Chapter 108 - Fighting Fire with Fire (2)

“I shall assume I misheard you.”

“Tom, don't be like that.”

“Tell me you're joking. Please.”

“I'm not joking.”

Tom slapped a hand to his forehead at my reply.

“You challenged Edan Rhapsody to a duel? How can that possibly be true?”

“...”

“Young lord, don't you understand what it means to be the swordsman who will succeed Hugo Rhapsody? It means he's a candidate for swordmaster. A swordmaster!”

“I know.”

“Then why would you do something so insane?”

“I thought it was our only way out, even with the sky falling around us.”

“Oh, no. That isn't a way out. It's a way to bring the sky crashing down faster! Do you understand what you've done? Now you can't even beg forgiveness and escape with your life. Edan Rhapsody will proceed with the duel no matter what. And once it begins, you'll die without even knowing how he killed you.”

“...”

“Edan Rhapsody is someone even I cannot defeat!”

After going on at length, Tom finally fell silent when I said nothing. Then, still looking worried, he asked me a question.

“What were you thinking?”

“I did it to draw Toma Rhapsody here.”

“Toma Rhapsody...?”

“Their precious youngest son. The lunatic who claims I tarnished his honor.”

Tom's eyebrows twitched.

“If I can get that bastard here, I can reveal the truth. You said it yourself, Tom. The five families are bound by the law. Great power comes with great responsibility. This is our chance to hold them accountable for the unjust force they've used.”

“... How will you do that?”

“First, please hear my question.”

At last, Tom was ready to listen. I steadied my voice and asked.

“Ten seconds.”

“...”

“What must I do to last ten seconds against Edan Rhapsody?”

* * *

I listened to Tom's opinion. It wasn't complicated.

“Edan Rhapsody recently became a 「sword expert」. But unlike my incomplete armor, he has forged a complete suit. And a 「sword expert」 with armor gains the power of ‘Inviolability.’ It is a power akin to invincibility, permitting no attack of any kind.”

“I know how formidable armor is.”

“Yes. You experienced it beforehand when you fought a dwarf who had reached 「sword expert」 in the second event of the Endless Duel. But that dwarf likely didn't reveal even one percent of his power.”

“...”

“People often compare sword experts to fortress walls. And when they think of fortress walls, they picture something massive and heavy. Something cumbersome, in other words. But sword experts are anything but cumbersome.”

Tom raised his sword—a silver rapier.

“As you know, young lord, the ranks of swordsmanship build upon one another. Reaching the next rank doesn't erase the qualities of the previous one. You can only advance after reaching the utmost limits of your current rank. Do you understand what that means?”

“That you must reach the utmost limits of 「sword runner」 to become a 「sword expert」?”

“Precisely. But hearing it explained and seeing it yourself are different things.”

“Yes, you're ri—”

Tom's sword moved before I could finish saying “right.” His fingertips blurred. A fierce wind rose, and the next moment, he spoke, fixing me with a stern look.

“Did you see that?”

“... No.”

“I just thrust more than two hundred times.”

“...”

“Of course, those thrusts may have been too fast for you to see. My swordsmanship fundamentally pursues speed, and I am far faster than other swordsmen of my rank.”

Tom returned the silver rapier to his waist.

“But the man you challenged is a Rhapsody.”

“...”

“And Rhapsody's swordsmanship is the fastest on the entire continent. He will likely be ten times faster than the thrusts I just showed you. That is what it means to be the fastest on the continent.”

Ten times faster than that. I let out a hollow laugh.

“So think carefully. It would not be a bad idea to cancel the duel, even now. Or, if you truly believe you cannot take it back, tell me.”

“What would you do if I told you?”

“I would become your champion. Since we are both 「sword experts」, it should be a respectable fight. Though I would not be able to win.”

“...”

“Don't worry. This old man has lived long enough. It would be an honor to die in a young friend's place. So please, don't hesitate to ask.”

Tom offered to die for me with the brightest of smiles.

Make Tom my champion? Absolutely not. I had brought this upon myself. I had to bear all of it. I would not have this kind caretaker die in my place. Watching someone close to me meet their end was unbearably painful. I never wanted to do that again. Never.

Next, I asked Master. His answer?

「It would be a miracle if you lasted one second.」

Just as I expected. Master was excessively unsentimental when it came to the sword.

「Look at it the other way around. If you, as you are now, dueled a newborn baby that had never held a sword, how many seconds would you need to kill it?」

“Surely the gap isn't that large?”

「It may be even greater. The higher the rank, the wider the gap becomes.」

Master's analogy was perfectly apt. If I were told to duel an ordinary person now, I could cut them down within a second of coming into range. It would be far too easy. An ordinary person had neither a 「path」 nor a 「mana heart」. Perhaps Edan Rhapsody saw me in the same light. I had neither 「wings」 nor 「armor」. He could kill me as easily as treading on a crawling earthworm.

But.

「That is not to say there is no way at all.」

“There is... a way?”

「Considering the nature of your sword, there is a possibility.」

Tom had been right.

「Every swordsman takes up a sword for their own reason. To grow stronger, to protect someone dear, to earn a living, for honor.」

“...”

「And you took up your sword solely to kill one swordmaster. In accordance with the adage that only a swordmaster can kill a swordmaster.」

Even with the sky falling, there was a way out.

「Your sword was made to face those far stronger than you. The proof is that your arcane power took shape in a different direction, rather than protecting something or displaying wondrous swordsmanship. The flame of Suspicion. The power to drag someone stronger than you down to insignificance.」

“...”

「If you can kindle that unprecedented arcane power, you may have a chance.」

Liam looked at me.

「One second.」

“One second?”

「Caravan grows great through battle. You remember that, don't you?」

“Yes.”

「The first second after you begin your duel with the Idler's descendant. Make that second your trial. Turn that fleeting instant before an overwhelmingly powerful foe into enlightenment. Then spread your wings before that second ends. If you do, you may be able to endure the next nine seconds.」

Turn that fleeting instant into enlightenment.

“... Is that possible?”

It was an absurd suggestion. But.

「I was able to do it.」

“...”

「And so were your ancestors.」

Nothing could have been more characteristic of 「Caravan」.

“I'll try.”

The blood of steel flowed through my body. In that case...

“No.”

I could do it.

“I'll do it.”

* * *

I gathered Seolyun, Haylin, Tom, and Audrey and explained my plan. They all asked in unison whether I had lost my mind. Well, Haylin didn't say anything so unkind. She didn't really understand what I meant by 「sword expert」 or 「sword runner」, anyway.

At any rate, I had ten days. Perhaps less. My condition had been that they bring Rhapsody's youngest son, Toma Rhapsody, who had fought me in the Endless Duel. They might take offense and bring their young master here sooner than that.

Either way, I could assume the duel would begin the moment Toma Rhapsody arrived. There wasn't much I could do to prepare. Train to sharpen my instincts even a little, and ask Master about the characteristics of 「Rhapsody」 swordsmanship. That was all.

It was the greatest crisis I had faced since taking up the sword.

To be honest, I was nervous. I pretended to be calm, but I couldn't help it. I was human, too.

All the more so because this situation resembled the day the swordmaster Carlos had come. I remembered the people of my estate fleeing. I remembered how helpless I had been that day in the face of unjust violence. I remembered all too vividly how horrifying the violence of one immensely powerful individual could be.

It was trauma.

Just as Mary, the swordswoman held within 「Needle」, had feared fire; just as soldiers who had experienced war suffered fits at the mere sight of a pointed blade; just as people who had nearly drowned as children feared water. I feared unjust violence. I feared the destruction of those dear to me.

It was a contradiction. I had said I would stand against unjust violence. I had declared that I would take up the sword to do so. To kill the greatest and most powerful swordmaster on the continent, I had said I would kill a swordmaster. Yet I feared all of it. Terribly.

Time passed quickly. Before I knew it, ten days had gone by.

At dawn on the tenth day, an army incomparably larger than the advance force surrounded the Caravan estate. It could not be dismissed as a mere threatening band. I was reminded of the scenes I had witnessed in the 「War Duels」. An army. Violence capable of destroying everything.

“Liam, the Sword Demon.”

And a swordsman who wielded the most powerful violence of all declared:

“Come out here.”

* * *

The northern Iron Kingdom.

An ironblood fortress that had never fallen in the continent's long history. A banner fluttered atop the white Winter Citadel. Its beautiful, snow-white design depicted a winter landscape. That design symbolized one family. One of the five Great Families: 「White」.

And in the heart of the magnificent Winter Citadel stood a snow-white mansion. A pure-white bird flew through a window of White Castle, home of the true master who ruled the north. A beautiful bird made of dazzling light. Slipping through the gap in the window, it approached its soundly sleeping master.

“Mm.”

Standing before its master, the pure-white bird performed its assigned task: to announce that the benefactor who had received 「White」's medal was in danger and desperately needed help. The arcane bird completed its mission without error.

However.

“My Daisy.”

Daisy White was not the only person present when the arcane bird completed its mission. That was only natural. Whenever Daisy stayed at White Castle, a man was always at her side.

“It seems your benefactor is in trouble.”

The nobleman with the highest title in the Iron Kingdom outside the royal bloodline. The winter lord who ruled the whole of the kingdom's north. The master of the watchers who guarded the continent's order according to its stern laws.

“Your benefactor is my benefactor, too.”

A man who had rejected the advances of countless peerless beauties, and even a proposed marriage to a princess of the Heavenly Empire, to marry an insignificant woman.

“And my benefactor is a benefactor of 「White」.”

She came from fallen nobility. Her looks were plain, with no exceptional beauty. Her purity had been sullied when a baron's son raped her at a society party. A woman who had climbed up from the bottom, with none of the proper modesty, who clearly would not obey her husband. A woman dogged by filthy rumors that she had been fucking the half-wit knight she had kept at her side since childhood.

A man who knew all of that, who had so many dazzling choices available to him, and who had chosen her nonetheless.

“The watchers of the White family never forget a debt.”

A man renowned throughout the continent for his devotion to his wife.

“Whether a kindness or a wrong, we always repay it.”

The head of the Great Family 「White」. The Grand Duke of the North. Russell White.

“Whatever it may be. Always.”

The maelstrom.

He entered the fray.