Kays Translations

Chapter 46: Even If I Would Not Interfere, I Still Wanted to Hear Them Out

Ren could not shake the feeling that something was wrong.

He had no desire to reject Ulysses and Radius’s kindness, nor was he foolish enough to seek an unnecessary battle. He understood that forcing his way into their plan would only hinder them, so he had no intention of doing anything reckless.

Even so, his heart remained unsettled.

Two weeks passed, bringing late June, yet the feeling did not fade.

This was not timid indecision. If Ulysses and the others carried out their plan, Ren would fulfill his own duty by remaining at the mansion. Protecting the mansion was the surest way to protect Licia.

So why did that answer still fail to satisfy him?

Ren searched for the source of his unease while training at the Lion’s Holy Office.

“Guh… I-impossible!”

One of its knights was overwhelmed by Ren’s Mighty Sword Style and dropped to one knee. Another soon stepped forward to face him.

That distinction mattered. Ren was no longer the challenger. The men who had taught him the fundamentals of the Mighty Sword Style only half a year earlier were now the ones challenging him, and one after another, they fell before his sword.

“Haah… haah… Ren-dono has become even more formidable lately.”

“What is happening to him? The intensity is frightening.”

“Perhaps he is trying to become a true lion. Since winter, he has trained as though determined to exhaust even that bottomless stamina of his.”

Ren continued swinging his sword.

More.

Sweat ran down his body and his breathing grew ragged, but as long as he could move, he refused to stop.

The dense mana coating his entire body was invisible. Even so, the practitioners of the Mighty Sword Style understood what they were witnessing.

The boy was evolving again.

He was forcing himself toward another transformation for some purpose they could not yet see.

The knights held their breath, feeling as though they had been allowed to witness the instant before a new awakening.

Then an elderly gentleman appeared.

“Edgar-san?”

“Yes. It has been some time.”

Ren had barely seen him lately.

Edgar removed his jacket and took two training swords, one in each hand.

“I have managed to create a little spare time, so I came hoping to cross swords with you.”

“Spare time…?”

Ren could only assume Edgar had deliberately made room in his schedule. He had probably come to see how Ren was doing.

“There are many things I want to ask.”

“I do not know what you mean, but there are matters I may answer and matters I may not.”

“Then I will not ask.”

“Are you certain?”

“Yes. You probably would not answer, and I might cause you trouble.”

At that moment, Edgar understood. Ren had already seen through the fact that Ulysses was hiding something and had given the matter considerable thought. He also understood why it was being concealed: Ulysses wanted to keep Ren out of danger.

Edgar therefore had a good idea of what was troubling him.

“Would you permit me to be your opponent for the first time in quite a while?”

The invitation came abruptly.

They had crossed swords during instruction, but they had not fought one another in earnest since the previous summer.

Ren thought the timing strange, yet he valued the opportunity and raised his sword. Edgar did the same.

This time, Edgar moved first.

As he had on that summer day, he stepped forward with tremendous speed and strength, appearing before Ren like a gust of wind. The swords in his hands descended in a rapid succession of right and left strikes.

“Ren-dono, you have no tolerance for being protected!”

The impact rang painfully through the hall.

Ren met every blow without looking away and fixed Edgar with a sharp stare.

“Until now, you have always been the one who protects others! That is why you are disturbed by the realization that you are also someone others wish to protect!”

“Maybe… you are right!”

Ren counterattacked. Unlike the previous summer, his resistance was powerful enough to press close to Edgar.

Sweat formed in Edgar’s palms. Ren’s strength could no longer be compared with what it had been.

“Think whatever you wish of this old man. Please tell me what truly lies in your heart!”

Their swords continued to clash.

Ren searched for the reason his thoughts had remained clouded.

He had already concluded that Ulysses and Radius were hiding something. Their secrecy was surely an act of kindness meant to keep Ren and the Clausels uninvolved.

What, then, was he feeling?

I am not craving a fight.

There was no reason to throw himself into a pointless battle. He had considered that question repeatedly and knew the answer with certainty.

Yet as he crossed swords with Edgar, he gradually approached the truth.

Could it be that I…?

The thought seemed absurd. The people involved were far more powerful and influential than he was. He mocked himself for entertaining it, yet he could not deny it, and a laugh escaped him.

I really am hopelessly softhearted.

He meant himself.

Perhaps he worried because he had formed bonds with them and become involved in their lives. Perhaps the game scenario still frightened him.

But there was something more direct than either explanation.

Maybe the courage at the core of Ren’s nature would not allow him to ignore even them.

“I am afraid that something dangerous will happen somewhere I cannot see, close to the very people I am supposed to protect!”

Ren shouted, pouring more strength than ever into his sword.

“Then surely you should remain beside those you are meant to protect!” Edgar answered.

“That is true! But there is one thing you have misunderstood!”

Ren finally understood why he had been so conflicted.

He laughed again at the grandiosity of the thought, then smiled without restraint as the weight in his heart disappeared.

“A misunderstanding?”

Ren’s body felt lighter than it ever had before.

“I think I am worried about Ulysses-sama and Radius too! That is why I wanted to hear what they were planning, even if I did nothing more!”

A particularly powerful strike crashed into Edgar’s guard.

Edgar was astonished by the force of Ren’s sword, but even more by his words.

Ulysses Ignat was known throughout the world as a brilliant and formidable man. His power and influence were beyond question. Yet Ren sincerely worried for him.

Even though Ren had indirectly protected Ulysses before, Edgar had not expected such concern.

His expression softened.

“Ha ha ha ha!”

Edgar stepped away and burst into genuine laughter.

“I knew you would laugh at me!” Ren protested.

“My apologies. I simply never imagined that Ren-dono thought of my lord in that way as well!”

That was the answer.

Ren was worried about Ulysses, who intended to set a trap for the Demon King cult. He worried about Radius too, even if neither man planned to fight alone on the front line.

That was why he wanted to hear their plan.

Because Elendil could not be unrelated to Ulysses and Radius’s intentions, Ren wanted to understand what was coming.

“When I realize I was simply worried about them, I have to laugh at myself.”

“Nothing could be further from laughable. Those are noble, kind, and warm feelings. I hope you never lose them.”

Edgar readied both swords again, and Ren followed.

“You must already understand that my lord sent Baron Clausel a letter explaining the situation. In fact, he met the baron today and spoke with him directly.”

“Has Baron Clausel told you nothing?”

“He would never tell me without permission. When Ulysses-sama and Radius are involved, that is only natural. There is no need for me to question him.”

“Indeed… You are correct. Forgive me.”

Ren laughed at Edgar’s rueful expression.

“Shall we make a wager?” Edgar asked.

The terms were simple.

“If you withstand my special attack, I will take you to my lord. If you cannot, you must abandon the matter.”

“This attack will be different from the ones before?”

“Yes. It will be an attack appropriate for someone I recognize as a strong opponent. There is a possibility of injury, so I will not compel you.”

Ren’s answer was already decided.

He still had no intention of disrupting Ulysses’s plan. He merely wanted to hear it, then decide for himself how he should act at the Clausel residence in Elendil.

“Please. Allow me to face you.”

The watching knights grew excited. They wondered what kind of sword Ren would show against Edgar and how many exchanges he could endure.

They soon realized both thoughts underestimated him.

Wondering what he would show was setting expectations too low.

Wondering how long he could last was an insult.

Having recognized his own feelings and cleared the obstruction in his heart, Ren revealed his true nature.

If something called a soul existed, the greatest source of his strength breathed deep within it.

If an undefeated lion existed, it would surely resemble this.

“I will yield the first move. Your attack will be the signal to begin,” Edgar said.

“Understood. Here I come.”

That fearless courage was Ren’s essence.

By understanding his true desire, he found another road toward evolution.

Do not hold back. Run straight through him.

Ren stepped forward.

“Th-this is…”

Edgar’s body slid backward as he received the strike.

Ren’s sword was faster than a Thief Wolfen’s movements. His raw strength still fell short of Asval’s, but it surpassed that of the two cultists he had fought in spring.

“I am not finished!”

A storm of blows struck Edgar. Each one was incredibly powerful, a Mighty Sword Style strike that seemed to rob strength from the body’s very core.

The lines of Ren’s attacks were so sharp that their afterimages resembled real blades.

Saying he merely looked different would have been too mild. He did not seem like another person, but another kind of existence altogether.

“Haaaaah!”

“To think you would transform this quickly!”

Ren swung upward, then cut horizontally.

Edgar had seen countless kinds of swordsmanship, yet every movement before him belonged to Ren alone. Even an ordinary horizontal cut became a distinct technique in his hands.

Edgar was still the superior fighter. He continued to conceal much of his strength and knew that, if ordered to defeat Ren, he could render him unconscious at once. The experience separating them remained immense.

Nevertheless, an inexplicable chill ran along Edgar’s spine. He knew he should not lose, yet Ren made him feel the possibility.

At the same time, Edgar was delighted.

He had proposed the wager for a reason, and now he saw the possibility of achieving that purpose by losing it.

“I remember the day I guided you here last summer as clearly as yesterday!”

Edgar counterattacked.

Although they were training weapons, the swords in his hands cut through Ren’s blade, severing half of it cleanly.

“Ha… That is absurd, Edgar-san!”

“Absurd? Which of us is truly absurd?”

Edgar hurled both broken training swords. Ren deflected them with the short remnant of his own blade and retreated half a step.

A wave of intense cold followed.

Edgar created blades of ice in the air, intending to pierce Ren’s clothing and pin him to the ground. Afterward, he planned to take one of the blades in hand and place it before Ren in acknowledgment of the match.

“Behold the Mighty Sword Style of one who can wield magic!”

Every ice blade carried force comparable to the sword of someone who had mastered the Mantle. Defending against them was extraordinarily difficult.

The wager should have ended with Edgar’s victory.

“Do not underestimate me, Sword Saint.”

Do not underestimate the boy who had fought repeated battles to the death and defeated one powerful enemy after another.

His lungs had been driven dry by relentless training, and his muscles pushed until they burned. That merciless effort had produced a rate of growth far beyond the ordinary.

One day, he would be called the Lion’s Holy Office’s greatest masterpiece.

Do not underestimate Ren Ashton, who had survived so many mortal battles and continued to grow.

◇ ◇ ◇ ◇

The knights of the Lion’s Holy Office stood speechless.

Less than several dozen seconds after Ren and Edgar’s wager began, they could only stare at the force they had witnessed.

“I am proud of my lord for inviting you here,” Edgar said.

Then he added, “And I am proud to be one of your teachers, Ren-dono.”

He turned away, brushed the dust from his discarded jacket, tucked it under one arm, and began to leave.

“Edgar-san!”

Ren called after him.

“Will you not be punished for making that promise? I am not trying to force you to do anything.”

“Do not worry. Besides, my lord never ordered me not to tell you.”

“Even so, I am certain he will reprimand you.”

“If what I have done is disloyal to my lord, then perhaps he will.”

Edgar stopped and turned back with a gentle, grandfatherly smile.

“In that case, it will merely be the first time I have ever acted against my lord.”

His eyes narrowed kindly.

“Therefore, follow the feelings within your heart.”

“Are you certain?”

“As you said, the proper first step is to speak with him. You do not wish to interfere with the plan. And for a certain reason, it may be better that you hear it.”

Ren nodded, then opened his mouth to ask what Edgar meant by that reason.

“Good grief… I knew this would happen.”

Ulysses’s voice came from above.

He stood on the upper level of the open hall, looking down at Ren and Edgar with a helpless smile.

The moment Ren saw him, he hurried toward him.

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