The Essence of 300 Years (4)
Helt Knight taught Najin swordsmanship as he promised, perhaps even more diligently than promised, contrary to the lukewarm attitude he had shown when first proposed the idea.
"Your swordsmanship is specialized for fighting humans. That's not a bad thing. In fact, you can build on that as a strength. On the continent, that would have been enough. You wouldn't have had to deal with undead, monsters, or beasts much."
He pointed at Najin's sword and continued, "But it's different in the Outland. Here, most beings possess immortality. Creatures here don't die simply from having their throats slit or their chests pierced. That being the case, what should you do?"
"Cut them harder?" Najin asked.
"Well, to put it simply, yes. Cut harder—that is, I'll teach you how to cut them."
How do you deal with those that don’t die?
"Sever their spine. Even if they regenerate, without use of their spine, they'll be incapacitated. That applies for both monsters and humans. After incapacitating them, butchering them is the most effective thod."
Helt Knight taught Najin how to neutralize their healing abilities. He didn't stop at just teaching; he took Najin to where the demonic beasts of the Outland dwelled and demonstrated it.
"Try it."
"Like this?"
"No, strike deeper than that. Not like cutting down a tree, but like digging out its roots."
"Ah, like this?"
"Well, that's correct, but… do you really understand just from a few words? It took over a month to grasp this."
"I've always been a bit of a prodigy."
"Hah…"
Show, imitate, correct…
For a while, Helt Knight taught Najin the basics of swordsmanship. When the foundation was sufficiently solid, he began to talk about sword techniques.
"The swordsmanship I use seems to have beco the prototype of your Imperial Swordsmanship. Show your Imperial Swordsmanship again."
Najin demonstrated Imperial Swordsmanship.
After watching for a while, Helt Knight said, "They've cut out the most difficult parts to follow and reestablished it while focusing on the easier parts. Whoever did it has remarkable skill. Do you know who created it?"
"It's not exactly written, but… soone has taught Imperial knights for the past hundred years or so."
"Who is it?"
"Sir Gerd."
"That guy?" He sounded slightly surprised. Helt Knight let out a hollow laugh and said, "Yeah… I taught him swordsmanship once. I didn't expect him to still be using it, though."
"Were you his teacher?"
"Not a teacher. He was using strange swordsmanship that didn't suit him, so I just taught him a bit, saying it's better to use this than that garbage. Well, that aside…”
Muttering to himself, Helt Knight raised his sword. "It seems you've learned the basics. From today, I'll teach you true Imperial Swordsmanship, including the techniques that Gerd didn't include."
"I'm looking forward to it."
"It won't be easy to learn. This sword contains the essence of my 300 years." It was the sword he had perfected over his lifeti. To pass on the swordsmanship to Najin, he swung his sword.
Najin quietly watched him; then he thought, ‘I've seen that swordsmanship sowhere before.’
He couldn't rember exactly where or who it was. Considering his good mory, it was strange.
It felt as if sothing were preventing him from connecting the dots.
"What's that ring? Did you get married or sothing?" During a break after training, Helt Knight pointed at the ring Najin held.
Normally, Najin kept it on a necklace tucked inside his clothes, but before sleeping, he took it out and held it in his hand for a few minutes.
Holding it made him feel warmth.
"No. It's a gift."
"A ring as a gift? Do you have a fiancée?"
"I did receive a confession."
"…Tch." Helt Knight's voice instantly turned sour. "Young brat's got it made."
- Exactly!
rlin nodded vigorously in agreent.
Najin shrugged. "Aren't nineteen year olds adults?"
"I'm 300 years old."
"Have you never been in love?"
"Hey. Are you underestimating ? In my pri, a single glance was all it took to make noble ladies faint at balls. If I danced with soone even once, they'd be the star of the ball that night."
"Wow, really?"
"You don't seem to believe ." He let out a sigh. "I did have one. A love story."
Helt Knight poked at the campfire. "Do you know about Serena Pendragon?"
"Serena Pendragon… the traitor, right? The one who tried to overthrow the Empire by seducing its pillars."
"Yeah. That arrogant princess was my first love. We were in love. Quite seriously."
"Were you a traitor too?"
"If I had been, I wouldn't be here like this." He let out a long sigh. "I weighed the Empire on one side and her on the other. The result was clear. I was the Empire's hero. I had to be, so what could I do? I had to give up on sothing."
Helt Knight calmly said, "I killed Serena with my own hands. That was my first and last love."
"That's quite a passionate love story."
"Right? You know what's surprising? That damn princess, right before she died, whispered in my ear that she loved . She really was a nasty person. I thought she had been using , that it was all a deception… but apparently, it wasn't."
He chuckled. "Well, it's good to have at least one love story. I hope things work out between you and the lady who gave you that ring."
"We're not dating."
"What? You got a ring and a confession, but you're not dating? Hey, kid, do you know what happens if you play with a lady's heart?"
"It's not that. I just haven't given an answer yet…"
"Ha, you little brat!"
Najin made a disgusted face at Helt Knight's lecture on love. "I just haven't made a decision. I don't even know what it ans to like soone, so accepting a confession would be disrespectful, wouldn't it?"
"Aren't you nineteen?"
"Yes."
"Isn't that the age when you know everything?"
"I lived in a rather unique place for a long ti, so I'm a bit awkward with relationships."
"Where did you live?"
"Do you know about the Underground City, Artman?"
The mont those words ca out, Helt Knight tilted his head. "That still exists?"
"Huh?"
"That's strange. It shouldn't still be there."
"It was perfectly fine when I left it two years ago."
"Isn't that where the Hapen River flows?"
"Yes. Where the Starlight Order's main church is."
"That city was quite talked about in our ti. If they wanted to kill it, then why go through all that trouble? People said they had to be hiding sothing, so we checked it out, and guess what? They really were hiding sothing."
‘Hiding sothing?’ Najin narrowed his eyes. "What was it?"
Helt Knight poked at the campfire. "A corpse."
"Huh?"
"They buried the corpse of a star there. I don't know whose corpse it was. Seeing that there were eight stars, it was definitely a constellation, but we couldn't figure out exactly which one. Still, it seed like they were trying to do sothing with it, so the city was supposed to be destroyed…"
He tapped his helt. "From what I rember, that was about 200 years ago? I thought the city had been wiped out, so it's strange that it's still there."
"If there was a star's corpse… where was it? A landfill? An underground section?"
"I don't know that much. I wasn't part of that operation."
It was the first ti Najin had heard the story. Even though he had looked into the underground city in detail after leaving, he hadn't heard of any such thing. He thought he might need to look into it when he returned to the continent.
"Well… if you lived there, you must have had a tough life. Isn't that a place without sky?"
"The sky is blocked by the ceiling."
"If you were born and raised in such a place, I can understand your longing for the stars." Helt Knight smiled bitterly. "It's ironic. Born in a place where you couldn't see the stars, you long for them more than anyone."
"They say people desire what they cannot have. I must have longed for the stars because it seed like I could never have them."
"Desiring what you cannot have…" Those words left quite an impression. Helt Knight muttered them for a while, then let out a laugh as if he couldn't hold it back. "Yeah. That's true."
What you cannot have, or what you can no longer have… As he pondered those words, he touched the sword at his waist.
While learning swordsmanship from Helt Knight, Najin traveled around the Outland.
Helt Knight encouraged Najin to see, experience, and learn as much as possible, and Najin followed that guidance.
Indeed, all that learning was beneficial to him. New knowledge from experience and techniques derived from that knowledge piled up in his body.
Then, one day while traveling through the Outland…
"Who's this? Isn't this the cowardly deserter?" While learning swordsmanship from Helt Knight, Najin encountered a shabby-looking man. His unkempt beard was scruffy, and his clothes were little more than rags.
The only thing that stood out was the sword at his waist. As he touched the hilt, he looked at Helt Knight. "A half-wit who can't even hold a sword dares to teach soone else? The stars in the sky must be laughing."
"…Bernstein."
"Don't utter my na with that filthy mouth, you monster." Bernstein, the man, glared. "My na is not so cheap as to be uttered by a monster, a wandering dead man who can't die."
Bernstein gnashed his teeth, flas flickered in his eyes, and deep anger could be heard in his cracked voice. "Why are you alive? Why is a dead man still breathing? Was life that precious? Couldn't you give up even after all that?"
"…"
"After losing your entire knight order, being defeated, kneeling to a demon, and then running away to survive? The Empire's na has fallen. If it were , I would have ended my life long ago. Are you too afraid to do that?"
Helt Knight remained silent.
Bernstein's insults continued for a while, and Helt Knight let them go on, as if he felt Bernstein had the right to do so.
"A monster who abandoned his knighthood dares to wear a helt and act like a knight? It's laughable."
"You talk too much." Of course, it wasn't Najin's place to say that.
"What?" Bernstein's head snapped around.
Facing those glaring eyes, Najin said, "Are you deaf? I said you talk too much. Instead of the silent Helt Knight, he spoke up.
Helt Knight raised his arm as if to stop him, but Najin ignored him and took a step forward. "Since you speak lightly of knights, you must know a lot about them."
"I know more than that monster. I am also a knight."
"Then you must know the knight's code." Najin slipped his finger between his wrist and glove; then, with a flick, he took off his glove and held it in his hand.
"Insults are washed away with duels. Honor and pride are proven with a sword. Since I feel insulted, I think I need to wash it away. My ears feel dirty."
"Who do you think you are?"
"I'm this knight's disciple. A squire, I suppose."
Helt Knight choked on his breath. He had taught Najin many things, including swordsmanship, but he had never called himself a teacher.
Najin knew why he reacted that way. He must have thought it didn't suit him. He must have thought he wasn't qualified to teach anyone.
Still, he considered Helt Knight his teacher. He had learned much from him and had sought his teachings and received them. Therefore, Helt Knight was already his teacher, and when a teacher is insulted, it is not the disciple's place to remain silent.
Clang!
The glove Najin threw made a loud noise.
"Najin…”
“What are you doing?"
"What else would throwing a glove an? It's a challenge."
Clang!
After announcing his na, Najin roughly drew his sword.
Thinking the boy would charge imdiately, Bernstein reflexively drew his sword.
Najin didn't charge. Instead, he stood still and sneered. "Don't you know the code? If I've given my na, you must give yours. Drawing your sword without announcing your na? Are you even a knight?"
Grind.
Bernstein gnashed his teeth. "You're quite the talker, kid."
"So, your na?"
"Bernstein. Royal Guard Bernstein."
Najin and Bernstein pointed their swords at each other.
"I'll break that arrogant nose of yours."
"Words won't get you anywhere."
Twirl.
Najin adjusted his grip on the sword. "I'll tear out that mouth of yours."
Words alone wouldn't do. Najin didn't just speak, he intended to act on his words and swung his sword straight at Bernstein's jaw.
It was a clean strike, enough to make the watching Helt Knight unconsciously admire it.
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