WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: Haruto

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◈ The Pushover Young Lord in a Romance Fantasy Won't Take It Anymore ◈

Chapter 46: This Man

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"Are you ready?"

"I'm always ready."

Lucia clenched her small fists and nodded with a serious expression.

"An inner demon may appear during the process. Please use your judgment, and wake me if you think I'm about to lose to it."

I repeatedly explained how to serve as my cultivation guard, with special emphasis on inner demons.

"If I can't escape the inner demon, I'll die. Either I defeat it, or that world must be forcibly shattered. But you mustn't wake me as soon as I fall into one."

Fighting an inner demon was like walking a tightrope between life and death.

If she woke me by force while I was trying to defeat it, all my effort would be wasted.

She had to intervene only when she judged I was truly about to lose, and that was no easy task.

"Ugh... That's difficult."

"It is. That's why a cultivation guard is so important. Lady Lucia, I'm sure you'll do well."

To explain it in terms from my previous life, it was like spotting someone at the bench press.

If they barely managed to push the bar up before it crushed them, they would set a new personal record and gain muscle.

But if the spotter got nervous and grabbed it right away, they would only get in the way.

A spotter was there to lift the bar when the lifter actually got pinned.

The difference was that, with an inner demon, you died a few seconds after getting pinned.

"May I ask you something?"

"Please."

"Why Sun Rings, of all things? Most knights these days choose the Heart Path."

Solar had immense destructive power, but it was far too dangerous to control.

Even most Swordmasters avoided that attribute, so why did I keep going around in circles with rings?

I could hardly tell her the truth, that Luna was the puppet string of an Outer God.

That wasn't the only reason I had woven rings in the first place.

"For the hardship."

"Hardship?"

"It's something I always tell knights. True strength is forged by danger."

That much was enough for Lucia to understand.

Lucia herself would one day weave seven rings.

She had chosen the Heart Path for now, but she would change her mind before long.

"I really do have an eye for people."

Lucia gave me a playful, smug smile. A laugh slipped out at her very Lucia-like reaction.

"I feel the same. You must have a good eye for people if you chose me at the Founding Festival."

"..."

Lucia quietly averted her gaze.

Bluish mana flickered around her for an instant.

She had steadied the carriage's swaying and tuned the faint mana in the air, blocking outside interference so I could concentrate completely.

Lucia, who would one day become an eight-star mage, was personally serving as my cultivation guard.

There could be no more luxurious training environment than this.

"Let me say this before we begin. You may place your hands somewhere other than my back. If touching my body flusters you, it may affect me as well, so put your hands wherever you're comfortable."

Lucia seemed to consider it for a moment before reaching out with both hands.

The soft touch of her skin settled against the nape of my neck.

"Is the back of your neck all right?"

"Yes."

So wrapping both hands around my neck was fine, but touching my chest embarrassed her.

I quietly closed my eyes and sank into my inner world.

At once, I drew Solar's mana into my heart. I began heating the pulsing rings.

The air inside the carriage gradually grew hot in response.

Luna seeped in smoothly like water, naturally forming a path.

Solar was the complete opposite of Luna.

It was like crushing a heated lump of iron into shape with your bare hands, without even a hammer.

Forcing it into a round ring was close to madness.

Hardship I would never grow accustomed to, no matter how often I endured it.

Cold sweat ran down my back, and my clothes clung to my bare skin.

I drew a slow breath. Excruciating pain swept through my entire body, as if boiling lava had been poured into my veins.

Solar refused to remain quietly in my Core.

It rampaged in every direction as though it would tear through my skin and burst free, resisting my will.

"Kh...!"

A suppressed groan slipped through my clenched teeth.

It felt like squeezing a blazing wildfire with my bare hands.

The real ordeal had not even begun. The inner demon had not come yet.

Compression. Then more compression.

There could be no compromise if I wanted to forge a high-density ring.

I desperately gathered the fire energy trying to scatter in every direction.

Even as I forced it toward my heart, it bucked as if it would explode.

Before I knew it, the rampaging energy had begun to take the shape of a round band.

The third Sun Ring.

It felt as though my bones had melted into molten iron and my organs had become lumps of charcoal.

I gritted my teeth so hard they felt ready to shatter and endured.

I was less than a handspan away from completion.

At the very moment physical pain broke past its limits and the boundary of my consciousness became thinnest, a chilling sense of wrongness began to creep in.

It slipped through the tiniest cracks in my mind.

The inner demon had come.

* * *

Inside the scorching carriage, Lucia carefully regulated her breathing and watched Astin closely.

His entire body was soaked in sweat. Veins stood out across his skin, and his jaw muscles had gone rigid.

'What a foolish man.'

Lucia clicked her tongue inwardly.

No matter how arduous a knight's path was supposed to be, she had never seen anyone drive himself to such extremes.

And people called this man a wastrel.

The Astin the public knew and the Astin Lucia saw were completely different.

That made him seem even more pitiful. Why did he push himself this far?

Lucia focused every bit of her attention on the hands wrapped around his neck.

'I have to make sure this man doesn't get hurt.'

The role of a cultivation guard was to prevent Solar from flowing backward or running too far out of control.

She needed to understand his bodily rhythms and judge the timing precisely.

'Not yet. It's rough, but still within his control.'

She held her breath, afraid even the sound of swallowing might disturb him. Astin's breathing, bodily reactions, and Solar's flow all remained within her perception.

Before long, the frame of the third ring had taken shape. Lucia could sense it clearly.

It was too soon to celebrate. A moment of distraction could put him in danger.

'Just a little more. Hold on a little longer.'

Lucia pressed her lips tightly together.

She was intensely tense, as though it were her own ordeal.

Then Astin's tightly shut eyes flew open.

His golden eyes were fixed on empty space, but they were unfocused.

An inner demon.

Astin's breathing and heartbeat noticeably quickened. Lucia involuntarily drew a sharp breath.

This was the most dangerous moment.

'I have to trust him and wait.'

Lucia suppressed her rising impatience.

Whoosh!

Astin, who had not moved at all, suddenly reached out with both hands.

Confusion rippled through Lucia's ruby eyes. His rough hands tightly gripped her arms.

Those caught in an inner demon's grip lost control of their physical bodies as they fought within themselves.

It was extremely rare for them to move their real bodies directly.

'This is dangerous.'

A physical response like this was a warning sign.

Was he about to lose control of his body to the inner demon? Solar's flow became unstable as well.

His clouded golden eyes were directed at Lucia, yet they were not seeing her.

They reflected something beyond empty space. Or someone the inner demon was showing him.

Is this it?

Should I wake him now?

Just as Lucia was about to decide, Astin spoke.

"I didn't know."

His low voice trembled precariously.

Lucia froze.

"That none of it was your fault. That it was all my responsibility."

Guilt and regret soaked deep into his voice.

The sound of it was familiar.

For an instant, she saw him as he had appeared on the terrace.

"...I'm sorry I realized too late."

The hands gripping Lucia's arms trembled faintly.

A torrent of emotion passed through his grip.

While Lucia stood there blankly, clarity returned to his clouded golden eyes.

His unfocused gaze found its place again.

Astin slowly released Lucia's arms.

Their eyes met and held.

Astin had overcome the inner demon himself and returned to reality.

His pupils were clear, but traces of regret remained.

"Did I do anything strange?"

Lucia, who had been lost in thought, straightened her shoulders.

Then she slowly shook her head.

For some reason, no voice came out.

"That's a relief."

Astin pressed a hand to his forehead and took several deep breaths.

The hand that ran over his face then came to rest over his heart.

"Thanks to you, I wove the third ring."

It was obvious he was pretending to be calm.

Lucia forced her lips into a smile.

"Congratulations, Young Lord."

Astin smiled with satisfaction and turned his gaze out the window. His profile was exceedingly calm.

So calm that it was hard to believe what had happened moments ago.

Lucia's eyes darkened.

Her gaze remained on Astin, but her thoughts lingered on what had happened moments earlier.

An inner demon dredged up the deepest parts of one's heart and gnawed away at the soul.

A person's most painful memory.

A longing they could never let go of.

An unerasable regret.

Astin's eyes had clearly not been looking at Lucia.

The person he had seen might have been...

A woman he had mentioned at the Founding Festival, perhaps a lover he had lost.

"..."

She silently looked into Astin's eyes.

This man had overcome his inner demon, but he still had not escaped the ghosts of his past.

An inexplicable bitterness washed over her whole body.

"I can't apologize."

The dead never grew older. They remained only as memories.

This pitiful man was bound to an unchanging past.

He had kept an apology he could not deliver locked inside himself.

"It was all my responsibility. I'm sorry I realized too late."

What had this man been feeling when he spoke those words aloud?

How hard had he fought to regain his senses?

Swallowing the questions that lingered in her throat, Lucia opened her mouth.

"Young Lord."

Astin met her gaze.

Lucia smiled faintly and barely forced out words she did not mean.

"Isn't the weather wonderful?"

"...It is. The breeze is cool, too."

Lucia turned her gaze out the window. It was almost an act of avoidance.

Astin's gaze also settled outside.

Lucia glanced at his profile from the corner of her eye.

This man was certainly strong. Lucia had never seen anyone stronger than him.

Then how great must the regret he carried be...?

She suddenly wished this man would not have to hurt anymore.

* * *

The carriage finally came to a stop, and the Cardenos grand ducal residence came into view beyond the window.

I jumped down from the carriage first.

Then I politely held out my hand to Lucia as she followed.

"It was a long journey. You must be tired."

Lucia smiled gently and carefully took my fingertips.

I escorted her through the manor's main gate.

The first thing that greeted us was a deafening uproar.

"Move, move! The supply wagons are already here! Clear out the warehouses first!"

"We don't have enough tents in Zone Three! We'll bring in more from nearby merchant guilds for now!"

Hundreds of servants were running around in a frenzy.

I had never seen the place this busy outdoors, not even inside the manor.

"Young Lord!"

The head butler spotted me and came rushing over, his face pale.

"You have returned safely!"

"What a mess. Is everyone gathered at the training grounds?"

"Yes. It is packed with people who came after seeing the notice. There seem to be around three thousand of them. They are still passing through the western gate even now..."

I stroked my chin as I listened.

Four days.

Only four days had passed since the notice was issued.

Considering travel time from all corners of the Empire, those three thousand had either been staying near the west or were madmen who had ridden day and night, whipping their horses onward.

Once the rumors spread further and people began flocking here in earnest, how many would gather?

'Could we reach more than ten thousand within a month?'

The more people, the better.

I had secured more than enough food and equipment for them.

Paying wages would be difficult, but the notice clearly stated they would be paid after the expedition ended.

By then, I could distribute resources extracted from the Ashen Forest.

"Let's go. The guests are waiting. It would not do for the host to be late."

I led Lucia toward the training grounds.

For some reason, Lucia said little.

I thought she would be surprised to hear there were three thousand people, but she seemed to have nerves of steel.

A lively clamor reached us from afar.

Along with the cheering, the ringing clash of metal echoed through the air.

'Time to sort through them.'

Uncertain survival. Honor and glory.

I believed there were no small fry among the warriors gathered here.

Even so, I would select only those with real skill, those with the madness to walk the line between life and death.

Footnotes:

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