Prologue
The roar of hundreds, thousands of voices shook the air. The sound swelled and crashed like a living thing inside a single, massive arena.
"The victor has been decided!"
A woman who looked like the referee stood at the center and shouted with all her might.
"The champion of the 99th Imperial Martial Arts Tournament, the pride of the empire, is the human martial artist—Luke Arnas!"
The moment the announcement rang out, the winner—the champion of the arena—was decided.
"I am the strongest!!"
At the same time, the boy standing in the center of the arena threw his head back and roared at the sky. His spiky blue hair and sky-blue eyes made him look every bit the youngest champion the empire had ever seen.
***
That roaring scene was nothing more than a memory playing in one man's mind.
"Has it already been a week?"
The man stood alone in a quiet training hall, wearing a simple brown leather outfit suited for movement. In his hands he held a golden trophy, a faint smile on his lips. His name was Elsid. Spiky black hair that refused to lie flat, dark eyes like the night sky, and a sturdy build—he was the only person left in the hall.
At least, he had been.
Creak.
"Elsid hyung, are you in here?"
The door opened and someone stepped inside.
"Hey, Champion."
Elsid already knew who it was. The boy who had once been his student and was now the owner of the trophy in his hands—Luke Agnis. The spiky blue hair that reminded one of the sea and the clear sky-blue eyes gave him the look of a handsome youth. When they first met he had been a little kid, but after training he had grown to about five-foot-six and was now an eighteen-year-old young man. More than anyone else, he was the proud youngest champion of the Imperial Martial Arts Tournament.
"It's all thanks to you, Master— I mean, hyung. I still had a little time before I had to leave, so I came to say goodbye."
Luke had deliberately sought him out before departing on his year-long expedition as champion, fighting the strongest fighters from each territory.
"I didn't do anything. That glory is all yours—you earned it through your own effort."
While speaking, Elsid began packing his belongings into a worn travel bag.
"What are you going to do now, hyung?"
"Who knows?"
Luke watched him pack for a moment before asking the question. Elsid paused, not having given it much thought until now.
"Well… I was thinking of heading back to my hometown first."
The decision had already been made in his heart. Once the tournament ended, he would return home. He had never told Luke, but the resolve had been there all along.
"Hup."
After stuffing everything inside, he lifted the bag to test its weight, then set it down again. The pack looked old and well-used. One thing stood out among the contents: a wooden sword whose hilt stuck out from the top of the bag. The handle was brown, but the blade was painted entirely black.
"After that, I suppose I'll have to find a new job."
Elsid tucked the trophy into the bag and finished packing.
"The trainer gig ended half a year ago after I got on the wrong side of someone important in the empire. Now I need to find some other way to make money… Got any good ideas?"
He shrugged as if it were nothing.
"Pfft. Not just 'someone important.' You gave the imperial prince a flying kick. It's a miracle your head's still attached."
"The brat was too arrogant. I was just giving him a proper education."
They laughed and joked, but the topic involved someone far too high in status to be taken lightly.
"If you really have nothing else, why not try being an adventurer?"
Luke's suggestion caught Elsid's interest.
"Adventurer?"
"Yes. It's not as romantic as the hero stories in those old books you used to tell me about, but with your skills, you'd probably make decent money."
"Hmm. I'll think about it."
The idea intrigued him, but he didn't agree right away. He wanted more time to consider.
"Do whatever you want. I should get going now."
Luke prepared to leave; his time was up.
"Take care of yourself."
"You too, hyung."
Elsid waved as Luke opened the door and stepped out. They wouldn't meet again for a full year. For such a long separation, their goodbye was remarkably simple.
"Haa…"
Alone once more, Elsid let out a long breath and fell into thought. Old memories surfaced.
'Kwaaaang!!'
When he was only five or six, his grandfather would tell him adventure stories from books, complete with sound effects. Tales of dragons bringing disaster, of massive armies clashing in brutal battles. Stories of giants the size of hundreds of buildings roaring while a single swordsman wielding a greatsword charged forward to duel them one-on-one. Countless legends—some true, some clearly exaggerated—about adventurers. His grandfather, who was both family and swordsmanship teacher, had filled his childhood with them.
Among all those stories, Elsid had especially loved the ones featuring swordsmen. Good or evil, even if the swordsman was a polymorphed dragon—it didn't matter. He loved them all.
"An adventurer, huh…"
Still caught in the afterglow of memory, Elsid pulled the black wooden sword from his bag and ran his hand along it.
"Might actually be pretty fun."
Whoosh!
He swung the wooden sword once, bringing it down in a clean strike.
Elsid. A brief introduction: twenty-three years old, former trainer of the Imperial Arena Champion, and the sole disciple of the man once called the greatest swordsman in human history. That was all there was to this rather ordinary yet slightly unusual man.