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Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: Wjin
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“I’m back.”
Wilhelm returned to his father in the audience after his match finally concluded.
“You’ve gotten much stronger.”
“Of course.”
It was only natural. The last time his father had seen his skills was three years ago. It would be strange if he hadn’t improved.
‘However…’
He checked his father’s gaze again. An emotionless gaze, as if it was only to be expected. That gaze was no different from the one three years ago. This wasn’t the look he had wanted.
‘What’s the problem?’
He hated that look in his father’s eyes. That’s why he strived, and strived again. So that his father’s gaze towards him would change.
“Your opponent was too weak.”
But his father’s gaze remained unchanged. He had clearly done his best, so what more could he do?
‘Damn it.’
A surge of uncharacteristic anger welled up inside him. It caused him to blurt out to his father,
“Could I beat you now, Father?”
No, it wasn’t a slip of the tongue. It was something he had always wanted to ask his father. The very reason he had poured himself into archery for the past three years was essentially this.
‘I’ve become strong enough thanks to that. So now…’
But his father was firm.
“No.”
“Why?”
“Your archery skills have caught up to just below mine. And thanks to your youth, you have flexibility in battle. But there are still many areas where you are lacking.”
Lacking?
“But I won completely against him.”
“Well, weren’t you just lucky? If his arrow hadn’t missed at the end, if he had properly deflected your arrow… how would the match have turned out?”
“That’s…”
Even he wasn’t sure. Perhaps, as his father said, he had been quite lucky. And there were things that bothered him as well.
‘He definitely, at that time…’
Just as he was about to recall the match with Seo Yoo Rang, his father continued,
“It’s a matter of experience. After graduation, keep accumulating experience without rest. Then you’ll be able to surpass me soon.”
“Huh?”
Just now, his father himself had admitted it. That he would be able to surpass him soon. Surpass his father. Then someday…
“Of course. You are a Rosemound like me, and you started archery earlier than I did, growing up in the best environment. You must surpass me.”
However, his father’s following words were a little different from what he had expected.
“Don’t forget. You are a Rosemound. You must always be the strongest in archery.”
He lowered his head slightly and continued,
“It’s shameful, but I wasn’t the strongest. In the end, I was always ranked below that Lyudmila.”
“What does that have to do with me…?”
“It doesn’t matter whether you inherit my bow or Lyudmila’s. As long as you are the strongest in archery, that’s enough.”
At that moment, a sudden headache struck him. He couldn’t face his father any longer.
“Excuse me, I need some fresh air.”
He hurriedly left the audience. Then, he reached the outer passage of the arena, where there were few people. Stopping there, he caught his breath, his face pale.
‘I…’
Surpassing his father was a given. Being the strongest in archery was enough. Because that was what it meant to be a Rosemound.
‘I… Rosemound…’
He finally understood. Why he felt so disgusted. Why his father’s gaze was always the same.
‘No one expects anything more from me.’
No matter how well he shot, no matter how much he practiced, even if he became the strongest in archery, it could all be summed up in one phrase: Because he was a Rosemound. Just a Rosemound. No one expected anything more from him.
Even…
‘Even I don’t expect anything more from myself.’
His path was already set. There were no other paths; he would just keep moving forward along the predetermined path. It was a terribly dull and monotonous life.
‘Seo Yoo Rang said my constellation didn’t abandon me, but…’
Did his constellation really have expectations for him?
‘Well…’
He had been afraid for a while. Afraid that the gaze of his unseen constellation might be the same as his father’s. But now he seemed to understand.
‘It doesn’t matter whether Seo Yoo Rang’s words were true or false.’
Surely, his constellation’s gaze would have been the same. He hadn’t changed much, whether his constellation was there or not.
All he ever did was practice archery; all he knew was archery. There was no way his constellation wouldn’t have gotten tired of watching him for years.
However…
‘Then what am I supposed to do?’
He couldn’t see any other way out of this path. All he had ever done was archery. Just shut up and keep practicing archery?
‘No.’
It wasn’t that he was complaining about others not having expectations for him. He hated the reality where he, himself, had no expectations for himself.
‘Simply being the strongest in archery isn’t enough.’
He thought of Seo Yoo Rang. He had definitely received that gaze that Wilhelm hadn’t. And actually…
‘It wasn’t a complete victory.’
The last moment of the match with Seo Yoo Rang. He had expected Seo Yoo Rang to charge straight at him. That’s how he had mostly acted in previous mock battles.
‘If he had charged at me then…’
The arrow he had fired would have definitely flown towards Seo Yoo Rang’s vital point. Could Seo Yoo Rang have dodged it?
‘I’m not sure.’
Although he had put a spin on his arrow to counter Seo Yoo Rang’s ability, it hadn’t been a perfect counter. It was just a matter of luck, like the arrow that had hit Seo Yoo Rang’s heart at the end.
‘However…’
For some reason, he felt that Seo Yoo Rang at that moment wouldn’t have let that happen. There was no concrete evidence. But all his senses at that time pointed to it.
‘Just what was that feeling?’
The moment Seo Yoo Rang approached him, even after being hit in the right arm with an arrow, he had felt a strange energy from him.
‘It was like…’
Facing a giant beast. A beast that could break through a huge wall simply by charging into it. He hadn’t even considered the possibility that such a beast would choose to step aside and use a bow instead of charging at him.
‘Then what if he had approached me and deflected my arrow with his bow?’
He suddenly recalled Seo Yoo Rang’s actions in a mock battle. He had used his bow to deflect a sword, though not perfectly. What if what he had shown then wasn’t just a fluke…?
‘No, that couldn’t be.’
Even so, the assumption that he might have tried to deflect his arrow with his bow at that distance was too extreme. Deflecting a spinning arrow at that range would be difficult even for high-ranking swordsmen.
‘But…’
He wondered if it was really a good thing that he had won that way.
‘If I had lost…’
He could have consulted with Seo Yoo Rang. Perhaps… he might have known another path. Of course, there was no basis for that.
‘Is this really unavoidable?’
Even if he inherited Lyudmila’s bow, it wouldn’t change much. It would just be a better bow than the Rosemound family bow, but that was it.
In the end, as his father said, it all came down to becoming the strongest in archery.
‘Seo Yoo Rang…’
No, it wasn’t Seo Yoo Rang. It was the beast he had glimpsed beyond Seo Yoo Rang. It would be impossible to defeat that beast.
But there was no other way. His limit was in the ‘bow,’ and there was no way to overcome it.
‘In the end, I have no choice but to live the life of a damned Rosemound.’
Just as he was about to return to the audience where his father was, a voice called out to him.
“Wilhelm.”
He heard a voice calling him, even though there had been no one around just moments ago. The voice came from right behind him.
‘I didn’t even sense his presence?’
While tracking wasn’t his specialty, he was reasonably good at sensing presences, as it was one of the qualities of an archer.
Of course, he wasn’t able to sense everything, but not noticing someone approaching this close was problematic.
He hurriedly created some distance and turned around.
“Who are you?!”
He saw a man standing where he had been. No, it was a man’s voice, but he wasn’t certain of the person’s gender. The person was wearing a hood shrouded in deep darkness, obscuring their face.
“You are…”
He didn’t sense the man to be particularly strong. But for some reason, an unusual energy emanated from within the man’s robe.
The man introduced himself, “If I say ‘Apostle,’ will you understand?”
“Hmm…”
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In the waiting room of the arena, Yuseora swung ‘Sacred Replicant,’ the sword she had long wielded, in the air.
‘Sky Cutter, Sky Cutter…’
Seo Yoo Rang had told her not to use ‘Sky Cutter,’ but she couldn’t help the way it rolled off her tongue.
A professor in charge of supervising the candidates approached her and said, “It’s almost time to get ready.”
“Yes.”
At her words, Yuseora sheathed her sword. Then, she put on the white cloak that signified her as a candidate.
Come to think of it, she wouldn’t be wearing this cloak for much longer. Once she became a full-fledged hero, she would receive the black cloak symbolizing a hero.
‘Of course, I need to finish this competition first.’
She had practiced intensely with Seo Yoo Rang for the past few weeks to prepare for this competition. According to him, she was the most important factor in this competition.
And…
‘The operation has already begun.’
Elsie was currently carrying out the role of sitting in the audience in Seo Yoo Rang’s place. Moreover, during the preparations for the operation, she had heard about Seo Yoo Rang and Elsie, no, Allen and Ercia.
‘I was a little surprised.’
That both of them had different true identities. She had even doubted her ears when she learned that Elsie’s true identity was Princess Ercia of the Lodreim Kingdom.
Even in today’s match, Elsie had shown herself biting an opponent’s sword with her teeth.
‘That ferocious woman is a princess?’
But when Elsie revealed her original hair color, Yuseora couldn’t help but be convinced. It was an extraordinary, sunlight-like golden blonde.
‘Not that I envied her being a princess, though.’
Her story was utterly tragic. She had lost her royal family to the knights she trusted and fled the kingdom, relying only on her constellation. And she had apparently met Allen while dying.
‘Her circumstances are similar to mine.’
Yuseora, too, had lost her merchant guild and family to chaos beasts. And since that day, she had also lost her smile. But Elsie, for some reason, always seemed cheerful.
‘Maybe that’s because…’
She met him earlier. If she, too, had met him a little earlier…
‘No.’
It was foolish to dwell on the past. It was right to focus on the present.
‘Come to think of it…’
There was something else that surprised her the most. As she entered the arena, she searched for a particular person among the audience seated under Hailen’s clear sky.
‘Seo Yoo Rang.’
A man with dull blonde hair leaning against the passage connecting the audience seats and the outside. She had been most surprised when she heard that was his true appearance.
Because…
‘It’s too different.’
The name Seo Yoo Rang was still more familiar to her. Perhaps because it was a naming style used in her hometown, Sak. But that face felt more fitting.
‘He said he was a constellation.’
In their past bet, he had wagered that he would become her constellation. He had rescinded that condition after the bet, but because of it, she still sometimes teased him by calling him “constellation.”
But now, she knew there was a more fitting word for him.
‘Of course, he knows and can do a lot of things, but…’
He was definitely different from a constellation who only gave orders from the sky. He was the first to fight, and recently, he had been fighting alongside them.
The best word to describe him, and the reason she followed him, was…
‘Hero.’
In her eyes, he was already a hero. And this time, it was his turn to make her a hero.
But before that, there was something she had to do for him.
‘I feel a little sorry for my opponent, though.’
Looking at her opponent across from her, she placed her hand on the hilt of her sword.
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