The Weakest Swordmaster

"Ron Hazley. So you dream of becoming a magic knight. Let me tell you something, and I won't sugarcoat it — you don't have a scrap of talent for knighthood. Even if you somehow scraped into a knight academy, you'd never amount to anything there."

That was what the former mercenary instructor at a cheap swordsmanship dojo had told him, deadly serious.

"Congratulations on awakening your mana, I guess… but honestly, I've never seen anyone with mana this low."

That was what a mage mercenary he'd met by chance had said, half in wonder.

He already knew he had no talent.

Even so, he wanted to be a knight. Why? Because knights were incredibly cool, that was why.

So he swung his sword without rest. He trained his mana. And fortunately, effort did not betray him. He passed the entrance exam for the Griffin Knight Academy — the magic knight training institute under the Imperial Knights.

Dead last, clinging on by his fingernails, sure. But so what? What mattered was that he had drawn one step closer to his dream.

…At least, that was the optimistic thought he'd been carrying until a few minutes ago.

"This can't be right…"

Aboard the train bound for the knight academy, anxious sighs and muttering kept leaking out of him.

The car was packed with students heading to the academy — apprentice knights, all of them. You could tell by the uniforms. For the new students, it was the first day of enrollment. For the returning ones, the first day of the new term.

Right in the middle of them, Ron scrubbed his face dry with both hands again and again.

This place… it's Elwi…

Barely thirty minutes earlier, the memories of his previous life had come flooding back. He'd calmed down a little since then, but the chaos still churning through his head was nothing he could simply will away.

In his past life, he had thoroughly enjoyed a mystery fantasy RPG called For Elise.

Better known as Elwi.

One day, the moment he restarted that game on the hardest difficulty — Hard Mode — his consciousness had simply winked out. And he had been reborn into this world as a man named Ron Hazley.

Those memories had just awakened.

Calm down. Think…

He forced the surging tide of emotion and the tangle of thoughts into some kind of order. Anything he couldn't resolve right now, he set aside. Anything he could judge, he put first.

Starting with the status window.

Ding.

A translucent notification window bloomed in midair. It was the first thing he'd looked for after recovering his past-life memories. He could call it up whenever he wanted, just by willing it.

Physique F. Mana F. Given how pathetic this body was, he'd already expected as much. According to the game's lore, the grading scale was calibrated against mana awakeners — which meant he was the weakest of the weak even among those who had awakened.

So I have to survive somehow in this body…

Then a particular memory surged to the surface.

Wait. Doesn't something happen here?

The classic cliché. A terrorist attack on the first day of school, right on the transport.

According to the Elwi scenario, an incident on par with a terrorist attack was about to hit this very train.

Then… when?

Clack-clack. Clack-clack.

The rattle of the rails hammered at his eardrums without pause.

And then—

SCREEEEECH!!

"Kyaaaaaah!!"

"Damn it!! What's going on!?"

"Yeriel, grab my hand!!"

The train lurched into an emergency stop, and the interior dissolved into pure chaos.

Aaaargh!!

Ron clamped onto his seat with everything he had and screamed internally. That goddamn inertia!

A moment later, the scenery beyond the windows bled into a wash of blue light. Then an alien purple sky, barren earth, and scattered boulders filled his vision.

SCREEEEEEECH!!!

CRASH-BANG!!

"Shit!!"

"Hold on!!"

"Gyaaah!"

The train shrieked as though it had jumped the rails and went tumbling. Screams erupted from students in every direction.

Somebody save me!!

And then, suddenly—

"Huh…?"

"I-it stopped…?"

The train that had been on the verge of rolling over went abruptly still. Even with his feet planted firmly on the floor, a strange sensation of weightlessness washed through him. Then, gently, the train settled onto the ground.

Telekinesis…

If anyone could wield telekinesis on this scale, it had to be Rachel — the magic knight instructor. The train's safe landing was clearly thanks to her power. It had played out the same way in the original story.

Ron pressed a hand to his chest. His legs were still shaking. Goddamn it, that had been terrifying…

A mana-amplified voice thundered through the train cars.

"A d-dungeon…?"

"I-I've ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠never seen a sky like that."

Passengers and students pressed against the windows, faces pale with shock. One glance was enough — ominous sky, ominous earth. Man, what a wasteland.

You've got to be kidding me…

Ron dragged a hand down his face.

Past the prologue of Chapter One, into Act One, Scene One. The story where the protagonist and the knight academy students suddenly tumble into a dungeon had begun.

"Th-there, over there — that's…"

"Monsters…!"

Perhaps the train's noisy arrival had drawn their attention. Jet-black wolf monsters emerged one after another from behind the scattered boulders, red eyes gleaming.

"Grrrrrrr…!"

"GRAAAAH!!"

The wolf monsters packed into a pack and charged the train in a snarling wave. Thick ropes of drool hung from their bared fangs, and their claws — each as long as a dagger — flashed with lethal sharpness.

…They looked strong!

"W-what do we do!?"

"We fight, what else!"

"Draw your weapons!!"

True to their status as knight academy students, far more of them were gearing up for combat than falling into panic. Elite confidence and courage, right there. The Empire's future was looking bright!

I'm counting on you, knights of ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠tomorrow…!

I'm hiding!

Ron crouched deep into the footwell of his seat, tucking himself out of sight. The layout made it possible. Sure, it was a pathetic super-coward moment with zero cool factor — but what choice did he have? Dead last on the entrance exam, worst stats of any student in the academy. Going up against those wolves would be a one-way ticket to the afterlife.

On top of that, the number of escort knights assigned to protect the students was minimal — just enough to cover the bare necessities.

…Pretty ideal conditions for the main cast to shine, though.

No sooner had the thought crossed his mind than ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠the sounds of slaughter and explosions erupted beyond the windows.

SHUNK!!

FWIP-FWIP!!

THUNK!!

A spear wreathed in blue mana light tore through the air and took a wolf monster's head clean off. An arrow coiled in mana punched straight through another wolf's heart.

The main cast.

Every bit of it was a scene he'd watched in the game. The one loosing arrows had to be the protagonist — he could tell from the fairy mana. She was probably in another car right about now.

From here on, the protagonist and the other key characters would lead the students in a train defense.

Nice wor—! Wait.

A jolt of unease hit him cold.

Hold on, hold on. This is Hard Mode, isn't it…?

His last memory from his previous life was restarting the game on Hard difficulty. And if that was the case—

Things are definitely going to go to absolute hell… right?

In Elwi, only the main story beats stayed consistent across playthroughs. Everything else changed. And the third playthrough — Hard Mode, the one he'd restarted — was infamous for its bleak, soul-crushing storyline where people died in droves.

A lot of students die here…

That was right. The ones without skill died.

People like him.

…In that case.

He looked down at his hands and recalled the character creation screen from Elwi.

When you created a character, you could choose a Unique Ability. Wanting to play a dramatic, distinctive build, he had set his innate stats to the absolute minimum in exchange for a special hidden Unique Ability — one of the final abilities unlocked only after collecting every achievement and clearing every playthrough condition.

Is it there? The Unique Ability?

The moment he wished to see it, a notification window appeared in the air.

Ding.

It's here…!

Relief spread across his lips.

A broken, insane ability that conditionally elevated you to the highest realm a swordsman could reach — Swordmaster. It started at A grade, but with further growth it could climb to S, even EX.

Ron wiped the cold sweat that had beaded along his brow. He took a deep breath.

Alright. Now what?

Should he dive into the story without restraint? Twist the plot in directions no one could predict?

The deliberation didn't last long.

It's not like I have a choice.

He wanted to live. He was simply stacking the odds in his favor. His very existence was already an irregularity — the original story was already in pieces. And if this world was doomed to be plastered over with a miserable, hellish plot anyway, then intervening was all the more necessary.

Yes.

The instant he willed it—

"……!!"

Mana erupted inside him like a volcanic blast, a searing heat surging through every vein. An ocean of power boiled up where there had been nothing but barren ground — as though a vast sea had been poured into a cracked, dry riverbed, flooding it to the horizon.

It was a sensation he had never experienced in his life. He couldn't find the right words for it, but if he had to pick something close—

Omnipotence…

Fwoosh.

With that towering mana, he reinforced his body as easily as breathing.

Whoa. Holy hell…

His entire body felt light as a feather. Every muscle, every fiber answered his will with absolute certainty. No — more than that. It felt as though he could turn imagination itself into reality.

Fortunately, he was still hidden. No one had spotted him. While the students' attention was locked on the wolf monsters, Ron quietly slid open the window on the opposite side and slipped out.

He did it in the blink of an eye — as sudden and silent as a gust of wind.

This feels like freedom.

Even walking through a dream couldn't feel this unrestrained. But this was no time to stand around marveling at his new body.

First — is that bastard here?

He hadn't appeared in the first or second playthrough. But in the third, a dangerous presence waited on top of this train. A demon who struck a pose and delivered cringeworthy lines like "Keh heh heh… a bloodbath is coming…", then joined the fight just as the wolf defense was winding down.

If he wasn't there, Ron would breathe easy and head back. But if he was—

If that thing is here…

Then it would be confirmed. This world was Elwi's third playthrough — Hard Mode.

Whoosh!

He leapt lightly and landed soundlessly on the roof of the train. He'd meant to move without making a noise, and it had gone exactly as intended. He felt like an assassin.

And there he was — a familiar figure.

A body roughly the size of an adult man's, with a wing of thorns jutting from his back. Crimson eyes turned toward Ron. Dark green skin stretched taut over bulging veins.

A voice like cracking, splitting wood scraped through the air.

Unfortunately, the creature's presence confirmed every one of Ron's fears.

A demon. Orankel of the Red Eyes.

Proof that this was Hard Mode — and the demon destined to massacre the passengers of this train. In the original story, he would confront the protagonist here, then leave unharmed… only to return in the early-to-mid game at the head of a monster army and make the player's life a living hell.

Normally, seeing something like that would scare the absolute crap out of me…

Strange. He wasn't scared at all. His chest was calm. His mind was sharp and clear. Had the Unique Ability affected his emotions too?

Still, seeing the thing in the flesh instead of as game graphics — yeah, that was disgusting.

If he hadn't been in this state, he was confident of one thing: he would have burst into tears and run for his life on sight.

Shing.

Ron drew a crude iron sword and lowered it on a diagonal. His vision was crystal clear. His heart beat with steady calm.

I feel like I could cut him down without even thinking about it.

All he knew was the basic swordsmanship from a cheap dojo and the crude, catch-as-catch-can style of mercenaries. But somehow, he was certain that would be more than enough.

Confirming Ron's fighting spirit, the demon Orankel drew his own blade.

Hissss.

A faint violet Magi coiled around Orankel's sword — a corrupt energy that ate into flesh and organs alike.

SLASH!!

Orankel swung. A Magi-wreathed slash tore forward faster than an arrow.

Slow.

The entire scene moved in slow motion. No thoughts. From the moment he'd committed to the fight, a single resolve filled his mind: cut.

One step forward.

His body drifted like heat haze. Then, vanishing like mist, he leapt without a sound and slipped past the violet slash.

"……!"

A single stroke, carved upward on a diagonal.

Shnk.

After that simple cutting sound, the demon Orankel's head went flying.