The 9Th Class Swordmaster: Blade Of Truth [EN]: Chapter 259

182. Black Eyes

Late at night.

Cahill opened his eyes.

“Do you think you’ve done enough to warrant a private audience by seeking me out?”

At first glance, the room appeared empty, but he spoke, gazing into the darkness as if he already knew who was there, sensing their presence.

“Black Eyes.”

From the darkness, eyes as dark as night stared back at Cahill.

“Whether ally or enemy, to meet the leader, one must offer something of equal value. Be it the head of their own leader, or the head of an enemy.”

Cahill gave a wry smile.

“But just because the positions are equal doesn’t mean the scales are always balanced. It’s just an outdated tradition. Beheading the artillery commander is contribution enough.”

But the man made no reply.

“I don’t know if you’re just proud or inflexible. Your clan’s leader is already dead, isn’t he? If you’re going to adhere to the rules, do it properly. Bring me the head of an enemy leader.”

Cahill spoke sharply to the silent figure.

“If you go to White Bunker right now and bring me Tully’s head, I’ll grant you anything you want. Understand? Ziggrah Koom.”

The eyes of the Black Eyes clan warrior flickered slightly.

The mask-like expression on his face changed for the first time when Cahill spoke his name.

“The name… Did Hashir tell you? I didn’t think the Wolf Fox’s lips were so loose.”

“Does it matter? Names aren’t that important to the Black Eyes clan. All a warrior needs is a sword and someone to wield it against.”

“Koom’s name is different.”

“Is it?”

Cahill looked at Ziggrah and said.

He seemed to know something more, but Cahill shrugged, deciding there was no need to say more.

“You look like you have a lot of questions you’re holding back.”

Then he continued.

“Like I said before, when attacking Moon Ether, beheading the artillery commander was like saving thousands of lives, even if he wasn’t the enemy’s leader.”

Cahill looked at the Black Eyes clan warrior as if he were looking at someone he missed.

“One question, one answer. That much is possible, right?”

“Why do you have Agnel?”

Ziggrah finally asked the question he had been holding back.

“Is that your question? Are you sure? You only get one question. You better think carefully.”

Cahill asked back, but Ziggrah’s expression didn’t change. Seeing his reaction, Cahill let out a low sigh and said.

“Because I am a Black Eye.”

“……!!!!”

“And Agnel was given to me by Great Warrior Kaliark right before his death.”

Cahill looked at Ziggrah and said in a slightly trembling voice, as if overcome with emotion.

“It’s been a while. Four years.”

Swish—!!

At that moment, Cahill raised his hand to cover his face with a bitter smile.

Scratch… Crack….

A cold blade touched the back of the gauntlet.

Even though the gauntlet he was wearing was made of mithril [a strong, fictional metal], the blade cut into it as if trying to penetrate it.

The blade was made of Blue Phosphorous, which could ignore the magical defense unique to mithril.

Rustle….

Broken mithril dust fell onto the desk.

But apart from the properties of Blue Phosphorous, the fact that it had cracked the hardness of mithril itself meant that the silent attack was a strike with all his might.

And of course, there was only one person who would attack him in this place.

“What kind of trickery is this?”

Cahill nodded as if Ziggrah’s reaction was natural, but he couldn’t hide his bitterness.

“Kaliark-nim [honorific title] gave you Agnel? Were you even at that battlefield?”

It was possible.

It was already absurd that a boy with magical power called himself a member of the Black Eyes clan, but to say that he received Agnel directly from the clan leader…

Crack… Crack….

Ziggrah pushed the dagger with all his might, but Cahill’s hand, blocking the sword, didn’t budge.

‘What kind of power…’

Although he wasn’t as strong as the Tiger Leopard tribe, he was the one who had cut the artillery commander in two with a single strike.

Ziggrah was taken aback that he couldn’t beat Cahill’s one arm even when pressing down on the sword with both hands.

“I don’t think you’re threatening enough to get the answer you want with just this… Well, I’ll give you an answer when I see the opportunity.”

When Cahill clenched his outstretched palm into a fist, a shockwave erupted as if the air had burst.

Clang—!!!

The dagger that Ziggrah was holding was knocked away, and his body staggered.

“I was there. And I was the only one who saw Kaliark’s end.”

Ziggrah felt a suffocating aura every time Cahill spoke.

“Because I am Kaliark’s son.”

“……!!!”

Ziggrah’s eyes trembled to an extent that couldn’t be compared to when Cahill first said his name.

“Laminu.”

Kuuuuuuuu……!!!

No sooner had Cahill’s words fallen than hot flames erupted around him.

The massive flames, which seemed as if they would burn down the entire room at any moment, surprisingly didn’t ignite anything.

Ziggrah’s eyes wavered.

The Flame Spirit King in front of him puffed up his chest as if to devour him, and he involuntarily took a step back.

“This, this is…….”

“You probably heard from Hashir that I’m involved with the Other Tribes. Well, he doesn’t know that I’m a Black Eye either…”

Cahill said to him.

“Since you can’t think of Cahill, who has the same name and magical power, as the same person, some might think someone just borrowed the name, and others might think I’m lying.”

Whirr…!!

As he reached out his hand, Laminu’s form disappeared, and the flames became a small fireball on the back of his hand, flying around him.

“A lot has happened. Too much to explain in a place like this. But what’s clear is that I obtained the magical power that existed in the Magic Era and made a contract with the Spirit King who lived in the Myth Era.”

Whoosh——!!!

Once again, Laminu’s flames engulfed Cahill’s entire body. At the same time, as he raised his arm, a blue snake coiled around his wrist, appearing to glare at Ziggrah.

[Kyak……!! Kyaak!!]

The snake bared its sharp fangs and opened its mouth towards him.

“It’s hard to believe, right?”

“……!!!”

Instantly,

Clang—!!

Ziggrah dropped the dagger he was holding with a face even more surprised than when he saw Laminu.

It wasn’t because of the intense magical power he felt from Cahill.

“You…….”

Cahill nodded at his low murmur.

Cahill’s eyes, which had been red like burning flames, slowly turned black.

Soon, with eyes as black as Ziggrah’s, he rubbed his eyes as if they were stiff and said.

“I’m probably the only pure Northern Other Tribesman with magical power, not like the Digon of the South or a mixed-blood with the Empire.”

Cahill looked at his face reflected in the mirror he had set up and chuckled.

“You can change the color of your eyes with magic, but you can’t change black eyes. That’s because the Other Tribes don’t have magical power.”

Cahill said to Ziggrah.

“Conversely, you can’t create black eyes with magic either. Black is a color that devours magic. You can’t change it with any magic.”

“Having black eyes is proof of being an Other Tribesman.”

Ziggrah answered quietly as he listened to those words.

“With that unchanging pride.”

“Live as a Black Eye.”

Ziggrah answered, continuing Cahill’s words.

“You remember. Well, if you’re the type to keep even outdated rules, it’s only natural…”

Cahill smiled faintly at his words and said.

“I’m different. Unlike keeping that unchanging pride as much as the changed future, I broke it with my own hands. And the fate that will come in the future as well.”

‘……Fate?’

Ziggrah, who couldn’t know about the future that would unfold, tilted his head slightly at Cahill’s words.

But he thought Cahill was just talking about the future of the Other Tribes.

“And hard as it may be to believe, I remember you. And we were quite close. All three brothers learned swordsmanship and hunting from you.”

Cahill closed his eyes for a moment.

In the past, the son of the Great Warrior and the future leader of the Black Eyes clan was not just himself.

His two older brothers.

Both of them died before his eyes.

The terrible battlefield.

At that moment, all he could see when he looked around were the corpses of his clan.

“Honestly, I didn’t think you’d be alive. So I was surprised and glad to hear that the Black Eyes clan had answered my call. I thought I’d never see you again.”

Never again.

Those words were from Cahill’s past life as well.

It was a war that had faced the crisis of extinction, where his father and brothers had all died, so he naturally thought that no one would have survived.

It wasn’t just a simple guess.

After that, the Holy War broke out, and the north turned into hell due to the Fallen who appeared by Farrell, and he no longer heard any news about the Other Tribes.

‘I think I know a little now why the Fallen chose the north as the first battlefield. We are the descendants who rebelled against God.’

It was a fight to cut off that bud.

Ironically, the one leading the ten chosen by the Holy Order to protect such a god was an Other Tribesman.

‘Yula.’

It felt like God had issued the Holy Order and summoned Farrell from the beginning to the end just to humiliate them.

If that were really the case, it would be a terribly cruel and ruthless game.

“Besides, if you’re a Northern Other Tribesman, it would be stranger not to know the leader of the Black Eyes clan’s action unit. Isn’t that right?”

“Really… Are you the Young Lord?”

“If it’s hard to believe, you can just look at me as you do now, with suspicion. Right now, I’m Cahill, the leader of the Free Army.”

It was Cahill’s calm answer, but Ziggrah still had an unbelievable expression.

“I used to talk to Hashir about my teacher. And I said I was borrowing the name Cahill, but he wouldn’t care about that. Still, this is the first time I’ve shown my black eyes since I gained magical power.”

Cahill had kept his origins a secret until now, after leaving the mansion.

Hashir, Miliana, and others had only speculated that he might be an Other Tribesman, but they had no proof.

“……The elders will strongly oppose it.”

“I’m expecting it.”

Tyren McGovern said that Cahill’s origins would be an obstacle to uniting the continentals.

But contrary to his thoughts, Cahill’s origins were now an obstacle to uniting the Other Tribes, not the continentals.

“That’s an outdated idea too. Whether it’s the emperor who calls those without magical power heretics, or the elders who think that not having magical power is the pride of the Other Tribes, they’re all the same.”

As Ziggrah said, the elders may not recognize Cahill just because the one leading the Other Tribes has magical power.

“That’s why I need to earn the title of Great Warrior.”

Of course, the elders probably don’t even know why the Other Tribes don’t have magical power.

They just value the traditions and customs that have been passed down.

But Cahill, who knows that they are the descendants of the Blader of the Myth Era, knew that the pride of that tradition was not a lie.

‘The evidence of the defeat suffered by those who opposed God.’

Cahill looked at Ziggrah.

“Revealing secrets always has more disadvantages than advantages. Nevertheless, the reason I told you my secret is because I have no doubt that the Black Eyes clan, you, will become my sword.”

Cahill looked at Ziggrah and said.

“Anything else you want to ask?”

“That’s enough. You’ve told me more than one question, one answer.”

Ziggrah shook his head at Cahill’s words.

“I’ll listen to the rest when I’ve fulfilled the rules. To be honest, you’ve changed too much… I doubt the clan will believe these words.”

From his appearance to the aura he exuded.

That was because after absorbing the Dragon Magic Power, Cahill’s body had grown beyond the normal standards, and at first glance, he looked old enough to have gone through the coming-of-age ceremony.

“……Thank you for being alive.”

Cahill could read Ziggrah’s thoughts with these words. Hearing his words, Cahill bit his lip slightly.

“Me too…….”

Trickle—

At that moment,

Cahill hurriedly turned his head.

It was because he didn’t want to show him a drop of tears flowing down his cheek.

“…….”

How long has it been?

Since he shed tears.

He was embarrassed himself.

Spending countless eons in the Tower of Farrell, he thought that his emotions were now dried up.

He had actually lived that way.

But even though he had shed tears of anger and resentment towards Oliver in his past life, it was the first time he had shed tears of longing.

Truly, the fullness of emotion.

It was a feeling he hadn’t felt even when he met his brothers and father after his regression.

He thought they would naturally be alive, but he had met his clan, whom he thought he would never see again even if he went back in time.

With a face full of mixed emotions, Cahill closed his eyes and just looked out the window without turning his head, and said quietly to Ziggrah.

“Thank you for being alive.”