Chapter 95
Toyokawa Shoko was forced to retreat step by step by the wooden sword.
She simply pressed her back against the wall, enduring the gauntlet's attacks while wildly stabbing with her gun in her right hand—but the gauntlet was too small a target, and Toyokawa Shoko had never systematically learned how to use a gun, so she couldn't hit anything at all.
For a moment, only muffled thuds echoed through the Martial Practice Garden, like torrential rain pounding against glass windows.
Toyokawa Shoko struggled on, and amidst the continuous muffled thuds, even her sense of time became numb.
The sword swings of the gauntlet seem endless, but the limits of offense and defense have quietly arrived.
Both the training sword and the wooden shield were products of the craftsman's meticulous work, but the wooden shield in Toyokawa Shoko's hands had not undergone much hammering.
The wooden sword in the gauntlet's hand was already covered in battle scars.
Moreover, this kind of swordsmanship, which is like a storm, puts a great strain on the weapon itself—therefore, the first to reach its limit is the wooden sword held by the gauntlet.
When it struck the surface of the wooden shield, it did not make a dull thud, but rather a crisp snapping sound.
The wooden sword held by the gauntlet was broken off at the base, leaving only a short section of the hilt.
With lightning speed, Toyokawa Shoko stabbed the left gauntlet off with a single shot.
The metal gauntlet fell to the ground with a crisp sound.
It struggled for a moment, then stopped moving.
Only a lone gauntlet floated in the air.
Shoko felt a slight joy rise in her heart, but before she could begin to celebrate her victory, she felt a burning and dangerous afterglow coming from in front of her.
But then the lone gauntlet slowly unfurled its five fingers, drawing out a cluster of dancing orange-red flames out of thin air.
The flames shaped themselves in the air, gradually revealing the outline of a drawn sword.
The gauntlet gripped the flaming straight sword.
A bead of cold sweat trickled down Shoko's nose.
145 You think it, he thinks it, we all think it...
When Hebe returned with the food box, she saw Toyokawa Shoko sitting on the steps, sulking.
The blue-haired girl saw him approaching and immediately stood up, looking flustered and at a loss.
Hebe noticed that she still had some grass scraps on her body and brown mud stuck to the edges of her boots, so he knew that she had been to the Martial Practice Garden.
"Let's eat first."
The food box contained egg toast, stewed pheasant, and soup in an earthenware pot.
The egg-flavored toast is tender and delicious, the braised pheasant has a rich texture, and the clay pot broth is cooked to perfection with a strong and enticing aroma.
"I..." Toyokawa Shoko swallowed hard, her eyes glazed over.
She picked up her cutlery. "I'm starting to eat."
Toyokawa Shoko's eating manners were both elegant and flamboyant.
She was described as delicate because she ate without making a sound, yet she was also described as flamboyant because she was genuinely hungry after a whole morning of work.
"Fragrant Garden did a good job." After Toyokawa Shoko finished her meal, Hebe began to comment, "I'd give you a ninety out of ten."
Where are those ten points deducted?
Toyokawa Shoko originally wanted to tell Hebe that a gauntlet wielding a flaming straight sword was wreaking havoc in the Martial Practice Garden.
But the rating given by Hebe distracted her.
As a top student from the Cathay Cultural Circle, Toyokawa Shoko is captivated by the mention of exams, tutoring, and self-study.
Especially in the Higashi, there are almost two extremes: involution to the point of death and happy education—and Toyokawa Shoko is clearly the former.
"You haven't embarked on the Path of Ascension yet," Hebe replied. "If you continue to use the Fragrant Garden to heal your body and relieve your emotions, you will become addicted."
The fragrance of flowers in Fragrant Garden is a product of the Cup Principle.
For those who have transcended to enlightenment or higher, they can utilize it to a greater extent to heal themselves.
But for ordinary people who haven't embarked on the Path of Ascension, this is equivalent to a drug that is easy to become addictive.
Fortunately, Toyokawa Shoko's bloodline was unique, and he possessed administrator privileges, not far from being an apprentice at the Enlightenment level, so no irreparable consequences occurred.
"Next, let's go take a look at the Martial Practice Garden." Hebe took a step forward.
Toyokawa Shoko, who had wanted to explain, was unable to stop him.
Upon arriving outside the Martial Practice Garden, Hebe also saw the gauntlet holding the flaming straight sword.
Hebe stared at the imposing straight sword for a moment, then slowly turned to look at the anxious Toyokawa Shoko.
Feeling those beautiful, deep green eyes looking at him, Shoko lowered his head, twisting his hands in front of him, his peripheral vision glancing slightly at Hebe's face.
Surprisingly, she didn't see disappointment or blame on Hebe's face.
Hebe looked at Toyokawa Shoko: "Xiao Xiang, do you know about Prince Charming?"
Although she didn't know why Hebe suddenly brought up this topic, Toyokawa Shoko nodded in agreement.
"The Prince on the White Horse has a legendary prototype—Sir Gawain." Hebe smiled. "That's right, it's Sir Gawain, the 'Sun Knight' under King Arthur. He received the blessing of the sun, and when the time reaches noon, his power will reach its highest point of the day."
"The weapon used by Gawain was a holy sword called 'Victory of Rotation.' However, the knights who survived the battlefield insisted that Sir Gawain used a one-handed sword that shone as brightly as the sun..."
Hebe seemed to be relaying a message, or perhaps talking to herself.
"People call it the sun because it behaves like the blazing sun. But in the end, it is nothing more than light, heat, and fire."
Like the Sword in the Stone, the essence of 'Victory of the Cycle' is not the sword, but the prototype of Gawain's achievements.
Hebe looked at Toyokawa Shoko: "The evidence that an apprentice embarks on the Path of Ascension is that he has clearly defined his desires. And this process often occurs when he witnesses a high-ranking ascensionist performing miracles."
"New apprentices will be born because of admiration, longing, and thirst..."
"These gauntlets were a gift from Sir Gawain when the Silent Bookstore was established," Hebe said calmly. "The fire you see is the embers from hundreds of years ago."
Even if it's just a tiny remnant, myths, legends, and reality still vividly intertwine and descend before Toyokawa Shoko's eyes.
"But you don't seem to think it's a miracle," Hebe said. "Can you tell me how you felt when you saw Sir Gawain draw his flaming sword from his gauntlets?"
Toyokawa Shoko hesitated for a moment, but still answered truthfully.
"I, I... I'm thinking about how to defeat this gauntlet and clean up the Martial Practice Garden."
Hebe raised an eyebrow. "What do you plan to do if I don't come back?"
"Go find Extinguishing Fires. If Extinguishing Fires doesn't work, I'll poke it with a gun from the outside... In short, we must clear out the Martial Practice Garden."
She's even learned how to get stuck in a wall... Hebe didn't know whether to praise her or scold her.
Hebe sighed, "Well, it seems you're not suited for this path."
Most of the Knights of the Round Table became Ascended through this method, so they were born to be King Arthur's retinue.
The counterintuitive point is that "stubborn fools" become apprentices of the Enlightened rank faster than intelligent people.
Unfortunately, Toyokawa Shoko was the latter.
But fortunately, so was Hebe.
Furthermore, after the Eastern Lostbelt, she had already become a qualified mentor.
"You don't need to clean the Martial Practice Garden anymore. In fact, it's mostly usable and doesn't need any further repairs." Hebe sighed again. "Come with me."
She brought Toyokawa Shoko to the music room.
The moment they pushed open the door, the grand piano in the corner emitted a welcoming tinkling sound.
Hebe picked up a transverse flute, examined it, and said to Shoko, "I'm not sure what your essential desire is—"
She carefully considered her words.
In fact, Hebe knew this, but entering the stage of enlightenment is a crucial step in the transformation. If not handled carefully, it can lead to psychological trauma such as depersonalization.
Shoko is a good employee chosen by Hebe, and we can't let him be ruined because of a careless remark.
"But desires often manifest as your hobbies." Hebe gazed into the blue-haired lady's eyes. "In that case, try playing music, Xiao Xiang."
Toyokawa Shoko pressed her fingers on the black and white keys of the grand piano, and she could feel that the piano was responding to her expectations.
But instead of playing immediately, she turned her head and mustered the courage to look Hebe in the eye.
"Why?"
"What 'why'?" Hebe put the flute back where it was and picked up a violin. "You mean, about making you an Ascended One?"
Toyokawa Shoko bit her lip and nodded gently.
Hebe smiled calmly, "Oh, this... you're the administrator of the Silent Bookstore."
"You can be a sublime being of low rank—in fact, the past administrators of the Silent Bookstore were not of high rank, after all, they were just a group of scholars—but you cannot be anything other than a sublime being."
"Otherwise, how would you step forward on my behalf and handle so many affairs of the bookstore?" Hebe smiled. "It might sound a bit mercenary, but to put it another way, don't you yourself yearn for it?"
The girl with long flaxen hair smiled as she set up the violin.
Her beautiful, deep green eyes Gilgamesh like unparalleled gemstones.
Like a resonance deep within her soul, it rang in Toyokawa Shoko's ears.
"Grasp your desires, break free from your muddled fate... In the end, you also 'want' it, right?"
The deepest part of the blue-haired lady's eyes reflected the blazing firelight.
The miracle that Gawain's gauntlet had performed ultimately left a mark on her heart.
Toyokawa Shoko's lips trembled slightly, but her fingers were already on the piano keys.
The first accent rises from the piano keys and the violin strings.
That is Beethoven's Piano Sonata No. 14 in C-sharp minor.
Also known as "Moonlight".
146. A recluse, a man of iron, a rebel.
The music was dramatic, like the ocean tide.
However, before that, there was a violin playing at the same time.
Its sound was rapid, like the wind blowing across the sea.
The wind and the tide chase each other, hand in hand, like a pair of intimate friends, rushing towards the horizon where the sky meets the sea.
The moonlight silently watched all of this, and the surroundings seemed to dim, while the figures of the two people shone even brighter.
"Indeed, I am not resigned to this fate of being manipulated by others, because I still have many things I cannot give up—my family, my friends, and everything I know."
"I miss them, whether they care about me or not..."
Toyokawa Shoko's hands struck the piano keys, producing a series of accented notes. She tilted her head and keenly caught the slight trembling of the strings.
The higher the string pitch, the more rapid the rhythm of the bow strokes becomes—suspended, repeated, torn, and superimposed.
The melody reached infinite variations in his hands, the tide in front of him suddenly began to rise, and the wind howled straight up to the sky.
The violin trembled slightly, retelling the melody with a lofty and cool touch.
Toyokawa Shoko raised her head as if she were drowning.
She struggled, she chased, the tide chased the wind and the moon.
"No, I don't want to be reborn as a puppet—if I am destined to become a puppet, then at least the fewer people who can control me, the better!"
"It's like the moon orbiting the earth, and the earth chasing the sun!"
Her soul trembled, as if her heart was about to leap out of her chest.
Hebe closed her eyes slightly.
The hazy moonlight streamed down before her eyes.
[The believer "Toyokawa Shoko"]
[The Path: Seclusion. Forgotten by the world, abandoned by people, bidding farewell to the past.]
[Principle: Winter. Representing silence, ending, and a principle that is not entirely gone.]