Ch.152War and the Vermilion Bird #8

Count Helix was not originally a man who spoke carelessly.

To be precise, it would be more accurate to say he had become someone who didn’t speak carelessly, but the fact remained that he deliberately used vulgar expressions.

It wasn’t because of his incompetence in conducting night raids as frequently as eating meals, despite earning the glorious title of Swordmaster.

Of course, he was irritated by it, but it was a strategy worth choosing and executing, so he didn’t resent it much.

The problem was that the Imperial Army’s casualties kept growing, and as they did, Helix’s anger boiled hotter and hotter.

He felt anxious about the way the enemy so obviously avoided him.

It was because he believed that when two people who had reached the same level met as enemies, one side must inevitably break.

Of course, there was a high possibility that Helix himself could lose his life.

Nevertheless, it was absolutely necessary to revive the dying morale and significantly dampen the enemy’s momentum.

“Who… says they’re going to kill whom…?”

Creeeeak.

Through the large castle gate that opened slowly due to its heavy weight and size, Helena walked out with a deeply sunken gaze.

It was because a fierce fire had been lit in her already discontented mood, which had been filled with complaints due to the many days she went with an empty stomach.

She would kill the man who must be watching her from the wall even now—Zion.

Helix felt with his entire being that those words were the most effective way to provoke Helena.

Eyes as gloomy and dark as an abyss.

An atmosphere so excessively honed that it was too sharp for anyone to grasp.

Helix unconsciously swallowed dry saliva as he witnessed the extreme transformation that made him wonder if she was even the same person.

It wasn’t that he was frightened as a warrior, but rather as a man.

But since she had come out like this, that was enough.

Thinking that it was all for the best, Helix lightly dismounted from his horse and drew his sword.

“Hmm. I hear you’re terribly fond of a companion with no particular abilities… I see that rumor was true. Is it because his face is handsome and he’s younger than you?”

“That’s none of your business.”

Helena abandoned the polite speech she habitually used, drew the sword from her right hip, and pointed it at Helix.

She thought he deserved to die for the insult alone, regardless of whether Zion was incompetent or not.

“True. It’s not my business. Anyway, since you’ve come out, let’s determine who’s superior.”

“Superior? Superior, you say…”

Helena had neither the competitive spirit that most warriors carried in their hearts nor the desire to reach higher levels.

She simply trained as routinely as eating meals, and as a result, she had broken through barriers.

Not that she disliked training.

She enjoyed the time she spent teaching Zion and the gaze of the man watching her train.

If the male element hadn’t been present, she wouldn’t have cared whether she liked it or not, but because he was there, her heart leaned toward liking it.

“I have no interest in such things, so just offer your neck quickly.”

“Haha. Such an obvious lie that won’t work… Hup?!”

Clang! Helix cut off his laughter and hastily swallowed air as he raised his sword.

Thanks to that, he was able to block Helena’s sword, which had been swung at his neck after she closed the distance in the blink of an eye.

The clash of blades sounded too dull to be just metal hitting metal, but both Helena and Helix knew well that this was the thunderous sound caused by the collision of auras.

“…Creating a distraction and then launching a surprise attack. I noticed it from your night raids, but you have no qualms about engaging in such undignified behavior. Aren’t you ashamed, being a Master?”

“Not at all. I have no interest in the honor you cherish so much.”

Crunch.

Helena initiated a primitive test of strength, gripping her sword handle with both hands until they nearly crushed it.

For Helix, it was internally confusing that she wasn’t using the complexity of swordsmanship to find an opening with technique, but he quickly regained his composure and applied force to his sword.

Normally, physical strength would be most important in such situations, but for those who wielded aura, mana was also a crucial element.

In fact, it could be considered central since it supplemented and amplified physical strength several times over.

In the end, it was also a crude battle to determine who had more abundant mana stored in their body.

“Haha! To resort to such a crude battle! You seem to have pride in your mana reserves, but perhaps you lack confidence in your skill?! Or did you become a Master relying only on crude mana rather than skill?!”

Though he mocked her, suggesting that her level of skill and insight required to reach Master was mediocre, Helena remained silent, focusing her strength and putting power into her lower body.

She didn’t take such taunts to heart, as someone had once told her.

The sword surrounded by blue aura and the sword with black aura at its core showed no signs of separating.

Fierce sparks flew in all directions as if metal was being ground, and the resulting noise echoed throughout every corner.

Helix involuntarily frowned at the noise and twisted the direction of his force.

While he didn’t think his mana, accumulated through years of training, was inferior to Helena’s, he wanted to avoid the crude and shallow contest of strength.

He also thought he couldn’t just waste energy like this.

Swish. As the direction of force suddenly bent, the sword slid diagonally to the side in an instant, with the tip of the blade nearly touching the ground.

It was a trajectory that seemed to draw a semicircle.

Helix intended to twist the force and then immediately swing his sword as if sliding over the blade to cut through Helena’s swollen chest.

An ordinary man might have felt lust, but to his eyes, it was merely an easy target.

However. Standing before Helix with her sword against his, Helena demonstrated an unexpected movement, proving herself a Master.

As if she had been waiting for Helix to twist the direction of force, she rode that flow and spun her body once.

“What?!”

Even as Helix gasped in surprise, there was no awkwardness in her fluid motion.

It was so natural that one might mistake her for dancing.

She didn’t resist the flow he had initiated but adapted to it, increasing her speed, which naturally accelerated the sword she wielded.

At a glance, the spinning slash seemed to expose a vulnerability due to its wide arc.

But because she utilized the momentum and rode the flow of force, it was devastatingly fierce.

In contrast, Helix, who suddenly found himself having to go against the flow, was in a difficult situation.

From now on, whatever he did would be half a beat too late.

At this rate, his head would fly off before he could even swing his sword.

In this split second, Helix calculated the possibility and straightened his sword with a flick of his wrist, then unhesitatingly pulled his body back.

At that moment, an explosion far louder than the sound of scraping blades violently struck both their ears.

Judging by the intensity, it wouldn’t have been strange if their eardrums had burst.

“Mmm…”

Though Helix was sent flying like a baseball hit by a bat and soared low through the sky, he regained his posture in the blink of an eye and planted his feet on the ground.

However, he groaned while looking at his slightly trembling hand, the impact not yet fully dissipated.

He couldn’t even stand properly and had to kneel on one knee.

Swish.

Helena wiped away the thin blood flowing down her cheek without taking her eyes off Helix.

It was only a very thin scratch, but there had been a possibility that her face could have been cut.

That was also why she couldn’t take her eyes off him.

“Tsk. Though I’m reluctant to admit it… you’re quite good.”

Ugh.

Helix frowned as he brushed the dirt off his knee and stood up.

Having suddenly put distance between them, he seemed concerned that she was standing still when he had expected her to rush at him as if to devour him.

“You’re quite agile yourself for someone so old. Or have you just grown craftier with age?”

“Kuk kuk. Thank you for the compliment. If one can’t use a bit of cunning even in old age, then life has been lived in vain.”

“Yes. That’s true.”

True indeed. Helena swallowed the rest of her words and charged straight at Helix.

.

An hour? Or perhaps two hours?

It felt as though several hours had passed, but looking at the sun in the sky, it was clear that not much time had actually elapsed.

That probably meant the battle between Helena and Helix had been that intense.

It was quite a contrast to see Helena, who didn’t even blink despite her skin being lightly cut, attacking relentlessly, while Helix, though skillfully countering her, was sweating profusely.

It was like witnessing the extremes of a comparative experience.

Was she even breathing properly?

Wouldn’t she die at this rate?

The bloody battle, which was suffocating to watch, ended unexpectedly anticlimactically.

One of the knights, whom the Count had promised not to interfere with, intervened in Helena’s attack.

While a knight should know honor and therefore not interrupt a duel, he must have been too anxious.

Others didn’t hesitate to criticize him, but I could understand his feelings.

I would have done the same if Helena had been on the verge of death.

“Y-you! How dare you interrupt a sacred duel between knights!”

Count Helix said this and tried to swing his sword, which had only ember-like aura remaining, but surprisingly, Helena stopped him.

Given that she showed no displeasure despite being ambushed, she must have anticipated this to some extent.

“People have things more precious than honor. So please don’t blame him too much, and don’t take his life either.”

“…You say this after being ambushed?”

“Yes. From the moment you brought people with you, I suspected this might happen. The reverse could have been true as well.”

Helena, having calmed down considerably after swinging her sword, used her usual gentle tone.

Helix stared at her for a moment, then bowed his head with a short sigh.

“Today’s duel is my defeat. Thank you for saving my subordinate’s face.”

“Yes. I’ll see you again.”

After Helena lightly accepted his apology, Helix mounted his horse, dragging his subordinate by the collar.

It was natural for him to retreat since the atmosphere had cooled and it was no longer a situation for a duel.

“Oh, Duchess! Are you badly injured anywhere?!”

The king made a fuss as soon as Helena entered through the castle gate.

There was some exaggeration in his manner, but it wasn’t excessive.

The spectacle had been thrilling enough for all onlookers.

Other dukes also followed the king’s lead, offering words of comfort and admiration.

“Thanks to your concern, I was able to return safely. Thank you.”

Helena bowed her head in gratitude and then, with the king’s permission, left the place.

When she carefully mentioned being tired, he readily told her to return to the camp.

Additionally, thanks to a horse that had been prepared from who knows when, she was able to reduce unnecessary time being dragged along.

“…I’m sorry. You worked hard.”

Shortly after arriving at our tent.

I sat face to face with Helena, carefully applying medicine while murmuring.

I was using medicine that had been prepared in advance in this tent.

“Why are you sorry, Zion? There’s no need for that at all. I’m just grateful and happy to be treated by you like this.”

I forced a smile as I met Helena’s beaming eyes.

My heart felt heavy seeing the shallow cuts all over her body.

“And… though I didn’t intend it, I gained quite a significant achievement.”

Achievement? I tilted my head, asking what Helena meant by that.

While Helix had also suffered minor injuries and might have internal damage, it seemed ambiguous to call it an achievement.

However, I soon understood what achievement Helena was referring to.

“Although it was disappointing that the flow was interrupted, I think I’ll be able to cut his neck soon. I was beginning to see the path of the sword clearly.”

“You can see the sword path?”

“Yes. I don’t know if it’s because no one has ever withstood my sword like that, but when I focused deeply for the first time, I saw many things. So look forward to it. I’ll soon bring you the head of that man who spoke nonsense about you.”

While others might rejoice at such explosive growth, Helena smiled with dreamy eyes, thinking only of me.

Then, suddenly showing a regretful expression, she sighed.

“Ah… but I won’t have to confront him head-on again. It will all be over by tomorrow.”

“Over?”

“There’s Eve, you know.”

Ah.

I clapped my hands without realizing it.

I remembered Eve’s face as she shyly said that her work would be completed by this evening.