Gaon.
The owner of the Celestial Dragon Bird’s corpse.
It was already known that he was staying at Mrs. Durdumel’s Inn.
The butler left the mansion and headed straight for the inn.
The inn, located in eastern Vertas, was not far from the Brickwood Family estate.
“Hmm?”
Not long after arriving at his destination, the butler slightly furrowed his brow at an unexpected sight.
‘What is that......?’
WHOOOSH, WHOOSH—!
In the inn’s back courtyard, some man was swinging a sword.
The blade slowly cut through the air along the arc traced by his arm.
‘......Something is clumsy about that.’
His movements stopped in unnatural, abrupt jolts.
His grip on the sword was awkward, and his stance was unsteady as well.
Even someone who was not deeply versed in swordsmanship could tell at a glance. Those movements were far removed from those of a practiced swordsman.
If anything, he looked more like the sickly youngest son of a noble house playing at imitating swordsmanship.
‘Could that be Gaon?’
His blue-black hair and cold impression matched the report the butler had received perfectly.
The butler approached the man first and politely greeted him.
“Excuse me, are you perhaps.......?”
WHOOOSH—.
But the man completely ignored him and silently continued swinging his sword.
The butler clenched his teeth slightly, yet he maintained his courteous smile and spoke again.
“Are you Mr. Gaon? I am Taylor, Butler of the Brickwood Family, and I oversee the Auction of the Eastern Branch.”
“.......”
“I have come to discuss an item scheduled for registration in this Auction.......”
HALT—.
Only then did the man pause his sword swings.
With a sigh as if the matter were bothersome, he cast the butler a sideways glance and replied.
“I entrusted every authority over this transaction to the intermediary.”
“......A simple verification procedure is necessary. I apologize for the inconvenience, but I ask for your cooperation.”
Sliiide—.
Gaon slowly lowered the sword in his hand.
Then he wore a haughty expression, as if telling the butler to speak.
His attitude irritated the butler for some reason, but Taylor quickly brought up the business that had brought him here.
“First, may I ask how you came to obtain the monster’s corpse, sir?”
There were broadly three ways to acquire ownership of a monster’s corpse.
You could be the first to discover an ownerless corpse.
You could pay compensation and purchase ownership of the corpse from its owner.
Or you could kill the monster yourself.
Taylor waited for an answer while watching for the slightest change in the man’s expression, but Gaon, just as when Taylor had first seen him, showed no sign of agitation.
Taylor continued speaking.
“Given its immense size and unusual appearance, it is hard to believe that you killed it yourself. I presume that you found it by chance in the Uncharted Lands.......”
“I killed it myself.”
“......Pardon?”
The butler’s expression twisted slightly.
The man had given an answer Taylor had never anticipated.
Regardless, Gaon merely repeated the same answer once again.
“I said I killed that monster myself.”
Taylor pressed his lips together and looked the man over from head to toe.
It was an obvious lie.
After all, that man did not look like someone capable of killing a Celestial Dragon Bird.
To begin with, the aura he gave off was no different from that of an ordinary person.
Truly powerful people made one’s knees weaken just from looking at them, but the man did not give off even the slightest chilling aura.
‘And, well.......’
......He did not even have to go that far. The crude swordsmanship he had just displayed was enough to see through the lie with ease.
‘He can utter such an obvious lie without changing his expression?’
It was proof that the man before him did not understand the situation properly.
The rough pieces of the puzzle began to fit together.
The suspicion that Hakun Durdumel was manipulating this man from behind became even more certain.
“Of course, I do not think you have any reason to lie, sir.......”
Taylor continued his questioning.
“I am only concerned that the Durdumel Merchant Company may have given you special ‘instructions.’ If that is the case, the Brickwood Family may be able to protect you, sir.”
His words were polite, but the meaning contained within them was clear.
We know that the merchant company is manipulating a puppet like you from behind.
So confess quietly. Then, at least you will be allowed to live unharmed.
They were words that contained pressure and conciliation at the same time.
*Jolt—.*
‘Oh ho......?’
GRIN—.
Just as expected.
It was only for the briefest of moments, but Taylor was able to see it.
A minute crack had appeared in the man’s indifferent expression.
‘......As expected, our conjecture was correct.’
The questioning disguised as a verification procedure continued after that, but the man did not reveal the truth until the very end.
Still, it was of little consequence. Taylor’s suspicion had long since become certainty.
***
“This completes the verification procedure. There will be no issue with registering the item for the Auction.”
SCRATCH, SCRATCH—.
Taylor, Butler of the Brickwood Family, nodded repeatedly as he wrote something in the notebook he had brought.
I almost let out a disgusted, hollow laugh without meaning to.
The sight of him reassuring me that there would be no problem was so utterly hypocritical that it was revolting.
......Perhaps that was why I had been unable to keep my expression under control.
“Then I will see you next time, owner. May you remain well until then.”
Not long after, Taylor set off on his way again.
SNORT—.
Watching his back recede into the distance, I laughed mockingly.
‘Do you think I don’t know what you bastards are after?’
The Brickwoods’ scheming was obvious.
I had gone through it dozens of times while playing the game. There was no way I was going to dance in the palm of their hands.
Even so, there was only one reason I had gone along with Taylor.
‘I’ll make the board bigger, then pull those bastards out by the roots.’
I intended to turn this incident into a massive wave rather than a small ripple.
Until the Brickwood Family could not bear the backlash and destroyed itself.
‘By the way.......’
─Owner, do you have any companions?
‘......It looks like those bastards have been working hard on their background investigation, too.’
The butler’s question made it clear that he was probing for information about Adelia.
However, mentioning her for no reason could have derailed my plan, so I played innocent.
I told him that I did not know anyone like that. She was probably just one of the mercenaries who had crossed the Uncharted Lands with the merchant company.
‘Adelia must appear at the very last moment.’
Only then could my plan to cut out the rotten part of Vertas be perfected.
‘That aside.......’
SWISH—.
I gripped the Feather Sword again and readjusted my stance.
Then I continued the movements I had been practicing before my conversation with Taylor.
‘......This might be worth trying.’
The strange, halting movements gradually began to connect as one.
To block an attack coming straight at me, I angled my sword.
I turned my opponent’s own force against them, then gave it a rebound at the proper moment.
*WHOOOSH—!*
In response to the attack in my imagination, my body assumed the optimal defensive movement.
A Sword Path that flowed as naturally as a river.
It was the moment 【Ultimate Auto-Parrying】 was reproduced in accordance with my will.
“Whew.”
Of course, I still had a long way to go.
The technique was a mess, and in actual combat, I would not have the time to assume a defensive stance so leisurely.
But merely confirming that this ‘possibility’ existed was enough to call it a worthwhile gain.
I had learned that I could reproduce, with my will, the moment when my body found the optimal defense by itself.
“Ah.”
At that moment, I heard a soft exclamation from beside me.
When I turned my head, I saw Adelia staring blankly.
With her belongings tightly bound to a large backpack, she gazed at the Feather Sword with shining eyes.
I asked the girl, whose expression was as pure as a child’s, a question.
“Can you recognize this swordsmanship?”
“.......Yes.”
Adelia murmured in a dazed voice in response to my question.
“It is similar to the movement that knocked aside my sword.”
“That is right.”
I nodded.
As expected of Adelia. With no more than a passing glance, she had understood the intent behind my sword at once.
It looked like I had found a chance to show off to her, so I decided to make the most of it.
“I deliberately showed it slowly, so that you could see.”
“.......!”
“Can you see the essence of this swordsmanship now?”
Adelia considered her answer for a moment, then replied in a voice tinged with awe.
“It seems alive and breathing.”
“What do you mean?”
“The sword changes every moment. On the surface, the movements look similar, but if you look closely, you can see that they change minutely each time. Like a living creature, it finds the optimal path according to the situation.......”
Her eyes shone.
“It is as though the sword has become another part of Sir Gaon’s body.”
“.......”
“Rather than a sword that you merely swing, perhaps it is a sword you breathe with.”
I could not contain my surprise at Adelia’s words.
With a single observation, she had seen through the essence of 【Ultimate Auto-Parrying】 perfectly. And with such precision, at that.
She truly was worthy of being called a swordsmanship genius with the highest growth potential in Loel.
‘But.......’
Even this genius had been rendered powerless at once by a 9-Star skill.
Seeing that, I could once again feel just how extraordinary the power of 【Ultimate Auto-Parrying】 was.
‘Then what if I completely internalize this skill and can use it without any restrictions.......?’
Internalization (Embodiment).
Using my talent for the sword to artificially manifest a skill.
If I applied this well, I would not only be able to use 【Ultimate Auto-Parrying】 but also freely wield every skill I acquired in the future.
......Of course, that would be difficult for now. Swordsmanship proficiency aside, my basic stats were scraping the bottom.
Still, that was fine. I knew the ‘optimal method’ to accomplish this in a short time.
“If you’re ready, we’ll leave immediately.”
What else could I say?
That method lay dormant deep beneath Vertas—within the 「Labyrinth Village」 I had mentioned a little while ago.
After quickly tying up loose ends, I immediately left the inn with Adelia.
***
Before heading to Labyrinth Village.
The place Adelia and I first went was the Adventurer Guild.
CREAK—.
When we opened the building’s door and entered, the sounds of loud chatter and clinking glasses mingled together.
Although the interior received little sunlight, bright lamps burned and illuminated every corner.
“Ha ha ha!”
“Listen to me! This time, it really is the jackpot!”
“Stop spouting bullshit and order more drinks, you bastard!”
The laughter of drunk adventurers rose from all around.
Passing them, I walked toward one wall of the Guild building.
Dozens of request notices were stuck closely together across the wall.
Their difficulty varied by height, and the ones hanging closest to the ceiling offered the greatest rewards.
In particular, the crumpled, faded request notices were high-difficulty quests that no one but formidable adventurers dared touch.
“.......”
RIP—.
I pulled down one request notice hanging at the very top.
At the same time, nearby adventurers clicked their tongues and began to whisper.
“Tsk, here we go again.”
“He’s crazy. It has already been more than three years since that request was posted.”
“Why are there so many fools these days who are mad to get themselves killed.......?”
Of course, their interest in me quickly faded.
In a world where death was commonplace, one more corpse was nothing unusual.
‘.......But will they react the same way even after I successfully finish this request and return?’
The thought brought a smile to my lips.
“This is.......”
Adelia, who had approached my side just then, trailed off.
Squinting, she stared fixedly at the request notice in my hand.
Then she asked in a doubtful voice,
“Are you really planning to undertake this request, Sir Gaon?”
“That is right.”
I nodded as I replied.
“We are going to subjugate the Earth Dragon of Labyrinth Village.”
***
***“The great ancient ■■■ have finally spoken.”***
Holy City Middle Temple.
At the center of an underground temple where thousands of candles burned, a sacred blue-green light poured down upon a vast circular altar.
That brilliant energy resembled a blessing falling from the sky.
RUMBLE—.
As the underground temple trembled, a woman gazed into the air.
A Saintess.
The one and only being who could be called the symbol of this city.
As golden light rose from eyes whose pupils had disappeared, her lips trembled.
***“The Seeker of the Sword killed a Dragon (Dragon).”***
Exactly two days later.
News that the Celestial Dragon Bird’s corpse had been found was reported to Holy City Middle Temple.
......It was the point when members of the Sacred Family began to move in earnest.
***
CHIME—!
〔Hidden Message : Causality is warping.〕
〔Hidden Message : Your encounter with #̛̔͌@͑̐͛̈́̕!̇͑̀̅̾͠$͂̊͛͛́̕’s̈̓́̉͐͝ ̶͛͊͜*̶͖͔̒͛@̴̻̕͜s̅̆͌͞ter҇͋̈́͑̈́ is being brought forward.〕
......
〔Hidden Message : The Forgotten Harmonizers are taking note of your actions.〕