Why Did I Have to Enroll

Why Did I Have to Enroll - Chapter 93

Lesson 20. The Retainer Becomes a Copy? - 3

Light was born as the first prince of the most prosperous kingdom in his dimension.

"A prince, you say."

"What, what?! Is it that strange that I'm a prince?"

"No, continue."

There was a legend passed down in the kingdom.

During a time when dimensions were in chaos due to alien invasions, a man rose up wielding a sword forged from a fallen star, drove them away, and established a holy kingdom.

The holy sword was indeed kept in the kingdom, and it was said that if alien invasions were to occur again, a descendant of the first king would once again take up the holy sword and drive them away.

Despite alien invasions occurring for over 100 years, no successor to the holy sword had appeared.

"So that's when you were chosen?"

"Yes, but listen quietly."

Light was chosen by the holy sword when he was eight years old.

More precisely, he heard the voice of the holy spirit from the necklace that had been passed down to each first prince of the royal family along with the holy sword when he was eight.

"......"

"Why are you making that face and staying silent?"

"You told me to listen quietly."

The holy spirit was none other than the consciousness of the holy sword.

Out of concern for his descendants, the first king had arranged for the sword's consciousness to be stored separately, making it easier for the successor to find it and allowing the holy spirit to protect the descendants even if they couldn't wield the sword.

"The holy spirit... it's the holy spirit, right?"

"Yes. Legendary weapons naturally have consciousness dwelling within them. Not artificially forced in like yours..."

"So that holy spirit protects you."

"Not just me, it's been protecting our kingdom for generations. ...Isn't that amazing?"

"......"

Light's life changed dramatically after being chosen as the successor.

He had to wear clothes he'd never worn before and undergo harsh training at a young age.

But because the holy spirit's blessing always protected Light, both his body and mind grew stronger, and by the age of thirteen, he found himself on the battlefield wielding the holy sword.

Battles broke out one after another against monsters invading his dimension, dimensional refugees, and dimensional pirates, and Light continued to grow through these battles.

It was at sixteen that he realized he had changed beyond the point of no return.

"I thought it was because of the constant fighting. There were times when I didn't let go of the sword for almost ten days... I couldn't even imagine myself without the holy sword."

"Don't you think that was too much?"

"At some point, I just started thinking that my only reason for existing was being the holy sword's master."

He had lived with the holy sword since he was eight.

Therefore, he couldn't do anything without the holy sword.

It was natural that he came to think of himself when wielding the holy sword as his 'true self.'

"At least in the kingdom, I had no value without the holy sword. Maybe that's why I threw myself into battle even more. By then, no one needed to force me to go to the battlefield..."

He fought for another year like that.

A year with no changes, just becoming better at wielding the holy sword.

At seventeen, he received a call from Union Academy.

Wielding the holy sword, he took the academy entrance exam to protect his dimension.

"You really had the resolve to let go of the holy sword here."

At this point, it's more amazing how he could give up the holy sword.

Light grimaced terribly at those words.

"Even on the battlefield, I wasn't a commander but just a beast intoxicated by the holy sword's power. That was enough back then. But in the tower... it was different."

It was when his entire team suffered damage due to his actions and ultimately had to retire that he first resolved to let go of the holy sword.

But having never found any meaning in himself without the holy sword, when he started using other weapons, he felt the gap with other ability users around him and his negative thoughts only deepened...

"The holy spirit gets angry, telling me to stop doing useless things. When we were in our dimension, it didn't react this strongly. The necklace... I could take it off my body for very brief moments. But now I can't. So I keep thinking maybe I should just give up and hold the holy sword again."

"Light, let me be honest with you. Isn't that completely a curse?"

"......"

Light couldn't immediately deny it.

Instead, the necklace around his neck showed a violent reaction.

"Ugh!"

"Light!"

"I'm, I'm okay. I knew... you would get angry when I told you about this."

Ban Yu-won quickly activated several types of language magic.

Perhaps the experience of the past few days helped, as his quickly woven pain relief and protection were applied to Light, suppressing his pain.

"Thank you, Ban...!"

Ban Yu-won had to punch his own head to resist the urge to hug Light, who was trying to smile with tears in his eyes, looking too adorable.

Then he realized something.

Hadn't he just directly cast language magic that affected Light's body?

Was this because his magical ability had grown, or because Light had become instinctively receptive to his magic power through using the talismans he made?

'Wait, if this works, couldn't I directly solve Light's problem...?'

But when he thoughtlessly reached out to Light with that idea, the necklace around Light's neck began to emit threatening sparks, so he couldn't be more ambitious for now.

Of course, he hadn't given up.

He now knew roughly what influence the necklace had on Light, and how to handle the holy sword.

If he let Light slowly become accustomed to Ban Yu-won's magic power and authority like this, he might be able to try more bold methods someday.

"Light, let's get closer from now on."

"Huh, yeah?! So you too..."

"No, not that, you idiot."

Ban Yu-won gave Light a knock on the head for making unnecessary misunderstandings again.

Honestly, there have been more than a few times when he felt like falling for this guy's charm, but now wasn't the time to think about such things.

"I might be able to find a way to help you with my ability. So just keep trying like this."

"But at this rate, I'll become more and more of a burden during exploration, so I think I should wield the holy sword even if there are side effects."

"Light, you're making one mistake."

There was no choice.

Ban Yu-won had no choice but to say those words he'd been holding back to prevent Light from getting too full of himself.

"You seem to have forgotten after holding it for so long, but you don't exist because of the holy sword - you were chosen by the holy sword because you had the ability. The fact that you're the holy sword's master proves your talent more than anything else."

This wasn't the first time Ban Yu-won had said this.

Hadn't Light himself said something similar before?

But it seems his self-loathing has grown since then.

"What if that talent is only specialized for wielding the holy sword? What if I can only hold the holy sword because I'm a descendant of the first king, and I have no other talents!"

"Light, if you were the holy sword."

"But I'm not the holy sword..."

Ban Yu-won glared at Light to silence him and continued.

"If you were the holy sword, what criteria would you use to choose your master? In a situation where choosing wrong could lead to the dimension's destruction."

"Well... someone as strong and wise as possible, someone with outstanding qualities."

"Then there's your answer."

There couldn't possibly be something like a 'talent specialized just for wielding the holy sword.'

If it were simply about inheriting ownership through bloodline, a master for the holy sword would have appeared long before Light.

If Light's talent hadn't been sufficient, the holy sword would never have responded to him.

"So from now on, think about it the other way around. You can wield the holy sword because of who you are. You're improving incredibly fast with spear techniques too, so stop being gloomy. And don't get discouraged comparing yourself unnecessarily to others."

"......"

"Besides, you placed 6th in the comprehensive evaluation duel without the holy sword. Are you kidding me? Should everyone below that just die? I only got 8th."

"Well, but..."

Of course, if Ban Yu-won hadn't unfortunately encountered Dokgo-yeon in the middle, he might have achieved an even higher rank, but that was just a pointless what-if.

Who could possibly underestimate Light's potential, when he had quickly mastered the spear after switching his main weapon so recently, and even continued to grow rapidly during this evaluation duel to achieve a single-digit ranking?

"If you understand, get up now. Even if we rest this week, we're going back into the tower next week. There's no time to worry."

"Okay..."

Though not completely convinced, it seemed he had accepted it for now.

Light nodded slightly and took the hand offered to him.

"Ban, you said you didn't like it earlier."

"Huh?"

"That was a lie. I don't dislike you. ...Just saying."

"Yeah, thanks."

Though his heart skipped a beat, he managed to reply casually.

It probably wasn't intentional.

If he were clever enough to make such statements deliberately, he wouldn't have let his identity be discovered in the first place.

...Right, if his intuition had been that good, he wouldn't have ended up in this situation to begin with.

'The criteria for the holy sword choosing its master, huh.'

Ban Yu-won had acknowledged Light's answer, but the truth was different.

The holy spirit must have had another criterion more important than anything else.

Namely, being naive enough to be easily deceived.

'There are two spirits dwelling in that necklace.'

The holy spirit and the demon spirit - though he wasn't sure which was which.

The one Light currently thinks is the holy spirit probably isn't the real one.

If we were to simply distinguish good and evil between holy and demonic, we should eliminate the demon spirit right away, but what bothers him is that the sword Light wielded while communicating with it clearly emitted holy power.

Then is the real one the demon spirit?

Or is the demon spirit simply controlling the holy sword after suppressing the holy spirit through some means?

'Hmm, I really shouldn't interfere yet. Not that I could anyway.'

He let out a sigh.

He was already busy enough with his own growth, yet he had so many people to look after.

If only it were possible, he'd like to split himself into about five bodies, but it was truly unfortunate that division wasn't a concept humans could possess.

"By the way."

"Yeah?"

For some reason, Light, who hadn't tried to stand up and was still holding his hand, suddenly spoke to him.

"So what happened with that woman called Mira in the end?"

"Huh?"

"Come on."

"Ugh?!"

Light pulled him forcefully.

Unable to resist his strength, Ban Yu-won had to plop back down on the floor.

"You little-!"

"Friends aren't supposed to keep secrets from each other. I told you my story, so you should tell me yours."

"Ha, you're being completely unreasonable until the end."

Setting conditions himself and then pretending not to know.

Moreover, the nerve to say such brazen things while still hiding his own gender.

Ban Yu-won was dumbfounded, but since he had already resigned himself to dealing with such unreasonableness, he decided to play along with his forceful request.

"There are privacy issues, so I can't tell you everything."

"What's that! That's so stingy!"

"You really need to take a look at yourself."

In the end, they got delayed talking about various things, and by the time the two returned to the dormitory, dinner time had already passed.

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