novelraw Chapter 93 : Chapter 93
Chapter 93 : Chapter 93
Chapter 93: The Secret Manual of a Famed Swordsmanship Family (3)
Aura is a power manifested through the hardening of conviction.
It was known to be the result of sublimating conviction into a phenomenon.
Demian had not yet achieved Aura, but he had been exposed to it since he was very young. It was because the Farenheit family had several holy knights who could wield Aura.
That was why it was questionable. He had harbored doubts even during his first duel. Aura is usually radiant, but why was Abel's Aura a futile ivory white?
‘And that sword…….’
Demian's gaze tilted towards Abel's beloved sword.
Abel's body had recovered by now, and the beloved sword was just gloomily staying in its scabbard.
‘It seems that sword is what's keeping Professor Argento alive.’
Demian thought so.
Without that sword, Abel might have died long ago. Torn to shreds by his Aura, miserably. Thinking so, it became even more questionable.
What is the relationship between Professor Argento and that sword?
It didn't seem to be a simple sword. It felt as if it was following Abel as a proper entity, not just a mere weapon.
“Is the duel over?”
“I don't know.”
Meanwhile, Abel and Demian were sitting on a bench.
The light from the streetlamp shining on the two of them was clear. The day had already grown dark, and the moon floating in the sky was beginning to become clear. The moment they left the slums and returned to the bustling streets, everything changed. The gloomy scenery had quickly turned magnificent.
It's truly dramatic.
Demian thought, dusting off the dirt from his school uniform.
“It's about time you tell me.”
Suddenly, Abel opened his mouth.
“You seemed to want a duel more intensely than usual today. What was the reason?”
“I am always intense. Because a true knight keeps a fire in his heart.”
“So that's why there are no true knights, they've all burned to death.”
“Haha, I……”
Demian's gaze tilted towards his feet.
“……just as the professor always taunted, I might have been a little drunk. On chivalry, that is. So I wanted to be taught a lesson.”
Yesterday, I read the family's secret manual.
Demian muttered so.
“It was just a collection of outdated sword techniques. I, Demian Fernando von Farenheit, made a mistake in wishing for a windfall. The sword techniques recorded in my family's secret manual have long been absorbed into the Numeros Formal Swordsmanship. It was just being used as a political tool.”
The reason he had longed for a duel with Abel was clear.
The family's secret manual. He hadn't expected its identity to be so modest. The moment he heard his father's explanation, everything made sense, but the fact that he hadn't realized it sooner was bothering him. His father's words must be right, and from an efficiency standpoint, it would be strange to hide something like a secret manual, so why hadn't he doubted that a wondrous secret technique would be written in it?
Demian was belatedly wondering.
“Did you expect all of this, Professor? That our family's secret manual wouldn't be so great……”
“I wasn't sure.”
Abel said, shrugging his shoulders.
“Didn't I tell you? If your father is a true knight, you wouldn't be able to inherit what you want. It seems your father was a true knight.”
“That's right. My father was a true knight……”
Am I……,
a true knight?
Demian asked so.
It was a question to Abel, and also a question to himself.
“I thought that one who is aloof and alone is a true knight. It was written so in my favorite knightly literature. But my thoughts have changed a little now.”
There is a limit to being strong alone……,
I started to think that.
“No matter how strong a holy knight I become, I cannot protect everything.”
Demian thought of Portsmouth.
He had said it might be abandoned. A small and unimportant town like Portsmouth. Because there is a limit to operating the military forces.
He thought that was right. Not only a backward town like Portsmouth, but also the slums of the capital. He was convinced that in this world, there were places strictly designated as important and unimportant, and that there were lands that were abandoned according to their importance.
“That's why everyone has to become strong.”
“That's probably right.”
Abel said in a silent tone.
“At one time, I also had a similar thought.”
I thought I could become sublime if I handled it all alone.
I still wish that were the case. I think my mind would be a little more at ease then. But it's just a delusion. There's no way everything can be solved with the sacrifice of one person.
That's just a fairy tale.
Abel muttered so.
“Demian, do you know the feeling of losing a comrade?”
“……A comrade?”
“I have lost a comrade. I have lost quite a number of comrades. There was a time when I kept looking for the reason in myself.”
The faces of his old comrades flashed through Abel's mind.
The four comrades who had been the owners of Abel's gear. The wizard Leon Baibars, the inspector Vanessa Spencer, the strategist Maurice de Olfrange, the saintess Ion Blanche. There was a time when he had thought that all their deaths were because of him.
Is it different now? Abel thought that it wasn't different. He scoffed that he had lived until now, engulfed in a long-standing self-reproach. But he had come to realize that such a thought was not right.
“If my comrades knew that I had such a thought, they would certainly not stand still.”
“A comrade……”
Demian swept back his hair.
It still felt unfamiliar. Because for Demian, a comrade had never existed. Even the students in Abel's class were just friends to Demian, not comrades. If he had to say, they were children he wanted to protect by going ahead of them.
The only thing that came to mind through the word 'comrade' was something ominous. Like the death of a comrade, the sacrifice of a comrade, the betrayal of a comrade.
Ah, is that so.
Demian thought, laughing hollowly.
“Professor Argento, I think I'm a little lonely.”
Because I've never thought of having a comrade.
That's why I believed I could be aloof.
I have always thought that a knight must act alone to have dignity.
“Isn't it ridiculous? Even if you have a comrade, you can be aloof enough.”
Actually, I think I was a little scared.
Of having a comrade…….
Demian muttered so.
“Why were you afraid of having a comrade?”
“Because I was always ahead. When it came to swordsmanship, I had never properly trained with my peers. It changed a little after I entered CIAR, but even so, most of the classes were not helpful to me. That must have been why.”
There are no peers who have reached a level where I can trust them with my back.
So there are no comrades either. Because I have thought so,
in the end, I became afraid. Of showing my back to those who are behind me.
“……Thinking about it now, I think that's what it was.”
“So that was it. Your swordsmanship skills are certainly outstanding.”
Abel's hand on Demian's head.
Abel thought for a moment with a blank expression, then opened his mouth with a faint smile.
“But it's fine since your other parts are lacking.”
You break windows,
you climb the outer walls of buildings, and,
you are always bothering Ernst.
“So you will have to entrust your back to others a lot from now on. Don't just talk about your back in terms of swordsmanship.”
“Are my other parts that lacking?”
“If you ask Ernst, he will kindly answer you.”
“……That's right. He is always kind to me.”
Demian lowered his head.
He mulled over his thoughts. He had revered chivalry to become an aloof knight, but it seemed cracks were spreading more and more. Was knightly literature just a story filled with romance? Before, should the romance imposed on a knight be dismissed as something bad?
“Professor Argento.”
And so, Demian decided to ask.
To the teacher who had the most bleak conviction, with no romance to be found.
“What is your conviction, Professor?”
To Demian's question, Abel answered concisely.
“I can no longer put it into words.”
* * *
At the same time, on the top floor of the Orléans family villa.
Konstanze was lying on the bed. Konstanze's complexion, covered by the light of the oil lamp, was ultimately pale. But she was not dead. Konstanze opened her eyes slightly and stared at Iris, who was sitting by the bed. Iris was holding Konstanze's hand.
“I……, ris……”
Konstanze's lips opened and a hoarse voice came out.
Iris was listening quietly. The wounds that had spread from Konstanze's body were being transferred to Iris.
“I……, don't want to……”
Yes, that must be it.
Iris thought, with her eyes gently closed.
What was so unpleasant? She could tell without asking. She was feeling Konstanze's pain, transferred to her body. Konstanze no longer wanted to live.
“Now……, I want to, stop.”
“Are you sure, Stanzi?”
Iris opened her mouth with a calm expression.
“Extreme pain eats away at the mind. You scream to be killed because it hurts so much. But are you really screaming because you want to die, or are you screaming because you want to live?”
It's a really difficult problem.
It would be hard for me to make a decision.
Iris muttered so.
‘But perhaps…….’
Around the bed, the magitek devices installed to replace Konstanze's internal organs were unusual. They were all being overused to the point of overload, keeping Konstanze alive. At this rate, it wouldn't be strange if Konstanze died tomorrow.
‘Yes. There isn't much time left.’
In the first place, her body was being kept alive miraculously.
The fact that Konstanze had been alive until now was only thanks to Iris.
If she hadn't transferred the wounds from time to time and mobilized countless spells and magitek devices, she would have stopped breathing long ago.
“I……”
But, she didn't want to hear it.
“……want to, meet.”
She didn't want to listen.
“My……, dolls.”
Haa.
Iris let out a faint breath.
Konstanze was dying because she had failed to cast her private spell. In other words, Konstanze's dolls had killed Konstanze. And yet you want to see the dolls. I really can't understand.
“……Please, I beg you……”
“Those dolls made you like this. They are not your dolls. They are the dolls that left you. The dolls don't even know that you exist. They are just living, believing that they are you. Is that alright? Do you really want to meet them?”
Konstanze didn't answer.
She just opened her bloodshot eyes wide and her eyes reddened.
Right, you are so despicable. To come out like that.
Iris thought, sweeping back her hair.
“Alright, Stanzi.”
It's a promise.
I'll let you meet them, she said.
Iris muttered to Konstanze.
“But I can't compromise on this.”
Iris carefully lowered her head, and,
“If your doll is sad to see you……”
she whispered in a cold voice into Konstanze's ear.
“……I think it would be really hard for me to bear.”