Sword Pilgrim

“What…!”

Crackackackackack!

A chain of blue lightning struck in all directions as if a tree were spreading its roots.

The ground was cleaved through like soft butter, stones were scattered, and a strong wind blew.

“Ahhhhhhhh!”

Rebecca, who was standing at the centre of it all, naturally couldn’t be unharmed.

She was struck full on by the lightning.

Steam rose from her body. As she stood there with her mouth open and her face blankly staring up at the sky, it was safe to say that death was closing in on her.

But –

Twitch.

Rebecca’s eyes regained their focus.

She was still alive.

“Ugh.”

Hurk.

Rebecca, coughing up clots of blood, tightly gripped her mace.

Her bloodshot eyes now looked even scarier.

But Callius merely snorted with a calm face.

“Again.”

Vivi unleashed his lightning.

His speed as he rushed in leaving a blue trail behind was like a lightning bolt.

But Rebecca’s mace didn’t fall behind either, moving in a zigzag shape to meet him.

Craaaackkkk–!

Whiiiisshhhh!

Rebecca’s mace soared high into the sky.

But the moment victory seemed to have been decided –

Whoooosh!

A great mace and chain appeared in her hands.

She grabbed the chain and threw the mace.

Vivi easily avoided it, but Rebecca’s target wasn’t the thunder wolf dragon.

Her goal was Callius.

“I’ll catch you, even if you have to break a little!”

Completely disregarding the thunder wolf dragon in front of her, she was determined to only aim for the target of her obsession.

It was such a bizarre tenacity that one might even want to applaud it.

‘No, that’s not right.’

Rebecca’s attack on Callius was partly due to her obsession with him, true, but another part was because his relationship with Vivi made her think about Auste.

Auste’s pilgrims wielded strong magical powers.

But thanks to that, they tended to be relatively weaker physically.

As long as the caster was defeated, the demonic beast would be released from control.

So Rebecca’s attack was justified.

Swooosh!

But her mace missed so cleanly as if it was preordained.

“…!”

The man completely escaped its trajectory by moving only half a step. Seeing this, Rebecca pulled the mace back and roared.

“Hold him down!”

The mace wasn’t her only support, after all.

As if they’d been waiting, the knights of the principality rushed in from all around, wielding maces.

All to catch a single man – Callius.

It wasn’t just odd.

This obsession was reaching an unthinkable level of extremity.

Should one say, as expected of Rebecca?

If he’d truly served the whip, Callius would’ve probably gotten caught.

Of course –

If.

As a dozen knights rushed at Callius, and Rebecca’s mace also came flying in –

A sword gleamed in his hand as he shrugged off his robe.

Slaaaash!!

A long line was drawn through the centre of the flying mace. Rebecca’s eyes widened.

Along with Callius’ complete appearance being revealed –

A sharp sword wind erupted in all directions.

“Hah…?”

As the wind blew –

“Ugh!”

“Ghk!”

The mace, as well as the knights, fell down, riven.

Pieces of flesh scattered.

Blood flowed in rivulets.

Schwing!

Callius’ black hair, as he threw the blood off his sword with a swing, fluttered in the wind.

Rebecca’s eyes gleamed at the sight that seemed to shine even against the blazing backdrop of the burning forest.

It was an expression that said she cared now a whit about the safety of her knights.

Only Callius was reflected in her eyes.

‘He’s stronger than I thought. Annoying.’

She hadn’t expected him to be so strong on his own.

Besides –

Chuff.

The appearance of the thunder wolf dragon standing by as if protecting him was simply majestic.

Two tall horns piercing the sky.

Cloud-like fur upon the legs, scales covering the body, lightning flashing in its eyes, and the sword in its mouth –

Zap, zzzappppp.

“They said he uses a magic technique to control it…”

Besides, this was no ordinary magic beast.

It was rarely-seen thunder wolf dragon.

A magical beast that’d inherited the blood of dragons.

Besides, it possessed the power of electricity.

That power was also similarly rare.

A single thunder wolf dragon like this was a match for many knights.

But the man who controlled it, was holding a sword?

She really wanted to find out his secret.

‘Obviously, somebody controlling a beast like that should be a servant of the whip.’

But a sword?

At that moment, she had a thought. A name popped into her head.

‘Carpe, the North.’

A nobleman who protected the northern lands of Carpe.

It was a place mostly unrelated to the principality, hence why she’d taken so long to think of it. But once she saw him holding that sword, she couldn’t help but think of it.

The Supreme Ruler of the North –

‘Jervain.’

That was probably her target’s identity.

“Would you like to come with me?”

Rebecca lowered her mace.

Callius’ head tilted at the sudden remark.

“Are you still spouting bullshit?”

“I’ll give you the principality.”

“How can you say that so confidently?”

“Because I am confident.”

It was indeed an idiotically confident assertion.

But Callius couldn’t even laugh.

‘If it’s her, it’s actually possible.’

But he wasn’t interested.

So what if he gained the principality?

The empire would one day extend its hands there as well.

Besides, he was a pilgrim of the sword.

He had no desire to emigrate to other lands.

He could only serve the sword.

“Princess!”

The noise of the rushing knights made Vivi’s ears perk up.

“You really don’t want it?”

“No.”

“There’s nothing to be done about it, then.”

She gestured towards him with her chin.

The knights roared with valiant cries and ran towards Callius again.

But this time, Vivi didn’t stand still.

Vivi’s control of electricity had improved by several levels after taking the Blue Thunderbolt Sword.

In both power and speed.

Craaaaackkkkkk!

“Ugh!”

“Bastard!!”

Once he started attacking with it, few would be able to stand it.

“A well-raised Vivi is worth a dozen knights.”

Although he was still young, he was still a thunder wolf dragon.

His lack of power could be patched over with the Blue Thunderbolt Sword, and his skill was already amazing.

Vivi had been itching to bite the sword since forever, so Callius had let him, but the results had been spectacular.

Maybe because staying next to Callius, Vivi had been very familiar with swordsmanship –

Not to mention, Vivi was pretty smart.

‘It might be better for Vivi to use it than me.’

In the first place, Callius didn’t lack for swords.

There wasn’t much of a problem if Vivi used one.

Vivi had a high affinity for the Blue Thunderbolt Sword, so it was a good investment.

Callius’ hand, about to put his robe back on, stopped.

“Do I need to do this?”

Do I even need to hide myself like this, lowering my head like a frightened dog?

Would it be the way of a true pilgrimage?

‘My secret won’t be revealed if there’re no witnesses left.’

As long as everybody was killed –

The princess, too.

It wouldn’t be that difficult either.

Whooooooooshhhhh!

A strong wind began to blow around Callius. His killing intent swirled, focusing upon Princess Rebecca and the knights of the principality.

Flinch!!

“Bloodlust!”

The princess trembled in fear.

She could feel her heart pounding.

Such thick and edged was the bloodlust Callius was now exuding.

She hadn’t known it until now, but this bloodlust told her exactly how high his skills were.

“Ugh!”

In that short gap, Vivi cut a knight down.

As the body of the knight fell, split in halves, Vivi again rushed in, his lightning hindering the movements of the rest.

“Retreat! Retreat!”

At the same time –

Callius’ form advanced.

There was a sheathed sword in his hand.

Slide.

As Callius began to pull it out, a thick scent of blood filled the area.

As the sword swung, it seemed to disappear.

‘Fast–!’

Rebecca’s eyes couldn’t track Callius’ sword. She could only see it till the instant he pulled out fully from the sheath.

The moment she realized she’d missed it –

“Princess! Dodge!”

Two knights rushed forward to protect her.

Snnniiikkkkttt!

Their bodies were riven in two, and the princess too was cut, from her belly to her side. Spurt! Blood splashed,

“Ugh!”

“Princess!!”

“Protect the princess!!”

“Take her away right now!!”

Pit-a-pat! Pit-a-pat!

Callius’ eyes calmed down as he looked at the fleeing princess.

He swept the blood off the Predator Sword and inserted it back into the scabbard.

“The cut was shallow.”

Tough luck, but it couldn’t be helped.

He wasn’t going to embark upon some merry chase just to tire himself out.

‘There’s no way to stop both the empire and the principality from getting the news, huh?’

He’d tried to avoid it, but the ducal princess catching up to his position had been frankly unexpected.

‘I doubt I could’ve avoided it in the first place.’

If it were just that imperial freak, it might’ve been different; but since even Princess Rebecca was now obsessed with him, avoiding the spotlight was almost impossible. It’d be a better choice to actively use his own reputation in the future, instead of acting the fool.

Stroke.

Callius caressed Vivi’s face as he snuggled close, and the corners of his lips curved up.

“Well done.”

Callius tossed a chunk of meat taken from subspace, and Vivi opened his mouth to catch it, dropping the sword.

After swallowing the meat in a gulp, he hurriedly bit his sword again. How he worried about the sword being taken away was honestly pretty cute.

“I won’t take it away, so hold on to it. But remember, you can’t ever lose it. And never give it to anyone other than me. Got it?”

Grr!

Callius patted Vivi’s shoulder with satisfaction and turned away.

He’d missed the princess, and there was no point chasing her without any support.

Besides –

[Quest completed.]

The quest had been completed, so there was no need to delay.

Turning his back to the burning forest, Callius disappeared alongside Vivi.

Pop, crackle.

A corner of the forest that’d become a heap of ashes.

The burnt corpse of another victim of the fire giant crumbled into ashes.

Looking at the casualties, the grand princess couldn’t hide her disappointment.

At that moment, her eyes fell upon the sight of Princess Rebecca and her knights trudging closer, and narrowed in anger.

“Where were you…!”

Just as the imperial princess was about to say something –

Thud!

Princess Rebecca collapsed, along with a splash of blood.

The imperial princess hurried closer in surprise.

“Rebecca!”

Grand Princess Lavian supported Rebecca to prevent her from falling down, and quickly checked her wounds.

‘It was a swordsman.’

The wound came from a neat cut that obviously dealt by a sword.

A cut so clean it felt as if the wound would close by itself if you simply stuck the surfaces back together.

This level of skill indicated a quasi-Master.

A skilled swordsman hovering close to the realm of Masters –

“Who was it?”

“The man who stole my heart.”

The grand princess’ face softened slightly at the absurd answer.

Since she was still able to spew nonsense, Rebecca’s condition didn’t seem to as serious as she’d thought.

“You were a fool.”

“I…! Have no regrets.”

Ignoring Rebecca’s craziness, Lavian pressed down her hands on the wound, and frowned.

“Uugghh!”

Frustrated, Lavian poked a bit more, but Rebecca started screaming and foaming at the mouth.

“Is he really that handsome?”

“More than anything else in the world.”

“Do you know who he is?”

“Well…”

Rebecca obviously didn’t want to say.

Tch.

Reluctantly, the grand princess shook her head and pressed hard to staunch the bleeding.

Then she quickly took out a potion bottle from her bosom, and poured it out on the wound.

“That’s precious. You spent it all on me.”

The holy water of Lactus.

It was a precious substance that only a few eminent people of the imperial family could possess.

The grand princess had two, and now she’d spent one for Rebecca’s sake.

Because while the wound itself was clean, the location wasn’t very good.

Even the internal organs had been neatly cut, so not using it might’ve left major aftereffects or disabilities.

“You don’t have to worry about that. I called you here, so I have to bear the burden. Besides, if you became disabled from this wound, I won’t be able to show my face outside.”

This expedition had already failed.

Because she hadn’t known that the fairies’ wrath could be this horrific.

Call it bad luck, or lack of knowledge, but either way it was her fault.

“This is… a big mess.”

“If you understand that, then stop dithering and get up. Yeah, I’ll have to take a look at the face of the man who hurt you like this.”

“Are you going to chase him?”

The face of the ducal princess, who’d been healed of her wounds, changed in an instant.

She apparently hadn’t given up on him yet.

“I won’t allow a complete failure. Some of my troops were annihilated during the general retreat. I know where he’s gone.”

The surviving soldiers had mentioned a mix of pilgrims among the enemies.

Some had been killed by arrows, and many had had their heads broken by a hammer.

Most of the casualties came from spears, but from the overall statistics, there were pilgrims of several Gods.

‘It could be Krasion’s intervention.’

If it was Krasion, there was a good choice to deal with it.

“I’ll have to bring that eunuch in.”

The guy who kept coaxing the elders of the empire, always talking about how he’d soon become a Master.

Lutheon.

It’d been a week since he started accompanying the dragonkin people.

Callius made a sword.

Not by killing a powerhouse.

It’d been a long time since the light of Verse of Grace had last shined on him.

“So you’re really of the sword. But how did you tame Vivi?”

Ignoring Aldo’s question, Callius looked at his sword and said –

“I have to stop by Reikmann.”

“Reikmann? That’s a long way. Why that place in the boonies?”

“There’s someone I need to meet there.”

Verse of Grace had graced him after a long time.

It was on the way anyway, so there was no problem.

‘Can I just hand it over?’

The memory that Verse of Grace embodied this time –

Callius, remembering it, thought that it won’t be difficult.

Although he didn’t particularly like the background in his memory.

“Okay! Anyway, it’s fine. Because this Philo is safe! Hahaha!”

Philo, who was walking at the forefront, turned and bowed slightly to Callius.

Ignoring him, Callius looked at the carcass and put it into subspace.

“In Reikmann there’s the unique Smiling Rose.”

“Smiling Rose?”

Aldo’s head tilted.

“A brothel.”

Callius’ eyes narrowed as he spoke.

Editor’s Notes:

None for this chapter.