Kays Translations

Chapter 42: Prelude

They continued onward for several dozen minutes.

“Lady Fiona, are you all right?”

Fiona stopped and lowered her head. One hand pressed against her throat while the other rested over her chest. Her breathing had become shallow and uneven, and large beads of sweat stood on her forehead.

“I’m sorry. I may simply be tired.”

She forced a reassuring smile. Fiona herself seemed to believe exhaustion was the cause, and after a short rest her breathing began to settle.

She was about to walk again when Ren extended an arm in front of her.

He placed himself between Fiona and the snow-laden trees ahead.

A moment later, a familiar voice rang out.

“There you are! You had us worried!”

Meidas stepped from behind one of the trees.

“Meidas…”

Ren’s voice was hard with caution.

The wolfman approached with an expression of apparently genuine relief. When he took one step forward, however, Ren retreated one step while keeping Fiona behind him.

“What’s wrong?” Meidas asked. “Are you angry because the rescue was delayed? If so, I truly apologize—”

“How did you find such a convenient merchant?” Ren interrupted.

Meidas fell silent. Then he shrugged, baring his white fangs in amusement.

“I’m impressed. You’re much sharper than I expected.”

“So the official merchant was your accomplice?”

“Not exactly. His involvement was a fortunate coincidence. He happened to be searching for materials from a particular monster. When I learned that, I contacted him and told him the Adventurers’ Guild in Clausel might be able to obtain them.”

“You mean Steel-Eating Gargoyle materials.”

“Interesting. How did you know?”

“How could I not? By appearing here like this, you have practically confessed.”

Ren’s suspicions had become certainty.

“The guild concluded that the Steel-Eating Gargoyles entered the eastern forest after exhausting the food in their former habitat. That was false. You arranged for them to appear there.”

“Exactly.”

“And you stayed away from the guild because you wanted to observe how well I fought.”

Meidas shook his head.

“That part is wrong. I placed those Steel-Eating Gargoyles there to kill you. I believed the two of them would be sufficient.”

He apparently knew nothing about Ren’s battle with Yelquq. Even after hearing that Ren had defeated a Thief Wolfen alone, Meidas had judged two Steel-Eating Gargoyles enough to dispose of him.

“You surprised me,” Meidas continued. “I can’t describe how irritating it was to revise our plans after you survived.”

“Why didn’t you attack me from behind while I was fighting them? It would have made your task easier.”

“I considered it. But another woman was watching the battle—a strange woman dressed in elaborate vestments. I assumed she was an escort sent by Marquis Ignat. I never learned who she was. Had I known she wasn’t protecting you, I might have acted then.”

Ren remembered the mysterious woman who had observed his fight.

(That’s why they needed another way to bring me here.)

The official merchant’s demand for Steel-Eating Gargoyle materials had provided the opportunity. Meidas had used that request to lure Ren into the same mountain range as Fiona.

“So the attack on the suspension bridge wasn’t part of your plan.”

“No. I would rather ask how you survived it. That made finding you remarkably difficult.”

Ren merely shrugged.

Meidas’s ignorance confirmed one important point: he hadn’t caused the volcanic upheaval. His objective was to kill Ren and Fiona, but he lacked the power to awaken the Baldor Mountains and direct those monstrous pillars of flame.

There was another force at work.

“Just as you predicted, Adventurer,” Fiona said quietly. “They came after us.”

“Remain ready to fight at any moment.”

“Yes.”

Before leaving camp, Ren had warned Fiona that Meidas or his companions might appear. She was frightened, but not unprepared.

Ren summoned his Iron Magic Sword.

As Meidas advanced again, Ren tightened his grip.

“Where’s your partner?” Ren asked. “Is he still unable to move?”

“Thank you for your concern.”

The answer came from behind them.

Ren immediately turned while keeping Fiona shielded. Kai emerged from the trees with a sword at his side.

He fixed his eyes on Fiona.

“You there. I don’t appreciate what happened to my body when I approached you. Still, after you helped nurse me back to health, I became curious about your power.”

“You too…?” Fiona whispered.

(So I was right. Her presence caused their collapse.)

Fiona had said she could interfere with other people’s mana. According to Kai, simply drawing near her had disrupted the power inside him. The same phenomenon must have spread to the other adventurers and the official merchant.

“You intended to kill her before we reached the fort,” Ren said.

“That was the plan,” Kai replied. “Then something inside me reacted to her and went out of control. I collapsed before I could do anything.”

“And now that you have recovered, you joined Meidas and followed us.”

Kai gave a low whistle.

“You really are clever.”

One question remained: why did they want Fiona dead?

Ren had already considered the major political factions. The Hero Faction was unlikely to strike at Fiona under these circumstances, and the Royalist Faction would gain nothing from provoking Marquis Ignat so recklessly.

But Ren possessed knowledge beyond the politics of the present day.

In the game, Fiona Ignat had died. Here, she had survived—and someone had found an ideal opportunity to remove her. Ren had then interfered and changed the expected course of events.

His own death would also have consequences. It could devastate House Clausel and Licia, perhaps pushing them toward the same darkness that had consumed Marquis Ignat in the original story. That, in turn, could alter Leomel’s future.

Once he considered the people who would benefit from both outcomes, their identities became clear.

Kai drew his sword.

“There has been a change of plan. We need to examine Fiona Ignat’s power before we dispose of her.”

Meidas held a sword in one hand and a staff in the other.

Both men halted when Ren spoke.

“You bear the mark of the Demon King cult.”

Their expressions froze.

“The power connected to the Demon King inside Kai went out of control when Fiona affected it. That disturbance then spread through the mana of everyone around her.”

Silence answered him.

Ren nodded to himself.

Meidas had remained unaffected because his equipment possessed unusually high resistance to magical interference. Kai had likely changed equipment after recovering.

It was the first time Ren had plainly spoken the cult’s name since becoming Ren Ashton. Until now, he had preferred indirect phrases such as “those plotting to revive the Demon King,” as though avoiding the words might keep him from becoming more deeply involved.

“Adventurer,” Fiona said, shaken. “How could you know something like that?”

“I’ve heard rumors.”

“Those are hardly ordinary rumors.”

“I’m sorry. Too many things failed to make sense, and I had to test my conclusion.”

Ren hadn’t revealed the truth merely to display his knowledge. He needed to understand who was behind the incident and what they sought, because that knowledge would determine how he acted from this point onward.

“Kai,” Meidas said.

“I know. We’ll take both of them alive.”

A fight was now unavoidable.

“Don’t kill them,” Meidas warned.

“Leave it to me. Let’s go.”

Kai launched himself forward.

Ren met him with the Iron Magic Sword, but a single exchange revealed the strength Kai had concealed. His physical ability far surpassed that of an ordinary adventurer from Clausel.

Then Fiona trembled behind Ren.

“Why… now of all times…?”

“Lady Fiona?”

She dropped to her knees and wrapped both arms around herself. Her breathing became ragged and irregular.

“She’s reached her limit,” Meidas said with open delight.

“That makes this easier,” Kai replied.

Fiona collapsed onto her side.

(No… has her Vessel Fracture returned?)

Ren had assumed her participation in the final examination meant that her illness had been cured. Yet the symptoms were unmistakably severe.

“I’m sorry,” Ren said. “I can’t afford to hold back.”

“Then we’ll learn about your strange power after we capture you.”

Ren summoned the Shield Magic Sword and spread its barrier around himself and Fiona.

The combined strike of Kai and Meidas shattered the barrier far more easily than he expected. Their power exceeded even that of the pair of Steel-Eating Gargoyles.

The situation was dire. Ren was exhausted from days of travel, had to protect an unconscious Fiona, and faced two enemies whose true strength had been deliberately hidden.

Even so, he refused to yield.

Each time the barrier broke, he formed another. Between attacks, he swung the Iron Magic Sword again and again, meeting the two men’s blades with disciplined swordsmanship.

“That shield is troublesome!” Meidas snarled.

“But it won’t last forever,” Kai said.

They were right. Ren’s mana would eventually run dry. His opponents also knew the spreading lava made a prolonged battle dangerous, so they pressed harder.

“Kai—now!”

Meidas shattered another barrier.

Kai stepped back, raised his sword overhead, and smiled.

“Have you ever seen a true combat art, Hero?”

White light wrapped around his blade.

The instant Ren’s shield broke, Kai struck.

“Sacred Sword Art: Lightfall!”

Ren turned the Iron Magic Sword sideways to block. The light coating Kai’s blade weakened the magical reinforcement around Ren’s body and nearly broke his defense. Meidas’s follow-up arrived at once, but Ren’s sword moved barely fast enough to deflect it.

“Haa… haa…”

His hands shook. His breath came in harsh gasps.

“You use Sacred Sword Arts despite serving the Demon King?” Ren asked.

Kai clicked his tongue.

“You knew that too?”

“Of course.”

Lightfall weakened an opponent’s magical defenses before dealing its damage. It was a practical and dangerous technique that only a master swordsman should have been capable of using.

Kai was at least that strong.

“Again, Meidas!”

Ren knew his present strategy couldn’t continue. Repeatedly replacing shattered barriers would exhaust him, but without them he couldn’t protect Fiona. He searched desperately for a way to combine the Wooden Magic Sword or Thief’s Magic Sword with his defense.

His opponents, convinced of victory, gave him no time.

“Don’t look away, Hero!” Kai shouted.

“If you’ve given up, say so!” Meidas added.

They charged once more.

Then the heat in the air changed.

Ren sensed it even while fighting defensively.

“This ends now!” Kai roared.

A crimson storm swept across the snow.

It struck Kai and hurled him away. He landed hard and cursed, but before he could rise, a pillar of fire erupted beneath him and pierced the sky.

“What’s—”

Kai vanished before he could finish.

Nothing remained where he had stood.

“Kai…?”

Meidas stared in disbelief.

Ren didn’t waste the opening. He lifted Fiona into his arms and ran.

Magma burst from the ground behind him. Several pillars of flame surged upward and converged on Meidas.

“This fire… it can’t be—!”

Meidas seemed to recognize something. He looked toward Ren’s retreating back and tried to follow, but walls of fire rose before, behind, and on both sides of him.

At last he understood how insignificant he and Kai had been in the greater disaster.

They weren’t the principal actors. They were merely the opening act.

Even servants of the Demon King cult could do nothing before the legendary existence whose power now filled the mountain.

As the flames closed around him, Meidas finally understood Fiona’s role and laughed bitterly.

“No wonder she drew the monsters to her… and drove everyone’s mana out of control.”

Crimson light swallowed his vision.

The heat was so far beyond human understanding that Meidas died before he had time to feel pain.

Previous chapter | TOC | Next chapter