—————————————————————–
Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: Mod7
—————————————————————–
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇
Ping! I dashed like lightning at the sound of bowstrings brushing past my ear. Several arrows immediately struck where I had been standing. After checking the direction they came from, I kicked off a tree and jumped up, predicting which way my opponent would try to escape.
Whoosh- Though Ludwig appeared suddenly before my eyes, he swung his weapon without a moment’s hesitation. His signature explosive swing that had no concept of acceleration.
Seeing this, I drew my weapon and swung to meet his attack. Though I couldn’t accelerate from 0 to 100 instantly like him, my mana-enhanced body could somewhat keep up with his movements.
Clang─!
As the sound of clashing metal rang out widely, Ludwig quickly tossed away his weapon and grabbed me with his bare hands.
With movements so natural it made one wonder if he even thought about it, Ludwig grabbed my wrist like flowing water and immediately twisted it against the joint.
Against this, I used the technique I had learned over the past month. Though still clumsy, I managed to break free of his grip through sheer force.
Breaking his grip, blocking his punch, deflecting his weapon─ I defended against all his attacks nearly perfectly.
Considering how my entire body had been covered in blood and bruises on the first day, this was remarkable progress.
“Enough.”
Swish! I immediately halted my weapon mid-swing at his words. After planting the weapon that had stopped in mid-air into the ground, Ludwig nodded as if satisfied.
“This should be sufficient. Well done. In just a month… you might have real talent.”
“Come on, instructor- calling me a genius worthy of the history books, I’m not that good.”
“…I never said anything like that?”
Looking at me as if dumbfounded, Ludwig seemed to decide it didn’t matter since this was the last time, letting out a hollow laugh before staring blankly at the sky.
A clear sky without a single cloud. The sun beat down intensely as if declaring a new day would dawn from today─
“Ah, perfect weather for dying.”
A month had passed as promised.
The day to kill Ludwig had arrived.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇
Upon returning to the cabin, Ludwig immediately held out a dagger to me as if there wasn’t a moment to waste.
“Here, stab me.”
“…What kind of thing is that to say right after getting back? How heartless.”
“Sentiment? Are you planning to break your promise by getting caught up in such things?”
“No, promises should be kept. But what if I think of more things I want to learn later?”
“I’ve taught you everything. Now it’s time for you to practice on your own.”
“But what if I forget something?”
“…I’ll tell you about a sword guild you can visit in that case. Will that do?”
Ludwig said this while telling me the name of a city. He said there was a guild in that city run by a disciple he had taught long ago. He advised that if I mentioned his name, I could learn his techniques.
However, upon hearing the city’s name, I looked at Ludwig with a hardened expression.
“That city was destroyed recently.”
“…What?”
“You didn’t know?”
At the news of the city’s destruction, Ludwig’s face showed disbelief. I had thought everyone would know since the incident was causing an uproar wherever you went, but…
Thinking back to when we first met- he had been like a homeless man, drunk and being thrown out of a tavern.
A homeless alcoholic would hardly pay attention to others’ conversations. For a homeless person seeking alcohol, the most important thing was drink, followed by money to buy that drink.
“I can’t believe it.”
“It’s true. I have no reason to lie about something like this…”
“…Johan, could we go see that city? I feel I need to confirm this with my own eyes.”
He asked this of me. More precisely, he was asking Marguerite─ but I nodded readily.
Regardless of whether Marguerite agreed or not, I planned to convince her. Because I sensed a will to live from him after hearing about his disciple’s death.
“Alright, please wait a moment. I’ll bring her right away.”
I immediately headed into the cabin to get Marguerite.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇
“…It’s in ruins.”
“That’s what I said.”
Ludwig let out a hollow laugh as he looked at the city. Even for someone who had lived an exceptionally long time for a human, seeing a city destroyed overnight must have been rare.
If such things were common, humanity would have gone extinct long ago. The fact that we hadn’t meant cases like this were actually unusual.
“How did this happen?”
“It was because of a witch.”
“I see. A witch, huh.”
He mulled over the word “witch” while silently staring at the ruined city. As if commemorating him, dark clouds began gathering in the clear sky.
The sunlight that had brilliantly illuminated the earth became completely obscured, and black clouds continued gathering as if rain would pour down any moment.
In this situation, I couldn’t carelessly try to comfort Ludwig.
The witches I had met, like Master and Marguerite, had mostly been favorable to me.
‘Well, there were some crazy ones too…’
But I hadn’t experienced sad events because of witches like Ludwig had. Humans cannot truly empathize with experiences they haven’t had themselves. Pretending to understand at times like this wouldn’t be much comfort.
I just waited silently for him to shake off his wounds. After waiting like this, Ludwig seemed to gather himself and spoke lightly:
“Is that witch dead?”
“Hm? Yes. She’s dead.”
“That’s some consolation at least. I didn’t want to live longer anyway.”
Hearing Ludwig’s words, I wondered if I should have said that, but I hoped he wouldn’t live a meaningless life chasing after a dead witch.
Hadn’t he suffered for far too long already? There was no need to make him live longer and endure more pain.
Yet paradoxically, I also hoped he would live.
“Um… couldn’t they be in another city?”
“It was this city. I may have been a drunk homeless man, but I haven’t forgotten that much.”
“There’s a possibility they moved to another city, or happened to be somewhere else at the time…”
“Either way, those are just unlikely hopes. Johan. Do you want me to live? Or have you suddenly become reluctant to keep your promise? Are you afraid to kill me with your own hands?”
It was neither, yet both at the same time. I wanted him to live, but I also wanted him to find peace.
There was also my modern person’s conservative morality making me hesitant about killing.
Both were things I was reluctant to tell him right now. Wouldn’t it betray his month-long expectations? So I shook my head.
“Then kill me right now, this instant. This works out well. A corpse appearing in a place like this won’t seem too suspicious.”
“…You think so?”
“If you burn it afterward.”
Ludwig said this while throwing me the sword he always carried. Receiving the sword, I drew it with a swoosh and pointed it at him.
Now that the time had truly come to keep the promise, my hands started trembling. Despite all the image training I had done preparing for this moment.
Seeing this, Ludwig smiled slightly and said to me:
“Just use magic. I’ll walk into it.”
Thunk- Ludwig pressed his neck against the tip of the non-magical sword and urged me to use magic.
I squeezed my eyes shut and drew up my mana. Though I hadn’t expected things to end in a place like this, in this way…
“Farewell, instructor─”
“─Stop right there! What do you think you’re doing!”
And at that moment, armored knights blowing whistles came running from the distance. Ludwig let out a sigh as if this was rather unfortunate and looked down at me.
“Don’t hesitate next time.”
The knights who had come running surrounded us and shouted for us to put down our weapons.
Seeing the knights circling while keeping their weapons trained on us, Ludwig smiled slightly and took back the sword from my hand.
“Knights, this is just a toy sword. A toy sword.”
“…What?”
“Look here.”
Ludwig immediately swung the sword he held at his own neck. Though not enough to behead himself, the knights’ eyes went wide seeing the sword bounce off his neck without piercing it when they had expected it to sink into his flesh.
Seeing the knights’ surprise, Ludwig seized the opportunity and continued speaking:
“We were practicing for a play.”
“…Why practice for a play in a place like this?”
“Ah─ Actually, we came from a faraway hometown to perform in this city. But when we arrived, the city was in this state, and the weather’s getting worse─ it’s quite the amusing situation.”
“The city was destroyed how long ago… the people who were here have already moved to other places.”
“…What?”
Ludwig’s eyes sparkled at the knight’s words. Whether he noticed that gleam or not, the knight continued speaking matter-of-factly:
“Quite a few survivors lived through it, most of them moved to the neighboring city. If you want to perform, you should go there…”
“Johan.”
“Yes, instructor.”
Upon hearing the knight’s words, I immediately looked at Marguerite. She nodded in understanding and transported us to the neighboring city.
A moment later, our vision blurred─ and we arrived at the neighboring city.
Landing in a back alley, I asked Ludwig how we would find his disciple.
“How do we find them in such a big city?”
“We need to find Kalos who runs a sword guild. The chances of someone with the same name running the same type of business in the same city aren’t very high…”
Following his words, we went around the city looking for Kalos who ran a sword guild.
As he said, though the city was large, there weren’t many sword guild masters named Kalos.
When we arrived at the guild Kalos ran, Ludwig confirmed Kalos’s face from a distance and nodded with a satisfied expression.
“That’s him. Tell them my name and you can receive training there.”
“…You’re not going to see his face?”
“Do you think saying that will make me have regrets?”
Ludwig let out a slight laugh as if that could never happen. I asked him to prove he really wouldn’t have regrets, and he readily agreed.
“Come to think of it, this is the last time. It wouldn’t be bad to say hello before leaving.”
He seemed to think that since it was the end anyway, it wouldn’t hurt to say hello once. Ludwig entered the guild with me.
And the moment we entered the guild, we frowned at the smell of blood wafting toward us.
“…Blood?”
“What’s this─”
When we headed toward the source of the smell, we saw Kalos collapsed with a hole pierced through his chest, and a woman in holy knight uniform standing there.
Thump-!
A familiar figure. Small stature with golden twin-tails, and that distinctive holy knight uniform coat draped over her shoulders…
“Oh? You’re…”
Hecaterina turned around and looked at me with a smile so wide it seemed her mouth corners would touch her ears.
“Isn’t it Johan?”
The woman who should have died with her head blown off was here.
At the same time, Ludwig charged forward in rage.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇
