The 9Th Class Swordmaster: Blade Of Truth [EN]: Chapter 117

98. Preparing for the Imperial War Before the Factional Strife

“Umm……”

It was afternoon, with sunlight faintly streaming through the window.

Unlike the heat of the South, a cool breeze blew, and only the pleasant sound of leaves rustling in the wind could be heard from time to time.

Sigh- Sigh-

And inside the window, a person was asleep, their chest rising and falling at a steady pace as if breathing evenly.

“……!!!”

But that was only for a moment.

He, who had been lying on the bed, threw off the blanket and abruptly sat up.

The tranquility in the peaceful room ended there.

“Cough……!! Cough!!”

With a painful cough, a handful of blood burst from his mouth.

The throbbing head felt heavy, and he had no strength in his entire body.

Nevertheless, Randol tried to squeeze out what strength he had to get out of bed.

“You should stop. All your muscles are destroyed. It seems you used a power you couldn’t handle.”

Randol was startled and turned his head.

Then, extreme pain surged through his entire body, and he fell off the bed and onto the floor.

“Haa……. It was better when I was unconscious.”

The person sitting in the chair watched Randol struggling and let out a low sigh.

Then, he supported the fallen man.

As soon as his hand touched him, a strangely warm breeze wrapped around Randol’s body, and he floated lightly as if the wind was lifting him up.

“What…… happened to me?”

Randol could see that the fingers holding his shoulder were slender and very pale.

It was a woman’s hand.

“Oh my, are you asking me that now? You don’t seem to remember?”

The voice was thin.

He didn’t notice it at first because of the pain, but her voice was unusual, sounding strangely dual, as if it had a unique rhythm.

‘……Elf?’

Randol doubted his eyes.

Because everyone knew that elves were extinct. He stared at the woman in front of him with an unbelievable look.

“Everyone else is dead. You’re the only one who survived.”

Randol realized that he had been mistaken a moment ago when her words awakened him to reality.

“…….”

Randol rubbed his eyes a few times.

Then, her long ears were just like those of ordinary people, and her pure white eyes, which didn’t seem human, turned into beautiful blue eyes.

She was not an elf, but just a woman as beautiful as an elf.

‘I’m crazy……. Am I seeing things now?’

Randol let out a low sigh at the thought.

She turned her head and said.

“Is that the sword you used to use?”

She pointed to the Flamberge [a type of large, wavy-bladed sword] leaning against the wall.

Seeing the released flame sleeping in the scabbard, Randol remembered that day.

Argh—!!

Argh—!!

The screams filled his ears.

The sight of those he had respected being mercilessly cut down by the enemy surfaced as if scenes were floating above the water.

‘That bastard…….’

Randol unconsciously gritted his teeth. Despite being about the same age as him, he didn’t hesitate to cut people down.

Moreover…… an overwhelming swordsmanship that he could not reach.

As he thought of him, Randol unconsciously trembled with goosebumps all over his body.

“How long…… have I been unconscious?”

“Well? It’s been more than a month or two.”

“What?!”

Randol was surprised and shouted at the unexpectedly long time that had passed.

“That’s a good thing. If you had moved without lying down like that, you wouldn’t have recovered. You would have crossed the river with your comrades.”

Randol swallowed hard, knowing that the river she was talking about was not just an ordinary river, but a euphemism for death.

“Shall we hear it? I can tell from your body that you are skilled enough to be a knight. But your swordsmanship is extraordinary beyond comparison to your skill.”

She spread two fingers and showed them to Randol.

“The enemy who made you like this is at least two levels above you. And he would have become stronger during the time you were helplessly lying down.”

“…….”

“Tell me. What happened that day?”

“…….”

Randol slowly opened his mouth.

He told her about what happened at Naraka Rock, the purple lightning he saw for the first time, the enemy’s speed and strength that he couldn’t keep up with, and……. even the despair he felt at the overwhelming difference.

He didn’t know why he was telling these things to a woman he had never met before.

“So it happened while trying to mine Azureglow. It’s your own fault. In the first place, Azureglow is a mineral only allowed to those chosen by the dragon in the Magic Era. Even a Blader cannot touch it unless it is Aln Zavius, one of the Seven Elders.”

Unexpectedly, she reacted coldly.

“Human greed is endless.”

She said with a low sigh.

“Blader? What is that?”

Randol tilted his head and asked her, hearing the word for the first time.

“You don’t need to know. They are people who existed but didn’t exist, and are not recorded in history.”

She said as if it were not a big deal.

“But how am I here? Did you……. save me?”

Randol realized that he didn’t even know her name.

“No. Someone came to me carrying you injured, asking me to heal you. They gave me expensive magical materials without hesitation.”

She pointed to the table.

There was a pouch on it, and inside was a half-broken red attribute stone.

“Do you know what that is? It’s a top-grade Scarlet Stone. I don’t know where they got it, but even the Emperor can’t easily get one.”

Although it was broken, he could tell that the Scarlet Stone had eight facets. Randol was surprised and examined his body.

“Without that, you would have been a cripple who couldn’t even walk.”

“How…….”

How could such a noble person not only save him but also give him an eight-faceted stone that he couldn’t buy even with a billion gold?

Randol searched his memory, but he couldn’t remember anything.

Because his last memory was being struck down by the purple sword energy, though it was shameful.

“There are many things in the world that you can’t know. Just know that you were very lucky.”

“…….”

“The really important thing is this.”

She picked up two swords placed on the table. Both were thin fencing swords, somewhere between a long sword and a rapier.

“Don’t you want revenge?”

“……Yes?”

“I’m asking if you don’t want to get stronger and take revenge on the guy who made you and your comrades like this.”

Randol’s eyes wavered at her words.

“Can I get stronger……?”

Randol himself couldn’t understand why he was saying these things to someone he had met for the first time.

Was it because he had seen such a strong opponent?

Or…….

Was it because he instinctively knew that she in front of him was a strong person?

Randol could tell.

From the moment she held the two swords, a stinging killing intent was flowing from her.

A feeling he had never felt even from Naril, the vice-commander of the Lyeo Knights.

This is an opportunity.

Randol felt that he had to seize this destiny.

“You can get stronger.”

He got goosebumps the moment she opened her mouth.

If the enemy who made him like this had an infinitely tyrannical aura, she was like a dagger that had been carefully sharpened thousands and tens of thousands of times, stabbing him.

“It just depends on what you do. Originally, those who have died once become stronger.”

She shrugged lightly and said.

“However, I can help you.”

“Why me…….”

She only gave a strange smile to Randol’s question. And instead of answering.

“Miliana.”

Every time she moved, he could hear the metallic sound of the two swords she was holding cutting through the air.

“That’s my name.”

She said her name.

At that moment.

Randol forgot about getting an answer to his question a moment ago and looked at her with a surprised face.

* * *

‘That’s it.’

Karyl walked through the corridors of the Imperial Palace, smiling bitterly as he looked at the handprint clearly imprinted on his wrist.

It might have broken if he had put a little more force into it.

He looked at the seemingly leisurely scenery of the Imperial Palace and recalled the moment when he might not have been able to see this scenery again if he had made a mistake a little while ago.

-Digon……? You mean Randol is there.

Kwell asked with a bewildered expression at the unexpected name.

-Yes.

-How do you know that?

-I told you I was in Tatur.

Kwell McGovern released the hand he had been clenching at Karyl’s words.

-You may not know because you are in the North, but there are rumors that the Digon clan is cooperating with the Empire.

-Are you saying that the Empire has allied with barbarians?

-Your father, who is a nobleman, will be able to find out more accurately than I can.

Kwell’s face darkened at his words.

His Azure Knights were located on the border of the North, even within the Empire. It was at the extreme opposite of the South.

Moreover, the Emperor had not issued orders to suppress the South for the time being, citing the stability of internal affairs after the Northern expedition.

Some knights complained about this, but Kwell himself could not say anything to the Emperor.

The reason for the temporary suspension of the Southern expedition was because of his Northern subjugation.

‘Even if it’s okay, the Azure Knights, who haven’t been back from the North for long, can’t move. In the end, we have to move other knight orders…….’

The military forces were already divided among the princes, so they could not move rashly, as they would be checking each other.

‘If I move now, Prince Olivon’s power, which is already weakened by the absence of the Lyeo Knights, will be further weakened…….’

His Azure Knights were Olivon’s main force in practice.

In order for the Azure Knights, or rather, for him to move freely, Olivon needed to be safely protected from Prince Ruon’s threat.

Ironically, that was the Emperor.

‘In the end, the only way is……. to help His Majesty concentrate the balance of state affairs again.’

Kwell looked at Karyl with a stern expression.

Just like gears turning, at the point when Prince Olivon’s support was weakened due to the annihilation of the Lyeo Knights, the Emperor regained his health and returned so perfectly.

And……. his sixth son as well.

‘How far are you involved, Karyl.’

Kwell looked at him with uneasy eyes and let out a low sigh.

-Hoo……. I’m sorry. When I think about it, you are innocent. Rather, you did something that deserves an award. Originally, I would have praised your achievements in front of the ministers.

He looked at the mask Karyl was wearing.

-It must be because of your eyes and hair color, which prove that you are from a different race.

Karyl nodded.

But unlike his words, the eyes behind the mask were brown, changed by magic.

‘Actually, it’s to keep you from finding out, Father. Unlike with Randol, this time I had to let you know that I am Karyl.’

-……How is life there?

Kwell finally asked about Karyl himself. The face behind the mask smiled bitterly and answered him.

-It’s fine. Many races live there. Don’t you know, Father? That place suits me better than the Empire.

-…….

-In the Magic Era, people were not distinguished by the presence or absence of magic. And in fact, even now, clans like the Digon in the South have power comparable to a country even without magic.

Karyl rotated his stiff wrist once and passed by Kwell.

-Wouldn’t such a world be okay too?

But Kwell, while showing an understanding expression at Karyl’s words, said firmly.

It was the face of a knight, not a father.

-That Magic Era also came to an end in the end.

-Are you denying an equal era?

-No, I’m just acknowledging the current era. The Magic Era must have had its own problems. Otherwise, that era would have continued until now.

He was a man of firm belief.

Karyl didn’t hate such him.

Even if.

Even though he knew very well that he would choose a different path from the one he was going to take.

-Karyl, you called me Father for the first time.

-…….

-Even if the world is not equal, at least I am equal to you.

Kwell handed the symbol of the Azure Knights, which he had received from the Emperor, back to Karyl and said.

-Randol and you are both my sons.

At that moment.

Karyl’s shoulders trembled slightly.

-Therefore, I will never forgive with my own hands the one who made Randol like that.

Anger felt from behind.

And killing intent.

Thump- Thump- Thump-

The heavy sound echoing in the hallway could be heard every time he took a step.

-…….

Karyl didn’t say anything and just looked at the symbol he had given him with cold eyes.

‘Me too.’

Then, he walked towards a different exit from the direction he had walked.

“Master, where shall we go now?”

Karyl came out of his memory and raised his head at the voice directed at him.

At the end of the corridor of the Imperial Palace, Aidan greeted him with a polite bow, dressed neatly as usual.

“The Three Kingdoms?”

At his words, he smiled lightly and replied.

“Plan B is almost complete. 80% of the assets of the nobles of the Three Kingdoms are already mortgaged in Tatur. Dushala was very happy to receive Master’s order. She said it was what she could do best.”

Karyl laughed lowly, thinking of the gold coins piled up in Tatur’s warehouse.

“Okay.”

Koo-roo-roo-roo…….

‘The factional strife, the first storm of blood to blow on the continent.’

Karyl stepped out the door.

‘I will not let that fire be ignited.’

The Empire will be busy because of the Emperor, and the Duchy will be ablaze with the war between Fran and Tuli.

And by Dushala’s scheme, the national treasuries of the Three Kingdoms, which had been recklessly competing over attribute stones, would be emptied by incompetent nobles without them even knowing.

‘In both my past life and now, they are eventually ruined by the Mana Mine.’

The only difference is that, unlike in his past life, it will not be a blood-calling war that risks lives, but that he will be able to absorb their power as it is.

‘If I had made up my mind, I could have made the Three Kingdoms mine even before that.’

But he waited.

All of this happened because of the arrangements he made.

‘That gap.’

He will attack.

The Three Kingdoms, the Duchy, and the Empire.

His plan to preserve the most people and the most power and prepare for the greatest war to come.

Roundup.

Karyl said to Aidan.

“Return to Tatur.”

Even in this time when everyone thought it was peaceful, Karyl was already fighting a war alone.

He had never let go of the reins even once from Naraka Rock until now.