Chapter 52 : Dream

Chapter 52: Dream

Three weeks before Cain Manus came looking for me.

I left everything in Seah’s hands and ‘slipped away.’

No, it would have been more accurate to say I was ‘as if possessed.’

By the time I came to my senses, I was already heading toward the training grounds.

My mind was filled with just one thought.

‘Rebirth of the Flesh.’

In truth, the battle with Haarun had dealt me a huge shock.

It felt as if I had briefly glimpsed the world beyond the well.

Honestly, I hadn’t thought Haarun, who only used modern Aura Swordsmanship, would be that strong.

‘I’ve been neglecting the potential of Aura Swordsmanship all this time.’

Intoxicated by the thrill of Ancient Swordsmanship, I had overlooked another path to move forward.

‘...I thought that by now, not even a Grandmaster would be my match. That was a huge mistake.’

Against Haarun, who wasn’t even a Grandmaster...

I almost lost.

That was how deep an impression Haarun’s martial might had left on me.

Strength naturally welled up in the hand gripping my sword hilt.

I wanted to swing my sword, even for a moment, as soon as possible.

“Teacher!”

As I quickened my steps, a little kid playing with dirt called out to stop me.

“Huh? Seon?”

Six years old. Seon.

The youngest of our family.

He brushed off his hands and looked up at me.

“Teacher! But what’s a dream?”

“Hm?”

“What’s a dream?”

It was an ambiguous question.

Was he asking what my dream was, or was he asking about the meaning of the word itself...?

“Well, I asked Daisy noona and Seklan hyung to play with me, but Daisy noona said they’re chasing dreams? So they’re busy. But what’s a dream?”

“Ah... A dream, huh.”

For a moment, words failed me.

A dream...?

It was surprisingly hard to explain this word.

“Mm... Let’s see. Something you desperately want to do. Something you want to become. That’s what a dream is. For starters, at least.”

“Oh! I get it! Like when I want to eat roasted pork belly for dinner tonight! That kind of thing?”

“Ah? Um...”

Something a bit bigger than that...

Right.

“Seon, what kind of person do you want to be when you grow up? Or something you want to do?”

“Me? Umm... Mama. I want to meet Mama!”

“...”

Ha....

Your mother is already....

Ha....

I swallowed down the lump rising in my throat and lifted Seon into my arms.

“Seon.”

“Yeah?”

“For dinner. Do you want roasted pork belly?”

“Yeah!”

“Got it.”

I patted his head and set him down.

It weighed on my mind, but still, right now I had to do what I must.

Seon had his own path. I had mine.

That was the kind of relationship our family had.

In the end, each of us carried our share on our own... and endured this far.

After parting ways with Seon, I continued on toward the training grounds.

In front of the training grounds.

I spotted one of the Lord’s Keep’s maids and called out.

“Hey.”

“Eek! Y-yes! Yes, Mayor!”

Mayor?

So that’s the kind of title they used here in Kinalo City. We had always just used ‘Count.’

Anyway.

“Go tell the head chef to prepare roasted pork belly for tonight’s dinner.”

“Y-yes! Understood!”

The maid, overly tense, scurried away in quick, tiny steps.

What did I even do to make her act like that...? I wondered, but then thought—this was a city that had been conquered twice in just a short span of time. That realization made it easier to accept.

‘It’ll get better with time. For now, training.’

With dinner already settled, I quickened my pace and entered the training grounds.

There were already guests inside.

Daisy, with her red hair, and Seklan, with his blue hair, were sweating profusely as they clashed in a fierce spar.

One unusual thing was that Daisy was endlessly shouting in anger.

“Seriously! How! Is this! Even fair!”

Seklan calmly deflected Daisy’s attacks while trying to soothe her heated temper.

“You know. He was just worried about us! That’s all.”

Clang! Kaaang!

Sparks flew non-stop between them.

The mingling scent of heated sweat, iron, and earth gave the training grounds an atmosphere uniquely its own.

“Worried?! Ha! So what you’re saying! Is that I was left out! Because I was weak!”

“Honestly... we really are...! Weak, aren’t we?”

“That’s what pisses me off the most!! I can do it! I can do it, I said! But nobody listens to me!”

Kaaaang.

Listening for a while, I understood.

The root of Daisy’s frustration.

‘She’s sulking because she wasn’t taken to the war.’

But there was no helping it.

The ones who died the most in war were the ‘young’ low-grade Experts.

Strong, but not yet fully matured.

Which was why they could still die at the hands of seasoned elite warriors.

Of course, minimizing such losses was the art of strategy, but even so, Daisy and Seklan couldn’t be risked.

Even in the worst case—

No. Absolutely not.

So I decided to simply ignore Daisy’s complaints.

‘Training it is.’

The training grounds were spacious, so I moved far to the other side and assumed my stance.

I quickly sank into thought.

‘Uncle Burson once said this. The conditions for Rebirth are abundant Aura and perfect Aura Mastery.’

Though not a Swordmaster himself, as Captain of the Royal Guard, Burson was an expert more well-versed in Aura theory than anyone.

What he had taught me could not be wrong.

An aura that filled the body to overflowing.

If I didn’t let it escape and bound it tightly throughout my entire body, then at some point the Aura would begin expanding the vessel of the body itself.

That was Rebirth of the Flesh.

‘I’m not worried about Aura Mastery. The problem is the absolute amount of Aura.’

Right now, the amount of Aura I had was far below even the average Swordmaster.

There was nothing I could do about it.

Too much time had passed while my Aura had been shattered.

If I started diligently cultivating the Iron Heart method from now on, at best I might be able to attempt Rebirth of the Flesh in five years.

Even with Banroa’s royal secret art, the Peak-grade Aura method known as Iron Heart, it would still take that long.

‘But… I think I can shorten that time.’

Wuuuung—

Banroa resonated in my hand.

Even without me moving any Aura, faint heat shimmered from the blade.

That transparent haze unmistakably carried traces of Aura.

‘Sword Energy draws in mana, and even forges Aura.’

I had seen it, experienced it, and practiced it myself.

In the end, mana was guided by pure will.

And the Sword Energy released by a Sword Spirit was the purest will of all—devoted only to the single purpose of ‘cutting.’

When Sword Energy flared, mana in the air was drawn in, compressed, and eventually condensed into Aura with tangible force.

Of course, it was only a paltry amount of Aura.

After all, the cutting power of the Sword Energy itself came first, and the Aura it produced merely played a supporting role.

But I was thinking of using it—

—in a different way.

The idea was simple.

If I could absorb the Aura created by my sword?

Wouldn’t I be able to drastically shorten the time it would take to reach Rebirth?

‘In a way, the sword is doing cultivation for me, isn’t it?’

The only problem was that the Aura born from Sword Energy was clearly different from the Aura of Iron Heart.

First of all—

It was transparent.

The Aura born from Sword Energy had no color.

Should I call it primordial Aura?

Compared to the deep blue Aura born from Iron Heart, or the faded golden Aura Haarun had wielded, this was weak and utterly lacking in character.

‘If I absorbed it as is, it would clash with Iron Heart’s Aura and shatter.’

But I thought there was a way.

What surfaced in my mind was a low, steadfast voice.

‘Master once said this.’

Grand Duke Laitena Celsius.

The one who had guided me to the Stage of Sword Support had told me this:

[Sword Support means that the sword becomes a part of you.]

Yes. Banroa was already a part of me.

It read my heart and made decisions truer to myself than I could.

[It isn’t because you command it, but because the sword has become part of you that it moves on its own.]

Banroa was already like my heart or my stomach—part of me, moving on its own.

That was why—

[Though the Stage of Sword Support is categorized separately, in the end it is nothing but the process of advancing toward ‘Unity of Sword and Self.’]

In a way, I had already stepped into the realm of ‘Unity of Sword and Self.’

And if that was true—

‘If the sword and I are truly one... then why shouldn’t Banroa be able to cultivate Iron Heart?’

I believed.

Though I had no certainty at all.

I chose to believe.

That the sword and I could truly be one.

Wuuung— Wuuuuung—

Aura trembled in the air, traced by Banroa as it cut through the void along with my outstretched hand.

At times my hand moved first, at others Banroa led the way.

Looking closely—

Yes. On the path I meant to walk, Banroa was already there.

Was it that the sword moved on its own?

Or was it that I guided the sword?

Did such a distinction matter in the first place?

Whoosh— Fwoong—

I swung without pause. No, I danced. Together with Banroa.

In the fading scenery around me, familiar faces appeared and disappeared.

“...What the. When did that uncle get here?”

“First you call him oppa, then uncle.... Which is it supposed to be?”

“It’s whatever I feel like, okay?”

Daisy and Seklan noticed me, lingered nearby for a bit, then vanished.

“Well, well.... I was wondering where you’d gone.”

“...Noona, let’s just leave.”

“Leave? Where are we going?”

“Ugh!”

Katrina and Varen looked my way, then found spots of their own to begin training.

“Oh? Lord Rivera, you came out too?”

“...If I stay alone, I feel like I’ll just get beaten more later, so I came out.”

“Sounds about right. If you skip this, His Highness Ransen will probably drag you into a special training session instead.”

“...That’s terrifying.”

“...Truly terrifying.”

Rivera and Zaltran passed by as well.

Luccrancer, Catch, Seah, Mika, Gepetto... one after another, they came, glanced my way, and then started their own practice off to the side.

But not once did I stop.

I kept dancing.

Even the sounds around me slowly drifted away.

“...How long’s he going to keep this up?”

“...Wait, don’t tell me we have to stay here like this until he finishes training?”

“It’s already been two days.... This is too much.”

“Jealous of Seah. She gets to skip out, saying she’s tied up with paperwork.”

It all receded further and further.

Only Banroa and I remained, dancing.

“Oppa, you’re still at it?”

“Katrina noona’s going to collapse at this rate....”

“Seriously, why is that unni competing even in something like this?”

“...Huh?!”

“What?”

“Right now... over there...!”

“Uh...?”

“Aura??”

“What is that!?”

The murmurs of my younger siblings grew faint.

I could no longer hear them.

And what remained was not me,

not Banroa,

but nothing more than a single ‘dance.’

*         *         *

At some point, every gaze in the training grounds turned toward Ransen.

Wuuuuung—!

Wuuuuung—!

Banroa rang out like a mighty bronze bell, and in time with that resonance, dark blue Aura breathed in and out.

What was so surprising about Aura forming on a Swordmaster’s blade?

But when the Aura swelled to that scale, the story became something else entirely.

Aura kept writhing and flowing, moving in rhythm with Banroa.

At times, it gathered, like a whale. At times, it scattered, like a storm.

Like a sudden downpour, like the long dragon believed in by the Easterners, like a deep lake—

Aura.

It swelled endlessly, flowing between Ransen and Banroa.

“What... what is that? It’s terrifying....”

Even Katrina, who until the end had been training alone, could not help but turn her gaze toward Ransen.

She said it was terrifying. But in truth, the emotion carved into her face was ‘awe.’

It was clear.

That immense Aura was being drawn endlessly into Ransen’s body.

Aura that would take months—perhaps even years—to cultivate, he was swallowing in a single breath.

And still, his body did not burst apart. His Aura Mastery was nothing short of astonishing.

Katrina, watching in a daze, suddenly clenched her teeth with a snap.

“Are we just going to stand here and watch?!”

She turned her back.

She gripped her sword hilt even tighter.

“That! That’s the swordsmanship Ransen oppa taught us! He’s just applying it!”

The dazed gazes of the others shifted toward Katrina.

“We can do it too!”

Whooosh!

Katrina swung her sword.

She thought only of one thing.

‘Listen to the sword’s voice (Stage of Reading the Sword). And after that... gradually amplify the sword’s voice, and finally accept the sword’s will into your body (Stage of Body-Sword)!’

Just as Ransen had taught.

On her blade, where an orange Sword Aura glimmered, faint Sword Energy flickered.

The ancient Sword Energy that had saved her life in the fight against the Swordmaster Barkan.

She now sought to take the next step.

*         *         *

Even as everyone else followed Katrina and resumed their training, Daisy stood frozen in place.

So did her friend of the same age, Seklan.

“....”

“....”

Seklan, 178 cm.

Daisy, 167 cm.

The two stood side by side, staring at Ransen.

“He’s beautiful.... our oppa....”

Daisy murmured, but her gaze was not fixed on the immense Aura.

What held her eyes was Ransen’s dance.

The sword and man as one—

Sword Dance.

She could not look away.

As if the sword had become his partner.

Dancing together.

Suddenly, Daisy lowered her eyes to her own sword.

“...Could I treat my sword like that?”

Perhaps,

just perhaps, she could.

Like her older siblings, who always ignored her and swung their swords however they pleased. Hadn’t she also been wielding her own sword recklessly, however she pleased?

Slowly, Daisy took her stance.

Carefully.

Listening intently to the sword’s voice, just as Ransen had emphasized.

And beside her, Seklan moved his body as if he were her mirror.

He was thinking something a little different from Daisy.

‘The sword... it feels like it’s calling me.’

Woong—

Wuuung—

A faint vibration, barely audible, traveled up through the sword hilt.

It felt as if it were speaking to him.

‘You can do it too.’

‘It’s okay to want more.’

He wasn’t of Banroa’s bloodline, but just an ordinary orphan who had once drifted about in Kushan City.

Though he lived like family with his hyungs and noonas, inevitably, he had always been a little cautious, always standing just a step aside.

Squeeze!

But now, strength surged into Seklan’s grip on the sword hilt—an intent he had never held before.

And watching this entire scene was a child.

Six years old.

Seon.

In his eyes, the training grounds shimmered with dazzling colors.

With Ransen’s vast, deep-blue Aura as the backdrop, the Auras of his brothers and sisters each bloomed in their own hues....

“Woaa....”

Seon let out a breath, overcome by a feeling he had never known before.

“So beautiful....”

There are memories like that.

Memories that cannot ever be forgotten, even if you see them just once.

This very moment was etched into Seon’s heart as just such a memory.

He didn’t even think about roasted pork belly anymore—

It was that perfect of a moment.

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