WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: Haruto
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
◈ The Pushover Young Lord in a Romance Fantasy Won't Take It Anymore ◈
Chapter 6: I Searched Everywhere for This Gift Since Last Year!
──────
What I had to face right now was not someone like Azelin.
Even if the sky split in two, my growth came first.
Whether I succeeded or failed, I had to become stronger before anything else.
Only after securing my own strength could I gather people under me and help them grow stronger.
“First, I need to form a Sun Ring.”
Click.
The moment I returned to my room, I locked the door.
Someone barging in midway could break my concentration.
I pulled a Flame Thistle root from inside my robes. It was a wild herb imbued with the power of a fire spirit.
I had ordered a servant to obtain it beforehand.
It was nothing like a refined pill or precious elixir.
It had not even been processed. It was merely a rough, tough wild herb.
That did not matter.
Forming a Sun Ring had nothing to do with the medicinal properties of the herb.
It required the practitioner’s unbreakable stubbornness and the determination to kindle a flame.
‘And the mental strength not to waver before an inner demon.’
Solar tempered the body and mind through trials.
If one could not endure it, they would be burned alive by the heat rising inside their body. If they kindled a flame beyond what they could handle, they would be consumed by hellfire and burned to death.
Pain was not the only trial.
It inflicted hallucinations, auditory hallucinations, and even inner demons that altered memories.
Only by overcoming all of it could one form a single Sun Ring.
“Whew.”
They said starting was half the battle.
Forming a ring from a pile of firewood without even a spark would have been impossible even with two lives.
And Luna was currently settled within my Core.
The sun and moon could not coexist. They repelled each other.
That meant I had to endure their conflicting resistance as well.
“All the better.”
They said pain that could not kill you made you stronger.
And if it killed me? Well, that would be a shame in its own way.
I immediately sat cross-legged and closed my eyes.
Whew...
I steadied my breathing. Rather than listening to the sounds outside, I listened to my heartbeat.
Crunch!
Keeping myself calm, I put the herb root in my mouth, chewed it, and swallowed. Bitter juice slid down my throat.
A few minutes passed.
Whoosh!
“Ghk!”
Explosive heat began to rage without warning. It felt as if boiling lava, rather than blood, was flowing through my veins.
The moisture in my body evaporated, and my organs seemed to shrivel as they burned.
My skin reddened, and every breath released a scorching, acrid gust.
The meridians carrying my qi and blood began to convulse with it.
‘It starts now.’
Forming a ring was no different from throwing myself into the center of a furnace.
The flames heating my dantian suddenly scattered through the meridians spread throughout my body.
I could not miss even a single spark. Nor could I let one go to waste.
Handling heat concentrated in one place was easy.
Directing heat that had spread through every corner of my body was an entirely different matter.
If a spark slipped out of my meridians, my organs would melt.
I had to control the flames, make them circulate only through my meridians, and eventually force them into my Core.
‘Focus. Miss even one, and I’ll die a pointless death.’
Thump. Thump.
My heart pounded violently.
Hundreds, thousands of scattered sparks ran wild, trying to break free of my meridians.
My skin felt as though it would burst, and I imagined my bones melting away.
‘Good. It’s going well.’
It was an encouraging sign that the impurities within my body were burning away. It was an exhilaration I had not felt in a long time.
Even as pain twisted my insides, I calmly operated Solar. I forcibly twisted the stray flames and shoved them back onto their proper path.
Crackle!
The fiery energy circulating through my meridians surged toward my Heart Furnace with fierce force.
My Heart Furnace had been built through countless elixirs since childhood. Luna’s energy pushed back against the heat. The more it did, the more I steadied my breathing and drove the flames onward.
Whoosh!
Flames erupted from my Core in an instant.
They swallowed Luna and turned it to ash.
I swallowed the foolish worry that my heart might melt away like this.
Fwooo...
The heat in my meridians and Core began to cool.
When I opened my mouth, savory smoke rose between my teeth.
Every sensation in my body sharpened, and explosive vitality surged through me. My body, which had been boiling moments ago, rapidly cooled.
Carefully, I placed a hand over my chest.
The flames had settled at the base of my heart, spinning like a ring.
It was not over yet.
An unbearable wave of drowsiness suddenly washed over me.
Was it the backlash from forcibly burning away the impurities in my body? My eyelids became as heavy as lead, and my vision went dark.
Blink.
When I opened my eyes again, I was looking at the ceiling of my room.
A soft blanket covered my upper body.
“O-Older Brother? You’re awake?”
I turned my head and saw Celine, a girl with platinum-blond hair braided into twin pigtails.
Celine approached the bedside hesitantly, like a frightened little animal.
The way she fidgeted with both hands made her nerves obvious.
“I suddenly heard a loud thump from inside your room... I forced the door open, and you were collapsed on the floor. You have no idea how scared I was.”
Her tearful voice, concerned eyes, and even the warmth carefully reaching toward me.
Everything felt like reality crafted to perfection.
Silently, I raised my upper body.
“Celine.”
“Yes, Older Brother. Is something hurting...?”
She had not even finished speaking.
“Ghk!”
I wrapped both hands around Celine’s neck. I shoved her onto the bed and pinned her down with my weight.
Celine’s eyes widened in horror. Her slender limbs flailed desperately.
“Cough! Ngh... Older Brother... why... why...?”
Her delicate hands clutched my sleeves, trembling violently. The blood vessels in her eyes burst, and thick saliva dripped from the corner of her mouth.
Even as I watched, I did not allow myself even a shred of hesitation.
Celine was the most vulnerable person, the one I most wanted to protect. The inner demon exploited those feelings.
⸻tin.
⸻stin.
I had no mercy for a fake that wormed its way through the cracks in my heart.
I tightened my grip around its neck.
“Cough! O-Older Brother... save me...”
Tap! Tap! Tap!
The thing imitating Celine frantically struck my hand.
Even the urge to distinguish whether this was an inner demon or reality would trap me in the illusion.
Only certainty mattered.
I pressed down as if I meant to snap its neck.
⸻Astin.
“...?”
My eyes flashed open.
After staring blankly for a moment, I slowly looked around.
Thump!
A sudden touch on my shoulder made me flinch.
I turned my head on reflex and found a sulky face.
“Astin? Are you listening to me?”
“...What?”
“Honestly. You’re spacing out while I’m telling you something important.”
Countless faded things came into view.
Ruined buildings were scattered everywhere. Ash, bloodstains, and corpses too mangled to recognize.
“Ah, right.”
We were in the final battle against the black things. I had just cut off the Black Snake’s head. We were about to die.
I was sitting beside Lucia, talking to her.
“Why are you sweating so much? What, are you scared after seeing those things? Did you see your life flash before your eyes because you think this is the end?”
“I suppose so.”
I let out a deep sigh and leaned back. Tilting my head, I stared up at the empty sky.
“...So this is really the end.”
My body was covered in wounds, and my internal circuits had been pushed to their limit from overload.
The black things kept pouring in without end, while we could barely remain standing.
Acrid smoke drifted past my eyes.
Lucia had taken the cigarette from her lips and was looking at me.
“Astin, have you ever heard of Deus Harven’s legacy?”
I raised an eyebrow at the abrupt question.
Deus. Deus Harven...
The name sounded oddly familiar. The legendary seventh-rank archmage had been named that.
“Why bring that up when we’re practically dead?”
“The research Harven clung to until his death. You know he tried to complete time magic, right? And that it remained unfinished, leaving behind only the theory.”
“I know the basics. So why do you keep bringing it up?”
“I think I completed it.”
“What?”
I shot upright the moment I heard that.
“Maybe I can turn time back to the past.”
I could only stare at her in a daze.
Knowing Lucia as I did, that was probably true.
She was the protagonist who had received every stroke of fortune and blessing in the world.
With Lucia’s overwhelming talent, perhaps she had completed a miracle that even a great archmage had failed to achieve.
“This is it.”
Lucia pulled something palm-sized from inside her clothes. It was an old silver pocket watch.
I could feel enormous magical power condensed inside it.
“Ha, haha.”
A laugh escaped me.
It felt as though a tiny flame, once buried beneath mud, had flared up again.
“But...”
Squeeze.
Lucia gripped the pocket watch. Blood seeped out.
“Even if I turn time back, I don’t know if I can do well. No, honestly, I’m not confident I can save the world.”
“What kind of weak talk is that?”
“I’ll waver all over again. Even if I keep going straight ahead, I don’t think I can save the world. What can I do with this mindset? I guess I can’t become someone strong like you.”
Lucia shook her head bitterly.
“I’ll die here. With you.”
She was as tired as I was.
“I don’t want to hand this burden over to you, either. If you go back, you’ll resent me. You’ll end up with the same result as now. I don’t want you to go through this living hell twice. I don’t even know if you can do it.”
I could not find the words.
Even after thinking about it briefly, she was right.
For years, we had learned firsthand what the black things were.
Even if we went back to the past, I was not confident we could save the world from them. At best, there might have been a ten percent chance.
Resigned, I put down my sword.
With destruction already certain, there was no reason to turn things back.
Lucia moved closer and pressed her shoulder against mine.
At least I had her. That was a relief.
Even at the moment of death, I could feel another person’s warmth.
And she was easy enough on the eyes, so it was not a bad luxury.
Rumble!
The ground shook. Beyond the blood-red horizon, the black things were rushing toward us.
“Astin.”
Lucia called to me quietly.
When I turned, Lucia’s face was right in front of mine.
She slowly moved closer.
Her eyelashes were nearly touching mine. Her breath, mixed with the smell of blood, brushed my cheek.
As though bewitched, I closed my eyes and offered my lips.
“...No.”
I abruptly pulled my head back. At the same time, I snatched the pocket watch from Lucia’s hand.
It felt heavy and cold in my grip.
Lucia’s eyes, holding my reflection, widened.
“I’m going back.”
“Why?”
“Why ask? You already know, don’t you?”
We looked at each other in silence.
The black things rushing in like a tide suddenly stopped.
The drifting ashes froze in midair instead of falling.
Even the smoke rising from the cigarette tip no longer moved.
The whole world, except the two of us, had stopped.
Lucia’s lips, still like everything else, twitched.
A warm smile spread across her face.
“That was the right answer, Astin.”
“...!”
I opened my eyes with a sharp breath.
The familiar sight of my room filled my vision.
My entire body was drenched in sweat, and my throat was dry with thirst.
As I sat there blankly, my brows suddenly furrowed.
The memories from before flooded into my mind like a panorama.
“...Ha.”
A hollow laugh escaped me.
Right. So that was what happened.
I moved the hand bracing against the floor to the base of my heart.
Only then did I breathe a sigh of relief.
I had succeeded. I had formed one Sun Ring.
The ring that had been spinning so fiercely until moments ago had calmed down somewhat.
Knock knock.
That was when I heard a knock.
I flinched for no reason and glared at the door.
I was worried the inner demon’s aftereffects might still remain.
“Older Brother. Are you in there?”
“Celine?”
“Eep. You are in there. It’s me.”
Come to think of it, inner demons barely had any aftereffects.
I struggled to my feet and opened the door.
My legs trembled after taking only a few steps.
So it was my body and mind that were suffering the aftereffects.
Creak.
Celine appeared through the open doorway.
She gave a small shiver, then looked up at me hesitantly.
“Um, I came because I have something to give you, Older Brother.”
“To me?”
“Yes. I’ve wanted to give it to you for a while, but I kept losing my nerve... But your birthday will be over in three hours, so I thought I should give you your present now, at least...”
Bang!
I felt much more at ease after closing the door.
“O-Older Brother!?”
“The inner demon hasn’t cleared up yet.”
It had happened with Celine, and it had happened with Lucia.
When I formed the ring, part of me had wanted Celine to nurse me.
Sometimes, I wanted to throw off this heavy burden and rest.
Of course I wanted Celine to give me a birthday present like this.
“It’s a gift I searched high and low for since last year!”
I locked the door and clamped my hands over my ears.
I should not leave this room for the rest of today.
Author’s Note
Another chapter will be posted at 8:30 p.m.
Footnotes:
Join our discord at https://dsc.gg/wetried