Chapter 103
Clang-!
Esther was watching Callius and Emily intently.
At first, she couldn't believe the two were father and daughter, but the more she looked, the more they resembled each other.
It was something she felt a little normally, but it became even more obvious during their spar.
They say a parent is a mirror to their child.
Emily's swordsmanship was the spitting image of Callius.
Watching Callius and Emily's spar along with the children, Esther couldn't shake that thought.
"It's truly a sight to see, a father and daughter like this. I couldn't believe it at first either."
"And you are..."
"Orphin."
"Ah, yes. Sir Orphin."
"Anyway, don't they look more alike the more you look at them?"
"Emily seems a bit too much like him."
There is a saying that a daughter takes after her father.
Truly, as if to prove she was Callius's daughter, her speech, her actions, and even her swordsmanship were taking after him.
Not to mention the way she spoke without any change in expression, unlike a child, but the look in her eyes when she said certain things was exactly like his.
'It would be one thing if she didn't resemble him...'
For example, the way she subtly raised the corners of her lips to infuriate the opponent when mocking or criticizing them.
Looking at them sparring, anyone could see they were father and daughter.
Watching that sight, Esther felt as if she was hit by a wind of complicated, subtle emotions.
"I'm truly worried."
"Worried about what?"
"Still, you must get married. Since you're still young, shouldn't you find a partner and secure more heirs?"
In this day and age, one never knew when or where a war might break out. For the sake of the family, having two or three children was the duty of a noble, wasn't it?
'Well, he is a noble.'
A noble among nobles of Karpe.
As one of the Four Great Noble Families, his black hair inheriting the thickest blood of Zervan and the beauty of Jaian had been praised by numerous poets and bards multiple times.
The fact that such a noble had an illegitimate child wasn't much of a flaw.
Since there hadn't been any formal marriage talks in the first place, ladies genuinely interested in him wouldn't mind that part.
Besides, he had inherited the countship, and if he returned to the North, he would be its lord.
He was precisely the marriage candidate that ladies seeking a comfortable life so desperately desired.
"But the Count doesn't seem interested in marriage."
"...Is that so?"
"Yes, he once cut it short decisively in the North."
Rather than cutting it short, he made a complete mess of it.
Remembering Callius flipping the table—a memory still vivid in her mind—she held back a smirk.
"When Sir Helena came to visit. He said he already had an heir, so stop doing useless things. That was the first time I saw him so angry."
Esther's brows furrowed slightly.
It was when Helena's name was uttered.
Orphin's dynamic visual acuity caught that fleeting moment of change.
"What is it?"
"Ah, it's nothing. Perhaps he has someone in his heart. If he was that angry."
"...?"
Esther's expression seemed somewhat strange.
Should I say, a strangely pleased face?
Orphin found it odd, but it wasn't something he needed to point out.
"Then that's a relief. I wonder if I just made pointless complaints to someone I barely know."
"Not at all. I'm glad to hear such an entertaining story. We'll be seeing each other often, so let's talk like this frequently."
"Yes. It was an honor to meet you, Sir Esther."
As Esther went back to teach the children, her steps seemed remarkably light for some reason.
"Did something good happen?"
It was hard to tell.
Orphin glanced at the brutal spar—too intense for a father-daughter match—and stepped out to train himself again.
"Instructor Esther? Why are you grinning?"
It was Flora.
Was I grinning?
Esther touched her face for a moment and denied it.
"I wasn't grinning."
"No, you were definitely grinning."
Was it because Sullivia's words kept lingering in her ears?
Ahem, the weather is clear, so I feel good.
"The weather is really nice."
"It really is, it's the perfect day for laundry."
"Since the weather is nice, let's run to the top of the mountain."
"Huh? What does nice weather have to do with running to the mountain top!?"
Looking at Flora and the children who were on the verge of tears, Esther spoke with confidence.
"The power of the sword comes from the lower body. The last person to finish does a hundred downward strikes."
Esther started running at the very front.
* * *
Clang- Clang-!
The Order's forge.
All that was there were iron ingots and a blast furnace.
And Gregory hammering away at them, but the shadow that suddenly surged up stopped his hammer.
"You're here already?"
"Yes. It wasn't a difficult task, either."
The shadow that swelled like ink was Helena.
She was carrying a wooden box under one arm, and one didn't need to ask to know what was inside.
It was Gregory himself who had entrusted the request to Helena.
"For me, well, I can just ride the shadows and come and go quickly. Plus, someone was already there before me."
Even Helena was a little curious as to why Callius was there.
Whether his luck was bad or good.
She had heard he originally intended to expose Count Valentine's corruption and kill him, but for him to die on his own and then become a sword to slaughter his own knights...
The ways of the world were truly unpredictable.
"Hmm..."
Gregory let out a deep sigh as he looked at the wooden box Helena offered.
Various emotions revealed themselves in his eyes.
"Gid is dead."
"...How was his end?"
"Well, by the time I arrived, his head was already cut off and gone."
Gregory and Gid.
Gid and Gregory originally grew up in the same sect, and their friendship was special, but they parted ways at some point.
"Gid changed at some point."
The sight of him happily telling him about the research he had acquired from somewhere, comparing the Empire and Karpe, was still vivid in his mind.
He was someone so pure before the sword.
"He said let's make a sword together."
"Did you make it?"
Gregory shook his head.
The Empire's method he had obtained by chance was absolutely horrific.
"Even if they were death-row inmates bound to die anyway, I could never agree to the idea of torturing them to carve a single emotion deep into their bones. No matter how doomed they were, that was something humans shouldn't do."
But Gid had looked at Gregory and criticized him for being soft.
"A sword to offer to the gods is bound to have different meanings to different people."
"That's right. How could I offer a sword made by killing death-row inmates to the gods? It must be made with a heart that honors the death of a truly valuable existence."
Gregory slightly opened the wooden box, nodded his head, and asked Helena.
"Did he complete the sword?"
"Yes, considering the commotion he caused."
"And that sword?"
"I left it behind. It felt ominous, and it wasn't something I could take anyway. From what I heard, he ground up the lives of a hundred knights to make it... That can't be a normal sword."
Just because she had a scabbard didn't mean she had no greed for swords. However, Helena was truly repulsed by that sword.
"A sword with a hundred knights ground into it. How could he even think of that?"
"Looking at the old records of our Order, which makes things out of human flesh and soul, such things happened from time to time. People always repeat the same mistakes... and I heard the Empire still does it."
"This is exactly why I hate the Empire. No romance, just no romance."
"From the Empire's perspective, that might be their romance. I heard they gather the enemy commanders of defeated nations and forge them into a single spear."
Because of that, the Empire has many bizarre and immoral spears.
But that was a kind of warning.
The ruthlessness that made the Empire, the Empire.
"They probably think they have to go that far to swallow up multiple nations and unify them."
"Anyway, I didn't want to get involved, so I just left it. It felt like touching it would mess me up."
"You did the right thing. Your mind would probably have been devoured by the sword. It's a demonic sword that the Order must manage or seal away."
Gregory put down his hammer, stained with the grime of his hands, and asked.
"Who took that sword?"
Helena's head tilted slightly as she looked at Gregory.
If she spoke lightly of it, he would surely try to recover the sword Callius possessed.
It wasn't a good sword for him to have, but... there was no need to snatch it away either.
'He must have a reason for taking it.'
From what she had seen so far.
He wasn't that foolish of a man.
As the person who had even extorted gold coins from him after saving him three years ago, he was not someone who would do stupid things.
"A decent person took it. There probably won't be any problems."
"A decent person?"
Gregory's eyes widened at Helena's extremely ambiguous words.
"Even if he has that sword, he won't go berserk. Because he's that kind of person."
"Hmm..."
Gregory tilted his head with an unconvinced expression. However, the scales tipped toward trusting Helena's judgment, as she was the best among the Five Stars.
"...It's your judgment, so I'll trust it."
"Then what about the payment?"
"As mentioned beforehand, let's leave the escort of the iron ingots circulating in the West to the Bolivian Merchant Guild."
The corners of Helena's mouth curled up to her ears.
* * *
"Gid? So that guy finally died."
A dark space with only a single candle lit lonely.
An aged voice and a young voice were flowing together in this space.
"Yes. He died cleanly."
"Hearing it from your mouth means it must have been a failure."
"Yes, the completion of the sword was somewhat successful, but the timing was bad."
"Timing?"
Why would the timing be bad if the sword was completed?
It was a remark that was quite incomprehensible, but at the man's ensuing words, he stroked his half-trimmed beard.
"He completed the sword, but there was a lion and a wolf beside him, and in the end, even a snake appeared and disposed of him."
A lion, a wolf, and a snake.
A truly mismatched combination.
"Tsk, he had bad luck. That guy should have caused a bigger commotion. Just when the bait I've been spreading was finally starting to show its worth... what a pity."
The middle-aged man stroking his beard.
Bishop Milliman clicked his tongue as if it was a shame. Milliman had prepared for a long time.
Just as one of the several arrangements he had planted was about to bud, Callius ruined it again this time.
"It's become the worst possible scenario. Thanks to even Count Valentine ending up like that, the pretext to restrain Callius has disappeared."
"Do not worry, we have the Prince, don't we?"
Right, the Prince.
The Prince, who went completely mad just from touching a sword wrong, was still left.
"Power is truly charming. Even that esteemed Prince became such a monster, but he will be used as much as he can be utilized."
"It will happen soon now."
"Yes, very soon now. The grand plan will be set in motion in just a little while."
Karpe will fall once.
And rise again.
"It's finally war. The war we've desired so much. Aren't you looking forward to it?"
Bishop Milliman said as he looked at the young-faced man.
"Orkal."