Chapter 24

“I believe you know about the five Warriors who were active during the Age of Gods,” Rachel Dune Jeraye explained as they walked down the corridor leading to the Holy Swords’ Cradle.

It was class 997. It needed to be explained again, but Kaisen, who had been in the school for half a year, was transferred to the 997th class and experiencing his last lesson with the class.

“Can you explain it to me?” Kaisen whispered to Isla.

Isla was truly dumbfounded.

Seira pursed her mouth before smiling. “They are the heroes who contributed greatly to helping the Lords of Light seal the abyss.”

“Oh.”

“The holy swords they used are called the ‘true holy swords’.”

Seemingly fed up with Kaisen’s stupid questions, Ophelia helped explain from the side. “There are six in total… Rivelden, Galadiel, Hisgivid, Isaiah, Yoniulan, and Sarillion.”

True Holy Sword Sarillion…

What Tarcio said was true.

“Why are there six even though there were five Warriors?” Kaisen asked.

“Alkaios, the proud Warrior, used two swords: Rivelden and Galadiel.”

“Aha, why is she explaining that?” Of course, all of the chatter was heard by Rachel Dune Jeraye, who had undergone the process of becoming a Fake Warrior and also had augmented hearing. “This is basic knowledge, Kaisen.”

Kaisen straightened his back at the sudden call. Seira only smirked. A lack of common knowledge could be called that guy’s specialty.

“All holy swords are made by imitating the power and shapes of the true holy swords.”

“Hmm, for example, the Aradamantel used by your teacher, Kamila Alter Aradamantel, can be said to be a copy of True Holy Sword Galadiel.”

Before they knew it, Class 997 had boarded the elevator of the Imperial Court. Rachel Dune Jeraye pressed the button labeled ‘B7’.

“For each true holy sword, two great holy swords are made, so there are a total of twelve great holy swords in the world.”

“So does that mean Aradamantel has a twin?” Kaisen asked.

“You’re so smart, I’ll give you a noogie as a reward.” Although Kaisen got his head pounded for talking during class, he felt relieved.

A twin holy sword… In the worst case, even if he didn’t get chosen by Aradamantel, he thought he had another option. Unfortunately, that thought soon died.

Rachel continued. “It was a holy sword named Renod. However, it disappeared along with Vinessa Alter Renod’s disciple, Eshir, during the ‘Black Summer’ and never returned to the Imperial Court.”

‘No way…’ When he thought about it, if he hadn’t saved Kamila back then, wouldn’t Aradamantel have been lost?

Kaisen trembled at the realization.

“Holy swords can be repaired, but new ones cannot be made. Currently, there are eight great holy swords in the world, but four are on a campaign expedition, so the remaining four are in storage at the Imperial Court,” Rachel said.

The elevator stopped in the basement. When the wire mesh opened, the damp, musty, and stale odor of the basement rushed over them. They saw a heavy iron gate ahead with one of the Dune Jeraye on either side.

“Today, you must choose one of these four holy swords. This will decide whether you will be an Alter or a Dune.”

The iron door opened with a loud roar.

‘It looks just like a royal tomb,’ Kaisen thought with a trembling heart. The interior space was semicircular and was dimly lit by the torches lined up along the walls.

“Do you see the spaces in the outer wall? Each holds a great holy sword.”

Kaisen, Isla, and Seira, the disciples of Fake Warriors, immediately turned toward their respective associated holy swords. Their hearts loudly pounded in their chests.

Aradamantel…

Gaumris…

Solang…

Ophelia, who was not a Fake Warrior’s disciple, also turned in the same direction as Kaisen, toward Aradamantel.

“Now then, let’s see who gets Aradamantel,” Ophelia whispered.

Rachel kneeled in front of a podium at the end of the semicircular room. Five thrones stood on a high platform ahead, and the five cardinals sat on the thrones, radiating golden majesty.

“I have guided a total of four cadets: three cadets from the 997th class, and one cadet who skipped a grade from the 998th class.”

「Thank you for your hard work, Rachel Dune Jeraye」

“It was my pleasure, Your Excellency.”

Cardinal Enricht raised his hand. 「Start immediately.」

Before entering the Holy Swords’ Cradle, when they were training dragon spirit resonance with Dialae, Ophelia provoked Kaisen.

“Even though you are Kamila’s disciple, does it hold any meaning? It is not like a teacher-disciple relationship determines the owner of a holy sword.”

Kaisen turned in surprise at the voice from behind him and saw a girl with her white hair in a bun… Ophelia.

Seated at the table across from him with her back turned, Ophelia, who was using her silverware in a classy manner befitting a child of a noble family, continued speaking. “There is no way Aradamantel can be used by someone who can barely awaken Dialae, a mass-produced holy sword.”

“…”

“I’ll tell you now… if you think Aradamantel is going to be yours, you’d better get rid of that certainty.”

Kaisen’s eyebrows twitched as he turned around and leaned against the backrest.

Ophelia stayed turned away from him. “It was the weapon of a great hero and a hero.”

“What’s your point?” Kaisen had asked.

“It’s not a weapon that can be used by men, who frequently turn to violence.”

Kaisen’s eyes narrowed. He was at a loss as to how to react to her words since they praised his mother and teacher while criticizing him. He just said, “We’ll see.”

Ophelia stood up with her tray. Since there were no servants or maids, even noble-born cadets had to handle all of the menial chores on their own. “Okay, we’ll see,” she said as she passed by and looked down at him.

Afterward, a different voice reached Kaisen. “Don’t worry too much. She’s just that kind of person. She’s not very friendly.”

The next girl to speak also had white hair and golden eyes. Tall and slender, the girl had a familiar look of mirth around her eyes and mouth.

As Kaisen sat there, blinking, she spoke again. “I’m Seira. If your memory isn’t as pathetic as it seems, you remember, right?”

“Of course. You defended me back then.”

“I see you remembered. Our hot first night.”

“…?”

“If all men were as smart as you, there might not be any room for women to stand.”

Someone came up and sniffed Kaisen’s neck and shoulder before laughing. “You… smell good.”

Kaisen was so surprised that he almost knocked over his chair as he stood up. As soon as he turned around, he saw a girl who was by far the most unique among the Fake Warrior cadets.

The off-white color of her hair was breathtaking, and her surreal beauty was enough to repulse him. Smaller than the other girls, her white hair and golden eyes stood in contrast to her bronze skin. Surprisingly… dragon horns sprouted from either side of her head.

“I’m Isla. I have a habit of sniffing people I meet for the first time.”

“Why…?”

“As you can tell by the horns, Isla is half dragonkin. She’s not even ten years old yet, but I guess dragons can smell souls.” Seira rested her chin on her clasped hands and laughed.

Isla sat down next to her and spoke again. “That’s right. That’s right! I can even smell the scent hidden in your body! Ta-da-da-da-da. I’m actually over 300 years old!”

‘Half dragon? 300 years old…?’ Kaisen was surprised. Wasn’t a relationship between a dragon and a human considered profane and unprecedented?

“Does she talk like that because she’s half dragon?” Kaisen asked.

“No, it’s just that Isla speaks the Aki language.”

“The Aki language?”

“Kaisen, you don’t know! Kaisen is an idiot! Stupid, stupid, stupid! If you don’t know Aki language, you deserve to die!”

“?”

Aki was the name of a baby dragon that appeared in 『Travel Journal of a Dragon and a Mage』. Tarcio had told him the tale. The way the baby dragon spoke was so cute that it even became popular among girls and was known as ‘Aki’ language…

“Isla speaks the dwarven tongue better than the human tongue. I think she uses that way of speaking to get used to human speech.”

“No! Seira is such an idiot! Stupid, stupid, stupid.”

“Isla is a baby. If you pet her like this, she will purr and cry.”

Kaisen thought Isla would protest by baring her strangely long fangs, but when Seira stroked her, she closed her eyes like a cat and purred happily.

“Cute, right? Runelle Alter Gaumris found her very cute.”

“Come to think of it, you guys always stick together,” Kaisen said.

“Because we are close. We met when our teachers were fighting together in Terbenople.”

Terbenople was the capital of the old empire that collapsed after the Inferno Line was broken through. Isla, who was noisily finishing her meal, opened her mouth. “You… How did you get in here?”

“?”

“I am not asking about qualifications! I’m asking about talent! When cadets enter, they undergo an evaluation by pulling out Dialae!”

Seira, who was humming and stuffing veal steak into her mouth, helped explain. “If you can’t pull it out, you don’t have the aptitude to be a Fake Warrior, so admission would be impossible.”

“Even if you can draw it, you barely resonate with the holy sword! How on earth did you get in? I’m very curious,” Isla said.

“Kaisen, don’t you know what prayer is?”

“I know. Roughly speaking, it’s talking with a holy sword.”

“What? Didn’t Kamila teach you properly?”

Kamila only taught Kaisen how to use a sword, but she never taught him the path of a Fake Warrior, and what Tarcio taught him was very abstract…

“Can you tell me?” he asked.

When Isla looked at Seira, Seira shrugged her shoulders and said, “The prayer to a sword is meant to resonate one’s will with the sword. It is up to the holy sword to choose whether to resonate with a particular individual or not.”

* * *

‘The holy sword chooses…’ With a long, tense breath, Kaisen escaped the echoes of the past. Again, the dark and clear world unfolded before his eyes as the Holy Swords’ Cradle appeared before him.

‘My will… and Aradamantel’s will.’ What kind of will Aradamantel would have? Would that will resonate with his? They would soon find out.

“Chief Instructor…” Kelly Dune Jeraye, who was watching the cadets from afar, spoke. “Kaisen’s resonance with Dialae was abnormally low. If this continues, won’t Aradamantel end up going to Ophelia?”

“Who knows.” Olliere Dune Jeraye remembered what Wolf had said about Kaisen.

[Awakened Great Holy Sword Aradamantel during the Kaltake against Kishun Giolobepe.]

There was no precedent for awakening a great holy sword without the power of a dragon spirit.

No, such a thing had only happened once. It was said that Miria Ludwig, the spouse of Dragon Sage Rain Ludwig, awakened Schirpin without being a Fake Warrior, but that was all long ago.

Aside from that story that nobody could verify the origins of…

‘You didn’t listen to my prayers before, but I sincerely ask you again, Aradamantel…’ Olliere held her hands together and prayed earnestly. ‘Kamila, if you are there, help Aradamantel end up with your disciple on his fated path of the sword.’