LIGHTNOVELONLINE Chapter 42
“I’m sorry about what happened back then.”
There were too many eyes watching us to talk about it there.
We stepped into the Practice Room.
“What are you sorry for?”
“…For making you faint without permission back then.”
Karen averted her gaze.
“You might think it’s an excuse, but I’ve never been one to be greedy. In a war zone, greed equals death.”
The formative years of one’s human shape.
She had spent all that time on the battlefield.
Before knowing the warmth of her parents, she learned the heat of blood, wielding a sword instead of playing with toys.
In such places, greed is the privilege of the strong.
When you’re hungry, you steal from others; if you want to live, you have to kill.
Karen wasn’t born strong.
After spending decades stifling desire and greed, one day, everything becomes numb.
“Maybe because of that, when I finally find something I truly want…”
“It means you can’t see the way forward, right?”
“Yeah…”
Karen awkwardly smiled and scratched her cheek.
“That greed I never had back then, it feels like it explodes all at once?”
“…….”
That’s how it goes.
A child deprived of toys becomes an adult obsessed with them.
A child who couldn’t eat sweets grows into an adult fixated on snacks.
‘To her, I am…’
The being that makes her feel the ‘greed’ she has never felt.
“Can I ask you something?”
“Sure, anything!”
“Professor, why is it that you want me to inherit that technique?”
This was a deeply personal question.
Aside from the popular design, the character ‘Karen Orbon’ isn’t treated very deeply within the game.
She was simply regarded as a special NPC who could obtain the skills necessary for an ultimate build of a “Hero.”
There isn’t much revealed about her detailed story.
“Hmm~ I’m not sure.”
Karen chuckled softly.
“Ran, have you ever seen a bird with really big, beautiful wings?”
“I can’t recall anything memorable.”
“I have seen one. A bird so magnificent it makes you gasp just by looking at it.”
She lifted her gaze, looking out the window at the sky.
“Aren’t you curious? How far that bird could go when it flies with all its might, how high it could soar?”
A vast sky without a single cloud.
In Karen’s eyes, glancing at the blue, there was an overwhelming sense of anticipation.
“That’s how it is. To me, Ran, you have the most amazing wings I’ve ever seen.”
“…I see.”
“You could fly higher than me. You could see vistas that I’d never witness. That made me curious.”
As she finished her story, she looked at me with a bittersweet smile.
‘…I’m surprised.’
Honestly, I was very surprised.
Could it be that Karen…
‘Hides her insanity this well?’
As I said before, Karen is ‘pure evil.’
No matter the process, her nature ultimately equates to ‘evil.’
‘What she just said, though not a lie…’
Karen’s ultimate goal is not that.
Having repeated the playthrough multiple times, I can discern what her ‘true purpose’ is.
“Professor. This is only my speculation, but…”
I quietly spoke up.
“I believe that desire can never be directed at others. That would hold true for you as well, professor.”
Is there really such a thing as a true desire for the success and happiness of others?
Only someone saintly could harbor such desires.
However, Karen stands at the farthest point from being virtuous.
“Professor Karen wants to make me the strongest.”
I locked eyes with Karen.
My reflection echoed in her deeply sunken crimson pupils.
“You want to break me, don’t you? With your own hands.”
“Ahahaha~ I was just hiding it out of embarrassment.”
She smiled brightly.
“Indeed, Ran, you’re exceptional. Yes! I want to make you the best. A swordsman that no one could rival. The greatest master across all times.”
Her small hands cupped her cheeks.
Her face flushed a lovely pink as a chilling smile emerged.
“And I want to win. I want to break you. I want to break your wings so you can’t fly again. I want to pluck your feathers and drink your blood, drenching myself in it.”
Just hearing it sent shivers down my spine.
“Ran.”
Karen approached me, exuding an alluring aura.
“Because of you, I can finally feel alive.”
“…You’re quite the unbelievable pervert, professor.”
“Really? I think I’m relatively normal.”
It’s only when standing on the bodies of others that one realizes they’re truly alive.
She is a person formed in such a space.
A madman twisted beyond recognition, truly a Sword Demon.
That is who Karen Orbon is.
“Ran. I can complete you. And you can complete me!”
Though invisible, I felt it.
A strong destiny entwining both of us.
‘Hah.’
A laugh escaped me.
From the outside, it looks like the strongest character line is subtly threatening me to defeat her in the future.
‘Oh, this is perfect.’
In truth, it’s the opposite.
I’ve just gained the most reliable ally.
At least within Polaris.
She would prioritize my life over her own.
“The leash is in my hands.”
“…!”
“All of your actions related to me will be thoroughly controlled by me. If you cross the line on your own, I will immediately abandon the teaching.”
“That… means…?”
“That I will be your master.”
As I said this…
“…Eek!”
Tears streamed from Karen’s eyes.
“Gah…! Hihihihi! Huh! Hih!”
Twitch! Twitch!
She looked like someone whose brain was soaked in pleasure.
Her body trembled intermittently, making only moan-like sounds repeatedly.
“Once again, the leash is in my hands. If you act on your own, you will have to abandon teaching or…”
Swish!
I drew my sword and held it to my neck.
“I will end myself.”
“Wh-what?! Guuh…?!”
“Isn’t it necessary to set a kind of insurance to handle a Sword Demon?”
Bringing the blade to my neck, my flesh parted, and a little blood welled up.
Seeing that, Karen’s face twisted as if her own flesh was being gouged out.
“Then, stay obediently bound. Karen Orbon.”
“Nehe….”
She trembled, gingerly tracing the wound on my neck.
With a face that melted as if she found it adorable, she struggled to continue speaking.
“I can’t give you to anyone until I break you myself… not until I make you the most beautiful….”
Her blood-stained gaze looked up at me.
My blood flowed along her small white palm.
“I’ll protect you….”
It’s done.
‘This is the best and greatest relationship I can have with Karen.’
The means to defend against Vernia’s schemes.
I acquired the strongest sword.
*
“Did you get hurt again?”
“Well, it’s similar.”
“…Please take better care of yourself.”
Elma glanced at the bandage around my neck, looking worried.
‘It’s just a minor wound.’
I forced a smile and fiddled with the wound on my neck.
The day I spoke with Karen, it was just a slight scratch added to pack more impact into my statement.
‘Of all times, her killing intent spilled over.’
She had become so emotional that her killing intent was unleashed recklessly.
And it just so happened to seep into the wound.
Wounds tainted with killing intent do not heal easily.
That alone shows how absurdly powerful the killing intent is.
The attack power is incredible, plus it has a healing reduction effect.
Well, it’s a very small amount that seeped into this wound, so it should heal without a trace in a day or two.
“This isn’t a serious injury. Thank you for worrying.”
“Hmm… It shouldn’t interfere with the training we’re about to do.”
Elma turned her head for no reason.
“They say this Star Festival will be the largest ever.”
“Because the participants are extravagant.”
Among the new students are a saintess, a princess, and, unofficially, an heir from the Adrim.
In the senior participants, there’s Vernia, called the future emperor, and the heir of the Sword Demon family, ‘Rune.’
It makes sense that the scale is increasing in many ways.
“That’s why the details of the festival have unusually been disclosed in advance.”
“So they’re saying to prepare thoroughly and show the audience a perfect performance…”
During the festival, the doors of Polaris, typically kept tight shut, will swing wide open.
It’s literally the festival atmosphere.
“This festival’s event is a ‘Relic Contest.'”
Elma began explaining the details.
I already knew it all, but I responded appropriately while pretending to be interested.
“It sounds tough….”
“It’s a category that requires high capabilities in many ways. That’s why a team has specially requested a spar with us.”
At that moment, two people approached us in the Training Hall.
“Those people are…”
“They’re participants in this Star Festival, just like us.”
A woman with brown wavy hair.
“Elma!”
“I was waiting, Jane.”
The head of the student council.
Jane Rune.
‘…I never expected this two-person combination.’
And a first-year student participating alongside her.
A saintess with long pink hair and a black eye patch.
“Nice to meet you.”