Chapter 29

The Swordsmanship Genius Possessed by a God — Chapter 29

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Late in the evening.

Iorga, who was guarding the study in the Family Head's Hall, received an unexpected visitor.

“Supreme Commander?”

Supreme Commander Hiren.

He had come to the Family Head's Hall alone.

“It's been a while, Iorga.”

“What brings you all the way here?”

“Do you think I came to see you? I came to see the family head.”

As he spoke, Hiren held up a bottle of liquor with both hands.

He even smelled of alcohol, as though he had already had a drink or two.

“Tell him I've brought some fine liquor. And some interesting news as well.”

“The family head is currently working. If you leave a message, perhaps later...”

“Let him in.”

Apparently having overheard the conversation outside, Axion gave his permission from within the study.

Iorga stared at the liquor Hiren had brought, then sighed deeply and stepped aside. Hiren chuckled as he opened the study door and entered.

Hiren placed the liquor on the table in the center of the study and sat down.

Dispensing with formalities, he immediately began pouring drinks.

“I came to have a drink with you, Family Head. You like this liquor, don't you?”

“You've come rather late.”

“Didn't someone visit me at an even later hour not long ago?”

“That's true.”

Despite Hiren's discourtesy, Axion did not reprimand him. As though he had expected as much, Hiren chuckled.

There was something most members of the family didn't know.

Just how little Axion Vishken cared about etiquette and empty formalities.

Only a select few within the family, including Hiren, knew that side of him.

The two drank without any food to accompany their liquor.

After they had shared several glasses of strong liquor, Hiren brought up the real reason for his visit.

“I met Allen.”

Axion's hand stopped as he was raising his glass.

“To be frank, I wasn't expecting much. When I saw that boy a few years ago, he was a complete mess.”

“And now?”

“He exceeded my expectations.”

Hiren grinned.

“Those youngsters in the Flying Sword Division's Second Squad were testing their new leader. There's a tradition called the Acceptance Ceremony, where the squad members take turns testing their leader...”

Hiren began recounting what he had witnessed earlier that day.

The taciturn Axion merely sipped his liquor and listened in silence.

“...And that's why I couldn't resist.”

“What did you do?”

“I made a wager with him. I put Griffin on the line.”

At those words, Axion's gaze shifted toward Hiren's waist.

The sword hanging there was different from the one he usually carried. Axion could already guess how the wager had ended.

Noticing his gaze, Hiren smiled sheepishly.

“That's right. I lost. I even used mana, and he cut my clothes.”

“He must be terribly full of himself by now, unaware that you were going easy on him.”

If Hiren had displayed his true abilities, Allen would never have stood a chance against him, no matter what he did.

After all, Hiren was one of the very few swordsmen whom Axion acknowledged.

“That's the really funny part.”

Hiren recalled the look in Allen's eyes as he lay exhausted after their sparring match.

“That boy still looked hungry for more.”

“Hungry?”

“Yes. Even after winning the wager, he seemed dissatisfied.”

Despite obtaining a famous sword coveted throughout the world, Allen had been disappointed. If only his technique had been more refined, if only he had been stronger. Such thoughts had been plainly visible on his face.

“Isn't it amusing? A mere squad leader defeated the supreme commander in a wager and took a famous sword from him, yet he still wasn't satisfied.”

“He's an ambitious boy.”

“Yes. An extremely greedy one.”

Hiren drained the remaining liquor in his glass and spoke.

“It seems he was serious when he said he would surpass the family head.”

“...We'll have to see whether he has the ability to do so.”

“Hehehe. As if the busy family head has time to watch over him. Now that he's joined a sword division, it's my responsibility as supreme commander to keep an eye on him.”

Having quickly finished the liquor, Hiren rose from his seat.

“You look busy, so I'll be leaving for today. I'll probably be visiting frequently for a while anyway.”

“It seems you've taken a liking to that boy.”

“I think he'll be entertaining to watch.”

Hiren bowed his head and was about to leave the study, his face flushed from drinking.

It was then.

“So, how was he?”

Just as Hiren grasped the doorknob, Axion asked,

“Compared to that fresh-faced brat from back then?”

“Have you been keeping my words in mind?”

“I took them as words I was meant to remember.”

“Hehehe.”

As though another amusing thought had occurred to him, Hiren grinned.

Axion in his youth and Allen.

The faces of the two men connected by blood seemed to overlap.

“Like father, like son.”

_______________

The following day.

The members of the Flying Sword Division's Second Squad gathered at the training ground again, still bewildered by what had happened yesterday.

“Did we all lose?”

“...Seems that way?”

They had been defeated so quickly.

Those who had fought toward the end had at least some idea of the outcome, but the members who had fallen early knew nothing of what happened afterward.

Bigra was particularly confused.

“We lost? All of us?”

Having been the first to fall, he went around questioning the other squad members one by one.

“What the hell happened?”

“What do you mean, what happened? We all got crushed.”

“Everyone got beaten? Did you fight him one-on-one like I did?”

“No. We followed the conditions he proposed. Two went after you, then four. But we all got beaten.”

The speaker was one of the squad members who had attacked in the group of four.

“We were no match for him. He might not be able to use mana, but his swordsmanship is the real thing.”

“That...!”

Bigra recalled his sparring match with Allen.

The way Allen had effortlessly blocked his sword and precisely struck his vital points with a wooden blade had been flawless, without a single wasted movement.

But even so, to think that four men had been defeated at once.

“I still won't acknowledge him.”

Bigra ground his teeth.

“No matter how good his swordsmanship is, what's the point if he can't control mana? This doesn't count!”

“You're being pathetic, Bigra.”

“What?”

It was Plio who challenged Bigra's words.

Having endured until the very end of his sparring match with Allen, Plio had already acknowledged him in his heart.

“We were the ones who proposed the Acceptance Ceremony. The squad leader even suggested conditions that were more disadvantageous to himself. Yet not a single one of us was injured. That's entirely because his abilities were overwhelmingly superior to ours.”

“The result would've been different if we'd used mana.”

“Does that hypothetical situation even matter? Seven of us attacked him together and still lost. If anything, I respect the squad leader for winning under such unfavorable conditions.”

“...Wait a minute. Did you say seven?”

Why not eight?

At that question, Plio's gaze shifted to one side.

Toward Mary, who, as always, had been the first to arrive at the training ground and was practicing her swordsmanship.

“The deputy leader had a separate match.”

Despite the commotion among the other squad members, she seemed no different from usual.

No, if anything, she seemed to be training even more intensely than usual.

So intensely that nobody dared approach her.

‘Did she lose?’

‘Looks like it.’

‘Is she angry?’

‘I don't think it's anger.’

‘Someone go ask her.’

‘Who?’

‘Hey, rookie!’

‘Huh? Me?’

The squad members whispered among themselves for a while.

“Deputy Leader!”

In the end, it was Bigra, who could no longer contain his curiosity, who approached Mary.

“What happened in your match, Deputy Leader? I heard you fought separately at the end.”

Whoosh!

Mary's sword, which had been cutting through the air, came to a halt.

After catching her breath for a moment, she turned her head toward Bigra.

Sensing that everyone's attention was on her, Mary answered.

“I didn't fight.”

“Pardon?”

Startled by the unexpected answer, Bigra asked,

“Why didn't you fight, Deputy Leader?”

“...Because there was no point.”

“What does that mean? No point?”

Mary wondered how she could explain it.

To make them understand, she would have to tell them about the supreme commander's visit and the final sparring match, but she couldn't do that.

After tossing Griffin to Allen, Hiren had firmly instructed Mary and Lucas,

“Let me make this clear. I was never here. So don't go around spreading unnecessary stories.”

After the sparring match with the supreme commander, Allen had been in no condition to fight any further.

Having exhausted all his strength, Allen was utterly spent. His hand had been trembling as he drew the sword Hiren tossed him, showing that he had literally wrung every last bit of strength from his body.

It had been impossible to continue the Acceptance Ceremony with Allen in that condition.

‘Not that I would've won anyway.’

Even without fighting him, Mary had already admitted defeat in her heart.

Because she had absolutely no confidence that she could so much as touch the supreme commander's clothing.

But the squad members, who knew nothing of this, could only grow frustrated.

“Deputy Leader, what happened?”

“Don't tell me you admitted defeat without even fighting him?”

“Is that fellow's swordsmanship really that good?”

The squad members who still refused to acknowledge Allen voiced their objections.

Some even looked at Mary with dissatisfaction for acknowledging an opponent without fighting him.

Mary lowered her sword and sighed deeply.

“I've acknowledged him as our squad leader.”

“...You've acknowledged him?”

“Deputy Leader!”

“Ahem.”

The squad members reacted differently to Mary's words.

Some grew angry because they disagreed, while others nodded in acceptance.

Generally, those who had fallen later in the sparring matches were more inclined to acknowledge Allen.

“What happened?”

Mary shook her head at Bigra's question and answered,

“Seeing it for yourselves will tell you more than a hundred words ever could.”

“Come on, just tell us plainly...!”

“Did everyone get a good rest?”

Amid the disorderly atmosphere, Allen appeared at the training ground.

Mary immediately tensed and turned toward him. Her gaze fell upon the faintly green sword hanging at Allen's waist.

‘So he brought it after all.’

Griffin, one of the Thirty-Two Famous Swords of the Continent.

That famous sword, known as the supreme commander's weapon, had now become their squad leader's sword.

“How are you feeling?”

“Excellent. Thanks for asking. Were there any injuries yesterday? Please check.”

“I've already checked. There weren't any.”

“Really? That's good. Also, I didn't receive a proper handover yesterday. I heard the position of squad leader had been vacant.”

“If there's anything you'd like to know, you can ask me.”

Unlike the other squad members, Mary was extremely friendly toward Allen. Having witnessed and experienced what happened yesterday, she couldn't help abandoning all her previous prejudices.

The other squad members looked puzzled by Mary's attitude.

Even though they had been thoroughly beaten during the Acceptance Ceremony, they couldn't understand why the deputy leader's attitude had changed so quickly.

“What's the Second Squad's daily schedule?”

“Normally, we conduct group training in the morning and individual training in the afternoon. Unless we have a mission, of course.”

“How is the group training conducted?”

“Normally, it's carried out under the squad leader's command. Since the position has been vacant until now, I've been leading the training.”

“Is that so?”

Allen nodded at Mary's answer and looked around.

The squad members watching him had complicated expressions.

Some were still clinging to their pride, while others seemed to have accepted him as squad leader after yesterday's events.

‘It's about half and half now.’

Apparently, the Acceptance Ceremony had achieved something. At least half of them now seemed to acknowledge him as their squad leader.

He had no intention of making a special effort to persuade the remaining half.

Time would take care of that anyway.

“I have plenty I'd like to say, but I'll save it for later. I won't bother asking what kind of relationship you had with your previous squad leader, either.”

Allen casually pulled off the clothes he had been wearing.

The squad members looked puzzled as Allen removed his upper garments and changed into more comfortable attire.

They wondered what he was doing, suddenly interrupting his own speech.

“First, run.”

Allen abruptly began the training.