Top-Class Adventurer (2)
The first top-class adventurer I had ever met.
Arnen's missing father was supposed to be one as well, so I had been curious what they were like. He had vanished after entering one of the so-called Cataclysm-class Seven Calamity Dungeons.
According to Estelle, some top-class adventurers wandered alone, living mysterious lives at a remove from the world. Others led elite parties of a chosen few, or went further still and founded clans with themselves at the center.
Her older brother Ren, she had said, was one of those who had built a clan and taken the seat of its leader.
The blue-haired man standing before me now seemed to be that very Ren. The golden-haired woman at his side looked, from the way she kept naturally close to him, like a member of the same clan.
After a brief silence in which we studied each other, Ren spoke first. He seemed to have already recognized me as the one who had asked to meet him.
"Why did you want to see me?"
"I heard you know a way to get an audience with His Majesty the Emperor."
After my conversation with Estelle, I had resolved not to talk about the Emperor as if he were some foreign king, so I chose my words carefully.
"…"
The request must have struck him as completely out of nowhere. Ren was silent for a moment before he finally found his voice again.
"…Is the rumor true?"
That rumor again.
Lately, everyone who spoke to me brought it up.
I had wondered if the story had been wildly exaggerated as it spread, but looking into it, that wasn't the case. So there was no real reason to deny it.
"It is."
At that, the blonde woman beside Ren cut into the conversation. Estelle hadn't mentioned her, but from the first impression she was already a little unusual. She kept smiling at me, bright and unblinking, which only confirmed it.
"But… you two don't know each other, right?"
I shook my head. She grinned, a sly little curve of her lips.
"It's just that you two were acting so natural with each other."
As if she had been waiting for the chance, she strode right up to my side. Her bright blue eyes sparkled with curiosity, sweeping over me with lively interest, as if something about all this delighted her to no end.
"Wow… you've got a great body. Guess the rumors really are true."
"…And you are?"
"I'm Pria. Talk to me casually, same as the captain."
"Alright."
She was already standing right beside me as if it were the most natural thing in the world, then looked over at Ren as though she meant to introduce me.
Ren shot her a glance that said he found her thoroughly ridiculous, then turned his attention back to me.
"Have you reached the rank of Aura Master? I've never heard of one who fights with his fists."
Pria chimed in at once.
"Shouldn't we check? Wow… a Master who uses his fists, and even the captain's never heard of one?"
Whether she genuinely wanted to know if the rumor was true or simply wanted to needle Ren, one thing was clear: she was goading him.
Normally, in a situation like this, the natural reaction would be to provoke the stranger you didn't know. Why she was needling her own captain instead, I had no idea.
The funny part was that Ren didn't so much as blink. He let it slide without a flicker of reaction.
Fine. Then I wouldn't bother with it either.
Keeping my eyes fixed on Ren, I calmly brought the conversation back to the point.
"I'd like to confirm something first. Whether I can actually meet His Majesty the Emperor."
"I can make the introduction. I know the captain of the Imperial Guard. But why should I?"
"Then how about a trade?"
"A trade?"
"I heard you're an adventurer who clears dungeons. If there's a dungeon giving you trouble, I can help."
"…"
At my words, Ren's expression hardened at once.
Beside him, Pria's eyes lit up even brighter, her face openly eager.
Judging by the atmosphere, I had accidentally touched a nerve.
Ren spoke slowly.
"That confident, are you? But I don't believe you can clear a dungeon our clan has spent months preparing for that easily."
"Then we can find out."
People who swallowed rumors whole were one thing. These two seemed to have come precisely because they couldn't believe them.
If words wouldn't convince them, the only option left was proof.
Right now, nothing carried more persuasive weight than strength. It was an unavoidable step.
A dungeon that a top-class adventurer would take on.
How was I supposed to prove I had power on that level?
Simply lifting a few stone slabs the way I had last time wouldn't cut it.
Do I need to find an open field somewhere and put on a show of force?
I was still turning the thought over when Ren moved without a word.
He drew the sword at his hip. A sharp scrape of steel rang out, brief and clear.
…He meant to face me himself.
I scratched my cheek, feeling a little awkward. Now that I thought about it, I had been unconsciously ruling out the idea of a direct match.
Watching me, Ren raised one eyebrow.
"What? Not confident?"
"No, it's not that…"
I hesitated for a moment, then realized the worry was pointless. I had a decent feel for controlling my strength by now. I had refined it into a proper technique after my last breakthrough, so there was no chance of an accident like when I had blown the heads off those Dark Guild thugs.
The moment I steeled myself, the people around us stepped in to stop Ren instead.
"We can vouch for this man's skill, so you can put the sword away. We saw it with our own eyes."
Another voice joined in. Estelle's.
"Right. You think I'd send you a letter full of lies for no reason? Hard as it is to believe, the rumor is true."
Aside from Estelle, the other adventurers here seemed rather intimidated by Ren and the blonde woman. The renown of a top-class adventurer was not something that simply vanished.
For people like that to step forward and try to stop him meant they were genuinely worried about Ren. Having watched me fight the golem firsthand probably only made them more so.
But Ren seemed even less pleased by that.
His brow twitched again. The voice that followed, though, was remarkably calm.
"I didn't come all this way just because you sent a letter. I came to see it with my own eyes. This isn't a problem that gets solved by the rest of you stepping in. Of course, if the man himself refuses, I'll back off right here."
Ren's gaze passed over Estelle and settled on me at last.
"Though that would also mean the offer you made falls through."
"If that's what you want, I'll do it your way."
Estelle, who had been listening from the side, pressed a hand to her forehead. She still looked like she wanted to talk him out of it.
"What do you think you're doing, drawing a sword here? You planning to level the whole inn?"
"Don't worry. The flashier a sword is, the less substance it has."
"I'm not worried about you…"
"…"
Estelle glanced at me. Catching her meaning, I asked,
"Is there an open field nearby?"
"…There is one close by. It's just…"
The reason for her hesitation was obvious. She was worried her brother would get hurt.
I gave her a look that said not to worry. She let out a short sigh, then finally turned.
"Follow me."
"Whoa…! This is gonna be fun."
Pria trailed after us, her voice bright with excitement.
Just like that, a sparring match had been arranged on the spot.
The place Estelle led us to was a wide-open clearing a short distance from the inn.
Those who had followed in silence were all of Estelle's party members, plus Ren and Pria.
Even after I had ignored Pria's teasing, things had ended up like this.
Well, if he wanted to confirm it with his own body, there was no real reason to stop him.
Facing Ren, I let the tension drain from my body. It might have looked like carelessness, but I was actually preparing to adjust my strength to match his level.
If he turned out stronger than expected, I would ramp it up step by step from there.
Seeing me stand there as if completely unguarded, Ren slowly drew his sword.
"Ready?"
"Yeah."
The short answer had barely left my mouth when crimson mana surged up along his blade. Unlike Estelle's, which flickered and wavered, his mana solidified in an instant, taking the shape of the sword itself.
Then Ren moved.
His footsteps were so quiet they didn't even cut the air. A stealthy, lethal speed.
His blade closed the distance in a heartbeat, tracing a path that would have cleanly severed my neck.
I watched his movement calmly, then tipped my head back and slipped past the strike by a hair's breadth.
Ren didn't falter. He converted the wasted force into rotational momentum, spun his body in a flash, and drove the sword straight at my chest.
His movements were like a finely honed awl — sharp, precise, and merciless.
I was starting to understand why he had said a flashy sword had no substance.
Every motion was stripped of excess, refined for a single purpose: killing the opponent.
But that very purity made him easier to read.
That kind of compressed, practical movement was far too similar to the martial flow I had drilled into myself endlessly in the Training Cave.
It was only his second technique, yet the identity of his martial art was already as clear as if it were written in front of me.
Breath. The axis of the feet. The full-body chain that delivered the strike.
Of course, it was swordsmanship, so it might have differed from what I knew — but at its core, martial arts all shared the same essential movement.
I didn't try to dodge Ren's thrusting blade. I simply raised my hand.
And I caught the tip of his sword cleanly between two fingers, as if snatching it out of the air.
Tok.
The edge of the blade stopped dead between my fingers.
"…Huh?"
A short breath slipped from Ren's lips.