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< I can't call you anymore >
The next day.
The man opened his eyes only in the afternoon.
“Ugh···.”
Drink up, drink up. My body felt heavy like the day after a night of drinking too much. It was because I had overdone it the day before, fighting the demon that had taken possession of Lily’s body.
Knock knock, knock knock.
The man, who had only raised his upper body from the bed, worked hard to loosen his creaking joints. Then he sat cross-legged and began to practice the exercises.
Ssssssssut.
As the magical power spread to every corner of my body, I checked my physical condition. The internal injuries I had sustained the night before were recovering smoothly.
“Swoop… hoo-.”
After the fierce battle, the man deliberately did not receive any recovery magic or drink any potions.
In order to imprint new martial arts on the body, it was best to allow the muscles to remember the pain and adapt by slowly recovering naturally.
After a while, the man opened his eyes. A bright blue light flashed from his eyes and slowly faded away.
“Phew···.”
At that moment, the elder knocked on the door and came in.
“Are you feeling better?”
“Thank you. Thank you for caring.”
The elder placed the tray he had brought on the table. It was a tray filled with warm soup and fresh vegetables.
“Would you like to have lunch together?”
An irresistible smell wafted from the tray. Moreover, the opponent was the most powerful person in the Elf Forest and a great beauty.
The man smiled brightly and said.
“There is no reason to refuse”
The two sat across from each other at the table. The man took a crunchy bite of an apple and said,
“How’s the kid?”
Although I had heard a rough explanation last night, the man asked if there had been any further changes in the situation overnight.
“I still have the aftereffects of baptism, but I’ll be fine after a few days of recuperation in the sacred tree.”
Lily was in the ‘Recovery Room’ inside the sacred tree.
The elder said that Lily didn’t seem to have any major problems other than her physical strength being greatly weakened.
“If you rest and eat good food for a few days, you’ll feel much better. But there’s just one thing I’m worried about….”
“Is there a problem?”
The elder spoke to the man with a hardened expression in a voice full of concern.
“You eat surprisingly a lot. You even ate three servings by yourself in the morning… I wonder if it’s some kind of side effect….”
I wondered what it was. The man sighed softly and said.
“That’s just how it is.”
“Huh? But it’s for three people···.”
‘If I hadn’t been sick, I would have eaten five servings.’
The elder, not wanting to surprise the elder any further, simply said that it was okay.
‘I’ll take care of other things first, and then I’ll stop by the little one for dinner.’
There was no need for a separate caregiver to stay by his side, because Jang Young-shin had been taking care of him all day since last night.
The man looked at the elder with a serious face.
“Thank you for helping me. I really do.”
If it weren’t for her, Daein alone wouldn’t have been able to deal with the demon possessing Lily’s body as he did now.
They probably only found out and did something about it much later. Until then, Lily would have continued to suffer.
The elder smiled gently and said.
“Because you saved my granddaughter Alina. I just repaid the favor.”
The elder’s appearance clearly did not look like she was in her twenties, so she felt quite uncomfortable whenever she called Alina ‘granddaughter’.
The man shook his head and said.
Now it was time to get to the main point.
“That was a contract between me and the princess. It’s another story that you helped us. And I’m pretty sure we owe each other a debt of gratitude.”
Anyway, I had to stay here a few more days because of the kid.
I also had to wait for Abraxas’ reply.
While it would be nice to just laze around and wait, I also planned to do something a little productive.
For example,
“Grace must be repaid with grace.”
At the elder’s words, the elder smiled and shook his head.
“You can just be comfortable as a guest. We don’t really need anything···.”
“The Foggy Forest. Shouldn’t we investigate?”
Shudder.
The elder looked at the man with a surprised face.
“What about that name?”
What came out of the great man’s mouth was a name known only to elves.
Foggy forest.
A place where many elves have gone in and disappeared, making it off-limits, and a disaster of the elven tribe that is slowly expanding the area.
The fog of the Misty Forest was particularly lethal to the elves, numbing their senses and causing mental problems.
‘But to other races, it’s just an annoying fog.’
The man said.
“I overheard someone talking.”
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Years later, among the superhumans who entered the foggy forest at the elves’ request, there was also a great man.
“I’ll investigate the Forest of Fog. I heard that the fog doesn’t have much of an effect on other races?”
The elder couldn’t answer hastily.
“but···.”
The investigation of the foggy forest was clearly necessary.
Right now, the elves are using magic and spirits to do their best to stop the expansion of the fog forest, but even that is becoming increasingly difficult.
But I was hesitant to entrust my benefactor with such a dangerous task.
“The Foggy Forest is a dangerous place even for a Sword Master.”
Of course, Daein knew better than anyone how dangerous it was.
The man smiled kindly and said.
“It’s no problem, so leave it to me.”
The elder, who had been thinking for a moment, opened his mouth.
“Then I will make a formal request and pay you a reasonable fee.”
‘I knew it.’
The man suppressed the smile that was about to bloom on his lips. Instead, he shook his head with a stern expression.
Getting paid here is a lowly job.
Besides, there was already an abundance of money.
“What are you talking about? I said I was repaying the favor.”
“but···.”
“Okay. I told you, I don’t need it.”
In the end, the elder had no choice but to accept the man’s offer. That was how desperately she needed to investigate the foggy forest.
After a while, the man came out of the elder’s house and walked down the street. Around his waist was tied a dramatically changed Charlotte.
Glance at it.
The elves glanced at the man. There was no elf who did not know that he had slain a demon last night.
The elves’ gazes toward the man were filled with caution, hostility, and a hint of curiosity.
The gazes did not seem friendly at all. However, the man looked around calmly.
“The view is truly breathtaking.”
A beautiful landscape, like a painting. Beautiful elves walking down the street. Spirits flying freely.
And the sacred tree that rose through the clouds in the center of the city was beyond words.
If you ask an artist to draw paradise, I think he probably wouldn’t draw this place.
“There is no better place to build a villa.”
The man’s plan was this.
Go to the foggy forest, solve problems, and collect artifacts.
Become the benefactor of the elves and build a villa here.
And we come and play once every season.
Just imagining it made him happy, and a pleased smile appeared on the corner of the man’s mouth.
“At this point, it’s killing two birds with one stone, no, three birds with one stone.”
The man went around and looked at several places to build a villa.
“Here it’s okay, there it’s okay, oh, there it’s pretty···.”
After deciding on a few candidates, the man walked briskly.
There was a place to stop for a moment before going to the forest of fog.
*
*
*
Leonard was sitting on an outdoor bench, basking in the sun.
“······.”
The old man stared blankly at the world. He listened quietly to the passing clouds and scenery, and the chirping voices of birds.
But the gaze was empty and futile.
Leonard was dying.
“Today or tomorrow···.”
The body that used to break stones and cut steel has now become old and sick and cannot walk properly without a cane.
The knight could no longer lift his sword.
And the lord he was supposed to protect was now in a safe place even without him.
The old man’s eyes, having lost all motivation to live, quickly lost their light.
As Leonard let out a soft sigh, a familiar voice was heard from beside him.
“Old man. How are you feeling?”
The man sat down next to Leonard and greeted him. A smile appeared on Leonard’s wrinkled lips.
“You. You said you did something else as soon as you got here. You killed a demon?”
“The rumor has already spread here?”
“The princess stopped by this morning and spoke to me. She was so excited as she spoke…”
Leonard burst into laughter as he remembered Alina blushing and talking like a girl.
The man looked around and asked.
“Where is the princess now? I can’t see Hawkin either.”
“He is very busy preparing for the grand plan. Hawkin is accompanying him and···.”
Leonard’s expression darkened slightly, perhaps because he felt bitter about not being able to carry out his lord’s duties.
“What’s the problem? Just think of it as a vacation and rest.”
The man who said that took out the Geomhwangbirok from his bosom.
“It’s that book again.”
Leonard’s eyes lit up when he saw the familiar book. He had seen the old man reading that book several times in the carriage.
“Is it that fun?”
The man nodded as he opened the bookcase.
“So-so. This was also written by an old man.”
“···Hearing that makes me want to read it.”
The man grumbled as he searched for the page he wanted in a thick book.
“This thick book is almost entirely about me bragging. As I read it, I start to think that I shouldn’t become an old man like this when I get older.”
At that moment, Leonard burst out laughing.
“Phewhew!”
I was just grateful. It was a simple conversation, but it warmed my heart so much.
Leonard’s face brightened.
He spoke calmly, looking up at the sky as if nothing had happened.
“I saw beyond the wall.”
“······.”
The man was concentrating on finding the page he wanted. There was no answer, but Leonard continued talking.
“During the last fight at the border wall, when I squeezed every bit of strength and mana I had left in my body, I saw beyond the wall, if only for a moment.”
The realm of Sword Master that I have longed for my entire life.
It was only for a moment, but Leonard thought he caught a glimpse of it.
“It may be a mistake. In the end, we didn’t get there. But still···”
Whirl. Whirl.
All that could be heard was the sound of paper turning beside him. Leonard paid no attention and continued muttering to himself.
“I wish it had been just a little bit faster. If only it had been three years, no, just one year….”
A little bit of enlightenment. Or some kind of trigger.
If I could just take one more step, I could overcome the wall and reach the realm.
But for some, that one step could take a lifetime. Leonard was still struggling, stuck between the walls.
The old man’s dry eyes became bloodshot.
“Why did you show it only at the very end, leaving me with such regret···.”
At that moment, a voice was heard from the side.
“I finally found it.”
The man began to read a passage he had found in the Records of the Grand Historian.
“The body withered like a sick chicken, and there was not even a single ounce of energy left in the dantian.”
“what···.”
This was the part that described the feelings of the Emperor of Swords when he overcame the injuries he received from Cheonma and barely recovered his martial arts skills.
“If anyone had seen me, they would have thought I was already a corpse.”
“······.”
Leonard listened quietly as the man continued reading the Sword Emperor’s Record in a calm voice.
“I lay down on the cave floor with my eyes closed, and began to reflect on my life from the beginning. What was my state of mind the first day I took up the sword…”
“······.”
In fact, even the person himself could not know whether this method would work or not.
The final awakening may come from a very small trigger, or it may not come from any stimulus at all.
I just read it with the thought that maybe it would be understandable if it was just among old people.
“There were things I could learn as I faced the slow approach of death. That I had long forgotten the sword. That all I had ever sought was strong martial arts···.”
And that method elicited an unexpected response.
“her···.”
Tears streamed down Leonard’s eyes. As if he himself were amazed, Leonard wiped them away with the back of his hand.
The old knight was in sympathy with the writing left behind by the Emperor.
Although their worlds, origins, and talents are all different, I deeply sympathized with them as someone who holds a sword and as someone facing death.
But that was it.
Leonard’s gray eyes brightened, but nothing else changed.
widely.
The man who had closed the book looked at Leonard with a regretful expression.
‘Did it end up being a failure?’
Then Leonard said,
“Can you show me your swordsmanship?”
“······.”
The man stood up and pulled out Charlotte from his waistband.
Slurp.
The revealed dark blade was aimed at Leonard.
“It’s my first time doing this in front of other people… I’ll only do it once, so watch carefully.”
The man who had taken a few steps back began to dance with a sword.
It didn’t carry mana. It wasn’t fast either.
Because I didn’t practice hard enough, I ended up being sloppy.
Still, the man did his best. He danced slowly so that Leonard could see it well.
And at some point,
Suddenly.
Leonard got up from his seat and started dancing with his sword.
He used the staff he was holding as a sword, cutting the air, stabbing, blocking, cutting again, and stabbing.
Whirlirik!
The leaves on the ground swirled and rose into the air.
The sword dance of the old knight became faster and faster, and as it did so, his body began to emit pure white light.
“······.”
The man put away his sword and stepped back. He watched silently as the knight, lost in a state of ecstasy, jumped over the wall.
The onlookers were not only adults. Elves passing by on the street also watched the spectacle in rapt attention.
The moment the sword dance reached its peak,
-Paaaaaaah!
A dazzling light burst out. And where the light had disappeared, there stood Knight Leonard, who looked at least 30 years younger, with his eyes closed.
The man who saw that sight chuckled.
“I can’t even call you old anymore.”
< I can't sing anymore > End
ⓒ Ganjjajang
