WeTried Translations

Translator: Coughing Baby

Editor: Coughing Baby

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

◈ Reincarnation of the Sword Demon

Chapter 71

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Because I Was Curious

Julius steadied himself amid the wreckage of split lightning.

He had swung his sword exactly twice, and both strikes had been effortlessly stopped. In those two exchanges, the Sword Church Master had used only two motions: an upward cut and a downward cut.

They were fundamentals, the first basics any child learned when picking up a sword. And those basic cuts had split Julius's lightning twice.

'Absurd.'

Just a few days ago, that adorable grandson watching from below had asked him something. Now that eighteen years had passed, did he think he was stronger than the Sword Church Master?

He had answered that he didn't know. He could feel the gap closing, but the true distance between them could only be known when both sides actually drew their swords.

That was his answer, yet he never imagined he'd end up showing something this humiliating. Julius wore a bitter smile.

It was obvious he had grown closer compared to eighteen years ago. Before becoming Family Head, he couldn't even receive one of Helenas's strikes. But now he was crossing swords with her. He still couldn't force her back, but still.

'I knew I'd lose, but this... this bruises my pride.'

As Family Head, he had chosen to drink the bitter cup of defeat himself, to show his family a sword worth striving for. But Julius was also a swordsman, and a proud one. Even against a five-hundred-year-old monster elf, not being able to move her even a little stung his pride.

Crackle...!

The Thunder Energy filling the sky above the Blade Mountain Range began to boil. That overwhelming Thunder Energy, influenced by Julius's very existence, started condensing around him.

Rumble...!

Thunder roared. The Sword Church Master's calm eyes sharpened. After measuring the power of the lightning concentrated before her, she slowly nodded. The sword that had cut downward rose little by little.

She extended her right arm, the one holding the sword, out to the side. The worn blade pointed forward. From that motion alone, everyone knew how she would swing next.

Purple exploded.

The condensed Thunder Energy became a massive, razor-sharp bolt and shot toward her. A frontal charge. No feints, no change of direction. It was fired with only one intent: to pierce through.

The instant the lightning pierced the sky, her sword moved. Side to side. Compared to the lightning's speed, the movement was absurdly slow.

It didn't need to be fast. By the time the lightning arrived, her sword had already cut through that point. The moment she chose to swing and moved, the cut was already decided.

Kwarrrrrng!

The thunder came a beat later. The lightning split by her sword passed by her. Julius emerged through the scattering Thunder Energy. He let out a short sigh and looked back.

The Sword Church Master...

She had been pushed slightly behind where she had first stood. She nodded a few times and looked back at Julius. Psssh...! The worn sword in her hand crumbled into pitch-black ash.

"My sword broke."

The Sword Church Master spoke first. Julius gave a wry smile and said,

"You didn't try to protect it."
"I used it for a long time. It wasn't some great famed blade. It was just... an ordinary sword."
"You felt no attachment to it?"
"It's just a sword."

Lowering the hilt that had lost its blade, she asked,

"Thunder Emperor. Why didn't you fight at full power?"
"Did that last strike not feel like my full power?"
"Not at all. I thought you were strong, but your strength isn't only this much."
"If I fought at full power, the Blade Mountain Range would have vanished from the map."

Julius answered with a grumbling chuckle. Her sword had broken, but his had not. More than that, he was pleased he'd pushed her back a few steps.

"If the mountains vanish, Gladiheim vanishes too. And so does the audience watching us."
"..."
"I drew my sword to show something. What's the point if the audience dies?"

Julius looked down. Seeing the Sword Wolf Knights sprawled on their backs, staring at the sky, he let out a dry laugh, then briefly looked at Kyle, who seemed dazed.

Julius didn't immediately understand why that adorable brat wore that expression. Was he shocked after seeing swords from such a distant realm? Anyone else would assume that and move on, but seeing Kyle make that face felt a little strange.

"Right now... it'd be too much of a waste for that child to die."

Julius gave up trying to read his grandson's expression and lifted his gaze to the Sword Church Master. After a moment of silence, she nodded.

"I understand. You drew your sword not to win, but to show."
"I knew it was a sword I couldn't beat. Drawing it to win anyway would've been ugly."

Julius's sword returned to its scabbard.

"Upward cut, downward cut, horizontal cut. You swung three times."
"That's right."
"I didn't intend this much, but somehow I ended up showing the audience the basics taught on the first day someone picks up a sword."
"I wasn't considering your intention. Those swords are simply familiar to me."
"I see."

Julius nodded and said,

"This is my defeat."

Those words fell over all of Gladiheim. The lord of Gladiheim, the Family Head of Alastor, one of the ten strongest on the continent, acknowledged defeat.

But Julius's back did not bend when he admitted it. If anything, he smiled with a look of relief. He had gotten what he wanted.

"The loser cannot obstruct what the winner wants. The owner of Fenris, and the bold grandson who caused all this, is right down there."

Julius pointed at Kyle.

"I trust you're not that kind of person, but please show the winner's generosity and do not cut down my grandson."
"Why would I cut your grandson?"

At that question, Julius shrugged. She said she had gained many perspectives over five hundred years, but apparently even that wasn't enough time for an elf to pick up jokes.

The Sword Church Master descended.

Barkas, who had stood there with a hardened face, was the first to lower his greatsword. Aslan and Arian did not step back. If the Sword Church Master tried to reclaim Fenris and harm Kyle... even if they believed that wouldn't happen, parents imagined the worst when it came to their child.

"Step back."

A thunderous command fell on hesitant Arian and Aslan.

"You can't help worrying about your child, but if I'd meant to do that, I could've done it long ago. Step back."
"Please don't worry about me."

Kyle opened his mouth.

"Nothing will hap-"

Before he could finish reassuring Arian and Aslan, the Sword Church Master rushed in and grabbed Kyle's wrist.

"-pen..."

That movement was too fast. No, it went beyond fast and felt eerie. Even with Kyle's body and senses carved by the Primordial Chaos Sword Canon, he couldn't perceive her approach and grab.

"-ing..."

He didn't even register that he'd been seized, and his mouth kept finishing the sentence. Only when the words ended did Kyle understand what had happened.

He was now flying through the sky with the Sword Church Master. Kyle blinked once and thought,

'What?'

What just happened? He thought that, then roughly understood. Holding Kyle, the Sword Church Master had leaped over Gladiheim's walls and was now dropping toward somewhere in the Blade Mountain Range.

"Is this, by any chance, kidnapping?"

Just in case, Kyle asked the Sword Church Master, Helenas.

"Why would I kidnap you?"

Helenas asked back. Elves really shouldn't be this common in the world. Even after five hundred years, that why-centered way of speaking hadn't changed.

"Because... I'm Fenris's owner?"
"I don't understand your answer."
"Then because I'm handsome?"
"I still don't understand."

His face was handsome enough to stand anywhere without shame, but maybe to an elf born beautiful, it looked ordinary. Kyle smacked his lips and asked,

"Why did you bring me out here?"

Instead of trying to reason it out, he just asked why, the way Helenas did.

"It's uncomfortable to talk there. Everyone's worried about you and wary of me."
"Even so, if you drag me out this suddenly, won't they panic and follow us?"
"The Thunder Emperor will stop them himself. He lost to me. I'll also take measures so no one interrupts this conversation. And what felt uncomfortable to me wasn't the Thunder Emperor's family."
"Then what was uncomfortable?"
"Your family's castle."

Helenas added,

"To be precise, the tower at the highest point. That is uncomfortable."

Was she talking about Fragment? Kyle looked at Helenas with bright, sparkling eyes. Every elf had resonance with spirits, and unlike humans, they could exchange requests with spirits without contracts.

Even the first spirit Kyle had encountered in his previous life was a water spirit summoned by Helenas, yet she had never called herself a Spirit Artist.

Because handling spirits wasn't the fate that had gripped her.

'They say resonance with spirits and resonance with dokkaebi are different... but with elves, who knows. Hey, Fenris. Read the room.'

Kyle still had no intention of telling Helenas about his reincarnation. There were a few things about her that bothered him.

'Maybe it's not Fragment. Maybe she finds the Sword Tower itself uncomfortable.'

The Sword Tower was an artifact personally gifted by the Dragon King, and the cultivation floors inside were connected to some ominous, dangerous place no one in this world could identify.

If an elf had lived for five hundred years, maybe she could sense that ominousness even without ever entering the Sword Tower.

Kyle looked down at the Blade Mountain Range spread beneath them.

They were quite high up, yet even after being yanked out this suddenly, he felt almost no strain on his body. That was likely not because his body was strong, but because Helenas had done something.

"What exactly did you do to me just now?"
"I grabbed you and leaped with you."
"Why... no, how?"
"That's all I did."
"Not from my side. How did you do it? I didn't even realize you had grabbed me until we reached this height."
"I cut your senses, cut your perception, cut your mana, and cut the impact."
"Ah."
"You understood?"
"Yes."

At that answer, Helenas turned and looked at Kyle. Kyle met her eyes without blinking. Just as her green hair had faded compared to five hundred years ago, her blue eyes had also lost some of their old light.

"You really understood?"

When Helenas asked again, Kyle shrugged and answered,

"You cut senses, perception, mana, and impact. With a sword at your level, that should be possible."
"You understand quickly. Or are you pretending to understand?"
"Who knows."

Helenas tilted her head at that answer. She looked at Kyle for a moment, then muttered,

"You are a strange child."
"I hear that a lot."

Their bodies slowly began to descend. Around the middle of the Blade Mountain Range, far from Gladiheim.

He had lived in Gladiheim for ten years, but never once come out to the Blade Mountain Range. Kyle looked around with bright eyes.

Not only the Sword Tower but even Gladiheim itself was affected by many spells, so the brutal cold people usually imagined when they thought of the north was muted there. But here, in the Blade Mountain Range, it was exactly that image: a freezing snow mountain. Around them were only snow-covered rocks and barren trees, and the wind was cold.

Helenas looked around once, then swung her hand. Something in space was "cut." After that, she walked to a suitable rock, swept off the snow piled on top with a wave of wind from her hand, and sat down heavily. Kyle sat on a rock opposite her.

For a moment, they faced each other in silence. Helenas's eyes were on Kyle's face, not on Fenris at his waist.

"Why did you bring me here?"
"I told you. Talking there was uncomfortable."
"So what did you want to talk about badly enough to bring me here?"
"I was curious about you."
"Looks like Jenafelt conveyed her impressions of me well."
"She held many emotions toward you."

Helenas set the blade-less hilt, still in her hand, on her lap. It looked very old, a sword that gave no clue how long it had been used and swung.

"You tried to teach that child."
"That's right."
"Why?"
"Because I'm better with a sword than she is."
"You're not that child's family. Not her friend either. And you're not a Sword Church Disciple."
"But I'm a swordsman, and Jenafelt is a swordsman."
"That child had killing intent toward you."
"That's right."
"And you still wanted to teach her?"
"At that time, Jenafelt could never have killed me."
"..."
"But one day she might be able to kill me. Her sword would have to become far better than it is now."
"What if the sword sharpened by taking in your teaching becomes able to kill you?"
"I brought it on myself, so shouldn't I bear it?"

Through that back-and-forth, the light in Helenas's eyes didn't change. Resting her chin on one hand, she stared straight into Kyle's eyes.

"I can understand your answer. But I have trouble understanding a boy your age saying it."
"Because I'm young?"
"Yes."
"I hear that one a lot too. I was a bit mature from an early age."
"Why didn't you use Fenris in that duel? I heard your answer. Because that Sword Church child couldn't swing a sword against Fenris. Was there no other reason?"
"If I subdued Jenafelt barehanded, the shock would hit her that much harder. I wanted that shock and those impressions to reach you."

Kyle smiled.

"Rather than me going to find you, I wanted to make you come find me."
"Why?"
"I looked into Sword Church too, roughly. Sword Church Master, I heard outsiders are strictly forbidden from entering Sword Forest, where you stay."
"The Thunder Emperor came twice."
"That's possible because he's my grandfather. It's still impossible for me."

Helenas gave no answer. She just looked at Kyle with faded eyes. Meeting that gaze, Kyle let out a short laugh.

"Well, even if I hadn't sent greetings through Jenafelt, eventually you'd have heard I was Fenris's owner. But instead of burning with anxiety that the great Sword Church Master might show up someday, my temperament prefers sending a bold greeting first. It turned out exactly how I thought. Right now, Sword Church Master, you're talking with me."
"True."

Helenas slowly nodded.

"I have a few things I'm curious about too. May I ask?"
"Ask."
"You lost your sword today. Doesn't it feel like a waste?"
"It doesn't."
"You used it for a long time."
"I did. But it's just a sword."

At that answer, Kyle fell silent for a moment.

Five hundred years ago, while teaching Helenas the sword, there were words he had said many times. Cherish your sword. Love your sword. Every time, Helenas asked because she couldn't understand.

["A sword is only a tool in the end. Raikal, are you telling me to cherish and love this tool in my hand?"]
["Mm... you know the phrase beloved sword, right? A sword you've used for a long time, one your hand is used to... one that's comfortable."]
["Like your Fenris?"]
["Right. Me, well, I'd use any sword well, not just Fenris. But not everyone in the world is like me. People say a master doesn't choose his tools, but even great masters are probably more comfortable with familiar ones."]
["So you are not one of them."]
["Right, because I'm a genius. But you're not, are you? So cherish your sword... your tool. Right now, even a sword just slightly different in length from the one you use ruins your posture."]
["I cannot understand. A sword is a tool. To use it long means it is swung much and used much. If so, it will break someday. Unless it is a special sword like your Fenris."]
["You... hey, can you stop saying you can't understand? Just, huh? If I say it, take it in. Even if you don't understand, just pretend you do."]

They had this conversation many times. In the end, five hundred years ago, Helenas did as Raikal told her. She cherished and cared for her sword.

She did not love it. To her, the sword in her hand never went beyond being a tool. Raikal had felt that too at the time, but he didn't tell her she was wrong.

Because her perspective wasn't wrong. In the end, the swords Raikal loved weren't limited to one single blade like Fenris.

Just swords.

Whatever shape they took, just swords. Held in his hand. Swung somewhere.

'Five hundred years have passed, so did she come to understand what I said back then?'

He didn't know. As Kyle's silence stretched, Helenas spoke first.

"As you said, the sword that broke today is one I've used for a long time. Probably around a hundred years."

Helenas's gaze stayed on the hilt in her lap.

"But spending a long time together doesn't make something precious. If time made things precious, then I'd have to hold everything precious. I've lived five hundred years."
"..."
"But that's not so. I've lived five hundred years, yet there's almost nothing precious beside me. Like this sword. It broke in the end, so I just need to take up a new one. That's all I felt when it broke."
"Then, Sword Church Master, do you consider 'swords' precious?"
"I know your name."

Helenas said something completely different.

"Kyle Alastor. Owner of Fenris."
"Yes."
"That Sword Church Disciple told me. That after five hundred years, Fenris became a sword again."
"She conveyed it well."
"For five hundred years, your ancestors kept Fenris as decoration. Ruin Alastor too, he didn't use Fenris as a sword. In the past, I asked Ruin directly why he didn't use Fenris as a sword."
"What did the Founding Ancestor answer?"
"He said he disliked having memories painted over."

That answer was unexpected, and Kyle's eyes widened. He looked at Helenas for a moment, then spoke.

"My grandfather said you regularly ask after Fenris. That Alastor can continue keeping Fenris stored as decoration, just as it always has. But I won't do that. I'll use Fenris as a sword."
"I understand Ruin's old answer from the distant past a little now. I can see why someone would dislike having memories painted over. But no matter how Fenris is used in your hand, the memories of Fenris within me won't disappear."

Helenas's eyes looked into the distant past.

"Because even after five hundred years, I still remember that time vividly."
"..."
"But that's my impression. Fenris is still just a sword, and ownership lies with Alastor."
"If you wanted to take it, you could."
"I won't take Fenris. I'm still not ready to reclaim Fenris."
"It feels to me that your sword is already ready."
"No, it isn't ready."

The Sword Church Master shook her head.

"Because swords aren't fun for me."

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