Chapter 8: Spring Comes Forth (1)
TL: Jonny16
The first hero, they say.
Sure, there aren’t many stories about that guy.
So much so that it’s difficult to know what is real.
It is easier to conceal the truth than to disguise it.
Since you’ve come looking for me, let me tell you one thing.
The First Hero could not communicate in our language. That is why he could only say nine words to the gods at first.
What are they?
Passive, Active, and Ultimate.
━The Confession of a certain Sage
Thud━.
The knights’ footsteps are uniform.
Their military discipline is so strict that they resemble new recruits who have just joined the Order.
Perhaps they’re accomplices who committed the same crime.
Thud━.
Rain-soaked ground.
Thud.
Their shoes were drenched with blood.
Nothing can stop their march.
Cain, the successor of Ethelred, didn’t stop them.
“Cloyd.”
Cloyd, the knights’ commander, steps forward in response to Cain’s request.
“Yes.”
“I’ll give you three days.”
Cain stops walking, as do the Ethelred knights, who had been following their leader blindly like sheep.
Then Cain turns around.
The knights who meet Cain’s purple gaze flinch uncontrollably.
Among the knights, there are those who are strong enough to fight on equal footing.
However, Cain’s subtle pressure and terrifyingly dark and acute murdering purpose cause them to feel this way.
“Including you, none of you can be called knights of Ethelred.”
“We have sworn our loyalty to the Lord Count Edmund!”
One of the knights increases their voice.
Cain nods immediately.
“Yes. That is it. You are the knights of Count Edmund. Not knights from the House of Ethelred Count.”
“Isn’t it the same thing? When the count returns…”
Cain’s violet eyes suddenly flashed with killing intent.
The knight, who was ready to open his mouth, reflexively pulls back.
“If you want to dwell in the past like that, just open your mouth again. I’ll make sure you’re buried in the past forever.”
Overwhelming.
One word. Two words.
The longer Cain speaks, the more powerful his aura gets, forcing the Ethelred knights to fear.
“There will undoubtedly be a traitor among you. A rat will inform the Marquis that the 〈Los de Kaerot〉, who ‘tripped and fell’, was actually killed.”
“That’s impossible━.”
“Is it?”
Cloyd, who was ready to argue, cuts himself off as Cain’s remarks come in.
He can’t force himself to say anything else; he just nods and takes a step back.
“I!”
Cain quickly increases his voice.
“I do not trust you!”
“…….”
“And you do not trust me!”
Cain glances around at the Ethelred knights.
Some individuals appear to have considerable authority.
However, none of them are someone Cain recognizes.
The only one is Cloyd, the commander.
But even Cloyd was an enemy because of his incompetence.
“But we are accomplices now.”
Screech━.
Even though dusk approaches, the rain continues to fall heavily.
Rain falls across Cain’s face as he stands in the middle of the road.
This is also true for Ethelred’s knights.
“My father has not been heard from since he entered the dungeon on the orders of the two marquises. And the Marquis of Ross and the Marquis of McLoud are purging five counts to fit their preferences for the next king.”
The overall state of the Airian Kingdom, which most people in the rural fiefdom of Ethelred were unaware of.
Cain, who has returned from the future, informs the knights of Ethelred, who are powerful but naive, the reality.
“The problem is that there are only two princesses in the current royal family. This isn’t some faraway story. It’s a story of the land we’re standing on right now.”
“……!”
“I don’t care whether you side with the marquises or the princesses. Just one thing.”
Crack━!
A massive white lightning bolt crashes down at the count’s castle in the distance, illuminating the landscape once more.
In the midst of it, the purple eyes retain their light and declare calmly.
“Don’t become my enemy. Unless you want my sword in your head.”
Cain turns around.
He has spoken everything he wanted to say.
He has low expectations for Ethelred’s weak-minded knights.
Just.
‘Just as I was given another chance, I will offer you one too. Only one.’
Nonetheless, they are followers of Edmund, the kingdom’s strongest swordsman, thus their foundation is not wholly broken.
“Yes, My lord.”
Vanderbilt, an elderly knight, is the first to kneel in the dirt and offer his loyalty.
Thud.
Next up is Abel, who moves as if he has been reborn, his pulse thumping in his chest.
Thud, Thud, Thud!
The knights greet the successor to Ethelred, who has changed overnight.
Just one person.
Cloyd stands there foolishly, watching Cain’s back as he returns to the castle.
The present is dismal, with dark clouds looming overhead.
Thud.
“Lord Count. It appears like winter is finally passing.”
He finally kneels down.
🔹🔹🔹
Since Cain’s return.
A storm has started to blow through the count’s family.
The knights who had been watching Cain from across the river as if he were a fire began to follow him, and Abel, who had expected to take Cain’s succession rights, prostrated himself before him.
Naturally, the servants and officials who had been inspired by the Marquis of Ross began to conceal themselves.
So as not to be detected by Cain’s purple eyes, which had transformed overnight.
But no one knew why there were more people wearing gloves or limping since Cain changed.
Except for themselves.
Several days later,.
Rattle━.
The door to the study was huge and sturdy.
As a result, when it was opened, it made a lot of noise, and the finely dressed Abel and pale-faced Arna stood in front of it.
“B, Brother……”
Abel tentatively calls out to Cain, who is sitting in the study.
“Okay, come in. Please come in, little mother.”
Arna is Abel’s birth mother.
Her eyes widened slightly.
She had heard that Cain had fully accepted his half-brother, Abel, into his heart.
She had never expected Cain, the eldest son of a noble family, to accept her as his mother.
A tiny table in the study.
Next to it was a rapier.
Cain pours tea for the two of them while tilting the prepared teapot.
A distinct aroma spreads and reaches their noses.
“It’s tea brewed with Joachim herb. It will relieve the pain as much as a strong alcohol.”
“……!”
“The chamberlain brought it from a distant land, so please feel free to drink it, Little Mother.”
Abel looked at Cain with admiration.
It had only been a few days since he had confided his worries about his mother, and he liked this “brother” who had prepared so much for her.
He felt as though he had a real brother.
“Joachim herbs must have been quite expensive…….”
Arna delicately holds the teacup and looks into Cain’s eyes.
Her light golden hair that resembles lemons.
Her eyes are brown, just like Abel’s, but when exposed to light, they occasionally turn green like leaves.
Her immaculate white skin and gentle contours make her as stunning as a fairy.
However, the sunken cheekbones and sunken eyes indicate that the ‘witch’s curse’ that had been licking Arna’s heels is still active.
“The chamberlain said that he ‘absolutely’ wanted to buy it with his own money.”
Slurp━.
Cain took a drink of his herbal tea.
Abel, eager to follow Cain in any way he could, hurriedly drank it.
Arna, on the other hand, holds the teacup but does not touch it to her lips.
She sniffs the delicious perfume before looking up at Cain.
She also knows the chamberlain.
He was a thin, lanky guy who always scanned her with unpleasant eyes.
A guy who would act like he was riding on the back of a lion even when Count Edmund wasn’t present.
She couldn’t believe such a selfish man would buy herbs with his own money.
“It’s not poisoned.”
Cain said to Arna, who paused, and she softened her sharp gaze, smiling as if she knew nothing.
“My apologies, Young Master.”
“Are you suspicious of the chamberlain’s ‘goodwill’?”
Cain elevates the right corner of his mouth. It’s as if he hoped to be asked.
Arna looks at Abel, who, despite his size, is still a child, and responds.
“Yes.”
“I sliced off one of his fingers. He screamed. Then I chopped off the next one. He then told me about the kickback he received from the Marquis.
“That’s just like the chamberlain.”
Arna responds too quietly.
“And I told him that he could either vomit up the bribe and die or buy herbs with it. I didn’t even say I would spare his life, but he chose the latter.”
Slurp━.
Cain continues to sip his tea happily.
“Could it be that the reason why so many people have been wearing gloves lately…….. Hiccup?”
Abel, on the other hand, has stopped speaking without realizing it and is hiccuping during the two’s deadly conversation.
“If that’s the case, I’ll be happy to drink it.”
Arna eventually sips her tea.
Whether it’s worth the high price or not, the ache that had been ringing from the depths of her bones appears to have subsided a little.
“Little Mother.”
Cain sets down his half-drunk teacup and called Arna.
Arna smiles at him, fatigued from the curse’s itching on her nerves.
“Yes, Young Master━.”
Sheeeeeeeet━!
Before she could finish speaking.
Cain grasps his rapier and thrusts it through Arna’s head.
There was no killing intent.
There was no warning.
However, Abel, like a genius, reacted quickly.
He throws the teacup away in one motion and grabs the fork in front of him, reflexively reaching out to defend Arna.
Ching━!
The silver fork and Cain’s rapier collide, sending sparks flying.
Abel’s visage changes in an instant as the blade comes to a stop.
He looks at Cain with teary eyes, as if he has been deceived.
“Why!”
Click━.
“Look.”
Abel’s thinking seems strangely at ease with Cain’s tone, which is unchanged from before.
He turns his head in the opposite direction in response to his signal.
When Abel sees the extended silver rapier, his instincts tell him to attack.
He realized that Cain hadn’t intended to pierce Arna completely.
And.
Slurp.
Something seemed wrong.
She doesn’t care about the rapier in front of her nose.
His mother, who was about to have her head pierced by the rapier, continued drinking her tea as if nothing had happened.
“━That’s.”
Arna set down her empty teacup and resumed her stopped statement.
“How did you know?”
As she does so, she pushes Abel’s fork and Cain’s rapier aside as if they were nothing.
Cain obediently puts away his sword.
Arna is a lovely blonde woman who fits in perfectly with Edmund’s extensive studies.
━Who is the best female mercenary? That’s ‘Flash’, of course. If you move a single finger, dozens of arrows will strike you. So it was reassuring to be with her wherever you went. Would you like to hear about it?
Cain was expelled from the Count’s House and became a mercenary on the continent.
While listening to the stories of the renowned mercenaries, he noticed a picture that a middle-aged mercenary carefully removed from his bosom.
In the old, crumpled black-and-white image.
A blonde female mercenary holds the head of a blood-soaked troll with arrows stuck in its eyes like petals.
It was Arna.
‘Even Abel didn’t know about this.’
The adult Abel’s expression, startled when he learned about this when planning with Abel prior to his regression, remains fresh in his consciousness.
Of course, the young Abel in front of him looks precisely the same.
“I found it unusual. Noble women wouldn’t do it, but the father, who is obsessed with swords, encounters a common woman in the midst of a northern expedition? It doesn’t make sense.”
He gently blends truth and deception.
“So I assumed there had to be something about the woman he was fascinated with, and after some investigation, it was revealed. Surprisingly, there aren’t many attractive women among the expeditionary force.
It’s no surprise that a mercenary brought a picture of her as a trophy.
“It must not have been easy, since it’s been almost twenty years, but I commend you, Young Master Cain.”
Arna seems to enjoy the tea, and she tilts the teapot to pour it into her empty teacup.
Her tone of talk is as if she were having tea at a noble’s residence, but the subject is a sword named interrogation.
“And there’s no way there would be two half-elves who could endure the curse of Glumiêm, the Witch of the Forest for decades.”
“Huh?”
Abel asked, his voice deflated.
“You figured it out, too.”
Arna, on the other hand, gives a more enthusiastic nod.
“I’ve found out a lot, but there’s one thing I’m most curious about.”
“I will tell you anything.”
“You must have noticed that Abel is being deceived by Philip, so why have you kept quiet?”
I had a general concept for the solution.
A mother who is extremely chilly and has been under the witch’s spell for decades for Abel’s sake would undoubtedly.
“Because that’s the only way my son can live.”
She would even die for her son.