New Clues and the Reason for Holding the Sword
"Ugh..."
Elsid groaned as a dull ache throbbed in his abdomen, stirring him awake. When his eyes opened, he found himself staring at a faded brown ceiling. Beside the bed sat Yu Jin-gwang, carving an apple into rabbit shapes and arranging the pieces neatly on a plate.
"Sleep well, Elsid?"
"Where... am I?"
"My room on the second floor. You were out longer than I expected. It's nearly noon already."
A flash of light caught Elsid's eye. The paring knife in Yu Jin-gwang's hand transformed into a necklace. It was Faker, reshaped once more.
He's certainly getting good use out of it.
Elsid lacked the energy to comment. He had poured every ounce of strength into that fight. There was nothing left.
I lost.
The realization sank in, and his mood darkened. The lingering sting in his stomach made denial impossible. Yu Jin-gwang had struck him with the flat of the blade in that final instant—a flawless defeat with no room for excuses.
"Haa... So this is what defeat tastes like. Bitterer than I imagined."
"Don't let it weigh on you too much. Everyone wins and loses in life."
Yu Jin-gwang patted his shoulder in a gesture that was half comfort, half something else.
"Besides, my final technique—Thunder Sever—is considered difficult even for SS-rank adventurers. There's no shame in it."
"SS-rank adventurers struggle with it? What exactly did you create?"
Only a handful of adventurers ever reached SS-rank, each treated as a national treasure. If even they found the technique daunting, its power was extraordinary. From what Elsid had experienced, it was a strike that surpassed even the user's own perception—a slash fast enough to cut lightning itself. In that moment of extreme focus, Yu Jin-gwang had accelerated his body's electrical signals with aura, delivering an unavoidable blow the instant Elsid entered range.
What kind of life must one live to master something like that?
A sudden thought struck him.
"What about Rain and the others? Did they receive their rewards?"
"That's the first proper question you've asked since waking. Quite the busybody, aren't you?"
Yu Jin-gwang had promised to discuss compensation the previous night.
"Don't worry. I already paid everyone before you woke."
"Rain asked to be trained in throwing techniques. He never showed interest when Robin used them, but it seems you inspired him."
"Me?"
Elsid couldn't recall doing anything particularly inspiring.
"Arke requested a letter of recommendation to the main temple of Pios, the god of light and healing. She wants to study high-level holy magic."
It was obvious she refused to fall behind.
"And Robin..."
Elsid swallowed nervously.
"He asked for his debts to be forgiven—including the children's pocket money."
If Elsid had been standing, he would have collapsed from sheer disbelief. Instead of asking for money, Robin had requested the cancellation of a measly eighty-gold debt.
While Elsid shook his head in exasperation, Yu Jin-gwang spoke again.
"I have a question for you as well. Why do you wield a sword?"
His eyes were the same serious gaze he had worn during their fight.
"People take up weapons to achieve something. It could be to protect their own life, to gain status, or to uphold their pride."
Elsid met that gaze without looking away.
"I'll ask again. Why do you hold the sword?"
"There's a swordsman I want to become like."
Elsid began recounting the story he had once told only to Luke—the day he first met Elysion.
Even now, the memory remained vivid.
"Puhaha! So this is the 'demon' they were talking about? Those idiots must have knots for eyes."
On a battlefield soaked in blood, the man had appeared without warning. Nearly two meters tall, with white hair and eyebrows—an old man who would later become his grandfather, Elysion.
"I came because I heard a corpse-eating ghost was roaming around, but it turns out it's just a brat like you. That sword in your hand—you pulled it from a corpse? Surviving alone by scavenging battlefields... What a dull story."
The man had scooped Elsid up with a bored expression. Naturally, Elsid had resisted, only to be knocked unconscious with a single flick to the forehead.
"Drop that pathetic sword you've been swinging just to survive another day. I'll teach you something far greater. From now on, you'll wield a blade not merely to cut enemies or protect yourself, but to safeguard the things worth staking your very soul upon."
Elsid repeated the words Elysion had spoken that day.
"I was happy. It was the first time anyone had told me it was all right to live. Even as a child, I knew those words came from the heart. Proof of that was how he told me to call him 'Grandfather' and took me in as his disciple without asking."
The man had made Elsid part of his family from their very first meeting. That joy and gratitude would stay with him until the day he died.
"That was when I made up my mind. I wanted to catch up to that man's swordsmanship. I wanted to become an adult who acted differently from those who only offered empty pity. But to do that, I had to grow stronger. The weak can't help anyone."
"So that's why you took up the sword."
Yu Jin-gwang nodded, accepting the answer.
"And it's also the reason there's hesitation in your blade..."
"How did you—?!"
Elsid was genuinely startled. He had never expected the story to reveal that much.
"Who do you think we are? We fought with everything we had. For swordsmen, there's no better way to understand each other."
Yu Jin-gwang shrugged as if it were nothing.
"You don't have to explain the details. It's obvious something serious happened... and that it involves your grandfather. So, are you satisfied with how things are now?"
"...Huh?"
For a moment, Elsid was at a loss for words.
"Hahaha, of course not."
He burst into laughter. Right now, he was only half a swordsman—incapable of drawing blood from living opponents. That was the truth. But he had no intention of remaining that way. Why had he been wasting time on pointless worries? The answer had been clear from the beginning.
No matter how long it took, he would become the "great swordsman" he aspired to be.
"I suppose no further questions are needed."
Yu Jin-gwang smiled in return.
"If you've rested enough, come downstairs. There's still more to discuss."
With that, he left the room.
***
"You came down faster than I expected."
Some time later, Elsid descended the stairs.
"Yes. Pointless brooding isn't my style."
"Is that so? We're alike in that regard."
Yu Jin-gwang flicked something toward him. Elsid caught it reflexively and opened his hand to find a cross-shaped necklace resting in his palm—Faker, the magic sword capable of transforming into any blade its wielder had seen.
"Take it. Your reward."
Yu Jin-gwang spoke before Elsid could even ask.
"What, not satisfied?"
It was an incredibly generous reward. Still...
"Are you sure this is all right?"
"I already told you. It's payment for completing the request. A token of gratitude."
Yu Jin-gwang looked at the cross-shaped Faker with a complicated expression.
"And... thank you for stopping me from driving a sword into my friend's heart with my own hands once more."
He bowed deeply, remaining that way for quite some time.
"More importantly, what do you plan to do now?"
After several minutes, Yu Jin-gwang asked the question.
"I need to keep searching for Vandel."
"I see. He must be quite the close friend."
"It's just the stubborn bad blood he mentioned. I only ended up here because I was looking for him. I fought hundreds of zombies in that dungeon and had a life-or-death struggle with a tiger zombie that used to be a mountain god. 'Looking at it that way, that bastard Vandel really is useless.' The only helpful thing about him is that he forges excellent swords."
"In that case, head to the northern continent."
"The north?"
Yu Jin-gwang offered an unexpected clue.
"Before we parted, he told me he was going to find 'materials that hold cold' found only in the northern continent, and to meet the 'barbarians' who live there."
The northern continent, cold-holding materials, barbarians—places and interests that perfectly suited Vandel.
"Ah, now that I think about it, I seem to recall rumors of a tournament in the northern continent to determine the strongest warrior..."
That detail also strongly piqued Elsid's own interest.
With new clues about Vandel in hand, Elsid's next destination was decided. Though a hint of personal desire had slipped in, that was no secret.