LGHTNOVELBOOK Chapter 227
Chapter 227. The Second Hundred Steps Ceremony (1)
It was the same last year, the year before that, and this year was no different.
The first thing the new cadets did each year was gather in small groups and board the two-horse carriages.
“This carriage ride will be the first and last luxury you’ll get to enjoy in the Cradle. We have plenty of carriages, so pair up and board as you like.”
Duran, reciting the same line without changing a single word as he did every year, waved his hand dismissively as if annoyed.
Then, just like the 50th cohort last year, he walked away, leaving behind the new cadets who were surprised to see that the carriages were just ordinary freight carts.
Duran climbed into the first carriage.
Clop-clop, clop-clop.
Once the carriages started moving, he turned his head to look at the line of carriages trailing behind.
At the same time, a clicking sound of irritation escaped Duran’s lips.
“Click.”
Compared to last year, the procession of carriages following his was absurdly short.
The reason was none other than the 50th cohort.
‘Did they all go crazy together…? Why are they all running wild like that?’
Thanks to the 50th cohort’s antics, only 85 members of the 51st cohort managed to pass through the Forest of Beginnings.
He was already troubled by the mysterious incidents, and now with the 50th cohort causing trouble as well, another click of the tongue escaped him.
But only for a moment.
“Well, it’ll work out somehow.”
What’s done is done.
The ones who were eliminated due to the 50th cohort’s chaos were simply unlucky.
With that thought, Duran lay down with his arm under his head.
Rattle-rattle.
How far had they traveled after that?
“Deputy Commander.”
A subordinate who had run from afar climbed onto Duran’s carriage.
Thud.
“You’re here?”
Seeing Duran greet him with a casual flick of his leg, the subordinate let out a sigh.
Expecting a barrage of nagging to follow, Duran quickly preempted it.
“I’m working, you see. I’m leading the rookies, aren’t I?”
“…I didn’t say anything.”
“I know you were going to nag me about not preparing for the ceremony, weren’t you?”
“No.”
“See? I… huh? You weren’t?”
“No.”
“Why not?”
“Because it doesn’t matter how much I nag; you’re not the type to listen anyway. Why would I waste my breath?”
“Wow, you sure are disrespectful to your superior.”
“If that’s a problem, you can kick me out.”
“And who would that benefit?”
“Obviously, it would benefit me.”
She was the deputy who was often called “Mom” by the subordinates, handling many tasks on Duran’s behalf.
If he dismissed her, his workload would multiply, so Duran was willing to overlook this level of disrespect.
He quickly changed the subject.
“Ahem, so what’s making you sigh like that?”
Duran’s question prompted another sigh from the deputy.
“Sigh… I have good news and bad news. Which do you want to hear first?”
“Don’t you know I always eat the best stuff first? Of course, the good news. What is it?”
Duran’s voice was full of anticipation, and the deputy responded with a hint of annoyance.
“Deputy Commander, it seems you’re going on a business trip.”
“A business trip? Me?”
Duran blinked in confusion.
‘A business trip at this time?’
The duties of someone at the deputy commander level change every few years.
For the next five years, his assignment was to be stuck in the Cradle, managing rookies and graduates.
And now, a business trip?
“…Are you serious?”
“Yes, the Commander has issued the order. You’re to go on a business trip.”
“Oh, wow!”
Duran’s one eye lit up with joy.
‘Is this for real?!’
He had been so restless at the thought of managing nothing but rookies in this stuffy Cradle for years that he felt like he’d crumble to pieces.
And now, the chance to get some fresh air was here!
‘Haha, where should I go first?’
Maybe he was already giddy at the thought of roaming freely, as Duran couldn’t stop shifting his seat in excitement, and the deputy sighed even more deeply.
Duran, who was chuckling, then asked another question.
“So, what’s the bad news?”
“You’re tasked with retrieving an Elixir.”
“What?”
Duran’s face instantly stiffened.
He rubbed his ear as if he had heard wrong and asked again.
“An Elixir?”
“Yes.”
“…And they want me to fetch that?”
“Yes.”
“For what reason?”
“Sigh…”
The deputy sighed once more before answering.
“Do you remember the Elixir that was sold during the special sale last year?”
“How could I forget? Some crazy guy bought it last year, and I got chewed out by the Commander because of it.”
“Well, about that.”
“Yeah?”
“That crazy guy bought another Elixir. Or, to be exact, he won it.”
“…What nonsense is that?”
Watching Duran’s confusion, the deputy explained the events that took place around midnight in detail.
Duran muttered, dumbfounded.
“So, you’re telling me that crazy Yuri Holland pulled an Elixir from a random box early this morning?”
“Yes.”
“And my business trip is to go find an Elixir to give to him?”
“You’ve understood it perfectly.”
“…”
Duran looked up at the sky with a vacant expression.
‘So, Duran Vikovich… has to go on a business trip just to fetch an Elixir to hand over to a rookie?’
As Duran stared blankly at the sky, the deputy delivered the finishing blow.
“The Commander also asked me to relay this message.”
“…What is it?”
“If you can’t retrieve the Elixir within a year, you’ll be swapping duties with Coco… or so he says.”
“What?!”
Swapping duties with Coco.
Duran knew all too well that it meant he’d be like a dog tied to a house, guarding the place.
He leapt up in outrage.
At the same time, regret washed over him.
‘Damn it, I shouldn’t have let that guy go!’
He should have kept Yuri trapped in the Forest of Beginnings back then.
* * *
Yuri sat cross-legged, his eyes half-closed.
Around him lay about a dozen opened small boxes scattered about.
Hooo-
A long exhalation turned golden, and soon it was drawn back into Yuri with his breathing.
This cycle repeated several times.
Flash-
Yuri’s eyes finally opened wide, glowing with a crystalline light.
After finishing his mana circulation, Yuri gently touched his abdomen where his core was and smiled softly.
“This is good.”
His first impression upon opening his eyes was that he was very satisfied with his current state.
‘With this… I’ve filled about 80%, I’d say?’
His mana core, which had previously been filled to 70% after consuming a mysterious dark red essence, now increased by another 10% thanks to the various elixirs he had just consumed.
It was a notable improvement.
This was certainly a good result, but Yuri couldn’t help but click his tongue.
‘Even after consuming so many elixirs, it only increased by 10%?’
The elixirs Yuri consumed included two top-tier, one highest-tier, three high-tier, four mid-tier, and seven low-tier elixirs.
In other words, he had downed every elixir he had collected so far, and it amounted to just 10%.
At this point, he was curious about the identity of the dark red pearl he had consumed.
‘An elixir potent enough to fill this massive mana core in one go… Wouldn’t it be nice if something like that showed up again?’
But such an essence is not easy to come by.
You’d need to venture somewhere like the Black Dragon’s Cove to find one.
The silver lining was that if he could fill about 20% more, it seemed possible to fully complete his mana core.
‘I’ll probably need to consume around five or six more top-tier elixirs.’
The problem, however, was that top-tier elixirs were not so easily acquired…
‘But if you earnestly seek, you will find!’
Yuri had a plan.
And that was through stealing.
‘I need to uncover the secret vault of the Original Assembly.’
An organization with a long history was bound to have stockpiled many elixirs.
Yuri planned to slowly approach the Assembly’s vault.
‘Anyway, it’ll take some time for the Cradle to retrieve an Elixir… There’s no rush. I just need to proceed steadily and surely.’
Although Yuri had claimed the other items from the random box, he hadn’t received the Elixir.
The reason being that there was no Elixir in the Cradle at present.
Instead, in exchange for waiting a year for the Cradle to procure an Elixir for him, he had received a highest-tier elixir, so it wasn’t a loss for Yuri.
‘Well, even if I had the Elixir now, I wasn’t planning on consuming it until I had filled the entire mana core.’
Looking at it that way, it was a gain.
Thus, Yuri’s goal for the year was to fully charge his mana core to 100% before the Cradle could bring him an Elixir.
‘Looks like it’ll be another busy year.’
With that, Yuri set his new year’s resolution and stood up.
At that moment—
“Hey, kid, look at your face all greasy from stuffing yourself so well.”
Johan, lying comfortably on Yuri’s bed as if it were his
own, munching on jerky, threw a snide remark.
The carefree sight made a vein pop on Yuri’s forehead.
“Ah, I told you not to eat anything on the bed!”
Smack!
The jerky Johan tossed smacked Yuri right on the forehead, knocking him back.
“You brat, what’s with the ‘stuff yourself’ nonsense? That’s no way to talk to your elders!”
Yuri sprang up, clutching his forehead.
“Ugh! Then at least don’t spill crumbs everywhere!”
“Tsk, you’ll understand when you’re older. You start spilling as you eat.”
“Ugh, seriously gross.”
Turning his back on Johan as if words couldn’t reach him, Yuri muttered with frustration.
Johan casually threw a question at Yuri’s back.
“Is today the day? The Hundred Steps Ceremony or whatever?”
“…”
“You mentioned walking fifteen steps last time, right? How many do you think you’ll manage this time?”
Yuri’s shoulders, which had been tense in frustration, calmed.
Then he suddenly got up and walked toward the door.
Clunk.
As Yuri gripped the doorknob, he spoke in an indifferent voice.
“If you’re curious, come and see for yourself.”
With that, Yuri opened the door and walked out without looking back.
Creak, bang.
Johan stared at the closed door for a moment, then chuckled to himself.
“That kid, always putting on airs.”
Muttering softly, Johan stood up.
Whoosh.
In a light gust of wind, he disappeared.
* * *
Clop-clop, clop-clop.
The carriage journey, which lasted a full seven hours, finally came to an end.
Dozens of carriages came to a complete stop.
“Ugh.”
“Ow… my back.”
Groans and sighs erupted from everywhere as the cadets disembarked from the carriages.
And at the very end of the carriage line.
“Miss, please wake up.”
“Mmm… Are we there?”
When a young girl shook her awake, Lisa Verfort, the pretty girl with lemon-colored hair, rubbed her sleepy eyes.
Letting out a long yawn, she stretched and hopped off the carriage.
Immediately, ten boys and girls gathered around Lisa.
“This way.”
Surrounding Lisa as if to protect her, the boys and girls escorted her.
Lisa, accustomed to such treatment, naturally accepted the escort as she walked.
The group soon joined the ranks of the other cadets ahead and made their way to the coliseum.
Lisa looked around curiously.
“So this is the Cradle?”
Having only heard of it through rumors, Lisa was excited to set foot in the real Cradle.
In her eyes, there was no sign of worry or fear about the future.
Only anticipation for what lay ahead filled her gaze.
After walking a little longer—
“Wow? What’s this place?”
Finally, the procession of the 51st cohort reached the northern gate of the coliseum.
Lisa’s eyes widened when she saw who was standing in front, waiting.
“Huh? That kid?”
Brown hair and green eyes.
And a huge build.
He was a boy whose presence was hard to forget.
‘Mucci Schnell? Didn’t he fail?’
Mucci wasn’t on the Black Ship that returned to the mainland from the Forest of Beginnings.
But here he was, suddenly appearing on the Cradle’s mainland?
Finding this situation suspicious, Lisa’s eyes sparkled.
Meanwhile, Mucci was talking with Duran and scratching the back of his head before moving towards the rear of the procession.
And then—
“…Oh?”
Mucci flinched and took a step back when he met Lisa’s gaze.
Seeing this, Lisa waved lightly with a bright smile.
“Hi, we meet again?”
Lisa spoke casually as if nothing had happened between them.
But Mucci pretended not to hear her greeting and turned his head, moving slightly away from her.
Just as Lisa was about to pout and speak again—
Step.
The front line of their group started moving.
Thanks to that, Mucci naturally distanced himself from Lisa.
And it was only natural that Lisa’s cheeks puffed up in response.
Step-step.
Soon, the 51st cohort entered through the northern gate and into the coliseum’s passage.
“Gasp!”
“W-what is this?!”
Just like every cohort before them, they stiffened at the sudden change in the atmosphere.
And finally—
Boom.
The 51st cohort passed through the dim passage and entered the coliseum.
* * *
Watching the 51st cohort enter the coliseum, the 50th cohort’s eyes were filled with emotion.
“They’ve arrived!”
“Ha… I can’t believe I’m witnessing this from here. They really held on!”
The Hundred Steps Ceremony.
Seeing the 51st cohort in the same place they stood last year stirred a strange sense of nostalgia in the 50th cohort.
Meanwhile, other cohorts, looking at the number of 51st cohort members entering, clicked their tongues.
“Why are there so few of them?”
“What on earth did the 50th cohort do?”
As the other cohorts muttered and glanced at the 50th cohort, the 50th cohort’s eyes naturally turned toward one person.
It was Gunther, who played a significant role in reducing the 51st cohort’s numbers to this extent.
‘He usually seems polite and upright…’
‘They say the quiet ones are the scariest when they lose it…’
If one had to describe Gunther when he slightly lost it in the Forest of Beginnings, it would be ‘subtly mad.’
While the 50th cohort was staring at Gunther, the other cohorts had already started placing bets.
“Wonder how many steps they’ll take this time?”
“1,000 points on six steps!”
“I’ll put 2,000 points on seven steps!”
All around the spectator seats, discussions about the outcome of this Hundred Steps Ceremony buzzed, but there was one section that remained silent—the area occupied by the 48th cohort, who were in their fourth year.
Not a word was exchanged among the 48th cohort.
The reason for their silence was Gunther Ryder, sitting in their midst with his arms crossed.
Since the last Dragon’s Dance Tournament, this was the first time Gunther had appeared at an official event.
Whoooosh.
With the overwhelming presence and tension radiating from Gunther, the 48th cohort remained silent, simply staring at the coliseum.
As various moods filled the stands, Duran stepped forward to announce the start of the initiation ceremony.
Then came the writing of the wills.
Due to the small number of 51st cohort members, the will-writing process was completed quickly.
And then—
“Congratulations, you moths who’ve thrown yourselves into the pits of hell! You are now officially the 51st cohort of the Cradle.”
Boom!
With Duran’s stomp, everyone in the audience stood up and saluted.
With all the Black Sword Corps and cadets paying their respects—
Step-step.
The Sword Master entered the special seating.
“From this moment, the Hundred Steps Ceremony shall commence!”
Finally, the Hundred Steps Ceremony for the 51st cohort began.