Chapter 42
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Translator: uly
Chapter: 42
Chapter Title: Human Sword Genova (1)
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Riya, who had been gazing at Edward with calm eyes, slowly spread her hands out to either side before gradually closing them.
“Edward Williams, be trapped within the wall of flow.”
Whooooosh!
With her words, the surrounding mana surged dramatically.
The power that encompassed the laws of the world—Dragon Word—had manifested.
Though its magnitude was far less than during his time as a Disaster, it was sufficient to capture Edward.
「This is……!」
The panicked Edward tried to escape in haste, but it was already too late.
A curtain unfolded around him, forming a perfect cube that floated into the air.
Riya stared at it intently before slowly turning her gaze toward me.
“…….”
Her eyes, fixed on me, held a multitude of emotions.
But that lasted only a moment. Her hand moved, and the cubic barrier imprisoning Edward plummeted toward the arena.
Boom!
A transparent box crashed into the center of the arena, kicking up clouds of dust.
The green mist trapped inside roiled and battered against the outer walls.
Thud, thud thud thud!
「Do you think this can hold me?」
Each movement of the mass-bearing green mist made Riya’s barrier creak and shake.
Riya’s expression wasn’t good.
Even for her, capturing a Disaster was no easy feat.
‘I need to hurry.’
I slowly loosened up my body and placed my foot on the railing to jump down into the arena.
Then, the Ribina Count urgently grabbed my shoulder.
“What are you planning to do? No matter how skilled you are…….”
“Well, it’s certainly beyond what I can handle right now.”
“It’s not just you. No one here can kill that thing.”
As one of the Continental Seven Heroes, the Ribina Count could tell.
That thing couldn’t be slain by ordinary means.
The Ribina Count hadn’t even shown a tenth of his true power, but that didn’t mean he had a way to kill Edward.
A simple sword or spell wouldn’t do it.
Ironically, Edward—the first Disaster—might be the entity closest to world-ending annihilation.
Had he not first appeared in the Empire, that is.
I slowly turned my head toward the Ribina Count.
“Before participating in the Founding Festival, Duke Gail said this to me.”
“What are you suddenly talking about?”
My utterly out-of-place remark left the Ribina Count visibly flustered.
But I continued without minding.
“He asked if I had no desire to become a hero.”
“His Grace said that……?”
“Of course, I refused.”
The Ribina Count looked stunned at my lighthearted tone.
He hadn’t expected me to turn down Duke Gail’s offer.
“I thought a hero forced into the role would just end up as a puppet.”
“I see. But perhaps you’ve passed up a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.”
I smirked at the Ribina Count, who spoke with regret.
“Who said I passed it up?”
“But didn’t you just say you refused His Grace’s offer?”
“Yes, I did refuse Duke Gail’s proposal. But I will become a hero.”
I gripped the railing tightly and stared at the one trapped within the mana barrier.
The Plague Disaster, Edward Williams.
“With my own power.”
* * *
I’d agonized plenty while planning this operation.
What I was about to do far exceeded my assigned role and authority.
Well, I’d done similar things a few times before, but this one was even more so.
After all, this was the event where Fabian, as the protagonist and the one to thwart the Disasters, would awaken.
“Clay! I can’t hold it much longer!”
“That’s enough.”
I casually replied to Riya’s shout.
The time she could keep Edward contained was at most ten minutes.
Cracks were already spiderwebbing across the barrier around him.
Once it fully shattered, Edward would break free and unleash all the pent-up rage at once.
“There’s a lot of them.”
I tore my gaze from Edward and looked at the spectators watching the arena.
Most hadn’t grasped the sudden turn of events.
“What’s going on all of a sudden?”
“What’s that mist?”
A few were fleeing sporadically, but most were staring at Edward—and at me.
Step by step.
I walked across the arena, gazing at those spectators.
Passing Edward as he relentlessly pounded the barrier, I headed toward the statue erected outside the arena.
Toward the statue holding a long sword, I slowly opened my mouth.
“I’ve come to prove my qualifications.”
Rumble rumble rumble!
No sooner had I spoken than red flames ignited in the statue’s eyes, and it began to move.
The spectators, witnessing the sight, cried out in shock.
“Gasp?! W-what is that?”
“The statue’s moving?!”
The statue of Raiban Asktalin, which had occupied one corner of the Colosseum for centuries.
It was only natural that people freaked out when it suddenly stirred.
Even I would have been shocked like the others if not for my ability to read settings.
『Hero representing humanity, seize the sword and prove your qualifications!』
Boom!
The statue plunged the sword it held vertically into the ground.
『Seize it, and prove your qualifications!』
A harsh voice, like metal scraping metal, echoed from the statue once more.
Countless eyes turned toward me.
‘Human Sword Genova.’
Raiban Asktalin, the founding emperor of the Asktalin Empire.
On the day he subjugated countless kingdoms and established the Empire.
The gods bestowed upon him this sword with a revelation.
Find the one who can wield this sword.
He shall become the hero to thwart the coming Disasters.
Following the divine revelation, Raiban Asktalin held a tournament to find the sword’s master—and that became the origin of the Imperial Martial Tournament.
[Over long ages, its original purpose was forgotten, reduced to just a part of the Founding Festival.]
‘Because no master appeared for the sword for far too long.’
Then one day, like a divine revelation, the sword’s master appeared.
The only one who could hear the sword’s voice, the protagonist of this world.
Fabian himself.
“Fuu.”
I took a small breath and slowly extended my hand toward the sword before me.
Toward the sword that Fabian should have claimed, proving himself the hero to save the world.
Grip!
“Ugh?!”
The moment I grasped it, my shoulders grew unbearably heavy, dizziness hit, and excruciating pain enveloped my body. I nearly dropped it.
[You okay?]
‘Not okay.’
At that moment, a eardrum-shattering roar emanated from the statue.
『Release the sword! You lack the qualifications!』
The expected reaction.
From the first time I saw this sword and read its settings.
I had already anticipated this outcome.
==
[Human Sword Genova]
A sword that grows stronger in response to humanity’s origins and hopes.
Also called the Wish Sword Genova.
One of the seven swords bestowed upon humanity by the Creator God, kept in the Asktalin Empire.
As long as humanity’s origins and hopes do not break, it will never shatter, and it can even cut what should be uncuttable.
However, it unleashes immense power against humanity’s enemies, but against fellow humans, it is merely a sturdy, sharp blade.
A sword made solely for battling humanity’s foes.
Currently sealed, Fabian—who can hear the sword’s voice—will release all its restraints and claim it.
Failing to release the restraints inflicts agonizing pain, rendering one unable to ever wield Genova again.
==
What an extravagantly elaborate setting.
The key point I remembered was that dropping the sword from the pain meant I could never wield Genova again.
『Release the sword! You lack the qualifications!』
The statue bellowed again.
Amid the horrific pain, I barely clung to my senses and stared at the sword in my hand.
‘You said I could do it, right?’
[You can. Trust me.]
‘Alright.’
I forced open my pain-squeezed eyes.
Silver light gleamed from them, instantly silencing the spectators’ murmurs.
In the grayscale world, colors bloomed everywhere—including on the Genova I held.
Threads of countless hues tangled around Genova like yarn.
Fabian would unravel them one by one, guided by the sword.
But I couldn’t hear the sword’s voice. I had to unseal them all manually.
『The unqualified cannot wield Genova’s power!』
I dissected the tangled flows around Genova.
From the bottom, I slowly scraped upward, unraveling the mana-threads one by one.
『Release it!』
Amid the flows, I spotted eight seals.
I undid them methodically, one after another.
Thud, thud.
Each seal broken sent faint ripples and golden radiance spreading through the grayscale world.
『You lack the qualifications!』
Rumble rumble rumble!
As I refused to let go despite the warnings, the statue moved.
The hulking figure lumbered toward me, raising a fist of solid metal, and bellowed once more.
『This is your final warning. You lack the qualifications. Release the sword.』
Qualifications……
Yes, I’m just an extra.
Compared to the protagonist Fabian, I might be hopelessly inadequate. Without the abilities from my father, I’d have ended my days as an ordinary knight anywhere.
I know that.
That’s why I hesitated to even grasp this sword.
But that hesitation was mine alone—no one else could interfere.
“Do I lack qualifications?”
The sword trembled.
One, then another.
I severed the blocked walls, the tangled threads.
Each time, the sword sang out.
Once more.
Once more.
Pushing through every barrier.
At some point, the sword stopped resonating.
『Indeed. You lack the qualifications.』
“No.”
I slowly raised my head, gripping the sword tighter.
The blade, embedded in the ground, emerged into the world.
Centuries of rust flaked away in the wind, and the sunset-hued vermilion-gold edge gleamed brilliantly.
“I decide that.”
As the vermilion-gold sword traced a gentle arc, the statue’s body split neatly in two.
* * *
“Truly…….”
Riya Asktalin couldn’t help but feel moved watching the scene.
He had truly succeeded in upholding his words.
‘Just as that maid said.’
Though it grated on her, she had to acknowledge it.
Before aiding Clay this time, Riya had secretly hoped Mone would talk him out of his reckless plan. Despite trusting him, she thought there were too many variables.
So she casually mentioned it to Mone, who replied:
“Young Master never attempts what he thinks he can’t do.”
“Do you know what reckless thing he’s about to attempt?”
At the word “reckless,” Mone flinched and let out a small sigh, as if something came to mind.
“He does reckless things often. But he only does them because he can.”
“It’s extremely dangerous.”
“Yes.”
Mone was a timid maid, at best. She rarely spoke so firmly.
Knowing that, Riya was inwardly surprised.
She realized their bond of trust was more solid than she’d thought.
‘I’m a little jealous.’
As Riya watched Clay, she winced at the intensifying mana pressure.
‘It seems…… I’ve reached my limit.’
Even containing Edward with Dragon Word had hit its ceiling. The barrier, cracked like a spiderweb, would shatter soon.
Riya’s gaze drifted to her waist.
To the ornament made from half a broken horn.
‘……No, not yet.’
It wasn’t time.
She mustn’t touch it until she fully controlled this power.