Ch.30Chapter 30: Encounter in the Mist (1)

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Right after finishing my training with Shizu in the awakener’s exclusive training ground.

I entered the dining hall with Shizu on good terms and had dinner while facing each other.

We were both extremely hungry after skipping lunch while engaging in such intense sparring.

“You worked hard today.”

Perhaps it was because Shizu was sitting across from me, still speaking to me in a warm voice despite clearly not being able to properly train herself because of spending time with me.

The dinner at the restaurant felt even more special than breakfast.

“Let’s meet tomorrow afternoon after classes end.”

After finishing our meal, I made plans with Shizu to spar again tomorrow afternoon when classes were over, and then we parted ways.

Trudge, trudge.

After leaving the dining hall, I slowly headed to my room, dragging my tired legs.

“Phew…”

With my hunger satisfied, the only remaining desire was sleep, evident in the deep sigh that revealed my exhaustion.

“…Tomorrow I’ll definitely induce a defensive move somehow.”

I made a firm resolution to achieve tomorrow the goal I had failed to reach today.

In the past, when I was consumed by inferiority complexes, I would have given up immediately after today’s failed training, especially after feeling such an overwhelming difference in skill.

-I can see you improving with every swing of your sword. If you keep working hard, you’ll achieve even better results.

As I recalled Shizu’s encouraging words spoken in a warm voice as the sun was setting and our training was ending.

“I’ll work hard.”

I could use even today’s most difficult moments as nourishment to become a better version of myself tomorrow.

As I continued walking while organizing my thoughts about what needed to be done next,

“I’ve arrived.”

A white-painted wooden door revealed itself before me.

The only space where I could satisfy the need for sleep, another survival necessity, after satisfying my hunger from the long training session.

…That’s a grandiose way of saying it was simply the entrance to my room.

“…Let’s go in.”

I raised my visibly tired hand and turned the doorknob.

The interior view that greeted me as I entered through the door—which opened smoothly without a sound thanks to well-maintained hinges and other components—was not much different from when I left this morning.

The few furnishings I had carefully arranged before leaving were still neatly displayed.

And the window, now framed by the twilight sky as the sun had set, unlike when I had left the room.

These two things were all that welcomed me as I entered the room.

Since I didn’t enjoy cluttering my room with miscellaneous items.

Although it was a rather desolate room except for the window that offered a perfect view of the night sky.

“Come to think of it, there’s no place better than this.”

Compared to the places I had stayed while working as a mercenary after leaving the Cradle in the previous timeline, none were better than this.

“The Cradle is truly the best, assigning a room with shower facilities to just one person.”

At least it had a place to wash up and a comfortable bed to lie down on.

“Yaaawn…”

Perhaps it was the relief of returning to my sanctuary.

A yawn escaped my lips, and simultaneously, my entire body felt languid.

I turned my gaze from the window to the wall clock to check the current time.

7 PM.

It was a bit early to go to bed, but my body, exhausted from the intense training that had continued from dawn until just before sunset, was commanding me to sleep.

“It’s early evening, but if I fall asleep now, I’ll be out cold until before sunrise.”

As much as I wanted to just collapse on the floor and pass out regardless of the bed,

Sniff, sniff

Just to be sure, I concentrated all my senses on my sense of smell, brought one arm to my nose, and checked my body odor.

“…I smell. Quite badly at that.”

Having moved my body vigorously without rest to keep up with Shizu who had deliberately trained with me, I was emanating such a strong sweat odor that even I wrinkled my nose upon smelling it.

“I’ll wash up before sleeping.”

I forced my eyes open as they were about to close and moved toward the bathroom.

Or rather, I tried to.

Woooong

“…Huh?”

If it weren’t for the sudden resonant sound in my ears.

I stopped my steps toward the shower and looked around.

“What’s that sound? Where is it coming from?”

There was no corner from which the sound could be coming.

It couldn’t be coming from outside, as the closed window’s soundproofing was quite excellent.

And it was too deep and resonant to be coming from the clock, the only likely source of sound in the room.

“Where on earth is that sound coming from?”

As I turned my head here and there in confusion, trying to find the source of the sound,

Woooong

“Hmm…?”

Once again, the deep resonant sound with a profound impression reached my ears.

Since I was focusing intently, I could easily identify the source of the sound.

And it was coming from…

“…This sword?”

The Dragon Sword Fafnir that I had received as a gift from Director Belpheus this morning, hanging on the wall.

As I turned my gaze to where the sound was coming from,

Woooong

The dragon sword on the wall emitted a loud resonant sound as if it had been waiting for me to meet its gaze.

“Hmm…”

Raising one hand to thoughtfully stroke my chin, I examined the resonating dragon sword.

Although very subtle, the entire sword was visibly trembling, observable even in the dim starlight filtering into the room.

Woooong

The resonant sound was heard again.

It had a much more composed and dignified tone compared to the previous clamor.

Suddenly, something I had seen in the previous timeline came to mind.

“Could this be…”

If my memory served me correctly, it was very similar to that.

It was a sound similar to the sword cry (劍鳴) emitted by a sword in the hands of a swordsman who had reached a high level of mastery.

The difference was that this sword was now resonating on its own without anyone’s help.

“…I thought it was a fine sword, but to think it’s a sword that emits its own sword cry.”

I began to think that this sword I had received as a gift today might have more presence than I had initially thought.

My plan to wash my sweat-soaked body was thwarted by the sword that had suddenly made its presence known through my ears.

By then, the stars were gradually appearing in the night sky as the sun had just set and darkness had not yet completely fallen.

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The sword cry emanating from the Dragon Sword Fafnir changed its tone in increasingly diverse ways as time passed.

At first, the sword emitted a loud cry aimed only at reaching my ears.

Shortly after I turned my gaze toward the sword, it changed to a tone imbued with dignity.

And even that dignity transformed into clarity as time went on.

The sight of it, reminiscent of an instrument playing on its own without a performer, was enough to fill me with amazement.

“To think such a diverse sword cry could come from a sword not held in anyone’s hand.”

Suddenly, I recalled a story about the realm of warriors that my father had told me when I first learned swordsmanship.

As a warrior deepens their understanding of the weapon in their hand, be it a sword or otherwise.

And when that understanding reaches a certain level, the boundary between the wielded weapon and the wielder becomes blurred.

In the case of a swordsman, they reach a state where the sword becomes oneself and oneself becomes the sword—a unity of body and sword (身劍合一).

The unique resonance from a sword in a swordsman’s hand is proof of the level they have reached.

And such resonance is called the sword cry—this is what I learned from my father.

“But I’ve never before seen a weapon that emits more than one sound…”

The dragon sword before me, emitting various sounds, was directly contradicting what I had been taught.

This wasn’t just contrary to my teachings but also to what I knew from my experiences in the previous timeline.

I didn’t need to look far.

During the time when I had become a monster and was ravaging the world, every powerful opponent I faced without exception made their weapons resonate with sound.

Some opponents had weapons that emitted resonances imbued with dignity.

Others had weapons that emitted fierce tones that seemed somewhat rough and clamorous.

All of them, without exception, emitted tones through their weapons that proved the unity between themselves and their weapons, but none had the ability to freely change the tone emitted by their weapons.

This was true even for the Holy Sword Lumen in Shizu’s hand, who had been my strongest opponent in the previous timeline.

“Even the holy sword born with divine blessing didn’t do this.”

How extraordinary must this weapon be to show off by changing its inherent tone in various ways like this?

This thought kept crossing my mind as I watched the sword.

But the dragon sword, continuing its resonance, seemed displeased that I was merely watching it.

Woong woooo woooong

After displaying a much deeper resonance than before,

Snap

“…!!”

Not long after, the leather strap of the wall mount securing the dragon sword broke with a loud noise.

At this rate, it was obvious that the sword would make an even more clamorous sound than its cry as it hit the floor.

As soon as this thought crossed my mind, I startled and stretched out my arm to catch the falling sword, but.

The dragon sword, as if mocking my movement, freed itself from the wall mount and instead of falling to the floor, it floated in the air and slowly but surely approached me.

The sight was reminiscent of the Holy Sword Lumen responding to Shizu’s call, cutting through the air with its radiant form and flying toward her while emitting a brilliant light.

“…Wow.”

By this point, only an exclamation of amazement escaped my lips.

I was about to just slowly watch the sword approach me with my mouth slightly open in surprise, but.

-Catch it, you bastard.

This leisurely thought was interrupted by a fierce voice that seemed to be engraved in my mind rather than heard through my ears.

“Who’s there!”

Sensing the terrifying energy in the voice that came without any presence, I reflexively shouted sharply and turned my head to look around, but.

-….

There was no voice responding to my sharp call, and there was certainly no presence to be felt.

“…What? Did I mishear?”

But it was such a clear voice that it felt like it was being engraved in my mind.

-Didn’t you hear me? Catch it quickly, you bastard.

Yes, just like this oppressive energy-filled… Wait, hold on.

With a suspicion in mind, I turned my head toward the dragon sword that was slowly approaching me.

Swoosh

The dragon sword, which had been floating in the air, shed its previous sluggishness and flew toward me with a sound of cutting through the wind.

“Huh…?”

The sight of the blade pointing toward me as it flew was so threatening that I instinctively twisted my body to avoid the sword, but.

-No, don’t dodge, just catch it, you bastard.

“…?!”

A fierce voice that seemed to rebuke my movement was heard again.

The dragon sword flipped its blade around so that the grip was pointing toward me as it flew.

It approached me, who had stopped moving out of fear from the suddenly threatening and fierce tone, and was grasped in my right hand.

Just as I was about to lose my composure at the sight of it flying and settling in my hand as if guided by will,

-Shit. I don’t know what happened, but my mouth is finally working. I was about to lose my patience putting on a show for an idiot who couldn’t recognize me no matter how much I shook, but this is good timing.

A fierce voice revealing a frivolous personality became even clearer the moment I grasped the dragon sword.

-Hey. Follow me. Let’s talk.

The mysterious voice bluntly spoke its piece without any context.

“Before that, could you tell me who you—ah…”

As I tried to identify who I was dealing with for clarity, my vision went black, and my consciousness followed suit before I could finish my sentence.

After an indeterminate amount of time had passed, my eyes finally opened.

“What is this?”

What entered my vision was a space filled with thick fog that disoriented my sight.

Not only my vision but all five senses were disturbed by the fog, which even blurred my sense of direction.

In this fog, there was only one thing I could discern:

-This way.

The only thing I could perceive was the direction of the fierce voice that had brought me here.