WeTried Translations

Translator: Hydrogen B

Editor: Hydrogen B

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◈ Sword Master of the Fallen Kingdom

Chapter 71

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Crossing Blades (6)

A wyvern's breath attack. A direct hit would be fatal.

Elysia twisted aside at once. It was an instinctive decision made in a split second. Her body moved before she could think.

She wrapped Wind Magic, which she had avoided using so she would leave no trace, around both legs strengthened with mana.

Before she knew it, green flames spewed from the wyvern's maw and closed in right before her eyes. Elysia kicked hard off the ground. At almost the same moment, vivid emerald fire burned through every shrub in its path and blanketed the sky over the hill where she had been standing moments before. Trees and bushes that had been perfectly intact were swallowed by the wyvern's breath attack in an instant.

The green flames, which seemed to last an eternity, faded.

Crackle, crackle.

The smell of burning stung her nose from every direction. The dense trees had all turned to ash, leaving only embers behind.

Elysia raised her gaze and bit her lip without realizing it.

Before her lay part of the hill, now completely stripped bare. If she had not dodged, she would have been forced to overuse her magic to block it.

And in her already exhausted state, that would certainly have left her unable to move any farther.

No, the breath attack had been fired after a slight delay in the first place.

Is he deliberately steering my route?

Her clenched fists tightened on their own. But only for a moment. Elysia ran into the intact trees on the opposite side.

This time, she used Wind Magic and Body Reinforcement to their fullest. The scenery of the hills swept past in a blur. Behind her, the wyvern was still pursuing her fiercely. Each beat of its huge wings narrowed the distance little by little.

"Tch. How annoyingly stubborn. All this pointless struggling."

Lorentz clicked his tongue softly as he chased Elysia from the wyvern's back. Below him, he could see Elysia darting down the hill.

Lorentz stroked the back of his wyvern's neck. Having just unleashed a breath attack, the wyvern's neck sagged low. It had crossed the mountain range without rest, then flown at high speed through the border region on top of that. It should have rested long ago, but it had not been able to.

Now it truly was at its limit.

It could not use its breath attack in succession. The physical burden was too heavy, and there was no other way.

Can't be helped.

"We're almost there, Vires. This will be the last time."

Tap, tap. Lorentz patted the wyvern's neck and slowly rose.

His view lifted, bringing the hills below into full view.

Lorentz drew the sword at his waist. Bright emerald Sword Aura rose over the blade, which carried a faint gray sheen. His eyes quickly tracked the movement beyond the shrubs. A short while passed. Then his eyes flashed, and he swung his sword in one long stroke.

Kwaaaaa!

Sword Aura shot out. The green arc sliced in just behind the point where the trees rippled, carving a semicircle and twisting the scenery as it drove in.

Kwaaang!

A beat later, an explosion burst out. Nearby shrubs were swept away by the aftershock. Elysia, who had just spotted an open field ahead and was about to turn toward the forest path, was thrown out onto the wide flat ground by the impact. The level clearing had no trees or bushes nearby to hide behind. All that lay underfoot was a small patch of swaying grass.

At that moment, the green wyvern lowered its altitude, descended diagonally, and landed in the middle of the clearing. Coming down with a rough beat of its wings, Vires took two or three steps forward from inertia, then scraped the ground with its claws and stopped. The knight mounted on the wyvern's back lightly set foot on the ground.

"It has been a while, Your Highness, First Princess. The last time we faced each other directly was at the Imperial Palace in Archandia... We are rather late this time."

Gray armor, almost without color. The knight with green hair like his wyvern strode forward, then stopped a short distance from Elysia.

"Lorentz Bernan..."

Elysia barely pulled herself together and grimaced. The green-haired knight who had just dismounted from the wyvern stood before her, looking at her with an amiable face.

Lorentz Bernan. The second son of House Bernan, and one of the elite wyvern knights who had survived the Northern War.

Now that many veteran wyvern knights had died, he held a considerable position within the order. He was also the closest friend of Damian Carvello, who had already been chosen as the next Vice Commander. In other words, her fears had become reality. Elysia's face hardened with anxiety as she realized Damian Carvello had gone after Kyle.

"Where are you looking?"

Lorentz spoke in a loose, teasing tone. Elysia's gaze, which had been scanning the clearing, stopped at one spot.

"Ah."

Lorentz let out a soft exclamation. The green wyvern stood there. Its neck hung low, and its wings were folded tight. It wheezed as it breathed, looking exhausted to anyone who saw it.

The problem was that Elysia's condition was not much different from the wyvern's. She had shaken off the wyvern knights' pursuit for over a week to make it this far.

Even in perfect condition, she had almost no chance of winning. There was no way she could defeat an unharmed wyvern knight head-on.

"You don't need to worry. After a short rest, we'll reach Ligrid Fortress in no time."

Lorentz read the thought in Elysia's golden eyes at once and answered as if it were nothing.

"So please return to the Empire with me now. His Majesty is waiting."

"...No. I refuse. I will never return to the Empire again."

"Why not?"

Lorentz asked in a tone of genuine incomprehension. At his gaze, as if he were looking at a fool, Elysia pressed her lips shut.

Go back to the Empire?

She had already left Archandia prepared to abandon everything.

She had even been ready to throw away her life. Her mother was dead, her mother's family had been completely driven out of central politics, and even Grand Duke Rivelius, her only lifeline, had gone into exile. In that situation, there was nothing Elysia could do. She could only live day by day like a living corpse, unable even to die.

Rather than be dragged back like this, it would be better to end her own life by her own hand. That would be a life worse than death. A life like livestock, never knowing when she would fall out of the Emperor's favor and be killed. If that was the case, she would stake her life here and at least take one of that wyvern knight's arms.

For an instant, Elysia's trembling eyes settled into calm.

"Interesting."

Lorentz did not scold Elysia. He did not mock her either. He only chuckled as if amused.

"Rather than be dragged away and die, you'll make a last stand here."

"......."

"If that's what you're thinking, I suggest you give it up. Even suicide requires strength. More importantly, reaching Archandia does not mean Your Highness will necessarily die. His Highness the Crown Prince gave us a separate message."

"A message?"

"Yes. He asked us to please bring back at least his younger sister unharmed."

Elysia's eyes, which had been prepared for death, shook violently again.

"Brother Maximilian did...?"

"Is it not surprising? You are half-siblings, and one of you is a first-class traitor who stole a Dragon Heart and even the wyverns' secrets, yet he protects you. And he is the one who will become the Empire's master."

During the Northern War, Elysia had originally been the second sacrifice for Izra's Thorn. The one who had stopped it was Crown Prince Maximilian.

Elysia knew that. She simply had not expected him to go this far.

She had thought it was no more than alms given to a beggar.

"Your Highness."

Lorentz looked at Elysia with eyes full of pity.

"Now that you have come this far, you already know everything, don't you?"

"......."

"Come with me quietly. At the very least, I will escort you as safely as possible until Archandia."

"...No."

Elysia's answer was the same as before.

"I will say it again. I am not going."

"......."

"My mother was killed by the Emperor, and my mother's family was driven out of central politics for the sole reason that they offered honest counsel. I..."

"What does any of that matter!"

He shouted. Startled, Elysia flinched.

"The Empire belongs to His Majesty the Emperor. Naturally, hunting hounds that bare their teeth at their master deserve to die. And Izra's Thorn properly pierced the two Commanders of the Knights of Ash, becoming the opening that allowed the Empire to destroy Hailen. What is the problem with that?"

"What...?"

"It was a necessary sacrifice. A noble death. I fully understand the sorrow of losing Her Majesty the Empress and Your Highness's feelings, but... you rebelled against the master of the Empire and against His Majesty over something as small as that? Like that shameless turncoat, Grand Duke Rivelius?"

Elysia's eyes widened. She ground her teeth.

The shock she had felt moments before was gone. Only anger remained.

"Looks like Damian was right. There is a limit to immaturity. You really are nothing but a fool."

Lorentz sighed. Even after touching Elysia's sorest point, he showed no sign that he cared. He merely looked up at the black night sky and wiped around his eyes with his palm.

"I didn't want to go this far..."

He muttered softly. Before anyone knew it, a cool strand of wind was pushing into the middle of the clearing now occupied by two people and one wyvern. Elysia slowly drew up her mana. Then she checked her surroundings.

This is bad.

There was nowhere to hide. The place the wyvern had lured her into was flat ground without a single tree to conceal herself behind. Even the nearest forest looked to be at least dozens of meters away. And for a wyvern knight, that was more than enough distance to catch Elysia.

Since he had already read her intentions, he would not let her go in the first place.

This was different from before she made a contract with Kyle. Back then, it had been a chase through city alleys. A city district full of places to hide and escape. This place was not like that. It was a wide, flat field with no cover at all. On top of that, she was badly exhausted. There was no way she could win.

Even so.

Elysia steadied her heart, which had nearly broken. Feeling her heartbeat, she slowly inhaled.

He cannot kill me anyway. No, even if I die in the worst case, it does not matter.

So she would stall as long as possible here. She would keep him from joining Damian Carvello. No matter how strong Kyle was, he could not possibly handle two wyvern knights who had survived every kind of battle. That was why she would trust him and buy time somehow. Right here. Against that wyvern knight.

"Have you finished thinking, Your Highness?"

Lorentz spoke in the same smiling voice as before.

Kugugung!

The ground where he stood shook. Transparent ice spikes rose sharply through the collapsing earth. A smile close to a sneer settled on Lorentz's lips. Just before the ice spikes could shred his entire body, Lorentz stomped the ground. With that one light step, the rising spikes shattered all at once.

At the same time, countless invisible blades were rushing toward Lorentz. Incantationless Wind Magic. Snickering, Lorentz swung the sword in his hand in time with the wind he struck down.

Kaang! Kaang! Kaaang!

Clear metallic sounds rang out. The severed streams of wind passed behind Lorentz and scraped across the innocent ground.

Lorentz immediately ran forward. Elysia tried to widen the distance somehow while firing magic nonstop. Ice, wind, fire, lightning. Yet none of them reached Lorentz. They broke uselessly with a single stomp, and fell apart with a single slash.

"You have far too many distracting thoughts. Is this all?"

With only a few steps left before the entrance to the forest, Elysia, now caught, looked back. A gauntlet had come right up to her face. Even if she tried to dodge, the distance was too close. Her fatigue-soaked body would not listen.

Too late.

Thwack!

For an instant, her vision flashed. Elysia's body rolled roughly across the ground.

"That last one was rather sharp. Though it was meaningless struggling."

Lorentz's voice, sounding somewhat impressed, reached her ears. But she had no room to care. The fist had struck her squarely in the pit of her stomach.

The blow drove in until her ribs were on the verge of breaking, forcing all the air from her lungs. Elysia wheezed for breath, trembling as she raised her gaze. Because she had fired magic wildly, dizziness washed over her late.

"Have you changed your mind now?"

After her breathing settled somewhat, Lorentz asked in a relaxed tone.

"...No. Kill me here instead. It would be better to be buried here than dragged back to that hell."

"Hmm..."

Lorentz did not get angry at Elysia's unchanged answer.

He only raised the corners of his mouth calmly.

"Is it because of that Silver-rank Mercenary you were traveling with?"

Elysia did not answer. Her silence was the answer.

"Surely not. Are you serious? You believe that Silver-rank Mercenary, of all people, will win?"

Lorentz laughed in disbelief. He could not help it.

Damian Carvello.

He was a genius knight already chosen for the position of Vice Commander. One year ago, he had even completed a sword form that was entirely his own. The Commander of the Celestial Knights had gone so far as to admit that Damian's talent was one level above his own. At least Lorentz had never seen a knight with greater potential than Damian.

At the young age of thirty, he already had almost no rivals.

"I wondered what scheme you had..."

He slowly approached. He looked down at Elysia, who had fallen and raised only her upper body as she glared fiercely up at him.

"I am sorry, but what Your Highness hopes for will not happen. That Silver-rank Mercenary bastard will die miserably. And it will be because of none other than Your Highness."

"......."

"He dared rebel against the Empire without knowing his place, so Damian's flames will tear his limbs apart..."

Lorentz stopped mid-sentence. Elysia, who had been glaring at him, was suddenly staring blankly at one spot.

It was different from simple resignation or surprise. It was the expression of someone whose vague hope had come true, as if she had been saved.

What?

The moment he turned his head, pure white moonlight struck down into the center of the clearing.

Kwaaaaa!

A long, curved crescent moon dug into scales. The green wyvern, which had been taking a short rest, let out a terrible scream. Right after that, something formless rushed toward him. It was too fast for him to react.

Puk!

Lorentz's body shook roughly once. Bright red blood burst from the center of his breastplate.

Before he knew it, a blade had sprouted from Lorentz's chest. As it slowly emerged through the wavering scenery, it shone in spotless pure white.

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