novelraw Chapter 23
Chapter 23
Chapter 23
One can master multiple Principles of the Sword.
In the swordsmanship world, where it had long since become accepted doctrine that a single person refines only a single Principle, that was an extraordinarily arrogant claim.
After all, it would mean being capable of wielding a diverse array of sword arts.
That was why, unless one was a considerable master, no one attempted to learn multiple Principles at once.
The biggest reason being that it simply wasn't efficient.
Lowell wiped the amusement from his face and spoke to the Senior Instructor.
"Bring one of the remaining wooden swords."
"......Yes, sir."
The Senior Instructor hurried off and returned with a wooden sword, handing it to Lowell.
Lowell leveled the wooden sword at Feyr.
"Then show me. Go ahead and demonstrate this other Principle you claim to have, as you said."
At Lowell's sharp manner, Feyr quietly took hold of the wooden sword.
And inwardly thought.
'Best not to succeed too cleanly with this Principle.'
Why Lowell had come to find him remained unclear.
But he had said that since Feyr had shown talent in the Dominance Sword, there was no need for him to attend training.
What exactly was his intent in saying there was no need to attend training?
'An excuse to take me away, no doubt.'
Being swayed by Lowell's will right now would be problematic.
He had the goal of reaching the 4th Star Tier right within his grasp.
These training sessions were ultimately the steps toward that.
The reason he had shattered the boulder in the first place was to participate in the other training sessions—so that said everything.
'Either way, best to wrap this up quickly.'
Feyr, wooden sword in hand, moved toward a particular spot.
Every gaze in the room turned to follow him.
The place where his steps came to a halt was where the training wooden dummies stood—the station for training the Swift Sword.
Presently, indifferent to the stares of those around him, Feyr went straight into a draw stance.
"Sseup."
He steadied his breathing.
Thaak—!
The instant he drew the sword from his hip, he slashed through the training wooden dummy.
But the result was not particularly impressive.
"Huh?"
The wooden dummy Feyr had cut stood unharmed.
The trainees watching stirred at the unexpected outcome.
"What's this—acting all high and mighty."
"Talked back to the Head Instructor, and now that slave's in for it."
"Hope they expel him."
Amid the trainees' taunts, the instructors shouted.
"Silence! Who gave you permission to speak?"
"Do you all want to be expelled?"
"Which one of you insects thinks they can run their mouth here?!"
In the disorderly chaos, a voice carrying Mana rang out softly.
"Shh."
The owner of that voice, Lowell, began slowly approaching Feyr.
Lowell, in no hurry, walked forward and grabbed an instructor standing ahead of him by the head.
And then.
Kwang!
Slammed him face-first into the floor.
"Everyone's just so full of energy, aren't they."
As Lowell smiled, the color drained from the instructors' faces in contrast.
The instructor whose head had been driven into the ground merely shuddered.
Lowell grabbed the instructor by the hair and hoisted him up, then hurled him toward the Senior Instructor.
"So full of energy the instructors can't even keep them in line."
The Senior Instructor caught the hurled instructor and stumbled over his words, his face ashen.
"Th-that is........."
At the Senior Instructor's behavior, Lowell quietly raised a finger to his lips.
When the Senior Instructor fell silent at that, Lowell continued evenly.
"If the instructors keep failing to carry out their duties like this, I wonder what use they are. Might as well just discard them."
Lowell stepped in front of Feyr and looked down at him with a slight smile.
"Don't you think?"
Feyr, in response to Lowell's question, simply raised his eyes quietly and met his gaze.
'Nature never changes.'
Was it for nothing that he had been the captain of the Red Eagle Knights—called the Battlefield Cleaners?
In everyday life he was idle and languid, a wholly unremarkable figure, but in moments like these, he was a more terrifying presence than anyone.
That was why he was always counted among the figures those beneath him feared most.
When no answer returned to his question, Lowell gave a short snort and redirected the subject to the result.
"Well, regardless...... you couldn't keep your word in the end, could you? Ah—though don't be too discouraged. There are people who have mastered multiple Principles, after all."
"What do you mean?"
"What?"
Lowell furrowed his brow in confusion, and Feyr smiled faintly and stepped aside by one pace.
"I never failed."
Jjejeok!
At that moment, a line-thin crack ran through the wooden dummy as though drawn by a blade.
The crack appeared exactly where Feyr's single strike had landed.
Yet the wooden dummy did not break apart.
The crack had not gone deep enough for that.
"Ha......!"
Lowell let out a laugh of disbelief at the sight.
Naturally.
Among everyone he had ever laid eyes on, no one with this level of talent existed outside the direct bloodline of the Family.
Lowell asked Feyr as though it couldn't make sense.
"You...... you're not some illegitimate child of the head of the Family, are you?"
"......What?"
At the question, Feyr let slip hostility before he realized it.
Lowell's brow furrowed at the animosity radiating from Feyr.
Realizing too late, Feyr hurriedly smothered the hostility—but it was already one step behind.
'This one...... what is he?'
Why does mentioning the Family head stir such thick hostility?
Could he truly be an illegitimate child?
A question suddenly blossomed in Lowell's mind.
And that question was immediately converted into action.
"Feyr. Follow me to the Head Instructor's Office."
"......Understood."
***
Feyr and Lowell left training behind and headed straight to the Head Instructor's Office.
A brief silence passed between the 2 seated across from each other.
It was Lowell who broke it first.
"You—do you know why I called you in?"
"I don't."
If he were to guess, there were 2 possibilities.
The first was simply that Lowell wanted to torment him; the second was suspicion regarding the hostility Feyr had displayed toward the Family head.
But either way, neither was something he could comfortably put into words out loud.
Feyr maintained his silence, and Lowell began to take the lead in the conversation.
"Let me start with the reason I came to you in the first place."
Saying so, Lowell rose from his seat.
He then unrolled a scroll and began reading its contents aloud.
"To Feyr Beilhart, Trainee of the Crescent Moon Training Ground. The aforementioned trainee is hereby granted the right to participate in the Felid Forest Exploration Operation. The operation will last approximately 1 month, and once participation begins, mid-operation return is not permitted. If you wish to participate in the Exploration Operation, let your blood fall upon the Magic Circle below the scroll. That is all. We trust in your wise decision."
What Lowell had read was an invitation to participate in an Exploration Operation.
‘What kind of madman would offer me—a trainee—a spot in an Exploration Operation?’
It was an entirely incomprehensible offer.
"Where did this come from?"
"......."
Lowell did not answer the question.
He merely fixed his sharpened eyes on Feyr.
'It's simply a message from above, then.'
In the end, if he wanted to know the identity behind it, there was no way other than joining the Exploration Operation.
No—even if he did participate, there was no guarantee the person themselves would show up directly.
Feyr ran his thumb across his lips and sank into thought.
'The Felid Forest.......'
Felid Forest was a woodland located to the southwest of Beilhart.
The forest was so vast in scale that it shared its border with the untamed frontier.
'Even in my past life, I never managed to fully map it out.'
A place like that naturally carried high danger, and exploration was no easy matter.
So was it truly wise to venture into Felid Forest at his current level?
'This is a gamble through and through.'
Participate without knowing who is making this offer or what reward there might be.
Or stay here quietly and continue building his cultivation.
Whichever it was, Feyr stood to lose nothing.
"Is there nothing written regarding the departure date?"
"The scroll's contents end with what I just read."
It seemed whoever was behind this intended to provide that information only after he agreed to participate in the exploration.
Lowell held the scroll and stepped toward Feyr.
"So what will it be?"
Feyr let out a low murmur and stared at the scroll.
'Not yet reaching Sword Expert level does nag at me......'
Still, it was better than letting an opportunity slip away needlessly.
Above all, being able to go to Felid Forest at this point in time was itself a rare thing.
"I will participate in the Exploration Operation."
"Tsk—you'd go, wouldn't you."
Lowell muttered to himself.
But Feyr paid little attention to the mutterings.
He simply drew a cut across his palm and let his blood drip onto the Magic Circle inscribed in the scroll.
The moment the scroll bearing the Magic Circle drank in his blood.
Hwareureuk!
The scroll burst into flame in an instant.
A method of pledging through blood—a Blood Oath.
The moment it was made.
Seuuu—
Black mist enveloped the surroundings, and from within it, a dog began to appear.
At last, the dog formed of mist spoke.
[One week from today. Gather at the Fortress City Rehilicia.]
The dog made of mist said as much and then vanished without a trace.
Not only the dog.
The mist too, having delivered its message, vanished without a trace.
It was Messenger Magic imbued within the scroll.
'......Still, though.'
The messenger took the form of a dog?
As far as Feyr knew, there was only 1 knight order within the Beilhart Family that bore the form of a dog.
The Black Dog Knights.
And their master—the one who had orchestrated this entire affair was......
'Batori Beilhart.'
The daughter of the Family head—a woman who had earned genuine recognition through her own martial prowess alone in a Family with few women.
In his past life, she was an accomplished warrior who had reached no less than the 7th Star Tier—the realm of Sword Master—and by Feyr's memory, she had been on the very cusp of 8th Star Tier.
'The problem was her insufferable personality.'
A personality so perverse it made even Leticia look mild by comparison—as if Leticia's shadow couldn't even reach the tip of her boot.
Put simply, she was a pure psychopath.
Since she had no interest in Family affairs, her siblings had no interest in her either.
And so she was free to do as she pleased, all the more unrestrained.
In a sense, she could be said to be an existence even worse than Mad Demon.
'Why is it that this life keeps tangling me up with unhinged people.'
If this truly meant getting entangled with Batori, he had to break free from the Family as quickly as possible.
One wrong move and he might meet his end even faster than in his past life.
As Feyr was thinking through the gains and losses, Lowell let out a fake cough and made his presence known.
"Ah—I'm sorry. The sight was so unfamiliar I was taken aback for a moment........."
"Taken aback? You looked plenty at ease."
Feyr's eyes twitched at Lowell's sarcastic drawl.
Lowell took note of Feyr's reaction and settled back into his seat.
"By the way, just a moment ago you showed quite the agitated reaction when the Family head came up......"
Lowell continued, slowly and with a leisurely air.
"Why was that? As though you had some kind of grudge."
Feyr, at Lowell's words, smoothed away his emotions as he always did.
And briefly closed his eyes.
Lowell watched Feyr's reaction and parted his lips once more.
"When the Family hasn't neglected you at all."
At that, Feyr opened his mouth.
"That is correct. The Family has neglected nothing on my behalf. But I was forcibly dragged here, wasn't I? A little bit of resentment is unavoidable."
At Feyr's reply, Lowell's eyes went wide.
And then, as though unable to argue with it, he laughed.
"Puhah! I suppose that's true."
Lowell laughed away, apparently greatly amused, before gradually letting the laughter die down and asking Feyr.
"But are you sure it's alright to tell me that?"
No sooner had the words ended than a crushing pressure began pouring off of Lowell.
Even under the dense killing intent of a 6th Star swordsman, Feyr did not bend.
Instead he spoke all the more boldly.
"......Are you going to kill me, then?"
"Better to kill than leave someone alive who might become a future threat to the Family."
"Then do it."
Lowell stared as though he might kill Feyr at any moment.
But.
"......Hah. Enough, enough! I'm not about to poke at something already claimed from above and invite trouble."
Lowell said so and withdrew his killing intent.
And let out a long, heavy sigh.
"Everything's in an uproar because of you. Are you going to take responsibility for that? What do you plan to do about this. Hah........."
He had returned to the Lowell of always—idle and languid.
At the familiar sight of Lowell, Feyr exhaled a long breath, and Lowell snapped irritably.
"Ugh! Don't just stand here being a nuisance—get out! Go do your training already, will you!"
"Understood. Take care."
"Go already!"
Leaving the childish Lowell behind, Feyr stepped out of the Head Instructor's Office.
Left alone like that, Lowell lifted the window curtain and watched Feyr walking outside.
"......Ah, this is getting troublesome."
Lowell muttered softly, narrowing his eyes and gazing up at the sky.