WeTried Translations
Translator: Coughing Baby
Editor: Coughing Baby
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
Chapter 200: Kaya Alastor
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“Helenas... Ahem, the Sword Church Master took Kaya as her disciple?”
Kyle's mouth hung open as he barely managed to force out his voice. People commonly said that ten years could change the landscape. It was a long time, and all sorts of things were bound to happen over such a span.
Long enough for the little sister who had babbled with unclear pronunciation at four years old to awaken her Spirit Root and take up a sword.
But an epithet?
Kyle had only gained the epithet Sword Demon after turning twenty in his previous life, aside from being called the captain of the Crow Mercenary Band. In this life, he had given himself the epithet Black Sword at fifteen. By comparison, Kaya was an exceptional prodigy to have already earned an epithet at fourteen.
More surprising than his sister's epithet was the fact that Helenas had taken Kaya as her disciple. That Helenas? That Kaya? Perhaps Kyle's confusion amused him, because Duke Oun chuckled.
“Strictly speaking, she is not the Sword Church Master's disciple alone. She is also a disciple of Duke Julius, the Thunder Emperor. In other words, your sister is the joint disciple of the Sword Church Master and the Thunder Emperor. Isn't that remarkable? The continent's greatest and second-greatest swordmasters are teaching swordsmanship to one girl.”
“Uh, well. It isn't strange for the Family Head to teach Kaya the sword. He taught me too, as well as our relatives and knights...”
“Your sister inherited the Thunder Emperor's Heavenly Thunder Infinite Force and Nine Heavens Thunderclap Sword.”
Kyle's mouth fell open again.
Heavenly Thunder Infinite Force and Nine Heavens Thunderclap Sword. They were the cultivation technique and sword technique Kyle had been offered when he turned ten, only to refuse. No one in Alastor had inherited either of them.
‘You can only begin learning those two if you are born with a lightning Spirit Root.’
Dante, Kyle's uncle, had been the only Alastor born with a lightning Spirit Root. Yet even Dante had failed to satisfy Julius enough to inherit the cultivation technique and sword technique. But Kaya had inherited both.
‘If she merely possessed a lightning Spirit Root, Grandfather would never have passed down both techniques to her.’
Spirit Roots had ranks as well. If Julius, who was ruthlessly cold whenever family matters were involved, had passed down everything he possessed, then Kaya must have been born with a Spirit Root and sword talent worthy of it.
Thinking of that, Kyle honestly felt happy. It seemed his little sister had been born with talent great enough to make Julius's eyes widen.
‘But why Helenas?’
With that question in mind, Kyle asked, “I understand why the Family Head took Kaya as his disciple. But why is the Sword Church Master involved?”
“Because the situation has changed considerably.”
Duke Oun kept pushing the wheelchair as he spoke. He had not left the infirmary room. He was simply circling it.
“Before news of your disappearance reached the world, the Sword Church Master visited the Sword Tower. I do not know what they discussed then, but she has remained in Gladiheim ever since. Not long after, the Sword Church's seven Apostles moved to Gladiheim as well.”
“What?”
“At this point, it would not be an exaggeration to say that the Sword Church and Alastor have become one. Hmm, it is probably because of you, isn't it? You are engaged to the Sword Church Master.”
There was a teasing note in Duke Oun's voice as he circled the room.
“Thanks to that, the imperial family must have quite the headache. Two names that were difficult to control even separately have now become one. Grand Duke Julius has managed things well enough that they are not openly opposed, though.”
“Good grief...”
“The Grand Duke truly is remarkable. He has conducted himself by scratching the Emperor's... Haha, the Empire's itches in exactly the right places. Did you know? The Grand Duke is even a candidate for cardinal in the Moon Church.”
“Cough!”
Kyle inhaled wrong through his open mouth and choked.
The Moon Church was the Empire's state religion and was likely closely connected to the Emperor's secrets. Julius was a candidate for cardinal there?
“Ah, he is only a candidate. The Grand Duke has not the slightest desire to become a cardinal. The Emperor would never approve it, and neither would the Moon Church. In the end, it is a position in name only.”
Even amid one surprise after another, Kyle's mind raced. Julius had said he would continually support the Moon Church and push himself into it to uncover the imperial family and Moon Church's secrets. That effort had continued through the ten years Kyle had been missing, eventually raising him to the nominal position of cardinal candidate.
“But in my view, it is as dangerous as walking on thin ice. Alastor has become too powerful with the Sword Church joining them. And now Izelion has entered its service as well... In terms of strength alone, I believe Alastor has already surpassed the Empire's publicly visible forces.”
“Izelion entered Alastor's service too?”
“Not the Izelion you remember. Only a portion of them, led by the Family Head, became Alastor's vassals. The Grand Duke refused to call them either vassals or subordinates, of course. Still, even if it is only a portion, is it not significant that the legitimate line of Izelion has joined them?”
Kyle's mind whirred.
Izelion joining Alastor. If only a portion led by the Family Head had done so, that meant not all internal conflict had been resolved. Velatus was dead, so the Spirit Tree of the East should have been freed. Had its roots not recovered? Had they escaped their fate? He did not know. Duke Oun alone could not tell him everything that had happened during the ten-year gap.
But one thing was certain from his words. Only Family Head Muheok and his faction had left their territory.
‘Were they expelled?’
Or had they turned their backs on Izelion themselves? If it were the former, Alastor would not have allowed it. It was more reasonable to assume Muheok's side had chosen to leave Izelion themselves.
“Ah, and as for the East that you saved, Crow Company's Central Branch has moved in and is busy with reconstruction work.”
“...”
“This is another issue that has made the Emperor sensitive. The East is currently vacant land with no owner. A being called Imugi is governing the East temporarily, but insists that if the East must have a king, it should be you.”
“Good grief.”
“Haha, how could the Emperor not be sensitive? Alastor, which was already too large to control after joining with the Sword Church, is now capable of claiming the vast territory of the East as well.”
The Emperor had no intention of letting Alastor go. Even if it was a power he could not wield freely, keeping it within the Empire's territory was an enormous symbol. And if someone threatened the Empire, Alastor would draw its swords for the Empire without hesitation.
But if Alastor truly declared independence, the Empire would lose its sharpest and strongest sword.
The current Emperor, Germea Valhart, was a man who could be called the embodiment of a thirst for honor and display. He would never allow such a thing to happen during his reign.
“And what else... What else was there to tell you? If there is anything you wish to know about what happened during those ten years, feel free to ask. I will answer clearly.”
“How long do you intend to circle the room?”
“Until we become very close?”
Duke Oun replied shamelessly. He had probably circled the infirmary more than ten times during this conversation.
“Mister, enough talking. Let's leave the infirmary for now. I need to see Lucia and Jor. Surely... you didn't try anything with them?”
“You misunderstand me as a terrible villain. This mister simply wishes to become friends with a boy.”
“Don't call me a boy.”
“Very well, very well. I will call you sir. Still, your age must be troublesome in many ways. Should you be considered sixteen now, or twenty-six?”
Duke Oun shrugged and finally pushed the wheelchair toward the door.
“Your abilities and Heart Realm are well beyond those of a sixteen-year-old. Yet your face is not twenty-six, so...”
“Fenris.”
Kyle suddenly spoke. Fenris still lay in one corner of the infirmary.
“Haha, this old man forgot for a moment. When one gets old, one's memory declines, and one forgets trivial things.”
“That sword is not trivial.”
“You make more slips of the tongue too.”
Duke Oun joked as he personally picked up Fenris and handed it to Kyle. Kyle took Fenris with an indifferent expression and inspected it.
There was nothing particularly strange about it. Its blade was still sharp. When Kyle tried calling it, the wolf Dokkaebi appeared and looked at Kyle with worried eyes.
‘I'm fine.’
Kyle clicked his tongue.
There was currently a problem with his body, but it was not a major one. The magical power that had seeped into his body was painful, but it did not feel ominous or dangerous.
‘If anything...’
Kyle glanced down at the hand gripping his sword. The swollen veins on the back of his hand, the blood flowing through them. The Circuits spread through his entire body, invisible to the eye. His dantian and Spirit Root.
Magical power had seeped into all of it.
It was a force different from both mana and intent. Kyle's Spirit Root contained limitless potential. It could become anything and contain anything.
‘It seems this power will depend on how I use it.’
His thoughts were unsettled, but there was nothing he could do about ten years that had already passed. He decided to think positively.
He regretted not being able to watch Kaya grow up from beside her. Still, the thought of crossing swords with Kaya, who had already grown so much, made his heart beat a little faster.
* * *
A flower bud meant that it had not yet bloomed. Its petals were gathered as if they might burst open at any moment, but it was not yet a flower.
That was why Kaya Alastor did not like the epithet Sword Bud. It sounded as if she were still immature.
“I don't understand what you mean.”
Her beautiful master sheathed her sword and shook her head.
“You are neither a flower bud nor a flower. You are human. Yet people call you Sword Bud solely because you are still young. Yes, a fourteen-year-old human is certainly young.”
Kaya made a sulky expression. She had complained about it several times, but her beautiful master could not understand the complicated, delicate feelings of a fourteen-year-old girl. Kaya sheathed her sword and wiped the sweat gathered on her forehead with the back of her hand.
The girl with her red hair tied up looked like the very embodiment of pure grace. Like her epithet, she had not fully blossomed into a woman yet, but anyone could tell she would grow into a remarkable beauty.
Yet even that pure beauty could not help but fade somewhat before the woman standing before her. After all, that woman was an elf, a race called the embodiment of beauty.
“Master, wasn't I better today?”
“Yes, you were better than yesterday. Better than the day before yesterday too.”
Helenas answered indifferently as she placed her black sword into its sheath. Kaya was dissatisfied with that indifference. It would have been nice if Helenas had acted more surprised or praised her more. Her beautiful master always spoke only the facts in an even tone.
“If I got better, couldn't you act a little more surprised?”
“You did improve, but not enough to surprise me. If you want a false and exaggerated reaction, I'll try from tomorrow onward.”
“Ah, seriously. Forget it.”
Kaya pouted. Why was this beautiful elf so incapable of understanding people's feelings despite living for five hundred years? Kaya sometimes even suspected that her master might be younger than she was.
Kaya did not understand just how remarkable it was that Helenas, who could not even understand such things herself, said she would try to give a false reaction. It was only natural. Kaya did not know the Helenas of the past.
Kaya plopped down at one side of the training ground, drank water, and looked down at her hands.
They were red and swollen. Calluses had formed long ago, burst, and formed again. They were rough hands for a fourteen-year-old girl.
While girls her age embroidered, held tea parties, and chatted, Kaya gripped and swung a sword with those hands. Even before she awakened her Spirit Root, and even more after she had awakened it. While young ladies learned etiquette, Kaya learned about swords. While they went on outings, Kaya entered the Cultivation Floors. While they smelled flowers, drank tea, and ate sweets, Kaya smelled byproducts and scraps and killed disgusting monsters.
She had not eaten them, though. She had heard her brother had done that, but Kaya could never bring herself to do it.
She had actually tried. She had been told before entering that she absolutely should not, but when she tried to eat the first scrap she killed after entering... she simply could not open her mouth.
How had her brother lived by eating these things? She had forced herself to try because he had done it, but Fragment had rushed out and scolded her harshly.
‘Brother.’
Kaya's lips pouted further.
Kaya did not have many memories of her brother. When she was three, she first saw him after he returned from Closed-Door Training in the Cultivation Floors. Red hair and golden eyes. Kaya felt her heart flutter at the handsome face that looked exactly like her own.
The thought that someone who looked just like her existed in the world, that he was the brother she had only heard stories about, was strange and exciting. Being held in his arms was her oldest memory.
Then her brother left the Sword Tower again. When he returned after a long time, he said he was leaving once more, and that he might return later than a hundred nights.
‘Liar.’
Kaya's brows furrowed deeply. He had said he might return later than a hundred nights, or perhaps sooner. He had said he would return as quickly as possible, and that he would bring her many presents.
A hundred nights had passed long ago. Kaya, who had been four at the time, was now fourteen. Yet her brother had still not returned. Her chest felt tight, and Kaya gulped down water.
Her feelings toward her brother were complicated. There was betrayal and longing, but at this sensitive age, the feeling Kaya held most strongly toward him was curiosity.
She had heard far too many stories about him over the past ten years. Whenever their relatives in the Sword Tower opened their mouths, they spoke about her brother. Rumors about him were plentiful outside as well.
Black Sword.
Dragon Slayer.
Slayer of the Dragon Queen.
Savior of the East.
Return of the Sword Saint.
Those and many other grand descriptions had become attached to her brother, Kyle Alastor. A great hero who gained an epithet at fifteen, won over the Sword Church Master, became engaged to her, crossed into the East at sixteen, killed Dragon Queen Velatus, and saved the East.
“Kyle was remarkable.”
“That brat is the greatest genius in Alastor's history. Even the Founding Ancestor could not have done that at Kyle's age.”
“As expected of Kyle's little sister.”
Whenever Kaya achieved something, her relatives always attached her brother's name to it. When she first manifested sword energy, when she completed the first form of the Nine Heavens Thunderclap Sword, when she manifested Sword Force, and when she gained the epithet Sword Bud. They praised Kaya, but always mentioned her brother in the end.
“You are outstanding too, but you still fall short of Kyle.”
Her beautiful master had said that several times as well.
“Do not compare yourself to Kyle. He is... special.”
Even her grandfather had said that with a bitter smile. Julius had said it because he knew Kyle was the Sword Demon's reincarnation, but Kaya did not know that. Every time she heard those words, she could not help becoming irritated.
‘I am a genius too.’
Kaya bit her lip. This was not an adolescent girl's conceit, but an undeniable fact.
She had been born with a supreme lightning Spirit Root, one Julius considered superior to his own. Before awakening her Spirit Root, she had trained with a wooden sword, and she had been evaluated as having sword talent too.
That was why, the moment she awakened her Spirit Root, she inherited Heavenly Thunder Infinite Force and Nine Heavens Thunderclap Sword. Like her brother, she entered the Cultivation Floors at eleven.
Unlike her brother, she had not endured there for four years. But she had left of her own accord because she saw no need to remain on the lower floors any longer. Perhaps she had even done better than her brother at the time.
She had barely met her brother. Their only shared memories were vague fragments from when she was three and four. She remembered his face clearly, and she remembered him sparring, playing, and talking with Grandfather.
Yet everyone around her continued to speak only of her brother. The brother who had not returned even after ten years. The brother they called missing, though in truth no one knew where or when he might have died...
‘Do I want to see him, or do I want to defeat him... I don't know.’
It was probably both. Kaya thought so. She wanted to see him, and she wanted to defeat him. She wanted to stand before him when he returned and show him how much she had grown. She wanted to prove to her relatives that she was a greater talent than her brother.
For that to happen, her brother had to return first. But even after ten years, there was no news of him. What Kaya understood even less was that none of her relatives had actively tried to find him over those ten years. They merely waited.
“Master.”
Kaya set down her water bottle and stared at Helenas.
“Is my brother really alive?”
Helenas was the same. Even though she and Kyle were engaged, even if it was only by a promise, her master had not chosen to wander the continent in search of Kyle. She had chosen to move to the Sword Tower and teach Kaya.
“He is alive.”
Just as she had every time Kaya asked before, Helenas answered without the slightest hesitation.
“How can you be so sure? Ten years have already passed. You, Grandfather, our relatives, Mother and Father... You all say my brother is alive, but none of you tries to find him.”
“Because there is no point in searching.”
Helenas smiled sadly.
“But he is alive. That is certain.”
How could she be certain he was alive if she had never even tried to find him? Kaya could not understand it at all. Just as she pouted and prepared to complain again, heavy footsteps rang out.
They were familiar footsteps.
Kaya tilted her head toward the sound.
The training room door flew open. Bruno Alastor, his face covered in a thick beard, rushed inside.
“Sword Church Master! Kaya!”
“...Mister?”
Kaya stood with a puzzled expression. Bruno was the son of her maternal uncle, which meant she should call him brother. But Kaya could never bring herself to call the bearded giant, who was seventeen years older than her, brother. Bruno's face crumpled as he still could not accept being called mister.
“You, how many times have I told you to call me brother...”
“You entered without permission.”
Helenas turned a cold gaze toward Bruno.
“You had better have a good reason.”
Bruno inhaled sharply and trembled. Then he exhaled and composed his expression.
“I came for a good reason.”
“What is it?”
“Kyle... Kyle has returned.”
The moment Bruno spoke Kyle's name, Helenas was already standing before him. The coldness disappeared from her eyes, replaced by intense emotion.
“If this is a lie, I will kill you,” Helenas whispered.
“If it is even a baseless rumor, I will kill you.”
“No... No! Why would I lie about something like this?! I didn't hear it through some rumor either!”
Bruno shouted indignantly.
Footnotes:
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