TOFW 04

Chapter 04

Amid the post-battle cleanup, the Camilla Corps was bustling with activity.

The entire land was littered with corpses.

Stepping over the mangled body of an Uruk with its skull crushed, Kaiseyn drove away a crow that had been pecking at a human brain and walked into the killing field.

“Ha, when the hell are we going to burn all these bodies again… Huh? That kid—eh?”

“Isn’t that the Uruk Slayer?”

“Whoa, wait a sec. That brat’s face looks way more like a man now after just a week, huh? Hey, come here, kid. Let this noona dote on you a little.”

Kaiseyn ignored the voices of the mercenaries.

The black-haired boy simply kept walking.

Until he stood before Camilla, who was seated atop the corpse of the Uruk chieftain he had slain.

“You promised you’d teach me swordsmanship if I managed to land even one hit.”

Payquarrior, who had been staring solemnly at the blade of Aradamantel, slowly raised her golden eyes to glare at Kaiseyn.

“I said that only if you didn’t end up dead.”

“So the promise still stands?”

“I don’t know what sneaky thing you and Wolf pulled off, but last time, you survived because of my whim, bastard. There won’t be a second time. If you don’t want to die, get lost.”

Perhaps there was real killing intent in those words.

Birds suddenly flapped up and scattered from the forest behind Kaiseyn.

The horses pulling the supply carts reared on their hind legs, clawing at the air with their front hooves and neighing wildly. Even beasts trembled at the murderous aura—but the boy stood firm.

Without hesitation, he calmly drew his mother’s short sword from his lower back and pointed it straight at Camilla.

“This is my answer.”

A sharp silence fell over the field.

Then, as if on cue, the mercenaries who had formed a loose circle around Camilla and Kaiseyn erupted into cheers.

“Whoa, did you hear what he just said?”

“Man, that gave me chills.”

“Kid’s got guts, that’s for sure!”

Wolf, arguably complicit in creating this situation, wore a relaxed smile and casually teased:

“What’s wrong? Don’t tell me you’re scared you might actually have to teach him swordsmanship?”

At his playful jab, mercenary commander Eltoram and his beastkin subordinates burst into laughter.

Camilla shot Wolf a sharp look and let out a sigh laced with annoyance as she stood.

Her dissatisfaction with the situation was clear, but her action signaled that she accepted the duel. The mercenaries roared with excitement.

“Fine, bring it on. If dying is your wish, I’ll be happy to grant it.”

Childhood:

Prologue of Summer (3)

Just for a moment—
The story rewinds to six days earlier.

—Isn’t it hard? You could take some breaks in between…

Day after day.
Time etched itself into his body.
Kaisen had grown not only accustomed but adept at the complex footwork.

—I’m fine.

Kaisen was utterly desperate.
Like a starving child, he devoured his training.
He followed the legion as they moved, ate the meals Wolf prepared, and afterward came to the training ground where Camilla practiced—carefully avoiding her usual hours.

—Show me the next illusion. This one’s enough.
—You’re really incredible. It’s only been three days…

By the third day, he was already holding Laminea’s short sword and mimicking the hand techniques of the illusions.

—But Kaisen, there’s a limit to just copying like this.
—So I have to earn her approval somehow, right?
—Exactly. There’s a big difference between being taught properly and just stealing what you can.

And so, day after day passed again.
After that desperate six-day struggle—he finally stood before Camilla once more.

“I don’t know why you’re so desperate to get your ass kicked, but if that’s your wish, I’ll gladly grant it.”

Camilla’s weapon… was nothing but her bare hands.
This time, she didn’t even bother picking up a twig. She looked down at Kaisen, irritated, and beckoned him with a curled finger.

Tense breaths.
A quiet rise in heart rate.
He inhaled deeply, then—

Kaisen kicked off the ground and charged.
Cheers and jeers erupted from the mercenaries.

“Yeah! First strike wins, kid!”
“Agh, idiot! You’ll get wrecked just like last time!”

But he didn’t.
Something—something was different.
The mercenaries couldn’t close their gaping mouths at the sight before them.

“Wait…?!”

Camilla, aiming a spinning kick at his abdomen, was the one who looked most taken aback.

Just as the attack neared, Kaisen stomped the ground—braking his momentum—and twisted his body to swing his sword with the force of that spin.

“Wait, that move…”
“Isn’t that…?”
“Looks kinda like Lady Camilla’s footwork…”

What the…
The cross-step of the <Tenfold Sword>?

Camilla stumbled as she dodged Kaisen’s strike, bewildered by the uncanny mimicry.

“Haa! Haaah! Haaaht!”

His shouts were almost cute—
But the fierce attacks that followed were anything but.

Maybe because the expected battle had flipped, the mercenaries’ cheers peaked.

“Hit her! Give her a good one!”
“Yes! You’re pushing her back!”

As Camilla dodged with an uneasy look, a flicker of killing intent sparked in her eyes.

—He only had a chance during the first exchange.

Camilla was the true successor of the Tenfold Sword style.
Even if her master had taught his son a few moves as a joke, even if Wolf had played tricks behind her back, every form and technique was already in the palm of her hand.

“You’ve got some nerve, huh.”

And then, twisting her body slightly, she let that rotational energy fly into a kick.

—A blow strong enough to rattle his head. If he gets scared from the pain and runs, that’ll be the end of it.

But in that instant—Kaisen’s eyes sharpened.

—No?

Camilla let out an involuntary breath at the sequence of moves Kaisen executed.

“Huh…?”

He pulled out his sword—still sheathed.
He crossed the blade and scabbard and thrust it into the path of the incoming attack.

—How does he know this…?

It was the foundation and essence of the Tenfold Sword:
Form One—The Cross Guard Stance, “Circle (圓).”

────THWACK!

Impact.
A jolt like bones fracturing.
Kaisen desperately held his guard as the reverberating shock overtook his body.

—I blocked it. But I’m still getting pushed back…?

The force was monstrous.
Yet as his feet dug into the ground and he slid back about a hand’s length, the shock subsided and his stance stabilized.

Meanwhile—

Camilla had failed to regain her balance.
The mercenaries gasped, then shouted.

“This is it?!”
“It’s an opening, an opening!”
“Her guard’s wide open, kid!”

Kaisen didn’t miss the chance.
He sprung like a bullet toward Camilla.

“It’s over…”

Just as the cheers reached their climax, only Eltoram sighed and shook his head.

—Lady Camilla is a Feyquarrior.

A human weapon who had acquired strength rivaling beastkin through body modification, and had mastered hand-to-hand combat to perfection.

“…Huh?”

For a fleeting moment, Kaisen thought his blade had pierced her.

THWACK!

But Camilla’s hand struck the flat of his blade, knocking it from his grasp.
Her outstretched leg swept his own, and his balance crumbled.

—Huh?

The ash-filled sky spun around him, and suddenly he was lying flat on the ground.

—What?

Something gleamed.

His mother’s spinning blade landed right beside his face, burying itself in the dirt—causing his hair to stand on end.

—Did I… lose?

A looming shadow of death.
Camilla stood over his head.

White hair.
Golden dragon’s eyes.

The gleam in her shaded eyes matched his mother’s—but her expression was entirely different.

“Goodbye.”

Camilla pulled his mother’s blade from the mud.
In a flash, she reversed her grip and brought it down toward Kaisen’s face—

But even in the grip of death, Kaisen stared up at her.
And for that, he was the first to notice something off.

“…Why?”

One second. Two. Three…

What felt like an eternity passed, but nothing happened.

Camilla instead picked up the scabbard lying on the ground and calmly sheathed the blade.

“My mind’s changed. This trash might actually be useful. Still trash, but if he’s this good after six days, maybe I could trust him to be a vanguard someday. Right, Eltoram?”

Eltoram chuckled and nodded.

“Yes, not bad at all.”

“What’s that supposed to mean? Vanguard? No way. Not doing it. I’m going to keep pestering you until you teach me swordsmanship!”

Kaisen protested weakly, but Camilla only looked at him like he was pathetic.

“You owe me your life. Don’t even know basic courtesy? And seriously—do you really think a little brat like you could ever beat me?”

“I can! Try again! I’ll prove it!”

His bold answer, directed at the infamous Camilla herself, made the mercenaries burst into laughter. Of course, when she shot them a murderous glare, they all scattered like mice.

“Don’t piss me off. As you can see, this battalion is full of trash. I’m seriously lacking in useful maggots right now.”

“Oh, how sad it is to be so unwanted, my lady.”

“So true!”

“Shut it, you garbage.”

“Yes ma’am.”

“You see? Just a bunch of losers. But if you promise to be my loyal lackey, maybe I’ll humor your little request. I do happen to need a useful one.”

“?”

“Don’t blink like that. You get it or not? If I say kill a Uruk, you kill them. If I say scout somewhere, you scout. Deliver a message? You do it. Got it?”

…What the heck?

The mercenaries shook their heads.

—How’s a kid like him gonna slit a Uruk’s throat?

But Kaisen’s response was different.

“What do I get in return?”

“What do you get? You wanted swordsmanship, right? I’ll teach you.”

That answer—
That single sentence, promising to lead him down the blood-soaked path of the sword—
Lit up the eyes of a boy once drowned in hatred and despair.

For a moment, his face overlapped with the face of her master,
And Camilla felt an unbearable pang in her chest.

—Master…

Is this what you meant when you left me your sword—asking me to train your son?
But surely, after turning your back on the world of blades, that’s not what you’d want…

Yet if she sent him away now, he’d probably starve to death in the backwoods.
Or die begging some lunatic for training.

“The choice is yours.”

With a sigh, Camilla held out her master’s short sword to Kaisen—sheathing it and offering it by the hilt.

—Let him choose for himself.

Just like her master had once done for her.

That would be enough, right?

In some distant land where no one knew,
She believed her master had lived peacefully, raised a child, and eventually died.
Camilla spoke the final words, mournful at heart.

“You can either go back now… or stay and learn swordsmanship with the rest of these stinking trash heaps.”

Kaisen stared at his mother’s heirloom for a long time.
He seemed to hesitate—then ultimately did not accept it.

“If I don’t take it back… that means you’ll teach me swordsmanship, right?”

“I told you. I’m keeping it as collateral to make sure you don’t run off. I can’t let you eat our food and then just disappear.”

“Really?”

“You been lied to your whole life? Oh, and if you kneel and beg, maybe—just maybe—I’ll teach you some basic forms starting today.”

And Kaisen—
The son of her master, who stirred such strange feelings within Camilla—
Quietly knelt before her amid the mercenaries’ rowdy cheers.

“…You got no pride?”

Can you eat that?
With that kind of look in his eyes, Kaisen said this:

“I don’t need pride. If I can learn the sword… if I can kill the Uruk… nothing else matters.”

His voice trembled—perhaps with grief, or clenched fury.

Yes. Back then, you desperately longed for it.
To step into this world of blades, where you’d bathe in blood, be soaked in it, and eventually drown in it.

—Hah…

Camilla, staring at the son of her master with those dragon’s eyes, sighed deeply and fixed her master’s sword to her belt.

“Hey, Eltoram. Go find a single-edged sword.”

“Why a single-edged one?”

“You idiot. You even need to ask? I’m going to teach this brat how to use a blade.”

Was it Kaisen’s sincerity that moved her?

At Camilla’s decision, the soldiers burst into raucous cheers.

“Damn! Even a brat like him’s a real man! Welcome aboard, kid!”

“Damn, it’s been a while since my chest burned like this!”

Watching the entire scene unfold, Wolf stared at the boy with a mix of worry and hope.

—For one so young to be swept into the storm of war… is it a blessing, or a curse?

Only the gods could know the answer to that.