WeTried Translations

Translator: Hydrogen B

Editor: Hydrogen B

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◈ Sword Master of the Fallen Kingdom

Chapter 56

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Two Exiles (3)

The gorge of the Ligrid Mountains lay dark beneath the night. Crickets chirped from between the thickly tangled trees.

Kyle cut quickly through the gorge, with Elysia following silently one step behind. They had not rested once since climbing over the gate’s walls, which stood dozens of meters high. He had no idea when their pursuers might catch up. He had knocked out the soldiers on the wall, but the mercenaries and soldiers still inside the city were perfectly fine.

They had to put as much distance between them as possible.

This was a battle against time. A chase through the Ligrid Mountains.

At the very least, they had to get out of the gorge. Otherwise, there was a good chance the gate soldiers would catch them before the wyvern knights even arrived.

Kyle floated a sphere of light in front of him. Thanks to the ring, maintaining it was not difficult. Then he ran at a pace that was neither too fast nor too slow, mixing in Body Reinforcement every so often. He also made sure to check that Elysia, following behind him, was not falling behind.

How long had they been running like that?

The gorge widened. The terrain grew gentler. But that was only the beginning. Beyond the softer stretch of gorge, Kyle could see several mountains rising one after another, blocking the path in layers.

They were not nearly as steep as the entrance where the gate had been built, but they were still harsher than ordinary mountains. For Kyle, that was good news. Once they entered those mountains, tracking them would become much harder. There were too many routes to choose from.

Kyle climbed the mountain path without hesitation. From that point on, he stopped running and walked quickly to conserve stamina.

"...Past midnight."

As they moved through the forest after leaving the gorge, Kyle took a pocket watch from inside his coat and muttered to himself. They had left the gate around nine in the evening, so they had already been moving for three hours without a break. Even so, it was still too early to feel relieved.

"It is already that late?"

Elysia spoke from right behind him. There was a deep fatigue in her voice.

"How long does it take to cross these mountains?"

"Two to three days, if you move as quickly as possible on horseback."

"But we have no horses."

"That does not matter. We can use Body Reinforcement. It will be rough, though."

Kyle could not ride a horse. It was a psychological issue, but it was not a major problem.

With Wind Magic and Body Reinforcement, he could move faster than most horses over short distances. In other words, having no horses was not a serious issue. Over a long distance, they would be caught because of the difference in endurance, but for a few days, it would be enough to widen the gap.

"The bigger problem is the pursuit already on our heels."

"Pursuit? Do you mean the wyvern knights? But they should still be..."

"No. I mean the gate’s troops."

Kyle glanced in the direction of the gate. Elysia asked with a puzzled look.

"In the Kingdom of Brendel, are they allowed to pull guards away from a gate they are defending?"

Ordinary garrisons did not leave their castles. That was especially true for important border strongholds such as fortresses and gates. That was what Elysia found strange. At this hour of night, there would be no point in sending guards who could not even ride horses.

"They have cavalry and hunting hounds organized separately for pursuit."

"Ah..."

"They probably have a few Mana Compasses too. The mountains are rough, so criminals have been trying to flee over Ligrid Gate for a long time. If they noticed the soldiers on the wall had fallen and sent people out right away, then by now..."

Kyle calculated the length of the Ligrid Mountains in his head. Over the gate, through the gorge, across several ridges. If they pushed themselves hard, they might be able to leave the mountains around the evening of the day after tomorrow.

The problem was getting caught before then. Their pursuers would come to stall them until the wyvern knights arrived. Kyle searched through his old memories.

The lord of Ligrid Gate was definitely Viscount Leonard. He was a court noble, a castle lord with no territory, appointed by the king. If the wyvern knights, backed by the Imperial House, pressured him, it would not be strange for his head to roll at any time. He would likely chase them with everything he had.

"We need to cross at least one mountain."

Kyle looked up. A white moon hung above the sky crowded with branches.

"The bigger problem is the wyverns. They only said before sunrise. There is no way to know exactly when they will reach the gate."

"That should be fine. At the very least, they will not arrive at dawn."

"How can you be sure?"

Kyle only turned his head to look back. Elysia still looked exhausted.

"They pushed themselves hard while tracking me. Wyverns in particular do not have the same endurance as horses, so they must have burned through a great deal of stamina."

"When did the wyvern knights start chasing you in earnest?"

"After I left Imperial territory and fully entered the southern continent. They pinpointed my location and started pursuing me after I stepped into the Kingdom of Brendel. The last time I shook them off was a week ago in the city of Berna, so it is quite a distance from there to here. Even if they force themselves to arrive before sunrise, they will need to rest for at least a day. There is also the matter of supplies."

A silver lining in all this, perhaps.

Kyle truly thought so. Wyverns were far faster than horses. In short-term operations, no one could match a wyvern’s mobility.

The problem came when an operation dragged on. Wyverns ate an enormous amount.

Naturally, they were inefficient. Their bodies were large, so moving required a great deal of energy.

Because of that, if they had spent too much stamina reaching the gate, they would inevitably need to rest. And for Kyle and Elysia, who needed to cross the border as quickly as possible, that was good news. The Kingdom of Brendel was an unfavorable battlefield for Kyle.

"We need to get down from the mountains by the day after tomorrow, somehow."

Kyle quickened his already brisk pace. He sensed Elysia hurrying after him from behind.

He had no room to accommodate her. By now, the troops that had departed from the gate were likely chasing them hard. They had to widen the distance, even by a little. He intended to cross at least one mountain. Only then could they take a short rest or try to sleep.

A chilling wind. Faint moonlight settling over the forest. A white half-moon showed through the branches that spread as if covering the black sky. Kyle, who had been moving swiftly along the forest path, suddenly stopped.

Damn it.

The presence desperately clinging to him from behind had disappeared. Kyle dragged his exhausted body back along the path they had taken. Not far away, he saw Elysia leaning against a tree trunk. When she saw Kyle, her narrowed eyes trembled faintly.

"Sorry. I was too out of breath..."

Elysia lowered her head and gasped for air. Kyle stood in front of her and checked her complexion.

"Is it that hard?"

"No, no. I only need to rest for a moment. I can go again."

Elysia barely lifted her head and forced a smile. Kyle stared at her for a moment, then spoke coldly.

"That is a lie."

"Ah..."

"When was the last time you slept?"

"Yesterday at dawn..."

"......."

"In truth, I have not slept for two days. Shaking off the wyverns’ pursuit as quickly as possible came first."

As Elysia spoke, exhaustion she could not hide seeped from her eyes. Kyle clicked his tongue inwardly.

So that was it.

He had expected as much. She was a mage. And until recently, she had been a princess living in the capital, Archandia. It was almost a miracle that she had fled all the way here, gone nearly two days without sleep, and still kept up with Kyle’s forced march.

On top of that, she had thrown magic around as if it were water. Considering how much mental strength mana refinement consumed, it would not be strange if she collapsed right now. There was a high chance she was standing only by sheer force of will. If he forced her onward and Elysia collapsed here, that would be far more troublesome.

"You burned away the wyvern mana clinging to Nerov earlier. Do the wyvern knights have any other tracking methods they can use?"

Kyle asked while searching inside his coat. Elysia, still steadying her breathing, barely managed to answer.

"None that I know of."

"Are you certain?"

"I cannot be certain. I only mean there are none as far as I know. I cannot say whether they have some other method."

"I see."

Kyle selected a usable potion from his Inventory Pouch. It was the holy potion left over after he had poured some over the forbidden book in the Magic Tower’s library. Elysia, suddenly handed the glass bottle, looked up at Kyle with trembling eyes.

"This is...?"

"Drink it. It is a holy potion. It should heal light wounds and restore a little energy. It will not erase mental fatigue, though."

Elysia looked between the potion and Kyle, then carefully opened the stopper and drank the contents. Her slender white throat moved slightly. Kyle looked down at her in silence and quickly assessed the situation.

There were two choices available right now.

One was to rest here. The other was to force themselves to keep moving.

They had passed through the gorge beyond the gate and reached the middle slope of this mountain.

If they went only another hour or two, they could cross this mountain completely.

From there, the search area would expand sharply, so even with hunting hounds and Mana Compasses, finding them would not be easy. According to Elysia, the wyvern knights could not move right away.

Was there any need to force themselves onward?

In an instant, countless thoughts flashed through his mind. His own body, soaked in fatigue. Elysia’s condition, poor enough that it would not be strange if she collapsed at any moment.

Was he being too conscious of this from the start?

He wondered if they really needed to push themselves any harder.

Was he paying too much attention to gate soldiers who might not even be there? Was it all needless worry?

Was it really?

"Phew... done. I can move now."

"......."

"Why are you like that? Is something wrong?"

After emptying the bottle, Elysia tilted her head at Kyle, who stood there without a word. Kyle did not answer. He slowly bent down and placed his right palm against the ground. When he raised his mana and strengthened his five senses, he felt presences, very faint but unmistakable.

"...Are we already too late?"

In an instant, the particles of light floating above Kyle’s head went out. Under the hazy moonlight, the corner of Kyle’s mouth twisted upward. Elysia’s eyes widened.

"What did you say?"

"......."

"Surely..."

Elysia’s puzzled face hardened.

She did not ask for an explanation. There was no need. Elysia could feel it too, not just Kyle.

Huff, huff, huff, huff.

The sound of dogs panting. It had been very faint at first, but it grew louder and louder. Dogs, no telling how many, were running straight toward them. Noses pressed to the ground. Moving in zigzags. As if surrounding prey. Or driving it in.

Kyle sensed every bit of it without missing a thing. He could grasp it as clearly as if he held it in his hand. At the same time, he thought.

How long had it been since he felt this?

It was a little different from a one-on-one duel to the death. This was not a tightrope walk on the edge between life and death, but something closer to the desperate, wretched struggle to survive.

For some reason, the past came to mind. After Baldheim, the capital of the Hailen Kingdom, fell, the remaining Knights of Ash were pursued by the Empire. Back then, they had been in the same situation. Creating distance however they could, moving without sleep, killing the Imperial soldiers who chased them, shaking them off.

Once the Celestial Knights joined the pursuit, the Knights of Ash collapsed rapidly.

Of course they did. The enemy had used half of their wyvern knights as bait and taken Hailen’s capital in exchange. Then they drove the isolated Knights of Ash like prey and hunted them down.

Kyle was the only one who escaped alive in the end. The rest died. In truth, he did not even know whether they were alive or dead. At some point, the members had split up again and again, fleeing in every direction. Because they had thrown away their lives without hesitation for one person.

Now was different.

"Kyle..."

When he remained silent for a while, Elysia called his name in a trembling voice. Kyle slowly opened his closed eyes. He took his right hand off the ground and rose.

A pair of black eyes looked up at the dark sky.

Then Kyle’s gaze turned toward Elysia. When their eyes met, she swallowed without realizing it. Her body flinched on its own. His deep, sunken black eyes had settled so far into darkness they almost seemed invisible.

Kyle faced forward again. As he sharpened his five senses even further, everything in the forest entered his mind in clear detail.

Kyle raised his left hand. For an instant, dazzling five-colored light rose from the ring on his middle finger. Immediately after, a sharp wind stretched out soundlessly. An invisible slash cut between the trees, and blood sprayed into the air.

Yelp!

A dog’s scream rang out. It did not end with one. The surviving hunting hounds changed direction and fled, back toward their masters.

"We make our stand here."

"You mean fight?"

"Yes. Before it gets any later, I will kill them all here."

Kyle looked around the forest, packed with trees. In the pale darkness, countless presences were approaching them.

They split into groups and closed the distance in a wide encirclement. The footfalls of hunting hounds mixed with the sound of horse hooves. Dog barks rang viciously beneath the quiet sky. Far away, hazy orange lights flickered unsteadily.

"Then I will..."

"No. Stay back. Do not move carelessly."

With those words, Kyle’s body vanished. A beat later, leaves surged up from the spot where he had been standing, clouding Ellie’s vision. Her eyes opened wide.

"There he is! The traitor is over there!"

"We found him first..."

Several horses were charging from the opposite side. A bloody smile hung on the lips of the mercenary in the lead. At the same time, a clear metallic sound rang out. A blooming white flame advanced as if cutting through the darkness.

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