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Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: Wjin
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Sunlight streamed through the window, warm on his face.
He opened his eyes.
And then he realized something was wrong.
‘This isn’t Sak.’
This bright, clear sunlight… it could only be one place.
‘The Lodraim Kingdom?’
He looked down at himself.
He was a child, his body small and slender.
‘Is this…?’
He understood.
These were memories from 500 years ago, memories that had long since faded, eroded by time.
Memories of a peaceful era, before the emergence of Chaos.
“Libero!”
He turned his head at the sound of her voice.
A young girl stood before him.
She had bright blonde hair and blue eyes that sparkled like sunlight.
The perfect embodiment of Lodraim royalty.
“What is it, Your Highness?”
“I’ve been looking everywhere for you! Where have you been?”
“Training.”
She leaned closer, sniffing the air around him.
“Ugh, you definitely smell like sweat.”
“You didn’t have to smell me.”
“Never mind that! Just continue the story from last time.”
The story…
The tale of a masked hero who protected the Lodraim Kingdom, fighting villains in the dead of night.
He had taken a story popular among the children outside the castle walls and adapted it, toning down the violence and bloodshed.
“Where did we leave off?” he asked.
“The masked hero… he was stealing from that evil noble, right?”
“Ah, yes.”
He continued the story.
He was a gifted swordsman, a prodigy even, but he wasn’t exactly a skilled storyteller.
But the princess seemed to enjoy his tales.
‘Does she even need me?’
The thought sometimes crossed his mind.
Perhaps she simply craved the company of someone her own age. He was the only person she could befriend within the confines of the castle walls.
But that didn’t mean those moments were any less precious to him.
Her beautiful blonde hair, shimmering in the sunlight.
Her soft laughter.
Her sweet scent, a delicate fragrance that mingled with the fresh scent of grass.
Those happy days gradually faded as they grew older.
As she blossomed into a young woman, the distance between them grew.
She still visited him occasionally, but after several such visits, the Royal Family decided to transfer his father.
From the Royal Knights, the protectors of the Royal Family, to the Black Knights.
There were several knight orders in the kingdom.
The Crimson Knights, led by the powerful Lidval family, who possessed formidable Stigmas and relics. And the Green, Blue, White, and Black Knights.
The Black Knights were a secret organization, their existence unknown to the general public.
They were the ones who handled the kingdom’s dirty work, the ones who dealt with threats from within.
While their existence was a secret, most nobles were aware of them. It was an effective deterrent.
After his father was transferred to the Black Knights, he, too, became a member.
“But aren’t the Black Knights… heroes? Like that masked hero in your stories?” she had asked once, her eyes shining with admiration.
They weren’t.
They were nothing more than the king’s dogs, carrying out his will, no matter how ruthless or cruel.
But he couldn’t bring himself to tell her the truth.
He wanted to preserve her innocence, to protect her from the ugliness of reality.
He wanted her to believe that he was still that same boy, the one who told her stories of heroes and justice.
It was a lie, a cruel deception, and it filled him with guilt. But it was better than seeing the disappointment in her eyes, the disillusionment that would shatter her idealism.
“Your Highness, you shouldn’t see him.”
“That filthy bastard! How dare he try to lay a hand on the princess?!”
Did he love her?
He believed he did.
There were no other words to describe the way he felt.
But it was a love that could never be.
He knew it. And deep down, so did she.
That was why he couldn’t believe her when she confessed her feelings, a desperate plea whispered in the darkness.
“When I become Queen, come live with me in the palace. Like we used to. No one will be able to object if I’m the Queen.”
Her promise… it would never be fulfilled.
And it wasn’t her fault.
The encroachment of Chaos had begun.
A mysterious, crimson substance that consumed everything in its path.
Entire nations vanished overnight, swallowed by the ever-expanding darkness.
Refugees from neighboring countries flooded into the Lodraim Kingdom, seeking sanctuary.
And the new Queen, the girl he had once shared stories with, had welcomed them with open arms.
It had thrown the kingdom into turmoil. Crime rates soared, and he was constantly busy dealing with the influx of refugees and the rising tensions within the city.
Even the Queen was struggling, desperately searching for a way to stop the encroaching Chaos.
And then, a new threat emerged.
Chaos Beasts.
They were born from the Chaos-tainted lands, their monstrous forms spreading terror and destruction, their advance far swifter than that of the Chaos itself.
A new faction arose within the kingdom, urging the Queen to abandon the Lodraim Kingdom and flee.
The Loyalist faction argued that it was too early to abandon their homeland.
The Relocation faction believed that they had to leave, to seek refuge elsewhere before it was too late.
The two factions clashed, their arguments growing increasingly heated.
Eventually, the Queen made a decision. She granted permission for those who wanted to leave to do so.
And so, the Green and Blue Knights abandoned the kingdom, seeking safety beyond its borders.
Those who remained to fight were the Crimson Knights and the White Knights.
The White Knights focused on healing and tending to the wounded.
The Crimson Knights, led by the powerful Lidval family, stood on the front lines, their strength and skill holding back the tide of Chaos Beasts.
But they were reaching their limit.
Even with the White Knights’ support, the Crimson Knights were starting to falter.
Eventually, the Black Knights were deployed to reinforce the crumbling defenses, filling in the gaps.
“Who is that guy?”
“I heard he’s the one who got demoted to the Black Knights for getting involved with the princess.”
“That makes sense. I’ve never seen him before.”
Word of his prowess on the battlefield spread quickly.
An ordinary man, without a Stigma, wielding his sword with a skill that rivaled even the most seasoned heroes, cutting through Chaos Beasts like a whirlwind.
Even the head of the Lidval family expressed a desire to meet him.
But he had no time for such distractions.
“I need to kill more Chaos Beasts.”
This wasn’t enough.
He needed to prove to her, to the Queen who was desperately trying to protect her people, that the kingdom could be saved. He had to show her that her efforts, her sacrifices, weren’t in vain.
But he wasn’t strong enough yet.
‘If only I had a Stigma…’
But Stigmas were a gift, bestowed upon individuals at birth. There was no way to acquire one later in life.
His only option was to hone his swordsmanship.
He clung to a desperate hope that he might be able to overcome these impossible odds, that he might be able to find a way…
If he could reach the elusive ‘pinnacle of swordsmanship.’
…He held onto that hope until the Chaos reached the very borders of the kingdom.
The Chaos Beasts were growing stronger, their attacks more relentless. And beyond them… the Chaos itself, a vast, encroaching darkness that seemed unstoppable.
They had, at best, six months left.
Faced with the undeniable reality of their impending doom, even those who had initially supported staying and fighting for the kingdom started to waver, their resolve crumbling as they witnessed the true terror of the Chaos.
He couldn’t blame them. He felt it too, the despair that threatened to consume him.
“Your Majesty.”
At least she had been right about one thing.
No one objected to him seeing her now that she was the Queen.
They were both busy, consumed by their duties, so they couldn’t live together as she had promised. But he could still visit her, to tell her…
“You have to abandon the kingdom. I’ll buy you time to escape. I can hold them off.”
“What…?”
Her eyes widened in shock.
But he had already waited too long.
They were running out of time.
“You have to leave the palace now, before it’s too late.”
“But what about our promise?”
She was talking about the promise she had made years ago, a childish dream whispered in the darkness of a long-forgotten night. A promise to live together in the palace once she became Queen.
He was touched that she still remembered, that she still cared. But he couldn’t let her sacrifice herself for a foolish promise.
“You can rebuild the palace somewhere else. I’ll join you once I’ve bought you enough time.”
But she didn’t believe him.
“You’re lying. You think you can hold back all those Chaos Beasts and survive? Don’t be ridiculous.”
He knew it was ridiculous.
But…
“There’s no other choice!”
He shouted, his voice hoarse with desperation.
He had made a mistake, lost his composure.
“I apologize, Your Majesty. I…”
“There is another way.”
Her words stunned him.
“Another way?”
“I’ve made contact with the God of Light. There’s a way to save the kingdom.”
The God of Light?
The patron deity of the Lodraim Kingdom, the one who bestowed blessings and lent his power to those who made contracts with him.
She had contacted him?
“There are two conditions. The first is… to gather the hopes and prayers of my people. It won’t be easy, but I’m going to stand in the plaza and pray.”
He felt a chill, a premonition of something terrible.
He couldn’t shake off the feeling that stopping the Chaos wouldn’t be that simple.
“And the second condition?”
“The second condition is… the annihilation of my being, the vessel that has gathered the hopes and prayers of my people.”
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J’ai pas les bon mots la