Star-Slaying Swordsman - Chapter 39

Chapter 39

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Crackle, crackle.

Frosted sounds reverberated in the vicinity.

The sounds echoed, crackling, as the freezing air steadily spread its range with each passing moment.

All of this… was the work of a certain woman.

A woman whose silver hair gave the impression of the blade of a sword, a woman wearing an expressionless face— Viera Islebark.

Crackle.

By her side stood a man.

Encroached, spread, and covered with ice laid the town of Minaura.

A complete change had occurred from a town of ruins.

Such devastation had quickly transformed into a world of ice fields in the blink of an eye.

And as soon as the monsters lurking around the town revealed themselves, they immediately became ice sculptures.

—This really… pissed you off after all, the man said.

Regardless of how much of a character he knew Viera to be, he could hardly bear the overwhelmingly ridiculous power she exhibited as they walked.

Directly feeling the moisture that made his back sweat uncomfortably, the man, Abald, remained tight-lipped as he desperately contemplated how to somehow overcome this situation.

…Crackle—

Finally, the sound stopped.

And at the same time, their footsteps followed suit.

“…It was truly fortunate that you arrived in Minaura ahead of your schedule, Viera-sama.”

“I had a premonition that something terrible would happen. Although I was reluctant to do so, I left the task to my two companions.”

“…I see.”

Your sense for danger is exceptional as ever, Abald thought, as he swallowed his words in secrecy.

“So, was it the flaxen-haired boy and the red-haired man?”

Those were the descriptions of the two people Fiole Islebark was said to be headed out with.

“Could they be… the ones lying over there?”

A stench of death, one that makes one’s nose curl, permeated through the air.

Without even a twitch in her face in response to the utter smell of rust and lumps of meat that pervaded the area, Viera addressed the facts that are presented before her very eyes in an unwavering tone of voice.

There lay a mangled, mutilated lump of flesh, a red-haired young man lying on his back, and a boy screaming in pain while being tended by Fiole Islebark.

The red-haired young man’s face is dead pale.

The flaxen-haired boy’s arms helplessly hung down without strength, not a second glance was needed to ascertain that it was indeed broken.

Viera then let out a sigh as she sorted out the situation with a glance.

“—Fiole.”

“Hm? A-Ah— AH! It’s Viera!!! And Abald, too!!!”

Just like a little girl who had found something new, Fiole stood up with a bright, blooming smile plastered on her face.

—OU…CH!!!

Not minding the boy that she was supposed to be tending, she let go of his hand with a snap and immediately rushed over to Viera.

“…I’m aware that he’s injured, but… is that boy okay?”

He couldn’t even hold his own arms up.

The only thing that he could do was to wriggle from side to side and writhe in agony, Viera remarked in a very concerned manner.

“That boy is the living definition of sturdiness, so he’s totally fine!”

“It… hurts…”

“It doesn’t seem that way.”

“He’s the kind of person who would gladly destroy his own arm on purpose, so I really thought he’d be fine… Well, either way… You can heal him now, Abald.”

“…Understood, Princess.”

Perhaps it was because he was the one who had healed his very broken arm a few hours earlier, but the dismay on his face was likely greater than the other two.

He walked up to the boy, wondering just what kind of fighting style would cause him to destroy his arm every single time.

“Now, who did that?”

The first thing she laid her eyes on was the corpse of a massive monster, one that didn’t even twitch anymore.

—It was none other than the remains of the ‘Jabberwock.’

“Well, those two are the ones responsible for that. I told them that we must wait for you to arrive so we could defeat the Jabberwock together as planned, but they didn’t listen to me one bit. One of them fell down because of overconsumption of magic, and the other one broke both of his arms to pieces. They’re such idiots, aren’t they?”

“…”

However, not showing much interest in Fiole’s remark, Viera silently took a few steps toward the Jabberwock’s corpse— and picked up bits of its crushed, bloodstained outer shell.

***

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And not long after—

“…Are you sure they are really the ones who defeated the Jabberwock?”

“Yes, but what about it, Viera-chan?”

She repeated the question.

Fiore, wondering about the situation, asked again with a slightly furrowed brow.

Viera’s lips were drawn together.

After a few seconds of pause, she opened her mouth and began to tell the rest of the story.

“…I planned on fully freezing this place as I was arriving, so that I’d be prepared to deal with anything that might happen at any time.”

Just as Viera said, the area was covered in cold air, and absolutely engulfed by ice fields all around.

“And so I made it that this monster would also freeze alongside everything, making it immobile, but…”

Her words stopped right there.

Viera then reached for the shell, and as soon as her hands touched it, she sighed, as if fueling fire to her concern .

“…Did it freeze the monster?”

“…Its outer shell prevented it from freezing. I’m guessing that magic in general is useless against this monster, given that magic won’t be able to penetrate its shell. If you put an unbelievable amount of magic power into it, I could’ve somehow frozen it even a little, but in practice, it’s not really realistic.”

“What? N-No. Wait a second… Then that means…”

“We just might have been saved by those two.”

It was a dream made into reality by two fight maniacs who had slain the Jabberwock before them.

It was no ordinary monster, but a mutant that could manipulate magic.

It had a strong outer shell that was resistant to magic, and when approached, one would lose their sense of balance from the Jabberwock’s own unidentifiable magic.

And finally, its blows were delivered from its overwhelming physique.

The Jabberwock was truly a formidable opponent.

If it were to be given a second name, such a name as the Magician Killer would be appropriate.

“—With all that being said, a ‘Star Slayer,’ huh?”

“Huh? Viera-chan, you know about Julius-kun too?”

“…He was the only one who volunteered to be drafted to Minaura among all the villages I went to. There’s no way I could forget him.”

“I guess so. How could someone have such a crazy way of thinking in the first pla— HUH?! A VILLAGER?!”

“That boy is definitely a villager, Fiole.”

After all, the village chief and his father begged her not to involve Julius.

Therefore, Viera reiterated that he is undeniably a mere villager, not an adventurer. 

“Nevertheless, it is bold of him to bring up the name ‘Star Slayer’ again.”

How could a mere villager, who wasn’t even sure if he knew the history behind it, have the slightest privilege of uttering it?

“…Hm? Do you know something about it, Viera-chan?”

“It was too abrupt for me to remember at the time, but now I have a little recollection about it… It’s just that… the name ‘Star Slayer’ is a name that was erased about 300 years ago. But I think that those who know are people in power, like me.”

“Erased?”

“I don’t know the details why, but I imagine the life of the man who once called himself the ‘Star Slayer’ must not have been a very good one.”

“…Hmmm~”

Without asking her if she really didn’t know or just lost interest about it, Fiole took her eyes off Viera.

And with a smile on her face, she walked up to the boy once again.

“…Surely, no one will believe what happened, but even so I—”

The words stopped.

“…No, I was overthinking it. It’s not like me.”

If he really managed to do such a feat, it’s fine, is what she thought to herself.

However, the fact that he was a swordsman who had unleashed an attack that shattered an outer shell that magic could not penetrate was still a fact that only Viera and Fiole knew.

And judging from the way he was sprawling out in pain, it was extremely likely that he was still unaware of how much of an achievement this was.

So if Viera and Fiole kept their mouths shut, the fact would remain in the dark.

Even if they were to blow the truth, not a single person would believe it.

No one would think that there was an out of the ordinary being who could shatter the Jabberwock’s impenetrable outer shell that was completely resistant to magic with a mere swing of a sword.

“But…”

Viera suddenly thought.

She is called the ‘Warrior Princess’ because she is one of the most powerful people in the kingdom.

“—The name ‘Star-Slaying Swordsman’ might be much heavier than you think.”

She declared just so.

The people whose names are erased are usually those who were shunned, threatened, and feared by the higher-ups of the time.

And that is because they needed to convince their people that the kingdom was the noblest and most superior of all.

Otherwise, they would not be able to achieve the reign that is most convenient for the kingdom they desire.

Therefore, it is needless to say that these extraordinary people, who could overturn everything with just one person, were more inconvenient than anything else for them.

…It was a trivial story, but it was possible that the achievements of those whose names had been erased— not only the ‘Star-Slaying Swordsman,’ —had been rewritten in the history of the past kings, or even the so-called glorious history of the country.

Under such circumstances, one thing could be said with certainty:

The person who was identified as the ‘Star-Slaying Swordsman’ was a person who had accomplished something that warranted his name to be erased.

Without a doubt, they weren’t simple, everyday people.

—Not when they were called monsters.

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