WeTried Translations

Translator: Coughing Baby

Editor: Coughing Baby

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◈ Reincarnation of the Sword Demon

Chapter 85

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Why Do You Like Me?

"Before you leave, let me ask a few things."

Kyle dropped down onto the ground and spoke. Lizet sat across from him, pouring a potion over the still-bleeding wound on her chest, and gave a nod.

"Ask. I have questions of my own."

"How did you sneak in?"

Beltua Island was a backwater island with nothing geographically remarkable about it. The Island Lord was a typical rural noble, and the knights serving under him were nothing special.

Even so, this was still an island in the North Sea. Defenses against Demon Tribe infiltration would extend from the sea inward, well before the island itself. Yet Azel, Ruzan, and even Lizet had all slipped onto it.

"We came by submersible."

She had bled considerably, but between the potions she had poured over herself and drunk, color was returning to Lizet's face quickly. The Demon Tribe were physically tougher than humans to begin with, and the Demon King's bloodline stood apart even among them. That the frail Azel had not succumbed to Madness Erosion under such extreme circumstances was thanks to exactly that distinction.

"Sub... a sub, what?"

"A submersible. You don't know it, which proves Erebos's magitech is superior."

Lizet said it with a note of pride and pulled something from a pouch on her belt. It had fit easily in one hand, but the moment it hit the floor it swelled large.

It was a type of vehicle unlike anything Kyle had seen in his life. He had only assumed it was a vehicle because Lizet said she had "come by" it—it didn't actually look like one. A jet-black, elongated shape, without so much as a window.

"It's something that travels underwater."

Bruno said it while scrubbing blood from the corner of his mouth. His eyes made clear he found Kyle's ignorance unbearable.

"It travels underwater? How?"

"With magic."

"Why didn't we take one of those?"

"We're not running a covert operation or infiltrating someone else's territorial waters. Why would we need a submersible?"

Hearing it put that way, it made sense. Kyle nodded, and Bruno fixed Lizet with a hard stare.

"Even granting the submersible, you broke through the defensive magic that easily?"

Bruno was Alastor pureblood too. The northern watch had been the family's duty since the Founding Ancestor, so this point had to be addressed clearly.

"Because the magitech applied was sufficient to break through it. Human magitech is five hundred years behind Erebos."

It was true that five hundred years of exchange with Erebos had accelerated magical development, but human magitech still lagged behind the Demon Tribe.

"..."

More than that, Bruno felt a different kind of irritation. From the start, Lizet had addressed Kyle as "pureblood," yet to Bruno she had said "human."

Unavoidable, really. Kyle had red hair and golden eyes. Bruno had brown hair and green eyes.

"He's Alastor pureblood too."

Kyle read Bruno's expression and told Lizet. Bruno flinched and shot Kyle a sidelong glare. Lizet gave a nod.

"Is that so. You are pureblood as well."

"I-I do know Erebos's magitech is superior to the continent's. But to actually break through the Empire's defensive magic..."

Bruno held his head with a baffled look. If what Lizet said was true, that meant the Demon Tribe could infiltrate the continent whenever they pleased, didn't it?

"I am not an ordinary demon. Neither is Azel, and neither is Nasdel. Even Nasdel's hounds are not ordinary."

Lizet said it with a flat expression.

"Pureblood. Are you worried about a Demon Tribe invasion? That worry is pointless. Five hundred years ago, the late king made a treaty with your ancestors and with the Empire, a promise not to invade the continent. That resolve has been passed down to every Demon King since."

Of all the Demon Kings throughout history, only the one five hundred years ago had ever sought to invade the continent, and it was that very Demon King who had changed course.

Successor Demon Kings inherit the memories of the one before. Not one of them had ever tried to break the treaty made five hundred years ago.

"Is that enough of an answer?"

"Not entirely. Can't you leave that thing behind?"

He pointed at the submersible on the floor. Lizet looked at him as if the question were absurd and shook her head.

"I need it to get back. I can't give it to you. Take your spoils from Azel and the hounds instead."

"You don't plan to take your sibling's body with you."

"It is not an honorable body."

Lizet stopped looking at Azel's corpse. Her gaze moved to Lucia instead.

"Lucia Beliar. My earlier offer still stands. If you've changed your mind, come with me now. Let's go to Erebos together."

"Why do you call me Lucia Beliar, and refer to yourself as my older sister?"

Lucia asked, sitting with exhaustion plain on her face. The situation was a little absurd, really. People who had been trying to kill each other minutes ago were now huddled together, openly worn-out, talking in quiet voices.

"You received Azel's Inscription. The duty Azel abandoned has passed to me, so I consider you my younger sibling."

"She's out of her mind."

Kyle muttered. Lucia nodded. Every other member silently agreed.

"I have no intention of following you. I have no desire to become Demon King. What I do with the Inscription, I'll think over and decide as I go."

"Think it over with me."

"You are not my sister, and you are not someone I would think things through with."

Lucia said it and glanced at Kyle. Lizet looked back and forth between the two of them for a moment, then nodded.

"He is a warrior who understands honor and carries strength. He is worthy of thinking things through alongside you. He may even guide your sword."

Lizet decided not to push further for now. She had nearly been killed by Kyle's sword, so she acknowledged it. She acknowledged Lucia too, for pressing forward with her own will.

"Kyle Alastor. That sword earlier, what was it?"

Acknowledging it only made the question press harder. Lizet had unleashed her Secret Technique to kill Kyle. That Secret Technique placed an enormous burden even on the current Lizet, and at the level of the Will Realm, it was something that should have been utterly unanswerable.

Yet it had been cut, and Lizet's body along with it. The "impossible" had been denied, so of course she was left with questions.

"The most complete sword I know."

Kyle answered plainly.

"Though my skill is still lacking, so I couldn't swing it with full completeness."

"How does someone lacking know completeness?"

"Because I'm lacking, I can. Fill in what my sword is missing, and that becomes completeness."

Depending on how you heard it, it was an extraordinarily arrogant thing to say. Lizet was quiet for a moment. Kyle reconsidered.

"No, that sword isn't complete. I just haven't reached it yet, so it feels complete to me."

In the eyes of Kyle, of the Sword Demon, Ruin's sword was complete. But was that sword truly complete?

He didn't know. Before he had ever seen Ruin's sword, the Sword Demon had believed his own sword was complete. What you hold, what you see, what you live through, all of it changes how you see what you already have.

Kyle didn't want to make recreating Ruin's sword his ultimate goal. It was Ruin's sword, in the end. So Kyle hoped that when he finally reproduced it perfectly, it would turn out not to have been complete after all. That prospect was more fun, more exciting to look forward to.

And only if it worked that way could he show Helenas the sword he had promised her.

"Last question. That thing earlier, when you almost killed me. That... hit."

"A Secret Technique."

"Right, Secret Technique. How did you do it?"

"It is a martial art of the extreme boundary. Even if I explained, you wouldn't understand."

"No, I know that. I'm just asking how you did it. Does opening the upper dantian let you do all of that?"

"It doesn't work that way."

Lizet pressed her hand to her knee and stood.

"That Secret Technique was a fist from a realm not yet permitted to me. I only know it in theory, and have almost never thrown it for real. This was my first time in live combat. You were fighting with everything you had, so I pushed past my limits to match that."

A fist from a realm not yet permitted to her. Kyle nodded slowly. They had both overextended, in other words.

"Go."

Kyle rose alongside her.

"Don't get caught and killed on the way back. Take care of yourself, and let's fight again sometime."

"What about this, Kyle Alastor, you come with me instead. If you come, I suspect Lucia Beliar would follow."

Lizet smiled as she said it.

"You said Erebos's fighting pits were paradise. Throw yourself into that paradise firsthand."

"If I were an orphan I'd have gladly gone along, but unfortunately my parents are both alive and well."

Kyle smiled back.

"My father is a bit much, but my mother has given me a great deal of love. I have a cute little sister who likes rabbits. A strict grandfather who can never quite be honest about his feelings. As for my relatives, some are good people, some are a mixed bag. But I live a pretty satisfied life."

Honestly, it felt like more than he deserved. The sincerity behind Kyle's words made Bruno's shoulders tremble.

"I envy that. A family that gets along well."

Lizet murmured it quietly and nodded.

"All right. Next time, come and challenge me."

With those as her last words, Lizet turned. The moment her hand touched the Core lying on the ground, her body was wrapped in light and vanished.

"Hoo..."

Jade let out a long breath once he confirmed Lizet was gone. He finally set down the sword breaker he had been gripping in white-knuckled tension.

"Commander. You said our first mission was going to be a sweet one, didn't you?"

"Does anything in the world ever go the way you want it to?"

Kyle shrugged. That smiling face made Jade sigh deeply.

"You're actually smiling now. You know that? Do you have any idea how terrifying your expression was earlier?"

During the fight with Lizet, Kyle hadn't smiled. It wasn't a fight that invited smiles, or enjoyment of any kind.

There are things that feel brutal and wretched while they're happening, but looking back afterward you can call them worthwhile, even interesting in their own way. For Kyle, this was one of those. He had ended up getting what he wanted, after all.

"Your face wears a smile well, Commander. When you go serious, you look too cold."

Jade gave Kyle a couple of pats on the shoulder, then waved at Narua and Bruno.

"Right, let's leave the Commander and Lucia alone and get to work. Loot the bodies, and we have to sweep the whole labyrinth too."

Like the seasoned freelance knight he was, Jade knew what needed doing. Once you claimed the Core and closed the Secret Realm, everything alive inside got pushed out.

Corpses and objects didn't leave. That meant before closing it, they had to scour every corner and gather anything worth taking.

"Thanks. I'll leave it to you."

"Commander, don't just stand around either. Go over there and keep your hands on the Core."

Jade pointed at the Core.

"The Core is the heart of the Secret Realm. Depending on what happened inside, and who did the most, it grants an additional reward, a blessing, to a single person."

The monsters that should have been filling this Secret Realm had already been hunted by the Demon Tribe, and those demons had been killed by the Sword Wolf Knights or forced to kill themselves by Lizet. Of the survivors, the ones who had fought the most, and most fiercely, were Lizet and Kyle.

"The blessing of the Secret Realm did not fall to Lizet Beliar. Which means the Secret Realm has decided to give its blessing to the Commander."

"Hm."

Kyle scratched his chin and stared at the Core. His mind drifted naturally to the Cultivation Floors. There too, he had been able to claim rewards in exchange for hunting byproducts and residue. A Secret Realm wasn't so different.

"Who gives the reward?"

"Commander, did you hear me through your backside? The Secret Realm gives it."

"How does a Secret Realm give a reward? This place is just a spatial rift."

"That's... I don't know either. But Commander, look." Jade threw both arms wide at the surrounding cave. "Does this place look like it formed naturally?"

"A labyrinth-shaped cave. Well, this part does look like it could be natural. But not all Secret Realms are like that. Some look like ruins or wastelands, places that are clearly man-made."

"Sure, I've heard that."

Why do Secret Realms exist? That question had no clear answer five hundred years ago, and still has none now. Even as Secret Realm appearances grew far more frequent than in the distant past, they remained an unknown to every living thing in the world.

But one thing was certain. Secret Realms did not form naturally. Nature could produce caves, labyrinths, forests, but not ruins and wastelands.

A Secret Realm was, in the end, made by someone.

There was plenty of debate about what that someone might be. Sometimes the assumption was a great elven archmage caught in some such fate. Other times it was the Dragon King, or a great dragon of comparable standing.

The most widely supported theory, though, was "a god." Five hundred years ago and now alike, many religions existed in the world.

Then and now, Kyle held no religion. That didn't mean he disbelieved in gods.

Having reincarnated, thinking gods don't exist would be a bit funny.

In times of war, all manner of religions were born and died. Mercenaries living by the blade, never knowing when they might die, were especially quick to reach for something divine. The Sword Demon's own father and comrades would, even on nights they came home having cut down dozens of men, pray before eating and before sleep.

"Jade. Do you have a religion? Not the Sword Church, a real one that worships a god."

"Out of nowhere?"

"People say a lot that gods made the Secret Realms."

"Mm... that's true. The Secret Realm Faith is a bit obscure, but it is an old one."

Jade muttered, looking unconvinced.

"I don't follow a religion, but I do believe gods exist. The world has plenty of things people can't understand, like these Secret Realms we're standing in right now. For things like that, it's easier on the mind to just think, oh, a god made this."

Jade grumbled and pointed at the Core.

"Commander should think the same way. Go grab the Core, and pray for your blessing. You worked hard for it, ask for something."

"Fair enough."

Kyle gave a quiet laugh and walked toward the Core. Theorizing about Secret Realms and gods was dull and pedantic no matter how long you spent on it.

What mattered right now was what the Secret Realm would give him. Kyle licked his lips, thinking back to the Cultivation Floors.

Back then, you could name what you wanted and the reward would come. Wonder how it works here.

It wasn't only Kyle who was curious. Jade, Narua, and Bruno paused mid-rummage through demon corpses and watched Kyle with hopeful eyes.

Kyle reached a hand toward the Core on the ground. The rainbow-colored Core touched his fingertips, and his mind turned naturally to the reward.

Whatever it gives, as long as it's something good...

The moment that thought formed, the rainbow light filling his vision warped.

::Come::
::Here::

A voice echoed through his head, setting his mind adrift. And then the feel of his own skin changed.

Kyle stood there blankly, then looked down at himself.

He had been wearing his uniform, soaked in blood and torn in several places. Now Kyle was wearing nothing at all. No wounds were visible either. The chest that had been caved in by Lizet's fist was whole.

"Wha... what?"

He had wished for something good, not to have his clothes taken off. Was the healed injuries the good reward? Kyle looked around in disbelief, then froze.

This wasn't the depths of the cave. Lucia and the other members were nowhere to be seen. All around was a cloudless sky, and Kyle was standing on an altar at the top of a tall staircase.

::Child::

His head throbbed. Kyle clutched his aching head and groaned. The voice kept echoing.

::Child who heard my voice and saw me::

Kyle forced his head up. The voice was coming from that direction.

In the sky facing the altar, a pair of pure white wings spread open.

Blue eyes looked down at Kyle.

::I have seen you::

Boom.

His whole body shook. Simply sensing that gaze and hearing that voice felt like it might send him flying off into the distant sky. Kyle clenched his teeth and held on. The eye that watched him smiled, just as it had before.

::Do not fear::

What a thing to say.

Dozens of wings, and beneath them a single stark blue eye, floating in the sky above him, and how was he not supposed to feel fear? From his previous life onward, corpses had been a daily sight and he had seen plenty of monsters. On the Cultivation Floors he had seen grotesque byproducts and residue, and he had seen the gaze from beyond the sky and the hand scooping up the sea.

The eye before him now resembled that sky-gaze and that sea-scooping hand, but it was far too close and far too clearly visible. Kyle forced his voice out.

"You, what are you?"

::Know not my name but my rank::
::Angel is my rank::
::Child, you shall call me Angel::

The distant voice whispered.

Like the smiling eye, that voice carried warmth and gentleness.

Why?

No, warmth and gentleness was underselling it.

Why do you like me?

From that gaze and that voice, Kyle felt unmistakable affection.

The kind of affection directed at something small and cute, like a puppy or a kitten.

Angel.

A messenger of the heavens. Kyle thought back to his previous life.

In that age of war, the mercenaries living by the blade, the knights and soldiers of the battlefield, had followed a particular kind of religion. If you fought bravely and died on the field, a divine messenger called an angel would guide you to paradise. Looking back, it had been a faith that largely served the wishes of employers and nobles, who wanted men paid with their coin to stay and fight to the death rather than flee.

Maybe they really were the ones who made it up.

It had been a harsh and wretched world, and a world like that needed something transcendent to lean on.

Kyle tried not to blink as he looked at the angel before him. Its appearance was wildly different from the angels he had heard described as a child in his previous life.

Father used to say the angel that comes to greet you when you die is more beautiful than an elf.

His father, who had never once actually seen an elf in his life, had said exactly that.

Kyle knew one elf. There was no comparison worth making between Helenas and the thing before him. Helenas at least had just the pointed ears, otherwise looking human enough. The thing before him now shared only one feature with a human: a single eye.

"Angel."

Kyle spoke haltingly.

"What are you?"

::Do not seek to understand::

The Angel whispered in a gentle voice. The weight Kyle felt was considerably less than when he had first arrived and looked upon it.

::Child::
::You cannot understand as you are now::
::Name another reward::

Can't understand now, did that mean he could understand later? He was curious, but Kyle pushed the question down. He thought about the reward instead.

"..."

What do I need?

And there he stalled. Kyle had no particular lacking. He had died and reincarnated, his body was exceptional, and his talent overflowed.

A sword? He had Fenris. If he needed another, he could have one made in Gladiheim's forge. Or pull one from the Sword Garden.

If I ask Grandfather nicely, he might lend one out.

Then what else might he need. An artifact? The boots and cloak he had received from the Cultivation Floors were neatly stored in his room. He had kept them thinking there might be use for them again someday.

Other artifacts might become necessary, but it's better to ask for those when the time comes.

Not immediately necessary. An elixir? His thoughts drifted there. If there was one area where Kyle was comparatively lacking right now, it was total mana capacity. But wishing for an elixir on an occasion like this felt like a waste.

Gladiheim had plenty of elixirs, and the Primordial Chaos Sword Canon's mana accumulation was incomparable to any other technique. Even today, fighting Lizet, Kyle had never once felt a shortage of mana.

Strength?

If he wished to become stronger, could he receive a reward along those lines? Worth considering, but Kyle shook his head. He already knew many paths toward strength.

Reproduce Ruin Alastor's sword. He could hear about the Demon King's sword from Baal, or from the other Dokkaebi in the Sword Garden.

Whether what he heard from them could captivate him the way Ruin's sword had was uncertain, but his heart leaned more toward that than whatever "strength" this strange angel might have to offer.

"..."

He reached a conclusion. No matter how he thought about it, Kyle couldn't come up with anything he urgently needed. If it had been given without asking, he would have accepted it gratefully, but being told to name a wish made it harder.

"What happened in this Secret Realm. You saw it?"

::I saw it::

He asked haltingly, and the Angel answered in that warm voice. Affection still poured from it.

"The Inscription carved into Lucia. Erase it."

::That is not possible::

"What?"

It had acted as though it could grant anything.

No, it didn't say that. That was just how I read it.

The appearance, the presence, too inhuman and too transcendent for anything else.

"Why is it not possible?"

::It is not a domain in which I may interfere::

The eye smiled and whispered.

::The Demon Tribe are born strong but die consumed by that strength::
::Elves live through eternity but cannot choose how they live it::
::Dwarves craft all things but find no satisfaction::
::Orcs multiply endlessly but kill as much as they multiply::
::Beast-kin desire their pack but cannot truly bond::
::Aberrations seek their origin but cannot in the end become it::
::Dragons were given greatness and so cannot betray that grace::
::Humans are freer than any race, but the most fragile::

The continuing voice shook Kyle's mind. He braced his legs against the urge to collapse.

::That power was granted to the humans who deserved it because a human Ascendant rewrote the law of the species::
::The Inscription exists within the law that the Demon Tribe is rewriting::
::I do not interfere::
::If the Inscription is not desired, it must be shed by one's own hand::

Thud. Thud. Thud.

Kyle gasped, clutching his spinning head. Whatever else, the Angel's refusal to interfere with Lucia's Inscription was consistent.

"My grandmother."

Kyle forced the words out.

"She entered a Secret Realm and fell into a long sleep. How can she be woken?"

::Child. Will you not name a wish for yourself::

"This is a wish for myself."

Kyle stared into the eye as he spoke.

"I've been given too much, so I should give something back."

The smile in the eye deepened. The Angel was still looking down at Kyle from the distant sky, but strangely, Kyle felt an invisible hand stroke his head.

::I am glad to have met you::

The unseen hand that had been stroking his head pushed him away. The moment he felt it, the Angel, the altar, all of it receded. The altar floated alone in the middle of an enormous sky, and nothing else could be seen.

"Is the Ascendant Ruin Alastor?!"

Kyle called out urgently, but no answer came from the Angel.

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