WeTried Translations

Translator: Coughing Baby

Editor: Coughing Baby

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

◈ Reincarnation of the Sword Demon

Chapter 55

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You Can Throw It

Lucia stared blankly at Blood Fang in her hand. At first glance, the blood-red blade looked ominous, but the longer she looked, the clearer it became that it was not like blood at all, but brilliant and beautiful like a ruby.

“...”

Her eyes trembled, and her breathing wavered a little too. This was not the first time she had received a sword from someone. The elders who taught her had given her swords before, and when she finished as a Knight Candidate and became an apprentice knight, Katarina had gifted her one as well.

Even so, this sword she had just received felt especially meaningful. It was not because of words she might have misunderstood. Lucia knew her place well, so she would never twist words like that.

“Yes.”

Lucia steadied her breath and answered. With a faint smile, she carefully hugged the Blood Fang Kyle had given her.

“With this sword I received from you, Kyle-nim, from now on I will try to love the sword... and myself.”

She still had no idea how exactly to do that, but Lucia said it with complete sincerity.

“Ahem...”

The mood had almost turned strange, but it settled down, and Erika cleared her throat before speaking.

“Why do you think we came here?”
“To greet me since I came back after four years?”
“If you think about it, I’m the aunt and you’re the nephew, so you should have come to greet me first.”
“I thought so too and was planning to come see you, but Aunt came first, so.”
“Hmph, shameless brat.”

Erika grumbled and ran her hand over the Frost Bracelet.

“We didn’t come just to say hi. We came to pick you up. Father said we should have a meal together.”
In the past, Erika had always called Julius “Family Head” formally, but now she called him Father. Kyle could only smile at that.

“A meal, huh. Is Lucia coming too?”
“Of course not.”

Before Erika could answer, Lucia quickly shook her head.

“I came only to greet Kyle-nim. I couldn’t enter the residential floor, so I was waiting, and Bruno-nim helped me.”
“Pig, you’ve gotten a lot nicer.”
“How long are you going to keep calling me pig?”

Bruno said with his brows sharply furrowed.

Honestly, Kyle wanted to bring Lucia to the meal, but that would only put her in an awkward position.

Kaya started nodding off on top of Jor’s head. Arian carefully lifted her so she would not wake up, and Kyle called Jor back into his middle dantian. After they finished preparing, everyone headed down to the first floor together.

On the way to the elevator, Kyle looked at Lucia’s apprentice uniform and asked,

“So you became an apprentice knight. Looks like you still haven’t chosen a knight order?”

In Gladiheim, people became Knight Candidates at thirteen, then spent five years at the training center, and after graduating, became apprentice knights.

From there, they were placed in the apprentice knight unit, began learning advanced martial arts in earnest, joined the training of the knight order they hoped to enter, and followed missions. In other words, an apprentice knight was a full knight’s squire.

Lucia was eighteen this year, so by Gladiheim’s system, she had only just graduated from the training center. But Kyle knew her skill well. Her swordsmanship had already been better at thirteen than senior trainees about to receive appointment. So he could not understand why Lucia was still wearing an apprentice knight uniform.

“The elder-nims, the Family Head, and even the training center instructors all advised me to graduate early, but... I was dissatisfied with myself, so I graduated on schedule.”
“Dissatisfied? With what?”
“I was dissatisfied with my sword.”
“Don’t tell me what I said before, about loving the sword, became a mental block for you?”

Lucia did not answer. She only gave an awkward smile. Seeing that expression made a sigh rise from deep in Kyle’s chest.

“I told you there was no need to rush. If you get buried in that kind of thing, your blade will only waver.”
“I didn’t delay graduation only because of your advice. I also didn’t have a knight order I wanted.”
“You said you wanted to join the Funeral Knights.”
“I do want that someday, but to become a Funeral Knight, I need to be much stronger than I am now. I also need to complete many missions and prove my loyalty to Alastor.”

Lucia glanced regretfully toward the approaching elevator and continued.

“Katarina-nim told me to join the Aurora Knights, but... I’m still thinking about it.”

Katarina Alastor, the eldest daughter, was the commander of the Aurora Knights. Kyle glanced at Erika. The uniform she was wearing now was the Aurora Knights uniform.

There were five knight orders in Gladiheim. Each had its own role.

The Funeral Knights were the Family Head’s personal guard.
The Black Iron Knights guarded Gladiheim.
The White Night Knights guarded the northern border.
The Crimson Snow Knights guarded Vigrid territory.

And the Aurora Knights handled special operations. Because of that role, the Aurora Knights were smaller and demanded outstanding skill for entry.

“What are you looking at?”
“I was just impressed that you’re in the Aurora Knights, Aunt.”
“Your aunt’s skills are more impressive than you think.”

Erika puffed out her chest and bragged. Pure-blood status in Alastor gave no special privileges for entering a knight order. If anything, the standards were higher. If a pure-blood was weaker than other knights, that person became Alastor’s weakness.

“Pig, why are you still in an apprentice knight uniform?”

Bruno was twenty years old. At that age, he should have been choosing a knight order soon, but he was still in an apprentice uniform.

“I’m still deciding which order to join.”
“Weren’t you going to join the Crimson Snow Knights?”

Barkas, the second son, was the commander of the Crimson Snow Knights, so Kyle had naturally expected Bruno to enter that order too. Hearing that he was still considering his path, Kyle could not help looking puzzled.

“If I go into the Crimson Snow Knights, it feels like I’ll just walk the road Father paved.”
“Uncle Barkas doesn’t seem like the type to go easy on his child.”
“That’s true, but knights other than Father might still treat me specially.”
“Aren’t you overthinking it? It’s not some backwater knight order.”
“The younger knights will end up watching my mood anyway. Father is strict even inside the order.”

Bruno grumbled and shook his head.

“You might not know, but the exchange tournament held in Gladiheim this time was also open recruitment for knights. The Family Head intends to bring in a large number of outsiders through this chance and establish a new knight order. You saw Uncle Roel and Uncle Seros earlier too, right?”
“Yeah.”
“They returned to the Sword Tower after eleven years, and they still aren’t assigned to any knight order.”
“Ah. So he’s creating a new knight order for them? Mainly with young knights recruited from outside?”
“Uncle Roel will be the commander, and Uncle Seros will be the vice commander. If I have the choice, I’d rather join that order than the Crimson Snow Knights.”

If they were people who had already built names outside, then were recognized in this exchange tournament and appointed in Gladiheim, they would not tiptoe around him just because he was Barkas’s son. If anything, they would burn with competitiveness, thinking, How great can pure-bloods really be?

He changed a lot.

Kyle looked at Bruno with pleased eyes. Four years ago, Bruno had not been able to go against his father’s will and had just swung his sword the way his father told him to. Now he wanted to stand on his own and prove his sword for himself.

“Guess we don’t need to cut ties.”

While they were talking, they arrived at the elevator.

“Then, Kyle-nim, I’ll see you next time. Are you coming out to watch the public sparring again tomorrow?”
“Probably.”
“Then I’ll enter tomorrow as well.”

After parting with Lucia, who smiled faintly, they headed to the first-floor dining hall. Kaya was still asleep in Arian’s arms, and Erika kept sneaking glances at her like she found her unbearably cute.

“If you like kids that much, Aunt, why not get married too?”
“Listen to this nephew. Hey, I’m only twenty-three!”
“Our mom got married at your age.”
“That was... your mom getting married a bit early. Honestly, I thought it was a waste.”

Her soft gaze on Kaya turned sharp as it shifted to Aslan. That look alone made Aslan hunch his shoulders, with plenty to feel guilty about. He had somehow repaired things with his wife and child, but it seemed his relationship with his in-laws still had not recovered.

In the first-floor grand banquet hall, all Alastor pure-bloods had gathered in one place for the first time in eleven years. Family Head Julius and his nine children, his daughters-in-law, sons-in-law, and grandchildren. And Julius’s old friend, Isaac Shulhov. Because of that, the grand hall was more crowded than Kyle had ever seen.

“Sorry we’re late.”

As the banquet hall doors opened and they stepped in, dozens of eyes turned toward them at once. Among the late arrivals, Arian had the highest generational rank, so she gave a slight bow while holding Kaya.

“Looked like you were crossing swords with Aslan.”

Julius, seated at the seat of honor, spoke first. His golden eyes were fixed not on his daughter Arian, but on Kyle.

“Yes.”

Kyle did not ask how he knew. A transcendent being like Julius could sense sparring even inside a Cultivation Chamber on the residential floor.

“Did you enjoy it?”
“Much more than when we crossed swords four years ago. Back then we couldn’t really communicate, but now we could.”

A small murmur spread around the table at that smooth answer. Isaac, seated beside Julius, opened his eyes wide and stared at Kyle, and Roel and Seros, who were seeing Kyle for the first time today, looked stunned.

He could cross swords with his brother-in-law...?

Roel was especially shocked. He had envied Arian since childhood, but he had always acknowledged the sword of his brother-in-law, Aslan Antares. Aslan had wandered the world with a single sword despite not carrying Alastor’s great bloodline, had been called Sword Fool, and had challenged the Alastor Family Head with boldness.

“I still need to play with Grandfather too. Or am I the only one who wants that?”
“When have you ever come to play after considering my mood?”
“So that means I can keep coming to Sword Peak Hall from now on?”
“You plan to come to Sword Peak Hall even without Fenris there?”
“When did I ever go to see Fenris? I came to see you, Grandfather.”

Kyle replied with a snicker. Roel and Seros were stunned by how light and comfortable he sounded toward the Family Head, but they were the only ones shocked here. The other relatives already looked used to this kind of exchange.

Even Brother Barkas and Sister Katarina too?

Barkas still looked blunt, but he did not look like he was boiling with anger. Katarina was not blunt at all, just calm. At this point, Roel started wondering if he was dreaming. Since childhood, those two had led efforts to enforce discipline among siblings in place of the eldest brother, so seeing them like this was hard to believe.

While Roel was still in shock, the late arrivals found seats and sat down on their own. Kyle’s family sat directly across from Julius.

“No need to wake her.”

Arian carefully tried to wake Kaya, but Julius immediately raised a hand and stopped her.

“Isn’t she sleeping well?”
“But Kaya always told me to wake her whenever she meets Grandfather.”
“Why did she say such a thing?”
“Why else? Because you always stop by only when Kaya is asleep, look at her face, and leave.”

Arian giggled and stroked Kaya’s cheek with a finger. Not long after, Kaya’s eyelashes trembled.

“Mmm...”

Mumbling with her lips, Kaya opened her eyes. She blinked several times, looked around quickly, then found Julius and squealed while flailing both arms.

“Gwanpa!”
“I said not to wake her.”

He said that, and his expression barely changed, but everyone in the banquet hall noticed the corners of his mouth lift just a little. Arian giggled and handed Kaya into Julius’s arms.

“Gwanpa!”
“Shh. Your voice is too loud. This is not a place that requires strict solemnity, but that does not mean you may be frivolous. You are Alastor as well, so dignity...”
“Gwanpa!”

Kaya laughed brightly and grabbed Julius’s red beard. Julius lowered his head as she pulled and let out a short sigh.

“You are even trying to damage my dignity. What an insolent child.”

Julius tried to gently pry Kaya’s fingers loose, but when he saw her cheeks puff up in protest, he eventually had to give up. Watching this, Isaac burst into hearty laughter and looked at Julius.

“Hyung-nim, do you love your granddaughter that much? Even if she’s your youngest granddaughter, you’re being too much.”
“I went to see the other children when they were young too.”

Julius answered with an indifferent face.

“Looks like none of them remember.”

At that, Bruno, who had been about to pull out his chair and sit, staggered hard, and the expressions of the grandchildren who found this gathering heavy, difficult, and uncomfortable all shifted in different ways.

“I remember. When I was very young, Family Head-nim gave me a toy sword.”

The eldest grandson, Cassius, spoke up. At twenty-three this year, he was wearing the White Night Knights uniform, the order commanded by his father Karthan.

“I still keep that sword in my room.”
“That sword was not given to be displayed.”

Cassius gave a bitter smile at Julius’s indifferent answer.

“At the time, I was too young... and Family Head-nim felt too difficult to approach. If I hold that sword and come to you now, would you play with me too?”
“You are too grown now to hold a toy sword. You have a real sword now, not a toy one, so if you want to play with me, bring a real blade and come. I will play with you as much as you like.”
“...Understood.”

Cassius composed his expression and answered. The words were very heavy. This was no one else but Gladiheim’s strongest and Alastor’s Family Head telling him to come with a sword. Unless someone had abnormal nerves, those words would make them shrink back, not actually come with a real blade.

“Let’s go together later, hyung-nim.”

At that voice mixed with laughter, the corner of Cassius’s mouth twitched. He slowly turned his gaze toward Kyle, who was grinning. They had crossed paths a few times while living in the Sword Tower and exchanged light greetings each time, but Cassius had never once thought of this young cousin as a little brother.

“Right. Later, let’s go together.”

The moment he pulled that twitching corner of his mouth into a smile and answered, Julius’s third son, Jerard, spoke.

“That child is fifteen now, so he is no longer at an age to stay holed up in the Sword Tower just playing.”

Behind a monocle, Jerard’s narrow eyes turned to Kyle.

“He is excellent beyond his age in skill as well, so would it not be best to start entrusting him with outside duties soon?”
“Outside duties, hmm.”

Julius replied while stroking his chin.

“You have a point. Then what kind of duty do you want to assign him?”
“With Kyle’s skill, there is no need for him to become a Knight Candidate. In truth, he is skilled enough to become a full knight immediately, but he has no mission experience and no achievements yet, so...”

A thin smile settled in Jerard’s eyes.

“How about assigning him first to one of Gladiheim’s regular knight orders and having him begin as a squire? The White Night Knights would suit him well.”
“Does it have to be that way?”

Kyle spoke while holding a knife and cutting meat. Jerard stared at Kyle for a moment at those words.

“What do you mean, does it have to be? I don’t know what your intent is.”
“I’m not saying I dislike doing outside work. I don’t know exactly what kind of work it is, but if I’m assigned work, I should do it.”
“Then. Do you mean you don’t want to become a squire?”
“Honestly, yes. I only know that Gladiheim has knight orders. I don’t really know what they do or who is assigned where. I also don’t have an order I want to join.”
“If you don’t know, you can learn. Once you know, an order you want will appear.”
With a smiling face, Kyle looked straight at Jerard. Gladiheim’s knight system made no exceptions for pure-bloods. At thirteen they entered the training center, graduated at eighteen, and from then on were assigned to the apprentice knight unit and joined other orders’ work.

Jerard was the one who first suggested an exception to that system. He wanted to skip the apprentice knight unit and assign Kyle directly to a regular knight order as a squire. And he even named the White Night Knights. That was where the eldest son Karthan was commander and the fourth son Dante was vice commander.

Looks like he wants to put a leash on me first.

He had finally come back outside after four years. There was no way he would put on a leash now.

“Wouldn’t it be better if I just made a knight order myself instead?”

Kyle smiled as if it were nothing and threw a huge stone.

You can throw it.

Alastor was extremely generous to those who had qualifications.

All he had to do was prove those qualifications and be acknowledged.

And that qualification was, of course, the sword.

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