Chapter 77 : Chapter 77

Chapter 77: Communication (3)

"Another Sword Saint's sword," he thought. At the rather simple answer, Enoch tilted his head.

"Swords of other Sword Saints?"

"As you have inherited my sword so far, haven't you adapted much more to this Inner World?"

I opened my eyes a little wider. It wasn't wrong. Looking back, I remembered that the more I inherited the Emperor's Supreme Sword, the clearer his form became in the Inner World. If that was adaptation, then it was adaptation.

"...That's right."

"That is. The more you continue to obtain the swords of Sword Saints, including me, the more it holds true that you will be able to adapt to this Inner World. In other words, to your own self."

"So, are you saying I should inherit from other Sword Saints as well?"

"Yes. From now on, inheriting the swords of other Sword Saints as well, rather than just inheriting my remaining memories, will be more efficient for adapting to the Inner World."

I nodded. The Emperor's Supreme Sword's words weren't wrong. Moreover, obtaining the swords of other Sword Saints was already one of the 'spec up' plans I had been eyeing for a long time. There was no reason to refuse his suggestion.

Then, as I suddenly recalled the current situation, I found it somewhat amusing and let out a short, hollow laugh internally. After first entering the Inner World and being slashed by the Emperor's Supreme Sword, I never thought I'd be able to converse with him face-to-face like this, up until this moment. Furthermore, he told me to go get the next Sword Saint's sword. It truly felt like I was playing another collecting gacha game. Of course, this was the Inner World, and it was quite different from a game, being reality.

Having thought that far, I responded lightly.

"...Okay. I should. Then, for now, I'll move with obtaining the next Sword Saint's sword as my top priority."

"A wise choice." The Sword Saint nodded once.

"If you obtain the swords of other Sword Saints like that, and furthermore, inherit and learn more about me than you do now... then we will be able to converse more leisurely."

I tilted my head slightly and asked.

"Inherit more from here? I thought I had already seen quite a few important memories."

"Unfortunately, you still have a long way to go." He raised his sword forward, showing it.

"As I said. Swordsmanship is everything to a Sword Saint. Inheriting the past memories I experienced is, in turn, inheriting my Swordsmanship. But you..."

The Sword Saint looked at me and said in a low voice.

"You still don't even know my name."

"......"

For a moment, a brief shock ran through me. It was exactly as the Sword Saint said. I definitely thought I had seen a lot from his life so far. But did I really not even know the Sword Saint's name?

It was only natural, of course. 'Emperor's Supreme Sword' as an epithet couldn't possibly have been his real name during his lifetime. What it meant was clear. I hadn't fully inherited the Sword Saint's memories yet. That is, the Swordsmanship I had to inherit from him also remained, just as much as the memories I hadn't inherited.

Having thought that far, I looked ahead.

"But now that we can talk like this, couldn't you just tell me everything? You can say things like your name, right?"

"It's impossible." The Sword Saint said briefly, and then added.

"More precisely, I should say it's meaningless. Even if I were to speak the facts you don't know out loud myself, it wouldn't be inheritance in the true sense."

I conceded and slowly nodded my head. Inheriting a sword involved going through a process of understanding its true meaning, along with its techniques. So, even if the Sword Saint were to explain something verbally in this World of Impermanence, the effect on inheritance, that is, 'spec up', would practically be nonexistent.

Above all. I could be certain because I had experienced it myself. Only after experiencing the Sword Saint's past and understanding the intense will he held at the time was I able to fully use the Swordsmanship.

The Sword Saint glanced up at the sky.

"......And it seems that in this World of Impermanence, it's fundamentally forbidden to speak of stories you haven't inherited in the first place."

"It's forbidden to speak of stories?" That was an unexpected sound.

I tilted my head. Was there some kind of rule in this World of Impermanence too? Although it was just a guess, perhaps since this was fundamentally a world of my own inner images, I couldn't hear things I didn't already know. Even if it wasn't the exact answer, it would be more convenient to understand it that way for now.

Having judged based half on intuition, I slowly raised my head and looked at the Sword Saint. It seemed that time had already ended. The Sword Saint was gradually becoming blurry.

There was still a lot I wanted to ask. Seeing the Sword Saint gradually disappearing before my eyes left a slightly bitter taste in my mouth. I would have to postpone learning more details for later. I let out a small breath and spoke.

"......What. You're more useless than I thought."

The Sword Saint, gradually becoming a transparent silhouette and disappearing, responded as if joking, with a hint of a smile.

"Aren't you speaking too harshly to this old man? I am also the master who passed on Swordsmanship to you."

"What kind of master in the world slaughters his disciple so mercilessly?"

"Haha. You should blame your Inner World for that. Isn't this a place residing within your own self?"

"That's..." For a moment, I was speechless. The Sword Saint slowly raised his hand and pointed toward me.

"It's a guess, but perhaps you are unconsciously projecting the method by which you can acquire Swordsmanship most quickly into this Inner World."

The Sword Saint said calmly.

"Perhaps you, the owner of this world, have known it too well since the past. The fact that growth, after all, cannot be achieved without pain."

He smiled faintly and added.

"...Of course, thanks to this world that you hold in your heart, I, a flame that faded in the past, am able to talk to you like this now."

By the time the Emperor's Supreme Sword finished speaking. His silhouette, like the shadow of the night greeting dawn, quietly scattered. The Sword Saint was slowly turning into particles of light and disappearing like that.

The old swordsman from the past said a short farewell.

"See you again soon, Enoch."

Above the endlessly unfolding clear World of Impermanence, the Emperor's Supreme Sword said with a detached smile.

"I will continue to watch you from here. I hope we can chat again soon."

I was about to thoughtlessly nod my head at those words, but then I paused, noticing something in that moment.

"......Watch me? Me?"

I almost naturally glossed over it in the conversation just now, but I noticed the odd part of what the Sword Saint said a moment later and asked again.

"Wait, that. Not just the Inner World, but reality too...?"

However, the Sword Saint did not answer. He simply added, along with a smile containing a faint warmth.

"I will continue to look forward to your performance. Successor of the sword."

He slowly disappeared into the air, leaving a lingering impression like that. His voice also slowly faded. I even forgot the fact that I hadn't heard the answer to what I had just asked, and for a moment, I gazed at the old swordsman's figure, which was almost mystical.

"......"

Although I was a little disappointed just now, seeing him like that, was he perhaps a Sword Saint after all? Even if he was unexpectedly talkative. Looking at him this way, it seemed his 'force' hadn't gone anywhere. But just as the Sword Saint was disappearing...

"Ah! That's right! I forgot!!" He suddenly waved his arms and shouted urgently.

"Something just occurred to me!"

"What?" I shouted back, slightly flustered.

"Come to think of it, I heard about the Sword Saints who lived in the 'era before the Magic Empire was established' during my lifetime!"

"What, you're telling me that now ?"

"Everyone gets like this when they get old!"

Just as the thought seriously crossed my mind whether the Sword Saint had gone senile or something, the Sword Saint, just before his silhouette disappeared, urgently shouted.

"Anyway, it was said that the 'ruin' of a Sword Saint who lived in an era much further in the past than mine remained!"

He looked at me and shouted.

"Ruin Site 「Rhodes」, go there and...!"

But his words were cut off there. The Sword Saint had already completely disappeared.

I watched that, and muttered with a slightly blank expression.

"...Did he really go senile?"

Of all things, he forgot something that important, and then suddenly remembered it at the last minute and shouted it out. I could only think that he was really something else.

-Swoosh

The World of Impermanence was, at some point, disappearing.

***

After returning to reality and opening my eyes, how many minutes had passed?

But I still couldn't snap out of the shock from just moments ago, my eyes glazed over. That kind of person, a Sword Saint?

The truly shocking first encounter with the Sword Saint's true nature. While trying to shake it out of my head, I slowly lay down and gathered my thoughts.

Anyway, there was something else I needed to think about immediately. Regardless of whether the Sword Saint was a 'too much talker' or did 'rap like a machine gun', it didn't matter. Because I had obtained the most important information.

'First, the location of the sword the Sword Saint mentioned earlier.' He said it was Rhodes, right? At that word, I could already feel my heart pounding. A new Sword Saint's sword...

There was nothing more to argue about. It was clearly time for a full-fledged main character 'spec up'. The word 'spec up', which stimulated the peripheral nerves of an 'old-timer' focused on performance above all else, shimmered before my eyes.

I had to move immediately from now on. The future point in the original story. To survive the many huge whirlpools that would come then, I had to become several times stronger than I was now. Because only then would I be able to survive in the future.

Furthermore. I knew a lot about Rhodes. 「Rhodes」 was a stage that appeared in the original story as well. It was a place I had been to many times for that reason.

If that was the case, there was nothing to hold me back. I slowly got up from my seat and opened my mouth.

"Sirocco."

Twitch. She was wriggling on the bed she had seized earlier, wrapped up like a white caterpillar in the blanket, then perked up the ears on her head and slowly turned to look this way.

"Why?"

"Follow me."

"Huh? What is it?"

"There's something we need to do."

"Okay! But that doesn't matter..." Sirocco stared at me intently and then abruptly asked.

"Hmm, what's this? You have a really interesting look on your face, don't you?"

"My face?" At those words, I briefly touched the corner of my mouth with one hand as if covering it slightly. And only then did I realize that I was smiling without knowing it.

I replied briefly.

"From now on, it feels like it's going to get seriously interesting."

Enoch's death mentioned in the Official History. The human experimentation of Tantalus connected to it had been stopped. However, the goal Enoch had set remained unchanged.

While thoroughly preparing for what would happen in the original story. I had to survive as a Sword Genius in the society of the Magic Empire, where mages ran rampant. That's why I needed the Sword Saint's sword even more. The Swordsmanship that would allow me to become stronger. The amount of information I could obtain from inheritance would also increase greatly.

I strode towards the room door.

Now it was time to ask the next step of questions. A single question to which all these reasons converged into a clear conclusion.

I opened the door and repeated to myself.

─Which Sword Saint would I draw this time?