novelraw Chapter 20 : Zodiac (2)
Chapter 20 : Zodiac (2)
Zodiac (2)
The Bisted family was one of the well-known families in the empire.
It was a house founded long ago by a renowned knight, whose heroic tales were still recognized by people even today.
Currently, the son of that knight served as the head of the family, and with the birth of children to the current head, the lineage continued.
They were nothing less than descendants of a proud hero.
It was only natural that they took pride in this fact.
In other words, the young man standing before Louis was the grandchild of that hero.
No one would dare touch the bloodline of an absolute power.
The boy knew this well, so he straightened his shoulders in front of Louis.
"I thought we'd never see each other again, but isn't it curious to meet like this? And at Zodiac of all places."
"What are you doing here?"
"Do you know of the Zodiac exhibition? Our house is the star of that event."
Louis understood right away. It was an event for noble families to showcase magitech devices they made.
As a representative of the family, Rejir had come to personally test the magitech device.
"What we made this time is a great sword. Someone like you could never wield such a thing, even if you died and came back to life."
Rejir had taken Louis outside the library to converse more smoothly.
Though Louis wore a face as if he'd chewed on poison, Rejir's own face was bright, like he'd just eaten candy, as he spoke.
"By the way, I heard from my father that you joined the 7th Legion. Seeing those shackles, I guess it's true."
Rejir glanced at the iron restraints on Louis' hands.
"No wonder the library felt tense. People were obviously uneasy seeing someone in shackles reading there. But why are you here?"
Soldiers of the 7th Legion weren't allowed outside recklessly.
That was common knowledge, even among ordinary folk, nobility aside.
"I'm on leave. Exactly five days."
"Leave for five days? That's a reward only granted for distinguished service recognized even by the corps HQ!"
"How do you know so much?"
"Have you forgotten how closely our house is connected to the 7th Legion?"
The Bisted family was in close partnership with the 7th Legion.
It was only natural for its heir, Rejir, to be familiar with the corps.
"I don't understand. It makes no sense for you to have achieved enough to earn such a reward. Did you work some trickery?"
"Trickery?"
Louis snorted in response.
"Is there anything the 7th Legion can't do? Frankly, even asking such a question sounds odd to me."
"What?"
"Aren't you a bit too clueless about the 7th Legion?"
Even fellow soldiers were treated as expendable tools and then discarded.
In such a dog-eat-dog environment, it was laughable to even raise the question of 'trickery'.
"..."
Rejir furrowed his brows at Louis' words.
He disliked how Louis seemed to know better than he did.
"Come to think of it, this is our first time meeting since the noble gathering."
"Yeah. I remember it well."
Rejir recalled the event vividly.
True to his bloodline, he had been trained by the most distinguished sword instructors.
Thanks to this, he had developed skills enough to slay an orc at a young age.
He thought he could never lose to anyone. Yet, it was Louis who had brought him his first defeat.
A hero's descendant, professionally trained, was beaten by a boy raised in the comfort of a peaceful domain.
Recalling the disgrace of that day, Rejir ground his teeth.
"The more I think on it, the shittier it feels."
"Feel satisfied now? Did destroying our domain and killing my parents, just because of that, make you feel better?"
Louis spoke with sharp eyes.
Rejir, who had just been filled with anger, twisted his lips at Louis' words.
"Yeah. It felt amazing."
The true nature hidden on Rejir's face revealed itself.
"I never imagined my father would go so far. For me, beating you up would have been enough, but he insisted on attacking your entire domain."
"Then why target the residents? Was hurting me not enough?"
"Why should I care?"
Rejir simply shrugged, as if to say 'So what?'
"Your house embezzled the Imperial Court's funds, didn't it? You deserved to fall!"
"Have you ever considered that the charges were fabricated?"
"Such shameless excuses from a criminal family. Even if it was fabricated, you committed a grave crime in front of me. Do you even know what people said to me after I lost that day?"
Louis could roughly guess.
If a boy who was merely practicing lost to someone said to be elite trained, no one would have anything nice to say.
Of course, it didn't concern Louis.
"Because of you, I lost my instructor's trust! I was completely abandoned and all my friends turned their backs on me! You, who ruined my social life, are a criminal! You belong in the 7th Legion!"
"I don't know what makes you so great,"
Louis responded.
"Great? I'm the heir to the blood of a man who won the war against the demonkin. I'm on a whole different level than filthy lowborn scum like you!"
By bloodline alone, Rejir was above Louis.
That explained why he cared nothing for the deaths of unrelated domain residents.
"And you said you're on leave? Where's the officer who's supposed to be with you?"
No one had accompanied Louis when they met at the library, nor now.
A leave from the 7th Legion wasn't easy to come by.
One needed to achieve great feats against monsters and catch the eyes of officers.
The moment a soldier fell out of favor, leave was impossible, no matter their merit.
Who would volunteer to supervise the leave of a disliked soldier?
Leave without officer supervision was clear desertion—and for 7th Legion soldiers, desertion meant summary execution.
"Frankly, the idea that you're on leave is absurd. You're just twelve! How long could a kid like you last against monsters armed with venom and every kind of deadly weapon?"
In reality, poisonous monsters were common in the demon realm.
Even obtaining antidotes was nearly impossible for soldiers.
Many fell in the field, killed by exposure to toxins despite their skills.
"You deserted, didn't you!"
As Rejir's hostility sharpened, a sword was suddenly at Louis' neck.
In an instant, knights outfitted in black armor stood at Louis' side.
They were the guards protecting their young master, Rejir, from potential threats.
Knights gathering around Rejir aimed their swords at Louis.
"Desertion? Are you kidding me?"
"What?"
When Louis suddenly spoke casually, Rejir scowled.
Such insolence was a grave crime against a noble, but Louis pressed on regardless.
"You know what desertion and leave have in common? They both require skill. You're asking how long I could survive against monsters, implying I'm a total weakling—so do you really think such a loser could possibly sneak out of the unit?"
Of course, regular soldiers had zero chance of successfully deserting.
As long as the barriers existed, it was impossible, even if one died and came back to life.
If you did manage to sneak out, it was because you had real skill.
In short, Rejir's statement was pure fantasy.
"Does desertion look like some joke to you? And yet you're the Bisted family's heir."
"Kill him!"
Blinded by rage, Rejir ordered his men. To him, a 7th Legion soldier was no loss even in death.
The soldiers, assured by this, swung their swords—but Louis caught one soldier's blade.
He was about to counterattack when—
"Stop!!"
Silia suddenly raced over from the building wall, intervening.
Her abrupt appearance stopped the soldiers in their tracks.
"Who are you?!"
"Wait... That insignia!"
The soldiers stared in shock at the mark inscribed on Silia's hand.
That mark signified a 7th Legion officer.
"You're this boy's supervisor?"
"I am Silia, deputy-commander of the 5th fortress, Paruzan, of the 7th Legion."
"I am Rejir Bisted, eldest son of the Bisted family. And you're saying you're a commander?"
Rejir was startled by Silia's rank.
He'd seen many deputy-commanders while following his father among the various corps,
but not a single one as young as Silia.
"You're not lying, it seems."
This was obvious just by the emblem on Silia's uniform.
The silver wolf face was the sign of a 7th Legion Commander.
"Why would a high-ranking officer supervise the leave of a mere soldier?"
"That soldier had personal reasons. I brought him along as a handyman. Do you really think such a scrawny boy earned a reward to go on leave?"
"Now that you mention it—hahahaha! So it really was a lie!"
Rejir laughed boisterously at the thought that Louis had spouted nonsense.
Even seasoned knights found it hard to receive such rewards.
"My apologies. Regardless, I applied a measure that automatically tortures him if he's more than 50 meters away from me."
"But this soldier was extremely rude to me. His crime is too great to let him go."
He was a noble—if Louis had truly misbehaved, he'd have to be executed on the spot by his own hand.
However—
"Of course, he deserves to be beheaded. But it would be a waste to kill him just like this."
"What do you mean?"
What use could there possibly be for such a pathetic shield soldier?
"You're Rejir Bisted of the Bisted family, correct? I heard there's a magitech device exhibition today at Zodiac featuring your family's creation."
"So?"
"How about using this boy as your test subject when you demonstrate your new device?"
Rejir hesitated a moment at Silia's suggestion.
The new magitech device Bisted had created was a magic sword with unmatched efficiency.
Even without aura, it could spew fire and wind, and could slice ordinary swords like tofu.
Recalling this, Rejir grinned wickedly and agreed.
"Fine. Sounds good."
He himself would be the one to test the sword.
Louis seemed ideal as a sacrifice for such a stage.
"What's this about me being a handyman?"
Louis asked, puzzled by Silia's sudden lie.
He'd already figured everything out.
"You were hiding and watching from behind the wall the whole time..."
"Shh!"
Just as Louis said, Silia had been eavesdropping in hiding.
As he tried to say so aloud, Silia quickly covered Louis' mouth.
"For now, just follow my lead quietly."
"You want to use me as an exhibition target?"
"Is that so strange?"
Oh right—she was a 7th Legion officer, and he was just a soldier.
It wouldn't be odd to execute him on the spot.
"But actually, this is a chance for you."
"A chance?"
As Silia leaned in to whisper, Rejir grew suspicious.
"What are you two talking about?"
Reacting sensitively, Silia shoved Louis' face to the ground.
"Didn't I tell you to shut up!!"
She pinned Louis' head and berated him loudly.
"So you claim you did nothing wrong? You think I'll believe such nonsense?"
"But, elder sister, why all of a sudden..."
"I told you not to call me elder sister!!"
Losing her temper halfway, Silia grabbed Louis by the head and slammed him into the ground several times.
Seeing the ferocity on Silia's face, Rejir decided he must have been suspicious for nothing.
.
.
.
In the end, they found themselves near the stage for the exhibition.
Still feeling wronged, Louis complained about Silia's earlier behavior.
"Weren't you over the top back there? Smashing my head so suddenly..."
"Come on. It didn't even hurt, did it? Am I wrong?"
Having seen Louis fight a demon last night, Silia knew how tough he was.
That amount of rough treatment wouldn't actually bother him.
Meanwhile, Rejir stood on stage, giving a demonstration of the magitech device.
It was a magic sword that spouted flame from its tip.
Even Louis had to admit, Rejir's swordplay as he swung the sword for show looked decent.
The spectators and scholars on the judging panel watched with keen interest.
Among the audience, there was an opportunity to wield the sword directly onstage.
Each swing produced a cutting wave, but the barrier around the stage kept everyone safe.
"Listen carefully to what I'm about to say."
For now, only the two of them were in the corner.
Taking the chance, Silia whispered into Louis' ear.
While helping Louis was part of her motive, as a civil servant of the nation she couldn't let Rejir Bisted run free.
"Are you really planning to go ahead?"
"It's fine. In fact, the one at a disadvantage is that Bisted idiot."
Louis found himself intrigued by Silia's whispers.
"Then, I will begin the real demonstration!"
On stage, Rejir called out as if summoning Louis.
And so, with the special sword he'd received from Lord Dexter, Louis stepped onto the stage.