Chapter 81

They had named her Tara, which meant “red sword.” Ever since the girl could walk, she had held a sword taller than her. The sword was one with the girl. When she walked, the sword would echo as she lifted it. When she swung it hard, it would cut through the air. Wherever the girl went, the sword moved with her. From what those who knew of the girl said, she cared very much for her sword. It was a sword that had been with her all her life, so it was that much more important to her.

The girl was born in an especially dry and hot desert city. She grew up in a town surrounded by gritty dirt houses. In that place, most children were only given the most basic of education up until adulthood. However, they were required to learn martial arts. Each child studied the type of martial arts that best suited them. The girl loved her sword so much, she brought it with her to every lesson.

A majority of the teachers had returned from working in foreign countries, especially those who taught martial arts. The girl liked her teacher very much. Tall, built body, strong gaze, and serious speech. The only flaw was that one of his eyes was practically blind. But the girl thought even that was admirable because it looked to be a battle scar. The reason she felt this way was because among all the teachers, she believed hers was the strongest despite his handicap. The children respected him greatly and followed him without question.

For one of those children, the time had come to celebrate their coming-of-age ceremony. This child showed great skill in archery and spoke several languages. And so, his parents discussed the possibility of sending him abroad with the town elders. The girl felt jealous upon seeing that.

But her jealousy did not last long. Because that child, Leo, didn’t last three months before he came back. There were not many who returned to their country, but it wasn’t unheard of. The pride of this country’s people was that they were as mentally strong as they were physically. But only three months …?

The natural course of action was to hold a meeting. The girl, holding onto the coattails of her parents, followed them.

The mayor had asked, “What problem did you face?”

“The first role I was assigned to was the lowest-ranking guard for the nobles,” Leo had answered. “They claimed they moved all the rejects into that position since they were short-staffed … I was new, but because I was part of the Han clan, they didn’t even ask for my opinion …”

Soon, sighs rose from the people in the crowd. The woman next to the mayor tried to soothe Leo. Tears dropped from his face. This insult … it was the first time they had heard about it … They just couldn’t …

Upon seeing him unable to answer, the girl suddenly welled up. Then she realized that her people were looked down upon by those from foreign lands. As great as his skills were, she had thought that Leo had a strong mind. To break a strong child like this … What could he have possibly been told?

Having seen something like this once when he was young, the mayor sighed. Why must that have been his first task? If he had gone to war or been assigned a civilian task, it wouldn’t have been as difficult as working in the lowest ranks under the nobles. It was not the difficulty of the task, it had nothing to do with the skill of the person. The problem was how the prideful nobles treated their inferiors.

Karams rubbed his left eye. It ached every time he touched it. Although he was now over 40 years old, it still felt that way. He understood Leo’s feelings. This blinded eye was not the brave remnant of a battle scar, but evidence that their people were looked down upon. So he spoke. “I understand, you don’t have to say anymore.” The other elders nodded.

The meeting was coming to an end. The elders said they would finish up their discussion and the children soon retreated. Darkness started to fall. She walked with deflated steps towards him.

“Leo.”

Truthfully, they were not that close. That’s why she had been jealous without even knowing the actual situation. In a small voice, she called him, and Leo turned around slowly.

“Umm …” The girl didn’t want to ask for specifics about how he was handling the insult to his pride, so she began with small talk. But when the initial topics of conversation ran out, she wasn’t sure what they could talk about.

“You will soon be coming of age.”

“Had he remembered me?” the girl thought as she blinked.

Leo shrugged his shoulders once. “Are there people who don’t know of your sword?”

It was a subtle compliment. The girl shrugged her shoulders, too. Leo smiled. The contrast of a girl with such a pretty little face able to swing a sword so well made her quite famous. Also that she was from the bloodline of the legendary Dagner. He was not particularly close to her, but as a peer who trained with her before, he decided to give her some advice.

“Be careful.”

Because of his pride, that was the best he could do. The wound to his ego meant it would take time to organize his feelings and find the courage to go abroad again. It was his way of showing gratitude for her not being nosy about it.

“Teacher ran into a similar situation and had gotten hurt.”

“What?”

Leo smiled a bit sadly.

“Teacher?”

“That’s right. So you should be careful too. You will know once you go outside. That the sword is not the problem.” Leo waved and said goodbye.

At the time, she didn’t quite understand. Only after she had been through what they did, did she realize what he had meant.

The girl stood unmoving in the middle of the road. The lamp light filled her senses. The meeting looked to be over. The girl blinked her eyes. She saw her parents, then suddenly saw her teacher’s face. The girl walked quickly towards them.

“Teacher,” the girl asked with a calm breath. “Leo told me what happened to you …”

Then she frowned. It had been surprising enough that Leo went through such a thing and came back, but the teacher too? Then how many of their people, and to what extent were they looked down upon? She couldn’t comprehend it.

Karams stroked the girl’s hair. “Dagner. You …”

The girl looked straight at him. As if staring at the only light in the path.

“You should always be proud to know that you are part of the Han clan.”

The girl had never gone against the teacher’s words. The teacher knew that and so he said to her softly.

“Don’t mind it too much.”

But it was something that concerned her peer and her teacher. The girl was about to say something, then thought better of it. She nodded her head instead. That is what her teacher told her to do, so she had no choice but to heed him.

But at least this was certain. This fate could lead to the end of their people.

“I will raise up the name of our people,” she thought. “The nobles are so busy showing off that they don’t realize how beautiful our people’s well-built bodies are. They really don’t know anything so they depreciate our worth. Their pride in themselves is actually nothing but ignorance.

“So I will not feel downtrodden by them. I will put in my greatest effort to make the worth of the Han clan known far and wide by working all over the Latrice continent. And with this, I will bring honor to our clan so that Leo and others after him will never have to face discrimination again.”

The girl’s eyes shined. Her purple hair was usually tied up, but now it flew out behind her.

And when she became an adult, the girl’s parents started to worry that she would see the same fate as Leo. However, the girl did not worry about that in the slightest because she believed in her strong sword and mind. And so, she knew that the name of Dagner would not fall into failure.

But the name was not important to the girl. The most important thing was that she was part of the Han clan and that she would raise up that name throughout the continent of Latrice. The path her life must take shined brightly with certainty. With this mission in mind, there was nothing that she needed to be afraid of.

The girl headed to the continent of Marycury. Once she got there, she found that the two countries were not on good terms. It may have been due to the wall that was left behind by Dahl. Or maybe the uprising of the smaller nations to combat the larger nation’s influence. The large nations sent soldiers to the south, but also searched for mercenaries. That was the position she applied for. The girl from the Han clan with the dark purple hair soon became famous in the war in the south in Quiaba. Her lovely facade became as well-known as her sword.

The summer of that year, the girl defeated one of the best rebel soldiers. Blood flowed freely, staining the entire landscape with crimson. Even so, the girl did not blink once at the sight.

“Finally,” Tara had thought. Her heart pounded as her body became drenched in excitement. She had never felt like that since coming to this foreign land. Finally, it was the first step to getting her name known.

Although it was but one battle, she had practically brought the general of Quiaba to his knees. Soon, the girl was allowed to meet the king. This would also be an opportunity. Her life path was still clear and shining forward.

Through the red curtains, she could see the presence of the king. Even the black dirt seemed to be supporting the king’s sophisticated walk. On top of the horse, the king’s red cloak fell heavily from his shoulders.

“What is your name?” He had asked her respectfully.

The girl answered back with the same respect. “It is Tara Han, your majesty.”

The king smiled broadly.

Tara opened her eyes.

She should have known what that smile had meant. Tara rubbed her stomach. The time was approaching. The time to give birth to this blood inside her. With quivering hands, she touched her stomach with the ends of her fingers again. But this was not one of motherly love—it was her suppressing the fervent anger rising inside.

Del Monte II was a typical monarch who had desired Tara for her beauty. Fortunately, Tara was not aware of this. Actually, she had no interest in it. So she didn’t feel threatened by him. At that time, she had been so focused and motivated by her life’s mission that she couldn’t pay attention to anything else.

She had received sex education so she was wary of men in general. But due to the nature of her situation, she was only aware of the basics. Her days were filled with the smell of blood in war. Soldiers were trained to suppress their lust to concentrate on the war, and as a Han clan member, she assumed no one would be interested in her. They could not understand the beauty of strength so they only thought of her as weak. But the main reason was that she was from Terra.

However, Tara remembered her past and clenched her teeth even as she heard his praises:

“How old did you say you were?”

“Your sword skills are unique.”

She was not used to attention from an adult man, let alone from a king. But she couldn’t just ignore him. Plus, this was the most pivotal moment of her life, so she acted with discretion.

The King of Han didn’t seem to care much about all these little things. Although she had learned proper manners, those didn’t compare to Monterobis’s teachings. Yet the king did not seem to heed to such manners himself. How could he say such a thing to her?

“I would like to have you in my embrace.”

She was taken aback. It hadn’t been long since she first met him. Tara was sure that this was just a sudden interest that would soon fade with time.

However, he visited Tara’s barracks every day. He even continued to wait until she finally let him in. Leaving the king to wait outside the barracks was not respectful. Although surprised and confused, she had no choice but to call him inside.

“Your majesty.”

The king smiled as if to ask what was the problem. “Tara. You are lovely today, as always.”

His praises blurred together:

“Will you not have dinner with me?”

“You have such a kind heart. Tara.”

“Your hair looks so soft … will you allow me to touch it.”

His red eyes sparkled and spoke to her lovingly. He had made it seem like today’s sweet words would become a sweeter tomorrow. After several months of this, Tara couldn’t help but loiter around under the sunlight waiting for a glimpse of his shadow.

But Tara knew herself well. She was the sword of the war, not a woman to lay beside the king. After spending the night with the king, she would no longer be able to fulfill her duties as a soldier. Also, her life’s path was lit so brightly that there wasn’t anything she felt she lacked.

There was no reason to depend on the king. Not even as he said this to her: “Tara. Let me take you into my embrace.”

Tara always politely rejected him. Being of the Dagner bloodline, everyone in her hometown looked up to her, and so she never had to apologize to anyone before. But in front of the king, she had to bow her head numerous times when apologizing to him. She humbled herself, telling him that as being of the Han clan and a soldier, she was not worthy of the king.

She already knew that rejecting the king was disrespectful. Thinking only of her status, all she could do if he put a sword to her neck was try desperately to run away. At the same time, she knew that rejecting him now was the right choice. Because the moment she fell into the king’s embrace, more and more disrespectful things would happen. This was not the history she hoped to write. This was not the reason she had spent her days in this place.

Tara also knew this well. That all of this was made possible thanks to the generosity of the king. She tried to keep him at a distance until her time at Quiaba ended, until after a year had passed, until the winter came … She hoped that he would understand and wait just a little longer. She didn’t want to run away just because the king showed a little interest in her. What mercenary would want a soldier who runs away from war? And so, she hoped for this desperately.

And because the king had been good to her all those times, she thought that he would be more understanding. She wanted to believe that. Other than those of her hometown, she had never trusted anyone like this before. She enjoyed having conversations with him, so she waited. Trust and laughter. If she could spend the rest of her days like this, she thought that it would be great.

Exactly four months later, that trust got trampled and shattered into a million pieces. It became broken and crushed.

Thinking back to that time, Tara returned to when she was sixteen years old.

She clenched her teeth so hard that she tasted blood.