raised her head and gazed at the Sword Tower.
"And they will not come while I am alive, either. I built the barrier because you wished for it, but I... do not understand what meaning it has. Why should you and I care for a world after we are dead? And why are you, why are you so devoted?"
"Because I was born."
Ruin spoke while resting a hand upon Fenris. He was staring beyond the distant sky.
Velatus frowned and tilted her head.
"Because you were born...? What does that even mean? Are you the only being in this world who was born?"
"Because I was born special."
"That makes even less sense. Ruin, you were not born special by your own wish. Why take on a duty simply because you were born?"
"Perhaps because I was born with this sort of nature."
His voice was indifferent.
Velatus bit down on her lip.
"Give up on Ascension."
Velatus reached out toward Ruin. Blood gathered in her upturned palm.
"Drink my blood. Your Lifespan will greatly increase."
"..."
"Every problem can be resolved little by little if there is time. You know that. No being in this world has ever succeeded in Ascension. Someone of your stature would be pulled from the cycle of reincarnation even after death and seized by a sky god. If you crossed over imperfectly to the other side, you would end up inside an outer god's belly."
Velatus spoke those words as she looked around the garden. It was the sword that the King of Filth, who had not the slightest aesthetic sense, had come before her Lifespan ran out to drive into the middle of the garden, urging Ruin to kill himself.
"I have no intention of recommending suicide to you. Give up on Ascension and live with me. If you wish to devote yourself to the world so much, then live with me and devote yourself to it."
Velatus could not understand why Ruin wished to devote himself to the world so completely.
The conclusion she had reached after trying so hard to understand was merely a calculation of gains and losses. The world had already received too much from Ruin.
And yet, that foolish and beautiful one intended to challenge Ascension, which no one had ever achieved, and change the law of the human species.
"Of course, I cannot live forever either. But, but... as I said, problems can be solved if there is time. If we find a way to fulfill both your wish and mine..."
"I will not drink the blood."
Ruin spoke.
"If I drink that blood, I will no longer be human."
"How... how can that possibly be a problem?"
Velatus asked because she truly could not understand.
Humans were a species that barely lived a hundred years. A species that sickened, aged, and broke down.
She was offering him a chance to escape that species, yet he insisted on remaining human. A single mouthful of Velatus's blood would increase his Lifespan and remove the very limitations of being human.
Yet that foolish and beautiful one rejected all of that elevation without even considering it.
Velatus bit her lip and stared at Ruin.
This was not the first time she had made such an offer. For decades spent circling Ruin, Velatus had offered him the same thing again and again. She, who naturally obtained anything she desired, could only make offers to Ruin and hear refusal after refusal.
It was the same even now.
Velatus was refused once more, and she still could not remain at his side. She could only circle him.
Ruin was staring into the distant sky.
As always, that sword hung at his waist.
A pitch-black, plain sword.
Velatus's gaze fixed upon it like a nail.
Fenris.
Velatus knew that sword's story as well. It had belonged to the Sword Demon Ruin had cut down during the era that the continent's lowly creatures dared call the Dark Age. Ruin had taken that sword after killing the Sword Demon and had never once removed it from his waist.
It was the sword of an ant that had died decades ago.
Velatus bit down on her lip.
For decades, she had gifted Ruin swords. She had once chosen only the finest Onyxia, the same material as that sword, and had a master dwarven craftsman forge a blade from it. She had also gifted him swords made from materials more precious than that.
Every sword she had given him was magnificent, even in Velatus's eyes.
Yet Ruin had politely refused every gift from Velatus.
The Sword Tower was the only gift Ruin had gladly accepted.
"Ruin."
Velatus hated that sword.
The blood pooled in her palm began to boil. The boiling blood expanded, hardened, and sharpened itself into a shape.
A beautiful, sinister sword gleaming dark red appeared.
"I ground my bones to make the core of its blade. I layered the blade with my fangs and scales, and made its hilt from my claws. I melted my blood into every step of its forging."
Velatus held the sword out to Ruin.
"It is a sword made from all of me. There will never be another like it in this world. It will not break, its edge will not dull, and time will not wear it down. This sword can cut anything. It cannot even be compared to that sword at your waist."
Velatus had never seen a finer sword.
Nor would she ever see one.
Even that sinister cursed blade left behind by the King of Filth was inferior to this sword.
Naturally.
It was a sword the most noble queen among dragons, the greatest race in the world, had made from all of herself.
"It is more than worthy to replace the sword of a dead ant. Ruin, wear my sword at your waist."
Ruin looked down at the sword.
His mouth had not yet opened, but Velatus knew the answer from his gaze alone.
"I do not need a sword other than this one."
Ruin slowly shook his head.
That was the end of it.
"Why?"
Velatus spoke, her shoulders trembling.
"Why do you not need it? My sword is better than that sword in every way."
"It certainly appears so. But I do not need a sword as fine as that."
"Is it because no one can stand against you? But, but...! You still wield a sword, do you not? Every day, every day!"
"Because it is training."
"Then use my sword for that training!"
"That sword is too fine to use for training."
Ruin calmly answered as he stroked Fenris at his waist.
"I like this sword."
"What you like... is not that sword, but the dead man who held it!"
Velatus finally lost her patience and shouted.
"Why do you still remember a dead man from decades ago and keep his sword by your side?! What was so great about that dead man? What, what does he have that I do not?!"
"Velatus."
Ruin looked at Velatus with melancholy eyes.
"Are you happy when you are with me?"
"...What?"
"What do you see in me?"
Velatus could not understand the meaning of that question.
When Velatus remained silent, Ruin gave a small sigh and changed his question.
"What do you want from me?"
"For you to become mine!"
"Why do you want that?"
"You... you are beautiful. You are more beautiful than any being I have ever seen, and you shine brilliantly. I... I want everything about you."
Velatus's voice began to tremble.
"This is the first time I have felt such emotions for a being. I... believe this feeling is love. I can do anything to have you."
"What form does having me take?"
"...?"
"Am I to be an ornament beside you for the rest of my life?"
"You would be with me. It would be a joyful and glorious thing!"
"That is not my wish."
Ruin murmured quietly and turned away. His gaze returned to the distant sky.
Velatus clenched her trembling hands and spoke.
"What is your wish, then?"
"To serve the world."
"Do you find that enjoyable?"
"It is not something I do because it is enjoyable. I do it because it must be done."
She had heard those words many times.
What Ruin wanted to do was not something he truly enjoyed.
That beautiful one found a special reason for having been born beautiful. He felt a duty toward his own existence and was obsessed with repaying the world in which he had been born and lived.
It was an emotion Velatus could not understand.
Dragons, a great race, did not believe they must devote themselves to the world simply because they were born great. Dragons did not serve the world.
The world served dragons.
Ruin's hand stroked Fenris's hilt.
Velatus realized that Ruin's eyes, fixed upon the distant sky, were not tracing the faraway outside beyond it, but a moment in the distant past.
"You."
Velatus, who had been biting her lip and glaring at Ruin, spoke.
"You said the happiest moment of your life... was when you fought the owner of that sword."
"I did."
"Why was it enjoyable? That human called the Sword Demon was weak. Naturally, he could not compare to me, and he was weaker even than the King of Filth. Why was fighting someone like that enjoyable?"
"Because he was pure."
Ruin answered with a bitter smile.
"He did not want anything grand from me. When I fought him, my heart felt light too. Since I came down from the mountain, saw the world, and resolved to wield my sword for the world, my heart had always felt heavy. But when I fought the Sword Demon, it was not heavy."
"That is...! It was because you were overwhelmingly stronger than that human. Your heart was light because there was not even the slightest possibility of defeat!"
"No."
Ruin firmly denied it.
"The Sword Demon enjoyed fighting me. Even as he was cut by my sword and dying, he was filled with lingering joy. I was the same. That was the first and last time I felt pure joy in wielding a sword."
"You are trapped by memories...!"
Velatus spoke as she restrained her anger.
"Ruin, it has already been decades since you fought the Sword Demon. That is more than enough time for a human's feelings to change...! Are you certain that the heart you had decades ago has not changed from the heart you have now?"
"No, I am not certain. My heart has likely changed since then."
Ruin answered in a melancholy voice.
That answer hurt Velatus's heart.
"The world's expectations of you grew as time passed. The duty you feel grew just as much! Ruin, the reason you thought your battle with the Sword Demon was pure and enjoyable was because you were more immature then than you are now."
"Perhaps."
"Perhaps the Sword Demon did not rush at you with as pure a heart as you think. Like other humans, perhaps he expected something from you and wielded his sword with feelings other than joy."
"Perhaps."
Ruin repeated his answer and let out a short sigh.
"I did not have a long conversation with the Sword Demon, and I only fought him once."
"And yet, you still remember him...!"
"That is why I remember him. Because I have never met another human like him."
A thought suddenly came to Velatus.
If she resurrected the Sword Demon and gave him to Ruin as a gift, would Ruin not be happy?
He would.
He would be happier than when she gave him the Sword Tower.
‘But... Ruin does not have time.’
Even for the Dragon Queen, reincarnating a dead human was not easy. She had never even attempted it.
Ruin had at most a little over ten years left to live. Could she find a way within that time? She had offered to increase his Lifespan, but Ruin insisted on remaining human and insisted on challenging Ascension.
For the rest of his life, Ruin would truly begin pursuing Ascension.
‘No matter what I say, you will not listen.’
Giving up on Ascension meant denying the way Ruin had lived his entire life. That beautiful and noble one would never give it up.
"Ruin, do you... believe you can succeed in Ascension?"
Velatus asked in a trembling voice.
"I can succeed."
His answer was indifferent and unwavering.
Even while challenging an Ascension no one had ever achieved, Ruin never entertained the slightest doubt that he would succeed.
And so Velatus made her decision.
‘If you fail to Ascend, I will save you and possess you, even if it threatens my own existence.’
Because she wanted him that badly.
‘If you succeed in Ascension, I will prepare a gift for you as you depart for the distant sky.’
Velatus still had several centuries left to live. As she had said, she could find a way if she had time. She had never considered reincarnating a human before, but if the Dragon Queen, the greatest and most noble among the great dragons, sincerely pursued it, there was no way she would fail to find one.
But she could not find one.
No magic could resurrect a human who had died decades ago, a human whose soul no longer remained in this world.
Dragons were the progenitors of magic. Velatus, the Dragon Queen, could command every magic that existed in the world, and even magic that did not exist could be achieved through Dragon Speech.
If magic could not do it, she would have to try another method.
When Ruin attempted Ascension,
Velatus offered several centuries of her Lifespan to the outer gods. Along with forbidden knowledge, she retrieved the Sword Demon's soul and arranged his reincarnation.
‘I...’
Velatus's consciousness returned to reality.
‘I did not arrange for such talent and potential...!’
It was knowledge she had obtained by offering the Lifespan of the most noble being of the greatest race.
There had been no problem with the arrangements for reincarnation. It would happen centuries later, but she had not considered that a problem. She had prepared a way to forcibly extend the Lifespan that had run out and a way to transfer herself along with her heart.
She only had to endure.
Yes, she had thought she only needed to endure.
Thud!
Fenris plunged into Velatus's chest.
Even as she sprayed blood, Velatus spoke Dragon Speech and cast magic. The blood that melted into space became chains.
Crack!
Baal, which Kyle had been wielding in his left hand, stopped dead in midair.
It only stopped for a moment.
The power of annihilation wrapped around Baal's blade shattered the chains.
Velatus did not miss that moment. She grabbed Fenris's blade with both hands and opened her mouth wide.
Her overheated consciousness made time feel slow. She clearly saw particles of mana and intent gathering inside Velatus's mouth.
At this moment, time was not equal for everyone.
Kyle was clearly favored by time.
Within the slow flow of time, Kyle's consciousness accelerated even further.
He conveyed his will to every flickering sword.
His chest, his soul, trembled with exhilaration.
The hundreds and thousands of swords drawn by Sword Draw moved as one.
Velatus's arms, which held Fenris, were shredded into countless pieces of flesh.
Kyle's sword moved onward.
He swung Fenris, embedded in Velatus's chest, upward. Its blade advanced without resistance. Velatus's upper body split diagonally, and her tilting head still unleashed its breath.
Its path was far off target, but even though the terrifying attack missed, it created a storm.
Kyle's body was swept up by the storm and thrown through the air.
‘Ah.’
Jor flew over in alarm and caught Kyle.
She had wrapped herself around Kyle to protect him, but Kyle forcefully shook his head and pulled himself free from Jor's body.
It was a bloody battle.
It was not a one-sided fight.
Kyle's body was drenched in blood, and his joints creaked whenever he moved. His insides must have been injured as well, because the taste of blood would not leave his throat.
‘Just a little more.’
His injuries did not prevent him from moving.
Kyle swallowed his blood and rushed forward.
If he swung his sword just a little more, he was certain he could reach somewhere beyond where he was now.
Velatus rose unsteadily, her face pale.
Kyle's eyes met Velatus's as she gasped for breath.
The moment he saw the emotion in those golden eyes, Kyle smiled brightly without realizing it.
The emotion in Velatus's eyes was familiar.
It was an emotion he had often seen in his previous life.
Fear.
"What... what are you?"
Velatus screamed.
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