Year 1It has already been a month since I had started training in swordsmanship with my father at my side.
In this year, I can"t say that I wasn"t happy. If it were previous years, there would"ve already been boisterous parties, and many places to watch the fun from. But, this time, there was no such festival due to the deaths. The people here didn"t even reach half of those last year. It was too obvious. The people of two villages were, in short, "ma.s.sacred."
Sigh, rather than having these useless thoughts, let"s just quickly fill up the daily amount of practice I set up.
Above the hills overlooking the green lake, I was more focused on training in the sword than before. The amount of practice, of course I had set it myself. I"m not sure if it was too much, but in the beginning, it felt as if my waist was going to break every day, but I"ve been seeing the effects lately. After knowing what I had to do, I began to consistently train saying that I needed to be stronger.
I held the sword firmly as I could feel a quite warm wind blowing past my cheeks.
"Kyaaaa-!"
Ugh… even in my eyes, this is some sort of dragon"s cry.
My father was leaving tonight. I never expected for him to continue staying here in the beginning at all…… the funeral ended, one season was nearly up, so when the 14th Arund "Elder Sage" was completing its last task, my father brought up the fact that he had to leave. I confidently nodded my head. After my father had entrusted me with the necklace, I was able to change with accepting the fact that I would be away from my father quite comfortably. It was a considerable, surprising change even from my perspective.
A strange truth materialized after having the funeral. The fact that someone had pointed out the countless number of tombstones that didn"t have a body to bury, the strange aspect despite having recognizable corpses that were subtracted, whether it was a relative or anyone else, from the collection of bodies.
The rest of the corpses were either burnt, or maybe it was because they were too crushed and dismembered I thought, but maybe the monsters might"ve ate the corpses, or possibly they were taken as the monsters crossed the province to be eaten alive while the hostages screamed in pain and fear. Despite not wanting to imagine any more displeasing memories, the scenes of their suffering hadn"t fully dissipated yet.
My mother"s chest… … and that wound, where the blood had frozen up, it was quite certain that the monsters had some sort of strange abilities. No matter how cold the weather was, for blood to immediately freeze afterwards is something that could never happen.
Back to talking about my father.
Of course, I don"t think I"ll be warmly welcomed if I do go to that place in my opinion. I wonder what the majority of their expressions would be if they hear that their family relic was entrusted to me.
In such a place, if it was an "illegitimate child," the amount of criticism that one would receive from society was honestly something that I shudder to think of.
But now, I think that my father had deliberately entrusted me with this task of fulfilling the wishes of the family despite knowing the truth.
In spite of not knowing whether I could surely complete the task or not, he had laid aside all those countless number of knights in his family and entrusted this to me. And if I were to lose this necklace? The thought of it was appalling. My father? It would be a punishment that was incomparable to the incident he had with my mother. If you consider the cruelty of those people above, he could probably be forced to step down and be expelled from the family.
To realize that by succeeding in this task would allow me to receive recognition, it was a truth too monumental for me fulfill.
Ah, when I think like this, my simple mind becomes complicated and heavy.
"So you were here today as well."
My father had climbed over the cliff, equipped with his cape and plate of armor. Aside from the fact that today was the day he would depart, there was normally no way to take off those things. That appearance, on the other hand, was quite cool. You know, if you walk around in full plate armor, they say that you can"t be a considerable trader. Well, it was the person who had first ripped off those iron window bars……. (I suddenly thought about it, on the day my mother"s body was found, how exactly did I break away from my father"s grip?).
"You"re training quite hard."
I wonder if my father knows how much guilt, and also a sense of duty it reminds me of whenever he says those words?
Like I said before, I wasn"t very enthusiastic with practicing in the sword since I was young. Other than the Gepper k.u.mentz incident which had me practice with whatever means, I wasn"t too acquainted with this kind of weapon. If you"re talking about this fella in my hands, the moment I try to practice by raising the sword up, it was extremely difficult, despite trying to be friendlier, to have an affinity for it.
But after seeing my father"s face, these feelings have changed.
As a swordsman who wasn"t an examiner, the reason I began to swing this sword day and night. Those rooted emotions that were far more than the task of the necklace.
Maybe, maybe because I"m a rural merchant vendor, like those children who lost their parents in those legendary stories (these children will soon in the continent, at least in their province if the scale is small that they became heroes) would say "I will definitely have my revenge – ! ! !", such resolve didn"t burn inside me. When I first heard those stories, it sounded so natural, but immediately returning back to my story, to consider killing hundreds of these monsters, chasing them down for a lifetime wasn"t something that could be decided by yourself is what I"m saying.
But that doesn"t mean my hatred towards these monsters was lacking at all, absolutely not. Even if there"s someone that would think of me as strange, I don"t think that such a kind of revenge is "possible" for me. As well, realizing the difference between story and reality was so painfully sick, I humbled myself in swinging the sword.
Whenever I see my father"s face, and that n.o.ble excellence that he displays, I desired to be the same and yet not be in such a ridiculous state, and will myself to train harder and faster.
But a strange truth was revealed.
Then to see the mother I had lost to these monsters disperse like a dream, who should I hate in order to receive the rewards from my heart? What if people would totally forget this incident after some time had pa.s.sed?
I swung my sword vehemently without any purpose.
No matter how you think about it, it"s laughable. Am I waiting for these monsters to rampage across the continent wherever they go, killing the mothers of children?
Not sure, I don"t know.
"Fabian, won"t you stop and have a spar with your father?"
"Yes?"
My father"s abrupt offer caused me to hesitantly lower the sword. To have a sword spar with my father walking in that full plate of armour as if it was nothing.
To journey across the province escaping from somewhere (it could be the capital) and not returning yet was a spar wholly different from the time with the Lord"s son.
"I don"t think I will be much of an opponent?"
"I"m just saying let"s try. Seeing you practice, I wanted to try and spar with you once."
"Aha………"
There were no spectators above this cliff.
I"m not totally sure about my father"s feelings. Since he"s leaving after one month, is he wanting to see how much I have improved?
"Sounds good."
As his son, I doubt he would try and kill me.
TL Afterword
Yeah, I"m not so sure about that MC. Fathers can be quite scary sometimes.
Translator: Calvis
Proofreader: Sai101