episode_0021

It was shining brightly in black.

This is definitely not just a mood thing. It was emitting light, illuminating the surroundings to the level of a torch.

When light shines from a sword like this, it’s one of two things.

Either receiving a real-time buff named Blessing, or showing an illusion through magic.

“That sword…?”

“Could it be a blessing? I’ve never seen something shine that bright before.”

“You fools! Even if it’s a blessing, it wouldn’t shine like that. There are no adults in the village, and it’s clearly just a magic spell with no effect other than the shell!”

The thieves approached me without fear, not intimidated by the sight.

I had never seen such a powerful blessing after wandering through countless battlefields. But the warm and sacred sensation I felt in my hands was real, not just a trick of light.

I turned my gaze towards the priest who was piercing the thieves’ heads with magic on the altar.

Likewise, the priest who saw my sword shining nodded at me, clapping his hands and nodding.

Not only his magical skills, but his character was also excellent.

“Bring out the knights. If they fall off their horses, we can kill them!”

“If you dare.”

The hooves pounded the ground. I extended my sword and pondered how to cut well after extending it. If I wanted to spread rumors about how well I could cut, I had to think about how to cut well.

If you weren’t a person who wanted to be trampled by overwhelming weight, you wouldn’t stand in front of charging horses. So the thieves were waiting with long poles or spears around.

If they all made a wall with spears, it would be quite threatening, but with some mercenaries mixed in, you couldn’t expect that level from the thieves.

So, to break the horse’s legs with a relatively safe and cheap strategy, you had to dig the ground, but they didn’t know I was in the village.

The only remaining method was to push me hard, or attack the horses to startle them and knock me down.

“Will that work?”

“Argh!”

One thief who couldn’t avoid the horse was hit and went down like a traffic accident.

I had eaten a lot of dirty things, but the reason I was carrying the horse was this. I didn’t feel much fear, and its size was large, so even without weapons, charging itself was a huge threat.

But not all attacks could hit the horse.

I swung my sword at the thief showing his back after extending it. He had some armor, so instead of knocking him down in one blow, I intended to accumulate injuries.

However.

“Just piercing the armor like that…!”

“….Oh.”

Even though the blade that came towards my neck didn’t penetrate a weak spot in defense, it came out on the other side without much resistance.

Could it be that he miscalculated the distance and didn’t reach at all? I had such doubts, so as I passed by that thief, I slightly turned my head and saw his headless body falling.

The sword had cut down the enemy safely. No, it seemed like the range had even increased slightly.

Originally, I had planned to leave only a minor injury on the neck, but seeing that it was completely cut off, that was the case.

I decided to temporarily set aside the pride of a cavalryman that filled my chest.

Of course, the knight’s trust in the battlefield would not be denied, but even an excellent magician had the qualifications to sit on a horse stone.

“A single blow is a bit much…”

“What? What did you see?”

“If you don’t know, shut up. Damn, I shouldn’t have touched this kind of thing in the first place.”

I gradually increased my speed and experimented with the surrounding thieves a few times. It was about how much the range had increased beyond just seeing the sword.

By adjusting the distance and swinging a few times, I could see that the light emitted by the sword extended to a clear area.

In reality, even though the length of the sword had increased, the weight did not feel any different, and there was no strong recoil, which is a disadvantage of a long weapon.

It’s difficult to learn because of that, but mastering magic is truly impressive. I wonder if someday Lycia will be able to do something like this too.

Following the path I took, some heads flew into the sky. Some of the thieves who had been watching their comrades fall one by one in a single blow backed away slowly.

However, those who were too preoccupied to notice such things in the heat of battle still blocked my way, and with more confidence than before, I turned my gaze towards the thieves lurking near the gate.

“Here comes the knight again!”

“Stay calm, just take him down. Think about the treasure in this village!”

“Spearmen, forward! If you’re just going to stand there with your spears, come forward!”

The thief who first spoke in the village had been encouraging the thieves fighting around him since earlier.

Some of them grumbled at his orders, but it seemed that they followed them in their own way, showing some leadership skills. So, he must be their leader or in a similar position.

If he had stayed on as a mercenary, he would have been a talent that could be put to good use.

Perhaps he had been a squad leader during his mercenary days. It might be a talent that needs to be broken here, given how he’s using it.

I, too, had made up my mind to end it here.

There is no battle that ends only after everyone is killed. It is when morale is broken, and one realizes that the spoils of victory are insignificant compared to one’s life, that the battle truly ends.

Now, the distance was close enough for me to hear what the thieves were saying and see their faces.

“We’ve already suffered heavy losses. Let’s end it here!”

“Please, just…!”

Without a word, I slightly tightened the reins and swung my sword long.

The naive belief that the person beyond the long spear would not be within the range of the attack was cut along that path.

*****

With the rewards and goals no longer being instilled, the means of sustaining stable combat morale disappeared, and the thieves began to crumble.

Some ran away, and only those who had suffered injuries making it impossible to escape were lying on the ground groaning.

By the time the sun rose, the situation had more or less ended.

Seeing the remaining guards dragging the still-living thieves into an empty warehouse, I returned to the village.

Fortunately, the gate was still open, and the thieves did not enter the village.

Of course, some may have crossed over, but it seemed like they were being dealt with by the guards waiting in front.

Just to be sure, I went to the church and amidst the crowd coming out after hearing that the situation had more or less ended, I found Lycia.

“Is everything okay?”

“Yes, you told me to hide safely, right?”

I thought she was asleep when she said that, but it seems she was awake.

Anyway, it was a relief that nothing had happened.

“Yes, you did well. But it may still be dangerous, so stay inside.”

“Yes.”

Since it wasn’t a scene that a child should see, I sent Lycia back to the room in the church.

Meanwhile, I tied up Sancha in front of the church again and went to clean up the battlefield. I also checked on the girl to make sure she was okay, and now it was time to collect the spoils.

In addition to the spoils, I also had to deal with the bodies scattered around. As I was contemplating where to move them, the priest who was healing the wounded called out to me.

“Oh, sir.”

“You’ve worked hard. If it weren’t for you, I don’t know what would have happened…”

“It was thanks to your blessings, Father. I’ve been on many battlefields, but I’ve never seen such power before.”

As the battle ended, the sword that had been shining brightly returned to its original state.

When I gripped the handle, the subtle sense of omnipotence that I felt disappeared completely, but the blood that was buried there was real.

However, the priest’s response to my words was not a show of humility or display, but a complete denial.

“That… is not my blessing.”

“What do you mean? Are you saying there is someone other than you, a priest, who has magic in this village…?”

“That’s why it’s even more puzzling. I cannot distinguish between magic and non-magic. The blessing that was cast on the sword is not mine.”

So, who did it then? I wondered if it might have been a mistake, but the answer that came back was firm.

Instead of pondering over the problem of unanswered questions, the priest began to steer the conversation towards a different topic.

“The one who was the leader of those men had something.”

“If it’s the leader…”

“Over there, lying down. Do you know him?”

The priest pointed to the thief who had been shouting loudly in front of the door last night. He was indeed the leader.

His head must have sensed the danger and urgently escaped somewhere. Why did he leave his neck behind and only bring his body…?

“Take this.”

The priest took something out of his pocket. It was a box with a round lid, and inside, a thin needle was spinning around.

I had never seen it before, but I had a subtle feeling that I knew it. Usually, this feeling would be a memory from a past life. So, what was this called again? Ah, right.

“A compass?”

Did they exist in this era too?