Chapter Index

    “Huh? Whose voice is this?”

    Eugene Schneider, who was brandishing his sword with beast-like muscles glistening with sweat,

    Stopped his movements at the familiar presence and voice, turning his head straight towards it.

    “Lady Victoria! What brings you here at this hour?”

    The owner of the voice he confirmed was,

    None other than Victoria, who had been appointed commander of the Imperial Knights.

    Originally, the Imperial Knights were nominally under the Imperial Family, but in reality, they were almost an independent organization.

    This was because Antoine’s power was so great that he was given the name Kaiser, an untouchable commander.

    However, the result was a coup,

    Vivian created a structure in which the Imperial Knights, split at this time, were placed directly under the Imperial Family and received its command.

    “I came to have a conversation with Great Swordsman Eugene. I asked the Grand Duchess, and she told me I could meet you if I came here.”

    Victoria replied in her usual calm and composed voice.

    “Haha! You were never in when I came to talk to you. This is welcome news!”

    Eugene Schneider said with a hearty jest.

    He was genuinely happy about Victoria’s visit.

    After all, the people who helped him the most were Marianne and Victoria,

    But Victoria had been very busy lately, perhaps because she had become the commander of the Imperial Knights.

    “I kept hearing from Farnese that Great Swordsman Eugene had visited. As you said, I couldn’t stay in one place because I was constantly dealing with personal matters.”

    “Ah! It was a personal matter. I wondered, because Farnese usually gave me a hint, but he was very tight-lipped.”

    However, given Eugene’s current position, he should have been given a rough explanation if it was an official matter.

    But Farnese and Vincent, who had joined Victoria’s team, were more tight-lipped than necessary, which made Eugene wonder a lot,

    Victoria cleared up his doubts.

    “Ah! It seems you’ve finally found the answer you were looking for?”

    Soon, Eugene Schneider explained to Victoria the reason he had been looking for her,

    And Victoria, after hearing the reason, responded with a very welcoming demeanor.

    The content of Eugene’s words was that he had found a way to activate the Dark Great Swordsman Seed.

    Of course, he didn’t directly mention the Dark Great Swordsman Seed to Victoria.

    He simply said that he had been injected with mysterious energy from Drake and that it might be of great help in the current situation.

    However, he had said that it was such a mysterious energy that he couldn’t figure out how to use it, so he would have to look into it.

    “Yes, I was able to thanks to my mother’s help. I didn’t expect to find it written in an ancient Dwarven text, though not in great detail.”

    “Oh… an ancient Dwarven text…”

    Eugene Schneider sat with Victoria on a bench in the training room.

    Then he handed her a warm tea and continued the conversation.

    “I may not be like you, Eugene, but I have encountered ancient Dwarven texts. I was very interested in the cultures of other races during my wandering life. I remember the Dwarves as a mysterious race that rivals the Elves among the spirit races.”

    Soon, the reason why Eugene Schneider wanted to discuss this with Victoria was revealed.

    He had heard from Vivian that Victoria was very interested in mystical things, and that this had led her to admire Ulysses Schneider.

    So Eugene thought that Victoria might know useful information related to the Dark Great Swordsman Seed.

    “Haha! I looked closely at what my mother had interpreted, and it was as you said, Victoria. There were many stories about cursing or enchanting weapons and armor.”

    “Yes, the life of a Dwarf is more than 90% a life as a blacksmith. From beginning to end, it’s all about that.”

    Eugene was pleased to see that they were on the same wavelength,

    And Victoria explained to Eugene the characteristics of the Dwarves she knew.

    “But it’s more abstract than I thought. It says that the abilities of special great swordsmen must be strongly stimulated by the depths of their hearts? The energy that Drake injected is so high-dimensional that it can’t be manifested through ordinary training.”

    Eugene Schneider got straight to the point.

    He judged that Victoria had enough knowledge of the energy that the Dwarves dealt with, so he didn’t need to directly mention the Dark Great Swordsman Seed to have enough communication.

    “Yes, that’s why it’s usually called a curse. The soul is constantly being gnawed away, and the stimulation created by that is the source of strength. Those who can’t endure it go insane.”

    “Go insane??”

    “I mean that’s the case with the cursed equipment that Dwarves handle.”

    “Ah…”

    Victoria’s ability to empathize was truly direct and brutal. She very explicitly defined the nature of the energy that Eugene was trying to unleash,

    And when Eugene’s eyes widened, she even played hard to get.

    “I suspect that Grand Duke Antoine also grew up in that way.”

    In the middle of the conversation, she mentioned Antoine.

    “Are you talking about the process of becoming a fallen warrior? Hmm… I think so too. According to my mother, the sword of a fallen warrior clings to those whose ego is so broken. The Judah clan is also very deeply involved in black magic, so I think they created such a mechanism by casting a curse, as you said, Victoria.”

    Eugene Schneider nodded slowly at Victoria’s words.

    On the first day he reunited with Victoria, he told her the news that Antoine had become a fallen warrior, and the next day he shared more specific information about it.

    He told her about the exiled warrior Judah and the Judah clan’s long-cherished project, which he had heard from his adoptive mother Marianne.

    “I don’t think that’s all. I think Grand Duke Antoine’s rise to Sword Master is also related.”

    Victoria extended the realm of speculation to Antoine’s younger days.

    “Why do you think so?”

    Eugene naturally asked the reason.

    “You may or may not know this, Great Swordsman Eugene, but Grand Duke Antoine was not someone who was praised as a genius in terms of swordsmanship.”

    Then Victoria immediately began to express her thoughts.

    “Hmm… I’ve heard that from Jeanne as well…”

    Victoria mentioned Antoine’s talent as a swordsman in the beginning,

    And Eugene indirectly agreed with her words.

    In the process of listening to Jeanne’s trauma about Antoine, he had heard that Antoine’s talent as a swordsman was not as great as he thought, to the point that he had a great inferiority complex.

    ‘Come to think of it, I was so busy comforting Jeanne at the time that I just passed it by, but there were more than one or two things to question. If he had achieved such dramatic growth, his growth narrative would have been praised, but there wasn’t much known about it.’

    Eugene Schneider, who had lived in the Grand Duke’s family for as long as 10 years, had never encountered Antoine’s training narrative until he heard it from Jeanne.

    All he had done was look around the weapon museum that Antoine had built underground in the Grand Duke’s mansion,

    If he had truly evolved into a Sword Master around the age of 40 with above-average talent, it would have been enough to become a mythical propaganda piece.

    But Antoine was thoroughly consistent with his mystique.

    “There have been various research results on Sword Masters since ancient times, and one theory that is considered quite credible is that a very strong inner motivation must be accompanied. That’s why more Sword Seekers and above have been created among knights who have been devoted to religion.”

    “Hmm… As far as I know, official records say that more than 70% of Sword Masters are from the priesthood or have received equivalent education…”

    “That’s right, Great Swordsman Eugene. Of course, there is an argument that it is rare for nobles not to fall into that category.”

    Sword Masters were objects of admiration and research for a long time because their numbers were extremely rare.

    But in the end, it remained a mystery.

    Only extreme or superstitious speculations and hypotheses were discussed in some areas.

    “In that sense, there have been studies among heretics on the possibility of breaking through the path of Sword Master through evil hearts. These are theories that mainly circulated among people who had a lot of contact with demons and among the swordsmen belonging to Tyrannos now.”

    “Tyrannos???”

    “I heard it from my father in the past, and I also heard it from swordsmen who belonged to Tyrannos during my wandering life.”

    There were those who turned their eyes to something other than a strong inner motivation, faith, and what they found was an evil ego.

    “In the end, after learning that Grand Duke Antoine had been working with Tyrannos for a long time, I’m thinking that the heretical training method that I thought was just a myth may have actually existed.”

    Victoria had not told Eugene, but she had learned from Raonjena how deeply Antoine was connected to Tyrannos.

    As a result of thinking about it while she was in hiding for about two weeks, she concluded that all of Kaiser Antoine’s dark shadows, betraying his friends and driving them to their deaths, and all the great schemes he had plotted so far, were connected to the heretical growth method.

    ‘Ah…!’

    Eugene Schneider let out a slight sigh after hearing Victoria’s words,

    ‘So that’s why he didn’t even show a hint of apologetic eyes to Jeanne and the Grand Duchess… Everything was a tool for Antoine to achieve his purpose…’

    Antoine’s absurd behavior of breaking down his perfect position and family was now understood.

    From the beginning, he had no interest in those things.

    There was no love in it, only the desire to achieve his goals.

    ‘That bastard Antoine…’

    Clench…!!

    Eugene’s eyes reflexively flashed, and his teeth were clenched tightly.

    “…..”

    Victoria watched him silently.

    Then,

    “There’s someone I want to show Great Swordsman Eugene. That’s actually why I was looking for you today.”

    She said in a meaningful voice that she would arrange a meeting with someone.

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