Chapter 16
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 16
Chapter Title: The Sword Saint's Visit
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It's too ominous to try right away.
That was when it happened.
BOOM!!!
Suddenly, the door flew open, and Melissa strode in with her face tense as could be.
And she asked me,
"O... Ooo, Big Brother."
She spoke as if she were malfunctioning, stumbling over every word.
Was she worried because I'd passed out cold asleep? No way.
My little sister had a temper as nasty as they come.
At a glance, it was obvious she wasn't worried—she was just extremely tense about something.
I gave her a sly smile and answered the jittery girl.
"Why are you talking so formally? You got a screw loose?"
"You little fu... "
Melissa's tense expression twisted into a demonic scowl in an instant, and she kicked me right in the body.
"The VIP is here! You lunatic! How the hell do you know someone that incredible?"
VIP?
Why would a VIP show up in this backwater county?
No, wait.
I thought seriously about it.
For starters, House Cascadia wasn't some pushover family just looking at its roots.
Sure, it was teetering on the brink now, a shadow of its former glory, but the position of Border Count for House Cascadia was originally meant to monitor the Demon Realm and guard the frontier.
The royals acknowledged those contributions and allowed them private forces beyond what typical nobles could hold.
In other words, House Cascadia was fundamentally the kingdom's military bulwark for defense.
Of course, since it was for fighting non-human monsters, it was more about quality than quantity.
Put another way, the only people worth Melissa making such a fuss over would be high-ranking kingdom nobles or royalty.
'Okay, so here's the problem.'
With no clue who the high noble was trying to devour Cascadia's power, could I guarantee that some visiting royal or high noble was an ally?
"Should've left a few alive if I'd known this was coming?"
[I've had similar thoughts before.]
They'd just be tails anyway, but beating them might've yielded some clues.
Maybe the extreme fatigue and stress made it hard to think straight...
"Who the hell came, anyway?"
"I was totally shocked. We've got to host a VIP starting this morning, and you're passed out sleeping—total chaos."
She spoke tensely, but for some reason...
Melissa's tone carried a note of excitement.
It was anticipation, or maybe joy.
Heck, when she first spoke to me, hadn't she been snorting with excitement?
Of course, her actions were bitchy as ever, but at noble gatherings, she seemed to draw a lot of male attention.
Or at least, that's my vague memory.
"Hey."
I asked Melissa with a stern face.
"Yeah?"
Her unusually bright face responding like that suddenly stirred some irritation inside me.
"Don't smile. It's ugly on you."
"..."
For a split second, it looked like she was grinding her teeth, but she quickly plastered the smile back on.
She wasn't usually this good at keeping her cool.
What's with her? It's kinda creepy.
"I'm holding back because the VIP's here. Do it one more time, and you're dead meat while I walk free. Got it?"
She acted like my combat prowess didn't matter one bit.
"No, seriously, who came...?"
I was saying that as I approached the drawing room door to open it.
Reflexively, I reached out and yanked Melissa behind me.
"Eek?!"
Then I snatched her sword in a flash and said,
"Melissa, this guest is a bit too intense, don't you think?"
"Wh... What are you doing?!"
She yelled in shock.
"Let's get one thing straight."
I said quietly, chillingly.
"In my life, the only Sword Master or higher I've ever seen besides Father is none."
There wasn't even a Sword Master among the knights serving Father.
The realistic endpoint of the sword: Sword Master. Or strategic weapon, in other words.
It's no joke that a nation's power is determined by how many true Sword Masters or Archmages it has.
"What're you saying?"
"An outsider—a Sword Master, no less—showing up right now doesn't strike me as normal."
I still didn't know the full picture of this kingdom's noble dynamics.
Let alone foreign nations.
So, there were precious few people I could judge as threats or allies to Melissa on the spot.
Especially now, in the middle of a civil war in our territory, for a Sword Master—nearly a strategic asset that's hard to deploy—to visit?
As far as I knew, our kingdom had only two Sword Master-level figures, including Father.
And that other one was famous for neutrality, so he wouldn't step in directly.
Besides, he couldn't compare to whoever was in that drawing room.
She frowned at my question and smacked the back of my head.
"The Sword Saint came to visit! The Empire's Sword Saint! The pinnacle of the sword!"
"Are you out of your mind?"
I pay back hits right away.
I smacked her back hard and scolded her.
"The Empire? Even a kingdom Sword Master dropping in would mean meddling in noble infighting, and you're talking Empire? You wanna lose your head for high treason?"
There was precedent even in my past life.
Cases where inviting foreign powers during a rebellion led straight to losing the country.
No one's that stupid—the royals wouldn't just sit by.
As I yelled at her like she was a kid, she shut her mouth, having no comeback.
A Sword Saint visiting in peacetime? No big deal.
Hell, you'd want to treat them with utmost respect to save face.
But.
"We're in the middle of a civil war right now. The kingdom's turning a blind eye to some extent, but it's still a civil war. Don't you get what that means?"
If a foreign power—the Empire, no less—gets involved here, it stops being a civil war and turns into international interference.
Foreign forces showing up where a civil war's raging?
Whether they interfere directly or not, it's bound to spark controversy.
Obviously, it would give our neutral kingdom—the Bata royals—an excuse to meddle.
Sure, a Sword Saint could probably ignore all that with their feats, but House Cascadia couldn't tolerate any weaknesses until Melissa officially became count.
"This feels like a trap."
In short, my judgment was that contact with those two inside could shatter House Cascadia entirely.
"N... No! It's not like that! The Sword Saint wants to take you as a disciple..."
"What nonsense is this now? What does that old man lack that he'd come all the way to this remote county to take me as a disciple? You don't know me?"
What a joke of an old coot. Right before I fell into Labyrinthos—actually, just days ago—I was known as a talentless dunce with zero gifts.
If he'd come from the Empire, that's at least a week on horseback. No way he'd been eyeing me before then.
I was staring suspiciously at the drawing room door when...
A calm voice came from inside.
Not loud, but it drilled right into my ears—definitely no ordinary person.
"Hoho. Keeping a cool head is impressive too."
"..."
"I do have something I must say, but barging in without notice is indeed rude."
He'd clearly overheard us; the voice came from behind the closed drawing room door.
I replied across the door.
"Apologies, sir, but Cascadia has many enemies right now. We can't afford any pretext for trouble. If possible, please leave as you are—I'd be grateful."
The classic 'no, don't, stop it' tactic.
"Worry not. Very few know I've come here."
"So I should take that as someone does know?"
"Then, how about we talk not as Sword Saint, but as a passerby? If this causes issues, I promise to aid you with every means at my disposal."
No sign of backing down. And at this point, our side was getting ambiguous too.
I sighed and shot a glare at Melissa, who was no better than an enemy.
"What? I'm doing this for your own good... Chances like this don't come every day..."
Aware she'd screwed up from excitement over the Sword Saint, Melissa averted her eyes, pouted, and grumbled.
Fine. A sword nut like her had every reason to tense up and get excited over a Sword Saint.
Smart and talented, but still a kid at heart.
Hearing he'd come to take a disciple? Family business takes a backseat—she'd be thrilled no matter what.
The Sword Saint's reputation wasn't some village dog name.
"We'll settle scores later."
Speechless, Melissa turned her head away like a sulky child.
I opened the drawing room door then.
A red-haired elder with some white mixed in sat sipping tea, along with a younger man.
If only I could view status windows like the system's for others, but it only showed mine.
"Pleased to meet you. It's an honor to see the Empire's Sword Saint. I'm Leon Cascadia, eldest son of the late count."
I greeted him with maximum courtesy, not leaving any room for nitpicking.
"Sorry for the intrusion. If it's uncomfortable, honorifics..."
"No need. Speak casually. You're worthy of respect either way."
He chuckled heartily, satisfied with my words.
"I had to visit to confirm something personally."
"Confirm something?"
He nodded at my question and pulled a document from his bosom, showing it to me.
It was a permit for entering the Demon Realm.
What grated on me, though, was the seal: not Melissa's, but Uncle Tibel Cascadia's.
Meaning, it had no real validity.
"Tibel Cascadia. You met him, then."
"Yes. I came here secretly to investigate the Demon Realm."
I didn't pry into the details.
Whether it was cleared with the royals was secondary; that was Melissa's domain to check.
"Someone who promised to help me said to meet Tibel Cascadia. I got the document from him, but seeing the territory..."
"Yes. You saw it's an invalid permit."
"Exactly."
Melissa wasn't officially recognized as heir yet, but her authority didn't vanish.
The scenario was obvious: Bishiri Cascadia threatened her into stamping it, handing all authority to Tibel—easy to issue fake permits like this.
Now that Bishiri was dead, it was worthless.
"...I won't meddle in the county's internal affairs. Now that I know the truth, may I make a formal request, Count Regent?"
Melissa, barely suppressing her excitement, replied tensely to his question.
"Y... Yes!!"
I subtly shifted my foot and pressed down on hers, making her jolt from the sharp pain. She glanced at me, then cleared her throat shortly.
Realizing her slip.
"Ahem... Sword Saint, apologies, but procedure requires knowing your reason for visiting the Demon Realm."
She was excited to meet the Sword Saint, sure, but as the count's heir, she had to follow protocol.
Late realization, but she was trying to compose herself now.