Chapter 42
“I’m sorry about what happened back then.”
There were too many eyes watching to have a conversation there.
We moved into the [Practical Training Room].
“What are you sorry for?”
“…For knocking you out back then without your consent.”
Karen lowered her gaze.
“You might think it’s just an excuse, but I’ve never been one to have desires. In a battlefield, greed means death.”
During her formative years, when a person’s shape is moulded.
She spent all that time on the battlefield.
Before she could know the warmth of her parents’ embrace, she knew the heat of bloodshed and held a sword instead of a toy.
In such a place, greed belongs to the strong.
If you’re hungry, you take from others. If you want to live, you have to kill your opponent.
Karen wasn’t born strong.
After living for decades, killing off desires and greed, everything eventually became numb.
“Maybe because of that, when I finally have something I truly desire….”
“You lose sight of what’s in front of you.”
“Yes…”
Karen scratched her cheek with an awkward smile.
“It’s like a sudden outburst of the desires I couldn’t have back then.”
“……”
That’s the kind of result it produces.
A child who couldn’t have toys becomes obsessed with them as an adult.
A child who couldn’t eat sweets clings to them when they grow up.
‘To her, I am.’
A presence that made her feel the ‘desire’ she had never known before.
“May I ask you one thing?”
“Sure, anything!”
“Why do you want me to inherit that technique, Professor?”
This was a deeply personal question.
Regardless of her popularity as a character, ‘Karen Orbon’ wasn’t a character that was explored in depth within the game.
She was treated as a special NPC who could grant skills essential to the ultimate build, the “Hero.”
There wasn’t much revealed about her detailed story.
“Hmm~ Let’s see.”
Karen chuckled softly.
“Lan, have you ever seen a bird with really big, beautiful wings?”
“I can’t say I have.”
“Well, I have. It was so magnificent that just looking at it made you go ‘wow’.”
She lifted her gaze to the sky outside the window.
“Doesn’t it make you curious? How far that bird could fly if it took off with all its might, how high it could soar.”
The vast sky, with not a cloud in sight.
There was a sense of anticipation in Karen’s eyes as she looked up at the clear blue sky.
“That’s what it’s like. To me, Lan, you have the most magnificent wings I’ve ever seen.”
“…I see.”
“With you, I believe you can fly higher than I ever could. You’ll see sights that I never will. That’s what intrigued me.”
As she finished speaking, she looked at me with a somewhat bitter smile.
‘…I’m surprised.’
Honestly, I was quite shocked.
Who would have thought that Karen…
‘Could hide her madness so well.’
As I mentioned before, Karen is ‘pure evil.’
No matter the circumstances, her nature is fundamentally ‘evil.’
‘What she said just now may not be a lie.’
But Karen’s ultimate goal isn’t that.
After countless replays, I know.
What her ‘true purpose’ is.
“Professor, this is just my opinion….”
I began to speak quietly.
“I don’t believe that desires can ever be directed towards others. That applies to you as well, Professor.”
Can a genuine desire for another person’s success and happiness truly exist?
A person capable of harbouring such a desire would be a saint.
But Karen is as far from a saint as one can get.
“Professor Karen, you want to make me the strongest and then—”
I locked eyes with Karen.
My reflection was mirrored in her blood-red pupils, which had sunk deeply.
“You want to break me, with your own hands.”
“Ahaha~ I was too shy to admit it.”
She laughed brightly.
“As expected, Lan, you’re astute. Yes! I want to make you the best. A swordsman of a realm where no one can compete with you, a master unmatched through time.”
She placed her small hands on her cheeks.
Her face flushed pink, and a sinister smile spread across her lips.
“And I want to defeat you. I want to break you. I want to clip your wings so you can never fly again, to rip out your beak. I want to bathe in your blood and soak myself in it.”
Her voice alone was enough to send chills down my spine.
“Lan.”
Karen leaned closer, exuding a sensual aura.
“Because of you, I finally feel alive.”
“…You’re a ridiculous pervert, Professor.”
“Really? I thought I was relatively normal.”
A place where one only feels truly alive when standing atop another’s corpse.
She’s a person ‘shaped’ by such an environment.
A person twisted beyond repair, a true madwoman, a Sword Demon.
That is who Karen Orbon is.
“Lan, I am the one who can complete you. And you, in turn, can complete me!”
Though invisible, I could feel it.
The powerful thread of fate binding the two of us together.
‘Ha.’
A chuckle bubbled up from within.
Judging from the situation alone, it might seem like a character aspiring to become the strongest is being half-coerced into being overthrown later.
‘But it’s settled now.’
In reality, it’s the opposite.
I’ve just secured the most reliable ally I could have.
At least within Polaris.
She would value my life above her own.
“The leash stays in my hands.”
“…!”
“All actions of yours related to me will be thoroughly controlled by me. If you cross the line without permission, I will immediately give up learning from you.”
“Th… That means…?”
“Understood, disciple.”
When I said that,
“…Hic!”
Tears streamed down Karen’s eyes.
“C-Crack…! Kehihaha…! Sob! Hic!”
She shuddered and whimpered like someone whose mind had been overwhelmed by pleasure.
She kept letting out intermittent moans, trembling as if in a trance.
“I’ll say it again. The leash is in my hands. If you act out of line, I will give up learning…”
Srrng!
I drew my sword and placed it against my own neck.
“I will end my life.”
“Eeek?! Hic…?!”
“You need this level of insurance to handle a Sword Demon, don’t you think?”
As I pressed the blade against my neck, the skin split slightly, and red blood trickled out.
Seeing that, Karen’s face twisted as if she felt her own flesh being cut.
“So, stay obediently bound. Karen Orbon.”
“Nghh…”
With trembling hands, she touched the wound on my neck.
She spoke with a melted expression, as if she found even that endearing.
“Until I break you myself… I can’t let anyone else have you… Not until I make you the most beautiful…”
Her blood-red eyes looked up at me.
My fresh blood flowed down her small, pale palm.
“I’ll protect you…”
That’s it.
‘This is truly the best and optimal relationship I can have with Karen.’
A relationship that could defend against Fernia’s vigilance.
I had gained the strongest sword.
***
“Did you get hurt again?”
“Mm. Well, something like that.”
“…Please take better care of your own body.”
Elma said, looking concerned as she noticed the bandage around my neck.
‘It’s just a light cut.’
I touched the wound on my neck with a wry smile.
The day I talked with Karen, I made a slight cut with the tip of my sword for more impact.
‘But Karen’s killing intent got mixed in.’
Her emotions flared, and her killing intent poured out uncontrollably.
And that killing intent seeped into my wound.
An attack laced with killing intent doesn’t heal easily.
It just goes to show how formidable the power of killing intent is.
Not only is its attack power immense, but it also has a healing reduction effect.
Well, only a trace amount got into this wound, so it should disappear without a trace in a day or two.
“It’s not a serious injury. Thank you for your concern.”
“Hmm… It shouldn’t interfere with the training we’re about to do.”
Elma turned her head away awkwardly.
“They say this year’s Festival of Stars will be the largest ever.”
“Well, the participants are quite illustrious.”
Among the freshmen are a Holy Maiden, a princess, and unofficially, the successor of the Red Forest.
Among the seniors, there’s Fernia, known as the next emperor, and the descendant of ‘Rune,’ a magical sword family.
It’s no wonder the scale has increased in various ways.
“Because of that, the festival’s content has been unusually disclosed in advance.”
“It’s to allow us to prepare and show a perfect performance to the audience, isn’t it?”
During the festival, the usually closed gates of Polaris are opened wide.
It becomes a festive atmosphere in every sense.
“The theme for this year’s festival is ‘Relic Capture.’”
Elma explained the details.
Even though I already knew, I feigned interest and responded appropriately.
“That sounds difficult…”
“It’s an event that requires high abilities in various aspects. That’s why there’s a team that specifically requested a sparring session.”
Just then, two people approached the training grounds where we were.
“Those people are…”
“They are participants in the Festival of Stars, just like us.”
A girl with brown ponytail hair.
“Elma!”
“I’ve been waiting, Jane.”
The head of the disciplinary committee of the student council.
Jane Rune.
‘…I didn’t expect this duo.’
And the first-year student teamed up with her.
A Holy Maiden with long pink hair and a black eyepatch.
“Nice to meet you.”
Lienna Saintflower.
She greeted with a smile on her lips.
—
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