Chapter 251

Chapter 251. Incompetent Warrior

 

Ruri knew what she had done.

 

She had trespassed into the territory, ignored the warnings of those standing guard, and infiltrated deeply.

 

Now, all the forces of the castle would turn toward Ruri.

 

Ruri would have to face them now.

 

In the past, she undoubtedly would have hesitated several times, but Ruri’s steps did not stop.

 

In her mind, only the image of the man Hudret had urgently carried on his back appeared.

 

A foolish and weak human body.

 

She knew that this man, who only did reckless things with such a body, would one day be in danger.

 

Knowing it and it actually happening were worlds apart.

 

When his right wrist was cruelly torn off and disappeared, Ruri’s thoughts seemed to freeze.

 

Ruri moved true to her epithet of Wind and administered emergency treatment.

 

She summoned Healing Wind and healed all minor wounds.

 

But only one thing —the severed right hand— did not return.

 

With the resolve to give her life, she squeezed out her remaining mana.

 

With the mentality of making it work if it didn’t, she poured it and poured it.

 

But that didn’t mean she could expect a miracle.

 

Ruri was a warrior, not a mage.

 

After dozens of attempts, she simply stopped the bleeding of the lost right hand as it was.

 

She sat silently next to the man who had stabilized.

 

Time passed.

 

Her mind was blank like a sheet of paper, but with each passing second, it felt like a hammer driving a stake deeper into her chest.

 

As the pain dulled a little over time and she became able to think, a short thought emerged first.

 

“I failed.”

 

As more time passed, a longer sentence formed.

 

“I have failed again.”

 

It had been like this since Ferda arrived.

 

Every time she tried to do something, it only made her realize that Ruri was nothing more than an ignorant and immature brat who knew nothing.

 

The mistakes and incidents she had caused in Heinkel Castle kept swirling in her head.

 

Her situation could be summarized in a single word.

 

“Incompetence.”

 

Without magic, she was incompetent.

 

She was a warrior who had killed many demons and monsters, but in the end, she failed to protect the one she was supposed to protect.

 

Ruri hates being incompetent.

 

The incompetent cannot survive.

 

What should she do to not be incompetent?

 

For the current Ruri, finding an answer was difficult.

 

That was why Ruri set foot in this North again.

 

Amidst the swirling blizzard, a silhouette caught her eye.

 

It was the headquarters of Silverwind, Eisenfels.

 

Ruri looked at that fortress with dry eyes.

 

“Fighting against the family…….”

 

Just one more step, and the attack would begin.

 

It was something she would have hesitated to do, but there was no trembling.

 

She had already made up her mind.

 

If anyone stood in her way, this ax would return soaked in red blood.

 

Ruri moved her feet and entered their firing range.

 

But there was no attack.

 

The ax gripped with both hands hovered in the air as if it had lost its way.

 

Just in case, she took a few more steps, but there was still no sign of an attack.

 

It was a strange thing.

 

Ruri did not lower her guard and kept walking.

 

Like that, until she stood in front of the castle gate, not a single person attacked her.

 

Those who seemed to be guardians did not express hostility toward Ruri.

 

Rather, upon seeing Ruri’s appearance, they showed tense faces.

 

— Are you the former Brigade Commander of the Silverwing Special Mobile Brigade, the one called Blade Wind, Ruri Silverwind… Senior-nim?

 

The guard asked politely.

 

He had a face that seemed internally worried that the word “senior” uttered awkwardly might seem rude.

 

But Ruri replied without caring about such a situation.

 

— That was the case in the past.

 

— Please forgive the imprudence of this junior who did not recognize you and asked. Senior-nim’s achievements are well known to us juniors, but those who have seen Senior-nim’s face are extremely rare…

 

— Cut the small talk.

 

Ruri said coldly.

 

— Since when do the children of Silverwind engage in conversation?

 

As Ruri harbored killing intent, a cold sweat ran down the guards’ faces.

 

A cold wind blew, but it flowed down their cheeks as if there was no time to cool down.

 

The guards said no useless words and moved according to the orders from above.

 

The guards opened the gate.

 

Instead of expelling the intruder, they let her into the castle.

 

That was not the end.

 

All the people of Silverwind lined up on the path she would walk, laid their weapons on the ground, and knelt.

 

It was as if they were paying the courtesy due to a returning hero.

 

The young dragonspawn servants did not know who she was, but they knew the name of Ruri, the Blade Wind.

 

They had to pay courtesy to the legend who was the reason for the founding of the Mobile Brigade and had received Silverwind’s favor.

 

Ruri felt that this sensation was strange.

 

She remembered the last words Goz had said.

 

He said there was no place for her to return to.

 

There was no way he would give her this kind of courtesy.

 

Was that why? Rather, her heart felt calm.

 

Thinking of it not as a home, but as a battlefield to die on, that was how it was.

 

Upon entering the inner castle of Eisenfels, the face of a familiar old man appeared in Ruri’s sight.

 

It was Lance Silverwind, the dragonspawn who had survived the longest by Silverwind’s side.

 

— Ruri…

 

— It’s been a while. Lance…

 

— I heard the story. From Goz, and from Percival…

 

— …

 

— The Chief-nim is waiting for you.

 

He made way for her, and Ruri gave a slight bow, paying courtesy.

 

Following the long carpet, Silverwind’s audience chamber came into view.

 

The door opened, and the interior was visible.

 

The seat where Father, Silverwind, had sat.

 

That place had now become Goz’s seat.

 

Upon capturing Goz’s figure with her two eyes, Ruri’s cheeks felt cold and stinging.

 

As if dozens of blades had brushed against her body.

 

Ruri walked on the carpet and stood before Goz.

 

— You came.

 

Goz didn’t even give Ruri a glance.

 

— Didn’t I tell you clearly? That there would be no home for you to return to.

 

— You did.

 

— Then why do you set foot here so shamelessly?

 

— I didn’t come thinking of this as a home.

 

— …I suppose so.

 

Goz set down his liquor cup.

 

As much as the time of silence, Ruri’s heartbeat grew fiercer.

 

— I heard you fought as a warrior in the Heinkel Kingdom.

 

— …Yes.

 

— Your achievements are certainly something to be proud of as Silverwind’s bloodline, I believe. You yourself must have been proud too.

 

Something to be proud of.

 

How many days would there be when Goz said such things?

 

In the past, she would have rejoiced at being recognized.

 

— I am an incompetent warrior.

 

Ruri said.

 

— In that battle, I almost lost the one who would become my Lord-nim’s partner.

 

— …

 

— Again.

 

Goz frowned as if he were disgusted.

 

— So you fled?

 

— No. As I said, I did not return home.

 

— Then?

 

— I need power.

 

Ruri’s gaze fixed directly on Goz.

 

— That power that Goz-nim possesses…

 

Silverwind’s Essence.

 

It was that tremendous power called the true nature of the Dragon.

 

The atmosphere froze coldly.

 

— How many times did you think before saying those words?

 

— From the moment Ferda-nim’s right hand was severed.

 

— A bad move after a long deliberation…

 

Goz stood up from the throne.

 

The light behind the giant warrior cast a deep darkness that covered Ruri.

 

— It’s not a bad move. Yearning for power is a warrior’s virtue.

 

Ruri did not fear.

 

— True, yearning for power… is one of the virtues a warrior must possess.

 

Goz nodded and looked into Ruri’s eyes.

 

— But the sight of you trying to use that as an excuse is terribly pathetic, brat.

 

Silver eyes emitted an unsettling light.

 

Cold, yet burning fiercely.

 

— Father’s power is not a tool to hide your weakness. You know that too, don’t you?

 

— …

 

— You cannot defeat me. That means you simply lack the resolve to kill yourself, so you are telling me to kill you, aren’t you?

 

Goz was enraged.

 

It was the greatest rage Ruri had seen in her life.

 

— Do you have no regrets about your actions?

 

He spoke as if asking a death row inmate for their last will before execution.

 

Ruri thought.

 

A fight will break out.

 

She will die at Goz’s hands.

 

But it was strange.

 

Even though the Goz she had feared so much was emitting killing intent,

 

Even though he was trying to crush her using the power of Father, Silverwind,

 

Strangely, she was not afraid.

 

Ruri knows the reason.

 

— Yes.

 

Ruri is already dead.

 

A corpse does not feel fear.

 

— Whether I destroy you or I die, today I will settle this.

 

Ruri raised her ax.

 

The next day, Ferda’s office.

 

— Let’s have a man-to-man talk.

 

The knight Jed Swallow stood in front of Ferda and spoke.

 

His eyes seemed full of interest.

 

— ……What talk?

 

— A talk between men.

 

— And what is that?

 

— What do you mean what? Haven’t you become a real man?

 

— ……?

 

The more he spoke, the less he understood.

 

As Ferda stared at him, Jed explained with his characteristic sly eyes.

 

— So, didn’t you, Regent-nim, meet with Her Highness Valdrova in the playroom yesterday?

 

— Yes, I did.

 

— All night too?

 

— Yes.

 

— You gazed at the moon together, whispered words of love to each other, and stayed until the sun came up, right?

 

Ferda heard those words, grasped the essence, and replied.

 

— Right?

 

— Finally, Regent-nim, you have stepped onto the staircase of adulthood and taken a leap. That’s what I want to talk about.

 

Now he understood what he was saying.

 

— I roughly know what you’re thinking, but none of that happened.

 

— Come on, there’s no need to be shy. We’re men, you can tell me that, right?

 

— Do I look shy?

 

Ferda raised his face with an annoyed expression.

 

Jed scrutinized that face, and Jed’s face also withered following that light.

 

Only then did he know that Ferda was telling the truth.

 

— Uh……

 

Jed tilted his head as if he didn’t understand, then asked Ferda.

 

— You…… are 19 years old this year, right?

 

— That’s right.

 

— Uh…… A 19-year-old man, with a woman……

 

Jed recalled his own 19-year-old self.

 

Even now sparks fly when our eyes meet, but at 19, I was shooting lightning bolts.

 

Having gone through such a time, Jed could not comprehend Ferda’s behavior.

 

“The vibe he always gives off makes it not incomprehensible…….”

 

A mature vibe unbefitting his age.

 

Despite being much younger than him, there was a weight like facing a middle-aged uncle.

 

“But then…… the eyes with which he looks at Her Highness were appropriate for that age group.”

 

The freshness of a teenager feeling attraction to the opposite sex, having passed the childish phase of teasing the one you like.

 

The vitality that seemed to constantly feel the urge to just go for it.

 

Ferda was a peculiar human where the face of a teenager and a middle-aged man coexisted.

 

— ……Ha.

 

Jed let out another hollow laugh.

 

— Anything else to say?

 

— Uh…… probably not?

 

— Then, get out.

 

Actually, there were many things he wanted to ask.

 

It’s just that they were questions that could lead to rudeness, so he held back.

 

Jed was a human with that much tact.

 

— Kkiyoooot!

 

At that moment, a clueless demon burst into the office without warning.

 

— I greet the Companion of the Great Aspect of Fire, the Great Regent Ferda-nim!

 

An excessively rolled tongue that made the greeting even more vulgar.

 

Penelope’s eyes shone with lust and greed.

 

Where had he seen this? It was similar to the light Jed gave off when entering.

 

— What do you want?

 

— It’s just that last night I received a report that you spent a full 14 hours with Her Highness Valdrova and didn’t even attend the banquet for the Regent-nim, so I came to inquire about the circumstances. Since I am gathering data for cross-verification before asking Her Highness Valdrova directly, I ask for your active cooperation. Hehehehe……!!

 

Seeing her drool, Ferda gave her a pathetic look.

 

— Nothing of what you are thinking happened.

 

— ……Oh my God, how can you say that if you don’t even know what I’m thinking?

 

— ……

 

— ……Really nothing?

 

Penelope slyly raised her eyes to Jed.

 

Jed merely shook his head silently.

 

— T-that……!!

 

Penelope could not hide her astonishment.

 

— H-how……

 

She opened her mouth again with a trembling voice.

 

— Why didn’t you pounce?!

 

Is she crazy?

 

Jed’s mouth dropped wide open, and Ferda’s body tensed.

 

Penelope did not close the door to calamity.

 

— Does this make logical sense? A fully grown adult man! With the woman he likes! Nothing happened!! It’s a story as absurd as eating a single blade of grass at a fully set table and saying you’re full so they can take it away!

 

It was astonishing.

 

In the face of that shameless and rude behavior, anger should have boiled within him, but rather, his head cooled.

 

Intending to see how far this crazy behavior would go, he said to her.

 

— Her Highness and I are engaged. Since we promised marriage, the important thing is to slowly build time for each other.

 

— What kind of stiff and old-fashioned comment is that? That’s not the trend of today’s youth! Just go for it first! Body chemistry over heart chemistry!

 

Ferda answered calmly with an annoyed expression.

 

— Her Highness is noble, pure, and chaste, so do not mention those pathetic trends.

 

— Then is it a coincidence that Valdrova-nim said she is interested in sexy lingerie?!

 

Ferda’s body shuddered.

 

Before he could open his mouth, Jed beat him to it.

 

— You said she’s interested?

 

— No way. She is interested, but she doesn’t know what it is. She said it’s something roughly used when eating. So I told her that if it was tasty, she would like to try it later, and that appearance was just like a village maiden, ugh! I give up! I give up! I won’t misbehave again!

 

Ferda choked Penelope’s neck with a shadow.

 

He felt as if tears of blood were springing from his eyes.

 

Why on earth is this guy a friend of Valdrova?

 

Why on earth does this guy have the Vital Vessel of the Great Demon Sitri?

 

If it weren’t for that, we wouldn’t have met, and there would be no need to keep her alive.

 

He lamented his cursed fate.

 

After making her suffer properly, he released her.

 

— If you’re going to talk nonsense, get out. Whatever you guys think, there is no reason for me to do dirty things with my fiancée right now.

 

— No, I can refute that.

 

He closed Penelope’s mouth, but this time Jed opened his.

 

— As Penelope said, isn’t it possible that Her Highness Valdrova desires it?

 

— That won’t happen.

 

— A woman’s heart isn’t that simple, how can you claim that? Even I, who have seduced dozens, still don’t know.

 

— Is that bragging?

 

— It’s not that. It’s not good to claim you know Her Highness’s heart.

 

— ……

 

Jed advised Ferda with a smug voice.

 

— Most repressed people cannot properly express their desires. Even disgust is actually just hesitation out of embarrassment.

 

— Mmm……

 

— If you practice opening up your true feelings just a little, you become honest with your desires. Then…… yes.

 

Jed gave a thumbs-up with a lustful expression.

 

A lecher and a demon maddened by lust were babbling about making bold physical advances.

 

Normally, ignoring them would be the proper procedure.

 

But Ferda began to agonize seriously in that direction.

 

“I am not Valdrova.”

 

Even if I know her heart to some extent, I cannot say I know it completely.

 

“She says just being together is enough…….”

 

Actually, it wasn’t like that.

 

Ferda likes talking to Valdrova.

 

But the second of touching her hand was more meaningful than a hundred words exchanged over several minutes.

 

Ferda honestly confessed his desires to her yesterday.

 

He spoke of what had only worried him: that she might get hurt, that it might be awkward.

 

And how was it?

 

He could properly face Valdrova’s face.

 

And he felt with his palm that face he had only imagined.

 

“And she touched my face too.”

 

He remembered the places her touch reached.

 

Valdrova moved following the trajectory of Ferda’s hand.

 

And even stopping right before the lips at the end was the same.

 

Maybe……

 

She might want the same thing.

 

If both want the same thing, isn’t it fine?

 

It was just when he was almost completely influenced by Jed’s persuasion.

 

¡¡¡#@%#@$!@$!!!

 

— Ommayaaa!

 

A sudden scream.

 

Penelope, in Jed’s arms, trembled and made a fuss.

 

— W-what is it?! A monster? The appearance of a new species?! Whatever it is, I’ll hide in the Lair first!

 

It wasn’t that.

 

It lacked that characteristic unpleasant sensation of a monster’s scream.

 

This was unmistakably a ‘human scream’ heard from the West.

 

Ferda turned his head toward the source of that scream that almost shattered the window.

 

After casting Search and Magnification magic spells to verify, he could accurately identify the source.

 

Ferda, having confirmed her identity, said this.

 

— ……Your persuasion just collapsed.

 

— Huh? What do you mean?

 

Ferda pointed with his chin toward below Hestia Village.

 

Jed could see what Ferda saw.

 

In front of the village gate.

 

A woman on a white horse was there.

 

It was King Hudret’s loyal knight.

 

A Swordmaster, a female general called the Destructive General.

 

She was shouting like this.

 

— Jed Swallowwwww!!! Take responsibilityyyyy!!!

 

It was a scream that made one’s spine instinctively freeze.