Volume 3, Chapter 65: Carved Name
Volume 3, Chapter 65: Carved Name
A blue-tinted iron reflected under the sunlight. The saber flew out from the ground and ripped the sky towards Lugis’ throat.
The Lizard, the so-called man with reptile eyes, was furious as if his blood boiled on his veins. It was obvious that he was determined to finish off his opponent. His eyes were full of hate towards Lugis. That’s why the Lizard didn’t want to miss the opportunity to aim at this rat’s life.
Every time the Lizard felt the pain of his broken jaw, he felt an insane amount of rage that crawled through the insides of his chest. Every time he uttered a word, he felt such huge pain that could break his teeth. All of this was disproportionately hurting him. He felt that this predicament was an unjustified act of humiliation.
Still, he firmly believed that his humiliation could end here. The Lizard’s cheeks were distorted as he made a smile on his face.
Not too long ago, he heard the conversation between his Captain Helot Stanley and Caria, the goddess of war. He didn’t hear the full details, but he certainly heard one particular sentence.
…An adventurer named Lugis was part of the Heraldic Order revolt against the city-state.
The moment he heard these words, the Lizard tightened his cheeks and smiled. How great. He thought that the goddess of war had given him the opportunity for revenge and retribution. Therefore, the Lizard fully understood the strategy proposed by the young captain, where everyone would go to the battlefield. He thought that this could be a great opportunity to kill that man. So, he waited in the shadows, eager to spot the green clothed man in the battle grounds.
He wanted to clear his disgrace. All he felt was shame from that hateful man. He just wanted to correct the reason of the world.
The rich people were born rich and the poor people were born poor. And that powerful status mustn’t be reversed. No matter what. Those poor beings humiliated the heavens when they pointed their swords to the top. It was as if they spit in the correct order of the world. Those who violated this system mustn’t be kept alive.
Then, he appeared. The Lizard should be the one to receive the praises for the guardsmen’s achievements. Yet, that didn’t happen because of his presence. The young caption was the only one who received such accolades. He got all the glory and praise. This person boasted of an irresistible cleverness, whereas the Lizard only followed his orders without receiving any form of acclaim for what he achieved. Something emerged on the Lizard’s mind.
“…You did a good job young captain. But, that’s enough now. Just accept your fate and die. If that happens, I will be appointed as the next captain. You can die like those rats.”
The Lizard thought this could be his chance. He could fulfill the success of the guards’ retaliation and bring prosperity and victory to the city-state. If the young captain succumbed to his death, the Lizard thought he could be the one to defeat the Heraldic rebels. The Lizard felt confidence on the battleground, boosted by a sense of exaltation.
The opponent was injured. He couldn’t move properly with a broken wrist. This unworthy man tried to reach the impossible by trampling on the reason of this world. However, this opponent was just a rat. There was no cowardice in killing a rat. He just had to be exterminated because he was a plague. Therefore, the Lizard slashed the saber towards the rat’s neck. His eyes were clearly reflected in the blade.
Nevertheless. When the so-called Vice Commander Lizard swung his saber towards his opponent’s neck, something unexpected happened. Lugis wasn’t on his direct sight. The Lizard miscalculated everything. The silvery light of a different sword blocked his saber strike, which was supposed to be perfect.
—
The silvery light flashed upon the clash with the saber. The long sword acted as a conductor playing a melody, and broke the Lizard’s saber in half. It was an astonishing scene.
Even though the saber’s core was destroyed, the melody of Caria’s long sword never stopped the momentum. Rather, and naturally, the sharp tip of her long sword was directed towards the man who attacked Lugis.
It was a quick movement. Yet, strange. She gracefully reached her opponent with a light stance as if she were dancing to her melody. The long sword pierced the body of the large reptile eyed man and dig out some of his brain serum from this strike. This attack promised a pure death for the opponent.
The Lizard swayed his eyes to look at the opposite side. When he noticed Caria’s presence, he uttered a voice of despair.
「You are…but, why… 」
When Caria heard these words on her earlobes, her cold eyes stared at him with disdain while she opened her lips.
「You don’t have any respect for this battle. Therefore, I shall give you a brief introduction of the path towards the gatekeeper of hell.」
Caria twisted her thin wrist and her silvery long sword stirred the rest of the Lizard’s brain.
So in the end the only living thing standing in this particular spot was Caria and the man who stopped moving because of the injuries from the previous fight.
The color of Caria’s eyes changed from disdain to exaltation when she stared at Lugis.
「That was a very dangerous call, Lugis. Well then, I’m back in the game. And with great success, see. Since you’re here, I assume that you convinced those poor people with your words, am I right?」
Caria began to walk and stood by Lugis’ side. Lugis barely kept his stand. He was about to fall at any moment. Yet, Caria’s presence was apparently meaningful. She stood right in front of him in case he fell. She acted as a support even though they didn’t touch one another.
However, the face she saw up close for the first time in a long time seemed to have disappeared. Lugis was exhausted and full of wounds. There was no great demeanor anywhere. Yet, he had a sparkling power behind the eyes. Caria’s cheeks softened a little upon realizing this.
「Caria…You…It seems that you did this on purpose, huh. 」
Those words shook her cheeks. Caria’s back, who was always stiff as a stone, quivered a little. Unusually, her shoulders sink.
It wasn’t clear how large was Lugis’ suspicion of her. His doubts may be very small, or may have some truth in it. However, Caria shook her silvery eyes at this response. She felt disappointed in Lugis because, apparently, he wasn’t convinced of her true intent to intervene in this battle.
And no matter how close his doubts were to the truth, Caria couldn’t accept this kind of response as long as her feelings of intervention were genuine.
Even if it looked as if her intervention had second intentions, as his words suggested, there’s no way that she’d accept such reasoning. Nonetheless, denying his words would go against Caria’s pride. On the other hand, if she didn’t correct this situation, she could undermine the sincerity and respect that Lugis had for her. The latter wasn’t acceptable.
Caria moved her small lips slowly in order to pick out the words.
「What are you talking about? I already told you. I’m doing my best too. Not only me, but all of us are doing our best to make this happen. In fact, it seems that we’ve finally reached the greatest climax of this endeavor…C’mon, we have to embrace this victory now.」
After saying those words, Caria hugged Lugis as if she tried to hide her slightly shivering eyebrows and lips. Lugis felt a strange weight in his body. He had no more strength left, yet this weight was somewhat comfortable. The wind shook her silvery hair as if it showed unseen emotion. At the same time, Lugis felt joy and anxiety in his chest as if they melted with one another.
Thin and white fingers stuck on Lugis’ back. Caria strongly hugged Lugis’ body, as if her fingers were stitched to his back. She remained like this for a short while, until Lugis professed the next words.
Of course, Caria believed that she did her best.
Even if the Heraldic Order and its leader won this war as originally planned, the world would never recognize Lugis’ worth. A small amount of honor would be the only thing he would obtain from this. No fame would be brought upon this man. That’s why Caria felt compassionate about him.
However, her compassion wasn’t enough. In this small-minded world, there would be no one who would appreciate his merits. A different scenario would never exist in this world. That’s why one had to throw himself or herself into the chaos so that someone would recognize his or her merits. Therefore, Caria threw Lugis into the whirlpool of change.
She believed this was the right thing to do. Caria was convinced that it was still undoubtedly the best. That’s why she needed to do everything in order to make Lugis walk the path of glory.
But, whether Lugis accepted it or not was a totally different story.
Fear ran through Caria’s fingertips.
He might reject this. He could say that he didn’t want such a thing for himself. If he ended up saying those words, will she be able to convince him? Could she explain that this was truly necessary for him? If he denied either way, what kind of expression could she suppress so that he won’t notice the obsession that burn on her chest? All of these questions were scary for Caria.
This short moment felt long and unpleasant for Caria. The wind blew, and Lugis’ words were finally liberated from his mouth.
「Really…This isn’t like you. Hey, a knight as you should have more pride. But, you’re right. The results aren’t bad. Rather, they’re actually favorable. This happened because I put my trust in you.」
Caria never thought she would hear those words from Lugis’ mouth. She felt as if heavy luggage fell down from her shoulders. She finally spoke after the pressure that was trampling on her mind disappeared.
「The result is unexpectedly good, isn’t it? Now I feel strangely fresh and sunny. 」
Caria felt relieved and showed appreciation. As soon as Lugis’ lips moved, he lost all of his body strength. That was probably his limit. Caria’s leaning weight had increased considerably.
Still, it didn’t matter. Yes, it was better this way. Good. Caria didn’t lose her expression after Lugis leaned entirely on her arms. Fortunately, no one had seen it. On Caria’s heart, everything was in turmoil. But, a good turmoil. She was so excited that she wanted to rejoice.
“…I see. My choice wasn’t wrong. It turned out to be the best course of action.”
As Lugis said, this conclusion was the perfect place to achieve his original goal. This was not the end of the road. Caria wasn’t sure if she ever said those particular words to him. But, she felt thankful towards him. She felt relieved for her choice and for the achievements of this man. Caria’s eyes shimmered.
Ah, what a helpless man. He returned here and forged a path with great success, and yet, he didn’t even receive praise nor any kind of reward. His efforts weren’t meaningless. Maybe he didn’t realize it himself. It couldn’t be helped though. He fell from exhaustion. Caria thought, “I’ll accept this excuse for now. So, don’t forget that my help it’s expensive, Lugis.”
She continued, “I’m paving the way to get you glory. So, it’s reasonable for you to give me something worthy in return.” Caria smiled mischievously as if she were a little girl. Yet, this genuine smile had transformed herself into a magical beauty.
On this very moment. Caria’s eyes moved on a diffrent direction and spotted an unfamiliar sword that Lugis grabbed with his hand even after losing his consciousness. This sword came to Lugis’ hands in the middle of the battle with Helot Stanley. It appeared so suddenly as if it broke the rules of time and space.
Caria was aware of its existence. But, that was just a guess.
An ancestral treasure sword. It looked unfamiliar yet, at the same time, she felt drawn to it. Did this powerful sword come from the underground temple? Did this sword manifest its power in order to save the dying Lugis? Caria wondered about that. There was nothing else to be considered except this scenario. She believed that it was unlikely that a blade emerged as a new sword unexpectedly.
Caria stared at the beautiful purple lined-blade. Then, she inadvertently rounded her eyes when she saw the inscription engraved on the blade. She sighed lightly upon reading this.
There’s no way that such inscription was carved in the past. If it were carved now, did that mean that the blade recognized Lugis as a worthy owner? Did this sword have a life of its own? That was an absurd idea, Caria thought. The realistic idea was that this sword was carved not too long ago rather than a sudden appearance in the air.
A list of inscribed words. These words were engraved on the blade because they had a meaning. These words meant that Lugis stopped the continuous breath of glory from others. He grasped the honor he searched for. Every word was fit for a person like him. Caria hearth throbbed after reading the inscription.
“…A hero who kills. The hero killer.”
Caria narrowed her silvery eyes upon reading that title.
After that, she strongly embraced his body. A Sorceress who called herself as Filaret came running over there with a distorted expression on her face. Caria stared at her with fierce eyes to show her that she was the owner of this man.
—
The Gospel War. Its prologue. The Battle of the city-state of Garoua Maria with the Heraldic Order. The Heraldic Order held the victory flag and the city fell into their hands.
The city-state, which had never been conquered in history before, disappeared along with its legendary status.
This fall became the trigger of the devil that dragged the Lords of several city-states into the vortex of war. One revolt, which was supposed to end after triumph, resulted in a large-scale rebellion that led to a war of violence.
No one could stop it anymore. The anchor was raised, and the ship rowed into the storm of a swirling ocean. All its sails and nets were robbed and everyone lost track of the way to go.
There wasn’t evil nor justice here. Just the resentment of the common people who suffered every day, and the celebratory voices of the soldiers who won this battle.
…While its history got swallowed by a great storm, two names were inscribed in the record of the Great Holy Church and on the record of the Heraldic Order.
One of them was the name of a woman named Matia, who was also known as the Saint woman by some and a witch by others. As a symbol of the Gospel War, the princes of the other city-states had pursued her continuously ever since then.
Some called her an agent of God. While others shouted that, she was a witch who seduced people in order to brainwash them or kill them. The meaning of that title never changed throughout history.
Then, besides her name, the existence of another young man was inscribed as well. Until then, his name had never appeared on the front stage of any kind.
Sometimes, his name was hated or acclaimed far more than the name of Saint Matia.
During the fall of Garoua Maria, a rebel joined the Heraldic soldiers, despite being a citizen of the city-state. He was the evil person who instigated the inhabitants of the Poor People’s cave to ignore the city, which led to its collapse.
Deadly sinner. A person who never feared God. The man who took the devil’s hand. He must have buried everything on his demonic brain in order to unleash it in the end.
Naturally, his name was also engraved on the Heraldic records. It was not an exaggeration to include him beside the name of the Saint woman. He contributed to the wisdom and truth that the Heraldic Order proclaimed to give.
…He had a great success in the battle against the walled city-state of Garoua Maria. His name was Lugis the hero.