At Sword’s Edge
About two hours before Trixie met Hilde.
After spending the night at an inn with a dining room, Trixie had slept in a little late. When she finally came downstairs for a late breakfast—almost lunch—she took a seat in a quiet corner and ordered a meal on the recommendation of a servant, only to find the dining room strangely noisy.
Is this some famous restaurant in the capital?
But after trying a bite of the salad and the roasted bacon that arrived quickly, she could only poke at the food with her fork. The taste was so unremarkable it defied description.
Not feeling much like eating today, Trixie picked slowly at her meal and glanced around. On one side of the dining room, she noticed a small crowd had gathered. They kept sneaking looks at someone she couldn’t see from where she sat and whispering among themselves.
"Guys. Look at that person. Isn’t that the Hero everyone’s been talking about in the capital lately? He looks exactly like the drawing in the magazine."
"Probably. How often do you see someone with those East Asian features? He looks younger than I expected, too. Even compared to those young nobles everyone calls handsome, he’s really striking…."
"Tsk tsk. And this is why women are hopeless. Can’t you even see the noble, hidden character and spirit in the way he’s eating?"
"Hmph! He looks like a cuttlefish on that plate."
Their loud, babbling chatter piqued Trixie’s interest a little more.
Even she, buried away in a far eastern country and devoting herself only to training and meditation, had occasionally heard rumors about the Hero’s party. Even in the isolated country where she lived, the fact that news of them had spread this far was proof that they were no ordinary people.
Still, Trixie didn’t know the Hero party’s faces or names. Printed materials like magazines usually took at least a few months to cross the sea. Besides, she’d heard the party had only been formed less than half a year ago.
She had no intention of getting up to look for herself, so she simply kept eating at a leisurely pace. When about half the food on her plate remained, the people who had been glancing over seemed to realize something and quickly looked away, pretending they’d been talking to their acquaintances all along.
The Hero must’ve finished eating. Still, I am curious what he looks like. Did they just say he was East Asian?
Seated where she could see the inn’s entrance, Trixie propped her chin on one hand and waited. Her curiosity had truly been stirred. He might even have come from the same country she had been born and raised in—or perhaps he could be someone she actually knew.
Step, step, step.
The sound of footsteps was especially loud for someone who was supposedly the Hero. Then he appeared from inside.
Clatter!
Trixie lost her grip on the fork she had been holding loosely, and it fell to the floor. But she no longer cared about the fork.
Seeing the Hero, she froze for an instant, so shocked it felt as if her heart had dropped out of her chest. Only her pupils contracted under the reflexive surge of her sympathetic nerves.
It was someone she knew. And if it was really that person, then he had indeed come from the same country as she had.
It’s Jin Yul…. He was alive?
The human who had died 276 years ago was walking right before her eyes.
"H-here, I’ll leave money!"
Hurriedly fishing a coin from her pocket and setting it on the table, Trixie sprang up and went after the Hero as soon as he left the inn. Her voice had risen a little.
What a nuisance, honestly. No matter how rushed you are, you can’t even pay properly before you leave?
The servant, seeing her leave without settling the bill, put on a troubled expression and headed over to the table. She had left something behind, apparently, but the servant had not expected anything from it.
Then they checked the object sitting alone beside the plate and their eyes went round. What they had taken for a coin was a gold piece, gleaming brilliantly in the light.
To leave a gold coin for a lunch that only cost two silver... What a generous fan of the Hero.
The servant sent boundless gratitude toward the customer who had tipped the equivalent of two months’ wages for a single meal.
After leaving the banquet hall, Lee Yu-seong had stopped for a simple meal before heading to the inn he’d arranged on the outskirts of the capital. But once he stepped out of the restaurant, he noticed someone following him at a polite distance.
At first he thought they might simply be going the same way, but the presence trailing him while maintaining that exact distance was clearly following him. He didn’t sense any killing intent.
Who is it? An assassin, maybe? No... doesn’t seem like it.
Lee Yu-seong entered a slightly shabby inn, considering it was in the capital, then took up his sword and went out to the spacious back yard. Because the capital was always crowded and noisy, he hadn’t been able to find a proper place to train, which was why he had deliberately chosen an inn on the outskirts.
Even now, someone was watching him. It felt a little unsettling, but since no one meant him harm, he recalled the technique he had been focusing on lately.
Flying Sword.
A sword technique that formed blades in the air with a swordsman’s mana and attacked remotely. It wasn’t enough merely to be able to use Flying Sword; speed, destructive force, and attack range all varied greatly depending on the swordsman’s skill.
But even creating and moving a single sword felt like trying to control some unfamiliar part of his body he’d never known existed. If he had to describe it, it was harder than suddenly learning to open and close each toe with perfect dexterity.
Standing straight, Lee Yu-seong closed his eyes and released mana, forming the shape of a sword in the air. It radiated terrifying destructive power—enough that even a knight would have a hard time deflecting it.
Lee Yu-seong opened his eyes and moved the mana-formed sword. He was practicing with deliberate irregularity, making it spiral through the air before slashing vertically, forcing himself to adapt.
While the Hero was fully absorbed in training, another Flying Sword came hurtling toward him.
Aah! If that hits me, I’m dead!
Clang!
In a panic, Lee Yu-seong somehow managed to control his Flying Sword and counter the incoming blade. He didn’t know it, but in that single desperate response, his mana control became more refined than it had been through all the solitary practice he’d done until now.
But his face began to go pale. The sword that had suddenly shot toward him had shattered his own Flying Sword and was racing in with relentless force. It was too late to strike back with a sword of his own, but he strained every nerve in his body to stop it.
Fortunately, the disaster of the Hero being assassinated never came to pass.
The blade hurtling forward with terrifying speed came to a miraculous stop right before Lee Yu-seong’s eyes, just as he had half-drawn his own sword. With a soft whoosh, the wind spread outward in ripples around them.
Relief that he was still alive lasted only a moment. Ignoring even the force of inertia, the fact that someone had halted such a high-speed Flying Sword in an instant left Lee Yu-seong stunned and deeply shaken. Just as he was wondering what kind of master could do such a thing, a woman who looked even younger than he was came running up in a hurry.
Trixie had followed Lee Yu-seong from the inn. And as she carefully studied him, she felt a little disappointed.
For Jin Yul, he looks kind of green and immature….
Compared to the person she knew, he looked younger. Still, she found herself strangely unable to look away. As one of the dragons who never forgot, the resemblance was simply too strong.
Especially when he used Flying Sword in the inn, she had found herself hoping again. The man she knew had once fought her father alone using only Flying Sword. Years had passed, so she’d expected to see overwhelming martial skill from him.
Instead, she quickly narrowed her eyes.
...Huh. What is this? He’s a total beginner. And this guy is the Hero?
But she had overlooked two things. The first was that a swordsman capable of using Flying Sword was one of the legendary techniques that only a handful of people achieved in a generation.
The second was that a normal human life span did not exceed a hundred years.
Only then, upon recalling the second fact, did she realize it.
The Hero was Jin Yul’s hidden child.
Arriving at that conclusion, Trixie clenched her teeth for some reason. The shabby Flying Sword and that face identical to Jin Yul’s were proof enough—perfect, irrefutable proof.
And he had the nerve to say he’d stayed single all those years? What a legendary swindler!
The heat that had slumbered deep within her flared up again, burning hot. But little by little, it calmed. There was still love left in her heart for him.
Fine. I’ll repay my debt and teach this boy myself. I’m going to put him through hell, so he’d better keep watching from heaven.
At the sudden intensity in Trixie’s eyes, Lee Yu-seong felt a chill run down his spine all at once.
"Um... are you from Hoback, by any chance? I lived there too, so it’s strange to see someone I don’t recognize."
Facing Trixie head-on, Lee Yu-seong looked flustered, but also genuinely curious about who she was.
Since she had attacked by surprise but not actually hurt him, he decided she probably wasn’t an assassin.
He guessed she might be some reclusive master who had achieved youthful rejuvenation. Hoback, a land where East Asian culture still lived and breathed, was said to be full of hidden experts.
"That’s right. You’re pretty sharp. I’m Trixie, and I’ve just come down from training in the mountain valleys of Hoback."
After nodding at the Hero’s words, Trixie decided this was perfect. She’d set up her cover as a reclusive female master named Trixie.
Lee Yu-seong tilted his head after hearing her. For someone from Hoback, her name was one of the common names found all across the continent.
"My name is Lee Yu-seong. But, senior, what brings you to me? It seemed like you were following me…."
Lee Yu-seong asked cautiously. Trixie clasped her hands behind her back and struck the most imposing pose she could manage.
"Haha. Caught me, huh? I just heard you were the Hero by chance and followed you out of curiosity. I saw your Flying Sword, and you’re still way too rough around the edges. So how about it? I’ll train you. Sound good?"
The words rough around the edges pricked at him, but her tone was unmistakably friendly.
For reasons he didn’t understand, her offer could only be an advantage.
"Then I’d be grateful. However… I still have the Hero party’s schedule, so I can’t start right away. What should we do?"
Lee Yu-seong was due to travel soon after being summoned by the Empire.
Mastering even one technique was the kind of thing with no clear end date, so rather than starting awkwardly right now, it would be better to begin after the Hero party’s schedule was over, when things were less hectic.
Trixie rested her chin on her hand and thought it over carefully. For some reason she couldn’t quite explain, she didn’t want to be apart from Lee Yu-seong.
Then her eyes lit up as she thought of a solution.
"I’ve got a great idea! How about this? I’ll join your party for a while."
"Hmm… I can’t decide that on my own, but it does sound like a good idea. Let’s go talk to the others."
Since Trixie claimed to be a secluded master, Lee Yu-seong still felt a little awkward around her for some reason, as though she were younger than him. And with that face and that level of ability, it wouldn’t have been strange for her to be quite famous even in Hoback.
Has she been living in some insanely deep mountain valley? There’s no way no one would’ve heard of her.
For all its isolation, Hoback was a country where no place was truly beyond the reach of people’s footsteps.