Chapter 24: Where Wind Meets Blood 

Kneeling on the ground, every inhale and exhale produced a whistling leak from the wound on my neck.

Blood flowing down my chest glowed a brilliant blue, scattering the night’s darkness.

Thinking my throat had been severed, I reflexively raised both hands to clutch it.

The only thought was to keep my head from falling off.

Unlike the front, the back was firmly attached.

Only then did I realize the grinding sound was the military sword blade scraping my cervical vertebrae.

Fortunately or unfortunately, the neck bone wasn’t completely cut.

Since my arms moved and I could think, the spinal cord was intact.

“Haaa.”

I drooled blood-mixed saliva dripping from neck and chin.

Seongbaek, sheathing his military sword, looked down at me.

“It seems you want to ask this old man why.”

Exactly—right now, doubt outweighed pain.

Why on earth was he trying to kill me?

“Perhaps collapsing here would be better for you. Then you wouldn’t have to disappoint yourself and despair at the world like this old man.”

Seongbaek wore an expression full of regret.

At that moment, I felt breathing become easier.

No more hiss of bloody foam from my neck.

I’d heard it before.

Purebloods reattach even severed necks if done immediately.

I never thought I’d test it with my body.

Seongbaek before me gripped his military sword and prepared to draw.

He seemed intent on ending me in one strike.

Watching that motion, I blamed my foolish response.

If this were a battlefield, I’d already be dead.

“Careless.”

The instant he tensed his grip on the hilt, I reached out and seized his wrist.

“Uh!”

Convulsions crossed the mighty elder’s face.

He continued forcing his arm to draw the sword; I used his strength to rise as if pushed.

To Seongbaek frowning, I said.

“You must be senile. The most basic rule when facing blue blood with a sword.”

“……!”

“You should’ve assumed I was alive until the head flew off.”

I picked up my fallen wavy-patterned knight’s sword and aimed it at Seongbaek.

Broad face tapering to a point, specialized for thrusting.

Thick enough not to break against solid breastplates, slightly shorter than a standard one-handed sword.

The moment my beloved sword settled in my hand, stability returned.

“Let’s continue. Elder.”

He shook his military sword up and down as if flicking blood.

Ease from experience, killing intent, and a faint competitive spirit emanated.

“Young Master. It would’ve been better to play dead.”

He stepped forward with his right foot; a deep thrust flew in an instant.

SWOOSH!

So swift and clear that the moment I saw his shoulder, it was already before my eyes.

Too late to evade, I laid my sword flat and received the military sword tip with the broad face.

SCRAPE, SCRATCH—wrestling-like, I twisted the sword and deflected Seongbaek’s thrust.

TAP—the elder retreated, kicking the ground with his toes, face distorting.

“Petty tricks!”

SLASH, SWISH, STAB, SHHH!

The military sword poured like crashing waves.

Both shoulders and armpits, face and neck, thighs in between.

Instead of retreating, I stepped forward.

I couldn’t just defend forever; defense and attack were one motion.

I had to pour defense to seize the line.

Seongbaek was agile; predicting from shoulders was late.

Then?

I glanced at his toes.

Left and right feet constantly shifting front-back, left-right, moving center of gravity.

When right foot extends that much, pelvis twists left, shoulders tilt right.

A vivid image formed in my mind.

“Here.”

CLANG—the military sword deeply targeting my neck flowed away.

“This time here.”

CLINK—the thrust at my thigh bounced midway.

I slightly raised my head to see Seongbaek’s face.

Veins bulged on his neck as he gritted teeth and distorted his face.

He’s about to use strength now.

“Hup!”

A charged thrust aimed at my face.

The moment I thought it would fly toward my mouth, I bent until chin nearly touched knee and kicked the ground.

SWISH!

A flash passed overhead.

Momentary convulsions crossed the mighty elder’s face.

I thrust my sword into Seongbaek’s empty chest.

“Not yet.”

He gritted teeth, threw his body back, and kicked my approaching thigh to push me away.

My knight’s sword pierced Seongbaek’s chest by a finger’s breadth but couldn’t go further and was pulled out.

Faint blue blood sprayed.

I gritted teeth and extended my sword, but Seongbaek quickly retreated, widening distance.

Exhaling disordered breath, he wore an expression as if seeing something absurd.

“I heard you’ve held a sword less than a year.”

“Yes. That’s right.”

“I have held a sword for a hundred years.”

Seongbaek glanced at his chest wound.

“Truly, magical talent.”

Blue light flashed in Seongbaek’s hand.

Light falling like snowflakes enveloped the military sword.

I’d seen similar magic weeks ago.

“Wind blade.”

“You know it.”

“I heard you became honorary officer with swordsmanship alone.”

“A distortion. Swordsmanship is merely a tool to better utilize this thin blood’s magic.”

“Lies.”

Seongbaek’s eyelids twitched; veins rose on his sword arm.

“Hoo!”

He raised his sword with a shout.

I lightly jumped in place, assuming stance.

I’d faced wind blade before.

Power to cut with wind on contact or disrupt stance; if the sword breaks, it’s over.

I couldn’t block Seongbaek’s sword—I had to evade.

“Troublesome!”

The military sword glowing blue spun like a pinwheel.

It grazed my shoulder, skimmed my neck, slashed my knee.

“How long do you think you can evade!”

If any slash cut even a hair deeper, the wind blade would burst.

Attacks that would sever my limbs.

But I didn’t feel they’d cut.

I tensed every muscle to the tearing point.

The interval between heartbeats felt like a minute.

I evaded Seongbaek’s upward slash and thrust at his flank.

Seongbaek’s wide clothes tore lengthwise; a shallow but long cut drew blood.

“……!”

Seongbaek, astonished, shifted the military sword to one hand in the upward pose and stepped forward.

His wall-like massive body slashed down.

SWOOOSH—his military sword traced deeply into my side.

Can’t evade that.

I had to block, but touching the blade would burst wind blade magic, so I couldn’t deflect head-on.

I had to twist and flow to avoid the wind blade.

“Ha!”

I tilted my sword and pushed the military sword’s side.

SCRATCH, SCRATCH!

Blade scraped blade, twisting.

In that instant, powerful wind burst from where swords met.

SWISH!

The wind grazed my shoulder and shot into the air.

It works.

I smiled triumphantly and stepped forward.

I knocked the falling sword on my right shoulder outward; diagonally slashed the frontal thrust.

Wind blades falling to the clearing floor raised thick dust.

“How long do you think you can hold like this!”

Even in thick dust, it was clear.

Brilliant blue light flashed on Seongbaek’s military sword.

Red lights blared in my mind, signaling crisis.

Seongbaek slashed down.

WHOOOOSH!

A hazy wind blade cleaved the dust cloud along the trajectory.

“Young Master. Give up now.”

“You’ve been saying surrender since earlier.”

Shape diagonal, length starting at military sword’s and gradually fading and extending.

“Seongbaek, you didn’t give up either!”

I leaped back greatly and used true cut downward.

CRASH—like glass shattering, the wind blade broke.

“Do you know the treatment this old man receives!”

Seongbaek, teeth gritted, spun his sword like a pinwheel.

Wind blades flew again.

One, two, three, four… 

I circled him at five-step intervals, evading wind blades.

WHOOSH—blades flying back felled thick trees and smoothly cut rocks.

“Officer-mages hate seeing me swing a sword, so I can’t even live in the castle!”

A crescent-moon-long wind blade flew at me.

I tensed my abdomen and slowly slashed down.

Strength like rocks filled my body.

A sword that cuts magic.

CRASH—the long wind blade split in half.

Scattered wind blade fragments scratched my cheek and upper arm.

“Far from retirement or comfortable old age, I only deal with insolent young nobles!”

Just as I relaxed, dagger-like small wind blades mixed among broken fragments flew.

“This!”

I spun my sword like a pinwheel following Seongbaek, knocking five, but the sixth deeply cut my right ankle.

“How many seconds to regenerate?”

Seongbaek raised his military sword skyward and continued.

“In this world, you can never face magic with a sword alone. No matter the effort, give up. At best, you’ll be a half-baked honorary officer, honorary noble!”

WHOOOOSH!

Wind blades surged, easily cleaving the ground.

Growing to three times my height, they ground obstructing tree stumps.

I exhaled and raised my knight’s sword.

No.

I am different.

I divided my heartbeat as much as possible and tensed muscles again.

A sensation of something filling between tearing-taut muscles.

Vitality overflowed.

Now, I felt I could completely split that cliff from back then.

I gripped the sword.

“I am different.”

Swearing, I swung the sword.

A strange thought flashed in my mind.

If the sword broke now, my blood would flow inside it.

I swung as if the sword were my limb.

I cut pushing the wind blade.

Strong repulsion hit on contact, but I poured more strength into ankle, waist, shoulder, wrist.

I loaded my entire body weight into the sword.

SCREEEEE!

My sword—a meter-long iron piece—endured the wind blade magic.

Seongbaek’s mouth gaped.

The over-hundred-year-old elder’s eyes shook like a fifteen-year-old boy’s.

Reminiscence, hope, and resolve rebuilt—countless emotions filled his eyes.

When I mentally counted to ten, strength began leaving my arms.

My mind went blank white.

Trembling arms failed to overcome the magic and slowly pushed back.

The wind blade approached to bisect me.

I need more weight.

That thought filled my mind.

The moment I thought, my body moved.

Toes naturally dug into the ground; pelvis, shoulders twisted, forming the posture to gather maximum strength.

Still not enough.

More.

More!

The moment I thought that, I felt a bizarre sensation.

My body’s blood seemed to flow toward the sword.

Strength returned to my arms.

“Huh?”

Uncontrollable power.

The translucent wind blade, ultimately pushed by me, lost its weight and direction, twisting.

The blade went PENG, coiling into a small vortex.

Swept by the vortex, my toes lifted slightly; I staggered.

TAP. Legs weakened like taffy, wobbling.

Seongbaek looked at me entranced.

I think I heard him mutter “perhaps.”

The moment the vortex subsided, I regripped my sword.

The cut ankle had healed long ago.

With Seongbaek’s bloodline, he couldn’t use such magic consecutively.

I’d evade wind blades and close in.

If worst came, escape with Sir Liam and Sir Dande.

The moment I thought that, Seongbaek retracted the wind blade from his sword.

“Huh?”

He completely cut the magic?

“Aaaaaah.”

Laughing refreshingly, he lowered like a snake and charged exhausted.

Seongbaek thrust his“Military sword like a knight’s sword.

CLANG—I stepped forward, receiving with my breastplate.

Sparks flew; the military sword pushed back.

I didn’t miss the chance and tried to stab Seongbaek’s side, but he slashed upward from below, knocking my sword.

“I never thought a knight could cut wind blade with a sword.”

His voice was incredibly clear and refreshed.

For a moment, even his wrinkles seemed gone.

Seongbaek unleashed wind-like five consecutive thrusts.

Left arm, both thighs, both shoulders.

I retreated one step and swung.

CLANG, SCRATCH, CLINK, THUD!

Knocking those fatal thrusts midway, I thought.

This wasn’t swordsmanship to kill.

It was to block and stall.

Inflict wounds on knights with weaker regeneration to prevent performance, then call soldiers to beat them.

This is battlefield swordsmanship.

Retreating six steps, I corrected stance.

Dizziness from overexertion.

Seongbaek also breathed roughly.

We intuitively knew.

It was time to decide.

“Hut!”

I gripped my sword tightly and charged.

Seongbaek raised his sword as if to sever my neck in one go.

I precisely remembered how far his shoulder muscles pulled.

He’d slash down at the peak.

The mighty elder’s blue eyes burned with blue-blood passion.

Now, I was faster.

TAP, and SWISH!

The moment I leaped, Seongbaek slashed down.

His body, trained over a hundred years, had no excess.

So I was late realizing it wasn’t in response to me but reflexive.

My body stiffened briefly.

His military sword fell like storm; my knight’s sword advanced like a meteor crossing the night sky.

CLAAAANG!

Unexpected metal clash rang loudly.

“Uh!”

“Ugh!”

Both let out startled cries.

My knight’s sword guard and Seongbaek’s military sword crossguard collided.

Seongbaek’s military sword twitched to bisect my neck and shoulder; my knight’s sword trembled to pierce his side.

Like clashing beasts, we squeezed every ounce of strength.

Hot sweat poured even in winter weather; limbs shook; veins and tendons bulged on neck and forehead.

Military sword and knight’s sword became mediums, sparking between masters.

How many seconds passed?

I felt the limit.

My body felt hollow.

Even eyelids lost strength.

As despair threatened to overtake certainty of victory, Seongbaek twisted his military sword blade.

The military sword aiming to sever my neck lightly pushed me; using the recoil, Seongbaek retreated.

Staggering as if to collapse, he planted his military sword in the ground to steady himself.

“Can’t cheat age.”

I looked at him, breathing roughly.

Similarly planting my sword in the ground to support my collapsing body.

“If you’d endured a bit more, you would’ve taken my neck.”

“What decides victory at the end isn’t skill but enduring that little bit more.”

Answering thus, Seongbaek looked at me with a strange expression.

Like seeing a fragment of an unfulfilled dream, deep anguish filled it.

“That endurance……!!

Breathing heavily, he distorted his face.

Muttering softly “sorry,” he looked outside the clearing and said.

“Now, I can’t.”

What does that mean?

Was he ordered by someone?

Someone trying to kill me using him?

No time to understand to whom or what it meant.

“Seongbaek. That’s not our promise.”

“You haven’t forgotten which city boarding school your daughter is in, right?”

From this morning, the voices of the plump and skinny ones who grumbled loudest came.