บท 461: 875
[Chapter 218]
[Covert Operations]
Dawn Sword and Twilight Sword. Eun-ha, who obtained new swords, began training from that very day.
Other clan members, except for Bae Su-bin and Ryu Yeon-hwa, were the same.
"Do you like the swords that much? More than Yu-ran? Even leaving her with Seo-na?"
Jung Ha-yang, who had been discharged from the hospital, would often glare at Eun-ha who visited the training room every day.
Fortunately, she understood, so there were no further complaints.
"Yu-ran, let's leave daddy behind and go play with Aunt Seo-na."
"Ow."
"Have fun. See you later."
"Tch, whatever."
Jung Ha-yang and Jin Seo-na got along well.
So when Seo-na became a babysitter, Jung Ha-yang often took Noh Yu-ran to meet her.
It was Jung Ha-yang's way of being considerate to her after Choi Eun-hyeok left.
Thanks to this, Jin Seo-na had been showing a smiling face more often recently.
Anyway, Eun-ha sent the two off and decided to continue training.
[Well then, shall we begin?]
"...Yeah."
The Twilight Sword spoke to him.
Eun-ha nodded at the sword's words and concentrated.
The mana gathered evenly in the Twilight Sword fluctuated violently.
The blue mana turned black, and countless red lines appeared on the sword blade.
It was the magic formula of the absorbed magic.
Meteor
Eun-ha swung the sword horizontally.
The trajectory changed into a magic circle, and from within it, a boulder wrapped in flames fell.
It was magic absorbed from Jo A-ra.
Boom!!
Even though it was magic with controlled power,
A part of the training ground was deeply gouged.
Fortunately, it seemed to be damage that could be repaired, as the training ground absorbed the mana he leaked and restored the damage.
"It's amazing that magic absorbed a day ago is still memorized."
[But artifacts with the effect of absorbing and releasing magic can be found anywhere if you look. What's important is how much it can absorb, and what kind of magic it can absorb.]
"So how far can you go?"
[I don't know yet since I haven't experienced actual combat, but I should be able to handle magic up to 3rd rank monsters without any problem. Maybe even beyond that.]
"What about 1st rank?"
[That discussion is unnecessary. If such a thing existed in this world, this world would have perished long ago. It's a foolish question to ask if I can copy magic from a subject that cannot exist.]
"The boss of a black dungeon might be 1st rank, you know."
[Yes, it could exist in a dungeon with a different world line.]
"So what do you think?"
[We'll have to try it to know. But it won't be possible. In mana studies, 1st rank is...]
"Okay, that's enough explanation."
The Twilight Sword was talkative.
Especially when expounding on knowledge it knew, it became even more verbose.
Eun-ha cut off the Twilight Sword's words in advance to avoid hearing unnecessary talk.
[Tsk, how can you not want to hear my amazing knowledge. And you were the one who asked first...]
"I just need to hear the main points. Remember that from now on."
[What an arrogant master.]
"So what do you think about Meteor? As you said, can it be applied..."
[The idea of combining four magics to create a higher-dimensional magic is...]
"Just the main point."
[It's possible. Try it.]
The Twilight Sword replied reluctantly.
Eun-ha activated the built-in magic according to what the sword said.
Meteor
Unlike a moment ago, the meteor did not immediately fall on the designated target.
The meteor that appeared behind Eun-ha remained on standby.
At that moment, the meteor rotated.
[Tell the owner of this magic. It's good to apply acceleration magic in the direction of the ground, but there's no need to do it so conventionally. Magic shouldn't be bound by preconceptions. Like this, if you designate it in a different direction, rotational force will be added, increasing the power of the magic.]
Eun-ha released control of the meteor.
Then the meteor flew forward and destroyed the wall with a crash.
The time it took for the training ground to repair the damage was longer than before.
That proved its destructive power.
[How is it? This is my power.]
"It's quite good. To think you can even apply the magic formula of absorbed magic."
The performance of the Twilight Sword was truly amazing.
Eun-ha genuinely admired it.
Although he didn't like the sword's personality, he could tolerate it to this extent.
And that's not all.
From now on, I can get help in various ways using Armageddon's knowledge.
Not only mana control,
But also using the sword's knowledge.
It felt like carrying around a walking book.
A portable navigator.
Eun-ha was satisfied.
It was then.
[Oh my... It's starting again.]
"Why?"
[I'm hungry. I need mana. Food, give me food quickly. Damn it.]
Perhaps because of Abaddon's soul stone,
The Twilight Sword would often demand Eun-ha's mana even while speaking elegantly.
To maintain the sword's condition at its best, he had to give mana every time this happened.
Buldak, Kang, Twilight Sword.
Eun-ha had to work hard to recover mana to give to these three beings.
The fortunate thing was that he had some leeway after obtaining Mine's body.
It's good that my internal mana has increased.
Even with this much mana flowing out, there's still room to spare.
Eun-ha sheathed the Twilight Sword.
Actually, today's training was meant to use the Dawn Sword, not the Twilight Sword.
He took out the Dawn Sword.
Woong
The Dawn Sword hummed as if pleased.
It's almost like it's being affectionate.
The sword was very friendly to him.
But he couldn't understand its performance.
"I still don't get it no matter how many times I use it. What exactly does this sword do?"
Eun-ha muttered.
So far, he had confirmed very little about the Dawn Sword's performance.
Among them, if he had to pick a performance that differentiated it from other swords─
─This sword seems to have a power similar to the <Cutting Principle>.
Mok Min-ho's gift <Cutting Principle>.
It was similar to that.
When mana was injected into the sword blade, the Dawn Sword could even cut magic.
The moment it cut magic, the casting of the magic would be nullified.
Taking Meteor as an example, the moment one of the meteors was destroyed, the magic itself would be nullified.
Of course, it consumed considerable mana to cancel magic, but
Still, it was quite good to be able to nullify the activation itself by cutting unknown magic with the sword.
Besides this, when cutting a wall without injecting mana into the sword, the wall would be cut as if slicing tofu.
Its cutting power was that amazing.
It wouldn't be an exaggeration to say it was similar to the gift <Cutting Principle>.
But this wasn't all.
Eun-ha fell into thought again today about the sensation the Dawn Sword conveyed.
It says it can even revive the dead... How exactly does that work?
Eun-ha was certain his intuition wasn't wrong.
So recently he met Twenty-five and had him bring a corpse of someone who died in darkness.
Eun-ha stabbed the corpse with the sword.
But the corpse didn't come back to life.
"What exactly is the reason..."
Eun-ha pulled out a box he hadn't told Jung Ha-yang about from the corner.
When he opened the box, there was the corpse of a cat that had died after being hit by a car.
He had secretly brought it to check the sword's performance.
After confirming its performance, he planned to burn it and give it a small funeral.
"Even if I do this, there's no effect..."
He imbued mana into the sword blade.
Eun-ha gently made a wound.
Nothing changed.
"Maybe I need to stab the heart or brain? Mana gathers in the heart, and in mana studies, the soul is said to be in the brain..."
Eun-ha considered trying it.
Since even the Twilight Sword said it didn't know anything about the Dawn Sword, he had no choice but to check on his own.
It was then.
"Oppa! Are you training today too?" "Hello, Pandora Clan Lord."
"Ah, Baek-yeon. And hello, <Time Witch>."
The training room door opened gently.
Im Baek-yeon peeked her face in.
Above her, Priscis Memory also poked her head out.
"I came to train with Priscis unnie and heard oppa was training too, so I came to see what you were doing. But what's that box over there?"
"Ah, don't. It's not good to look..."
"...What is this?"
"..." "What were you doing with this?"
Im Baek-yeon scurried over.
Eun-ha tried to put away the box, but it was too late.
Curiosity kills the cat.
Im Baek-yeon checked the cat corpse and immediately hardened her face.
"..."
"For training, I had to..."
"So you killed it?"
"I brought something that was already dead."
"So what were you doing with this?" "...Resurrection magic." "What?"
"I was trying to revive it."
Im Baek-yeon subtly distanced herself.
Eun-ha could see her favorability towards him dropping in her eyes.
So Eun-ha confessed the truth.
She looked dumbfounded.
"Are you trying to use necromancy... Oppa, you haven't been brainwashed by the soul in that sword, have you?" "That sounds plausible, but no."
Im Baek-yeon pointed at the Twilight Sword.
She knew that a soul similar to Armageddon resided in the Twilight Sword.
Eun-ha immediately denied it.
It was understandable that she would misunderstand.
But he had no intention of violating the ethics of life to perform necromancy.
"It's not necromancy, but resurrection magic."
"In mana studies, since it's ultimately a field that studies the soul, there's not much difference between necromancy and resurrection magic..."
"You've learned well from <Time Witch>. But there is still a clear difference. What I was trying to do is resurrection magic. I wanted to check the sword's performance."
"Is this sword the one made with the Taegeuk grade treasure this time?"
Priscis Memory interjected.
She turned her gaze from the cat to look at the Dawn Sword.
"May I take a look?"
"Yes, of course. Here you go."
"Can I know what kind of effect the Taegeuk grade treasure had?"
"Rather than an effect... I'll tell you how I obtained it."
Priscis Memory showed interest.
Eun-ha was inwardly surprised.
Nevertheless, he managed his expression and handed the sword to her.
She had deep knowledge of magic.
He thought she might be able to understand the magic imbued in the sword.
So Eun-ha told her about how he obtained the Taegeuk grade treasure.
Then she opened her mouth.
"It contains principles similar to the magic I use. Originally, principles dissolved in nature are incomprehensible to human eyes."
"Can you tell what kind of sword this is?" "If my thoughts are correct, this sword is not a sword that uses resurrection magic. Resurrection is only a part of it."
"Then..."
Priscis Memory smiled.
She returned the sword to Eun-ha and said,
"It's a sword that destroys causality. Congratulations. You've obtained an amazing sword."
☆
"If it governs life and death, even touches reincarnation, and even involves emotions, doesn't that mean it can interfere with fate?"
"Fate?"
Yes, fate.
Priscis Memory smiled gently.
Eun-ha couldn't quite grasp what she was saying.
Interfering with fate...
Then what happens? No, how do you do it?
The Dawn Sword is a sword that cuts fate.
Then how does one cut something called fate?
Eun-ha couldn't understand.
He looked at her as if seeking an answer.
She looked troubled.
"Hmm... It's difficult for me to explain too. But being able to interfere with fate can be said to be at the pinnacle of the existing magic system. It's strange to be able to understand it. Interfering with fate itself is dangerous and also highly difficult. Maybe that's why the sword couldn't properly convey it?"
"I only know fate as a predetermined future. Then can I change the predetermined future with this sword's power? How?"
"What the Pandora Clan Lord is talking about is a bit different. That's not fate, but destiny. To explain the difference, fate can be changed, but destiny cannot be changed."
Fate and destiny are different.
Hearing this, Eun-ha thought of Song Yun-seo.
<Star-Counting Witch> Song Yun-seo.
She had the power to see fate, and she said she couldn't change that fate.
Then was <Star-Counting Witch> seeing destiny, not fate?
Eun-ha was puzzled.
He wondered if Song Yun-seo, who foresaw the future, didn't know the difference between fate and destiny.
Then, Priscis Memory added,
"For example, the Pandora Clan Lord being born and living as a man can be called destiny. You can't change that, right?"
"That's right."
"But if there's a prophecy that Seoul will collapse in the future, that can be changed. Although changing it would be incredibly difficult, there's nothing that can't be changed. That's fate."
Hearing that story,
It was correct that Song Yun-seo was seeing changeable fate.
However, she didn't know for what reason the future she saw happened, so even if she tried to change the future, she couldn't find the fundamental cause and thus couldn't change it.
Looking back, Song Yun-seo had said something similar in her previous life.
The important thing was not Song Yun-seo's ability, but about the Dawn Sword.
"So? How does this sword interfere with this thing called fate..."
"To think about fate, we need to talk about causality now. Things that happen in the future are always results that occur because something in the present becomes a cause. That's why it's causality." "..."
"Therefore, a prophecy that something will happen is talking about the result. Then if you know the cause that led to that result, and change the cause itself, wouldn't the result change too? The foreseen fate changes."
Let's assume you're going to France on foot.
Walking is the means and cause, France is the purpose and result.
There's a result because there's a cause.
If you don't go to France on foot, naturally you won't reach France.
The cause changes, and the result changes.
Cause and effect are connected.
She explained to Eun-ha.
"But if magic gets involved here, it can cause truly magical things to happen."
"How?" "You know about my movement magic, right?" "Extract?"
"Yes. That magic can be said to reverse causality for other people. Of course, not for me."
"..."
"The saying that there's a result because there's a cause, in other words, couldn't you say there's a cause because there's that result? If you first produce the result of going to France, and then go back the distance on foot, isn't the cause nicely recovered?"
"That doesn't make..."
"It doesn't make sense, that's why it's magic. It's very troublesome to activate magic with common sense."
Eun-ha clicked his tongue.
Eun-ha also roughly knew how Extract worked.
Even after reaching this level, it was a realm he absolutely couldn't imitate.
It's a realm only she can achieve.
But now she asserted that he too could implement a similar phenomenon.
Eun-ha couldn't believe it
At that moment, she pointed at the Dawn Sword.
"But this sword is different. If you can handle it skillfully, you'll be able to do even more unbelievable things than my magic. I can only partially touch causality, but I can't completely disrupt it."
"..."
"Coming back to the story, this sword is probably a sword that destroys causality. What it means to destroy causality is..."
Priscis Memory chose her words carefully.
Then she turned her head towards the cat that had just come into view.
"The Pandora Clan Lord's sword can revive even that dead cat without any cost." "I tried earlier, but..."
"Nothing happens if you just stab the dead cat. Does anything change by stabbing the result?"
"..." "To revive it, you need to eliminate the cause."
"Eliminate the cause?" "How did that cat die?"
"It seems it was hit by a car."
"Then the cause of the cat's death would be the car that hit it, right?"
"I suppose so."
"Then if you destroy the car so it can't function, wouldn't the cause of the cat's death disappear?" "What?"
"How could a cat die from being hit by a car if the car isn't functioning? It's absolutely impossible."
"..."
"This sword makes that possible. It reverses the result and cause, and gives you a chance to destroy that cause. It would consume that much mana, but other than that, I don't think there would be any restrictions."
"That's impossible..." "That's why it's Taegeuk grade, I suppose."
Eun-ha was at a loss for words.
On the other hand, he was desperately trying to understand in his mind the truth she had enlightened him about.
Seeing this, Priscis Memory decided to leave.
"It seems you've gained some insight, so I'll take my leave. Baek-yeon, shall we go train?"
"Yes, unnie. I understand. Oppa, good luck."
Im Baek-yeon waved her hand.
She followed Priscis Memory out of the training room.
Eun-ha vaguely waved back and then looked down at the Dawn Sword.
"Really... is that possible?"
The Dawn Sword had no answer.
But that was okay.
Eun-ha racked his brain again to test the Dawn Sword's magic.
☆
Time passes quickly.
By the time Eun-ha had somewhat grasped the Dawn Sword, it was already May.
Three things happened in May.
"Eun-ha hyung! I'm here!"
"You should call me Clan Lord in the clan."
"Hehe, is that so? Alright! Clan Lord!"
"Don't be so formal though."
Avenir, a third-year high school student at the Academy.
Avenir came to Pandora Clan for practical training.
Avenir, boasting an even bigger build than Eun-ha, surprised everyone by blowing away Kang Si-hyeong in a sparring match as soon as he arrived.
"I-impossible... This must be a dream. Is that a bulldozer, not a human? You might as well call him a Mine..."
Kang Si-hyeong felt a sense of crisis.
He, who was well-known in the player industry, was intimidated by Avenir, who was still an Academy student.
"...The answer is only technique. I need to develop drones somehow."
Immediately, Kang Si-hyeong began researching a new style.
A guardian's role was diverse.
There were many ways to protect.
He tried to find something he could do well without being discouraged by the physical difference.
And so, by pestering Byeok Hae-su, a test drone was created.
"Oh, this is pretty good. With this drone, we can expand our information network by monitoring Jung-gu, Yongsan-gu, and Dongdaemun-gu."
And Kang Si-hyeong's efforts from before finally paid off.
Eun-ha recognized Kang Si-hyeong's value and entrusted him with patrolling three areas, and further with monitoring all of Seoul.
"...Should I quit?"
Kang Si-hyeong reportedly felt a sense of despair in life after receiving such a massive task.
He hadn't despaired because of Avenir, but now he was about to despair because of Noh Eun-ha.
Meanwhile, the second thing that happened was on Parents' Day.
"What? Baek-yeon, what did you say? I think I must have heard wrong..."
"I already told you."
Eun-ha had been receiving carnations every year since he started protecting Im Baek-yeon.
But this year, for some reason, she didn't give him a carnation.
It was like a bolt from the blue for him, who had been secretly looking forward to that day.
Im Baek-yeon spoke bluntly.
"I'm not giving it to you anymore. Even though I'm receiving help from you, honestly, you're not my dad. Hmph!" "...!!"
Eun-ha fell into great shock.
When he finally recovered from his despair and asked Im Baek-yeon for the full story, she still wouldn't tell him.
Because of this, Eun-ha couldn't receive her carnation from this year on.
To this, Han Seo-hyeon said─
"─From now on, receive it from Yu-seong. You can also receive it from Yu-ran, and the child in Yu-jung's belly. Right, Yu-seong?"
"Daddy! Daddy! Stupid!"
In the end, Eun-ha had no choice but to wait until Noh Yu-seong grew a bit more and reached the age where he could make carnations.
Even so, he felt sad that Im Baek-yeon seemed to be developing a sense of independence lately.
The last incident happened shortly after that.
"...How is it? Was the birth okay? You know, our baby, the eyes... How are they?"
"The eyes are fine too. It really was born healthy. Thank you for giving birth to a healthy child." "...Really?" "Yes, really. Now rest well."
Lee Yu-jung gave birth.
A beautiful daughter was born.
As soon as she gave birth, she checked her daughter's health first.
Eun-ha understood her feelings and told her what she wanted to hear.
The baby girl was healthy.
She could see well too.
"Sob..."
"Why are you crying?"
"But, I'm just so happy..."
"There will be only happy things from now on. So if you cry like that now, you might not have any tears left to shed later."
"Okay..."
The baby girl's name was Noh Yu-rin.
Eun-ha said he was relieved that both she and Noh Yu-rin were healthy.
He prayed for this happiness to continue.
Two months passed from then─
─Time really flies by.
I wonder if it felt slow from Yeon-hwa's perspective?
In July, when summer officially begins,
Eun-ha marries Ryu Yeon-hwa.
☆
As time passed like this,
The cheers for <Lord> Noh Eun-ha and the Fairy government only grew louder.
However, just as the stronger the light, the darker the shadow─
"─Who should we eliminate to overcome the current situation? The Fairy? No, the Fairy won't do..."
There were naturally people who extremely disliked the current situation.
"It would be wisest to eliminate the people who have become the Fairy's sword. The Fairy is indispensable to this country."
"Then who?"
Conspiracies are always carried out secretly and quietly.
So quietly that people intoxicated by the hard-earned peace wouldn't notice.
<Lord> Noh Eun-ha
<Yama> Kang Hyeon-cheol
<Thunder God> Lee Do-jin
"These three are the most troublesome ones. If only these three were gone, the Fairy's power would drastically weaken."
Whether directly or indirectly,
People who hold grudges against these three.
They sharpen their knives to reveal themselves at the most crucial moment.
"It was just a momentary peace, it seems."
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