Swords, Dogs, and Bones—It's All in How You Use Them - 2
“Hyung, how’s the new outfit?”
“I never expected it to turn out this good……”
My brand-new armor, finished in a single day.
Even for gear crafted by a master artisan, the short production window had kept my expectations modest. Yet the leather coat and protective pieces Master Chester had made for me were far lighter and thicker than anything I’d worn before. The length was tailored exactly to my frame, and the enchantments regulated my body temperature—warming or ventilating as the surroundings demanded—so it stayed constant.
“Quintuple enchantment magic on leather……”
“Did you really think Master Chester would hand over ordinary leather clothes?”
“No. As a Sage of Truth, this level of enchantment would be nothing to him. What’s amazing is that he produced clothes like these overnight.”
Even the top alone would have been impressive, yet he had finished the bottoms and every minor piece of protection in a mere day. And it wasn’t as if the quality had suffered for the speed. From the stitching to the enchantments, everything was flawless. Honestly, it felt less like wearing clothes and more like draping myself head to toe in artifacts.
“Well, he’s got craftsmanship on par with a Dwarf King. Of course he could.”
“How did you even get to know someone that amazing?”
“In my later years I wandered here and there and we ended up sharing drinks. In this loop we’re meeting for the first time, but he’s so sharp and discerning that we hit it off right away.”
“So that’s how it was.”
Outside the cast of Adokchoe, I knew almost no one. Most of the people I did know were academy figures, so I had essentially discarded that advantage from the start. The world is wide, and outstanding people are many. Rewen, who had forged countless connections across his regressions, was excellent at covering my shortcomings. Master Chester himself was a benefactor never once mentioned in Adokchoe. Without Rewen, I would have passed him by without ever meeting him in my entire life.
“Thanks. Because of you I got to know a good person.”
“Don’t mention it. I finally feel like I’ve been of proper help to you, hyung. That’s a relief.”
“You’ve been worrying about that?”
“As someone who’s always just watching from behind, how could I not? With a body that can barely even hold a sword, I can’t fight, so all I can do is give advice, right?”
“Advice alone is more than enough for me.”
“You might be fine with that, but it doesn’t sit well with me.”
Rewen waved his hands dismissively, looking thoroughly put out. Unlike Lin and Rene, he had never been able to help me directly, so it seemed he had fretted quite a bit.
“Come to think of it, what did you pay Master Chester as compensation that he refused money?”
“I traded him some information even a sage wouldn’t know.”
“What was it?”
“It’s a story that won’t do you any good to hear. Still want to know?”
“I’m curious.”
“There’s a vampire named Matilda that Master Chester has been unrequitedly in love with for a long time. I passed on little details like her favorite foods, her three sizes, that sort of thing.”
Even a sage is still a man, I guess. I never expected him to hand over equipment this ridiculously good just for info on his crush. He must truly love that woman Matilda that much.
“……Wait a second. How do you know a vampire’s three sizes?”
The moment the words left my mouth, Rewen quietly averted his eyes. Avoiding the answer. That could only mean one thing.
This bastard was a player too?
An alpha male on par with Kang Junhyuk was standing right in front of me.
Our business in the dwarf village was completely finished. We had rescued the Dwarf King who had been scheduled to go missing, repaired the polymorph magic sword so that Frach could fully absorb it, obtained new armor as well as weapons, and even gained a new goal: lift Hesha’s curse and secure the magic swords scattered across the world. Personally, I also intended to aim for a higher realm.
I should go after Grand Sword Master—the height even Kang Junhyuk never reached……
If I reached that realm, I was certain I would never fall behind even if I eventually had to fight Kang Junhyuk far in the future.
“Mm! Didn’t you mingle bodies with this one precisely so you could become the greatest swordsman? You can do it if it’s you!”
Strange. The world of Adokchoe I knew wasn’t supposed to be full of abnormal sexual desire……
At some point the world had filled with it. The lich and the dragon once called powerhouses of the fantasy setting had each become a beautiful girl or started lusting after their daughter’s fiancé. Elves, dwarves, and snow women all possessed strange customs. And I myself had experienced an act with a sword that even Kang Junhyuk had never gone through. The one mercy was that, thanks to polymorph, it could be done in human form. At least I had been able to preserve a minimum of dignity.
“Perhaps it’s because I received the Contractor’s essence? The blade feels smoother than yesterday! So, Contractor, let us share deep love again tonight!”
Give me a pass for today……
Having left the dwarf village, I was now heading for the town where Hades’s handshake event was being held, to collect the Full Moon Stone and various artifacts she had prepared for me. Things like the Troll’s Elixir could be delivered by crow, but there was always the risk of damage, so receiving them in person put my mind at ease. For that reason my party and I were riding in a carriage the dwarves had provided, with camping planned for tonight.
And in the middle of all that, spending a steamy night with Frach? The moment Lin or Rene found out, it would be over. Explaining that the woman’s true identity was my magic sword would be awkward, and telling the truth would be awkward too. In the first case their jealousy would pierce the heavens; in the second they might recoil in disgust at the idea that even a magic sword was possible for me. For those reasons I preferred to keep my relationship with Frach secret from everyone if I could help it.
“Master? If you’re not feeling well, why not go rest in the cargo compartment?”
“Huh? Ah! I-I’m fine!”
“Even so……”
“I’m really fine. I just had something to think about for a moment. Don’t worry about it.”
“Is that so? Then I’m glad. I thought my driving was so terrible that I’d made you uncomfortable.”
“Not at all. For a first try you’re handling it well.”
In fact it was astonishing that she could drive the carriage so skillfully even though she couldn’t see. Sensing the surroundings through mana was one thing, but without courage most people simply couldn’t do it.
“Hehe…! It’s thanks to Rewen teaching me so well.”
“Rewen taught you?”
“Yes!”
Among the party, only I knew Rewen was a regressor. Yet Lin was casually mentioning that a five-year-old knew how to drive a carriage. Wouldn’t most people find that suspicious at least once?
“Doesn’t it seem strange that Rewen knows how to drive a carriage?”
“Which part is strange?”
Lin tilted her head, looking more puzzled by my question than anything else. Looking back, before she had fallen for me she had been an extreme little-brother-obsessed sister. Lin, who would not have hesitated to kill for her brother, might simply never doubt anything Rewen did.
“It’s nothing. Forget I said anything.”
“Understood!”
Lin obediently accepted my words and drove on with a bright smile. Perhaps because she was sitting side by side with me on the driver’s seat, she looked especially happy today.
“Ah…!”
“What’s wrong?”
Lin suddenly brought the carriage to a halt. After a serious expression flickered across her face, she turned back to me with a gentle smile.
“Master, would it be all right if I went to pick some flowers for a moment?”
“S-sure.”
“Then I’ll leave the reins to you until I return!”
Lin hopped down from the driver’s seat and hurried into the nearby woods. I felt a small pang of envy at the way she thoroughly lived by her own pace. I wanted to live carefree and without a single thought myself.
“Haa…!”
“Is that the one for sure?”
“Certain. Matches the wanted poster exactly.”
The pair alternated their gazes between the carriage rolling along the main road and a sheet of parchment. Dressed in white hoods that blended with the snowy terrain, the man and woman were scouting from the treetops. Their target was the carriage Bern rode in. Once they confirmed the features of the man on the driver’s seat, they nodded.
“But is it okay to assassinate him right now? Looks like he’s got a lot of companions.”
“Doesn’t matter. If you kill the witnesses too, that’s still an assassination.”
“Well, true, but something about this feels off.”
“What?”
“I don’t understand why the western tribes would pay a fortune to have someone living in the north killed.”
The two were members of a notorious assassin guild, dispatched after accepting the contract on Bern’s life.
“You’re soft. Whatever the circumstances, we finish the job and erase the traces. That’s all.”
“I just worry we might poke the wrong person and get ourselves in danger……”
After the incident at Breeze’s nest, just as Bern had worked to bring down the Red Dragon, Ignite had been plotting Bern’s death. He had originally intended to handle it personally, but after remaining inside Breeze’s territory for so long he had given up. In the end he returned to his nest and ordered the humans within his domain to eliminate the target. The desert tribes who followed Ignite pooled their money and placed the request with the assassin guild, which led to the current pair being sent out.
“Hey! Why are you getting cold feet like some amateur instead of an elite assassin? Even if our target is some high-ranking figure it doesn’t matter at all. We won’t be identified, and even if we are, the guild will hide us!”
“What I’m worried about is……”
“Ugh! If you don’t want to do it, stay out of the way! I’ll handle everything myself!”
The assassin drew the bow from her back. She plucked an arrow from the quiver at her hip and nocked it on the string. The distance from their position to the carriage was considerable, and the wind was strong, yet she paid it no mind. What she trusted was her ability—Hawk Eye and Perfect Shot, skills superbly suited to assassination. As long as nothing intercepted the arrow mid-flight, it would strike true every time. The woman was already wearing a confident smile of certain kill—until the man behind her let out a scream of pure horror.
“Hiiik…!”
“Hey! At least don’t get in the way—!”
When she turned her head, the woman was confronted with an unexpected sight. A massive black hound had burst from her own shadow, jaws yawning wide enough to swallow her whole.
“Wha…?”
Crunch—!
In the end the woman never even managed to utter a dying word before the unidentified monster swallowed her.
“Crazy! That’s crazy…!”
Meanwhile the man dropped from the tree and began to flee like a madman. After watching his partner die without the slightest resistance, he ran with only the single-minded desire to live. He leapt over undergrowth, cut through trees, sprinting desperately. When he spotted a woodcutter chopping wood some distance away, he broke into a smile of relief.
I-I’m saved…!
He would throw the woodcutter to the monster as bait and buy time to escape. With that thought he poured every last ounce of strength into his legs—
Swish—!
A sound like wind brushing past, and the leaf beside him split cleanly in two. At the same moment a thin red line appeared across his neck, and his head slid obliquely free.
“I sensed a strange killing intent from the forest, but I never expected someone so ungrateful.”
Through his fading vision a black-haired woman approached. She smiled faintly as she flicked the blood from her blade. The man was certain it was his own blood.
“I won’t ask who you are. Go quietly.”
“Aaa……”
In less than a minute the elite assassins had been annihilated. Their failure stemmed from insufficient intelligence. Had they known their target was protected by beings whose limits could not be measured, they would never have attempted the assassination at all. But ignorant of that fact, they died pointlessly.
I need to reflect on this. To fail to notice the assassins’ presence so early…! If the assassin had been an archer, Master might have……
She might only have realized the enemy’s existence after the attack landed.
Grind—!
Lin clenched her molars, unable to contain her disappointment in herself. Deeply reflecting on the mistake, she started to turn back toward the carriage—when a puppy’s whimper made her whip her head around.
“Kiiing…!”
A small dog was tapping the dead man’s head with its front paw, smacking its lips as if disappointed. Lin’s hand settled on her scabbard, ready to cut it down at any moment—then her eyes met the puppy’s.
“Hmm…?”
“Wang?”
Sword Saint and Chaos felt a strange sense of kinship.