Chapter 190

Frey spoke in a firm tone.

“It wasn’t a wise idea to try and take your own life.”

“I-, I’m sorry.”

Nix’s face became red, and she lowered her head.

Frey sighed. There was a lot he wanted to say to her.

“We’ll talk about it later.”

First, he had to meet Snow and Ivan.

The first one he headed to was Snow. The room that Nora was referring to before was Snow’s room in his house.

Standing in front of the door, he felt the presence of someone inside. He knocked, but he received no answer.

Did she want to be alone?

Normally, he’d give her some space, but…

Click.

Frey opened the door and walked in.

Snow was sitting on the bed.

The only thing out of place was the fact that she was wearing her mask indoors.

Maybe she had been crying by herself.

Frey sat beside her.

“What were you doing?”

“…thinking about what happened.”

“Stop blaming yourself.”

Snow twitched slightly at Frey’s words, and she turned her masked face to look at him.

After staring at him for a moment, she spoke angrily.

“I wish I could. Huhu. I’ve never felt this way before. I feel like I’m going to go crazy because I’m pathetic and useless.”

“…”

“…I heard that you defeated Agni. Tell me honestly, Frey. Would this Queen have been any help in your fight?”

“No.”

Frey answered honestly.

Her sword skills were certainly amazing. She had reached the highest level of mastery, and on the entire continent, those who were as skilled as her when it came to swords would not exceed ten.

However, that was not enough to hurt Agni.

‘She must have encountered a wall.’

Snow did not have any experience fighting Demigods.

This event could be called misfortunate. If she had encountered and defeated a weak Demigod, she would not have fallen into such despair. Instead, she would have experienced a period of explosive growth due to the positive stimulation.

Unfortunately, her first opponent was an Apocalypse.

“…the way I am now, I won’t be any help in the coming fights.”

Her voice was still weak.

“You’re right. If you want to quit now, I won’t stop you. As you said, the current you would not be of much help.”

Snow smiled helplessly at Frey’s cold words.

“Huhu. What a cruel man. Seeing you talk in such a way without caring about a woman’s feelings reminds me of Riki. Right. Like you said, leaving…”

Frey left the room without listening to her response.

Snow shuddered at his cold attitude.

Then she wrapped her arms around herself and muttered.

“…looking for someone else’s comfort. You’ve really fallen this time, Snow De Predickwood.”

Then the door opened again.

It was Frey. The difference this time was that he’d returned with something in his hands.

It was a sword.

“That’s…?”

“This belonged to my friend. I will now give it to you.”

She didn’t know what material it was made of. She didn’t even know who made it.

But Snow was certain that it was an amazing sword. She could tell with a single glance.

This black sword was the best sword Snow had ever seen.

“…originally, that person would not have given someone else his sword. But Snow, I don’t want you to give up like this. Because you are the woman whom Riki chose to be his disciple.”

“…”

“As I said before, as you are now, you would not be of any help. So become strong. Become a Knight worthy of wielding this sword.”

Snow received the sword with a bewitched gaze. She had become completely enamored with the sword, forgetting her previous depression.

Frey then put something on the table.

It was a bead that seemed to contain lava.

When Frey swept his hand over this bead, it then split in half. Frey took half and left the other half on the table.

“This is Agni’s crystal. I’ll give you half of it. Of course, that doesn’t mean it’ll be easy to absorb.”

“…”

“This is all I can do. Whether you choose to use the sword or the crystal is all up to you.”

When Frey turned around after saying those words, Snow hurriedly stopped him.

“Wa-, wait. There’s still something I want to ask.”

“What is it?”

“This sword… what’s the name of this sword?”

Frey was silent for a moment before responding.

“Deukid.”

“…!!!”

Snow trembled.

Frey left the room after saying those words, but she continued staring intently at the sword without even realising it.

She knew that name. There was no way she wouldn’t know that name. There wasn’t any Knight, no, any swordsman on the continent who didn’t know that name.

Sword King Lucid.

The name of the sword that had accompanied him throughout his lifetime was Deukid.

Snow then muttered with a strange expression.

“Belonged to his friend…?”

* * *

A loud sound shook the forest.

It sounded like something had exploded or like the footsteps of an incomparably large being.

Crack!

This sound grew louder and louder as he moved forward. And before long, Frey was able to find the culprit behind the noise.

Ivan was slamming his bare fists against the ground. He wasn’t even using mana.

It was unclear whether he wasn’t feeling the pain or if he just didn’t care, but his fists were already red with blood. This was basically no different from self-harm.

Ivan grit his teeth.

He was ashamed. No, he was so disgusted in himself that he felt he was going to lose his mind.

Every time he closed his eyes, he couldn’t help but think about Nora, who had lost her arm. And then Beniang’s image would appear.

Beniang, a woman, had given her life to save his. It was an undeniable truth.

She had saved him. He owed her his life.

“Dammit! Shit!”

He swung his fists even faster. Every time they connected to the ground, it shook.

Soon after, Ivan collapsed, exhausted. He didn’t even have the energy to lift a finger.

He just lay on his back, staring at the sunset. And after a while, tears began flowing from his eyes.

It wasn’t funny.

Ivan was certain that he’d never had such a pathetic moment in his not-so-short life.

….

….

Ivan was finally able to pull himself together after the sky became dark.

‘Today will definitely be the ugliest day of my life.’

In other words, he would never show such a pathetic appearance again.

Ivan sat up and wiped away his tears. Then he saw Frey, who appeared as though he’d been there for a long time.

Ivan wasn’t surprised and spoke in a blunt tone.

“You saw something unsightly.”

“It was pretty unpleasant.”

“Never speak of this.”

“Right.” (TL: Bro code)

“…why are you here?”

“Did you find the Giant’s Belt?”

“I did.”

Frey nodded and took out the Tiger King’s Gloves that Dro had found.

“…that’s?”

“One of the three items left by Kasajin. The last one.”

“Right. So those are the Tiger King’s Gloves.”

He didn’t seem particularly pleased.

“You will need them if you intend to surpass Kasajin.”

“I see.”

Ivan glanced at the gloves before laying down once again.

When Frey saw that, he couldn’t help but think that this situation was better than Snow’s.

Ivan didn’t need any advice or hints. He already had the determination and willpower to overcome the wall.

This was because he had already walked a thorny path. It was possible that his mind was even stronger than his body.

“…I am weak.”

Ivan muttered to himself, his eyes flashing.

“Next time, I will save them.”

Regardless of who the enemy was, this was the last time he would be the one being saved.

Ivan swore it.

* * *

Frey went to look for Nix.

It seemed she’d taken one of the empty rooms in the house.

When he opened the door, he saw a woman sitting on a chair. (TL: Bad Frey, not knocking before entering a girl’s room)

Frey paused for a moment.

He recognised that expression. At that moment, she was no longer Nix—she was Torkunta.

“Why isn’t it Nix?”

“She doesn’t want to talk to you.”

“Why?”

“Hmph. It’s obvious. She’s probably scared of being scolde-…. Kuk! Don’t yell at me! How else do you want me to explain it?”

Torkunta frowned and shouted.

Frey spoke in a quiet voice.

“Nix, I have no intention of blaming you.”

“…”

Torkunta, who had been silent for a while, suddenly made a strange expression.

Then she sighed and scratched her head.

“It would have been better to die than end up like this. Now, I’m like a shrimp who can’t even withstand a few waves. Dammit.”

Then she lowered her head, and her temperament changed.

After a while, she spoke in a softer tone.

“…I’m sorry.”

It was Nix.

Frey shook his head and said.

“Why did you choose to do that?”

“I couldn’t think of anything else. I thought it was the best option.”

Frey couldn’t help but feel a bit strange.

Nix’s appearance was clearly that of an adult woman, but her tone and expression reminded him of a child who was only a few years old.

But this was natural. After all, she had only gained her human appearance a few years ago.

“Can I sit?”

“Yeah.”

Frey sat in front of Nix.

Then, after a moment of silence, he opened his mouth.

“As I said, I didn’t come here to scold you or blame you. I just wanted to talk.”

“Talk…?”

“Looking back, all of our reunions happened unintentionally. We never had the time to have a proper conversation.”

Nix hesitated for a moment before nodding.

Frey’s soft tone caused her stiff body to relax considerably.

“I want to hear about everything after Torkunta died. Would that be okay?”

“Ah…”

Nix suddenly let out a soft giggle.

“Why are you laughing?”

“Because Torkunta just shouted. He said he wasn’t dead.”

Frey also laughed at those words.