9. La-Vash>
Broshan possessed three La-Shar-Loas, and Lenorba held one of them.
The Lenorba region was famous for two reasons.
The first was that it was a commercial hub and tourist destination along the border connecting Karan and Broshan.
The other was that this was where the Rolland family, the family of the great martial artist Ribias, the Sun Sword, had once resided.
For those two reasons, Lenorba was always bustling with countless people.
Merchants who came to exchange goods, tourists who came to see the attractions,
and even martial artists who visited to honor the great swordmaster, Ribias, the Sun Sword.
Sian arrived in the Lenorba region by passing through a La-Shar-Loa.
The moment he arrived, Sian drew in a deep breath.
“Whew! This is great!”
He had left the capital before, dragged into all sorts of troublesome affairs and duties, but this was the first time he had left the capital with such a carefree heart, and he felt wonderfully refreshed.
Sian’s attire was so light that it was hard to believe he was a traveler.
He wore light clothing and carried no luggage at all. The only striking thing about him was the necklace gleaming around his neck.
Sian gently stroked the Nitsmatan at his throat, as though he were touching a family heirloom.
A moment later, red light flashed, and a small map and note appeared in Sian’s hand.
“Hmm… The first place I should visit is… the Rolland family’s training ground?”
The Rolland family had fallen into ruin, and its training ground was open to the public, so he could enter without worry.
He had heard that a very famous trace of the Sun Sword remained there, and he intended to go see it.
“Excuse me! Hello!”
Then, from somewhere, he heard a voice like jade beads.
Sian heard it, but ignored it and continued on his way, since it could not possibly have been calling him.
There was no one here who could know him.
The voice was so beautiful that he desperately wanted to turn around, but he forced himself to resist, afraid he would only make himself look foolish.
“Excuse me! You there, the man wearing a stolen bracelet and dressed like you’ve come out to water some backyard garden~”
‘Huh?’
This time, there was no mistaking it.
There were many people around, but he was the only one dressed like that.
Sian turned around with a hopeful expression, only to scowl deeply.
His guess had not been wrong. She was an extraordinary beauty, perfectly suited to that voice.
And she did indeed know him.
But Sian could not help twisting his expression.
“Ugh!”
“Oh my! Why the expression~? You looked like you were expecting something!”
Where Sian’s gaze fell, a woman who looked strangely familiar was staring at him.
She was the lioness-like woman he had beaten up in the Lagrand region last time.
Ironically, her voice was still as clear and lovely as the sound of jade beads.
‘What an incredible mismatch…’
Grumbling inwardly, Sian looked at the woman who had called him.
“…
What is it? Why did you call me?”
“Oh my, why are you suddenly speaking so formally… between us? We’ve had our skin touch, haven’t we? Isn’t that a little cold? You were so good at speaking informally back then, too, when you were all fired up. I like men overflowing with wild charm~ Heeheehee.”
The woman smiled brightly at Sian, apparently in an exceptionally good mood.
She had already abandoned the affected manner of speech she had been imitating and begun laughing heartily. This must have been her natural laugh.
‘Is she insane…?’
Afraid someone might hear, Sian heavily furrowed his brow and added,
“Well, our skin did touch. Your right fist’s skin did make contact with the skin of my left cheek before separating.”
“Haha! That’s fate, fate. But you’re not speaking informally anymore~”
As he watched the woman before him examine him from every angle with an expression of exaggerated affection, Sian suddenly felt as if he had become prey.
An impala standing before a lioness.
‘That’s strange… I’m clearly much stronger than she is…’
Sian decided it was because he was too gentle and weak toward women. He forced away the unpleasant feeling and resolved to shake this woman off as quickly as possible.
“I don’t normally speak informally. Especially not to someone much! Much! older than me. I was simply too angry at the time, so please understand.”
Crack!
For an instant, veins bulged on the woman’s forehead, but using La-Vander’s astonishing bodily control, she normalized her blood pressure in an instant and began smiling brightly again.
“Whew… h-hohohoho… Fine, then I’ll speak casually. Little! Bro!”
‘Little bro? Did she just call me little bro?’
Sian’s mind went blank for a moment at the wholly unexpected form of address.
He did not know who this woman was, but if she had reached that realm, she was surely far older than him. Yet she was calling seventeen-year-old Sian her little brother.
‘Could this woman be the same type as me?’
There was no reason he had to be the only one. Judging by her face, she looked barely over twenty, so it was entirely possible.
Thus, Sian decided to ask her age very politely.
“Um… pardon me, but how old are you…?”
Grind!
Perhaps she had nearly lost control of herself, because the sound of the woman grinding her teeth rang out clearly.
“Ha… hahahaha. There’s not much difference, not much difference. Even if I look like this, I’m an incredible genius, you see.”
“…
Well, I suppose I’ll take your word for it. You may address me however you like. But why did you call me…?”
When Sian looked at her with an expression that clearly said he did not believe her, the woman felt slightly offended. Still, Stantal recalled her purpose and spoke.
“Ah… it’s nothing special. I lost the place I was living in this time thanks to someone, so I set out on a journey. Why don’t we travel together, as long as nothing comes up?”
“…
Ugh.”
Sian did feel slightly guilty about that, and he flinched, but soon realized that her reasoning made no sense.
“No, I could understand if you wanted compensation, but suddenly… Why would I travel with you?”
“‘You’? Little bro, call me Stil. Stil.”
“Hmm… Miss Stil, why would I travel with you?”
“You’re not going to travel with me? If I go with you, I’ll behave myself.”
“Hm? Of course not. I came out to enjoy traveling alone.”
At those words, the woman named Stantal—or rather, now Stil—spoke with a ferocious smile.
“Heh… Even though if I don’t travel with you, I won’t behave myself very well?”
“Ha…”
Sian had never seen such an unreasonable woman before.
She was threatening him.
Even if she was a superhuman, she was clearly still based on a human being.
After all, look at how she behaved despite having already forgotten what had happened not long ago.
Humans were called animals of forgetfulness, were they not?
‘It seems my beating last time wasn’t enough.’
Since their last battle, Sian had learned to release some of the power in his chest without losing himself.
That should be sufficient.
Thinking so, Sian placed a hand on the Nitsmatan.
Flash!
Red light swirled, and a black sword, Kronafon, was summoned into his hand.
Sian loosened his arm, then approached Stil while swinging the sword around with a whoosh.
Stil flinched at the sight and stepped back.
“W-wait, wait! Little bro, calm down and listen to me. Why don’t you want to travel together? Aren’t you lonely?”
“Hmm? Lonely?”
Sian briefly entertained a slightly improper thought, then realized that could not possibly be what she meant and asked,
“…
Ha… I’m really so glad to have met you. I don’t even know how long it’s been since I last saw someone.”
“…
What are you talking about…?”
There were people overflowing all around them!
But as Sian thought that, he finally understood what she meant.
And he remembered something he had forgotten.
He was an extremely unusual superhuman who still regarded humans as human beings.
Other superhumans felt as though they had been dropped onto a deserted island the moment they reached that realm.
No, it was worse than a deserted island.
The vast continent of Sian was far broader than any deserted island.
As far as this thought, Sian felt his resolve weaken slightly.
After pondering for a long while, he opened his mouth while looking at Stil.
“…
You really will travel quietly without causing trouble, won’t you?”
“Of course, of course! You have no idea how well-behaved I am!”
He silently swallowed the fact that she had behaved herself for two hundred years.
For some reason, it irritated his pride that this woman knew his age.
“Whew… Fine. We’ll travel together. But bear one thing in mind. Do not cause trouble under any circumstances! The moment you do, we part ways.”
“Announcing a breakup the moment we meet… What a cold man. Hehehe.”
Although they had exchanged blows, Sian held no particular grudge against her. After some deliberation, he accepted Stil’s company, and Stil smiled brightly despite his warning, pleased that she had achieved her purpose.
“So where are we going, little bro?”
“I’m going to the Rolland family’s training ground. But… could you stop calling me little bro? It gives me goosebumps.”
“Then what should I call you?”
“Just call me by my name.”
“Hehe… All right, little bro Sian.”
“…
Good grief…”
Sian decided to empty his mind and headed toward the Rolland family’s training ground.
‘…
Wait. Did I ever tell her my name?’
And so Sian’s small doubt remained.☆ ☆ ☆The Rolland family, which had produced the great martial artist Ribias, the Sun Sword, had currently fallen into ruin.
Paradoxically, the reason was that the Sun Sword had been far too gifted.
The Rolland family had been insignificant from the beginning, but by sheer chance, it had produced a great martial artist known as the Sun Sword.
Unfortunately, despite having forged the highest achievement on his own without instruction or the family’s secret Vander-Loa, the Sun Sword had one fatal flaw.
He was too much of a genius to explain things according to other people’s level.
Having forged his own path alone, the Sun Sword was unable to pass on even a penny of his achievements to his descendants.
From the outset, he did not understand why he needed to study methods for gathering Vander when it naturally gathered simply by breathing. Nor could he understand why one needed to practice a sword stroke according to a prescribed sequence when it could be performed after only a few attempts.
The Rolland family prospered until the Sun Sword turned eighty. Until then, the Sun Sword had been a Grand-Vander, so he still took some interest in his family.
But the moment the Sun Sword, Ribias, reached the realm of La-Vander, he promptly left the family.
Naturally, the Rolland family, having inherited none of the great martial artist’s training methods, declined rapidly. Eventually, they no longer had the strength even to maintain the family estate, so they sold it and departed.
The royal family of the Kingdom of Broshan purchased the estate when it went up for auction and opened it so that many people could physically experience the traces of the great martial artist. It had since become a fairly lucrative source of royal income.
Martial artists who had come up against a wall, frustrated by their stagnation, were willing to pay the steep admission fee—200 talants—to try to break through that wall by following the traces of the Sun Sword.
Naturally, Sian was not going to see those traces in an attempt to break through his own wall.
He was merely curious about how other La-Vanders had forged their own paths, and wanted to look around.
As they entered the Rolland estate and walked through the mansion, Stil spoke with a wistful expression.
“The Sun Sword… That’s a name from my memories.”
Seeing Stil speak as though she were recalling memories from the past, Sian looked puzzled.
The Sun Sword had been born no less than three hundred years ago.
Yet Miss Stil spoke as if the Sun Sword had existed within her own memories.
“You know him?”
“Of course. He hadn’t broken through his wall until he was about ten, after all. I saw him participate in the royal festival.”
“……?”
“Haha! Why are you looking at me like that? I even crossed blades with him once in the past… Oops!”
Only then did Stil seem to realize what mistake she had made, and she hurriedly closed her mouth.
“…
You said there wasn’t much difference in age? I’m not 170 years old—I’m seventeen.”
“Ha… hahaha… Hwahahahaha…”
As Sian looked at Stil laughing awkwardly, he sighed.
“Well, fine. It’s not important.”
“Hehahaha… Anyway… if there’s anything you don’t know, ask me. There probably isn’t anyone who knows that old man better than I do.”
Thinking that way, I felt there was no need to come all the way here, but since the purpose of this trip had been sightseeing in the first place, I decided to enjoy looking around while I was here.
Besides, the 200 talents required to enter this place had been paid by Steel Yang beside me.
As we walked along, chatting idly, we eventually arrived at the most famous place in the Roland family’s estate.
It was the trace left on the small mountain behind the training ground where the Sun Sword had practiced immediately after reaching the realm.
It was called La-Vash.
When the Sun Sword, who had been practicing fasting training in the training ground, failed to emerge for such an extraordinarily long time, his family—who had avoided approaching him so as not to disturb him—grew worried and went to the training ground.
But the Sun Sword had vanished, leaving behind only the mark he had made after reaching the realm.
His family was so shocked that they searched everywhere and asked everyone they could, but it was all in vain. In the end, the Sun Sword never returned to the Roland family.
The common speculation was that, at the moment he reached the realm, he felt the secular world was utterly empty, left behind only teachings for his family, and departed for somewhere that could provide him with stimulation.
The Roland family was thrown into confusion when the great warrior who had protected them disappeared, but they immediately realized what they had to do.
They had to make the trace left by the great warrior their own. Only by obtaining the insights and swordsmanship contained within it could their family avoid collapse.
However, the members of the Roland family were far too untalented to understand the traces left by the great La-Vander.
No—instead, they found themselves in danger of losing their lives. With the giant who had protected the family gone, the surrounding powers began coveting the traces the Sun Sword had left behind.
In the end, lacking the strength to protect them, the Roland family gradually weakened under outside harassment until they finally liquidated the entire estate and all their property and vanished desolately.
If they held out any longer, they truly seemed likely to suffer a mysterious attack in the dead of night.
Later, the royal family purchased the Roland estate, and after passing through various processes, it was eventually developed into a tourist attraction.
La-Vash was one of the few places where one could sense the traces of La-Vander, so martial artists from other countries often came to see it.
That was possible because the Kingdom of Broshan proclaimed itself completely neutral.
When Sian and Steel arrived, the area in front of La-Vash was crowded with numerous martial artists from various countries, despite it being a weekday.
At first glance, it was nothing more than several lines that had roughly clawed their way across the mountain behind the training ground.
Several furrows, ruggedly gouged here and there, as though a god in the heavens had dragged his fingers across the dirt.
But these traces had been left by La-Vander, the Sun Sword.
That was what made them special, and why martial artists blocked by a wall always lingered here, hoping to gain even a single clue.
“Grah! Why can’t I see it! If only I could get past this wall, I’d become a Master… Keh-heh-heh…”
“Urgh… Does this mean that only the chosen can truly become a Grand-Vander?”
Numerous martial artists were inspecting the roughly carved furrows on the rear mountain, groaning in despair.
Some of them had been staying here for years, combining lodging and meals with training.
Afraid that the traces might somehow be damaged, they all remained in the training ground, staring at the rear mountain as though they could split it apart with their eyes. Unfortunately, no one had yet gained anything from La-Vash.
Sian swept his eyes over the traces on the mountain with a curious expression, but soon his face twisted as though he had seen something he should not have.
Steel, standing beside him, on the other hand, wore an amused expression.
“…What is that?”
“Hoho, see? I told you to just ask me.”
“Tch… I suppose I should. Please explain it slowly.”
With an uneasy expression, Sian turned around. He looked sorrowfully at the people in the training ground.
Then something unusual caught his eye: a child.
Hmm?
The boy looked barely over ten years old and seemed to be responsible for delivering meals and drinks to those training here.
Wearing a uniform, the boy carefully handed a drink to a martial artist who was shouting angrily. But instead of returning to the restaurant, he stood there blankly staring at La-Vash.
He kept twitching the meal knife held in his fingertips, as though there were some story behind what he was doing.
Well… Who could say that any child had no story of his own?
Sian was about to stop paying attention, but Steel was a little different.
Steel had been observing what Sian was looking at, and soon realized that his gaze had settled on a small boy.
She had no interest in some random child, but then she thought it might be amusing and approached him.
“Little boy, what are you doing over there?”
“……!”
The boy had been staring blankly at the rear mountain when the voice calling him startled him. He turned toward the direction from which it had come.
A tall, slender beauty was smiling brightly as she asked him a question.
Perhaps unused to such situations, the boy’s face reddened for a moment before he hurriedly tried to return to the restaurant.
“…It’s nothing. I was just… looking. They said it was the trace of the great Sun Sword…”
“Ooh! No, no, boy. Your big sister can tell at a glance. You have something troubling you.”
“…Uh… well…”
Seeing Sian’s bewildered expression at Steel calling herself his big sister, Steel frowned sharply and turned back to the boy.
“That big brother over there is a~ very amazing swordsman. You have some trouble concerning swordsmanship too, don’t you?”
“…How did you know?”
The boy looked at her as though asking, How did you know when I’ve never told anyone? Sian sighed.
Anyone would have noticed if he stood there twitching a knife in his hand while staring at the traces of someone called the Sun Sword.
“Hoho. Didn’t I tell you? I can tell at a glance. Go over to that big brother and ask him for help. Go on.”
Go on, refuse her. Go on, go on…
Sian firmly believed that the boy would never accept such a suspicious proposal from such an obviously suspicious woman, but apparently the combination of a beautiful woman and a perfect guess had struck the boy more powerfully than expected.
Seeing the boy hesitantly approach, Sian let out a small sigh.
“Hm, so… you came here because you couldn’t break through the Expert wall? And you got a job here because you didn’t have any money?”
Sian repeated the words as he looked at the twelve-year-old boy who had introduced himself as Dekaron.
The surrounding martial artists wore impressed expressions upon hearing the story.
If he had already been stopped by the Expert wall at twelve, he was quite accomplished.
Half the people gathered here probably had not reached that level at his age.
Of course, no one knew how old he would be when he finally broke through the wall, but even taking that into account, he was still at a respectable level.
No one had paid him any attention because he was merely running errands here. They had not known that he had reached such a realm.
“Hoho. Twelve years old… That brings back memories. I had already become a Master at that age.”
Sian did not want to trample on her nostalgic recollections, so he decided not to tell her what he had become at that age.
“Hm… So that is why you were looking at this thing called La-Vash?”
“Yes… It’s frustrating… I need to become stronger quickly…”
He was at a decent level, but perhaps something was driving him, because the boy looked quite impatient.
Sian looked at him with pity for a moment, then, as though he had made up his mind, leaned over and whispered something to the boy.
Since they had become involved in this anyway, it would be good to learn the joy of helping someone a little, just as his father had said.
Whisper, whisper.
After hearing what Sian said, the boy stared back and forth between Sian and La-Vash with an expression of utter disbelief.
Then he tried to shout.
“I can’t believe—Mmph!”
“Shh. Shh. Shh!”
Startled, Sian covered the boy’s mouth.
The boy, flustered yet filled with disbelief, cried out,
“Why won’t you let me say it? What if it’s true?”
“No… It’s just…”
While Sian was clutching his forehead, the boy shouted,
“Don’t lie! You’re saying La-Vash is nothing! You’re telling me to train somewhere else instead of wasting time looking at it!”
Oh, Father… This is harder than I thought…
“Pwahahahaha! Oh, dear!”
Sian covered his head with both hands, while Steel laughed beside him, clearly entertained.
Murmur, murmur.
“…What does that mean?”
“Did he really say such a thing?”
All the martial artists nearby were looking this way and whispering among themselves, slowly approaching Sian.
“The reason I told you not to say anything was… because this would happen… Sigh…”
Sian could not bring himself to get angry at a mere child, so he sighed as he looked at the flustered boy.
“Hey, what is that supposed to mean? You’re saying La-Vash is nothing?”
The martial artist who had asked roughly looked disheveled, as though he had been staying here for at least a full week.
How could he say that the trace left behind by the great warrior, the Sun Sword, was nothing? If that was true, then what did that make all the hardships he had endured here?
Since things had come to this, Sian decided to explain kindly.
It was not difficult, and he had felt somewhat sorry for these people, who had been wasting away here since earlier while paying 100 talents per night to stay.
Helping them would benefit everyone… Benefit everyone… Phew… Deep breaths… Deep breaths…
Of course, no one would believe him if he explained things in this state, so he decided to put on a little dignity.
Kududuk!
Sian stood up, releasing a little of his aura.
“……!”
All the martial artists approaching in excitement fell silent.
They had all shuddered at something that brushed past them.
“It is exactly as I said. That is neither a trace of the Sun Sword nor anything else.”
Sian looked around and declared it as though delivering a verdict.
One of the martial artists managed to regain his senses. Though frightened, he seemed unable to believe that all his efforts had been denied, and demanded desperately,
“Th-then what in the world is that?”
“Phew… That is just… graffiti. Graffiti. It is not a sword stroke containing some profound realization. It was merely something he scribbled because he was bored.”
“Hoho… Did you hear that, boy? So no matter how hard you try while staring at that, it will do you no good.”
Every martial artist who sensed the sincerity in those words wore a bewildered or despairing expression.
They instinctively understood that such an ‘existence’ had no reason to lie to them.
The truth contained within
It was nothing more than graffiti.
It was true that the Sun Sword had become La-Vander. But he had not left behind sword strokes containing some profound realization for the sake of his family.
He had simply experienced a sudden change in his sense of self, found everything—including his family—utterly empty, and, not knowing what else to do, dragged his sword across the rear mountain while pondering. Then he had chosen a direction and departed.
Compared to ordinary people drawing lines in the dirt with a branch while thinking, the scale was certainly grander. But that did not change the fact that it was graffiti.
Seeing this, Sian and Steel had concluded that they had come all this way for nothing.
The martial artists were shocked, but afterward they split into two groups.
Those who had come casually gave up just as casually and left.
And those who had come in desperation, so overwhelmed by their circumstances that they could not let go of their lingering attachment, continued staring at the rear mountain.
Their responses differed, but the feeling was similar.
Disappointment.
The boy’s reaction, however, was different.
If he had reached the Expert level at his age, he could break through eventually if he continued working hard. The Expert wall was not particularly thick, after all.
That was why the boy ought to have been less disappointed than the martial artists behind him.
But that was not the reaction he showed.
Despair.
The boy’s expression looked as though he had truly fallen into an abyss.
Sian felt uneasy. There was no reason for him to react this way. Thinking of the possibility that had come to mind, Sian cautiously asked,
“…By any chance… Is your surname Roland?”
At those words, the boy, sunk in despair, nodded.
Dekaron de Roland.
A fallen, wretched noble family. Yet because they were descendants of the Sun Sword, they had at least retained their surname.
Dekaron was a descendant of that Roland family.
That was why he would despair. The one remaining trace of his ancestor had amounted to nothing more than graffiti.
Sian studied the boy carefully, then looked at Steel beside him.
“Hm? Why?”
“You said you had fought the Sun Sword once, didn’t you?”
“Hmm… It was a while ago, but yes, I did fight him once.”
“Carve one into that wall. Something they can recognize, more or less.”
“Huh… Aren’t you being a little too kind?”
Steel asked with an expression of wonder. How human of him.
It was fair to say that superhumans almost never showed compassion toward ants.
He had posed that question earlier not for the boy’s sake, but because he had anticipated this outcome and thought it would be amusing.
“Well, it’s not difficult… and I have nothing to lose. I’m a filial son, so I tend to listen to my father.”
Sian’s father would be Count Roman, then. ‘I wonder what he said to him.’ Steel was curious, but it felt awkward to ask, so he decided to find out little by little.
“Well… there’s nothing I wouldn’t do for my little brother’s request. You’ll have to repay me for this later, you know?”
“I know you deliberately spoke to that child earlier. Let’s call us even for that.”
“…”
“Che.”
Apparently having nothing more to say, Steel loosened his hands and headed toward the rear mountain.
“Let’s see… If it has to be at a level these kids can recognize…”
Then Steel began concentrating an immense amount of power in both hands.
He could not perfectly imitate the ‘Way’ of the Sun Sword. Steel walked his own path, and his abilities were optimized for that path.
But carving something at a level these little brats could recognize was not difficult in the slightest.
It would have to be crude enough for them to understand, after all.
Before long, from Steel’s hands unfolded the Sun Sword’s long-lost swordsmanship, Livias’s
The boy could not tear his eyes away as he gazed blankly at that path, so splendid and beautiful that he could hardly believe it had blossomed from such an offhand movement of the fingertips.