Episode 023.
'Priscia Springfield'
Among players who had experienced the original game, she was called a trap card.
On the outside, she was a beautiful young lady with glamorous blonde hair, an attractive class as a 3rd-Circle Flame Mage.
Born a noble, bearing the name of House Springfield,
but in reality, she was one of the worst trash characters.
Befitting a Flame Mage, her AoE and attack power were decent, but she had several fatal flaws.
First, a naturally crude total mana pool.
Second, a hit rate so pathetic it made you laugh hollowly.
Of course, you could dump all the Awakening Potions obtained in the late game into raising her total mana,
but no matter what you did, her accuracy could not be raised onto a normal track.
No matter how much you raised it, it couldn't surpass half.
'Rather than raising her, you're better off cheaply hiring some street mercenary mage.'
That was the common assessment among users.
Clearing a few Magic Tower quests made recruiting mages very easy, after all.
Moreover, to recruit Priscia even once, you had to come all the way down to this remote backwater, Artem, and repeat boring reputation grinding for over a dozen hours;
how many users who valued efficiency or simply aimed to clear the game would do something like that?
'But now, I've skipped that grinding and forcibly opened the scenario.'
Even if you went through the trouble of recruiting her, she'd be used once as a novelty pick and discarded.
Like that, she seemed destined to be forgotten as Small Fry A.
But I knew. Her true worth.
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[Priscia Springfield]
└3rd-Circle Flame Mage
[Hidden Attribute: Flame Guardian]
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If only specific conditions were met,
Flame Affinity MAX,
Flame Sensitivity S-rank,
a cheat-tier character specialized in defense rather than attack would appear.
'If you only looked at performance, she probably had top-tier specs within the top ten, excluding the Hero.'
That was the true identity of the clumsy girl standing before me,
who couldn't even properly handle her own flames yet.
After arriving in Artem, Priscia formally asked me.
"Sir Knight, might you teach me swordsmanship?"
Looking up at me with pitiful eyes, Priscia's gaze held not a joke, but sincerity.
[Hidden Scenario: "First Disciple" is activated.]
Was it because Artem was safe and House Springfield had not yet fallen?
It was a time reduction unimaginable under normal circumstances.
My doubts didn't last long.
That wasn't what was important.
My hesitation lasted only an instant,
and placing my hand on her head, I spoke in a low voice.
"Very well. Instead, I shall show you hell."
"Ekh...!"
"First, throw away that useless twig."
"Pardon? Th-this is expensive!"
Ignoring Priscia's protest, I picked up a nearby wooden sword and tossed it to her.
And then I lunged right at her!
"W-wait! P-please wait...!"
Thwack!
With a crisp sound, she collapsed with a thud.
"......."
I thought she'd block with flames, but it seems it's still too much for her.
I lifted Priscia up, laid her under the shade of a tree, and gently stroked her forehead.
[Authority: Aura of Regeneration]
Her reddened skin subsided to a pale white, as if it had never happened—
it was my inherent power as a Hero.
'What skill should I teach her?'
If I were the protagonist, the Hero of [ ], I could teach any decent sword skill I happened to know,
but right now I am the Hero of Regeneration.
Of course, I could harass a nearby swordsman guild or that Gran fellow right away,
learn beginner sword techniques, and pass them on to Priscia,
but since that would directly affect Priscia's attack power later, it was the worst possible choice for me.
Originally, a 'Magic Sword' related to flames would be perfect for her,
but I haven't learned that skill yet either.
I had never imagined a hidden scenario would open like this.
While I was wondering if I should teach her Assassin's Sword or Berserk Sword in a hurry,
Priscia opened her eyes.
"S-Sir Knight... why am I lying down?"
"You must have been tired; you suddenly fell asleep."
"Pardon? Th-that can't be... Ugh... I can't remember!"
She frowned slightly, scrunching up her beautiful face.
I kept a straight face and asked Priscia.
"Priscia, what's the sudden reason you want to learn the sword?"
"......."
"It's fine, tell me."
Fidgeting and blushing, she soon cautiously opened her mouth.
"...I, I wish to protect others as well. My mother... was an honorable knight who died defending the estate. The sight of her protecting the people of the estate without retreating a single step is still vivid in my mind...."
Priscia murmured in a low voice.
She looked up at me with eyes more serious than usual.
I sat down heavily beside her.
"......."
"I wish to become like my mother. A wall that places precious things behind it and never breaks."
"Your father? I heard he was an adventurer."
A flash of resentment crossed her eyes.
"My father was always away, saying he was searching for treasure. I... wish to become one who protects, rather than one who leaves to search."
Those who leave in search of treasure may have fun,
but those left behind can only see that person's back.
To her, an adventurer was probably just another name for an irresponsible wanderer.
'Now I see why she gathered mercenaries to oppose Viscount Gondor.'
Just as her father had done,
an adventurer obsessed with treasure would inspire no trust whatsoever.
Better to have mercenaries bound by contract.
"Then I saw your sword, Sir Knight, and was reminded of my mother. Could I not do it with this?"
"That's enough."
Come to think of it,
there was no need to teach her Magic Sword, Berserk Sword, or any such skill.
Priscia had seen the afterimage of her mother, the knight, in my swordsmanship.
Then it was right for me to pass on the most precise and sturdiest wall I could teach.
'Martial arts.'
I stood right up and grabbed the wooden sword I had placed beside me.
Though the internal energy within my body now had shrunk to a third-rate scrap level,
it didn't matter.
A sword is ultimately not swung with strength alone.
Even if my internal energy crawled on the floor, the principles of the moves and the sword trajectories were still vividly alive in my fingertips.
I adjusted my grip on the wooden sword and spoke.
"Watch closely."
And slowly—
truly slowly, I unfolded the first move.
As the sword tip cut through the air, a clear, thin sonic crack followed belatedly.
"Wow...."
Priscia's eyes sparkled brilliantly.
It wasn't simple swordsmanship.
A strange current swirled at the tip of the sword as it cut through the air and advanced.
A trajectory that seemed slow yet fast, soft yet fierce;
whenever the sonic crack rang out, one nearly had the illusion that pink petals were scattering.
Priscia stared at that sight in a daze, as if entranced.
With each move,
and another that followed, the air around her filled with a cool plum blossom fragrance.
When the twenty-four transformations came to an end,
the instant the final sword trajectory was drawn, the sword tip stopped very briefly in the air.
In that fleeting moment,
the wind cut until then surged a beat late, scattering the surrounding dust.
My clothes hem fluttered lightly, and the ends of Priscia's hair lifted slightly in the wind.
Though this was a body that couldn't draw out a single strand of sword qi due to the lack of internal energy,
instead, I engraved the precision of the moves into her eyes.
Priscia gazed at the sword tip in a daze for a long while.
"I-I've never seen it before; what sort of sword is this?"
I handed the wooden sword to her and replied in a low voice.
"Twenty-Four Stances Meihua Sword."
"Twenty-Four... Meihua Sword...."
She carefully whispered that name.
"It's a truly wonderful name...! I shall do my best to learn it! Knight—no, Master!!"
The bond of master and disciple
largely signaled the beginning of orthodox martial arts.
"Yes."
I smiled and gently patted Priscia's head.
In the estate of Artem,
it was the moment the essence of Huashan (華山), which had not existed in this world,
sowed its first seed.
I forgot to mention,
this is the story of Priscia until she becomes the greatest Meihua swordsman.
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"Hah!!"
She thrust the sword sharply.
Her movements were still clumsy, far from the subtleties of swordsmanship,
lacking even the profound mystery of the moves, but...
"......."
To get straight to the point,
Priscia learned the Twenty-Four Stances Meihua Sword.
She learned it, but...
"......."
What bloomed wasn't a plum blossom but a flame rose that seemed like it would devour even orcs.
No, that's not a rose.
It's just an explosion.
KWAAAAAAANG—!!!
"Fire Smash!!"
FWOOOOOOOOSH—!!!
The 'Flame Plum Blossom' bursting from the tip of Priscia's sword melted the ground and flowed down like lava.
"Ooh! Behold the magnificent flames! This is the Twenty-Four Stances Meihua Sword!!"
"Waaaah!! Insane!! So that's what the essence of a volcano (火山) is!!"
"Not even the mages of the Magic Tower could output that much firepower... is Huashan a dimension of flames?"
"......."
While all the residents of Artem were shedding tears and applauding at the sword qi she unleashed, I saw it.
The hallucination of the ancestors of Huashan (華山) roaming the nine heavens, shedding bloody tears and pointing fingers at me....
A corner of my heart ached as if squeezed.
This isn't Meihua Swordsmanship.
It's a walking flamethrower.
"Heheheh! Knight—no, Master!! What do you think of my Meihua Swordsmanship? Please tell me, if you would!"
"......."
Behind Priscia, who approached with a bright smile, blackened ashes seemed to wave at me.
"Waaaah!! As expected of Huashan!!"
"Long live the Flame Plum Blossom!!"
The surrounding praise hammered nails into my heart.
No,
you ignorant fools. That's not it.
I, who had tried to pass on the pure essence of plum blossoms, trembled all over.
Even when Heroes charged at me simultaneously,
and when the Vice Tower Lord laid traps, I had been unbothered,
but now, for some reason, my heart was heavy.
"You could praise me more, I think! Could it be that the firepower was not to your satisfaction?"
The moment I heard those words, I realized
that Priscia already understood 'plum blossom' as merely a shorthand for fierce flames.
Maybe the hua in Huashan really does use the character for fire (火) after all.
"Master...? I shall show you the flames of the volcano (火山)."
"......."
As Priscia approached and rubbed her cheek against me,
"Urk."
I lost consciousness.
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