The Swordmaster Who Returned After 1,000 Years-Chapter 106

[Translator - Kiteretsu]

[Proofreader - Kyros]

Chapter 106

The first reinforcements to arrive at the Viltre Fortress were Princess Violet.

"Are all of them harpies?"

Seeing the sky filled with harpies, Violet was momentarily stunned by their numbers.

"I don't need to control my strength."

Glacia quickly expanded her power, transforming Violet's entire body into ice.

"Ice Blast."

As Violet extended her hand toward the sky, a massive ice sphere appeared in the air.

Soon,

Boom!

With a tremendous explosion, ice shards were sent flying in all directions.

The harpies that were struck by the ice shards were instantly torn apart and frozen, crashing to the ground.

"Kiieee!"

The harpies that survived attempted to charge at Violet, but before they could even get close, they were instantly frozen.

Boom! Boom!

With each gesture Violet made, the air exploded.

The flying monsters fell one after another, and the situation rapidly shifted in their favor.

"Hehe. This is the perfect target to vent my frustrations."

Violet, who had joined the Second Prince’s reinforcements, couldn’t help but feel displeased after seeing the nobles and the Mage Tower forces quickly switch their allegiance to the Second Prince. While she pretended not to care…

She was still human, and it was unavoidable to feel upset.

However, it was somewhat better that the nobles, who had quickly changed sides, were too embarrassed to face her directly.

Oh? Is the Princess joining as well? You acknowledge that Prince Bellos is the rightful heir, don’t you?

A wise choice. As a Bormian Kingdom citizen, it’s only right to support Prince Bellos.

When she saw her former subordinates approach Prince Bellos in front of her, enthusiastically declaring their support for him, she couldn’t help but feel frustrated.

Although she knew the King had reinstated Violet,

No one expected that the lazy King, uninterested in politics, would create a faction and build power again.

Her former subordinates, trusting only in the sure power of the Second Prince Bellos, competed in showing their loyalty, further irritating Violet.

‘Right now, I have no justification to argue, so I can only listen…’

Violet’s eyes darkened as she watched the harpies being torn apart.

Even the Second Prince Bellos didn’t intervene, simply allowing her former subordinates to act.

Hahaha! Violet. Everyone is praising your choice. Let’s all forget the past and move toward the future, just like these people.

Isn’t that exactly what you’re doing, Second Prince?

Hehehe. You still call me the Second Prince? Even though we’re half-siblings, that stings. I’m hurt. I’m worried about when our dear sister will freeze up.

If you look at it this way, you and Lioness make a perfect pair. How about an official engagement? For the sake of royal unity and to stop Glacia’s rampage, of course.

He suggested an engagement between Violet and Lioness.

An engagement with the family she despised the most, the Oblaine Dukedom.

"If I must die, then so be it. Should I marry into the Oblaine family?"

Boom! Boom! Boom!

Violet, in her spirit form, unleashed her full power, causing the harpies to fall from the sky like hail.

The people inside the fortress were now more concerned with avoiding the frozen harpy corpses than with the harpy attacks themselves.

"Truly an S-rank mana suit... The difference is on another level."

"Princess, when you decide to use your power, it’s truly amazing."

After Violet swept across the castle walls, the main force of the second prince arrived, but they had little to do. They merely stood by, watching blankly as Princess Violet slaughtered the aerial troops.

‘Wow... How can one person wield such power?’

‘Ugh. Did I really pledge loyalty to the second prince? I should’ve stayed quiet.’

Those who had irritated Violet now regretted their actions in the face of her overwhelming power. Even Bellos, the second prince, looked somewhat stiffened.

“The S-rank mana suit is truly powerful...”

While they'd heard many times about the strength of the S-rank mana suit, seeing it with their own eyes was a completely different experience. The sight of Violet turning the entire space into an icy hell, causing the harpies to fall like hail, sent a chill down Bellos’s spine.

‘If Diether Hart wasn’t a follower of the Demon World and had competed for the throne in a proper manner… he would have never won against this.’

If Violet had been his full-blooded sibling, how reassuring it would have been. Bellos couldn’t help but feel regret.

‘As a sign of reconciliation, I proposed an engagement with Lioness, but she rejected it.’

If Violet were to marry into the Oblaine family, the family that Bellos hated most, anyone who could challenge his position would vanish completely. He’d made the proposal with this in mind, but she showed no sign of agreeing.

‘She should have bent a little. She’s such a troublesome one...’

Just as King Kaiten kept an eye on Sword Master Stein, Bellos also began to carefully watch Violet's power. After witnessing it firsthand, he had become wary of her.

‘I must make Stein firmly on my side.’

The only one who could counter Violet’s overwhelming strength was, without a doubt, Sword Master Stein.

As Bellos thought about how to win Stein over, Violet was staring at the sword seat on the castle walls with interest.

‘This is... a Sword Master’s mark.’

Although she couldn't fully understand the mysterious power contained in the sword seat, Violet knew that only Stein could have created such a thing. The Sword Master, once regarded simply as a powerful knight capable of wielding the Aura Sword, now demonstrated powers that were beyond common understanding.

‘I hope Sir Stein shows even more of his power in this war.’

If the Sword Master’s strength becomes more apparent, the king would feel threatened, and Violet’s own strength would continue to grow in recognition.

Violet and Bellos’s goals were entirely different, but both hoped to see Sword Master Stein continue to reveal his remarkable power.

And the Sword Master, Stein, who was drawing their attention.

‘...This is strange.’ No, Eldir, wearing a mana suit, sensed a shift in the behavior of the monster legion below the castle walls.

“Grrr...”

The monsters, which had been advancing steadily, suddenly turned around and retreated in an orderly fashion.

‘They’re retreating...?’

These monsters, who had forgotten the fear of death and advanced mindlessly, not even blinking as their comrades fell around them, were now retreating all at once.

‘Could it be that reinforcements have arrived?’

Though he was still below the castle walls, Eldir could hear the cheers of the soldiers. The reinforcements of the second prince had arrived, and seeing the battle turn even more unfavorable for the monsters, they were retreating.

‘To pull back the entire army just like that after identifying the reinforcements... Their control over the monster legion is impressive.’

As Eldir looked at the retreating monsters, he couldn’t shake the uneasy feeling that lingered in him.

The power of the demon commander, who had taken control of so many monsters at once, seemed extraordinary, no matter how you thought about it.

‘...I should head up first.’ Still, now that the enemy has retreated, it’s time to rest.

Eldir stepped over the corpses of the monsters and made his way up the castle walls.

“The enemy is retreating!”

“Ah, Sword Master...”

“Thanks to you, thanks to you, we were able to stop the enemy!”

As he heard the soldiers’ cheers, Eldir was able to join with Kaylen.

The next day.

“Sir Stein, I wasn’t able to properly express my gratitude during the battle.”

Guntrian, who was responsible for the defense of Beltre Fortress, looked at Stein with a gaze full of respect and bowed 90 degrees.

As the second son of a duke and the overall commander of the fortress, his gesture might have seemed excessive. However, the people of the fortress all saw it as entirely appropriate.

‘If it wasn’t for Sir Stein, the fortress would have fallen by now.’

‘Even though reinforcements arrived and the enemy retreated... it was still Sir Stein who saved us.’

The knights, who were watching, went even further.

They looked at Stein with gazes full of respect and admiration. No, they looked at him with almost a worshipful gaze, as if he were a figure of faith.

‘The sensation I gained from the sword seat still lingers in my body.’

‘My mana flow is much smoother than before. The effect of the sword seat is gone, but the blocked path of my mana has been cleared and remains open.’

‘I worked so hard to establish myself as a knight in the Cheokma Corps, but now... I want to follow this person... if only I didn’t have a wife and children.’

Kaylen, standing next to Eldir, who was disguised as Stein, could immediately sense the knights’ feelings.

The looks in their eyes.

He had seen that kind of look in his previous life.

‘Once a knight steps into the realm of the sword seat, they can never escape it.’

Indeed, during Emperor Ernstine's reign, knights had worshipped Stein as the "Sword God" and treated him as a figure of faith.

However...

After Guntrian praised Stein, he approached Kaylen. Instinctively, Guntrian bowed to Kaylen with the same deep respect, bending at 90 degrees.

“I also bow in gratitude to Sir Kaylen.”

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It was understandable that he would bow to Sword Master Stein, but it was unusual for Guntrian, the commander, to show such a high level of courtesy toward Kaylen, whom he had treated casually as his younger sibling during the battle.

Sir Kaylen?

Was that not a title given to knights?

“Huh, Brother?”

Lioness spoke in surprise, and only then did Guntrian snap out of his daze.

‘Huh? Why...?’

This is strange. I didn’t feel this way when Kaylen was in his spirit form, exterminating the monsters. But now, seeing Kaylen next to Stein, I feel compelled to bow in respect.

“Guntrian, thank you for showing me such courtesy.”

“Ah...”

“But Sir Kaylen? Haha, I think you may have mistaken me for someone else, since I’m standing next to Sir Stein.”

“Ah. Hahaha! I guess that’s what happened. Whenever I see Sir Stein, my heart starts to race. I must have addressed you like a knight as well.”

With the esteemed Sword Master, Sir Stein, standing next to him, Guntrian must have momentarily mistaken Kaylen for someone else.

People brushed the incident off as a joke, but...

Kaylen knew otherwise.

‘Knights with exceptional skill instinctively feel that I am the true master of the sword seat. That’s why their attention is drawn to me as well.’

The image Kaylen had shown during the defense battle was that of a perfect Water Meister, so logically, everyone knew that the sword seat had no connection to him.

However, their instincts were different.

Aura was telling them that the real person they should be showing respect to was Kaylen.

‘Still, there must be some excellent sword experts around. I need to erase the presence of the aura.’

Kaylen decided to suppress the aura and reveal more of his identity as a magician, as "Kaylen."

As he controlled the flow of mana in his body, the gazes of several excellent knights once again focused on Stein.

‘Somehow...’

‘It was just a misunderstanding.’

‘The Meister was next to Sir Stein, so the presence of the great warrior was also revealed along with it.’

Later on, Prince Bellos came forward to commend the defense forces and prepare a small banquet.

“It’s been so long since I’ve had a rest like this.”

“Do you think they’ll attack right away?”

“Surely not. If they were, they would’ve retreated, right?”

The soldiers, though not relaxing their guard, enjoyed the long-awaited break.

“Prince Kaylen, I heard you played a major role this time.”

“Sir Stein, we truly owe you so much.”

As people gathered around Stein and Kaylen, who had shown outstanding achievements during the defense battle...

Suddenly.

A golden portal appeared atop the castle walls.

“Th-That’s...”

People’s gazes were drawn to the portal.

Click. Click.

One by one, knights in pure white armor began to emerge from it.

“It’s the Holy Legion…”

“Ah, back there…”

“It’s the Saintess!”

And at the very end, Saintess Theresia walked toward them in a pure white clergy robe.

With a compassionate expression, the Saintess warmly gazed at the people on the walls. Her gaze stopped at Kaylen. And then...

Her expression went blank.

“Ern... Sir Stein?”

[Translator - Kiteretsu]

[Proofreader - Kyros]