EP.126 The road to the north (4)
The carriage moved without stopping.
Outside the window I looked out, snow was already falling. The fact that it was snowing even in the middle of summer seemed to indicate that the North was not far away.
‘It will be soon.’
With that thought in mind, I turned my head.
Lark, who was sitting next to me, was repeating one sentence with his head down.
“The strongest wizard is the gray wizard, the strongest wizard is…”
It looks like he has been brainwashed.
Lark, who was muttering as if possessed by something, slowly raised his head. He seemed to have something else he wanted to ask.
“why?”
“Uh, Professor Rania.”
Lark asked a question with sparkling eyes.
“A little bit about the hero, Kyle…”
As soon as the name Kyle came up, I frowned. His expression was crumpled as if he had bitten a bug. Because it was a very natural phenomenon, I didn’t really manage my facial expression.
“···Why are you asking me that?”
“Well, didn’t you say you were communicating with the Gray Wizard?”
“It did.”
“Then, I was wondering if there was a story about the hero…”
“…It had to be there.”
Lark’s eyes sparkled.
It seemed like he wanted to hear more details. I sighed inwardly. It wasn’t like I saw one or two people like Lark. There was quite a bit when I was in the Knights.
‘Guys who fantasize too much about Kyle.’
It’s not that I don’t understand.
The church made a decision and supported Kyle. They hired bards and talked about Kyle’s military achievements. They considered Kyle sacred, saying he was the incarnation of Delohim.
‘Because of that, the illusions got a little worse…’
It wasn’t just that.
From a third party’s perspective, Kyle really seems like a proper warrior. The starlight overflowing on Kyle’s body is like a symbol of victory. When it is with the front line, the knights forget their fear.
An entity that has become a kind of symbol.
A symbol of victory and a shield of humanity that will not back down.
‘A being that represents all warriors.’
It was no wonder that people like Lark were enthusiastic about the story of such a being. However, as someone who knows Kyle’s true self… I end up with a very strange feeling.
‘He’s just a bitch whose brain is controlled by his lower body.’
I rested my chin and opened my mouth.
“···So what do you want to ask?”
“I wonder how strong the hero was, and what the gray wizard who was with him had to say about him.”
I was silent for a moment.
It was a difficult question to explain in one word.
‘It’s strong.’
Even compared to the warriors of the past, it is difficult to find a warrior who can produce output as good as Kyle. Kyle was the first to squeeze out enough power to cut off the black dragon’s head.
However, that is limited to output.
If you were to ask whether Kyle was competent in all aspects… he wasn’t.
‘The conditions had to be met to produce that output.’
Kyle is not omnipotent.
Unlike the illusions of Rachna and the knights on the battlefield, Kyle was by no means an all-powerful being. It wasn’t even a perfect being.
After a brief pause, I opened my mouth.
“…To put it bluntly, he was not a being fit for a hero.”
“···yes?”
Lark opened his eyes wide.
I smiled bitterly and asked Lark.
“Lark, what do you think of a hero?”
“Uh… a being that cuts down disaster?”
“That’s also true. “Anything else?”
“Well, the defender of humanity. “Shield of humanity…”
“Yes, shield. “That’s what a warrior should be.”
I nodded.
The warrior is the shield of humanity. A warrior on the front line must be someone who protects.
“But they said that the hero named Kyle was not that kind of person.”
“If it weren’t for that kind of existence…”
“I’d rather have a window, a window.”
I stretched my fingers forward.
“There is no back. I can’t even look to the side. You can only go straight. But, Chang is really good at going straight.”
Kyle was not a guard.
This guy did not have equal abilities in all aspects like the warriors of the previous generation. He gave up everything else and sharpened his focus in only one direction.
Kyle was more of a shock trooper than a warrior.
Rather than being a protective being, it was a biting and rampaging being.
“I don’t care about the back line, I don’t care about the way out, all I can do is charge.”
Instead, the assault is certain.
His record of killing three crustaceans at once and cutting off an apostate’s arm in an instant backs him up.
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“The gray wizard made up for what the single-minded warrior lacked.”
I guarded the back row in Kyle’s place.
The road was opened so that Kyle could only look forward.
Kyle made a way out.
‘Because that was my role on the battlefield.’
If those conditions were met, Kyle’s output was reliable. When that output was combined with the star sword that cut down everything… I saw the possibility.
Really, there was a possibility.
The qualities of a warrior were qualities, but he grew steadily. As the days went by, I got stronger. There is something I know because I was the one who chased after it with my teeth clenched.
‘Right before meeting the devil, before Kyle fell.’
Second encounter with Ganicalt, the sword of death.
At that time, when Kyle was at his peak, he lasted one minute against that monster. I collapsed the gorge, giving me time to bury Ganicalt alive.
‘Of course, that monster broke through that with his bare body…’
Anyway, we were able to escape from that place. And, that day, I had a hunch. The guess that I had previously thought of as “maybe” has turned into certainty.
At first, I couldn’t even lift the sword.
However, in the second encounter, Kyle lasted one minute against the sword of death.
That gave me confidence.
‘Anyone can do it.’
Kyle, if this child continues to grow, if he continues to walk the path of the sword for 5 or 10 years.
‘You can hold the sword of death. We can catch the devil beyond.’
Because I saw the possibility.
I couldn’t let go of Kyle.
‘But, the guy who can do it doesn’t do it, damn it.’
A feeling of shit came over me once again.
‘No matter how much I think about it, the personnel selection is wrong.’
Stars are not good at choosing people.
If that power had gone not to Kyle, but to Galahal, the Holy Spear, who has no saints, he would have won one more of the Four Heavenly Kings a long time ago.
‘f*cking constellation bastard.’
He did not utter any blasphemous remarks.
I shook my head, throwing a twinkle in my mind at the god Delohim serves.
“Uhm…”
As I was doing that, Lark groaned.
Lark had a very complicated expression.
“Um… something is difficult to understand…”
It was as if he had heard difficult words.
To be more precise, it was an expression on his face after hearing words that were difficult to accept.
‘Well, he will be different from the Kyle that Lark knows.’
I smiled bitterly and opened my mouth.
“It’s just that the Gray Wizard saw it that way. “It is true that from your perspective and my perspective, it is extremely strong.”
As I finished the story appropriately, I looked out the window. The falling snow had stopped. The carriage was already passing through a snowy field.
A road crossing a snowy field.
What you see at the end of the road is a huge castle wall. The carriage stopped for a moment in front of a wall that was like a symbol of the North.
“I think we’ve arrived.”
Lark said so.
Soon the butler opened the carriage door. A rush of cool air rushed in. I looked outside through the open door. The butler standing in the pure white snow field spoke.
“Welcome to the North.”
A land for those who live with snow.
The land of warriors, the North.
The vast snow field announced the end of the trip.
2.
A northern land surrounded by snowy mountains.
Naturally, this was not the first time I set foot in this place where pure white snow spreads everywhere. Because I often heard it when I was a wise man.
‘long time no see.’
I have that feeling.
He said he had to stop by often, but right before retirement, he had no reason to stop by the North. It was very rare for the northern front to waver.
Trudging.
We got off the carriage and walked for a while.
This was why Lark said there was a place to stop for a while before entering the northern capital.
“You could wait in the carriage…”
“I’m going to take a walk. “It was frustrating to stay inside.”
With Lark I walked through the northern city. There were often people who recognized Lark.
“Aren’t you Prince Rak!”
“I hope you had a good time at the academy…”
As if they were seeing their grandchildren returning home, the peddlers placed various things in Lark’s hands. It was mainly snacks.
“That looks delicious.”
“Would you like some?”
“It’s better for me if you give it to me.”
It was a snack that looked like split frozen fruit.
I walked after Lark while chewing the sour-tasting snack. No matter how long he walked, Lark stopped in front of a blacksmith shop on the outskirts of the city.
The snow wasn’t just piled up around the blacksmith shop.
I could feel the heat from outside the building.
“Would you like to go with me?”
“Go in first.”
Lark nodded and opened the door.
The moment I opened the door, a rush of hot wind blew. The hot air was mixed with the smell of iron.
“Kurak.”
Lark called someone’s name.
A middle-aged man walked out of the blacksmith shop. He placed his scar-filled hand on the door.
“You’ve finally arrived. “I’ve been waiting for you, master.”
“A long time. Kurak.”
He lightly bumped his fist with Lark and then turned his head to look at me.
“Who is this person?”
“A professor at Aplia, where I go. “His father invited him to come north.”
The man called Kurak said, “Hmm,” and smoothed his chin. Then she suddenly held out her hand.
“Kurak. “He’s a blacksmith.”
“This is Rania.”
I got a handshake.
Kurak was the one who held out his hand, but when I held his hand, Kurak blinked in surprise.
“Please come in first.”
The blacksmith shop that followed Kurak was full of all kinds of weapons. I was secretly impressed as I glanced at the weapons lined up along the wall.
‘···Everything is of the highest quality.’
There was a time when Uncle Kuntel dragged me to the blacksmith shop, telling me to try using a sword. As a result, my eye for weapons improved, and I was able to recognize famous swords.
It was different from the blacksmith shop in the royal capital.
It’s not loud. There was not a single good-looking weapon used for ceremonial attire. It is simple and full of unadorned weapons.
Chi profit.
Kurak stopped at a place where the heat became even more intense. It was a space that appeared to be a studio.
“Give it to me.”
He held out his hand, and Rak wordlessly pulled an ax from his belt and placed it in Kurak’s hand. Kurak grabbed his axe and headed to the workbench.
I asked Lark vaguely.
“Are you here to repair the weapon?”
“Oh, yes. “I definitely come by once every six months.”
Lark nodded and pointed to Kurak.
“The person who made my axe is Kurak. “He is the most famous blacksmith in the North.”
“Well, the ax looks good.”
“Yes, the blade won’t get damaged even if you don’t take special care of it, but Kurak still insists that you stop by. “I don’t know why.”
A sigh was heard from the studio.
“Why would you do that? “You should have explained it to me last time, master.”
Kurak said.
“No matter how good the material is or how skilled the blacksmith is, there can be no permanent weapon in this world. “If you do not maintain it regularly, your weapon will quickly rust.”
“Kaang,” he said, lightly striking the ax down.
“Weapons are a warrior’s companion. Weapons resemble warriors. Just as a warrior who stops training falls, weapons also break down if they are not maintained.”
He peels the grime off the axe.
While sharpening the blade of an ax that he had soaked in cold water, Kurak uttered a word to us.
“Once it starts to break down, it collapses in an instant. So, it is important to manage your dictionary to prevent that from happening.”
···Something.
‘Something touches my heart.’
I narrowed my eyes.
Those were words that touched my heart. It was when I was nodding my head.
“The only thing that will be fine even if you don’t take care of it is the divine weapon, like the Holy Sword that was forged by the stars themselves.”
Kurak shrugged his shoulders and said.
“···aha.”
At those words, I inadvertently burst out laughing.
Kurak opened his eyes and looked at me.
“Why are you laughing? “Are you kidding me?”
“No, just…”
I said with a bitter smile.
“If you don’t take care of it, it will rust, and I think the same goes for the holy sword.”
“You’re good at telling jokes. “How can a weapon forged by God himself rust?”
“That’s right.”
It would have been great if it was a joke.
I pondered Kurak’s words with a bitter smile.
‘If you stop training, people will not be able to use it. Weapons and people are the same…’
so.
‘You must not stop craving.’
I engraved this one line in my heart.
‘···If I raise a hero in the future, I’ll have to keep rolling without stopping. ‘Don’t let it rust.’
With that promise in mind, I watched Kurak sharpen his axe for a while.
3.
“Ugh.”
“···what’s the matter?”
“No, it’s just something sinister…?”
Belnoir suddenly shook his shoulder and tilted his head as he looked at Chloe who was shaking.
“suddenly?”
“You know I have good sense, Belnoir. I’m feeling very ominous right now. “I feel like something bad is going to hit me.”
“That feeling is always wrong.”
“no! This time it’s really true…! It’s the feeling of a warrior. “It’s the sense of a hero!”
Chloe spread her arms wide.
“nightmare! “Nightmare will overtake me!”
“Did you stay up all night last night? “What kind of nonsense are you talking about?”
“I stayed up all night reading novels, but…! Is it real? I had a hunch. “A nightmare will come…!”
Belnoa shook his head.
It wasn’t every day or two that Chloe talked nonsense, so it wasn’t really worth hearing.
“Read some novels in moderation.”
“I said no…!”
It was a day like any other.
A word from the author (author review)
It’s really surprising, but no hero has captured Skebal in the past hundreds of years. I was collected by Raniel, and the laughing bell position was captured…!
Skebal is a romantic skull.
It’s pretty powerful.
*At 12:06 am on 09/19 (announcement added)
Maybe he’s not the weakest of the Four Heavenly Kings…!
If the ‘main body’ that is not the Life Vessel attacks you, you don’t know this yet…!
Cheer up, Skebal!
