The Warrior's Ballad

Chapter 112

Translator: WilliaFor a room supposedly reserved for the strongest person in this city, it wasn’t all that great. That was because it had originally been used as a storage room and was simply converted into a bedroom.

There was only one bed, and in the corner were empty wooden barrels and boxes scattered around. Spiderwebs hung in the corner of the ceiling.

The good points were that it was a relatively spacious area one could use alone, it was at least quiet, and it had an emergency underground staircase and a back door only the occupant could use.

Exiting through the back door, one would see a donkey tied up and chewing on feed. It was Magnoli, item number 1 on the Viola Clan's property list.

There was also a neglected and desolate vegetable garden, and crossing the garden would lead into a forest.

It was one of the few places in this city that were relatively pleasant and had well-secured escape routes. The current owner of the room was Bori.

Ricardt, Marie, and the rest of the group had entered Bori’s room. It was spacious enough that everyone could fit inside without feeling cramped.

First, Ricardt introduced the people to Bori.

“Start with greetings. This is Hartmann ssi, his wife Lady Elia, Beka, Roy, and the guide, Bremen ssi. This is Bori.”

“Hello, I’m Bori. I’m friends with these two.”

Perhaps because they all felt a bit awkward, they were sitting slightly apart. Bori slightly bowed his head toward the Hartmann family and Bremen. They also slightly bowed in return.

“Hartmann.”

“I’m Bremen.”

After exchanging greetings that were nearly just eye contact, Bori asked Ricardt.

“By the way, why the Eastern Frontier?”

“Well, just... they say the last hope lies there.”

After glancing once toward the Hartmann family, Bori spoke again to Ricardt.

“Not sure... but I doubt it’s all that different from here.”

"We'll have to go and see. By the way, I heard you stole the secret manual?”

“No. I just took it. I killed the ones who tried to stop me. So it’s not stealing. I didn’t sneak it out.”

“Anyway, those people are chasing you.”

“Yeah, right. They want to absorb my mana. That’s why I’m laying low for now. I’ll probably have to move soon.”

“Absorb your mana? What are you talking about?”

Marie asked.

“It’s a long story, but apparently, if you kill someone and consume their heart, you can absorb their mana. Even ordinary people have a small amount of mana. I don’t know how much mana those bastards have absorbed from how many people so far. But I bet what they want most is a Sword Master’s mana. What the Rubens Clan really wants is to capture me.”

It was a shocking truth. People killing people and eating hearts? Wasn’t that the kind of thing only monsters like orcs or goblins would do?

“Even vampires wouldn’t do something like that. But that’s what’s written in the secret manual? Eating hearts?”

“Yeah.”

“Definitely worth stealing then.”

“I told you, I didn’t steal it.”

Unlike when he had met Volka and Delphi, Bori, even though it had been four years since they last saw each other, didn’t feel sentimental or anything. He was just glad to see him and felt at ease with the certainty that he probably felt the same way he did now. Each friend gave a different feeling.

"So anyway, punishing bad guys and finding strange codexes to burn them is what you're doing now?"

“No.”

“Then what? Volka said that’s what you’re doing.”

“Volka doesn’t understand. Neither do the kids.”

“Understand what?”

“Mana Drive. I’m going to make a new one. That’s what I’m really trying to do. The rest is just secondary.”

“Why?”

“Oh? Really?”

Ricardt and Marie had different reactions. Ricardt’s reaction was basically asking why he would bother doing something like that, while Marie showed immediate curiosity.

“I want to find a way to train Mana Drive in a proper way, without danger, without hurting others. We were only taught the basics, right? It was more like we were thrown into real combat and left to figure it out. Some of us just got lucky. That’s probably why everything’s such a mess now. Whether it’s the Order, Rubens, or other clans. No one’s ever really shown us the right path.”

“I don’t really get it.”

From the beginning, Ricardt couldn’t relate to why one would go out of their way to do such a thing, as he had never learned Mana Drive through conventional means. He just accepted it as it was.

“Can you show me what you’ve made so far?”

When Marie asked, Bori showed his Mana Drive notebook without any hesitation. Though it wasn’t yet complete, to anyone knowledgeable in this field, it was a research material more precious than gold.

It seemed to be a kind of working title, with “Black Stone” written on the parchment cover.

As she opened the parchment, she saw hastily scribbled writing without order. There were diagrams and illustrations, some explanatory text, and many interrogative sentences. It was all written in ancient script, readable only to those familiar with it.

Marie quickly immersed herself in reading the Mana Drive book that Bori was creating.

“By the way, I ran into your disciples earlier. Kaspar and Julia, right?”

“Hmm, did I have students like that? I guess maybe.”

"What's wrong with you? You don't even know your disciples' names?"

“It’s more like the clan assigned them to me rather than me taking them as disciples. They were kids with potential to become Sword Masters, so the clan stuck them with me. But in my view, no. They’re trapped in unnecessary formalities... Anyway, being in the clan is uncomfortable.”

How similar he was to Ricardt. Their personalities seemed completely opposite, or were they? In terms of what they liked and disliked, Ricardt and Bori seemed to overlap quite a bit.

Still, it was a little surprising that he had no emotional attachment to his disciples.

“Even so, I at least know my disciples’ names.”

“You have disciples?”

“Those two. Beka and Roy.”

Originally, only Roy had been his disciple, but during their journey here, he had ended up taking both as disciples.

“But aren’t you bad at teaching, Ricky?”

“Ahahahaha!”

As soon as Marie heard that, she burst out laughing right in the middle of reading Bori’s parchment notebook.

Bori chuckled as well, and though Ricardt was a bit upset, he also laughed. Honestly, somewhere deep down, he agreed with that statement himself.

“Oh? You’re not mad?”

“I’m an adult now, Bori.”

“Hmm? Ricky, you seemed more grown-up when you were a kid. But I like you better now.”

“What are you talking about?”

“He’s right. Back then you were like a little old man. Never smiled much. Always looked lonely.”

Marie agreed. The way one saw oneself and the way others saw them were often different.

“You were cute, Bori. And Marie was kind of naive.”

Ricardt shared his thoughts on how he remembered the two of them. Marie and Bori only smiled faintly in response.

“Hey, I’ve got a question. Ricky, how do you operate your Mana Drive? You didn’t have any mana to begin with, right?”

“After that day, I think I naturally came to understand it. It feels like the wind blowing through my body. Then, when I swing my sword, it turns into flame. Aren’t flickering flames and swaying winds essentially the same? It’s just a matter of whether it’s hot or not, or whether it’s visible or not.”

“Wind? Fire? Not water?”

Marie asked. They had always just accepted each other’s abilities as they were, so this was the first time they talked about it in detail.

“I’m more like stone. Black stone.”

Bori said.

“Stone? What are you talking about?”

“Anyway, it’s different for everyone. You can think of it as researching how it works. Mana is like the heart, it has no physical form, but it definitely exists. Maybe that’s why a lot of the things Ricky used to say, which I couldn’t understand back then, are coming back to me now. Like, ‘Ah, so that’s why Ricky said that?’”

“What did I say?”

“You said to swing the sword without thinking.”

“If you think, it’s already too late.”

“Exactly. I agree. But that’s not something you say to someone just learning the sword. What you’re saying, Ricky, is like trying to explain the sky to someone who’s only ever looked at the ground.”

Bori said with a smile.

Ricardt had always just spoken based on how he felt. He had never meant to confuse or trouble beginners.

But as Bori had said, Ricardt’s way of teaching was like trying to explain the sky to someone who had only ever looked at the ground since birth. One had to lift their head and look at the sky in order to understand such an explanation.

Conversely, Ricardt had only ever looked at the sky, so when teaching someone, he found it frustrating. Bori understood that now.

At this moment, Ricardt realized something upon hearing Bori’s words, that his approach had been wrong from the start. It wasn’t about explaining the sky. He should have looked at the ground.

To truly teach someone might be the same as learning.

“Bori, you little brat, you’re quite something.”

“I’m an adult too, you know? I’m two years older than you, Ricky.”

Some things changed with age, but others didn’t. Ricardt and Bori were like that. Just seeing each other made them smile.

“So what now? Are you going back to the clan?”

“No.”

“Isn’t it a bit dangerous being alone?”

“Not anymore.”

“What do you mean?”

“I’m going to the Eastern Frontier too.”

“...Why?”

“It’s not about checking out some last hope or anything. The Codex originally came from the Eastern Frontier, right? There are a lot of ancient ruins there, so there should be plenty to study. I had always planned to go, and now seems like the right time.”

“...What about the clan?”

“I told you. It’s uncomfortable there now. Why did you leave four years ago, Ricky?”

“Well, I wanted a break, and I thought Volka would do fine without me.”

“Not me. After you left, and Marie, and Ice too... I felt like I had to be there. But now, I think things run fine even without me.”

Maybe it was a difference in temperament. Volka had always been excellent at managing people and leading them, and he liked doing that.

In contrast, Ricardt and Bori had always been a bit detached from the group, often sticking together, just the two of them.

They had done many meaningful things, but never once had they sought personal reward. They did it because it needed to be done and because they could.

Feeding the students during winter, joining the war, most of the money they earned was spent on buying clothes for the children.

Helping Volka build the clan was in a similar vein. It wasn’t about settling down for a comfortable life, but about providing a better support system for adventurers and enjoying the camaraderie with friends.

But now that the goal had been achieved, Ricardt and Bori both subconsciously knew their role was finished. The clan no longer suited them, it didn’t match their nature.

In truth, they could have left the clan without regret, but lingering affection kept them from cutting the final, thin thread.

After thinking for a while, Ricardt suddenly made a decision, led by his heart.

“I’ve decided.”

“Decided what?”

“Inner Fire.”

“What’s that?”

“I’m going to write a book too. That’s the title.”

“Ricky, do you secretly see me as your rival or something?”

“Ha! Give me a break. You copied me when I wrote my swordsmanship book.”

“But did you know that the book I wrote was selected as the official swordsmanship textbook by the academy? It's called ‘Fundamentals of Swordsmanship’.”

“Fundamentals, my ass. No way.”

“There is a way. You were the one who hid the original manuscript out of embarrassment, remember, Ricky?”

Even while bickering, Ricardt couldn’t stop smiling. He felt annoyed, yet it also felt like they had returned to childhood, making wagers and competing.

“This time is different. I have an excellent assistant.”

Ricardt suddenly pulled Marie, who had been reading his notebook, close by the shoulder.

"This seems a bit unfair. And isn't all of my information leaked now?"

“If you don’t like it, go get married too.”

“But you know what? Now I want to write a book too. Thinking about it, Mana Drive seems just as important as swordsmanship. Back when you two were writing swordsmanship books, the reason I didn’t was because my swordsmanship is from my family, and it wasn’t something I could document.”

Marie spoke. Until now, she had learned through real combat, like banging her head against bare ground, but now she felt they might be able to establish some sort of system.

However, mana remained a realm of the unknown, almost metaphysical in nature, requiring an immense amount of research. Writing a swordsmanship book had been difficult, but this was on another level entirely.

Even in ancient times, it had not been properly studied, and even if it had, those teachings were passed down in secret and mostly lost over time.

What remained were only methods like slicing into the human mind, simple, fast, and wicked. Of course, even those could only be learned by a very small number of people.

Then what if I were to propose a proper method? That was Bori’s thought. Ricardt and Marie agreed with it.

"Are you betraying us?"

Ricardt asked his wife. Marie was too dumbfounded to respond, so she just unwrapped her arm from her husband’s and spoke.

“You two each came up with a title based on how you feel mana, right? I’ll do the same. Purple Scarf. How’s that?”

“Sounds kind of tacky.”

“Sounds like you’re bragging about your family.”

Since silk scarves are expensive items, Bori said she was showing off her family’s wealth.

“You two are unbelievable.”

When Ricardt and Bori each said a line at the same time, Marie was exasperated. Of course, a smile was blooming at the corners of her mouth as well.

Their companions sitting a little ways off were watching the three of them in wonder. That was because Ricardt and Marie were usually not very talkative.

But as soon as they met Bori, the two of them had been chatting non-stop, like children. It felt like they were in a space of their own, with no one else in their world.

Some friends, when reunited, exchange wistful sentiments about the years and hardships passed. Others make you feel like you’ve gone back to old times.

What was there to feel wistful about? They could still be together. Even if they had been apart for a while, it was as if they’d never been separated at all.

The three of them felt full in their hearts. It was like the feeling of being full without having eaten. For Ricardt, for Marie, and for Bori, that was the kind of friend they were to each other. Simply put, they clicked.

Not tears, but gentle smiles that would not easily fade proved it.