Chapter 2 — 사자(獅子)
Part 2, Chapter 19
Lion
Mord could find no other word for it.
No other description would say it more plainly than this.
Someone who helped with a pure heart, asking nothing in return.
And someone who took that for granted.
That was Elric as Mord saw him now.
So this was the only way he could put it.
Taihol nodded in silence.
He felt the same.
“Lord Usden was the same.”
That was when Trang came over.
“Long ago, when Lord Usden helped our clan, he asked for nothing.”
Trang cast his mind back to when he first met Usden Merbinger.
Usden Merbinger, who had appeared out of nowhere one day and begun helping the clan.
Back then, Trang had been no different from Taihol.
On the surface he followed along and acted grateful, but inside he harbored other thoughts.
“I kept doubting him.”
There had to be a reason he was helping them.
Surely he was plotting something else behind their backs.
It felt only natural to assume that. People always put their own interests first.
“So I asked.”
Trang’s suspicion grew and grew until he couldn’t contain it.
In the end, he questioned Usden.
Why are you helping us?
What’s your real purpose?
Usden’s answer, given with a laugh, was disarmingly simple.
–So. You’re asking why I’m helping you?
–Yes. In truth, you have no reason to.
Trang still remembered what came next, word for word.
–Hm. Hard question to answer.
–…So you are expecting something…!
–What if I just say, “Because.”
–Because…?
–Yeah. Just because.
Unbelievable.
“Just because,” he said.
Who on earth says that?
Trang couldn’t hide his bewilderment.
–No price at all… that’s what you mean?
–Ha-ha. Is that so strange? When there are people hurt and struggling, isn’t it only natural to help one another?
Trang felt as if someone had cracked him over the back of the head.
It ran completely counter to everything he thought he knew.
“After that, I never thought I’d meet someone like that again….”
Elric had the same look, the same bearing as his grandfather—down to the very feeling he gave off.
And on top of that… even Usden’s creed. Ha! Hahaha!
Trang smiled, warmed by the memory of Usden.
* * *
“Ha….”
Hearing Trang out, Taihol let out a hollow laugh.
Then he sighed and spoke.
“So that’s what a hero is…?”
The thought struck him.
If there were a hero in this world, wouldn’t it be Elric?
He was everything Taihol, blinded by greed and forgetful of what mattered, was not.
The thought drew a bitter smile.
I wasn’t like this at the start. How did I end up here?
“Dad?”
Zen spoke up then.
The child who had stuck by his side ever since Elric freed him.
Seeing Taihol’s drawn face, he looked up with worry for his father.
Taihol ruffled Zen’s hair.
And he remembered again what mattered most.
Family and the clan.
With his resolve returned, he looked back to Trang.
“Let’s get out of here first. Looks like the evacuation’s almost done.”
“Right. We’ll continue after we’ve pulled back.”
Thanks to Elric holding off the Jasaja troops, the work could move quickly.
The enemies eyeing Hyuilan had lost much of their momentum.
It was time to leave.
“Don’t rush, and move as we direct you!”
“This way! Over here!”
As Hyuilan’s people moved with crisp coordination—
Something suddenly flashed through Taihol’s mind.
“…Damn.”
He let out a groan and stopped.
At his hardened expression, Trang looked over in puzzlement.
“What is it? Is there a problem?”
“Yes. We’d better hurry.”
Taihol answered, his face still set.
“Before I went to meet Merbinger—Lord Elric—I sent out a call for help.”
“A call for help? To whom?”
“…The Revolutionary Army.”
“…!”
Trang’s face turned to stone.
If that was the case—
“…The Inspectorate could decide Lord Elric has joined hands with the Revolutionaries.”
The rebels present now were only a small splinter.
So it wasn’t an immediate problem for Elric.
But if the real Revolutionary Army mobilized and came here?
Then the story would change.
Merbinger has allied with the Revolutionaries!
Trang muttered, his voice sinking.
“This… mishandled, and we’ll repay Lord Elric’s kindness with betrayal, just like we did to Lord Usden.”
He bit his lip.
No. Under no circumstances.
Not to Merbinger, of all people!
We have to find a way.
In that instant, Trang’s eyes flashed.
* * *
Tatatatang!
Elric and Bell clashed again.
With a thunderous blast, the blizzard around them shuddered.
A brutal recoil.
Bell was hurled back hard.
“Ghh…!”
He jammed his sword into the ground and barely kept himself from skidding farther.
Where he’d been thrown, a ragged line scarred the floor where his blade had dragged.
But the impact was so heavy his mind wavered for a split second—
And Elric didn’t miss it.
“Bind.”
Sh-sh-sh-sh—!
From the still-raging blizzard, chains of ice shot out and wrapped Bell round and round.
“Damn it!”
Bell’s movement stalled for a heartbeat.
Bang!
Elric kicked off the ground and lunged. His spearpoint leveled at Bell.
And—
Boooom!
Another explosion ripped the air.
Ice crystals scattered everywhere, a milky fog blooming.
Through the glittering shards, Bell stood with his sword in hand.
The instant Elric’s spearpoint touched him, he’d exploded with superhuman strength and snapped the ice chains.
Bell roughly brushed the clinging ice crystals from his body, irritation clear.
His eyes still brimmed with killing intent.
Seeing it, Elric exhaled and thought:
As expected, he’s no easy opponent.
Elric held the advantage, yes. But no matter how fiercely he pressed, Bell would not fall.
Like a proud lion that refused to go down no matter how many wounds it suffered.
Mephisto spoke up then.
“Oooh, look at that bastard. Took all that and still looks like he’ll eat you alive.”
“Still, he is the younger brother of the head of House Neresta.”
“Huh? He’s a Neresta? He doesn’t look it at all.”
It wasn’t an unreasonable thought. He was famous for looking nothing like Gai, the head of House Neresta and his own blood brother.
At some point, Bell had even stopped using the Neresta name.
Instead, he’d borrowed the name of a demon, calling himself Bell Bahamut.
Plenty of people didn’t even know he was of House Neresta.
“He threw away his family name?”
“Whether he threw it away or just stopped using it, who knows.”
There were no solid rumors about it, and Elric hadn’t cared enough to look into it.
“In any case, if he’s a Neresta, you’d better focus.”
“Exactly. So hush now. I need to concentrate.”
“You little—”
Mephisto tried to say more, but didn’t get the chance.
Bell was already on top of them, sword slashing viciously.
Clang!
His blade crashed into Elric’s spear, shaking the very air.
Elric slid the sword aside and dropped the spearpoint.
Then he drove it up from below in one smooth motion.
Whoom!
With a deep boom of cleaving air, the spear carved up through the void.
Bell twisted away in a flash, evading the thrust, and closed right back in with another cut.
The aura sheathing his blade shone brighter than ever.
Elric started to bring his spear up to guard—
Whip!
Mid-swing, the sword changed angle in midair.
Completely unexpected.
“…Hup!”
Elric flinched, jerking his upper body back, and Bell grinned.
Got you!
A mage trying to beat him at close quarters—what a mistake. Smug with that thought, he grinned wide—
Clang!
Once again, something intercepted Bell’s blade and knocked it aside.
Elric had conjured an ice shield on his left arm in a blink.
A tower shield.
For an instant, he seemed to vanish behind a great wall of a shield.
And—
Boooom—
He stomped hard and drove forward. A full-body slam using the shield—a shield bash.
“Son of a—!”
He hadn’t expected a counter like this.
Bell flung aura wildly into the air, trying to meet the charge with protective qi, but—
Crash-crash-crash!
Ice shield and protective qi smashed into each other and shattered like glass.
Through the flying shards, Elric’s eyes flashed razor-sharp.
“Pack as much divine power into your ice spear as it can take.”
Damir’s voice rang in his head.
“To the max?”
“Weren’t you holding back because you were afraid the ice spear would break?”
“Well… yeah.”
Damir was right.
The opponent was a Jasaja. His sword was clearly no ordinary blade either.
In fact, the sword Bell Bahamut treasured had been a gift from the Golden Lion.
“The Lion’s Second Claw”—a famed blade, no, a bewitched blade, that swordsmen loved to talk about.
Elric’s ice spear, packed tight with magestone power and boasting ridiculous durability, had been getting chipped to pieces against it—that was proof enough.
If this dragged on, eventually he wouldn’t be able to weather Bell’s blows.
Yes, he could resummon a new spear if it broke—
But in that gap he could get countered.
And that would be the end.
Bell wouldn’t miss an opening.
And there were limits to how long he could keep dancing away.
“Divine power will make up for it.”
“Mm…? Ah!”
The meaning clicked belatedly.
Divine power didn’t just boost regeneration; it also patched over flaws.
If he used that divine power on the ice spear—
Its durability would skyrocket.
Enough that he wouldn’t have to worry about it shattering mid-fight.
“I’ve been too focused on incantations and sigils.”
His own mistake.
Back at the Academy, at least in theory, he’d been so sharp the doctors would click their tongues.
Maybe too much time in the field had made him forget what divine power could do.
Damir’s nudge pulled those old theories back to the surface.
In that brief instant, he sketched a new magical framework in his head.
Flaaare—
A pale halo flitted over the ice spear.
Crackle.
The bindings holding it together cinched tighter, harder.
And—
Flash!
He fired forward in a streak of light.
Reinforcement Art.
Forward Fifth Move, White Tiger Nan-a.
Patriarch’s secret art.
Thunder God’s Awl.
Bzzzzzt—!
Rrrrumble!
Lightning qi burst from the tip, raced over the spear, and a white-gold bolt drove straight for Bell’s chest.
A fusion of Reinforcement Art and the Patriarch’s secret. The sheer destructive force made Bell’s flesh quiver.
“Die, mage!”
Bell clenched his teeth and brought the Lion’s Second Claw crashing down.
Like a lion’s kick pinning fleeing prey.
Jasaja secret art.
Descent of the Lion.
Slaaaash—!
Steel met spear.
The force was colossal. Gales howled out in all directions.
Grrrrind—
I’ve got him!
In that moment, Bell was certain of victory. He was a hair faster. He was sure he’d smash that lightning apart and punch a hole through Elric’s heart.
Look.
His blade was edging closer to Elric’s throat by the inch.
Then—
Crack—
What…?
An ill sound reached his ears.
Crackle!
Right before Elric’s Adam’s apple, fractures crawled across the edge of the Lion’s Second Claw.
“That’s impossible!”
Bell screamed, panic-stricken—
Craaaang—!
The spear’s lightning shattered the Lion’s Second Claw outright and slammed into Bell’s gut.
At the same time, the gale exploded outward.
Bell went flying in a whirl of snow.
The Mage Who Devoured Talent