Joint Combat Practice 2 (12)
If you’re going to discuss Adele’s biography, you have to start from the commercial city of Oldeck.
My first memory is of the harbor sky with seagulls soaring.
As Adele got off the boat, holding her mother’s hand tightly, the sight of a busy dock filled her eyes. Only then did he realize that he had set foot in a faraway country.
War refugees who abandoned their homeland and took refuge in the Western continent where wars of conquest were in full swing. Adele’s parents, whose faces I no longer remember, were barely of that level.
Although they settled in Oldeck and lived in the slums for several months, Adele’s parents were never able to adapt to Oldeck’s calculating culture.
No matter what you do, you get stabbed, taken advantage of, caught up in fraud, and it’s easy to end up in debt.
When I came to my senses, there was no room left for them in Old Deck. Accumulated debt, pressure from debtors, and poverty-stricken circumstances that make it difficult to even eat a piece of bread. It was a life not much different from when I lived as a war refugee on the Western continent.
Adele grew up too quickly. He thought that the day would come when this kind of life would eventually reach its limit. Therefore, his mental preparation that morning was already complete.
A dockside lined with luxurious commercial buildings. Adele’s father took Adele to a bench on one side of the place and sat down with her next to him.
There was a lot of food that was difficult to see on a regular basis.
He gave me a sandwich full of warm bacon, sheep’s milk with fruit syrup, and chocolate cookies that cost more than a month’s food expenses… I was watching Adele enjoy the food.
After looking at Adele quietly for a while, he slowly stood up and spoke. Dad has some business to attend to, so he’s going somewhere and he’s waiting for you.
Like that, he dusted his pants a few times… She looked at Adele for a while and then slowly began to walk away.
Adele lowered her head, munched on her sandwich, and spoke quietly to her father as he left. You had a hard time.
Adele’s father trembled at those words, but then he moved again little by little and disappeared into the crowd.
Adele ate her fill of food, got up from the bench, and headed to the church in Oldeck, where she often went to pray with her parents. He went there and he prayed all day.
After praying for a long time, I did not get up when the last service of the day ended. Then, after delivering his last words, the high priest Verdi, who had come down from the podium, passed in front of him and spoke confidently.
“I became an orphan.”
From then on, it was all smooth sailing.
He worked and lived at the Deldros Orphanage, which was supported by the Telos Church. He washed the bedding, mopped the hallways, fetched drinking water, and read books at night.
It was also at this time that I played the lute for the first time. I picked up a lute with a broken string on the dockside, found the string, and tuned it myself. I would get hymn sheet music from the cathedral, play it, and even compose my own songs by strumming the notes myself.
The years of maintaining a faithful life as a servant of God at the Deldros Orphanage. However, like most things in life, it doesn’t always go smoothly.
One day Adele saw the future.
It was a scene where Verdio, the high priest of the Old Deck Cathedral, came down from the podium and knocked over a candlestick. As it was, the fire from the candlestick spread to the decoration of the chapel, causing chaos.
At first, she thought it was a dream, but Adele was standing next to the candlestick, fully prepared just in case. Sure enough, Verdio knocked over the candlestick, and Adele extinguished the fire early by pouring water that had been scooped up before the fire could spread to the decoration.
From then on, Adele caught Verdio’s eye.
About once or twice a month, I would see scenes from the future without warning… It was difficult for Adele’s precognitive abilities, which she could not control on her own, to change her life significantly.
In addition, most of the time it is someone else’s future that has nothing to do with one’s own. It was interesting, but that was it.
However, Verdio was keeping an eye on Adele’s abilities. Eventually, on the day when Verdio was recognized for her abilities and appointed as Archbishop of the Holy City, Adele was recognized for her capacity as the next saint and headed to the Holy City with Verdio.
The magnificent Seonghwangdo building. A monastic robe made of expensive fabric. More than ten servants. A sumptuous meal. Adoration of high-ranking clergy.
All of those things come into Adele’s hands overnight. Of course, not only good things happened.
I had to pray every day, learn etiquette, and study while sleeping less. However, it could not be compared to the time when he lived as a war refugee or a poor person.
There was a long exchange of opinions among bishops regarding her suitability as a saint, and public opinion was formed to agree to a certain degree with the decisions of the Pope and the Archbishop… Soon, Adele officially began the process to take over the position of saint.
She was baptized three times by the Holy Emperor, the Archbishop, and the Supreme Apostle, inherited the will of the Holy Emperor, engraved the blessings of the Holy Law on her body, and even wrote official documents informing heads of state of each country about the elevation of the new saint.
The more baptisms and blessings she received, the stronger Adele’s spiritual power became. Although he was not talented in the magic of magic itself, his role as a vessel containing divine power was outstanding, and as his divine power became more enormous, his visible future became clearer.
Eventually, when all other procedures except the stigmata baptism were completed, Adele was finally able to glimpse her own future…
As I said, I gave up on becoming a saint.
Archbishop Verdio opens the saint’s room and enters.
The spire where the saint resides is a place where even the saint is reluctant to set foot. However, strictly speaking, Adele was not yet a saint.
Verdio asks Adele. She raises her voice and shares her story with Adele, wondering what she is saying about giving up on becoming a saint.
Citing various reasons such as anxiety, loneliness, and lack of ability, they say that they want to serve Telos in a way other than as a saint.
After arguing for over an hour, Verdio shakes his head and leaves the saint’s room. Adele was able to notice that.
As for Verdio… She must have sensed, on some level, that Adele saw her future and that she had given up on becoming a saint.
Once that happens, there is absolutely no way to persuade Adele. It was a wrong choice on her part to try to nominate her as a saint.
Thus, Adele is not a saint of the Telos Church… She settles down in Seonghwangdo as the custodian of the torch.
As she cared for the torch for many years, Adele agonized over the future she saw.
Burning chapel. A huge Seongchangryong visible through broken stained glass. Archbishop Verdio stands on the podium and speaks. The plan went wrong. In order to pacify the God-devouring Holy Spear Dragon of the Creation, a saint born with enormous divine power must be sacrificed.
That scene came to mind again, and Adele would jump up from her sleep.
Just like that, time goes by again.
Adele tended the torch, looked up at the sky, and played the lute, but at night she gathered rumors about the Holy Emperor and overheard the conversations of high-ranking priests.
As each day passes, Seonghwangdo’s financial condition worsens. The subjugation of the northern sub-race has been stopped, and there is no war. As the period of peace continues under the reign of His Majesty the Wise Cloel… People are increasingly not looking for God.
The power of the Holy Emperor, who had even the emperor on his knees, has gradually diminished, and the object of people’s respect has long since changed to Emperor Cloel, who opened this era of peace.
Archbishop Verdio is a priest and businessman.
If God doesn’t perform miracles, people don’t believe in God. If the number of believers does not increase, this prosperity cannot be maintained.
In order to receive more respect and raise the prestige of the Holy Emperor, you must ultimately perform a divine miracle.
However, for that to happen, there were many things to prepare.
A few years later, the next saint was born with tremendous divine power comparable to Adele… Clarice climbs the spire of the Holy Emperor Capital.
Playing the lute at the top of the spire, Adele always watched Clarisse.
Clarisse could not interfere with the flow of time by touching the power of the Aspect with her divine power like Adele, but the amount of inherent divine power itself could not be compared by any priest.
She has an elegant demeanor, good absorbing power, and an innate personality, so it seems like she was truly born to become a saint.
I think she is the perfect child for the spire of the Holy Emperor Capital, but… A deep sense of guilt remains in Adele’s heart.
Originally, the saint who was killed by Holy Changryong was Adele herself. Now that she was running away from that future, someone had to take her place.
Ultimately, that replacement will be Clarisse. This much was a well-known fact.
I sat by the window of Clarisse’s room, played the lute, talked to her, and spent time together, creating a special relationship with her. Clarisse, more than I thought, had a heart as beautiful as her appearance.
The more this happened, the more deeply rooted the guilt in Adele’s heart grew, little by little.
Adele couldn’t bear to talk. I ran away because I didn’t want to die. The result of my struggle to survive is your death. Holy woman. That kind of thing… I couldn’t get it out of my mouth.
Adele did not want to be hated by Clarisse, who always sat by the window and listened to her lute music with sparkling eyes, nor did she want to show her darkness.
That’s why I sang about the romance of freedom.
He encouraged people not to be satisfied with the colorless life of Seonghwangdo, but to pursue freedom by exploring the vast world.
Clarisse felt skeptical about her current life and was driven to seek out a new life.
He sang as if he knew all about the romance of the wide world, even though he himself lived in the slums of Oldek with hard bread in his mouth. He whispered the contents of the books he had read in the buggy corner of the shabby orphanage into their ears as if he had experienced them before his own eyes.
I have never seen the beautiful rock formations of the Rameln Mountains, the wide grasslands of Pulan, or the desolate horizon of the great desert of Drestea. All she knows is the back alley of Old Deck, with a dingy expanse of brick floor and a few rats playing around.
However, Clarice continued to dream even after hearing Adele’s song.
My dream is to travel around the world, take in the beautiful scenery, and meet someone who will one day stand by my side at the end of the journey… It’s wrapped around one side of Clarice’s chest.
Even if the person who nurtured the dream was a fake bard who had been tainted by the flow of the world, the romance in the dream itself was not stained with a single trace of grime. That fact alone made me feel fortunate.
However, Adele could no longer remain in the Holy City. She couldn’t let her own mind go any further. Her Adele’s continuing to remain by her Clarisse’s side is nothing more than a deception on her part.
In the end, that life continues in another direction.
From the Western War Zone to the commercial city of Oldek, from the commercial city of Oldek to the capital of Carpea, and from the capital of Carpea, the final location is… It was Aken Island at the southernmost tip of the empire.
Early morning before the sun rises. I pack up all my luggage, put on my lute, and leave the steeple.
There is no specific destination that comes to mind. There is no one in the world who can be called Yeon, and it is not even possible to confirm whether her parents are alive or dead.
It’s just about going where you want to go. Stop by Cret, the land of alchemy, to see some alchemy, check out the magnificent Emperor’s Street in the imperial capital Cloeron, admire the wide mountain range while walking around the Rameln Mountains, or learn magic at a place like Sylvania Academy. It might be a good idea to learn some.
Anyway, I have a lot of money saved over the years, and I am quite confident in my playing and singing skills, so I think I can take care of myself.
When I sneak out at dawn and look up at Seonghwangdo, it is still majestic and tall. A wide outer wall expressing the majesty of God surrounds the spire like a prison.
Breath leaks out into the cold early morning air of late fall. If you look back, the road leading to the street stretches out endlessly.
In this way, the girl finally becomes a bard.
* * *
“Wow, keuhuh… .”
I moved to a place that was as inconspicuous as possible, but as I got closer to the Bachelor’s Cathedral, I had to go out into the street.
People around looked at Adele as she walked away with blood dripping, and some asked if she was okay. However, Adele did not respond at all and continued to walk towards the cathedral with unsteady steps.
Arrived quite early. At first, I wasn’t sure about the timing of Seong Chang-ryong’s resurrection, but now I could predict all the timings to some extent even if I closed my eyes. It is quite possible to guess what is going on inside the cathedral right now.
I now know damn well what happened after that. It was not difficult for Adele to imagine it.
I will lead my speechless body and open the door of the cathedral and enter. Then Taldarek, the 3rd ‘Apostle of Telos’ guarding the entrance, speaks. Currently, outsiders are prohibited from entering. At the same time, when he tries to stop Adele from entering, he rolls up his sleeves to show that the ‘Blessing of the Holy Law’ is imprinted on him.
Taldarek takes advantage of the momentary panic and enters inside, and before long, it is a large chapel.
On the podium of the large chapel, the relic left by Luden, the ‘original sword saint’, Velbroke’s molar necklace will be placed in a luxurious box. It is an artifact that will resonate with Seongchangryong Velbrok and serve to awaken his spirit.
Here and there in the chapel, the ‘Apostles of Telos’ brought directly from the Holy Capital would be waiting in battle readiness.
Archbishop Verdio and Holy Emperor Eldein will be sitting next to the podium, and they will be finalizing their plans on how to deal with Holy Spear Dragon when he is resurrected. He was checking the scene one last time before going to pick up the saintess Clarice, who was waiting at the Trix pavilion.
No matter what you say when you burst into the scene, it has no meaning. Adele has already done it all.
The ‘Apostles of Telos’ are an incredible force that can withstand thousands or even tens of thousands of large armies when five or more of them gather together, but in front of Seong Chang-ryong, they are all just insignificant victims.
Why are we quick to conclude that we can deal with the dragon of disaster, which only exists in history books, with human power?
However, the high priests, caught between arrogance and desperation, do not listen. There is no point in arguing for a long time.
The ‘variable’ they did not expect causes Seongchangryong to descend much sooner than the priests expected. The point is that Great Sage Sylvania’s seal has become more unstable than expected over a long period of time.
The majesty of Seongchangryong is bigger than you think, and more powerful than you think… It will make them all immobile. I would never have imagined that Seong Chang-ryong, whom I had only seen in books, would be such a disaster.
What he finds later is a saint who will save him from his arrogance. In order to put an end to her enormous disaster, it was necessary to sacrifice a saint with divine power so great that Seong Chang-ryong could eat his fill.
In preparation for times like this, the Saint Clarice, who would sacrifice on his behalf, could not be brought from the Trix House.
Adele sees the ‘Sacrifice’ painted in the middle of the chapel. Originally, the person who should have knelt there and prayed would have been Clarisse. The only person who can put Bell Broke to sleep by sacrificing her divine power and life is a saint blessed by Telos.
It was time to reflect on my life’s past and shake off the guilt that had built up around Clarice.
Death is scary, but what is more scary is a life that is so painful that it would be better to die.
I wandered around the world chasing romance, but in the end, I couldn’t shake off the guilt that remained in my heart.
That’s why, even after Adele heard that Clarisse had entered the school, she did not go to see her for a long time.
Because he didn’t think he deserved to meet Clarice.
Now, it’s time to end it all.
He pushes his way through the apostles, sits down in the sermon, and prays. Dark red magic blooms from Velbroke’s molar necklace. What is felt is a clear killing intent.
I feel that unpleasant and thick magic power eating away my life.
However, what no one expected was… Adele’s divine power is so vast that it rivals the power of the Aspect. Her magical power, which allows her to glimpse the future, seems to distort even the flow of time.
This is an area that no saint in history has ever reached, so it is unprecedented.
The protection of the Holy Law that surrounds Adele’s body uses any means possible to protect her life.
Even as Velbroke’s magic surrounds her body, in order to save Adele’s life… Using the divine power imprinted on her body… In the end, the world’s time is rewound.
A realm of sainthood that no saint in history has ever been able to reach. It can happen because Adele has reached that goal… Reverse time. As for magic, it is a forbidden area.
However, the reversal of time does not mean the solution to the situation. It just postpones the situation.
“Cough… Cough… .”
Adele walked in slowly, coughing with the smell of blood.
In the end, the reason this story cannot come to an end is because Adele’s divine power remains too vast.
All you have to do is consume all of the inherent divine power and make it no longer able to be converted into magical power. Even though Adele is born with more amazing abilities than any other saint in history, after she repeats it dozens or hundreds of times, she no longer has enough divine power left to activate the divine protection.
My vision became blurry and the bleeding started to get worse. No matter how much the protection of the Holy Law was, it could not be fully exerted as there was almost no divine power left in Adele’s body to be mobilized.
There really isn’t much left now.
Thinking that the seemingly endless repetition was now coming to an end, Adele even felt relieved.
Although it was a fleeting biography, it does not mean that nothing was left behind. It was just a lie, but anyway, Clarice’s eyes brightened when she heard him sing. Actually, I think that alone is a life worth living… Adele smiled faintly as she staggered away.
“now… Once or twice… I… Two or three times… through… .”
In the previous episode, Clarisse burst into the cathedral. It was quicker than he thought.
But the finish is not far away. There is almost no spiritual power left in the body now.
Thinking like that, Adele continued walking toward the cathedral. After thinking about it this way… . Until the end, his life wasn’t as bad as he thought.
However, life does not always go according to predictions and plans.
From the beginning, Adele was complacent. This may have been due to the repeated deaths causing him to lose his mind.
The variables that he was unable to catch, and what actions Clarice, who is traveling through time together, will take… I should have guessed it at this point.
“What… .”
When Adele was halfway up the stairs, what Adele saw was the saint’s large, neat carriage parked next to the cathedral.
-widely.
The moment I checked it, I felt like someone was grabbing the back of my head.
“radish… laugh… Ugh… .”
Adele, who was dragged hurriedly, was unable to resist the force and was hurriedly placed on a nearby wooden bench.
The person who was pulled out by the scruff of the neck and forced to sit on the bench was completely unexpected.
“Do you like orange or just cold water?”
“… yes… to… ?”
“I just like drinking cold water, so you drink the orange.”
A drink sold in mugs at the student canteen. It was a delicacy that could be enjoyed refreshingly with floating ice.
The man in front of me―― Ed Rosstaylor, sat Adele down in a natural manner and pushed her drink into her lap.
Adele struggled to fix the mug with blood-covered hands… I looked at Ed with a confused face.
After making Adele sit down, Ed sat down next to her and looked up at the cathedral.
Then he took a gulp of cold water, exhaled heavily, leaned back against the backrest, and looked up at the tall cross.
Adele… He was so embarrassed that he couldn’t say anything.
So Ed just looked up at the cathedral for a long time without saying anything.
“this… This… .”
“hey.”
Adele, who sat dumbfounded for a long time, eventually began to speak, but was quickly cut off by Ed.
Ed spoke first.
“You will die soon.”
Those words are somehow familiar… Adele holds the mug still and then answers.
“… i know.”
“… okay.”
And then there was no conversation for a while.
Although Sung Chang-ryong will soon arrive and cause chaos, the scenery of the bachelor’s school is still peaceful. Looking up at the cross of the cathedral, it seems as if it is praising this peaceful era.
“Is that the end?”
“… yes?”
“Is that the end? “Is there nothing more to say?”
Eventually, Ed asked once more, and Adele began to become confused about what to answer.
In the first place, it was completely unexpected for Ed to appear at this location and snatch Adele. Ed was not paying attention to the variable itself.
However, Ed’s existence… This is the only variable that Adele was not aware of.
A man who moves in a different way each time and searches for answers in a repetitive world.
The fact that there was such an Ed next to Clarisse was completely unknown to Adele.
And I also don’t know the intention of the question.
That’s what it means to appear right in front of your eyes, ignoring the rules of time that repeat themselves.
He knew very well that he would face death. The same goes for his future, which he sees intermittently, and it is also a fact that he constantly confirms in the repetitive time.
As for how Ed knows that… Although it was impossible to know from Adele’s perspective.
Adele’s answer was decided. Of course there is nothing more to say.
Rather, there are a lot of things I want to ask about here. I tried to slowly check those things first, but…
Soon, the bench I was sitting on felt large.
If you look around, you will find a back alley in the commercial city of Oldeck.
Warm steam rises from the bacon sandwich in my hand. The man leaving in the distance is Adele’s father. He tried to say something, but in the end, after much deliberation, the only thing that came out was that he had worked hard.
Come to think of it, the same is true at the window of the Seonghwangdo spire.
It seemed like he was about to say something in front of Clarisse, whose eyes were shining at him.
But in the end, all that came out of his mouth were lyrics praising freedom.
“scary.”
Adele looked at the hand holding the mug and trembled. The sound of someone holding their breath was heard. My trembling voice barely escapes my throat.
“I don’t want to die.”
Adele lowered her head like that… . He sobbed for a long time.
Ed was sitting quietly next to him, looking up at the tall cross of the cathedral.
“okay.”
With my arms on the backrest, I looked up and saw the sky as high as always.
“He sometimes says the obvious in a very difficult way.”
There is no way for Ed to know what a turbulent time Adele and Clarice had.
It would probably have been a disgusting story for both of them.
Now, it is time to come to an end.
“Tell me everything you know. “Let’s get this over with now.”
