Chapter 154 - Seventh and Eighth (2)

The light disappeared as suddenly as it had appeared.

STAGGER.

I quickly supported Adelia, who was staggering as if she would collapse at any moment.

She looked at me and parted her lips several times before closing them again. It seemed she had much she wanted to say, but couldn't find the words to express it.

I took hold of her small hand, which was tightly gripping her sword.

And I guided it.

Following my touch, she reflexively raised her sword.

Adelia looked at me. I nodded silently.

After a moment of hesitation, she adjusted her grip on the sword with both hands.

WOOOONG.

The sword cried.

At that moment, a blinding flash of light burst from her sword.

An aggregation of energy so dense it could not even be compared to Sword Aura.

It was the Aura Blade.

"Ah..."

Adelia let out an exclamation.

"You've worked hard. And."

Tears quickly welled up in her eyes as she looked back and forth between the Aura Blade and me.

"Congratulations on becoming a Sword Master."

The tears that had been welling up finally spilled over.

At the same time, the Aura Blade that had gathered fully on the blade dispersed.

THUD. Dropping her sword, she looked up at me.

"I-I... I..."

She could hardly continue her words.

She seemed overwhelmed with emotion.

I silently stroked her hair.

It was only after quite some time had passed that Adelia, who had been half-embraced in my arms and catching her breath with heaving shoulders, finally pulled away.

"Are you going to stay up all night here?"

Startled by that Eli bastard's crooked voice, she hurriedly stepped back.

With her head deeply bowed, Adelia was flushed bright red all the way to her ears.

It seemed she was embarrassed for having acted like a spoiled child.

"I-I'm sorry."

She belatedly apologized to me.

"Tsk."

Displeased by her shrinking demeanor, I clicked my tongue and glared at that Eli bastard.

"What's your problem now?"

Even if you can't congratulate her.

At my words, that Eli bastard poured out his complaints.

"It's because I'm sick with jealousy. We both went through the same deadly struggle, yet someone gets to be a Sword Master. And someone else doesn't. I'm acting like this because I'm so sick with jealousy I can't stand it."

I was left dumbfounded by his unexpected honesty.

I had seen the births of countless Sword Masters before, and I had seen countless figures struggling to hide their jealousy and sense of deprivation while offering words of congratulations.

But I can say with certainty, not one of them had spoken like that Eli bastard.

Sick with jealousy.

It was an excessively childish and low-class remark to be an impression of watching the birth of a Sword Master.

Which was why I liked it even more.

"Honestly, shouldn't I be the one after Dame Arwen?"

A childish complaint with no basis and no logic,

"Everyone is going to become a Sword Master except me."

I eventually burst into laughter.

* * *

Even after becoming a Sword Master, Adelia did not change much.

She always hesitated before fighting, and always teared up after fighting.

If there was anything different from before, it was only the fact that her hesitation did not stem from fear.

Her hesitation was mercy towards the enemy, and her tears were compassion for the dead.

I did not scold her for being weak.

Her mercy was no different from ruthlessness to the enemy, as the swiftest and most painless death was the mercy she bestowed upon them.

The form of completion reached by a Timid madwoman was just that paradoxical.

At the same time, it was incredibly harmonious.

The murderous intent and madness stemming from her traits, and her innate goodness and compassion.

A blood-crazed berserker in battle, a kind and gentle woman out of battle.

It was the appearance of the ideal knight commonly spoken of in the world.

Of course, the change was a bit too dramatic and extreme to simply be called ideal.

After all, a Sword Master was a term for those who had reached completion, not a term for flawless beings who had reached perfection.

I was quite satisfied with the completion Adelia had achieved.

"From today on, you will train separately."

Having roughly grasped the form of completion she had achieved, I excluded her from combat.

From now on, it was time for her to minimize the release of energy and make all the remaining potential of her awakening entirely her own.

"Thank you for your consideration, Your Highness."

Adelia readily followed my instructions.

Leaving her to have her own time like that, I led that Eli bastard and Gawain's trio and headed to the sea of trees.

I ran them ragged like crazy. I didn't discriminate between old trees or half-human, half-beasts.

I made them fight everything in sight, and on some days, they fought from right after sunrise until sunset.

The knights grew quickly.

However, this was nothing more than superficial.

They merely got used to dealing with the monsters in the sea of trees, and their sword tips simply became a little sharper.

Their growth was entirely related to skill and flesh.

They were exactly like Knights of the Ring.

They drew mana from their hearts, but that was it.

They did not know how to weave a new Poem of Martial Deeds.

Even the descendant of the Eli family, who had stubbornly clung to the Mana Heart until the moment his family fell, was ignorant of how to create a new poem, even if he remembered the old legacy.

"Just being sharp and fast isn't enough!"

"Put your will into your sword!"

"Reflect on what you've done and what you're trying to do!"

I shouted in frustration, but the knights could not understand my words at all.

"I'm asking what kind of vague nonsense that is!"

That Eli bastard protested to me as if he were stifled.

"Now, listen. I'll explain it simply."

After confirming that the knights were fully focused on my words, I very slowly explained the extremely basic and easy principle of weaving a Poem of Martial Deeds.

"Engrave what you have done in your heart, and swing your sword with your will. What you have already achieved is your karma, and what you wish to achieve in the future is your aspiration. Very easy, right?"

It is a concept that the knights of the old era understood even before they grabbed a sword.

"I roughly get what karma and aspiration are. But how are we supposed to use them to create a Poem of Martial Deeds?"

However, that Eli bastard and Gawain's trio still did not understand my words.

Even Gawain was no different.

I still vividly remembered the moment Gawain wove the first verse of an unknown poem during our past trip to the Empire.

Yet the owner of the poem himself was completely unaware that the poem had already begun its first verse.

A sigh naturally escaped me in dejection.

["I truly cannot fathom how they cannot understand such a basic principle."]

I wholeheartedly agreed with Agnes's words.

["Will is the aspiration, and the process and completion of reaching that aspiration is the karma. Try explaining it like this."]

Her coaching wasn't of much help.

"What kind of utter nonsense is that?"

["He doesn't even consider that he can't understand because he's a ■■! What a truly ■■ bastard! If it were in my past, I would have personally taught that ■■■ a lesson!"]

I barely managed to calm her down as she yelled loudly enough to make my head explode.

"400 years. It really has been a long time."

I let out another sigh and observed the knights.

They were by no means stupid. Rather, they were on the brilliant side.

Eli, a descendant of a prestigious family, was a gifted prodigy without saying, and Gawain's trio, carefully selected and chosen by the royal family, were also flawless talents.

It was just that the principles that were as natural as breathing to me and the knights of the old era were not natural to them.

Whether they built up mana in a ring or accumulated mana in a heart, they were no longer the knights I used to know.

I had to admit it now.

Denying the changes, crying out for the old ways, and stubbornly clinging only to the old concepts was not a very wise course of action.

Shedding blood because of such arrogance and ignorance was enough to happen just once.

"Let's go back for now."

I led the knights, who were exhausted from being plagued by monsters and my nagging all day, back to the military camp.

I stayed cooped up in my tent without stepping outside, entirely engrossed in my thoughts.

I pondered and pondered on how to make them understand karma and aspiration and engrave them into their hearts.

My head ached.

But I absolutely had to find a way.

Because if they became Sword Masters but couldn't weave a Poem of Martial Deeds, it would be meaningless.

I tried every possible method. I even went so far as to seek out and ask the Azure Sky Knights that Doris had left behind for our party's return.

However, the Azure Sky Knights were not much different from my knights.

He, too, had merely inherited a part of the old legacy, and simply using the inherited legacy was the best he could do.

Doris or the King, who inherited the blood of the Marquis of the Azure Sky, might know the answer.

But they were not here, and even if they knew the answer, there was no guarantee they would necessarily tell me.

In the end, I was back to square one.

I racked my brain once again.

In the meantime, that Eli bastard and Gawain's trio continued their training on their own, lingering around the edges of the sea of trees.

Like that, four days passed without any particular gains.

That Eli bastard still couldn't overcome the wall, and he hadn't realized how to weave a new Poem of Martial Deeds.

Gawain's trio was not even worth mentioning.

If I had to force myself to point out a gain, it was merely the fact that my heart, which had become mushy, had hardened significantly.

To the point where I could fill the empty vessel as long as I was careful.

I gathered mana without delay.

It took less than half a day for me to gather enough mana to fill my heart.

It was now time to make a decision.

If possible, I hoped to turn that Eli bastard into a Sword Master here and establish the concept of the Poem of Martial Deeds for him, so he could use the Full Moon Clan as the lyrics of his song.

But I couldn't just keep waiting indefinitely.

Eventually, I decided to return to the kingdom as things stood.

I did, I certainly did.

That night, when I was about to inform everyone of my decision to return, Gawain found my tent in a state of extreme excitement.

"I get it! I finally understand now!"

Gawain was so excited that he even forgot our awkward relationship.

"Now, look."

Gawain drew his sword.

Then he shouted resolutely, as if reciting a line from a play.

"I was broken. I lost my light. Thus, I shall become a sword in the dark and follow."

An arrangement of words as crude and unseemly as the 「Song of the Sword」 sung by the mercenaries of the Silver Fox Mercenaries.

But what lay within it was an endlessly heavy will.

SWISH.

A wave spread out. At the same time, Gawain's sword was dyed pitch black.

Rather than ominous, it was just black and dark.

Like a shadow.

Gawain swung down the black-dyed sword.

There was no flash of the blade, nor was there any Sword Resonance. And there was no presence either.

Gawain's sword strike silently sliced through the empty air and vanished.

Even though the rhythm was crude and the arranged words were gloomy.

It was definitely a Poem of Martial Deeds.

"Did you see? Did you see?"

Gawain laughed heartily. I also gave him a thumbs up and laughed along with him.

Then, it suddenly became awkward, and we stopped laughing at the same time.

"Ahem."

Gawain belatedly calmed his excitement and let out a fake cough.

I asked him the name of the poem.

He hesitated for a moment before telling me.

"I named it the Poem of Shadows."

* * *

Starting with Gawain, his comrades also created Poems of Martial Deeds one after another.

[Poem of Shadows], [Poem of the New Moon], [Poem of Night]

They were all poems with grades that hadn't even reached the Extraordinary Grade, and every single one of them was composed of dark and gloomy words.

This was because their past was riddled with despair and frustration, and also because, even while they yearned for the sunlight, they were not yet ready to step out into the world on their own.

Setting aside my relationship with them, for that moment at least, I selflessly congratulated and encouraged them.

"So how exactly did you make it?"

After the three men demonstrated their respective Poems of Martial Deeds, that Eli bastard hesitated for a long time before asking.

They simply said that they suddenly realized it while reflecting on their pasts.

"What is that? So in the end, you guys don't know how you made it either."

"No. We know. But there's just no way to explain it."

That Eli bastard severely frowned. I, too, was a bit disappointed, having expected something.

Because I had been wondering if, through them, the knights of this era had defined the principles of karma and aspiration.

* * *

That evening, Eli went into the sea of trees and did not return.

It was obvious where the bastard had gone.

Adelia had become a Sword Master, and Gawain's trio had each succeeded in weaving a Poem of Martial Deeds.

He must have been unable to stand the feeling that he was the only one stagnating.

Still, just in case, I set out with Gunne to find him.

Finding the bastard was not difficult.

That Eli bastard was alone at the edge of the forest, engaged in a desperate struggle against the monsters.

His entire body was a battered mess.

Fortunately, no wounds from a beastman were visible.

I hid my body in the darkness of the forest and watched that Eli bastard's battle.

"A sword like a gale! I am the wind!"

"A fallen castle, stolen glory, I shall reclaim everything I had lost!"

"I will sever the wolf's head and offer it to the full moon!"

That Eli bastard kept running his mouth without rest like a crazy person.

"Damn it! Why isn't it working?!"

He must have been screaming since long before I arrived, as that Eli bastard's voice was terribly hoarse.

"Why am I the only one who can't do it?! What the hell is so great about this anyway?!"

Unable to bear watching his desperate flailing any longer, I was about to leave when I felt a familiar presence from the other side.

It was Gawain and his comrades.

Unaware that I was watching, they were hiding in the bushes, poking only their heads out as they watched that Eli bastard.

Regardless of everything, it seemed they had come out all the way to the sea of trees in the middle of the night because they were comrades.

I quietly stepped back.

* * *

That Eli bastard didn't return the next day, nor did he return the day after that.

Through Gunne, I occasionally confirmed that he was safe.

And on the fourth day, that Eli bastard returned.

"Wake up! Everyone come out!"

Appearing in the middle of the night to wake Gawain's trio and barging into my tent, the bastard's appearance was so terrible that I couldn't bear to look at it with my eyes open.

His body was scratched, torn all over, and turned into a battered mess, while his eyes were bloodshot red.

But despite that, the bastard was smiling.

SHING.

The bastard drew his sword.

At that moment, a brilliant flash of light burst from his sword.

RUMBLE.

A beat later, a sound like thunder echoed through the tent.

It was definitely an Aura Blade.

It was the moment the eighth Silver Lion was born in the kingdom.

"This isn't all."

Before I could even offer my congratulations, that Eli bastard babbled arrogantly.

And then he muttered in a voice that was hoarse to the very limit.