An Unexpected Encounter (2)
In this world, only five people had ever reached the absolute peak: Sword Masters. Their mere existence was treated as a calamity. They cleaved battlefields apart with their blades, splitting both earth and sea. No attack, no magic, could touch them. With nothing but a single sword in hand, they were monsters beyond all common sense—opponents no one could face. Every swordsman aspired to that height. Yet most gave up almost immediately. The path of the sword was brutally honest, and many were simply crushed by the realization of their own lacking talent.
Could someone like me truly become one of them? The despair that came from actually witnessing a Sword Master was like tasting a realm far beyond mortal reach. That was why they could only be revered as the pinnacle of the blade. Anyone who had clawed their way to that position through sheer struggle had to be one of two things: a genius born with talent so monstrous the world itself acknowledged it, or a madwoman who had polished herself with the resolve to die trying. Neither path was easy.
Emilia had no other choice. Four years into walking the sword’s path, she still couldn’t manifest even the most basic sword qi. She knew she had no talent without anyone needing to tell her. Victory would have to come through effort alone. Most people would have quit long ago and looked for another road. Effort wasn’t nearly as simple as it sounded in books. You had to keep showing up, day after day, believing in a future that offered no guarantees while no one watched. It was easy to want to give up when no matter how much water you poured in, the jar never seemed to fill—like trying to fill a vessel full of holes.
In truth, Emilia had felt the same. She had simply turned her head and looked away, but even her stubborn belief that she could become a Sword Master was finally reaching its limit. She had begun to dimly realize her dream was impossible, yet the moment she refused to admit it, clinging to pride instead… she met him. Or, more accurately, she realized something.
Why she swung the sword. She swung it to become an outstanding tool for Sieg. And Sieg had told her she could become a Sword Master. She believed those words with all her heart. And then she obtained it.
Kugugung—!
The sword qi that could split mountains. With this blade, she was finally ready to earn the world’s recognition and go meet Sieg.
“Please wait for me, Young Master. I’m coming.”
Emilia left Barbarga without a single backward glance. She had relied on this place for a long time. Saying she hadn’t grown attached after three years would be a lie. But there was only one place she truly belonged—by Sieg’s side.
*
“S-Sieg-nim, we have to go before it’s too late!!”
After hearing the gambler’s information, Soho headed straight for the gambling hall without hesitation. She was there to bet. The moment she arrived, she checked the odds.
“F-four times?”
Had the rumor already spread? Contrary to what the gambler had said, the payout had dropped from five times to four.
“It’s still not too late.”
As Soho said, the multiplier was still substantial. She began pulling out money pouches not only from her chest but from every corner of her luggage. It looked like she planned to wager every coin she possessed.
“Wait a second. Miss Soho, are you really going all-in? That’s an enormous sum to bet just on the gambler’s word, isn’t it?”
I tried to stop her. What exactly had she seen in that gambler to justify going all-in? It felt far too extreme. Of course I trusted Emilia, but I had no idea how strong she actually was. No matter how much the gambler had praised her, the last version of Emilia I remembered was still a novice who couldn’t even use sword qi. And because I knew her so well, I was worried I’d feel terrible for Soho if the bet failed.
“I’m not betting because I believe the gambler.”
“Then why?”
“My gut. This heart! My chest is screaming at me. This is the one.”
Soho thumped her own chest and declared it with absolute certainty.
“Well… if that’s how you feel.”
Once Soho’s eyes had turned into gold coins, stopping her seemed impossible.
“Boss, here’s the money!”
“Miss, who are you betting on?”
The gambling hall owner pointed at the bracket. Sixty-four contestants remained. The preliminaries had advanced far enough that the round of sixty-four was about to begin. Without hesitation, Soho picked one name out of all those fighters.
“Emilia from Brook.”
“The next match is sitting at 3.7. You still want her, miss?”
“No.”
Her answer made me tilt my head. Weren’t we betting on Emilia? The confusion was cleared up immediately. Soho raised five fingers.
“I’ll bet on her winning all five remaining matches.”
“What…? You’re insane.”
I was stunned by her fearless gamble, and so was the owner. If she lost or even drew a single match, everything would be wiped out no matter how much she won along the way. And she was betting on perfection without blinking? Just how massive was her courage? No—this was nothing but blind confidence.
“Fifty gold… All right, miss, I’ve received the money. The odds are 499.5 times. If you win, after commission that’s 24,700 gold. You sure about this?”
“Absolutely.”
The deal was sealed. Fifty gold might not sound like much to some, but for Soho it was a fortune. It was her entire life savings, including her emergency fund.
‘She really has no sense of self-preservation.’
If Soho lost, I’d feel responsible since I was connected to Emilia. So I decided to join her. I handed over half the money I was carrying.
“I’ll bet fifty gold as well.”
“What? You’re gambling too, Young Master? Is that really all right?”
She looked genuinely surprised. The expression that said, A man is gambling? I nodded anyway. Since we’d come this far, we might as well sink or swim together. Money could always be earned again.
“Sieg-nim, you really know things…!”
Soho beamed with delight.
“Sieg-nim is so cool.”
Akasha murmured in admiration as well, though her expression suggested she had no idea what was happening and was simply giving a thumbs-up in support.
“Then I wish you luck.”
The slip the owner handed me proved the amount and the odds. Just like that, I had boarded the same ship as Soho.
*
“Winner—Emilia of Brook territory!”
“Ooooh!!!!!”
“Let’s gooooo!!”
Maybe it was because a serious amount of money was riding on the outcome. Dopamine flooded my brain. Every time her opponent swung and she seemed on the verge of being pushed back, my heart nearly exploded. When Emilia overpowered her foe, my fists clenched with pure excitement.
“Emilia! Emilia!”
Her name rang out from the stands—a roar that proved just how spectacular her performance had been. She had already crushed her way through the semifinals without mercy, dominating every opponent without allowing a single strike to land.
“S-Sieg-nim…”
“Hm?”
When Soho called me in a trembling voice, I turned to look at her.
“Are we… actually winning this?”
She asked, voice creaking. Only the final remained. One single match. If Emilia won it, the 499.5 multiplier would pay out. 24,700 gold. The number was almost sickeningly sweet. I steadied my pounding heart and answered.
“We’re going to win.”
“Declaring victory without the slightest hesitation! I like that.”
At this point it was believable. I finally understood why the gambler had recommended Emilia. Her fighting style was simple. When opponents attacked with swordsmanship, she exploited its weaknesses and crushed them. When they used sword qi, she answered with the same and suppressed them completely. No matter the method, she moved without a trace of hesitation. That calm confidence seemed to hide something deeper.
“The final match begins—!”
At the announcer’s cry, the championship bout started. Her opponent was a massive, muscular woman. In her right hand she carried an enormous blunt weapon. At first glance, she looked overwhelmingly stronger.
‘Someone from the Seolha Empire…?’
The clothes she wore were similar to Soho’s—an oriental style rarely seen in this fantasy world. It seemed certain.
“Win!! Emilia!”
Soho was cheering enthusiastically beside me and didn’t seem to notice. Still, even if this was only the preliminaries, the final that decided advancement to the main bracket meant the opponent was no pushover.
Thud—!!
The woman swung her giant weapon with terrifying skill, wrapping it in ferocious sword qi. A single solid hit would shatter bones to pieces. A dizzying sight. But—
Bang—!
Emilia allowed none of it to touch her. Instead, her small frame met the massive weapon head-on. She refused to yield even an inch. Then her counterattack began.
As the fight dragged on, Emilia finally revealed her true power. What she released was a blue sword qi the color of the sea itself.
“Is that… the sword qi of a Sword Master?!”
Blue sword qi was the mark of a Sword Master. The birth of the sixth Sword Master.
‘Just what kind of monster has she turned into…?’
A huge wave of admiration swept the arena. In such a short time, what exactly had happened to Emilia? Had she encountered some incredible fortuitous opportunity? She had grown unrecognizably stronger.
“The winner is Emilia of Brook territory!”
The match ended shortly after. Her opponent, clearly shaken by the blue sword qi, exchanged blows a few times before surrendering. It was understandable. A Sword Master was known as the strongest existence in humanity. Even a nation would raise both hands in defeat.
“Sieg-nim, we won!!!”
“Yeah!!!”
Roughly 24,700 gold—about two hundred and fifty million won. An absurd windfall. Thank you, Emilia. Thanks to you, we earned a fortune. I repeated my gratitude hundreds of times in my heart.
“We will now conduct the winner’s interview.”
The interview began immediately. The question was the usual cliché: how had she become a Sword Master? The answer was obvious. Talent, effort, luck. Every other Sword Master gave some variation of those three. Emilia would surely be the same.
…
The entire arena fell silent in an instant. As the birth of a new Sword Master, everyone waited with bated breath for her answer.
“The reason I was able to become a Sword Master is simple.”
The weight of every person’s attention pressed down on the stage. Even though this was only the preliminaries, major figures from across the continent were surely present. All those important people remained completely silent, solely to hear what Emilia would say. I waited with the same curiosity.
And then, at last—
Gulp.
—Uwooooooooo!!!
Her answer was completely unexpected. And across the entire arena, two names echoed.
“Sieg! Sieg!”
“Emilia! Emilia!”
*
Emilia’s interview created a massive paradigm shift. Interpretations varied wildly depending on who you asked.
After concluding that Sword Masters could be trained, people began searching for her master, Sieg.
Others misunderstood Sieg as a demon and began searching with that assumption. Meanwhile, the rulers of each nation moved differently.
A recruitment war had begun. And among those watching the match was one other person—a woman with brilliant golden hair like sunlight and deep blue eyes that reminded one of the ocean. A woman who looked exactly like Soho Baekya smiled brightly.
“The one who raised Emilia—the opponent who defeated my servant Zakan—is named Sieg…”
She repeated Sieg’s name again and again, as if engraving it deeply into her memory so she would never forget.