Chapter 281 : Chapter 281

Chapter 281. You Two, Together

Leon’s eyes widened.

He saw his mother running toward Radel right before him.

He had to move.

He had to take out his staff.

He had to chant a spell.

“Please do not, Your Highness!”

“It is dangerous!”

Yet he could not move even a single finger.

Every time he closed his eyes, the same scene replayed.

The moment when he could not even utter the simplest spell.

Despite possessing the Dragon’s Blessing, he had failed to save his mother……

The young version of himself, utterly powerless before her death.

That memory crushed Leon down.

‘I know what is going to happen.’

The young Leon remained frozen, forced to watch everything unfold before his eyes.

‘Mother will shield Radel…… and then.’

“Radel!”

His mother wrapped her arms around Radel.

Leon’s jaw began to tremble.

‘And then Mother will die.’

A magical beast charged toward her back.

-KRAAAH!

Now its sharp fangs would tear into her neck.

-KRAAAAH!

At the very moment the beast lunged at her—

CRUNCH!

Something utterly unbelievable happened.

***

Radel clenched his teeth.

Crrrk.

Reflected in his eyes was a swarm of magical beasts charging toward their prey.

He could not lose his mother like this.

Not even if this was only a dream.

‘A sword!’

He needed a sword.

A sword that could block those beasts.

But where could he possibly find one right now?

-KRAAAH!

‘No. There is one.’

Radel’s eyes gleamed.

He had just realized it.

This place was not reality.

A dream.

‘So I was trapped in a dream.’

Radel swiftly slipped out of his mother’s embrace.

All his senses sharpened.

The sound of his mother gasping in surprise.

“Radel……!”

The sound of a beast opening its jaws toward him.

- KRAAAAH!

“Whew.”

After taking a short, deep breath, Radel stepped in front of his mother, turning his back to her.

He had to focus.

‘What I need is…….’

A sword that could pierce those beasts.

Radel’s legs moved.

His hands were empty, but it did not matter.

The moment he swung his arm toward the beast, a blade was already clenched in his hand.

CLANG!

‘Dragon’s Reverse Scale.’

The most suitable weapon for a young Radel.

A dagger gleaming with a sharp light.

CRUNCH!

As Radel swung his arm, the beast’s fangs shattered in an instant.

-KRAAAH!

Adjusting his grip on the dagger, Radel stepped forward.

THUD!

The sensation of piercing straight through the beast’s skull.

A sensation young Radel would never have experienced before.

But the Radel of ‘now’ was familiar with it.

He poured all his weight into the motion and twisted the dagger downward.

CRACK!

-KRAAAAGH!

The beast’s scream shook the ground.

“R-Radel……?”

His startled mother parted her lips.

The knights who witnessed the scene stood frozen, mouths agape.

How could a young prince who had never held a sword……?

“……That was Imperial Swordsmanship?”

“H-How does His Highness know Imperial Swordsmanship……!”

Unable to comprehend the situation, they stiffened in place.

Leon was no different.

‘That is impossible.’

Radel had not even manifested an Ability yet.

And even if he had, those movements made no sense.

SHAAAK!

Without pause, Radel leaped toward the next beast.

It was the one that had been about to rake his mother with its claws.

‘Imperial Swordsmanship!’

Slow yet unavoidable sword strikes unfolded.

Though his arms and legs were short like a child’s, there was no issue executing Imperial Swordsmanship.

This was not reality, but a dream.

And as long as he was aware that it was a dream, everything depended on his will.

Radel slashed the dagger, severing the beast’s arm.

PSHHK!

‘What do you think a sword is?’

Shartea’s words surfaced in Radel’s mind.

The condition to advance Imperial Swordsmanship to the next stage: Facing the Sword.

When Radel could not grasp what that meant, Shartea had given him advice.

‘You will have to find that first.’

What was a sword?

The answer had eluded him for so long.

But not now.

THUD!

Leaving behind the beast he had struck down, Radel steadied his dagger.

His mother was still behind him.

No matter how many beasts came, he could not retreat.

‘Senior, I have found the answer.’

Radel murmured inwardly.

‘To me, a sword is…… power.’

The power to endure when retreat was impossible.

The power to stand before someone and protect them.

The power to realize one’s will.

At the moment of that realization, a notification sound rang beside Radel’s ear.

DING.

[You have awakened Facing the Sword.]

[The final condition for skill advancement has been met.]

[Skill: Imperial Swordsmanship (B)]

[Would you like to advance the skill? (Y/N)]

Without hesitation, Radel selected advancement.

And before he could even check the changed skill window, he kicked off the ground.

The beasts were still pouring in.

-KIIEEK!

-KRO!

-KYAAAH!

There were far too many to handle alone.

‘Why is no one helping?’

There should have been knights, even if only a few.

While swinging his dagger, Radel glanced behind him.

“Protect His Highness the Prince and Her Highness the Imperial Consort!”

“Form ranks!”

The knights were struggling in their own way.

But to Radel’s eyes, they were painfully slow.

‘Because this is a dream.’

Radel quickly realized the reason.

This was a dream showing Leon’s past.

As figures within the dream, they could not surpass the limits Leon had set.

In the past, the knights had failed to save his mother.

Since it was his dream, it made sense that the knights possessed only enough strength to fail to save Bianca, the Imperial Consort.

Even as the Imperial Knights, they had failed their duty in Leon’s past.

If so, there was only one person he could rely on in this situation.

Radel shouted toward the one who could break his own limits.

“Leon!”

The owner of this dream—Leon.

Without hesitation, Radel yelled at him.

“What are you doing? Stop just watching and use magic!”

Young Leon stared at Radel with an incredulous expression.

As if he had never expected such words.

“You could not do it back then, but that is not the case now.”

Radel’s unwavering gaze burned itself into Leon’s mind.

What would you know?

Leon bit his lip.

‘How could you possibly know how desperately I wanted to save Mother!’

He had watched his mother die countless times in this dream.

Yet not once had he been able to open his mouth.

The dream was always the same.

His mother shielded Radel, and he had to watch in helplessness.

At first, he hated Radel.

If only the boy had not slipped.

No, at the very least, if Radel’s Ability had manifested sooner, would things not have been different?

It was absurd, but if the boy had been just a little stronger.

Perhaps Mother could have been saved.

BOOM!

Radel leaped straight into the beasts before Leon’s eyes.

WHOOSH!

Leon could not tell what technique it was, but as Radel’s dagger sliced through the air, the beasts faltered and retreated.

Radel calmly widened the distance, then swung his dagger at the beasts charging from the side.

SWISH!

Once again, the beasts shrank back at the swing of the dagger.

Perhaps it was because of young Radel’s overwhelming presence.

They could no longer recklessly rush him as before.

-Grrrr.

They stood in a tense standoff.

Then Radel broke the tension and moved.

TATAT!

Running up the beast’s back, Radel drove the dagger in with all his strength.

CRUNCH!

“Ghk!”

But the beast’s resistance was formidable.

Balancing himself atop the thrashing beast, Radel glanced back after a moment.

A look checking whether someone was safe.

……His mother was there.

His mother was still alive.

‘Why.’

It was a scene Leon had dreamed of countless times.

‘Why do you…… make me hope?’

Leon closed his eyes.

He finally acknowledged the source of every sense of dissonance he had felt.

Naturally, this was not reality.

It was a dream that felt far too real.

That was why he did not want to wake up.

A past where his mother was alive, where warmth still remained.

He wanted to stay there forever.

But he had come to understand that even the past continued to flow.

Even if it repeated, that incident would occur again.

‘Then I would live in hell once more.’

……Would he let it repeat again?

Would he stand by again?

‘This unbearable scene, repeating endlessly?’

Leon clenched his fist.

And when young Leon opened his eyes, a staff was gripped in his hand.

He no longer hesitated.

Leon swung his staff and chanted a spell.

“Freeze.”

CRACKLE.

Magic power surged from his staff, instantly covering the ground.

A cold fiercer than the northern wind filled the clearing.

The endlessly advancing beasts howled as they felt the freezing air envelop them.

-KROOO!

-KIIEEK!

Beasts resembling bears, lizards, and wolves—large and small—had their scales and fur begin to freeze over.

-KRAAAH!

Even the beast Radel was riding had its legs frozen solid.

As its movements stopped, Radel looked around.

All the countless beasts had turned white.

Even the breath spilling from their mouths.

The saliva of the beast that had been about to attack his mother froze and fell to the ground.

Thud.

“Leon!”

Radel’s face brightened.

Leon had finally realized on his own that this was a dream.

Radel waved at Leon.

“You came to your senses, Leon!”

As if he had ever been out of his senses.

Just briefly caught in a dream…….

Leon’s expression twisted.

“……Is that really what matters right now?”

“Oh, right.”

Their gazes turned toward the same place.

Where their mother, Bianca, stood.

“Radel, Leon……!”

Their mother was safe.

Leon’s eyes trembled.

Aside from slightly disheveled hair, she bore not a single wound.

It was the image of his mother he had yearned for so desperately.

Even if this was only a dream…….

Radel, too, felt an indescribable emotion.

As the two stood there, unable to speak, Bianca addressed her young sons.

“You two worked together and saved your mother. Is that not so?”

For a brief moment, they looked at each other.

***

“Ghk…….”

“Ugh, my head.”

Radel clutched his head as he pushed himself upright.

Magic that transferred the soul always came with severe dizziness.

Still, it seemed they had returned safely.

Leon looked like he had a headache as well, but he appeared fine.

“You brats! I thought I was going to burst from frustration watching you!”

As Radel and Leon woke up, the Spirit of the Library fluttered over, pages flapping.

“Your souls almost got sucked in halfway through, and just what kind of dream takes this long!”

Leon, his head throbbing from the spirit’s shouting, glared at Radel and muttered,

“……Did you call it?”

“Yes.”

“Send it back quickly.”

Hearing that, the Spirit of the Library snorted in disbelief.

“So you got quite close in that dream, did you? And who are you to order me around? You were fooling around without even knowing who protected you while you were lost in a dream! You owe me, you little brat!”

But from Leon’s perspective, it was simply absurd.

Perhaps in the Academy Library, but in its current form, how exactly had it protected them……?

“……If you send us back immediately, I will tell you the essence of magic.”

“W-What!?”

The Spirit of the Library leaped in shock and spoke to Radel.

“You are not seriously going to listen to that brat, are you? You are not!”

Radel smiled faintly.

“I cannot resist the essence of magic.”