Chapter 164: Chapter 164: Mondegreen (2)

The Jet-Black Sword was the nickname of Sword Master Mondegreen. It was because the sword he used was black.

This was a disaster. A serious one at that.

On the other hand, I felt wronged.

Who could have predicted that the sword I picked up without thinking back then would cause such a butterfly effect?

Is this even possible? Even considering the probabilities.

It’s hard to believe that a Sword Master’s disciple died alone in a remote desert.

‘And to think we’d meet a Sword Master on the way after picking up his disciple’s sword…’

Mondegreen looked at us with cold eyes. It made my skin crawl to the point where my hair stood on end.

Even though it was midday in the desert, it felt like walking on thin ice.

It felt like his sword would fly at us if we made even the slightest wrong move.

“There’s a misunderstanding.”

I stepped forward with my hands raised. I signaled with my eyes for the others to step back.

The words I spoke were more careful than ever before. If I said the wrong thing, we’d die right here.

“A misunderstanding?”

“We just found a corpse in the desert. It was a few days’ journey southwest of Sonora.”

I quickly continued speaking while watching his reaction.

Even with Denif and me here, we had no chance of winning against a Sword Master.

Moreover, with the distance between us so close, it was even more so. Escape was impossible too.

Not because of my companions, but physically.

Hadn’t I failed to shake off Rudehrn’s pursuit even in my best condition? A Sword Master was on a whole other level.

“We did take the sword, but he was already dead. And we buried him.”

“Why did you take the sword?”

“We thought it was an excellent sword and figured a swordsman who used such a sword would want it to be used properly as a sword.”

It was an excuse I came up with quickly. I wasn’t sure if it would work even if the other party was a Sword Master.

People usually think of themselves and others separately.

If it was someone unrelated to Mondegreen, he might have said it was natural, but this was his disciple’s sword.

But I couldn’t think of any other excuse at the moment.

Mondegreen looked me up and down. His fierce gaze moved past me to my companions.

‘I hope his judgment is sound.’

I hoped Mondegreen wasn’t in a state of losing his composure.

Looking at our group, we don’t appear to be people who would do bad things.

Of course, appearances aren’t everything.

Mondegreen would know that too. But maybe we could still have a conversation. The tension was rising.

“Hmm…”

Mondegreen let out a hum without any change in expression. Two seconds passed in silence.

There was a change in his eyes. I tensed my muscles.

“You seem to know who I am.”

“That’s right. You’re the Jet-Black Sword, aren’t you?”

“Then I should hear the details.”

His words were sharp. I quickly drew my sword and shouted.

“Step back!”

As I drew my sword, Mondegreen’s sword was already in front of my eyes. I twisted my waist and swung my sword upwards.

Clang-!

The sound of metal rang in my ears. My body was roughly pushed back. The impact was beyond imagination.

Of course, it had to be different from before.

I wasn’t in top condition today, and this fight wasn’t just a friendly sparring match.

“Carlyn!”

Denif, who had rushed forward at full speed, blocked the opening created as I was thrown back.

He had come forward, opposite to the retreating group.

This was precious time Denif had bought. I quickly readjusted my stance.

Even Denif could barely hold out for two exchanges. It’s dangerous. I kicked the ground with all my might.

‘Damn it.’

The meaning behind his action of drawing his sword while saying he wanted to hear the details was clear. He meant to subdue us first and then torture us. Ȑ

It seemed he judged that we deliberately took a submissive attitude knowing his identity.

I don’t think a Sword Master knows much about torture. Would he just inflict pain without damaging the body?

That’s unlikely.

Whether cutting off fingers, cutting off hands and feet, or stabbing the body somewhere with a sword. There was a high probability of leaving aftereffects.

None of us deserved such treatment.

‘What should I do?’

For now, I’m barely blocking, but I don’t think I can beat a Sword Master.

That’s impossible.

The Jet-Black Sword Mondegreen.

He’s someone I don’t know that well. A wanderer. I’ve encountered him a few times, but he acted as he pleased.

In other words, he was an unpredictable person.

But I can’t win either. Maybe it would be better to just submit.

‘Because a Sword Master is a calamity.’

We might unnecessarily provoke his anger by resisting when we know we can’t match him.

However, there’s no guarantee we’d get out alive even if we submitted.

I couldn’t make a decision quickly.

It was hard even to keep my thoughts straight amidst the exchanging sword strikes. It felt like he was toying with us.

‘Oh no…’

A sword was in front of my eyes. I struck the back of my head with Winds. My head bent unnaturally. The sword grazed past.

I dodged, but the Sword Energy was sharp.

Not only was a part of my hair cut off, but the Sword Energy reached my ear.

A burning sensation. It was fortunate that my ear wasn’t cut off.

‘Damn it.’

At that moment, Rudehrn’s sword flashed in my mind. The memory of that time was still vivid.

I thought that maybe a Sword Master’s swordsmanship would work against another Sword Master.

There was no time. I immediately imitated it. The swordsmanship of Rudehrn that had created waves.

I didn’t expect to recreate it perfectly. But rather than submitting to a predetermined outcome, I put everything into this one move.

It was a fight where we were being pushed back moment by moment anyway. Wounds were being carved into Denif’s body too.

‘Waves…’

Moonlight moved heavily and massively from behind my back. Although it didn’t suit Moonlight…

It was my best move in my own way.

But was it the difference in the person executing it? My feeble wave was blocked all too easily.

“…?”

But no follow-up attack came. Only the sound of Denif’s and my rough breathing could be heard.

Although it was an extremely short battle, it was hard to catch our breath. Mondegreen was looking at me with surprised eyes.

“You, did you learn swordsmanship from Rudehrn?”

This wasn’t something I had planned, but…

Maybe, there might be hope.

***

“What kind of relationship did you have with Rudehrn?”

Under a somewhat calmer atmosphere, we were facing Mondegreen under the blazing sun.

He was looking at us with a much more composed face. There was also a hint of slight discomfort visible.

Given the Jet-Black Sword’s personality, he would have been the type to knock us down and get answers while pointing his sword at us.

Or maybe he was worried about making things awkward with Rudehrn by touching me.

“I’m not Lord Rudehrn’s disciple, but I have received teachings through sparring.”

“Hmm…”

“To be honest, we’re not very close. Lord Rudehrn saw me and said I had talent, so he sparred with me, that’s all.”

“That bothersome guy?”

Mondegreen tilted his head. Well, he was someone who called for a sparring match and then made me wait for quite a while before actually calling me.

Although he showed a different side during the war, it seemed Mondegreen knew about that personality too. I held back my words.

“Well. You and your friend do have enough talent to receive that level of teaching.”

It was a compliment, but I kept watching his reaction carefully. I wasn’t sure what his intention was in saying this.

“If that guy gave you a sparring match, it means your character isn’t too bad…”

“It’s just as I told you earlier. Look at us. We’re not the type of people who would do such a thing.”

“Appearances don’t help in judgment. You should know that too.”

I chose to keep my mouth shut. Tsk, Mondegreen clicked his tongue and spoke again.

“Why did you come to this desert and how did you end up there?”

I pointed at Namir.

“I’m in the process of forming a mercenary group. While recruiting people, I happened to hear about this friend and came looking for him.”

“You came all the way to this desert just to recruit one person?”

“If the skills I heard about were true, it was a distance worth coming.”

“…Is that true?”

Mondegreen tilted his head and asked Namir.

“Yes. If you ask about Namir of Sonora in this desert, I’m confident that few people wouldn’t know me.”

I immediately continued.

“The reason we ended up where your disciple’s… body was, is because Namir said he needed to get a scorpion’s tail for his brother before leaving.”

“A scorpion’s tail?”

“Yes. My brother still doesn’t have a child…”

Namir immediately picked up where I left off. We were in sync. Well, it was the truth anyway.

“Is your brother that weak?”

Slightly taken aback by this unexpected comment that didn’t fit the atmosphere, Namir scratched the back of his head.

“Well… he’s a good person.”

“Hmm.”

I wonder how many times I’ve heard this sound in this short time. The good thing is that his hostility has decreased significantly.

He tapped the hilt of his sword.

“It doesn’t seem to be a lie.”

“It’s all true.”

“But.”

The Sword Master looked at me.

“During the fight earlier, you were using the power of the wind.”

As expected of a Sword Master, he noticed right away. It was fortunate that Denif didn’t use sand.

In fact, it wasn’t even at a level to be used in actual combat yet.

“It’s my mystic.”

The fortunate fact here is that the Empire hasn’t spoken about my mystic yet.

Rudehrn would certainly have reported it.

I’m not sure of the exact reason, but it’s not a particularly strange thing.

It’s probably for the sake of their own face. Even though religion has lost a lot of power, many people still believe in the God of Light.

Those who believe in the God of Light think that Mystic Power was given by God.

They had made me out to be a huge trash by declaring me as Devil’s Blood, so they probably didn’t want to mention that fact.

‘It wouldn’t make much difference even if I said I use Winds anyway.’

It might just cause unnecessary panic and strange reports if people hear that strong winds are blowing.

Mondegreen stroked his chin.

“Even if all that is true, it’s still a bit annoying that you took my disciple’s sword.”

“A sword of that caliber and belonging to a disciple of the Jet-Black Sword, he definitely wouldn’t have wanted his sword to be buried in the sand.”

“It’s annoying because what you’re saying isn’t wrong. Tch.”

Mondegreen clicked his tongue loudly.

“I don’t think tormenting you guys would make me feel any better.”

“We thank you for your leniency and apologize for touching it carelessly. As for the news of your disciple… we’re sorry.”

“I understand about earlier. I almost lost my mind when I saw my disciple’s sword.”

So it’s going to pass like this. I let out a sigh of relief.

All of this was because of Rudehrn’s swordsmanship. I felt grateful once again for his sparring and my memory.

“By the way, you said you buried him in the desert?”

“Yes.”

“Do you know where?”

“Are you going there?”

“My disciple died, of course I have to go.”

In fact, this too was incredibly fortunate. After Denif had passed the sword to Aron, Aron had expressed concern.

Originally, we were just going to leave the body as it was.

-Even though he gave me the sword, is it okay for me to bury him?

That’s why we buried him next to the stone pillar while normalizing the path. At that time, I said it was unnecessary effort.

Who knew it would come in handy like this.

I wanted to shower Aron with praise, telling him he did well. Of course, the situation didn’t allow for it.

I immediately took out a map. Not the treasure map given by Toun Zaha, but a separate map I had drawn.

There might be a time when we need to come back here.

Since we have Denif who can control sand, if we find a use for the glowing stones, we can come back just for those.

“It’s here. When you go there, you’ll see 7 stone pillars. We buried him right next to the pillars on the west side.”

“How did you bury him?”

“Since he died in the desert, we followed desert customs, wrapping the body in cloth and burying it in the sand.”

“If I find anything strange when I see my disciple’s body…”

Mondegreen’s voice regained its strength.

“You will die.”

“Don’t worry. That won’t happen.”

I spoke confidently. Mondegreen, who was looking into my eyes, nodded and continued.

“Then guide me there.”

I had a feeling it might come to this, but is this how it ends up? I let out a small sigh internally.

I didn’t want to. We need to go to Chenarus, and this will delay our schedule by more than a week.

But we had no choice. If we refuse, we’ll be cut down right here.

I calmly nodded.

“Yes. Of course.”

Mondegreen patted my shoulder.

“In return, I’ll take a look at your swordsmanship during that time. If what you say is true, I might have treated you a bit roughly.”

Huh? If that’s the case, it changes things. I looked at Denif, and Denif looked at me.

His eyes were full of excitement.

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