WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: Haruto
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◈ The Pushover Young Lord in a Romance Fantasy Won't Take It Anymore ◈
Chapter 56: Departure Ceremony
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A funeral procession. A suicide squad. Cardenos's reckless challenge.
Even on the day of departure, the Empire mocked the expedition as an impossibility.
That sentiment had spread to the warriors assembled for the departure ceremony.
'Is this really right?'
'Fuck, did I come here for nothing? Even the eggheads are sure we'll die.'
'Should I desert as soon as the ceremony ends...?'
Veteran mercenaries had flocked west in hopes of striking it rich.
But neither money nor glory mattered more than their own lives.
The Imperial Capital Gazette had relentlessly fanned their anxiety with its daily editions.
They had been able to endure in silence during training.
The supplies piled before them, the special meals served every day, and high morale had kept their fear at bay.
But now that the day of departure had arrived, things were different. The fear they had suppressed rose to their throats.
"We aren't conscripted regular soldiers anyway, right? Whether we fight or not is up to us..."
Someone's muttering became a spark that spread through the ranks.
Commander Astin had declared it himself.
Until they set foot in the Ashen Forest, anyone was free to lay down their weapon and leave.
In other words, once they crossed the boundary wall, it would be desertion.
Under Cardenos military law, deserters would be summarily executed without exception.
If they wanted to run, this was their last chance before crossing into the forest.
'Better to lose everything than die a pointless death here.'
The sound of dry throats swallowing rose from all around.
Unease churned through the ranks.
Step.
Astin climbed onto the high platform.
Every unsettled mercenary turned to look at him.
He was only twenty, a young man whose boyishness had barely faded.
Even so, he was Cardenos's legitimate son.
His sharp, striking features carried the imposing air of a commander.
But that was all. He didn't inspire confidence.
'It's insane, no matter how I think about it. We're supposed to entrust our lives to that brat?'
'I made the wrong choice. Why did I crawl into this place?'
'Was it mob mentality? Was I bewitched by something?'
Everyone knew Astin was a knight mature and gifted beyond his years.
He had proven it himself through his strength, and he had even volunteered to lead the vanguard.
Still, instinctive doubt began to take root.
This was the Ashen Forest.
Even if a Swordmaster had come as commander, nothing would change.
In the silence of the ranks, the mercenaries exchanged glances.
'Let's get out of here somehow after the ceremony.'
That tacit agreement had just formed.
Shing!
The sharp scrape of steel broke the stillness.
Astin drew his sword, his golden eyes sweeping downward.
The mercenaries kept their places and looked up at him with indifference.
They knew what he was going to say.
Humanity's great cause. Honor and glory. Something along those lines.
It would be nothing more than the usual ceremonial speech.
Let him ramble all he wanted. Nothing he said would change their minds.
Whoooosh.
Astin's cloak fluttered in the wind, and his golden hair streamed behind him.
"Can you hear the Empire laughing at us?"
His heavy voice, drawn up from his Core, reached the ears of the warriors filling the plain.
"The nobles of the imperial capital, the intellectuals who call themselves learned, the pigs hiding behind their walls mock us as a suicide expedition. They call us fools walking into the mouths of magical beasts on our own."
Astin slowly walked across the platform, surveying the ranks.
The mercenaries' shoulders twitched.
"Are you afraid? Of course you are. The Ashen Forest is a demon realm that no one has conquered in hundreds of years. The fear you feel now is a natural survival instinct. Fear is only natural."
Perhaps it was their imagination, but Astin's gaze seemed to sweep over the mercenaries.
"But being afraid and running away are entirely different things. I'm human, no different from any of you. I fear the Ashen Forest. I fear death. Then why are we standing here? A new horizon for the Empire? Humanity's great cause? Give those grand justifications to the soft fools inside the walls."
It was the opposite of what the crowd expected to hear.
The mercenaries, who had expected predictable heroics, began to look confused.
"The ones who gild their faces and paint their scars blue. The pigs of the imperial capital mock us and judge us from their cradles. They're probably placing bets on how many days it will take for this expedition to die. They don't even have the right to do that. A person's worth doesn't come from the circumstances of their birth."
Astin fell silent.
As a brief silence settled over the crowd, the unrest slowly subsided.
The weight of that silence pressed heavily upon the ranks.
"We stand here for our own reasons. To earn money, to seize honor, to wash away the past. In the end, we gathered to prove our worth."
Julian, fallen nobility.
Hendrickson, a Swordmaster.
Jenkinson, the Ember Knight.
Bagot, with his fighting spirit held in check.
The upright old knights stood at the front of the ranks.
Astin's gaze passed over them one by one.
"The nobles who slander us from places of comfort are no different from pigs. A gutter rat who hasn't abandoned their dreams has more worth. A forgotten retired soldier is far nobler than those bastards. Knights who lost their houses yet bore responsibility know the honor of nobility. Mercenaries whose every day is war have the right to speak of survival."
Their commander honored them not as mere mercenaries, but as warriors.
At some point, the entire expedition force held its breath.
"Yes. You are warriors truly worthy of respect."
They were so engrossed that even the wind could no longer be heard.
For a warrior, there was no greater honor than offering their life to a superior who recognized their worth.
Once again, they waited for Astin to speak.
"They will never understand. They don't respect us. They don't know that the arrogance born of comfort is the greatest sin. We took up our swords to make them realize that their sin is a sin."
The mercenaries' breathing grew rougher. Their grips tightened around spear shafts and sword hilts.
Their eyes became bloodshot.
"I know the thrill of watching mockery turn into cheers. So let them laugh all they want."
Shing!
The blade swept through the air, leaving a red-gold trail.
"I declare this here and now!"
The tip of his sword caught the sunlight and shone brightly.
"My sword will be the first to drink the blood of magical beasts, and my shield will be the first to break!"
The last traces of fear vanished from the mercenaries' faces. Instead, they swallowed their anger.
Astin von Cardenos.
That man, a great noble, was willing to stand at the front. So why had they only thought of running?
Why had they bowed to mockery and grown frightened before anything had even happened?
Telling those who looked down on them to go to hell.
Proving that the nobles who scorned them were wrong.
That was their way.
Hummm!
Astin scattered red-gold sunlight through the air. Three rings spun fiercely.
As though answering his call, rings began to circulate within the knights' Cores.
Red-gold sunlight wrapped around the currents of energy and flickered.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Ten thousand warriors stamped their feet as if they had agreed beforehand.
Boot soles struck the ground, and spear shafts hammered against it.
The unified dull roar became a marching song in itself.
There was no longer any fear in the mercenaries' eyes.
"Today, we are not marching out to die!"
Whoosh!
Astin brought down the sword he had raised toward the Ashen Forest.
"We take up our swords to conquer the land the Empire abandoned! To make them realize their sins!"
⸻Waaahhh!
The ten-thousand-strong army raised its weapons and erupted in cheers.
The clash of spears and shields rang out like thunder.
The tremors from their marching boots swallowed the land of Cardenos.
"March out."
The commander gave the order.
* * *
The head of House Cardenos's office.
Daily papers lay scattered across the desk.
[Cardenos's 'Ashen Forest Expedition,' a Reckless Folly of Youth?]
[The End of a Foolish March Is Nothing but Ruin...]
Mockery and skeptical predictions filled every line of print.
Valdemar looked down at those scraps of paper.
They had once praised it as a great cause for humanity...
Hummm!
That was when the office windows began to tremble faintly.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
A steady, immense vibration followed.
It was the sound of an expedition force large enough to be called an army stamping their feet as one.
Valdemar rose from his seat and walked onto the balcony connected to his office.
A sea of people filling the vast plain came into view at once.
Only a month ago, it had been a chaotic mess teeming with mercenaries and wandering swordsmen.
Now, all Valdemar could see was a single legion under control.
Astin's booming voice rode the wind all the way to the balcony.
"My sword will be the first to drink the blood of magical beasts, and my shield will be the first to break!"
A resolute declaration that he would be the first to spill blood and the first to break.
A strange light appeared in Valdemar's deep eyes.
The grand ducal House Cardenos had risen through generations of leading from the front and fighting.
They were different from the pigs of the imperial capital who only raised their voices from behind walls.
A Black Lion was either forged in deadly places or cast aside.
Valdemar had been forged, and he remained here as the head of the house.
He saw his younger self in Astin.
⸻Waaahhh!
The Banner of the Black Lion began to flutter amid thunderous cheers.
People, capital, and justification.
Strict discipline, systematic organization, and soaring morale.
His young son had accomplished all of it in a single month.
It was leadership that money and spirit alone could never achieve.
After watching the army, Valdemar turned and returned to his office.
Thud.
He tossed the bundles of paper spread across the table into the trash bin.
No one could judge Cardenos's legitimate son. Not even the Emperor of the Empire.
The doubts of days past, when he had tried to give up on Astin, had vanished without a trace.
"Go. Go and complete your proof."
He watched his eldest son's back recede beyond the window.
If Astin returned alive, the Empire would face the true heir of Cardenos.
"..."
Valdemar's gaze shifted elsewhere beyond the window.
Far away, at a corner of the wall apart from the departure procession, stood his eldest daughter, Selena, her silver hair fluttering in the wind.
Selena's gaze was fixed on one person alone: Astin's face.
The corner of Valdemar's lips lifted slightly.
Had Astin inspired her? Selena's eyes had changed completely.
Her usual cold scorn was nowhere to be found. Instead, her eyes gleamed like those of a beast of prey.
Selena was not dressed in the casual clothes she wore around the estate.
In the end, Cardenos blood was bound to draw itself together.
Valdemar turned his head and stared blankly in the direction of the Ashen Forest.
Cast aside in deadly places, or forged within them.
That was how the blood of the Black Lion proved its worth.
Author's Note
Readers, please be careful not to catch a cold. I woke up feeling like I might be coming down with something. Thankfully, I have quite a backlog, so it won't affect the release schedule. Take care of yourselves, everyone. Thank you for reading today as well. I love you all.
Footnotes:
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