Chapter 47: Surprise

After a pleasant meal.

Before I packed the items needed for the raid, I first shared tea time with Lucius and Rosemath and talked about the raid.

“Lucius. No matter what happens, you are prohibited from using the Holy Sword.”

“Yes?”

“No matter what happens, do not use the Holy Sword. Do you understand? It is to protect you, but at the same time, it is intended to protect this city.”

I can’t go into detail. Even if I say something stupid, I can only hope that you understand, trust, and follow me.

“Acedia is after the Holy Sword of Wind. They are very dangerous, to the point where they would not hesitate to kill the villagers for that.”

“…”

It was a bit of a bad thing that hit Lucius hard, but Lucius had to recognize it clearly.

“The aftermath of revealing the Holy Sword in a crowded place is still dangerous. The time will come, but not now.”

It hasn’t even been a month since Lucius awakened as the Hero of the Holy Sword. I can’t mention a specific time, but at least one condition is necessary.

“Lucius. Listen carefully. There is only one instance in which you will reveal the Holy Sword in front of everyone. That is…”

“Are you talking about when the Master is in danger?”

“That is one thing, but what I am talking about is something else.”

I pointed to myself.

“When I have the mana to escape from people with you and your party using teleportation magic, if it’s a situation that can’t be overcome without the Holy Sword, regardless of my situation, you can release the Holy Sword in front of people.”

Aftermath. In other words, running away.

“After your Holy Sword’s power awakened, didn’t the townspeople start getting squeamish right away? There must be more than one or two of them. There will be those who want your power, those who are after your power, and those who wish for your power to disappear.”

Those who want to use the Holy Sword. Those who want the power of the Holy Sword. Those who want revenge on the Holy Sword.

“Rosemath, what do you think? The Holy Sword of Wind that has appeared after 500 years. Don’t you think the elves will be very interested?”

“Huh?!”

Rosemath was somewhat strangely surprised.

“What do you think?”

“T-that’s right. The elves… especially the elders, there are some who think that all the Holy Swords scattered in the human world should be collected and managed by the elves.”

The Holy Sword is a tool. If the conditions are met, there is no reason why elves cannot use the holy sword.

“Well, if the elves get their hands on all the holy swords, they can step forward and unify the continent.”

“Well, elves don’t do that!”

“I’m not sure.”

Since I heard it directly from her, I thought that Rosemath was definitely on the young side.

I curse you, Demon King’s army! One day, I will collect all the holy swords, destroy all of you, and rule over the humans who betrayed us!

Oh my. Are the elves now becoming the Demon King’s army?

Shut up! We elves are the guardians of nature who protect all the forests!

If you’re going to kill them all, why don’t you start by killing all the bugs that eat tree branches? But in the whole world, bugs damage more trees than humans or ores.

Tch…!!

There was an elf named Leluna. Through her, I was able to learn of one plan the elves had.

The humans and the current elves should really be grateful to me.

The Demon King’s army set fire to the Elven Forest and destroyed all of the Elven organizations, so the plan that the Elves had to conquer the world before the Demon King’s army was also thwarted. They killed all the demons who were destroying nature, and enslaved humans.

The Elves, who learned about the caste system from the humans, tried to enslave humans.

Even now, there must be some elves who are over 500 years old who have a thirst for domination and conquest.

The Holy Sword of Wind has appeared?… Send the Guardians. Proceed.

If Leluna is alive, she will definitely come to steal the Holy Sword of Wind.

It is not strange for the Elves to seek the Holy Sword, which contains the power of nature’s mana itself, and which somehow seems to need to be managed by each race, such as the Elves or Dwarves.

The Holy Sword is what makes Lucius, who was a village hunter A, the strongest knight who can take the Demon King’s head in one breath.

If the elves had the Holy Sword of Wind and shot it like an arrow into the sky? That would be like the power of the destructive beam, the orbital bombardment, that was fired from Satan’s Sky Island in the Demon World. The elves would try to keep it for themselves while also preventing it from being used on themselves.

“In my opinion, the older the elf elders, the more they would covet the Holy Sword of Wind that defeated the Demon King. They would rather make the best elf guardians the owner of the holy sword than a human who is difficult to control.”

“I, I wouldn’t… I wouldn’t, I wouldn’t…”

“I don’t know. You may be an elf, but the elves I know are completely different from you.”

Rosemath is a woman like a child. It wouldn’t be a good idea to pour out the truth about elves to such a woman.

“Well, not only the elves, but everywhere will be after the holy sword. So using the holy sword is prohibited…. I mean, don’t show the holy sword yourself. Understood?”

“Understood, Master.”

“Ah.”

Lucius seemed to have realized something.

“That’s why you wanted to tell me…”

“That’s right. It’s a technique that allows you to use the power of the holy sword without having to take it out.”

When you think of a holy sword, you naturally think of a sword that sparkles and glitters, and seems impractical. However, a holy sword is basically an object that has the form of a sword and is the source of attribute mana.

“Lucius. The power of the holy sword is already within you. It’s how you handle it that matters.”

“So you’re saying that in dangerous situations, we should first fight using only the power of the Holy Sword?”

“Exactly!”

As expected of Lucius.

 

It’s worth teaching.

“So, can you use the power of the holy sword? Do you want to try it here?”

“I’ll try.”

Lucius immediately got up from his spot.

And then-

“The wind-”

“Wait. That won’t do.”

He almost got into big trouble.

“Don’t say that so carelessly.”

“Huh? But if you don’t say this…”

“Do your own chant!”

“Chant?”

“Yes, chant. You are the wielder of the holy sword. What would you do if someone heard that and took the holy sword from you?”

“I, I wouldn’t do that!”

Rosemath waved her hand and denied it.

“Why would I try to take Arthur’s power away!”

“There might be someone who brainwashed Rosemath into taking the holy sword away without him knowing it.”

That’s what the Demon King’s army usually did.

Then Acedia would do something similar.

“In my time, there was a time when the hero of the holy sword entrusted the sword to the man he loved, but was betrayed by the man and had the holy sword taken away.”

“Huh?!”

“She was a female warrior. And the man wasn’t a spy for the Demon King’s army. But the Demon King’s army brainwashed the man and took him away.”

“Th, that kind of…!”

“Is that possible?”

“Yes.”

She made it possible.

“At the time, there were males around the female warrior who were more outstanding than the man. I’ll call them males. That’ll make more sense. There were more outstanding males. The man who was just her first companion became a burden to the party, and was ostracized by the males.”

“That kind of…”

“Then she got sick and exhausted, and her body was taken over by the Demon King. The Demon King controlled the man’s body and took the holy sword from the female warrior. The female warrior was captured without any power.”

“That doesn’t make sense. The warrior is a woman, right?”

“Because she’s a woman. The female warrior liked the man, and the man confessed to her and asked her to go somewhere alone for a while.”

“Honey, you’ll love me forever, right…?”

“Of course. But honey, can I touch the holy sword just once?”

“Ah, no….”

“I’ll do a little more. Okay?”

“A, just a little more…?”

“Okay. Close your eyes. But how do you use the holy sword?”

“The holy sword is….”

“The man succeeded in pulling the holy sword out of the female warrior.”

“Phew, he barely managed to pull the holy sword out. Now this holy sword is mine.”

“Ah, no…! My legs don’t have the strength…! You, you…! This is why you left me…!”

“Go back home. I’ll go to the Demon King’s castle alone. You’re more suited to be a wife than a warrior.”

“Go, don’t go…! Don’t, don’t, don’t leave me!!”

“If you love me, wait for me.”

“Ahhhhhh!!!”

And the man never went back.

The Demon King obtained the holy sword, and the woman who was no longer a warrior entered the Demon King’s castle alone and was captured.

“D, Demon King…! Give my man back!”

“I’ve already taken over. Your man is now mine. Do you want it back?”

“Do, give it back…”

“Tell me the Holy Sword’s starting words and I’ll give it to you.”

“Keuuuut…!! Promise to return my love…!”

That’s how I completely obtained the Holy Sword.

“Ah. Let me tell you one thing. The man you loved was actually me from the beginning.”

“What…?”

“I transformed and approached you. You loved the Demon King from the beginning! Keuhaha! It’s nice to see your expression once, so, wait, why are you wearing clothes…? Stop it.”

“In the end, the female warrior ended up staying in the Demon King’s castle.”

“A prisoner? My goodness, that’s so cruel…”

“Because he was the Great Demon King.”

It was truly an evil act of exploiting human hearts.

“What… what happened after that?”

I don’t know. What do you care? I’m the Demon King.

“You understand? So you shouldn’t show the Holy Sword to anyone. You understand, Lucius?”

“To anyone… I understand.”

“Okay. If you really want to show it, you can only show the holy sword to someone you can trust and entrust your whole life to. Do you understand?”

“Yes, I understand.”

That’s fortunate. I understand at least roughly.

“Then… can I show it to the Master?”

“Me?”

Lucius’ holy sword.

“Me, whatever.”

***

At that moment.

A lake in the northern part of Normans.

A huge dimensional gate magic circle slowly began to glow and draw, and the staff from the Adventurer’s Guild were checking the expected completion time of the magic circle with an hourglass and organizing the surroundings.

In addition to the wooden fence installed toward the dimensional gate, a long fence was installed around the lake so that enemies would not rush straight at people, although it would not have much effect.

“Ugh, what could happen?”

Flickering.

“Huh?”

“You’re foolish, human.”

Flutter, flutter.

Mine, who came down flapping her crow’s wings, laughed at the Adventurer’s Guild staff.

“You predicted the opening time at the speed at which the magic circle was completed? Ha, I don’t think our Demon King expected that much.”

Gooooooo.

Before he knew it, the magic circle was completed.

“Rapid casting. Are you surprised that it opened 9 hours earlier than the scheduled time?”

Flickering.

“I’m sorry for betraying your expected time. What should I do? We didn’t even set a time.”

“You, you coward!!”

“The Demon King’s Army is just the Demon King’s Army.”

The dimensional gate opened, and demon beasts began to pour out from within.

“Let’s go! I, the Malphas Legion!”

KAAAAH!!!

Beyond the dimensional gate, countless monsters began to fly into the sky.