Bale von Fenrir roared.
It was a shout infused with mana by a Sword Master himself.
Those without resistance could suffer headaches or chills, and in severe cases, they could even lose consciousness.
“Ugh.”
THUD.
“Your Grace! Please calm yourself! The residents are losing consciousness and collapsing!”
“Silence!”
Even the knights did not dare speak beneath that pressure.
“How dare you intrude upon a sacred duel! Are you already trying to curry favor with the Second Young Master?!”
“Your Grace, that was not our intention…….”
“Not your intention?! The rules of a duel must be strictly observed! Do you not know that a duel ends only when one side surrenders or becomes incapable of fighting?!”
“My apologies, but we judged that Second Young Master Vladimir had already lost his will to fight…….”
“And who are you to make that judgment?! I have no desire to hear any more excuses! You are confined to quarters until your punishment is decided.”
“……We beg your forgiveness, Your Grace.”
“Get out of my sight at once!”
The knights bowed deeply to the Grand Duke and withdrew from the arena.
The Grand Duke raised his head and looked toward his wife, Grand Duchess Lilian, seated at the highest point of the guest stands.
She was staring at the arena with resentment in her eyes.
‘It seems I must use this opportunity to firmly restore discipline.’
He had neglected household affairs for too long, using his Demonic Beast hunts and the administration of the territory as excuses.
Everything within the territory belonged to its lord.
It was time to restore the memories of those who had dared forget that fact.
He lowered his gaze.
His second son lay collapsed on the bloodstained ground.
The boy had once held considerable promise.
Compared to the tall and slender Johan or the still-lithe youngest son, Pietro, Vlad resembled Bale the most in appearance.
The public also called him the son who was the very image of the Grand Duke.
That was why Bale had turned a blind eye to some of his rough and arrogant behavior.
He had believed it would develop into courage and confidence.
Since Vlad resembled him in appearance, Bale had hoped he would also inherit his firm and unyielding spirit.
‘Yet this is all he amounts to.’
Overwhelmed by fear and shock, Vlad had fallen unconscious.
A warrior—and Bale’s own son, at that—had begged an enemy for mercy.
‘I shall have to tear that rotten mentality out by the roots.’
After being put through hell in the Monster Subjugation Unit for a while, he would come to his senses on his own.
Step. Step.
“A third party interfered, so the duel has not yet ended. Will you continue?”
Pietro frowned as though he had heard something absurd.
“I don’t have a hobby of taking my anger out on unconscious people.”
“Very well.”
The Grand Duke seized Pietro’s hand and raised it high.
“I declare Pietro the victor of the Coming-of-Age Ceremony duel!”
***
Naturally.
A faint smile appeared on my lips.
The spectators’ cheers poured down like a waterfall.
“Young Master Pietro won!”
“Third Young Master coin is going to the moon!”
“My goodness! How many times my money did I just win?!”
Well, this did not feel bad.
So this was what it felt like to have people believe in me.
“Graaagh! No!”
“My money! My money was taken by those filthy beggars!”
“Damn it! I trusted him!”
That was why they should have thought carefully before placing their wagers.
People with that much money sure were petty.
Surely nobles had not scraped together every last piece of their souls to bet on this.
Even if they had, it was none of my concern.
“Come to my office.”
I turned my back on the screaming nobles and began walking.
The esteemed Grand Duke had given me an order, after all.
I waved to the cheering commoners as I left.
***
“Tell me the truth.”
Those were the first words I heard upon entering the office.
What was this?
Had the old man finally lost his mind?
What was he talking about without any explanation?
“What truth are you asking me to tell you?”
“The truth about the realm you have attained.”
“As you have already witnessed, this unworthy son remains lacking and has only reached the realm of a three-Star Sword Runner…….”
“Not that! I am talking about your swordsmanship! The swordsmanship that shattered a Mana Sword!”
Ah, that.
“Well, you see…….”
“Yes. Speak.”
“I kept training, and at some point, I found that I could do it.”
“Do you expect me to believe that?!”
Good grief, that was deafening.
My ears hurt.
At this rate, the roof might fly off.
Father began working himself into a proper fury.
I hoped the office had good soundproofing.
“It is common sense that an ordinary sword will break when it meets a Mana Sword! Common sense! Yet you shattered that very common sense head-on!”
Father looked into the distance as though recalling the past.
“I have spent decades on battlefields. Yet never once have I heard of such swordsmanship!”
Naturally.
Fighting a mana-coated sword with an uncoated one was inefficient.
He would have been particularly unlikely to witness it on a battlefield.
A few masters who had reached high realms occasionally attempted it as practice,
but even that was nothing more than practice. No one used it in actual combat.
Any warrior who had reached such a realm could naturally coat their sword in mana.
Using advanced martial arts without mana,
and performing those same martial arts with mana.
Even a three-year-old could tell which one produced greater power.
“That is not all.”
The Grand Duke rose and grabbed my shoulders.
He spun me around once and began examining me from head to toe.
“You even fought with both eyes covered.”
Some said swordsmanship was seven parts eyes, two parts feet, and only one part sword.
Blinding oneself could never be considered a wise decision.
“Yet you do not have so much as a small scratch.”
Father glared at me, demanding an explanation.
“Ah, I do have something to say about that.”
I opened my palm and pointed at Father.
“Were you not the one who taught it to me? Mana Field. Just as you said, it saved my life.”
“What?”
Confusion spread across Father’s face.
“I showed you that barely three months ago! I did not sit you down and teach you! I merely demonstrated it once during our spar!”
Demonstrated?
He had used it to slam me into the ground.
“Are you asking me to believe that you learned the technique in that brief instant?!”
“What do you expect me to do? That really is the truth!”
Honestly, that part was true.
I had not even known such a technique existed in my previous life.
Still, I had plenty of experience. Showing me once was enough for me to understand.
Of course, I could not explain how I had gained that experience.
“Haa…….”
Father’s eyes gleamed.
A genius.
A talent that shone brighter than a finished jewel despite still being an uncut stone.
A thrill must be running through him.
He probably wanted to polish and raise me as quickly as possible.
Not a chance.
I had decided to cast aside everything that might interfere with becoming a Sword Saint.
Learning House Fenrir’s sword meant pledging myself to serve House Fenrir.
That burden was far too heavy.
Since the family’s sword was a Heavy Sword Art, the already heavy burden had become even heavier.
It would only get in my way.
Honestly, I did not want to remain buried in this backwater either.
A person ought to swim in bigger waters.
“Did you not call me to your office to reward me for passing the test?”
“A reward? What reward?”
This damned old coot.
Had he already gone senile?
What else could it be?
The Dungeon Key.
The key to the dungeon containing the Demonic Sword, the one Vlad had discovered in my previous life.
“Ah, you mean that.”
Father stroked his beard with a displeased expression.
“Must you truly enter it?”
“Yes. I absolutely, truly, and unquestionably must enter.”
“No one has ever reached the end of the labyrinth. Everyone either died inside or returned insane. You still wish to go?”
“Yes.”
“It will be filled with every manner of monster, maze, and trap.”
“Yes. Even so, I must enter.”
Ha.
It was dangerous.
Father was probably weighing whether he should throw me onto the Northern Front instead.
He was likely imagining how much further I might grow through real combat.
Unfortunately for him,
I had already experienced more than enough real combat.
I had grown through battle after battle and survived until the very end of the apocalypse.
Yet I had still been inadequate and failed to protect anyone.
What I needed now was not combat experience, but a clue.
A lead that would allow me to live a life different from my previous one.
That was why I had to enter the dungeon.
I placed that determination into my eyes and stared at Father.
It would not have been wrong to say that I was glaring at him.
“Very well!”
THUMP.
Father struck the desk with his thick hand and sprang to his feet.
He pressed one of his thick fingers against a point beneath the desk.
CLICK.
A magic circle was dispelled, releasing a powerful surge of mana.
A secret compartment hidden between the drawers sprang open.
Father reached inside and removed a black key.
It appeared to be an ordinary, old, weathered key, but an unsettling energy lingered within it.
“That is…….”
“The Dungeon Key. It is also a burden entrusted to our family.”
“A burden?”
“Yes. Whenever someone who enters the dungeon with this key dies or loses their mind, it always reappears before the head of House Fenrir. It is almost as though it is demanding that we personally choose the one who will open that door.”
Thankfully, it was exactly as I had heard in my previous life.
Drunk on the special power he had obtained, Vlad had spoken about it whenever he had the chance.
He had become so intoxicated that the Demonic Sword stole even his soul and turned him into a Demonic Beast.
I had found him unbearably revolting in my previous life,
but now I could not have been more grateful for his loose tongue.
Thanks to him, I knew several other things as well.
“So if you die, only this key will return before my eyes.”
Father’s gaze held the remorse of a man who had sent away trusted subordinates and comrades.
“That will not happen.”
“Ha!”
Father let out a hollow laugh.
Perhaps he liked my audacity.
He held the key out to me.
“Take it.”
“Ghk.”
Unlike its ordinary appearance, the key was incredibly hot.
It felt as though I had placed my hand directly into a dragon’s breath.
“So, when do you intend to enter?”
“As soon as my preparations are complete.”
“Understood.”
Father fell silent for a moment.
His brow furrowed as though he were considering something.
“Do not die.”
After hesitating for a long while, Father finally forced the words out.
“I’ll return alive without fail.”
I closed my hand around the key.
A hot pulse throbbed within my grasp.
I could not tell whether it came from the key or from me.