CH 161.1

EPISODE 161.1 – BANQUET OF SWORDS (4)

In Pleaides, there were several titles commonly used by the entire continent.

Great swordmaster, a title referring to a swordsman who had reached the top.

Archwizard, a title for a 6-stars or higher wizard.

The great swordmasters in the Sälen Kingdom were ten in number.

They were called the Ten Great Swordmasters.

Masters of the sword that the Sälen Kingdom were proud of.

There were all strong. It was not an exaggeration to say that they were considered as tactical weapons in war, and were superhumans who had surpassed the limits of a normal human.

But that didn’t mean all of them were the same.

There were those who were superior even among the Ten Great Swordmasters.

‘But they cannot ascertain or prove on who is more superior.’

The reason why was simple.

Because the use of the most reliable verification method was prohibited.

‘The Ten Great Swordmasters cannot fight against each other.’

Each and every one of the Ten Great Swordmasters were valuable tactical weapons.

The damage would be seriously tremendous if any of them were lost.

‘The Ten Great Swordmasters are superhumans.’

If they had a match to determine on who was stronger, and both sides did their best in the fight, one side was bound to be crushed.

They would be destroyed.

‘Because of this reason, it became impossible to directly rank the Ten Great Swordmasters.’

But people did not give up.

After all, it was human instinct to rank those who were stronger.

‘Sword Saint.’

This term referred to swordsmen who had reached the stage of the so-called ‘becoming one with the sword,’ and was particularly used for outstanding great swordmasters.

There were only three among the Ten Great Swordmasters who held the title of Sword Saint, and the number of sword saints in the whole continent had never exceeded ten.

‘Rhun Froud.’

The Sword Saint of Light.

A monster of the sword, who at a young age, rose to the position of great swordmaster and eventually, a sword saint in his early thirties.

He was the strongest swordsman in the Sword School, the pride of Duke Spencer, and it was for this reason that he was called the First Sword as he ranked first in swordsmanship in the Sword School.

‘Some say that he’s the strongest among the Ten Great Swordmasters, but…’

That was still something unknown.

Fights among the Ten Great Swordmasters were forbidden.

‘Even in the game, none of the Ten Great Swordmasters fought with each other.’

But if Jude had to give a reason on why he wanted to know on what was unknown, and excluded a bit of his own interest in it, the reason would be…

‘Because my father belonged to the Ten Great Swordmasters.’

Count Bayer.

A swordsman who was a great swordmaster.

Jude unknowingly made a bitter smile and saw what was in front of him again.

Before he knew it, their distance from Rhun Froud had narrowed.

‘The Sword Saint of Light.’

A handsome man with long dark blue hair who seemed to have come out of a beautiful painting.

But he didn’t have a beautiful face that could be mistaken for a woman like the Ghostblade Kamael. Neither was he a cheerful guy with a masculine and bold appearance like Landius.

To describe him, he was a handsome man with a sharp look.

However, he didn’t give off a cold impression because of his business smile and the playfulness that lingered in his eyes.

Rather, Rhun Froud was like the neighborhood older guy one was familiar with.

“Yo!”

He approached them like those good-for-nothing neighborhood guys as he slightly raised his hand and greeted them, gathering the attention of everyone who were looking elsewhere.

“Nice to meet you all.”

It could be said that First Sword’s sudden appearance and greeting confused the prospects from the north and south, but not for the prospects from the royal capital.

Because they already knew that the man who had just appeared in front of them was none other than Rhun Froud, the Sword Saint of Light.

“I greet the Sword Saint of Light.”

“It’s a pleasure to meet the Sword Saint of Light.”

As the prospects from the center courteously greeted him almost at the same time, the prospects from the north and south also hurriedly rose from their seats and respectfully greeted him.

For those who walked the path of the sword, the Ten Great Swordmasters were people they envied, but among these great swordmasters, the First Sword was special.

‘Because he is young.’

He achieved the title of great swordmaster much earlier than others, and even climbed to the position of sword saint.

A young genius.

He was a person who shined like his nickname ‘Sword Saint of Light.’

And he was a very handsome guy too.

Like young fans who had met the idol singer they admired, all the prospects looked at him with sparkling eyes and blushing faces, and some of them even felt dizzy.

But Jude didn’t act like that.

The same was true for Cordelia.

And that fact once again stimulated First Sword’s curiosity.

He brightly smiled as he walked past Lucian, who didn’t know what to do and was wondering if he should talk to the First Sword or walk away.

‘Here he comes.’

First Sword.

The key solution they needed to prevent the genocide of the royal family.

‘We need to get close to him.’

They did not need to control the First Sword.

They only needed one thing from him.

They needed the First Sword to attend the founding celebration. In the game, he was not present at the ball, so they needed to somehow make him stay in the royal palace now.

That was enough.

‘Of course, it would be nice if he helped us further.’

The best scenario was to have the First Sword defeat the Lord Protector.

So Jude made a friendly smile, but it was only for a short moment. His eyes soon turned ice-cold unknowingly.

Because the First Sword who was walking towards Jude had suddenly turned to Cordelia.

“Your beauty is truly like that of a rose. I am called Rhun Froud. May I know milady’s name?”

First Sword gently kissed the back of Cordelia’s hand and smiled softly, making Cordelia blush a bit.

Even if his lines were nothing but foolish remarks, First Sword’s handsome face and sweet voice made his words sound beautiful, and it was the first time Cordelia had received this kind of greeting from a man other than Jude.

‘Come to think of it, why is this my first time?’

I’m the daughter of a count, right?

At the time Cordelia was lost in her thoughts again…

“I am Jude Bayer from the family of Count Bayer. This is Lady Cordelia Chase, my fiancée.”

When Jude suddenly stood next to Cordelia and greeted naturally, Cordelia blinked her eyes before she widely smiled.

“I am Cordelia Chase from the family of Count Chase. It’s an honor to meet the Sword Saint of Light.”

Jude had told her that they had to get close to the First Sword.

So Cordelia thought that she should do what she could.

When she responded with a bright smile, First Sword broadly smiled again and then turned to Jude before he lightly laughed.

“Sorry, sorry. I’ve also heard of the rumors. You could say I wanted to tease you a bit? Of course, Lady Cordelia was so beautiful… I really thought she was an angel from heaven, so I wanted to talk to her.”

At First Sword’s words, the prospects also lightly laughed as if they found it funny, and Jude laughed too as he thought.

‘It will be difficult.’

To become friends with him.

No, it will be easy to get acquainted to him, but that’s it.

“Hahaha, please do forgive me. The love you two shared for each other was so great that rumors of it had even spread to the royal capital. I was quite impressed.”

“Thank…you.”

“Hahaha…thank you.”

Jude and Cordelia answered a bit awkwardly, and First Sword took a step back instead of pushing his teasing further.

As a great swordmaster, he was well-aware of the importance of not overdoing it.

“There are actually a lot of reasons on why I’m interested. But since your situation has ended up like this, how about I resolve this first? So that you won’t have to go through anything like this again.”

He finished his words with a wink, and turned to the prospects before Jude and Cordelia could say anything.

“My young friends, all of us who have gathered here are prospects who are talented in the sword, except for Lady Cordelia here. Generally speaking, this is a bit strange, right?”

Some of the prospects exclaimed in agreement with the First Sword.

Because when they thought about it, he was right.

Everyone who were invited to the Banquet of Swords was a swordsman, and among those swordsmen, only prospects whose talents were recognized had been invited.

There had never been a case where a fiancée of a prospect was invited, and Duke Spencer was not the kind of person who would accept uninvited guests without a proper reason.

“Then why did this happen? Why was Lady Cordelia invited by Duke Spencer?”

At the words of the First Sword who talked like a storyteller in the street, the prospects looked at each other.

Lorraine, Lucian’s fiancée, was a swordswoman.

She was also an excellent swordswoman who was promising enough to be invited to the Banquet of Swords.

Then why was Cordelia here?

Just as the First Sword said, why was she, a wizard, here?

“Lady Cordelia, have you started practicing swordsmanship?”

When Lucas asked with his eyes wide open, the prospects around Lucas turned to him, wondering on what he was saying.

They would indeed act like that because Cordelia was a wizard.

‘Is the Banquet of Swords a joke?’

‘I know that Lord Lucas has a bit of a stupid side, but this is a little…’

Everyone looked at Lucas badly, but Lucas was serious.

‘Because Lady Cordelia is a combat genius.’

He had already witnessed that talent in the Witch’s Forest.

With that much talent, it would have been possible for her to become a great swordswoman.

“Lady Cordelia?”

“N-no. I haven’t learned swordsmanship yet.”

She had only learned footwork techniques and bare-handed fighting from Jude.

Cordelia denied it, and Lucas fell into thought again. First Sword then smiled and clapped his hands to draw everyone’s attention to him again.

“I would love to see Lady Cordelia as a beautiful female swordsman, but that’s for a later story. First of all, there is a reason on why she was invited.”

First Sword said and suddenly turned to Jude who nodded his head.

Because he kind of knew what the First Sword would say.

“I’ll talk about it since the parties involved have given their permission. Jude and Cordelia here have made a very big contribution.

Thanks to the Seven-Colored Herb that they helped obtain, His Excellency, Duke Spencer, was freed from his longtime chronic illness. In other words, Mr. Jude Bayer and Lady Cordelia Chase are His Excellency, the Duke of Spencer’s guests.

They’re also friends of Princess Darianne. If I may add to this… His Excellency, Duke Spencer, is also thinking of personally backing the two.”

At his playfully said words, the prospects were unable to laugh or talk like before.

The meritorious deeds that Jude and Cordelia had done.

Their acquaintance with Princess Darianne.

In addition, the personal backing of Duke Spencer.

Duke Spencer was famous for not forgetting to repay the ingratitude done by his enemies.

He was someone who paid back ten times more.

If Duke Spencer felt indebted to Jude and Cordelia, then they could no longer say anything.

‘We touched them wrong.’

‘It’s a relief that they’re okay, right?’

The prospects from the royal capital looked back at Lucian, and Lucian and Lorraine looked pale as they had similar thoughts.

If they had crushed a guest Duke Spencer had brought in as his benefactor, if they had made a cut on his face as originally planned…

“Aren’t you glad that Mr. Jude Bayer is strong?”

First Sword said with a smile, but his eyes were not smiling.

Lucian barely nodded with a pale face, and First Sword looked back at Jude.

“Now, I’ve resolved it.”

“…Thank you.”

Jude answered with a fairly exhausted face, and First Sword smiled again.

“Cornwell had said to me. He met someone really talented. So I asked him, ‘Did you see him fight?’, and he said no, so I kicked him on the butt. But now I know. Why Cornwell said that.”

First Sword’s eyes did not smile again this time.

His smart-looking brown eyes was seen under his dark blue hair.

Just as Landius recognized Jude’s talent at a glance, First Sword also recognized Jude’s talent.

Furthermore, unlike the time when Jude encountered Landius, Jude had now opened the fifth door and even undergone metamorphosis.

“It’s hard to believe that until half a year ago, you were suffering from Gueumjulmaek.”

First Sword spoke as if he was talking to himself, and before Jude and Cordelia could even say anything, he took the initiative and opened his arms wide, turning around exaggeratedly as he said.

“Anyway, the Banquet of Swords begins now. In the first place, the Banquet of Swords was designed to broaden the experience of young prospects. So don’t get involved in useless stuff and try to learn as much as you can in tomorrow’s tournament. Do you understand?”

“Yes! We understand!”

“We accept the First Sword’s words.”

When some of the prospects loudly answered but not at the same time, the satisfied First Sword turned to Jude.

“The Banquet of Swords had been held again after several years because of the duke’s health recovering. Moreover, nobles from all over the country have gathered because of the founding anniversary this time. This will probably be the best Banquet of Swords ever in terms of size. That is why I heard that the tournament prize they have prepared is great.”

The prospects here weren’t the only ones attending the Banquet of Swords.

Some prospects had yet to arrive, while others were resting in their rooms instead of joining the tea party.

“There’s a lot of good things that you’ll want, and it’s not just the 1st prize, so don’t give up in advance. Do you understand?”

“Yes! We understand!”

First Sword nodded in satisfaction upon hearing the answers that were more unified than before, and he looked at Jude again and said.

“See you then tomorrow, Super Rookie.”

“We’ll see you tomorrow too.”

“See you tomorrow.”

Jude and Cordelia reflexively answered, and First Sword smiled again before he turned around and left the garden.

Although he was the Sword Saint of Light, he was a man that felt like a gale blowing wildly.

‘Today is mentally draining.’

‘I agree.’

Jude and Cordelia briefly exchanged glances, and the chaotic tea party eventually ended.