WeTried Translations

Translator: Hydrogen B

Editor: Hydrogen B

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

◈ Sword Master of the Fallen Kingdom

Chapter 52

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At the Crossroads (4)

An alley in the early evening. A swordsman and a mage had been facing each other only moments before.

Claaang!

The draw came in an instant. The moment he felt the pulse of mana, Kyle’s body moved before thought. His sword slid free and traced a smooth semicircle. At the same time, an invisible sphere that warped the scenery slammed into the sunset-colored blade.

Kang!

A sharp metallic sound rang out. The path of compressed air twisted. The mage’s second attack was deflected by Kyle’s sword and buried itself in the alley wall. A brutal thud followed. Shards of broken stone fell a beat later.

Fast, but that’s all.

Kyle recognized it as wind magic, focused on speed and surprise.

Even so, it was powerful enough. If any mercenary other than him had taken those two attacks, they would have died on the spot without even letting out a final scream. Most would have had their heads burst open by the first attack, and even a decent Silver-rank mercenary would have suffered a fatal wound from the follow-up.

"......!"

The mage in the white robe flinched. Dodging the first attack could be dismissed as luck, but Kyle had even deflected the second with his sword. That seemed to shock them badly.

Beyond the mask, their golden eyes widened slightly. But only for an instant.

The mage launched no further attacks and simply turned away. The white robe fluttered around their fleeing feet.

"Running away after an ambush..."

Kyle’s lips lifted in a faint sneer. Watching the white robe recede, he chased after the mage with his sword in his right hand.

He had to catch them as quickly as possible.

Even on the city outskirts, fighting while throwing magic around would inevitably cause a commotion. With mercenaries and guards combing the entire city, the longer this dragged on, the worse it would be for him. Even Kyle could not deal with every mercenary and soldier in this city. All the more so now that the wyvern knights were right on their doorstep.

A sudden chase broke out through the sunset-stained alley. The mage in the white robe moved without hesitation, as if they knew every winding path by heart. Kyle kept following close behind. Yet the gap did not shrink as much as he expected.

Ha.

Kyle let out a breath of impressed disbelief before he knew it. The smile at his lips deepened. The mage’s mana control was more skilled than expected. They were wrapping wind magic around their feet in real time and pushing off the ground. They were even using body reinforcement at the same time, despite not being a knight.

What exactly are they?

"Aaagh!"

"What the hell are these bastards?"

After running through the alleys for some time, several homeless people crouching in a corner shouted when they saw the two tearing past them.

Since both of them were running with body reinforcement and wind magic wrapped around their feet, a strong gust blew through the path they had passed a beat later. Kyle ignored the homeless men’s angry shouts.

Thunk, thunk-thunk, tududung.

That was when a wooden barrel full of filth rolled in front of Kyle. He lightly kicked off the ground and dodged it. Almost at the same time, wet laundry and flowerpots rained down over his head. Cloth and soil fell from the sky, where clotheslines stretched like spiderwebs, blocking Kyle’s vision for an instant.

Fwoooosh!

Kyle stirred the mana in his ring. A wave of mana spread from his left hand and instantly pushed everything around him away. The filth barrel shattered. The flowerpots broke all at once. Scraps of cloth flew everywhere. His feet, which had briefly floated into the air while dodging the barrel, touched the ground.

Crack-crack-crack!

The mage turned only their head back and stretched their right hand toward Kyle’s legs. Frost rose under his feet a moment later. A wave of ice rushed toward Kyle.

Kyle did not dodge. He drew the sword in his right hand straight down.

A cutting wind spread in every direction. The ice wave blocking Kyle’s path had already been smashed to pieces. Beyond the flying ice crystals and glittering view, the white robe fluttered and disappeared around a corner. Kyle closed the distance in an instant with a single kick off the ground.

Then.

Tap, tap, tadak!

A strange sight unfolded before Kyle as he reached the corner. The mage was using the outer walls of the buildings on both sides of the alley as footholds, kicking left and right to climb all the way up to the roof. With one last step, the white-robed mage reached the top of a building, glanced at Kyle looking up at them, then ran forward again. The fluttering hem of the robe vanished in no time.

So that’s how they shook off the wyvern knights.

Kyle chuckled inwardly. That mage was probably a noble. A very high-ranking one, most likely. Magic was the privilege of the wealthy, and there was a limit to how high a common-born mage could climb. Unless they were born with exceptional talent, like Kyle or Gerard.

A court mage. Or a mage from a great Imperial family. Either way, it did not matter. What was certain was that this mage had the skill to escape the pursuit of two wyvern knights. Perhaps they had once belonged to the Imperial court and were now being chased after turning their back on the Empire. They had wrapped themselves up completely, but from the brief glimpse of their hand, they looked quite young.

No helping it.

Kyle cut off the brief thought and pushed mana into both feet planted on the ground. Then he bent his knees and kicked off toward the sky.

His vision shot upward. Rough wind swept over his whole body. Before long, Kyle was flying through the air. He landed on the flat rooftop of a nearby building.

Crunch.

The ground under his feet crumbled from the impact. His body tilted for a split second.

Kyle quickly regained his balance. After glancing at the falling bits of stone, he looked around from the rooftop.

From above the buildings, the cityscape came into view all at once. Beyond the walls, he could see the distant mountain range and countless buildings soaked in the sunset below it. Faint voices came from every direction. When he turned toward where the hem of the white robe had vanished, the mage had already widened the gap and was running nonstop, crossing the roofs and rooftops of the buildings lined up ahead.

"Shit, what’s going on!"

"I think the commotion came from over there!"

"North! Head north! Someone’s fighting over there!"

"Move it, move!"

Kyle ignored every faint voice he heard. He closed the distance to the mage again, chasing with frightening speed.

The golden eyes that glanced back trembled slightly. A black-cloaked mercenary was crossing between buildings just like them. No, even faster than them. With every step he took, the distance they had struggled to open rapidly shrank. With no cramped space blocking him, he was actually catching up faster than he had in the alley.

The mage twisted their body slightly and raised their right hand again. Kyle tightened his grip on the sword hilt as well.

Pointed ice bloomed around the mage’s right hand as they ran.

Wind wrapped around the ten ice spears that formed. A cluster of transparent spears shot out in the blink of an eye. Silver Sword Light flashed from Kyle’s right hand.

Cra-cra-cra-crash!

The sound of shattering glass rang out all at once. Through the breaking ice shards, Kyle stretched his foot forward again. The white-robed mage was drawing up mana once more. This time, Kyle’s empty left hand pointed at the mage as if taking aim. The ring on his middle finger shone with a brilliant five-colored light.

Silent Blade Wind.

The moment he muttered it, invisible slashes fired one after another.

Crescent-shaped winds advanced, warping the surrounding scenery.

Plaster rooftops and slate roofs overturned. Beyond them, the white-robed mage stopped running, turned, and reflexively swung their right hand.

Paang!

A translucent shield appeared. But it could not block the slash.

Paang! Paang! Paaang!

Twice, three times, four times. In front of the mage, translucent shields shattered one after another in vain. Each impact made the hem of the white robe whip and shake. When the fifth and final slash reached right in front of them, the mage could no longer raise mana and twisted their body.

Pishuk!

The cutting wind barely grazed their forearm, slicing faintly through the skin beneath the robe. A single drop of fresh blood ran down beneath the robe, which had turned almost gray.

"No wonder they call you a criminal. There’s no moderation in your methods. You must be very used to killing people."

Kyle was approaching leisurely from the other side. With one building between them, Kyle and the mage faced each other. Kyle’s low voice carried clearly on the wind. Not far away, mercenaries could be heard shouting.

"Will you keep running?"

Kyle spoke. The mage did not respond. That side already knew there was a gap in their ability. On top of that, they had been injured, if only slightly. If Kyle had not held back, it would not have been strange if they were lying in a bloody heap with a fatal wound by now.

"...Who are you?"

The white-robed mage spoke for the first time. Whether their voice had been altered with magic or it was an added effect of that perception-obscuring mask, the sound that came out was not human. It was very low and alien.

"Did the wyvern knights send you?"

"Wyvern knights?"

"I crossed the border several times. I know the Imperial court is tracking me. I know they’re asking the kingdoms I pass through for cooperation too. Are you a knight of Brendel?"

"What if I’m not?"

"...So you were one of the Emperor’s dogs."

The mage spat the words in a vicious voice. It sounded as if it boiled up from their throat, thick with rage and contempt. The golden eyes, hazy until moments before, suddenly became clear.

"One of the Emperor’s dogs..."

Kyle let out a hollow laugh. The words were so absurd he did not even get angry. He was more dumbfounded than anything. That was something that could never happen.

"You don’t seem to understand the situation. Did your long life on the run do something to your head?"

Kyle turned his head. The mage followed his gaze and looked to the side.

There stood a massive wall. A stone wall built as if to block the gorge of the grand mountain range. It had been made during the Kingdom of Alenos and steadily repaired ever since, and it looked as if it could hold back every storm in the world. It looked like a natural fortress no one could break through.

"I’m a mercenary. I took a commission and came after you. Right now, Ligrid Gate is closed because of you, and a muster order has been issued across this entire city."

"......."

"That means there are plenty of people who will catch you even if I don’t. And the wyvern knights are right in front of us. The entire gate has been sealed because of one traitor who committed a crime equal to assassinating the Emperor, so you won’t get out easily. No one will help you either. Nobody wants to openly make an enemy of the Empire. They’ll cooperate with the wyvern knights as much as possible, if only because they want to get through this gate quickly."

"What are you trying to say?"

"Take off the mask."

Kyle looked down below the building. The mercenaries and soldiers moving through the city were closing in little by little.

"And if I do?"

"I’ll decide after seeing your face. Who you are, whether you really turned against the Empire, why the wyvern knights are chasing you. I don’t know anything."

"Are you saying you’ll kill the wyvern knights for me instead?"

Footsteps drew closer. Shouts mixed into the wind blowing past.

Kyle could tell by instinct. Even this short moment of leeway would not last much longer.

"Depends on the situation."

"I’d rather die here than trust you."

"I see."

The mage answered at once, without a shred of hesitation. Kyle was not flustered. He accepted it calmly. It had all been expected.

The mage would be exhausted from a long exile.

Even if Kyle suddenly revealed his own identity and said he would cooperate, they would not believe him. The reverse was the same. Kyle could not trust the mage in front of him either. Apart from what he had seen with his own eyes, he distrusted everything.

"Then there’s no helping it. I’ll have to find out by force."

His sword was faster than a hundred words. With one building between them, Kyle aimed the sword in his hand forward. The mage raised their bloodied right arm.

Kyle moved first. Right after bending his legs, he shot forward like a charge. At the same time, golden lightning, the same color as the mage’s eyes, sparked from their right arm. Sparks wrapped around the white robe in a spiral.

Lightning magic?

Kyle’s eyes narrowed. It was completely different from the magic they had used earlier. It was not stealthy like wind, nor sharp like ice.

"Pierce, Spear of Lightning."

A shortened incantation flowed out from beyond the black mask. Golden lightning shot in a straight line from the mage. It had speed on another level from wind magic, and sharpness surpassing ice magic.

In the instant light flickered once, the spear of lightning pierced Kyle’s chest and tore it to shreds.

That was when Kyle’s form melted into the air without a trace.

Below the stretching lightning, the hem of the black cloak vanished completely.

A vanished illusion. A presence still charging in. Before anyone realized it, Kyle had reached right in front of the mage. From the distorted air, Kyle’s form appeared again.

Illusion Magic, Hallucination.

The mage’s yellow eyes widened as if they would split when they realized the situation too late. Kyle slashed upward in a horizontal line with the sword in his right hand.

Silver Sword Light was crossing the mage’s face. The mage, stumbling backward, tilted back. Crack. The black mask split apart. Beneath the thrown-back hood, the broken mask fell away emptily. Golden hair, the same color as their eyes, came loose and rippled through the air.

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