Chapter 73
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 73
Chapter Title: Emperor's Sword (6)
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Emperor's Sword,
First Form.
[Imperial Chronicles].
The sword art that made its appearance in the world through Reinhardt,
accompanied by a pillar of resplendent golden mana surging skyward,
shredded every inch of ground it passed over, proclaiming the birth of an emperor to the world.
'Glorious.'
Its form was so breathtakingly beautiful,
it inspired awe even in that fleeting moment.
Kuwoong-!!
And the ogre charging toward us—a peril just one step shy of disaster-class—
was utterly pulverized by that radiant golden mana, meeting its end.
The only thing left was the thunderous crash of its massive body hitting the ground,
echoing through the village.
"Congratulations, you did it."
The great Emperor's Sword, divided into three forms—
its first form was finally complete.
I offered Reinhardt a light word of praise with a glance his way.
Hearing that, Reinhardt stared blankly for a moment before looking back at me.
"Hah, everything went just as you said."
Everything had unfolded exactly according to my advice.
From there, he kept talking without pause.
"You're always like this—you seem like you know everything, yet I can't figure you out at all."
Of course he couldn't know a thing.
Where this guy named Aden had suddenly popped up from.
Why he was searching for the Genesis Dragon, whose life or death was unknown.
How he always seemed to know everything,
dispensing only the perfect answers.
"I know nothing about you."
Reinhardt knew nothing about me as a person.
Yet,
I'd always acted like I knew everything about him.
So,
'A natural question.'
The doubts he harbored now were inevitable.
But I couldn't resolve every single one of them.
Just as I was about to voice the excuse I'd prepared during our trials—
"Reinhar—""But I have no intention of prying now."
Reinhardt cut me off, leaving me unable to continue with my rehearsed line.
After declaring he wouldn't probe into my identity anymore,
"Even if I did, I doubt you'd cough up the truth."
His next sharp-witted remark hit right on the mark,
leaving me speechless.
'Tch, sharp when it counts...'
I inwardly clicked my tongue at his needless perceptiveness.
"Well, someday, I'd like to hear your story."
Someday,
he hoped the questions he had about me would be answered.
"Once you complete the sword art... I'll tell you then."
'When the trials end...'
He'd learn eventually anyway.
If he mastered the Emperor's Sword,
if I successfully cleared the Emperor's Trials.
Reinhardt would have no choice but to know.
He'd realize it even if he tried not to.
This world was an illusion crafted for the trials.
And I was a being from the future undertaking them.
"So let's go. We need to complete the second form quickly too."
So for now,
focus on clearing the trials.
On perfecting Reinhardt's Emperor's Sword.
I stood first and started walking toward the next village.
A dazzling whirl of golden light,
its mana roared menacingly, grinding down everything in range—including the oncoming ogre—as it advanced.
'Glorious...'
Unlike its destructive power,
the first form I'd unleashed from my hand
shone with a brilliance I could scarcely believe came from me.
As I gazed at it, feeling a twinge of accomplishment and pride—
"Congratulations, you did it."
From behind came a man's voice, congratulating me in a tone as if my success was a given.
'I hardly deserve congratulations for mastering this sword art...'
But I didn't see myself as someone worthy of such praise.
After all, my first form of the Emperor's Sword
wouldn't have been completed so quickly without Aden.
The flow of mana, the strength and motion of the power, even the form of the technique—
everything had followed his advice to the letter.
"Hah, everything went just as you said."
Which only made Aden loom larger in my mind.
This sudden arrival, a name I'd never heard before... someone at least my equal in skill.
He always seemed to know everything,
yet felt impossibly distant and incomprehensible.
"You're always like this—you seem like you know everything, yet I can't figure you out at all."
Thinking about it,
"I know nothing about you."
I knew next to nothing about him.
Not his origins,
nor the source of his power or knowledge,
nor why he sought the Genesis Dragon.
I had zero information to go on.
Yet...
"Reinhar—""But I have no intention of prying now."
Even now,
I had no desire to grill him on every question.
"Even if I did, I doubt you'd cough up the truth."
'He wouldn't tell me anyway.'
Asking him to spill all his secrets at this point
would likely just get me excuses, not the truth.
And sure enough, my offhand remark elicited exactly the reaction I'd expected—a direct hit.
"Well, someday, I'd like to hear your story."
Even so,
even if he had no intention of sharing,
I hoped that one day,
I could learn all his truths.
Just as he seemed to know everything about me,
I wanted to know him too.
So...
"Once you complete the sword art... I'll tell you then."
'That'll do for now.'
The promise that he'd reveal everything upon completion
was more than enough to satisfy me.
"So let's go. We need to complete the second form quickly too."
"Right. I'll make it quick."
And so,
following Aden as he rose to head to the next village,
I started walking as well.
Just as he said,
if completing the sword art meant hearing all the truths,
there was no need to drag things out.
In the next village we reached,
during the beast subjugation there, came the second form,
and...
"For the second form, it might be better to move the mana aggressively from the heart toward the sword."
Once again, Aden's advice pierced straight to the core.
The next day,
"Swing the sword in a longer, straighter posture, thrusting out in a stabbing motion."
And the day after,
"No, this time, minimize the striking points as much as possible."
His advice always zeroed in on my flaws, as ever.
But...
'Something... feels off...'
More than that, every time we dealt with beasts raiding and destroying villages,
a primal sense of unease kept building—a creeping wrongness.
And that unease
"Lately, the beasts have been getting stronger."
seemed to be felt by Aden too, who'd been subjugating them alongside me.
The Seal of Nightmares.
After that,
the beast corruption that had steadily been waning, and the sightings of powerful beasts,
had started growing stronger again lately.
"I see. I hope this isn't a sign that the Seal of Nightmares is breaking."
The situation felt eerily similar
to back when the Nightmare Era was about to begin.
The wrongness,
the dread that the Nightmare Era—which had only brought despair to humanity—might return,
was filling my heart once more.
"Who knows... Hard to say."
Still,
all we could do was pray the nightmares wouldn't return.
Even if they did...
'The Crimson Flame Mage couldn't do a thing...'
'The Holy Kingdom's Saint... is dead...'
'Even the Sword Saint... there's no hope left...'
Humanity
could never stand against that horrific nightmare.
So, suppressing my growing anxiety,
"Hah... haa..."
along with the sound of someone running up behind us,
a man appeared, panting heavily as if he'd rushed here, clad in bloodied, battered armor.
Knight...?! If you're knights, please, help us...!
The man caught his breath for a moment, then spotted us and spoke urgently.
"Calm down first. Tell us slowly what happened."
Seeing him so worked up, I told him to compose himself
and checked for injuries.
"Hoo... Y-you're knights, right?"
Once he'd calmed a bit,
the man asked us again.
"Yes, knights. What's the problem?"
When I confirmed we were knights,
he lost his fragile composure and blurted out desperately.
"Th-then please, help us...! A Black Ghost... has appeared in our village...!"
And in his loss of control came the word:
Black Ghost.
A herald of disaster-class beast emergence.
"What...?"
Disaster-class beast,
a threat that hadn't appeared easily since the Nightmare Era—
its emergence was
clear proclamation that the world's abnormality had begun.