Chapter 301 : Chapter 301

Chapter 301

I,Shion, set out on the road.

At first, I intended to ride the prepared carriage, but I soon shook my head and began walking with my own feet.

Velgil also followed without a single word of complaint.

Velgil looked at my profile.

I was beautiful.

At one time, I was a twisted figure, blackened by old wounds and fatigue, but now I was white and smooth without a single blemish.

I was speechless.

Ever since seeing Amethus’s letter, I had sunk into silence and was occasionally calm in a way that didn't seem human.

Like a colossal mountain, like the vast Great Sea.

It felt as if I had been planted in that spot for hundreds of thousands of years.

Perhaps that might truly be the case.

“How far will you follow, Velgil?”

“I will go anywhere, Your Highness.”

“Continually?”

“Of course.”

“I won’t stop you.”

I walked.

I was reminded of a lost confidant by Velgil’s tone.

However, I did not go out of my way to say it.

Because it might feel like a burden to Velgil.

Instead, I just walked even more.

We did not walk for long.

After walking for a little over an hour, the Cordis border was right in front of us.

Velgil was very surprised.

Normally, it was a distance that would take three days even if running at full power, but walking with me, it was in the blink of an eye.

He could not understand it at all.

He wanted to ask about this strange occurrence, but I did not give him the chance.

“Sen Hostanio.”

“Oh, Your Highness.”

Beyond the border was the Two-Flame Grand General.

He waved his hand gladly as soon as he saw me.

In the hand not waving, there was a sword.

“I knew you would return, but you came quickly.”

“What were you doing?”

“I was waiting.”

“Who were you waiting for?”

“I was waiting for His Highness Zionis.”

“That would be me.”

I stroked my chin.

There is a crude wooden crown on my head.

My Ars, the ‘Crown of Paradox’.

However, Sen Hostanio could not see it.

“What do you intend to do by waiting for me?”

“If you crossed the border, I intended to cut off your head immediately.”

Fire ignited on Sen Hostanio’s sword.

Since he was a man who had lived like a sword, fire ignited on his whole body as well.

His Ars, ‘Old Fire’.

In front of the flames burning with indescribable heat and color, I asked calmly.

“Are you saying you will block my path, Two-Flame Grand General?”

“Naturally.”

“Right.”

I took a step.

“I won’t stop you from stopping me.”

“Huh?”

The Two-Flame Grand General furrowed his brow.

“Do you think something will change if you mutter as if you’ve realized everything? Did the Great Witch give you some new power or something?”

“No. I have become weaker than before.”

“Then I will warn you, Your Highness.”

He lifted his sword and pointed at the ground.

The boundary was clear.

It was the border line dividing the Silver Dragon Magic Kingdom and the Empire.

Originally, it was not visible to the eye, but Sen Hostanio had made it clear by slashing with his sword.

“Do not cross the line.”

He growled.

“Turn back as is, and live forgetting everything. Can you not do that? Let me tell you, this Sen Hostanio’s sword is sharp.”

“Have you never seen a sword sharper than yourself?”

“I have.”

“Who?”

“Only two.”

Sen Hostanio answered fiercely.

“Deballo Debius. And Obro Denoebang.”

“That is impressive. The fact that you can be compared to them is truly an impressive thing.”

“It is an insult to me. I wanted to be superior to them.”

“They have their burdens, don’t they?”

I smiled faintly.

Deballo Debius carried the burden of a thousand years.

Obro Denoebang had to spend nearly 10 years in a deep abyss that one could not even imagine.

Even if pain makes a human strong, humans do not live to become strong.

If so, is there a need to go out of the way to suffer more pain?

However, it seemed it did not get across to Sen Hostanio.

“I also lived carrying a burden no less than theirs, Your Highness!”

“I suppose so. I want to apologize. I didn't mean to ignore it.”

“Just stop your feet.”

Sen Hostanio spat out.

The flames wrapping his body resembled scorching heat before long, turning the surrounding trees or sand and the like into liquid.

Yet, they did not reach me or Velgil.

It was a mysterious thing.

“I told you not to cross the line.”

My foot is right in front of the border line.

“If you take the next step, I will cut you.”

I took a step.

I was wearing a deep smile.

“Ha.”

Sen Hostanio’s face distorted violently.

“You always make me see blood.”

Flame.

The spot where the sword passed burned all over.

Because even the air burned, the field of vision was distorted.

Sen Hostanio’s sword strike was that sharp and swift, so no one saw it.

Not only Velgil, but even me.

“……?”

However, it did not reach.

No, it could not be reached.

Sen Hostanio felt as if his sword had passed through me.

I was in the trajectory of the sword.

However, it did not reach.

He swung swiftly and powerfully, even harboring ‘Old Fire’, yet I do not have a single scratch.

Even though the surroundings burned all over and became like the inside of a bellows.

“…….”

The Two-Flame Grand General caught his breath instead of falling into deep thought.

For a moment, an inhale and an exhale.

Soon, he swings the sword.

It was a single instant, but over thirty sword strikes flew.

It was enough to cut me into hundreds of pieces.

I did not dodge.

I did not block either.

I walked quietly in the midst of the sword’s trajectory.

However, I am not wounded.

Velgil, who was following me, was the same.

As if living in a separate world, as if two worlds that cannot mingle had overlapped for a moment.

“……You…….”

Sen Hostanio opened his mouth blankly.

“……Are you a ghost?”

“Do I look like one?”

“No, you look like a person. That’s why… that’s why, I don’t understand….”

Sen Hostanio could not bear to swing the sword anymore and lost his spirit.

He had lived over seventy years, but this was the first time for such a case.

The training, skill, sharpness, power he had built up until now….

All of this was less than dust before me.

“Two-Flame Grand General.”

I muttered.

“I will not stop anyone now.”

I muttered.

Sen Hostanio only then saw the ‘Crown of Paradox’ on my head.

He wondered why he hadn’t seen it until now.

“So no one can stop me.”

“…….”

Because I have reconciled.

At my muttering, Sen Hostanio felt a deep sense of powerlessness and awe.

He came to be certain that I was somewhere high up.

“I am going to carry my burden.”

I walked.

Velgil followed behind.

Sen Hostanio stared at them blankly.

He is a swordsman counted within three fingers on the continent.

He is also the 2nd Seat of the Cordis Ten Great Generals.

But all of this felt vain, just vain.

And he realized deeply that this indeed was the truth.

He took a step inadvertently.

He felt a deep regret at the back of my retreating figure.

A certainty bloomed that he must not lose me like this.

However, he is the Two-Flame Grand General.

He might kill me, but he was not supposed to follow me.

Deep anguish tried to capture him.

I noticed that and looked back.

“Are you also trying to follow, Sen Hostanio?”

“…….”

He nodded silently.

I smiled broadly as if very glad.

And I stopped so that Sen Hostanio could follow.

The swordsman over seventy forgot his shame and hurried his steps.

I giggled.

I do not stop those going or coming, but those who come to find me are welcome, after all.

***

Queronimo was bewildered.

He was the Five-Rot General, the 5th Seat of the Cordis Ten Great Generals, and also the supreme commander of the 5th Legion stationed in the northeastern part of the Empire.

“Who did you say to stop?”

The Five-Rot General frowned as if he had heard nonsense.

“His Highness Zionis? He died 7 years a… no, he passed away!”

“I told you, General.”

His Chief of Staff shook his head with a face that said 'here we go again'.

“Shion, who was the protagonist of the Western War! That man was actually His Highness Zionis.”

“What? That’s the first I’m hearing of it?”

“We definitely reported it, so you can verify it.”

“Anyway, if Shion is His Highness Zionis… Isn’t he that fellow who escaped Kosavagarobira for the first time?”

At the Five-Rot General’s words, the Chief of Staff nodded.

He made a groaning sound and stroked his beard.

“Anyway. Right. So it means he escaped Kosavagarobira and is coming down here.”

“Yes.”

“Is it a rebellion?”

“It might be, so they must be telling us to stop him.”

“Hmm. I suppose he’s leading a lot of soldiers? A rebellion. Hah, wow!”

He was certain there would be a force sponsoring Shion.

Otherwise, he couldn’t possibly escape Kosavagarobira alone, could he?

Furthermore, if it’s Zionis, he is the son of Great Emperor Continua.

There is tremendous value in that bloodline.

“No. They say there are no soldiers.”

“Hm?”

The Five-Rot General tilted his head.

“Then he’s alone?”

“No. They say the party is three.”

“Including himself?”

“Yes.”

“…Then is there a need for us to step up?”

He felt a great doubt.

“Who are the other two for them to be like that?”

“One is a man named Velgil.”

“Uh. I feel like I’ve heard of him….”

“He is a warrior of the Duchy of Volmark.”

“Oh! I know, I know! The guy who looks like a reindeer and is handsome!”

General Queronimo laughed loudly.

Since his 5th Legion was stationed in the northeast, exchanges with the Duchy of Volmark were frequent.

He could recall memories of encountering the young warrior named Velgil three or four times.

“I don’t know why he stuck to His Highness Zionis. Then who is the other one?”

“…Mm.”

“Why, who is it?”

“It is Grand General Sen Hostanio.”

“…………Huh?”

Queronimo’s expression became fierce.

He glared at the Chief of Staff as if to say 'don't joke'.

The vigor was terrifying.

However, the Chief of Staff was not intimidated in the slightest and rather held out the documents he was holding.

It was a letter sent by the Imperial Intelligence Bureau, and there, it was clearly written Sen Hostanio.

Queronimo muttered blankly.

“…The Two-Flame Grand General?”

“Yes. The Two-Flame Grand General.”

“……Why would he?”

“We do not know. The Intelligence Bureau says they are also dying of curiosity.”

“……Hah.”

The Five-Rot General wiped his face.

If one is a young person in the Imperial Military, it is natural to admire the Debius family, especially Deballo Debius, like an idol.

However, General Queronimo had had his heart stolen by Sen Hostanio ever since his youth.

To him, Sen Hostanio was the idol of his youth, an example of life, and an ideal he wanted to resemble.

“……The Two-Flame Grand General must have been very heartbroken over the matter of Her Highness the Granddaughter.”

“Do you think it is because of that?”

“Then what else would there be?”

Queronimo concluded on his own accord.

Santia Hostanio, who had married into the Guidone family of the West, is the granddaughter of the Two-Flame Grand General.

He assumed that perhaps he harbored resentment against the Emperor due to his granddaughter’s matter until now, and was in the middle of expressing it by using the powerless Zionis.

There was a very large gap from the truth, but there was no way to verify it.

“Tsk. The Two-Flame Grand General…. He was a person I respected so much.”

He kicked his seat and stood up.

There was a long whip at his waist.

It was an Ancient Weapon.

“Notify the entire legion.”

The Chief of Staff bowed his head deeply.

No matter how light and comfortable he appeared usually, Queronimo as a General was a man no one could ignore.

“Prepare the best we can to welcome the Two-Flame Grand General.”