Following the Line (1)
Following the Line (1)
A thin line cutting across the sky.
As the Princess gazed up at the sky, Balea asked:
"What is it?"
"I thought I saw a faint line in the sky."
At the Princess's words, Balea narrowed her eyes and stared up at the sky.
But there was no way she could see it...
"I don't see anything."
At Balea's response, the Princess shook her head.
"No, never mind. I can't see it anymore. I must have been mistaken."
Balea merely tilted her head at the Princess's head-shaking, but I watched the Princess intently.
Even after saying that, she kept stealing glances at the sky. It seemed she could still see it, despite her words.
Well, if I could see it, it made sense that the Princess could too.
In that case, would the First Prince and Second Prince have been able to see it if they were here?
But since abilities were ranked differently according to how much they had grown, there was no telling whether they would be able to see it.
Still, it wasn't entirely impossible.
I had to find out where the end of that line led as quickly as possible.
Since the sparring match had dragged on, we decided to call it a day.
Once we arrived at the estate, we agreed to meet for dinner and went our separate ways to our rooms.
After making sure the girls had entered their rooms, I knocked and entered the room of Lesty, the 'Divine Sword Tracker'.
"Welcome."
He welcomed me with open arms.
It was the same exaggerated behavior I'd seen during our artifact transaction. I had thought he only acted that way for business, but it seemed to be a habit.
Anyway, since he'd welcomed me, I made myself comfortable in the chair next to the bed.
I asked Lesty, who was sitting on the bed:
"Did you learn anything from examining the sword?"
Since I had gone to the trouble of buying him time, he must have uncovered something.
"When you first came to me in that sloppy disguise, I realized you were younger than I expected, but I was truly shocked to learn that you were an Academy student and Young Lord Alex, the son of the Duke of Gracia."
But he hadn't looked surprised at all when he learned my identity...
Besides, I had no idea why he was bringing up such a random story now.
"But nothing was as shocking as what I witnessed today. To fight Sergio, the Sacred Sword Knight, for so long without being pushed back... And in the end, didn't you even cleave Knight Commander Sergio's sword, Young Lord?"
It seemed Knight Commander Sergio had a nickname, too.
'Sacred Sword Knight'—it sounded like a nickname that would please the owner of a Divine Sword.
"It was merely a guided sparring session with an ordinary sword. If he had wielded the Divine Sword, it would have ended instantly."
If I had no way to block the Divine Sword, I might have been at a disadvantage in a match.
Things would have been different if I had used my necklace or other artifacts, of course, but that line of thought could go on forever.
"Even without the Divine Sword, Commander Sergio is one of the Kingdom's top knights. To go toe-to-toe with such a knight for hours... If others found out, your popularity would skyrocket, Young Lord."
Only then did I realize why he kept beating around the bush.
"It's a secret. I believe we agreed that you wouldn't sell information about my identity."
"No, but isn't this something that doesn't even need to be kept secret? Plenty of people saw it, and since it was an official sparring match held at the Marquisate, even if word gets out..."
It seemed he wanted to sell the story to the nobles himself before anyone else could spread it.
"Only my team members and the participants in the duel saw it. Besides, the Marquis will prevent rumors from spreading. If they get out despite that, the Marquis might be furious."
In my past life, it couldn't be helped because all the estate servants saw it, but this time, no one but us witnessed the sparring match.
His son had returned after being thoroughly beaten in a duel, so there was no way the Marquis would welcome rumors that his family's greatest knight couldn't even defeat the same opponent.
On top of that, that opponent was still a student attending the Academy.
Rather than my popularity rising, it was obvious that the Marquis's honor would plummet.
The story would get out eventually, but he would certainly try to delay the news as long as possible.
"I suppose so."
Lesty let out a sigh.
Then he began talking about the sword.
"That sword... Fortunately, it was indeed related to the Divine Sword."
This was something I already knew from the dagger.
Still, hearing a definitive answer from an artifact appraiser gave me a different sense of certainty than hearing it from the dagger.
"Shall we call it a sibling sword to the Divine Sword?"
Lesty calmly laid out the story behind the Divine Sword.
"The Divine Sword of the Hero Gavril, who was called the final Holy Knight, is a sacred relic of an ancient religious order forgotten after the Great War."
The heroes who ended the Great War by sealing the Demon King scattered across various regions, founded nations, and became the ancestors of the new royalty and nobility.
But among them were also heroes whose traces were lost, leaving no descendants behind.
One of those heroes was the Holy Knight Gavril.
But this was the first I'd heard that the Holy Knight's Divine Sword was a sacred relic of a vanished religious order.
To think a religious relic was called a 'Divine Sword' instead of a 'Holy Sword'...
Well, it made sense that it had to be that way.
After the Great War, only one religion remained on this continent.
Although other religions and orders had declined and been destroyed during the Great War, that was also because the heroes who opened a new world after the Great War recognized only a single religion.
The religion now referred to simply as 'the Order'—the one that worshipped the nameless god—was the only one recognized as a religion on this continent.
Under those circumstances, they couldn't very well call the holy sword of a defunct order a 'Holy Sword' while the current Order existed.
Whenever I heard things like this, I couldn't help feeling a lingering irritation toward the heroes.
'Was the disappearance of the Holy Knights also because of the newly emerged Order?'
That question popped into my head, but I had to set it aside when I heard Lesty's next words.
"The order that vanished during the Great War had bestowed other swords, besides the 'Divine Sword,' upon its branches, allowing guardian knights to protect them."
It was different from my past life.
In this world, sacred relics weren't used merely as symbols of authority or decoration.
Perhaps this world was surprisingly practical.
"And the sword we saw today was used by the guardian knight who protected that branch. It was likely forged in the same place."
If that was the case, the dagger's chatter about its connection to the 'Divine Sword' hadn't been wrong.
But Lesty didn't look very pleased as he spoke. In fact, he looked disappointed.
"I'd anticipated this to some extent ever since I heard about the Divine Sword of Pisen. Since artifacts with similar abilities had similar names, my research suggested there was a very high probability they were sibling swords."
"Then why..."
"Ah, you're asking why I look like this? I examined it thoroughly, but I couldn't find out anything about the actual Divine Sword. I thought that if they were guardian relics of the order, there might be some way for them to locate each other..."
At Lesty's words, the Mana Thread cutting across the sky came to mind.
'Could that line be connecting the guardian relics to each other?'
"There were some parts I couldn't appraise because they were too old, but since they were only minor details related to mana, it shouldn't matter..."
He babbled on about the sword after that, but I couldn't focus on what he was saying because I was thinking about the Mana Thread I'd seen in the sky.
Even so, what I did catch was that the sword we'd examined this time was the first of the vanished order's sacred relics to be discovered, and that Lesty was beginning to suspect the Grand Archduchess.
"It would have been great if I could have examined the sword after it emitted that light. Even the Knight Commander said it felt a little different, so if I'd examined it, I could have found out exactly what had changed... Perhaps some damaged parts had been repaired."
Lesty was the one who had mentioned that there was a noble in the Duchy capable of repairing artifacts.
The Grand Archduchess was an artifact appraiser from the Duchy, and since the artifact had emitted light in her hands, it was impossible not to suspect her.
But she was the daughter of the fearsome Grand Prince. Lesty wouldn't dare investigate her easily.
That was why he had subtly changed the subject to ask me about it, but I naturally pretended to know nothing.
"You saw how shocked the Knight Commander was. Asking to borrow it again is out of the question."
In reality, borrowing the sword again would be difficult. He had snatched it from the Grand Archduchess without even considering common courtesy.
If we asked to borrow it again, he might swing the sword at us instead of lending it.
In any case, it seemed there was one more thing to be cautious about.
If she had a secret, she should have hidden it better; now wasn't the time to curse Ivana.
Then again, the Grand Archduchess had easily admitted her ability to me as well.
'I was glad to have found her so easily, but this was no time to celebrate.'
I sighed as I walked back to my room.
Come to think of it, the Grand Archduchess wasn't the only one around me with secrets.
I had no idea why people with secrets were the only ones who kept gathering around me.
That evening, I was caught by the Knight Commander and ended up drinking far too much for the first time.
Because I kept circulating my mana, I avoided making any blunders, but my stomach felt awful when I woke up in the morning.
The Marquis's expression toward me in the banquet hall had changed.
It seemed the Knight Commander had reported the outcome of the sparring match.
Fortunately, the others didn't know about it, so the Marquis's daughters weren't interested in me as they had been before.
After circulating my mana to soothe my upset stomach, I headed to the drawing room where everyone would be gathered.
"This is the first time you've been the last to arrive, Young Lord."
After Balea's pointed greeting, the Grand Archduchess expressed concern for my well-being.
"Are you feeling all right? You fought all day and then drank like that at night. Even though you've awakened, I wonder how your body can endure it..."
Indeed, an ordinary person would have passed out halfway through drinking that much.
"I am fine. A knight's body isn't that weak."
My body could withstand most poisons. It was impossible for alcohol to do me in.
Once we'd exchanged greetings, Balea pouted and spoke.
"Then I suppose we'll be examining artifacts again today."
"They said they'd bring out other artifacts, too. There'll be plenty to see."
The Grand Archduchess, in contrast to Balea, replied with an expectant expression.
With the Grand Archduchess looking expectant and Balea looking bored, I spoke up.
"I'll head into the city for a while today. My sword was badly damaged during yesterday's sparring match, so I'll look around the blacksmith shops."
Although it was a sword issued by the Academy, it was my duty as a knight to maintain it well... but that was merely an excuse.
I had already broken several swords, and I also had a personal sword of my own.
First, I had to get out of the estate.
I had to check the Mana Thread before it was too late.
"Ah, there were tons of blacksmith shops, weren't there? I'll go too."
At my words, though, the Princess raised her hand high.
It seemed she, too, was bored of looking at artifacts.
"Me too! I'm coming!"
And on top of that, even Balea wanted to come along.
The sly smile on Balea's face suggested she wanted to come along for more than just a break from boredom.
The Grand Archduchess sighed at the sight of these rebels.
"None of you are interested in artifacts, are you?"
To be fair, although they were part of the Artifact Investigation Squad, neither the Princess nor Balea had any interest in artifacts.
"Well then, only the three of us will investigate today. Since you're going with Young Lord Alex, there's no need to worry, but make sure you're back before it gets too late."
At the Grand Archduchess's decision, Mirisa sighed gloomily.
She seemed to find the artifact investigation just as boring.
But she chose to stay with the Grand Archduchess rather than come along with me.
In the end, contrary to my expectations, the ones leaving the estate were the Princess, Balea, and me—just the three of us.