Chapter 137: Half

It had been about a week since they returned to the human realm.

As Isaac packed for his departure, he sensed someone stop behind him—a presence whose very scent, if one could see fragrances, would have been unmistakably Silverna’s. She was a woman who seemed made for the frozen North.

“Isaac,” Silverna called.

Isaac turned. Silverna, now steady on her feet and little by little reclaiming her former self, wore a somber expression.

“You’re leaving, aren’t you?”

“Yeah. Sir Eisenwolf ordered me to escort Nameless to the Mage-Tower so they can research the rituals.”

It had taken a while to get the royal reply, but permission finally came through. Because another spell was entwined around Nameless, the Mage-Tower would study it.

Originally, Nameless should have been thrown into a prison cell, but Princess Clarice pulled more strings than was really proper—because she owed Isaac a favor.

You’ll…” Issac began.

“Stay in the North,” she finished for herself, straightening. “It’s the place I have to protect.”

With the Malidan Barrier gone, supplies for a new barrier were trickling into the North, yet restoring its old majesty would not be easy.

Even so, Silverna smiled—a proud, unshakable smile like a snow-crowned flower blooming in the northern wastes.

“The legend of Caldias starts over with me.”

She rapped her fist against her breastplate. That confident resolve made it impossible not to believe in her.

“Looks good on you,” Isaac said, smiling back.

The talk was heavy, yet the air between them felt light—because she inspired that much trust.

Silverna laid a hand on his shoulder and smiled softly.

“So don’t worry about the North, Isaac. Go and come back safe.”

“… ”

“I’ve grown, you know. But this time I felt my own helplessness all over again.”

“No one could call you helpless.”

Everyone knew how much Silverna had done, yet in the end she’d been overpowered—single-handedly—by the woman dubbed the “Blood Fiend.”

“Compared to the enemies you’ll face, yes, I am helpless,” she said, clenching her fist in frustration, though her dark eyes never wavered.

“I can’t even tell anymore—I feel like I’m the one trying to catch up to you,” she added.

Was that really true? Isaac had never sparred with her, but he’d watched her skills soar while they fought for their lives on the Malidan Wall.

“Hang in there—and save Rihanna,” she said, stepping in to hug him. Her embrace, unlike the North, was warm.

“…Silverna.”

“I don’t want people saying I stole the victory just because your girl was away,” she teased.

Her hand patted his back—hard enough to sting a little, but that, too, was the North’s way of showing affection.

“All right?”

“All right.”

“Phew. Good. I’ll be going, then. Stay any longer and I’ll get attached and follow you.”

Turning away, Silverna stepped out of the tent.

“Good luck, Isaac!”

Her parting cheer rang out, dashing and bright.

Time with Silverna always felt comfortable, like being with a dear friend—reassuring in ways words couldn’t capture.

Isaac bent to his luggage again when muffled bickering floated in from outside.

“Miss, how could you just leave it at that? That was a total losing-heroine line!”

“H-Hey! How is that a loss? It was the cool, relaxed line of a winner—wasn’t it?”

Anna and Silverna were squabbling.

“Didn’t you read the romance novels I lent you? How can you nail a side-heroine line that perfectly?”

“W-What?! ‘Side’—are you calling me a concu-—who would take Caldias as a concubine!”

“You said it yourself. Seriously, this is why first-timers who’ve never dated—”

“You—you haven’t dated either! I’ve at least kissed! Have you?”

Anna fell silent for a beat, then fired back.

“What are you two, same-sex pals? Battle buddies? Anyone listening would think you were just friends chatting!”

“And that’s bad? Being comfortable is nice, isn’t it?”

“Feeling ‘comfortable’ with someone you like means there’s no heart-pounding thrill!”

“…Is that so?”

“Oh, we’re doomed. Miss, you’ve already lost. Just don’t come crying to me later, bawling that Isaac remarried some other woman and begging me to drink with you.”

“Do you know how much it hurts when you say things like that?! Please, can’t you save this conversation for anywhere but here?”

Because he was inside the tent packing, Isaac heard everything—even what he’d rather not.

Then—

Flap!

Silverna burst back in, face burning red, and—

“Huh!”

—planted her lips on his.

“……!”

Isaac’s eyes flew open. The surprise attack bent him backward until Silverna caught his waist with one arm. Awkward as it looked, her tongue explored like a hunting hound savoring its catch.

“Hmm?!”

He tried to push her away, eyes bulging, but she only seized his hand and pressed it onto her chest.

“Hah?!”

Soft—an abundance Helmut could never offer.

Before he knew it he was pinned, no room left to flee.

She’s even channeling aura for this?!

Noticing the shimmer of aura on her fingers, Isaac scowled. He shot her a glare; she met it with a sly, crescent-eyed grin.

-Stop it.-

-No.-

Their tongues tangled while their eyes carried on a silent feud.

-Let me go.-

-Why do you taste so good?-

-…Sharen’s snacks.-

-Figures.-

-Release me—are you really using aura?-

-Then you use your ki.-

-Knock it off.-

-Move your tongue.-

Escape was hopeless—until the Grandmaster and Nameless showed up, wondering when on earth Isaac planned to come out.

****

“Take care, then.”

Smack!

Silverna slapped Isaac’s rear as he walked off, wearing a shameless grin.

He stared, scandalized; she cupped a hand over her mouth and gave a lecherous old-man smile.

“Oh my, an accident.”

Face flushed, Isaac growled, “You realize you just shredded the line of propriety, right?”

Silverna lifted her hand and mimed kneading. “Did you enjoy it?”

“…….”

He clamped his mouth shut. When his hand had landed on her chest earlier—pure reflex—he’d squeezed a few times, and now she was rubbing it in. Literally.

“See you next time—be a little more honest then,” she said, waving cheerfully.

Isaac swung onto his war-horse—only to find someone already astride Ravenfall.

“Let’s go, Isaac!”

“…….”

Sharen Helmut. Of course she’d joined the party. Isaac sighed in resignation.

‘Well, she knows about my regression anyway.’

With Sharen seated up front, Isaac gathered Ravenfall’s reins.

“Hurry along, lad—there’s much I need to tell you,” the Grandmaster urged from her own horse.

“Yaa-aa-ahm.”

Nameless yawned, making her fatigue plain.

“…Feels like I just signed on to the scariest party ever,” muttered Damien, the Grandmaster’s pupil, scratching his cheek.

And so this rather distinctive company set out for the Mage-Tower.

****

Isaac had hoped for a quiet ride, but—

“Do you understand? Boys and girls over seven should not sit together! How can a swordsman, sworn to the blade, tumble into the snares of lust—”

The Grandmaster’s mouth never stopped. Starting with how Nameless had cradled Isaac yesterday, then on to the kiss with Silverna—all her pent-up complaints were spilling out.

“A master must call out a disciple’s lack of virtue! Thus I, too, must chastise these shameful lapses—”

“Yes, sir…”

“Look at Damien: silent, honing his sword day and night. And you—lost to carnal…”

Isaac wanted to plug his ears. Is he going to lecture until we reach the Tower? His face darkened.

“Allerelelelel—”

…A bizarre sound came from up front. Peering down, he saw Sharen sticking her tongue out and waggling it around.

“…What are you doing?”

Flustered, the Grandmaster asked. Sharen beamed.

“Practicing kissing!”

“…….”

“…….”

“Like—like this, right? You said so, Grandmaster!”

Alerelelelel.

Isaac cleared his throat and changed the subject.

“Since things are like this, may I ask a question?”

“Ask quickly—and make her stop that.”

“Allerelerelerel—”

Thmp.

Isaac clapped a hand over Sharen’s mouth.

“Are all of your fellow disciples… half-bloods?”

The Grandmaster’s lips sealed tight; Nameless looked up from the sword manual Isaac had written.

“We have nothing left to hide now. I want the truth.”

After a moment’s pause, the Grandmaster sighed and nodded.

“Indeed. In ‘Yeonjigok’ where we were kept, ten half-bloods were raised—tools and test subjects.”

Ten of them. Numbers One through Ten.

Nameless had been Number Two; the Grandmaster remembered being called Number Ten.

“They found ten half-breeds?”

“The opposite. They forced ten into existence.”

“……”

“So we were never treated as people.”

Isaac had to ask:

“Why create half-bloods at all?”

The Transcendents were superior to humans in most ways; why the trouble of breeding hybrids?

“There is a power granted only to humans,” the Grandmaster said, clicking his tongue. He exhaled. “Mana—and aura. They coveted it.”

Isaac suddenly recalled Hellic mimicking Descension style and trying to wield Helmut sword-arts. The obsession ran deeper than he’d thought.

“To us, those are humanity’s greatest weapons. So they wished to see whether beings with Transcendent blood could handle mana.”

“Then, in the end—”

“What are you asking? Have you ever seen your master use mana?”

No. Not once.

At last, the puzzle pieces slotted into place for Isaac.

“Do you know how we were treated there?” the Grandmaster asked, drawing a cigarette. Normally she avoided smoking near Isaac and Sharen, but some stories were impossible without smoke.

The tale that drifted with the bluish haze was harsher than the tobacco.

“Simply because half our blood was human, they denied us the dignity of humans. Food came once every two days, yet they trained us to the brink of death daily.”

Nameless turned her head away and quickened the words, as if to outrun the memories.

“Isn’t it absurd? They made us half-breeds, then abused us for it.”

Hoo—

Smoke streamed out; the Grandmaster’s true feelings rose with it.

“So we began to wish,” she said quietly.

“……”

“That the half-blood they despised… would surpass them.”

To take Transcendent swordsmanship and eclipse it with human power—that had been the dream, long ago, of the ten half-bloods who once lived together in Yeonjigok.

– – The End of The Chapter ––

 

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