Our Meeting Came Too Late
I almost blurted out, “…. You want me to become your disciple? Me? That? Why?” But since I was terrified of dying, I barely managed to keep my mouth shut.
“You may rest here.”
Here? While enduring this ominous aura that filled the air?
“Rather than simply doing nothing and resting, wouldn’t learning the sword from me be more helpful?”
She looked at me as she spoke.
“I promise you this. If you learn from me, you will improve to a degree incomparable to before.”
“…. But that aura….”
“To gain something, there are things one must sometimes endure.”
She stared at me with a resolute, piercing gaze. It felt like she would kill me if I refused. Yeah. I was scared. I was definitely scared.
“Understood.”
In the end, I had no choice but to agree to learn the sword. I didn’t want to die.
“Truly?”
You were glaring at me like you’d kill me if I didn’t!
“Yes.”
“Good. A wise decision.”
The corner of her mouth seemed to lift ever so slightly.
“Let us go outside.”
When I followed her out, the midday sun blazed down fiercely.
“By the way, what is your name?”
Since we would be spending time together, I figured I should know.
“My name has already lost its meaning, so I no longer use it.”
Is that even possible? It sounds like a play on words.
“Then what should I call you?”
“Simply calling me Master would suffice, would it not?”
It seemed she had no intention of telling me her real name. How pretentious.
“What is your name?”
“My name has already lost its meaning…. I’m Glaiese.”
She nodded. Even in this situation, I was impressed by my own babbling mouth.
“My sword style aims to recreate the night sky.”
She drew her sword. At first glance, it looked like an ordinary longsword.
“This blade represents the stars.”
Then she extended the short curved blade in her left hand.
“This one aims to represent the moon. When both are achieved simultaneously, one can eventually recreate even the void between the stars and the moon. All of it together can be called the night sky.”
A sword style that aims to recreate the night sky?
Wait a second.
Goosebumps erupted across my entire body.
“What is the name of this sword style?”
“It is called Yacheongeom.”
Only then did I realize who she was.
The first and last Sword Saint. The hero who had come closest to the Demon King, yet ultimately fell in defeat. Her name was Vega.
There were so many stories about her that distinguishing truth from fiction was nearly impossible. Many were positive, but most were negative. My already-shriveled heart shrank even further.
“It seems you have figured out my name.”
She said, looking into my trembling eyes.
“How could I not?”
“In any case, do not call me by that name. As I said, it is meaningless now.”
“Yes.”
“And do not ask me questions about myself. That is our promise. Understood?”
“….Yes.”
Even though I had countless questions, I had no choice but to stay silent.
Vega, the Sword Saint. An existence about whom there was not the slightest disagreement that she was the strongest hero in history. Some said she might have been as strong as ten other heroes combined—a perfect irregular. I wondered if that was an exaggeration, but she was the only one recorded to have fought the Demon King one-on-one in a bloody battle.
“Anyway, listen carefully. Why do you think the goal of this sword style is to recreate the night sky?”
“I don’t know.”
I answered honestly. Isn’t a sword style just about cutting things? What meaning could there be in recreating the night sky?
For a moment, countless emotions seemed to flicker across her face. At the end, a very small smile remained.
“Because it’s fun.”
“Pardon?”
“Isn’t that enough?”
She assumed a stance. It looked like she was going to demonstrate her sword style. The thought of witnessing the legendary Sword Saint’s technique made me forget my fear.
She began to swing her blades. Yacheongeom. Just what kind of sword style earned such a name? My imagination ran wild.
But I soon realized my imagination was meaningless.
Yacheongeom quite literally recreated the night sky, exactly as she had said. Those words weren’t a metaphor or anything of the sort—they described a pure, objective fact.
While she performed her sword style, the sun lost its influence and hid its light. What shone instead were the stars and the moon. Everything around, freed from the tyrant sun’s radiance, rested beneath the soft glow of stars and moon.
I was completely immersed in it. For a while, I was so enchanted that I forgot to even speak. It was hard to believe that this spectacle had been created with nothing but those two blades.
Her sword style existed on a level far removed from any flashy magic. When she stopped moving, the night quickly faded away.
“My goal is to bring you to this realm. Can you do it?”
There weren’t many words I could say. How much time would it take to reach that place? No, I doubted whether it was even possible before I died. Even if I learned directly from the creator, my talent had limits. After all, that was why I had never become a hero.
Perhaps it would be impossible even if I were given infinite time. Therefore, there was only one thing I could say.
“I’ll keep trying.”
Five years passed.
At first, it was a time of hardship. But at some point, learning the sword—and every moment spent with her—became enjoyable.
I had reached the second star of Yacheongeom. The first star was the realm of recreating the stars. The second star was the realm of recreating the moon.
It was still far away. Being able to recreate the stars and moon did not mean one could recreate the night sky. Because in the night sky, those two lights were ultimately nothing more than an extremely small part.
No matter how many stars and moons filled the night, what occupied most of the night sky was the invisible void. In other words, deep darkness. There were even cloudy nights where neither stars nor moon could be seen.
What I could unfold wasn’t even an essential element of the night sky. In the end, I had not yet overcome the wall of the third star.
The stage where, by recreating the stars and moon, one could indirectly recreate the image of night. I had reached the second star more easily than expected, but I still could not cross the wall beyond it.
Master did not seem satisfied. She tormented me every single day.
Isn’t this level pretty good?
Maybe Master, a genius who would go down in history, simply couldn’t understand someone like me?
“Glaiese.”
“Yes, Master.”
“I don’t have much time left.”
“What do you mean by time?”
She sighed.
“You already know who I am.”
“Yes.”
“Then you must know my age as well. Did you truly think I would live forever?”
She looked at me as if scolding me. So this young-looking, beautiful Master was actually a several-hundred-year-old hag. That’s what she was saying.
“….Don’t think strange thoughts, Glaiese.”
She pouted.
“Did you read my mind again? You said you wouldn’t use that ability.”
“I didn’t use any ability. It’s obvious just from looking at your face.”
“….Yes. So how much time is left?”
Her outward appearance looked so healthy that I had never even considered it. Ten years? Twenty?
She lightly bit her lip.
“At most, a week. If it’s quick, three or four days.”
It felt like I had been struck in the back of the head.
“You’re joking, right?”
“I do not joke about such things.”
“No, Master…. This is too sudden. Why didn’t you tell me sooner?”
My hands were shaking uncontrollably.
“I thought that telling you earlier would only increase the time you spent worrying.”
“Even so, this is far too abrupt….”
“I am sorry for that.”
She looked up at the sky and let out a sigh.
“There is still something I must prove through you.”
She wore a regretful expression.
“Yes, it has only been five years. It is not your fault. Reaching this level in merely five years is already an incredible feat.”
She smiled.
“We can only blame the fact that our meeting came too late.”
Her smile no longer looked awkward. It was because I had made her smile often.
Silence fell. Before I knew it, I had naturally rested my head on her lap.
“Glaiese.”
“Yes.”
Her breath brushed against my nose. It was something I could never have imagined when we first met. Back then, in this situation, I would have fainted in five seconds and wet myself again. But now, because of the time we had spent together, I felt none of that. Of course, that statement included a bit of exaggeration.
“I can pass my power on to you. If I do, you will become incomparably stronger than you are now.”
“….”
“If that happens, I will die. Since I am going to die anyway, it is no problem for me. However, the curse flowing through my soul will flow into you as well.”
“I refuse, Master.”
I spoke firmly.
“You don’t want to receive the curse?”
“No, that’s not it.”
That part didn’t matter much. It was a chaotic world. The ultimate reason I had begun learning from her was to fight. If I had the strength to fight alone on the front lines, there was no need to mingle with others. So the reason I refused was different.
If she passed her power to me, even if the time of farewell was only a few hours away, it would come that much sooner.
She looked at me with sad eyes and spoke.
“Everything is your choice.”
She no longer read my mind recklessly. Though I wasn’t sure if she had just now.
And so we fell into silence once again. This forest was always quiet, and in that quiet, the stars rose.
“I have a long-cherished wish. It is to prove my claim to him.”
She spoke within the night sky. It was the first time I had heard about Master’s long-cherished wish since meeting her.
“As you know, my sword style creates darkness from light. That was the first proof of my claim. But he said that alone was not enough.”
Her expression as she recalled old memories was wistful.
“The fact that it can only be performed by me alone means it is ultimately far from universal. That is what he claimed. He was a stubborn one.”
“Who exactly is he?”
It seemed Master had no intention of telling me who he was.
“So I promised to bring another piece of evidence. That was the agreement we made.”
Only then did I understand. The second piece of evidence was another person who could perform her sword—Yacheongeom. Right now, that person was me.
But I was only at the second star of Yacheongeom. I had not reached the level of creating darkness from light.
“I’m sorry, Master.”
“Why are you apologizing? As I said before, the problem is the world that made us meet too late.”
She took my right hand in both of her warm hands and held it tightly.
“….I will inherit it.”
“I didn’t bring this up to hear those words….”
She looked unusually flustered.
“As I told you, if you receive my power, you will also inherit the curse. This curse that causes one to emit that ominous aura.”
“It doesn’t matter.”
“Think carefully before speaking so decisively. Because of it, I spent a long time alone in a place like this. Don’t you still have many things you haven’t done?”
“As many things as I haven’t done, I have accomplished so much with you here, Master. It is something I would not trade for anything.”
Her face flushed red. Then Master let out a small laugh.
“Now that I think about it, I’m not sure. Even if you fully unfold Yacheongeom, he might call it a trick. Since you reached that realm by receiving my power. He might say it is not universal this time either.”
“Then what should I do?”
“Get angry. Protest that he should stop being unreasonable. Throw a tantrum and ask how many more times you have to prove it.”
“….Will that work on him?”
From Master’s words, it was clear he was no ordinary opponent.
“….It seems you already have a guess who he is.”
After a moment, she spoke.
“….Is it really him?”
I had someone in mind as well.
“It probably is. You’re clever, after all.”
She bowed her head deeply.
The time between a man and a woman beneath the moonlight passed quickly. We shared many stories, and many other things besides.
The next day arrived, and a new dawn rose—one that someone had desperately not wished for. But Glaiese tried his hardest not to show those feelings.
“Glaiese.”
“Yes.”
“Do you swear to become the successor of Yacheongeom?”
“I swear.”
“Do you swear to strive to prove that darkness can give birth to light, and that light can give birth to darkness?”
I still didn’t fully understand what those words meant. But I had no choice but to answer.
“I swear.”
Her warm hands clasped both of mine.
“Glaiese.”
“Yes.”
“I love you.”
Without waiting for my answer, she turned into light and entered my body. Once again, I was alone.