An extraordinary start, to say the least. That was Lace's reaction to Ludwig's post.

Creating a registered account the moment he logged on was remarkable enough, but he had even used his real name. All the more astonishing considering that a registered username could never be changed.

More shocking still, he had shown his face to verify his identity. Most people verified themselves by writing their names on paper, but Ludwig had put his face on full display.

"... Commander."

"Speak."

"Are you aware that quite a lot of people know your face?"

If he hadn't been famous, this might have ended as a minor incident.

Ludwig was a soldier through and through. He knew nothing about the forum. Other people might at least have heard a little about it, but he had devoted himself solely to martial arts. Normally, his face should only have been familiar within the Holy Kingdom—and even then, only among the Paladins.

"I do not believe I am that well known."

"You showed your face when the Hero fled, remember? Everyone will know it after that."

"I see. I only read the papers occasionally."

"Sigh. At least write something in the comments. No use crying over spilled milk."

After the Hero's escape, Ludwig had been forced into the public eye. He was the teacher who had instructed the Hero in martial arts, as well as all manner of other knowledge.

They had dragged him to trial, claiming the goddess had delivered her ominous prophecy because he had instilled subversive 'ideas' in her. In the process, his face had appeared in the press, and the various testimonies had all but forced celebrity upon him.

'But is this safe? Surely someone is monitoring the forum in real time.'

Lace glanced out the carriage window.

The investigation team included not just paladins but personnel ostensibly there to support them. Support in name only—they were an oversight team. The pope's faction had sent them to prevent any misbehavior.

There was no reason those people wouldn't use the forum too. They must have seen Ludwig's post.

SCRITCH, SCRATCH.

Meanwhile, Ludwig scribbled something in a notebook. He stared at the paper, then put it away again.

Watching him, Lace opened the forum and went to the post he had just written.

└I've seen that guy's face in the newspaper. Didn't he testify during the Hero escape incident?

└Probably? His first name is pretty common, but the surname matches too.

└Isn't this just a roleplay account? Looks like someone threw it together in a rush because Grylls was offering a gift.

└You can say that after seeing his face? lol

└If you really want to verify yourself, you need to write your name and the date on paper.

└LudwigVanErold (Photo of a piece of paper with a name and date) Will this suffice?

└Wow. He's actually legit lmao

└They put him on the investigation team? I thought that was just a rumor...

└Those Holy Kingdom fuckers really are purging everyone they don't like lmao

└And then they go, 'It's not a purge, it's an investigation' lol

└Lmao they weren't killed, they're just listed as missing lol

└Don't Abandon the Hero Why is Mr. Ludwig...? Why was he assigned to the investigation team?

└LudwigVanErold I received orders. That is all.

└Don't Abandon the Hero I see. Understood.

└What's with the admin all of a sudden? Didn't they used to put an exclamation mark after every sentence?

└Yeah. Wasn't there talk about them being a former paladin?

└Ludwig's an instructor for the Paladins. He trained the Hero too.

└Must have mixed feelings about this.

He had laid everything out in the open. Lace stifled a hollow laugh.

But what difference did saying it make? It was already an open secret, so it meant nothing. They might call them disappearances, but Eldorado had assembled the investigation team both as a purge and for show.

'I wish I could see Asella.'

At times like these, she missed Asella, the Hero, all the more. She was a memorable woman, at once innocent and remarkably sharp. No one could deliver a hard-hitting fact with a beaming smile quite like her.

"Hmm..."

"..."

"Oh?"

Ludwig, who had been browsing the forum for some time, let out an exclamation.

Lace opened the forum to see what was going on, but nothing stood out. Just as a puzzled look crossed her face, something changed on Ludwig's end.

Something appeared in a flash.

"Huh?"

A sword. A dull silver longsword had appeared out of nowhere across Ludwig's thighs.

That could only mean one thing: Grylls had given him a gift.

"Oh."

Yet Ludwig seemed more taken with the fact that an object had arrived at all than with the gift itself. His exclamation had come the instant it arrived, rather than as he admired it.

He reacted just like a father encountering new technology.

"... Commander? What in the world is that...?"

"Someone called Wild Grylls gave it to me. He told me to use this to reach him."

"..."

With that dull-looking sword? Lace looked unconvinced. It was unimpressive to look at. Even a steel sword would have looked far better.

"What kind of sword did he say it was?"

"I cannot tell you. He asked me to keep it secret."

"..."

Did it have some other ability? Lace remained doubtful.

Grylls's gift had landed in none other than Ludwig's hands. That would make it hard even for the oversight team to confiscate it by force. They were an investigation team, after all, not prisoners.

CREEAK.

Not long after Ludwig received the sword, the carriage stopped. Ordinarily, there was only one reason for a stop: a rest break.

But they had rested barely thirty minutes ago. That left only one possibility.

"We have arrived. Everyone out."

They had reached the entrance to the Forest of Four Seasons. Lace squeezed her eyes shut. The moment had finally come.

She didn't want to get out. Didn't want to go. If she went, she would die.

All manner of tormented thoughts swept through her mind, but not for long. Ludwig was preparing to disembark, his new sword in hand.

She looked at him, her eyes asking if he really intended to go along with this without a fight. He met her gaze, then turned away.

A silent refusal to answer. Lace sighed.

'This is so disappointing.'

Ludwig could be frustrating, but he was capable of flexibility. She couldn't tell whether he had bowed to authority or simply lost heart.

Barely pulling her sinking spirits together, Lace stepped out of the carriage.

Outside, the paladins assigned to the investigation and the oversight team were all looking in one direction.

"There it is."

"..."

They were looking at the place known as the entrance to the Forest of Four Seasons. And even its appearance was anything but ordinary.

An aurora—a phenomenon said to be visible only in extremely cold regions. A multicolored aurora completely covered the entrance to the Forest of Four Seasons.

Beyond it stretched a variety of landscapes. One section showed terrain filled with nothing but bare trees. Another, a desert of nothing but sand. Another, snowy mountains lashed by a freezing blizzard. Another, an utterly ordinary forest.

This was why it was called the Forest of Four Seasons. Why it was called a labyrinth no one could ever escape, where no one knew where they would begin the moment they stepped inside.

"... It is damnably beautiful, at least."

"..."

Ludwig silently nodded at Lace's rueful assessment.

An endless hell would stretch beyond that beautiful phenomenon. A region no field of study could explain—not magic, science, nature, or the study of life.

"Well, now. It has been a long time since I came here, but it truly is beautiful."

As the Paladins gazed at the entrance, a man's voice came from behind them. Lace turned to face its owner.

"To think hell lies hidden behind such beauty. Isn't it ironic?"

A smiling face with thick, fleshy cheeks. A short, squat figure. Greed practically overflowed from his blunt nose and drooping eyes.

"... Archbishop Odon."

Lace frowned as she spoke his name, openly displaying her displeasure. Her reaction was anything but friendly.

Understandably so: Odon belonged to the pope's faction, and served as his lackey at that. He was currently heading the oversight team tasked with ensuring that the investigators entered the Forest of Four Seasons.

CLANK.

As the archbishop stepped forward, the paladins guarding him lined up at his side. Unlike Ludwig and Lace, whose faces were exposed, they wore helmets. Perhaps it was their silence that lent them such a formidable air.

Their role was to prevent any resistance from the investigation team.

"Don't look at me like that, Lady Lace. His Holiness will be displeased if you refuse this mission."

"Bullshit."

"Your tongue is as sharp as ever. That makes me like you all the more."

Odon looked at her with greedy eyes, and her scowl turned vicious.

Though her bobbed hair gave her an androgynous appearance, Lace was exceptionally beautiful. Her distinctive looks made her popular with men and women alike.

Attractive flowers were bound to draw insects. Odon was a case in point.

"I'd rather go inside. Get away from me."

"How unfortunate. Perhaps I was too greedy."

"..."

Lace turned away, as if she wanted nothing more to do with him.

Even as the exchange unfolded behind him, Ludwig simply stared at the Forest of Four Seasons.

Odon did not miss that. He quietly approached Ludwig, which gave him a clear view of the sword Grylls had sent him. Ludwig's usual sword was in its sheath, while an unfamiliar blade rested in his hand.

Odon immediately realized it was the sword from Grylls. Monitoring the forum was essential in case any members of the investigation team leaked information.

"Sir Ludwig. I never imagined you would use the forum."

"..."

"Well? Do you feel inclined to execute the subversive in there?"

Instead of answering, Ludwig turned to look at him. Given the considerable difference in their heights, he was looking down.

"And that sword must be the one you received from that subversive. Is it not?"

"It is."

"Hand it over. Since it came from a subversive, it must naturally be confiscated."

Sophistry. Grylls was no subversive, but a survivor. He had stumbled upon the truth while doing everything he could to survive.

Even if he had acted with an agenda, it was unlikely to be a lie. But Eldorado had already labeled him a 'subversive.'

"..."

Ludwig gazed steadily at Odon, then silently held out the sword. Odon's expression brightened considerably.

Just as Lace's fury was about to erupt, something unexpected happened.

GRAB!

"Huh?"

Ludwig caught Odon by the wrist as he reached for the sword.

WHOOSH!

"Aaaaaagh!!"

And hurled him straight into the Forest of Four Seasons.

Odon's paladin guards rushed forward in alarm, but it was already too late. He had fallen into the forest and vanished completely.

They had failed to react in time because the person behind this sudden act was none other than Ludwig.

"What do you think you're doing?!"

"Do you think you can return unscathed after this?!"

The oversight team drew their weapons and threatened Ludwig. Naturally, Lace and the rest of the investigation team took up their weapons too.

Sudden as his actions had been, they could hardly fail to understand his intent.

"Teacher! We're escaping, right?!"

"Whew..."

At Lace's shout, Ludwig let out a sigh laden with complicated feelings. Then he looked toward the Forest of Four Seasons and murmured under his breath.

"I had intended to farm in retirement..."

"Teacher!"

"It seems I will be sowing different seeds."

Muttering those cryptic words, Ludwig turned around. Before him, a force at least twice the investigation team's size had surrounded them.

The Forest of Four Seasons behind them. The oversight team ahead. It was a fight with no apparent hope of victory.

Yet Ludwig did not give up. He gripped the sword Grylls had given him.

["Reina. I will break through at one point. Escape and find Asella."]

In that volatile moment, Lace heard it clearly. Ludwig's voice.

No—not with her ears. The voice struck directly into her mind. Voice transmission, which only the strongest were said to be capable of using.

Startled briefly by the transmission, Lace glanced at Ludwig. What would he do, then? That was the question in her eyes.

["Do not concern yourself with me. I will do what I must."]

As he spoke, Ludwig slowly began to advance. In his hand was a sword shining like a green galaxy, its light so radiant that merely looking at it seemed to bathe one's entire body in its luster.

Only moments ago, it had been a dull color. Now it was utterly transformed.

"What is that sword...?"

"Be careful! It's been confirmed as a gift from the subversive!"

The shout seemed to come from someone who had heard the earlier conversation. Now everyone knew that Grylls had given Ludwig a gift.

It didn't matter. Lace gazed at the sword shining like a green galaxy.

'It must be a good sword, right?'

SHIIING!!!

The instant she had that thought, Ludwig acted.

Unlike a certain someone who was getting stronger like a dumb*ss, his aura had a clearly defined shape.

An aura blade. Or sword force. The benchmark of a truly powerful fighter.

But its size was anything but ordinary. Normally, it would only make the blade slightly larger.

The aura blade now sheathing his sword extended beyond the size of a longsword—beyond even a greatsword.

"T-Teacher... What is that...?"

Even the energy it gave off was terrifying. So intense that simply touching it seemed enough to sever a hand.

As someone had once said, enlarging aura was inefficient. But that only applied to using aura alone. At the aura blade stage, things were different.

An aura blade's size could serve as a measure of its wielder's skill. In that sense, this meant Ludwig's abilities had improved, but...

"... I don't know."

"Pardon?"

"I don't know. What is this?"

Even Ludwig looked unsettled.

"This is frightening."

"..."

The fact that he seemed sincere made it all the more absurd.

* * *

Meanwhile, Grylls, who had sent a sword out into the world, was busy.

"Cough! Cough! Ugh, that stings. Really stings. Maybe I shouldn't have checked."

He was clearing forest land to produce a large quantity of charcoal.

'I can always make another sword.'

All it took was making one.

'Still, who is that guy? Why did the admin personally ask me to give him one?'

I was a little curious.

I'd have to ask him when he made it to my place.