Chapter 165. Recruitment (5)
When I opened my eyes, I saw the dark night sky.
A clear surface of water spread out wide beneath my feet, and stars shone as if they would pour down from the jet-black firmament.
“……”
Facing the infinite space that had now become so familiar, Enoch slowly walked toward the front.
Beneath the soles of his shoes, white circular ripples spread out in all directions without a sound.
‘Come to think of it, it's been a while.’
It probably wasn't just Enoch's feeling that it had been a while since he entered the World of Impermanence.
He had solved the incident in the outsourcing district, and had been consecutively assigned the same task as a family mission.
Especially for a while, he had been focusing on practicing the ‘linking of sword forms’ that he had opened his eyes to last time.
Anyway, with this, the preparations would be over.
What he was about to do here was the final preparation.
As long as he didn't know exactly what kind of battle would unfold with the magical beasts in the 19th outsourcing district, he had to have one more card up his sleeve.
Needless to say, if he could inherit one more sword form, it would definitely be useful.
Just as Enoch was about to stop walking,
At the same time, a gentle female voice echoed from the front.
“As the succession progresses, it seems I too am able to speak directly like this.”
A slender and gentle tone of voice, as if soothing a child. A voice with a clear resonance, like the ringing of a bell.
But the tone of voice was calm and composed, like a cold lake, and contained a straight and upright quality.
There was no need to question whose voice it was. Because he had heard it once before.
A low, sunken answer flowed from Enoch's lips as he slowly lifted his gaze.
“……Sword Saint of the Waves.”
A slender female knight with a long blue cloak draped over her elegant armor that emitted a silvery glow.
Her aqua-blue hair flowed outside the visor of her helmet, which slightly covered her eyes, creating a mysterious atmosphere.
“It's been a while. Our feelings are probably similar, right?”
The female knight tilted her head slightly and asked.
“Have you been well? My sword's successor.”
Her appearance was definitely clearer than during the last succession.
Her face, still hidden by the helmet, was not revealed, but at least her overall appearance was clear.
Enoch slowly opened his mouth and asked a question.
“I didn't know we could talk to each other now.”
“It's the same for me, but this is the limit.”
She looked down at her downward-thrust sword for a moment and added quietly.
“According to the rules of this Inner World, a conversation would be possible if I knew more about myself, but.”
“……”
“For now, much is not yet permitted.”
Enoch nodded. As expected.
In the end, there was only one thing to do now.
He looked at her and stretched his hand upwards without a word.
Immediately, the two-handed longsword held by the female knight materialized from the sky and fell, and Enoch caught it.
Without a word, he held the sword with both hands and thrust it into the ground.
When he looked up, the Sword Saint of the Waves was also holding her sword and looking at him without moving.
“……There is one thing I wish to convey.”
She looked at him and added.
“Successor of the sword, I have high expectations for you, who inherits and unfolds my sword, and your path.”
“……”
“Even if it is not an easy path, please do your best.”
It was a gentle tone of voice. She might have a much more compassionate and gentle personality than the last Sword Saint of the Empire.
“I didn't expect to be encouraged by a Sword Saint.”
“Sometimes, something like this might not be so bad.”
The Sword Saint of the Waves slowly lifted her sword in front of her eyes and added calmly.
“……Then.”
The blue-haired female knight then held her sword upright in front of her eyes and gracefully paid her respects.
Enoch also understood.
From this moment on, no more conversation was needed.
She swung her longsword once in the air and lowered her stance. A different counter-attack stance, with the sword extended long behind her back.
Enoch also slowly raised his sword.
The stance was different, and the sword form to be learned would also be different. But in the end, the framework of this fight was always the same as usual.
To understand the swordsmanship that contained someone's will.
To understand the life that the Sword Saint before him had lived.
Wheeeeeeeing!!
In an instant, a dark blue light erupted from the tip of the sword blade that Enoch gripped, and with a humming sound, it charged forward, dragging a long tail.
The Sword Saint of the Waves also projected a dazzling sky-blue light onto her sword and moved it calmly.
The moment the distance between the two sides was completely closed.
The next moment, two identical longswords rushed toward each other, drawing thoroughly calculated sword paths.
The sword blades flashed as they tore through the air, and the trajectories of the rotating swords swept around the two swordsmen in a dizzying manner.
The art of longsword fighting displayed by the two swordsmen who had reached the pinnacle soon led the battle to a sophisticated sword fight of wits.
Like chess pieces, the sword strikes unleashed by the two knights moved to take each other's lives, thoroughly leading the battle to the endgame.
But this time, the aspect was different from the last.
“……?”
When the swords clashed and rubbed against each other dozens of times, he felt as if the Sword Saint had thrown a puzzled look at him from under her helmet.
It was a natural thing.
Because Enoch was no longer putting force into his sword.
It was because he had realized something from the past few successions and the battle with the Butcher in the outsourcing district.
And that realization came closer to certainty every time their swords crossed and intertwined in sophisticated sword paths.
‘As I thought. The power is weak.’
It was the moment when the true nature of the strange attack that the Sword Saint of the Waves had shown so far became clear.
In the first place, looking back, there were signs from the beginning.
The basics of swordsmanship.
In other words, the counterpart to the ‘Sense of Mana’ that he had learned from the last Sword Saint of the Empire was ‘Reverse Flow (逆流)’.
It was a one-shot reversal counter technique that could receive and deflect a powerful opponent's attack and create an opening.
After that, what he inherited was Lethal Strike (殺擊). A variant of a striking technique using a sword.
No matter how hard the armor the enemy wore, it was a powerful sword form that could nullify it and force the impact through.
And it was in the way such a sword form was constructed that Enoch was able to find a clue.
Kaaaaang!!
In an instant, with a scream of steel that tore his eardrums, both Enoch and the Sword Saint fell back at the same time.
‘Shall I check?’
He had to prove a hypothesis that was close to certainty.
Enoch stared at the female knight in front of him, lowered his stance, and slowly aimed his sword.
A knight (騎士) who wields a sword, and a chess player (棋士) who thoroughly attacks the opponent move by move.
If the Sword Saint was like that, then Enoch also had to be.
As a user of the same two-handed longsword, he had to grasp the moves of the opponent's sword, read the intention and the inherent meaning, and make it his own.
Enoch's eyes shone calmly.
As a successor of the sword, no, as a swordsman who wields a sword, there had been a sense of unease that he had been feeling for some time.
‘The power is too weak.’
He could be sure.
This was not what the Sword Saint of the Waves intended, but rather that the power she possessed was too weak from the start.
So much so that she could only unleash a powerful sword strike if she ‘must use the opponent's power’.
In other words, her swordsmanship was a sword that aimed for a counter, and at the same time, a sword that ‘could only aim for a counter’.
Because her own power was so weak, she had no choice but to use the opponent's power against them.
Once again, the Sword Saint of the Waves kicked off the ground and rushed forward.
Enoch calmly swung his sword against it.
The two swords that swung at each other let out a sharp sound, crossed in an X-shape, and stopped.
A faint smile spread on Enoch's lips.
When he didn't put force into it, the Sword Saint's sword did not move.
It was a natural result, as she wielded a sword that returned the damage the stronger the sword strike was.
Enoch quietly looked down at the female knight over their interlocked swords and opened his mouth calmly.
“I think I'm starting to understand now.”
He didn't know what kind of effect it would have on the Inner World if he spoke his certainty out loud like this.
But now, Enoch also knew.
The essence of the succession that this Inner World possessed was, in the end, to use the life of the person who used this sword.
It was a process of understanding the noble way of life that had been achieved with the sword and making it one's own.
And just as he thought.
The next moment, the view of their crossed swords suddenly reversed. The silhouette of the Sword Saint disappeared at some point, and the entire background rotated and changed.
The moment he realized that he had succeeded in properly understanding the sword wielded by the Sword Saint of the Waves.
Enoch slowly lowered his sword and looked around.
The Sword Saint of the Waves.
The past of another person who had reached the pinnacle of the sword, whose real name he did not yet know.
Enoch was now peeking into her memories.
***
The scenery that had changed under his eyelids was a magnificent view.
A beautiful nature with green mountains and streams spread out, and on top of it, the familiar gray fortress city stood tall.
A huge lake spread around, and a beautiful fortress city that surrounded the entire island, which floated alone and aloof on the surface of the water, stood tall.
“……Rhodes?”
Under the blue firmament where white clouds flowed.
The ruin where he had obtained the sword used by the Sword Saint of the Waves last time. Enoch was standing in the middle of that place.
He lifted his head for a moment and looked around.
A place densely packed with fortress walls lined with linear spires that rose majestically as if to pierce the sky, and huge structures.
It was a fortress city that would have been overwhelming just by looking at it, had he not been accustomed to the modern, grand fortress of Elsyde that boasted of its transcendent majesty.
“……”
He could tell at a glance because people were coming and going around the silently standing Enoch.
The place he was stepping on was a memory of the past.
An old memory of a past era, far removed from the present, was unfolding before his eyes. The clothes of the people passing by were completely different.
Medieval-style, wide-sleeved ceremonial robes adorned with colorful silk and gold and silver patterns fluttered in the wind.
It was quite far from the modern Magic Empire's attire, which often reminded one of stylish urban techwear.
It seemed certain how prosperous Rhodes had once been, and just how much wealth this place, which was just a fortress city, had possessed.
He had never thought he would see the view of Rhodes in detail like this, before it was destroyed after a long time.
Enoch suddenly realized that he was standing in front of a luxurious-looking mansion.
In front of it stood a slender girl with blue hair cascading down her back.
Realizing who the young girl in the fluttering dress was, Enoch held his breath without realizing it.
‘The Sword Saint……?’
It seemed to be a memory of her childhood days, before she became the Sword Saint, even before she became a knight.
He wasn't surprised to see the Sword Saint's memory.
Because he had already experienced it with the last Sword Saint of the Empire, so this was the second time he was seeing the Sword Saint's childhood memories in the Inner World.
But seeing the memories of the past clearly from the beginning, instead of inheriting them from fragmented memories, was different from the time with the Emperor's Supreme Sword.
Moreover, to be able to peek into her memories first, even though he hadn't even properly figured out the sword form he was supposed to learn this time.
How did this happen?
First, Enoch shook his head to shake off his thoughts.
Nothing was certain yet. Perhaps he was seeing the most intense time in the Sword Saint of the Waves' childhood memories.
Just then, from somewhere in the vast fortress city, a single blast of a horn announcing a triumphal return echoed high.
And beyond that.
Knights clad in silver armor, with long two-handed longswords at their waists, marched silently.
Even Enoch couldn't help but be surprised by the scene.
Behind the knights who marched with their splendid blue cloaks fluttering, hundreds, thousands of people of the fortress city were lined up and bowing their heads in turn.
Armor that shone brilliantly in the sunlight. Deep blue silk cloaks fluttered and passed between the people.
Those lined up on the surrounding streets paid their respects to the knights with a calm gaze, one by one, without a word.
But from the side of the young girl with aqua-blue hair, someone's voice was heard.
“My lady! My lady, look over there!”
“Yes, nanny. I'm looking.”
The woman called nanny gently hugged the girl from behind and exclaimed in a slightly flushed voice.
“The guardian knights of Rhodes have won again in this battle!”
“So I've heard.”
The nanny, who looked at the still calm girl for a moment, smiled warmly and hugged her tightly.
“Ufufu, my lady is the daughter of a proud nobleman of this Rhodes! You can be a little happier about the knights' achievements.”
“I am happy enough. However.”
The girl with aqua-blue hair added quietly.
“It seems like they are from a completely different world from me.”
“There you go again! My lady has her duties, and the guardian knights have their duties as knights of Rhodes.”
The nanny busily tidied the girl's dress and arranged her hair.
“Now, they will come to greet you soon in place of your absent father. Pull yourself together!”
“This is the first time I'm receiving a triumphal greeting from the guardian knights.”
The girl clasped her slender hands in front of her chest.
“I'm nervous. I wonder if I can greet them well.”
“Of course! Of course you can!”
The nanny said affectionately as she wrapped her arms around the girl's shoulders.
“Since my lady's debut in high society is not far off, you will surely be able to greet them well according to the etiquette you have been taught.”
“Yes. I hope so……”
Just then, a shadow fell in front of her.
The knights had already arrived.
Among them, a man who was walking slowly on horseback at the front took off his blood-stained silver helmet.
Untainted blond hair flowed down.
The large man knelt before the Sword Saint, who was just a small girl at the time, and bowed his head.
“A pilgrim of the Goddess, and a guardian knight of Rhodes. I have come here to pay my respects.”
A tall and handsome man. But his eyes were those of a calm and composed swordsman.
He lifted his head and recited in a low voice.
“The guardian knights of Rhodes have won.”
And then, he uttered a single phrase that would cause Enoch's thoughts to stop in their tracks.
“……Against the soldiers of the Victoria royal family.”