Sword Devouring Swordmaster

Translator: AkazaTL

Pr/Ed: Sol IX

***

Chapter 167 – The Southern Continent (1)

“Thank goodness, truly.”

Elizabeth looked satisfied. In truth, the Witches had not expected much from this commission. They had poured countless efforts into finding 「Thunder」, yet hadn’t even found a trace of it. Even when they found a descendant of the Karavan family, they hadn’t placed great hopes on him. Perhaps, if it were a Karavan of the golden age—but not the current line, not the faded Steel Blood.

No longer one of the Five Great Houses. Forgotten by history. What could they expect from such remnants?

Expectation often led only to greater disappointment. And when Elizabeth first examined the descendant of Karavan, he was nothing like his ancestors—lacking their brilliance, their sharpness, their aura of command. To the Witches, Arhan was an unripe boy. Nothing more, nothing less.

‘A Karavan is still a Karavan, I suppose.’

But the results spoke for themselves. Arhan had grown into the name he bore, and the Witches had reclaimed 「Thunder」. Elizabeth was deeply pleased to have recovered their precious relic. Even her youngest sister, Audrey, seemed to be growing splendidly—finding her own light. And yet—

“Lord.”

Something kept tugging at her thoughts.

“I have a question. The words High Elf Nadin spoke in the Great Forest—they were terribly rude. But rudeness aside… from what I know, that old elf isn’t one to slander the Nine Goddesses and the Seven Lords with lies. So I must ask—were his words false?”

High Elf Nadin. His words in the Great Forest.

“Or were they true?”

Elizabeth lifted her sorrowful eyes toward the heavens.

“If it pains you to speak, I’ll not ask further. But I can’t help wondering… perhaps there’s something Heaven is hiding from us. As your closest ones, we wish to know all that you are. It hurts to hear from others what we, your wives, have never been told. We want to understand both your greatness and your wounds. For we are your brides.”

Her voice trembled with sincerity. And slowly, the sky above her began to part.

「……What the old elf said was true.」

“Ah.”

「Forgive me, my Elizabeth.」

The god she served—apologizing.

Elizabeth shook her head.

“No, my Lord. Do not apologize. You are the Highest. Do not speak as though you owe a wretch like me anything—it tears my heart apart.”

「……」

“But… could you tell me a little, at least?”

Her question was careful, reverent. Silence followed. For a long time, she simply stood there beneath the quiet sky, unmoving as if she had turned to stone. And then, the voice of the divine returned.

「Long ago, Steel once reached the Heavens.」

The voice of the Great Lord.

「And that day, the Seven Lords and the Nine Goddesses lost their omnipotence.」

The absolute voice— was trembling.

***

The war between the Machine Empire and the Iron Kingdom had lasted far longer than anyone on the continent expected.

The Machine Empire of Lafrien had already occupied most of the Iron Kingdom’s outer territories—and had done so with almost no losses. It was practically a bloodless conquest. Yet the Machine Empire made no arrogant boasts of overwhelming power or total conquest.

For the truth was simple—those outer territories were lands the Iron Kingdom had long forsaken. Having waged many wars, the Iron Kingdom had always followed a particular strategy: rather than stretch their resources thin to build anti-magic walls across their vast domain, they designated the outer fringes as expendable land.

There were two reasons.

First—resources. The Iron Kingdom lacked the materials to fortify its entire expanse. It was wasteful to pour resources into regions with little value. The Iron Kingdom of Cherville was a centralized nation, its power concentrated in great cities like the capital, Cherville the Blade City. Its technology, population, armies—all centered in the heartland. Instead of scattering its might, the kingdom chose to defend what was worth defending.

Second—their ideology. Founded on the doctrine that only the strong survive, the Iron Kingdom saw no reason to protect the weak—old men and farmers scraping by on the fringes. Even the citizens accepted this harsh logic. In this land, power was everything.

The Machine Empire knew all this. They knew the lands they had seized were burdens more than prizes, and that the Iron Kingdom’s true might remained untouched. Yet it was enough.

For the Machine Empire had never intended to conquer the Iron Kingdom outright. Their war was a calculated move—to secure influence and prepare for the age to come. Surrounding the Iron Kingdom’s heartlands was enough.

Even a long stalemate meant victory for Lafrien.

They had already cut off most of the Iron Kingdom’s sea routes. In the past, the kingdom would have simply locked its gates and endured—but not now. Not when it held the Six Free Cities as a colony. Prolonged conflict would choke off the profits from that colony, and if the war dragged on, the Iron Kingdom risked losing it entirely.

If, while the Iron Kingdom was preoccupied defending itself, another power invaded the Six Free Cities—or if the Machine Empire allied with a third nation to seize it—or if the Sky Empire sent an army under the pretext of “justice” to liberate the colony— or if the Six Free Cities itself rose in rebellion—any of these could spell disaster.

The people of the Six Free Cities were known for their fierce independence. They had once overthrown the Grid Republic in revolution. The flames of that revolution, and the legend of the shadowy Brotherhood that ended the Republic’s era, were etched into history.

From the moment the Iron Kingdom claimed the Six Free Cities, it should have fortified its ports. But Ian Cherville—the patricidal Iron Prince who became the new king—had not. He clung to the same old ways.

The Machine Empire concluded that, genius though he was rumored to be, Ian Cherville was still an immature ruler. Understandable, perhaps—after all, he had just achieved his greatest feat by conquering the Six Free Cities. Pride breeds blindness. And after killing his own father to take the throne, he must have been too busy consolidating power to notice the cracks forming beneath him.

Thus, the Machine Empire encircled the Iron Kingdom and waited. Its Masters anticipated negotiations soon and had no plans for further battle—they merely debated what concessions they might extract.

By all rational accounts, the Masters’ approach was sound. The Iron Kingdom had no reason to escalate the war. Ian Cherville had enough on his hands—governing his realm and solidifying his hold on the colony.

Any sensible ruler would swallow his pride and negotiate. Even the proposed terms were not entirely one-sided. If the talks succeeded, Lafrien was prepared to install warp gates and even station magical battalions in the Six Free Cities to aid its governance.

After all, the Six Free Cities were far too large for one nation to digest alone. Better to share such a feast among neighbors.

The Machine Empire’s Masters—raised on reason and efficiency—believed their analysis flawless. But they had overlooked one thing.

The Iron Prince, Ian Cherville, might not be a rational man. Intelligence does not guarantee reason. The Masters, who had known only long peace, had forgotten: war itself is irrational. And Ian Cherville—the man who dreamed of a final, world-ending war—could never be called rational.

***

“Everyone expects the Machine Empire and the Iron Kingdom to end up carving up the Six Free Cities between them. They may call themselves eternal enemies, but the powerful always find ways to cooperate. It’s the Six Free Cities that will suffer. Unless the House of Rhapsody returns, those cities may never regain their freedom.”

A large ship sailed under the black flag of the Black Archipelago. Zeppelin Gold’s vessel was cruising smoothly.

“No one expects the war to escalate?” I asked.

“There’s no reason for it to,” Zeppelin replied, flicking a gold coin into the air. “All wars are, in the end, struggles for gain. The Machine Empire is withering already—war is the least efficient business there is. It devours everything, even the most precious resource: people. If this turns into full-scale war, the Empire will collapse. The Iron Kingdom’s no better. If they overcommit and a revolution erupts in the Six Free Cities, or some other power raids their borders, they’ll lose their chance at dominance. And Ian Cherville will be branded a fool. Losing the Six Free Cities after conquering it? That’s idiocy.”

I watched him play with the coin, then murmured,

“That’s strange.”

“What is?”

“Why does everyone assume Ian Cherville is rational? Zeppelin, the king of the Iron Kingdom, is not a rational man. He’s closer to a monster. I’ve seen him.”

Yes— the Ian Cherville I knew was no mere man.

“Ian Cherville doesn’t rule from behind a desk, making calculated plans for the future. He’s a narcissist who sees himself as divine—a cunning sadist, a madman—and he commands the most powerful Swordmaster on the continent.”

“……”

“Zeppelin, if you ever get the chance to invest, do it in something that profits if this war doesn’t end quietly. I don’t know much about money or trade—but I do know Ian Cherville.”

“Heh.”

Zeppelin Gold grinned, his single golden earring gleaming in the sunlight.

“Then I’ll take your word for it, Lord Arhan. Betting on the side no one else dares—that’s the thrill of it! We in the House of Gold call such wagers ‘reverse bets.’ My favorite kind of investment.”

“You won’t regret it.”

“If I profit from it, I’ll invest heavily in your domain! Perhaps even buy you a war airship—one of the few left in the Sky Empire! Hahaha!”

A war airship, huh. I smiled faintly and etched his promise into memory.

‘He’d better not forget.’

I stared at Zeppelin in mock suspicion until he scratched his head sheepishly.

“Ah! Listen to me rambling about nothing of value again. I didn’t come here to discuss the Empire and the Kingdom. My apologies—numbers make me lose my sense of focus sometimes.”

“You had something else to tell me?”

“Yes. I was going to brief you on the Southern Continent.”

Zeppelin Gold smiled broadly.

“You’ll soon become a hero there. You should know the land first, shouldn’t you?”

With the blazing sun behind him and the sea stretching endlessly to the horizon, Zeppelin spread his arms like a bard on stage, a glass of crimson wine in hand and a mischievous gleam in his eye.

I almost laughed— when suddenly—Thump.

My heart pounded, and a tingling sensation shot through the back of my neck.

I whipped my head toward the horizon.

“Hm? What’s wrong?”

“...Nothing. I just felt something.”

A trick of the mind? But before I could dismiss it, my master’s voice echoed within me.

「Your senses have grown sharp, I see.」

“……”

「It is no illusion.」

Then came the familiar words.

「A new sword calls to you, young descendant.」

***

「The Steel Blood hungers.」

「Ingest a new sword.」

.

.

.

「The completion of Steel draws near.」

「Temper your soul.」