Ch.99The Youngest Sword Seeker (3)

# The Empire’s Capital, Camelot.

Just a month ago, Najin had visited the capital as a tourist, but this time he was entering much deeper into the capital. That is, into places where he normally wouldn’t be allowed to set foot.

Thump!

The guards at the gate snapped to attention and saluted when they spotted the carriage bearing the imperial crest. They cleared the way so the carriage could pass through without stopping. There was no need to verify identity. The imperial crest engraved on the carriage was proof enough.

The carriage continued deeper into the capital without stopping. Past towering buildings, toward the center, and then deeper still… At some point, the scenery changed.

They had entered the heart of the imperial city.

The core of the Empire, thoroughly protected by all manner of artifacts and magical instruments. As they passed through the barrier, Najin sensed the flow of air change. The air was incredibly pure. The mana in the atmosphere was perfectly controlled.

Looking through the carriage window, he could see tall towers rising into the sky. Magic Towers, as they were called. These towers, standing tall as if announcing their arrival at the Empire’s core, welcomed Najin.

And the carriage headed toward one of these towers.

A Magic Tower managed by the imperial family, filled only with court magicians loyal to the imperial household. The carriage stopped at the entrance of the Platinum Tower. Stepping out of the carriage, Najin silently gazed up at the Platinum Tower soaring into the sky.

‘It feels quite overwhelming.’

-They really splurged on gold coins. What a waste of money. Tsk tsk…

Najin heard Merlin clicking her tongue.

Soon she began muttering, “Traditionally, magicians should gain enlightenment through hunger and desperation. This is why youngsters these days…” Najin listened with one ear and let it go out the other.

“This way.”

Najin followed the Royal Guard, Soltis. Only after passing through several layers of security barriers was Najin able to pass through the dimensional gate that connected the tower’s floors.

Flash.

Passing through the bluish dimensional gate, Najin was greeted by a vast space. In the center of that space stood a woman with flowing blonde hair.

The Eight-Circle Archmage.

Master of the Platinum Tower, Safria Gachefsga.

The Empire’s Archmage looked at Najin with indifferent eyes. Those eyes were dripping with fatigue, and her expression suggested she found everything troublesome, as if she had been forcibly dragged out of her research lab.

“Haah…”

She sighed deeply as she brushed back her hair. As the Royal Guard took a step back, she beckoned to Najin with a finger. A gesture to come forward.

The Arhebtz Special Law was administered by the imperial household. Showing such an attitude while implementing such a law would be considered highly disrespectful, but Royal Guard Soltis maintained his silence. If an ordinary magician had acted like that, he would have reprimanded them, but…

Safria Gachefsga was an exception.

She was such an anomalous existence within the Empire that special laws had been established just for her. Considering that 40% of the artifacts laid throughout the capital Camelot were created and maintained by her hands, it wasn’t particularly surprising.

“Stand right there. Don’t move.”

Following her instructions, Najin stood at the center of the circuit. Looking down, he could see complex circuits interlocking and turning like intricate gears.

Snap.

Safria snapped her fingers.

As the circuits meshed together with a clicking sound, flames erupted in front of Najin. The rising flames changed from black to red, and then from red to white.

‘It’s like looking at Cambria’s ranking chart.’

-It’s similar. They use that color sequence when distinguishing the grades of souls.

‘The grades of souls?’

-Yes.

Merlin affirmed.

-I told you before that ascending to higher realms is essentially a process of soul refinement, right? The soul doesn’t necessarily have those exact colors, but they’re represented that way for easy distinction.

From black to platinum.

“As the soul undergoes refinement, it gets closer to the stars, so it’s not entirely incorrect,” Merlin muttered.

-Black, red, white, platinum. These are the four main divisions, and they’re checking if you’ve reached the level of a Sword Seeker.

Najin looked ahead.

The flames burning before him were white.

-White means you’ve reached the level of a Sword Seeker.

As Merlin muttered, Safria, who was standing in front of Najin, gave a nod. She tilted her head slightly while looking at an empty space, as if indicating she was ready to move on to the next step.

“…”

Squinting his eyes, Najin could sense a ripple where Safria was looking. Perhaps it was blocked by some perception-inhibiting barrier or something similar. Thinking this, Najin turned his gaze back.

When his eyes met Safria’s, she looked at him with a somewhat disgruntled expression before letting out a short breath.

She grasped the air with a sigh.

Suddenly, a staff appeared in her hand. She struck the ground with the raised staff. With a crisp sound, eight circles appeared behind her.

Eight circles.

As the gear-like circles slowly rotated, she pointed her staff at Najin. The wave emanating from the tip of the staff enveloped Najin’s body.

Click, click…

The gears enveloping Najin’s body began to turn. With each inch the gears moved, letters began to form on them. Didn’t they say these gears read information engraved on the soul? With such thoughts, Najin muttered inwardly.

‘Won’t this reveal Excalibur?’

-What?

Merlin responded as if in disbelief.

-Hey, how many circles do you see in front of you?

‘Eight.’

-Right. 8 circles, right?

Merlin spoke with a triumphant voice. Though he couldn’t see her since his eyes weren’t closed, he imagined she was probably crossing her arms and shrugging her shoulders.

-I have ten. Ten, I tell you. For your information, while the difference between 8 circles and 9 circles is enormous, the gap between 9 circles and 10 circles is twice that.

‘Really?’

-Of course! Nine represents incompleteness, but ten symbolizes perfection. I am a flawless archmage. A youngster like her breaking through my perception inhibition? If that happens, I’ll gladly acknowledge it and retire. I’ll bet everything on it.

To break through my perception inhibition, you’d need to bring the Witch of Camlann right up to your nose. Merlin snorted as she muttered this.

-Well, still…

Merlin said.

-Your age will probably be revealed. After all, the magic is likely designed to check your age.

‘I suppose so.’

-The moment your age is revealed, things become irreversible. You know that, right?

He knew. From the moment his age was revealed, all sorts of attention would start pouring in. But he had already prepared for that.

‘I’ll have to reveal Excalibur later anyway, so shouldn’t I start getting used to it now?’

-You always have a way with words.

Merlin laughed.

By now, letters were appearing on the gears.

-Are you ready?

Ready, she says. He had been prepared since the moment he left the underground city. As Najin answered the question with silence, the letters on the gears formed a complete number.

A two-digit number.

Eighteen.

Safria Gachefsga’s eyes widened.

2.

Master of the Platinum Tower, Safria Gachefsga.

She was extremely tired. Not only had she not slept properly for days, but she also had a pile of artifacts that needed immediate calibration. She wanted to quickly finish her work and rest, but an untimely summons had arrived.

-Implementation of the Arhebtz Special Law?

-Yes, the directive came directly from the department…

-Why assign it to me?

-They said the subject of the law is quite special.

She was aware of the existence of the Arhebtz Special Law.

But there was no need to use someone of her caliber to implement it. It was like using a butcher’s knife to kill a chicken, or rather, using a dragon-slaying archmage to hunt goblins.

So she made her annoyance very clear.

She grumbled and asked if it was really necessary.

Yet the department in charge of the Arhebtz Special Law came with imperial permission. After examining the subject’s information and records, they had determined that “the disguised identity might be the real age.”

‘Such a fuss.’

Safria clicked her tongue.

The time of the Platinum Tower Master was extremely valuable. If this turned out to be a false alarm, she would formally protest to the department in charge. The Platinum Tower’s budget would surely benefit.

With such thoughts, she flicked her finger.

She had already confirmed through the soul’s flames that the young man before her had reached the level of a Sword Seeker. What remained was his age. His disguised age was twenty-eight, wasn’t it? A 28-year-old Sword Seeker.

‘What nonsense.’

Safria let out a mocking laugh.

Was becoming a Sword Seeker so easy? When the Sword Star, hailed as a once-in-a-generation genius, reached the level of a Sword Seeker at the age of 30, the world was turned upside down. Similarly, when she, known as the girl beloved by magic, reached the 6th circle at the age of 34, the magical community was greatly shaken.

And now, in one’s twenties?

And they’re seriously considering it?

‘Do they think this field is a joke?’

Speak sense. Speak sense.

It’s obviously a disguised identity. Thinking this, Safria waited for the results to be derived. Information began to combine on the gears. No traces of artificial manipulation on the soul, pure white. No magical energy detected…

Information appeared one after another.

Finally, the time engraved on the soul appeared.

Eighteen. See? As expected, he had manipulated his identity. Not 28, but 18… Wait, what?

“…”

Blink, Safria blinked. She looked again at the number that appeared before her. The number remained unchanged. Eighteen.

“Hmm…?”

Is that so? Have I been working too many nights?

She was definitely tired from lack of sleep. She must be seeing things. Safria shifted her gaze. There, beyond the perception-inhibiting barrier, were the supervisors watching.

Their complexions had turned pale, almost white. As she heard them muttering “eighteen, eighteen,” Safria’s head slowly tilted.

Master of the Platinum Tower, Safria Gachefsga.

Questioning the magic of the Empire’s great archmage would be an enormous disrespect and rudeness. Therefore, the supervisors couldn’t raise doubts and were just staring with wide eyes, but…

“No, this doesn’t make sense.”

Even Safria herself couldn’t accept it.

She took a deep breath and struck her staff down again. The gears quickly enveloped Najin’s body once more. More meticulously and precisely than ever, Safria recited the magic without even skipping the incantation.

Thirty seconds later.

The same number, eighteen, appeared on the gears. The assembly fell into silence. It wasn’t that the supervisors’ whispers were blocked by the perception-inhibiting barrier. They were truly silent.

Shock beyond measure renders one speechless.

The archmage, the Royal Guard, the supervisors who had been in charge of this for decades, all were silent.

“My real name is Najin.”

Only Najin.

“I’m eighteen this year.”

He answered with a smile.

At Najin’s innocent voice, Royal Guard Soltis, standing a few steps behind, slapped his forehead with his palm.

A Sword Seeker at the age of eighteen.

It was an unprecedented, historic event.

It took less than a day for the rumors to spread and the Empire to be turned upside down.

3.

“What? Eighteen?”

The core of the Empire.

The highest place in the Britannia Empire.

“If my memory serves me right, wasn’t the youngest Sword Seeker 30 years old? I recall Lord Charon, the Sword Star, reaching that level at that age.”

The man seated on the throne widened his eyes.

His ministers bowed their heads in affirmation to his question.

“I also remember that the youngest Sword Expert was Lord Charon at the age of 23.”

That information was also accurate.

It was the Sword Star Charon who had broken the records for the youngest Sword Expert, Seeker, and Master. 23, 30, and 47 years old, respectively. Those were the records Charon had left. Even then, the Empire had been turned upside down.

It’s an unbelievable story. Was Charon actually a biological weapon created by the Magic Tower? It’s manipulated. It’s a lie…

Weren’t such rumors abundant back then as well? The man blinked several times and read the report again. The number written there remained unchanged. A swordsman who reached the level of a Sword Seeker at the age of eighteen. Najin.

Not even in his twenties.

A Sword Seeker in his teens?

“Hmm…”

He let out a hollow laugh.

Amusingly, the first three possibilities he thought of were: homunculus, demon contractor, and larva of Camlann. However, all three were dismissed.

Soul: pure white.

No artificial traces.

No magical energy detected. Re-examined with 57 types of artifacts, results consistent.

It was a report submitted by Platinum Tower Master Safria Gachefsga. Her words were trustworthy. But even seeing it with his own eyes, the man found it hard to believe, so he rubbed his face.

“Place of origin?”

“Unknown. He said he couldn’t answer.”

“Bloodline?”

“No matches within the Empire.”

“I see.”

The man quickly made a judgment.

If he won’t reveal his place of origin, there’s no need to press further. If there’s no matching bloodline within the Empire, he’s likely from a foreign country. Or perhaps from an origin he can’t speak of.

Either way, there’s no need to know.

What the Empire desires are talented individuals who are loyal to the Empire. As long as their origin isn’t from Camlann or the land of demons, it doesn’t matter.

“Let’s set that aside. It would be better to dispatch an investigation team separately. Quietly and discreetly.”

If he’s of foreign origin, there’s a possibility that other countries might try to claim him using various pretexts. So this matter should be handled discreetly.

“But most importantly.”

The man rose from the throne.

His platinum hair, resembling starlight, flowed with his movements. The supreme being, the Emperor of the Empire, smiled as he fluttered his sleeve.

“I should see him with my own eyes.”

I will confirm it myself.

Summon him here. With such a command, the Emperor of the Empire shifted his gaze. There stood the Empire’s sword, always steadfastly guarding his place.

The Empire’s Best Swordsman.

The Empire’s First Horn.

Looking at Gerd, the First Pillar of the Empire, the Emperor smiled.

“Lord Gerd.”

“Command me.”

“Summon the Sword Masters. Shouldn’t the Empire’s three Sword Masters be present for this historic moment?”

The summons was issued.

It was the first Sword Master summons issued since the “Thousand Moons” fallen star subjugation operation 21 years ago.