― O you who walk the path of the sword, become one whom death and cold fear.
The banner bearing the ducal house’s creed had been snapped in half, yet it fluttered almost mockingly in the blizzard.
The roars of demons and the cries of humans had faded from the battlefield. Countless corpses lay buried beneath snow stained crimson.
On that battlefield, where even the spilled blood had frozen solid, two beings faced each other.
“You are the only one left now.”
He was the incarnation of death, the being who reigned as king over all demons.
Lucifer, the Demon King, gripped the dying woman by the nape and summoned pitch-black mana.
“…It does not matter. I will cut you down with my sword.”
Joshua struggled to swallow his grief.
He was the greatest knight in the North, praised as the Star of the North and known as the Son of the Bitter Cold.
“Your Grace… please… take care of the rest.”
The woman forced her heavy eyelids open as she spoke. A grotesque maw, thick with chunks of flesh, opened wide.
CRUNCH―!
“Estelle!”
His father, his mother, his younger sibling, his comrades… He had lost them all.
And now, he had lost his final companion.
At that moment, the last thread of his reason snapped.
Aura erupted from him like an explosion, fueled by an uncontrollable rage. His entire overburdened body screamed in protest, but he paid it no heed.
“Do not even think about it!”
Black magic suddenly surged from the ground and engulfed Joshua. His vision darkened, and blood poured from every opening in his face, but he endured.
HUMMM―
Blue aura spread along Joshua’s footsteps and constricted Lucifer. At the same time, Joshua drew out every last measure of his strength, staking his life upon it.
Hundreds, then thousands of swords rose into the air.
The blizzard intensified, concealing Joshua from sight. The souls of the departed warriors howled.
“Die, Lucifer!”
His unfathomable fury surged toward Lucifer.
“A meaningless struggle.”
Yet the great evil merely sneered.
Dark energy churned as a demonic realm spread from beneath his feet. The writhing mana gnawed away at the blue aura and swallowed the last warrior whole.
“O radiant one, vanish into the darkness.”
Endless malice extinguished the flame of life.
Joshua coughed up the blood surging from his throat and recalled the creed of House Galahad.
‘O you who walk the path of the sword, become one whom death and cold fear.’
He forced his fallen knees upright.
Against the death and cold bestowed by the Demon King, he raised his sword.
Aura burst into full bloom, piercing through the ever-thickening blizzard.
“The one who will vanish… is you!”
SHUNK―!
And so,
the sword thrust by the greatest knight pierced the Demon King’s heart.
“How… can a mere human possess such power?”
Black blood scattered across the frigid snowfield.
The demonic realm shrouded in pitch-black darkness disappeared.
It was the moment that brought the long war to an end.
‘Warriors, all of you… I have fulfilled our duty in your stead.’
A smile blossomed on his lips as snowflakes settled upon them.
“O warrior who shines like a star, cast aside your smile. The battle between the sword and evil will not end here. I am immortal. I will return, burn away your paltry creed, and fill this frozen land with death.”
“Even should you return, another sword of Galahad will cut you down.”
The Demon King grinned.
“Do you truly believe that? Look behind you. Is there anyone left alive among the members of your house? Is there a single knight who swore loyalty to your family and kept his life? Is there anyone among the reinforcements who came to your aid who can continue living?”
“…Silence.”
“Even you, the brightest among them, will soon fall asleep within my darkness. Who, then, could possibly stand in my path?”
“I told you to close your mouth!”
The bitter cold slowly extinguished the final embers of his life.
The aura that had resisted the cold had long since faded.
At last, Joshua swung his sword with the last of his strength.
SLASH―!
The head of the archdemon who had toyed with the lives of countless northern warriors rolled across the snow.
Joshua, who had exhausted every last ounce of his strength, also collapsed and tumbled onto the snowfield.
“It… is no longer cold.”
The faces of the comrades and family members who had gone before him surfaced in his mind.
They had fought bravely and died without fearing death or the cold.
Thus, they would surely reunite in Valhalla, the warriors’ paradise, where they would joyfully battle without regard for day or night.
‘…The future of the family rests with you now.’
Before closing his eyes, Joshua thought of his youngest sibling, who would have to lead the family alone.
“Become one whom death and cold… fear.”
The twelfth head of the ducal House of Galahad.
The brightest Star of the North in history.
The sword feared even by demons.
The greatest knight, who had defeated the strongest.
These were the final words that completed the epic of Joshua Kun Galahad.
“Valhalla!”
The pungent scent of soil pierced his nose, while the breathing of beasts echoed against his eardrums.
It was the familiar nostalgia of a battlefield.
He seized the weapon nearest to him and sprang to his feet.
This was the moment he had anticipated since the day he was born.
“Valhalla, my ass! This is a stable, you bastard!”
The man’s words failed to reach Joshua in his excitement.
A cold wooden club came flying toward the crown of his head.
But who was Joshua?
Was he not the greatest knight, a Sword Master who had even slain the Demon King?
He lightly tilted his head and evaded the attack.
Then, he attempted to thrust the weapon in his hand toward his enemy.
‘…Something is strange.’
The man before him was not wearing steel armor. Instead, he was dressed in traditional northern clothing made from goatskin.
Sensing that something was amiss, Joshua halted his outstretched arm and quickly surveyed his surroundings.
Animal feed tangled with straw lay scattered beneath his feet.
The sounds of beasts breathing were nothing more than the snorting of two horses.
The weapon in his hand was a rusty pitchfork with prongs so dull they barely possessed an edge.
The battlefield he had dreamed of resembled a stable far too closely.
“What is this? You are glaring at me now?”
The man swung the wooden club once more.
‘His speed is slow, and his movements are far too straightforward. Is he truly a warrior of Valhalla?’
The attack seemed so pitifully weak that Joshua raised his left arm to block the club.
However, an unexpectedly sharp pain shot through his nerves.
“Urgh.”
A reflexive groan escaped his lips.
It felt as though the bone had cracked.
Wondering whether he had simply been too careless, Joshua attempted to draw upon his aura.
At the same time, his brow twisted deeply.
‘…What is this?’
No matter how intently he searched for the energy, he could not feel anything.
THWACK―!
Taking advantage of his confusion, the man’s attack struck him on the crown of his head.
The world blurred as dizziness swept over him.
The distant yet overwhelming pain sealed his mouth, leaving him unable even to groan.
Joshua fell to the floor from the impact and instinctively placed a hand against the ground to push himself up.
Only then did he notice his weakened body.
The hand that should have been covered in glorious scars beneath thick hair was small, clean, and delicate.
The muscles that had been tempered through sword training since he had first learned to walk, and through countless battlefields from the moment he had completed his coming-of-age ceremony, were nowhere to be found.
His body, once large enough to overpower even a wild boar from the snowy mountains, was now comparable to a snowman made by a child.
‘…What sort of nightmare is this?’
From head to toe, this body resembled that of his youngest sibling, whom he had always teased for looking like a little girl.
Meanwhile, the man, having finished venting his anger, snorted like a horse and shouted.
“Hurry up and bring out the horse!”
Unwilling to suffer any further injuries, Joshua swallowed his pride and moved his trembling legs.
To a man who had made the battlefield his home, horses were akin to friends.
Even so, now that he possessed a body that had to look up at the horse, fitting the bridle and placing the saddle upon it proved no easy task.
“This hurts like hell.”
After taking the reins, the man abruptly turned and left the stable.
Joshua rubbed the places where he had been struck and looked around.
No matter how many times he examined the place, it was unmistakably a stable.
Though comparing it to the ducal house’s stable would have been embarrassing.
After discarding several possibilities from his mind, Joshua eventually arrived at a single conclusion.
“…Could this place truly be the mortal world rather than Valhalla?”
To gather more information, Joshua stepped out of the stable without hesitation.
The biting cold told him that, fortunately, he was still somewhere in the North.
WHOOSH―
The frigid wind made his already aching body tremble violently.
There was a reason the Galahad maxim commanded its descendants to become beings whom the cold itself feared.
The surrounding streets were lined with taverns that exuded an air of decadence.
When Joshua saw the signboard of the brothel closest to the stable, he breathed a sigh of relief.
The Black Rose’s Rest.
It was the finest brothel in the territory, operating with the ducal house’s official approval.
The stable in which Joshua had awakened also belonged to the Black Rose’s Rest.
‘Its appearance has changed considerably, but it does not seem that an unfathomable amount of time has passed.’
As he sighed in relief, someone called his name.
“Brother, what are you doing in the middle of the road?”
The girl wore her black hair, a characteristic feature of northerners, in two braids.
At a glance, she resembled his younger sister as she had appeared in childhood.
It had been a very long time since he had seen this girl.
“Is this still the territory of the ducal House of Galahad?”
“The ducal house? More importantly, why are you speaking and looking at me so frighteningly?”
Realizing his mistake, Joshua belatedly relaxed his expression.
After fighting demons on the battlefield for so long, it seemed a fearsome look had become permanently etched upon his face.
“Then, if it is no longer a ducal house, has Galahad become a county?”
“I taught you that history before. It is only a family in name now.”
Her innocent face showed no trace of deceit.
Joshua furrowed his brow and asked again.
“Are you truly saying that Galahad has become a count’s house in name alone?”
“What is wrong with you all of a sudden? Did someone hit you on the head?”
His body froze at the unacceptable reality.
What in the world had happened after his death?
‘Ah… my youngest sibling. My beloved sibling. The responsibility must have been far too heavy for you.’
The strength left Joshua’s legs.
He sank to the ground and shed hot tears.
The towering authority and glory accumulated across twelve generations had been buried beneath the snow.
After sitting there blankly for a long while, he eventually rose and made a vow.
He did not know why he had returned to life, but now that he had, he would restore the fallen House of Galahad.
“You have the apprentice squire examination next week. You have been practicing magic properly, right?”
The girl asked with a sigh.
“Magic… in Galahad?”
“Surely you are not planning to use a sword? Even if you have no talent for magic, who uses swords these days?”
As though she found him pathetic, she performed a trick with dozens of fireballs created through magic.
Joshua was briefly stunned by her skill.
Then, seized by an ominous suspicion, he looked around.
The Mage’s Inn.
The Mage’s Table.
The Mage’s Smile.
Not a single establishment bore a name related to swords.
People carried magical staves on their backs instead of swords, and wore robes instead of armor.
“This cannot be. How can there be no swordsmen in the territory of Galahad, a prestigious house of swordsmanship?”
“A prestigious house of swordsmanship? Galahad abandoned the sword ages ago.”
For a moment, Joshua doubted his own ears.
“Galahad abandoned the sword?”
“Not only Galahad. Hardly anyone uses swords in the first place.”
On the first day of his reincarnation, the world Joshua had known collapsed completely.