Chapter 89: The Moving Island of the Celestial Turtle

It happened just now.

I drew the Lightbane.

It started evolving on its own.

I swung the sword as a test.

Result: The Great Wyrm was split in half.

‘Why…?’

Ascal stared down at the Lightbane in silence.

It was no longer a sword—it was more like a flickering mass of light.

Cold sweat ran down Ascal’s back.

It felt as though he was holding the switch to a nuclear bomb in his hand.

“Mazar-nim! Just what are you?”

“Praise be, our light, our guide, our god! From now on, we are one with Mazar-nim!”

“My sword… my champion.”

The lion tribe warriors, who had missed their chance to act, blew their horns with their surplus strength.

Bwooooo――

Bwooooo――――――

Everyone was in a festive mood.

But Ascal was still fixated on the Lightbane.

‘How do I turn this thing off?’

Lightbane was still emitting its radiant glow. At this rate, he couldn’t even sheathe it. In fact, the light had grown even stronger, possibly because his feat of defeating the Great Wyrm had been added to his achievements.

He came up with an idea.

Ascal decided to plant Lightbane into the ground.

The sword slid in as easily as slicing through tofu.

Because of its length, it took quite a while to embed it fully.

‘What if I end up stabbing the giant turtle?’

Just as that thought crossed his mind...

His bone necklace began to vibrate.

「Ooh… yes… so refreshing… it was so itchy… just a little… to the right… more…」

The voice of the Celestial Turtle echoed in Ascal’s head.

Ascal pulled out the Lightbane.

Then, following the turtle’s instructions, he drove the Lightbane deeper into the ground, a little to the right.

「Good… just a bit more… Ahh…」

The Celestial Turtle sounded pleased.

Ascal recalled the time he received a massage from the Cat tribe.

He began to move the hilt of Lightbane around, adjusting it for more stimulation.

The response was immediate.

「Ugh… Ahh… right there… yes… paradise… absolute bliss… I'm so glad to be alive…」

Ascal felt a sense of satisfaction.

“If the customer is satisfied, then I’m happy as well.”

He continued to shift the Lightbane around.

Ssssk―― Sssk――

Was this what Laika felt when she gave me a massage?

‘I could consider a career in massage therapy after I retire.’

Rumble――

Just then, the island began to shake.

The giant turtle, having its itch relieved, was so satisfied that it began to express its joy.

The Earth Tribe members hugged each other, trembling. Their folded ears twitched.

The lion tribe warriors braced themselves.

“Another earthquake! Everyone, hold on!”

But this time, it was different.

Psshhh――

“Water?”

The shaking stopped.

Then, a massive stream of water shot up from the center of the island.

It was like a whale spouting water into the air.

“Ohhh, that's Celestial Water. The kind that only sprays when the Celestial Turtle is deeply pleased.”

“Captain, you’re alive?”

“Thankfully, I escaped before getting digested. Thought I was a goner.”

The captain of the Earth Tribe crawled out from the bisected Great Wyrm.

It seemed he had narrowly avoided the sword's blow. Lucky.

Wiping his dirty face with a dry hand, the Earth Tribe captain jumped up when he saw Ascal.

“Thank you. Not only for saving me, but for ridding us of that worm. We’re free now. You are a benefactor to our people.”

“With you, we will supply an endless amount of Yonmu Grass.”

“And one day, we’ll have that smoke contest again. It was quite something.”

The Earth Tribe members, who had been hopping with joy, began to circle Ascal, spinning around him in what could only be described as a dance of gratitude.

“Of course,”

Ascal responded instinctively, but something felt odd.

Without Lightbane’s translation, he was now understanding the Earth Tribe’s language as if he were a native speaker.

Ascal let go of the hilt for a moment.

“Tubad naan gka.”

Indeed.

It seemed the evolved Lightbane could now translate automatically, just by holding it.

‘Is this not a cheat item?’

Lightbane, now free of even the noisy voices, was a flawless artifact—if only Ascal could figure out how to turn off its light.

‘I could probably take down an Elder Dragon with this.’

For the first time, Ascal felt confident about raiding the Elder Dragon.

In the end, the question wasn’t whether or not he could kill the dragon. The real issue was how much sacrifice it would take.

Even if they managed to defeat the dragon, if he—or worse, Lia—died, it would all be meaningless.

But with Lightbane in hand...

Maybe, just maybe, they could take down the Elder Dragon without any casualties.

With renewed hope, Ascal boldly pulled the Lightbane from the ground.

Sssssk――

「Calculating user’s achievements. Current achievement ranking is 2nd among humanoid life forms on the continent. The gap between 1st and 2nd place is very small. Additionally, your ranking in The Greatest Of All Time is 13th.」

Lightbane’s voice rang in Ascal’s ears.

It wasn’t the usual boisterous tone. This time, the voice was calm, almost divine, like a weather announcer.

Could it be true that its consciousness had evolved?

「However, despite your achievements, your body is far too weak. While your latent abilities are sufficient, the quality of your physical form is lacking. Thus, your body’s ranking has fallen out of the charts. It is recommended that you train your basic physical endurance.」

The transcendent Lightbane even had a built-in body composition analysis feature.

「Since further use would put excessive strain on your body, I will forcibly shut down. Disabling pain suppression mode. Please brace for impact.」

The light from Lightbane flickered out.

It returned to being a simple, albeit radiant, sword.

But that wasn’t all that came back.

「Did you miss me, master!?」

“It’s you again… huh?”

As Ascal sighed, he was suddenly overwhelmed by a crushing fatigue, the kind that comes from working overtime for a week on just three hours of sleep.

Ascal’s vision blurred.

What he saw was...

​

A worried Eileen, the lion tribe warriors rushing over, and the Earth Tribe members cushioning his fall as he collapsed.

Ascal couldn’t help but think to himself, ‘At least I’m loved.’

“Carl! Carl!”

“Mazar-nim—! Drink my blood!”

Ascal responded one last time.

“What blood type are you...”

****

Whooosh――

The soothing sound of waves could be heard.

Though it was a scene that would calm most people, Arthur Debrue’s insides were churning with anxiety.

In the Empire, there are unofficial organizations—ones that other countries might say, ‘We have no knowledge of that’.

The most notorious among them was the Imperial Special Forces, also known as the Emperor’s Hound.

Once, they were feared.

They kidnapped or tortured officials and nobles who held grievances against the Empire, spreading rumors and strengthening the Emperor's—no, the corrupt ministers'—power.

But that was a thing of the past.

Now, the Special Forces were mockingly called the Crown Prince's Hide-and-Seek Squad.

The reason was simple.

They actually spent their time playing hide-and-seek.

Mostly with Ascal and Bernstein.

And now...

“Hm. We’re screwed.”

The current commander of the Imperial Special Forces, Arthur Debrue, muttered to himself.

It looked like, for the first time, they would fail their mission.

Which meant… a cut to his paycheck.

Staring out at the ocean naturally made him reminisce.

After winning the jousting tournament...

Arthur had been offered the position of commander of the Imperial Special Forces.

At first, he planned to decline.

"Isn’t that the group that tortures and captures people? Doesn’t sound appealing to me."

The Crown Prince had laughed at his words.

"Why would we need to capture innocent people? Oh, but of course, there are some we must capture. And they are... well..."

****

“Where have you disappeared to, my son… I miss you.”

The difficulty level had certainly ramped up recently.

If before it had been easy mode, now it felt more like hard mode.

Bernstein kept inventing new gadgets, becoming more and more cunning with his hiding spots, and Ascal had a knack for vanishing into the most random places.

Bzzzzt—

“Commander, the tracker shows the direction is toward the ocean.”

The Ascal-exclusive tracker—an enhanced magic stone—was pointing out to sea.

“Has he gone to the Dragon King’s palace?”

“With Ascal, that’s not entirely impossible. Shall we use underwater breathing magic to search for him?”

Yulia responded earnestly to Arthur's joke.

“…I’d rather you didn’t, Your Highness.”

But he understood her reasoning.

​

Yulia’s insides were burning with worry, even more so than Arthur’s, to the point where she took every joke seriously.

And for good reason.

“Is it true what you said? That you’re dating my son?” Arthur spoke quietly, only loud enough for Yulia to hear.

When Yulia first joined the squad, Arthur had tried to dissuade her. Pursuing targets was tedious, involving rough terrains and sometimes even camping out in the wild. It wasn’t something a princess should be doing.

But Yulia had convinced Arthur with just one sentence.

"That man, he's my boyfriend. It’s still a secret."

Ever since she started dating Ascal, Yulia had been holding back her desire to proudly tell the world. She figured it would be more appropriate to reveal it after they defeated the Elder Dragon.

But if it was his father, wouldn’t that be okay?

“Yes…” Yulia’s ears turned slightly red.

“So, your boyfriend ditched you and disappeared with another woman?”

He explained the situation.

She needed someone to talk to, and Arthur was the perfect confidant.

“Yes… Eileen, the former head of Haven Traing Center, now called the Saintess. You must have heard of her.”

“Hm. I think I’ve seen her from a distance before.”

Arthur recalled Eileen. Back in the day, she frequently traveled for her duties as headmistress.

“Don’t worry too much. Compared to Eileen, the princess is much more beautiful, isn’t she?”

“Is that… really true?”

If someone else had said that, Yulia wouldn’t have thought much of it.

But coming from her boyfriend’s father?

It carried significant weight.

Yulia’s mood lightened, and her standing with her future father-in-law improved significantly.

‘At least Ascal doesn’t have a thing for plump women…’

Of course, the Eileen Arthur remembered was the headmistress, not the saintess.

“Let’s head back.”

“...Are you sure?”

“That boy will come back eventually. He hates taking responsibility, but he’s not the type to abandon it. You still need to take down that giant lizard, don’t you?”

“Yes. You agreed to help us.”

Part of Yulia’s discussion with Arthur had involved the Elder Dragon.

Arthur Debrue was closest to the rank of Swordmaster. Not quite a grandmaster, but probably at the level of a “Swordmaster.”

That’s why his help was necessary.

“I’m looking forward to it.”

At his core, Arthur was a warrior.

Even now, he often reminisced about his battles with the Northern Grand Duke before going to sleep.

And then...

‘Back then, I should’ve moved right, taken a breath, and aimed for the lower strike.’

Even now, he would occasionally wake up in bed, regretting his past decisions.

‘But brother, you never faced an Elder Dragon, did you?’

Arthur smirked.

This is why a person should play in bigger waters.

See? By staying cooped up in the North, he had missed out on a massive event like the Elder Dragon Raid.

‘I should get back to training. I’ll need a sturdier sword, and hmm, what’s resistant to flames?’

As Arthur was about to leave the beach...

“Commander! A turtle the size of an island is coming this way!”

“What kind of nonsense about a frog pooping gems is that?”

Arthur turned around at his subordinate’s words.

And then.

“Well, I guess if there are gem-pooping frogs, a turtle that size could exist too.”

It was simply enormous.

Larger than the Frost Giants he had seen in the North, a giant turtle with an island on its back was swimming toward them.

It was a scene out of myth, defying all logic.

Bzzzt—

“The tracker’s signal is getting stronger!”

“Should we retreat? We don’t know what that creature is! It could be hostile!”

“But the signal for Count Erindale is nearby! Commander! Your orders!”

The subordinates began to panic.

It was natural to lose one’s composure when faced with something beyond imagination.

But Arthur was used to this by now. It wasn’t the first time Ascal had caused such chaos.

“Everyone, prepare to welcome him.”

Arthur placed his hand on the hilt of his sword and smiled.

“Count Erindale is coming to us.”

– – – The End of The Chapter – – –

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