77. The Mask
77. The Mask
Riber had learned of the engagement over ten years ago.
The young Riber hadn't known the full circumstances... but she later heard that the territory had been in an extremely dangerous situation back then.
The condition the Sword Saint had set in exchange for his help was that he be allowed to become engaged to the Simore family's only daughter.
The time she had actually spent with him was less than a week.
They had stayed in the same mansion for the engagement ceremony, lived together for about a week, parted ways, and had not met even once since.
The memories of the Sword Saint were brief but intense.
"So you're Riber. It's a pleasure to meet you."
The first time she saw the Sword Saint was not at the mansion within the Simore territory, but at the borderlands between the Empire and the Kingdom.
The Sword Saint, who introduced himself with a seemingly good-natured smile, looked at first glance like a kindly uncle, but the young Riber could tell that something black and unidentifiable lurked deep within his eyes.
But at that time, she hadn't known what it was.
She had simply thought she was being shy around a stranger.
The sudden news of her engagement to an uncle who looked more than 60 years older than herself had been shocking, but around that time, she hadn't particularly disliked it.
The Sword Saint resembled a hero straight out of an old tale.
His imposing physique, which forced one to crane their neck just to look up at him, and the smile that never left his face. The outstanding swordsmanship and the refinement in his speech... he was truly the picture-perfect image of a hero.
In reality, the Sword Saint was a living hero from the old stories of the Clover Kingdom.
A hero who had achieved countless military exploits, vanquished monsters, and protected the Clover Kingdom... In those days, she had definitely admired him.
That was, until she realized it was all a mask.
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It was a stiflingly hot day.
The incident occurred while she was taking a walk near a stream to cool off.
At the stream, where there were hardly any onlookers, the Sword Saint slaughtered three children of serfs who had been playing upstream and drifting down.
They had done nothing wrong.
The biggest reason was that there were no other people watching.
The next reason was that he found it unpleasant that muddy water was flowing downstream because they were playing in the water upriver.
Watching the Sword Saint dash out like lightning, butcher the children her own age, and then walk down laughing just as he had at first, his face stained red with the spray of blood, Riber trembled in terror.
Seeing Riber trembling in fear at the sight of him, he spent a long moment inspecting his own body as if wondering what was wrong before uttering a single sentence.
"Ah, my clothes have gotten dirty."
From then until the day the engagement ceremony ended and she returned to her territory, Riber was so terrified of the Sword Saint that she could not meet his eyes.
"You must have grown up big and strong by the next time we meet. Stay healthy... and grow well while keeping your promise. After all, you are my precious treasure."
The Sword Saint was smiling as he touched Riber's abdomen with his large hand.
It was an action he had performed every single day during that one week, but now it was chillingly terrifying.
As she grew older, the horror of the Sword Saint she had glimpsed just once in her childhood drew closer and closer, right before her eyes.
And when she became an adult and the promised day approached, Riber fled to the Academy.
Her opponent was the Master of the Clover Kingdom... no matter how much he might wish to come, he could not obtain entry clearance to a foreign academy.
Her primary goal was to buy time there for the next three years.
Her secondary goal was to become strong enough that she wouldn't be pushed around by the Sword Saint.
Atlas, a connection she had made after coming to the Academy, had told her he would raise her skills to the level of a top-tier Expert within a year.
In the midst of that, she learned that people from the Clover Kingdom's academy were coming.
Even if people came from the Clover Kingdom, she thought the Master, the Sword Saint, would never be allowed into the Empire.
She had been curious how he would manage to enter, but she had never imagined they would actually grant him permission.
The sight of the Sword Saint confidently striding into the Academy stole her breath the instant she saw him.
Like an eagle snatching its prey, he snatched up Riber.
"How are you here...?"
"Is there some reason I shouldn't come to see you? No... did you think I wouldn't even be able to come?"
Seeing Riber trembling in terror right after being grabbed and lifted into the air, the Sword Saint laughed heartily.
As if fleeing all the way to the Academy was nothing special, he let out a hearty laugh and landed at an abandoned, ruined building separated from the Academy's main hall.
"Don't be so stiff. It annoyed me a bit, but it's bearable, you see."
As soon as her feet touched the ground, Riber threw off the Sword Saint's hand.
Watching Riber distance herself from him, the Sword Saint narrowed his eyes.
"It seems you've gotten yourself a cute little boyfriend... I had no idea that was your taste. So that's why you hated me so much?"
At the mention of Atlas, Riber's expression hardened.
She recalled the last memory.
The small hand that had held her own anxious hand when she saw the Sword Saint.
The face of Atlas, who had tried to hold onto her hand until the very end when the Sword Saint soared into the sky and lifted her up.
"Don't... touch anyone else."
"Why? It's nothing to be ashamed of. Everyone has their own proclivities... liking a guy who's smaller and cuter than you isn't all that perverted.
No, maybe it is a bit perverted? Actually, you aren't really my type either. Let's be honest with each other.
That's not what's important. What's important is whether you kept your promise."
The Sword Saint took out an artifact from his bosom that resembled a dagger.
The blade looked to be about 17cm long, with a wooden handle about 8cm long, and what was peculiar about this dagger was that its blade was not made of metal.
No, it was even strange to call it a blade.
It looked as if a horn from some creature had been attached to it.
The Sword Saint held it out to Riber.
She flinched, thinking he was going to stab her, but the Sword Saint merely held the dagger up to Riber's face.
"Grip it."
The moment she took the dagger, its blade began to glow faintly.
The Sword Saint looked upon this sight with immense satisfaction.
"Hmm... as promised, you're still a chaste maiden... good, that's fine then. It's none of my business who you date... but your chastity belongs to me, so you must continue to protect it as you have been."
Riber's face crumpled at the word 'chastity'.
Maintaining her chastity was the condition he had imposed upon their engagement.
Despite being a Master, he believed in the superstition that receiving a virgin's blood would restore his youth—she thought to herself that he was an utterly perverted old man.
"This level of defiance is cute since you were keeping your promise well... But nothing more.
If you try any more foolishness, then it won't be you—I'll start tearing apart the people around you, one by one."
"...If you lay a hand on a citizen of the Empire, the Empire's Greatest Sword won't stand for it."
Perhaps she had wanted to offer even a little resistance; the moment the words 'Empire's Greatest Sword' slipped out of her mouth, the Sword Saint's attitude abruptly changed, and he grabbed Riber by the scruff of her neck, lifting her with one hand.
"Khek..!"
"Ha..!! Do you think I'd be scared of that bitch..? A mere speck like you dares to treat me as if I'm beneath her...?!!"
The Sword Saint's breathing grew steadily rougher, as if he was quite enraged.
Lifted by his brutish strength, she struggled to breathe.
If he had grabbed her neck with that grip strength, it would have snapped instantly.
"No... should I just tear everything apart right now? The Empire's Greatest Sword won't stand for it, you say?? How many could I kill before that bitch arrives?
They say the Empire's Academy is so well-defended, but I've never tested how well it holds up against a Master, so I'm quite intrigued.
First, I'll kill that little boyfriend of yours. It would be tremendous fun to tear off his head and toss it around like a baseball."
"Stop..."
She was terrified of the Sword Saint, who was on the verge of becoming fully enraged.
The cruel words he spoke hammered against Riber's chest like a mace.
This was no empty threat that could never come to pass.
He was a Master who possessed more than enough skill to do so, and a person with such a total lack of morals that he felt no compunction about committing such acts.
He was someone who could slaughter innocent children simply for being an eyesore... and feel no guilt whatsoever.
At his bloodshot declaration that he would slaughter indiscriminately, the image of the children murdered at the stream surfaced in her mind.
The head of the child floating on the stream, dyed crimson, overlapped with the image of Atlas's head.
Her body shook with terror at the man before her.
Riber could endure threats aimed at herself... but she couldn't bear threats directed at the people she cherished.
She was too terrified of seeing her precious people hurt because of her own actions.
"I was wrong... I won't defy you anymore, so please... don't do... that... please..."
As she begged for mercy, sobbing and trembling in utter terror, the Sword Saint, whose eyes had been completely bloodshot just moments before, seemed quite pleased by the sight and immediately shifted his expression.
"Yes, you should have done that from the start. If it had been like this from the beginning, it would have been better for both of us."
"Khek... ha... ha..."
Wearing a refreshing smile that no one would ever guess belonged to the man who had been snarling just moments ago, he set Riber back down on the ground.
As the oxygen she'd been denied suddenly flooded her lungs, Riber gasped for breath, and seeing this, the Sword Saint kindly stroked her back and straightened her disheveled clothing.
"As long as you keep your promise just as you are now... I'm willing to wait as long as it takes until you graduate from the Academy. But don't forget... you are my treasure."
The Sword Saint Adolf drew close enough to be right before Riber's eyes and caressed her abdomen with a brutish touch.
It was a rough, disgusting touch that she wanted to shake off, but the memory of his recent threats prevented her from doing so.
She had no choice but to squeeze her eyes shut and wait for the time to pass.
"In other words, you are my property."