WeTried Translations

Translator: Hydrogen B

Editor: Hydrogen B

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

◈ Sword Master of the Fallen Kingdom

Chapter 54

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Two Exiles (1)

The mercenaries never noticed Kyle's attack. Not even when his raised sword came down. By the time they realized it, their bodies were already collapsing forward.

Splaaash!

A beat late, flowers of blood painted the air. The mercenaries stared blankly at the spray, only then understanding that they had been attacked. But there was nothing they could do. The strength kept draining from their bodies.

Thud!

Corpses split into upper and lower halves sprawled across the rooftop floor. Only Hugo survived, having been the sole one to sense Kyle's attack and duck on reflex.

With trembling eyes, he stared at the Bronze-rank and lower mercenaries who had been alive only moments ago.

It still did not feel real.

Neither did the sharp pain at the crown of his head, nor the sensation of blood trickling down his face. Only his instincts were screaming warnings like mad.

What was that?

Silver flashed once, and everyone died.

Was that possible?

He could not understand it. The greed that had filled his head until moments ago was gone. Even the thought of the Dragon Heart had vanished.

Hugo blankly lifted his gaze. Beneath the sun that had nearly disappeared beyond the ridgeline stood two people. A swordsman in a black cloak, and a blonde mage in a white robe so pale it was almost gray. The first to move was the swordsman in the black cloak.

Kyle stepped forward. White threads unraveled over the blade in his hand. Those threads became pure white Sword Aura. In the dim scenery, that light stood out with unnatural clarity.

I am going to die.

Hugo's eyes flew wide. With a single blink, the distance between him and Kyle vanished. Gritting his teeth, Hugo drew his sword. He raised his mana. A sharp indigo Sword Aura belatedly wrapped around Hugo's blade. The charging pure white Sword Aura clashed with the indigo Sword Aura.

Clang!

The result was instant. The sword wrapped in blue Sword Aura split in two with a clear metallic ring. White light filled Hugo's vision.

"Ah..."

Slice!

His death cry was short. The pure white blade drew a smooth semicircle and passed through his neck. Hugo's severed head still had its eyes wide open, just as they had been before his death. After floating briefly in the air, his head fell into the alley below under the pull of gravity.

Thud, thud, thud...

Right below the building where Kyle stood, a blood-soaked head rolled to the feet of the gathered mercenaries and soldiers.

Those who had been about to climb the building froze.

"U-Uwaaaagh!"

"Fuck, what is that?!"

"Up! He's up there! Everyone who went up first is dead!"

"It's the traitor! The Imperial Traitor is here!"

Shouts rang out like thunder. Kyle scattered his Sword Aura and looked to the side. Elysia had already come within arm's reach.

"Can you run?"

"...Of course."

Kyle did not wait to hear the rest. Just like during the earlier chase, he ran straight across the roofs and rooftops.

"Catch them!"

"Half of you follow through the alley, and the rest climb up! Don't let them get away!"

Each time their feet kicked off the ground, they seemed to float into the air. Through the dusk, the hems of a black cloak and a white robe fluttered side by side.

One by one, soldiers and mercenaries were climbing onto the building where Hugo had just died.

"There!"

"How bothersome."

A mercenary pointed at the figures moving away. Elysia glanced back, raised her right arm as she ran, and swept it behind her. Invisible wind stretched out in the shape of a crescent moon.

Slash!

The mercenaries and soldiers who had climbed up collapsed, spraying blood. A few lucky survivors ducked in terror. They no longer pointed at Kyle and Elysia. They did not shout either. They simply flattened themselves to the rooftop, their will to fight completely crushed by fear.

"...Ruthless."

"You're one to talk. So, are we crossing the wall like this?"

Elysia faced forward again. A massive wall stood there, blocking the canyon between the peaks. Even from a considerable distance, it was so huge that it crushed all sense of perspective. It was truly worthy of being a relic of the Kingdom of Alenos.

"...No."

After a moment's thought, Kyle answered. Elysia looked troubled.

"Surely you don't mean to stay inside the gate like this?"

"We're leaving. Just not yet. We've drawn too much attention."

As Kyle crossed another building, he looked down. Elysia turned her gaze the same way. Mercenaries and soldiers were running desperately through the winding alleys.

They could not match his speed, but there were so many of them that they moved in from every direction as if forming a net. The ones who barely managed to climb onto the buildings were being knocked down by magic one after another, but even that had its limits.

"And the sun hasn't set yet."

Elysia looked up at the sky. Dusk had settled, but the color of sunset still lingered faintly over the pale navy sky.

"I see."

She gave a small nod. With this much attention on them, crossing the wall would be difficult. Even if they made it over, their escape route would be exposed. Soon, everything would be completely dark, so there was no need to move with a long line of pursuers trailing after them.

"One hour should be enough. By then, the sun will be fully down."

Kyle stopped running. Elysia stopped a step later.

"We split up here."

"Split up?"

"I'll draw their attention, so get to the outermost edge of the city and hide. We need to shake them off once."

"How do you plan to regroup?"

"I already tracked you once. A second time won't be hard. I remember your mana now, so go first. It doesn't matter where you hide. Just avoid being discovered as much as possible."

The moment he finished speaking, Kyle dropped from the roof. Elysia reflexively called his name.

"Kyle!"

But Kyle was already running toward the alley where the mercenaries were chasing them. Before long, the shouts of mercenaries and soldiers rang out again. Elysia stared at the alley Kyle had disappeared into, where even his back could no longer be seen, then turned away. The sun hanging over the ridgeline had now shrunk to only a thin edge.

***

The Branch Director of the Ligrid Mercenary Guild had been pacing around his office for a long while. He could not sit still at his desk.

The Empire's first-class traitor.

As soon as the letter arrived, an order had come down from above. To be exact, it was a strict command from Viscount Leonard, the lord who oversaw Ligrid Gate City.

He was from the court nobility, and although he had no territory of his own, he held considerable influence. That remained true even though the position of Lord of Ligrid was not hereditary, but appointed by the king.

A tremendous number of people passed through Ligrid Gate each day. It was the only road that led to the border region touching the Duchy of Tervan, and the same was true in reverse. Trade was active as well. Merchants often used this route.

That was why his influence was bound to be great. And this was an order from such a lord.

It had to be obeyed. Especially when it involved the Imperial House's wyvern knights.

"Damn it... They're searching the city top to bottom. Surely they won't lose them."

The Branch Director bit his lip without thinking. For some reason, his unease would not leave him.

Nearly half of the guards defending the wall had been drafted. Most of the mercenaries inside the city had been mobilized for the search. By common sense, there was no way the traitor could escape. Even if the city was large.

"It's about time we heard something..."

The sun was almost gone. He had just stepped to the window.

"Branch Director!"

The door burst open. It was an employee who had been dealing with the mercenaries on the first floor.

"What is it?"

"Well..."

The employee hesitated. The Branch Director frowned.

"Did they lose them?"

"That's not it. It's just that one of the Silver-rank mercenaries sent out for the search seems to have joined the traitor..."

"What? Joined the traitor?"

"And Hugo-nim, who was the first to head out with the Bronze-rank mercenaries, was counterattacked by the traitor and killed. The remaining mercenaries and guards are pursuing them, but..."

"Move!"

The Branch Director shoved the employee aside and hurried down to the first floor. Most of the mercenaries had already been sent out, and the counter employees, who had been resting with drained faces, looked shocked when they saw him.

"Branch Director?"

"What brings you down all of a sudden..."

"What happened outside? Have they been caught?"

The Branch Director asked with bloodshot eyes.

"Not yet..."

The employee who met his gaze trailed off. The Branch Director immediately left the mercenary guild. A few employees, reading the room, followed him out.

The street was a little quieter than earlier. All the mercenaries and soldiers had gone to catch the traitor. After shivering briefly in the cold evening wind, the Branch Director and the employees turned their eyes toward the city outskirts.

There, a wave of ice had risen high into the sky.

"You fucking..."

The Branch Director cursed without thinking. The other employees felt much the same. They could not help it.

The ice wall towered far above the buildings, so huge that it could be seen with the naked eye from the mercenary guild in the city center. The same was true of the colors of magic flashing intermittently around it. Anyone could see this was not a good situation. The Branch Director's face hardened, and so did the employees' faces.

"...The remaining mercenaries?"

The Branch Director barely managed to speak. The employee beside him answered.

"Most of them left to catch the traitor. There are some mercenaries left, but since all the Silver-rank mercenaries and guards have already gone out, there's no one to command them..."

"Just gather every last one and send them!"

The Branch Director shouted, his face turning bright red.

"Drive them all east! If they really can't catch them, tell the guard captain to strengthen security on the wall! We have to stop them from crossing the gate somehow. No matter what!"

***

The sun had fully set. Pitch-dark night had fallen in every direction.

"Still no sign of them?"

"None."

"What about near the eastern wall?"

"No separate report from there. Security has already been reinforced in that area, so if anything were wrong, they would notice right away."

"Did they wait until the sun went fully down and hide...? It doesn't matter if they can't be captured alive. Keep searching. Ask the other mercenaries for their cooperation and tell them additional pay will be provided. This is the message of the Ligrid Branch Director."

"Understood."

Normally, this was the hour when not only people, but the city itself, would be asleep. Tonight was different. Soldiers and mercenaries holding torches lined the main streets and alleys. Though their faces were soaked with fatigue, they strained to find the traitor somehow.

"Persistent."

Kyle, who had just arrived at the outermost northeastern edge of the city, clicked his tongue quietly. It was quite far away, but Kyle's mana-enhanced senses could clearly hear the voices of the soldiers resuming the search even at night.

"...You really did find me."

In a narrow alley lit by pale moonlight, Elysia was leaning against an old outer wall. When she saw Kyle, she smiled faintly. But she could not hide the fatigue in it. Kyle looked at her right arm as she took a brief rest. The wound he had made with his wind still remained there.

"You didn't treat it. Do you not have a potion?"

"...I already used them all."

"I see."

Kyle said nothing more. He reached into his coat and took out a small bottle from his Inventory Pouch.

"What is that...?"

"A Baekilcho Potion. It has a disinfecting effect too, so it's better than leaving it as is."

It was the last potion left after he used the others in the Alenos ruins. Kyle rolled up the sleeve of Elysia's robe-covered arm. The wound had already dried into a dark red scab. Kyle peeled off the scab in one motion and poured the potion over it.

"Ugh...!"

"Bear with it. It will close soon."

Kyle poured out all of the remaining half. The open wound roughly healed. He lowered the robe sleeve he had raised. Seeing Kyle stare intently at her robe, Elysia narrowed her eyes.

"Is there a problem?"

"This mana... Who did you pick it up from?"

Kyle grabbed the frayed robe. His face in the moonlight was utterly serious.

"Pick it up?"

"...Did it get on you without you noticing?"

He tore the robe without hesitation. Elysia had no time to be surprised. Kyle's white flames rose. The torn piece of robe, nearly gray, vanished without leaving even ash behind.

"It was wyvern mana. A very faint trace remained."

Kyle shook his hand two or three times, as if brushing off filth.

"Wyvern mana?"

"Did you happen to get hit by a breath attack?"

Elysia could not answer. At her expected reaction, Kyle let out a sigh.

Though wyverns were lesser dragons, they were still a dragon subspecies. He could not say much about their mana control, but their ability to detect mana was similar to Kyle's, or even better. In particular, they could track their own scent or mana from several kilometers away. Excellent mobility, tracking ability, and overwhelming destructive power on top of it. Wyverns were not called the Empire's final weapon for nothing.

"Something comes to mind, then."

"..."

"They probably tracked you with that. A wyvern's sense of smell is sharp. They're born sensitive to mana too."

"But I didn't notice. It was already a week ago, and it wasn't a direct hit..."

"Of course. It would be normal not to feel it."

Elysia lowered her head as if ashamed. Kyle did not care. Even in the Knights of Ash, the only ones who could sense faint wyvern mana had been Commander Rowen and Kyle himself.

"I heard there are two wyvern knights tracking you. Is that right?"

After thinking for a moment, Kyle looked toward the opposite side of the alley and asked.

"...Yes. There were until a week ago. Unless more were added, that should still be right."

"Their faces?"

"I don't know. I was hit by the breath attack during a chase through the forest. Even then, they were up in the sky, so I didn't get a proper look. I never faced them directly. I deliberately twisted my route around."

"I see."

Kyle reached into his coat again. This time, it was not a potion, but a large rolled-up piece of paper. Interest briefly appeared in Elysia's drooping golden eyes. Kyle floated a small sphere of light and spread the paper over the outer wall of the building Elysia had been leaning on.

"It's a map of Velia. It's old, but fairly accurate."

Elysia moved away from the wall. She pressed down the opposite side of the map with her forearm in Kyle's place. Kyle raised his empty left hand and pointed near the eastern part of the map.

"This is the Grandecia Federation, your destination. More precisely, Renavik, the capital of the Kalov Kingdom and the seat of the Federal Assembly."

Tap.

Kyle's finger tapped the center of the Federation. At a glance, the distance between the Federation and the Kingdom of Brendel was almost the same as the distance to the Imperial capital, Archandia, or slightly farther.

"And far below that, to the west. To the left of the border region between the Kingdom of Brendel and the Duchy of Tervan, are the Ligrid Mountains."

Kyle's finger moved diagonally down toward the south. His finger stopped on the mountain range drawn right beside the border between the Duchy of Tervan and the Kingdom of Brendel.

"We are here now. Ligrid Gate, the entrance to the Ligrid Mountains."

"...It really is farther than I thought, even seeing it again."

"It differs by map, but this continent map was drawn to scale. What you're feeling is probably right. The important part is that we have to cross this mountain range."

The Ligrid Mountains were huge. This gate was only the entrance from Brendel into the Duchy of Tervan.

Beyond the gate was a deep canyon. If they followed the canyon, the terrain would become gentler. But after that, they would still have to climb mountain after mountain. They would have to walk forest paths. Even if the mountains were not as high as the peaks where the gate was built, it meant crossing mountains of decent size, and it would take at least several days to get through the range.

"Our first destination is here."

Lastly, Kyle pointed to the fortress built on the border region of the mountain range.

"Most of the Duchy of Tervan, except its capital, is mountainous. The moment we cross here, the wyverns' pursuit will become difficult. There is a limit to the altitude wyverns can fly at, and in rugged mountains like these, it becomes hard to supply enough food to satisfy a wyvern's appetite."

"...That sounds like you're saying they'll chase us somehow before we cross the border."

"They will. If their goal is to capture you alive."

He stared hard at the map. He compared the information he had gathered so far with the current situation and drew the best route in his head.

The time limit is until sunrise tomorrow. By then, the wyvern knights will have more than enough time to arrive, so they only need to capture her alive before that. If needed, cutting off her limbs is fine. They said it does not matter as long as she is still breathing.

The Branch Director's voice from earlier brushed past his ears. Until sunrise. Considering a wyvern's movement speed, the distance was shorter than expected. But he had to account for the worst case. Life did not always turn in a good direction. Kyle, especially, was not lucky.

The time limit, to be safe, was before midnight.

They had to leave the gate and enter the canyon before then. Kyle's gaze, which had been moving across the map, stopped on the ring on his left hand. The Brightest Star of Dawn. The ring he had received from the final ruler of Alenos was still filled with purely refined mana.

What level am I at right now with this? It would not compare to his prime in the past. Back then, he had been strong enough to kill the Deputy Commander of the Celestial Knights. Not now. Not only the Commander, but even the newly appointed next Deputy Commander of the Celestial Knights was someone he could not be sure of defeating. The restriction on mana was gone, but the output he could use at once had dropped sharply.

There were two wyvern knights chasing them in total.

If both of them were elite knights ranked among the best in the order...

Kyle coolly assessed his and Elysia's strength. A wyvern knight of the Celestial Knights. Even if they were elite, he could beat one.

Two would be difficult, but worth attempting.

The problem lay elsewhere. They rode wyverns. Wyverns had strong resistance against all attacks using mana. If they simply breathed down from the sky, there was no good way for Kyle's side to respond.

Most importantly, Kyle was currently carrying out an escort commission. Elysia was certainly a strong mage, but that did not mean she was strong enough to defeat a wyvern knight. Mages were already at a disadvantage against knights in a one-on-one fight. And unlike her, who lacked experience, wyvern knights were experts specialized purely in slaughter. If they clashed head-on, there was no chance of victory.

The best choice was to split the two wyvern knights apart and defeat them separately.

The next best was to separate Elysia and have Kyle face both wyvern knights alone.

Neither would be easy. And that kind of situation likely would not happen. Their only target was Elysia, the felon who had stolen the Empire's treasure. If Kyle tried to use himself as bait and failed, he would fail Elysia's escort right there.

So he could not gamble. The location was bad too. As long as the Kingdom of Brendel was obligated to cooperate with the Empire, Ligrid Gate was no different from a prison for Kyle and Elysia. At the very least, they had to get out of here.

If they fought here, their odds of victory were slim.

It was not time yet.

Not yet.

"...We move."

Kyle muttered quietly and rolled up the map he had unfolded. Beside him, Elysia's expression turned resolute.

"We're moving right away?"

"Yes."

Kyle put the map into his Inventory Pouch and looked beyond the wall built to the east. As if pushing back the darkness of night, bright red flames were blooming in rows along the wall.

"We cross the wall now. Before the wyvern knights arrive. As quickly as possible."

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