The Bastard Swordsman Of The Imperial Guard [EN]: Chapter 37

The Heavenly Ritual

“Gent? Are you talking about Great Warrior Gent?”

“…What’s a Great Warrior?”

Raelle stared intently at the giant in front of him.

His name was Danin, right?

“A Great Warrior is a mighty warrior of the Giant race! Gent is the greatest of them all!”

“Sorry, can you put it in simpler terms?”

“Gent is the Chieftain’s son.”

“…”

He really made it simple.

Raelle blinked at the sudden revelation.

‘Gent is the Chieftain’s son?’

How could that be?

Raelle looked at Danin and asked again, making sure.

“Are you talking about the Gent who’s much taller than you guys and likes to tend the garden?”

“Gent is tall, but he doesn’t tend the garden!”

“…There aren’t more than two Gents in the Giant race, are there?”

“Chieftain’s son, Great Warrior Gent, is the only one!”

“Great Warrior…”

The guy who spends all day in the garden, pruning branches, and then comes to the Heavenly Ritual to peep at humans is a Great Warrior?

It was clear that the world had gone mad.

“So, Gent is so tall because he’s the Chieftain’s son?”

“No. All Giants are about the same height.”

“Then what are you?”

“We’re still young, so we haven’t grown as much yet!”

“…How old are you?”

“We’re twelve!”

“Sigh…”

As soon as he heard the Giants’ ages, a sigh escaped him.

No wonder they seemed dumber than Gent.

Raelle had been playing with kids.

‘Elves and Giants both live long lives… but do Elves not age while Giants age quickly?’

There were differences even in the long-lived species cartel.

He looked no different from Gent, so he naturally assumed they were adults, but that wasn’t the case at all.

Raelle felt ashamed of himself for overpowering a twelve-year-old in arm wrestling and being happy about it.

“Where are the adults? Why are only you guys here?”

“We’re building our strength for the upcoming Ragnarok!”

“…Ragnarok?”

Raelle tilted his head, having heard the word somewhere before.

“Ragnarok is something only Giants know! Humans mustn’t know!”

Danin raised the corners of his mouth, proud of the knowledge only he possessed.

The Chieftain had told them never to tell other races about Ragnarok, so he had to obey the order.

‘Ragnarok is war, isn’t it?’

He had heard the word a few times in his past life.

Raelle felt uneasy for some reason at the mention of Ragnarok by the Giants.

“Hey guys. Can you tell me what Ragnarok is? I’ve always liked Giants. I’m really close with Great Warrior Gent, too.”

“It’s only for Giants!”

“…I’m actually a Giant.”

“Don’t lie! A Giant warrior doesn’t say they aren’t a Giant!”

“Tch.”

He thought he could trick them because they were young, but unfortunately, he failed.

Raelle naturally changed the subject.

“Then can you tell me about Gent? What’s Gent’s image like in the Giant race?”

“Great Warrior Gent always gives us delicious food.”

“Anything else? For example, do many Giants dislike Gent? Are they unhappy with Gent’s actions?”

“That can’t be! Gent is the Chieftain’s son. He’s the one who will lead the Giant race in the next generation!”

“Everyone likes Gent! Gent is the Great Warrior who will lead the way in Ragnarok!”

“…”

The Giants protested against Raelle’s words, shouting loudly!

It seemed Gent was the Giant race’s Chieftain’s son and the next in line.

‘Why is someone like that called the shame of the Giant race?’

Gent, the next Chieftain of the Giant race, yet also the shame of the Giant race.

Reina, who’s too kind and also a traitor to the Elves.

How did only weirdos end up around Raelle?

“Well… okay. Thanks anyway. See you.”

It didn’t seem like he could get anything more out of the Giants.

Raelle gave a casual greeting and turned his body.

“Human! We can’t just let you go!”

“Yeah! You won and ran away!”

“…?”

Raelle turned his head again.

The Giants showed off their muscles and approached Raelle.

“Fight again! Danin was the weakest of our Giants!”

“Wasn’t there someone who lost to Danin earlier?”

“I was out of strength!”

It seemed the Giants were very upset that a Giant had lost to a human.

Raelle smiled and opened his mouth.

“What will you give me if I win?”

“Huh?”

“If you take my time, you have to pay the price. Don’t you have money?”

Raelle naturally prepared to extort them.

Even if it was pocket change, money was money.

“…I don’t have money, but will you eat this?”

Danin held out a rice ball he had packed for lunch.

It was a delicious rice ball with fresh vegetables that Great Warrior Gent had provided to the Giants, chopped up and mixed in.

“It’s free, right?”

The situation of Giants in a medieval fantasy offering rice balls was absurd, but Raelle had decided to ignore such trivial matters.

What mattered was the free food.

‘It’s been a while since I’ve had free food.’

A lion does its best even when catching a rabbit.

He wouldn’t go easy on them, even if they were twelve years old, when it came to free food.

Raelle loosened his shoulder muscles and walked towards the Giants.

*

The Heavenly Ritual is a festival enjoyed by different races.

The presence of Giants naturally meant that there were other races as well.

“Elorin, can you summon some lower-level spirits?”

“Please wait a moment!”

Elorin stirred her magic and summoned lower-level spirits.

The spirits she summoned floated in the sky, scattering flower petals.

“When are the other Elves coming?”

“It seems like all the Elves who said they would come are here.”

Every time the Elves moved, a refreshing scent wafted, and the plants around them fluttered as if dancing.

It was a small festival where the Elves in the Imperial Capital gathered.

Weeing- Weeing-

Small spirits flew among the Elves, blessing the festival.

The surroundings were filled with a thick floral scent, and the freshness of nature embraced the Elves.

The Elves gathered here were that much more capable of communicating with nature.

“Aenghor, can you help me with this?”

Elorin struggled, moving a heavy basket.

It was the ingredients to prepare the blessing of the forest.

“Wait, I’ll be right there!”

The Elves’ festival was always the same.

They thanked nature and the World Tree and gave each other the blessing of the forest.

Elves were originally a race that grew under the same World Tree, so they had a characteristic of cherishing each other very much. Giving each other blessings was similar to the act of confirming that affection.

Thud- Thud-

At that moment, unfamiliar footsteps that broke the festive atmosphere were heard.

“Over here, uh…?”

Thud-

As soon as Elorin saw the approaching Elf, she dropped the basket she was holding.

“Elorin, what’s wrong?”

Aenghor, who was leading the Elves participating in the Heavenly Ritual, turned his head, seeing the fruit scattered on the ground.

And he, too, widened his eyes as he saw the approaching Elf.

“R-Reina!”

Reina, the traitor of the Elves who betrayed the Elves and chose the demons.

She was approaching the Elves.

“Reina…? Is that really Reina?”

Elorin swallowed hard as she looked at her.

She felt a bit of joy because she used to be friends with her, but Reina’s cold, expressionless face made her flinch without realizing it.

Swish-!

At that moment, several Elves drew their swords and approached Reina.

“A traitor who’s been cozying up to demons, what do you think you’re doing here…!”

Keln stepped forward as if to protect the Elves.

The Elven warriors followed him, but their forces were completely inferior.

Unlike before, she seemed full of the power of nature.

‘Damn it. Did she come into contact with a branch of the World Tree!’

Keln stood in front of Reina, enduring the crushing magic with his whole body.

“I don’t want to use my strength either? You better disappear from my sight while I’m being nice.”

Reina, who had followed the scent of her kin that had been bothering her since earlier, approached the Elves with an expressionless face.

She was raising her magic in one hand, ready to fight at any moment.

“Not if I can help it! Don’t touch the Elves anymore!”

“Go back to the demons you like!”

Reina accepted the Elves’ malice pouring down on her.

If they didn’t listen to words, she had no choice but to hurt them.

Crack-

Wooden vines that sprang from the ground wrapped around the Elves.

The Elves each drew on the magic of nature, but they couldn’t resist Reina’s wooden vines.

She alone overwhelmed all the Elves in this place.

“I guess I’ve been away from the forest for too long.”

“Cough, cough…”

Crack-

The wooden vines wrapped around Keln’s body like a snake and began to strangle his neck.

Keln grabbed the tree with a painful expression.

“Since when could you guys disobey me?”

Keln, who was at the front, drew his sword and stabbed it into the tree strangling his neck.

But Reina’s tree wasn’t even scratched.

It was truly an overwhelming difference.

“Keuh, Reina…! Why did you betray the Elves! Why!”

Keln was furious.

Keln, who loved the Elves so much, couldn’t forgive her corruption.

“…”

“Just kill us! How much humiliation are you planning to give us!”

If Reina decided to, the Elves in this place would be annihilated in an instant.

Keln was even more furious because he knew that fact. She was toying with the Elves.

“…I don’t need to stain my hands with the blood of trash.”

Thud-

As Reina waved her hand, the wooden vines that had been binding the Elves returned to the soil.

The Elves were freed, but they couldn’t attack Reina, feeling the overwhelming difference in power.

“Go back to the forest. And don’t ever appear in my sight again.”

“Reina…! Can you say that even after seeing Reine?! Reine is still waiting for you in the forest!”

At that moment, Elorin shouted at Reina.

Elorin, who knew Reina’s bright side in the past, couldn’t understand her betrayal even more.

“…I don’t care about that bitch, so get lost right now.”

“Reina! Reina…!”

The Elves grabbed the screaming Elorin and left the place.

All that remained in the empty lot was Reina and the festival preparation site.

“I’m sorry, Elorin.”

Reina bit her lip, looking at the backs of the departing Elves.

It was already impossible for her to return among them.

She slowly began to pick up the fruit that had fallen on the floor.

She couldn’t insult the Elves’ festival.

Swoosh-

However, Reina soon felt a familiar magic and turned her head.

A demon that comes when it smells the Elves.

‘He’ had come.

“You still cherish the Elves.”

Reina lowered her head without realizing it, making eye contact with the monster.

“…”

Reina glared at the festival site the Elves were preparing.

The flowers that had been blooming brilliantly withered, and the sturdy trees withered just by him appearing.

It was because of the magic of ‘annihilation’ that the monster possessed.

The demon race, Basolord, was the natural enemy of the Elves who wielded the magic of nature just by existing.

He was a monster who had single-handedly killed 30% of the Elves.

The Elves could never beat Basolord.

Just like a rabbit can’t beat a tiger, it was a difference in innate species.

“Don’t bother eyeing them. It’s easier for me to do it alone than with those trash.”

As Reina stirred her magic, the gate to the spirit realm began to open around her.

Basolord’s goal was the Elves’ spiritism [the practice of communicating with spirits].

As soon as Reina realized that fact, she volunteered to be the traitor of the Elves.

Because she was the only Elf who could open the gate to the spirit realm alone.

Elves, these fools, love their kin terribly.

They don’t want a tribe to survive with the sacrifice of one person.

Even if they were to be wiped out, they would choose to fight that monster and perish together.

Reina became a traitor to the tribe because she knew that.

She no longer wanted to see the Elves die.

*

The Second Princess. Yuriel von Grandia.

She was sitting blankly in the party hall prepared in the south.

Around her, dozens of nobles who had come with her were laughing and sharing drinks.

‘Just ambiguous and useless guys.’

The nobles tried to increase their connections in any way they could, even at such parties, but Yuri couldn’t enjoy this party.

No, in the first place, Yuri didn’t even know that such a party was being held.

The reason Yuri was here was simple.

‘The blood of the Imperial Family.’

They just needed an Imperial Family member to brighten the authority of this place.

The role of the person named Yuri was nothing.

It was just watching people walk around.

“Isabel.”

“Yes, Yuriel-nim.”

“It’s so boring, isn’t it?”

Yuri buried herself in the chair.

Her eyes were filled with boredom.

“…”

Isabel also quietly closed her mouth.

The nobles in this place didn’t pay any attention to Yuri.

‘Trash-like guys…’

Isabel frowned, looking at the nobles.

Yuri was a princess.

If this place was the Imperial Palace, it wouldn’t make sense to unilaterally ignore Yuri like this.

“I heard that the First Prince also participated in this Heavenly Ritual.”

“Haha, as expected of someone close to the owner of the Empire, he pays attention to the lower places and looks after them.”

But Yuriel was the only member of the Imperial Family in this place right now.

The Second Princess Yuriel, who was the lowest in the hierarchy.

She was in a position that was bound to be abandoned someday.

From the perspective of the nobles in this place, there was no need to stir up trouble.

‘…Ah.’

The music of the orchestra and the laughter of the nobles.

The clinking sound of glasses clashing.

Even the nobles’ glances to grasp each other’s intentions.

Everything in the party hall was irritating Yuri.

‘It would be easier if I just killed them all.’

Her fingers twitched.

The thought of tearing those pigs in front of her to death began to fill her head.

“Yuriel-nim.”

At that moment, Isabel, who noticed Yuri’s condition, carefully grabbed her hand.

It was the trigger to awaken the numerous blessings in the princess’s body.

“…Thank you, Isabel.”

Yuri forcibly calmed the storm in her heart and squeezed her eyes shut.

In order to quell the murderous intent and desires that occasionally erupted, she had to entrust herself to the blessings.

Meaningless time.

And meaningless humans.

Yuri waited for time to pass with her eyes closed.

The thought of having to spend such time for the next week made her head spin.

And behind the party hall, black magic began to bloom without anyone knowing.