A Clash Unlike Any Other (1)
The outcome was hardly something one could call a battle. It had lasted just a single strike, and with that single strike everything had ended.
“What in the world were you charging in with? You look no stronger than a third-tier or fourth-tier fighter at best!”
“R-Requester! Y-You said you couldn’t use mana! Hic! I-I was tricked! I was tricked!”
Gler sent just this one person to handle it, did he?
“Y-Yes! Please, please spare me! Just once, just once—!”
The sudden intruder’s tone had already shifted to something almost ordinary.
In a logical sense, it was only to be expected.
Gler had obviously decided his defeat was pure chance and that barely a month had passed since the duel, so I still hadn’t fully mastered mana.
“How did he…?”
I squatted in front of him and stroked my chin.
The anonymous assassin was, as expected, the one Gler of the Dupont family had dispatched.
‘His level is far too low.’
He had strutted in so arrogantly it was almost laughable, yet his skill was shockingly lacking. The moment he clashed, the mana coiled around his gauntlets was sliced apart by the Sword Qi with merciless precision, and thanks to that, the assassin’s two arms were severed clean from his body.
“Just eliminating him outright is the best course.”
“Eliminating? Kill him?”
A completely unexpected reply came from behind. I glanced back and saw Lancelot nodding with heavy gravity.
“Keeping an assassin alive creates too many loose ends. He might come back for us with a weapon again.”
“That’s true enough.”
“Please! Please, I beg you! I swear I’ll never plot against you again—just spare my life!”
I gave a short reply and looked back at the assassin. He was still sobbing, snot and tears streaming as he pleaded for his life. Judging by his rags and the way he looked like he’d rolled in from somewhere, I suspected he was no skilled assassin or killer, but simply a mercenary who had washed up on the roadside.
“All right, go. I’ll spare you.”
I muttered it briefly.
“I-It’s true?”
His head snapped up, hope blazing across his face. But the decision I had made differed from his wishes.
“Instead.”
Crack! Crackle!
“H-Huh…?”
I gathered mana. Lifting a fist packed to the limit, I brought it crashing down onto the assassin’s severed arms.
Boom!
Splash!
At the same instant, the two arms without a master exploded, spurting blood. Naturally, the assassin’s eyes bulged as though they would tear from their sockets.
“Tell Gler this: next time, come yourself.”
“U-Uwaaaaah! My arms! My arms!”
The assassin thrashed on the ground, waist slammed against it.
If he had simply recovered the arms and rushed to the church, he could have been healed. But that was now impossible. His arms no longer existed in this world at all.
Turning away from that sight, I straightened up and added one more sentence.
“And that strange tone you used just now—don’t do it again.”
“I agree.”
Lancelot folded his arms and spoke softly.
Then we immediately boarded the carriage. There was still a long distance ahead.
“W-We’ll depart! My lords!”
“Please.”
Jolt!
The carriage lurched back into motion. But unlike before, Ariel could not fall asleep. Her eyes were wide with shock.
“U-um…”
Ariel, who seemed to have something to say, looked at me. Her blue eyes were heavy with worry. Lancelot, sensing the mood, simply waited quietly for her to speak.
“Frey… you’ve gotten so much stronger…”
“Mm?”
“W-With the blessing awakened and mana awakened too…”
“Th-That’s amazing… You’re completely different from the Frey of old.”
“…?”
Actually, that was correct. Even if the appearance remained the same, the contents had been completely replaced.
“Ariel.”
“Hm?”
“There’s something I want to ask. Do you… have a blessing?”
In the rare heavy atmosphere, I threw out a question I had always wanted to ask.
Players called their heavenly blessing a “trait.” No wonder Ariel, who had reached the rank of senior mage at such a young age, hadn’t been born without one.
“Y-Yes. I do have a blessing. Although there are only two of them, unlike most mages.”
“…Really? Can you tell me what kind of power that blessing holds?”
“No! That’s a secret! When the time comes later, I’ll tell you.”
Ariel, lost in thought, finally showed her unwillingness to answer.
…That response felt far too much like she was hiding something. Was this blessing so extraordinary that she wouldn’t tell even a friend she had known since childhood?
‘I don’t know.’
If she didn’t want to reveal it, there was nothing I could do. It seemed she had a secret she was carrying, but I couldn’t blackmail it out of her.
“Woman. What is the main magic you use?”
It was then that Lancelot, who had been watching our conversation in silence, finally opened his mouth.
Main magic.
For mages of the magic tower, it referred to their personal “specialty”—the one ability they had honed above all others. A good example was Grand Mage Andalf of the Helios Magic Tower, the , whose main magic was , the summoning of lightning.
“I mainly use ice-element magic. Recently I’ve been studying life magic quite seriously, but it’s still not easy. Hehe.”
“…Life magic?”
Life magic mostly involved darkness or blood. For instance, a large portion of black magic and blood magic fell into that category.
“N-No! The life magic I learned is a bit brighter… Y-Yeah! If I have to put it in words, it’s similar to holy magic.”
“Really? Did such a thing exist among magic arts?”
It was only natural for my reaction to be somewhat bewildered.
Originally, the mage profession relied primarily on functional magic and destructive magic. So it was rather unfamiliar to hear a mage studying life magic.
“Unique, indeed.”
Lancelot leaned back against the seat and exhaled. Then he closed his eyes, as if there were no need to resist the oncoming slumber.
The carriage continued onward.
The chirping of birds beyond the window and the steady rhythm of hoofbeats should have been boring, yet Ariel watched the scenery outside with a clear face.
“U-um…”
“Mm?”
“Our promise… you said you don’t remember it, right?”
“…Mm.”
At that moment, I, who didn’t even have information on the person named Ariel, had no way of recalling a promise I didn’t remember.
In the end, I gave an honest answer. Just as I had said before, the promise between us had not remained in my memory.
“It’s a shame. If—if even at the very end I still don’t remember… then I’ll tell you. Again. So I can remember.”
“…?”
With a voice heavy with unspoken sorrow, Ariel muttered and closed her eyes.
Had the promise I shared with Ariel in the past been something… incredibly heavy? Otherwise, why would she have spoken with such painful expression?
‘…I had thought it was nothing more than a childish promise between lovers.’
A heavy silence settled back into the carriage. Feeling restless for no reason, I turned my head and gazed out the window.
“…?”
It was slow, yet fast. Outside the softly rolling carriage, an unfamiliar landscape gradually came into view.
Landscape did not mean ordinary natural scenery.
‘A person?’
A person—more precisely, someone dressed in the Eastern Continent style—walking at a leisurely pace.
The sun was not yet setting, yet the man wore a threadbare white traveling robe, a black scabbard at his waist, and a death cap that completely covered his head.
‘A lone wanderer. And one with terrifying skill.’
I felt that even without looking closely it was clear he was no ordinary expert. Though his build was not large, the way a clear, pure aura flowed through his entire body marked him as a martial artist of exceptional ability.
Instant curiosity stirred within me.
Even if intercontinental travel was active, it was unlikely to meet an Eastern Continent person deep within the Western Continent.
“U-Um, my lords.”
“…What is it?”
At that thought, the coachman’s cautious voice reached my ears through the window.
“The traveler ahead wishes to ride with us. What should we do?”
“Hm?”
Indeed, as the coachman had said. The man walking in front had now turned and waved at us. Even if the road was wide, walking was tiring, so he seemed to want to ride.
“…Wait a moment. I’ll judge for myself.”
There was no reason to show kindness to this suspicious man. But the way of making connections was exactly like this—unless he was a criminal from the Eastern Continent, this could become a great opportunity.
“I understand. We will stop.”
Jolt.
With a gentle sound, the carriage came to a halt. Then, looking out the window, I immediately faced the man waving at us.
“I greet you. A wanderer walking the road, and since I lack the shame to ask, may I ride with you?”
Slowly, the man lifted his death cap and asked cautiously.
Beneath the death cap, the man’s face was extremely ordinary.
Kind eyes, striking… a small-bodied elderly man. But the aura radiating from his eyes proved he was no ordinary person.
“…!”
The moment I faced the old man, I recalled his information without difficulty.
A master from the Wandering Sect.
Obsessed with demonic arts, he had slain the entire four brethren system and betrayed the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult.
Later… he finally became the Sword Demon, receiving the worship and reverence of all martial artists across the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult.
‘…Sword Demon.’
And.
The epithet called to players who had completed the route: “Sword Grandmaster.”
The Supreme Patriarch of the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult, . He had appeared.