Chapter 222: Sword Master? (1)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 222: Sword Master? (1)
Daisy
Daisy was feeling a hint of regret.
‘I should have just taken the sword!’
When Adam offered to return the magic sword temporarily for the exam period, Daisy had boldly refused.
Part of it was her growing confidence in her swordsmanship, but more than that, it was a weapon she had already given away. She felt that the moment she held it again, she would start harboring useless lingering attachments.
Of course, the best solution would have been not to lend him the sword in the first place.
If one were to ask if being "fake lovers" was really that important...
‘W-well, he did help Arwen confess to me!’
Daisy shook her head vigorously, snapping herself out of it. Now was not the time to be distracted by other thoughts; the situation was dire.
"More demons?"
"Where did the dark mages go?!"
"Did those bastards actually go extinct or something?"
The dark mages, who used to drop by the Academy whenever they were bored, were nowhere to be seen. Instead, demons had filled the void.
Of course, not every demon possessed overwhelming power, but a demon was still a demon. With the abilities of ordinary students, they could hold them back, but they couldn't take them down.
To slay a demon, one needed a Sword Master’s Aura.
Or, at the very least, powerful divine power.
Because of this, for the first time in a long while—or perhaps for the first time ever—Daisy was fulfilling a role befitting a Saintess.
Specifically...
"Daisy!"
"I know, I'm on it!"
She was a Divine Power Shuttle.
She provided divine power at the perfect moment to whichever student was delivering the finishing blow to a demon. Even for Daisy, granting divine power to everyone at once was impossible, so she fought by distributing it exactly where and when it was needed.
And the reason they had to fight like this was...
"There's another horned bastard coming this way!"
"Did someone smear honey on this place or what?"
It was because of the Pied Piper—no, the RoFan heroine who acted as a demon magnet.
While the primary objectives of this operation varied by faction, for the demons, the top priority was eliminating the Saintesses, whose number had suddenly doubled.
A Saintess was already a natural counter to demons; having two of them appear out of nowhere was a state of emergency for the Demon Tribe.
Thus, they used dark mages and cultists to divert the Academy's attention while every mobile demon moved according to their assigned roles.
And since almost every demon, save for a few, was targeting Daisy, the professors and the students of the Swordsmanship Department had to fend off an endless wave of demons without even knowing why.
With the Sword Emperor and even the High Elf twins occupied with high-ranking demons, they were in no position to support the students.
At that moment, reinforcements arrived.
"Daisy!"
"We're here!"
It was Asran and Bell.
"...Ugh, I'm gonna die!"
"Someone who's actually about to die can't even say that!"
"If you have the strength to flap your gums, swing your sword one more time!"
"......"
"......"
Surprisingly, no one paid them any attention. That was how precarious the front line was.
While there were no casualties yet, the situation was so tense that a single gap in the line would lead to a massive catastrophe.
And filling those gaps was precisely Daisy's role.
She gave buffs to those on the offensive and heals to the wounded. On top of that, she even had to deal with the occasional demon that managed to break through the defensive line.
If Adam Smith had seen her, he would have been confused as to whether she was a RoFan heroine or just a standard fantasy protagonist... but neither of them had the luxury for such thoughts right now.
Not Daisy, and certainly not Adam Smith.
That was why...
"Asran! Bell! Where are Adam and Ellen?!"
"They're fighting their own battles!"
"Still? Then I'll assume there's no backup coming..."
"Um, Daisy. We're..."
Asran looked like he was about to cry because they weren't being treated as combat assets at all.
"Gah! Don't let them through, Sososo!"
"Wait, even if I stab them with a sword, it just passes right through!"
"I told you to ask Daisy to save you!"
"A man has his pride!"
"Then just die!"
Once he actually experienced the front lines, Asran found himself unable to say a word, realizing he truly wasn't much help.
Ellen - I can't even imagine Adam losing.
Harbor a star within your blade.
Recalling the stories of Sword Masters he had heard as a child, Ellen swung his sword.
Brilliantly shining mana gathered in one spot, studding the air like stars.
Aura.
The dream of every swordsman was being wielded with magnificent grace.
He slashed. And slashed. And slashed again.
An ordinary person would have been reduced to nothingness by now. However, the high-ranking demon endured those strikes with its body.
But even a demon, a magical creature, was not invincible. It could not withstand Aura—which was not mere mana, but the manifested will of a swordsman.
As the strikes accumulated, the moment the demon's core could no longer hold...
"How... regrettable..."
Beneath Ellen's brilliantly glowing blade, the demon failed to maintain its existence and began to crumble away.
"Phew..."
Watching the demon vanish into dust, Ellen finally let out a breath. To be honest, if the fight had dragged on any longer...
"I might have lost."
No matter how much one compressed mana to maximize efficiency, there was a limit to the mana a human possessed. And the bodies of high-ranking demons were so sturdy that even a Sword Master couldn't easily guarantee victory. If it had turned into a war of attrition, he would have been the one to fall.
"Hmm..."
Thinking of the friends who had helped him, Ellen looked around.
"Did they leave as soon as it was over?"
Adam, Asran, Bell—not to mention the friends who had assisted him, even the other swordsmanship students were gone. Ellen scratched his head awkwardly.
"They could have at least left one person behind."
What if I had lost?
Muttering to himself, Ellen sat down to rest and thought.
"...They must trust me, right?"
They hadn't abandoned him; they clearly moved on to their next tasks because they trusted him to handle his part. Well, he would have done the same.
"I can't even imagine Adam losing, after all."
The others must trust me just as much.
After a brief rest, Ellen began walking toward a familiar presence. Naturally, that presence belonged to Daisy, not Adam Smith.
"......"
I've lost count of how many times I've been slammed into a wall. Honestly, I barely have the strength left to move.
"...You persistent bastard."
Still, as a gesture of defiance, I infused a bit of cold energy into my sword.
"In your final moment, die as a swordsman."
I did that because I figured he wouldn't kill me otherwise.
In fact, despite having numerous opportunities to end me, the sword with arms and legs didn't kill me. It was as if he was trying to draw out my limits, giving me chance after chance and forcing me back onto my feet.
Usually, this is the part where the protagonist awakens and defeats the enemy. Unfortunately, it seems I was born with the fate of an extra, as there wasn't a single sign of an awakening.
"......"
Still, after holding out this long, shouldn't someone be coming to help?
If no one else, Bell and Asran saw me vanish right in front of them. Don't tell me they went to help Daisy instead of me?
"That's actually very likely."
One is a RoFan male lead blinded by the heroine, and the other is a black-haired beast who wouldn't know gratitude if it hit him.
The only one likely to show up is Ellen, who was supposed to fight the Sword Demon in the first place.
"I really have no one to rely on."
In a world where it's normal for a RoFan male lead candidate to choose the girl he likes over his friend, it would actually be scarier if he prioritized saving me over Daisy.
So, I downed a potion and forced myself up on trembling legs. Even a potion made by a Saintess isn't omnipotent. It has a near-miraculous healing effect, but it's just that—healing. The more you drink, the more your body's receptivity to the effect drops.
I'd already downed several bottles, so they were barely doing anything now. You could say I was already at my maximum recovery rate. My healing speed hadn't been able to keep up with the damage for quite a while... but at least I could get a placebo effect.
"Whew."
Or maybe not.
Seeing my legs shake like this, it seems even the medicine has reached its limit. Well, I've lost a fair amount of blood. It's a miracle I haven't collapsed yet.
It was worth the effort of using my "fake lover" title to squeeze holy water out of her every month.
The magic sword, the holy water, the potions. If even one of them had been missing, I wouldn't have lasted this long.
"......"
Come to think of it, I got all of this from Daisy.
I took it all thinking it was only fair, but now that I'm actually using it, the effects are so good that my conscience is feeling a bit pricked.
I guess I still have a conscience left. Realizing this, I decided to bring her a really nice gift the next time I visited her family's estate—and then I swung my sword. I had to survive first to give her any kind of reward.
And so, I blocked the Sword Demon's strikes.
At first, I was blown away in a single hit, but now that my eyes had grown accustomed to his movements, I could manage to parry.
Once. Twice. Three times. Four. Five... sixteen times.
The moment I set a new record, I was sent flying again.
"Yes, that's it."
Why is this bastard the one looking proud when I'm the one who succeeded?
It was even a struggle to speak, so as a sign of rebellion, I set my sword on fire. Immediately, I felt the sword's rage.
"Do not run. Face it. Why were you able to block now what you couldn't block even when you were in peak condition? Because you weren't thinking useless thoughts. No, it would be more accurate to say you couldn't."
Scraping harshly against the ground, the sword approached. Perhaps because I was barely clinging to consciousness, the sight felt like a dream. A sword with arms and legs chasing me... even someone from Leon wouldn't have a fever dream this weird.
"Only when you have discarded everything can you truly know what you hold in your hand."
I wanted to ask how I could be holding anything if I'd discarded everything, but unfortunately, I was too busy catching my breath to speak.
"A swordsman holds his blade until the moment he dies. Therefore, as a swordsman... you truly know how to make a sword's blood boil."
Whoosh.
Since he didn't seem to notice the cold energy much, I set the sword on fire again. The Sword Demon's hands swung once more.
One. Two.
The exchange of blows began again, feeling like a rhythm game from my past life.
Five. Six.
I was starting to lose the strength in my grip.
Ten. Eleven.
Is really no one coming? Or is the Academy getting trashed so hard they can't spare the attention?
Fifteen. Sixteen.
I was losing the capacity to think.
Twenty. Twenty-one...
Thirty-one. Thirty-two...
.........
As I continued to block the sword without a single thought in my head...
"That's it! Swordsman!"
The attacks suddenly stopped, and the sword—despite being a sword—spoke in a highly excited, trembling voice.
"That is your essence, and the proof that you are a swordsman!"
At those words, I forced my stiff neck to turn. I could faintly see mana enveloping the sword.
It wasn't the usual mana I had desperately crammed into it. It was a faint but distinct Aura, carrying an intensity far greater than usual, looking as if it might snap at any moment.
"......"
I had no idea why that had appeared, but only one thought crossed my mind.
"You scoundrel!"
At the same time, a roar erupted. I looked ahead to see the Sword Demon, who had turned both hands into blades, charging at me with the back of his blades glowing crimson.
Does the back of his blade turn red when he's really angry? But why is he so mad?
I was just wondering what it would be like to set the sword on fire while in an Aura state.
"......"
The moment I swung my sword at the charging Sword Demon, I realized.
My sword was glowing like the sun.
Ah, I see.
Just thinking about it makes it happen.
"Is this... the state of selflessness?"
"Absolutely not!"
If not, whatever.