Swordmaster's Youngest Son Novel - Chapter 823
Chapter 823
After leaving the Hidden Palace, Elona Zipple wandered the vast sea for a long time.
She had no desire to quickly return to those who awakened her.
Although she was undoubtedly someone who fought for her clan, a thousand years had passed since she awakened from her seal.
Elona wasn’t particularly happy about this fact.
Like staring into a deep, dark well, she found it difficult to read her own thoughts.
‘The cold… It’s cold.’
A human at the Genesis Magician level would hardly feel the chill of such a gentle sea breeze.
But she felt a sense of loneliness in the coldness.
As Ameris suspected, Elona was born with inexplicably strong power from the moment she was born, and the reason was the Sun God’s essence.
Of course, Elona didn’t know what the power within her was.
Just like Zipple back then.
Elona’s transparent footprints were imprinted on the sea, but when she looked back at her own tracks, they didn’t appear transparent, but blood red.
She thought her body must be soaked in the blood of all those countless people she killed a thousand years ago.
Her opponents had never begged for mercy or pleaded.
At that time, most of the people she met didn’t realize their impending death.
Those who faced Elona and had the power to survive didn’t beg for mercy.
Or they fought like Temar and the ten great knights or retreated while cursing.
On the battlefield, there had never been a moment when Elona retreated first.
‘Back then, I felt I wanted to disappear while fighting. Like Temar, I wanted someone who could kill me… Why did I have those thoughts? Did I hate my clan? Did I no longer want to kill people?’
She didn’t know.
The more she thought, the more her head ached, but she couldn’t stop thinking.
As a result, her mana, unconsciously, churned the sea chaotically in response to her troubled emotions.
Ice mana spread, freezing the entire sea, and then fire mana emerged, melting it again.
The mana that turned into wind created a great storm, and within it, lightning struck.
All of that wasn’t magic, but simply the power generated by Elona’s emotions.
However, if anyone had been nearby, even a fleet wouldn’t have been able to withstand the onslaught and would have been reduced to rubble.
‘Should I just sink into the deep sea, never to emerge again? Not to return to the clan. Maybe that would be better. But the clan…’
Zipple, the clan she had to protect.
The faces of her clan members that she vaguely remembered only showed two expressions: fear or disdain.
She didn’t understand the first.
She had no intention of harming the clan members.
She understood the second.
They judged that Elona was only strong, she didn’t fulfill her duty as Zipple.
‘Even now, I’m the same as before. I think I have to fight for the clan, but I feel confused.’
She wished someone would put an end to this confusion.
As she was thinking about that, Elona noticed a group of lights approaching in the dark night sky in the distance.
It was Zipple’s First Fleet.
“Kozec…”
If that’s the case, the Patriarch must be on board.
Elona looked up at the fleet, gathered her scattered mana, and the fleet descended and took position in front of her.
“I, Patriarch of Zipple, Beradin Zippel, greet the clan’s former heroine.”
Beradin knelt on one knee as he spoke on the frozen sea.
Behind him, Zipple’s executives and Magicians were saluting.
Elona was surprised.
She had never received such respectful treatment from the clan.
On ceremonial days, she had received formal bows, but the atmosphere was completely different from now.
That reverence felt more like a reprimand.
Facing the gaze of the clan members’ eyes, she felt stifled and oppressed more than anything.
“I apologize for coming to see you so late. We have been negligent and left you, Lady Elona, unattended.”
“…Can you raise your head a little?”
Elona made eye contact with Beradin.
From his words, she couldn’t read any hatred, disdain, or falsehood.
“Are you the one who called me?”
“It wasn’t me; the Tower of Stories unleashed you, Lady Elona. Unfortunately, we weren’t even aware of your existence until the Tower of Stories called you.”
“The Tower… unleashed me?”
The Tower of Stories, the place where Elona spent most of her time along with the battlefield a thousand years ago.
As she recalled the tower’s appearance, her hazy memories and emotions revived at an accelerated pace.
When she communicated with the tower and manipulated her mana, Elona often felt calmer than ever.
The Tower of Stories was her only place of rest and her friend.
“A thousand years have passed, and still, the Tower of Stories stands. I guess that’s why the energy of the call felt so familiar.”
“To be frank, it seems the tower has been waiting for you, Lady Elona. As I mentioned, we weren’t even aware of your existence, but as soon as the conditions were met, the tower unleashed you on its own. It could have also endangered my life.”
At his words, Elona felt the loneliness that was buried deep within her melt like snow.
It was as if a long-forgotten friend was embracing her.
“You, the clan’s Patriarch, were in danger because of me.”
“The tower judged that you were more important to the clan than me, and that is absolute. So, please don’t worry about that.”
“But you said you didn’t know anything about me until recently. I’m not that valuable of a person.”
“When the Tower of Stories unleashed you, I took a look at your life, Lady Elona. I would have made the same decision as the tower too.”
“Can I go to the Tower of Stories?”
“In the clan, Lady Elona, you can do whatever you want. There is no place in the clan’s land you can’t go, no object in the clan’s possession you can’t have, and no person in the clan you can’t command, including the Patriarch, myself.”
Elona found it difficult to respond and simply looked at Beradin and his entourage for a while.
“So, what is it that you and the clan want from me?”
“Please, protect the clan.”
“That’s the only thing I can do, the only thing I know how to do.”
“If you wish to help the clan because it’s your duty, then, Lady Elona, you have already fulfilled that responsibility a thousand years ago. Those incapable and arrogant ancestors from that time didn’t recognize this fact. If you wish to help the clan out of pity or affection, the current Zipple is not the Zipple you once knew. However, if you simply wish to help at the Patriarch’s request, then, even if you refuse, I will hold no grudge.”
As Elona conversed with Beradin, she felt her inner being calm down like a lake.
Soon, she understood the reason.
Every word he uttered was like a warm comfort she had never experienced before.
And as Beradin read her inner thoughts more and more, he felt anger towards the arrogant and foolish ancestors of that time.
‘They are not worthy of being called ancestors, worthless trash. The day the Demon God Orb is completed, I will personally erase the history of all of them.’
When the Tower of Stories merged with him to unleash Elona, Beradin didn’t just take a look at Elona’s life.
He also saw the incompetence of the Zipple of that time, who despite having the perfect conditions, couldn’t fulfill their so sacred desires.
“The words you say comfort me greatly, Beradin.”
“The fact that a heroine who protected the clan was so lonely is truly regrettable.”
“Thanks to you, I now know what I want to do.”
“Please, tell me; I will help you with anything.”
“I… want to live a better life than before. I want to avoid unnecessary deaths and not feel lonely when I look back on the day before I go to sleep.”
“Are you saying you desire a retired life?”
“Not exactly. The fact that the Tower risked the Patriarch’s life to call me means that the Tower still loves the clan. I feel the same. I mean I want to continue doing things for the clan, fulfilling what I just said.”
“In that case, it means you want to tread the glorious battlefield filled with honor, excluding senseless deaths, loneliness, and confusion.”
“It seems that’s the case. I only know how to fight enemies and kill them.”
“I can’t say there won’t be painful battles. However, if a day comes when you feel overwhelmed on the battlefield, you can leave the clan at any time.”
“I don’t want to leave. As long as the Tower doesn’t abandon the clan, I won’t leave either, no matter what situation arises. However, since you mentioned that there is no one in the clan you can’t command, if a day comes like a thousand years ago, I want to change the clan as I see fit.”
“You don’t need to ask anyone for permission, Lady Elona.”
“However, you are the Patriarch. Until that day comes, I will remain a loyal servant to the Patriarch. Besides, somehow, I feel that day will never come. I haven’t felt as calm as I do now since I was born.”
“That’s too kind of you. But since you mentioned it, yes, I do feel better when you speak like that.”
“Then, please, stand up now. I feel ashamed and sorry for making you kneel, Patriarch.”
Beradin slowly stood up.
Elona smiled brightly.
It was an expression she had never shown a thousand years ago.
“So, let’s go to the Tower of Stories.”
Kozec began the flight towards the Tower of Stories.
Elona looked down at the visible city below, capturing the different landscapes from a thousand years ago. Unlike before, she sincerely felt a desire to protect those cities.
“Patriarch.”
“Speak, Lady Elona.”
“A thousand years have passed, so there must be a mountain of things I need to learn again. But there is one thing I’m very curious about.”
“What is it?”
“Among Zipple’s enemies right now, is there anyone stronger than me?”
Beradin immediately thought of Cyron, Vahn, Jin, and Murakan.
“…Lady Elona. How was it during the time of Temar Runcandel, the first Patriarch of Runcandel?”
Elona pondered for a moment and replied, “At that time, I don’t think there was anyone.”
“If that’s the case, it’s most likely that it hasn’t changed even now.”