The Villain Carries the Holy Sword – Chapter 9

Chapter 9: Spring Comes Forth (2)

TL: Jonny16

“If Mother was such a great mercenary, then something doesn’t add up.”

Hero Abel was not one to dismiss evidence that was there in front of his eyes.

However, no matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t understand certain things.

“Why hasn’t she taught me anything? If she had taught me from the beginning……”

Cain answered instead.

According to the ecology of the elves he had learned about through his connections, it was critical to be under the influence of the World Tree when young.

Although half-elves and quarter-elves required less time, it was still long.

The difficulty was that such areas were already taken by existing elves.

In other words, they would not gamble by carelessly teaching skills while struggling to make ends meet.

Abel hid his face and conveyed his misgivings once more.

“Also, such a mother couldn’t have known that the ‘medicine’ Phillip spoke of was fake…….”

Arna was often sick at the time, but she remained cheerful and gradually closed the distance with Cain, approaching him in a friendly manner.

It wouldn’t have been surprising if she’d been a fragile, incompetent cook and an inattentive rural girl.

However, if a mercenary who had endured numerous trials was like this, there had to be a reason for everything.

Cain pointed to Abel.

Arna, who had met them again, responded in the same way.

🔹🔹🔹

“I am going to die soon. I’ve been able to hold on a little longer because I live near the Elven Forest.

“Even if the witch refuses, the World Tree reaches out to half-elves too.”

Arna nodded as she opened her eyes somewhat wider than when Cain had called Abel.

“Young Master Cain knows a lot. Yes. The World Tree cares for even half-breeds like me.”

“Then why have you come here? You could have lived longer if you had stayed there.”

The Elven Forest extended beyond the northern frontier of the Airian Kingdom. 

On the other side, Ethelred County was located on the southernmost shore; therefore, the distance between the two was severe, and World Tree could not influence it.

Arna looked around at Abel, who seemed confused.

“Firstly, it’s because I wanted my son to go out into a slightly bigger world.”

“Phillip spoke in front of my mother. That he had medicine to remove the witch’s curse……”

Abel’s face drooped like a puppy caught in the rain. 

It was because he realized that his efforts to save his mother were ultimately Arna’s sacrifice.

“You knew it was a lie…….”

Abel’s words trailed off.

Tears clouded his vision and obstructed his speech.

Arna put out her delicate, slender fingers and touched Abel’s beautiful brown hair.

“Of course, I knew. I have always said, a mother knows everything.”

“I’ve always lived by sucking my mother’s blood since I was born.”

Thud.

Abel fell to his knees.

He had gritted his teeth and obeyed Phillip’s instructions because he wanted to save Arna.

The reason why half-elves existed while quarter-elves did not.

It was due to the curse of Glumiêm, the Elven Queen, and the Witch of the ‘Unseen Forest’.

A child could be born to an elf and a human.

However, the half-elf born between them was unable to bear children.

This was due to Glumiêm’s curse, which caused the half-elf to die during pregnancy if they were male and the mother if they were female, as they were unable to survive the curse’s effects.

“Abel.”

Arna spoke out to the despairing Abel in a kind tone.

He slowly raised his head to meet his mother Arna’s gaze.

At the time, the green light that only elves could see was faintly reflected in their sunlight-bathed eyes.

“No matter how hard and painful life is━.”

Cain’s eyes widened as he saw Arna speak.

It was the words Abel had spoken immediately before his regression.

“You told me to live my life.”

“Because if you live, you can always rewrite it.”

“But I!”

“Does my son think his mother is that kind?”

Arna laughed briefly, and Abel flinched.

Cain, who was casually holding a teacup, sighed deeply as he noticed his purple eyes reflected in the tea.

‘Those were the words Little Mother spoke to you.’

It was an odd sensation.

He had certainly spent time with this person, but this moment was very different.

Reliving a past he knew little about was more bitter than he had anticipated.

Arna left Abel alone and focused her attention on Cain.

Cain inquired with a sardonic smirk.

“If the first reason was Abel’s future, what was the second?”

“Rather than living for ten years just breathing, I wanted to live even for a moment as myself.”

Cooong━.

Arna’s gaze quickly shifted to him.

A killing intent that would instinctively make even Abel, who was filled with sadness, back away.

A frigid sensation went through her entire body.

‘Flash,’ Arna!

As a half-elf who had spent decades as a mercenary, it was only natural for her to exude such energy.

Despite the fact that she exuded a cruel aura, as if she intended to kill him right away, Cain did not raise an eyebrow and simply looked up at her.

“Keuk━.”

After awhile.

Arna vomited black, congealed blood and swiftly grabbed a towel from the table, catching Abel off guard.

Slurp.

Cain gently took a deep breath of the clear tea.

It felt as invigorating as the air on a battlefield.

Meanwhile, Arna coughed up blood numerous times, prompting Abel to quickly change towels and say something.

“Mother, you should go inside and rest…….”

“I’m speaking with Young Master Cain right now. This is not your place to be.”

Arna was firm.

Despite the fact that she was nearing the end of her life, she appeared to be frantic for her little boy to be able to stand on his own two feet.

Abel was not an idiot; therefore, he felt her heart.

“I could have killed Young Master just now.”

Cain responded with a slow smile.

“You were quite strong.”

At the very least, if Arna, who had just radiated such an aura, possessed a bow, she could have slain even someone like Knight Commander Cloyd.

Arna took some time to process Cain’s unexpected response before continuing to talk.

“I was born in the grasslands, sipping blood and death, and I grew up on the front lines. For me, a forest where everything stopped was hell.”

In Abel’s mind, Arna was a woman who only smiled ambiguously.

However, that was simply Arna’s attempt to protect Abel.

The real Arna was a warrior.

“You fought your own battle in that hell to protect Abel.”

“……!”

She had not expected to encounter somebody in this area who understood her own struggle.

Especially if it was Cain.

Her heart lightened slightly as she met and spoke with a like spirit.

“But it seems that the Young Master before me will now be able to take care of my son well enough.”

Abel looked at Arna and Cain, who were seated opposite each other.

The two of them continued their chat as if Abel, the individual in question, was not present.

“You must have seen me for the first time today, so what makes you believe that?”

Thud.

Arna raised her pointer finger to her pale nose.

“Because there’s a smell on Young Master that even the scent of Joachim herb can’t completely hide.”

“I guess I didn’t wash enough this morning.”

“Do you think the smell of blood can be washed away?”

“…….”

Cain did not respond.

He set down his teacup and simply looked at Arna.

For the time being, Cain’s gaze was directed at ‘Flash’ rather than Arna, the ‘Little Mother’.

Arna’s lips curled up as well.

Her face was the same as when she was a mercenary who sold her death for money.

“You’ve got a good nose. You should avoid those who smell of blood.”

“If you had just shown me kindness, I would not have said such things to Young Master. Perhaps you would have simply seen the face of a nice country girl.”

Arna had been like this before.

She would only accept the toxic whiskey that Cain occasionally brought her to alleviate her suffering.

“But if you are a warrior before me, I would like to make a deal with you.”

“What will you give me?”

“Abel.”

She used her son as a negotiating chip.

“Not because he is my son, but because this guy is truly brilliant. If you raise him properly, he will become a decent sword.”

“I agree, but━.”

Cain looked at Abel.

Abel’s countenance was dismal, as if he grasped the frigid situation intellectually but not emotionally.

He gave him a brief glance before returning his attention to Arna.

“He was bound to end up in my hands eventually. It’s only a matter of time.”

After Arna’s death, the present Abel would have only Cain to rely on.

In other words, he was ineffective as a bargaining chip.

Grin━.

She smiled even more brightly.

It was an expression of confidence in Cain’s cold calculation.

“Then let me add one more thing. Which one do you want, Ross or McLoud?”

Arna revealed the names of the two marquises of the Airian Kingdom.

Cain was astonished that she had given them as negotiating chips for something he hadn’t even considered, but he inquired gently.

“Assassination?”

“They may be marquises on the Airian Peninsula, but on the continent, they’re nothing more than kittens.”

‘Flash’, equipped with a bow and ready to die, would be enough to take down one of the marquises.

She had revealed her strongest card.

She was convinced that if he was the heir of Ethelred, who had been swayed by Ross Marquis’ plots, he would be unable to turn down this offer.

Cain did not speak straight at first, instead touching the empty cup several times.

It appeared that he was waiting for something.

So after a very short time,.

Knock, knock.

“Young Master Cain, it’s Cloyd.”

A low voice echoed from outside the office.

Given the previous footsteps he had heard, there must have been at least ten individuals standing there.

Cain asked for permission from Arna and Abel with a nod and said.

“Come in.”

Creak━.

The door opened with an unsettling sound, unlike before.

Commander Cloyd wore a stern expression.

Behind him, two young knights, their limbs shackled, were being carried in like swine to the slaughter.

“Ugh! Oh, ugh!”

They struggled and screamed, but they couldn’t get away from the gags in their mouths and the other knights’ powerful hands around their limbs.

Cloyd was ready to finish his report when he saw Arna and Abel and hesitated briefly.

“I’ll come back later.”

“Just do it.”

He frowned for a moment, but then he continued speaking at Cain’s gaze.

“I located the informants you informed me about. How I discovered them…”

Cloyd, on the other hand, was interrupted during his report.

Cain reached for his rapier as soon as his mouth opened.

Whaaah━!

He flung it while sitting down.

Puck━ thud.

It soared like an arrow, piercing the heads of the two tied-up knights.

“You found the little rats well.”

Cain’s praise.

“……Do you still doubt us?”

Cloyd asked back.

The Knights had previously ignored Cain’s plea. Cain knew why they kept their distance from him.

As a result, the Knights attempted to acquire Cain’s recognition and trust by detailing who they were, their link with Ross Marquis, and how they had discovered them.

However, Cain’s response was unexpected.

He spoke as if it were a given, as if he were presenting something simple.

“My knights said so, so I have to believe them.”

‘My’ knights.

There was a resonance to those words.

It was enough to remind the other knights who were holding the dead knights, as well as to cause ripples in Cloyd’s heart, who had always wanted to stay in the same place.

Cain waved his hand, signaling for them to leave.

“When you leave, tell them to clean up the blood in the office. Just leave the bodies for disposal.”

“Yes━!”

The knights shouted their allegiance.

Cloyd responded after looking into Cain’s apathetic purple eyes.

“Yes, Lord Ethelred.”

Cloyd now recognizes Cain as the master of Ethelred County, if not his personal master.

The knights gazed at Cloyd.

Cloyd turned around without changing his demeanor, and the knights exchanged glances before following him, dragging the two corpses with them.

An execution that ended in an instant.

The knights’ faltering loyalties.

Arna opened her lips as she saw the scarlet blood trail left by the corpses being dragged over the floor.

“Young Master……. Who are you?”

“There’s only one thing I’ll tell you now.”

Cain shouted directly down the passage.

“Cloyd!”

The knights, who had been walking down the passage, paused and turned around.

Click━.

Cloyd bent his head slightly, as if awaiting orders.

“Starting tomorrow, teach Abel about his father’s sword.”

Cloyd, Arna, and even Abel, who had been standing motionless, were startled by Cain’s unexpected statements and stared at him.

Behind him.

The sunlight is coming in through the window.

Cain, the black-haired man seated in the chair, smiled sweetly and spoke.

“You inquired who I am. I’m not someone who will make a ‘deal’ with Little Mother.”

Cain declined Arna’s offer, which she had made by putting her life on the line.