episode_0040

000

“Keuhak!”

The young man rolled on the ground, making a rough noise.

And when the iron longsword fell, an ear-splitting sound rang out.

“Keuheuk… Haa…”

Covered in dirt all over his body.

It was Eustace who was sprawled on the ground, gasping for breath.

He was out of his mind from Talteck’s harsh training.

First of all, Eustace immediately regretted the words he had spat out last night.

It would have been better to run away.

To think he would suit such hellish training.

Eustace recalls the events of the morning.

He throws open the dusty training hall prepared in the mansion.

Eustace thought that Talteck would teach him from the basics.

Today, he would overwork his arms and legs, and tomorrow, he would have muscle pain.

He was thinking of ordinary training like that.

However, Talteck checked the iron sword he had bought and said this.

“As expected, the skills of the `Bolt` brat aren’t bad. To prepare something that fits perfectly in your hand. With this, even you can kill me, albeit with a very, very low probability.”

“Ha, haa…?”

An insane line that didn’t seem sane at all.

Eustace couldn’t read the mind of the man named Talteck at all.

“Well, anyway. I can train with that from today, right? What’s first? Swinging it 1000 times, or something?”

Eustace speaks as if he knows something.

Then Talteck snorted.

“Are you an idiot? What are you going to do by putting in such effort that anyone can do in a class?”

“But the kingdom’s army does it this way….”

“That’s just because those guys are doing the same training on purpose to match their movements in war.”

Tsk tsk, he clicks his tongue and throws the iron sword back to Eustace.

Eustace screams, “Hieek!” and carefully picks up the sword that fell to the ground, not hitting the blade.

“Building basic stamina. Strength training. You can do all that on your own. Of course, that’s if you make an effort.”

“… … Then what are you going to teach me?”

Eustace looks at Talteck with suspicious eyes, and Talteck smiles so wide that his mouth almost reaches his ears.

“Why, how to `use` a sword well!”

That’s how the free sparring started.

Talteck himself held a blunt club that was hard to call a wooden sword.

And he makes Eustace hold the iron sword that he had him buy.

“If I shed even one drop of blood, it’s over today.”

“…Hahang~?”

Eustace smiled inwardly.

Talteck makes him do absurd things and consistently acts in a way that he finds annoying.

Perhaps, he doesn’t have the heart to sincerely teach him swordsmanship.

If so, he could just find another human, not Talteck, as his teacher.

He has to shed blood?

I’ll cut off his precious fingers!

Saying that, Eustace raises the iron sword high above his head and runs.

He imitated the posture of the warriors who fought in the arena.

But the posture was so awkward, and it was impossible to see where the center of his body was.

Naturally, the sword swung in that way is clumsy in its trajectory and easily readable.

Puh-uck!

Eustace felt his face turn with the sound, and his body flew sideways from the impact.

It took him a while to realize that he had rolled on the ground the next moment.

“Wh, what…?”

A tingling face, and he looks at the club that Talteck swung.

Wait, was I hit by that?

I was standing still a moment ago?

“Oops. I thought it was a fly, but it was the young master.”

“…Keuk!!!”

Eustace, provoked by the words that ignore and provoke him.

He grabs the sword again and rushes at Talteck, ready to kill him.

Eustace’s screams echoed throughout the training hall for 3 hours.

Eventually, Eustace fainted on the spot.

Talteck yawns and guzzles wine from a bottle.

“You have no talent.”

“Sh…. ut up….”

Eustace, who was almost about to cry, tries to get up, but his arms have no strength.

This man is going to kill me.

Whether he exhausts me or beats me to death.

“Don’t worry. Having no talent means you can reverse a talented guy with effort.”

Talteck then says to such Eustace.

Hearing his words, Eustace lost all strength from his body and fainted on the spot.

001

The clergyman, presumed to be a regressionist, guided the three people.

It was a small house located on the outskirts of the city.

Iona and Cleon make eye contact, preparing for anything that might happen.

“This is it. Come on. Come on in.”

The clergyman smiles and leads the three people inside.

Kouen swallows dryly and goes inside.

Inside the house, there was a sense of several people.

The interior decoration was old, but there were traces of people using it.

Above all, the books scattered everywhere were only related to `ancient artifacts`.

The suspicion was turning into almost certainty.

The clergyman leads the three people inside and follows them in, closing the door of the mansion.

“I’m so glad. That you’ve taken an interest in us and come to us like this.”

Click. The sound of the door locking is heard.

Cleon and Iona took a stance at the same time.

“Now, calm down. Magicswordman Cleon. Kingdom Knight Iona.”

“…!”

Cleon’s eyes widened as they called his name.

He was still in his blonde hair and blue-eyed appearance.

Iona also seemed a little surprised that her identity had been exposed.

“Then, is the lady next to them Kouen, the `Saintess candidate`?”

Kouen is also wary of the man who calls her name.

Cleon and Iona step forward as if to protect Kouen, and the clergyman makes an unpleasant smile.

“It’s a high-level illusion magic. I couldn’t recognize it when I first saw it either. However…. That thing you have on your waist.”

The man’s gaze turns to the ordinary longsword hanging on Cleon’s waist.

It was Galatea, which had changed its appearance to match the changeling.

“We are sensitive to ancient objects. No matter how much you change your appearance and hide your presence, we can immediately tell that it’s a magic sword.”

In response to his words, Cleon opened his eyes coldly and released Lyla’s magic that was on his body.

Then, he returns to his original black hair and black-eyed appearance and tries to draw Galatea.

“Don’t move.”

The next moment. Cleon’s movement stops at the murderous intent aimed at him.

A man in a green robe with an arrow in his hand silently walks out of the shadows of the house.

The hunter’s mark can be felt beyond the covered eyes.

“Mikasia Rupenwolf….”

“Yo, Magicswordman brother. Is it just two days? Three days? Is the same race doing well?”

The hunter talks as if teasing, mentioning the previous events.

“Weren’t you working with the Marquis? Why are you with these guys?”

Mikasia only smiled as if he wouldn’t answer the question.

“You were acquainted. Then you know how dangerous that hunter is, right?”

For Cleon, it was just a matter of unfolding a magic barrier to protect himself, Kouen, and Iona.

If the opponent is using ordinary arrows.

It was clear that what Mikasia was holding on the bow was no ordinary arrow.

The end of it was split in two, and something like a magic stone was embedded in place of the end of the arrow.

Without knowing what power the arrow containing magic had, a clumsy response was not a desirable action.

“I guess you heard about me from the Marquis too.”

Iona quietly asked the clergyman.

No, to the man of regression.

Then the regression man laughed and affirmed it.

“I heard it from Marquis Hughes. That the Sword Saint and his daughter were coming to this city. We couldn’t help but be happy. To think that the embodiment of ancient technology would appear in this city.”

“… …! You, even that…!”

Iona seemed very surprised by the regression man’s words.

Cleon was concerned about the man’s words, but decided to watch the situation first.

“Oops. Was this part still a secret to your colleagues? Then it wouldn’t be polite for me to reveal this. Please forget what I just said.”

“…Keuk…”

Iona’s eyes seemed to say, “What’s the point of saying that when you’ve already said everything?”

Then Kouen quietly opened her mouth.

“…Why are you wearing the Order’s robes and preaching? What on earth is your identity?”

“Ah. I am indeed a clergyman of the Order. I’m just affiliated with regressionists at the same time.”

The man put his hand on his chest and bowed.

And he removes the hood of the robe.

Under the hood was an old man with a beard.

Gray hair grew haphazardly and was swept back.

A beard of the same color as his hair grew under his nose and on his chin.

His eyes were slightly out of focus, shifting his gaze here and there.

Unlike his intellectual voice, his appearance was full of madness.

“My name is Maxwell.”

The man says his name.

Kouen clenched her hands tightly as if a little embarrassed by his words.

“Why, defying the teachings of the Order and embracing the ideology of a doomsday believer like a regressionist…!”

“A doomsday believer? Miss Kouen, regressionists act to save the world. They care about the world far more than the Holy Sword, the Saintess, or the heroes.”

Maxwell denies the teachings of the Order he belongs to.

The three people wondered if it was true that this man introduced himself as a clergyman.

“Don’t worry too much. I really don’t want to fight you. Please think of that hunter over there as just…. my bodyguard.”

“Well, that’s it, brother. If you don’t draw your sword or use magic, I won’t step down from this demonstration either.”

Dozens of ways to escape this place were simulated in Cleon and Iona’s heads in an instant.

But if the other party wanted to talk to them, it was an opportunity to gather information, even if only a little.

“Okay. I’ll listen to your story.”

As Cleon said that, the man nodded and winked at the hunter.

Then the hunter lowered the bowstring and leaned against the wall, watching Cleon and the others.

“Thank you. If we were to fight the Magicswordman Cleon, who defeated `Hero Albein`, head-on, we would have had to prepare for annihilation.”

“… …”

Cleon showed no reaction to the man’s compliment-like words.

After all, this man’s praise was worthless.

“There is something I want to say to you.”

“What is it?”

In response to Iona’s question, Maxwell picked up one of the books lying on the ground and placed it on the table next to him.

The title of the book was `World Tree Shuradsel`.

“World Tree…?”

As Cleon reads the name quietly.

Iona makes a face as if she is worried.

“World Trees are huge trees that existed in this world in the past. They are called World Trees because they generate magic on their own and exert a tremendous influence on the surrounding area, creating their own world.”

“That’s right. But World Trees are natural beings. They protected plants and animals more than humans, so they were objects to be conquered by humans at the time.”

Maxwell answers Iona’s words and opens the book.

There were several illustrations in it that seemed to have been drawn by imagining the World Tree.

It was depicted as having a size larger than a mountain.

To Cleon, it seemed like nothing more than an unfounded `delusion`.

“It was impossible to kill the World Trees. Because they are connected to the ley lines and regenerate infinitely, eating away at the life of the star.”

Maxwell, who was saying that, suddenly closed the book he was reading. And dropped it under the table.

“So, the humans at the time decided to erase them from the world without killing them. They `banished` them.”

“…Banished.”

A scene revives in Cleon’s mind.

The benefactor who disappeared before his eyes.

“Most of the World Trees fell into the rift of dimensions and disappeared. Even those who did not disappear would have gradually gone crazy and twisted grotesquely in that place.”

Maxwell swirled his wrist around and around, moving as if to express the twisting World Tree.

Kouen makes a disgusted face at the bizarre gesture, but Maxwell continues the next story without paying attention.

“However. Recently, I felt the reaction of one of these World Trees returning. In the Living Forest.”

Cleon and Iona’s eyes widened at the words.

“Something that happened near here…. Must have reacted to the great `power of ancient artifacts`.”

Maxwell’s words continue.

What flashes through Cleon’s mind.

The Holy Sword that exploded in gold and vibrated its power enough to tear apart the heavens and the earth.

It was Albein’s Caliburn.

“Why do you guys know that?”

Cleon decided to maintain his composure first and find out the source of the information they knew.

“Because there were signs. Cleon. The uncultivated area of the Living Forest. Recently, it’s been noisy there.”

Iona immediately recalls the events of a few days ago when she fell there with Rubera.

The bizarre monsters that appeared there.

The strangely giant Plant Golem.

Were all of those signs that the World Tree was trying to return?

“If a World Tree twisted in the rift of dimensions appears in the world…. It will try to destroy the world while burning with revenge towards humans. We call these World Trees `Severed Trees`.”

“I don’t care about the name. What you want is to prevent the return of that World Tree?”

Maxwell’s eyes widened for a moment at Cleon’s question, then he smiled.

“No way. Rather, we are trying to summon that Severed Tree.”

“Wh, why…! If you do that, many people will…!”

Maxwell speaks in response to Kouen’s words.

“Severed Trees have a lot of information from ancient humans. Moreover, how much value would there be in the energy contained in its body after falling into the dimensional rift?”

Maxwell spreads his arms as if he is really looking forward to it.

The three people could understand what the identity of that madness was.

“Don’t worry, we will subjugate the Severed Tree. It will be easier if you cooperate obediently.”

“That’s crazy! In the first place, it’s best not to release a threatening being into the world.”

Iona rarely raises her voice and glares at Maxwell.

“My answer is the same. I have no intention of cooperating with such a crazy plan.”

Cleon also shakes his head and rejects Maxwell’s proposal.

Then Maxwell shook his head, holding his hands together as if he was sad.

“It’s really a pity. If we had the power of the magic sword and the Holy Sword, the summoning of the Severed Tree would have been faster.”

“… …Holy Sword…?”

As Cleon reacted to the words, Iona moved first.

The light bullets that exploded from her hand flew towards Maxwell, colliding with the arrow that Mikasia fired in an instant and canceling each other out.

“The Severed Tree wants the power of the sword as the coordinates for its return.”

Cleon then realized that the tree vines were pulling on Galatea, not him.

It was certain that it came from the uncultivated area, and if so, that was also a sign of the Severed Tree’s revival.

Rubera was also not the target, but her magic sword `Varisada` was the target.

But then, why-

The moment Cleon’s thoughts reached that point.

“Cleon!”

Kouen’s cry.

The next moment, after witnessing Mikasia’s arrow flying towards him, Cleon quickly swung his sword and deflected the arrow.

“Keuk…!”

“We have to capture everyone here…! Cleon!”

“I know…!”

The moment Cleon said that and took a stance to cut down the two people.

“That’s enough.”

A voice stops Cleon and Iona.

There was the figure of `Tio`, who had traveled on an adventure with Eustace and the other three.

She stood on the stairs coming down from the upper floor to the first floor, looking down at the three people.

“Miss Tio…!”

Kouen calls her name.

However, the expression seen beyond the eyes covered by the blue bangs was not gentle.

What Tio was holding in her hand was a `marble` that she had seen somewhere before.

[Wait, that…!]

The next moment, as Galatea recognized it.

A barrier unfolded around the marble.

“Kueuk…!? ”

“Eut…!”

Cleon and Iona kneel at the same time.

Cleon then realized what Tio was holding.

“`Sword’s Core`…!”

“Oh. You know about it. We also had a lot of trouble getting that in our hands in an activated state.”

Maxwell speaks as if he is admiring.

Galatea’s painful voice echoes in Cleon’s ears.

Iona also stopped her body to endure the headache that was making her head feel like it was breaking.

“Cleon! Miss Iona!”

Kouen was the only one who was safe among the three.

Seeing the two people who suddenly couldn’t move, she clenched her fists tightly.

“Oh dear. Come to think of it, there was Miss Kouen. How about it? Would you like to save the world with us?”

At Maxwell’s words, Kouen glared at him and opened her mouth.

“I refuse! We don’t want that kind of salvation. People create a better world by helping each other and striving to maintain the balance of the world.”

Kouen conveys what she thinks as a clergyman of the Order.

Then Maxwell winked at Mikasia as if it wasn’t fun.

The next moment, his bow is aimed at Kouen.

“Huu…”

Kouen took a deep breath.

A moment later, she opened her mouth.

“A-W-D-H-S-N-I-J-N-”

Unpronounceable language.

The letters of God.

The divine power that explodes out of her voice, flowing in a melody.

Maxwell looked at Kouen with wide eyes.

“Oh, oh…! `God-Word Song`! To think, at such a young age!”

“Keuk…!”

Unlike Maxwell, who was admiring her, Mikasia had no choice but to drop the arrow she was holding due to the divine power that surrounded her whole body.

Tio and Maxwell too.

They stagger at the power of the divine power, which is pure, powerful, and manifested to protect comrades and loved ones from others.

Thinking that she had created enough of a gap, Kouen opened the dimension door scroll the next moment.

“Cleon! Iona!”

The next moment, Kouen pulls the two people through the dimension door.

When the echoing God-Word Song disappears, the figures of the three people are no longer in that place.

Mikasia clicks his tongue and puts the arrow back in.

Tio briefly looked at the ‘Sword’s Core’ she was holding and then disappeared again.

Only Maxwell, who was left in that place, was shedding tears of emotion.

“Excellent…. Miss Kouen. Your heart to protect everyone. Surely, you must have done training that scraped your bones and caused blood to flow.”

And quietly drops his head.

“But…. It’s meaningless. You can’t protect everyone with that kind of ideology. In the end, only the past will be a guide to the future.”

A quiet prayer echoes in the room.

There was a blessing in it.

The enemy of the world who will be reborn and come to this world.

It was a blessing for the re-creation of the Severed Tree Shuradsel.