LIGHTNOVELONLINE Chapter 23
Chapter 23: Battle for Ranking (1)
Since the White Night Castle served as a fortress to protect the royal capital, its reception rooms and guest rooms were not lavishly decorated.
However, because it was also the place where the Poldens of the Kaladan bloodline operated, their personal rooms were quite luxuriously arranged, reflecting changes over time.
“Wow, these days the Poldens of White Night Castle live in such places? The world has certainly improved.”
Naridel, the eldest granddaughter of the pure-blood Kaladan family.
At the age of twenty-five, she was a genius among geniuses who had reached the 6th star, and one of the Polden Knights who roamed the world, elevating the honor of Kaladan.
The reason she was heading to White Night Castle at her mother’s call was none other than because of her ‘younger brother from the same mother.’
Even within the same family, the affection between siblings from the same mother differed from those with different mothers.
Of course, having the same mother didn’t necessarily mean deeper affection, but sometimes, as in this case, a Polden Knight like Naridel would come to White Night Castle on their mother’s orders to monitor a younger sibling.
“Kyle, my dear little brother! You know why I’ve come, don’t you?”
“…Yes.”
Of course, he knew.
The news that Harang Paul Kaladan, that damned adoptee, had overwhelmingly passed the survival test as the top scorer and was participating in the ranking battle had already spread widely.
Even more, there were several occasions when he saw the family’s envoys coming to verify the truth of the news that he had hunted the 4th-grade monster Rampage alone, thoroughly grilling the instructor.
It was only natural that they didn’t believe it.
Honestly, when Lauren Chaygan announced the survival results, Kyle thought it was a bad joke.
But when he found out it wasn’t a joke… how his insides boiled with anger!
“Just because he caught a single monster…”
Even a 4th-grade monster could be caught if he invested a bit of time. He just didn’t do it because it was a waste of time!
Naridel looked at Kyle, whose fists were clenched tightly, and laughed.
“Mother really hates that adoptee. She can’t understand why the head of the family would spend time on someone with no proper background.”
“Yes, I know. Sister.”
“Oh my. Look at this guy? Just five years ago, you used to follow me around calling me ‘sister, sister,’ but now you’re keeping your distance?”
“…I’m a trainee now.”
“Hmph, it’s not because my flick hurt? I did think it was a bit too strong for someone so young.”
Kyle did not respond to his sister’s provocation. Her level was still so far ahead that Kyle, in his current state, couldn’t handle it.
Of course… if one day, Kyle surpassed her in pure swordsmanship and the head of the family deemed it so, she would no longer be able to do anything to him.
“Even if you’re a blockhead, your swordsmanship should be better than that guy’s, right? I’ll make sure you face him in the ranking battle. Crush him completely. It would be perfect if you break him so thoroughly that he can never hold a sword again, wouldn’t it?”
In principle, excessively harming the opponent in the ranking battle was prohibited…
But what could they do about accidents that happened unintentionally?
Kyle, who had become a trainee three years before Harang as the 96th batch, had already reached the 3rd star at the age of fifteen. This also meant he was a genius with significant talent, but compared to the genius among geniuses, his sister, it was less impressive, and thus, the adults’ attention remained cold.
However, even with such talent… it wouldn’t be difficult to crush a mere 2nd star kid.
He heard that Harang had hunted the Rampage by setting fire to trees and using other tricks.
In other words, in terms of pure skill, Kyle was overwhelmingly superior.
Besides, cheating methods like setting fires were all banned in the duels!
“Understood? Destroy him completely. If he, who was adopted for his swordsmanship, loses and can’t hold a sword again in something as trivial as the White Night Castle’s ranking battle, Grandpa’s interest will naturally fade away, don’t you think? It’s all up to you, so you must do your best~.”
Naridel spoke as if it was a given that Kyle would win, without even considering the possibility of his defeat, instructing him to crush thoroughly.
The difference in level between a newly ten-year-old 2nd star swordsman and a fifteen-year-old 3rd star swordsman who had been training for a long time was like heaven and earth.
Although Harang becoming a 2nd star at the age of nine had already spread to the main family and was indeed remarkable…
‘If you cut down the flower before it blooms, no one will know how beautiful it could have been.’
Naridel smiled and stood up softly. Her movements were so smooth and natural that Kyle didn’t even sense her presence.
As he watched the leisurely steps of a woman on the verge of reaching superhuman levels, Kyle looked at his sword.
‘It was already annoying, so it’s good that I have my sister’s request as an excuse.’
Thinking of Harang, who had been leading the 97th batch with an outstanding performance, Kyle clenched his fist.
With Naridel’s protection as a Polden Knight, Kyle’s ‘minor mistake’ would be easily forgiven.
He had nothing to lose by thoroughly crushing a weakling he already planned to break, and he could gain a lot from it.
He didn’t like how the supposed genius recognized by the head of the family was climbing up…
‘I have to cut him off at my level.’
Everyone else already disliked the adopted one. If Kyle could cut him off completely and take all the attention for himself…
Kyle’s lips curled into a smirk. He could already picture the rosy future brightly.
—
Personal Quarters
Harang took a deep breath, holding the magic book and glaring at it.
[Would you like to learn the fire spell ‘Flame Walk’?]
After slowly calming his mind, he pressed the YES button, and information about Flame Walk flooded into his mind.
“Ugh!”
Although it seemed easy to acquire the skill, sweat poured down, and it was a painful process.
Missing even a single character entering his mind could cause a mana rebound, a dangerous moment.
However, with superhuman reaction speed and concentration, Harang caught and absorbed all the runes, formulas, and interpretations of the magic flooding into his mind.
A moment later, when Harang opened his eyes, the memory of the Flame Walk spell was fully settled in his mind.
[Successfully learned the fire spell ‘Flame Walk’.]
Of course, learning it didn’t mean he had mastered it. Becoming proficient was a matter of practice.
“Whew, after doing this for three years, the pain has lessened a bit.”
When he first learned the dragon word, he thought his head would explode.
Did he pass out for about a day back then?
Now, after learning various spells, he had amassed considerable magical knowledge, so the side effects weren’t severe, and he could use magic immediately without much issue.
Whoosh!
As flames blossomed on his palm, Harang broke into a sweat.
“Magic is nice, but it’s inconvenient that I have to use both hands to form seals.”
He had to either use both hands or stand still and chant the spell.
Both were impossible for Harang, who wielded a two-handed sword and fought dynamically.
“I’ll need to research more to see if I can use magic in actual combat.”
In comparison, the dragon word didn’t require chanting or forming seals. Simply shouting the magic’s name triggered the spell, making it extremely convenient.
However, the huge mana consumption was a significant drawback, making even Harang with 3-star mana feel dizzy.
Extinguishing the flames, Harang packed his real sword. The absurd phrase “Treat your sword like a lover” was posted all around the training center, meaning the real sword should never be apart from the body.
Whether eating or sleeping.
It was cumbersome at first, but once it became a habit, it felt natural and comfortable, as if it was part of his body.
With his real sword on his back, Harang stepped out of his quarters and saw the trainees flocking to the training ground.
The ranking battle held today was open only to the top ten trainees of each batch.
Two trainees would duel at a time, determining the ranks of 30 individuals across three batches.
‘It’s the unranked match now.’
Before each batch’s ranking battle, trainees who hadn’t participated in or had been eliminated from the survival test gathered to duel one-on-one.
Of course, no one paid much attention to this. It was just a pride fight among the lower ranks, and no graduates came from this group.
Ha! Ha!
Watching the trainees swinging their swords at each other in the vast training ground, Harang headed to the waiting room.
The waiting room was not an individual room. As Harang entered the waiting room of the 97th batch, the trainees who were changing their clothes were startled and widened their eyes.
“Oh, it’s Harang.”
“I thought it was a girl who came to the wrong place.”
“Really gave me a fright.”
Harang touched his hair.
The past hero Kaladan, seen through the magic of the Sacred Sword Terandal, had long hair, which looked cool, so he tried to imitate it awkwardly, only to end up with a negative effect.
‘It’ll be resolved when I grow up.’
Whether the trainees were surprised or not, Harang quickly went to his cabin, changed into his training clothes, and sat back in his chair, leaning his head.
The trainees, knowing he was meditating, were considerate. Harang had become the de facto leader of the 97th class of 100.
Due to his extreme laziness, Theon or Charen handled all the bothersome tasks.
‘Naraz rune language, Demer Kidell morphology, Boiled elemental thermodynamics…’
Though he appeared to be in a daze, Harang’s mind was filled with all sorts of magical knowledge.
While he was drawing a virtual magic circle in the air and mentally training in the flame emission magic he learned today, he heard a commotion outside and turned his head.
– Miss, you cannot enter here!
– Sorry! I didn’t know it had turned into a men’s waiting room! It used to be a common lounge during my time!
– Regardless, you must leave!
‘This voice…?’
Recognizing the familiar voice of a woman, Harang opened the door to the waiting room and stepped out. There, he saw Arihil, a woman with long, pink hair and beautiful eyes, arguing with the knights with a perplexed expression.
“Arihil, sister?”
As Harang approached and called out, Arihil, who was in the middle of an argument, brightened up and waved.
“Oh, Harang! I came to see you! Hi!”
“Uh, let’s go outside first.”
“Oh, right! Sorry!”
He led her outside, where she smiled brightly and took out a small box to hand to him.
“Here, a gift.”
“A gift?”
When Harang, puzzled, took the box and looked at it, Arihil grinned.
“It was your birthday not long ago, right? I couldn’t give it to you because I couldn’t enter White Night Castle then, but I brought it today!”
Click! When he opened the box, there was a silver bracelet inside. He could tell it was an expensive artifact without using the system’s blessing.
“It’s called ‘Orlang’s Touch.’ If you pre-inject mana into it, it can deploy a small shield equivalent to a 6-star spell. Amazing, right? Although the one-month reuse time is a bit of a downside.”
“6-star? Is that possible?”
He had heard that the limit for magic that could be imbued in artifacts was up to 5-star, and even that required expensive magic stones or mana crystals, costing as much as a decent building.
“Hehe, even I had to go through some trouble to get it. It’s a relic from the ancient magical era.”
“Why are you giving such a precious thing to me…?”
Honestly, he felt more bewildered than grateful.
“Is there something you want from me?”
When Harang asked with a confused expression, Arihil chuckled.
“Aha! You look like a kid at times like this.”
“…I don’t understand. You tried so hard to bring me into the main family, and now that I’m part of the main family, aren’t we supposed to be competitors?”
“True. But did you know? Purebloods don’t always try to kill each other. If that were the case, wouldn’t all the siblings die, leaving only one?”
When Harang seemed not to understand, Arihil leaned her head on his shoulder and made eye contact with him before pointing somewhere.
“Over there, you see Kyle Paul Kaladan from the 96th class. Do you see him?”
Harang nodded and spotted the woman standing next to Kyle.
Naridel Paul Kaladan. A genius swordsman who achieved 6-star status in her twenties, her name was known to almost every swordsman in the world.
“Those two are direct purebloods, but they have a cooperative relationship. One supports the other to become the head of the family and receives rewards in return.”
“Rewards?”
“Yes. Our Kaladan bloodline is cursed with the ‘Stigmata Curse,’ causing us to die gradually from nightmares if we ever put down our swords.”
Harang nodded.
An eerie curse that made them obsessively cling to their swords, as if someone were forcing them never to let go for life.
“But sometimes, there are cases where the head of the family gives out a ‘Holy Elixir,’ which is created once every few decades in the Temple of the Gods, to the family member who supports them, thereby lifting the curse.”
“Holy Elixir…?”
“It’s highly effective in lifting the curse. Our ancestors likely tried to erase the stigmata curse, but since it’s made only once every few decades, not everyone can have it.”
Not everyone could have it.
That might be one of the reasons that shaped the current Kaladan family.
“Ironically, the one who becomes the head of the family usually overcomes the curse on their own, so they don’t need the Holy Elixir. But not everyone can do that. The moment we put down our swords, the curse resurfaces immediately.”
“…”
It was a rather unpleasant aspect of the family, akin to a scar.
“So, you mean you align yourself with those likely to become the head of the family in advance to secure your position?”
“You’re sharp for your age. But it’s slightly different. No matter how strong your support base is, everything is ultimately decided by the sword.”
“Then why…?”
“It’s to solidify their power once they become the head of the family, or to survive if they don’t. If another potential heir appears to threaten their position, wouldn’t it be easier to deal with them beforehand?”
As Arihil spoke with a grim smile, Harang felt a chill and simultaneously understood.
The war among blood relatives wasn’t just because of the Kaladan curse or the need to escape it.
It was a common ‘war of succession’ seen in any monarchy.
The world’s greatest hero family.
To determine who would inherit the throne, the blood relatives sharpened their swords against each other.
“To survive and not die before your talent blooms, you need to build your own faction. Or join another strong faction.”
Arihil, thinking Harang wouldn’t understand, explained simply, but even that simple explanation revealed how the family operated.
And why she took care of him.
“So, you’re taking care of me to recruit me when I become a great swordsman someday?”
“Yep, that’s right.”
Arihil was honest.
She had a free-spirited personality, but being born into the Kaladan family, she couldn’t escape the fate of endless competition.
Moreover, as a swordsman, no one could resist the desire for the position of the head of the family, which only the strongest swordsman in Kaladan could attain.
“Someday, if I become the head of the family, I’d like you to be my sword. Haha, though I’m not really aiming for the head position!”
Harang smiled slightly and said,
“What if I surpass you and become the head of the family?”
“Huh?”
Not expecting that question, Arihil blinked.
It was a genuine dilemma.
Not because she underestimated Harang, but because she recognized his talent and seriously envisioned him as the head of the family.
“Well, if that happens.”
She smiled brightly and said,
“Could you at least spare my life?”
“…”
Harang was slightly shocked by her words. It hurt even more to realize that her response was genuinely well-meaning.
‘What kind of family makes such words come out so naturally?’
Arihil was twenty-one this year.
Had she been born normally, she would have been spending a happy time dressing up, studying, and dating.
But because she was born into Kaladan, she held a sword, carved scars and calluses into her delicate hands, and was thrown into bloody battles.
“…If you don’t become the head of the family, will you lose your life?”
Harang asked cautiously, and Arihil tilted her head and nodded.
“Well, someone of my caliber wouldn’t die in a power struggle. But if I ever put down my sword for even a day or become unable to wield it, I’d soon die from the ‘stigmata’.”
To live, one had to trample over their blood relatives.
Because it was considered natural, even if one didn’t want to, they had no choice but to jump into life-or-death battles.
‘Is that why Garain and Arihil brought me here?’
Though she said she needed a talented swordsman for power, the truth was slightly different.
She needed someone who would support her, someone who wouldn’t betray her, someone who could protect her.
Someone who could cover her back.
“Well! There’s no need to be too serious. Whether it’s me, my brother, or you. If you become the head of the family, you’ll survive, right? Who knows, even if you don’t become the head, you might just lose a limb and still live.”
Arihil joked grimly, smiling as if it was nothing, and disappeared somewhere with a leap.
Harang let out a deep sigh and clenched his fists tightly.
‘I wasn’t interested in the head position, but now I have more reasons to become stronger.’
To protect those who cared for him, he had to become much stronger than he was now.