At the Blade’s Edge
As Hwaryu and the Hero Party stood opposed to one another, the people passing by on the street all turned to watch. Since one side was the Empress’s direct guard, however, no one dared make a spectacle of it. Most simply kept their distance and observed from afar, wary and silent.
"What do you say? Do you think you can endure even one exchange?"
Kaijin sneered, and Yu-seong’s companions looked on in concern. The saintess frowned at the sudden confrontation.
"Let’s just leave the Empire. They invited us here and this is how they act? What a godawful place."
"Hmm…. Saintess, let’s wait a little longer."
Watching the situation unfold, Edan sensed that something was off. The way this man, Kaijin, was acting felt deeply unnatural.
Is he trying to test the Hero’s strength? But if that’s the case, why do it like this? With this many eyes on them, it’s only going to put the Empire at a disadvantage.
From the moment he picked a fight, too many people were watching. If things went badly, all the Empire would achieve was damaging its own reputation.
Edan suspected they had another purpose, but he couldn’t quite pin it down.
"They seem to be looking down on me a little too much. I’ll play along."
Yu-seong drew the Holy Sword. The moment the sword that could be called the direct proof of a Hero appeared, the crowd around them began whispering quietly.
"They really are Heroes, huh? I heard that’s the sword only a Hero can wield."
"If they’re here, they must have only just arrived in the Empire. What’s going on?"
Suspicious eyes gathered on Kaijin, but he looked utterly unconcerned. If anything, he only tightened his grip on the massive greatsword in his hand.
At the blades of both swordsmen, aura burst upward. Yu-seong’s blue aura rose bright and sharp, while Kaijin’s dark red aura towered up beside it.
"If you’re ready, then I’ll begin."
After a few tense seconds, Kaijin rushed at Yu-seong. Watching the speed of his charge carefully, Yu-seong took a stance suited to a counterattack.
BOOM!
Their swords collided. The clash of enormous force sparked a brief contest of strength, and in the next instant, it was decided.
"Guhh!"
Unable to withstand the impact, Yu-seong lost his grip on the sword. The Holy Sword shot high into the air, spun once in the void, and crashed to the ground.
Damn it. What was that recoil? I almost had my hand shattered.
"Hero!"
Yu-seong grimaced. The joints of his fingers had split open, and blood dripped onto the ground. The saintess moved at once to heal him.
"Are you all right?"
At her question, Yu-seong lowered his head. He had never expected such a one-sided result, and he couldn’t bring himself to look up.
The crowd began to judge what they had seen.
"So even a Hero can’t stand against Hwaryu, huh?"
"There were even cases in the past where a Hwaryu knight defeated a previous Hero…."
"Still, this is ridiculous. Is that guy really even a Hero?"
The Hero’s companions were just as shocked by the result. Yu-seong had the skill to match upper-tier monsters and demons; he was not someone who should have fallen so easily.
"……."
As she healed Yu-seong, who still had his head bowed in disappointment, the saintess glanced sideways at Kaijin. At first glance, their auras had seemed evenly matched, but some other factor had clearly decided the fight.
"Hah! Is that all you can do pretending to be a Hero? Real or not, you’re pathetic."
Seeing Yu-seong being treated, Kaijin lifted one corner of his mouth and taunted him. Trixie’s blood flared hot the instant she saw that smug expression.
"That bastard…!"
"...Trixie, wait."
Hilde, who had been quietly watching, stopped her.
Trixie turned back with some irritation toward Hilde, who had just blocked her from landing a blow on Kaijin.
Damn it. Is she taking his side because Yu-seong lost pathetically?
But the chill in Hilde’s expression quickly cooled some of her anger. She wasn’t the only one outraged that Yu-seong had been injured unfairly.
Ha. If she’d warned us in advance, would the result have been different?
The moment Hilde saw the giant greatsword in Kaijin’s hands, she had worried for Yu-seong.
"Hilde. That weapon…."
The saintess spoke when she saw Hilde step forward. Hilde nodded as if to say she understood.
Kaijin’s mythic item. The name was Hrunting.
Among mythic-item weapons, there was only one of each type, and Hrunting was the mythic item of the greatsword class.
It took the form of an enormous blade with tremendous weight, and it possessed the effect of reflecting the force of any collision back at its opponent.
In the game, even if you ground endlessly for Hrunting, it was impossible to obtain in a single playthrough, even for a veteran player. Its required Strength was absurdly high, and even if you got lucky enough to acquire it, it was an extremely difficult weapon to handle.
"You’re using a mythic item and you don’t even feel ashamed?"
Hilde stepped forward. Kaijin answered as though it were no concern at all.
"Not at all. The Hero is wielding the Holy Sword, which is no less of a weapon. It’s only right to prepare a weapon of the appropriate caliber."
Hilde shook her head and shot back at him.
"No. You know perfectly well that the Hero has not opened the Holy Sword’s power. But you attacked by exploiting the effects of a mythic item. Do you really think that’s fair?"
"……."
Kaijin fell silent. In truth, if one wasn’t prepared from the beginning, what he had done was completely one-sided. To anyone else watching, it would have looked cowardly.
"What sophistry. In any case, the Hero accepted the challenge and failed. One should be forced to bring out all of one’s abilities, and the one at fault here is the fool who couldn’t respond properly."
Trixie’s clenched fist trembled with fury. As Kaijin said, Yu-seong still hadn’t manifested the Holy Sword’s power. Because his own strength was already exceptional, he simply hadn’t needed to. But a Hero who did not make use of the Holy Sword was considered fundamentally lacking.
For that reason, in public, it had to be said that the Hero was not unable to use the Holy Sword’s power, but rather that he was not using it.
If he had activated the Holy Sword’s power, there was no doubt he wouldn’t have lost so helplessly.
"Oh… really?"
Hilde murmured softly. Yet in that small, clear voice, everyone around them felt a sudden chill run down their spines.
Ugh. Why do I suddenly have goosebumps…?
The citizens watching shivered with nameless fear. Even Kaijin, who hadn’t moved a muscle, flinched slightly.
Trixie, sensing the aura beneath the surface, widened her eyes in surprise.
This is… Dragon Fear? No, it’s similar, but a little different.
It wasn’t Dragon Fear, but its essence was the same: a force that made the body want to kneel on its own.
The knights of Hwaryu, feeling Hilde’s hostile presence, had to strain every ounce of self-control not to draw their blades. In their minds, the image of a sword already being pressed to their throats flashed vividly.
Tilting her head slightly, Hilde went on.
"Then since you set conditions, I think it’s only fair that I do the same."
"...Fine. And what condition do you want to impose?"
Kaijin was taken aback to find himself momentarily overpowered by a young girl. For an instant, his vision dimmed and he almost seemed to collapse under the weight of her presence. He tightened his grip on his sword with all his strength and steadied himself.
Hilde lifted her own sword with a slight motion, mirroring the way Kaijin had first pointed his blade at Yu-seong.
"If you can’t block even one attack from me, then kneel immediately and apologize for the rudeness you committed yourself. That seems perfectly fair, doesn’t it?"
At Hilde’s words, the atmosphere among the onlookers changed.
No matter how angry she might be, Kaijin was the man who had brought down a Hero with a single strike. Even to the Hero’s companions, Hilde looked like little more than a girl who had yet to come of age, and it seemed like reckless arrogance to them.
"Are you serious? Don’t go throwing away the chance you struggled to get and regret it later."
Kaijin leveled the greatsword with both hands. Hilde, too, drew the sword from her hip one-handed.
Those watching the standoff between Hilde and Kaijin frowned at the stark contrast between them.
He was a giant over two meters tall, and even the blade alone was about as long as Hilde was tall.
Hilde was beautiful, but the scene before them looked like a candle flickering in the wind. Only the Hero Party believed in her.
Kaijin studied every one of Hilde’s movements. From the direction of an opponent’s gaze, one could infer the place they intended to strike.
Hilde slowly walked toward Kaijin, then suddenly burst into a charge. Realizing she was aiming for his sword, Kaijin sneered to himself.
I thought she might be a little different from the Hero, but she’s foolish.
Hrunting, the greatsword bestowed by the Empress, was both an offensive weapon and an absolute defense that reflected impact back to the attacker so long as it merely blocked the strike.
As the distance between them shrank, Kaijin was certain of victory.
The citizens watching them let out involuntary gasps, their breath catching in their throats.
So it was nothing more than blind arrogance. Like a moth flying straight into a flame.
Hilde swung with all her strength at Hrunting. Kaijin was already certain of his win.
And then, just before the swords collided, Hilde’s blade suddenly, fluidly changed course and slipped past Hrunting’s side.
Dammit.
In the span of a heartbeat, Kaijin realized the target had shifted from Hrunting to his throat, and he urgently activated the mana flowing through his body to twist his blade defensively.
"Too late."
But Hilde had moved faster still. Seeing the greatsword coming at her, she struck at Kaijin’s throat with a sudden blow.
CRASH!
The impact nearly knocked Kaijin unconscious. He barely managed to keep his senses, but he lost his balance and toppled backward.
"Captain Kaijin!"
Kaijin’s subordinates went pale and rushed to check on him. Had that blow landed with the edge of a blade, it would have severed his neck and killed him.
Still lying there, Kaijin raised a hand to stop them.
He couldn’t believe the outcome and replayed the moment in his mind.
Had he let his guard down?
No, not at all.
I didn’t see her movement.
He had tracked Hilde leaping to avoid Hrunting’s blade. But in the blink of an eye, she had somehow brought him down. Even with the motion-tracking vision that came from reaching high levels of mastery, Kaijin still couldn’t understand what had just happened, and his pupils shook with bewilderment.
...That quick movement in midair. She’s extremely strong.
Hilde knew she could not win through a direct clash of force, so she aimed for a part of him other than Hrunting. From the way Kaijin had moved earlier, she took into account that he was slower than Yu-seong.
A greatsword was mainly a weapon for dealing with huge beasts; it had not been designed for fighting human opponents. That was why, more important than brute strength, was psychological warfare.
A swordsman’s enhanced strength through mana was formidable, but when using a blade of that size, the basics of human combat demanded that one read and answer the opponent’s intent clearly.
A feint.
She kept her gaze on the greatsword and made it look as though all her attention was fixed on Hrunting, then aimed for his throat instead. Kaijin was confident that if most people tried that kind of psychological trick, he could twist his blade and defend against it.
But he could not follow Hilde’s movements at all.
"Waaah! The holy knight beat the Empire’s strongest!"
Before long, the citizens watching the duel began to clap.
Even though Hwaryu was a symbol of fear, there was no one who pitied or feared the knights who had acted rudely toward the Hero Party now.
The faces of Hwaryu, who had always shown the citizens their cold, unflinching side, reddened with embarrassment.
"Kaijin. If you lost, then apologize. Hurry up."
A woman wearing a hood stepped out from among the Hwaryu ranks. At the sound of her voice, Kaijin shook off his dazed state and approached the Hero Party with Hilde.
"I apologize for the rudeness I showed you earlier. I will pay whatever price you demand."
Trixie was speechless at the giant suddenly dropping his tail like this.
"Seriously? So if we told you to die right now, you’d do it? Huh?"
Then Kaijin lifted his greatsword. At the sudden attempt to strike again, Trixie was about to counter, but Kaijin turned the blade toward his own head. If he let it fall as it was, his skull looked ready to be split cleanly in two down the middle.
"Eek!"
A sharp scream rang out.
Startled by Kaijin’s action, Trixie unconsciously cast spatial magic. The greatsword came to a halt in midair by a hair’s breadth.
"Are you insane?"
"Were you not wishing for my death?"
"That was just something I said! Who actually kills themselves over that?!"
She had been angry that he had hurt Yu-seong, yes, but she hadn’t wanted him dead. Trixie shuddered at the extremity of his reaction.
"Excellent. I’ll make sure I repay the debt for saving my subordinate."
"And who are you? His superior? If you are, then keep a better leash on him. He looks deranged."
A hooded woman stepped up beside Kaijin. With someone hidden like this now appearing, the Hero Party had no idea what was going on.
Kaijin’s superior, first seat of Hwaryu. Then there’s only one possibility. No way….
Edan tensed at the realization that they were facing a big shot. Feeling his gaze, the woman pulled back her hood.
From beneath the hood, a fox mask appeared—white, with red painted across it. On its right cheek was the imperial crest.
"Y-Your Majesty the Empress!"
The citizens dropped to their knees and lowered their heads. The Hero Party felt at once that the situation had taken a very serious turn.
The woman touched the mask and revealed only half her face, smiling faintly at the corner of her lips.
"I bid you welcome to my Empire."