episode_0050
by fnovelpia000
“Sister, really with that man….”
The solemn singing of the choir echoed through the grand temple.
White marble pillars and a floor adorned with a red carpet.
A magnificent stained-glass window that seemed to inspire faith in God just by looking at it.
This place, revered as sacred ground by the clergy belonging to the Aegis Order, and where numerous high-ranking priests reside.
Every day, countless followers, priests, and patrons of the order come and go.
Tio’s sister, an aspiring priestess with a promising future,
prayed in the grand temple every day, awaiting the divine revelation that would be bestowed upon her.
But what came to her was not some divine revelation from God.
A political marriage with Duke Woodknocker, a powerful patron, according to the decision of the Order.
As she had no family other than her younger sister, she couldn’t refuse the Order’s command, considering the debt she owed them.
As if she couldn’t understand it, Tio asked her sister repeatedly.
But each time, her answer was the same.
“Duke Hughes may not be a good man, but it is our duty as priests to reform such people.”
“He’s a person who pours a lot of money into making an unborn child a hero candidate. He must be crazy about power and money.”
Tio’s sister smiled bitterly at her reply.
“But Tio, it’s also true that the Order can save more people thanks to his support.”
With those words, she did not waver in her decision.
Tio also had the faith necessary as a priest compared to other ordinary people.
However, it was, after all, faith in the doctrines, not in the upper echelons of the Order.
She tried to talk to them several times without her sister knowing.
But the upper echelons of the Order, blinded by the money that Duke Hughes possessed, often ignored Tio’s words.
In the end, she had to watch her sister’s wedding without being able to do anything.
About a year later, her sister’s son was born.
That is, a boy who would be Tio’s nephew.
The first few years were quiet.
But after four years had passed since then.
Bad rumors began to circulate around her.
Hughes Woodknocker’s wife was neglecting her family, being away from home for days.
Some even said that she was with adventurers.
And that every time such stories reached Duke Hughes, a woman’s screams could be heard from the mansion.
It was months after such rumors began to circulate that she met her sister again, whom she had not seen properly since the wedding.
The priests’ quarters, with the lights off.
When she opened the door, rubbing her sleepy eyes at the sound of a knock on her door.
Tio’s sister was standing there.
Her face was hidden by a robe.
Her face, which she met again, was haggard, and the good light in her eyes was as weak as a flickering lamp.
But there was a determination on her face that she had not had before.
Her sister came to her quietly.
She showed Tio what she had brought, tightly wrapped in cloth.
A Zweihänder shining with a brilliant silver light.
A faint stream of divine magic.
As soon as Tio saw it, she could not help but suspect its identity.
“The Holy Sword. Mistilteinn.”
Quietly, her sister opened her mouth.
“Where did you get this….”
At Tio’s flustered voice, her sister quietly told her what had happened so far.
She received the revelation of the Holy Sword.
The foreseen future was the worst prediction that the Holy Sword would turn her son into a hero.
And eventually, it would be used by the Returners.
Therefore, she did not tell anyone that she had received the revelation.
She had recovered the Holy Sword through adventurers.
Duke Hughes and no one in the Order knew about this.
She said.
“The power of the Holy Sword can be used to save the world. We must not let it be used by the Returners.”
Tio also agreed with her words.
Generally, however, it was impossible to hide the Holy Sword.
This is because there are those in the Order who specialize in detecting only the magic of the Holy Sword that has been unsealed and try to recover unregistered Holy Swords.
“Then how….”
“I’m going to break this Holy Sword.”
At Tio’s question, she closed her mouth for a moment and answered, looking down at Mistilteinn.
“Break it…?”
Tio asked back as if she did not understand her sister’s words well.
She just nods.
“I’ve already finished talking to the Holy Sword. He also respects my opinion.”
“I don’t understand. Who is he?”
This time, she did not answer.
She raised her hand to the sword in front of Tio.
Then, the Holy Sword Mistilteinn, which seemed to be vibrating slightly.
It began to crack from the center and disappear.
And what was left in its place was a silver bead.
“What have you done?”
“I destroyed the body of the Holy Sword. I left only the core. I want to entrust that core to you.”
“Sister! Explain properly! What are you trying to do!?”
At Tio’s words, her sister’s face became sad.
“I said before that it was my job to reform Duke Hughes, right?”
Tio closed her mouth for a moment at her sister’s words.
She could see giving up, exhaustion, and despair on her face.
It was a great shock to Tio that she, as a priestess, who always sang of bright appearances and hope.
She had changed so much.
“I realized while spending time with him. There is enough evil in the world that exceeds my imagination.”
“Sister…”
Tio quietly took her sister’s hand.
“That core…. We have to prevent the power of the Holy Sword from falling into Duke Hughes’ hands. And I’ll try to escape from him as much as possible.”
“What are you talking about? We can ask the Order for protection as it is, right?”
No matter how good Duke Hughes’ relationship was with the Order.
If Tio’s sister, who had the skills of a high-ranking priest in the Order, requested protection.
There was no way they would leave her alone.
“…I have to go get Eustace.”
“Are, are you out of your mind?!”
There was no way Duke Hughes would allow it.
She tried desperately to stop her, but Tio’s sister left.
And the next day.
A corpse was carried out of the Woodknocker family.
All that was left for Tio was the core of the Holy Sword that her sister had left behind and despair.
The Order did not want to care about her death.
Maybe even if she had stayed by her side that day and applied for protection to the Order.
She might have been forced to return to the Duke’s side.
All the anger, sadness, and despair that her sister felt.
It was passed on to Tio as it was.
A sense of betrayal towards the Order.
A desire for revenge against Duke Woodknocker.
It was Priest Maxwell who reached out to her.
At the time, he was working hard to rescue refugees at the Grand Temple.
He said to Tio.
“The Order is corrupt and the world is surrounded by darkness. We must restore this world to what it should be.”
She didn’t completely agree with his ideology.
However, if it meant overturning the Order in the process.
And even indirectly, if she could take revenge on Duke Hughes.
She didn’t care even if she was called an evil person.
But Tio regretted her choice a few years later.
Priest Maxwell was the person closest to Duke Hughes.
If she continued to help Duke Hughes’ plan as it was.
The mark of the Returners was already engraved on her body.
It was impossible to disobey Maxwell’s orders.
Moreover, even the existence of the sword’s core was exposed to Maxwell.
It was a blessing in disguise that he didn’t tell Duke Hughes about the core.
However, even the will that her sister left behind was used by him.
She was ordered to monitor Eustace.
When she thought that her sister had died to save him.
She couldn’t have good feelings for Eustace.
Until she saw his face in person.
Clearly, he was too self-centered to be called a good person.
Young, immature, arrogant, and fearful human being.
It was not difficult to imagine that he had grown up under Duke Hughes and had such a personality.
But every time she remembered her sister from his face.
Her words lingered in her mind.
If there is a glimmer of goodness in this child.
It was also the duty of them, the priests, to reform him.
That’s why she threw herself to protect Eustace.
No, by the time she realized it, her body had already moved.
That time too.
This time too.
001
“So, you are my mother’s…”
Eustace opened his mouth, looking down at Tio, who was dying from her injuries, as if he couldn’t believe it.
Tio opened her mouth with a bitter smile.
“Are you disappointed that it wasn’t a sacrifice of pure goodwill?”
Tio shielded him.
Clearly, Eustace was greatly impressed by her actions somewhere.
The goodwill of throwing her body for him, whom she had met for the first time that day.
That may have been why he felt even more guilty.
But if the reason Tio saved him was simply because he was her nephew.
Eustace’s heart became complicated.
But soon, he shook his head.
“Even if we’re related by blood. I’m a human being who inherited Duke Hughes’ blood. I’m also an object of resentment to you. The reason you saved me…. is because you’re a good person after all.”
Eustace spoke, spewing out disorganized words.
Tio sighed at those words.
The blood still hadn’t stopped.
“You…”
“I…. I couldn’t deny what Maxwell said. It’s true that I didn’t want to run away…. I haven’t changed anything.”
Selfish, likes to be noticed.
Young, immature, and arrogant.
“No. You have changed…. Clearly, there are still many shortcomings. But one thing. A virtue that can be recognized by anyone.”
Tio said that and took Eustace’s hand.
The core of the sword was held in that hand.
“That is, courage. The courage to know the truth. And the courage not to run away in front of the enemy.”
“I, I…”
He looks down at his trembling hands and legs.
Fear was clearly covering him.
There’s no way someone like him is a courageous person.
As Maxwell said.
“Courage is not about being ‘fearless’. It’s about sticking to your path in the face of fear.”
“… …”
The strength is gradually draining from Tio’s body.
Even with potions or healing magic.
It was impossible to completely cure her body, which had been contaminated by the dimensional power Maxwell used.
“And. People call those who have the courage to fight ‘heroes’.”
“Hero…”
If the hero simply refers to those who wield the Holy Sword and its power.
It should be called ‘Holy Swordsman’ like a magic swordsman.
The reason why it doesn’t is because.
A true hero is someone who has the courage to confront fear for the sake of others.
Of course, there are countless people who hold the Holy Sword but cannot do that.
That was the case with the hero Albein.
“Even if you don’t have the Holy Sword. If you have that mindset. Anyone can stand as a hero.”
Even if it’s a magic swordsman.
Even if it’s an immature young man who can’t even swing a sword properly.
“How foolish…. Tio. The collapse of the world you wanted will happen soon.”
“Maxwell…!”
Has he broken free from the influence of divine magic?
Maxwell began to move again, taking off the bark.
However, his appearance was completely different from before, just like the other servants.
His appearance was a monster with his head to toe turned into wood.
“Soon. Shuradcell will descend upon this world. Eustace, who you risked your life to protect, is less than a leaf in front of the Boundary Tree.”
Tio stared at Maxwell for a moment, then turned her gaze to Eustace.
“…I am an unavoidable villain. After all, I couldn’t even resist Maxwell until the situation became like this.”
With those words, she looked at the core of the sword that she had given to Eustace for a moment and let go of her hand.
“Do what you want to do, no matter what that man says. With your will.”
And Tio closes her eyes.
Eustace clenched the core of the Holy Sword he had received and stood up from his seat.
Maxwell changed his expression for a moment as he looked at the sight.
He could feel the magic power gradually increasing in the core of the sword he was holding.
“…It’s impossible, for me.”
But. The words Eustace spat out made Maxwell smile quickly.
That’s right.
“Defeating Maxwell, who has turned into a monster. Cutting down the tree monster that will pop out after that….”
“Then come this way. Now, whether you live or die, nothing will change. We will watch Shuradcell’s descent together.”
Maxwell spreads his arms.
His body was filled with ominous dimensional magic.
“But. ‘Impossible’ and ‘unwilling’ are different…. right?”
“…What.”
The next moment, the core of the sword and the long sword he had were drawn to each other and became one.
And a silver two-handed sword shining brilliantly was held in Eustace’s hand.
“The Holy Sword from the core…!? He restored it!”
Maxwell quickly stretched out his vines.
But the magic of the Holy Sword protects Eustace.
Eustace lets out a scream of anger and runs straight.
“Maxwell!!!”
Unlike the mithril greatsword, the Holy Sword is as light as a feather.
Mistilteinn pours all its magic power into protecting Eustace and allows him to reach Maxwell.
And the moment that sword touches Maxwell.
The priest, who had succumbed to the power of another dimension, was cut in half on the spot.
“This…. can’t… be…. To someone like you….”
Maxwell’s body, spouting commonplace lines, fell off the cliff as it was.
Eustace breathed roughly and looked at the Holy Sword.
Clearly, he is still far from being able to wield this sword.
But still, the Holy Sword lent him its power.
“…Mistilteinn.”
A name he had heard somewhere.
Was it from his mother before she died?
Suddenly regaining his senses, he runs to Tio.
Tio had already left her body.
Eustace clenched his fist and tried to move her body.
The guild rules that the adventurers had told him before.
It was time for him to put that into practice.
The next moment.
Something was heard from the cliff, like glass breaking.
He sees the wall of dimensions collapsing.
Thick tree trunks crawl out of the other side like fingers.
Eustace dropped Tio’s body as far away from the cliff as possible.
He sat down from his seat, seeing the intense presence flowing out of the gap.
“Th, that’s…. The Boundary Tree, Shuradcell…!”
The despair that had been banished from the world returned.
002
Rewind time a little.
Outside the barrier.
Lübera and Talcheck were engaged in a back-and-forth struggle.
Slowly chipping away at each other’s stamina.
Lübera’s awakened power was truly annoying.
No matter how much he relied on his senses to respond to it.
As long as Lübera’s magic allowed it.
It was impossible for Talcheck to make a valid hit.
Of course, Talcheck had also adapted to some extent to that power.
He predicted the direction her attack was digging into.
“Haa… Keuek…”
The pain that was gradually spreading throughout his body was making his movements dull.
“Cleon said that you seem to have a disease. It seems that was true.”
“Tch. Did that guy notice….”
Talcheck retorted to Lübera’s words as if it were uninteresting.
“I don’t really care whether you die from the disease or not…. What about Iona Chevalier?”
“That girl already knows. That’s why she’s nagging me to please stay holed up in the royal capital.”
“Why don’t you? Is it related to Resia, the hero you mentioned earlier?”
Talcheck snorted at Lübera’s words.
“It’s none of your business.”
“…Yes. I see. But you are acting selfishly, even rejecting the concern of your only daughter. You’re the worst father.”
Talcheck distorted his face.
“I’m a swordsman. Not a father.”
“Is Iona Chevalier just your tool after all?”
“Yes. A sword that talks and acts like a person is something I kept by my side because it was amazing.”
Lübera closed her mouth for a moment at Talcheck’s words and then laughed out loud.
As if she had heard an interesting story.
“What is it.”
“No. I just thought you looked like Cleon.”
“What did you say…?”
Lübera pointed at Talcheck with Barisada and continued the story.
“Today. When I went to the Duke’s family to find you. Do you remember the story I had with Cleon?”
“… …”
“You said that Iona Chevalier is ‘not that strong’. Cleon denied that.”
“Ah, that’s right.”
Lübera smiled bitterly as she looked at Talcheck, who was answering as if it were nothing.
“Don’t you know? Iona is definitely strong as a sword. Even more than the red sword hanging on your waist. But you probably think she’s weak as a human being.”
“… …”
“In fact, objectively, she is strong. Knowledge of magic, swordsmanship skills. All are top-notch. But to you, it probably feels like just a child’s play. That’s your true intention. You are evaluating and thinking about her as a ‘human’ rather than as a ‘sword’.”
Talcheck’s face was gradually distorting.
Blood vessels were popping out on his forehead.
And sharp eyes and an encroaching killing intent.
“It’s sophistry.”
“Even Eustace tried not to run away from the truth. Are you trying to run away from your true feelings?”
“Keukeu…. Your tongue is too long.”
This time, Talcheck rushed at Lübera with the momentum to kill her.
[Wh, what do you do if you make unnecessary provocations!]
Barisada is talking to Lübera.
Lübera was also regretting that she had unknowingly raised her blood to speak up for Iona.
Then Talcheck’s body stops.
No, it was the Holy Sword he was holding in his hand that stopped.
As if fixed in the air.
He doesn’t move from there.
Talcheck tries to move Chevalier, who is fixed like he is doing pantomime.
But soon, the sword moves on its own, comes out of Talcheck’s hand, and flies to where Cleon is.
Cleon also opens his eyes and gets up from his seat.
“You’re finally back. You irresponsible bastard.”
Lübera is Cleon.
And she smiled as she looked at Iona, who had regained her appearance next to him.
Talcheck looked at Cleon and Iona with his eyes wide open.
“Father.”
“Chevalier…. Cleon, what did you do.”
Cleon raised the Galatea and aimed it at him at Talcheck’s glaring eyes.
“I was trying to restore the affection of the family.”
“What a useless thing to do…! Chevalier! Your master is me!”
When Talcheck said that and reached out his hand to Iona, Iona shook her head.
“No! I am Iona. A proud hero who saved the world. And the daughter of Swordsman Talcheck!”
However, Iona stubbornly refused and shook her head.
Talcheck’s eyes widened at those words.
There were times when Iona denied it when she called herself Chevalier until now.
However. She must have also thought somewhere in her heart that Talcheck regarded her as a tool.
But this time it was genuine.
Iona is sincerely trying to stop him as Talcheck’s daughter.
She stood in his way.
“I can’t stand by and watch my father go astray any further.”
Iona said that and turned around to Cleon and took his hand.
“I will stop you with Cleon and Lübera for him. As your daughter…. I will take responsibility!”
And when her body is surrounded by light once again.
A slightly different appearance from when Talcheck was holding it a while ago, a Holy Sword was held in Cleon’s hand.
“… …!”
Talcheck watched the scene and gradually opened his mouth.
He laughed.
“Haha-! Kehahahahahaha!”
And for the first time, he drew the red sword that had been in his waist.
“Yeah. Is this what they call a rebellious period, Iona.”
And for the first time.
Except when introducing her to others.
He was calling her by her name.
[Wait a minute, Cleon. Are you using this woman too?]
[I’m sorry, Ms. Galatea. I’ll be in your care for a little while. It’s to stop that gorilla.]
Cleon looked at the Galatea and Iona in his hands alternately and then took a stance.
“I’m glad you taught me how to dual wield.”
“Damn it. I shouldn’t have taught you.”
Talcheck scratches his head as Cleon takes a stance.
Lübera also took a proper stance once again and aimed at Talcheck.
“2:1… No, is it 3:1 now.“
“Yeah. It seems a bit cowardly. But you have to do this much to catch Swordsman Talcheck.“
Cleon took a deep breath, recalling what he had learned from Talcheck.
He quietly announced the resumption of the final battle.
“Counterattack begins.”
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