Sword Master
"Sword Master? I don't particularly care for meaningless slaughter. It'll earn me annoying enemies like the Black Moon and the Genos Empire, but I'll bear it. So get lost. Now."
"Urk…."
The assassin leader's hand trembled around his dagger.
I couldn't see it, but I sensed it through the faint vibrations and sounds from his shifting muscles.
He alternated glances between me and the bisected corpse of his comrade rolling at my feet, exhaling shallow breaths.
Finally, he ground his teeth and spoke.
"If we go back like this, the Black Moon will brand us as mission failures who fled."
The smug tone he'd used moments ago to boast about introducing his employer was gone.
"I won't bother explaining what happens to failures in our organization. We're dead meat either way. So we might as well settle this here."
At his words, the other assassins hidden throughout the forest gripped their weapons in agreement.
A wave of overwhelming killing intent poured out—on a whole different level from before.
The rebels' mood was different, though.
Having watched their comrades get butchered in seconds, even the airborne assassins cleaved in one stroke, they visibly hesitated.
But it didn't last.
The rebel leader, seeing his men falter, bellowed from their midst, veins bulging in his neck.
"Don't retreat! If we don't kill that last royal, Rihella Leyseras, standing there, everything we've done is for nothing!"
"B-but…."
"He's right, Captain, but…."
His shout halted the rebels' backward steps.
"If we can't make the kingdom a proper vassal of the Genos Empire, we get no lands or rewards as promised! We have to take that bitch by any means. That one's just a blind, one-armed cripple alone. We're over a hundred strong!"
"Hm…."
I felt genuine pity.
Three men had just died in seconds to that blind, one-armed cripple, and here he was spouting idiocy.
Lust for money and power must have overridden his survival instincts.
Or maybe he just wanted to deny reality.
Either way, despite my merciful offer, the assassins and rebels raised their weapons again.
And charged at me and the princess.
I shrugged lightly and adjusted my grip.
"Well then… no choice. I'll clean up every last one of you here."
They'd thrown away their chance.
I'd given them a clear shot at survival, a way back to family and friends unharmed.
But they'd spat on my mercy.
So no more guilt or holding back for me.
I released just a sliver of the mana I'd suppressed deep in my dantian.
Aura surged through my mana circuits from the hilt, enveloping the entire blade in an instant.
—!!
A bluish glow flared over the battered edge like rising flames.
A blade that fully embodied the user's will and path—unlike ordinary aura, a phenomenon only a Sword Master could produce.
"……."
"I-is that…?"
"No way…."
The advancing rebels and assassins froze as if nailed in place.
They gaped at the blinding blue light and crushing aura from my sword, faces blank.
Only the assassin leader, sensitive to mana flow, staggered back, body shaking uncontrollably.
"Aura… aura embodying one man's world…? No way…?"
His grip slackened; the dagger clattered limply to the dirt.
"Unbelievable. That guy's a Sword Master…?"
That was his last words—the enemies' final mark on the world.
I swung the sword down lightly with just a wrist flick.
A soft, silent stroke, not even a whoosh.
The blue trail from the tip expanded in a fan shape, sweeping the forest ahead.
No screams.
The hundred-odd rebels and assassins didn't crumple from physical blows.
They disintegrated in place, forms crumbling to gray dust.
Spears and swords, armor, flesh—all reduced to fine powder and collapsed.
Dozens who'd reeked of bloodlust moments ago scattered into the air like they'd never existed.
Not a drop of blood, not a scrap of meat. A quiet, pristine erasure.
As the killing intent and blood faded, a cool pre-dawn breeze rose, swirling the ash like a blizzard into the forest depths.
And right on cue, the system alert appeared.
[The first divergence point has appeared.]
[The One-Armed Sword Saint Leon has chosen the fate of saving Rihella Leyseras's life.]
[The story's flow changes.]
[The continent's chance of annihilation decreases by 3%.]
[The risk of the Mutant disaster Morvite going berserk drops dramatically.]
'Sending a message out of the blue after 20 years….'
Nothing bad for me, so I'd look into it later.
I nodded indifferently at the now-empty clearing that had been the battlefield, withdrew the aura, and sheathed the sword.
Then turned slowly.
And walked toward Rihella Leyseras and her knights, still frozen on the ground, minds uncomprehending.
"Wha… wha…."
"A Sword Master… why in a forest near some backwater town…?"
"No, before that—doesn't he look early twenties…? How does someone that young become a Sword Master…?"
Even as I approached, the four knights, princess, and maid didn't budge.
They just stared blankly, alternating between my face and the partially vanished forest.
Well, it was a hell of a sight without warning.
I hadn't meant to overdo it—my first time fighting so many at once, one against a crowd.
Slipped on the power control a bit.
Better than going easy and letting a couple survive to cause trouble, though.
'Eh, whatever.'
While fiddling with the cloth over my eyes, waiting silently for them to snap out of it—
"F-first… allow me to offer my thanks once more."
Rihella Leyseras knelt first, bowing her head low.
"It is an honor to behold with my own eyes one of the six—no, seven great Sword Masters on the continent. And a double honor to have my life saved."
At her words, the others came to their senses, bowing even deeper one by one.
"We lowly creatures treading the path of the sword failed to recognize a Sword Master."
"As knights sworn to our oaths, we beg forgiveness for not perceiving you at once."
"We… behold the great one."
…Oh.
I knew a Sword Master's name carried more weight than an emperor's.
But this much?
A bit embarrassed at showing off, I stood awkwardly for a moment before speaking.
"No need for excessive courtesy. Please, stand."
"…."
They flinched in unison at my words.
The knights, eyeing each other on who should rise first, stood cautiously.
The maid helped Rihella up slowly after.
Deep sighs of relief escaped them all.
Understandable—tensed to the brink of death, now safe.
I eyed the princess, still timidly watching me.
"We have wounded among us, so best to move now. If it's alright, let's discuss the full story, rewards, and plans ahead on the way to my next stop, Solline."
"Y-yes… understood."
The princess and knights nodded eagerly, no objections.
Who'd refuse a Sword Master's escort?
'Gonna gather some intel on the way too.'
Leyseras.
To piece together that hazy memory fragment, nothing beat hearing it straight from them.
With everything settled, I led the way out through the ash-strewn forest path; the group followed close, limping.
About eight hours later, we reached Solline, the neutral trade city near the border.
We entered without issue.
Lucky to snag an empty merchant wagon midway, we arrived earlier than expected on foot.
The princess's wanted posters hadn't reached here yet.
While the knights and maid headed into the inn to secure rooms, I leaned against a weathered wooden pillar out front, sorting my thoughts.
'The Genos Empire's continental unification war.'
The princess's tearful rundown of the continent's state matched the game backstory I'd played perfectly.
The original game started mid-to-late unification war, as the empire neared completion amid bloody purges.
So this was mid-war: the empire expanding, crushing kingdoms.
'Leyseras Kingdom just fell….'
Digging through memories, I recalled the rough order of conquered nations, mapping the timeline.
'Probably six more kingdoms fall after Leyseras before the main story kicks off.'
Plenty of time.
More than enough to intervene, stir chaos, throw in variables.
And it clarified my first goal.
'Gotta hurry to the Rosonto Kingdom before it's too late.'
Beings not yet awakened, or just grasping power fragments, undergoing human experiments.
The first of the Seven Disasters.
Corrosion's Eretoa.
Before the desperate Rosonto drugs her into madness as the empire closes in—I had to find and save her first.
Of course, "save" meant turning her into a reliable ally for later world-fixing, but hey.
'She gets strong enough post-full growth to solo five Sword Masters. Worth it.'
"Master, rooms are ready. Please, come inside."
Rowen, the knight captain, called from the inn entrance, voice tense.
I pushed off the pillar with a light nod.
With the big-picture plan set, now for the fun part: how to best use this royal crew and snag rewards.