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HELHEIM SCANS
[Translator - Peptobismol]
[Proofreader - Max]
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Chapter 10: Pursuing the Branded Knight (4)
It was like a scene from a myth.
The monster, struck by the priest's scattered blood, was engulfed in flames.
The space that had been filled with darkness was now overflowing with azure light.
The whole world was ablaze in azure.
'What in the world is that...?'
The red knight gritted his teeth.
He couldn't bring himself to intervene in that fight.
'Once again, I'm...'
The knight had to clench his jaw against the familiar feeling of helplessness.
Remembering that day, the memory he wanted to forget but couldn't.
***
Daniel Tyrian.
He was the only son of a knight family in a rural village.
Beautiful memories.
Despite being old memories, they were vivid, as if he could reach out and touch them.
His mother with her beautiful black hair and his father in his armor, returning from duty.
Thinking back now, they were a unique couple.
His stern-looking father was always wrapped around his playful mother's finger, and his mother often teased him.
He still wondered how those two, who seemed so mismatched, met and got married.
Daniel would often chuckle watching his parents.
His mother was clumsy with other housework, but her cooking was renowned, and her mushroom soup was Daniel's favorite dish.
His parents taught him many things from a young age.
Under the warm sunlight, Daniel learned swordsmanship from his father.
Even on his days off, his father taught him diligently without showing any signs of fatigue.
It was the swordsmanship of a knight with solid fundamentals.
On the other hand, his mother taught him various subjects and history, which made Daniel a more mature boy than his peers.
Perhaps that was why Daniel had been able to survive until now.
"...Mom?"
"Yes? What is it?"
His mother smiled brightly at Daniel's call.
She didn't even realize that blood was flowing from her eyes.
His mother's illness, which started suddenly one day, rapidly worsened.
Blood flowed from her eyes and ears, and black spots appeared on her skin.
Her black hair, once shiny like the night sky, gradually became dull.
With the lady of the house ill, it was only natural for the household to fall apart.
His father even resigned from his position as a knight to stay home and take care of her.
They called many doctors, but all of them just shook their heads and left.
Meanwhile, strange things started happening in the village. The nearby crops withered, and villagers died gruesome deaths, seemingly attacked by something.
His father hesitated for some reason, but eventually contacted the Order.
Not long after, an exorcist priest dispatched from the Order arrived at their house.
He was an unassuming priest with brown hair and daggers at his waist.
He smiled at his father and Daniel, reassuring them.
He seemed to perform a simple blessing and declared the problem solved, and indeed, his mother looked much better.
Why had they gone through so much trouble for something so simple?
Daniel grumbled as he watched his father sigh in relief.
That night, after the exorcist priest left, the true nightmare began.
***
“Aaaaaaaaagh!”
A maid's sharp scream tore through the night's silence. The ensuing, unknown cutting sound sent chills down his spine.
"Wh-what's going on...?"
Just as Daniel emerged from his room and headed towards his parents' bedroom, his father came out, grabbing his sword, and said to Daniel,
"Go to your mother. Be careful."
Without waiting for Daniel's reply, he kicked open the door and rushed out to the front yard of the mansion.
A bright light erupted from his sword.
Seeing this through the window, Daniel realized for the first time that his father was a high-ranking knight.
Why had he hidden that fact all this time?
Such questions didn't linger for long.
His father was fighting and fending off an unknown enemy.
What did it matter that he had hidden his true strength?
Daniel clenched his fists.
He could win.
It was a moment filled with hope.
Thud!
His father's head fell to the ground and rolled.
His severed neck, horrifically, blinked as if unable to comprehend the situation.
The sight was clearly visible in the lingering aura of his sword.
And so was the opponent.
A man with brown hair, wielding daggers.
It was undoubtedly the exorcist priest from earlier.
Daniel, hiding and catching his breath, tried to decipher the priest's lip movements.
Perhaps due to the lack of reality or his inability to accept it,
Daniel just muttered blankly,
"For so long... you were... hiding...?"
What was he talking about?
More importantly, why had the priest attacked his father?
Such thoughts were fleeting. Daniel quickly came to his senses.
The priest, who had suddenly barged in, had cut off his father's head in the blink of an eye.
Would he stop here?
No way.
Daniel hurriedly rushed into his mother's bedroom.
He heard the screams of the servants behind him, but he gritted his teeth and ignored them.
"Mom, wake up. We have to run away now..."
"No."
She was already awake.
Sitting on the bed, clutching a doll that resembled Daniel.
She pointed to the wardrobe and said to Daniel, who couldn't grasp the situation,
"There's a passage leading outside in there. Escape when you get the chance."
"Huh? What do you mean...?"
"Daniel."
She cut him off, looked at him silently for a moment, then said with a faint smile,
"Please."
It was an expression he had never seen before.
Daniel didn't ask any more questions.
He knew something terrible was about to happen, but he just did as he was told.
As he entered the wardrobe and closed the door,
"aihtaraq."
His mother chanted an unknown spell.
Whoosh!
Her whole body was engulfed in red flames.
There was no screaming.
The flames, hot enough to melt stone, spread throughout the room.
The wardrobe was also engulfed in flames, but strangely, it wasn't hot inside.
The series of horrifying events robbed him of his sense of reality.
As Daniel stared blankly from inside the wardrobe,
The door opened, and the priest appeared.
He flinched and stepped back, seemingly surprised by the heat.
Then, with a frown, he sighed deeply and muttered,
"A suicide pact? How cruel. This won't even leave bones behind."
That was it.
The priest shook his head and disappeared from the doorway.
Daniel just stared blankly.
He felt like he was going to throw up.
Daniel watched his mother's burning body with nausea.
A silent scream echoed from his throat.
He couldn't do anything while his father was slaughtered and his mother was burned alive.
He could barely breathe, overwhelmed by deep helplessness and sorrow.
But he couldn't stay like this forever.
Swallowing his tears, he pushed the wall of the wardrobe as his mother had instructed and found the passage.
The blue dawn greeted Daniel as he emerged.
He looked at the mansion, burning black.
Despite the huge fire, no one came to help.
People were wary due to the recent strange incidents.
Ironically, this allowed Daniel to escape unnoticed.
The first thing Daniel did was find some ragged clothes and put them on.
He had no choice, as he didn't know who the enemy was.
Dressed like a beggar, Daniel hid in a large village in a nearby territory and gathered information.
Some time later, the Order concluded the incident, attributing it to a demon attack.
Was the Order deceived by an exorcist priest, or were they all in cahoots?
Daniel couldn't be sure, so he had to be cautious and suspect everyone.
From that day on, the Order was his enemy.
Daniel left the village with faltering steps.
The western Sicaris region of the Empire, where the Order's influence was weakest.
Daniel started working as a mercenary there.
Fortunately, thanks to his early swordsmanship training, he quickly distinguished himself.
The red helmet he wore to hide his face became his trademark.
The Knight with the Red Ornament.
A noble family, hearing of his reputation, hired him for a territorial war, and Daniel, who achieved outstanding feats, even received an honorary knighthood.
But Daniel had no intention of ending his life as a knight.
Why had his father hidden his strength and remained in a rural territory?
How was his mother able to use magic?
And...
‘...why did they have to die?’
Daniel still had his revenge to fulfill.
Thus, becoming a wandering knight, Daniel traveled throughout the Empire, making a name for himself as a skilled swordsman.
During his travels, he stopped by a certain territory.
The Lengbaster territory, famous for its delicious mushroom soup.
Upon arriving there, Daniel received an unexpected request from the lord.
"My daughter suddenly fell ill. She's bleeding pus from her eyes and ears. And with the villagers dying like this... If you can defeat whatever is causing this, I'll reward you handsomely."
Daniel felt an intense sense of déjà vu.
Accepting the request, Daniel stayed at the mansion and observed the situation.
As time passed, everything aligned with his memories from that day.
The forest withered, the young lady became critically ill, the doctors shook their heads in confusion, and the villagers were killed by an unknown monster.
Therefore, Daniel honestly revealed his past to the lord.
The lord, after pondering with a grave expression, believed Daniel's words.
It was an opportunity.
To find a clue for his revenge, protect the young lady, and erase the helplessness he felt in the past.
A few more days passed, and today, an exorcist priest and a deacon came to him.
***
He thought he had become stronger. But he was wrong.
"..."
Riteil was like a natural disaster.
The monster exuded unbelievable power and presence.
Meanwhile, the exorcist priest fought like a demon.
Even with his arm severed and his side torn open, he didn't stop.
The azure flames that enveloped his body endlessly regenerated him.
As if well aware of this, the priest continued the battle, displaying unimaginable feats like throwing his severed arm to burn it or picking it up and reattaching it.
At this point, it was impossible to tell who was the demon and who was the monster.
Daniel couldn't bring himself to intervene in the priest's fierce battle with Riteil, which had been raging for hours.
'But if this continues...'
If they could buy enough time, wouldn't there be a chance?
The sky gradually brightened with the azure of dawn.
The blue sky signaled the arrival of a new day.
Daniel could only pray earnestly that the torn and bleeding priest would hold on a little longer.
But his prayer was in vain.
Crash!
With a thunderous roar, the priest, reduced to a ragdoll, crashed down next to Daniel.
"...Is he alive?"
"Yes, barely."
The priest, with a cracking sound, set his twisted and broken arm back into place and got up.
Up close, his body was trembling like an aspen leaf.
His armor was completely shattered, and only his blood-soaked priestly robes barely maintained their shape.
The priest spoke, his voice heavy with exhaustion.
"I need your help."
"My help?"
Daniel was afraid.
What could he possibly do in this fight?
The priest, sensing his reluctance, turned to look at him.
Then, he said calmly,
"I don't know what your past holds. But can you live with repeating the same regrets?"
Daniel's breath hitched.
The mere thought of it felt like a hammer blow to his chest, stealing his breath.
He finally remembered.
The lingering helplessness that wouldn't fade away like old grime.
What he had been searching for all this time.
"...No."
Daniel slowly shook his head.
The priest nodded slightly and turned his gaze back to Riteil.
"It's tiring."
Indeed.
Riteil was unscathed, but for some reason, he was standing still, breathing raggedly.
"He seems to be weak to heat. Probably because of that thick mane."
"So you used fire?"
The priest nodded at Daniel's question.
He had deliberately scattered his blood around Riteil and himself, fueling the azure flames.
Daniel realized that the surrounding air was much hotter than before.
"...You said it would disappear when the sun rises. It wasn't the light, but the heat of the sun that drove it away."
"The sun will rise soon. I'll stop it at the right moment."
"What? Is that even possible...?"
"It's possible for a short time. That's when you attack its face."
Daniel had to close his mouth at the priest's confident answer. He couldn't back down now and look pathetic.
"I'll do it."
"Good."
The priest nodded and started walking towards Riteil.
Riteil simply stood still, watching the priest approach with an exhausted, drooping posture.
At that moment,
Sparkle!
The morning sun, shining red, poured down from directly overhead.
Just as the light began to dispel the darkness of the forest and bathe Riteil,
"Now."
The priest tilted his sword towards Riteil and chanted,
"Talisman Control Technique: Open. Shadow Bind."
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HELHEIM SCANS
[Translator - Peptobismol]
[Proofreader - Max]
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