Ch.264259 – Victory Sword

The worn-down pencil stubs and empty mechanical pencil cases reveal how hard a student has studied.

Similarly, in the Kaizen Empire, broken wooden swords symbolized a knight’s dedication and effort.

“I feel so wronged.”

The scabbard looked expensive—worth millions of won at a glance—so I deliberately avoided touching it.

But a wooden sword? Those cost at most 100,000 won.

Something I could easily buy with the allowance Professor Cheon gives me.

Yet the main issue wasn’t the scabbard but the wooden sword itself.

“NoName, your hands are dropping. Hold them higher!”

What am I doing at my age?

“Yes…”

Principal Gu On-yu’s supervision was relentless.

It’s utterly humiliating to be kneeling in the corner of the auditorium with my hands raised as punishment.

The remains of the wooden sword were now being diligently swept into plastic bags by the staff.

“Katsuhata! Is that how someone receiving punishment should sit? Arms straight!”

“S-sorry! Hic…”

“Oh dear, how did this happen… Yes, hello. This is Koizumi Yoshihiro. Yes, I needed to contact the clan head directly. Yes, it is indeed urgent.”

Emika’s master Koizumi, who exuded old-fashioned vibes, was calling his homeland.

It was shocking to learn he was younger than Principal Gu On-yu. That would make him mid-50s at most.

“Sob… hic…”

Beside me, in the same punishment position, was Katsuhata Emika.

At first, she was sniffling while clutching the shattered wooden sword, but when her master arrived at the auditorium, she broke into full-blown sobs.

She still seemed unable to compose herself after being severely scolded for failing to properly care for the precious sword.

“Seriously, with so many valuable things in the world, how can a wooden sword be considered a treasure?”

When I quietly asked Emika, she shot me a sharp glare.

“Thanks to our ancestors’ wisdom. Since the Katsuhata style successor must swing a sword more than anyone else, they created an unbreakable wooden sword.”

Surprisingly, Emika explained kindly without being overwhelmed by her emotions.

Or maybe I was too young for her to get angry at.

“Your ancestors had a strong sense of cost-saving.”

“It’s not that simple! It’s a wooden sword that can only be used by successors before they come of age. Using it is a kind of oath and ritual to inherit the spirits of all previous clan heads.”

“So it’s about inheritance (傳承), not about winning all battles (全勝).”

It reminded me of parents trying to convince their youngest child to accept hand-me-downs from older siblings… but I kept that thought to myself.

Emika, seemingly excited to talk about her area of expertise, rambled on.

The inheritance sword was made from oak trees growing in the mana field region of Japan’s Akaishi Mountains, and it was a precious item passed down through nine generations since the early 19th century.

“No wonder it felt so hard.”

“Hey…!”

“It wasn’t intentional. I mean, I did break it on purpose, but I wouldn’t have if I’d known it was an heirloom.”

“But wait. You said it was unbreakable, so how did you manage to break it, NoName?”

“Well… honestly, if something’s 200 years old, isn’t it about time it broke anyway?”

“Th-that’s impossible!”

“The handle was so black from years of use. Since we’re here now, why don’t you get a pretty new one, sis? I hear the Swedish ones are really good these days.”

Surely she’s not expecting me to pay for it.

I’m currently saving up for the astronomically expensive Adella synthesis project, and I can’t afford to spend money on something like this.

I tried to sweet-talk Emika as much as possible.

Master Koizumi, who had been eyeing us while on the phone, finally approached.

“Katsuhata, take this. It’s the clan head.”

“Y-yes…!”

Her voice cracked from surprise.

A troubled expression must have crossed her mind in that brief moment.

Her expression didn’t look particularly good.

Emika smoothed her voice and continued the call.

“I’ve taken the phone. This is Katsuhata Emika—”

“Emika, you finally did it! I always believed in you!”

“Pardon?”

“Disaster has turned into blessing! Your experience outside the well has paid off! It’s such a shame this joyous occasion happened while you were away in Korea. But that’s alright. Emika, let’s have a celebration party as soon as you return home.”

“W-wait, clan head! I don’t understand what you mean!”

“Hahaha, so modest too. You don’t understand? Well, let this clan head explain it to you personally!”

What’s going on all of a sudden?

None of us gathered in the auditorium could understand what this “clan head” person was saying.

Even when I tried to ask Emika, she didn’t seem to understand either.

The only certain thing was that this man on the other end of the line seemed extremely excited, as if he’d been drinking.

“Kamiizumi Nobutsuna.”

“Kamiizumi…? You mean the greatest swordsman of all time?”

“Yes. You’ve now earned the right to be called his reincarnation by the whole world, Katsuhata Emika. Not only that, you’ve proven that our Katsuhata style is the only unique school that has inherited both Shinto-ryu and Kage-ryu, the three major origins of Japanese swordsmanship.”

“Wait, clan head…!”

“I feel like passing the clan head position to you right now. I can’t tell you how much I’m looking forward to the next clan head meeting, Emika. I want to see those old council members squirm as soon as possible.”

The situation seems to be going terribly wrong.

This was evident from Koizumi Yoshihiro’s expression.

He initially sighed with relief but was now showing a variety of facial expressions.

Emika paused her call and turned to look at me intently.

‘What.’

My arms are too sore to keep holding them up any longer.

I naturally lowered my hands and deflected Emika’s burdensome gaze.

Emika rejoined the call and called out to the clan head in a small voice.

“Um… clan head…?”

“Yes, Emika! What do you want to eat when you come to Japan? I won’t nag about food that day, so just tell me. Hamburger? Pizza?”

“It wasn’t me… I mean, I didn’t break it!”

“It’s your sword, but you didn’t do it?”

“During that sparring match…”

“Hahaha! It’s fine even if it broke during sparring! The inheritance sword breaking means you’ve fully received its power! That alone is an amazing achievement, Emika. No need to be so modest.”

“NoName broke it by himself.”

Emika cried out with a tearful expression as the clan head sank deeper into his misunderstanding.

Finally, unable to stand it anymore, I snatched her phone and joined the conversation.

“Hello, this is NoName.”

“Huh? Who are… I mean, who are you?”

The clan head of the Katsuhata family started with formal speech upon hearing my youthful voice but quickly switched back to informal speech.

“Anyway, it seems the inheritance sword isn’t a necessary treasure for the Katsuhata family, so I won’t compensate separately. Or are you inconvenienced without the sword?”

“Not really, but…”

“Then since you personally guaranteed it, we’ll consider all compensation matters settled. I’ll buy Emika a practice wooden sword and send it back to Japan.”

Click-

Well, that’s fortunately resolved.

“Why did you hang up, NoName!”

“In case he changed his mind and said something else.”

Not polite to hang up first?

Besides, it’s a bit sneaky, but if you count my past lives, I’m older than your clan head, so it’s fine.

* * *

16th century, during the Sengoku period when numerous factions were at war.

At that time, “Kamiizumi Nobutsuna” was known as the world’s greatest samurai, a reputation that has persisted into modern times.

As with many ancient records, there were exaggerated, mythical descriptions such as splitting mountains or mastering the secrets of swordsmanship in a single day.

However, one fact has been passed down to modern times with definitive evidence: at the age of 16, he broke in half the finest magic sword bestowed upon him by his lord.

As time passed to the 19th century Edo period, the Shogun handed over 12 “inheritance swords” modeled after Kamiizumi’s magic sword to major families to mediate conflicts among hundreds of later schools.

He promised to give governing rights over all other families to any heir under 16 who could recreate Kamiizumi’s achievement.

There were actually a few cases of wooden swords being broken, but all were revealed to be false claims with outside help.

Eventually, as the Edo shogunate collapsed faster than the wooden swords, these promises became meaningless.

“What should I do…”

Katsuhata Akitaro, the head of the Katsuhata clan, was troubled.

The six remaining inheritance swords are treasures to each family.

Until just now, he had been formulating a brilliant plan to elevate the Katsuhata reputation by bringing this historical matter into the media spotlight.

[I’m telling you, I didn’t break it!]

Emika is fourteen years old this year.

The clan head believed no mage in the Katsuhata school could match her talent.

‘Even so, accomplishing what the greatest swordsman of all time did at 16, a full two years early, would have been an amazing achievement…’

At 16, the aura heart is still developing, making it naturally difficult to infuse massive amounts of aura.

While the medieval era considered 16 to be adulthood, people actually continue growing until 18-20 years of age.

‘But 8 years old? Emika isn’t the type of child to play such childish pranks…’

At 8 years old, the Katsuhata family wouldn’t even allow children to hold swords.

At that age, just being able to externalize aura would be considered genius-level talent, let alone infusing it into a sword. The thought made him dizzy.

He spent hours pacing between the yard and the engawa (veranda), deep in thought.

Tong-

Tong-

Even the clear bamboo sound of the shishiodoshi couldn’t bring peace to the clan head’s mind.

He decided to quickly call Koizumi Yoshihiro, Emika’s master and his senior.

“This is Katsuhata Akitaro, head of the Katsuhata clan.”

[Yes, clan head. I received your contact.]

“About that child called NoName. He claims to have created the innate magic Adella himself, and it seems to be true?”

[I haven’t confirmed it personally, but I’m certain he possesses considerable knowledge in magical studies.]

Wasn’t she just good at math?

In his 50 years as clan head, he had seen many geniuses, including himself who once dominated an era, but this was something fundamentally different.

It was like the fear of the unknown when deep learning AI first appeared and defeated humans at Go after just months of training.

“What is Emika doing now? Is she still with that child?”

[Ah, about Katsuhata… she’s dead.]

“What?”

Thud-

The phone dropped onto the stone garden floor.

The clan head couldn’t believe his ears. A thousand thoughts raced through his mind.

After taking a moment to think, he picked up the phone with trembling hands.

“What did you say? What happened to our Emika?”

[Ah, she died again in the meantime. That’s the eleventh time now.]

“Eleventh time?”

[Oh, I forgot to explain. The children are playing a game.]

“You scared me, you idiot!”

Crack-

In the end, the Katsuhata clan head had to buy a new phone.