Chapter 16
Bustling.
A noisy procession.
They were all merchants and travelers heading out of Trista.
"Why is it like that?"
"Looks like there's an apostate. Those are the Inquisitors of the Valterus Order over there."
The emblem of crossed red swords.
The symbol of the Inquisitors.
"They say someone apostatized, so they're doing inspections."
"Aw, fuck. If we don't cross the mountain soon, we'll freeze to death camping out, so why the hell are they inspecting so thoroughly!!"
"I know, right? If they're Inquisitors, shouldn't they just look with their divine power and know right away?"
"That's why they only get pushed around by the Empire."
"Hey, let's keep it down over there!"
When the soldiers, who couldn't listen anymore, yelled, the chatter finally died down to whispers.
"My lord, are you alright?"
"I'm fine, so shut up. Brans."
"Yes, sir."
The Inquisitor pointed at the hooded man and asked.
"Wait there. Your identification?"
"Here."
The Inquisitor checked the identification, nodded, and handed it back.
"Take off that hood for a moment."
"Why take off the hood? My lord doesn't like showing his face!"
"One of the characteristics of the apostate is their eyes. I'm asking you to take it off because they possess rare gray eyes."
"No, even so, this guy...!"
"Enough, Brans. Just take it off."
Swish.
As he pushed the hood back, a handsome man with the air of a noble, possessing distinct features and black eyes, revealed himself.
"Hmm... You have good eyes."
The black eyes gleamed exceptionally.
"It's genetics."
"Ahem, pass!"
Kallius pulled the hood back over his head and walked past the Inquisitor.
A short while later.
After stopping in the forest heading north, past the wide plains of Trista, Kallius reached out his hand to Brans.
"Here you go."
"Mm."
When Brans handed him a small container, he opened it, put his hand to his eye, and took something out.
"Are you alright?"
"My eyes are stiff. Seems like this isn't something I can wear for long."
What he put in the container were two lenses.
They were black glass lenses specially requested from Dexter.
'I can't do this a second time.'
He had heard that in the Middle Ages, lenses were made by fitting glass, so he tried making them, but it was more painful than expected.
Since this era still lacked the concept of silicone-like materials, glass lenses were the only option.
It was only tolerable because Kallius's physical abilities were vastly superior to an ordinary person's.
If a normal person wore these, their corneas would be scratched in no time.
"Let's go. We have a long way to go."
"Yes, sir!"
It was then.
"It really was you."
Along with a voice as cold as frost, a strange presence lunged at Kallius.
He immediately drew Arsando.
Clang!!
'Ugh.'
Screech! Screech!!
Sparks flew from the clashing sword strikes.
The bushes shook, and the watery-blue hair of the enemy before him fluttered.
"Even if you deceived the radical faction's Inquisitors, you cannot deceive my eyes that know your face. That cloak of twilight. It really was you."
"...Esther Sol Cilliad."
The next Paladin.
A genius among geniuses, mentioned as the next Saint. A woman whose swordsmanship, divine power, beauty, and disposition all cannot help but be praised.
Esther.
Her softly glowing watery-blue hair was like an apostle personally sent down by the god Valterus, and her blue eyes were as blue as the great sea and as deep as the deep sea reflecting it.
"Your voice. Your face. And your gaze—I have not forgotten them for a single moment."
"For the next Saint to say that much, I am truly honored."
It might sound like a hymn of love at first glance, but the atmosphere was entirely the opposite.
I didn't even know why she was glaring at him like he was the enemy who killed her parents.
Did she have some grudge against Kallius that he himself didn't know about?
I don't know.
It's a part I don't know.
It's a part I didn't set up.
So it was even more confusing.
"Three years ago, I must have told you. Pilgrim Kallius."
"Told me what?"
"Have you forgotten? If so, I shall tell you again."
Esther's sword lowers.
She adjusts her stance.
She lowers the sword held in both hands diagonally.
"I clearly said it back then. If I became a pilgrim on a pilgrimage and crossed paths with you,"
I would surely kill you.
"I, Pilgrim Esther, challenge Pilgrim Kallius to a duel of swords."
That duel would not end until someone died and became the opponent's sword.
"Pilgrim Kallius. Please, do not die easily. For I have been constantly longing for this moment!"
Swish!
Along with the sharp sound of the wind, Esther's figure disappeared.
'Fast.'
Swoosh!
Her sword trajectory brushed past where Kallius's neck had been.
Fast.
And fluid.
Her sword was like that.
Swift and accurate.
It approached so fast at first that one might not even notice it coming, and in an instant, she drew her sword and slashed.
Swish.
In the fleeting moment when others would swing once, she slashes twice, three times.
Fast sword. A swift draw slash so fast that it's hard to even chase with one's eyes.
Clang! Slash!
Rumble! Boom!
Brans, who fled into the forest, couldn't figure out what was going on.
He hid his body among the bushes and peeked at the fierce fight between Kallius and Esther through the trees.
Sparks flew between the invisible sword strikes, and trees were sliced down and collapsed in an instant.
Gulp.
That is a true pilgrim's fight.
"This is no time to be moved. Ah, my lord really shouldn't lose."
But all he could do was watch from afar.
Clang!!
'Her strength is also ridiculously strong.'
It wasn't just her speed that was fast.
Her strength was just as formidable.
The quality of her divine power was also lofty.
Perhaps because he had experienced the divine power contained in the Holy Stone, her level was visible at a glance.
Her divine power was at the 3rd rank.
No, a level close to the 2nd rank.
That much, the purity of her divine power was extraordinary.
"Have you risen to this level in just three years? Impressive."
"You were someone who could grow too. I never expected you to block my sword like this."
"Time is fair to everyone."
Although he was acting as relaxed as possible, his right hand holding the sword was trembling.
'If it weren't for the gloves I got from Dexter, my grip would have burst already.'
Her sword was that fast and heavy.
Agile movements. And a calm divine power that seemed to resemble her.
Because of that, her enhanced physical abilities and her unique fast sword strikes gave the illusion that swords were flying from all directions.
As if.
Standing right in the middle of a pouring rainstorm.
Trying to dodge, but unable to.
Trying to roughly counterattack, she thrusts at another place even faster.
"Hoo-"
From a brief exchange, there were dozens of shallow sword wounds on his arms and thighs.
"Are you doing this because of the cloak?"
"Of course not. It's certainly something I wanted, but I wouldn't go this far just for that."
"Then what is it?"
"...Do you not remember?"
"I don't. I've forgotten all about the past."
She lowered her raised sword and slowly closed her eyelids.
Her long eyelashes fluttered; she seemed quite angry.
"You have a genius talent for provoking people's anger."
"What did I do to you?"
"You did. You did!! Even if others don't know, you did things that you absolutely must remember, didn't you!!"
She spewed out unusually passionate anger.
Esther definitely wasn't that kind of person.
She didn't get greatly angry, nor did she get sad. She was cold and hard.
A woman who is ruthless to demons and evil beasts, but kind to children.
That was Esther Sol Cilliad.
"Hmm..."
Honestly, I don't know well.
Although one wouldn't expect the scoundrel Kallius to stay quiet in the Order, I still didn't know if he had done something to Esther.
'How could he do something to Esther.'
The moment he was about to think that.
Esther opened her mouth.
"You approached me at first, but after learning I was not of noble birth, you treated me with contempt."
"Uh..."
"And for some reason, you despised me and started bullying the commoner-born ascetics around me."
"Uh... I see."
"That's not all!! You requested a swordsmanship duel with me, and after you lost, you did all sorts of petty things!"
Petty things like driving nails into the handle of Esther's wooden sword, or putting needles in her shoes.
He formed a group with the noble-born ascetics, bullied the commoner-borns, and punished anyone who spoke to Esther.
He did such things.
"I constantly apologized to you. Even though I had done nothing wrong. But you only harassed me more."
"Um... I did..."
"I will kill you. Your very existence is evil. You are no different from the evil creatures."
"Well, this is..."
I have nothing to say.
It clearly wasn't something I did, but it was also something I did, so what could I say?
Even with ten mouths, I would have no words.
'Is this bastard Kallius crazy? If it were anyone else, sure, but even to Esther...'
But I felt like I knew why he did it.
The moment he saw Esther, Kallius's heart fluttered like a fish jumping out of the water.
He probably.
'Liked Esther.'
Few people don't like her. She is beautiful and strong.
Strong enough to be considered the next Paladin, and benevolent enough to be considered a Saint.
Right now she is like a sharpened sword, but as time passes and she crosses many lines of death, she will gradually develop the disposition of a Saint.
Therefore, Kallius couldn't help but like Esther either.
He is human too. If he had no interest, he wouldn't have harassed her to that extent.
He developed a favorable impression and came to like her, but it seemed there was something he couldn't accept because she was not of noble birth.
'So that's why he did it.'
He was a guy with the "Prodigal of the Order" as his trait from the start. He was the type to not leave any woman untouched, so what else to expect.
Foolish Kallius.
But right now, that is me.
"Why did you do it."
She changes her stepping foot.
Soon, her sword thrusts in.
He raised Arsando.
Her sword settles.
But at that moment, the trajectory twists.
Screech!
Her sword rides up the blade of Arsando.
Slash.
Snapping his head back, a clear thin line is drawn on the nape of his neck.
Drip.
Blood beads form along the thin line.
The moment it flows.
Thud!
"Keuk!"
Taking advantage of his lapse in attention, her kick buried into his abdomen like a catapult bolt.
Boom!
Swish!
A thrust that came in once again.
It aims for my head.
Crack!
"Your eyes have improved from before. You dodge my sword quite well."
He bent his head to dodge the sword.
Esther's sword embedded itself into the tree.
"Is this also the power of the holy relic?"
"Did you come to find the holy relic too?"
"My mission is to find the holy relic."
"And killing me?"
"Personal business."
"Give me a break."
A hollow laugh escaped.
It was a situation where he should be fully tense, and death was practically at his doorstep, but strangely, laughter burst out.
"What is so funny?"
"Just funny. It's funny that you're in front of me, and I can't believe you came to kill me."
"This is no joke."
"Yeah, I suppose not. Hoo-"
Kallius exhaled a rough breath and looked into Esther's eyes.
"There is no holy relic. If I had something like that, I wouldn't be struggling like this."
"Is that so."
"Yeah. The miracle of the holy relic that the Order couldn't find wouldn't be just this much."
"...I thought so."
"You believe me?"
"At least the you I knew took pride in being a noble. You spat out insolent remarks, saying nobles don't tell lies."
Thanks for believing me even if it's like that.
"It's a shame there is no holy relic."
"But you're still going to kill me."
"Yes. I've made up my mind to do so."
So I will kill you.
Simple and concise.
Indeed, according to her words, he had been bullying her since she was an ascetic, so how long had she harbored this grudge?
It's enough to justify it.
He couldn't even match her in swordsmanship, so how much must he have flaunted his noble status in front of her?
Even I would want to kill him.
But I can't die.
I can't die this easily.
"Dying by your hand would be an honor, I suppose."
"Would it?"
"But I cannot die yet."
"You are not the one who decides that."
The drawn sword pointed at my neck.
"I am the one who decides that."
Soon, her sword was swung.
Right before my neck was severed.
I unclasped the bracelet.
Click.
Then, along with the bound divine power.
[Trait,
Sasijakbi. Kallius's unique trait.
The realization that only comes when close to death was triggered by Esther's sword.
Divine power overflowing like a broken dam.
And the awakening from the trait.
The harmony of everything meshes together.
The size of the divine power settled in the dantian swells. But unlike before, it's not just in size. It compresses each and every strand.
Slowly, densely piled up. It settles firmly and takes shape.
Silver flower buds layered upon layers.
Swish. Kallius's gray eyes shone brilliantly silver.
[Manhwabongyuk (Late Blooming Sixth Peak)]
Rank - Unique
Achievement - Ilbong (First Peak)
-Six buds that bloom in the late season.
The divine power condensed on Esther's sword.
The inside of the divine power settled within her sword aura was clearly visible.
"Bloom."
Kaaang!!
A sharp metallic sound.
Esther's sword was repelled.
Her blue eyes widen.
The sword aura shattered.
The shattered sword aura fluttered down like flower petals.
A sword that destroys the opponent's divine power and sword aura.
A name given because it was as beautiful as silver flower petals.
"Eunhwapageom (Silver Flower Shattering Sword)..."