[Translator - Kiteretsu]

    [Proofreader - Kyros]

    Chapter 65

    “Is the voice I’m hearing truly Deluna?”

    [...No, I misspoke. I am not Deluna. I am merely a fragment of the World Tree’s will.]

    Hearing the words again, Kaylen calmed his startled heart.

    ‘...Right. Just as she transformed into the will of the World Tree, I am no longer Emperor Ernstine but Kaylen. The connection between us is all but severed.’

    As he gathered his thoughts, the World Tree’s will posed a question.

    [Even so... I am curious how you recognized Deluna’s voice.]

    “I am a descendant of Emperor Ernstine and inherited his legacy. Among that inheritance were remnants of his memories.”

    [I see... I thought he, no, Deluna, would be despised.]

    “I’m not sure why that memory remains, either.”

    Kaylen said no more after that.

    The memory of Deluna’s voice.

    Had he, perhaps unconsciously, longed for her? ...

    But Kaylen didn’t want to admit such a thing aloud.

    [...I apologize for the personal question.]

    A brief silence fell until Eldir, who had been lying unconscious, slowly stirred.

    “Hah... A descendant of the Dragon God’s Blade? Unbelievable.”

    Eldir, now wearing his eyepatch again, shook his head in disbelief.

    “To think you found the Emperor’s legacy that even Melvria couldn’t uncover...”

    “Melvria?” Kaylen frowned.

    The name was one Eldir used to refer to his sword.

    But for Kaylen, it wasn’t the first time he’d heard that name.

    ‘When I first heard it, I thought it was a coincidence. But could it really be...?’

    In response to Kaylen’s inquiry, Eldir answered.

    “You don’t know? She’s the daughter born between Emperor Ernstine and the High Elf, Deluna. And... she’s the wife who abandoned me and ran off.”

    “Your... wife?”

    Melvria.

    She, the daughter of Deluna and Ernstine, was his most cherished child.

    Born a half-elf, Kaylen had assumed she wouldn’t have lived until now...

    So he had dismissed the name of Eldir’s sword as mere coincidence.

    ‘She married this kind of guy?’

    The sweet daughter who had once declared she’d stay by her father’s side forever?

    With this drunkard layabout?

    Kaylen’s expression momentarily stiffened, then forcibly relaxed.

    Since he didn’t know Melvria personally, he had to conceal his reaction.

    “Why did your wife leave you?”

    “She said... something about going to find her father. Haha...”

    “What?”

    “She didn’t believe Emperor Ernstine could have disappeared like that. Melvria was always chasing his traces.”

    Kaylen thought of Melvria.

    In the imperial palace, after losing her mother, the young half-elf girl had no one to rely on but her father.

    Ernstine, feeling pity for her, always kept her close.

    However, the Emperor’s many children grew jealous of her instead.

    They envied that their father favored one daughter so deeply.

    ‘Melvria never tried to get along with the other children either.’

    “I only need my dad!”

    The daughter who always lived by those words.

    Even so, Kaylen had thought she’d someday meet a good man and marry.

    Yet, of all people, she ended up with someone like this.

    ‘Even after getting married, she should’ve forgotten about her father and lived well...

    Why get married and then leave her husband to search for him?’

    Kaylen glared at Eldir.

    Surely it was because this man didn’t treat her well.

    To think this kind of man was his son-in-law.

    Unacceptable.

    “Why are you looking at me like that?”

    “You let your wife leave home? And you didn’t stop her when she said she was looking for her father? What kind of husband are you?”

    “...Sigh.”

    Even under Kaylen’s rebuke, Eldir let out a long sigh and seemed unwilling to continue the conversation.

    At that moment, the World Tree’s will addressed Eldir.

    [Eldir, tell him the truth.]

    After hesitating for a moment, Eldir finally spoke.

    “She didn’t really leave to find him. It’s true Melvria was heavily dependent on her father. But after marrying me, she was trying to settle down in the Fairy Forest.”

    As these thoughts began to settle, Eldir spoke again.

    “Haha. I shouldn’t have brought up Melvria... Tch. I need a drink.”

    The former Sword Master of the Elves had reverted to a lazy drunkard.

    Watching him smack his lips in longing for alcohol, Kaylen felt something boil inside.

    The man who took his cherished daughter away... had become this.

    He wanted nothing more than to kick him.

    But he held back, barely.

    ‘I must restrain myself. I am no longer Ernstine—I am Kaylen now.’

    But still...

    “Oh, looks like the bottle broke here,” Eldir muttered, crawling on all fours toward the shattered liquor bottle.

    “If I can just get a few drops...”

    Using the power of wind, he levitated the remaining drops of alcohol from the broken shards. But that was the final straw for Kaylen.

    Is this the man who took my daughter?!

    Ssshhhhhhh—

    For a brief moment, wind mana gathered at Kaylen’s foot.

    BAM!

    “Gah!”

    Eldir flew through the air, crashing into the ground.

    “W-what’s wrong with you?!”

    Crunch.

    Without replying, Kaylen stomped on the shards of the broken bottle, grinding them into dust.

    “W-why are you acting like this?” Eldir stammered.

    “Do you know who Emperor Ernstine cherished the most?” Kaylen asked coldly.

    “W-what?”

    “Your wife, Melvria. After her mother left when she was young, the Emperor always felt a deep sorrow for her.”

    “Well, you sure know a lot about it,” Eldir retorted.

    “That’s because I inherited his path.”

    Kaylen delivered a few more crushing stomps to the remnants of the bottle before speaking again, his tone slightly calmer.

    “I understand you fell into despair after Hellmeier took your wife.”

    “But, are you not going to get her back?”

    “...What do you know?” Eldir muttered bitterly.

    “Of course, I don’t know every detail. But I do know this—your sword as a Sword Master has rusted.”

    “Tch...”

    Eldir’s face twisted as he recalled how utterly he had been defeated earlier.

    One strike.

    One strike had shattered him completely.

    Even when he prepared to use his “last resort” by activating all his Guardians, a sense of dread had lingered in his heart.

    No matter how much he struggled, he couldn’t shake the feeling that he wouldn’t stand a chance.

    “Ha. Talking big just because you lucked into the Emperor’s legacy.”

    “Tch. A Sword Master who’s lived for centuries, defeated by a 19-year-old boy—don’t you think it’s time for some self-reflection? Have you even trained with your sword?”

    “Shut up.”

    “Or have you dismissed the sword entirely, thinking it’s useless compared to the ‘evolved’ mode of your Guardians?”

    Eldir remained silent.

    He couldn’t deny Kaylen’s words.

    He had pride in becoming a Sword Master, but he had seen the limitations of the sword.

    Even as the greatest swordsman among the Elves, he couldn’t stop a single member of the Hellmeier clan.

    I haven’t wielded my sword in ages, he thought.

    Melvria, his sword, had long since become a mere staff, rarely used in its true form.

    It was only natural—no matter how much he trained, it felt meaningless.

    No matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t improve.

    Compared to the overwhelming power of the Hellmeier clan, his efforts amounted to nothing.

    In the end, he had clung to other forms of power, letting go of the sword.

    And yet...

    In the path he thought had reached its limit, he witnessed a new horizon today.

    From a 19-year-old human boy, no less.

    “Eldir, becoming a Sword Master isn’t the end of the path. It’s merely the starting point for a greater journey. Right now, you’re just standing at the starting line.”

    As Eldir silently gazed at his staff, the World Tree’s will intervened in their conversation.

    [That’s not true. He once dedicated himself tirelessly to retrieving Melvria. However...]

    [After the world’s mana density thinned... he couldn’t find a way forward no matter how hard he tried.]

    So that’s it.

    When mana becomes scarce, even a Sword Master would find it hard to progress.

    [But now, there is hope.]

    The World Tree’s will shone its light upon Kaylen.

    [Descendant of the Dragon Sword God, I beseech you. Show Eldir the way.]

    [Translator - Kiteretsu]

    [Proofreader - Kyros]