HAAH!
I had heard it a few times while fighting demons.
“I’ll grind your soul to dust.”
Back then, I had scoffed, ‘What kind of bullshit is that?’ But they had not been lying.
‘They should’ve said it feels like a needle is picking you apart one stitch at a time, from your skin all the way down to your bones.’
I had nearly lost my mind.
That aside.
Melina, who had been shedding tears before my eyes, was gone.
So was the Demon King who had been about to devour her, along with all the demons watching.
Instead, what entered my vision was a familiar and unpleasant wolf statue.
‘Why am I looking at the symbol of my damned family?’
The demons had definitely smashed it to pieces.
They had not merely smashed it, either. They had licked the wolf’s ears, gouged its eyes, and raised every kind of hell with it.
“Pietro!”
What a set of lungs.
It did not merely stab into my eardrums. It hammered straight into my skull.
I looked past the unpleasant statue and up at the dais.
“Huh?”
Someone who had vanished long, long ago was sitting there.
A frame as massive as a bear, muscles like steel, and a gaze that looked ready to chew his opponent to pieces and swallow him whole.
The Lord of the Iron Wall that protected the Empire from Demonic Beasts.
A man whose entire body declared that he himself was the Iron Wall.
Bale von Fenrir.
‘He definitely died to the demons. Burned to death, at that.’
His death had looked rather impressive.
He had stood there gripping his sword, as if declaring that even if his body burned, his spirit would live on.
Though every last bit of him had burned away.
“Hmm.”
The wolf statue was intact, and that man was sitting there alive and well.
One impossible thing after another.
I did not know whether this was a dream, a hallucination, or something else, but I wanted to wake up quickly.
“Pietro! Where has your mind wandered off to?!”
Just hearing him made my backside feel as though it were about to split open.
Wondering what the hell was happening, I slapped myself across the face.
“That hurts?”
It hurt.
It really hurt.
It was my own hand, but it had one hell of a sting.
“What is he doing?”
“Did fear drive him mad?”
“That cowardly bastard is just like that. He’s hurting himself so he can run away.”
Amid the murmuring, the words aimed at me came through with perfect clarity.
No matter how I looked at it, this was neither a dream nor a hallucination.
‘I’ve gone back in time?’
That crazy woman.
If someone had to come back, she should have done it herself.
She bet everything on someone like me?
And told me to learn the First Emperor’s swordsmanship and become a Sword Saint?
She was the one who shared his blood. Why make me…….
‘Ah, hell. Complaining won’t change anything.’
I could almost hear her telling me not to run away.
The old me would have said, ‘So what?’ and fled.
But.
“Do you truly intend to flee from the warrior’s path, the sacred duty of House Fenrir?!”
He really did have an incredible voice.
“Damn, my ears hurt.”
All I did was dig my index finger into my ringing ear, yet the looks fired at me were vicious.
“He’s lost his mind. He really has.”
“He must be pretending to be mad so he can escape!”
“Exactly! Begging for his life did not work, so now he’s pretending to be insane.”
“Trash bastard. Disgraceful bastard.”
Even with my ears ringing, I heard those words perfectly.
Anyway.
I had promised Melina that I would not run away.
I had thought it was merely something I said because I was about to die…….
‘I have to keep it. She sacrificed her own life to do all this.’
How could I not?
“Answer me! Pietro.”
“No. Is that really such a grand question that it even needs an answer?”
Father’s face twisted fiercely.
I thought that was a decent answer. Had he not liked it?
“You! You damned wretch!”
The roar of a wild beast.
Several people covered their ears and hunched over.
There was no mana behind it, yet the pressure was tremendous.
His old reputation as the strongest man in the Empire had not been empty after all.
Come to think of it, Father had become furious with me ten years before the Demon King’s descent…….
Was I around sixteen?
Then today had to be that day.
“Th-that crazy bastard.”
“See? I told you he would do this.”
“He’s pretending to be insane so he can run away.”
“Did he not just shamelessly announce that he intended to flee?”
“He has to act insane for the trick to work. Just look at his eyes. They are completely…….”
“Rotten. Rotten to the core.”
The House Fenrir Swordsmanship Tournament.
That was why so many outsiders had gathered here and were pointing fingers at me.
My eyes were perfectly clear, yet they were spouting such ridiculous nonsense about them being rotten.
“How long do you intend to live this way? Do you truly know no shame?”
His gaze held both anger and sorrow.
Now that I thought about it, standing here had not been my choice.
Servants acting under Father’s orders had dragged me here by force.
Back then, I had demanded to know why he was doing this and run away.
I had believed that he wanted to humiliate me in public and somehow turn me into a complete fool.
But looking at him now, that was not it.
‘His way of showing affection was far too violent.’
He should have given up at some point.
I had no idea what glory he expected to gain by clinging to someone who was clearly hopeless.
“What do you think you will become if you do nothing but run away?”
His dignified voice was filled with concern.
So he had been a father overflowing with affection.
But I had already answered that I would not run away.
Why was he still acting like this?
“Block every door! I shall correct that wretch’s rotten attitude here today!”
“I’m telling you, you don’t need to close them.”
“Even now, you are thinking of running? Break his legs if you must! Do not allow him to escape!”
“No! Who said I was running? I said I’m not going anywhere!”
The laughter, mockery, and commotion stopped all at once.
Everyone in the hall stared at me as though I were some bizarre object.
“I said I don’t even intend to run. So what are you correcting, and what are you breaking?”
“……You clearly said the question was not worth answering.”
When had I ever said that?
I had said, ‘Is that really such a grand question that it even needs an answer?’
Had the old man deafened himself with his own booming voice?
“Enough of that. Who am I fighting?”
Father’s eyes trembled.
He seemed flustered by the unexpected development.
The spectators must have been equally bewildered, because they stopped talking too.
“Ahem! Your opponent is older than you. He is a proper swordsman with a Mana Heart. Do you believe that you, who do not even know what mana is, can face him?”
Was he telling me to fight or not?
“You told me not to run.”
Father’s lips moved soundlessly as he looked around.
I had no idea why he had shouted so fiercely if he was going to become this flustered.
“He is older than you, has a Mana Heart, and knows how to use a sword. Are you truly going to face…….”
“Should I run away?”
“……You wretch!”
What did he want from me?
“Fight!”
“Show him what you can do!”
“Smash that damned bastard!”
“Kill him!”
The spectators, their tongues finally loosened, began shouting.
Still, telling him to kill me was going too far.
“My lord, I am ready.”
The knight who had been sitting in the waiting area on the opposite side waved his sword.
A mocking smile hung on his face.
It was clearly directed at me, but where had I seen that expression before?
‘You trash bastard. Someone like you doesn’t deserve food. Eat the shit in the stable.’
‘Try running if you can. But you’ll have to leave one of your ankles behind.’
‘They say you’re a whore’s son. No, no. She’s already dead, so should I call you a motherless bastard?’
Ah, right.
He was a relative of the current Grand Duchess.
Had his name been Rick?
Whenever he had the chance, he beat me, starved me, fed me shit while calling it delicious, and degraded me.
‘He really did it all.’
He had spared no effort.
Whenever I asked why he did those things, he answered, ‘Does anyone need a reason to beat a son of a bitch?’
The Grand Duchess had probably ordered him to do it.
It did not matter.
Even now, his hands seemed to be itching to do something to me, and he kept fiddling with his sword.
“What will you do?”
“Why do you keep asking until your mouth hurts? Is it because of the mana? A person doesn’t die just because he lacks a bit of it.”
Father’s cheek trembled.
I thought I saw a small twitch beside his eye as well…….
Rick, standing across from me, must have heard what I said because his shoulders shook.
“Y-you insolent…”
“Rick!”
At Father’s call, my opponent closed his mouth.
His face had turned red. He seemed furious.
“Very well! Begin the match. You will both prove your strength. The victor shall receive whatever he desires. And the loser!”
He stopped speaking.
Everyone looked at Father.
His eyes settled on me.
“Will join the army.”
The possibility of my victory had never even crossed his mind.
He must have intended to frighten me just enough to force me into making a choice.
Rick’s confident expression said the same thing.
The wish was his.
The army was mine.
“Congratulations on your enlistment.”
His words just now made that perfectly clear.
“Why are you congratulating me already? I don’t think it’ll be someone else’s problem.”
Rick’s face twisted.
He enjoyed tormenting others, but whenever the same happened to him, he threw a fit.
“Did you see Rick’s face? He’s fucking pissed.”
“His personality is complete shit. Isn’t this bad? He’s pretty handy with a sword too.”
“Good. He needs to get beaten like a dog and come to his senses.”
“They say he’ll be dragged into the army. I heard illegitimate children are treated worse than prisoners there.”
“He shouldn’t have run away. It’s karma. Karma.”
Even a beggar rolling around the marketplace knew Rick was skilled with a sword.
So.
“Don’t run away!”
“Bear it even if it hurts!”
“Try barking like a dog. Maybe he’ll go easy on you.”
They must have been eagerly awaiting the sight of me being beaten.
Too bad.
They would not be seeing what they expected.
“Combatants, take your positions!”
At the referee’s shout, Rick and I stood facing each other.
“Insolent bastard. I’ll make sure you don’t have to join the army.”
He radiated a vicious pressure as he swung his sword through the air.
One strike to the neck.
One to the side.
One to the leg.
He was saying that wherever the blade landed, he would cripple me.
“Sounds like a decent plan.”
Everyone’s plans usually did.
“Did madness rob you of your fear?”
“You wouldn’t stay sane after going through what I did. No. You’d piss yourself and pass out.”
Rick’s face crumpled.
But I was being sincere.
Demons had poured from a hole in the sky.
Anyone who saw that and stayed sane would be the real madman.
“You bastard!”
WHOOSH—!
My skin stung slightly.
A shallow line opened at the edge of my neck, and a bead of blood rolled down.
“You’re lucky.”
Encouraged by the fact that his sword had touched me, Rick proudly displayed a sinister smile.
Perhaps because he looked like a snake, that expression suited him perfectly.
“Shall we see how long your luck lasts?”
The floor beneath Rick’s feet cracked.
His sword drew an afterimage as it flew toward me.
CLANG—!
Sparks burst from the meeting of metal.
The spectators let out cries of admiration.
‘What a snake-like sword.’
It seemed to aim for my face, then went for my shoulder. When I moved to block, it turned toward my side.
“Oh? You blocked that?”
“Was I supposed to let it hit me?”
“Let us see how long you can keep acting insolent.”
CLANG—!
CLANG-CLANG—!
CLANG—!
His movements were so violent that sparks flew wildly.
He kept pressing me without taking a single proper breath.
My face, arms, chest, and shoulders.
Tiny beads of blood scattered wherever the sword grazed me.
“GRAAAH!”
Rick roared and leaped high into the air.
THUD—!
His sword dripped blood before my eyes.
Both my feet dug into the floor beneath the weight.
The excited spectators screamed like pigs being slaughtered.
The air burned hot.
“Rick! Rick! Rick!”
As the crowd chanted his name, Rick’s face twisted.
He must have intended to end the match with that strike.
“What? Isn’t it going the way you wanted?”
“You fucking bastard!”
There were plenty of insults in the world, yet his vocabulary was pathetic.
Still, he was a Mana Heart user.
Mana began flowing into his sword.
“Whoa! A Magic Sword!”
“I heard only real swordsmen could use that!”
“So he really was strong?”
The spectators cheered at the sight of Rick’s burning sword.
Not bad.
He must have practiced swinging his sword as often as he terrorized people.
Come to think of it, had he made it to the semifinals?
Unlike his character, his skills were not bad.
“I shall hold back no longer! I shall finish this now!”
He seemed to have been fighting with all his strength until now, but either way, it was a suitably villainous line.
Then came the slash.
KABOOM—!
Thick smoke wrapped around my entire body.
The voices of the spectators vanished as if they had never existed.
There was not even a murmur.
They must have felt Rick’s killing intent.
“Blame yourself for running away instead of training, disgrace of the North!”
Rick was certain of his victory.
The spectators broke their silence and began chanting his name again.
“Tsk, tsk, tsk. They couldn’t even wait until the end.”
I waved my hand and scattered the smoke.
“What?”
Even Rick’s surprise was predictable.
“He took a Magic Sword and lived?”
“Is that even possible?”
Maybe it would have mattered if I had only seen that attack once or twice.
I had seen it thousands of times while fighting demons.
Dodging it was nothing.
Of course, if you did not know it was coming, you would end up roasted alive.
The spectators were not the only ones surprised.
I glanced over and saw Father’s eyes open wide.
He was still keeping his face rigid to preserve his dignity.
“I-impossible. This is absolutely impossible!”
The strongest sword Rick could produce had been defeated.
Unable to accept that reality, he charged at me without any order or reason.
A sword that had lost its composure was worse than a child’s stick.
CRACK—!
THUD.
Rick’s body hit the floor, and both his hands flew to his head.
I could not understand why I had trembled in fear of someone like this.
I should have stood my ground and fought back at least once instead of running.
There was no use regretting it now.
So this time.
“I won’t run away.”
I declared it proudly to every gaze fixed upon me.
Everyone fell silent and watched.
I looked down at the fallen Rick.
At everything that had changed before my eyes…….
Twitch, twitch, twitch.
“Huh?”
Rick’s entire body was trembling.
No, it looked less like trembling and more like convulsions…….
Poke. Poke.
Even when I poked him, he showed no other reaction and merely continued shaking.
I stepped closer and said, ‘Stop pulling that shit and get up. If you don’t, I’ll smash your head.’
Nothing changed.
At this rate, I would be the one with no understanding of what a spar was, not Rick.
“D-did he kill him?”
“I think he’s dead.”
“Gasp! M-murder?”
The spectators erupted into an uproar.
Before long, someone screamed, “Aaaah!”
At that point, even I could not help panicking.
All I had done was smack the head of someone charging toward me.
I had never intended to kill anyone.
He was the one who had said he would kill me, not the other way around…….
And he was still shaking.
“I didn’t kill him! No, he’s not dead!”
I looked at Father, silently telling him to verify the truth.
But that man……
He was staring with his mouth hanging open, blinking repeatedly.
What was the lord of the North doing standing there like that?
Get over here and check him right now.