Chapter 1
"Three years."
Walking hurriedly while pressing the hood down tightly against the pouring rain that fell like the tears of a god.
Three years.
It has already been that long since I came to live in this place.
A time that could be considered short, yet also long.
But I can say this with certainty.
The three years I spent left by no means only happy memories.
"For Valterus!!"
"For the God Laktus!"
Sharp swords create death, and death piles up corpses like mountains.
And such corpses, we again.
Turn into swords.
Three years ago, I.
Became a pilgrim of such a cruel world.
* * *
-Caw! Caw!
Flap flap!
A crow, tearing at the flesh of a corpse, flies away upon sensing a presence.
The once green plains were dyed with blood and devastated by the aftermath of war.
A sight of utter desolation.
However, with corpses piling up like mountains to cover it, starving beasts and humans no different from them glare at each other to take their own profits.
"Hey, hey. Look there. It's a pilgrim."
"For real. The Sword Rosario around the neck and the stigmata on the back of the hand... It's really a pilgrim."
Unlike the wild beasts that fill their stomachs by scavenging corpses.
The sight of children who came to pick up valuables is reflected in the gray pupils.
"......A Pilgrim of the Sword."
Wearing a pure white hood, the pitch-black hair visible through the gap is striking. The sharp gray eyes visible between the strands looked like something beyond an ordinary human.
The necklace around the neck is a rosary.
On the back of the hand, a sword-shaped divine stigmata.
Those with such appearances often reveal themselves on the battlefield.
Believers of Valterus.
Pilgrims who wander various places following God's call, searching for swords.
Or.
"Sword-crazed lunatics."
A child rummaging through corpses quickly picked up a rock and threw it.
It flew in a long parabolic arc, but the rock thrown with a child's strength fell weakly at the pilgrim's feet.
"Get lost right now, you sword demon!"
Famine and poverty caused by war pass down violence. Resentful glares, inevitably blaming someone to survive, were directed at the pilgrim.
Their faces were twisted in anger, frowning as if looking at something they loathed, but their faltering legs were consumed by fear.
The emotionless gray eyes looked at them as if piercing through them. The children flinched.
"They said this war started because of the crazy bastards who turned the Princess into a sword, exactly because of you lot!!"
"T-That's right! Get lost right now!"
"It's all your fault!"
Sword believers who worship only the sword and Valterus.
To them, there is only one thing.
A single divine authority and miracle is granted.
"There are no corpses for the likes of you!!"
"Get lost right now!!"
Drawing out the warmth-less flesh and soul to forge a sword.
That is precisely God.
The sole authority granted by Valterus.
Zhu Jian. A miracle also called Shi Jian.
Pilgrims of the Sword.
Priests who perform the divine miracle of turning the bodies of the dead into swords.
Those are the Pilgrims of the Sword.
"They said this whole mess started because you bastards turned people into swords!"
Divine miracles are notoriously discriminatory, so the power of the sword varies depending on who was turned into a sword.
Therefore, there are often cases where people with great potential are secretly killed and turned into swords. If neighbors disappear without a sound, there are not a few who hush it up, calling it the work of pilgrims...
Those who have heard of the pilgrims' infamy or had their families taken from them do not like those who wield divine miracles.
Rather, they.
"Devils!!"
Call them devils and despise them.
To call believers of a god devils, what greater humiliation could there be.
However, as if accustomed to their insults, the pilgrim did not bother to reply and went on his way.
The children, glaring at his back as if he were not human, began rummaging through the mountain of corpses again.
It was then.
Neigh!
Rough hoofbeats shook the ground.
"O divine pilgrim serving the great Valterus! Pray, halt your steps for a moment!"
The knight at the vanguard made the pilgrim stop with a booming voice.
"Whoa."
The knight, who had approached right in front of the pilgrim before he knew it, spoke with an aloof demeanor without even dismounting.
"O son of the great Valterus who has entered the domain of Lutens. In the name of the Hegemon of the West, Queldar de Lutens, I send you an invitation to the Lord's Castle."
The pilgrim's eyes looked at the knights.
The level of their armament was high, and perhaps because they had just won a war, their spirit pierced the sky.
As if declaring he had no choice but to follow their words.
The pilgrim's eyes narrowed coldly. His dry lips parted.
"The only one who can block a pilgrim's path is the God Valterus. Get lost."
A clear rejection.
The knights drew their swords immediately as if they had expected it.
Shring!
"We need a pilgrim."
"It's not a pilgrim you need, but a divine miracle."
"Correct. Our Lord wishes for you to turn all the corpses here into swords."
"You intend to start another war even after killing like this. Insane."
Taking someone's life also creates another grudge.
'Blood calls for more blood.'
A new war would be a part of that as well.
The pilgrim shook his head.
"It is regrettable, but we are also desperate. We will not hear of your intention to refuse."
Preparing for war consumes a massive amount of resources.
To make up for that sum.
The lord is trying to catch the pilgrim passing through his domain.
To turn the mountain of corpses into swords with Valterus's miracle!
If only there is a pilgrim, it is possible.
"Committing an act worthy of heavenly punishment. Are you not afraid of God's wrath?"
"To us, the enemy right before our eyes comes before God's wrath."
The pilgrim's mouth closed.
The prestige of the god served by a kingdom that has entered the path of ruin has fallen to the ground long ago.
As the pilgrim looked on silently, the knight at the vanguard poured out unasked words.
"Of course, we will treat you with the utmost care. As we are on the brink of war, it will inevitably be lacking, but we will do our best to serve you. Are you not tired from the long pilgrimage? It would not be bad to rest your body for a while before leaving again."
"A pilgrim's divine power may seem infinite, does it not? It would be best for you to get lost right now."
The moment the pilgrim was about to take a step.
Thud, thud.
Clank, clatter! Thud.
An iron helmet rolled down from the mountain of corpses.
"Who goes there!"
"Were there thieves?"
The knight's gaze, turning as cold as frost, pierced through to the child hiding among the corpses.
"Gasp!"
It was the child who had spat insults full of humiliation at the pilgrim. Overwhelmed by the knight's spirit, the kid couldn't even run away.
"The spoils of this place belong to Lutens. Pay for the crime of thievery with your life."
The knight immediately took out his bow, drew the bowstring, and fired an arrow.
The arrow flying through the wind accurately pierced the child's heart.
The eyes of the child, who died instantly without even letting out a scream, reached the pilgrim.
It was a futile death.
But there was no emotion in the pilgrim's eyes.
Children die, and the elderly die.
It is merely a matter of sooner or later.
Just as he was about to calmly turn his gaze away.
The pilgrim's eyes changed.
A silver light that only he could recognize flashed from the dead child's body.
"Pilgrim......"
The gaze of the knight who had lowered his bow turned to the pilgrim once again.
But the pilgrim was nowhere to be seen.
Before they could wonder where he went, he was already beside the child whose body was losing its warmth.
The moment the knights were about to move.
The one who appeared to be the commander raised his hand and stopped them.
"It is a divine miracle."
Saaa.
Silver light dust flowed out from the dead child's body. The light gathered at the pilgrim's fingertips soon formed a shape and took on a single form.
A double-edged sword.
However, it was different from a normal sword.
An eerie, ghostly appearance, with the sharp edges of the sword gleaming sharply with a pale blue light.
The knights know.
That thing emitting that pale blue murderous aura is precisely Valterus's miracle.
The one authority He granted.
That it is Zhu Jian!
The eyes of the knights who witnessed the light of the miracle sharpened.
"If only we had that miracle."
If they could arm the soldiers with Zhu Jian, which is said to be more powerful than swords made of steel, victory in the war would be guaranteed. The knight's eyes became clouded with greed.
"Pilgrim,"
But even at the voice calling him, the pilgrim gave no answer.
He merely stared silently at the sword that still emitted a faint light.
And when that light faded.
The pilgrim's mouth opened.
"A grudge, as expected."
The knight's brow furrowed.
A grudge? What grudge is he talking about.
The urge to ask immediately rose to his throat, but he could not.
And right at that moment.
Shwik. With a faint sound of wind, the pilgrim's figure disappeared.
"Huh!"
The surprise was brief.
"Uh......"
The knight's gaze spun.
He saw his own body, he saw his horse, and then he crashed to the ground.
"Gargh!"
"Commander!"
The knight commander's neck was severed.
The startled knights and the neighing of horses echoed.
"Avenge the commander!"
"Catch the pilgrim!"
Chaeng-!
The pilgrim's sword was swung.
His Zhu Jian instantly broke the knight's sword and tore the iron armor to shreds.
An overwhelming difference in weaponry.
The pilgrim sneered.
A moment later.
Drip, drip.
Only the drops of blood flowing down the pilgrim's Zhu Jian silenced the desolate plain.
Saaa.
Silver light leaked from the sword the pilgrim held. The shape of the sword soon scattered like ash and disappeared.
The pilgrim let go of the disappearing sword as if nothing had happened and silently walked on his way.
Light seeped into the stigmata on the back of his hand, symbolizing that he was a pilgrim of Valterus.
[Cent's Grudge]
[Strength +1]
A faint smile spread across the pilgrim's lips before disappearing.