Chapter 6

The Swordsmanship Genius Possessed by a God — Chapter 6

The sudden question carried an enormous weight.

The family head?

Lucas was talking about becoming the head of none other than the Vishken family.

If it had been Allen in his previous life, he probably would have misunderstood the question.

He would have thought his brother had begun to see him as a threat now that he had overcome the curse. That Lucas might start treating him as a rival and push him away.

But Allen could see it.

What lay in Lucas's eyes as he looked at him was concern rather than wariness.

“Why? Are you worried I'll get hurt?”

Sure enough, Lucas's expression visibly wavered.

Allen had struck a nerve.

However, concealing his true feelings, Lucas asked in return,

“That's a strange answer. Normally, wouldn't you assume I was wary of you in a situation like this?”

It was a perfectly reasonable question.

And if Allen were to answer it honestly, this was what he would say.

‘Because you voluntarily withdrew from the competition to become the family head.’

Approximately five years from now.

Lucas would choose to withdraw from the competition for the position of Vishken's family head.

No, come to think of it, Lucas had never actually competed for the position in the first place.

He had never built a faction of his own or engaged in politics. He had simply devoted himself to carrying out commissions as a swordsman of the family.

In the end, the position of young family head remained vacant for a long time.

Neither Allen, who had been cursed, nor Lucas, who had voluntarily given up the position, became the young family head.

But that wasn't something he could say here and now.

“Is that so? Now that I think about it, does becoming the family head mean I'll have to fight you, Brother?”

“So you do have some desire to become the family head.”

“I wouldn't say I have none.”

Allen took another sip of the liquor that tasted nothing but sweet to him.

“Because I still... want to become a greater swordsman than Father.”

Even now, whenever he closed his eyes, memories of that time flashed before him.

The image of his younger self, boldly declaring on the day he first held a sword that he would become a swordsman like his father.

The dream of a young swordsman who had envisioned a brilliant future beneath a night sky filled with stars.

There had been a time when that dream was so precious to him that he couldn't even imagine failing to achieve it.

“Becoming the family head isn't my goal. It's just something along the way. As long as I can reach that level, I don't mind if I never become the family head.”

“Not the goal, but part of the journey?”

“Sounds arrogant, doesn't it?”

Allen smiled sheepishly.

“I've suffered from the Curse of Mana Deprivation for so long that my dreams just kept getting bigger. Just think of it as me getting drunk on my good mood rather than the liquor.”

“At least you're aware of it.”

“I know my place well enough. I also know how the family sees me.”

It was a vague dream. A long and distant road without a clear destination.

A road that made his chest swell and his heart feel ready to burst simply because he could finally walk it, even if he never reached the end.

However.

‘There's something I need to do before that.’

A dreadful face appeared reflected in the clear liquor.

‘The Demon King.’

The armies of demons that had crossed over from the Demon Realm, the Demon King, and the demonic humans who followed them.

Unless he stopped them, neither his dreams nor his family would mean anything.

Although those events lay far in the future from the present, to Allen, they had happened only a few days ago.

He had returned to the past and been freed from the Curse of Mana Deprivation. Two miracles had occurred at once.

Allen did not believe these miracles had happened for no reason.

‘If I have to pay a price for these miracles, then I'll pay it by stopping those bastards.’

His grip tightened around his glass.

Allen emptied his glass several times in succession.

Just as the alcohol began to sting his empty stomach, the food arrived.

Perhaps not wanting the conversation to become too serious, Lucas changed the subject.

“When you suddenly started demanding an elixir, I wondered what was going on. How did you know the curse had been lifted?”

“I had a good dream. No, maybe it was a bad dream?”

“A dream?”

“I dreamed that I died and came back to life. When I woke up, it felt like the curse had been lifted. So I thought I'd give it a try.”

“You certainly placed a lot of hope in a superstition like that.”

Allen smiled awkwardly at Lucas's words. Thinking about it, his excuse really had been rather halfhearted.

Of course, contrary to what he had said, Allen knew exactly why the Curse of Mana Deprivation had been lifted.

‘It's probably thanks to this system.’

[Mana: 2]

The number was no longer zero.

Even now, whenever he saw that number or felt the mana within his body, he couldn't help grinning.

And the reason he had obtained this system was the mysterious entity represented by question marks that he had seen in his dream.

Just what was that mysterious entity?

Unless it was a god, reversing time and lifting the Curse of Mana Deprivation should have been impossible.

“There's going to be quite an uproar when we return to the family.”

“You think so?”

“There's never been a case of the Curse of Mana Deprivation being lifted before. The way people look at you will change considerably.”

“I'd rather things didn't change too much. Not yet, anyway.”

“Then why not keep it a secret?”

“That'd be difficult. There's no way I could fool Father anyway. I might be able to fool you, Brother, but I can't exactly ask Father to keep it a secret for me.”

Axion Vishken, the greatest swordsman on the continent.

Their father would recognize the change in Allen at a glance. No matter how discreet Allen was, deceiving his father would be impossible.

“Besides, my only rival already knows about it anyway.”

“Do you seriously consider me your rival?”

“Isn't competition between brothers supposed to happen behind the scenes? Rivals behind each other's backs, brothers to each other's faces.”

Allen picked up some food and poured himself one final glass. This time, instead of drinking it immediately, he held it out.

“So let's make this a toast between brothers, not rivals.”

Clink.

Allen clinked their glasses together. Lucas, who had ended up joining the toast while sitting quietly, decided there was some sense in what he said and emptied his glass.

Their drinking session did not last long.

Allen, who was in high spirits, quickly became drunk, and the two ended up staying another night.

________________

The Vishken family's main castle was located in the northern part of the continent. Vishken territory occupied more than half of the Northern Continent, one of the four continents.

Of course, that did not mean Vishken's influence was limited to the Northern Continent.

The family's influence extended throughout all four continents, and its strength and authority were powerful enough to rival the Empire.

Allen and Lucas traveled swiftly by carriage for three days.

Because they had already been delayed, they drove the carriage hard, changing horses along the way.

After traveling on and on, far in the distance—

A flag entered Allen's field of vision.

Flutter—

A flag bearing the emblem of a blue sword fluttered above a vast and imposing castle.

As though declaring that no rival to Vishken existed anywhere on the continent, the family's main castle stood tall without even an outer wall surrounding it.

On either side of the road leading to the castle stood statues of the successive heads of the Vishken family.

The Path of the Sword.

This road, which preserved the history of the family's past heads, was one of the symbols of Vishken.

Seeing it brought a thought freshly to mind.

‘I've returned.’

To the family.

Allen's gaze traveled to the end of the line of statues. Then he imagined a statue of himself standing there.

Just dreaming about it made his heart swell with emotion.

After all, becoming the head of Vishken was equivalent to becoming the greatest swordsman on the continent.

But that feeling lasted only a moment.

“Aren't you coming?”

Lucas, who had taken the lead along the Path of the Sword, urged Allen to follow.

Allen did not follow him.

“I'll take the long way around.”

“Go around?”

“I'm not qualified to walk this path.”

Only swordsmen who had successfully completed their missions were permitted to return to the family along the Path of the Sword.

There was an unspoken rule that swordsmen who failed their missions had to take the road around the opposite side of the Path of the Sword.

“That isn't an established rule. Besides, you didn't fail your mission.”

“But I didn't succeed either. And if even the family's lower-ranking swordsmen observe it, how could I disregard it?”

As though unwilling to compromise, Allen took a wide detour around the road.

Lucas sighed at his brother's stubbornness and followed him.

“Why are you coming this way, Brother?”

“My mission was to bring you back safely. Do you think I'd let you go off on your own now?”

“Ah, right. That's true.”

“Honestly, such pointless stubbornness.”

The two went around the back of the Path of the Sword.

Several swordsmen who encountered them returning from their mission were startled and greeted them.

“Welcome back, First Young Master!”

“Congratulations on your safe return!”

Their greetings were directed at Lucas. Although Allen stood right beside him, Lucas was the only one of the two who received their respect.

It was a natural reaction.

An unfortunate soul afflicted with the Curse of Mana Deprivation. A weakling who had failed even his first family mission and been captured by bandits.

At present, Allen was practically invisible within the family.

“This is your current position within the family.”

Lucas reminded him of reality once again.

“Far from being recognized as the family head, you're not even acknowledged as a swordsman. Right now, if you took away the Vishken name, you'd have nothing left.”

“That's wrong.”

“Wrong?”

“The part about having nothing left.”

Allen looked out at the family estate.

‘There's still so much left, isn't there?’

Compared to the future in which he had lost everything, everything still remained here.

His family, his home, the blue sky, and his life.

All of it was still here. Rather than trying to gain something, Allen only wanted to protect what remained.

Lucas looked at Allen with renewed interest.

His younger brother had certainly changed somehow.

It wasn't merely the change that came from overcoming the Curse of Mana Deprivation. Nor was it simply that he had returned to the way he had been in childhood. It felt as though he had become a more profound person altogether.

Allen and Lucas headed straight for the Family Head's Hall.

Swordsmen dressed in white stood in formation before the hall. Dozens of swordsmen wearing identical uniforms, standing perfectly motionless, formed a magnificent sight.

As they approached the Family Head's Hall, Allen greeted one of the swordsmen.

“It's been a while, Uncle Iorga.”

Iorga, commander of the Azure Dragon Corps, which protected the family and guarded the family head.

He was one of the family's most accomplished swordsmen and served as Axion's personal guard.

“I'm glad to see you've returned safely.”

“It's thanks to the family's concern for me.”

“We couldn't very well allow a direct descendant of Vishken to die at the hands of mere bandits.”

“Thank you. I nearly died, but you saved my life.”

Lucas looked puzzled by Allen's reply.

When he had arrived, Allen had already beaten down most of the bandits. He hadn't been seriously injured either, so he probably could have escaped on his own.

If Lucas had simply left him alone, the suppression mission would likely have been a success.

Yet Allen made no effort to reveal any of that.

As though he couldn't care less about such misunderstandings.

Watching him, Lucas realized what the greatest change in Allen was.

It was truly difficult to believe.

But this was something close to the composure of a powerful man.

Allen looked up at the closed doors of the Family Head's Hall.

As he gazed at the doors bearing the family's enormous emblem, intense emotion filled his eyes.

‘Father.’

His father, whom he would be seeing again after several decades.

Just as his heart swelled at the thought of seeing him—

Thump.

Thump, thump, thump.

His heart began beating faster and faster.

Was he really so nervous?

Just as he began to feel that this strange sensation was somewhat excessive—

[The ‘Heart of the Unknown Entity’ has encountered a new fragment.]

[You are witnessing the ‘Third Fragment of the Unknown Entity.’]

The dormant system delivered a new message.