Book 1 Chapter 538

Berkiar glared at Leo with a contorted face.

His red eyes stirred something within her.

It was clearly because she had glimpsed the gray eyes she knew.

There was only one person who had ever looked at her with such eyes.

And even though she had spent a long time with him.

It had only been for a single moment in all those years.

Berkiar bit her lip hard.

"Master Kyle."

It couldn't be.

It was absurd that the shadow of her master was appearing in the boy before her.

Leo closed his eyes, watching Berkiar.

'What should I tell her?'

There was so much to say.

'I'm sorry I couldn't come back.'

That would have to be the first thing to say.

'I'm sorry I made you bear everything.'

A sincere apology that she wouldn't accept, but had to deliver.

'You didn't have to bear everything.'

The sorrow of a master.

'It must have been so hard.'

She had never understood a parent's heart.

But if she had been in Berkiar's situation, she imagined the comfort Dayd and Reina would have given her.

There were countless things she needed to say.

But they wouldn't come out, only swirling in her mouth.

None of it would be of any comfort to Berkiar.

Berkiar had accepted that her masters would not return.

Even if they had told her not to bear it, she would have.

She had walked that path, understanding its hardship.

Leo knew better than anyone what kind of heart Berkiar had carried the world with.

Leo had hoped Berkiar wouldn't become like that.

That she wouldn't chase after them.

Even so, it was the path Berkiar had chosen.

'The path Berkiar set her mind to.'

To offer clumsy words would be to insult Berkiar's will.

Because of that, Leo could also understand why Berkiar had become so distorted.

'She must hate the world.'

She must resent the world that had taken away those she loved.

'She must not be able to tolerate those who live in that world.'

She couldn't forgive those who lived by trampling on the sacrifices of her loved ones.

But that was only one of the reasons for Berkiar's distortion.

Emotions that should have been shed at the moment of death.

And it was a heart that Berkiar would have surely shed.

What truly drove Berkiar mad.

It was Berkiar herself, her own self.

She couldn't forgive herself for burning hatred for the world her masters had saved.

She hated herself for harboring resentment towards those her masters had borne.

She hated herself to the point of madness for being so consumed by those emotions that she had led her friend to death.

'That's why she must have wanted to destroy herself.'

And because of that resentment, she was resurrected as an undead.

Only now, after facing her like this.

Leo could understand Berkiar's emotions.

Leo's grip tightened.

"Don't look at me."

With eyes filled with pity and sorrow, she understood him.

"Don't look at me like that!"

Berkiar shrieked, filled with despair.

The act of trying to understand her was utterly unbearable.

No one could understand her.

'No, they shouldn't!'

As she met Leo's pitying and sorrowful eyes, her reason began to crumble.

Leo blinked, opening his eyes.

There was something he had to tell her now.

The moment she heard this.

Leo intuitively felt that Berkiar would go berserk.

But.

He had to tell her.

"Berkiar."

"Eek!"

Berkiar bit her lip.

In those eyes looking at her, someone surfaced.

That voice calling her voice was terribly similar.

That's why she didn't want to see.

That's why she didn't want to hear.

But.

She couldn't shake it off.

Because the one before her resembled the person she had desperately wanted to see.

"Ah."

Leo uttered the words he had to convey, watching his groaning disciple.

"You did nothing wrong."

"……!"

"I won't blame you. I understand you. You… never did anything wrong."

"Ah!"

These were the words she had desperately wanted to hear.

Berkiar clutched her head.

And she shook her head frantically.

"No. No! No!"

Even so, these were the words she truly didn't want to hear.

"Don't talk such nonsense! I did wrong! I am the one who disgraced the names of my masters more than anyone!"

She didn't even want to be forgiven by her masters.

Let alone!

Her sins were not so light as to be forgiven by someone she didn't know.

"Aaaaaah!"

*BOOM-!*

Berkiar kicked the ground and charged at Leo.

The impact caused the building to collapse.

*KAGAGANG-!*

Berkiar's hatred and resentment were directed at Leo.

At that moment, Leo drew his sword and swung it at Berkiar.

"Huh?"

The moment she saw that, Berkiar let out a stunned exclamation.

A simple downward strike.

But…….

That downward strike brought back memories from the depths of her memory.

***

Beneath a sky the color of ash, under a gloomy sunset.

A young elf girl was swinging a sword in an open field.

Sweat beaded on her finely chiseled chin.

Her entire body was already drenched in sweat.

Her sword-holding hand trembled slightly, and her panting breaths came out incessantly.

From top to bottom.

The downward strike, the first thing taught to those learning swordsmanship.

A simple and concise movement.

A posture that anyone, even those who haven't learned swordsmanship, can follow.

But doing this simple downward strike with all her might, from dawn before sunrise to sunset, was a different story.

Moreover, the girl wasn't solely focused on the downward strike.

*FWOSH-! FWOSH-!*

With every downward strike, the air around her was pushed away.

Even so, Berkiar's lips moved incessantly.

In front of her, Kyle sat on a wall, reading a book with his legs crossed.

At that moment, Berkiar, who was chanting runes, paused for a moment.

Berkiar's face turned pale, and her sword faltered for a moment.

"You're doing well. Very well."

At Kyle's taunting voice, Berkiar's hands trembled, and her breathing became more ragged.

She tried her best not to look at Kyle.

But it was impossible not to hear his voice just because she didn't look.

"You stopped the magic, so your wrist was severed. Since your wrist was severed, you couldn't hold your sword, so your neck must have been severed."

Kyle asked with a smirk.

"Do you have two lives?"

"I-I might make a mistake if I wield my sword all day and memorize complex magic circles."

"So, I'm asking. Do you have two lives?"

*FLAP-*

Kyle turned a page of the book.

That book was none other than Berkiar's own grimoire.

A grimoire recording the magic circles she could use.

Every mage had one.

"And what's so complex about this?"

Berkiar's eyes trembled.

Her patience was reaching its limit.

"Are you an idiot?"

"KYYYYYAAAAAAAAAAAK!"

Unable to bear it any longer, Berkiar raised her sword and lunged at Kyle.

The outcome was, of course, predictable.

But she couldn't stand it any other way.

Kyle, with a bored expression, kicked Berkiar away.

Berkiar's body, which rolled helplessly on the ground, lost all strength.

Seeing Berkiar like that, Kyle closed the grimoire, tossed it to Berkiar, and said,

"Come again tomorrow at the same time."

"KEEEEEEEEYYYYYYIK!"

Berkiar's eyes rolled back, and she began to cause a scene.

However, Kyle left without even giving it a glance.

***

"There, there, my cute disciple. You had a hard day again, didn't you? Open up~."

"Ah~."

Berkiar smiled sheepishly and opened her mouth.

Luna put a bite of food on a fork into Berkiar's mouth.

Berkiar, chewing, asked,

"Who made today's dish…?"

"I personally made a special nourishing meal for Berkiar! It's delicious, right?"

"It's delicious."

As Berkiar replied with a smile, her eyes grew increasingly dull and vacant.

"Look at these little cheeks! My disciple is so cute! She reminds me so much of myself at this age!"

Luna, seeing her young disciple, jumped up and down irrepressibly.

Hearing Luna's words, Arion, who was next to them, widened his eyes.

"You were completely different at thirteen? I wouldn't have thought so?"

"What do you mean by 'I wouldn't have thought so'?"

"Heeeyik?!"

Seeing Luna swinging a frying pan with a sinister smile, Arion fled in terror.

Watching him, Berkiar diligently ate the food Luna had made with her fork.

What was this called again? Was it a traditional elf dish with a long history?

Berkiar knew.

Luna hated her own kind.

More precisely, she hated the history and traditions of elves and those bound by them.

Berkiar also hated such things.

Not just Berkiar.

In this era, there were many orphaned young elves.

Most of those elves hated the history and traditions of elves.

There's a saying that even a rich man can recover from bankruptcy in three years.

The same was true for the High Elves.

The High Elves, who valued long history and tradition above all else, were generally in a better situation than most ordinary elves.

There were no such people in Gardsron, but.

In other cities where their lineage was maintained, there were certainly many such people.

Berkiar had seen them several times.

And they looked down on orphaned elves.

They considered them impure, treating them as lowly.

And yet, they offered no hand.

Simply because they were not noble or virtuous enough by their standards.

Berkiar looked at the traditional elf dishes before her.

Even so, the reason Luna made this dish for Berkiar was probably because Berkiar was an elf.

Because tradition and history were ultimately roots.

Even if the bearers of those roots were rotten, their essence itself would not be rotten.

'Or maybe she just wanted to let people know that traditional elf cuisine is not tasty.'

Berkiar chewed with an even more vacant expression than before.

In fact, the dish itself probably wasn't bad.

The problem was likely the person who made it.

But Berkiar had no particular complaints.

Until a year ago, starving or eating food scraps was a daily occurrence.

Compared to then, this was heaven.

"By the way, when can we teach Berkiar again?"

Arion, who had fled from Luna, mumbled as he sat back at the table.

At those words, Berkiar's ears perked up.

The deadness in her eyes regained its spark.

Her eyes, which had been vacant like a dead fish, became as clear as those of a live one.

"Me too! I want to learn new swordsmanship from Master Arion again!"

Berkiar said with a bright smile.

"I want to learn new magic circles from Master Luna too!"

Luna and Arion exchanged glances as they looked at Berkiar, her eyes shining with excitement, and wore troubled expressions.

"Not yet."

"Yes. Train with Kyle a little longer."

"Why? Master Kyle doesn't teach me swordsmanship or magic! He makes me repeat the same thing all the time!"

Berkiar exclaimed with a voice full of dissatisfaction.

Arion, watching Berkiar, came to her side and met her gaze.

"Kyle isn't teaching you nothing. I can teach you swordsmanship, and Luna can teach you magic. But there are limits to what we can teach you."

"Why?"

"Because you are a Sword Mage."

Luna, who had been watching the situation from behind, calmly followed up on Arion's words.

"Using aura while simultaneously using magic. Luna and I can't teach you how to do that. We can teach you the basics of magic and swordsmanship, but only Kyle can teach you the basics of being a Sword Mage."

Of course, Luna and Rissinas were also dual-class users who used magic and summoning together.

Dwenno was also a warrior and a mage who used aura.

But even so, the level of their dual-class expertise was different.

Dual-class users were inevitably in-between beings.

Therefore, they had to fuse their abilities to use power beyond their limits.

And when it came to that, no one could match Kyle, an all-class user.

That's why, later than Luna and Arion.

He became Berkiar's final master.

But at those words, Berkiar's shoulders drooped.

She knew.

She knew that even if it was delayed to become strong right away, it was important to build a solid foundation.

Luna and Arion had emphasized this more than Kyle.

But…….

"I want to become strong quickly and fight alongside my masters!"

At those words, Arion smiled gently and stroked Berkiar's head.

"You don't have to do that."

"What?"

"We will create a peaceful world where you don't have to risk your life on the battlefield. You don't have to."

Berkiar blinked.

Luna smiled wryly as she watched her.

'Arion's words are sincere.'

Of course, Luna also wanted to do that for her.

But…….

'It's difficult.'

Luna looked out the window.

A blood-red night sky, hateful just to look at, stretched out.

'Even if we end the age of disaster with our own hands, Berkiar will have to fight.'

Arion, who was born in the age of disaster like Berkiar, wouldn't be able to fully understand.

But…….

'Still, I don't want Berkiar to fight on the battlefield.'

Luna looked at Berkiar, who didn't understand why, with the same eyes as Arion.

That's why she had asked Kyle to teach Berkiar.

Luna, Arion, and Kyle clearly had different mindsets for living.

'That damn guy isn't dreaming of the future.'

So their approach to teaching was fundamentally different.

They would be a shadow, protecting Berkiar.

Naturally, Berkiar would follow their lead, seeing their backs as they moved forward.

But Kyle was different.

"My way or your way might be wrong, Arion."

"Huh?"

Arion's eyes widened, and Berkiar looked at Luna as if something was strange.

"Berkiar, what kind of person do you want to become?"

At Luna's question, Berkiar straightened her chest.

"A hero, like the great heroes."

"Living like us isn't the answer. Especially in a new era."

Luna put her arms around herself and looked at the ceiling.

"Your life will be more complicated, so you'll need to be independent. That's your ideal, or the future you'll live."

Kyle would undoubtedly be thinking of Berkiar when they weren't around.

"Perhaps that's what's more important to you, Berkiar."

'Because the brighter the light, the more lost one will become.'

Luna swallowed the rest of her words.

***

*BOOM-!*

Berkiar, whose head was directly hit by the simple downward strike, crashed to the ground.

The surrounding buildings were already reduced to rubble.

Screams could be heard from all directions.

*Thump- thump-*

Leo walked through the dust towards Berkiar, who was sprawled on the ground.

And he said with a deadpan expression,

"It's time to learn what you couldn't finish. You damned disciple."

"What?"

Berkiar, who was trying to get up, looked up at Leo blankly.