Volume 3 Chapter 215 Unchangeable Essence ①
Edited by: Kanaa-senpai
It seems that the ones restored by the thorns were Linca’s parents.
Kian must have met them many times, but it was over fifteen years ago, and he had unconsciously sealed away memories that could become emotional wounds, so he didn’t recognize them right away.
The only thing he remembered as knowledge was that Linca’s parents were both high-ranking warrior monks and trusted aides of Umar.
They were powerful warriors who supported the young Umar by his side, living for battle.
That said, for Kian—whose physical abilities had transformed into something monstrous by incorporating Talia’s blood—the movements of the two seemed frozen in time. Kian leaped forward ahead of Linca, and in half a moment, he had torn apart Linca’s father’s limbs. As he crushed the face of the Eastern man who screamed and collapsed, he finally responded to Linca’s mother, who was raising her sword in reaction.
”────!” he pinched the blade between his thumb and index finger.
With his monstrous strength, there was nothing a mere woman’s arm could do once it came to that.
Kian carelessly kicked the woman’s abdomen, then grabbed the hair of the kneeling beauty and yanked her up.
Linca’s mother coughed up blood like a real human.
As he thought, emotionlessly, that blood was indeed red, he plunged the Windsong Blade into her womb. After that, he twisted her neck with a crack, granting her salvation as her face contorted in fear and excruciating pain.
The head, resembling Linca’s beautiful features, hung upside down, drooping in front of her ample chest.
The battle was over.
Kian felt a sense of disgust, like filth, as he threw the glossy black hair he had gripped too tightly to the ground.
”Eh… isn’t the way you kill a bit too cruel?” Linca asked.
”I’m sorry. For some reason, I was driven by this desire to kill like this. I can’t even remember their names anymore, but I wonder why?” Kian replied.
”Well, I have plenty of ideas about that,” Linca said, watching the illusion of her parents turning to black ash with a complex expression. Kian, with a look of shame, scratched his cheek.
”Did I scare you?” he asked.
”No. I already knew the essence of Sir Kian,” she answered.
”────” He swallowed the words, What do you know about me? and picked up the key left by the guardians.
This time, it was a pitch-black collar with chains like darkness.
The Rose Garden Keeper fluttered its blue wings right in front of Kian.
”A soul-binding chain. A magic tool gifted by a dark spirit who fell in love at first sight with the vampire princess Talia as a token of affection,” Rose Garden Keeper explained.
”That dark spirit has no sense at all… Any woman would run away with her tail between her legs if given something like this,” Kian said.
”Talia also felt disgusted by the dark spirit’s gift and buried it outside the town,” Linca added.
”Looks like the proposal was a grand failure. Even if it was expected, the dark spirit was unfortunate,” Kian muttered.
”What kind of effect does that chain have?” Linca asked, walking closer, returning the misty magic sword to its sheath. She furrowed her brows, peering into the ominous aura surrounding the chain.
”It feels very ominous…” she said.
”A chain that binds the target’s soul and turns them into a slave. To enslave someone, you need to weaken them first, but once it’s on, they can’t take it off. A lifetime of slavery guaranteed,” Rose Garden Keeper explained.
”Isn’t that too scary?” Linca asked.
”Looks like we’ve gotten our hands on a dangerous cursed object. After we enter the sanctuary, let’s go for permanent sealing,” Kian decided.
”Even without permanent sealing, as long as we can’t get out of this otherworld, it’s practically a permanent seal anyway,” Linca noted.
”Linca, such defeatist talk is forbidden. We can get out of here. Believe that,” Kian said to encourage her, but Linca shook her head with a dark smile.
”I can’t believe it. I mean, we’ve secured food and necessities, so why not end the scary adventure and just hide away somewhere together? Luckily, we’re beings unaffected by illness even without sunlight, so living a lazy, decadent life like this is also an option,” she said.
”You always say that… You said something similar right after Jibril abandoned you,” Kian reminded her.
”Is that a problem? Is it that you, Sir Kian, don’t want to live a naughty slow life with me?” Linca teased.
”It’s not that I don’t want to. In fact, if we can’t go back from here, I even think that kind of ending wouldn’t be so bad. I was always the type who preferred to live a life of seclusion rather than interacting with people,” Kian admitted.
”Then doesn’t that make it all the more irrelevant? There seem to be plenty of interesting things in this world, and to be honest, we could take down someone like Remi Cain in an instant, so let’s just laze around here,” Linca said.
”Wasn’t it you who said you didn’t want to be in such a dark world?” Kian asked.
”It’s not that dark. The beautiful moon and colorful fish are swimming around, aren’t they? And since you’re here, Sir Kian, I’m not lonely, and I wouldn’t mind if I ended up living here forever,” she said with a carefree attitude, spreading her arms and spinning around, then sitting on the steps of the vampire carriage that had been left at the side of the road.
Kian sheathed the Windsong Blade and lowered his eyebrows.
”What’s gotten into you all of a sudden? Is it because of that weird skit we just saw?” he asked.
”Haha, maybe that’s it,” Linca answered with a nonchalant tone, turning her face away.
She sometimes gets like this, being a pain. Usually, it’s when she wants Kian’s attention, and if he ignores her, she gets irrationally angry later, which is a hassle, so he has to listen to her properly.
Kian sighed and told the blue butterfly, “Let’s take a break, so set up a barrier.”
”And? What was that illusion from earlier?” he asked, sitting next to Linca and pulling a dried thorn from the Wraith in his pocket, lighting it up.
”Can you tell me, like, whatever you can?” he requested.
”Sticking your nose into other people’s family matters is so uncouth, you know,” Linca said.
He swallowed the words that were about to spill out—”It’s because you look like you want to talk”—and instead said, “Please.” He needed patience to deal with Linca, who had turned into a bothersome woman.
Linca glanced over for a moment, then hugged her knees and began to speak softly.
”That’s a memory from when I was twelve,” she said.
”After I was exiled, huh?” Kian prompted.
”I think so, maybe,” Linca replied, letting out a small sigh before continuing.
”The little boy’s name was Ryu. He was my little brother. He was a smart kid, but unfortunately, he wasn’t blessed with the talent of a warrior monk. So, sometimes he would receive ‘education’ from our father and mother like that.”
”Education, or it looked more like abuse,” Kian commented.
”It wasn’t usually that bad. That day—when Ryu significantly lost vision in his right eye—was a few months before the entrance exam for the monastery. Ryu was born with a naturally low amount of tachyonian cells and needed a relatively large amount of energy (ki) to properly handle the ‘Shot’ techniques. It seemed he was trying to find ways to fight with the little energy he had, but such efforts were as good as nothing in front of our father and mother, who expected the best results,” Linca said, staring intently at her right hand.
”That day was also the day I took first place in the martial arts tournament of the Vahid family’s retinue. Long ago, I replicated the perfect ‘Penetration’ that was said to have been used by the founder of the Tsai family. Against me, who was immune to attacks, even warrior monks from my generation or slightly older couldn’t lay a finger on me. I took first place with overwhelming results and was praised in front of everyone by Sir Jibril and Elder Umar. At that time, Elder Umar said, ‘Linca is exceptional, your brother Ryu must be exceptional too, I have high hopes for him──’” she recalled.
”Did Umar not know your brother was lacking in the talent of a warrior monk?” Kian asked.
When Kian asked, Linca let out a strangely high-pitched laugh.
”Of course not. Elder Umar is well-acquainted with the retinue. His statement was a revelation directed at our father and mother. Even if he lacked the talent of a warrior monk, if he had other outstanding qualities, he should use those to elevate the Vahid family. Elder Umar had a high regard for Ryu, who was gifted in arithmetic. He even suggested to my father that Ryu might become a merchant,” she explained.
”So that thought didn’t reach your father, huh?”
”Yes. My father and mother took pride in supporting the Vahid family through martial prowess. Therefore, they had a strong desire for me and Ryu to become high-ranking warrior monks. But Ryu… he had no talent for it. Becoming a greedy merchant who moves money and goods around to profit… something my parents couldn’t accept.”
”I don’t understand the sense that merchants are vile. Money and connections are power. Far stronger than a sword.”
”Stronger than a sword? Hehe… To be able to say that from the heart is what’s great about Sir Kian.”
Kian felt a sad emotion and looked toward the remnants of the thorn bush he had just erased.
Of course, that scene wasn’t a regular occurrence.
Linca’s father, no matter what, but Ryu, he was asking for help from his mother and sister.
This must have been because the boy thought that, if he asked for help, his mother and sister would help him.
So, when something like that happened, it could be assumed that it was always his mother or Linca who stopped him.
However, the violence that led to the loss of vision in his right eye crossed the line.
Ryu, the boy, may have carried a wound on his heart that would never fade, even more so than the one on his right eye.
Kian, having been lynched and made a fool of by many people, could empathize, at least a little, with Ryu’s situation.
”Does your younger brother resent your father and mother?”
”I don’t know. My father and mother, though strict, didn’t treat Ryu harshly on a regular basis. At least, it’s not comparable to Sir Kian’s situation.”
”I don’t think it’s a matter of degree. So, was your brother always alone? Never loved by anyone?”
Linca paused for a moment and then shook her head.
”Now that he’s succeeded as a merchant, it seems he’s getting along with my father and mother. After Ryu graduates from the monastery, he’s also set to inherit the family headship.”
”Well, that’s good, isn’t it? Really good… I thought your father didn’t let your brother go to the monastery to hide his lack of talent.”
”Heh… Sir Kian, you’re just as sharp as Sir Jibril, aren’t you?”
”Eh?”
Beside the frozen Kian, Linca distorted her beautiful face to the point where her looks were ruined.
”My father didn’t approve of Ryu entering the monastery. He didn’t provide any funds for him to pursue another path either.”
”What… then how did your brother get into the monastery?”
”I paid for it. I accumulated martial achievements under the guidance of Master Umar, and as a shaman, I became successful early, earning plenty of pay.”
”So that’s how it was! Well, that’s good then!”
”Good?”
Linca glared at Kian, her eyes sharp as daggers.
”Where in this story was there anything good?”
”The fact that your younger brother was at least loved by you… that was the good part.”
Kian had, without realizing it, broken into a smile from the heart.
”I’m glad. I was thinking that if your little brother had been abandoned by everyone and gathered money on his own in despair, it would be hopeless. But there was salvation. You helped him.”
”I-I didn’t really…”
”Then why did you pay for your brother’s tuition?”
”I… I’m lucky, I guess. I can do more than most. And as a shaman, I was gifted, so I ended up with a lot of money. I just gave the extra money to my brother.”
”Well, there’s no need to be shy about it. Helping others isn’t something to be embarrassed about.”
Kian said this and nudged Linca’s elbow, but Linca shook her head with a self-deprecating smile.
”I’m not embarrassed. It’s the truth… I’m just not that kind of person.”
The fingers of the hand she had wrapped around her knees tightened.
Her neatly polished nails turned white.
”I… I was just afraid of being hated by my smart little brother. Also, I only gave him financial help to atone for ignoring the family motto of enforcing justice. It was just atonement.”
T/N: The family motto of “enforcing justice” reflects the strict code of honor the Vahid family follows, valuing martial prowess and discipline over commerce or other pursuits.
Linca gritted her teeth.
”In the end, I just wanted to stay pure. Even though I thought my father and mother were ugly, I couldn’t bring myself to condemn the two who gave me love. Instead, I made my talentless brother the villain in my heart. I didn’t directly lay a hand on him, but what I did was the same as what my parents did. My troublesome brother. I didn’t want to see anything unpleasant. I was enjoying my sparkling youth with Sir Jibril and the others, but I couldn’t understand why something so dirty existed in my family. I hated seeing it in front of me, so I decided that if I paid money, it would all end.”
”Linca…”
”I am a grotesque bystander,” she said. “Pretending to understand others’ pain, spouting sweet words, shouting loudly about justice, love, and friendship—yet when danger approaches me, I cover it all up and run away. No matter how glorious my history, how beautifully I present myself, my heart is a filthy, twisted, dark woman.”
”That’s not true.”
”It is. None other than Sir Kian knows this well, doesn’t he?”
Linca turned to look at him with a strange smile. It was a flat, fear-inducing grin, like the masks Natra and the others used.
”I didn’t just abandon my brother,” she continued. “Sir Kian, you too were ignored by me.”
Kian raised an eyebrow. “Now that you mention it, one-tenth of the reason you follow me remains a mystery, but perhaps—”
”That’s right. It’s atonement,” she said. “Even though you were subjected to terrible persecution, I turned a blind eye. I was scared of being persecuted myself, so I used the pretext of being Sir Jibril’s servant to crush the justice within me. Because it continues to exist within me as something filthy, I keep putting on a good face for you, Sir Kian, to be with the husband I chose.”
”You weren’t putting on that good a face, though,” he said. “Basically, you were a free-spirited, difficult person to handle.”
Natra, Rufna, and Sarah were Rank 1 vassals. Serena was around Rank 5. Meanwhile, Linca fluctuated between Rank 1 and Rank 10. Her ability was excellent, so she was usable, but honestly, she was a tricky piece to calculate. It was better to have many third-rank pieces like Shura and Katyusha.
”Sir Kian!?”
”Just kidding,” he said. “You were the best vassal.”
Kian casually told a lie.
Linca nodded once, with a face that didn’t quite understand. “Y-yeah.”
”But I think you’re even more attractive as a woman.”
”Ah, thank you?”
”I want to ask,” he said. “You said before that you didn’t follow Jibril out of romantic feelings, right?”
”What’s this all of a sudden? Jealous again?”
”No. Just a pure question. If there are no romantic feelings, I wonder why you swore loyalty to Jibril. You wouldn’t have such noble thoughts just because the Tsai family is a hereditary vassal.”
”Isn’t that too rude!?” she shot back. “I do feel some gratitude towards the Vahid family for helping to grow the Tsai family.”
”Really? You don’t seem to have loyalty to Vahid, and by extension, the Tsai family,” he said. “When you switched sides to me, you were worried about your father, mother, and brother, but you weren’t afraid of tarnishing the Tsai family name or being called ungrateful. On the contrary, you were always talking about living a leisurely life on Franz’s West Coast if your family was safe.”
”────”
If anything, my smart little brother would probably manage just fine, so I even said I wanted to leisurely enjoy a trip around the world. Kian was so taken aback by my carefree attitude that even he had no words.
Kian looked at Linca with a black gaze, as if seeing straight through the person, just like Jibril.
”The reason you followed Jibril,” he said, “it has something to do with your little brother’s situation, doesn’t it?”
Linca sighed and stared into the fire.
”I questioned the society of Azrael, where my little brother was to be eliminated,” she said. “Is a society where no matter how much effort you put in, if you lack talent, you can never succeed, really a good one? On the other hand, is it right for a society like mine, where you can rise to the highest rank as a warrior monk even if you’re a lazy bum, just because you have talent? Opportunities should be given equally. Sir Jibril, in the magic power-obsessed Azrael, has been working towards creating a society where even those without magic can thrive. After I passed my teenage years and he rejected my entry into his harem, I still sympathized with his ideals and worked to create and protect a new Azrael.”
”Azrael, where even the ‘failures’ like Shura can thrive, huh.”
”Yes. It’s about techniques to supplement magic from magic stones, or developing magic tools that even regular citizens can use. Those were the main things. I believed that Sir Jibril would create a society that wouldn’t produce victims like Ryu, and I was the only one who could assist in that.”
”…………”
From Jibril’s perspective, Linca was probably the relic of an old era. Born with talent, a person guaranteed a high position because of it.
Just like the Twelve Divine Generals and Death Sword Users of Azrael, she was an entity that had to be denied.
Linca Tsai—more specifically, the Tsai family, a family of excellent warrior monks—shouldn’t belong to the new age. Azrael had stagnated politically and militarily because it had relied too much on the “noble class” like the Tsai family, which possessed such powerful military force.
Jibril was a revolutionary through and through, right down to his bones.
He didn’t understand why his little brother would want to create such a world. But his ideals were noble, with a clear and unwavering line running through them.
Linca took off her knee-high boots and held her sweaty toes close to the fire, flexing them.
”But in the end,” she said, “I was nothing but a replaceable part to Sir Jibril. I could clearly feel that before he even discarded me. When I realized that, I was struck by an indescribable sense of anxiety.”
”And what was the source of that anxiety?”
”If an era comes where even those without talent can thrive, what will happen to someone like me, who had my position secured just because of my talent?”
”I can start a fire with magic, and I can also summon water. I can even make meteors fall. But what if magic tools develop, and even someone like Sir Kian can do those things?”
Linca wore a lonely smile.
”A clumsy woman like me will surely become unnecessary in society—that’s what I thought.”
”I don’t think a talented person like you will ever be unnecessary in society.”
Linca shook her head. “No.”
”In other words,” she said, “while I deny the system, I was part of the system. I’m not as smart as Sir Kian or Sir Jibril, and when a new era comes, I won’t be used as a part by Sir Jibril. I truly feared that future vision from the bottom of my heart.”
”So that’s why you started slacking off at work?”
”How rude. I was still producing results… but I no longer worked myself to the bone like before. I would beg Sir Jibril for a salary increase, or get so lost in reading magic books that I’d pull all-nighters, and then somehow think, ‘I don’t feel like putting on makeup today,’ and take a day off citing health issues.”
”That’s much healthier than becoming a workaholic like Rufna or Sarah.”
”However, my passion has completely faded away.”
Linca said “hm” and placed her feet on Kian’s lap. It wasn’t like she was telling him to lick them. Kian took a wet cloth from the Wraith and gently wiped Linca’s feet clean. Linca squinted her eyes in pleasure.
”To be honest,” she said, “towards the end, there were parts I was doing for the salary or just out of inertia. Yet Sir Jibril, just like when he was a child, has been tirelessly pursuing his ideal society without changing… I respected him for being such an amazing person, but honestly, I couldn’t keep up.”
”It’s not your fault.”
”Hehe… I don’t think it’s that I’m at fault,” she said, “but I was just that kind of person. Even if I have superior abilities, in the end, I’m just an ordinary citizen.”
”Don’t belittle yourself like that. It’s hard to respond.”
”It’s not belittling; this is the unvarnished me. Wanting to live a slow life in this world is about 80 percent my true feelings. Honestly, I have nothing to do in the real world, and I have no passion. Regarding the new world Sir Jibril is creating, I feel like I’m standing from a spectator’s perspective, and I really don’t care much.”
Linca shrugged and continued.
”In the East, there’s a term ‘Tōgenkyō.’ It means a world apart from the mundane, a paradise of immortals, a different realm. I’m like an immortal who doesn’t age, and I think it would be nice to work leisurely in agriculture in this Count Cain’s territory as a ‘Tōgenkyō.’ Though the lack of sunlight is a bit of a downer.”
T/N: “Tōgenkyō” (桃源郷) is a Japanese term derived from Chinese, referring to a utopian, idyllic land—literally “Peach Blossom Spring”—a paradise removed from worldly troubles.
”There’s sunlight. The divine core of the phoenix—that’s what they used to cultivate sugarcane. If we can get our hands on it, we could build a pseudo-sun and make our own day and night.”
The blue butterfly, silent until now, fluttered once and interjected.
Linca clapped her hands. “Ah, well then, that works out perfectly. I don’t care about this ‘domain’ business or whatever—so how about we go look for the divine core of the phoenix right now?”
”I get the appeal of wanting to live a slow life in another world,” Kian said, “but for me, I want to meet the lord of this world first—and negotiate to return to my original one.”
”You could get killed the moment you meet him, you know?” Linca shrugged. “We’re talking about a spirit with immense power, aren’t we? They say in the East, ‘Leave the gods alone and you won’t be cursed.’
T/N: Japanese proverb implying that meddling with divine or supernatural forces invites disaster.
”Even so,” Kian replied, his tone resolute. “I’ll hold off on falling into depravity with you until the very end.”
Linca made a bored face. She slipped off her other boot and raised her foot to her knee. “Why is Sir Kian so fixated on the real world? Is it because you left Ms. Sarah and the others behind?”
”That’s right.”
”Is that all?”
”…What are you trying to say?”
While gently wiping Linca’s elegantly shaped right toes, Kian posed the question back. He decided to give her a massage too—just the way she liked it: firm enough to tease the pain threshold, stimulating her pressure points. When she sweetly asked him to rub her arches, he obeyed without a word.
”Sir Kian, you intend to take revenge not just on Sir Umar—but on Sir Jibril as well, don’t you?”
”────Why do you think that?”
”It’s obvious just by watching your words and actions.” Linca wiggled her toes and demanded, “See? Please massage my heels more.”
”Sir Kian lives on revenge and obsession. That’s your path to power—your pursuit of strength, isn’t it? But now… the means and the end have reversed. That hunger for strength is taking over, rising to the surface like a demon.”
”────”
”But you saw Sir Umar, didn’t you? That pathetic old wreck. Sure, he got the better of you this time—but he’ll die soon enough. Without your help. And when he does, it’ll be a wretched, meaningless death. Honestly, it might be more merciful if you killed him.”
”Maybe.” Kian pressed his knuckles into the pressure point in her heel.
Linca let out a soft, pleased sigh and continued, “On the other hand, what meaning is there in taking revenge on Sir Jibril? Unlike me, he’s an apostle of justice.
T/N: In this context, an ‘apostle of justice’ refers to someone uncompromisingly righteous or self-righteous, a common character archetype in Japanese media.
”────────”
”Look at your face. You’re frozen.”
”…You really are quite malicious.”
”Hehehe. Not as much as you, Sir Kian. As long as we’re here in this world, Sir Jibril won’t come chasing us. Even if we ignore him, he’ll keep pushing reforms ‘for the world, for the people.’ You could almost cheer him on: ‘Please, go right ahead with your noble ideals.’ As long as we behave ourselves over here, it’s literally someone else’s problem in another world.”
”────────”
”So, how about we go look for the phoenix’s divine core together? I’ve wanted to try growing potatoes from scratch for a while now.”
”You’re quite the smooth talker,” Kian said. “If we keep this up, I might actually start thinking the way you want me to.”
”Don’t you like that?”
”I wouldn’t mind being at the mercy of a beauty like you.”
”Well then.” Linca tightened her abs and tried to pull her legs back.
But before she could, Kian pulled them toward him again and resumed the massage. “…But I have no intention of giving up on revenge. No—more accurately, I can’t give it up.”
Notes:
• Linca – Jibril’s favorite girl. High-ranking warrior monk woman from Shin, with strong abilities like ignoring attacks and poisons.
• Ryu – Linca’s little brother.
• tachyonian – a cell that generates magic power, allowing humans to enhance their bodies and perform magic to manipulate the external world. (tachyon: particle that always travels faster than light.)
• Katyusha – A female warrior monk of the black panther race and a follower of Abbas Hashmalik Shakerdoust.
• Serena – Wolfmen Girl
• Count Cain – Talia’s father.
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Edited by Kanaa-senpai.
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