Chapter 231: People from the Dark Continent x The Great Kindness Towards "Swordsmanship"
"This year is the twentieth anniversary of Master Zzigg's passing," Gotoh added at the end.
Twenty years already... no wonder Netero is coming. Roy forked a piece of bacon, tossed it into his mouth, and looked out the window listlessly, saying, "Gotoh,"
"Young Master, please speak."
"Have you seen Grandpa Zzigg?"
For twenty leisurely years, he wasn't born yet, but Gotoh was there.
The young butler's thoughts drifted far away, carefully recalling, "I saw him once."
He pushed up the glasses resting on his nose and said truthfully, "At that time, Hall and I were still apprentice butlers. He had a room full of figurines, was quite thin, had no airs, and was always smiling... Back then, he even gave Hall and me a piece of candy each. It was said he made it himself, and it was quite delicious..."
Gotoh rambled on, recounting that encounter in full detail. Roy quietly listened while eating his breakfast. He suddenly remembered the [Medal of Courage] Netero gave him during the Hunter Exam in the Numere Wetlands, saying it was a relic his Grandpa Zzigg gave him "before his death"... Roy raised his hand and summoned the medal branded with an "axe and wheat ear", holding it in his hand and playing with it carefully, forgetting to eat for a moment.
"Young Master... Young Master..."
"Hmm?"
"The soup is cold." After finishing his story, Gotoh noticed Roy staring thoughtfully at the [Medal of Courage] in a daze, and spoke up to remind him.
Roy silently returned to his senses, flicked his wrist, and put the medal back into the drawer to store it properly. Taking advantage of the soup not being completely cold, he scooped a spoonful and drank it slowly.
While drinking, he didn't forget the main business and asked, "Are the medicines I asked you to prepare ready?"
The means of De-Conjuration were already in hand. It was time to fulfill his promise to his father, Tanjuro.
"The doctor has already issued a plan. I will set off to pick it up in a while," Gotoh said seriously. "By tonight at the latest, the Young Master will see it."
"Also," Gotoh looked over cautiously.
"Speak,"
"Yes." The young butler's expression turned solemn. "Hall called and mentioned something. He said... recently, a cult organization has suddenly appeared across various continents, incubating followers everywhere, which has attracted the attention of various countries, including the Hunter Association."
Roy's hand holding the spoon paused. He looked up. Gotoh sorted the intelligence and said in a deep voice, "Among them is the one the Young Master met... Guzman."
"Is that so?" Roy's face was ice-cold. "Book a ticket, I'm going to kill him."
"No need." A gust of wind blew by. Opposite the dining table, at some point, a dry, shriveled little old man had appeared... His entire head was almost bald, yet two stubborn strands of hair stood stiffly without falling. It was exactly Maha.
"I told your Grandpa to go." The old man skillfully took the soup bowl. Without using a spoon, he directly lifted the bowl and gulped the soup down into his stomach. After a satisfying, massive gulp, completely finishing the bowl of tomato and egg soup, he finally let out a breath and said, wanting more.
Grandpa... Roy remembered meeting Zeno at the mountain gate just now, and fell silent for a moment.
Maha cast a sidelong glance at him. "What, do you have to take revenge yourself?"
His thoughts seen through, Roy admitted frankly, "I did have that thought. I couldn't kill him with one strike back then and let him escape. I figured sooner or later, I'd get my payback."
"Then you still have a chance."
"It's just an external avatar. If he's killed, he's killed... there will be a next one," Maha said nonchalantly.
Roy frowned. His Great-Grandfather seemed to know something.
As expected, "You think you're the only smart one?"
The old man said faintly, "Someone... came down..."
Came... down... Roy was horrified. Where else could they come down from... except the Dark Continent!
"Now you know fear?" Maha forked a piece of bacon and threw it into his mouth. Not minding eating Roy's leftovers, he simply opened his stomach and looted the dining table clean before tossing the fork into the empty plate with a clatter.
Roy remained silent. The boy gently stroked the [Curse] on the back of his left hand. After a moment, he sighed with some emotion, "Great-Grandfather must be joking... I am afraid,"
"But not to the point of losing my composure,"
"I just didn't expect the other party seemingly doesn't even intend to give me eight years. Being in such a hurry, it's as if... Grandpa Zzigg did something to Him, provoking His displeasure..."
"Hmm..." Mentioning Zzigg, the grandfather and grandson tacitly stopped talking. Having eaten until half full, Maha shrank back into his chair, tilting his head to look out the window. The red sun leaped out, the morning glow turning from red to white, radiating sunlight to warm the earth. He moved his feet, and with another glance, appeared outside the door, in the mottled corridor.
"Walk with me..."
With a creak of the door, Roy silently followed beside the old man.
The two, one with hands behind his back, one with hands in his pockets, bathed in the warm sun, strolled through the stone corridors of the Zoldyck family castle filled with the aura of time, walking unhurriedly towards the training room...
At a certain moment, they saw Kikyo with a bulging belly, carefully walking in the garden supported by Tsubone... The man was absent. Clearly... the woman's nerves were taut, visibly much more nervous than usual.
"Roy,"
"How long has it been since you practiced the sword?"
Reaching the corner, the training room door was not far away... Maha stopped with his hands behind his back, squinting at Kikyo's towering belly, and asked suddenly.
Specks of fluorescent light gathered, and the cane sword emerged, steadily gripped in Roy's hand. The boy gently stroked the blade, feeling [Solar Eclipse]'s joyous mood, and answered truthfully, "I just practiced last night."
"And had a pretty good opponent, a sparring partner."
"In a dream?"
"Yes, in a dream."
"Is that so..." Maha looked over sideways and said faintly, "You have a sparring partner and practice diligently, why are you still so terrible?"
Roy was stunned, then his hand felt empty. He looked down... [Solar Eclipse] had fallen into Maha's hands in the blink of an eye, quietly and silently held up to the sunlight by him to play with... The boy recovered his senses, momentarily speechless and choked up.
The old man in front of him said nothing, yet seemed to have said everything... He played with [Solar Eclipse], silently seeming to say: "Look, the sword you value as your life was snatched away by me so easily,"
"And you still say you cherish it?"
That effortless ease in his gestures... left Roy stammering and speechless...
"I didn't see clearly. Could Great-Grandfather let me see it again?" Snatching the sword by force, yet doing it as silently as moisture nourishing things, how was this done?
Roy lowered his head and bowed respectfully. With a blink of an eye, the sword light flashed again. [Solar Eclipse] whimpered, seemingly having suffered some grievance, and fell back into Roy's hands, strongly complaining of its inner dissatisfaction to him.
Maha clapped his hands as if he had done an insignificant little thing. The dry, shriveled man leaned against the window frame, sunbathing. "What difference does it make whether you see it or not? Even if we do it ten thousand times, you still couldn't guard it."
Roy fell silent. He silently gripped [Solar Eclipse] tighter, lowering his head without a word.
His forehead then hurt, poked right between the eyebrows by Maha's finger: "Gratitude... idiot!"
"How did this old man spawn such a blockhead like you?"
"Have you ever held endless gratitude for the [Way of the Sword] you practice?"
Boom! A clap of thunder from a clear sky! Maha's words fell, ringing in Roy's mind like a massive bell!
The boy stood blankly in place. His previous confusion about the [Way of the Sword] and the frustration and embarrassment of having his sword snatched completely vanished!
Recovering his senses, the first thing that surfaced in his mind was the figure of a middle-aged man with disheveled hair at the peak of a snowy mountain, praying and throwing punches with immense gratitude for [Martial Arts]... A bright light gradually emerged in his eyes!
Noticing the boy's strange reaction... Maha withdrew his finger. A trace of satisfaction flashed deep in his eyes, and he snorted coldly, "Although that brat Netero is unlikable, he was able to create the [Shingen-Ryu] and understand his own martial path. The title of [Strongest Human] wasn't given to him in vain."
"He has his path of invincibility, and you should have your path of invincibility. Being paranoid about the path of faith but ignoring the [True Self], ignoring the tool you rely on to eat... Roy, that is putting the cart before the horse!"
Rumble! More and more "thunder of words" struck the boy's heart...
Forcibly wiping away the bug of confusion parasitic on Roy's path of swordsmanship, making his eyes and sword heart clear and bright, coming alive from dead silence...
These were the words of a grandmaster. Roy knew very well that his Great-Grandfather didn't understand the sword; in his [Ren], the giant wreathed in thunder wielded a hammer!
But... the martial path, the swordsmanship path, or the hammer path... the paths are different, but they reach the same destination... ultimately, they cannot escape the word "Gratitude"!
"Gratitude that humanity forged the sword,"
"Gratitude that the world has swordsmanship,"
"Gratitude that I learned the sword,"
"Gratitude that the sword chose me..."
"I was wrong, completely wrong..."
Enlightenment surged like a tide... Roy's eyes ignited into two suns. At this moment, he gently stroked his sword and muttered to himself, "Actually, I have always used you as a tool,"
He bowed again, sincerely giving a bow to [Solar Eclipse], an apology.
Vmm... A simple and unsophisticated sword cry echoed... [Solar Eclipse] unsheathed itself with a clang... Moving its body, it circled and danced around Roy, completely carefree... All the grievance from being forcibly taken away by Maha earlier was gone...
It couldn't speak, but Roy truly heard it speak. It felt what Roy felt, saw what Roy saw, heard what Roy heard, and was driven by Roy's will. At this moment, it seemed to have its own life.
However, this was far from enough. Roy grabbed [Solar Eclipse] back in his hand with a single scoop, gave a slight nod to Maha, then flashed out the window. Sitting cross-legged in the garden, with the great sun overhead and draped in rosy light, he closed his eyes, placed the sword horizontally on his knees, and began to meditate.
Suddenly, a string of footsteps sounded...
Illumi, wearing a head of black hair falling to his waist, walked over slowly, stopped beside Maha, and accompanied the old man in watching his older brother meditate with closed eyes. A ripple appeared in the boy's hollow eyes as he tilted his head and asked, "What is he doing?"
"Why can't I understand?"
Maha: "That's why he is the older brother, and you are the younger brother."
Illumi deeply agreed, but then slowly shook his head: "No, he is the older brother I deeply love, and I am the younger brother who deeply loves him. Great-Grandfather... you forgot about love..."
"You!" Maha's old eyes glared. Lifting his foot, he kicked Illumi flying...
Visibly, turning into a shooting star on the horizon...
Disappearing in the blink of an eye!
"What the heck!"
"Dare to spout nonsense again, and see if I don't beat you to death!"
☆☆☆
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