Chapter 69: Primitive

“Is it because of the plan to subjugate Blackthorn?”

At the question from Grandmaster, Isaac nodded. After a brief moment of thought, Grandmaster tilted her head and asked:

“But I’m wondering if there’s any real need for me to step in. Isn’t Arandel almost done taking care of things?”

“The Transcendent I know are all extremely proud, and they tend to look down on humans.”

“…….”

Grandmaster did not deny it.

It meant she agreed.

“Even if we assume Blackthorn is expendable, I doubt they’ll just take the defeat lying down.”

“So you think they’ve set something up? Do you have any evidence?”

By now, Grandmaster’s expression had become calm.

It was as if she would have been disappointed had he not provided a basis. Isaac explained in a steady voice:

“Did you see the nearby villages? They’re living in relative abundance, yet their outward appearance doesn’t show it at all.”

“Hmm. Yes, their skin is dark, thin like parchment, and you can see their bones clearly.”

“They are the proof. My guess is—”

“Some kind of ritual?”

Grandmaster echoed his words. Isaac nodded, and she let out a short sigh.

“You know an awful lot. Ritual of the Transcendent isn’t something one can easily come across.”

“I encountered it during a dispatch to North. Of course, I knew about it even before then.”

‘It’s not really a lie.’

Isaac suspected that the reason Blackthorn’s citizens looked so haggard despite their prosperity was due to some form of ritual.

Grandmaster didn’t spend long deliberating and nodded.

“That seems logical. As you say, there’s a high chance some ritual has been set up in that mansion.”

Had Arandel been there, they might’ve ignored it; but otherwise, they had to consider every possibility.

Isaac knew all too well how deep the Transcendent’s hatred and simmering hostility toward humans ran. They would never simply retreat.

“You’re my fellow disciple’s student, so of course I can help. But if that’s the case, you’ll have to do something for me in return, right?”

Straightening her back, Grandmaster smiled and asked:

“Speak, then—who was your master, and where is my fellow disciple now?”

“…….”

Isaac closed his eyes gently.

***

Memories came back to him, starting with their first meeting.

[“Oh? You said you came from Helmut?”]

Little by little, the recollections built up.

[“Talent in swordsmanship comes in many forms. It’s not as simple as just swinging a blade.”]

She was the one who extended a hand to him when he was drowning in depression and despair.

Moreover, she was the great mentor who first discovered Isaac’s talent.

[“It’s a shame. A real shame. If not for that leg, you would surely have reached your full potential.”]

[“Disciple, pour me another drink.”]

[“Ah, fine, I won’t smoke! But why do I have to quit just because you did? That’s beyond me!”]

They had times of laughter and times of sorrow. In so many ways, Grandmaster had supported him.

[“My dream, you say?”]

[“Hehe, at this point, does it even matter?”]

The reasons why she existed as a master, the seat beside her he never quite reached. He never got to hear it all.

[“Disciple, I’m sorry.”]

In the end—

When she could no longer hold out against the Transcendent’s final assault and was crumbling, she still apologized to him.

Everyone else raced toward their dreams,

while Isaac had lost his own and could only push others forward instead.

‘If I ever have to tell this secret to someone—’

It would surely be you first.

With that thought, Isaac smiled and confided his story honestly.

About thirty minutes passed.

Suddenly, Grandmaster opened her eyes wide, raised her large saber, and—

Bam!

She whacked Isaac on the head—scabbard and all—and gave her reply.

“Who do you think you’re fooling?”

“…….”

****

The next day.

Before heading out to the mansion, Isaac was helping Grandmaster adjust her clothing.

He pulled a robe over her and placed a hood on top. Apparently annoyed by it, she kept shaking her head side to side, trying to fling the hood off.

“This is so rough. I hate this.”

“You have to wear it because of your ears. Can’t you fold them down any further?”

“I can, but it feels uncomfortable. It’s like walking on tiptoe.”

Her pointed ears bent downward.

With the hood on top, her distinctive features were pretty much completely hidden.

“Haah, what a hassle—Ouch! Be gentler with the ears; they’re sensitive!”

Isaac tugged the hood further down to hide her face as much as possible, prompting Grandmaster to grumble.

Her tail was tucked inside her pants somehow, but bits of fur were already coming loose.

“Leave your large saber behind. You can fetch it later when we’re done.”

“How could a swordsman leave her own sword behind?”

“You promised to help. If you walk around with that huge sword, you’ll stand out.”

Isaac offered her a dull shortsword like the ones used by ordinary soldiers.

“What is this brute of a weapon?”

“If push comes to shove, I’ll lend you mine. So please bear with it.”

“Phew, whose disciple are you, really? Your master should be ready for a beating from me.”

“…….”

Grandmaster still refused to believe Isaac’s story. He had tried providing all sorts of plausible details to earn her trust, but—

Talking about the future wouldn’t help, since she had no way of knowing it.

As for the past, Grandmaster herself had never spoken much about it; so when Isaac mentioned a few scraps, she just got angry, insisting there was no such “master” who could have told him that.

‘It might’ve been too much to hope she’d believe me right away.’

Isaac let out a heavy sigh. Mustering the courage to reveal his secret, only to have it rejected, left him feeling rather disheartened.

“I’ll help you, since you do wield a sword that proves you’re my fellow disciple’s student—”

Grandmaster stepped out of the tent, grumbling,

“But understand this: what you told me yesterday was just hot air. I’ll take it as a sign that you still don’t trust me.”

“…….”

Don’t trust her…

Or perhaps, don’t want to believe?

As Grandmaster kept pressing the matter, Isaac suddenly found himself wondering why. But the thought didn’t linger for long.

“Isaac! Hurry up and—ohh?”

Just as Isaac stepped outside, Sharen, who had been running up to him, tilted her head when she saw the woman standing beside him.

Worried that she might have caught on, he quickly realized he didn’t need to worry—Sharen wasn’t that perceptive.

“What’s this?”

“We ran into each other, and she looked familiar. Turns out she was an old customer of mine.”

“A customer? Oh, you were a boatwoman!”

Sharen let it go with a bright laugh. Her simplicity was a relief.

Silverna joined them a moment later, but Sharen waved her off with an animated explanation, and they moved on without issue.

Thus began the formation of the infiltration party into Blackthorn’s mansion. Isaac would take the lead alongside the Helmut knights under Lohengrin, with Grandmaster following behind as his “porter.”

“Isaac, be careful, okay? Don’t just charge in because Helmut does.”

Right before they departed, Clarice pulled Isaac aside and cautioned him. She saw Isaac as one of the kingdom’s next-generation swordsmen and didn’t want him getting hurt for no good reason.

“Isaac, Isaac! Look at this!”

Sharen, who was also part of the vanguard, held out her hand, releasing a burst of crimson force. She swung it about before compressing it into a spherical shape.

“Isn’t that cool?!”

“…And what are you planning to do with it?”

“Huh? With this…?”

Sharen, staring blankly at her own creation, pursed her lips and shouted,

“Red Wave!”

She launched it straight at Isaac, but it only created a slight breeze, leaving no real impact.

“Oh?”

Grandmaster, on the other hand, watched Sharen with a look of fascination.

Breathing hard, Sharen stalked off in a huff. Isaac looked at her retreating back, then turned to Grandmaster.

“What’s on your mind?”

“Nothing much. Don’t you find it interesting how she’s taken Red aura—the power so many people admire—and basically turned it into child’s play?”

“…”

“Amusing. I assumed all Arandel’s brood were monsters, but I see that’s not always the case.”

Isaac pondered Grandmaster’s words and found his perspective shifting slightly.

Usually, the key to Red Aura is how much strength you can amplify. But Sharen had done the opposite—she’d stripped out all the impact.

‘Maybe Sharen has a unique talent for using her aura.’

As Isaac nodded to himself, he caught the crisp, chilling scent of someone standing next to him—Silverna.

“Isaac, do you have any plans after we finish the subjugation?”

Silverna’s question sounded like she was inviting him on a trip. Isaac hesitated briefly.

“Hmm.”

Originally, his plan had been to head to the rocky mountain to find Grandmaster. But now that Grandmaster had come to him, that immediate goal had vanished.

“I’m not sure yet.”

“Then come to Evergard with me.”

“Evergarde?”

That was the capital of the Albion Kingdom.

“I heard there’s a special knights’ academy training facility there. In the North, because of all the large-scale monster outbreaks, our training was always interrupted. Even after that, the environment hasn’t exactly been ideal for focused practice, has it?”

She was right. Up to now, Isaac had been honing his swordsmanship as more of a side job amid constant incidents.

In other words, she was suggesting they finally delve deeper into the sword. Isaac found it quite appealing.

‘I’ve been relying on technique and knowledge to get by, but it’s true my physical abilities are lacking.’

Why, just yesterday, Sharen had outmuscled him and dragged him around.

“And…we can casually drop by the underground prison while we’re there.”

“…!”

Silverna wore a smile that said this was her real motive, and Isaac widened his eyes. Alois was currently imprisoned there, wasn’t he?

“You’re worried, right? I remember you asking the princess for a favor regarding that. But we can’t just waltz in without any good excuse. People might raise eyebrows.”

“…Right. Thanks.”

A subtle smile formed on his face.

Because of her consideration, one of the anxieties in Isaac’s heart seemed to fade away.

“If you’re grateful, buy me some dessert there! I want to try this thing called an egg muffin that you can’t get in the North!”

“Ha, sure. Got it.”

Silverna beamed at Isaac’s reply, and her open delight left him feeling a bit strange.

“You’ve got quite a face to charm her like that, don’t you?”

If Grandmaster hadn’t whispered that from behind, Isaac might have continued chatting happily with Silverna about this and that.

Just then, the vanguard started moving.

Technically they were the vanguard, but because of the mansion’s structure, the entire army couldn’t enter; it was more accurate to call them an elite unit—essentially the main force.

Most of the soldiers were stationed outside the mansion, forming a ring with their shields.

“For Helmut!”

Right at the front gates, Lohengrin, who was leading the charge, raised his greatsword high into the air.

In unison, the other knights of Helmut behind him lifted their swords as well.

Centering on Lohengrin, the crimson aura condensed and formed a massive lump of energy.

“Glory to the great Helmut!”

When Lohengrin swung his greatsword in a grand arc toward the sky, the combined aura from the Helmut knights shot straight at the mansion.

“That’s some brute force.”

“Unbelievable…”

Even Silverna and Grandmaster, who were watching from the side, were taken aback by the sheer impact. It showed just how much Lohengrin had racked his brains last night.

Refusing to underestimate the Transcendent,

He had decided to outright obliterate the mansion itself!

Indeed, the aura tore through the mansion in an instant, nearly splitting Blackthorn’s grand residence in half, leaving the interior fully exposed.

In the process, there were human casualties as well, and a few Transcendent lay dead on the ground.

It looked as if someone had taken a massive bite out of the mansion.

The Transcendent inside stared at Lohengrin in bewilderment.

“Y-you…haah! This is…this is Helmut! Haah! Haah!”

He looked quite exhausted, but the effect was undeniable.

Frankly, no one had expected Lohengrin to go this far, yet it was a remarkable success.

Then came a volley of arrows from the soldiers behind the shield wall, sending a clear message that they had no intention of rushing in to corner those remaining inside.

“This…are we even needed here?”

Silverna wondered aloud. Isaac was about to nod in agreement when—

Grandmaster’s hood gave a small twitch. Her eyes widened as she gripped Isaac’s sleeve and whispered:

“Stay sharp. This won’t end so easily.”

“….”

Isaac didn’t bother asking her to elaborate.

After all, the arrows that had been raining down like a storm suddenly clattered to the ground, as if blocked by something.

They fell at different times and split in various ways; if you had to guess, it looked like someone had literally “sliced” them.

In the middle of the now-exposed mansion—where the walls and ceiling had been blown away—stood the central staircase to Blackthorn.

A man with serpentine eyes descended it.

His tongue was forked in two, and his skin was a deep blood-red,

as though he’d lived his entire life amid flames. Yet his attire was that of a refined noble’s uniform.

Two horns sprouted from his head,

a tail swished languidly behind him,

and finally—

He held a massive great saber larger than a person’s height.

“That’s…!”

Silverna unconsciously turned her gaze to Isaac. He bit his lip, taking a measured breath.

“You know it.”

They were originally the swords of those monsters.

Isaac had suspected this one wasn’t just any ordinary Transcendent. Confirming his suspicions, Grandmaster muttered in a somber tone:

“He’s of the Primitive lineage.”

Primitive.

The first of the Transcendent.

Even a typical Transcendent can easily cut down an ordinary knight.

But those of the Primitive lineage are like walking disasters that can swing the tide of a battlefield.

In his past life, Isaac had witnessed their appearance on multiple occasions—moments that crushed his allies’ morale in an instant.

And—

Grandmaster’s demise, too, had come at the hands of these very beings.

– – The End of The Chapter – –

 

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