Mixing Note Page 10

  She was alone now.

  It wasn't because she hadn't lived alone for a long time, it was just that it felt like she had been suddenly thrown into a silent world, and it brought Leerin an empty feeling.

  It really had been a hectic day. With the help of Savaris she had managed to cross two fighting cities and reunite with Layfon.

  If she were to describe it with words, it would only take a sentence or two, but she had experienced a really long day. On her way here on the roaming, bus crossing paths with filth monsters, she realized for the first time how terrifying their existence was.

  There was no other way that any other city had a group of Military Artists such as the Heaven's Blade Successors with such immense power. Nor were they blessed with the leader of the Heaven's Blade Successors: the Queen. That's why, in comparison to other cities, filth monsters weren't really a big issue. That's why, destruction was more likely for the other cities; at least that's what people who lived in cities without Heaven's Blade Successors said.

  But as she thought about Layfon standing on the battlefield, her feelings suddenly became complicated.

  But as she had never seen Layfon being injured as much as this time before, perhaps it was true that other cities were even more dangerous than Grendan.

  Leerin continually pondered this question. Was it more dangerous in other cities or in Grendan... Whichever one was actually more dangerous was of little consequence, as this question swirling though Leerin's head was unimportant.

  That was just a buffer of sorts.

  A necessary buffer for her to accept reality.

  "..............."

  Wriggling silently on her bed, she reached into her luggage bag with one hand.

  As she touched what she wanted, she tugged it out of the bag. It was a wooden box wrapped up in a cloth. It was something very important that her adoptive father had entrusted to her.

  It was to be given to the Psyharden successor, a katana Dite.

  It was the proof of her adoptive father's forgiveness, the proof of her adoptive father's apology.

  It was also the proof of the bond between them.

  "I still haven't given it to him yet."

  It wasn't that she was too busy and forgot to give it to him. But Leerin couldn't just give it to Layfon like that.

  Maybe he would be so happy that he would start crying.

  If Layfon started crying, what would she do? Would she be happy as well? Of course. But, that's not the only thing she would feel...

  "It really is a mess, eh?"

  Her eyes turned a little warm. There was something rising up from her throat.

  They would probably start crying together.

  But, she didn't want to start crying with him. She couldn't say to him, "Isn't this great?"

  Because, before that, there were other things that she wanted to say.

  "I'm so happy that Layfon's safe."

  She was alone in this room. A place where nobody could hear anything, where Layfon couldn't hear her, where nobody else could hear her.

  And so, she couldn't bear it any more.

  "I'm so happy..." said Leerin openly, her wrists covering up eyes that were overflowing with tears.

  Post Epilogue

  Ordinary Days

  Part 1

  That night, Minse Eutnohl violently threw the thing beside him into the wall.

  That happened to be a wooden table, which exuded extravagance and technology in both material and design. But with Minse's strength, the table collided with the screen door with an intense sound before it fell to the ground in pieces.

  Even that wasn't enough to suppress the rage in his heart, but at least it was enough to temporarily quell his impulses. If he didn't do that, he definitely would have stormed into the palace and completely destroyed the ceremonial banquet which should be going on over there right now.

  Not only that, he would also personally gouge out the pair of sleepy eyes which belonged to that poor looking brat who would be there.

  The center to tonight's celebration was that child.

  Minse was still very young—somewhere in his mid-teens.

  But he was even younger.

  That's why Minse was so angry.

  Tonight, they were commemorating the birth of the twelfth Heaven's Blade Receiver.

  That kid's name was Layfon Alseif. Since he became a Heaven's Blade, his name became Layfon Wolfstein Alseif.

  "Why isn't it me?" complained Minse piteously. His hair long black hair grew in a featureless messy tangle.

  The Eutnohl was one of the three Royal families in Grendan. The current Queen Alsheyra is of the Almonise family. The family that the King or Queen is from is known as the ruling house.

  There was to be twelve Heaven's Blade Receivers, as there were only twelve blades made from the mysterious Grendan White Dite known as the Heaven's Blades.

  Before Alsheyra's reign, there were five Heaven's Blades Receivers. But now, all twelve have been gathered.

  Minse believed that he would be the twelfth. The people also held such hopes for him. The last member of the three royal families, Ronsmier's Tigris had already taken the title of a Heaven's Blade Receiver. Queen Alsheyra was regarded as the strongest royalty in history, with the purest blood running through her veins in the Royal Families, one whose existence itself demanded it be shown off proudly. Naturally, it was expected that Minse, the head of the Eutnohl family, would take the twelfth Heaven's blade title. In fact, calling it his inheritance wouldn't have been an exaggeration.

  But, reality wasn't like that.

  Layfon Wolfstein Alseif. A member of a small school Psyharden, an adoptive child became the twelfth Heaven's Blade.

  What's more was that Minse wasn't even given a chance to challenge Layfon.

  "This is a conspiracy," moaned Minse.

  What he said wasn't actually nonsense.

  There was no doubt that the Almonise family and the Eutnohl family were the current ruling houses. More accurately, it was between the Eutnohl and Almonise families.

  The three Royal Families wanted to protect the bloodline of the first King, and they wanted to make sure that any marriages would give birth to more Military Artists. The minimal requirement for a suitor was being a Military Artist. And from the aspect of retaining the purity of the blood from the first king, the suitor had to also be of royal lineage from one of the three Royal families. But purifying the bloodline too much could also lead to the passing on of inherent defects in the genes.

  After much argument between the three families, they came to an agreement that every three generations, there would be an intermarriage between the three Royal families.

  The current Queen Alsheyra was born of the Almonise and the Ronsmier families.

  And her husband was supposed to be of the Eutnohl family.

  He was Minse's brother.

  No, he was originally supposed to act as a brotherly figure.

  Currently, that brother no longer existed.

  He had eloped with some ordinary woman.

  Alsheyra had just smiled bitterly at the news, and her next suitor had yet to be decided.

  If they went in order, then in theory Minse would have been offered to take the position. There were rumors among the citizens that Alsheyra couldn't forget about Minse's brother, and thus was delaying her decision.

  And privately, she hated him who had thrown her away, which lead to her hate of the Eutnohl family.

  Minse had believed those rumors.

  Unfortunately, his bad luck didn't end with the rumors. His parents were also successively unlucky. His father died in a battle with a filth monster, and his mother died of sickness not long after.

  And Minse became the head of the Eutnohl Family. Even though he still had many uncles, according to the laws of the three Royal Families, they were very far down the list as heirs. If the situation arose where Minse died, the person who would inherit the position as head of the family wouldn't be his uncles but
a child of the current head of another royal family. And if Alsheyra didn't have any children, then the place would be taken by some child of the Ronsmier family.

  Minse firmly believed that Alsheyra wanted to use some legitimate way to annihilate the Eutnohl family.

  In order to prevent that from happening, it was imperative that he become a Heaven's Blade. It wasn't only to spread his name as a protector but to also show off his abilities as a descendant of the bloodline.

  And when there was a Royal Family marriage where the suitor was not of the royal family, then the next suitors would be chosen from the Heaven's Blade Receivers. This way it was possible for him to reclaim the right as a suitor to the Queen and recover the status of the Eutnohl family.

  However, he didn't get chosen for the twelfth spot. Alsheyra had taken away even the chance to show his strength.

  This was a conspiracy.

  Minse believed this without a shred of doubt.

  "If it's like this, I also have my own means."

  Sooner or later, Alsheyra was going to come to eliminate Minse. But he wouldn't be sitting, waiting for his demise.

  "......It's not like you mustn't attack the royalty no matter what."

  Things like the law have no power over people who have been driven into a corner. In order to live on, they will bare their fangs at anyone.

  Minse had changed his mood for the better, but looking at his face from the side there was a miserable expression unfitting of his age upon his face.

  She would only be happy on that day.

  The following days, she was as busy as a bee.

  "I really can't take this!"

  The Psyharden dojo was not far from the orphanage and Leerin stood outside with her hands on her hips.

  Only ten years old, she was a mid-level student in elementary school. She had a steady personality and could usually be found cooking in the kitchen. She wore clothes with attention to work and moving about. Her hair was also appropriately tied up in a bun. Following the latest trends, the hair in front of her bun curled to one side.

  Leerin was standing in the makeshift reception area of the dojo.

  The second day since Layfon had become a Heaven's Blade Receiver, which was today, the dojo had become unusually busy. Psyharden Katana School's dojo was only an old small-scale dojo.

  The number of students in the dojo was as small as the dojo itself. There were countless dojos like this in Grendan. Even those that taught the katana couldn't be counted with two hands.

  Of course, there weren't many that continued existing for a long time. Sometimes it was because the owner of the dojo died in a fight with a filth monster, and there weren't any successors. Some of the dojos fell to ruin after losing in fights with other dojos.

  However, despite its size, the Psyharden Katana School dojo had a long history.

  But it wasn't an exaggeration to say that the size of a dojo in Grendan represented its status.

  A youth, which had been winning in official matches for two years straight, yesterday claimed victory in the Heaven's Blade Receiver selection matches and officially became the twelfth Heaven's Blade Receiver.

  That youth belonged to the Psyharden School.

  That is, this dojo located at the edge of the residence areas which was barely struggling by.

  In the morning, before the doors of the dojo had even opened, there was already a long line of people outside the dojo hoping to get in. Leerin busily responded to them, and even though it was already past noon, there were no signs of there being an end to all this.

  "Leerin, take this chance and have lunch."

  "Ok~"

  In an attempt to take her mind off the annoying problem, a nearby person went behind the reception area, brought a pot and started cooking.

  It looked like that there was no end to the people who wanted to join the dojo, and they weren't about to wait obediently in line either. They had obviously already gotten an admission slip but they still couldn't line up properly.

  Looking at the scene, Leerin was stumped.

  "I can't take this.! I really want to just stay here instead," complained Leerin. She was drinking some warm milk, and had recovered somewhat.

  Beside the reception area there were tables prepared by the street's residents.

  It's just as it appeared; it's a small dojo, without many hands. The kitchen didn't have many staff either.

  Seeing Leerin complaining, the person who was helping with the cooking started laughing. She was also a Nee-chan who grew up at the orphanage, and she had married recently, living the life of a newlywed.

  "Well, it's not like you can do anything about this, with Layfon doing all that."

  A Heaven's Blade Receiver. For the military artists of Grendan, that title held great meaning.

  It was equivalent to being called the strongest.

  Wanting to study at the same school that trained one of the strongest is perfectly logical.

  Some famous examples would be the Luckens School, created by a Heaven's Blade, and the school for the successors of the three royal families, Rivanes. And there was also the dojo currently regarded as the most prosperous, Midknot.

  These three Military Arts schools all currently have students who were Heaven's Blades Receivers.

  Although Grendan has twelve Heaven's Blades, it doesn't actually have twelve prosperous Military Arts Schools.

  For example, the Psychokinesists. The only Nen-I user of all the twelve Heaven's Blades, Delbone was the oldest of them all. There were legends that said that she had already been a Heaven's Blade for several decades, and that perhaps she would have to step down from her position soon. For Psychokinesis, the abilities required far outstripped those demanded of a normal Military Artist, thus there was no dojo which was open to take in disciples and teach them.

  Another example would be Karen Kei. Troyatte represents this school in the Heaven's Blade. As it is also very hard to grasp, there are very few Military Artists who are willing to learn it.

  Including these two, with the three mentioned above, and excluding Layfon, there were still six others.

  Of the six, the one known as the strongest of the current Heaven's Blades, Lintence, wasn't born in Grendan. He was a military artist who was visiting from another city, and under the Queen's recommendation entered the selection tournament and became a Heaven's Blade Receiver. So if he didn't found a dojo, then there was no way for him to pass on his techniques to anyone else, and he had no intentions of doing so.

  As for the other five, none of them fitted into any specific dojo in Grendan, and like Lintence, none of them had any intention of starting their own dojo's either.

  Putting all this into perspective, Layfon is the only Heaven's Blade Receiver to become one having learned only the Psyharden Katana techniques.

  So, if one was part of the Psyharden dojo, one could become a Heaven's Blade Receiver.

  Of course, that's what everyone thought.

  "But the thing is......"

  Leerin gazed across at the people who were hoping to gain entry after lunch break with mixed feelings.

  Wasn't there anyone who felt suspicious?

  Perhaps nobody had noticed the Dite that Layfon was holding in tournament?

  That was a sword.

  Psyharden was clearly a school which taught the Katana, not the sword.

  Thinking back, it was the day before the decisive battle.

  Inside the dojo, other than the caretaker, the two who had grown under the shelter of the Psyharden dojo; Derek and Layfon were completely alone.

  The two were holding restored Dites. In Layfon's hand, was a sword.

  "I'm sorry," said Layfon to a completely silent Derek. He then stored his Dite away and placed it in its sheath.

  Leerin quickly realized the meaning behind it.

  That was Layfon making it clear to Derek that he was giving up the way of the Katana.

  And then, Layfon became a Heaven's Blade Receiver.

  "W
hy would Layfon......"

  Even now, she still hasn't asked him about it.

  Until now, Leerin always thought that she knew everything about Layfon. They were the same age, and thus they were placed into the orphanage at almost the same time. And at the time, they were both infants.

  Leerin was an abandoned child.

  So was Layfon.

  The two have been together before they understood anything. At that time, they didn't know that they shared circumstances with the other. They also had many other siblings unrelated by blood in the orphanage. Some were abandoned as well. Others had both their parents die, and nobody adopted the children who were sent here. There were various circumstances.

  She only recently found out that Military Artists very rarely gave up their children.

  Perhaps there was some sort of relationship like that, but chances of that wasn't high.

  Layfon treated Derek like his real father. And likewise, Derek treated Layfon like his own son. Of course, the other children in the orphanage also treated this kindly old Military Artists of few words as their own father.

  But, Layfon was a Military Artist.

  Everyone in the orphanage had their own surnames.

  The ones who had last names kept them. Those who didn't know had Derek give them one. All the children were siblings who had grown up in the same circumstances together, but they wished that they could share their surname with someone else.

  This felt somewhat lonely.

  But it was also something they could do nothing about. Derek's last name was the same as the dojo that he was part of. Even though it was very small, even if a normal person carried the name of the dojo, it showed a deep connection with a Military Artist generations back.

  Not knowing her two parents, Leerin obviously didn't know her surname either.

  This also meant that Layfon might not have his own surname. Layfon Psyharden. This name wasn't too shabby.

  As they continued on with their ordinary lives, perhaps it had also become reality.

  Derek adopted Layfon officially, and was originally meant to be the heir to the Psyharden techniques.