Where Is the Last Sword?
A cool breeze carried the crisp, woodsy fragrance of the forest into his lungs. What appeared before his eyes was a mountainside, somewhere along the slope.
"Mission return complete!"
Barely a minute had passed since they'd entered the tower. Kancho, having already swept the surroundings, snapped into a salute.
"No life signs within a one-kilometer radius, sir! No traps either, sir!"
After giving the excellent scout a few affectionate pats, Jinhyuk looked around. Trees and vines grew so thick that nothing resembling a path was visible — a forest that, at a glance, had not felt a human footstep in a very long time.
The system's being quiet again today.
He was just thinking they might as well start climbing, since it was a mountain, when Seira stepped forward and pointed downslope.
"This way, I believe."
"You know this place?"
"It has been too long to be certain. And it looks quite different from what I remember."
"Let's go anyway."
Grasping at straws beat combing an entire mountain. They began pushing through the forest, following Seira as she took the lead.
Thwack!
"Gah!"
Kancho's head, walking just ahead of Jinhyuk, snapped backward. A branch Elia had shoved aside had sprung back and smacked him square in the face.
"What're you doing, Granny?! There's a Yordle back here, y'know?!"
"Hmm? You were there? You were so small I didn't notice, so cut me some slack, would you?"
"Is that an excuse or a fact?! You wanna go flying?!"
He looked ready to pull a minigun. Jinhyuk tugged Kancho back behind him, and they continued after Seira.
They descended for a long while before Seira finally stopped.
"This should be it."
She had come to a halt before a massive cave. The long-abandoned entrance was choked with overgrown vines and trees.
"I shall clear an entrance."
"Hold on."
Jinhyuk went to the mouth of the cave and began feeling along the edges. This particular patch of growth was a different color from the rest.
Tug.
When he pulled, a whole clump of vines came away in a mass, and a hidden opening in the corner revealed itself — just wide enough for a single person to pass through.
"Cave interior all clear!"
"Kancho, move! Momo coming through!"
Momo shoved past Kancho as he emerged from his recon and slipped into the cave. She pulled a gas lantern from her inventory and lit it.
"Whoa."
The inside was nothing like the wreck of an entrance. The brightly lit cavern looked as though human hands had tended it until relatively recently — traces of a campfire, jerky and liquor bottles set off to one side, even a book left half-read. A place that lacked nothing for a brief stay.
"I once carried out a mission nearby. We ran into a fierce typhoon, and while searching for shelter from the wind and rain, we found this place."
Perhaps because the memory of that day had surfaced, a smile touched Seira's face as she looked over the cave.
"There was a fellow who especially loved this place. He used to say it felt like a secret hideout."
"The owner of the last sword, by any chance?"
"That's right. The owner of the third sword we seek, and the Vice Commander of the Black Knights — Khan Rendio. Whenever he had time, Khan would bring books and emergency rations here. If he ever obtained leave, he would come to his hideout, light a campfire, and read."
"Sounds like camping."
"Cam-ping? What's that, sir?"
"You light a campfire, eat something good, read books, talk. Sometimes you just stare blankly at the fire. They call it fire-gazing."
"Fire-gazing? Doing nothing sounds boring, sir."
"I've never tried it myself, but they say just sitting still like that is healing."
"Momo wants to heal too!"
"Let's try it when we get out. Driving a camper out to some remote place nobody ever goes — that'd be fun."
Ordinarily they would have held back because of the danger, but that was no longer something they needed to worry about. Whether a bear showed up or a crocodile, finding a beautiful spot and camping there sounded like a blast.
Slap.
Jinhyuk patted both his cheeks with his palms.
Focus. Focus.
This wasn't camping time. Finding the sword came first. This was the rest spot Vice Commander Khan of the Black Knights had loved to use. The blade itself wasn't in sight, but there would be a clue pointing to where it lay.
"Doesn't look like just one or two people came here, sir!"
Kancho's tail swished as he pressed himself flat to the floor, examining it closely.
"The sizes are all different — at least dozens of people, sir!"
"Seira said she and the Black Knights rested here before. Couldn't those be from then?"
Kancho looked up at Jinhyuk with startled eyes.
"That's sharp, sir! That's our Supreme Commander for you!"
While Jinhyuk was still feeling awkward under the excessive praise, Elia emerged from the Workshop of the Stars and sprinkled a potion across the ground. The moment the liquid touched them, the footprints began to glow, each in a color of its own.
"What's this?"
"A liquid that tells you when they were made. The deeper and brighter the color, the more recent they are."
Jinhyuk studied the light filling his vision once more. Just the differences in type and brightness numbered at least several dozen — meaning these footprints had not all been made at once.
"It appears they came one or two at a time, with intervals between visits."
"Hey, Commander. You're gonna want to see this."
Darc, who had gone deeper into the cave, called Seira over. Jinhyuk's party hurried after him. On the wall Darc pointed to, dozens of names had been carved.
"The names of the members."
Seira began reciting them, pointing to each in turn.
"Khan Rendio. Maximus Yan. Polit Nemus. Sein Ardan. Pantip Orion. Kamen Breed."
The original owners of Muramasa and Raven were there as well. After reading the last name, Seira rose.
"The names of every member of the Black Knights. Not a single one missing."
A quiet smile spread across Jinhyuk's face. Seira Kinkaiten, Commander of the Black Knights. The order had been disbanded, and eons had passed since — and still she remembered the name of every knight who had followed her.
She really is a good commander.
How could anyone not follow a commander like this? He was nodding with a pleased expression when Seira let out a thoughtful hum.
"There is something a little strange. Among the names written here are those who fell in battle before this cave was even discovered."
Ghosts would not have come to carve their own names.
"Elia. Can I have some of that potion?"
Jinhyuk took the vial and sprinkled it over the carved names. They bloomed with light in a variety of colors. As expected, there was at least one glow that matched each of the fallen perfectly — meaning someone had carved those names in their place.
Now only one question remained. Why had they visited this cave one after another — even going so far as to inscribe the names of the dead?
Tap. Tap. Tap.
Jinhyuk, who had been drumming his fingers, started walking. He stopped in front of a piled-up stack of books.
"Seira. What book did Khan like?"
"A book called Rest."
He picked up the volume she indicated and opened it. The words written on the first page caught his eye.
There is but one place where we shall sleep.
There we shall enter eternal rest.
Unto the place where all swords gather.
Seira's eyes widened at the words. She had not forgotten a single name or face of the knight order. She remembered clearly even the final moments of those who had fallen. But there was one thing she had forgotten without realizing it — a story Vice Commander Khan had once told her.
Slowly, Seira opened her mouth and recited the words she had heard then.
Black Knight Commander Seira Kinkaiten has recalled a forgotten memory!
A moment of the story is being replayed.
A hologram unfolded around them. Two figures sat beside a small campfire. The shapes were hazy, but Jinhyuk squinted, wanting to make out their faces. One looked like Seira, who still stood beside him now. And the other...
"Khan."
Khan Rendio, Vice Commander of the Black Knights.
Khan, who had been reading, looked up with a bright, open expression.
"Commander, have you read this book? Rest."
"The tale of a hero's party slaying the Demon King? I quit because it had nothing to do with the title."
"You didn't finish it again, did you? I've told you time and again. You have to read a book all the way through."
Seira did not answer. The hologram was not sharp enough to be certain, but Jinhyuk could picture her expression perfectly. She was surely flinching at Khan's cutting remark and keeping silent.
"The early and middle parts are about the hero party's adventures and the defeat of the Demon King, but from the latter half it describes what each of them thinks about their end. A hero's party that lived lives more extraordinary than anyone. They discussed and pondered endlessly — what ending they wanted for themselves. One of them said they wanted to meet their end fighting a stronger enemy. Another said they wanted to help the sick until the very last."
"That's only natural. Values and ideals differ from person to person."
"Right. Every member of the hero's party spoke of a different end."
"Still a long way from anything resembling rest."
"Come now. Just listen a little more. The heroes talking it over soon realized — once the Demon King, their shared goal, was gone, continuing together was impossible, given that each of them held different ideals. But they cared for and loved each other too much to simply conclude they should scatter and live apart. They were more than friends or comrades, and they wanted to be together forever. So they changed the subject. To what comes after life — to rest."
Seira, who had been nodding as she listened, opened her mouth.
"Did they find an answer?"
Perhaps because it was the question he had been waiting for, a smile formed at the corners of Khan's mouth.
"Yes. They found it. Once they changed the subject, the answer became simple. Sleeping in the same place, sharing eternity together after death. How about that? Incredibly romantic, isn't it?"
Perhaps thinking it a somewhat deflating conclusion, Seira let out a short laugh — and with that, the hologram ended.
"After that, Khan never brought up the subject again. So I had simply thought of it as a light conversation about a book."
A conversation about a book that could be had lightly anytime, anywhere. It was no wonder she had not remembered it.
Seira began slowly turning the pages of the book she held. When she reached the last page, a pattern filled with various characters appeared.
"A map."
"What kind of map is this, sir?"
"A code only the Black Knights can recognize. Would you hold this for a moment?"
"Momo'll hold it!"
Seira drew lines across the floor while looking at the book. Before long, a small map was complete.
So this was a waystation.
A place that guided the way for gathering somewhere else. That was why every member of the Black Knights had stopped here.
"I believe I know the way. Let us go at once."
Seira led them out of the cave. Following her, Jinhyuk quieted the pounding in his chest. A place where the Black Knights had gathered. He wanted to see it as soon as possible.
Following the map, Jinhyuk's party came to a halt. They stared ahead in silence, mouths hanging open. They couldn't help it.
According to the map, this was supposed to be the site of an impossibly vast, crystal-clear lake. What occupied that place instead was a cliff so sheer and so impossibly high that the bottom vanished into darkness.