Chapter 56 – The Times of Self-Reliance That Only You Know
Lunch break before classes start.
Eclair was really surprised when she ate the tomato stew made by Lady Skadi at the tent, not the cooking skill that raised the taste to the limit by gathering meager ingredients.
Although these are not feelings directed towards oneself.
Love for a lover that can be fully felt in that small bowl.
Sincerity that takes cumbersome procedures for granted and considers trivial details.
They were felt more clearly because they were unfamiliar emotions.
Although food and cooking have the basic premise of satisfying the taste buds and satisfying hunger.
It was a mysterious experience in which the original meaning of cooking was pushed back due to the strong and huge emotions that could be said to be a complete reversal.
–
Jjaeng-!!
There is a reason why Eclair recalled the stew he ate at lunch while receiving Chloe’s sword with his left hand.
It was because he knew immediately what state Roman had raised Chloe to and sent him to him.
‘That man did useless things…’
Than a sword that draws a bright future and the possibility of development.
The time of perseverance Chloe had spent so far was felt through the sword and tormented Eclair’s spirit.
“Haap-!!”
Chae Jae-jae!
Three heavy consecutive strikes in one breath.
When the attack goes back to idle, the boldness of taking a short breath and switching to defense without regret is outstanding.
An honest and defensive swordsmanship that reproduces the gist of Dritna’s swordsmanship.
The drit and swordsmanship that my younger brother is showing now are more dense than the knights in charge of education in the family.
‘… Chloe.’
This was absolutely not a level of perfection that could be built up overnight.
When I was intoxicated with self-justification in the name of apology, on the front line where Chloe’s eyes could not reach.
You can see how Chloe has been doing for a long time when even her parents didn’t take good care of her.
Why?
Why did I take it for granted that Chloe would just keep crying in her room?
(—-That means that the story won’t progress unless you understand that he’s not his younger brother, but now a grown adult.)
In the back alley, as if he was frustrated, what Roman said hit his mind.
‘Certainly that man is annoying…’
What is the power of using a sword?
The honor of being the Fifth Knight of the Empire is not a basis for defining others at will.
Being flattered when others praised him for being great, he recognized and thought of Chloe as a weak being that he had to protect.
…If I had been in the same situation as Chloe, would I have been able to endure everything and stand here?
Isn’t it me who can’t give an answer to the important thing and is in a hurry to avoid it.
In fact, no one is truly weak.
–
“…I heard that you and my older sister know each other well…”
As he closed his mouth to the overflowing memories and thoughts and received the sword, Chloe spoke out first.
I don’t know what the hell Roman said, but Chloe had a curious face.
Éclair waved his heavy pitch up and down in affirmation.
“Everyone knows. You know better than anyone.”
Until recently, there might have been someone who knew me better than I did, but now he seemed to know himself best.
“But I don’t want to mention that.”
So, the more I looked back, the more I hated myself in the past.
“Why?”
Looking at Chloe, who really didn’t know, I looked back at myself.
I.
What kind of person is Eclair Dritna?
I could name a few reasons why I hate myself right away.
“…That’s why you act as if you’re carrying a noble mission by yourself, even if you have some talent with the sword.”
“…?”
“I can’t even think of looking at how much the people around me are suffering because I’m running alone…”
“Knight…?”
“Always receiving help from those around you, without even knowing it… Destroying the surroundings just by existing—”
“Knight-!!”
Éclair came to her senses at the sound of Chloe’s shouting and looked ahead.
“Why?”
“Why are you saying such harsh things…”
Chloe’s eyes, which had always looked weakly downward, were looking at her with the momentum to pierce her.
“You don’t even know her sister properly…!”
Chloe’s sword, which she lifted up again with the intention not to listen to the story any longer, was surrounded by a faint blue flame.
*****
“Have you ever heard that a cadet ‘speaks with the sword’?”
Chloe couldn’t understand what this instructor was trying to teach her.
“It doesn’t happen every time, but when you exchange sums like this with your opponent, there are times when your emotions come over your weapon.”
I have never felt or thought about the need to consider the other person’s feelings in the act of wielding a weapon just to oppose each other’s shallow ideology and justice and gain benefits.
“How is my sword right now? Do the excessively large motions and excessive power seem desperate? Or do you think I am angry?”
It was as if he would never let me go if he didn’t know this.
‘What the hell are you talking about…’
The sword I’m holding is of course cold because it’s a simple metal.
However, the image associated with the word emotion to Chloe was not cold.
Her words to express and understand what is not cold with her coldness did not resonate with her very much.
Coudangtang-!
“Ugh…”
However, as she rolled over the floor again and again, she could feel the subtle difference even for an insensitive human like herself.
The instructor’s sword, a platinum adventurer, always overpowered him and easily blew away everything he had built up to this point.
Now, unlike the time of indoor classes at the academy, the distribution and speed of the power loaded on the sword were all different.
No matter how many times I rolled it, I felt the taste of earth mixed with iron in my mouth and my wrists were aching.
Kang-! Ting-!
It’s not that the sword of the instructor who gives the lesson pushes away with force.
I felt like I was underestimating myself when I stuck to the action of throwing the sword into the air and bouncing it off.
“…”
It wasn’t a very pleasant experience.
To the extent that power goes into the corner of the eye without even realizing it.
She suppressed the rising emotion and swung the sword again, and the instructor seemed satisfied.
“I can do a little more.”
–
“Heo-eok… Heo-eok…!”
The sensation of a strong current running down her forearms and squeezing her muscles.
As if not interested in her and her own condition, the instructor continued her class.
“In the end, this is not an experience to lose. Aura is, after all, mana made visible… Mana is a substance that embodies and expresses one’s will.”
His hand was completely relaxed and the sword seemed to leave it the moment he swung it.
“There, the medium of will and mana becomes a weapon in the hand. Do you understand?”
Chloe couldn’t answer her burning thirst and only nodded her head slightly.
“Then, if you can guess at least a little what others are trying to do to you. Even if it’s not an Auror, if you can put your will into the sword, wouldn’t this be helpful?”
Clap-!
As soon as he asked if he had any intention of listening to the answer, the instructor put the sword in the house.
After rummaging through his clothes, he threw a glass bottle at himself.
“Drink.”
“Why are you giving me this?”
His dry voice cracked, but he couldn’t help but ask.
The colorful glass bottle filled with red liquid was something he was familiar with.
“The knight I’m going to meet next is said to have a very close relationship with the 5th knight of the Empire, Eclair Dritna.”
“…!”
“It’s a short time, but don’t be ashamed of what you’ve learned from me… Since you’re a student, you don’t need to show anything great. Just do your best.”
Chloe looked back several times at the instructor who kicked her out, saying that if you don’t drink the potion, pour it on the ground. Chloe carefully opened the potion.
It was a heavy favor that I would never have accepted normally, but it was a hard temptation to refuse when I remembered what I had to face right away.
‘I’ll give you money later…’
If it’s your own emergency fund that you’ve saved up since childhood, you’ll be able to do it somehow.
…
…
Returning with a steel bar bent in half, Rike’s next turn headed towards the distant plains.
As I got closer to the knight who seemed small, I felt the presence of a giant.
“Chloe… This is Dritna…!”
I heard that he was close to his sister, but he only stared at the name Dritna and did not show much reaction.
In a way, it was fortunate.
The knight drew his sword with a sharp sound and held out the sword in his left hand.
“You may come right away.”
–
Jjaeng-!!
Chloe’s sense of perfect reading of Dritna swordsmanship convinced her that this knight had a real relationship with her sister.
Instead of looking and blocking, he preoccupies the direction he will make and blocks the route.
If you’ve been exchanging sums with her older sister, your sword would of course look like a child’s play.
‘I shouldn’t look up too much…’
I could break my neck just looking at how many great people there are in the world.
“…I heard that you and my older sister know each other well…”
I know I shouldn’t say these things in class.
Even so, the question about her sister suddenly came up.
As she shared her sword with this knight, her sister kept lingering in her mind.
Maybe it’s a chance to understand her sister who doesn’t tell her own story.
In the past waking up once again.
Chloe still vividly remembers her older sister, who reminded her of the spring sunshine.
As I remember that time, the gap between the image I show now is so great that it is difficult to face it…
So, Chloe always wondered why Eclair suddenly changed.
Her parents thought her older sister had grown up, but she herself never thought of it.
Perhaps.
Wouldn’t the older sister who sacrificed herself for her family while wandering the bloody places all her life be exhausted?
“But she doesn’t like to comment that much.”
She was looking forward to the words that she knew well, but the opponent’s reaction was not so good.
“Why?”
“…To that sword—-“
He said he didn’t want to mention it, but he spat it out in a confident tone.
Gossip that continues endlessly from the beginning.
The hand holding the sword felt as if it would tear.
It must have been someone’s misunderstanding that someone like this was close to her sister.
“Why are you saying such harsh things…”
If you have a really close relationship with your sister, you wouldn’t be able to say things like that when you see her struggling every day.
Only now that class is over, I think I know the reason to put emotions on the sword.
Even if the relationship is not like before.
She was an older sister whom she had seen and grew up with since she was a child, and she was never someone to gossip about.
“You don’t even know her sister properly…!”
I wanted to prove my feelings of certainty with the sword in my hand.
Hwareuk-!
