The Holy Sword of Banishing Evil (1)

What is a holy sword?

It is a powerful and noble blade imbued with sacred power, spoken of across countless myths and legends. The kind of sword anyone would recognize as a holy sword the moment they laid eyes on it.

And with great holy swords, the stories often go, there dwells a wise spirit—a sacred advisor who guides the sword's bearer down the path of glory and virtue.

"Let me out—"

"……."

In that sense, the thing in front of me looked about a million light-years removed from any noble holy sword spirit.

One moment she was trying to attack a perfectly innocent civilian minding his own business. The next she was thrashing around, hammering on the walls like a maniac. Either way, she was nothing like the holy sword spirit I'd imagined.

"Let me out, let me out, let me out, let me out……."

That said, the girl before me didn't look like an ordinary person either. Her face was mashed flat against the glass like a steamed bun, and instead of human ears, a pair of wings sprouted from the sides of her head—a shape that immediately called to mind the wing ornaments on Justitia, the Holy Sword of Banishing Evil.

I watched her quietly. Before long, the girl beyond the barrier fixed me with a stare and spoke.

"Please let me out."

Apparently she'd decided the noisy approach wasn't working and switched tactics. She took a few steps back from the glass barrier.

Tap. Tap.

She brushed off her clothes, eyes sparkling, and put on the most pity-inducing face she could manage.

"You don't look anything like a hero, but you're still human, so I'll make you a temporary one."

"Is that just an insult?"

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"Under normal circumstances, even that would be impossible. After two thousand years locked up, I've lowered my standards a lot."

She said it, then stared straight through me. Hmm. After a long, appraising look, she seemed to reach a conclusion, nodding to herself.

"I completely gave up and only looked at the fact that you're human."

"……What?"

"Normally, a pure knight who knows restraint has to demonstrate his nobility before a holy sword will choose him."

Her fingers formed a shape like a camera frame.

"If I judged you strictly, I could do something like this."

She peered at me through that frame, studying me the way someone sizes up a person. Then she started pulling out things I never saw coming.

"When you were little, you stole a thousand won from your grandmother's piggy bank."

"Hold on… what are you talking about?"

A chill ran down my spine. But the girl kept going without mercy.

"During lunch, you snuck two sausages off Cheolsu's tray, didn't you?"

"H-how do you know that…!"

"You walked past a stranger who'd fallen in the street and was crying out in pain, telling yourself a real man gets up through sheer willpower, and left him there."

"……!"

"You were topping up gacha currency, came up ten thousand short, and took it from your dad's emergency cash."

"Y-you…!"

The look she was giving me grew more and more sideways. For some reason, I got the distinct feeling that if I kept listening, I was going to be in real trouble.

I quietly turned toward the entrance of the Holy Sword Prison.

"One of the posts you made on an internet community a while back was……."

"……."

"Wait, where are you going!"

I refused to hear another word and bolted for the vast entrance of the prison. My footsteps echoed through the silent facility. Behind me, a desperate cry rang out.

"Why are you running away!"

"……."

"You can't just leave me here by myself!"

I ignored every sound reaching my ears. I did not have the luxury of sitting still while someone read my internet posts back to me. The second I actually heard that stuff with my own ears, I would lose my mind completely.

About ten minutes after leaving the Holy Sword Prison, I was doing a light recon of the area when I realized there were fewer monsters around than I'd expected. Maybe because the place was packed with everything undead hated most. Unless someone dragged a banshee all the way here like last time, undead rarely wandered this close. Good intel for the next expedition.

"Whew… nothing like fresh air to clear your head."

That didn't mean I could go far from the prison. Circling the immediate area was about the limit of what I could manage. In the end I settled for a quick look ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠around and headed back.

Thud. Thud.

When I returned to the Holy Sword Prison, I found someone crouched on the floor.

"……."

A silver-haired girl with those distinctive wing-like ears. She was scratching something into the floor with her finger, looking thoroughly miserable.

Scritch. Scratch.

She glanced once in my direction, still doodling, and said,

"You're back, human."

"Uh, yeah."

I gave her a short greeting and sat down. Then I picked up a high-calorie energy bar that had fallen on the floor. Having made dinner out of a single chocolate bar earlier, I was starting to get hungry.

I tore off the end of the energy bar, took a big bite, and looked at the girl beyond the glass barrier.

"……."

She was glaring at the floor with a sulky face. For a moment her gaze rested blankly on the drawing she'd made. Then, in a voice drained of all strength, she spoke.

"You don't have to be a temporary hero."

"……What?"

"I won't demand you do good deeds anymore. I won't tell you to force yourself to restrain your greed."

The words coming out of her mouth were the opposite of the interrogation from earlier—the voice of someone who had let everything go.

"You don't have to be noble. You don't have to be a knight."

There was a sadness in that voice.

"You don't have to keep the code of chivalry. It's fine if you don't know swordsmanship."

How long had she been locked away in here? The weight of time beyond reckoning lived in the voice of this holy sword.

"I'll even specially overlook the fact that you never received a baptism."

A voice that spoke of endless ages. The personality of a sword that had been abandoned and left to resign itself to everything was telling me her true feelings.

"Now I just… as long as you're human, that's enough for me——."

"……."

"So please… don't throw me away."

Blue eyes looked at me through the semi-transparent glass. The scenes reflected in those eyes felt unbearably lonely. The solitude of a single night in the heart of the Demon Realm flashed through my mind—and here was a loneliness that had endured for far longer than that.

"……."

I looked at the girl for a while. Justitia, the Holy Sword of Banishing Evil—. Translucent letters bearing her name hung glowing in the air.

At last I looked at her and offered a faint smile.

"Don't worry. I don't do that kind of thing anymore."

"Really?"

"Those were just minor slip-ups from when I was a kid who didn't know any better."

I reached toward the empty air. As if it had been waiting, a message appeared before my eyes.

A choice that had failed before. But for some reason, I had a feeling it wouldn't fail this time.

"I swear. I won't sell you, and I won't throw you away."

I reached for the option in front of me without hesitation.

A fierce light flared.

"Ah……."

Vivid, dazzling radiance began to spill in every direction. Clear beams of light scattered and refracted, revealing their brilliance. A massive pressure shook the air. Within it, my hand closed around the hilt of a single sword.

A vast sense of fulfillment flooded through my fingertips. Countless emotions swept through my entire body in an instant. Wonder seized my eyes. A firefly-like blue light illuminated everything around me. Awe seized my heart. The radiance of banishing evil—the light that purified all filth—wrapped around me like a cloak.

"So this… is the power of a holy sword……."

Feeling that surging sense of omnipotence, I looked at the pure white holy sword before me. A blade of white purer than anything else. Wing ornaments elegantly decorating the crossguard. I burned every detail into my eyes and faced the translucent screen that floated into view.

The Holy Sword of Banishing Evil that purifies all wickedness—Justitia.

The moment I gripped her, I understood what I had to do. The sacred "mission" of the goddess flowing through the holy sword awakened me with light.

"……Let's go, Justitia."

This was a sword forged to destroy the wicked. A blade of justice tempered to cut down the undying evil that should not exist in this world. And so I had a duty to use it to punish the undead roaming nearby.

Thud. Thud.

Trailing blue light, I walked out with the holy sword in hand. My steps were naturally drawn toward the dead who defied the natural order.

— Kieeek……?

Before long I came face to face with a banshee wandering the area and raised the holy sword.

Kuuung—.

The holy sword, brimming with brilliant light, pulsed and spread its radiance.

— Kieeeeeek——!

The grotesque wail that had once rattled my ears no longer frightened me. The omnipotence in my grip was setting me free. The light of the sacred holy sword. Following its pull, I gripped the blade and locked eyes with the monster before me.

"Let's finish this for real."

Kugugugugung—.

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The air shuddered as wind whipped violently around us. A clear radiance pressed down from every direction, revealing what was right and true. An overwhelming presence that reigned brilliantly over all things. Feeling that intense power, I swung the holy sword with everything I had at the enemy before me.

— Kieeeeeek——!

"……!"

Light flashed.

With a roar that shook my ears, the holy sword split my vision in two.

KWA-GA-GA-GA-GANG—!

In the swirling wind, Purification of Light pierced through the banshee's body. A crossing flash of brilliance. A rotting corpse shattering and scattering to pieces. And there, having cut down two days of terror, I stared into the empty air with trembling eyes.

"Ah……!"

Fssssss—.

The banshee's body that I had feared so much melted away into fine particles beneath the purifying light. It had laid down its undying burden and returned to where it belonged. And from the spot where it had stood, a straight sword scar was carved cleanly into the ground, as if the earth itself had been marked.

— "Did you like it?"

Having felt the true power of the holy sword, I now looked at it with eyes full of wonder.

"Of course… I… did."

But for some reason, the moment the battle ended, drowsiness hit me hard. My vision began to sway. My consciousness grew steadily murkier.

"……."

Before long, I found myself facing the floor as it rushed up to meet me.

Thud—.

Everything went dark.

When I opened my eyes again after blacking out, the first thing I saw was a holy sword flying through the sky on its own.

Crack! Bang—!

A pure white blade was streaking through the air this way and that, smashing the skeletons that had gathered nearby.

"……What."

And beneath the large rock that holy sword was protecting, I was sitting alone, propped against the stone.

I blinked blankly up at the sky, unable to make sense of the situation.

"……."

No matter how hard I thought, I couldn't pin down a clear memory. I was sure I'd swung the holy sword, landed a finishing blow, and completely pulverized the banshee that had been blocking my path. Why I was lying on the ground was beyond me.

"……Justitia."

— "……."

"Why am I collapsed on the floor?"

I asked the reason of Justitia as she flew through the air.

Crack—!

The holy sword that had just crushed a skeleton's skull tilted toward me at once.

— "You used up all your mana with a single swing."

"What?"

Hearing something that absurd felt like getting smacked hard in the back of the head. Completely drained and exhausted after swinging just once. That was a possibility I had never even considered. No matter how powerful the holy sword was, the idea that one swing had emptied my entire mana pool was beyond ridiculous—it was shocking.

— "You're a more trash hero than I expected."

Of course Justitia mocked me for it. I could almost hear her laughing.

I dragged both hands down my face and sighed.

"……I'm the warden."

Apparently, if I wanted to use a holy sword properly, I was going to have to get stronger first.