Chapter 5

Chapter 5

The Swordsmanship Genius Who Transcends Through a Pact Chapter 5

“Young Master, now, please...”

“Hoo, already done?”

“I-I can't anymore...”

After nearly half a day of sparring with the soldiers.

[You have successfully completed your Pact with the Sturdy Northern Iron Sword (Normal).]

‘Right, I should check that now.’

I'd been so focused that I'd forgotten for a moment.

[You have acquired ‘Cold Heart (C+)’!]

‘This is?’

It was one of the skills I'd been aiming for.

Apparently, forming Pacts with northern swords granted related skills.

[Cold Heart (C+)]

[Rank: Normal]

[Description: A warrior's heart remains cold at all times. Grants resistance to mental effects.]

I nodded as I read the description.

It was the same Normal-grade resistance skill from the game.

Better than nothing, but it was another skill with a poor reputation.

‘Using it myself might be different.’

Frost Step had been like that, and so had Northern Swordsmanship.

What mattered wasn't how they performed in the game, but how they worked when actually used.

I lightly sheathed my sword and looked over the soldiers.

“Good work, everyone.”

“Not at all!”

The soldiers answered with smiles despite the wounds all over them.

After training together continuously for the past few days, I'd grown fairly close to them.

“Oh, really?”

“Y-Yes, that's right! Good work! Just please, no more sparring...”

Or maybe not?

“Keep working hard from now on.”

“I think it would be all right if you took things a little easier yourself, Young Master...”

The moment I gripped my sword hilt at the soldier's joke, he immediately fled under the excuse of training, making me laugh.

‘Once I can handle mana...’

Of course, this was completely different from the training I'd done so far.

Moving my body and learning swordsmanship were things even people in my old world could do, but awakening to mana was like acquiring an entirely new sense.

Naturally, the difficulty couldn't even be compared to everything I'd done until now.

‘Which makes it more fun.’

Accomplishing something you know you can do, versus succeeding at something that seems impossible.

There was no need to ask which brought the greater sense of accomplishment.

Just as I was about to head toward Tarian to test Cold Heart.

“Ian.”

“...?”

“I need to speak with you for a moment.”

My brother suddenly appeared.

Seeing the unusual expression on his face, I glanced around.

“Is it urgent?”

“It's something you should know about as well.”

“Understood.”

At his serious expression, I calmly followed him.

We arrived at the family's conference room.

There, along with my brother, were Tarian and the captain of the soldiers, both wearing equally grave expressions.

“What happened? Why does everyone look so serious?”

“May I explain?”

The captain stepped forward.

What he told me was simple.

“So, a dungeon appeared outside the territory?”

“Yes. It seems the recent monster attacks were caused by it.”

“The newly appeared dungeon displaced the monsters from their habitats?”

“That's correct.”

At the sudden mention of a dungeon, I glanced at Tarian and my brother.

Both looked troubled.

I thought seriously as well, then came to my conclusion.

“Isn't that actually a good thing?”

“...”

A brief silence followed.

But I saw an opportunity instead.

‘A dungeon.’

One of the many forms of content in Last Savior.

Clearing one successfully could yield all kinds of rewards.

‘So this is actually perfect.’

Among Last Savior's various forms of content, dungeons leaned heavily toward character growth.

I knew about many events that would occur, but since this was five years before the game began, plenty of them wouldn't have happened yet.

And dungeons often appeared spontaneously during gameplay like this, which made them difficult to locate.

‘The ones that existed from the beginning were hellishly difficult, too.’

Which meant a newly formed dungeon was actually a stroke of good luck.

“Well, it's true that it's already causing harm to the territory, and it's an unknown space. But as long as we clear it, isn't that enough?”

“Hmm.”

Cain began thinking seriously.

I understood his hesitation.

After all, from my brother's perspective, there was no telling what might emerge from the dungeon.

‘That's how they're designed.’

No one knows what a newly formed dungeon contains.

I'd lost plenty of characters trying to clear dungeons without information.

Because of that, I'd developed a habit of memorizing every dungeon I'd visited and looking up information about them on the community.

‘Anyway, a dungeon in the North.’

I calmly searched my memories.

Perhaps because of the massive invasion, the North had definitely contained plenty of dungeons.

There had been so many that I had to think for a while before remembering which rewards came from which one.

‘Given the location, there's only one possibility.’

That was enough for me to be certain.

“Let's clear it.”

“From the look of you, I suppose you intend to go yourself.”

His immediate observation made me feel a little awkward.

Because he was right.

‘I want to test myself.’

I'd trained several skills up to now.

Instead of treating them as mere skills, I'd practiced them until they became my own.

“Sir Tarian did say I needed practical experience.”

“...”

My brother looked toward Tarian as though asking whether that was really true, and Tarian continued.

“It is indeed a good opportunity, but it will be dangerous.”

“Sure. If I went alone.”

Tarian's contract was entirely related to my education.

He wasn't a retainer of the territory. He'd come here purely as my swordsmanship instructor.

“You're not planning to miss your student's first real battle, are you?”

“...”

“Hmm. True. If Sir Tarian accompanies you, there shouldn't be a problem.”

My brother and the captain glanced toward Tarian, evidently aware that my argument was somewhat forced.

But I was certain he'd accept.

‘Don't pretend you don't enjoy this. It's fun, isn't it?’

Honestly, I'd already gotten a vague sense of it on the very first day.

Every time I refused to give up and threw myself against another wall, his eyes practically lit up.

‘Maybe he's expecting something from me.’

Not that I particularly cared.

The only thing I knew for certain was that he wouldn't refuse.

“We should see how much you've grown.”

“Understood.”

His tone was blunt, but his agreement came quickly.

“Then I'll prepare immediately.”

“There is no need to rush. The report only came in today.”

“Ah.”

“You've changed quite a lot after training so diligently.”

I shrugged as my brother looked at me.

“Yes, I have.”

“I said this before, but it's good to see.”

“Then I'll have to show you even more from now on.”

“Haha. As I've always said, just don't push yourself too hard.”

Seeing my brother speak with that gentle smile, I reaffirmed my resolve.

At the very least, I couldn't allow House Rashid to be destroyed.

‘Not that...’

I'd ever intended to.

* * *

Time passed quickly.

Now that I had a new goal, the thought of sitting still never even crossed my mind.

“Hoo.”

In the meantime, I continued training.

And it wasn't only training to awaken mana.

I continued testing Northern Swordsmanship and Frost Step, which had already neared mastery, along with Cold Heart, while also completing more Pacts.

‘This isn't easy.’

As time passed, the conditions of the Pacts grew increasingly difficult.

Even while they began focusing more heavily on sparring, I refused to neglect stamina and strength training.

‘At least I've built up real strength now.’

I'd already felt it myself, but both my strength and stamina had reached the point where I could overwhelm most ordinary soldiers.

Of course, that wasn't all.

I also continued working on sensing mana.

‘A sensation I've never experienced before.’

Mana was something I'd only ever encountered in games, so trying to actually feel it made it difficult to even know where to begin.

As a result, sensing mana and internalizing magical power took comparatively longer.

“This isn't easy.”

“Once you find the knack for it, I'm sure you'll manage quickly.”

I shrugged at Tarian, who had started looking at me like some kind of monster.

These days, I genuinely wondered what he thought I was.

“You say I'll manage quickly. Just how highly are you evaluating me?”

“Your current skill is already equal to, or above, that of an average Sword Beginner.”

“But I still can't sense mana.”

“You'll manage eventually anyway, won't you?”

I snorted with laughter at that.

Sword Beginner, the stage where someone had begun using a sword in earnest.

Once you could manipulate mana, you advanced one stage higher and became a Sword User.

And Tarian himself was a knight at the upper reaches of Sword Expert.

Honestly, even with the handicap he'd given himself, the fact that I'd managed to land a clean hit on him in a single day was still hard to believe.

‘Maybe I'm more talented than I thought?’

The thought crossed my mind, but I immediately shook my head.

Getting carried away by empty confidence was a good way to ruin yourself.

Besides, aside from a handful of families, the real geniuses were mostly gathered in the central regions.

That was obvious when I thought about the number of future Sword Masters and Archmages, not to mention monsters like the Sword Masters serving directly under the imperial family.

So for now, my goal should be standing shoulder to shoulder with Tarian.

And eventually surpassing him.

“Anyway, preparations should be about done.”

“I've heard that the personnel assignments regarding the expedition are complete as well.”

“He really is thorough about things like this.”

“He is a good lord.”

I readily nodded at Tarian's assessment of my brother.

Cain Rashid really was an excellent lord.

Someone far too capable to waste away in a small northern territory like this.

And across both my past and present lives, he was the only family member who genuinely cared for me.

‘So I have to save him.’

The more talented people I could gather, the better.

That included Tarian standing right in front of me, and I intended to collect the talented people scattered throughout the North as well.

‘Everything is for survival.’

Stopping the massive northern invasion and the other apocalypses would require extensive preparation.

With that thought, I calmly considered which dungeon might exist around this time.

Since the North became demonized not long after the game began, I had to dig somewhat deeper into my memories.

‘The Tomb of the Ancient Warriors.’

If you'd played the game normally, it was a dungeon you wouldn't visit until much later.

Which also meant House Rashid had originally failed to clear it.

‘They probably couldn't even attempt it. Tarian wouldn't have been here, and Brother, as the head of the family, couldn't exactly move personally.’

The enemies inside were exactly what the name suggested: ancient northern warriors.

In the future, the entire place became demonized, and I remembered it as a dungeon with considerable difficulty.

‘But that's not the case right now.’

This was long before the game began, and naturally, the North was still intact.

Which meant there was no need to worry about demonization yet.

In other words, we could clear the dungeon at a much lower difficulty than in the future.

‘There's no way I'm passing this up.’

No matter how I looked at it, this opportunity was too good to waste.

My steps grew lighter as I looked around.

“Let's leave as soon as the soldiers finish preparing.”

“Understood.”

With Tarian obediently following behind, I headed straight to my brother.

Perhaps because he'd had an even harder time over the past few days, Cain Rashid's expression looked darker than before.

Between the excessive workload and suddenly having to organize this expedition, he looked quite exhausted.

I felt a slight pang of guilt, but pushed it aside for now.

“Brother.”

I could always repay all of this after striking it rich.

The rewards from this dungeon consisted of weapons, and not just one or two, but quite a large number.

‘The most important one among them is Frostfang.’

I already had plenty of weapons for forming Pacts, but I lacked a proper sword to use as my main weapon.

My standing might still be too low to form a Pact with it, but there was no harm in securing a good sword ahead of time.

“Ian, you're here. Are you planning to leave now?”

“Yes. We should.”

“All right. Please be careful. Don't get hurt.”

“Don't worry. I'll come back safely.”

“Please do.”

“When I return, I'd like a grand banquet.”

“What? Ha, you little rascal.”

My brother placed a hand on my shoulder as he spoke and looked at me.

I couldn't tell exactly what emotion lay deep in his expression, but I understood one thing.

‘I'd better finish this quickly and come back.’

Then this man could finally catch his breath too.

“You guys again?”

“Young Master is going, so of course we have to follow.”

“Besides, where else will you find soldiers as capable as us?”

“Captain, isn't it because of the bonus...”

“H-Hey, shut up.”

“Really?”

I chuckled as I looked over the soldiers accompanying me.

They were familiar faces.

Most were men I'd often seen while training Frost Step, which made me much more comfortable.

“You guys must've enjoyed rolling around with me.”

“Ah, well, that part is a little...”

“A soldier talking back?”

“Sorry, sir!”

“Do your best.”

Exchanging jokes, I led them toward the castle gate.

The residents of the outer ward watched us with worried eyes, so I gave them a casual wave.

‘This is something.’

It was an emotion I'd never experienced while playing the game.

Growing close to the soldiers.

And accepting Cain as my brother.

Neither was something I'd ever imagined happening.

‘I didn't expect things to change this much in such a short time.’

I remembered my old life, when I'd had no family at all.

Back then, I'd been forced to do whatever it took.

But now, the feeling was a little different.

There were people here who acknowledged me when I succeeded.

“You seem to be in a good mood, Young Master.”

“Well, I don't feel bad.”

“Is that so?”

Tarian looked at me with mild puzzlement, and I shrugged before quickening my pace.

Winters in the North were cold.

Recent snowfall had even made traveling by horse difficult.

Naturally, a forced march awaited us.

-Ugh, it's cramped!

-Let me out already!

Of course, even during the march, I didn't forget my sword training.

Clearing the dungeon was important, but becoming stronger was even more important.

Which meant I had to continue squeezing in training whenever possible.

“May I ask you something?”

“What?”

“You're always switching between different weapons. Is there a reason?”

Tarian seemed genuinely curious, and I thought for a moment.

“I just haven't found one that fits my hand yet.”

“I see. Then perhaps we should make preparations regarding that as well.”

“It's fine. Something will work out.”

I waved dismissively at his words.

There was no need to tell him I was about to obtain a new weapon anyway.

‘It would be nice if I could advance to the next stage while I'm at it.’

Every skill I'd obtained so far was Normal-grade.

To acquire the next level of skills, I needed to raise my standing another stage.

‘I don't even need Epic.’

Even Rare would let me grow at least twice as fast as I was now.

I could only hope this coming battle would become the stepping stone I needed.

“Young Master, demonic beasts.”

Before we'd even fully left House Rashid's territory, enemies appeared.

They resembled some enormous cross between bears and wolves.

Snowfield Wolfbears, pack hunters infamous enough to be called newbie killers.

That was supposed to be the case...

Slash─

With a light swing of my sword, the Wolfbear's head flew through the air.

“Why was that so easy?”

-That's it! Blood! I want more blood!

[Hunt demonic beasts with the Blood-Crazed Training Iron Sword (Normal)]

[1/50]

“What's with this sword's name...?”

Questions kept piling up.