Chapter 23 : Move. Please, Move

Chapter 23: Move. Please, Move

I was living, consumed by training during that time.

Every single day, I swung my sword while recalling that wolf monster.

How could I possibly cut down something that displayed such absurd reaction speed? I studied, researched, and studied again.

I did not forget the Grand Duke’s guidance about exploring the Steel Qi, and his advice to forge my soul into a single blade.

Was it thanks to that?

My Sword Energy had grown sharper, and my movements had become more agile.

I even came up with a few strategies that might work against the wolf monster.

But in the end,

I did not reach the Stage of Sword Support.

“Wow… seeing it from here… it’s really beautiful. Psychedelic Moon.”

Without reaching the Stage of Sword Support, I arrived at today.

Milo’s eyes were lost in a dream as he gazed at the multicolored moonlight pouring through the skylight.

Watching him, my heart grew endlessly bitter.

‘I couldn’t stop it.’

The truth was, I hadn’t spent all this time blindly training with my sword.

Wasn’t the two whole weeks given to me in this time travel perhaps intended so that I could prevent the coming tragedy?

With that thought, I moved in many directions.

The most suspicious matter was the “surgery” Milo had spoken of.

Including Milo, most of the cadets who turned into monsters that day had undergone that “surgery” he mentioned.

I persuaded Iodin and Captain Brook to investigate in all directions — the “surgery,” the “medicine,” even the suspicious light that had surged up from the southern part of the city.

In the end, everything failed.

For one thing, no one truly took my words seriously yet.

Even after I pestered them endlessly to finally uncover the problematic drug,

“Hmm… there wasn’t anything particularly strange. To investigate thoroughly, it would take another three weeks.”

That was all I heard. Damn it. In three weeks, everything would already be over.

So in the end, today came again.

Without any real gains.

‘Still, I have no choice but to try.’

I could only hope that my slightly stronger swordsmanship and my newly devised strategies would work.

“Khrrrk… Sir, Sir Ransen… Krrrk… my, my body… it feels… strange…”

Grrrrrr—

Milo twisted his body, and the cadets began to transform with hideous cries. I coldly drew my sword as I watched them.

Sorry, Milo.

Honestly, I didn’t have the confidence to protect even you.

But at the very least…

I would definitely protect Iodin.

I would cut down these monsters and, today at last, return home.

*         *         *

‘Move! Please… move…!’

The inside of my mouth tasted like iron.

My joints, reinforced by Aura and the Stage of Body-Sword, creaked.

When had I ever swung my sword this desperately?

Not even against Count Kxias.

Perhaps it had been when I killed Blood Count Delkash, after my wrist and shin had already been severed.

My nerves were stretched so taut they felt like they might burn away.

To kill those wolf monsters with their bizarre reaction speed, I had to move three, four times faster.

I swung my sword until they could no longer evade, breaking them down and forcing them into the stances I wanted.

That was how I carefully cut them down, one by one.

Kkiyaaaah!

Each time I cut them down with Starsilver, the severed surfaces burst into white flames.

It was the power of Starsilver that eradicated the profane.

Those I killed like that, unlike before, could never rise again.

“Ransen! I told you we should split roles! If you block, then I’ll…!”

“Be quiet!”

Iodin suggested the same tactic as before, but I flatly rejected it.

The first reason was because the monsters Iodin killed came back to life, and the second reason was… because that was the only way I could keep Iodin alive.

Just like this.

Kurrrrk! Kwaaaaarrrrk!

When the bellies and chests of the wolf monsters blocking our path suddenly exploded, I was already charging in.

If I had only stayed back to intercept attacks like before, there’s no way I would have been standing at this spot at this timing.

“Ransen!!!”

Iodin once again rushed to protect me, just like back then, but this time, due to our positions, she could only remain behind me.

Kwadudududuk!

Tatatatang!

Dozens of tendrils shot out explosively and battered against my Aura Shield.

Shattered aura glittered and scattered, my skin split open in several places, but I did not die.

And thanks to Iodin, who stubbornly pushed forward beside me and blocked a fair number of those tendrils, I avoided any wounds serious enough to hinder my fighting.

Iodin shouted at me.

“Are you insane?! Have you gone mad, trying to die?!”

I stared blankly at his face.

‘I saved her… this time.’

She was so unscathed that her face was flushed red all the way up as she screamed at me.

If we weren’t in the middle of a fight, she probably would have grabbed me by the collar.

But really,

mad to die…? Is that what you have the nerve to say to me?

“If you have the strength to shout, then swing your sword one more time.”

“Ransen!!”

Ignoring Iodin, I rushed again at the monsters.

I felt anxious.

Thankfully, I had saved Iodin, and already killed twenty of the monsters.

But still… I felt uneasy.

‘If my mission isn’t just to win, but to protect the cult’s relic…?’

When I thought about it that way, my anxiety only grew deeper. Already, well over two hundred monsters had ignored us and left the banquet hall.

This couldn’t go on.

I had to break through and protect the relic.

‘Move…!’

I swung my sword desperately.

Why wasn’t it working?

The Stage of Sword Support — where the sword moved on its own.

That realm felt so close, as if I could reach it just by stretching out my hand—yet I could not touch it.

‘Move!!’

Uuuuuung!

Uuung!

Banroa whimpered pitifully in my grip.

As if it, too, wanted to move.

As if it were asking me to let it move.

Uung—

Uuuuung—!

But in the end, Banroa never once moved on its own.

[You have failed to alter history.]

Even as I fought until my body nearly broke apart, that voice came again.

[Consuming fractured causality to rewind time.]

Ah… so the real objective had been to protect the cult’s relic after all.

The letters in the Book of Fate were gently erased.

Now, only the three words ‘To my Master…’ remained.

Then, was this my last chance?

[We wish you good fortune.]

Failure.

Even though I saved Iodin, even though I fought and cut down more than forty monsters… still, failure.

Thanks to that, I knew for certain.

“Master. How exactly does one reach the Stage of Sword Support?”

Returned once more to the beginning, I asked the Grand Duke the moment I saw him.

For a moment, a look of surprise flashed in his eyes, but it quickly settled into calm.

“…You’ve nearly reached it. Just one more step—no, not even. Half a step would be enough.”

I thought so too. But I had no sense at all of how to take that half-step forward.

“No matter how much I call out to it, it refuses to move.”

“It refuses because you keep calling it.”

“Pardon?”

“Do you ever command your heart to beat? Do you ever order your stomach to digest quickly?”

“What? Ah, no.”

“Then why do you keep trying to order your sword? Stop that, and simply accept it.”

“……”

“The Stage of Sword Support is when the sword becomes part of you. It moves not because you force it, but because it has become your limb. Though it’s classified as its own realm, in truth, it is nothing more than part of the process toward the Unity of Sword and Self.”

“The Unity of Sword and Self…”

It felt strange.

Hearing the Grand Duke’s words, a thrill sparked through my gut.

It also felt like I’d been struck in the back of the head.

So this was the teaching of the greatest swordsman under heaven?

I felt certain that this was the right path.

Then how should I train?

Tak-tak-tak.

Our steps were light as we walked, and from the pale green fields came a refreshing breeze.

The Grand Duke gazed into the distance for a moment before giving me his answer.

“Let us do this.”

He pointed at Banroa, hanging at my waist, with his finger.

“For now, do not draw your sword.”

“Don’t draw my sword?”

“Yes. Instead of you drawing the sword, let the sword draw you. Endure until then.”

Hmm…

It was an unexpected instruction.

Even this time, I had returned prepared to clash swords with the Grand Duke immediately.

‘No… maybe this is for the best?’

Throb.

Even when I returned to the past, the wounds I had sustained did not vanish.

Because I had swung my sword until my body broke, I was still in a wrecked state.

Perhaps noticing my condition, the Grand Duke acted differently from the previous timeline.

“Let’s go a little farther, then rest for a while, Ransen. During that time, keep your hand on the hilt of your sword. Think of it as opening the door so that the sword can read you and seep into you.”

“Understood.”

At my reply, the Grand Duke gave a faint smile and placed his hand on my shoulder.

“Don’t worry. I can see it in your eyes—you’ll grasp it soon. You can’t help but do so.”

My eyes? What about them?

As I heard those cryptic words, I placed my hand on the hilt of my sword, just as the Grand Duke instructed.

How strange.

Not long ago, I had been busy keeping my guard up against this man.

But now… he truly felt like my Master.

*         *         *

The Grand Duke had been right.

It really didn’t take long at all.

I had thought a very tall wall was blocking my path completely…

But when I widened my vision and looked around, there was a small side road beside the wall.

The teachings of the greatest swordsman under heaven had been truth.

I realized it the moment I saw Iodin again before the Lord’s Keep.

Thump.

Thump-thump.

My heart pounded.

Really…

Am I such an easy person?

I had a fence.

A fence that divided whether someone was a person I must protect, or not.

Of course, that woman had risked her life to save me…

But had it only taken a few days for her to already cross that fence?

My pounding heart cried out to me.

Protect her.

Defend her.

And sever the neck of the darkness looming over this city.

Uuuuuung—

Uuung—

Following the pounding of my heart, Banroa cried out as well.

The Grand Duke’s teaching had been right.

The sword was already part of my body.

Just as my heart beat, so too did it cry.

Protect Iodin, save this city. The tremor of Banroa was already my true will.

As he gazed silently at me before the Lord’s Keep, the Grand Duke let out a wry laugh.

“I thought you would realize it soon, but this is even faster than I expected.”

At his words, Iodin, unable to grasp the situation, asked blankly,

“Huh? What is?”

What else?

The Stage of Sword Support.

Uuuuuung—

I embraced the tremor of Banroa with my whole being.

I flung wide open the concept of “me,” and included it within.

In that instant—

Srrring—

Banroa was drawn.

The hilt was in my hand, yet it hadn’t been me.

When I came to my senses, the sword was already drawn, and Sword Energy blazed at its tip.

“What the…!”

“How dare you, in the presence of His Highness the Grand Duke…!”

The startled knights reached for the hilts of their swords, but—

“Stop.”

The Grand Duke pressed down with a heavy presence, and so not a single one of them dared to draw.

Beneath his gaze, which seemed both intrigued and pleased, I pointed my drawn sword at Iodin and spoke.

“You call yourself my senior…? I have no intention of treating someone weaker than me as my senior. So then… let’s have a match, Senior.”

“Wh-what?! Junior! What kind of thug-like way of speaking is that?! Now that you’ve become Master’s disciple, you ought to be dignified in conduct… proper in speech… and…!”

Iodin’s face flushed bright red as she yelled in protest.

I bit back a sly, irritating grin and flicked the tip of my sword.

“You talk too much. A duel will settle it. Let’s stake a wish each. The loser grants the winner one wish. If I lose, I’ll accept all that stuff about conduct and propriety. Oh, and just so you know, I won’t use my special constitution.”

“W-why should I…!”

“What’s wrong? You scared?”

Iodin’s mouth opened and closed as if speechless, then she turned to look at the Grand Duke—as if asking if he was really going to allow this.

But the Grand Duke was not on her side.

“Why hesitate, Iodin? Are you frightened?”

“Ha!”

That was the finishing blow.

And so, before the Lord’s Keep, Iodin and I began our duel.

‘Perfect.’

The wish.

I had tossed it out like a joke, but in truth, it was something I desperately needed.

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