Chapter 109: Every Moment I Breathe

A sound that could never possibly occur in nature echoed through the air.

Thanks to that, Ases, who woke up earlier than usual, focused on the presence and the noise coming from outside the cabin.

She was fully aware that Mines had stepped outside and was speaking with someone.

Furthermore, combined with the scent wafting through the air, making a deduction wasn’t that difficult.

When it came to sleep, she usually only managed a short period of deep slumber; otherwise, she kept her eyes closed while remaining half-awake.

No matter how much of a genius one might be, the battlefield does not take such circumstances into account.

Rest and physical maintenance are essential for maintaining full power.

And being able to skillfully adjust the depth of one’s sleep was, in its own way, a capability.

The clinking sounds merged with the resonance to become a performance. It became music.

‘This is a talent in its own right.’

When did he become such a skilled musician?

No matter how many times she heard it, she couldn’t get used to it.

…Though it might be because the piece was different every time.

As she stepped out of the cabin, the sound became clearer.

A scorched pot sat empty beside the campfire, and the intensity of the flames was nearing its end, casting only a faint light.

There, as the mist thinned and the sunlight became a bit more vivid.

Sitting on a fallen log as a chair and playing something called a guitar, Kariel looked much more refreshed, and his physical condition seemed significantly improved compared to when she had last seen him.

First and foremost, perhaps because his scrawny body had put on some decent weight, he no longer looked as pitiful as before.

Sitting with his left leg stretched out and his right leg crossed, resting the instrument upon it as he played, he looked at a glance as if he were simply resting.

No, that was likely correct.

“When are you going back?”

“…….”

As she watched the scene while standing, she asked when it seemed the moment would stretch on, and Kariel replied while lowering the volume of his playing.

“Sometime.”

“Sometime?”

“The groundwork is finished.”

“Then?”

“Now that I’ve strengthened the interior, it’s time to fill it with other things.”

For example, it was time to build his body.

No, wasn’t he doing that until now?

It was all part of the same process.

It was simply that until now, it had been a process of discarding and emptying the useless things.

From now on, only the filling remained.

That was the gist of it.

“Did you get all your questions answered?”

When Ases asked, Mines gave a slight nod.

“Then is it time to say goodbye?”

“No. …Not yet.”

“Why?”

“…….”

Then, Mines asked something she had been curious about but hadn’t yet managed to ask.

“Ases, why are you staying here?”

As Mines asked, briefly shifting her gaze toward Kariel.

Ases spoke as if it were no big deal.

“Because I decided to do so a long time ago.”

“A long time ago?”

In her very early childhood.

Though she herself had a childhood.

Thrown out into the continent as if exiled from her home country at the mere age of eleven, she had managed to find a place to settle thanks to her mother’s letter of introduction.

Even that was only temporary.

“After wandering here and there, I met this guy, and since my skills were recognized and I had the status, I ended up escorting him.”

That happened when she was only twelve.

Back when Kariel was traveling between foreign lands before he was even ten.

Having met him during his visit to the Metran Kingdom, she was rapidly rising as a skilled warrior beyond her years.

Then, through a series of events, they traveled together several times and reached a point of making various promises.

“But I realized once again that I couldn’t be satisfied with myself.”

Even back in her home country, she had displayed a bottomless depth of power that made her status as a child irrelevant.

The fact that she underwent the trial bestowed by the Fairy of the Lake at such a young age, and that she passed it… could be called unprecedented.

However.

She rejected the sword bestowed by the Fairy of the Lake.

She flatly rejected every single requirement the Fairy of the Lake had demanded.

The result was a curse from the Fairy of the Lake and an order of exile from her home country.

It wasn’t a permanent exile.

She could return whenever she wanted even now.

But then, she would likely be used for the purpose of a political marriage.

She had ended up in this situation by refusing to let someone arbitrarily define, manipulate, and mortgage her life.

…And now, she was supposed to crawl back into a cage, into iron bars, just to return to her homeland?

That was simply out of the question.

“I felt that I needed to grow my strength. Because in the end, the only thing that earns one respect is skill.”

It was far too late to worry about personality, heart, grace, or dignity.

While one could act the part on the surface, for that to have meaning, there had to be a foundation or a backing.

But what meaning would there be in appealing political charm using bloodline for a political marriage?

If she had brought a partner attractive enough that the Late King could not refuse, then even if her future as a warrior or knight had died, Aseratte En Draig could have sufficiently secured her position as royalty.

Someone like Kariel would have fully met those conditions.

After all, he was a being called the Bloodline of Radiance.

…However.

Did she calculate and think about such things? Did she approach him with that goal?

Maybe halfway?

“So I changed my thinking entirely.”

What if, instead of a partner, they became companions or entered a master-servant relationship?

And what if they could form a bond in a realm that no one else could touch?

“I had already abandoned the thought of returning home, and I needed a place to settle. I roughly decided on the Empire, under him. He looked promising at the time.”

However, to be respected and treated well, one needs the corresponding ability.

No one shows respect to something useless. Unless they are a complete idiot.

It would be better to be ignored and cast aside.

Therefore.

Ases felt the need to grow even more.

Right then, she happened to make contact with Gazef, one of the Nine Heroes.

Even this was a result achieved with Kariel’s help.

And Gazef told her about the experts who existed all over the continent, including the Lake Dragon and the Order of Relief Knights.

First, Ases directly received instruction in the Dragon God Sword here.

Without needing to specifically learn the War God Style or anything else, she already possessed the qualification to learn it.

The Lake Dragon, recognizing this, personally guided Ases for exactly ten days.

Afterward, she devoted herself to solitary training for over half a year.

Occasionally, Gazef acted as a sparring partner to fill the gap in her practical combat training.

Once Ases gained confidence in her skills, she scouted the surrounding areas to observe and learn the techniques of experts scattered about, while on her way to rejoin Kariel.

Whenever conflicts or small battles broke out, she participated as a mercenary and achieved distinguished merit.

This was no exception during the Magic Beast subjugation wars.

It was then that she met a man who was a member of the Order of Relief Knights and was called the First Sword.

She never formally learned the unique swordsmanship of the Order of Relief Knights from him, but after being beaten by him for about a week, she could roughly mimic it.

However, in the decisive parts, mimicking was impossible.

He told her he would teach her if she became an official member of the Order of Relief Knights, so she readily agreed to join.

Surprisingly, for the next few weeks, she wandered here and there with him, focusing on acquiring the skill.

After that.

It was all well and good that she learned the Dragon God Sword and the nameless sword of the Order of Relief Knights, known as the Swordsmanship of Grandeus.

But she found nothing further to pursue beyond that.

She wanted to witness the sword of the Sword Saint, but perhaps it wasn’t meant to be, as he never appeared.

Then, she heard the news that Kariel had returned to the Empire.

Since she heard the news just before entering the land of the Elves, she turned back.

She considered whether to head to the Empire immediately, but for the sake of the future, she instead wandered the surroundings, focusing on practical training and growth.

About five years passed like that.

Rumors eventually leaked even outside the Empire that Kariel had become a degenerate.

…Like a broken genius.

“I actually thought it was a good thing. At the time.”

“…Why?”

“Because the more desperate his situation, the more valuable my help would be.”

That was the reason she seriously formed a Mercenary Corps.

It would be impossible alone, but if she built a force, she could become a definitive source of power.

So, if she could become a useful existence when the time came to provide support.

She judged that her position would be permanently preserved until the day she died.

At the time, she hadn’t had the chance to find out exactly what Kariel’s situation was within the Empire.

Still, if it was the fellow with the brilliance she had seen before, she assumed there must be a reason why he induced such rumors to spread.

“It was a huge misconception.”

Here.

During the journey to the Valley of the Lake Dragon and the Forest of the Lake Dragon, Ases was able to reasonably grasp the truth of his situation.

Memory impairment.

A family and surroundings that demanded more than the meager talent he possessed.

“But this guy’s talent was concentrated more in dealing with people than in being a warrior. To put it negatively, he’s skilled at schemes; to put it positively, his political power is excellent? Still, it’s not like he couldn’t handle a sword at all. It’s strange.”

The inability to handle mana?

This was likely the most fatal part.

However, this could be replaced by tools.

…What was the problem?

More importantly, why did he become ‘unable’ to handle mana?

The Kariel Ases knew was not a mana-maladjusted person or incapacitated.

According to Kariel, he only speculated that it might be a sequela from when he almost died, and he was likely correct.

The most serious issue was the memory impairment.

And the fact that, unbeknownst to anyone, his knacks and talents in all aspects had vanished?

For his original skills and talents to vanish as an aftermath of facing death? That was a bit strange.

“Then, does Lady Ases intend to keep following Kariel?”

“Don’t you think we’re already entangled enough? Especially since I have a connection with the Order of Relief Knights and I’ve become the person who helped him escape; would anyone believe me if I claimed later that I have nothing to do with him?”

“…….”

The most serious among the rumors regarding Kariel was the content that he might be connected to the Demon King.

At first, she thought the rumors spread because he had released the inheritors of the Legacy of the Great Demon King or was connected to them.

However, upon closer inspection, it was of a different nature.

Not the Demon King as an inheritor of the legacy.

The rumors regarding the Demon King connected to Kariel.

Were actually related to that ‘Golden Beast.’

“Then, as the rumors say, are you really related to the Golden Beast?”

When Mines finally thought of it and asked Kariel.

“It’s not a wrong story,” Kariel stated the fact calmly.

“But it’s not blindly correct either.”

Then, for some reason, Kariel scoffed and stared into the air for a moment.

As he stroked the strings with his fingers again, a soft tone flowed out along with the vibration.

“…….”

Come to think of it.

The reason Mines wanted to stay here was also because of this.

The factual truth wasn’t important to Mines.

The only thing that mattered was that he seemed in desperate need of help.

In reality, he was a great expert who could momentarily neutralize even her.

But in this world, there were absolute things that skill alone could not overcome.

Currently, whether intentionally or not, he was on the verge of being rejected by the world.

“So, then since when?”

When Ases asked something incomprehensible.

Kariel answered while putting down the guitar.

“Since when? Every moment I breathe. Every moment my eyes are open.”

What did that mean?

She only found out later.

After that, Kariel continued his movement training, holding a plain iron sword like the one she had seen before.

It was for.

…Until the sun set, without resting or stopping for a single inch.

However, the movements he took were very slow and monotonous.

Watching him, it didn’t look tiring at all.

But sweat poured off his entire body like rain, and white steam continuously billowed out like mist.

Except for mealtimes, he was always like that.

Thanks to his discarded top, she could observe in detail how his scrawny upper body changed day by day.

When it was time to sleep, he would vanish, returning to the stone cave.

Ases and Mines took turns hunting.

Because the number of mouths to feed had increased, the frequency of hunting also increased, and Kariel, upon returning, tended to consume various things almost to the point of binge eating.

Despite that, he didn’t gain fat or bulk up.

Nevertheless, his thin body gradually began to regain a human shape.

In less than a week, the boy, thanks to his frame growing and filling out slightly.

Had transformed into a boy who looked much healthier than before.

“…….”

And whenever he rested, he always played the guitar.

Just before ten days had passed in that manner.

“Um, excuse me….”

A girl with tanned skin, a sturdy build, and green eyes like a fairy with silver-blue hair.

Aristhétis, drawn by Kariel’s guitar playing, asked with a half-entranced face.

“Could I… could I learn that too? It was so impressive… the sound of that music keeps lingering in my head….”

Of course.

“……If you want to.”

Kariel did not refuse.