Ch.84Daytime Date (1)

Cambria, City of Opportunity.

Inside the carriage heading to Cambria, Najin gazed at the passing scenery. The sunlight shone lazily. As it was the period transitioning from autumn to winter, the streets were filled with fallen leaves of various colors.

‘Are those fallen leaves?’

-Huh? What do you… Oh.

Najin’s murmur. Merlin, who belatedly understood his meaning, trailed off. After all, Najin, who had lived his entire life in the underground city Attman, would never have experienced autumn or seen fallen leaves.

Najin silently looked out the window.

Everything was new to him.

Just when he thought he had gotten used to something, something new would appear. The blue sky, the green fields, the colorful fallen leaves… the surface world was painted with colors he had never seen in the underground city.

It was fascinating and beautiful.

As the boy’s eyes were captivated by the unfamiliar scenery, a cold sunset was reflected in Najin’s eyes. His sunset-tinted eyes narrowed. Clearly, wandering the outside world was enjoyable.

‘Enough to let my guard down.’

Najin recalled his battle with Kafman. If he had made even a slight mistake, he would have died on the spot. However, Najin also thought that he had become too relaxed.

He had forgotten the fact that he was being pursued, that he could be targeted anywhere, anytime.

He had forgotten the most important thing while getting used to unfamiliar things. If Ivan had been watching, he would have certainly clicked his tongue. This shouldn’t have happened. He shouldn’t have lowered his guard in the first place. Najin sensed that the vigilance he had when he first left the underground city had greatly diminished.

‘How amusing.’

Najin smiled bitterly.

‘I haven’t even achieved Sword Seeker, let alone Sword Master, yet I’m taking a breather.’

Merlin remained silent.

She said that wasn’t the case, but her voice didn’t reach Najin. In Najin’s mind, the image of being pierced by Kafman’s arrow and…

Juel Lazian. The image of the Order’s executioner drawing his sword was strongly imprinted in his mind.

When Juel Lazian released his killing intent, Najin had a vision of his neck being severed. His heightened senses had shown him the future. Even after seeing that future, there was, of course, no way to respond.

Death. Such a simple death.

The battle with Kafman, the encounter with Juel.

Those events were enough to remind Najin of what he had forgotten. That is, the very simple fact that his head could roll anywhere, anytime.

“Haaah…”

Najin exhaled deeply.

‘I heard that the Sacred Host also has a Sword Master-level powerhouse called the Lighthouse Keeper.’

-Yes, there is.

‘Will he come to kill me?’

-No, that’s impossible.

Merlin said decisively.

-The Lighthouse Keeper cannot move. He is a special existence, and the moment he moves, the stars take notice. The moment the Lighthouse Keeper moves, the whole world will be watching you and him.

And if that happens, Merlin said.

-The moment you draw Excalibur in that situation, everything will be turned upside down. The Sacred Host attempting to kill the bearer of Excalibur. The deity of the Sacred Host would surely understand the significance of that one sentence.

The Lighthouse Keeper is like an apostle of the Lighthouse, the deity of the Sacred Host. The moment it becomes known that the Lighthouse has moved its apostle to crush the owner of Excalibur…

-The stars would have a justification to intervene.

-The descent of the Constellations has quite complex conditions, but in this case, the conditions for a star to descend to the mainland would be met.

The intervention of the stars.

It meant turning the whole world against them.

-That’s not good for either you or the Sacred Host. Because that place would immediately become a battlefield for the stars.

Stars that want to kill Arthur’s successor.

And stars that want to protect Arthur’s successor.

-There are no winners in that war.

-If you reach the level of Sword Master and acquire a star, then maybe… but not in the current situation.

Both the Order and Najin would be destroyed together.

-But the Order would be destroyed first.

What’s certain is that the Order’s destruction would come before Najin’s. Losing everything they’ve built. Merlin said the Lighthouse would never choose such a path.

-I don’t quite understand this situation anyway.

-I’ve thought it was the Order’s unilateral action, but by now, she must know too?

She knows and still intervenes in this matter.

Merlin let out a hollow laugh at that fact.

-Even if she were to make excuses about unilateral actions and dispose of her subordinates, why would she do this?

-Is she thinking of picking a fight with the Round Table? A fool obsessed with religious games with just eight stars? The Lighthouse I know isn’t a star with that kind of guts.

Najin, who had been listening to Merlin’s words, said:

‘In the end, what we need to do remains the same.’

The goal to focus on doesn’t change.

Excluding the Lighthouse Keeper, there are no more Sword Master-level powerhouses in the Order. What remains are only those comparable to Sword Seekers.

Didn’t Ivan say it from the beginning?

When you reach the level of Sword Seeker, the Order won’t be able to ignore your existence and will agree to negotiate. Although the situation has changed a bit, the essence of the plan hasn’t changed.

‘Reach the level of Sword Seeker.’

Not just stopping at grasping fragments, but going beyond.

To reach the level of Sword Seeker, one must completely disassemble and reconstruct their sword energy. Only through that process can one obtain a form of sword energy optimized for containing mental images.

Where does he stand now?

He has touched the fragments but hasn’t achieved the reconstruction of sword energy. Against a complete Sword Seeker, he would be at a disadvantage. It would be difficult to expect a stroke of luck like in the fight with Kafman Theosis.

“I am just the beginning.”

“More will come looking for you until you’re sick of it.”

Kafman had clearly said so.

More people would come after his life, and sometimes he would have to be prepared for battles against multiple opponents. Among them, there was a high possibility that there would be strong individuals like Kafman, or even stronger.

This won’t do.

He needed to reach the level of Sword Seeker.

As soon as possible.

2.

There were many benefits given to Red-rank adventurers, and among them was a personal training room.

A personal training room operated under the management of the Central Guild.

This training room, which only adventurers of Red rank or higher could use, was so well-equipped that it was rumored that even knights belonging to noble families coveted it.

And, naturally, it’s hard to find another place where one can train freely without worrying about prying eyes or the leakage of techniques. It’s common that if you find a good forest, it becomes a popular training spot crowded with people within a few days.

So, adventurers of Red rank or higher often used personal training rooms, and they would chat in the lounge-cum-corridor where the doors of the training rooms were lined up.

“So, you see.”

And today.

The eyes of the adventurers gathered in the lounge were fixed on one training room. They continued their chatter while glancing at one firmly closed door.

“So he’s been like that since yesterday?”

“Yesterday? My friend, he’s been like that for a week already.”

A middle-aged adventurer with scars all over his back let out a hollow laugh.

“You know I use the training room every dawn, right?”

“I know. You’ve been saying you want to tear some muscles before heading to your mercenary group for years now.”

“Right. So usually when I come to the training room at dawn, I’m the first one there, right? It takes an hour or two before other guys start showing up.”

“And?”

“But for the past week, that young man has always been there before me. The light in that training room is always on. One time I came an hour earlier, and he was still there.”

An adventurer who had been eavesdropping on the middle-aged adventurer’s words joined the conversation.

“That guy was doing the same thing at night too, wasn’t he?”

“Really?”

“Yes, he was making such a racket! I use the room right next to his, and it’s unbearably loud. Whatever he’s swinging around so violently, it’s eerie just hearing the sound.”

There was no need to ask what that sound was. It could be heard even now. From beyond the firmly closed door, the sound of something being broken and shattered echoed endlessly. Despite the soundproofing.

“For a whole week?”

“Seems like it.”

“He’s a rare breed among rare breeds.”

The adventurers clicked their tongues.

They too were strong individuals who had reached a certain level, and they knew what it meant to be immersed in training. Sometimes, when they wanted to clear their minds through training, they would lock themselves in the training room for a day or two, but…

Usually, they don’t do that for an entire week.

And certainly not as violently as that.

“His name.”

“It was Ivan, I’m sure.”

“The one who recently became Red rank…”

The adventurers mulled over the name of the young man using that training room. As he was making a name for himself in the adventurer city recently, everyone knew about Ivan.

Then why is that young man doing this?

“Why is he training like that?”

“Well, it must be because of that recent incident, right?”

“Kafman, that gentleman…”

Kafman Theosis, a White-rank adventurer.

Amidst the commotion in Cambria following the announcement of his death, Ivan, who had jumped into the same mission, had been holed up in the training room for over a week.

The adventurers could only vaguely speculate that he had been greatly affected by Kafman’s death.

Creeeeak.

As they were whispering, the door of the training room opened. With a whoosh, a hot wind rushed out as Najin walked out of the training room. Wiping away beads of sweat, Najin filled his empty water bottle and returned to the training room.

And, in that process, the adventurers could see.

Beyond the open door. Najin’s training room.

It was filled with sword marks.

Traces of frantically swung swords covered the training room. On the ceiling, on the walls, on the ground, and the central wall that served as a target was deeply gouged.

Considering that the caretakers clean and repair the room every day, and that the central wall is known to be built with a very hard mineral, it was indeed an astonishing sight. The adventurers were momentarily silent, at a loss for words.

Eventually, someone said:

“He’s insane.”

No one disagreed with that statement.

The scene they glimpsed through the open door was not something that seemed to be created by a person in their right mind.

3.

Late evening. It was past midnight when Najin finally left the training room. As he walked, feeling the cold air, Najin thought to himself. I’ll have a light meal, take a short nap, and then go out again.

Merlin, who had been eavesdropping on that monologue, couldn’t hold back:

-Stop it already. How long are you going to keep this up?

‘I need to reach the level of Sword Seeker, don’t I?’

-I know. I know, but…

Merlin sighed.

-I understand you’re in a hurry, but this isn’t helping. You can’t reach that level by training so brutally.

‘It must be of some help, though.’

-This is driving me crazy, really.

Even while heading home, even while conversing with Merlin, Najin was keeping all his senses incredibly sharp.

To respond immediately if an assassin were to come.

Not just in the training room, but even when sleeping, he held his sword close to his chest… In essence, he wasn’t getting proper rest.

It’s like when he first left the underground city.

Seeing his vigilance, which had relaxed over time, now surge even higher than before, Merlin clicked her tongue. At this rate, he’ll break down. But this wasn’t a habit that could be fixed in a day or two.

Najin.

The boy born and raised in the underground city.

The hunting dog instinct of a child who grew up in the alleys where abandoned children lived, in an underground city where the already abandoned fell, doesn’t easily disappear.

It was the same when he worked as Ivan’s hunting dog. Minor mistakes. Life-threatening situations. Approaching death. Whenever he experienced such things, Najin would push his body to the limit, almost pathologically, to sharpen his senses.

Because that kept him alive.

Because that made him victorious against the strong.

Those intense experiences he faced when he was young don’t leave Najin’s body. He might forget them momentarily, but he can’t let them go. Watching the memories flashing through Najin’s mind, Merlin sighed.

Clatter.

Najin still slept with his sword close to his chest, and as soon as he opened his eyes in the early morning, he headed straight to the training room.

“You’re busy from dawn, before the sun is even up.”

Najin stopped in his tracks.

The street in the early dawn, still dark before sunrise.

“It’s so hard to see your face.”

Someone was sitting on a bench in front of the training room. She stood up and removed the robe she had been wearing low over her face. Her light brown hair fluttered in the wind.

“Really, couldn’t you come find me first sometimes? I told you to come back safely, didn’t I? Then when you return, it would be nice to at least come say hello.”

Grumbling, she walked towards Najin, crunching the fallen leaves on the ground. Standing in front of Najin, she opened her bright yellow eyes lazily.

“Don’t you think so? Najin.”

The name whispered after confirming no one was around.

“What brings you here so early in the morning? Guild…”

“Name.”

“…Dieta.”

“Do I need a special reason to visit? We’re not that distant.”

Dieta shrugged.

“It’s nothing special.”

She grabbed Najin’s arm.

“Come with me somewhere.”

“What?”

“I said, let’s go somewhere together.”

Dieta forcibly pulled Najin’s arm. Although he could easily shake her off, Najin couldn’t bring himself to do so. The place they arrived at had a carriage.

In front of the carriage, Dieta twirled her hair with her index finger.

“…It’s a date request.”

As if embarrassed by her own words, her face was bright red.