Chapter 24: Master (2)
“Why are you trying to take the precious belongings of the deceased…?”
Sierra’s shy and pure voice echoes in my head.
Let’s stay calm for now. Even if I can see her, Sierra may not be aware of my presence.
“Alright… let’s go.”
I mutter to myself as if telling Sierra to listen to me and try to pass by her, standing directly in front of me.
After all, she’s just a soul, so I thought it would be impossible to make contact with her.
However, the moment I try to pass through Sierra’s body…
Thunk.
My head, which I was trying to pass through Sierra, hits her chest. She was floating in the air, so my face and her chest were at the same height.
I was so taken aback that I couldn’t even move my head, which was buried in her chest.
“…”
“…”
The silence continues.
I made contact. I mean, I was able to make contact with a ghost.
Something went terribly wrong.
I’ve never hugged a woman’s chest before, but I could immediately tell that the sensation on my face was no different from that of a living person.
“What are you doing right now…? You’re so disrespectful…!”
Sierra’s trembling voice, covering her chest with both arms, echoes loudly in my head.
“You noticed my presence, so I knew it was only a matter of time…Stop pretending.”
I hear Sierra’s response and finally snap out of it, taking a step back.
‘This situation is getting out of hand.’
I tried to take something that had memories of Sierra in it, without her permission and although I don’t know how, she’s in a state where she can contact me.
Fighting is not an option. Even if I win, there will be problems when I try to make a contract with the seal.
I need to handle the situation calmly. First, I had to find out what Sierra knows.
“It’s really strange…a blind person crossing the boundary of life and death…”
Sierra flew around in the air and looked around me before opening her mouth. Since there was no mention of an object, it seems that she didn’t see what happened in the cave.
“Why is there no answer?… Why did you touch my belongings?”
Sierra, who was wandering around me, wrapped her cheek with a cold touch and spoke.
Why did I touch the belongings of someone who died decades ago?
How did a blind person who can’t even find his way in this dead forest find his way here?
I couldn’t be hostile to her and start my relationship with her as a mere tomb robber.
I have to treat her well from now on.
“…It’s surprising. I wondered if I was just hearing nonsense for a moment…”
“The reality of me is not a fantasy. I certainly exist in this place, in this land.”
Sierra’s confident voice echoed in my head.
I showed her the pendant in my arms and spoke.
“If it’s an item… are you talking about this?”
“Yes. It is my precious item, and the item that binds my soul. Why are you trying to take it away?”
“You must be Sierra.”
“How do you know the name of the person who is nothing more than a distant figure from the past since you’re so young?”
“Even if it’s the past, your reputation was spread by word of mouth. I’ve been looking for you all this time.”
“Looking for me…?”
As the conversation progressed, Sierra’s eyes were filled with nothing but doubt.
It was surprising because such things didn’t happen in the game, but it wasn’t unreasonable to think that it was due to the effect of the blindfold.
Since it’s a legendary-grade item, it wouldn’t be strange if there was something hidden; after all it’s called Blindfold That is Beyond Reason…
But more importantly I know the future and the past along with information about countless people and countless events in this world.
If her spirit were to enter my Spectral sword and continue to speak to me, and I were to converse with her…
Whenever she questioned my actions, it would be incredibly tiresome to explain and make excuses one by one to resolve them.
It would be easier to make her think of me as a mysterious figure that she couldn’t understand for the sake of convenience in the future.
“…Miss Sierra you hid your whereabouts after experiencing numerous defeats from Sword Saint. I knew you went into seclusion for training to create a martial art that could defeat Sword Saint.”
“That… was something I never told anyone…”
Sierra makes a surprised expression but I can’t answer her question. It was easier for her to think as she pleased.
And there were still many shocking things for her.
“However, no matter how much you say it was for training, it’s unrealistic to hide your whereabouts for decades. I vaguely sensed Sierra’s death but I didn’t know I could talk to you like this.”
“I can’t keep up with this conversation… What is your identity, knowing my name and where I was…?”
Sierra, with a bewildered face, asks me but I can only stutter in front of her.
“My name is Zetto. I came here because I wanted to become Miss Sierra’s Disciple’.”
“…Disciple…?”
“If it’s a martial art to defeat Sword Saint or to defeat the best swordsman on the continent…I thought that would be the strongest martial art.”
Of course, when I captured Sierra’s soul in the game, I didn’t acquire such martial arts.
The martial arts she was creating were almost complete, but not completed. However, is there no difference between the game and reality?
It was the same with Emilia.
To cure Emilia, I needed a 5-level acupuncture skill, but because I had memories of the process of curing her, I was able to cure her successfully with only level 3 so I bet on that.
I came here to obtain the strongest martial art that Sierra couldn’t complete, which didn’t even exist in the game.
I had to make her think that this mysterious man who suddenly appeared must be doing this to obtain the strongest martial art.
I had to deceive her.
“You’re a suspicious guy… Then, what about the item that contains my soul…?”
“I’m planning to make a Spectral Sword that contains Miss Sierra soul. To learn the martial arts of Miss Sierra, who has already become a dead person, I need this…”
“Spectral Sword…Yeah, if you’re referring to the one I know it’ll be easier to pass on my sword skills… I’m sure I’ll have a hard time maintaining my form in the pendant as it is now…”
Sierra knew what a Spectral Sword was. Maybe Spectral Swords were more common in the past than they are now…
“But I don’t recall offering to take you as my disciple.”
Sierra crosses her arms as she says this, a sour look on her face and she’s right but I know her story and I know what she wants so I casted the bait.
It was originally meant to be a bargaining chip, but I figured it might as well be a pre-arranged deal now.
“…Ms. Sierra…Don’t you want to see me defeat Sword Saint with your sword skills?”
Defeat…Sword Saint…with my sword skills…?”
Sierra’s eyes narrowed at my meaningful words. She was obsessed with the title of Sword Saint and spent her entire life striving for it but she never achieved it.
After suffering countless defeats at the hands of the Sword Saint, she entered into closed-door training to create a sword technique to defeat him, but her illness worsened and she died before she could complete it.
It’s hard to imagine that she’d turn down this offer so easily now that her spirit can’t even leave this world.
“Of course, the most certain and best way to defeat the Sword Saint would be for Miss Sierra herself to defeat him. But… how can you achieve that since you’ve become a spirit?”
“…”
Sierra’s words suddenly become scarce. She also knows that it has been decades since she died so she must have been angry and frustrated for a long time.
“‘Swordsmanship,’ used when handling a sword, is also a sword technique that honors the soul contained in the sword. I will honor your unfairness, Miss Sierra.”
I approach her and declare my ambition. “I will become your disciple and defeat the Sword Saint with your swordsmanship.”
“My disciple…defeating the Sword Saint with my swordsmanship…”
Sierra slowly ponders my words since there is nothing sweeter to her than this proposal.
“So, is the Sword Saint the same ‘Sword Saint’ that I know of?”
Sierra is asking if the Sword Saint has changed into someone else during the passage of time.
“He is still the same Sword Saint, even though he has aged.”
Soon, Sierra’s eyes change, and she scrutinizes me from every angle.
“I definitely wanted to defeat the Sword Saint. It was truly heartbreaking that I couldn’t defeat him and had to die from illness…”
Sierra looks back on her past with regret. Now everything depends on her. It is a situation where we unexpectedly exchange deals without even making the sword.
‘If things go wrong here, sealing will also be difficult and I will have to give up on Sierra…’
“…What was your name again?”
In the tense moment, Sierra stands in front of me and asks for my name again.
“My name is Zetto.”
“Zetto… I’ll remember that. But, do you have all the rare materials needed for the sword? I know that there are many rare materials needed for the Spectral Sword.”
“I have collected all the materials. All that is left is to entrust the creation to a blacksmith.”
“Hmm… It seems like my first disciple has quite good abilities.”
“First disciple? Are you accepting me?”
I ask Sierra with a joyful voice.
“It is true that you are a suspicious person…and it is also true that I cannot have anyone else come here to solve my problem except for someone like you…”
Sierra quickly makes a calculation. Indeed, if I had not come to her, her death would have been long forgotten.
“I had hoped so. I will accept your offer… if only for the day I can defeat the Sword Saint. You will defeat the Sword Saint for me, and I will defeat the Sword Saint for you…”
With that, Sierra walked over to me and hugged me with a smile on her face. Then she whispered in my ear.
“…I will teach you the Sierra Style Reverse Heaven.”
Her voice, echoing in my head, sounds a little more seductive.
Sierra Style Reverse Heaven was the name of the sword technique she would teach me.
“However…! Unfortunately, the reversal technique has not been completed yet. So you’ll have to complete it with me.”
Sierra says this to me and smiles sweetly.
It was the moment when my ‘fake’ teacher became a ‘real’ teacher.
“By the way… my student, do you know how to handle a sword…?”
Soon, Sierra, with a serious expression, asked me a question as she watched the bandage on my eyes closely.
I laughed out loud, thinking that this question was too late.