Chapter 81

After the battle with the dark mage Fauve and then Kapman, Najin dragged his weary body through the underground waterways. His steps were heavy, and his eyelids drooped repeatedly.

“It feels like death.”

Najin let out a long breath. Despite the regenerative power of Excalibur and potions, mental exhaustion and critical injuries were not something that could be healed immediately.

Still, there was work to be done.

After escaping from Kapman, Najin had abandoned Fauve’s body. Now, he went back to retrieve it and emerged from the underground waterways. By the time he set foot outside, dawn was breaking.

The warm morning sunlight.

Having been in the dark for so long, the sunlight felt strangely unfamiliar. Squinting against the brightness, Najin blinked a few times. Only after adjusting to the sunlight could he make sense of his surroundings.

“……”

“……”

At the entrance to the underground waterways.

There were people gathered there. They were the inquisitors of the Starblood Sect, and the mercenaries hired to assist them. Some of them noticed Najin and turned their gaze towards him.

And then, huh?

Their eyes widened as they looked at Najin, and then at the body of Fauve he was dragging along. Their eyes widened even more, and voices of astonishment leaked from their mouths.

They were preparing their equipment and reviewing their strategy for entering the underground waterways early in the morning.

What they faced was the news that the situation had already been resolved. The body of the dark mage brought in by Najin served as evidence of this. Even the composed inquisitors widened their eyes in surprise, and Najin let out a long breath.

And then took a few steps forward.

Among the mercenaries and inquisitors, he approached his employer, Hite, and laid down the body.

“Haah…”

Hite let out a long sigh.

“Remarkable, truly.”

What Hite had requested from Najin was to handle the matter as quickly as possible. Alternatively, to weaken Fauve as a vanguard, so no more casualties would occur on the inquisitors’ side.

And Najin had perfectly accomplished both.

This was a swift and clean handling of the situation, just as Hite and the lord of the city had wished. However…

The situation did not unfold as they had hoped.

Contrary to their desires, this incident could not be quietly resolved. Because the workshop of ‘Kefalon’ was discovered beneath the city.

The following day, the news spread.

The Starblood Sect took action.

After applying simple first aid to his critical wounds, Najin collapsed for the night in a room provided by Hite. While this alleviated his mental fatigue, the wounds pierced through his body were not so easily healed.

“He really made some big holes.”

Kapman, a Sword Seeker-level warrior.

True to his reputation, the holes Kapman had made were not easily filled. Of course, Najin’s recovery rate was beyond human, so it seemed it wouldn’t take too long.

Bandaged and concealing his healing wounds, Najin stepped outside. Upon reaching the reception room, there were people waiting to hear an explanation.

“About the subjugation of Fauve, and a detailed explanation…”

Najin answered their questions.

He explained how he had subdued Fauve, and during the chase, he stumbled upon Kefalon’s workshop.

Of course, the location of Kefalon’s workshop had already been exposed by the inquisitors. The trail of blood had led them straight to it.

“Haah…”

Listening to Najin’s story, Hite groaned. The involvement of the sect became inevitable. However, he could not blame Najin for this. With a sigh, Hite spoke up.

“Where is Sir Kapman Theosis?”

Najin had returned alone from the underground waterways.

And Kapman’s body was not found. Najin was silent for a moment before finally speaking.

“He fell in battle against the dark mage.”

That was the response Najin chose.

Revealing that Kapman was a hound of the sect and had been killed by his hand would only complicate matters.

“Not yet.”

The power and authority to bring down the sect, and the justification for it.

Only when he had all these would the contract handed over by Kapman be rewritten.

“Is that so.”

Hite pinched the bridge of his nose.

During the pursuit of Fauve, Kapman had fallen to her 4th Circle spell, ‘Hunger of the Dead’.

That was the death of Kapman as testified by Najin.

The ‘Hunger of the Dead’ turns its target into the undead, and when the caster dies, the undead crumble, leaving no trace. This was consistent with the inquisitors’ investigation.

‘Prepared sacrifices in the workshop, traces of the 4th Circle spell ‘Hunger of the Dead’ were found.’

Everything made sense.

However, for Hite, who had to announce Kapman’s death, it was a bitter pill to swallow. The death of a white-ranked adventurer and the misjudgment of the risk level.

‘It’s our mistake.’

The compensation claims to the Cambria Foundation would be substantial. Hite’s brow furrowed.

“You’ve worked hard. The payment for the request will be delivered through the Central Guild of Cambria.”

With those words, Hite left the reception room, his steps heavy with sorrow. Sighing deeply as if his heart was heavy, Hite left. Watching him, Najin reached for the newspaper laid out in the reception room.

During the night he had slept.

He wanted to find out what had happened during that night.

As he unfolded the newspaper and read the first page, Najin understood why Hite had reacted that way. The look of utter despair on his face.

「The dark mage Fauve, who had fled to the underground of Regenoff City, was finally subdued after a pursuit.」

「However, the facility discovered in the underground of Regenoff City.」

「The workshop of the dark mage ‘Kefalon’, who had terrorized the empire decades ago, was found…..」

The sentences that summarized the situation.

Following those modest sentences, a larger one captured Najin’s attention.

「The intervention of the Starblood Sect.」

「The Inquisitor General of the Starblood Sect, Sir Yuel Razian, has expressed his intention to visit Regenoff City.」

The workshop left behind by a dark mage.

This was not something that could be overlooked, and it served as a perfect reason for the headquarters of the Starblood Sect, known for judging the malicious and sinister, to take action.

Thus, the Starblood Sect moved.

They mobilized their execution branch.

A being known as the walking tribunal.

The Inquisitor General, Yuel Razian.

A Sword Master with six stars was making his way to Regenoff City. Only now did Najin understand why there had been such commotion outside.

This was not the hustle and bustle of preparing to welcome a celebrity or organizing a festival. It was quite the opposite.

Locking doors, clearing the streets, closing shops, and removing all street vendors. Along with the commotion, the streets were being cleared. In a few hours, it would be as silent as a graveyard.

To Najin, it seemed as if the residents of the underground city were preparing to welcome someone from ‘upstairs’.

The Inquisitor General, Yuel Razian.

Najin knew very little about her.

He had looked up all the Sword Masters before, but information about Yuel Razian was surprisingly scarce.

The empire’s first pillar, the Empire’s Foremost, Gerd.

The owner of the Order of the Sword, Sword Saint Karan.

The Inquisitor General of the Starblood Sect, the Executioner Yuel Razian.

Among the three most renowned Sword Masters of this era, information about Yuel Razian was scant compared to the other two.

Origin, life, swordsmanship, sword aura……

Nothing was disclosed.

Normally, a Sword Master would have made a name for themselves from an early age, but there was no information about her childhood. At best, there were these records:

「During the Dawn War, ghosts roam.」

「There is a girl wandering around with pure white hair. The girl kills the remnants of the defeated. She lives by devouring corpses. If you encounter her, do not look back and run away.」

「Estimated Sword Seeker.」

Eyewitness accounts from a war that happened over 150 years ago.

「There’s a mad murderer.」

「A group led by a dark mage was destroyed by the hands of a white-haired girl. A Circle’s dark mage was brutally killed.」

「A girl drenched in blood brought 182 corpses of dark mages to the Starblood Sect and demanded payment. The high priest was so shocked that he collapsed.」

An anecdote from 80 years ago.

「The Inquisitor General.」

「Yuel Razian.」

「She received the high priest’s baptism and reached the realm of Sword Master within a decade.」

That was all that was known about her life.

She had been around for 150 years and had reached the realm of Sword Master 70 years ago. As a Sword Master, one is liberated from the limitations of lifespan, so her age was also unknown.

Despite all the unknowns, her blood-soaked history was clearly recorded in the empire’s historical records.

Dark magic, demons, the malicious and sinister. Wherever such things fester, Yuel Razian walks. She strides forth and kills everything related to them. She seems to enjoy the act of killing and dismembering people without hesitation.

Where she walks, the land is stained with blood.

Thus, the world fears and also reveres her. The nickname ‘murderer’ was attached to her around that time, but Yuel herself laughed and adopted that nickname as her own alias. She liked it.

-She’s truly insane.

Merlin muttered, propping her chin.

-When she was a candidate for Excalibur, Bedivere and I screamed so much you wouldn’t believe. That woman is nothing but a walking butcher.

She said with disgust in her voice.

-To become a Sword Master, one must master swordsmanship, awaken Imagery, and shake the world with their sword but in my time, some lunatic proposed a theory, you know?

“A theory?”

-Yeah, it was a crazy theory. What was it again?n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

Swing a sword and kill people.

Absorb their blood, listen to the last screams of their souls, and get close to death itself.

-It’s a bit complicated if you delve into it, but the gist is this. If you kill people with your sword in the tens of thousands or hundreds of thousands, you can reach the realm of Sword Master without needing Imagery or swordsmanship.

Najin chuckled in disbelief.

“What kind of crazy…”

-Right? In my time, the scholar who proposed that theory was called a lunatic.

Merlin sighed.

-And the one who actually did it was Yuel Razian. A person who became a Sword Master by killing a lot.

Not by grasping the intricacies of the sword, not by manifesting her Imagery into the world, but simply by swinging widely and killing to reach the pinnacle.

“……”

Najin fell silent.

In the distance, a carriage was approaching. The carriage bore the emblem of the Starblood Sect. The street, devoid of people, fell silent as the carriage came to a halt.

Creak.

Eventually, the carriage door opened. Despite the carriage’s lavish exterior, only one person emerged from it. A distinguished guest arrived without any escort and stepped out of the carriage.

Click.

A woman of striking beauty emerged from the carriage. Her waist-length pure white hair and skin so pale it seemed almost transparent. The woman was monochromatic, except for her eyes.

Eyes as red as blood.

The woman who alighted from the carriage looked at Najin.

The moment their eyes met, Najin felt a chilling sensation run down his spine. Visions of his head being severed from his body, of blood pouring from his form, flitted before Najin’s eyes.

Clack.

Instinctively, his left hand reached for the sword at his waist, but Najin managed to grasp it with his right hand in time. Cold sweat ran down his back.

This was a sensation he had never felt before.

Yuel Razian, exuding an unbridled aura of killing intent unlike Karan, was truly fearsome. Najin looked to his side, and his employer, Hite, had fainted with his eyes rolled back.

-See? I told you she’s insane.

Merlin murmured, seemingly amused, as Najin looked up. Far away, Yuel Razian was watching him. Najin noticed the slight movement in the corners of her expressionless lips.