The Stone of Days Chapter 16

While frantically tumbling down, only to see the beast rolling down faster towards me. I fumbled through my mind, trying to see if there was a way to roll faster. However, there was none.

Ah, let's see if I am able to just change the direction.
I catch sight of a friendly looking boulder over there. Well, friendly you say?

"Ahhhhhhhhk!"

(Since the sound of cras.h.i.+ng into the boulder was louder, you could skip the yell of my voice.)
I barely avoided cras.h.i.+ng onto the center of the boulder, yet it still clipped my ankle causing me immense pain.
However, it would be revealed that the pain in my ankle wasn't even a problem.

"Hiiiiiiiiiilk?"

Below the boulder was a ledge.
And the clamorous monster fell off that ledge as it is.

KYAAAAAAAAAK!

That beast must be feeling the same as me.

Kya? Ting, ting, ting, ting, tuk?

And it must be in such despair now.
Tsk tsk, what a pity.

"Fabian!"

From above the ledge appeared a face. Feeling relieved, …Whew, I had nearly just fell off like that.
Recollecting myself as if a king had come to save me, I waited for Mirbo to come down.
My whole body, legs, waist, shoulder - all of them were aching like crazy. From my left shoulder, the wound had reopened, causing it to bleed again.
Can anyone carry me?

But…it seems that Mirbo wasn't in a state to help.
Across his stomach was a visibly large bloodstain. It seemed that his wound hadn't stopped bleeding. How did he scream in such a gruesome state? Unbelievable.

"I'm fine. Let me get up myself."

"It's good if you get up but…"

"But…?"

"Regrettably, before coming back up, could you go down for me?"

What the h.e.l.l is he saying? Can't you vaguely hear the monster's scream from below?

Kyaoooooo…Kuguuuuuuu…

"It would be nice if you could retrieve the sword stuck in his waist."

What, I mean why? That's not my sword, right? Not only that, weren't you the one that told me to abandon it?! Why would you give me such a task…?

"Sadly, it's something that I'm unable to do."

I know that too. The fact that you're severely hurt is clear, but wouldn't it make more sense to retrieve the sword after that beast had died? Or retrieving it yourself when you've properly recovered. You shouldn't have told me to let go of such a valuable weapon in the first place! Was it because I might've died? I mean, what's your problem?! Can't you see that we're trying to kill the monster? Whether I die then or die later, it's all the same!
Although I continued to clamor endlessly in my head, no words came out of me. I was too exhausted to reply as I had used up all my voice from screaming.

"It's not because…I'm hurt that I can't go down."

Then?

"It's because I can't touch that sword with my hands."

With a flabbergasted expression - although it would be a sight to see me have a dumbfounded and flabbergasted expression at the same time – I stared at Mirbo. In my head, I vigorously thought of how if I didn't grab the sword with my hands, then what exactly could you grab it with, my feet or my mouth, as I argued internally.

"How come?"

"If I had known the cause, don't you think I would've wielded that sword already?"

That is indeed true. That unbelievable sword that Mirbo had… it truly was amazing. Despite the tremendously large size of the monster, you rushed at it with a longsword that shattered in a second. After breaking that, you started to wield hand-axes. So it must be the reason why, despite carrying around that white-clothed parcel, you hadn't brought out the blade contained within even once.

"I was surprised that you could hold onto such a sword. Though I think that there's some backstory to this, let us talk about it after you retrieve the sword?? It would seem that I must explain about how I had attained the sword in detail."

Because of that, I climbed down the cliff as fast as I could. If my body was in my usual state, it wouldn't have been so hard to climb down - since Grillard's Peak doesn't have too much rugged terrain - but right now, my entire body was in tatters so it was quite a struggle.

However, the closer I climb down, the noisier it gets.

Krr, Krrrrrrr- Kyaooooo….

The subsequent loud screams, it's such a pain. Really, I can't stand it.

Keuuu…Kuguuuuu. Kuluk, Kyaooo…

"AHHH- Just shut up!"

What did I just say?

Krrr…..

Strange, it's as if it had understood what I said. The monster's wailing had decreased in volume.
Was it dead?
If that's so, then there's nothing I should expect.
I've almost finished climbing down the cliff. I could see a pool of blood flowing out from the white-furred leather.
Are you dead?
It must be.
However, it seems that through the monster's body, I could see the contours of some trees. Was I hallucinating? No. Huh, what's going on? If that's so then……
It's invisible!
That large monster had disappeared from the spot where it landed.
Flabbergasted, I momentarily stared at the broken and crushed landscape of trees and snow as the pool of blood began to congeal.

Wait…

My G.o.d, it's freezing?!

However, the monster was nowhere to be seen.

Where did it go? To the sky? I can only see the stars of the night sky. Then, into the ground?  But, I don't see any holes that it could've possibly entered into.

Thankfully, it seems the sword that was stuck in its waist hadn't disappeared with it. Approaching the spot where it dropped, I grabbed the sword and examined it. Where did the flame go? The sword, although extremely heavy, looked the same; however, there were no traces of how it was from when I wielded it. What is happening here?

"Mirbo!"

The moment I grabbed onto the sword, I felt a wave of complete exhaustion hit me and I wanted to sit down.

But, not in this place. Look at that blood. Despite that it’s freezing, that b.l.o.o.d.y smell was oscillating throughout these surroundings. That cold blood. If that blood was normal, there's no way it would freeze that fast.
It felt as if the air had become several times colder.

"Fabian, what's happened to you? HUH?!"

My mother was frightened out of her wits. It's understandable how she'd be surprised, really. Seeing her son limping full of bruises and wounds amounting up to a bucket of blood as if I had returned from a slaughterhouse… which indeed was not the case.

My neighbors, one by one, supported my mother who was about to faint. From the time I entered the village entrance, no to be precise, all the people that followed me from Ember village to the soldiers at the outpost were all making a large fuss in front of our store. Although it would be nice if I had done something for a good cause, the soldiers were wondering what kind of mess I had caused.
To return in this bloodied state, the only place where I possibly had come back from was the pig slaughterhouse. No, even if there, it would be beyond that capacity.
Me?? Leaving a trail of blood into the village, I was in the midst of returning back home.

"You must be curious but… …."

TL Afterword

Excalibur, heed my will~~~!

Translator: Calvis
Proofreader: Sai101, Kajin