The Peaceful Life Of A Maid Who Hides Her Power And Enjoys It - Chapter 66
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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 66
-Kill.
My younger brother…
-Cut him down.
…
I looked down at my right hand gripping the sword.
The hand wasn’t trembling.
It was quiet.
Yet I felt tremors that were difficult to control. My mind had regained reason, but my body couldn’t shake off the Black Knight’s instincts.
At this rate, it wouldn’t be long before I synchronized with the sword again.
‘…It’s been too long since I held a sword. I can’t control it like before.’
Black Knight.
Not one who wields the sword, but one who is wielded by the sword.
-Kill.
If a Black Knight cannot break free from prolonged synchronization with the sword, they fall into a state of ‘complete synchronization.’
They lose human reason and degenerate into cruel sword beasts that simply cut down everything in sight.
A Black Knight who falls into complete synchronization cannot return to being human.
They are designated as hunting targets, hunted down, and killed. No other ending exists.
‘Can’t I perfectly suppress the Black Knight’s instincts through realizing ‘myself’ via unity of mind and body?’
-Cut him down.
Noisy ringing wraps around my mind. The Black Knight’s instincts are once again overtaking my reason…
Kwaang!
Just then, black sword energy identical to mine grazed my cheek and flew toward the waterfall.
Kuguuung… The rocks behind the waterfall instantly crumbled down.
“Hey, woman. Don’t space out and get your head together.”
The man, no, Andert pointed his sword with an extremely bitter expression.
“I’ll help you, so get out of there. If someone like you falls into complete synchronization, it’ll be really troublesome, so hold onto your sanity tight. You’re not a Black Knight crazy enough to want to massacre Westwintery, right?”
-Kill.
I need greater pain.
I slowly pushed my fingers into the gap of the sword wound on my shoulder and answered.
“That’s how it should be.”
It was around then that unfamiliar presences approached in droves.
Three knights who had just arrived stood atop the waterfall looking down at us.
“Lord Garoush!”
Andert clicked his tongue briefly while looking at the knights who seemed ready to fly down at any moment.
“You trash who were slow, don’t come down and get lost.”
“But!”
“But nothing, get lost. Unless you want to get caught up and die.”
The knights obediently retreated at the cold command.
“Ha. Now they’re doing all sorts of things… Damn, this got annoying. How do you extract a Black Knight about to fall into complete synchronization?”
“First, you have to make them talk about anything to stop the synchronization phenomenon.”
Andert glared coldly at me for kindly providing the answer.
“This lucky crazy Black Knight. Right, make you talk? I’ll let you talk to your heart’s content as you wish. You just called me Andert, didn’t you? That’s not my name. You’re mistaking me for someone else right now.”
-Cut him down.
“Mistaking?”
“That’s right, mistaking. There are often guys who mistake me for ‘that man.’ For the hero Andert Pager. It’s not like your eyes are crossed. Even if you’re going to mistake someone, you mistake me for a dead guy?”
-Kill.
Look at this. He’s angry that I mistook Andert for Andert.
Pfft.
“Puhaha…! Ah, ow ow.”
Along with sharp pain shooting up my spine, my mouth clamped shut.
Ah, I want to laugh freely but I have a body that can’t laugh. The life of a swordsman with a pierced shoulder is this miserable.
“Ah, ah.”
I pulled out the fingers I had stuck in my shoulder and stamped both feet.
Andert looked at me like I was a crazy woman with flowers in her hair.
The pain made my head even clearer.
The life of a Black Knight who can only maintain reason through pain is this arduous.
“Whew. Mistaking? That’s not it. The name Garoush is your mistake. The people who know you as Garoush are the ones mistaking you. You’re not Garoush. Did you think I wouldn’t know?”
I faced ‘Garoush’ who was not Andert.
Garoush Berkleygraytown.
The most likely next heir of the Berkleygraytown family. A young man with superior talent even compared to Jin Berkleighton, who could be called a sword genius without shame.
And probably the person who stole Dian Ket’s diary under the Swordmaster’s orders.
I looked again at ‘Andert’ who was not Garoush.
Andert Pager.
A boy who enlisted in the Imperial Army to protect his hometown of Quin Island at the young age of not even twenty. A boy who died in battle after one year, but whose body couldn’t be found because the entire island burned.
And my one and only family.
The family I failed to protect.
‘But he didn’t die and was alive.’
But he doesn’t remember me.
What does it matter if he doesn’t remember?
My dead younger brother has returned alive, so what does memory matter?
Memory comes back if you beat it into him. Younger brothers are originally like that.
“You.”
Andert’s green eyes glared at me as if to kill.
I’m not scared at all, you unfilial brat who can’t even remember family.
“You know me.”
“Of course. I know you very well. Your real name isn’t Garoush. It’s probably a name the Swordmaster gave you, right? The worst. It’s a name that would only suit a mountain keeper. The Swordmaster originally has terrible taste in that area.”
“…”
“How well do I know you? Shall I tell you what comes to mind? Let’s see. That our Garoush has a mole above his collarbone? That he has a sun allergy that doesn’t suit him? Or that he suffers from stomach pain for a while after drinking milk? I think I can say I know you pretty well with this much. Now you must be curious about how I know. Right?”
Andert’s expression rotted. That face is the same now as it was before.
“Curious?”
He pretends not to care with a cold expression, but as family, I know. He’s curious enough to be dying inside.
“If you’re curious.”
Damp cold air crossed between us.
I could feel both of Andert’s ears opening wide.
He was now completely focused on my every single word.
‘I want to torment him.’
Seeing that face pretending not to be curious makes me want to torment him very enthusiastically. The family affection as an older sister that had disappeared is stirring!
“I’ll reveal it in 60 seconds.”
“…What?”
As soon as I finished speaking, something refluxed from my throat.
“Urgh.”
It was blood.
The blood that burst like a fountain soaked my entire chest and still wasn’t enough, staining the rocks red.
My brain and heart were being squeezed. As my body’s central axis collapsed, strength left my limbs.
-Kill.
Oh no.
‘I thought I had escaped complete synchronization because the conversation was going well.’
It was a mistake.
‘Was the time I lived as a Black Knight too long?’
The conversation was too long to stop the assimilation with mere words. Heat began rushing to my head.
Tinnitus and noise enveloped the world.
-Kill and cut them down.
There’s no choice.
Wiping my lips, I drew my sword and spoke earnestly to Andert, whose face was tense with worry.
“Cancel what I just said. Let me say it again. If you’re curious, curious… when I collapse, catch my head first…”
“Hey.”
Andert’s questioning response went unheard.
Because before it could reach me, the sword I held had pierced through my remaining right shoulder as well.
I felt dizzy. It was natural since blood was leaking out like through a punctured hole.
My body, having suffered blood loss, slowly began to tilt.
Excessive bleeding was the last resort to prevent complete assimilation. In reality, the probability of death was higher, so it wasn’t something I’d normally choose…
But I couldn’t become a Black Knight and kill Andert.
“What comes next is most important. Bring the blue-haired man who should be wandering around this area.”
“…”
“Andert.”
A faint confusion bloomed in Andert’s eyes, which had always been calm.
“You are.”
Don’t leave, stay by my side.
My vision closed. I lost consciousness without being able to voice those final words.
* * *
As he bolted from his position, Garrosh was wrapped in brief confusion.
Why were his legs moving on their own?
In truth, Garrosh had no intention of complying with the demands of the Black Knight who had been spouting nothing but insane nonsense before his eyes.
However, the mind is one thing and the body is another.
When he came to his senses, he was already supporting the collapsed Black Knight’s head.
It was cold.
‘Practically no different from a corpse.’
The condition was extremely poor.
Setting aside the holes pierced through both shoulders, the amount of blood coughed up was far too much.
‘Suicide?’
There are Black Knights like that sometimes. Those who choose death just before complete assimilation.
Garrosh had seen it exactly once before.
That Black Knight, who had been a member of the Berkley Greytown Knights, was someone who bore deep, unwashable trauma from war.
During combat simulation training, he fell into a state of complete assimilation and took his own life before completely losing his reason.
But this case was a little different.
This Black Knight was mysteriously skilled with the sword. For such a person to pierce the shoulder rather than the neck or near the heart meant they had no intention of dying.
“Bring the blue-haired man who should be wandering around this area.”
As if that wasn’t enough, they even left him with cleanup duties.
A bitter smile crossed his gaunt cheek.
“There’s a limit to how much you can take me for a fool.”
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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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