Chapter 23 : Chapter 23
Chapter 23: The Unsetting Sun (1)
“Master Andre…!”
“Be quiet.”
Swish!
‘So he was holding back then.’
Deban recalled the Selection Ceremony as he looked at the guard, now just a body in pajamas with its head freshly flown off.
No wonder he had an air of composure even while facing three swordsmen.
“Well. Do I need to interrogate and kill him? Do we need evidence?”
“That would be more certain, wouldn’t it?”
“But isn't it the Intelligence's responsibility anyway? They're the ones who gave the information.”
“That is true.”
“Then, well.”
Creek.
Simurtr opened the door at the end of the hallway.
The sound of snoring had been echoing since we reached the second floor, and it still hadn't stopped.
‘Andre Koitro.’
A large build that the blanket couldn’t cover. A square jaw. A huge hooked nose. It was the same as in the photograph.
Simurtr cut off his neck, then roughly dropped the head and body onto the floor.
“The slaves?”
“They should be in the basement.”
“Lead the way.”
“Follow me.”
There were no stairs leading down to the basement in the center. Deban stepped slowly as he walked. He lightly tapped the surrounding walls, and used his footsteps to check the floor.
“But what are you going to do after saving them?”
“What do you mean? Just saving them.”
“Then they’ll just die soon anyway, won’t they? Or get captured as slaves again.”
“That’s their fate.”
I had no intention of doing anything more.
I pitied the weak, but at the same time, I despised them. Exa in my past life was that kind of person.
It was one thing if that weakness was due to others or the environment, but if it stemmed from their own will, there was nothing to be said.
“I’ll see first. If they are people who chose to be slaves, I’ll just leave them.”
“Are there people like that?”
“More than you think.”
“What if they were wronged?”
“Then I have to give them a chance.”
At least, that’s what Simurtr thought.
That was the reason I protected the soldiers and children and taught them swordsmanship in my past life. For they never wished for death during the war.
“You’re softer than I thought.”
“I’m sixteen.”
“Ah, right.”
The youngest of the main castle. Simurtr was the youngest in the main castle. That was true even including the entire Sword Order. There was no precedent for becoming a formal swordsman at the age of 16.
“Oh. Found it.”
“Wow. Why did you come to the main castle? You should have gone to Degrate.”
“They were strict in many ways over there.”
“That place is gloomy.”
Deban found the entrance. It was a bookshelf in the first-floor living room, and when he pushed it lightly, it slid open. The revealed cavity had stairs leading to the basement.
“Thorough.”
“Slaves are illegal, after all.”
Deban said as he entered the stairs. On the left and right walls, crystal orbs the size of a human head were embedded one by one.
“This stuff is expensive.”
“What is it?”
“It’s a magic tool that absorbs sound.”
“He’s a habitual offender.”
“I know, right.”
The stairs were not long. It felt like we had descended about one floor, but the stairs already ended and a short hallway was ahead.
“He made a prison.”
It was a scene reminiscent of the Selection Ceremony. It was similar to the place where we had the first test. Only its scale was smaller. There were only two iron cages here.
“It is not him.”
A voice greeted the two. To the left. The man inside the iron cage was glaring this way, with shackles on his wrists and ankles.
“Who is it?”
Simurtr turned to the right.
Inside the opposite iron cage was a woman. She was lying on the floor, also wearing shackles. However, hers were smaller than the man’s.
“I asked who you are.”
“Who are you.”
“I asked first.”
The woman’s breathing was steady. Simurtr’s gaze turned back to the man. The man’s body showed signs of training.
“Those are magic shackles.”
Deban said after scanning the man’s entire body.
“What’s that?”
“Those. They’re twice as big as the woman’s, right? It's a magic tool that suppresses magic.
A size like that could probably suppress up to sword ki.”
“There’s something like that?”
Simurtr opened his mouth slightly. A magic tool that controlled the wearer’s magic. I thought it was a peaceful world, but it had changed quite frighteningly.
“They say nothing is impossible for the great Magic Tower.”
“Who says?”
“The Head of the Magic Tower.”
“Basor?”
“Yes.”
“Damn it.”
“You’ll get beaten up by a mob if you curse a Hero Family outside.”
“This is inside. And a basement.”
“Wow.”
“Hey!”
The man flared up at the idle conversation. Clang! The shackle on his hand struck the iron cage, and an unpleasant vibration rang out.
“Looks like he’s going to beat you up.”
“It’s a relief we’re in a prison.”
“Why did you come? The promised day is not yet here.”
Simurtr nodded his head while looking at the man. I'd have to see his achievements after releasing his shackles, but his revealed body was clearly that of a swordsman.
“Are you a swordsman? Or a knight?”
“Did I not already say that.”
“I forgot.”
“…A swordsman.”
A swordsman. He said he was a swordsman. Simurtr’s eyes lit up. Among those who trained with the sword, those who referred to themselves as swordsmen were usually one of two things.
They either sympathized with Mectera’s ideology.
‘Or have been a part of Mectera.’
I looked to the side, and Deban shook his head. It meant it was a face he had never seen before. Simurtr spoke to the man.
“Where are you from?”
“I am from Bahab.”
“Bahab? But you call yourself a swordsman?”
Someone from Bahab referring to himself as a swordsman?
“I am now. I was a knight of Bahab.”
“Oh. Really?”
“I was.”
The Hero Family of Bahab. The family of that disgusting traitor, Akarr. Simurtr smiled brightly.
To think I would meet someone related to that Basor so, so quickly.
“Not anymore?”
“No.”
“Why?”
“…You don’t need to know.”
“Then die.”
Simurtr drew his sword. A swordsman from Bahab. It meant he had worked under that traitor.
His face was somehow familiar, but… it was Bahab. Killing intent filled Simurtr's eyes.
“Wait a minute. Weren’t you here to save us?”
Deban was flustered by the momentarily chilling gaze. Didn't he say he was a soft sixteen-year-old?
“He won't listen. I’ve had a change of heart.”
“……”
Late twenties. That meant he was from the war generation.
He must have experienced the war and joined Bahab after it ended. A subordinate of the traitor Akarr.
It was in the past tense, but that alone was reason enough to kill him. Even if he gave a reason, if it was a trivial one, I would kill him.
“I’m going to kill you, okay?”
Simurtr smiled at the man. With a lightly thrust sword, the iron cage that had imprisoned the man completely collapsed.
“…If I tell you the reason, will you save me?”
The man, grasping the situation, opened his mouth. The companion’s behavior. The man noticed that Simurtr and Deban were not Andre’s subordinates.
“I’ll hear you out.”
“Even if you kill me, please save that woman.”
“I’ll hear you out.”
“That woman has no relation to Bahab.”
He held a grudge against Bahab.
The man surmised as much from Simurtr’s words and actions. Otherwise, there was no reason for him to change so suddenly.
“She is related to you.”
“……”
“Tough decision, huh? Wait. I’ll kill that woman first and ask you again.”
Simurtr cut down the opposite iron cage as well.
Kaang.
The unpleasant noise created as the severed iron bars fell to the floor stimulated both the man and the woman at the same time.
“Uh…?”
The woman, woken from her sleep, raised her body and made eye contact with the man. It was a split second before the quick-witted Deban headed for the woman.
“I will speak.”
As Deban entered the woman's cell, the man hurriedly opened his mouth.
“Go on.”
“Give me some distance.”
“Deban, go on up.”
Deban was still expressing a look of bewilderment, but he soon followed the order obediently.
“Happy now?”
Simurtr said, around the time Deban’s presence left his Sword Net.
“Begin.”
“I was part of the Red Flame Knight Order.”
“So?”
“The Red Flame is Bahab's third knight order…”
“I know. So. Why did you leave?”
“Bahab was not the place I thought it was.”
“What are you talking about? You must have joined after the war ended. Knowing it was a Hero Family.”
Simurtr let out a sneer.
What a ridiculous excuse.
“I did. That’s why I went. A Hero Family. But it wasn't. Bahab is certainly called that, but it wasn't what I was pursuing.”
“What is it that you want?”
“The Hero, and the sword. I wanted to emulate the Hero’s sword.”
“If you're talking about a Hero, isn't there one in Bahab right now?”
“I am not talking about Akarr Bahab. Bahab was very different from what I expected. They know nothing.”
“Ah. The sword is rather filthy, I’ll give you that. Then you should have gone to Mectera.
Mectera is all about the sword.”
Simurtr gave a bitter smile.
“Yes. Mectera. I went to that Hero Family too. Before I even joined Bahab. First of all.”
“And?”
“And I was bewildered. Mectera’s sword was different from what I had seen. It was not the sword I was pursuing. It couldn’t be.”
“What are you talking about.”
“I am from the Doom War generation. I have seen the sword of the true Sword Master.”
“What bullshit is this. Gerehk was already the Sword Master during the war.”
It had been quite some time since Gerehk ascended to Sword Master. As soon as the war was declared, Medeoban had passed on the position of Sword Master, anticipating Gerehk’s achievements.
“No. The Sword Master I speak of is not that head of the family. Nor the current head of the family. The Sword Master has traditionally been the head of Mectera, but the head of Mectera of that time cannot necessarily be seen as the Sword Master.”
“Bullshit. Everyone but you would think so.”
Of course, I sympathized inwardly.
The man’s ideology was the same as Simurtr’s ideology that had once threatened Medeoban. The master of the sword. In the first place, it was a name too precious to be attached to the likes of Gerehk.
“No. At least, people in my situation do not think so. The master of the sword we think of is only one person.”
“What. Do you slaves have your own role-playing games?”
“I am not a slave.”
“All slaves feel wronged. I understand. It’s only natural.”
“No. The Unsetting Sun. I am a swordsman from there.”
“What’s that.”
Simurtr tilted his head. It was a name I had heard for the first time. It must be some kind of group. One formed after Exa died.
“You don’t know of the Unsetting Sun?”
The man’s eyes widened. It seemed that the group with that strange name was larger in scale than I thought.
“Yeah. What is it? Is it in the Empire?”
“No. It is outside the Empire, to the east. It is based in the territory of the Sword Tower.”
“Ah. You were affiliated with the Sword Tower? Then you should have said so from the start.
Why say it in such a difficult way.”
The Sword Tower of the East. A place called the Magic Tower of the sword world, and a group that could challenge Mectera, the holy land of the sword, with the sword.
“We are not affiliated with the Sword Tower. It is strictly different.”
“So. Is that all for your reason? Mectera and the Sword Master were not to your liking? So you went to Bahab, but that place was not to your liking either?”
“Yes. Both Mectera’s sword and Bahab, which they call comrades, were very different from what I had thought. It should never have been that way, but it was truly different.”
“Comrades?”
“And I learned that the Unsetting Sun was honoring the Sword Master I was pursuing. So I left Bahab.”
“No, for fuck’s sake. That damn Sword Master. What kind of cult leader is the Sword Master there that you keep saying Sword Master, Sword Master.”
Frustrated, Simurtr roughly scratched his head. Annoyance was rising. It seemed like he was just spouting whatever came to mind because he wanted to live…
“Pardon me for speaking… and for our situation… but I would appreciate it if you refrained from using vulgar expressions about that person.”
It was at that moment that the woman, who had been quietly watching the situation, opened her mouth.
“The Sword Master we speak of is Exa. That person.”
“What?”
“Exa Baperr. The Unsetting Sun follows that person.”
“…Pass.”
Simurtr unconsciously cut the shackles of the two.