PalanqueSevion Brooks, the best knight in Palanque, came out to the training hall in the evening and drew his sword.
It was the day he had come to Rabat, and had a lot of other work to do, so he thought about skipping the training for a day, but couldn’t.
It was because of that unusual young man he met in the afternoon.
‘It was the first time I’ve seen such a young man looking so deeply into himself.’
Meditation itself was nothing special.
There were swordsmen who only focused on training their bodies and refining their skills in the past, but things had changed since the priests and paladins of the Holy Kingdoms interacted with the orcs.
And there were many people who took the same posture and sat there simply without knowing what to do too.
However, this young man wasn’t like that.
With a stable breathing and an upright posture.
In that state, he concentrated on his inner self for two hours.
This was something that couldn't be done with just concentration alone.
No, the word concentration would be lacking.
‘Sigh… that feeling was great.’
It deserved much praise to do that without being disturbed.
It wasn’t just that. The young man also left a certain amount of leeway in his mind to guard himself.
And the proof of that was clear since the young man caught him approaching 20 minutes back, and that was unbelievable considering the youthful appearance.
‘What was I like at that age?’
Thinking that, Sevion Brooks smiled.
There was nothing to say. Both of them had messed up.
The younger him couldn’t even be compared to this young man who sharpened his senses without losing concentration on his meditation.
And as he thought about it like that, he really liked it.
He could do this only when he had reached the level of an expert during his late 20s.
That meant that the young man he met in the afternoon was already an Expert. Truly one of the few genius talents in the continent.
‘I can’t help it. It won't be a moral act, but during the dungeon exploration, I should coax him into coming along with me.’
Listening to what Perry Martinez said, he understood that the young one wasn't from Rabat, so it was definite that he must be from Calven.
They could be secretly trying to nurture the young man, but it seemed like the young man was trying to gain experience through this exploration where strong people gather.
And Sevion didn’t want to leave it at that.
No matter how much he thought about it, he felt that it was a pity.
Leaving such a talented young man in a place like Calven, where there were only three experts, wasn’t just damaging to the talented kid but also to the entire continent.
‘He is a vessel that can be a master.’
Hm.
Sevion Brooks mumbled to himself and burst into laughter.
It seemed as if he had been laughing too much lately, but he was right. His skills were good, but he could be best suited to be the teacher of the young one.
He thought that since he had raised 4 experts, he could be more confident.
“Brooks, may I come in? We have investigated what you asked.”
“Uhm! Come in.”
At the same time, the ordered work was done.
It was him who asked his men to find out the personal details of the young blonde man in the Calven.
After giving permission, Sevion Brooks took the package handed to him by his subordinate and opened it.
Alone again, he set aside his weapon and looked through the document to find the name.
However, he had to stop turning the pages before he could find what he wanted, because he saw a familiar name.
“… Ilya Lindsay.”
This was because an unexpected person was on Calven’s side.
‘How did this happen?’
He couldn’t believe it.
Or understand it.
Why was the Sword Master of the West, the youngest Sword Master who shook the continent here?
Of course, his concerns didn’t last long.
It was because he remembered who was in charge of the Holy Kingdom troops.
“Ignet Crescentia.”
It has already been 10 years, but the incident shocked the continent.
When he thought of the bad relationship between her and Lindsay's family, the puzzle fit.
Why did Ilya appear?
‘My head hurts.’
Sevion Brooks frowned.
Perhaps it was Ilya Lindsay’s own decision to join Calven.
Because the Lindsay family's head, Joshua Lindsay, wouldn't have allowed his daughter to do anything like this, which could complicate matters politically.
But the important thing was that this already happened, and that now Sevion would have to thoroughly calculate how this would affect things on his side.
“This… I guess becoming a Master doesn’t mean that one can’t be immature. She is too young.”
Even though it was a matter which could potentially become a diplomatic problem, this child was putting her emotions first.
Did the defeat in the Land of Proof affect her mind?
He thought that that might be the case.
Even he was too shocked when he heard about Ilya Lindsay’s defeat, so he could understand how shocked Ilya Lindsay must have been.
‘Instead of coming out here on a whim, if it was me, I would have felt that my training was not sufficient and would’ve started a closed training session… wait!’
Sevion, who thought till there, frowned.
It was because the thoughts about Ignet and Ilya had stopped, and he began to think of something else.
To be precise, he thought about the defeat of Ilya Lindsay in the Land of Proof.
Recalling the rumors about the age of the winner, his appearance, his attitude, and everything else, he rummaged through the documents again.
And his hand stopped on one specific page and laughed out loud.
Airn Pareira.
Sevion Brooks, who belatedly realized the identity of the blonde young man, closed his eyes, recalling what had actually happened before.
‘… this is crazy!’
He shook his head violently.
He saw it now.
He had considered the young man as someone below him.
When he removed that kind of objective thinking, the figure of Airn Pareira, which was even greater than his original judgment, was drawn as clearly as a picture in his mind.
A sense of composure that never broke.
His breathing, which was so controlled that it was borderline creepy for a person that age.
His footsteps, his balance, and his deep eyes.
It was a level that an Expert couldn’t have.
“… so weird.”
Sevion Brooks, the best knight of Palanque, quietly opened his eyes and mumbled softly.
It was embarrassing. And a little bad too. It wasn’t intentional, but it was because he couldn’t shake off the feeling that he was deceived.
However, there were other emotions that were stronger than that.
‘I am embarrassed!’
Yes. Now, his face was dyed red to the point of being uncontrollable.
The fact that he couldn’t grasp the skills of his opponent even though he was a Master brought him much shame.
Even now, he didn’t know the real skill of the young man.
‘Is he really a Sword Master?’
‘Maybe it is true. Haven’t I seen it with my own eyes?’
‘If so, then to what extent has he trained? Has he already reached the legendary status of God Sword Master?’ 1
‘Or does he have more skills than that?’
Sevion Brooks, who thought for a moment, closed his eyes.
What about the political variables due to Ilya’s participation?
He forgot about it. Prior to being a high-ranking noble in Palanque, he was an undisputed knight and a swordsman.
Airn Pareira
Ilya Lindsay.
His expression, anticipating the prowess of the sword genius swordsmen, was extremely serious.
“Damn it, what is this?”
Rabat’s proud battle magician, Perry Martinez, was grimacing all day after hearing the news which came in the middle of the night.
It was because of Calven, who thought that they didn’t have to inform him about the two Sword Masters they had with them.
Each of them was a prodigy, and one of them was Ilya Lindsay, a child of the Lindsay family, and the youngest Sword Master ever.
Although she was young and might have been less than 20, the child had the same influence as him on the continent.
‘Maybe the Lindsay family and Adan kingdom is trying to get a share in the dungeon!’
Perry really thought so.
He was convinced that the feud between Lindsay and Ignet was just an excuse, and that this was the real purpose.
‘Huhu, I may be mistaken as well. Ilya Lindsay’s participation could just be her personal choice, and her rights are limited. She and Airn Pareira will just participate as mercenaries to the end, and will return after receiving the pre-arranged amount. And of course, Calven bastards would pay them.’
‘However…’
‘No. unless those Calven bastards are scared enough to be swayed by one family, this theory works well.’
Of course, there was nothing he could do now about it.
There wasn’t much time left until the exploration, but it was mainly because of Gregory Griffin, the Captain of the Calven knights, with whom he didn't have a good relationship with.
Considering his age, it wouldn’t seem strange for Gregory to retire, but his eloquence was better than Perry Martinez himself.
“Ahh. Nothing ever goes the way we think it will.”
In the end, all Rabat could do was keep their eyes on Calven, and demand more shares from the dungeon, since they had only two strong people with them.
Fortunately, in terms of magic strength, Rabat was unique compared to the other three nations, especially when it came to dungeon exploration.
‘There is nothing more important than magic in dungeon exploration.’
Unlike a swordsman who can show off his strength with one sword, a magician had to prepare a lot.
The cumbersome process of bringing in tools one after another.
Conversely, once the cumbersome work was done, the efficiency of the magic a magician could do, could be doubled or even tripled.
In fact, it would be a more suitable power for the environment of the dungeon.
‘Right. It’s not bad.’
Perry Martinez nodded.
For this dungeon, he invited dungeon experts from the east, and numerous exploration tools were made.
So, things were looking good for him.
After struggling to comfort himself by telling himself things like this, he took a deep breath and turned. The night air was cold, and he was thinking about going for a walk.
But before he had decided.
Woong!
“…”
A powerful wave of magic could be felt from a distance that was neither too far nor too close!
The moment he felt it, Perry Martinez used his magic with all his might and went towards the power.
Swosh!
Swooh!
His form kept flickering.
The sight of him moving almost 20m in an instant at a time was extraordinary to see.
Even the high-level magicians of the east wouldn’t be on par with him.
The irony of the situation, however, was that even the great Perry Martinez could feel a power that was even greater than his, close to him.
‘Who could it be?’
‘A person from Palanque? Did Sevion bring in a magician?’
‘But how? A magician who can handle such a huge amount of magi…’
‘Would it be a person from the 3 great families of the Runtel Kingdom, maybe?’
Numerous questions popped up and disappeared constantly. In the meantime, Perry continued to use magic to move towards the source of the magic he felt earlier.
His mouth was busy casting spells, but he didn’t stop because he was too curious to know who the person who could wield so much magic was.
In this way, he could arrive at that place without delay and wanted to confirm who it was as soon as possible.
The problem was.
The one he saw as he reached the source with was an existence beyond his imagination.
“… A Dragon?”
“Huh? Me?”
Hearing the voice of the middle-aged man, Lulu turned her head.
Lulu was now a girl dressed as a battle magician with cute horns and wings.
She tilted her head as she looked at Perry and said.
“I am not a Dragon, but a cat.”
This seems to be the next level after Sword Master. The levels we know currently are Expert, Sword Master, and now God Sword Master.↩
