Chapter 17
Chapter 17
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Translator: uly
Chapter: 17
Chapter Title: The Holy Sword
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The Holy Sword.
How could she ever truly forget that name, a name that had once defined her very existence?
Even though five centuries had passed and her physical form had changed entirely, the memory remained as vivid as if it had happened only yesterday.
Lucia.
No.
Kylie.
It was she who had been the true master of the Holy Sword in an age long forgotten.
Lucia raised her trembling hand to her face, her eyes clouded with a deep, unsettling confusion.
'What on earth is this? How can the Holy Sword be resting in a place like this?'
The sword in Shiron's hand gleamed with a brilliant, celestial light that felt utterly out of place in such a desolate tomb.
It was a weapon that had once thrust the staggering burden of saving the world upon a clueless girl frolicking in a remote frontier.
She hated and resented that name with every fiber of her being—the sword that had systematically stripped everything away from her life.
The day after she had finally slain the Demon God, Kylie had hurled the Holy Sword into the deepest volcano of the Demon Realm.
That was the reason why no living soul knew the Holy Sword's exact appearance, save for her comrades who had only watched it from a distance.
Now that the whereabouts of those friends were unknown, she was the only one left who knew the Holy Sword better than anyone else in history.
"That is a lie."
It was because of that intimate knowledge that she could speak with such absolute certainty.
"That is not the Holy Sword you are holding."
Lucia glared at Shiron, her face twisted with the expression of someone witnessing an impossible, incomprehensible lie.
"......And what exactly makes you think that?" Shiron asked, brushing off her intense gaze with a casual, dismissive tone.
His eyes and his curiosity were fixed solely on the blade itself, which sparkled like a cluster of stars captured within the night sky.
Shiron examined the weapon with wistful eyes, turning the blade this way and that to catch the light before swinging it through the air a few times.
Then, without warning, Shiron brought the blade down toward the heavy stone lid of the empty coffin.
Contrary to any reasonable expectation, only the whistle of the blade slicing through empty air reached their ears.
There was no violent clash of metal against stone, only the faint, fervent sensation lingering in Shiron's hand to prove the sword's presence.
"Its performance is far more impressive than I had initially imagined," Shiron remarked coolly.
With those meaningful words, he delivered a sharp kick to the massive stone chunk, which was several times heavier than his own body.
Boom—
The impact caused the coffin to shatter completely, the broken edge as clean as if it had been meticulously crafted by a master mason.
Shiron clicked his tongue in genuine astonishment at the sheer destructive power he had just unleashed.
"A sword that slices through ancient stone as if it were melted butter; even I can barely believe I was the one to swing it."
"It is... truly a magnificent weapon," Berta added, her voice filled with a reluctant admiration.
"Is it not?" Shiron replied, nodding with a small smile at the Inspector’s comment.
"I possess no knowledge of magic, sword aura, or battle spirit, yet I can pull off such impossible feats with this blade."
"I cannot sense its divine power, but among all the swords I have ever known, very few can boast this level of pure cutting power."
"No, you are wrong," Lucia interrupted, her voice trembling with a mixture of fury and denial.
"No!" she cried out again, clenching her fists as she strode toward Shiron with a ferocious intensity radiating from her golden eyes.
Grind—
Her teeth ground together so hard they seemed to scream in protest against her surging anger.
"The Holy Sword does not look like that thing you are holding."
"Then, pray tell, what exactly does it look like?" Shiron asked, shrugging his shoulders as if she were merely spouting nonsense.
He could feel the very air around them churning with her rage, but he forced himself to maintain a calm, detached composure.
"It is just a sword with good cutting power; the blade is too short, and the hilt... the real Holy Sword was never that plain."
"And there is no scabbard—the one that always accompanied the blade like a faithful pair. That thing is nothing but a shiny blade."
"You are speaking as if you have actually stood before the real Holy Sword yourself," Shiron remarked pointedly.
"Eek!"
At his sharp observation, Lucia gasped involuntarily, her heart skipping a beat as if she had been exposed.
Was this his true goal? To force her secrets into the light?
Tears of frustration began to well up in her once-fierce eyes as she struggled to maintain her mask.
She was the reincarnation of Kylie, the hero who had etched her name into the very fabric of history five hundred years ago.
Naturally, no one in this world knew the Holy Sword better than she did, for she had once been its chosen wielder.
"I... I..."
But in this moment, Lucia found herself unable to respond to Shiron's pointed retort.
'I am the hero Kylie,' the words rose to her throat, a confession that threatened to spill out at any second.
Yet, she forced them back down, knowing that revealing her true identity now would bring far too many complications into her new life.
More than the dazed security operative lingering behind them, it was the boy standing right in front of her who troubled her the most.
Shiron.
'Just who the hell are you truly?' she wondered, her suspicion finally overriding her initial shock.
She bombarded him with questions, desperate to know how he had found this place and how he could possibly claim to know the name of the sword.
Her eyes were red-rimmed and on the verge of overflowing with tears of sheer confusion.
"......"
In stark contrast, Shiron’s eyes remained icy and heavy, his black pupils brimming with a calm detachment that was far removed from her excitement.
"The starlight told me the way; that is all there is to it," he replied simply.
In that moment, Lucia sensed a hauntingly familiar echo of the past within the boy's unwavering gaze.
The Holy Sword
Among the myriad weapons found within Reincarnated Sword God, this peculiar blade falls under the rare category of divine weapons.
Simply wielding it grants the user divine power, which inflicts significant bonus damage on any being of demonic origin.
In a place like Dawn Castle, which teems with high-ranking demons, could there possibly be a more efficient weapon to possess?
*
However, Shiron had not gone to the immense trouble of acquiring the Holy Sword just to use it against the denizens of Dawn Castle.
Even though Yuma and the other maids were technically demons, they had acted as his loyal allies, and he had no intention of turning them into enemies.
His true targets were the apostles of the Demon God, those rooted across the world who sought to bring about its destruction.
Shiron stretched languidly, basking in a quiet sense of pride as the heavy weight that had been pressing on his mind finally began to lift.
Just having the Holy Sword in his possession felt like gaining an invincible backer, a literal godsend for his survival.
With this precious resource finally in his hand, there was no longer any reason to linger within the stale air of the cave.
Shiron led the other two back toward the surface, his inventory necklace already packed with everything useful they had found.
He raised his arm to shield his face from the pouring sunlight that awaited them at the cave's exit.
The dark snowy mountains were now bathed in the golden light of dawn, a vigor that seemed strong enough to melt even the eternal snows.
The three of them walked silently along the frozen path, guided by the blood of the magical beasts Shiron had slain on their way in.
"If... if that thing really is the Holy Sword," Lucia began, finally breaking the long silence since they had left the tomb.
"Then you should throw it away immediately."
"Why are you bringing this topic up again, Lucia?" Shiron asked, stopping his walk and turning back to face her.
Lucia stood there, her face unmistakably pale and her eyes cast downward as if she were carrying a heavy burden.
"Possessing the Holy Sword brings nothing but ultimate misfortune to its wielder."
Lucia slowly lifted her head, her expression laden with a worry that felt far older than her eight years.
"Our legendary ancestor saved the world but received no reward in return; she sacrificed everything, yet never enjoyed the happiness she deserved."
"......What absolute nonsense are you talking about now?" Shiron asked dismissively before turning to Berta.
"Berta, I am going to untie you now; don't try anything stupid and head back to the castle as quickly as you can."
"I beg your pardon? So suddenly?"
"What, would you prefer to stay tied up? Or should I let you meet my family looking like a complete wreck?"
"N-No, Sir. I understand!" she replied hurriedly.
Shiron sliced through her bonds with a single, precise movement of the Holy Sword.
"Mention my name when you arrive, and they will treat you as an honored guest. Do you understand me?"
"......I understand perfectly," Berta nodded before dashing off along the trail and out of sight.
Shiron watched her go for a moment to ensure she wouldn't double back, and then he turned his full attention back to Lucia.
"Lucia."
The girl whose name was called slowly raised her head, watching as Shiron approached her with a leisurely stride.
"Just suppose for a moment," Shiron said, taking hold of her hand, which he noticed had been trembling faintly for some time.
"Let’s think about it: what if I had left the Holy Sword here, or if I had never come to find it at all?"
"......And then what would happen?" Lucia asked, wondering why he was broaching this topic with such seriousness.
"The world would come to an end," Shiron replied simply, confiding in her the words he couldn't say in front of Berta.
"......And did the starlight tell you that as well?"
"And what if it did? Would you believe me then?"
"I would think that you are lying to me."
"Then you are free to think that," Shiron said, patting her back lightly with a playful grin.
In response, Lucia narrowed her eyes and glared at him, but Shiron simply ignored the gaze that still occasionally managed to scare him.
"You saw it yourself, didn't you? How could a mere kid like me navigate such a complex labyrinth and escape unscathed? It is a miracle, nothing less."
"......Calling yourself a kid," she muttered under her breath.
"And besides," he added, toying with her hand until the trembling subsided before stepping back.
"No matter how I think about it, the Holy Sword has nothing to do with you! If you are unhappy about today's hardship, just hit me and get it over with!"
With that, Shiron bolted off at full speed toward the castle, his childish laughter echoing in the crisp morning air.
Lucia didn't chase after him; instead, she stood there, her gaze fixed on the hand that Shiron had just been holding.
The hand of the boy who claimed to be her brother was far too rough and firm to belong to a normal child.