Chapter 56
Hatching (2)
The dark, narrow space was filled with the chill of winter. Even though the Winter’s Farewell Party had ended, and it was only a matter of ti before the cold gradually receded, the warmth didn’t return overnight.
I shut myself away in a makeshift room, relying on a dim lamp as I continued to write on paper.
I kept writing a single sentence over and over again.
“...”
Click. The small hatch opened, and food and water were pushed in. I ate, relieved myself, and washed my face.
Then I sat back down and wrote again. Bit by bit, my mind wore away. I wasn't a writer.
I didn’t know how to pass the ti joyfully for days with nothing but paper and a pen in an empty room. I wasn’t used to it, either.
“Ugh.”
But I kept repeating it. With a pen, I just kept writing the sa sentence again and again on the paper.
[To those who helped , I will not be the first to cause harm.]
The place where the short sentence was engraved wasn’t the paper. At first, it had rely been written in ink.
But in this space, where even the passage of ti was impossible to track, the sentence I etched with all my focus slowly began to inscribe itself sowhere other than the paper.
It was carved beyond consciousness, into the unconscious.
No matter the ti or the action, I would co to judge for myself whether I was violating this one sentence that had been seared into my mind.
‘Not yet.’
I couldn’t tell how many als I’d eaten, how much ti had passed, how many sheets I had written on, or how many vials of ink I had gone through.
The aning of the phrase began to blur. The letters forming those words beca more vivid.
The one writing the words, myself, this room, the passage of ti, the changes in temperature, hunger, starvation, even sleep—all returned to aninglessness, the body so weightless it felt nothing, black ink swirling white and drifting through my mind—
Just when thinking itself beca unbearable.
With a pop, like a floating bubble bursting, a sudden clarity jolted awake. I raised my hand and gripped the battle gear hanging from the ceiling.
“I can do it.”
That thought struck . I stood and grasped the battle gear. The sensation in my hand was like a lump of iron being slamd.
It connected. The single sentence engraved deep within my conscious and unconscious mind.
At the very least, from the mont I had carved that sentence into myself until now, I hadn’t done anything that went against that vow.
The mont judgnt concluded in the unconscious, a sharp certainty surged forth and cleared my mind. The firm conviction that I had kept my rule turned into the conviction that I had the right to wield the battle gear.
“Open...”
I didn’t know how much ti had passed. I swung the battle gear. Like a bird breaking out of its shell with its beak from within the egg.
A smile had already appeared on my lips. The mont I thought, my body moved. Kairus’s promise had been fulfilled.
I struck the thick tal door repeatedly with the battle gear. The hinges of the steel door, which had been enduring the impact, jolted and creaked.
With a crunching sound, the blade wedged itself into the gap in the steel door. Applying force as if using a lever, I pushed, and with a grinding noise, the hinges finally tore off completely.
“...”
The first thing that struck my face was sunlight—sothing I felt I hadn’t seen in ages.
I had co this far. Gripping my sword once again, I knew for certain that my body was different from before.
“No more ti lag.”
“Obviously.”
Kairus replied simply, as if it was nothing, then raised his sword.
“You said you wanted to learn.”
“I did, but I didn’t expect you to know Swift Blade.”
At that mont, Kairus’s gaze sharpened slightly.
“It’s not like only a handful of people learned Swift Blade. Why act surprised?”
But I didn’t notice the change in his expression and continued speaking.
“You’re right. It’s a famous style, and a lot of people have learned it.”
Kairus didn’t respond to my words. He just raised his sword and slashed the air a few tis.
The sword stirred the air, manipulated the moving wind, and accelerated it.
“It’s Peerless Wind. You’ve heard the na, right?”
“Even if the Republic bastards haven’t, there’s not a knight in the Empire who doesn’t know Peerless Wind.”
Swift Blade—Featherwing’s swordsmanship and the art of crafting wind. This was its beginning. As high as the House Featherwing’s na had risen, so too had the reputation of Swift Blade.
“I’ve completed it, but it’s not perfect.”
Completion and perfection were different concepts. Still, for soone Kairus’s age to have completed Swift Blade was unheard of. It wasn’t a technique easily mastered.
As Kairus swung his sword a few more tis, a gust of wind surged with direction, crashing toward .
“Are you saying you’ll teach , or are you going to beat up with Swift Blade?”
“Who knows.”
Kairus gave a bland reply and then sheathed the sword with the stained glass piece.
“I already got your father’s permission. You said you could take a decent break from the Order, right? If you want to learn Swift Blade, co with .”
Kairus couldn’t stay at this estate any longer. If I wanted to learn more from him, I had to leave with him.
“Where are you planning to go?”
“My base is in Bennett City.”
“Huh? Bennett City?”
I looked at Kairus with my mouth wide open in disbelief.
“That filthy, disgusting city crawling with criminals?”
“Yeah. You seem to know it well despite never having been there.”
“That’s your base?”
Kairus smiled bitterly and answered.
“Life just rolled that way. But don’t worry. We’re heading to Rezantin City first.”
At Kairus’s words, I went “Hmm, mm,” as if thinking for a mont, then spoke up.
“That’s where our knight captain is exiled right now!”
“Exiled? Isn’t he just assigned there to guard the city?”
I laughed, “With the captain’s personality, that’s not an assignnt—it’s exile.”
“Most of the Scarlet Leaf Order is performing standard duties from their original base, right?”
I nodded at Kairus’s question.
“And I’ll need a little help. You didn’t seriously think I’d accept a sword style like Swift Blade for free, did you?”
I let out a cheerful laugh at his words.
“Want to send a recomndation letter to the Order for you?”
At that, Kairus nearly drew his sword and pointed it at .
Beco the Emperor’s sword? Was I out of my mind?
‘Let it go. Overreacting to sothing said out of ignorance would just make a fool.’
There’s no way I could’ve known Kairus’s situation. Besides, a situation where Kairus should actually draw his sword wasn’t over sothing like this—sothing said unknowingly.
Unless I were to discover his true identity. And honestly, the possibility was fairly high. I wasn’t from just any lesser house—I was a daughter of House Kellogg.
Heirs who must carry on their houses focus on morizing the nas of heirs from other houses. That’s why it was normal that Jerry or Simid didn’t know Kairus’s na—he wasn’t an heir.
‘But I’m not like them.’
As the only daughter of House Kellogg, had I not beco a knight, I certainly would have been married off. Naturally, the people I had to morize from other houses weren’t just heirs.
I had to be familiar with the nas of eligible bachelors who could be advantageous to House Kellogg. And there’s no way the House Featherwing wouldn’t have been on that list.
‘My na must’ve been...’
Kairus had probably been on that list too.
It’s just that after I succeeded in becoming a knight, that list beca irrelevant. And over ti, Kairus’s na faded from mory.
‘Even if she rembers, she can’t harm .’
The vow I engraved into my unconscious guaranteed Kairus’s safety.
If I wanted to live as a knight, I couldn’t cause Kairus harm—directly or indirectly.
Unless Kairus struck first. As he followed this train of thought, he belatedly noticed I was still waiting for an answer.
“Let’s head to Rezantin City first and talk things through there.”
While I had been learning to use the battle gear in the small room, Kairus had already finished a rough investigation of Rezantin City.
“Alright, sounds good.”
Irena answered cheerfully without much hesitation.
“Bennett City, huh. I heard there’s never a shortage of fights big or small. Might be a good place to get so real combat experience.”
Kairus clicked his tongue at my words.
“What are you, a brawler?”
“There’s sothing you just can’t get from practice alone.”
It wasn’t wrong. Kairus agreed. Practice and real experience were different. He had learned that during his studies in the Featherwing tradition.
“No matter how much of an apprentice you are, you’ve killed soone before, right?”
I nodded at Kairus’s question. A soldier was soone whose job turned killing from a cri into a duty.
You weren’t punished for killing, and even if you died, the killer wouldn’t be blad. Knights were soldiers too, and we grew used to killing.
“Then you won’t be easily taken down in Bennett City.”
“Co on, I’m your student. As my teacher, shouldn’t you protect a little?”
“Bullshit.”
Honestly, calling what we had a teacher-student relationship felt off. It’s not like I was treating him with any particular reverence either.
Naturally, Kairus didn’t expect that kind of treatnt. His knowledge wasn’t deep enough to act superior just because he was teaching sothing.
“Then should I try to get you in good with the knight captain once we’re in Rezantin City? It wouldn’t hurt for you to make that connection.”
This proposal piqued Kairus’s interest. To see soone he always assud would be an enemy in a friendly context?
eting the knight captain and walking away alive—without a fight? That kind of chance was rare.
“See? This is why it’s good to have connections. But can an apprentice knight even et the captain?”
At Kairus’s question, I crossed my arms and replied.
“What do you an ‘an apprentice knight’? The captain even said I had good potential and seed interested! Besides, he’s not the kind of person who treats people differently over sothing like that!”
“So he discriminates over sothing else, then?”
I nodded at Kairus’s question.
“Our captain really hates ugly people.”
“Wow, so he judges people by their looks.”
I nodded again.
“He said trying to assess a stranger by anything other than their appearance is even more foolish.”
“Even if soone’s ugly, they could still have a good personality.”
“He said that’s unnecessary. He prefers to interact with people who have both good looks and a good personality.”
There were plenty of people in the world, and among them, surely so had both looks and character.
“The Scarlet Leaf Order’s captain sounds like soone with overwhelming greed and no room for compromise.”
“Exactly. That’s why she blew up a mountain that was in her way.”
I nodded slightly at Irena’s words.
There was a story about the Red Cot, Dana Watson, who shattered a mountain by spending an entire day firing sword strikes at it because it was obstructing a mission.
As a result, they eliminated a mountain that would’ve taken over a week to get past, and managed to ambush the enemy much faster than anticipated.
Dana Watson was the kind of person who, when given two options, beat up the person offering them and took both.
She didn’t compromise, didn’t yield, and took everything she wanted. She didn’t bother weighing pros and cons—she just claid everything.
That kind of personality had brought her honor and fa, and it was what made her who she was today.
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