The Red-Eyed Mercenary Corps (5)
Roselyn let her gaze stretch long and slow.
She studied the expressions of the adventurers watching Najin, and she was certain. Not a single one of them recognized the technique that young man was about to use.
Well—it wasn't a technique one saw every day.
Even Roselyn herself had only witnessed it a handful of times. Three times, or maybe four. But even if she had seen it only once, she would have known it on sight. The impression it left was that powerful.
The most knightly of knights.
Godif, head of Atanga.
She could never forget the swordsmanship he had displayed.
A swordsmanship that was the very embodiment of Atanga's ideals.
It was a stubborn art that never yielded, that simply broke the enemy from the front—and for that very reason, it was the most knightly of swords.
Tap.
Reliving the memories of that day, Roselyn took a step forward. The swordsmanship that young man meant to unleash was not something that should be used against mere monsters.
What the youth intended to show was the swordsmanship of Atanga.
And among those forms, a sword bound by precept.
As Roselyn remembered it, that technique was only ever shown to opponents who met certain conditions.
Either to punish those who had sullied the name of a knight who had lost both honor and pride…
Or when one recognized the opponent as a true rival.
Only when one acknowledged the other as a prideful foe worth clashing against with everything one had.
GROOOOOWL!
It was not a swordsmanship that should be used against a screaming troll like that. Of course it wasn't her place to interfere—but Roselyn did not particularly want to watch that technique spent on something like a troll.
Tap.
Roselyn lightly kicked off the ground.
The distance between her and Najin was considerable, yet with a single leap she stood right behind him. Just as Najin sensed her presence and started to turn his head—
"Brat."
She caught Najin's shoulder and pulled him back.
"Atanga's swordsmanship isn't something you use against monsters like that. We'll talk later."
She murmured it with a smile. She was growing rather fond of this youth who went by the name Ivan. His guts in charging the Blood Troll, his tenacious determination to seize victory—she liked it all.
Whoosh.
Shoving Najin back, Roselyn stepped forward.
The Blood Troll that had been about to rush Najin flinched and retreated a step. The troll could feel it too. The being before it was not one it should attack.
GROOOOOWL!
The troll stumbled backward, howling.
A howl that shook the forest. At once the woods stirred noisily as monsters began to swarm in answer to the troll's cry. But Roselyn seemed uninterested in such things; she was looking back instead.
What she looked at was Najin.
Najin was looking at her as well.
At the sight of him frowning as if displeased that his prey had been stolen—or annoyed that his intense fight had been interrupted—Roselyn burst out laughing.
Well. That was how an adventurer ought to be.
I'm liking him more and more.
Roselyn was about to draw the longsword at her waist when she chuckled. If she used this, Deputy Captain Barger would give her another earful—but so what?
"Tsk. I don't usually show this off…"
She said to Najin.
"But I saw something good for the first time in a while, so I should repay the favor."
Roselyn reached toward her back.
Not the ordinary sword at her waist, but two scabbards bound in a straight line across her back.
Kang! Two swords left their sheaths with a clear ring.
Two short blades, each half the length of a longsword. Twin swords of pure black glinted with an ominous light.
That's a Masterpiece.
The moment Roselyn drew the dual swords from her back, Merlin's voice rang in Najin's ear.
A Masterpiece?
Yeah. Take a good look. You don't see those every day.
Najin watched Roselyn walk toward the swarming monsters and the Blood Troll. The dual swords with jet-black blades trailing at her sides. Merlin had called them a Masterpiece.
What's a Masterpiece?
Forty-seven arms forged by the primordial blacksmith, who hammered Mystery itself into them.
Merlin said.
It's complicated to explain, but simply put—they're weapons that produce magical effects without any magic involved at all.
An age even earlier than Arthur's.
Forty-seven arms said to have been forged by a blacksmith who lived in the primordial era. Mystery itself that no human or constellation could imitate, Merlin said.
They can't compare to Excalibur, but they're still remarkable weapons. Back in my day, people who wielded Masterpieces would create unexpected variables.
And, Merlin continued.
I've seen the Masterpiece that woman is holding before. I think a hero of the Allied Nations used it hundreds of years ago… The weapon's name was Echo, wasn't it?
While Najin was listening to Merlin, Roselyn took a step forward. Approaching the swarming monsters and the troll, she raised both swords.
Then—kaaang.
Roselyn struck the two blades together.
The kaaang that rang out as steel met steel did not end with a single strike. Though she had only brought them together once, the sound layered and echoed over itself many times.
As if an echo were reverberating.
The adventurers frowned at the ringing noise, but Najin's eyes went wide. His senses were sounding an alarm. Eyes wide, he watched Roselyn.
Fsssss…
Sword aura surged up over the dual swords she trailed. The rising aura was different from any sword aura Najin had ever seen. The aura he had witnessed and could produce was a simple flash woven of light, but—
Kiiiiiiing!
The sword aura wrapping Roselyn's dual swords took on a saw-blade form. A strange shape that looked like a beast's claws, or fangs. It was sword aura imbued with Roselyn's mindscape—hers alone.
Imbuing sword aura with a mindscape to change its form.
The realm of a Sword Seeker.
Trailing her sword aura, Roselyn moved. Boom—she stamped her foot into the ground, and her movement accelerated in an instant. A motion even Najin's wide eyes could barely follow. And then, the moment her dual swords completed their arcs—
Kaaaaang…
The echoing friction of the blades—
KAAAAAAAAANG!
—roared out fiercely for a single moment.
Amid the ringing noise, Najin saw it. Countless cut lines racing across the body of the Blood Troll he had been locked in a death match with. Thin lines scoring the bodies of the monsters that had gathered at the troll's howl.
As the echo subsided.
The thin lines carved into the monsters' bodies turned red.
Shhhhhhhhhhk!
At once blood sprayed in all directions. The monsters' corpses, finely diced along those thin lines, crumbled. It was a single strike. A sight impossible to believe had been created by one swing of the swords. Najin stared at Roselyn with wide eyes.
It was the first time.
A sword strike he could not understand even with his own two eyes.
He could probably copy the motion—but he could not understand how that motion produced such a phenomenon. That was only natural. Najin still did not know much about sword aura.
What Roselyn had shown was a technique unique to her, combining her own sword aura with the special properties of her Masterpiece. It meant a technique that could only be handled once one deeply understood sword aura and had awakened to the concept of sword paths—upon reaching the realm of a Sword Seeker.
The first unknown concept he had ever faced.
Najin's eyes lit up as he confronted the first goal he needed to reach.
That is…
That is a Sword Seeker.
That is the pinnacle of this city.
Having spun her swords once and sheathed them, Roselyn looked back. At the sight of Najin staring at her with wide eyes, she smiled. Without making a sound, she mouthed words to him.
How about that? Pretty badass, right?
Her cocky demeanor wasn't exactly cool—but Najin could not deny that he had been overwhelmed by her sword strike.
There had been a bit of a commotion, but the Dochenberg Forest clearing operation was wrapped up. Under the management of the mercenary corps gathered at the forest entrance, the adventurers collected their pay.
Adding a little more than originally promised, Roselyn spoke.
"This was our mercenary corps' mistake. The appearance of a special individual like the Blood Troll was a variable, and failing to control that variable is the corps' responsibility. I'll add a bonus and offer our apologies."
Fortunately, there were no injured or dead from the Blood Troll's appearance. All thanks to one adventurer who had stood against it.
"…"
As they received their pay, the adventurers stole glances at the scoreboard. The rankings hadn't changed from before the Blood Troll appeared—but the scores written there had.
1st Place. Ivan. (85 points)
The original 35 points plus 50 more.
Roselyn said that although she had intervened, the Blood Troll was as good as taken down by Ivan… and she awarded the Blood Troll 50 points.
No one could disagree with that assessment.
At first it had seemed evenly matched, but as time passed Najin had been overwhelming the Blood Troll. The adventurers who had witnessed the process agreed with Roselyn.
And 50 points was a fitting score for a Blood Troll estimated at red rank.
85 points…
Looking at the scoreboard, the adventurers clicked their tongues.
A score that crushed the previous record held by Barger, the current deputy captain of the Red-Eyed Mercenary Corps. An overwhelming record that no one could even approach.
They silently glanced at Najin.
The youth resting as he wiped blood from his clothes and hair. The nameplate hanging from his neck was black—but no one mocked him as a blackie or looked down on him as they had earlier.
He had proven his skill before everyone's eyes.
And demonstrated his worth through results.
There wasn't a single adventurer dense enough to still question his qualifications after watching Najin charge the Blood Troll without hesitation. The contempt and irritation were gone from their gazes. Only respect remained in their place.
"Thanks for saving me. I'll buy you a drink sometime."
The adventurer whose life Najin had just saved handed him a name card and left. Other adventurers also offered light greetings as they passed by Najin.
Not a rookie—an adventurer who had proven his skill.
It meant they acknowledged him as a peer. And so, as everyone expressed their respect and left… only one adventurer could not do the same.
"…"
A green-rank adventurer.
Marcen, who had been pushed to second place by Najin. She gritted her teeth as she brushed past him.
Look at her eyes. No manners at all.
Who is that?
You know—the one who picked a fight with you before it started.
Najin tilted his head.
Well, he hadn't even checked who was in second place. He didn't particularly need to know. At that reaction, Merlin let out a hollow laugh.
"Ivan."
As Najin was resting, his name was finally called. Climbing onto the platform, Najin received the reward money Roselyn handed him. The pouch was quite heavy.
"I settled it according to the score, and threw in a little extra hazard pay. Thanks. Because of you, we avoided any damage to the corps' reputation."
Roselyn patted Najin's shoulder.
The Blood Troll's appearance had been a variable the mercenary corps hadn't accounted for, and damage nearly occurred because of it… but thanks to Najin standing in the way, there were no casualties.
And so the situation could be easily resolved.
For that, Roselyn expressed her gratitude.
"That aside."
Roselyn handed Najin a wooden box. Opening it, he found a neatly folded piece of deep crimson leather.
"This is the hide of the Blood Troll you hunted. Troll hide is a luxury item. And the hide of a mutant individual like a Blood Troll… well, it's worth whatever price you name."
Tough and highly resistant troll hide.
A material frequently used in making armor, already quite valuable under normal circumstances. The value of a Blood Troll's hide as a mutant went without saying.
"Originally, ownership of materials from monsters hunted in Dochenberg Forest belongs to our mercenary corps…"
That was the original condition of the commission.
"But this is different. It's a monster that wasn't listed in the subjugation notice, and one the guild put a bounty on. This is purely your prey, so it's yours."
In other words…
Najin caught on to what Roselyn was saying.
"You completed the Dochenberg Forest clearing operation and a red-rank bounty request at the same time. We'll have our mercenary corps and the guild accompany you. We'll stand as witnesses that you subjugated the Blood Troll."
Roselyn grinned.
"That's everything I needed to tell you."
At some point she had come to stand beside him, and she threw an arm around his shoulders. Just as Najin was about to resist the arm suddenly wrapping around his neck—
"The rest we can talk about over a drink."
Roselyn whispered in Najin's ear.
"Atanga's swordsmanship. We've got some things to discuss about that, don't we? And I still need to give you the first-place reward."
So quit complaining and follow me, kid.
With her arm around Najin's shoulders, Roselyn kept poking him in the side. Watching from behind, Barger and the mercenaries sighed.
She must really like him.
They shrugged and followed after their captain, who strode ahead.