novelraw Chapter 79 : Becoming Accustomed to War
Chapter 79 : Becoming Accustomed to War
Chapter 79: Becoming Accustomed to War
Robin’s eyes, as he observed Kel, took on a curious gleam.
The blade, not fierce but gently curving as it wrapped around, brushed past above his head.
When he lifted his head to counterattack.
Kel had already lightly retreated backward.
“Did you react to that?”
“You’re quite fast. But if the speed you just showed is all you’ve got, I’ll win.”
Robin put strength into his feet and sprang his body forward.
His body, lightened after the battle with the Demon Tribe, reached Kel’s immediate vicinity in an instant.
Whooong!
As he watched the sword cleave through empty air, the corners of Kel’s mouth curled upward.
After attacking, there was bound to be an opening.
Kel slashed his curved blade toward Robin’s now-exposed upper body.
Clang!
At some point, Robin had already recovered his sword and blocked it in a defensive stance.
After several more clashes of blades, Kel widened the distance.
“So you’re not just some nobody, huh.”
“I may not look it, but I’m confident in my swordsmanship.”
“Good. Then I’ll raise the speed a bit more.”
Kel did not dash in like before.
He lightly shifted his steps and swung the curved blade with a snap of his wrist.
Watching him, Robin thought of Mirian.
‘That’s the swordsmanship she uses. Do mercenaries share their techniques?’
Mirian, whom he glanced at, winked at Robin.
It seemed there really was something between her and the mercenary named Kel.
Whatever questions he had could be answered after the sparring ended.
He cast aside his stray thoughts and focused on the mercenary before him.
Swish!
The curved blade slipped through the gaps in Robin’s defensive stance.
It was a harmony achieved by Kel’s flexibility and the characteristics of the curved blade.
An irregular movement capable of creating openings.
However, such motions usually left the next stance disordered and vulnerable.
Robin aimed for him and extended his sword, but Kel’s curved blade had already returned to its position.
As if it were returning Robin’s response right back at him.
Kel’s curved blade gradually became faster.
Simple swings transformed into something like a dance.
Smiling, he spoke.
“If this is all you can show me, I’ll win.”
“Are you throwing my words back at me?”
Robin’s hands gradually grew busier as well.
The confident look on Kel’s face, certain of victory, slowly stiffened.
The speed of the curved blade had not slowed.
Just as Kel intended, it was steadily increasing.
And yet, it still could not reach Robin.
The opponent was not merely dodging.
He was redirecting the path of the curved blade one by one.
He deflected it simply by placing his sword against it.
Seeing this, Torgen and Mirian expressed their admiration.
“Every time I see him, that Robin kid gets stronger.”
“It’s natural talent. And he’s a kid who loves training.”
When all of Kel’s attacks were blocked, he ground his teeth.
It contrasted sharply with Robin, who did not lose his composure.
“I’ll admit it. You’re strong.”
“Thanks for the compliment.”
“But can you handle this as well?”
Kkaang!
He tried to deflect Kel’s attack, but the blade that suddenly sped up pushed Robin back.
A buzzing vibration traveled along the trembling sword, sending a sharp tingling through his hand.
‘What is this? Does he still have more to spare?’
Step.
One step.
When Kel took one step forward, Robin retreated two steps.
His instincts judged that he needed time to assess.
Centered on Kel, the heavy air thickened oppressively.
A sensation like being poked repeatedly with an awl.
He could not forget this feeling.
Killing intent.
Even without words, he could feel the resolve to kill.
If that were all, there would be no need to retreat.
This level of killing intent was something he could endure.
The anomaly lay in Kel’s sword.
‘No way… Fighting Spirit?’
No.
It felt different from the Fighting Spirit Theodric had taught him.
Right now, Kel’s sword gleamed with murderous intent.
It was a craving to absolutely kill Robin.
That will coiled around the blade and aimed for Robin’s neck.
The distance between them was not one where blades could reach.
And yet, Robin raised his sword.
Hoo.
There was no metallic clang of sword meeting sword.
A shock struck down as if something invisible had come crashing.
It was not something he could not withstand.
It was not an overwhelmingly strong pressure.
Even so, Robin could not control his body and burst toward Kel.
‘I have to erase him.’
Just as the tip of his sword was about to pierce Kel’s neck.
Taeng!
An axe blocked Robin’s sword.
“Torgen.”
“The sparring ends here.”
When Torgen smacked the top of Kel’s head, the oppressive air scattered.
Kel, clutching his head with a stinging expression, smiled and offered a handshake.
“You really are strong. That was a good spar.”
“Ah… yes.”
Before he knew it, he took his hand and exchanged a handshake.
Kel said he would wash the dishes and left the campsite carrying the bowls.
Looking around, the mercenaries all found their own tasks and began moving.
Mirian slapped Robin’s back as he stood there staring blankly.
“So, what do you think. Not a bad level, right?”
“Uh, yeah. But more than that, what was that just now? Was that really the killing intent I know?”
“That’s right. Kel handles killing intent well.”
“It was sparring. There was no need to bring out killing intent. I almost ended up…….”
Mirian poked Robin’s cheek with her finger.
“Come with me. Let’s take a short walk. Imelda! I’m borrowing Robin for a bit!”
Imelda also did not like what had just happened, but she nodded.
Mirian pushed Robin’s back and headed somewhere.
Beside Imelda, watching the two move away, Torgen spoke.
“It’s his first time on a battlefield, so he wouldn’t understand.”
“It’s not normal to resolve to kill someone during sparring.”
“That’s right. It’s not normal.”
Torgen recalled the sparring from moments ago and smiled bitterly.
The place Robin followed Mirian to was an open field within the garrison where few people passed.
Even the soldiers keeping watch from the lookout tower did not cast their eyes there.
Rough stone markers and wooden boards were scattered in disorder.
“What is this place?”
“A cemetery. There must be thousands of corpses buried under here.”
Mirian stopped walking and squatted down in front of one gravestone.
On the gravestone were written the name of the dead person and the date of death.
There were no last words or epitaph-like phrases.
“Our mercenary band fought together with him. He was someone Kel was close to.”
“The date of death is last year.”
Mirian stood up from her spot and moved on to the next gravestone.
Each time she recited names while honoring the souls of five or six people, her voice sank lower.
“Robin, do you know why I brought you here?”
“Because death is always close, so we should always be careful… is that what you’re trying to say?”
“That’s true as well, but I wanted to tell you this. War changes people.”
“People change even without war.”
At Robin’s reply, Mirian let out a small snort of laughter.
She continued speaking as she strolled between the gravestones.
“When Kel released his killing intent. No one in our mercenary band tried to stop him. Even if you had died, they would’ve just thought, ‘so be it.’”
“What? Don’t joke. Torgen stepped in at the end. If it hadn’t been Torgen, you would’ve stepped in, sis.”
“And if Torgen and I hadn’t been there?”
Robin was left speechless.
‘Wouldn’t one of us, either me or Kel, have died?’
“It’s not just our mercenary band. When people keep killing others, even those who trembled at first gradually grow numb. When you think you’ve grown accustomed to killing and being killed, that’s when the real ordeal comes. When someone close to you dies.”
Mirian’s words were contradictory.
To kill someone, it was natural to steel oneself for one’s own death as well.
This was a battlefield, after all.
A place where comrades who had been laughing and chatting together moments ago could die as part of everyday life.
Even so, Robin could guess what Mirian was trying to say.
There were times when the head accepted something as natural, but the heart could not.
Robin recalled the moment when Imelda had almost died.
Just thinking about it again made him dizzy.
“When those ordeals come again and again, some people lose the meaning of life. Kel is one of them. He trains every day solely to repay death with death.”
“From what I saw, he uses the same swordsmanship as you.”
“That’s right. I taught him. How to handle killing intent, too.”
“…If you taught Kel, then you must be even better at handling killing intent than him, right?”
Mirian smiled awkwardly.
That expression felt unfamiliar.
As Robin was about to ask what had happened to her, Mirian spoke first.
“Don’t look at me like that. I haven’t had a relapse of madness. If anything, as time goes on, I become more certain. Confident that I can draw it out and use it as much as I want, when I need to.”
“…Did you finish avenging your younger sibling?”
“I wrapped it up well. Thanks to that, I can sleep soundly with my legs stretched out.”
‘So that was it.’
It was news he couldn’t have known even through letters.
Mirian had told him everything else, but she never mentioned her personal revenge.
Robin hadn’t pried deeply either.
“Anyway, what I want to say is don’t get used to killing. You can say it’s fine for veterans like me and Torgen, but look at the others. They’re not in their right minds. In the first place, it’s best not to come to a battlefield like this at all.”
The horrors of war.
Spoken through the bitter words of those intoxicated by killing.
That was what Mirian was talking about.
Her concern for Robin was evident, but Robin’s thoughts were different.
On the way here, his hands had already been stained with a great deal of blood.
Mirian wouldn’t be unaware of that.
And yet she was still telling him.
Don’t get used to killing.
“It feels a bit strange seeing you after so long. If you stay on the battlefield for a long time, do you gain some kind of enlightenment or something?”
“If that counts as enlightenment, then I suppose it is.”
“You tell me not to kill, but why do you keep doing it, sis? You could stop too.”
“When the war ends, I’ll wash my hands of it. I’m only sticking around because leaving halfway feels wrong.”
“Really?”
“Really. Unlike the others, I have somewhere to go back to.”
Mirian lightly pinched Robin’s cheek.
“I’m not an idle person, you know. I’ve become a knight candidate. Once I receive my investiture, I’ll head to the uncharted lands as soon as I fulfill my duties.”
“Who said anything about that. I’m talking about a place of emotional refuge. Whether or not you have something precious left to support your life matters.”
“Don’t the other mercenaries have families?”
“Most of them cut ties, or lost their families during the war. Ordinary people don’t become mercenaries.”
Mirian stretched and tugged at Robin’s face as if playing with a toy.
Looking at his soft cheeks, she snickered repeatedly.
It was always like this.
Whenever they met about once a year, she would tease him while praising how much taller he’d grown.
“So that’s all you brought me here for? To explain why Kel did that, and to tell me to refrain from killing?”
“Yeah. And one more thing.”
Mirian slipped out between the gravestones and began to speak.
“Me, Torgen, and our entire mercenary band will be heading to the battlefield soon. They say the operation will end within three days, but I think it might take longer than that.”
“I wanted to greet the captain and the others properly, but I guess it’ll be late.”
“Well, yeah. And this is a secret, but…….”
Mirian looked around and whispered into Robin’s ear.
“This operation will end the war. There’s talk that Count Wilcock has prepared one huge decisive move.”
“I think I know what it is. I don’t know the details, but he brought in an enormous war weapon, right?”
“You knew? Your information network is impressive.”
“I transported it.”
When Robin briefly explained what had happened, Mirian’s eyes widened.
“Our little brother was quite capable, huh?”
“I’m seventeen. For a man, it’s the age to set forth great ambitions.”
“Goodness, is that so~ What am I supposed to do, you’re so admirable.”
Mirian gave Robin’s backside a few playful smacks and smiled contentedly.
To her, Robin was still just a younger brother with traces of his old self left.
Robin, too, shrank in Mirian’s presence and subtly covered his backside.
“Stop treating me like a kid. Seventeen is an age recognized as an adult, so why am I still treated like this?”
“Our Robin is rebelling now… your sister feels like her heart is being torn apart.”
“What are you even saying. If you’re done talking, let’s go back. Being in a cemetery makes it creepy.”
“Alright, alright. When we get back, you’ll introduce me to your girlfriend, right?”
“Girlfriend?”
“Imelda, of course. Just looking at you two, you seemed to be that kind of relationship.”
“There’s no way that young lady would be like that. Stop talking nonsense and hurry up.”
“How shy.”
Mirian teased Robin from behind as he walked ahead.
With the teasing continuing, Robin reconsidered coming to Runeberg.
‘Should I have gone west instead of north…….’