Master of the Sword
Master of the Sword
At the sudden voice, question marks filled my head.
What is this now? Who said that?
It was a voice completely unrelated to the 'Death Regression' message window I was so used to seeing.
It wasn't the dagger's voice, either. Don't tell me... did the Knight's Sword have an ego too?
But no other voice followed those words.
More importantly, what it had said was utterly absurd.
It said the Knight's Sword had blocked a mental attack on its master...
Could it be... that I had become the master of the Knight's Sword?
It was hard to believe, but I had definitely heard those words.
If so, had that strange sensation I felt from the sword underground been the feeling of becoming its master?
But all the sword had done was cut through another sword filled with mana and take a massive wave of mana head-on...
Come to think of it, neither of those was an ordinary feat.
Even so, it was hard to believe that the Kingdom's treasure had become mine.
There was no way a Hero's sword could be obtained so easily...
No, wait. Come to think of it, I already had two swords that had been used by Heroes.
I let out a sigh. No matter how much I thought about it, my head only spun.
And if it were true, there would be a way to verify it later.
For now, I set the matter aside and focused on the task at hand.
The priest still had an apologetic look on his face. It seemed he hadn't noticed that the contract had been blocked.
Since only the mana that had rushed toward me had dispersed, it was only natural that he remained unaware.
"Thank you. I was very worried that you might refuse."
It seemed there were cases where people actually refused. Though my situation was practically no different from a refusal, I kept my mouth shut.
The priest sent out the two shrine knights guarding the door.
"The fewer people who know, the better. Since you have signed the contract, I will tell you."
Once the shrine knights had left, Priest Benedicto began his explanation.
"Partly because I promised to tell you, and also because the Order does not want Sir Alex to harbor any unnecessary misunderstandings."
Indeed, I was the Princess's escort knight, after all. They wouldn't want me looking at the Order through biased eyes.
"The altar where we offered our service today is used for various purposes besides offering sacrifices to God."
Priest Benedicto continued in a relaxed posture.
"Sometimes we offer sacrifices of thanksgiving, and we also use the altar when receiving large-scale healing."
Having said that much, the priest drew the sign of the cross over his chest.
"And it is also the place where God awakens priests and clergymen."
This was the first time I'd heard of this. Since I hadn't known about it, this was undoubtedly a secret of the Order as well.
The priest said that God awakened them, but I knew that God did not exist.
If so, it was clear that some power within the altar was what actually awakened the priests and clergymen.
"And the altar in the basement is the place that aids in that awakening."
"Aids?"
The events of the past flashed through my mind.
The sword that had been plunged into the underground altar. And the massive amount of mana contained within it.
Even the fact that the priests and clergymen had fallen ill because of the sword's rampage.
As Priest Benedicto explained, those scenes began to piece themselves together one by one.
"You probably couldn't see it, but during the ritual, the excess mana that failed to ascend to God flows through the hall."
I'm sorry, but I saw it perfectly fine.
I could see everything, right down to you breaking a sweat as you moved the mana.
"We gather that mana in the underground altar, and when God awakens the abilities of the priests and clergymen, we receive a little assistance from it."
Once I removed 'God' from his words, the situation gradually became clear.
"Perhaps because it was too old, the artifact used as a catalyst went out of control."
It didn't seem to be because it was too old. Hearing the story, it was definitely my fault for connecting the Mana Thread.
Still, I didn't feel as sorry as I had before.
In fact, hearing the story made me feel rather refreshed.
"The damage is severe. Since things have turned out this way, we will have to send the priests and clergymen who are to receive the blessing to another kingdom for the time being."
Having concluded his explanation, the priest let out a sigh.
He had every reason to sigh.
Even though it was the artifact that had gone on a rampage, he was the one in charge, so there was no way he would escape reprimand.
"It seems the story is finished. May I take my leave?"
"Ah, I kept holding you back. Yes, we're finished."
As I stood up, he spoke in a hurry.
"Ah, right. You resolved the issue and even signed the contract, so the Order will send its official gratitude. There will also be a reward, so I hope you won't take this matter to heart."
At least they didn't seem intent on sending me back empty-handed.
At the mention of a reward, the anger lingering in my heart seemed to melt away a little.
If they gave me an artifact, it might melt away even more.
After bidding farewell to the priest, I walked out the door and decided to check one thing.
"Did something happen? Why are you holding your sword?"
The Knight Commander, who was waiting outside, asked when he saw me holding the sword.
"When else would I ever get to hold a royal treasure? I just took it out one last time."
I gave a half-hearted reply and sheathed the sword once more.
"Did the talk go well?"
"I signed the contract."
"Phew... I figured you would. Well done."
The Knight Commander shook his head and patted my shoulder.
Though my body swayed slightly from the pat, my mind was elsewhere.
The summoning was a success.
The Knight's Sword that had been at my waist had been summoned directly into my hand.
The Knight's Sword, a treasure of the royal family, had truly become my sword.
Still, the Knight's Sword was a treasure of the Kingdom, after all.
No matter how much I claimed to others that it was my sword, it wouldn't hold any water.
But I possessed the weapon-summoning ability.
Unlike anyone else, I could assert my rights as its master.
'If I actually summon it, though, it'll cause an even bigger uproar than the training sword did...'
According to the Princess, the royal family was still secretly searching for the training sword that had been in the warehouse.
If they were searching this hard for a sword that had been sealed away in a warehouse, it was hard to even imagine the chaos that would ensue if the Knight's Sword, a treasure of the Kingdom, went missing.
In any case, if the voice that echoed in my head was telling the truth, it meant the contract had been blocked by the power of the Divine Sword...
If so, then the temple's contract was inevitably a form of mental attack.
And on top of that, the Knight's Sword's ability was to block mental attacks.
Was the reason the successive kings couldn't use the Knight's Sword's ability that they had never been subjected to a mental attack?
Or was it because they had never been recognized as its master?
The more I learned, the more the questions seemed to multiply.
Even so, many of the doubts surrounding this particular incident had cleared up.
If I applied the fact that the nameless god did not exist to the priest's explanation, the current situation made perfect sense.
The ritual offered to God was not actually a time for offering prayers to a deity.
It was merely a time to gather the mana drawn from the artifacts and the priests into the sword in the basement.
The mana gathered in this way was modified inside the sword, serving as the raw material to trigger the awakening of the priests and clergymen.
'The sword isn't a catalyst that supports awakening; it must be the very artifact that causes the priests to awaken.'
Come to think of it, awakening an ability through an artifact was a story I'd heard somewhere before.
'No, I didn't just hear about it—I was the exact same case.'
Although I had gained my abilities through a Hero's weapon rather than some ordinary artifact sword, the fundamental principle was no different.
'Did they make up for what was lacking with the sheer number of artifacts and the volume of mana? And is that magic-circle-like thing drawn on the ceiling of the underground plaza a pattern designed to trigger awakening?'
My deductions continued to chain together in my head.
Filling in the missing gaps with my imagination, a plausible theory began to take shape.
Yet there was still one point in my deduction that I couldn't quite understand.
The broken sword in my pocket was the sibling sword of the 'Divine Sword of Pisen'.
The Divine Sword of Pisen was a sword with the ability to bypass defense and had absolutely nothing to do with the priests' healing abilities.
'First, I need to repair the sword and check its ability.'
Although a great commotion had occurred during the ritual, no one outside the temple knew about it.
Aside from the priests and clergymen, the only ones who knew the truth were the Knight Commander and me, and we had agreed to keep it a secret.
"Tell people that the ritual was ruined? It's obvious what kind of things they'd say, so there's no way I'd speak of it."
As we rode the carriage back to the royal palace, the Knight Commander grumbled.
It was exactly as the Knight Commander said.
The Order would take the brunt of the blame first, but the Knight Commander, who had brought the sword, and I would inevitably face public finger-pointing too.
In my case especially, rumors would surely spread that the ritual had been ruined because of me.
I was a bastard, not yet an official knight, and merely the Princess's escort knight.
There were countless angles from which I could be targeted.
I had no choice but to keep my mouth shut as well.
After arriving at the royal palace, I handed the sword over to the Chief Steward in front of the Knight Commander.
With this, my job was done.
It had been a ritual that brought many events, but also many gains.
With a light heart, I returned to my mansion in the capital.
The next day was a holiday.
Without an appointment, I barged into the Grand Archduchess's estate.
Fortunately, the Grand Archduchess was at her mansion, and she received my visit with a puzzled look on her face.
"I didn't think you were the type of impolite person who would visit a lady's house without an appointment... What is the matter?"
I had no choice but to scratch my head.
It seemed I had been far too excited by the previous day's events.
Last year, I had learned etiquette regarding noblewomen from the Grand Archduchess.
Since I, of all people, had shown such bad manners, it wouldn't have been strange if she had gotten angry.
Before she could truly get angry, I quickly showed her the broken sword.
Upon seeing the sword, the Grand Archduchess furrowed her brow. She looked genuinely upset at the sight of it.
"Did you break the repaired sword again?"
Fortunately, she wasn't angry simply because I'd brought her something to repair.
"No, no. It's a different sword. Please look again."
I quickly cleared up the misunderstanding, and she let go of her anger to examine the sword.
"You're right. But this is very similar to the sword I repaired last time..."
She raised her head and stared intently at me.
"Didn't you tell me last time that you had to go to the temple for a group project? And you won the knight duel, so you held a ritual at the temple yesterday. Yet today, you bring me this sword."
Under the Grand Archduchess's pressure to explain what was going on, I told her the truth.
"I'm sorry. I signed a confidentiality contract at the temple."
That contract was useless against me, of course, but I couldn't tell the Grand Archduchess—or anyone else, for that matter—right now.
"Then it can't be helped."
The Grand Archduchess shook her head and placed her hand on the sword.
Fortunately, it seemed the broken sword could be repaired as well.
"A sword split into two like this is difficult. You have to grant me a favor later."
I nodded at her words.
Considering how many of my artifacts the Grand Archduchess had repaired, and thinking of the future, I had no choice but to grant her favors.
After holding the sword for quite a while, sweating from the effort, the Grand Archduchess finally let go of it, looking exhausted.
The sword lying on the table looked no different from how it had before it was broken.
"I'll rest for a moment..."
It seemed to have been far more exhausting than she had expected.
The Grand Archduchess fell asleep on the sofa before she could even finish her sentence.
Fortunately, her body seemed fine, so before calling for someone, I first picked up the sword.
As soon as I gripped the sword, I felt as though I understood its ability.
'As expected, it was a healing ability.'
They were sibling swords, but their abilities were different.
Since it was a holy sword of the Order, it made sense that there would be a sword of healing.
While I was at it, I also pulled out the other sword that was in my pocket.
And finally, holding the sword I had pulled from my pocket, I flipped the switch.
A line made of mana stretched out from the sword.
At the same time, a Mana Thread also appeared from the sword that had been broken.
But the direction of the Mana Threads was strange.
"Why is it doing this?"
The Mana Threads that should have connected the two swords were stretching up into the sky.
I walked over to the window and looked outside.
The two lines had escaped the room and were stretching far beyond the capital.
And I could see one more line.
Three lines were cutting across the sky.
The two lines starting from this room, and a Mana Thread starting from the direction of the distant Pisen Marquisate, passed through the capital and continued to stretch in the same direction.
It looked like I would have to be the one to decide the destination of our next group project as well.