WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: Haruto

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

Chapter 49: The Commandment

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The Holy Sword Keeper suddenly held out the Holy Sword's hilt.

I stared at it blankly.

She had appeared out of nowhere and told me to hold the Holy Sword.

Why had she left the Order and come all the way to this distant place?

The outline of this absurd situation was beginning to fall into place.

'Honor and glory.'

It was probably because of the keywords I had written in the recruitment notice.

For nearly a thousand years, she had wandered the continent in search of the Holy Sword's owner.

That was the Holy Sword Keeper's duty and the reason she had been created.

"Take it."

The Holy Sword Keeper pushed the Holy Sword closer.

The Holy Sword's owner was granted honor and glory. They also had to possess a Sun Ring.

I was certain.

The ring I had shown during my spar with Bagot must have drawn her attention.

'I doubt anything will happen even if I take it.'

I had not qualified for the Holy Sword in my first life.

This time would probably be no different, but there was always a chance.

To be tested for the Holy Sword, one first needed a Sun Ring. That meant living a life accompanied by hardship.

If that were all it took, I would have picked up the Holy Sword long ago.

There were obligations one had to bear to wield the Holy Sword.

Some called them prohibitions, while others called them Commandments.

Lucia called them Commandments.

"I heard there are usually five Commandments, but I was such a good match for the Holy Sword that I had seven. Apparently, the extra two were there to suppress my desires. Fucking hell."

I could never forget the look on Lucia's face as she recalled that bitter past.

It was like she had swallowed half-chewed meat.

"What are you hesitating for?"

The Holy Sword Keeper thrust the hilt toward me again.

There was not an ounce of compromise in her crimson-gold eyes. I barely managed to hold back the sigh rising in my throat.

I had not qualified for the Holy Sword the first time around. Thank goodness for that.

But what about now?

Would I qualify because I now bore the duty of saving the world?

The Holy Sword Keeper's fist clenched tightly.

'This crazy bitch.'

My instincts sounded the alarm. She had beaten me up several times in my past life.

With no other choice, I reached for the hilt, convinced I would not qualify.

"Heat up your ring."

The qualification test for the Holy Sword's owner was simple.

Place a hand on the hilt and activate Solar. That was all.

I rotated the Sun Ring lodged within my Core.

Pure Solar flowed down my arm and seeped into the hilt.

If I were the Holy Sword's owner, this was the moment it would release an earthquake-like resonance and brilliant light.

Please, please, please.

I silently begged it dozens of times to stay still.

One second.

"……."

"……."

Three seconds.

"……."

"……."

Even after five seconds, the Holy Sword remained silent.

The faint tremor stopped almost immediately. There was no light, no resonance.

Phew.

A breath of relief slipped through my teeth.

"Hm."

The Holy Sword Keeper quietly took back the Holy Sword and sheathed it.

She did not look disappointed. To her, this was probably just one ordinary failure among tens of thousands.

With practiced hands, she wrapped bandages around the hilt and tied the Holy Sword to her back.

She lightly jumped down from the training grounds, walked into an empty tent, and plopped down.

Her intentions were written all over her face.

She planned to stay here and wait for the owner who would appear someday.

"Hey. Isn't that the Sun Holy Sword that woman's carrying?"

Only then did talk of the Holy Sword spread through the crowd.

"Then she's the Holy Sword Keeper of the Sun Order?"

"Why is the Holy Sword Keeper here? Is she here to conquer the Ashen Forest?"

"No way. The Holy Sword Keeper can't use her power for personal reasons. That's one of the Commandments, they say."

"She came looking for the Holy Sword's owner. Another wasted trip, I guess."

The Holy Sword and its Keeper were things people had only heard about in legends. It would have been stranger if the place had not erupted into chaos.

Those who knew of the Holy Sword Keeper clicked their tongues, saying this would be another wasted trip.

But I knew.

There were only two people who could become the Holy Sword's owner.

By coincidence, both of them were here.

One was Lucia, standing in the distance and looking back and forth between me and the Holy Sword Keeper.

In the first life, the Holy Sword chose her when she had forged five rings.

In other words, it was still a distant matter for Lucia, who had yet to forge even one.

She was not someone who had the qualifications for the Holy Sword. She was someone who would have them.

Then who was the other one?

Whether that person already qualified now, had qualified from the beginning, or would someday qualify like Lucia, even I, who had lived a previous life and regressed, could not know for certain.

That person was sitting alone in the distance.

'The Holy Sword Keeper herself.'

Everyone in the world saw her only as Solari's embodiment, the guardian of the Holy Sword.

The person who believed that most fervently was the Holy Sword Keeper herself.

She had spent her entire life near the Holy Sword, and that was precisely why she remained distant from it.

'If not for the apocalypse, she would never have known.'

Only at the brink of destruction did the Holy Sword Keeper realize through a chance event that she was not an accessory to the Holy Sword.

She was its owner.

It was the event that changed the Holy Sword's owner from Lucia to the Holy Sword Keeper.

I wanted to tell her the truth right away, but...

"The Holy Sword did help me out, though. Without it, I could never have forged seven rings. We would not have made it this far, either."

The order had to be Lucia first, then the Holy Sword Keeper.

The Holy Sword was necessary to complete the protagonist's story.

* * *

The heat had yet to fade from the center of the training grounds.

The duel with Bagot and the Holy Sword Keeper's interruption had left the place in disarray.

I put away the cumbersome sword and looked around at the crowd.

The murmuring crowd went quiet like a receding tide, and the disbelief and mockery had long since vanished.

I lifted my chin and spoke.

"From this moment on, the first interview begins."

The warriors responded in their own ways.

Some adjusted their grips on their weapons. Others loosened their muscles. Every one of them was getting ready.

I felt oddly sorry to throw cold water on their enthusiasm.

"Put your weapons away. The first interview is very simple."

I raised a finger and pointed toward the old knight standing at a distance.

Hendrickson, having been singled out, bared his yellowed teeth in a grin.

"First test. Overcome a Swordmaster."

For three seconds after those words, there was silence.

Then the crowd began to stir.

"What the hell? Defeat a Swordmaster? Is this a joke?"

"I think he means something else..."

Anyone skilled enough to defeat a Swordmaster would have no reason to serve under someone else.

"Like I said, I do not mean defeat him. I mean endure him. The method is simple. If you can withstand a Swordmaster's killing intent, you pass."

Only then did those who caught on let out quiet exclamations.

"You get the idea. The high-ranking magical beasts of the Ashen Forest possess their own Fear."

It worked on the same principle as a dragon's Fear.

Once someone reached the rank of Swordmaster, they could control that Fear at will. It could even become visible to the naked eye.

"You could have an iron body, but if your mind is weak, you are nothing but baggage. The most important thing on an expedition is the mental strength to withstand fear."

I let the words settle for half a beat.

Then I gestured toward the cavalry horses tethered in one corner of the training grounds.

"To give you another example, there will be no riding while we conquer the forest. Animals, including horses, have no resistance to fear."

Confusion appeared on a few faces.

The reality was that they would have to cross that monster realm on foot.

The Ashen Forest Expedition was not just a fight against magical beasts.

It was a battle of endurance and time, no different from extreme training that scraped a person down to their very limits.

"I trust you all understand by now. Anyone who lacks confidence can leave while they still have the chance."

Apparently, they really were veterans. Not one person turned away.

Having said what I needed to say, I stepped down from the sparring ring without hesitation.

Hendrickson climbed up to fill the empty space with relaxed steps.

"What a sight."

A satisfied smile appeared on Hendrickson's lips. He clenched his one hand into a fist.

Thump! Thump!

Like beating a drum of war, he struck his chest with his fist.

Whoooooom!

At the signal of those blows, seven Sun Rings began activating one after another within his chest.

The air in the training grounds warped and grew hot. Killing intent rose around him like a heat haze.

"Three minutes. Anyone who cannot last even three minutes should bite their tongue and die."

That was a bit harsh.

* * *

Screams and retching broke out beyond the tent. Every so often, the sound of someone collapsing mixed in.

Julian and Jenkinson were standing straight, determined to endure it. I wondered how they were doing.

Without bothering to stop them, I went into the tent with Lucia and Celine.

"Young Lord, you seemed reluctant to take the Holy Sword earlier."

"That's right. I was worried I might end up getting it."

"Isn't the Holy Sword a good thing? If it were me, I would have wanted it."

I turned toward Lucia.

She truly seemed to be asking out of simple curiosity.

If it were her, she would have wanted it.

A bitter smile spread across my lips.

"Astin, never touch the Holy Sword."

"Why?"

"Just don't, you bastard. Smoke cigarettes instead."

The Lucia of today was a young lady who did not even know what Commandments were.

Celine also stared at me as though she were curious.

It was not ignorance. It was simply how the times had changed.

The current generation had little interest in Solar, so naturally, their interest in the Holy Sword had faded as well.

"The Holy Sword is not purely a good thing. If you qualify for it, you must also bear its Commandments."

"Commandments...?"

"Perhaps you could call it the force imposed by the world, or the binding of the soul."

"Ah, I understand. It is a compulsion that prevents you from doing certain things."

"Not exactly. You can take those actions, but you will pay the price."

Lucia broke a Commandment exactly once in the first life.

She had once complained to me that she almost died because of it.

"The moment you break a Commandment, lightning might strike from a clear sky, the ground beneath your feet might collapse, or heaven and earth might suddenly be remade. At that point, you could call it divine punishment."

"Whoa."

"Wow..."

They had identical looks on their faces. They were like perfect mirror images.

A Commandment was a shackle that came with the power to twist the foundations of the world.

In other words, the Holy Sword was not the only thing that brought Commandments.

'I must already have one, too.'

I was already bound by a Commandment myself.

I had reversed time and defied causality. There was no way I did not have one.

I was almost certain that my Commandment was revealing the secrets of heaven.

That was why I had never revealed that I had regressed.

"Lucia, you sent me to the past with Deus's Time Magic."

If I told her that, she would naturally believe me.

Instead, I would probably die that very moment from the backlash of my Commandment.

Even if it was not that, it would be a Commandment harsher than the Holy Sword's. I was not confident I could bear it.

"What exactly are the Holy Sword's Commandments?"

Lucia's unusual curiosity was refreshing.

Celine was looking at me with curious eyes, too.

Her eyes were wide and round, her lips slightly parted as she waited for me to speak.

"The Holy Sword does not have just one Commandment. There are usually five, but if you are a good match for the Holy Sword, there can be seven."

Lucia's mouth fell open.

She had no idea that her future self would have seven Commandments.

"The first Commandment is both a Commandment and a condition of ownership. The user must be chaste, and must remain so from then on."

Lucia's shoulders twitched.

Wondering what was wrong, I stared at her. Lucia finally spoke with difficulty.

"Young Lord, have you never slept with a woman?"

"Yes. That's why I was terrified I might qualify for the Holy Sword."

"No, but how can someone with your face..."

Lucia raised her voice, then flinched and cut herself off. Carefully watching my reaction, she added,

"I heard rumors that, ahem, you went around seducing lots of women..."

"I was a wastrel, but I was not a womanizer. Those were distorted rumors."

"That's right. My brother believes in one true love. If he has someone he loves, he showers all his love on that one person."

"Well said, my soft, squishy sweet rice cake young lady. I shall shower you with your brother's love."

"Uuuh... It's too muuuch..."

I was kneading Celine's cheeks when I heard a quiet sigh.

I glanced to the side and saw Lucia rubbing her chest.

"What a relief..."

She seemed to think I could not hear her.

I heard every word, but I had the sense to pretend I did not.

Footnotes:

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