Episode 14 – First Contact #3

Landius was born the son of Lord Lanford, the Commander of the Royal Knights of the Paragon Kingdom.

Inheriting a powerful physique from his father and red hair and a bright disposition from his mother, Landius showed many extraordinary traits from a young age, but the first story always told was of an incident when he was two.

“So what did he do when he was two?”

“Nothing much. Just strangled a venomous snake that had snuck into his crib.”

“…No matter how you look at it, that’s a big deal, but considering it’s Landius, it somehow feels… natural, I guess?”

Fran, after briefly picturing a baby Landius strangling a snake with one hand, nodded as if he understood. The rest of the group, who already knew the story, just smiled wryly.

“Anyway, let me continue.”

Growing up, Landius joined the Royal Knights as a Page Knight at the age of ten and became the youngest Royal Knight in history at fifteen.

Then, at the age of nineteen.

Lord Lanford, who held the position of Commander of the Royal Knights as the Paragon Kingdom’s sole Sword Saint, ordered his beloved son, Landius, to embark on a warrior’s journey.

“The Paragon Kingdom is too small for you to fully grow.”

It was a statement that could be considered treason against the royal family, but Lord Lanford paid it no mind.

It was a fact clear to anyone who looked.

And so, Landius left on his warrior’s journey.

It was a truly grand voyage, starting in the Paragon Kingdom, passing through the Sailun Kingdom and the far East, and returning via the Argon Empire.

Having set off with nothing but a single sword and a single horse, the journey naturally took a long time.

It took a full year just to cross the Sailun Kingdom, and by the time he passed through the East and reached the Argon Empire, three years had gone by.

And finally, in his fourth year.

Landius, now on his way back to the Paragon Kingdom, had experienced all sorts of situations and had become a man of exceptional skill, possessing a level of experience and maturity that couldn’t even be compared to that of an ordinary young knight.

Of course, this only referred to his perfection as a knight, not the state of his mind, his personality, or his tastes.

“The wind is always… free. Ah, so cool.”

Landius recited the ‘signature line’ of Count Bayer, one of the Ten Sword Masters of the Sailun Kingdom, also known as the Sword Master of the North, and nodded with a satisfied look on his face.

It struck him again that Count Bayer was a man who knew what you might call ‘panache.’

A real man needs a signature line.

A phrase to leave behind when sheathing his sword.

A signature line to deliver when confronting an enemy.

Come to think of it, there was that one too. ‘Have you ever been cut at the speed of light?’

The signature line of Rune Proud, the First Sword, a rising star in the Sword Forest.

The man was said to be a shoo-in for the next generation of the Ten Sword Masters, and his specialty was apparently a sword style as fast as light.

“Hmph, indeed. I need a signature line.”

What should his own be?

Since both Count Bayer and the First Sword had created their signature lines based on their own swordsmanship, shouldn’t he draw from his Ultimate Solar Divine Art?

“The sun always… rises again. Oh, nice. That’s cool, isn’t it?”

Honestly, it felt a bit like he was plagiarizing Count Bayer’s line, but he liked it anyway.

“The sun always… rises again.”

Repeating it once more, Landius nodded with a pleased expression.

It wasn’t just cool; it even felt hopeful.

I’ll go with this for now. I should write it down.

Having made up his mind, Landius took out a small notebook and began to write down the signature line, letter by letter.

The notebook was packed with a list of things he wanted to do on his warrior’s journey, and most of them were crossed out with bold lines, indicating they were complete.

It’s a shame I couldn’t do them all, but it can’t be helped.

Amidst all the crossed-out lines, Landius’s eyes fell upon a clean section that began with ‘Share a deep kiss with a beautiful lady under the moonlight’—the start of the ‘Beautiful Lady Series.’ He swallowed back a fresh wave of tears and closed the notebook.

Anyway, it’s about time they showed up.

Atop his great warhorse, which seemed smart enough to find its own way, as if taking after its master, Landius gazed into the distance.

They were nearing the border of Paragon, so he expected someone would be there to greet him.

“Ah, there.”

Far in the distance, a familiar figure stood under a tree.

A beautiful knight with long, white hair reminiscent of pure snow.

“Kamael!”

When Landius raised his hand and shouted, the knight in the shade—Kamael—didn’t run over immediately. Instead, he raised his hand in return and mounted his horse.

It seemed he intended to wait until Landius reached the shade before moving.

Typical Kamael.

Feeling a strange sense of joy that his friend, whom he hadn’t seen in four years, was still the same, Landius laughed heartily and galloped toward the shade.

“Kamael.”

“Landius.”

At the sound of that beautiful voice, tinged with a faint smile, Landius let out a hearty laugh before thinking.

No, he just said it out loud.

“You’ve gotten more handsome.”

Or should he say prettier?

Kamael’s hair was long, but his naturally delicate features made him look not just handsome, but beautiful.

If it were Kamael, he probably could have completed the ‘Beautiful Lady Series,’ right?

“I don’t know what you’re thinking, but you look healthy. I’m glad.”

At Kamael’s tone, which was cool yet held an underlying warmth, Landius laughed heartily again and rode up alongside him.

“I got your letters, but has anything happened in the kingdom?”

“…You haven’t forgotten that I also went on a warrior’s journey, just in a different direction, have you?”

“Still, you came back a few months earlier than me.”

The fact that he was here to greet him was proof enough.

So, instead of saying more, Kamael looked off into the distance and said.

“I understand there have been no major incidents. If I had to mention something, it would be that a new Archbishop arrived last year.”

“Ah, that Archbishop. My father said Her Majesty the Queen seems to be quite fond of him.”

“The Commander is correct. Her Majesty was a devout follower of Solari to begin with, so perhaps it’s only natural… but, for now, he hasn’t caused any particular problems. He’s not very active publicly. It seems he almost always stays in the church built by the royal family or in his own residence.”

Kamael’s words made Landius furrow his brow.

It wasn’t the content of the words themselves, but the fact that Kamael seemed to be paying more attention to the Archbishop than he’d expected that bothered him.

“Do you have a bad feeling about him?”

“…Honestly, yes, but as I just said, he hasn’t done anything problematic. It might just be… a gut feeling.”

Kamael trailed off, then shook his head once and asked with a slight smile.

“Wait! Wait! He smiled? Kamael did?”

Fran, who had been listening intently, shot up from his seat as if he couldn’t believe it. Landius laughed heartily and said.

“Yeah, a slight smile. A bright one. No, was it a beautiful one?”

In any case, it was a bright smile.

As Landius insisted, Fran immediately turned to Kamael, who, with his signature sullen expression, said in a stiff tone.

“I’m human, too.”

His reply, which held various implications, was sharp, but Fran was undeterred and asked.

“Then can you try smiling now?”

“No.”

Kamael’s refusal was curt. Fran turned back to Landius with a ‘see, I told you so’ expression.

His face clearly said it was unbelievable that this Kamael would smile brightly, but the others didn’t side with Fran. Instead, they took different actions.

“Curse.”

“Ugh.”

Belkian cast a curse at the back of Fran’s head. He then had his skeletons force the groaning Fran to sit down before turning to Landius with a look of mixed satisfaction and apology.

“Sorry to interrupt. Please, continue.”

“Yes, Belkian-nim.”

Landius and Kamael chatted about this and that as they rode their horses slowly.

Although they had exchanged quite a few letters, it was their first time meeting in four years, so they had a lot to catch up on.

But after they had gone some distance…

“Landius-nim?”

At the sound of a small girl’s voice from the side, Landius and Kamael turned their heads simultaneously and spotted a girl crouching in a flower field quite far from the road.

A girl in a large straw hat and a simple gray dress.

A child he had never seen before had suddenly called his name, but instead of finding it strange, Landius smiled brightly and waved.

“Hmph, it seems I’m quite famous now that I’m back in my homeland, eh?”

Muttering to himself, Landius turned his horse toward the girl.

Since he had finally met a fan, he planned to give her some proper fan service.

Just like Count Bayer of the Sailun Kingdom.

But just as Landius was about to dismount…

“She’s running away.”

It was true.

The moment Landius turned his horse, the girl, who had been fidgeting for some reason, turned and started to run.

She fled in such a hurry that she nearly tripped several times, her straw hat even falling off to reveal her bright blonde hair.

“She fell.”

Kamael was right again.

The girl misstepped and fell forward with a yelp, tumbling so hard that the inside of her skirt was visible.

“Oh, dear.”

Landius was a knight and a gentleman.

Therefore, he instinctively turned his head and closed his eyes, momentarily losing sight of the girl.

“She’s up and running again.”

And again, Kamael was right.

By the time Landius looked up again, the girl had already run so far that her back looked smaller than his finger.

“Why… is she running away? D-don’t tell me she’s scared of me?”

To Landius’s half-stunned question, Kamael shrugged as if to say he didn’t know either. Landius turned his head again to watch the back of the girl as she stumbled a second time.

*

“I didn’t know then, but I do now. Lena, that was you, wasn’t it?”

Landius asked with an incredibly warm smile. Lena, her face red with embarrassment, bit her lip.

“Judging by your reaction, I’d say that’s a yes.”

At Kamael’s comment, which seemed tinged with amusement, Fran also giggled and asked.

“Lena, for real? Was that your first meeting with Landius?”

If so, why on earth did she run away?

Was she really scared of Landius?

“Well, I can see why she’d be scared.”

Fran looked at Landius with an understanding gaze.

A 2.3-meter—no, now he looked more like a 2.5-meter—giant mass of muscle.

It was understandable that a little girl would be frightened by the sight of him.

“Hey, wait a minute. Fran, I was different back then. That was before my Ancestral Regression, so I was only about 190 cm tall. Right, Lena?”

When Landius asked with an aggrieved look, Lena fanned her blushing face as if to cool it down, then took a deep breath and said.

“First of all.”

“First of all?”

“First of all, you’re wrong. The girl who ran away back then… yes, that was me, but that wasn’t my first meeting with Landi.”

At Lena’s declaration, Landius furrowed his brow.

If it wasn’t then, when on earth was their first meeting?

“You really don’t remember?”

Lena’s question made Landius flinch for a moment, but he soon put on a pitiful face and nodded.

He truly couldn’t remember.

“Well… it’s a shame, but honestly, I get it. It wasn’t an easy first meeting to remember.”

Instead of getting angry, Lena chuckled softly. Landius, rather than feeling relieved, looked even more apologetic.

From the way Lena was talking, it seemed like they’d had some kind of special meeting, and he felt sorry for not being able to remember it.

“Anyway, I’ll tell the story. So…”

“Ah! Wait!”

The one who interrupted the story was, as always, Fran.

As all eyes gathered on him, he held up a finger and said.

“Judging by the atmosphere, Lena’s story is going to be the real highlight. How about we hear Kamael’s story first?”

Lena nodded in agreement with Fran’s suggestion, and Belkian glanced at Kamael and nodded as well.

And Kamael—the man who couldn’t bring himself to claim his story was the highlight—spoke with a slightly disgruntled expression.

“Fine, I’ll go first.”

“I respect your mature decision.”

Fran even clapped his hands before quickly sitting down. Kamael let out another sigh and began his story.

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Translated By: Meher (RaidenTL)

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