Chapter 145: Grave of Swords (4)

Carriages and horses weren’t explicitly forbidden at the Sword’s Grave, but since everyone parked their carriages on the side of the road and waited on foot, we did the same.

“Where’s the end of this line?”

I asked a man with a spear on his back, who silently pointed towards a horizon where the line of people seemed endless.

Seeing the endless stream of people stretching to the horizon, I couldn’t help but sigh.

Even the lines at amusement parks weren’t this long. What could be so fascinating here to draw such crowds?

As we walked to find the end of the line, we noticed people carrying tent-like structures on their backs.

‘Does it really take that long?’

Sure, with a line this long, it’d naturally take time, but how long could these tests be for people to come prepared with tents?

There were even street vendors selling food along the line. Anyone watching might mistake this for a festival rather than a gravesite.

Walking towards the invisible end of the line, I sighed and stopped.

“Why are you stopping suddenly? We’re still far from the end.”

“No, this isn’t right no matter how I look at it.”

At this rate, we might end up waiting longer here than it took us to get here in the first place.

To prevent such a scenario, I placed my hand on my sword hilt and approached the nearest man. Jessica, who had been quietly observing, jumped in front of me to block my path.

“W-what kind of crazy stunt are you trying to pull now…!!”

“Crazy? When have you ever seen me handle things barbarically?”

“All the time! That’s why I’m stopping you!! I don’t know what you’re planning this time, but absolutely not!!”

Jessica seemed to think I was going to kill the man and take his place, but contrary to her concerns, I was actually planning to have him yield his spot in a way any swordsman would respect.

“It’s not like that, so just step aside and watch.”

As I approached him with my hand on the sword hilt, he reacted sharply, probably wary of the Baldo technique, placing his hand on his own sword hilt.

Realizing something was off, the surrounding swordsmen tensed up, focusing on me and the swordsman I was facing. I pointed at him and called out.

“Hey, you there!!”

“…What is it?”

The man responded with a tense face, sweating. His readiness to fight at any moment made him seem more accustomed to real combat than the academy students.

“I challenge you to a duel for your spot in line.”

“…Pardon?”

Confused by my challenge, the man tilted his head and looked around at the other swordsmen, asking what this was about.

The other swordsmen looked at me as if I were crazy, like I’d said something outrageous.

“You want to duel… for my spot in line?”

“That’s right.”

“But… even if I win against you, I’ll still be in the same spot. What’s the point of such a duel? There’s no benefit for me.”

Shouldn’t a swordsman accept a duel even without benefit? If he came all this way to mourn his sword, how could he not know this?

But I’d anticipated this response, so I pointed to our carriage parked on the roadside.

“I see your point. So if I lose, I’ll give you that carriage.”

“…That carriage?”

The carriage we rode in wasn’t from my mansion, but Jessica’s. I’d heard it was a masterpiece made by a first-class artisan using the finest materials without restraint.

Its value wasn’t just as a carriage, but as a work of art. Anyone with even a hint of an eye for quality could recognize its worth.

“Is it… really your carriage?”

Strictly speaking, it wasn’t mine but Jessica’s, but since we’d soon be married, it wasn’t exactly a lie to say it would be mine.

“You think I’d lie about someone else’s carriage with all these people around? It’s really ours, and if you win, it’s yours.”

“…I accept.”

With our duel agreed upon, the swordsmen in line before and after us stepped aside to make room.

Those who had been looking at me like I was crazy just moments ago now watched us with keen interest.

“Is this distance okay?”

“Yes, this is fine.”

The distance between us was about 5 meters, neither too far nor too close for a duel.

“Then let’s begin.”

Almost simultaneously with my words, the man drew his curved sword, showcasing fluid movements as if performing a sword dance.

I had been wary of him being a Baldo user since he had his hand on the sword hilt from the start, but it seemed that wasn’t the case.

“…Aren’t you going to draw yours?”

“This is enough for me.”

“……”

Perhaps due to his swordsmanship experience, the man was cautious of the Baldo technique. He circled around me, searching for an opening without rushing in.

He swung his curved sword left and right as he advanced, but when he realized he couldn’t penetrate my defense, he retreated significantly.

At first, I thought this was natural since I wasn’t showing any openings, but even when I deliberately left openings, he showed no signs of attacking. I started to grow impatient.

‘…This is taking too long.’

It was understandable that it would take time since I wasn’t showing any openings, but we didn’t have the luxury of waiting around.

I’d challenged him to a duel because I didn’t want to wait in the first place. Dragging out the duel itself seemed counterproductive.

‘I’ll make the first move.’

Closing the distance in one step, I drew Wolffang towards the man’s curved sword in the blink of an eye.

With a crisp sound of metal clashing, the curved blade separated from its hilt, becoming one of the many tombstones in the Sword’s Grave.

“…Huh?”

It happened so quickly that the man, unable to properly grasp the situation, just stared blankly at his sword, now reduced to just a hilt.

The other swordsmen were equally shocked by the turn of events that had surpassed their comprehension.

Everyone was at a loss for words, bewildered by a situation that far exceeded their cognitive abilities.

“Do you admit defeat?”

“……”

The man, still staring blankly at his broken sword, nodded silently. He then picked up the broken blade and trudged towards the back of the line.

“That’s one down…”

Taking the man’s place in line, I tapped the shoulder of the swordsman in front of me, who had a large sword strapped to his back.

“Hey, you there.”

“M-me?”

“Yeah, you saw everything, so you know what I’m going to say, right?”

“I refu-“

“If you say you refuse, I’ll take that as admitting defeat. So step aside quickly.”

“……”

He hesitated for a moment, then slumped his shoulders and followed the previous man to the back of the line.

“Now for the next one…”

“I challenge you to a duel.”

Just as I was about to speak to the man in front of me, Elaine, who had been watching silently until now, issued a challenge first.

Strangely, her challenge wasn’t directed at the man immediately in front of me, but the one in front of him.

“Why are you challenging him? We haven’t sent the guy in front away yet.”

“Hm…? We’ll end up dueling him too, and it’s faster if we split up…”

“Oh? You’re right about that.”

I thought Elaine was only good at swordsmanship, but it seems she had a knack for math too.

And so, Elaine and I secured our spots in line through perfectly legitimate means, allowing us to reach the Sword’s Grave before sunset.

Occasionally, someone who didn’t know what had happened behind them would accept our duel challenge, but each time, it only resulted in a new grave in the Sword’s Grave.

“The sun’s starting to set…”

As the sky turned red with the sunset, gradually hiding behind the horizon, we arrived at the foot of the giant sword stuck in the hill.

“What do we do now? I thought that spirit or whatever would be waiting.”

“Hmm… Maybe if we break that sword, it’ll come out?”

“That makes sense.”

“What makes sense?! It might come out soon, so stop with the weird ideas and just wait a little longer!!”

Reluctantly, we waited for a moment. As Jessica had said, a light like fireflies began to seep out of the giant sword stuck in the hill. It gathered into one mass and started to take on a human shape.

Self-aware swords generally fall into two categories.

One includes swords born from demon beasts, the remains of saints, or miracles, like my Wolffang or holy swords.

The other is swords made from ordinary materials but imbued with a spirit after long use, becoming a kind of elemental. The sword before us fell into this category.

My heart started racing as I saw this being, which had only been mentioned in passing in the original story, appear before my eyes.

The ethereal light emanating from the sword coalesced into a woman who looked to be in her prime, about Jessica’s height. She held a sword in one hand, as if to prove she was indeed a sword spirit.

“…Welcome. You must be the visitor who has come to make an offering.”

She singled me out among the three of us, as if she had known from the start which of us had come for the offering.

“You knew that well, even though I haven’t said anything yet.”

“I can sense much more love for swords from you than your companions. Now then, show me your beloved sword…”

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