Chapter 3: Is This Old Man Sick?
A truly desperate crisis.
A moment when not even a thread of hope was visible.
[Draw it.]
An unfamiliar voice bored into Kael's ear.
His mind snapped to attention. There was no time to judge whether this was real or a hallucination.
Kael began laboriously moving his already broken arm.
"Hahaha. Why, you think pulling out that little toy is gonna change anything?"
The man laughed as if Kael's actions were pathetic.
‘Annoying bastard.’
He wanted to shut that carefree mouth of his. Every word that spilled out of it grated on his nerves.
He wanted to wipe that grin off his face right this instant.
"What, now that it's time to actually pull it, you can't? Gonna wet yourself?"
The man sneered and slowly approached Kael.
There wasn't a trace of tension in his demeanor.
"You were acting cute so I played along for a bit…… but you really can't read the room, can you?"
The man snorted as if he was disappointed.
"Well, it was entertaining enough, I guess. Just barely something to pass the time. Be honored that I even bothered with you."
The moment the man reached out toward Kael—
Kael's body moved on reflex.
It wasn't a movement he intended.
It was as if someone was forcibly controlling his body.
Kiiing!
The sword screamed as it was drawn.
At the same time, a blinding burst of intense light erupted outward.
Whoosh!
Kael's body broke free from his will and moved on its own.
The tip of the blade carved an elegant arc. And within that arc lay the giant's neck.
"……Huh?"
The man blinked, his expression blank.
A thin line appeared across his neck.
Red blood began to bead along that line—
Fsssht!
—and then it gushed like a fountain.
The panicked man tried desperately to stop the surge of blood, but it was already too late.
Thud.
The color drained from the man's face in an instant, and his head rolled straight to the ground. His massive body followed, slowly crumbling after it.
Boom!
The heavy frame crashed to the floor, sending up a cloud of dust.
[Hmph. Quite the nerve on a little brat.]
The unfamiliar voice bored into Kael's ear once more.
In that instant, Kael knew intuitively.
That the owner of the voice was this sword.
Balmung, which had taken the form of an ordinary sword all this time, had completely changed.
As if someone had set the blade on fire, blazing white flames roared and flickered across it.
"What in the world is—"
[Sheathe it.]
"……What?"
[No time to explain. Shut up and put it away.]
A commanding tone.
For a moment Kael thought, ‘What's this annoying bastard on about?’—but for now he did as told and sheathed Balmung.
In that instant.
"……Are you a guard?"
A calm, gentle voice reached him.
Startled, Kael turned around.
Standing there was someone in a white uniform.
Silver hair, blue eyes.
Beautiful enough to draw a gasp from anyone who saw her.
Her hair, which fell past her shoulders, was neatly tied back in 1 bundle. Her blindingly bright silver hair caught the sunlight and gave off a cold, metallic gleam.
The neatly pressed uniform, military boots, and auxiliary sword fastened to her military belt proved she was a thoroughly trained warrior.
She was none other than the leader of the Empire's 5 Swords—White Night, Adelia Kreuzell.
‘That person is……’
Kael narrowed his eyes.
The Knight of White Night.
Adelia Kreuzell.
1 of the Empire's 5 Swords, known as the guardian of the Empire, and 1 of only 8 Sword Masters on the continent.
He didn't know much, but just from the string of titles alone, it was clear she was an extraordinary person.
Since possessing this body in this world, he had seen her exactly once.
It had been from a distance at some ceremony, but her impression was striking enough to stay with him.
Kreuzell's expressionless gaze, fixed on Kael, shifted to the side.
And the next moment, her eyes widened slightly.
"That is……. Surely……?"
An expression of disbelief.
Adelia's pupils trembled faintly.
"……Could it be that you're the one who just killed him?"
A trembling voice.
Before Kael could even answer—
The aftermath of the brutal fight washed over him all at once.
The world began to tilt. His vision blurred, and a fierce wave of dizziness crashed over him.
He felt his consciousness slipping away, and just like that, Kael blacked out.
* * *
The Knight of White Night, Adelia Kreuzell.
She stood before the scene unfolding before her eyes, at a loss for words.
An utterly devastated battleground.
And a giant with his head severed, dead.
‘An ordinary Imperial Guard…… killed Harkan?’
She wasn't seeing things.
That massive, headless corpse was 1 of the Seven Deadly Sins of the continent—Harkan, the Sin of Violence.
His other alias: The Butcher.
A living monster whom even she, 1 of the Empire's 5 Swords, couldn't guarantee a victory against—and he was lying there as a cold corpse.
"……Good grief."
Faced with an unbelievable sight, Adelia let out a deep sigh.
‘The cut is this clean.’
The Butcher, who had made the entire continent tremble in fear.
He was infamous for an extraordinarily unusual way of fighting.
True to his name as the Sin of Violence, he fought without weapons—tearing people apart with his bare hands while they were still alive.
A brutal and utterly ruthless man.
Such an unrealistic fighting style was possible because Harkan's physical body had far exceeded the bounds of a human being.
Superhuman reflexes and skin as tough as steel.
Without energy coating a blade, you couldn't even leave a scratch on his body.
Adelia studied Harkan's corpse carefully.
Once one reached the level of a Master, they could roughly reconstruct the course of a battle simply by reading the traces left at the scene.
‘Bone and muscle severed in a single stroke.’
Harkan probably never even had the chance to react.
If a beast of a man like Harkan—more animal than human—had failed to respond at all……
Just how fast a strike must it have been?
And it wasn't simply a matter of speed, either. A strike that was only fast couldn't sever Harkan's dense bone and flesh.
A strike so devastatingly efficient and precise it sent a chill down the spine.
Even for Adelia, a Sword Master, its depth was beyond measure.
"……To think a monster like this was hidden within the Imperial Guard."
Adelia let out a hollow laugh.
The world was vast, and it was full of extraordinary people.
Moreover, not every powerful person chose to display their strength openly.
Monsters like this existed in the world—ones who concealed their full power and lived quietly.
"……Did he risk his life for the Empire."
She didn't know what circumstances had led this man to hide his strength and live in obscurity.
But someone of this caliber could have easily escaped without fighting Harkan at all.
And yet he had staked his life to face Harkan, that monster.
As a subject of the Empire, Adelia felt a deep and genuine gratitude.
Of course, all of those assumptions were far from the truth—but that didn't matter.
‘His condition is not good.’
The man's breathing was irregular.
Up close, his injuries were far more serious than they had first appeared. There wasn't a single part of his body that was unscathed.
A state as precarious as a candle in the wind.
The man's life was fading fast.
Adelia reached into her coat and produced a single potion.
This was no ordinary potion.
A top-grade potion said to be worth as much as a mansion per bottle—an Elixir.
But Adelia, without a hint of reluctance, uncapped it and carefully poured it into Kael's mouth.
The Elixir worked quickly.
Kael's breathing steadied, and color returned to his face.
If this guard had not stepped forward, the city would have suffered far greater losses.
There would have been countless casualties.
"……The Empire owes a great debt."
Adelia looked down at Kael and smiled faintly.
* * *
Kael opened his eyes.
An unfamiliar ceiling stared back at him.
Just like when he had first possessed this guard's body.
Startled, Kael reflexively tried to sit up—and excruciating pain immediately ambushed him.
"Ugh……!"
He had always thought that, as a mixed martial arts fighter, he had a certain tolerance for pain—but this was beyond what willpower alone could endure.
His entire body screamed. Without any exaggeration, it hurt enough to sting tears from his eyes.
"Are you coming around?"
A voice right beside him.
Kael turned his head.
Standing there was none other than Adelia—the heavyweight known as the Knight of White Night.
"……Huh?"
Kael blinked.
What in the world was happening?
Why was she suddenly here?
Where even was this place, and what was he—
‘Ah.’
It came back to him.
Just now, some huge crazy guy had fought him and he'd nearly died.
And right before dying, a strange voice had come from somewhere and told him to draw the sword.
His body had moved on its own in that instant, and the giant's head had been cleanly separated from his body.
And the person who had appeared at the scene after that was—
‘……I'm done for.’
As the scattered pieces fit together, a curse rose up on its own.
His blood ran cold and everything before his eyes seemed to go yellow.
‘So this is where my life ends.’
Maybe he should just ask them to go straight to a clean execution? That seemed better than torture.
A thousand feelings crossed him at once, and every possible thought ran through his mind.
No matter how he thought about it, he couldn't see a way out.
But contrary to Kael's expectations, the situation began to unfold in a strange direction.
"On behalf of the Empire, I offer you our gratitude. The Empire owes you a tremendous debt."
"……?"
"You may have already been aware, but the man you defeated that day was 1 of the Seven Deadly Sins of the continent—The Butcher, Harkan."
Seven Deadly Sins? The Butcher?
‘What is she talking about?’
Kael stared blankly.
He couldn't make heads or tails of what she was saying.
Interpreting it roughly: apparently the giant he had fought wasn't just some ordinary brute, but a notorious heavyweight even by continental standards.
‘No wonder he was so absurdly strong.’
Kael had fought a life-or-death battle against 1 of the most formidable fighters on the continent.
Well—whether ‘fought’ was even the right word was debatable.
‘I just got beaten to a pulp.’
It was like a scrawny middle schooler going up against a heavyweight UFC ranked fighter.
Seven Deadly Sins, whatever the title—just hearing the name alone made it obvious the person was terrifyingly powerful. And indeed, they had been.
‘……But let's set that aside for now.’
The real question was why the Knight of White Night was out of nowhere expressing her gratitude to him.
That had to come first.
Had she not noticed that Balmung was here?
‘No matter how I think about it, that just doesn't make sense.’
Kael quietly glanced to the side. Balmung was there, propped visibly against the side of the bed.
No, it was sitting right there in plain sight—how could she have missed it?
Then Adelia opened her mouth.
"First…… I believe I owe you an apology."
"An apology?"
"Yes. It would be right to properly reward a hero who gave everything for the Empire, but I have been unable to do so. The political situation within the Empire is not ordinary right now. If it were to become known that you brought Harkan down on your own, countless people would try to exploit that fact. Especially if it were to reach the Crown Prince's ears……"
It was terrifying just to imagine.
Adelia's voice trailed off, her expression grave.
It was deeply troubling and shameful that she had no choice but to say this to a hero who had risked their life to save the Empire.
But there was no other way.
The current Crown Prince was that dangerous a figure.
"……For now, recovering the real Balmung is the most pressing matter. I swear on my honor. Once Balmung is found, I will ensure you are given every reward that is your due."
There was a deep resolve in the eyes that looked at Kael.
But the very person in question, Kael, could only feel bewildered.
‘Is this person sick or something?’
Balmung is right there in front of you.