The 9Th Class Swordmaster: Blade Of Truth [EN]: Chapter 317

211. Northern Resolve

[It was a good thing you held back your sword.]

Caryl, watching the demi-humans busily reorganizing their lines even in the middle of the night after their failed assault, smiled faintly at Aln’s words.

“It wasn’t just me who held back, was it?”

[Hmph…]

“How did it feel to see the Platinum Dragon you’ve longed for after a thousand years?”

[Feelings? There’s no way I’d have any of those. I’m just curious about what that bastard is up to. It might sound ridiculous, but being with you, I’m more curious about what he was trying to do than angry about revenge, and whether our deaths were included in his plans.]

Aln said quietly.

[The era I lived in, a thousand years ago, the Magic Era. That bastard taught us, the Council of Seven Elders, and killed us too.]

Caryl listened to him quietly before saying one thing.

“You’re the one who died. And you were killed by a colleague rather than by the Platinum Dragon, right?”

[……]

At his displeased expression, Caryl chuckled as if amused.

“Of course, it was a fight that broke out because of Nar D. Maugh’s instigation.”

[Hmph, anyway, we now know that what that bastard was trying to hide was the box where the fifteenth Master Key, Mael, is sealed. And after seeing Altemann, I think I know a little bit about what he was thinking. What he was trying to do.]

“What is it?”

[The conclusion I came to after much thought is that he was experimenting on us.]

“Experimenting?”

[Wasn’t he trying to confirm something by compensating for the weaknesses of each race?]

“Hmm…”

[He taught swordsmanship to Altemann, an elf, as well as to us. He taught magic to humans with excellent physiques and swordsmanship to elves with excellent magical power. If you consider efficiency, it should have been the opposite.]

A faint anger could be felt from Aln.

[Thanks to that, various things beneficial to humans were born, from archmage magic to magic swordsmanship… But did he really expect such things and teach swordsmanship and magic to elves and humans purely? I don’t think so.]

“Are you saying you think you know what Nar D. Maugh is trying to confirm?”

[The potential of races.]

“What do you mean?”

[Well… it’s just my guess, so it’s hard to be sure yet, but I have a feeling. I wonder if he experimented with magic and swords on other races, like a dragon.]

[The union of magic and sword… If we exclude the spirits, it’s like the great magic Judex used. It’s only natural that we can’t use the power of spirits as the spirit realm is disappearing.]

At that moment, Laminu, who had been listening to their conversation, said quietly.

[That’s it.]

Aln nodded at his words.

[The Blader of the Mythic Era is just a hidden story of history that only those who know ancient texts like us remember. But the great magic he used… The meaning is different, but the name still exists, doesn’t it? Caryl, you remember, right? That there are still those who pursue great magic.]

“Could it be.”

[Of course, the great magic they seek will be different from what the Spirit Kings remember. Because they saw the real great magic.]

“…The Golden Magic Society.”

Caryl bit his lip slightly.

[That’s right. They said that the nobles of the kingdom are chasing Folsettia, called the Great Grimoire [a powerful and ancient spellbook]. I also know Folsettia. But even in the Magic Era a thousand years ago, it only existed as a rumor, so I didn’t take it seriously.]

“Does it really exist? I’ve never seen it either.”

[But isn’t the existence of the Sword Demon the same? It didn’t exist in your previous life, and the Magic Era was also considered non-existent, only as a rumor… But now you have it.]

Caryl clenched his fist at his words.

Whoo-oong…

The faint, spreading silver-gray radiance shone and disappeared in the darkness.

“It’s not perfect.”

[Yes. It’s not perfect.]

Aln said.

[That’s the center of the question I’ve had so far. If… the great magic used by Judex, the Blader of the Mythic Era, was divided into sword and magic in the process of being passed down through the ages?]

“Are you saying that Folsettia is part of the great magic?”

[That’s right. And if the Platinum Dragon experimented on Altemann and us to revive it…]

Aln’s voice rose slightly.

He seemed to be enjoying approaching a new truth.

[You have not only the dragon magic you originally had, but also learned the Arcane Power, the fusion of light and darkness, from me, and this time you received his swordsmanship from the Thousand-Year Ice Cave… You are the closest being to the great magic in human history.]

“If you’re right, Arcane Power could be a clue to finding Folsettia.”

[Of course, I don’t know where it is.]

“I’ll have to meet the Golden Magic Society.”

Caryl answered, unknowingly letting out a low exclamation, and Aln smiled as he looked at him.

[Why is Nar D. Maugh trying to revive the power of the Blader?]

“I don’t know. What you’re saying is plausible enough, but there’s one thing you’re missing.”

[What is it?]

This time, Aln asked him.

“Nar D. Maugh isn’t just involved in the power of the Blader. He’s also deeply involved with the Order.”

[That’s right… So it’s even more incomprehensible. That’s what I’m wondering about. I’m the only one who’s glimpsed the future of your previous life that you know. Of course, not all of it, but I understand your feelings a little about the terrible war that will happen in the future.]

Caryl nodded.

[That’s why I’m also curious about the meaning of the Platinum Dragon’s actions so far.]

He said quietly.

[At least… what’s certain is that I don’t know what his plan is, but he’s been preparing for it for a long time.]

“Hmm…”

[You remember what I said when I first met you, right?]

“Not to trust him?”

[Yes. You should always be suspicious in a situation where it’s not clear whether he’s an enemy or an ally. If he had set up this plan out of pure goodwill, he wouldn’t have tried to imprison me through another committee. He didn’t want me to approach the box hidden in Gray Academy. I was the only one of the Council of Seven Elders who had that possibility.]

“Are you saying that Nar D. Maugh prevented you from getting the Master Key…? Why would he do that?”

[I don’t know. Although I wasn’t perfect, I was the only human who had reached a color close to colorless like dragon magic… Maybe it’s just a dragon’s whim.]

Caryl tilted his head and looked at him.

Looking at what the Platinum Dragon had done so far, it was impossible to imagine that he had done this for such a simple game or pastime.

“I don’t know. Maybe he didn’t want you to get the Master Key in an imperfect state. You and I have only grasped some of the possibilities he’s thinking of, but we’re not perfect like Caryl.”

It was then.

A voice was heard from inside the watchtower.

Caryl and Aln didn’t seem surprised, as if they already knew his identity.

“I didn’t mean to eavesdrop. I just… was looking for you to talk to you and happened to hear you.”

“It doesn’t matter. Altemann.”

Caryl looked at the elf who had come to find him.

The First Fisherman.

The reason Caryl knew his veiled alias was because the name had suddenly spread across the continent in his previous life.

It was none other than because he had made great contributions to preventing the corruptions called the Ten Disasters, which had taken the lives of countless people.

“……”

That the Northern Master was the First Fisherman was because he had heard about him in his previous life, but he didn’t know that he was an elf who lived in the Magic Era and inherited the swordsmanship of the Sword Demon.

The first corruption, Blood, appeared, and countless soldiers lost their lives.

It was simple, but the process of approaching the heart was not easy, and in the process of hunting Blood, its heart eventually exploded, instantly killing tens of thousands of soldiers on the spot.

Lives erased to the point where even corpses could not be found.

After that, the soldiers of the Imperial Army lost their will to fight against the corruptions.

The second disaster appeared in such a situation.

Monsters with faces resembling frogs on human bodies poured out all over the continent in thousands and tens of thousands at once, and even the Ten of the Oracle, including the Empire, were struggling to stop the appearance of the corruption, Hekhet, who commanded them.

The person who appeared then was Altemann.

He called himself a fisherman and introduced himself as someone who finds hidden secrets around the world and brings them to the surface, but humanity regarded him as just a strange person, but he found a way to stop even the last tenth disaster and finally led humans to victory, he announced that he was the Northern Master.

‘It was meaningless because most of the demi-humans had already died by then…’

Caryl looked at Altemann.

‘Thinking about it now, it’s not strange that he knows how to hunt the corruptions since he was related to the Platinum Dragon.’

The Platinum Dragon was the only being who had experienced the battle with those monsters in the Divine Spirit War in his previous life.

‘After that, you disappeared and I haven’t seen you since… Could it be that the Platinum Dragon was involved after that, just like Aln?’

Caryl thought that he needed to engrave each and every one of them deeper in his mind from now on, as he had done until now.

Too many things were tangled like a skein of thread, and conversely, one piece of information that he missed now that everyone was connected to those events could lead to enormous consequences.

[Are you saying that the Platinum Dragon rejected us and allowed Caryl to have the Master Key?]

“That’s a possibility. Everyone already knows that Gray Academy, where the Council of Seven Elders is buried, has been captured. The leader of the magic city, Azor, announced it to the continent a long time ago.”

[Hmph… Like the descendants of the foolish Celine Han.]

Aln clicked his tongue, thinking of the lord, Pasio.

“Nar D. Maugh can’t not know that fact. He also knows that the box containing the Master Key has disappeared… Nevertheless, the fact that he hasn’t taken any action may be because Caryl is a person who meets the conditions in his plan.”

[When you say it like that, I feel like we’ve been played in that bastard’s palm. We moved according to our own thoughts. And we should continue to do so.]

“Aln is right. No matter how much he knows, the one who wins in the end is the winner.”

Altemann smiled faintly at Caryl’s words.

“Well, good. I showed you the Thousand-Year Ice Cave because I saw that side of you. In that sense…”

Altemann handed him a pendant.

“It’s the will of the Lycanthrope that Hwa-Rin had. She told me to give it to you. Don’t you need the power of the Wind Spirit King inside?”

Caryl looked at the pendant.

Whoo-oong…

Then the pendant vibrated lightly as if reacting, and a green vortex appeared and disappeared.

“She made a big decision. Giving this to me means giving up her power.”

“No matter what anyone says, you are the leader of the demi-humans. The weight that a great warrior has for them is enormous.”

Caryl chuckled at his words.

“I need his power to open the door to the spirit realm, but not now. If I take the power of the raging wind, the seal of the Master Key inside will be released. She’s already struggling to use the power of the Lycanthrope, so Hwa-Rin won’t be able to handle it anymore.”

Caryl gave the pendant back to Altemann.

“She’s an important force in the Imperial War. And in the battles after that.”

“Ahem.”

“Tell her. I’ll give her a chance. I’ll leave it to her for a while, so tell her to get used to the Master Key with the determination to die. I don’t need a guy who loses his mind and becomes a monster who can’t even distinguish between friend and foe.”

“I’ll tell her that.”

Altemann smiled bitterly at his words and put the pendant back in his arms.

“Aidan.”

“Yes, my lord.”

When Caryl called him in a low voice, he appeared from the darkness.

“You go back first and prepare the assassins from the Eastern Kingdom. There’s no better force to secretly raid the Platinum Dragon’s lair.”

“I have already contacted them through Israfil’s superior eyes. The Snakels of the Eastern Kingdom are preparing.”

They were Simon Coden’s direct unit in the past, and they were a group composed of only the most skilled among the Amyeon [elite assassins].

“Good.”

Caryl nodded as if satisfied.

“I’m going to miss it. This scenery.”

He said in a somehow affectionate voice.

[You can come back. Every journey has an end. But the journey you and I know has only just begun.]

Aln said, looking at Caryl.

“Yes.”

Caryl took out Agnel from his arms.

“That’s why I’ll have to use what I borrowed a little more, but when everything is over…”

He said as if making a promise, looking at the northern sun that was slowly beginning to rise.

“I will return this sword to Kaliak’s tomb.”