Chapter 58 – Human? (4)
[Translator – Night]
[Proofreader – Gun]
Chapter 58 – Human? (4)
‘Is that a characteristic of the barbarians of the White Snowfield? Or is it unique to Ketal?’
He wanted to study it.
He wanted to dissect that body piece by piece and understand its principles.
But he can’t.
He must resist.
Suppressing his desire, he spoke up.
“You are truly strong. To defeat the knights so effortlessly.”
“Is that so.”
Ketal replied without much reaction to the Tower Master’s words.
“I’ve heard that many times, but honestly, it doesn’t move me much. I just did what I had to do to survive.”
“Survival… you say?”
Such power, merely for the sake of survival.
Is the White Snowfield that harsh?
He knew it was an extraordinary place, being the largest of the Forbidden Lands, but if someone like Ketal needs to struggle to survive, it’s difficult to imagine what kind of beings inhabit it.
He wanted to ask, to analyze everything.
But he couldn’t.
For now, he was just a mere citizen admiring Ketal.
He forcibly suppressed his desires.
The next day, they began their journey to the Denian Kingdom.
No longer avoiding the public eye, they walked boldly along the path.
Inevitably, the knights blocked their way.
Swish! The sound of an arrow piercing the air.
Ketal moved his hand and caught an arrow.
“This time it’s guerrilla tactics. I guess they decided they can’t stop me by force. Not a wrong decision.”
Whoosh!
Dozens of arrows flew simultaneously.
Ketal waved his hand lightly.
As if swatting away insects, the arrows fell to the ground.
Boom!
Then, three knights jumped out from the nearby forest, aiming their swords at Ketal.
He casually raised his fist.
“But not the right answer either.”
Crunch.
Swords shattered and armor crumpled.
The knights coughed up blood as they were sent flying.
“Monster…!”
They gritted their teeth and ran away again.
Watching this, Elene couldn’t help but admire.
“You’re amazing. Those knights aren’t weak by any means, yet you handle them like children…”
During the battle with the knights, he couldn’t fully grasp the situation, but now, in this moment of calm, he understood.
Ketal was incredibly strong.
He could see why the knights called him a monster.
Breaking through the Blue-Green Knights with his bare hands, catching aura with his teeth.
Even a layman like Elene could see how extraordinary that was.
At least a superhuman level of strength.
It was puzzling why someone like him would be a mere mercenary.
So he had to ask.
“Why do you let them live?”
The knights came in shifts.
And Ketal defeated them all.
But he didn’t kill them.
He incapacitated them by destroying their armor and weapons, but he didn’t take their lives.
Considering they were trying to kill Ketal, his restraint was saintly.
Elene spoke with a somber expression.
“If you’re sparing them for our sake, there’s no need. They’re no longer the people we know. They’re something else imitating them.”
These were originally people Elene and Aaron knew.
Ketal’s consideration of not killing them seemed evident.
But Ketal shook his head.
“It’s not particularly for your sake.”
“Oh, is that so?”
Elene’s expression turned sheepish.
Ketal murmured.
“I want to confirm something. What you know about them is that they don’t fear death. Is that all?”
“Yes, that’s right.”
When she said it like that, it sounded trivial.
“I believe you. But that’s not enough evidence. So, I need to find out more.”
Ketal hummed as he continued walking forward.
The knights kept appearing, taking turns to block our path.
After this repeated several times, Elene finally noticed something strange.
“…Their equipment is flawless.”
Ketal destroyed the armor and weapons of every knight that appeared.
He broke them so completely that they couldn’t be repaired.
The number easily exceeded fifty.
It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say he had shattered the armor of all the Blue-Green Knights.
Yet the knights kept coming.
Each time, fully armored and armed.
“…Did they bring spare equipment? They’re using every possible means to capture us.”
Elene gritted her teeth.
Aaron had a grave expression too.
But Ketal was smiling, as if he found it all fascinating.
“That’s not it.”
“Excuse me?”
“They don’t have spare equipment. I can assure you of that.”
“Then how…”
“That’s the interesting part.”
Before long, the knights appeared again.
Three of them surrounded Ketal, brandishing their swords.
Ketal raised his fist.
“They never get tired of coming, do they?”
Crunch.
Two knights were sent flying.
The remaining knight, who hadn’t been thrown away, was caught by Ketal.
“Guh! Let, let me go!”
Ketal examined the knight’s armor carefully.
“This armor… I broke it a few hours ago.”
“Excuse me?”
“I remember the scratches on the armor. It’s exactly the same.”
A knight is not a pampered noble living luxuriously in the royal castle.
They fight against enemies.
Unless they are a knightly order comprised solely of noble progeny, their armor is bound to have many scratches.
The Blue-Green Knights are the kingdom’s foremost order, summoned to numerous battlefields and dungeons, so they had many marks on their armor.
“Interesting.”
Ketal released the knight, who hurriedly ran away.
“Wait a moment.”
Elene said with a wavering voice.
“So, instead of being resupplied…”
[Translator – Night]
[Proofreader – Gun]
“It means the broken armor and weapons are somehow restored. Can such a thing be done with magic?”
“It is possible, but it requires significant facilities and at least a day to recover.”
“I broke this armor just five hours ago, so that’s not it.”
Ketal stroked his chin, intrigued.
“Something is wrong.”
“That’s right? I’m not delusional; those things are definitely off!”
After that, the knights kept appearing.
Ketal continued to repel them and caught one each time.
“These knights can handle aura, right? So, could they survive a high fall?”
“It depends on the height, but they can withstand most falls.”
“I see.”
Ketal smiled and picked up a knight.
The knight’s face turned pale.
“Wait!”
“Let’s see if he comes back.”
Ketal threw the knight far into the distance.
The knight disappeared beyond the forest, a distance that would take at least a day to cover even at full speed.
Two hours later.
“You bastard! Throwing me like that! You’re going to pay for this!”
The knight reappeared, fully armed and unharmed.
Elene and Aaron’s faces hardened.
Something was off.
There was a problem.
“Is this something even you didn’t know?”
“No, no. All we knew was that the air felt different and that something had changed. We didn’t know the specifics.”
“So, this is the first time you’re learning about this too.”
“…You didn’t kill them to confirm this, did you?”
“I knew something was strange. I planned to investigate it slowly.”
“You’re amazing.”
Ketal had figured out in a day what those who had been together for a year hadn’t noticed.
Patrick, watching, was also impressed.
‘His understanding of anomalies is quick.’
Is this also a characteristic of the White Snowfield?
It was an analysis that couldn’t be seen in the rigidly minded fools who believed they were smart.
Of course, Ketal hadn’t figured it out without any basis.
The knights, once chased off, kept a certain distance.
And when they reached a certain point, they suddenly disappeared.
Then they reappeared.
The process was so fast it was almost instantaneous, but Ketal had definitely noticed it.
They disappeared and then reappeared, as if they were being refreshed.
No matter how much he broke their armor, destroyed their weapons, or threw them far away, they reappeared in the same state after a refresh.
Now, only the final confirmation remained.
The knights once again blocked their path.
Ketal didn’t raise his fist.
This time, he held an axe.
“Elene.”
“It’s fine.”
She said firmly.
“You scum!”
“Hand over the princess…”
Crash.
The axe shattered the knight’s armor.
The knights, with the axe embedded deep in their chests, collapsed.
They were dead instantly.
They continued forward. Exactly five hours later.
“Release the princess!”
“Damn barbarian!”
Once again, they appeared before Ketal.
* * *
That night.
With the sun set and no moon in the sky, the darkness was impenetrable.
Elene and Aaron sat with pale faces.
“They were definitely dead.”
Their chests had been split open and their pupils dilated.
It was a death so certain that no doctor needed to confirm it.
Yet, they reappeared.
With perfectly normal faces, they shouted to release the princess, as if they had never died.
Ketal stirred a pot as he spoke.
“Aaron mentioned that the girl named Cassie almost got crushed by a statue but felt no fear of death.”
The reason was simple.
Death held no meaning for them.
Ketal stroked his chin, intrigued.
“Is such a mystery possible in this world? Is it impossible to revive the dead with magic or alchemy?”
“It’s not impossible, but…”
“So it is possible.”
Ketal smiled.
Indeed, in a fantasy world, overcoming death should be achievable.
“But the conditions are stringent, and there are many limitations. They couldn’t come back in such a short time, perfectly intact.”
“…What kind of beings did we live with for a year?”
Elene bit her lip.
She had laughed and chatted with such beings in the royal castle for a year.
The thought gave her chills.
Ketal spoke.
“If what you say is true, then they are not human.”
A delicious aroma wafted through the air.
Ketal served the food into bowls.
Elene, with a dazed expression, poked at her spoon.
Despite it being Ketal’s cooking, which she loved so much, she couldn’t taste it.
“Then what are they?”
“…I don’t know.”
Elene shook her head.
“In my knowledge, there are no such beings. Coming back from death… that’s not life.”
By this point, the Tower Master had also changed his mind.
The princess’s words were true.
‘I came to see the barbarian of the White Snowfield, but this is an unexpected discovery.’
The regeneration of inorganic materials they wore, and the revival of life itself.
They disguised themselves as humans, wielded aura, and exhibited human emotions.
According to the Tower Master’s knowledge, no such race or monster existed.
This was something he had never encountered before.
After a moment of thought, the princess cautiously spoke.
“…I suspect they are beings from the Forbidden Lands.”
[Translator – Night]
[Proofreader – Gun]
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