WeTried Translations

Translator: Coughing Baby

Editor: Coughing Baby

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◈ Reincarnation of the Sword Demon

Chapter 49

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I Didn't Mean To

"Give me medicine that can cure Grandmother's illness."

That was the first thing that came to mind, so Kyle raised both hands and asked. His grandmother had already been asleep for nineteen years. If he walked out with medicine that could wake her, he might even see Julius shed tears of joy.

"..."

The request had clearly gone through, but there was no response. Kyle tilted his head at Fragment, and Fragment gave a derisive snort.

"Do you think Julius and his children have never asked for that here?"
"Was the effort I put in at the Mudflat not enough?"
"That is not the issue. Julius's wife sleeps in a state that cannot be undone, even with rewards granted here."
"Do you have any idea why Grandmother is asleep?"
"I can't be certain. But I suspect a powerful curse, or a binding."
"Even with your power, you can't wake her?"
"I can't. And Julius knows what must be done to get his wife back. That's why two of his children have left the Sword Tower."

Kyle still didn't understand and tilted his head again, so Fragment clicked its tongue.

"If you want to know why, ask Julius yourself. In any case, the reward you wanted cannot be granted, so ask for something else."

Kyle had no choice but to think again.

Julius, Nelia, Erika, Bruno, Lucia, Arian, Aslan.

He had decided to give gifts only to those seven who had come to see him off four years ago. Thankfully, before returning to this room, he had hunted every day in the Mudflat and the sea, so the range of rewards he could request should be more than enough.

"Hmm..."

Sitting with his back against the coiled Jor, Kyle spent a long while deciding what gifts to bring.

Once he had sorted out his thoughts, he borrowed paper and a pen from Fragment and wrote a list of what he wanted.

"Within the rewards I can receive, give me as much of what's written here as possible."

It happened exactly as requested. Light shimmered over both his hands, and items appeared one by one in midair.

Julius was strong enough not to rely on special tools, and as head of the Alastor Family, he could obtain almost anything he needed.

So for Julius, thoughtfulness and taste mattered most. Honestly, since it was a gift from his beloved grandson, Julius would probably be moved even if Kyle handed him a pebble from the roadside.

Of course, Kyle had no intention of giving him a pebble. After serious thought, he chose a brooch. He requested something worthy of the dignity of a family head who always wore a stern, imposing expression in the Sword Hall.

Next was Nelia. Her gift also leaned on thoughtfulness and taste. Like Julius, she could get whatever she needed if she wanted it.

Nelia was a mage. Kyle had never actually seen her use a staff, but she was a mage, so she probably used one. So he decided to give her a jeweled ring ornament for a staff.

"A necklace for Mom and Father."

This one also had no special function, but he emphasized that it was made as a pair from the start.

"Come to think of it, I've never given Mom a gift before."

Would she burst into tears when she got it? Kyle grinned as he examined the necklace, its craftsmanship making it obvious at a glance that it belonged to a matched set.

He decided to give Erika a bracelet. Some might think Julius's youngest daughter could easily get anything she wanted, but it wasn't that simple. To receive something from Julius, you first had to be acknowledged as worthy.

"Aunt Erika is twenty-three now, so she's not really that young anymore."

Maybe Erika had grown much stronger over these four years, earned Julius's recognition, and gained a major position in Gladiheim. But Kyle had no way to know right now, so he chose to give her a magic tool that should be genuinely useful.

A bracelet with a cool chill flowing from it. He didn't know its name, but he asked for "an item that would help a Form-Realm swordswoman with an ice spirit root."

"A belt for the pig."

It was a magic tool that sharpened sensitivity to the mana flow in earth veins and helped keep the body's center firmly grounded. Four years, no, five years had passed, so maybe the pig's center wouldn't waver even without this. But that guy used to grumble that he was no genius, so having this couldn't hurt.

For Lucia, he decided on a sword.

The wooden sword he had received from Lucia when she came to see him off four years ago had been very useful in the Mudflat. It was an ordinary wooden sword with nothing special about it, but he had never handled it carelessly. Ordinary or not, Lucia had surely chosen it with care in her own way.

A sword sturdy enough not to break even under the Demon Tribe's monstrous strength, and one that drew out only the strengths of that uniquely alien, violent mana. The red blade of the sword he received from that request was chillingly sharp.

"Hmm."

Kyle swung it a few times and grinned. It was sharp, but it wasn't a cursed sword drenched in murderous intent. Lucia should be able to handle it without trouble.

"Frost Bracelet, Earth Dragon Belt, and on top of that... Blood Fang."

Fragment shook its head with a fed-up look.

"Are they expensive?"
"It's not a matter of cost. These are items you can't obtain even if you want them. They're worthy of being kept in Gladiheim's treasury."

He had spent over a month hunting Mudflat dregs and sea byproducts, so of course the value was high. Wearing a satisfied smile, Kyle packed the gifts into the leather pouch he had requested along with them, and personally hung Blood Fang at his waist for Lucia.

"I'm leaving now. Won't you miss me?"
"What is there to miss? As long as you remain in the Sword Tower, we can meet anytime."
"That's pretty cold. So where do I go to get out?"
"I'll open a door."

Fragment's lips twitched, and a strange smile formed. For some reason, it looked suspicious.

"Where does the door lead?"
"Outside."
"Outside where?"
"Outside is outside."
"I mean where, exactl-"

Before he could even finish asking again, the ground beneath Kyle's feet split open with a crack.

"Beware blind blades."

Fragment's voice, thick with amusement, grew distant, and Kyle's body dropped downward.

Gladiheim lower district, Third Training Ground.

On normal days, this place was full of castle soldiers and Knight Candidates focused on training, but today it was unusually crowded.

The Alastor Family was regarded as the greatest martial family not just in the empire, but on the entire continent. That prestige began with the founding ancestor, Ruin Alastor, five hundred years ago, and for the five centuries since then, each Alastor head and warrior had firmly preserved that name.

But five hundred years was a long time. Especially after everyone in the world began awakening spirit roots, magic and martial arts advanced by leaps and bounds. Alastor was still called the greatest martial family on the continent, but the gap between the peak and those below was no longer as vast as it had been five hundred years ago, and this was now an age where families and groups seeking to become the new peak were rising into prominence.

Julius did not dislike that shift of the times. If anything, for the first time, he had opened Gladiheim's gates and invited outside martial artists in.

The reason announced to the world was twofold.

First, open recruitment. If anyone wished to offer their talent to Alastor, they were to come to Gladiheim and prove their worth.

Second, an Exchange Tournament for young martial artists. And not just anyone, but the head of Alastor himself and a member of the Ten Peaks had chosen to host it directly.

"Looks like you've grown old too, hyung-nim. Never thought you'd open your gates yourself and let this many outsiders in."

A middle-aged man with half-white hair brushed back chuckled and stroked his beard. Isaac Shulhov. His title was Wandering Sword Sovereign. He was not one of the Ten Peaks, but he was a famous swordsman across the continent and a longtime friend of Julius.

"I heard there were many outstanding young talents these days, so I wanted to gather them and see their level."

Julius spoke in an indifferent tone while looking down over the training ground.

"And if one catches your eye, you'll make him a knight of Gladiheim?"
"If he has the qualifications and swears loyalty."
"Say what you like, Alastor is still the greatest martial family on the continent. There has never been a massive open recruitment like this, so they must've all come here drooling."
"That's too positive a way to put it. Most of the young ones who came this time probably came thinking, how great can Alastor really be anyway."
"Ha ha, wasn't making this happen your way of teaching those hot-blooded brats what rank means?"

Isaac chuckled and took a sip from his cup.

"Well, as you said... plenty must have come not to be evaluated by Alastor, but to evaluate Alastor. Even if they refuse knight offers, this kind of event is perfect for raising their reputation."

Just as Julius and Isaac said, the people now gathered in Gladiheim were not only young martial artists with pure dreams of becoming Alastor knights.

There were free knights seeking fame. There were even martial artists from other martial families who wanted to test their skills. Knights already formally appointed by other kingdoms or houses came too. Even mercenaries had shown up.

"The reason you've become this flexible is... that cute youngest grandson of yours, right?"
"He's not the youngest anymore."
"Heh heh... right, that's true. Anyway, that little darling changed you, didn't he?"
"I was fairly flexible from the start. Most just never noticed."
"Hah, now you've even improved your jokes. Is this what happens when men get old and melt for their grandsons? If I'd known it'd be like this, I should've had a kid myself."
"Somewhere in the world, you probably have a child you don't know about. Live carefully from now on."
"Hm? Carefully? Why?"
"Because someday, a child you never knew you fathered might show up with a sword."

At Julius's flat reply, Isaac blinked. He couldn't immediately tell whether it was a joke or not.

"Hmm... right, I'll be careful then. Anyway, hyung-nim, is that cute grandson still shut up inside that damned place in the Sword Tower?"
"This makes his fourth year."
"This is delicate to ask... but may I?"
"He's alive."

Julius answered without changing expression.

"I don't know whether he's living well, but he's alive. If he had died, the body would have come out."

Even if someone died there without even a scrap of flesh left, death in the cultivation floors became known outside.

"Good that he's alive, but... this is absurd. You said he was eleven four years ago. How can a kid like that survive for four years in that damned Outer Sea?"
"Outer Sea or not, it's still a frontier in the end."
"Even you, when you first entered that place, only endured half a year, didn't you?"
"I felt no need to stay longer, and if I had, I thought I would've gone mad."
"Hmm... are you sure your grandson's mental state is okay?"

Isaac asked carefully. Even Julius had lasted only one year there at seventeen before running out. And an eleven-year-old child had lasted four years?

"My grandson was already crazy from the first moment I saw him."
"What...?"
"He was crazy about the sword. Since he was already mad, he won't go mad in there. If he goes mad, he won't be able to swing the sword the way he wants."

Isaac blinked, unable to grasp what he meant.

Julius did not bother explaining. He looked down at the training ground with indifferent eyes.

He did not openly agree with Isaac's teasing, but it was true that he had opened Gladiheim's gates for this open recruitment and exchange because of Kyle.

Julius had secluded himself in the Sword Tower for too long. Of course, even in the Sword Tower, news from outside always flowed in, especially news about young and talented swordsmen.

Watching his grandson, born with monstrous talent in the sword, had made him curious whether there might be other young monsters like him somewhere in the world.

"Maybe my expectations were too high..."

He had not seen everyone gathered here swing a sword yet. But at least the swords he had seen so far had not satisfied him at all. It wasn't that they were terribly lacking.

If he had seen them in the past, he would have thought they were excellent for their age. He would have thought they had promising futures.

But because he had seen his grandson's sword, what he saw now left him unsatisfied. Julius rested his chin on his hand as he thought.

"When exactly is he coming out?"

He had told himself not to worry, but people's hearts never moved exactly as they wished. On top of what Isaac had just said, four whole years had passed, and now Julius was beginning to worry about Kyle.

"It's not as if I can drag him out by force..."

At that moment, Julius sensed something first and stared at the empty air above the training ground. Isaac noticed a beat later, widened his eyes, and looked where Julius was looking.

Then the air over the training ground split open, and a red-haired youth fell from above.

"...?"

It happened in an instant. The height was too low. Right where he was falling, two young swordsmen were in the middle of a spar. By cruel timing, his body was about to wedge itself right between their clashing blades.

"What the hell?!"

Isaac, horrified, thrust out a hand. He moved to protect the youth, but before he could even release aura, Julius suddenly grabbed that hand.

"Hyung-nim? Why?"

It was too late to ask, and too late to shake free.

He didn't need to.

The youth, who had abruptly fallen from the air between the two swords, spun in place. Kagaak! Aura stretched out from his right hand as he swung mid-rotation, and the blades driving in from both sides were redirected away.

"Huh?"

Isaac's jaw dropped. Two swords wrapped in Sword Qi that could reasonably be called excellent now flowed along completely different sword paths from their original intent. The two swordsmen who swung them could not control their own blades. They staggered like leaves caught in turbulence and stumbled several steps.

"Uh... uhh?"
"What was that?"

The swordsmen, now standing in absurd positions, blurted out in confusion. Everyone watching the spar wore that same confusion in their own way and stared at the youth who had suddenly appeared in the arena.

A closer look showed he was not quite a youth. His body was grown, but his face still held traces of boyhood. A boy standing on the boundary of becoming a young man. He brushed back his brilliant rose-red hair and spoke.

"So I teased him a little, and this is how nasty he got with his excuse."

Kyle muttered under his breath and looked around. Swords had suddenly flown in from both sides, so he had redirected them, but he had no idea what was going on here.

"This is Gladiheim, though."

Why were there so many people? Kyle tilted his head, then felt a sharp gaze and looked up.

He saw Julius and his relatives seated in the VIP section around the training ground.

"Y-you... who are you?"

Their focused spar had been interrupted. No, forget that, where had this guy fallen from, and how? The short-haired swordsman snapped at Kyle, still flustered and irritated.

"Me?"

Kyle flashed a grin toward Julius in the VIP seats.

"This family's youngest grandson."
"W-what?"
"Looks like I interrupted, so sorry about that first. I didn't mean to."

Kyle suddenly grabbed the stunned swordsman's hand and shook it up and down.

"But can I go say hello?"
"Uh... uh, s-sure."
"Thank you."

Kyle answered politely, let go, and waved toward the VIP section.

"I'm back."
"Heh."

Julius let out a dry laugh and shook his head.

"You make your appearance in strange ways."
"That wasn't my intention."
"Do you know how much time has passed?"
"I'm not my father, so of course I know. Four years have passed, right?"
"Correct."
"It's been four years. Didn't you miss me?"
"More than you, I wanted to see your sword."

Julius rose with a faint smile.

"Do you know where you're standing right now?"
"In a training ground."
"And who is around you?"
"Hmm... lots of swordsmen I've never seen before. Is there some event today?"
"I heard the young ones these days have excellent swords, so I decided to take a look."
"Looks like I picked a good day?"
"It's been four years, and the day is fine, so show me your sword."

Julius's smile deepened. Kyle couldn't help smiling too.

It looked like Julius wanted to show everyone here the sword of the grandson who had just come out after four years.

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