Chapter 12 -----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: uly
Chapter: 12
Chapter Title: The Path of Caldias
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Isaac fell into deep thought.
'Did I expect too much?'
He knew it himself.
Comparing the Silberna of now to the Silberna of years later was rude.
But.
Even so, Isaac could declare it confidently.
'She can't even hold a candle to her.'
He had at least hoped for a glimpse of that potential from back then.
That she might show enough growth and promise to fill his eyes.
'If she weren't Silberna, I'd swear it was a different person altogether.'
Just looking at the spear alone, no one would ever think they were the same person.
The gap was that vast.
Which meant it was time to rethink things.
'Why?'
Why was the difference so extreme?
The question didn't linger long.
Silberna was already standing before him.
"What did you say?"
Her eyes burned with clear hostility and a strange sense of betrayal.
Isaac, who had praised the Caldias spear, was now badmouthing her own after seeing it—naturally doubling her anger.
"..."
"Ah, um—wait, that's not what he meant..."
Jonathan tried to make excuses from the side, but it didn't look easy.
"Lord Isaac, he has... a condition in his mind, so sometimes he spouts nonsense—"
"..."
Jonathan scrambled for any justification.
But Silberna ignored him completely, glaring daggers at Isaac.
Isaac pondered.
How should he put it?
In the old days, he'd usually bow his head and apologize in situations like this.
In arguments with fellow disciples or comrades under the same grandmaster, it was always Isaac who ended up yielding.
Because, in the end, he wasn't truly a swordsman.
They exalted him as the Silent Sword, but there was inevitably a disconnect with real combat.
"Don't you have a mouth?"
Silberna's piercing glare made even the surrounding instructors tense up, the air thick with an eerie silence broken only by the hurried wind.
Isaac, having steeled himself, replied.
"Your spear is worse than I imagined."
"...!"
"Ah, Lord Isaac!"
Isaac declared it straight to Silberna's face.
He gestured for Jonathan beside him to shut up, then turned to Silberna, whose eyes had widened.
"It was bad from the start. The way you grip the shaft, for one. Grabbing it there means your power doesn't fully transmit."
"What?"
Silberna looked baffled, as if he'd spouted nonsense out of nowhere.
But Isaac was already acting without hesitation.
He grabbed her hand where it clutched the spear.
"Wh-what are you doing!?"
Silberna flinched in surprise, shoulders hunching, but Isaac didn't waver.
"Look here. See how worn the shaft is? That's where you grip it every time you start a bout."
"So what? I've held it this way since I was a kid—it's perfected. My father taught me this grip himself."
Silberna shot back, telling him not to nitpick.
"You've grown up. Your body has developed. Your grip width should naturally widen, and so should your stance."
"Uh...?"
"It's good to follow the family head's teachings. You've worked so hard to ingrain them that even as your body grew and it felt awkward, you forced yourself to keep it up. But you need to change it."
Isaac corrected her grip position, crouched her body, and adjusted her stance to the proper width.
Silberna followed his lead like a doll.
Isaac began concentrating, as if he were writing.
"You there, come here."
"...Me?"
Isaac called out to Meladic Drakemoor, who had just sparred with Silberna.
Under the pressure of all the stares, Meladic shuffled forward.
"Do it again."
"Huh?"
"What?"
Isaac sighed at the two staring back in confusion and repeated himself.
"I said spar like before."
"Ah, uh."
Meladic hesitantly took his stance, overwhelmed by the momentum, but Silberna furrowed her brow and pressed him.
"I remember you pointing out my insult earlier. Why has this turned into a spar replay all of a sudden?"
"Do as I say. If you still can't accept what I said after the replay, I'll withdraw my words politely and apologize."
"..."
"Start. Do it again."
And so, unintentionally, a three-way spar replay began.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇ Lunchtime.
As the dispatched nobles headed to the cafeteria after training,
a booming shout erupted from the corner of the training grounds.
"Meladic! How many times do I have to tell you? Sometimes you need to relax your grip on the sword!"
"Y-yes, sir!"
Isaac, somehow wielding a tree branch the size of a cane, was instructing Meladic.
Silberna stood opposite, genuinely stunned.
'How is this possible?'
To be blunt,
Isaac looked weak at first glance.
To put it harshly,
he was pathetic.
The kind she could overwhelm in one exchange right now.
Yet listening to him speak made him seem astonishingly versed in combat and martial arts.
'He's too competent to call a fraud...'
"Drakemoor swordsmanship lives on lightness and footwork. But your grip is too tense, stiffening your whole movement. That's why you couldn't dodge Silberna's third strike and had to tank it, losing the bout."
"Yes, sir!"
Meladic, completely dominated, swung his sword nimbly.
'It's not just knowledge of Caldias spear arts. He's deeply versed in Drakemoor swordsmanship too. How?'
This wasn't surface-level.
It was as if
he had pondered and researched it for years.
His words carried the weight of profound insight into the art.
'Incredible.'
The spear in her hand felt awkwardly foreign today.
After just a few hours of training together,
new horizons opened before her.
A mix of anxiety and excitement left Silberna flustered.
"That's better now. Practice like that. Relax the force and take a broader view—it'll deepen your understanding of Drakemoor swordsmanship."
"Th-thank you, sir."
Meladic panted his thanks and bolted for the cafeteria.
Isaac watched with a satisfied smile until Silberna entered his view, at which point he looked startled.
"Ah, sorry. When I get focused, I tend to forget my surroundings."
Isaac apologized sheepishly.
He had started critiquing her spear, then ended up teaching Meladic too—it almost made him look foolish, nearly drawing a laugh from her.
"Ahem. So, what did you think?"
She demanded an answer to his question from before the session.
"Was my statement really just a plain insult?"
"Ha."
She let out a disbelieving laugh.
Even as she wanted to assert her pride, she was surprised by her own hollow acceptance.
"Fine, I admit it. I get why you said what you did about my spear."
"...You get it?"
"Isaac, you were right. In that short time, I learned so much. Honestly, listening to you... I felt the depth of your spear knowledge was on another level."
Silberna gave a wry smile.
"It's ridiculous, right? Me, who's trained in the Caldias spear my whole life, having less grasp of it than the Helmunt son-in-law?"
"..."
"But accepting that's a different story."
She began pouring out her conflicted, honest feelings.
"If I do as you say, I'll surely grow. But would that still be Caldias spear arts?"
"..."
"You said it yourself, Isaac—our spear arts are great. I want to preserve that."
Greatness gave her pride.
And so, she didn't want to lose her identity.
"This spear has been with me my whole life. Your guidance shows me something new, but accepting it would change my spear too much."
"..."
"I have a duty to protect the spear our ancestors built."
Hearing Silberna's confession, Isaac finally felt the puzzle pieces in his head click together.
'I see.'
The difference between the Silberna he remembered and the current one.
It stemmed from fundamentally different attitudes toward pursuing strength.
'The Silberna I knew had already lost everything.'
The Mallidan Wall had fallen, the Caldias family destroyed, leaving her alone.
Family, comrades, homeland.
All gone, nothing left but her spear.
But now was different.
She hadn't lost anything precious yet, so her hunger for power was somewhat lacking.
"Foolish, Silberna Caldias."
Isaac's rebuke was directed at her.
"...What?"
"Anyone else, maybe. If someone else at the Mallidan Wall said that to me, I'd accept it."
But.
"Not you."
"What do you know! The Caldias spear is my pride, my heart! Don't tell me to change it lightly—!"
Bam!
Isaac slammed the wooden stick in his hand against the ground.
"Your name—."
Like a stern master disciplining a student,
his dark eyes blazed with what looked like anger.
"What's your name?"
"What are you—!"
"What's your name!"
At Isaac's sharp shout, Silberna hesitated before answering.
"Silberna... Caldias."
"Right, Caldias! Guard the ancestors' spear? Can't abandon that great pride? Do you even know what that means?!"
His stick pointed at her.
"It means stagnation! You're drawing a line yourself, saying the Caldias spear ends right here!"
In his past life,
as the Silent Sword, Isaac had taught countless people.
Among them, the type he despised most were those who set their own limits.
Even Isaac, with his injured leg unable to swing a sword properly, hadn't given up and kept pushing forward.
Yet they defined their own boundaries and halted.
"Look at your spear! A great legacy piled up by your ancestors! And you'll just hold onto it? Guard it because it's precious?"
Grinding his teeth, Isaac pleaded desperately.
Don't become one of those people, Silberna.
In his past life, she had only realized it after enduring a brutal tragedy, her frozen mind shattering in the northern cold.
This time,
'I'll make her see.'
Before tragedy struck.
"Stagnating and sitting idle is death for a warrior—short of actual dying."
As if entranced, Silberna locked eyes with Isaac.
His fervent shouts melted her rigid heart and mind.
'Ah.'
Suddenly, a path appeared within her.
It was named 'Caldias'.
And it was the path she had walked.
Rough and rugged, but
a path nonetheless.
One someone had laid before her.
"I'll ask again—who are you?"
Now, Silberna looked ahead.
Heavy northern snow blanketed the way.
A place she thought had no path,
one she mustn't tread.
"I am... Silberna... Caldias."
In the future,
for the descendants who would pass this way.
It was the path she would forge ahead.
"Advancing isn't abandonment—it's 'carrying on'."
Isaac smiled softly, sensing her enlightenment.
"The place you stand now is someone's endpoint."
Which meant
she could start from there.
Before long,
a bright smile graced Silberna's lips.
Not mere gratitude to her ancestors for their greatness.
But joy that she herself was one of them, walking their path.
"Hah, hahaha!"
As a warrior, it was profound honor.
And a thrilling anticipation swelled in her chest.
Slowly,
she bowed deeply.
Hands clasped politely, she voiced her sincerity.
"Thank you."
To the benefactor who granted her enlightenment.
"My infinite thanks."
When she looked at Isaac again, the smile on his face put her at ease.
His joy at her finding the right answer only uplifted her more, spurring her forward eagerly.
"Could I receive more guidance? Not just basic instruction, but ways to further evolve the Caldias spear."
"If I can help, anytime. But shouldn't we grab lunch first?"
He shrugged toward the cafeteria, and Silberna nodded enthusiastically.
"Let's talk more over food. Oh, any specific training directions for me?"
"Blindly following my words isn't ideal."
"Advice! I want your advice!"
Advice, huh.
Isaac hesitated slightly.
He did have advice he wanted to give.
It was one of the things she'd struggled with terribly in his past life.
"...You sure any words are fine?"
"Huh? Of course!"
"Promise you won't get mad."
"Hm? I even overlooked you insulting my spear. What else could make me angrier?"
At Silberna's sparkling-eyed urging to spill it,
Isaac scratched his cheek awkwardly and said,
"You should ditch the breast binder."
"...Huh?"
The advice was so out of left field that Silberna froze.
Her hand unconsciously drifted toward her chest before stopping short.
"B-breasts?"
She'd been hiding her rather ample figure compared to other women.
As her eyes lost focus and trembled, she offered her reasoning.
"W-without it, swinging the spear is hard. Too... bouncy."
"Get used to it."
"...Why?"
This is insane.
Isaac pressed his forehead with his hand and muttered softly.
"You might not be able to wear one someday."
"Why wouldn't I be able t—"
Silberna's face flushed beet red mid-sentence.
Did he mean... things would progress further here?
"H-how do you know about that!"
She yelled desperately, but Isaac sighed wistfully and murmured,
"I know. Anyway... I know."
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