WeTried Translations

Translator: Coughing Baby

Editor: Coughing Baby

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

◈ Reincarnation of the Sword Demon

Chapter 54

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Thinking of It as Me

'Shouldn't someone stop them?'

Arian was not a swordsman, but she still knew how terrifying Sword Force was. Could this really be called play, when they were swinging a technique at each other that could shred people, no, even fortress walls?

"..."

By any reasonable standard, this was absolutely not play, and as Aslan's wife and Kyle's mother, she should have stopped them no matter what.
Even so, Arian couldn't force the words out.

Father and son were both smiling.
They were hurling brutally deadly Sword Force at each other, yet neither looked worried for even a moment that the other might fail to respond and die.
If anything, they were fully enjoying the chill of that duel, like walking on thin ice.

"Ah..."

In the end, Arian could only let out a deep sigh.
They were father and son who had met for just one day four years ago, then parted.
Before that, there had been no bond.
After that, still no bond.
Only today were they truly building one, truly making memories.

From that angle, this crazy "play" even felt strangely moving.
Her husband and her son.
The two men she loved most in the world were using the sword to understand, acknowledge, and accept each other...
At least, Arian tried to think of it that way.

"Kya-hahaha!"

Unlike Arian, who kept worrying about what would happen if a stray blade flew out and hurt one of them, Kaya just laughed in her arms, as if this was the best thing ever.

"Hoo..."

The play that had been terrifying from start to finish finally ended.
Kyle let out a long breath, lowered his sword first, and stepped back.

"Are you stopping?"

Aslan asked with obvious regret, still maintaining Sword Force.

They could keep going if they wanted.
This was Kyle's first time using the Primordial Chaos Sword Canon like this, but his mana efficiency was even better than he had imagined.
Even if his mana ran dry, he could squeeze Jor in his middle dantian and pull out more.

[I worked hard too.]

Jor, panting hard, grumbled.
He still wasn't fully used to the Primordial Chaos Sword Canon, and on top of that, he had been handling the violently circulating mana Kyle forced through him.

'Good work.'

Praise should be given when it was deserved.

"If we keep going, I think it'll become dangerous for both of us."

Kyle answered, smacking his lips in regret.
Dangerous for both of us.
At those words, Aslan's eyelashes trembled.

"Son, answer me honestly."
"About what?"
"Could you see all of my sword?"
"Yes."

Aslan had wanted the truth, so Kyle gave it to him plainly.

"Ha ha..."

Aslan could only laugh in disbelief.
He had felt four years ago that Kyle could read his sword path, but...
Even now, when he had swung with full seriousness, his sword still got seen through.
Aslan laughed hollowly and shook his head.

"So that feeling I had wasn't a mistake..."

As they crossed blades, he had kept feeling a strange mismatch, but deep down he had dismissed it as impossible.
Their exchanges had looked fairly even.

Even that, being "even," was ridiculous.
He had swung a sword for over twenty years...
Yet he was matching a fifteen-year-old son's sword.

"When you said it'd be dangerous for both of us, did you mean I'd be in danger?"
"No. Both of us would be."
"Why? You read my sword."
"I don't read every sword of yours. It's more like... I do it by instinct."

Kyle shrugged while looking down at Fenris.

"By that instinct, I can put you in danger. But if I do that, you'll also, instinctively... avoid that danger and swing for a new opening. If we go there, we both become dangerous. I won't be able to read your sword clearly anymore."
"..."
"And if it reaches that level, it's not play anymore. Do you want to kill your son?"
"Don't say that."

Aslan answered with a hard face.

"Even if you swung your sword to kill me, my sword would never move to kill you."
"I don't want to kill you either."

Kyle grinned and sheathed Fenris at his waist.

"Family shouldn't try to kill each other, right?"
"That... is true."
"How was it, playing with me?"
"It was fun."

Aslan's stern expression melted at once.
His voice shook as he spoke, and he slowly reached out and grabbed Kyle's shoulder.

"I learned far too late... how fun it is to play with my son."
"We can play often from now on. I have fun playing with you too."

The sword of Aslan, called Sword Fool, was incredible and high-level.
To play against that sword, Kyle also had to show his real self.

Could he beat him, though?
The thought came suddenly, and Kyle considered it for a moment.
If they competed with pure swordsmanship alone, he could win.
If they fought with the sword styles of this era, he would only know after trying.

'Father said four years ago he achieved Sword Attainment and caught the clue to Peak Realm.'

Staring at Aslan's still emotional face, Kyle asked,

"Father, when you were playing with me just now, did you not use Peak Realm?"
"Of course I didn't. If I used that, it wouldn't be play anymore."
"What happens if you use it?"

Kyle asked with shining eyes, and Aslan hesitated with an awkward expression.

"I want to show you, but... I still can't perfectly control Peak Realm."
"Why would control matter just to show one sword?"
"Next time... I'll show you next time."
"Father. You're not lying that you entered Peak Realm just because you're embarrassed after wasting twelve years, right?"
"I'm not!"

Aslan looked genuinely wronged, so Kyle did not press further.

'He probably wants to show me in a cooler way.'

Thinking that, and trying to understand Aslan's feelings, Kyle picked up the leather pouch he had tossed aside.

"Mom, Father. Please take these."

Kyle took out two necklaces he had brought from the Cultivation Floors and handed one to each.
The two necklaces, with diamonds sparkling brilliantly, were clearly a pair for a married couple.

"My goodness..."

Arian covered her mouth, deeply moved.
Beyond how beautiful the necklaces were, the fact that her son had returned after four years with gifts prepared for his parents made her chest ache.
On top of that, aside from letters, this was the first gift she had ever received from him.

"Huh..."

Aslan also held the necklace and could not continue speaking.
As his whole body trembled with emotion, Arian set Kaya down for a moment and pulled Kyle into a tight hug.

"You've grown up so much, giving gifts to your mom and dad already... You really didn't take after your father in this part at all."

When Arian shot him a look, Aslan flinched and avoided her eyes.

"Even when we were dating, your father kept giving me things like daggers, saying they were for self-defense. He married me with no money to his name, then instead of taking better care of us, he shut himself away for twelve years, saying it was Closed-Door Training. Ah, my son is a hundred times better, a hundred times better."
"..."

Aslan couldn't argue and only sniffed.
It wasn't because Arian was scolding him.
Tears of emotion over his son's gift were about to spill.

"Me too."

Kaya, sucking her finger while looking up, spoke.
This little lady had no intention of calmly accepting that the big brother she had met for the first time today had given sparkling gifts only to Mom and Dad.

"Give me shiny too."

At those words, Kyle got more flustered than almost any moment in both his past and present life.

'Damn it, Fragment. If my little sister was born, you should've told me ahead of time.'

If he had known, he would have prepared Kaya's gift too.
Should he give her the bracelet he had planned for Aunt Erika?
Or the belt for that pig?
No matter how he thought about it, he could never give Kaya the sword meant for Lucia.
Between the belt and the bracelet, the bracelet was still the better choice.

'Sorry, Aunt.'

He would get her something else later.
Reaching that conclusion, Kyle opened the pouch.

'No... this won't work.'

The Frost Bracelet meant for Erika was filled with cold energy.
If he handled this wrong, it might harm Kaya's body.
There was no way he could take it out.

"Our princess! Big brother will give you a pretty gift next time. So can we hold it in today?"

Arian picked Kaya up and tried to soothe her, but tears welled up in Kaya's eyes as soon as she realized she was the only one not getting a gift.
At that sight, Aslan panicked and put both hands over his head like rabbit ears.

"Bo-bounce! Bounce!"

Should he stand over there and act like a rabbit too?
He wondered for a second if he should throw away his dignity for his only little sister.
Then a flash of inspiration struck Kyle's mind.
He immediately called Jor in his middle dantian.

'Jor.'
[Yes, Master.]
'Come out and show some cuteness. Make a cute face.'

He did not wait for Jor's answer.
By Kyle's will, Jor, coiled in his middle dantian, got dragged out.
Crackle!
The purple energy flowing from Kyle's fingertips swelled huge, and a giant snake big enough to swallow a person appeared in the middle of the Cultivation Chamber.

Muddy purple scales covered his whole body.
A sleek, long frame.
But his face became as cute as possible, exactly as his master ordered.

"..."

Jor looked at Kyle with resentful eyes for a moment, then slowly slithered over toward Kaya.

"Wow!"

Kaya cried out.
His body was huge, but the roughly shaped snake head looked like it had jumped out of a picture book, and thankfully Kaya seemed to find it cute.
Arian, eyes wide, stared at Jor without letting go of Kaya, who was trying to break free from her arms.

"K-Kyle? What is that?"
"It's Jor."
"Jor... Jor? The baby lightning spirit you contracted?"
"Yes. Well... he ate this and that in the Cultivation Floors, and grew a little."
"That's not a level of 'a little'... N-no, size isn't the issue..."

With trembling hands, Arian stroked Jor's head.
The texture in her palm.
She wasn't just sensing him through mana, Jor clearly had a physical body.
That was why Kaya, whose spirit root had not awakened yet, could see him.

'How can a spirit become like this?'

Arian was an outstanding Spirit Artist, but she had never heard of a spirit having such clear physical substance.
A spirit was ultimately a life-form made of mana.
The denser the mana making up its body, the clearer its form looked, but having actual substance like this was impossible.

'These scales... I can feel mana beneath them, but it's not lightning mana. What in the world is this...?'

This was closer to a monster than a spirit, wasn't it?

"Kaya too! Kaya too touch!"

Kaya struggled in Arian's arms while Arian stood there stunned.
When Arian carefully set her down, Kaya lifted both arms and toddled toward Jor.

After passing puberty, Jor had become something beyond a baby spirit, and he now had the dignity to match.
Even so, Kyle's command was absolute.
Jor made the cutest expression he could and gently lowered his head toward Kaya.

"Waaah...!"

Kaya stroked Jor's head once, jumped in surprise, then stroked it again.
After rubbing the smooth head several more times, she giggled and hugged Jor's neck.

"Snake, snake!"

Thankfully, Kaya stopped demanding a gift.
Instead, she clung to Jor's body, and in the end climbed all the way onto his head.

"Let's go!"

Jor moved as told, carrying Kaya on his head.
Go where?
The same question rose in both Kyle's and Jor's minds, but Jor still crawled toward the direction Kaya pointed.

"I heard Uncle Roel and Uncle Seros came back. Did Grandmother wake up?"

Kaya led the way out of the Cultivation Chamber while riding Jor's head.
Kyle followed behind with his parents and asked.

"No..."

Arian answered with a sigh.

"They wandered the world for eleven years, but it seems they still couldn't find a way to cure her illness."

As expected.
Kyle sighed the same way.

"Aunt Erika!"

Outside the Cultivation Chamber, three people were in the garden of the Rose Mansion.
Kaya, sitting on Jor's head, shouted and waved both hands.

"W-what is this snake?!"

Erika jumped in fright and drew her sword, and Kyle quickly stepped in front of her.

"It's a spirit I contracted."
"A s-spirit? That? That's a spirit?"
"You're shocked by the spirit, but not by seeing your nephew for the first time in four years?"

Kyle grinned at Erika.
Erika stood there with her mouth open, then belatedly fixed her expression and put her hands on her waist, pretending to be stern.

"It's been a while, nephew. Hard to believe you just came back after four years in that awful place and your face is this glossy. Tell your aunt honestly. You stayed somewhere other than Mudflat, didn't you?"
"It got manageable once I got used to it."
"Manageable? Your face looks fine, but your mind clearly doesn't."
"My mind's fine. That's why I even brought gifts."

Kyle took the Frost Bracelet out of the leather pouch and handed it to Erika.

"This... what's this?"
"What do you mean? It's a gift. You came to send me off four years ago, so I got this in there."
"I-in there? You could even get something like this?"

Erika's jaw dropped.
She had entered the Cultivation Floors in the past too, but she lasted only one month, and even half of that time her Lifeline had snapped, so she hid in a room and lived on bad bread.

"They give things if you work hard. Next time, Aunt, go in and bring out my gift."
"Uh... uh... th-thank you..."

Stammering, Erika took the Frost Bracelet.
She flinched at the cool chill seeping into her body, but Kyle had already shifted his gaze to Bruno.

"Pig, why does your face look like that?"

Bruno had his lips tightly sealed and was glaring at Kyle.
When Bruno refused to speak first, Kyle chuckled and tapped Fenris at his waist.

"Even if you stay silent, I know what you're thinking. You were shocked by my skill at the training ground earlier, right? You thought you'd gotten a lot stronger over four years, but compared to me you feel a bit pathetic now, don't you?"
"You bas-"

Bruno, hit right on the mark, started to curse in a low voice, then noticed Kaya watching and quickly shut his mouth.
When their eyes met, Kaya smiled brightly and waved.

"Uncle Bruno!"
"Why uncle? You should call me oppa."
"No, uncle. You look like uncle."

Kyle burst out laughing at that answer, and Bruno's face crumpled.
By generation, he was her cousin oppa, but his face really looked more like an uncle than an oppa.

"I heard Kaya learned some sword from you. Looks like you played with her well."
"I never taught her sword. She begged so much that I just swung a sword in front of her a few times, that's all."

Bruno said it while watching Kaya's reaction.

"The Cultivation Floors... if I go in there, can I get as strong as you?"
"Not as strong as me."
"..."
"Take this."

Kyle handed the Earth Dragon Belt to Bruno, who was cursing with his eyes instead of his mouth.

"You... are giving this to me?"
"You came to send me off four years ago too."
"..."
"Uncle Barkas didn't cut ties with you, right?"
"He didn't. Not sure if you'll cut ties... or break friendship with me, though."
"You didn't slack off for four years?"
"I didn't."
"I'll check later. Just take it, my hand hurts."

Bruno hesitated, then took the Earth Dragon Belt.

"Lucia."

Kyle turned to Lucia with a bright smile.

He had seen her at the training ground earlier too, but now it hit him again how long four years really was.

Fourteen-year-old Lucia had become eighteen.
Her silver hair was still the same neat bob as before, but she had grown much taller, slightly taller than Erika.

Kyle was taller than Lucia now.
Looking down at her, he gave an awkward smile.

"About the wooden sword you gave me. I tried hard not to break it, but in the end, it broke at the last moment."
"It was an ordinary wooden sword."

Lucia answered with a faint smile.

"It was far too plain, too shabby, too common a wooden sword for Kyle-nim's hand."
"It worked pretty well for something like that."
"That was because Kyle-nim's skill was excellent."
"That's true."

Kyle nodded without denying it.

"Anyway, I got a lot of use out of the wooden sword you gave me, so I thought I should give you a gift too."
"You don't need to do that. For me, Kyle-nim returning safely already feels like more than enough of a gift."

Lucia answered calmly, but Kyle shook his head.

"Do you remember what I told you then?"
"I remember. You told me to try loving the sword, and loving myself as I swing it. You said you wanted to see the sword of mine that changed because of that."
"Did you love it?"
"I'm still not sure. Kyle-nim said... you wanted to see my changed sword, and would accept that as your gift, but my sword still doesn't seem to have changed. I tried, but..."
"It's okay if you think it hasn't changed yet. If the sword loves you, you'll end up loving the sword and yourself too."

Kyle drew Blood Fang, sheath and all, from the side opposite Fenris.

"This sword's name is Blood Fang."
"..."
"You gave me a wooden sword, so I wanted to give you a sword too. The gift you need to give me-next time, show me with this Blood Fang."

Kyle handed Blood Fang to Lucia.

"Love this sword while thinking of it as me."
"Yes...?"
"Mm... that sounded a bit strange. Love this sword, as the sword I gave you... anyway, do your best."

He forced Blood Fang into Lucia's hesitant hands.

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