Chapter 97
Chapter 97
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 97
Chapter Title: Gide's Betrayal
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“Haa….”
Gide.
The moment I recalled the settings related to him, I couldn’t help but think I might be a genius.
From the time I first devised the Pilgrim’s Sword, I couldn’t suppress that ambition and came up with all sorts of ideas.
Among them, the episode involving Gide was something I proudly called a perfect expression of twisted human desire.
In fact, the reception had been quite good.
It had earned praise for naturally enraging gamers and breathing life into the scenario.
‘Who would’ve thought it’d unfold right in front of me.’
A sigh escaped me naturally.
Was Flesh Sculptor Gide involved with Valentin?
And Trala was his disciple?
It was a dizzying combination, but this wasn’t the time to dwell on it.
I knew exactly what I had to do.
“One knight per day. Who knows which promising knight will die today. Every night, the underground echoes with the wails of the冤死 knights, keeping me from sleep.”
He had a gift for spiritualism.
That explained his poor complexion.
“Why me? There’s the Golden Lion too.”
“Because you are the Arbiter.”
The Golden Lion might kill Gide. But could he kill Count Valentin as well?
Count Valentin was thorough in his own way. He could claim ignorance and likely walk free.
However, my moniker in the world was Arbiter.
The arbiter who saves those thrown alive into blast furnaces.
“Please judge my father and my master.”
Truth shone in Trala de Valentin’s tearful voice.
I nodded.
“I shall.”
“Really?”
His face showed surprise, as if he hadn’t expected such easy agreement.
But from my position, Count Valentin was someone I had to kill anyway.
He was in bed with the Empire, and likely one of the Archbishop’s underlings—killing him would benefit me.
If he was harboring Flesh Sculptor Gide on top of that, there was even more reason not to let him live.
‘It’s dangerous.’
Neither he nor Gide was a threat alone.
Valentin had power but lacked martial prowess, while Gide had methods but couldn’t forge swords.
But together, Valentin would gain an exceptional carcass sword, and Gide could produce even more.
If that happened, I’d likely be the first victim of that powerful carcass sword.
“Very well. Where is he?”
“Ah, not now.”
“Why not.”
“I don’t know where the underground blast furnace is that my master and father hid. The only way is to secretly tail my father the next day.”
He didn’t know the way? But how did he know all these details?
After a moment’s thought, I just asked.
“You don’t know the path, so how did you learn all this?”
“I once glimpsed my master’s journal. I saw the rough schedule there, and inferred the rest from the wails every night. My father’s whereabouts were always suspicious at night… It wasn’t hard.”
He wasn’t dumb.
“The knights are told they’re being transferred secretly or sent on top-priority missions, but not one who said that has ever returned.”
“I see. So tailing him is the only way to find the door to the underground.”
“Yes. We have to ambush him when he opens the door.”
“…That’ll take a while.”
But that would take too long. Lingering in the count’s territory indefinitely would look suspicious.
Did that mean there was no other way?
Not quite.
“What’s that?”
“Bugs.”
“Bugs?”
“Yes. It’ll take a little time, though.”
This would find the entrance.
Kallias fiddled with the spirit command bugs and curled up the corner of his mouth.
* * *
With every step down the stairs, heat scorched my face and my breath grew labored.
It was unmistakably the heat from a blast furnace.
My nose wrinkled at the indescribably foul stench.
Yet the knight descending the stairs wore a bright expression.
“Really? You’ll make a sword perfectly suited for me….”
“Really. We can’t have a knight of your potential wielding some shoddy carcass sword, can we?”
Trailing the nameless knight was none other than the lord of the county.
Count Valentin.
He patted the young knight’s shoulder with a kindly face. The knight’s face filled with ecstatic joy.
“I had no idea you thought so highly of me… My lord Count. I’ll be your sword for life!”
“What’s that? It’s only natural.”
The basement they arrived at held a boiling blast furnace and a forge.
It was quite the proper facility.
He’d worked in the county for years, but this was his first time knowing such a place existed underground.
“Now, have a seat here for a moment. The forge master will soon craft a sword for you. Why not pray in the meantime? Lord Valterus must witness the sword’s birth.”
“Ah! Yes, sir.”
The knight closed his eyes and recited prayers. As he watched the devout knight, Count Valentin’s eyes grew icy cold.
He nodded toward the shadows behind.
An old man slipped out and thrust a sword.
Stab!!
“Guh!!”
The stabbed knight vomited blood.
“Why….”
His questioning eyes lost their light as he collapsed, but the old man ignored it and deftly stripped off the knight’s armor and clothes.
“Tch. Even on a day like this.”
At the count’s tongue-clicking, the old man—no, Gide—replied.
“It can’t be helped. One per day. That was our agreement, wasn’t it, Count Valentin?”
“Sacrificing a hundred knights isn’t easy. If not for that lord’s words, I wouldn’t have agreed.”
Offering a hundred knights as tribute.
What in the world was this about?
In terms of national power, what was the worth of a hundred knights?
It was an astronomical cost beyond measure, all poured into a single sword.
“A proper sword is worth more than a hundred knights. A thousand wouldn’t be too much.”
“…….”
Count Valentin sighed as he watched the blacksmith Gide ascend the steps to the boiling blast furnace.
“Sp-Spare… me….”
Dragging the bleeding knight by the legs to the edge of the massive, cauldron-like blast furnace, he tossed him in without hesitation.
Splash!
Molten metal surged once, then bubbled calmly again.
Before the blast furnace where the knight had been thrown in alive, Gide knelt and began to pray. To the dead knight?
No.
To the sword that would be forged.
To the god who would accept the offering and cleanse his tainted soul.
Even Count Valentin stuck out his tongue at the mad fervor.
“It won’t be long now. A hundred well-trained knights. Distilled and distilled into a single sword!”
Surely, the sword he’d longed for would emerge.
“How far do you see?”
“I’ve seen illusions.”
“…Hm.”
An illusion-spouting sword.
If it reached illusion grade, a hundred knights wouldn’t be too dear a price.
‘With that, I wouldn’t tremble before the likes of Jerban.’
Jerban was fearsome as one of the four great nobles and overlord of the north, but more fundamentally because of the heirloom in his house.
The phantasmal sword, Kallias.
The storm sword—Kallias.
To a house, the value of a phantasmal sword was inestimable.
Possessing one alone elevated a house’s status immensely.
A sword’s grade was a house’s grade.
Count Valentin couldn’t easily shake off that desire.
“If a phantasmal sword emerges, I’ll make it my heirloom and appoint you a new identity as my retainer.”
It would deserve as much.
No, even that might not be enough.
However.
“If it’s some worthless sword, I’ll immediately denounce you for knight-murder and have your head. I’ll hang it in the county square as a lesson.”
By then, neither outcome would allow Gide and the count to continue their relationship.
That’s how the pieces were placed.
“My ultimate goal is a holy sword. All swords that emerge in my process will belong to House Valentin, so worry not.”
And the longed-for sword as well.
“Hm. But will a sword really be forged this way?”
“Count.”
“What.”
“Do you know the difference between spirit and illusion?”
“Hm… Isn’t it the soul’s ascension?”
“Correct. The soul’s ascension. Like a bird hatching from an egg or an insect molting, it sheds one layer to gain a fitting grade.”
A sword’s grade is influenced by the soul.
Pure soul. Valiant soul. Tainted soul.
Gide gazed fondly at the boiling blast furnace and said.
“That furnace already holds the flesh and souls of ninety-nine. In the boiling furnace, the flesh and souls’ impurities are purified and mixed chaotically.”
Just one day left.
He anticipated the moment his aged blood and sweat would bear fruit.
“Then, do you know the difference between spirit and illusion?”
“Hm…… No, that I don’t.”
“It’s said illusion was originally called blaze. Called blaze swords. It meant calamity. Calamity! Such a fitting name, isn’t it?”
Gide rambled on about imperial lore, saying illusion grade was also called demon-slayer, and so on.
“Calamity…… Well, considering a phantasmal sword’s power, it fits. But that doesn’t explain the difference from spirit.”
Gide nodded.
“Yes. Spirit is an awakened soul. Then what is illusion? Considering how blaze became illusion, I believe illusion is the soul’s transformation or awakening. So, for the soul to transform? To awaken? That’s what I focused on.”
“And?”
He shook his head regretfully.
“I didn’t find it. But I got a clue.”
“This?”
The count gestured at the furnace.
“Yes. A hundred knights’ worth. The flesh and souls of a hundred promising knights. Fuse them into one, and the soul will transform.”
Heh heh heh.
An unsettling laugh echoed underground.
“But a hundred’s worth—that’s quite a mass. Forge that into swords, and you’ll get several, I’d wager.”
“That’s why there’s a hammer. Pound and pound to filter impurities. Pound until only one sword remains.”
The one sword to offer to the god.
A sword satisfying enough for the god to grant peace to flesh and soul.
A sword to claim glory alone!
“I’ve already finished the design.”
It was unusual.
The blade layered in folds, able to extend like a whip or serve as a longsword.
Examining the design, the count looked at Gide and asked.
“An unusual sword. Have you named it?”
“Yes.”
Stroking the design, Gide smiled faintly.
“Valentin.”
“…What?”
Stab!!
“Grah!!”
Crash! Bang!!
Pinning Valentin against the wall with the stab, Gide laughed maniacally at the count vomiting blood.
“Congratulations on becoming the hundredth knight, Your Excellency the Count! Hahaha!!”
“You mad bastard… Was this your plan from the start?”
“You think throwing a mere hundred promising knights into a furnace and hammering will yield a phantasmal sword? Nonsense. Melting a hundred fools just yields a bigger fool.”
“You deceived me…… Ack.”
“Fool’s fault for being deceived.”
He tried to raise his hand, but his body wouldn’t obey. Looking pitifully at the trembling Count Valentin, Gide clicked his tongue and shook his head.
“Fat chance. Your whole body will soon be paralyzed. I didn’t tell you, but this is another masterpiece of mine. A paralysis sword of spirit grade. Even a decent beast can’t move for an hour after this dagger hits.”
Gide’s cackling laughter echoed eerily through the furnace chamber alone.