A Trivial Quarrel
That evening, Bellion received a mission from the First Princess, Ludmila.
“I didn’t expect her to ask so soon…… Well, it’s a mission. Kyle. Will you take it?”
“The one I agreed to receive?”
“A single sword imbued with the magic you want.”
It was a blade forged by the same artisan who had crafted the magic sword Myungwol carried. Kyle had no need for ordinary swords, yet the idea of a magic sword intrigued him. He had not yet decided what enchantment to place within it, but the very notion of a magic blade held a certain allure. Kyle accepted without protest.
Once Kyle agreed, Bellion immediately laid out the details of the mission.
“The Princess oversees two territories—Viscount Peony’s domain and Baron Azral’s domain. It seems the two have recently come to blows.”
“So?”
“She wants you to go and stop them.”
“……You’re sending a Master just to break up a fight?”
“Precisely because it is only a fight that a Master is being sent.”
When Kyle asked what that was supposed to mean, Bellion explained the tangled web of political maneuvering.
“It shows she has enough leeway to dispatch a Master even for something like this. She is demonstrating that to the nobles under her command.”
“Even though I’m not one of her direct subordinates?”
“The lower ranks won’t know the difference. The mere fact that the Princess can move a Master with a single gesture will be enough to make people wary.”
In short, two houses that could field only a handful of Experts at best were on the verge of war, and an Aura Master was being sent to end it. It was like sending the U.S. military to intervene in a tribal skirmish in South Sudan—grossly excessive force, yet the Princess seemed unconcerned.
“Fine. I’ll go.”
“Good. Then I’ll let her know…….”
“There’s one problem, though.”
Bellion stopped and turned to look at him, wondering what could possibly be wrong. He wondered if Kyle had been injured during today’s sparring. But the issue Kyle raised was absurdly minor.
“If I do this, I won’t be able to attend the Academy tomorrow.”
“……I’ll handle it. We can treat it as a field exercise.”
“Oh. Thanks.”
Watching a Master fret over attendance, Bellion let out a dry laugh.
The next day, Kyle boarded the carriage the Princess had prepared. As expected of a vehicle reserved for the Empire’s highest elites, it was excessively luxurious. The moment he climbed inside, his eyes met those of Myungwol, who was already seated within.
“We meet again thus.”
“You’re coming as well?”
“Indeed. It is a request from the lady.”
Myungwol gestured with his chin for Kyle to sit. Taking the seat opposite him, Kyle felt a surge of disbelief.
‘What, is some ancient god sealed in there or something?’
Two minor houses—a baron and a viscount—were fighting, yet two Masters were being dispatched. It was far too much. For a moment he even wondered if he had been tricked into some other mission entirely.
After a brief moment of thought, however, Kyle reached a conclusion.
‘Not my problem.’
If he had been deceived, he could simply refuse the mission and return. Or, after resolving it, demand additional compensation from the Princess. He possessed both the power and the authority to do so. After all, he was the youngest Master of the count’s house known as the Empire’s Sword. If the Princess was sane, she would not attempt to trap him.
‘So they really are sending both of us for political reasons.’
He wondered just how fierce the power struggle beneath the surface must be. Letting out a quiet chuckle, Kyle turned his gaze to the window and waited for the carriage to arrive.
The magically powered carriage soon reached the border between the two territories. When Kyle stepped down, he took in the sight of the two armies facing each other and smiled.
“Quite a crowd.”
Hundreds of soldiers stood growling at one another with weapons raised, dozens of knights commanded them, and several mages were visible as well. Kyle glanced at Myungwol, wondering how best to stop them in a way that would earn praise.
“Why are they fighting?”
“I do not know.”
“Seriously? You’re the Princess’s personal guard knight and you don’t know either?”
“There is no need to know.”
Myungwol lightly tapped the scabbard at his waist.
“Stopping them is all that matters, is it not?”
In the next instant, Myungwol dashed straight into the ranks of soldiers. As if waiting for that moment, both armies began charging toward each other. Kyle watched Myungwol sprinting ahead and the soldiers rushing to meet him, then tapped his foot lightly against the ground.
Thud, thud—
After stamping the earth a few times, Kyle launched himself skyward on a burst of Aura.
Kwaaaaaak—!
Propelled by the violent backlash of Aura, Kyle shot forward and landed with a thunderous crash between the two armies, arriving ahead of Myungwol.
“Uwaaaah—!?”
“A—a person fell from the sky—!”
“F-fire at once!”
Arrows and spells flew toward Kyle, who had shattered the ground upon landing. He offered silent praise to both armies for continuing to attack despite his flamboyant entrance, then drew his sword.
Manifesting an Aura Blade barehanded consumed far too much energy. A swordsman always sought maximum effect with minimum expenditure. A thin layer of Aura Blade, barely a centimeter long, coated the blade Kyle now held. At a glance it was almost invisible, yet its size and length were irrelevant. An Aura Blade was, by its very nature, a blade of authority.
Shraaak—!
“……Magic.”
“He just cut an arrow?”
“An Aura Blade……”
Kyle stood with the shining sword in hand and sliced through spells and arrows alike. Even in this medieval fantasy world where information was tightly controlled, everyone recognized the owner of a glowing blade. An Aura Master. A superhuman who could face an army with a single sword. Faced with an existence no ordinary soldier could possibly oppose, the troops froze in place.
“You’re slow.”
“And you are absurdly fast.”
“Well, that’s not the important part.”
Kyle looked between the two armies and spoke.
“I need to be able to tell which side is which……”
At his words, the knights commanding each force came running. They understood that the arrival of someone at the level of a Master was no ordinary matter. The knights halted before Kyle, snapped to attention, and shouted.
“Melatrin, knight of Viscount Peony’s domain……”
“I am Height, sword of Baron Azral!”
“You two are in command here?”
““Yes, sir!””
“Perfect.”
Kyle produced the order he had received from the Princess and held it out to both commanders.
“Both forces are to disband. Immediately.”
Having received the Princess’s order, both armies withdrew a short distance. Yet they continued to glare at one another from across the gap. When even the royal decree failed to resolve the tension, Kyle gathered the two commanders for a meeting.
“So, why are you fighting?”
“……They started it.”
“And why exactly?”
When Melatrin gave his answer, Kyle let out a long sigh and ordered him to explain in detail. Melatrin pressed his lips together for a moment as if organizing his thoughts, then began to lay out the reason they claimed to have suffered harm.
“There is a great river that flows from these lands toward the upper territories. We use its waters to irrigate our fields.”
Recently, however, a sudden earthquake had struck. Whether because of the quake or not, the river had changed course and now flowed into Baron Azral’s domain. Viscount Peony’s territory, suddenly deprived of its water supply, had made every effort to reclaim the flow. They had negotiated with Baron Azral to construct a new channel that would return the river to its original path. During that process, they discovered that Baron Azral’s domain had already prepared a channel in advance.
“Before the earthquake altered the river’s course, there were clear signs that Baron Azral’s domain had already known and prepared a path.”
“That’s speculation! The channel formed naturally when the earthquake struck!”
“Nonsense! How could a channel like that appear naturally!?”
Height, the knight representing Baron Azral, shouted back furiously. He insisted no such thing had happened and that everything was fabricated. Listening to both men, Kyle let out another deep sigh.
After dealing with dragon cultists terrorizing the Academy, international terrorists, and demons resurrected by black mages, being assigned something this petty felt strangely disorienting. Political problems like this were also difficult to resolve cleanly.
‘It’s not something that can be settled with a sword alone……’
He had assumed the two men understood that as well, but apparently not. Their argument grew increasingly heated until, in the brief moment Kyle sighed, both knights drew daggers from their coats and stabbed each other.
Thud—!
“……Huh?”
Kyle had no time to intervene. The two men moved with frightening speed, each driving a dagger into the other’s vital point in what looked like a mutual suicide. They collapsed together.
“What the hell……”
If either had attacked him, Kyle could have blocked or dodged. Instead, they had ignored him completely and struck only at each other, leaving him unable to react. Kyle stared at the blood streaming across the ground and exhaled slowly.
Something was happening.