- The thousand-year empire. In its south, a light that should have gone out had not.
It had been exactly forty years.
- Find the light. It shall become a single ray of salvation amid the rampant darkness.
Since the Goddess’s oracle had descended, that is.
Forty years.
To carry out the single line of divine word delivered for the first time in forty years, the cardinal of the Holy Nation, Herald Guggenberger, was traveling across the southern regions of the empire.
Five carriages moved along the broad avenue.
Carriages of pure white, adorned with a soft golden glow.
“We will soon arrive at the city of Sauer, Lord Herald.”
At the bishop’s words from across from him, Herald’s gaze turned toward the window.
“I hope this time it truly is the city from the oracle.”
“It is the Goddess’s word. There must surely be meaning in it.”
And so they entered Sauer, a city in the empire’s south.
* * *
“Sword Saint.”
At the voice calling him, Vitalianus slowly turned his head.
“Do you truly intend to go alone?”
A star of the empire.
The king of knights who had earned the title of Star with a single sword.
The Golden Lion, Vitalianus Mahel.
Those who could address him so casually were exceedingly few.
“Yes, Your Majesty.”
Perhaps only someone like the empire’s aged emperor.
The old emperor gazed steadily down at the Sword Saint.
Abundant golden hair befitting his epithet, the Golden Lion.
What lay in those indifferent eyes was endless loyalty toward the imperial house.
“I know well that even my long-standing headache, Black Fang, would not dare harm you.”
What he worried about was something else.
“I hear the Holy Nation’s cardinal will be visiting Sauer this time. The very city you are headed to.”
“Is that so.”
“How carefree you are. Very well. Whether it is Black Fang or whatever else, I will leave it to you—but do not touch the Holy Nation. I am telling you not to cause trouble.”
“Please do not worry, Your Majesty.”
“How could I not worry? Whenever something involves Black Fang, you break first and ask later. Since the Holy Nation is involved, do not put yourself too far forward. No matter how much the Goddess’s power has weakened, their faith remains as strong as ever. If you become entangled with them the wrong way, it will be troublesome.”
“Yes, Your Majesty.”
“This is an imperial command.”
“……”
Only at the words imperial command did Vitalianus finally bow his head deeply.
As expected, he had not been listening all that carefully.
“Go then, Sword Saint. Go and show them clearly just how high above the heavens the empire’s sword stands.”
“Yes. It will not take long.”
And so Vitalianus left the imperial palace.
As he had been in the palace, not many days were needed for him to arrive at Sauer, the city in the south.
* * *
The Sword Saint, Vitalianus.
There was only one reason he was going to Sauer.
Black Fang, the continent’s worst criminal organization.
Because traces of those damned bastards had been found in Sauer.
‘…Small.’
That was Vitalianus’s brief impression upon arriving in Sauer.
Sauer was considered a fairly large city in the south, but how could it compare to the capital?
Pulling a robe over himself to hide his abundant blond hair, Vitalianus headed toward the castle where the lord would be.
Ordinarily, he tended to walk about with that brilliant blond hair in full view.
After all, wherever that mane-like gold appeared, evildoers would not dare so much as breathe.
This time, however, he planned to hide himself and act in secret.
It was an imperial command, was it not?
Once it became known that the empire’s Sword Saint had appeared, some sort of trouble was bound to occur.
The frightened Black Fang bastards might go into hiding, for one.
“Hahaha! You must have had a hard journey. Please, come in at once.”
When Vitalianus arrived at the castle, the white carriages had just arrived as well.
A dozen or so priests, several bishops.
And among them, an old man with an overwhelmingly powerful presence.
‘That must be the cardinal.’
The cardinal, the Sacred Bell. Herald Guggenberger.
A great figure of the Holy Nation.
Yet even Herald did not notice Vitalianus when he hid himself in earnest.
For the Sword Saint, who had far surpassed human limits, hiding his presence and suppressing his energy was an extremely simple thing.
He was openly slipping into the procession of priests and following them inside, yet no one present realized it.
That a lion had mingled among their flock.
‘Where should I begin?’
Having so easily entered the castle, Vitalianus began roaming it as though it were his own home.
The advantage and disadvantage of having come alone.
He was free, unobstructed, and fast—but he had to do everything himself.
In situations like this, his competent subordinates would usually find traces on their own.
‘Well, something will turn up if I wander around.’
Vitalianus was not particularly fond of using his head.
He had not been like this at first, but after adapting to his own overwhelming strength at some point, he had ended up this way.
There was nothing that could block him, and nothing he could not accomplish once he set his mind to it.
There was no need to think in needlessly complicated ways.
The world was simply that boring.
.
.
.
…Who was it that had said that?
That the world was boring.
‘Where am I?’
The world might be boring, but finding his way was anything but.
Because he had wandered around without thinking, evening had crept close before he knew it, and Vitalianus had drifted into some place he did not recognize.
This was what happened when one went about without a plan.
It was, after all, a lord’s castle, so it was spacious. And secretive, sinister bastards like Black Fang would not leave traces easily either.
‘A banquet hall?’
It seemed to be the place where the evening banquet would be held.
Since a cardinal of the Holy Kingdom was visiting, they appeared to be planning a grand welcoming banquet with the nearby nobles invited.
‘I am lucky.’
He had come here by chance, but he had a feeling.
A feeling that if Black Fang were going to make a move, it would certainly be here.
It was an intuition founded on a lifetime of hunting evildoers.
“Have a safe trip, Mr. Mage!”
Outside, in contrast to the splendid banquet hall.
A bright voice rang out from the outdoor garden where darkness had settled, and Vitalianus’s gaze turned that way.
“Haa… I don’t want to go.”
A man wearing a ridiculous hat and robe, holding in one hand a staff taller than himself, and a girl beside him.
‘Mage?’
His attire was like that of a mage from a fairy tale, and even the girl was calling him a mage.
A small interest arose in him, and as he watched—
“……”
His eyes met those of the mage.
“I’ll be back, Irina. If possible, don’t look toward the banquet hall.”
“Yes! Good luck, Mr. Mage!”
Of course, their eyes met only for a fleeting instant, and the man called a mage let out a deep sigh before heading into the banquet hall.
‘A coincidence… perhaps.’
He had no choice but to think so.
Neither the Sacred Bell of the Holy Nation nor any knight in the castle had detected his presence.
Vitalianus’s gaze followed the mage’s back.
Because he had grown curious about the man’s identity.
- Wahahahaha!
- You call yourself a mage? What was that?
- Hahahaha!
Yet what he was doing was unmistakably that of a clown.
‘So he was just a clown invited to the banquet.’
With that thought, he took his gaze away from the banquet hall.
The faint interest that had risen just in case cooled off in an instant.
And at that moment—
“Tom! Zadin!”
“I-Irina… run…”
An alien, sinister energy could be felt.
When he turned his head, there was the girl who had been with that clown, and three people surrounding her.
No, could those things be called people?
On their blackened skin, something had sprouted densely like scales, and their eyes shook violently as if they were about to lose their minds at any second.
The moment Vitalianus confirmed it, he drew his sword without hesitation and strode toward them.
The hood that had covered his eyes had already fallen back.
“So you are the experimental subjects Black Fang created.”
Golden aura soared high into the sky from the sword he had drawn.
* * *
In the end, the time for the banquet arrived.
The evening banquet, where the servants moved busily about.
The castle filled with nobles from other territories, and the more it did, the more uncomfortable Hio became.
A noisy, bustling banquet hall.
And outside, a short distance away from it, stood Hio and Irina.
“…I told you not to follow me, Irina.”
“But I’m curious.”
He had told her not to come because he did not want to show such a ridiculous side of himself in front of Irina, but she had followed him out in the end.
Her reason was that she was curious about a nobles’ banquet.
- Now then! Since the mood has ripened, I have prepared a special performance for today!
Well, it was too late now.
That banquet hall was calling for Hio.
- Allow me to introduce the mage who will be in charge of today’s special performance!
As he listened to the clapping applause, Hio let out a sigh.
Then, at the sudden feeling of someone’s gaze, he turned his head and saw someone wearing a hood staring in his direction.
The mana he sensed from the person itself was faint, but the presence within that mana was strangely enormous.
‘What is that bizarre guy?’
Of course, their eyes met only for an instant.
“I’ll be back, Irina. If possible, don’t look toward the banquet hall.”
“Have a safe trip, Mr. Mage! Good luck!”
Irina clenched both fists and cheered him on, and Hio waved weakly back at her.
Then he trudged into the banquet hall, stood on the platform in the center, lifted his hat slightly, and greeted them.
“I am Hio Pavlenko, mage and descendant of a great archmage.”
Under the curious gazes of the nobles, Hio’s magic show began.
An endurance show disguised as a magic show.
“First, I will create water here, where there is nothing.”
He closed his eyes as though concentrating and shouted with spirit.
While exaggerating his movements, he put in only a rat’s tail worth of mana.
“O god of water, grant your blessing upon this place…”
The magic completed in that way was a reduced version of the 1st Circle spell, Aqua.
“Aqua!”
A single drop of water popped out and fell to the floor with a plop.
“…Huh?”
“That’s it?”
After a brief silence—
“Hahahahaha!”
“What is that! Hahaha!”
“I knew it!”
The full-fledged feast of mockery began.
[Hidden Trait: Violence Is Not Allowed! (Endurance: 920 / 1000)]
Countless people surrounded Hio, looking only at him as they laughed.
Thanks to that, his endurance rose even more steeply.
[Hidden Trait: Violence Is Not Allowed! (Endurance: 942 / 1000)]
“Freeze everything! Ice!”
“Puhahahahaha!”
“That’s what you call freezing everything? Hahaha!”
[Hidden Trait: Violence Is Not Allowed! (Endurance: 967 / 1000)]
‘…I didn’t want her to see me like this.’
As he prepared the next spell, Hio’s gaze went beyond the nobles mocking him and toward the place where Irina was.
A child who still held admiration for mages.
Thinking of those eyes that must have turned to disappointment, he looked toward where Irina stood.
Unlike the glittering banquet hall, the outside was shaded and secluded.
Even so, he could see it.
‘…Huh?’
Three figures around Irina.
Charred black, rough skin that looked as though scales had sprouted from it.
Even their bodies, visibly swelling larger and larger.
He recognized them at once.
Demonized humans.
More precisely, they were in the state just before becoming demonized.
Which meant—
‘Irina is in danger.’
He moved the instant he made that judgment.
The noisy chatter of the nobles around him did not enter his ears at all.
All his nerves were focused on the demonized humans.
Before they transformed completely, before they lost all reason, he would have to subdue them.
So he immediately activated a skill.
Magic activated not by moving his Circles directly, but as a skill.
It was to shift the demonized humans’ attention from Irina to himself.
He extended his staff and pointed outside the banquet hall.
The activation point was above Irina’s head.
「Skill — ‘Fire’ has been activated.」
A blue flame unfolded, dazzling enough to sting the eyes.
Outside the banquet hall. A brilliant sun filled the sky above the garden.
And…
“So you are the experimental subjects Black Fang created.”
A golden sword that appeared almost simultaneously with the activation of the skill.
The golden sword, soaring high beneath the blue flame, overwhelmed the entire area by its very existence.
Hio, who had been running with his staff extended, came to an abrupt halt.
And the Sword Saint, walking as golden aura billowed around him, also came to an abrupt halt.
“What… are you?”
Their eyes met once more.
[Hidden Trait: Violence Is Not Allowed! (Endurance: 999 / 1000)]