I Pulled Out the Excalibur

Several days had passed since Najin had slain him. During these days, Najin had been incredibly busy, a development he hadn’t anticipated.

‘I thought it would be over once the commission was completed.’

As usual, after receiving his payment at the Central Guild, he thought he would fill his stomach with delicious food and then proceed to train. Considering the insights gained from the battle with Verheigen, he expected progress in his training… With such a light-hearted mindset, Najin headed to the Central Guild only to face an unexpected reality.

He was greeted by countless gazes and…
Knights from noble families waiting at the Central Guild.

What Najin had overlooked was that this commission was entangled with nobility. Of course, the commission Najin had accepted was only issued by the Knights of Atanga… However, it was Najin who had slain the Demon Knight.

“You are the one.”
“I am a knight of the Azbelly House. Lord Triam wishes to express his gratitude to you…”

The bounty placed on the Demon Knight by the nobles.
Najin was to receive it, and in the process, naturally, he attracted the attention of numerous nobles and adventurers.

Being called here and there.
Promising future meetings with nobles.
Receiving invitations to balls and such.

After a few days of bothersome, cumbersome, and formal activities, Najin felt utterly drained. Only today could he finally enjoy a leisurely morning.

“Sigh…”

On a bench outside his lodging,
Najin leaned back and gazed at the blue sky. Exhaling deeply in the increasingly chilly weather.

-It’s been a while since I had a leisurely morning, hasn’t it?
‘Indeed. I didn’t expect it to be this bothersome.’
-Well, isn’t it better than you thought?

Merlin chuckled.

-The Knight of Atanga, Argo. Thanks to that knight understanding your intentions, it didn’t become more troublesome, right?

Najin laughed wryly.
Merlin’s words were true. Najin had subtly indicated to Argo that he wanted to keep his achievements and power hidden. Argo, appearing to be quite skilled, must have roughly gauged his abilities…

Argo turned a blind eye to Najin hiding his strength as if it wasn’t his concern.

He just publicly declared, ‘Verheigen was weakened by injuries inflicted by the knights pursuing him, and the adventurer Ivan finished him off…’

‘Thanks to that, it ended there.’

Najin muttered to himself as he pulled out a letter from his pocket. While other nobles’ names didn’t impress him much, this letter was different.

The Trevache House.
A letter from Count Edelmar.

It was from the house to which Gilbert, the dying knight Najin had encountered while pursuing Verheigen, belonged. A few days earlier, a knight from that house had visited Najin, to whom Najin had conveyed Gilbert’s last words, stating that Gilbert had remained a knight until the end and that his help was instrumental in hunting Verheigen.

The knight from the Trevache House thanked Najin and promised to convey Gilbert’s last words and Najin’s message to his lord. This letter arrived a few days later.

“Hmm…”

It was an extremely elegant letter.
As Najin unfolded the letter bearing the Trevache House’s seal, there was a personal message from Count Edelmar. The content was lengthy but straightforward.

You have my gratitude. I thank you for conveying my knight’s last words. Whenever you visit the Trevache House, I will welcome you as an esteemed guest.

Count Edelmar did not force Najin to visit using his authority. He simply sent an invitation to visit whenever possible. With a faint smile, Najin carefully tucked the letter away.

I haven’t met him, so I can’t be sure.

But it seems the knight reflects his lord.

‘I must visit there.’

Murmuring to himself, Najin stood up from the bench.
While a leisurely morning was nice, his body was getting restless. He hadn’t had proper training for days due to being busily summoned around.

Crack. Crack.

Najin stretched his body roughly and took a deep breath. He planned to start training lightly with mana cultivation. When Merlin first taught him this cultivation method, he screamed in pain, but not anymore.

He even felt the wild mana bouncing inside as ticklish.

-Well, you’ve experienced the agony of twisted Qi and internal tearing, so this must be nothing.

Merlin muttered incredulously.
The mana operation that Najin had shown in the battle with the Demon Knight. Accepting mana beyond his limits brought excruciating pain of twisted, impure Qi and internal tearing.

Najin endured that pain soberly and even continued fighting. His formidable mental strength left even Merlin in awe.

-So, did you gain some insight?

Merlin noticed the unusual intensity of Najin’s mana cultivation and asked. Najin smiled.

‘I didn’t understand what it meant to infuse sword aura with sentiments, what it meant to reach the level of a Sword Seeker…’

Najin said.

“Now I think I’m starting to get it.”

Najin infused mana into his drawn sword.
Thinking of a knight’s sword, a pure white sword aura, devoid of platinum-colored particles, swirled around Najin’s sword. It was a complete sword aura, not just fragments.

Normally, a complete sword aura appears platinum-colored, so Najin had been limiting his to control it.

But not anymore. Platinum-colored sword aura and pure white sword aura. He could now distinguish and handle both. This meant he could freely unleash his sword aura without restraint. Pleased with this, Najin playfully waved his sword aura around.

The platinum-colored aura was drawn by thinking of stars.
And the pure white aura by thinking of a knight.

‘Is this what it feels like to imbue sword aura with sentiments?’

He felt that with a bit more progress, he could even change the form of the sword aura. Merlin sighed, for what felt like the umpteenth time, as she watched.

-Now it’s getting so commonplace it’s not even surprising…

Using distinct sword auras.
Changing the color of the aura based on sentiments.

Really, these were not feats a mere Sword Expert should be able to perform. They were challenges even for a Sword Seeker, difficult even for them.

Handling distinct sword auras.

Projecting a single sentiment is difficult enough, requiring tremendous effort to form it. Managing two different sentiments, let alone distinguishing between them, is no easy task.

To do the difficult with ease.

Watching Najin perform these feats almost naturally evoked laughter. Merlin chuckled as she watched Najin swinging the pure white sword aura through the air.

Whoom, whoosh…

As Najin practiced his swordplay in the open air, someone suddenly leaped over the wall and landed in the training area before his lodging.

“Who…”

The figure who stepped into the training ground.
As Najin turned to see who it was, he tilted his head in surprise. It was an entirely unexpected guest.

“Roselin?”

“Ah, yes. Long time no see, Najin…”

The leader of the Red-Eyed Mercenaries.
The pinnacle of the city, Roselin Ascalo.
She responded with a trembling voice. Not just her voice was trembling. Her eyes were also shaking wildly, as if struck with fear.

Tap, tap, tap, tap.

She hurriedly approached Najin and gripped his shoulders tightly. Even Najin couldn’t help but be taken aback by this.

“What’s wrong?”
“There’s a visitor looking for you. We need to go quickly. They’re waiting at my mercenary group’s base right now…”

Shaking eyes. Trembling voice.
Roselin spilled out her words, pleading as if begging for help.

“The visitor is looking for you… Quickly, come with me…”

Her tone was almost imploring.
Najin nodded in response. Only then did Roselin seem to breathe a sigh of relief, exhaling deeply.

Clasp.

Roselin grabbed Najin’s hand and pulled him outside the lodging. Being dragged along, Najin couldn’t help but wonder. Who was the person in front of him? The pinnacle of the city, Roselin Ascalo.

A skilled Sword Seeker.
A noble with a title of honor.
The leader of the powerful Red-Eyed Mercenaries.

Nobles themselves wouldn’t dare provoke Roselin, so who could scare her so much? Moreover, who was this person looking for him? Unable to contain his curiosity, Najin finally asked.

“Who is this visitor exactly?”
“……”

Roselin didn’t stop walking.
Turning her head swiftly to meet Najin’s gaze, she spoke with a distressed face.

“…It’s Sir Karan.”
“What? Say that again?”
“Sword Master, Karan!”

Karan of the Order of the Sword.
A Sword Master with six stars.
The epitome of the sword, an individual who had reached the pinnacle of swordsmanship, was looking for Najin, Roselin conveyed.

A few hours before the incident.

Upon hearing that the trade route mainly used by the Garchea Trading Company had been occupied by monsters, Roselin immediately mobilized her mercenary group and headed to the location. Since the Garchea Trading Company sponsored them, they had to handle this situation.

Arriving at the site, she found a road buried under debris as if a landslide had occurred, and monsters were occupying the area around the roadblock.

“Tsk, clearing the roadblock will take some time…”

Dealing with the monsters was not hard, but restoring the collapsed road would take some time. Roselin assessed the situation and looked back.

There, the Garchea Trading Company merchants were sighing in front of their carriages, halted by the blocked road. They seemed to be returning from a business trip. As Roselin approached the carriage to explain the situation, she noticed something unusual.

“…Huh?”

She spotted a pair of individuals in distinctive attire among the merchants.
Two men dressed in priestly robes, seemingly members of the Order of the Sword.

“Who are they?”
“We were selling necessities to the Order of the Sword and on our way back. These two priests said they had business in Cambria and joined us.”

The merchants replied.
Roselin was about to move past them, having just heard their explanation, when she felt a chilling gaze. A gaze that seemed to pierce through her. Roselin quickly turned around.

There stood the two priests of the Order of the Sword.
One a middle-aged man, and the other, of indeterminate age, deeply hooded in his robe.

It was the hooded priest whose gaze she had felt. His eyes were fixed on Echoing Swords, the masterpiece Roselin wore at her back. The focus of his attention was not very pleasing to her, so Roselin spoke sharply.

“…You seem quite interested in the masterpiece, don’t you?”

The hooded priest let out a short sigh.

“Apologies. I was just intrigued by the unusual form of the sword.”

He smiled awkwardly.

“So you are the mercenary hired by the trading company? I heard the road is blocked and the carriages can’t pass.”
“That’s the case for now. It might take a while, so I suggest the priests wait and
rest…”
“How long might it take?”
“…Excuse me?”

Roselin narrowed her eyes.
She didn’t quite appreciate the priest’s tone, but decided to answer him anyway.

“Roughly half a day, I suppose.”
“That’s unfortunate. Well, that won’t do.”

The priest grimaced slightly.

“I’m in a bit of a hurry. Please excuse me.”

He brushed past Roselin. Just as she was about to ask what he meant, the priest drew his sword with a clang. The movement was incredibly smooth and flawless.

Certainly a priest of the Order of the Sword.
His posture is quite well-formed…

That was as far as Roselin’s thoughts got.
Her eyes widened in shock. She hadn’t sensed any presence from the priest before, but the moment he drew his sword, an overwhelming aura pressed down on the area. The mercenaries all stopped in their tracks. The chattering merchants fell silent.

Time and space seemed to be gripped by an odd sensation.

In that feeling, the priest alone moved. He walked through the frozen mercenaries and stood at the front. The debris blocking the road and the monsters perched on it didn’t even blink as he approached.

Unable to blink.
Unable to breathe.
Unable to move.

Among those frozen, the priest swung his sword. The act of swinging and sheathing the sword was indistinguishable. When one thought he had swung it, his sword was already back in its sheath. Immediately, the overwhelming pressure and intensity vanished.

Ssssh.

What was heard was a tranquil slicing sound.
Just a single slice. There was no sound of monsters being cleaved, no rumbling of the earth, no crashing of debris… not a single sound.

After that one slice, only the aftermath remained.

The mound of dirt and debris blocking the road, and the monsters that had occupied it, all had vanished without a trace. As if by magic. The merchants, with their eyes wide open, were in shock, and the mercenaries, releasing their held breath, were equally astonished.

None of them understood what had just happened. They only knew that the priest had swung his sword once, and the roadblock and monsters had disappeared without a trace.

“Oh, oh my, oh my my…”

Only Roselin.
Roselin, who had reached the level of a Sword Seeker, somewhat grasped what had just transpired.

She had seen it at the moment the priest swung his sword.

A fleeting flash of brilliance.
It was more like a massive swarm of light than sword aura. A sword aura of such an unbelievable output that no human body could possibly handle. The moment the sword was swung, the sword aura struck down everything in its path like a guillotine.

And that was the end.

Everything touched by the sword aura vanished without leaving any trace. Only the finest particles fluttering in the air were proof that the monsters and debris had ever existed here.

‘I couldn’t even see it properly.’

Even Roselin, with her keen eyesight, had only perceived a brief flash of light. This realization sent a chill down her spine. Belatedly, Roselin turned to look at the hooded priest.

He was also looking at her.

The face visible through the gap in the robe.

Roselin Ascalo recognized that face. Her complexion turned pale rapidly as she realized the identity of the person standing before her.

The Sword Saint of the Order of the Sword.

A being who had reached the pinnacle of mastery with the sword.

Sword Master, Karan.