“He is dead. He died of illness.”

Meken, Deputy Commander of the knightly order 「Yellow Elephants」, felt disappointed when he heard the boy’s words. He had lost his chance to sully that stubborn, loyal Petel’s honor and break his convictions.

“Since he failed to appear for the duel of honor, victory is mine.”

Well, that hardly mattered.

Alive or dead, the bastard had accepted the duel of honor, and Meken was the victor. That gave him the right to drag the corpse of the man who had croaked from disease back to the city and desecrate it. Meken could settle for that much.

What mattered was defiling Petel.

But then...

“I will fight in this duel of honor as his champion.”

Some boy stepped into his way.

Taken aback at first, Meken soon saw the light in the boy’s eyes. Upright convictions that were the spitting image of 「Petel the Loyal」’s. The instant he recognized that honorable gaze, Meken flicked his tongue across his lips.

“That could be entertaining, too.”

Fortunately, there was still a toy left to play with.

* * *

「Sword runners shape the Mana accumulated within their bodies into wings. You know that much, I assume.」

For the past two days, I had done nothing but swing my sword. Throughout the training, which made my arms feel as though they would tear off, Liam offered advice that might help me.

「They resemble birds’ wings, but allow far more astonishing feats. At a glance, sword runners move as though you were watching a mage’s teleportation spell. They are not called ghosts of the battlefield for nothing.」

“...”

「You will truly feel as though you are fighting a ghost.」

Fighting a ghost.

It was hard to grasp exactly what that meant, so I asked,

“Then how must I fight to win?”

「You must break his wings.」

Break his wings.

How?

Liam looked at me.

「Fortunately, he is a sword runner with only one pair of wings as yet.」

“...”

「He will be unpracticed in using them, and his body will not yet have adapted to them. There is a method that works only against men like him.」

Liam’s eyes flashed.

「Put as much of your hardness as you can into the first three exchanges. For those moments, you must become true steel. Steel that can break the enemy attacking you.」

Become steel.

An abstract instruction.

Yet, for some reason, I was beginning to feel that I could understand Liam’s abstract words. The memories and lives seeping into me with every swing, the clues held within the swords I had consumed...

They provided my answer.

* * *

“The rules of a duel of honor are simple. The duel ends when one side declares surrender or becomes unable to fight. No one will be held responsible for any death incurred in the process. Do you understand?”

“I understand.”

I looked at the 「sword runner」 knight I would be facing.

Before beginning the duel of honor, he had announced his name and affiliation: Meken, Deputy Commander of the knightly order Yellow Elephants.

「The deputy commander of a knightly order. The most important opponent you have faced yet.」

Liam was right.

As deputy commander, Meken stood second in command of his order. He was different from the swordsmen I had dueled before.

“If I win this duel of honor, I will take the knight Petel’s corpse. Ah, I shall show mercy and spare your life, at least. But I will cut off your arms and legs and feed them to wild beasts. That should satisfy you, shouldn’t it?”

Meken spoke with a chilling look in his eyes.

He would spare my life, at least.

That did not mean he would show me mercy. It meant he did not even acknowledge me as an opponent. Someone as insignificant and pathetic as me was not worth killing.

I was not stupid enough to miss his meaning.

So I stared straight at Meken and said,

“Then, when I win, I shall also show mercy and spare your life, at least.”

Meken’s eyebrow twitched.

“But I will take your arms and legs. To keep things fair.”

His mouth twisted at my words.

“What amusing things you say. Is it because you are still young?”

“That may be part of it.”

“I suppose that is possible for a boy raised in comfort in a backwater like this.”

The air grew heavy as he spoke.

“You would never have had occasion to see a 「sword runner」 in your life.”

“...”

“I will put it down to your ignorance, young boy.”

With that, Meken turned sharply away. He strode to the fence at the far right of the makeshift dueling ground and stopped.

“Go to the far left. The duel begins when the knight-in-training gives the signal.”

A strange atmosphere filled the small dueling ground. The silence that settled after Meken finished speaking was uncomfortable. The knights standing outside the fence seemed more nervous than either of us.

No, it was not nervousness.

Those were looks of pity for a weakling who would soon be executed.

No one believed I would win.

「Keep my teachings firmly in mind.」

Well, I was used to it by now.

「Every sword you have eaten until now has been unconventional—a blade meant to bring you, born with that wretched body, up to the bare minimum required to be called a swordsman.」

“...”

「And Petel’s sword, which you have now eaten, belonged to a man who adhered almost obsessively to the fundamentals, who lived by the book and knew nothing of unconventional methods.」

I gripped 「Twilight」, the sword resembling Petel’s.

「That knight’s swordsmanship is dull, simple, utterly commonplace—the sort you could learn in any city.」

As Liam said, Petel’s sword resembled the man himself.

An uncompromising, rigid, uninteresting sword.

But precisely because of that...

「Precisely because of that, his sword will be a powerful weapon for you as you are now.」

I liked this sword.

So upright that it would choose to break rather than waver.

I liked this blade that would not bend.

「The knight Petel’s sword is the hardest of all the swords you have eaten.」

Upon reaching the far left, I steadied my breathing and turned. Meken stared at me from the far right with an untroubled expression.

The knight and the champion had taken their positions.

After looking around hesitantly, the knight-in-training outside the fence raised his hand.

“Now, then.”

I drew in a long breath.

My second heart, the 「mana heart」, shuddered and slowed the world before my eyes. My senses sharpened to an extreme, and the Mana around me began to ripple.

As every hair on my body stood on end, the knight-in-training lowered his raised hand and shouted,

“Begin!”

Liam spoke in time with the signal.

「Become steel, young descendant.」

With the weight of Liam’s voice, the duel of honor began.

In the slowly flowing world, I gripped Twilight tightly and stared at Meken in the distance. I did not even blink. Even a single mote of dust drifting through the air was clear to me.

Then...

“You will regret this.”

The knight’s wings fluttered in the slowed world.

“Greenhorn boy, you are about to learn how little of the world you know.”

Meken raised his sword, then slowly brought it down from above. It was a baffling action.

Was he warming up?

Or had he suddenly decided to practice his swordsmanship?

Neither.

“I will show you how vast the world is.”

The moment Meken’s sword descended from above his head to the level of his face, something strange happened. A jolt shot through the back of my head, as though lightning had struck me.

Instinctively, I raised Twilight into a defensive stance.

And—

“Urgh...!”

CLANG!

The violent clash of metal rang out. Immediately afterward, a horrific impact surged through the raised blade of 「Twilight」 into my body.

It felt as though my sword hand, wrist, and shoulder were being shattered and torn from my torso. My stomach churned. My head spun as though a hammer had struck the back of it.

As my sword hand trembled, I saw Meken’s face just beyond 「Twilight」’s blade, right before my nose. It was impossible.

I had not taken my eyes off him for an instant, yet I had not seen what happened. How had Meken, who had been swinging his sword in place far away, reached me in an instant...?

It was impossible, incomprehensible.

As though every step in between had been skipped, leaving only the result.

As I bit down on my lip and struggled to muster strength, Meken grinned.

“Good instincts.”

He withdrew the sword pressing down on mine.

“But how long will those instincts hold?”

The instant he withdrew his sword, Meken vanished like smoke. He reappeared at the far right of the dueling ground, exactly where he had stood before.

“Do you understand now why 「sword runners」 are called ghosts of the battlefield, you greenhorn boy?”

That was my first experience of a 「sword runner」.

“I repeat: you will regret this. Bitterly.”

* * *

I had blocked the first attack, one I could neither predict nor see.

It was close to a miracle.

After taking Meken’s blow, the very first thing I did was check one thing.

‘Still attached.’

Whether my fingers, hand, and arm were still attached to my torso, intact. The impact had been so tremendous that I had thought my entire body shattered. Without my heart of steel, the fight would have ended there.

Was the gap between a 「sword walker」 and a 「sword runner」 truly this hopeless? Biting my lip, I steadied my breathing, then faced Meken, who watched me with a sneer.

‘I need to think fast.’

I had to find an answer.

And to do that, I needed doubt.

This was different from a 「sword walker」, whose attacks I could at least see. This was closer to the mysteries wielded by mages than the realm of the sword.

But mystery or sword, I could not simply stand there marveling.

There was no guarantee I could miraculously block the next attack. Meken’s next strike might sever my legs, aim for my waist, or cut straight through my neck.

This time, Liam gave me no answer.

There had to be a reason. He did not lie about swords, and he had assured me that consuming Petel’s sword would open up a possibility.

Liam was not a madman who enjoyed my suffering.

Then I must possess a way to overcome this problem myself. I recalled the brief exchange.

I had sensed danger like a lightning strike, and reacted by blocking with my sword.

Had that truly been chance?

‘No. There is no such thing as chance in this world.’

Why had I sensed the danger so clearly? Did Caravan blood grant some special power to foresee the future, in addition to eating swords?

Probably not.

The answer was not difficult to deduce.

‘Because I have crossed the threshold of sword walker.’

It was my 「path」.

The 「path」 that had extended around my body without my knowledge had sensed the danger and warned me.

I was not yet a complete 「sword walker」, so I could not spread paths within my body to wield superhuman strength. But by eating Twilight, I had reached a level where I could extend 「paths」 outside it.

‘Then how did my path detect that bizarre attack?’

It had warned me of danger without any actual contact. After questioning it, I put the answer into words.

‘Mana. It detected a threatening disturbance in the Mana.’

Suppressing the trembling in my hand as much as I could, I gripped Twilight.

I had my conclusion.

‘Before that bizarre sword runner attack I just witnessed, the Mana fluctuates. If I can use that, I can react.’

I still did not know what power 「wings」 held, or what strange feats 「sword runners」 could perform. I had learned only one thing.

Before Meken attacked, the Mana fluctuated.

And as a 「sword walker」, I could detect it.

Two truths, simply stated.

Liam murmured as though he had read my thoughts.

「Excellent. As I thought, that doubt is your greatest talent.」

There was no time to enjoy his praise.

Knowing that changed nothing.

Meken could unleash that bizarre attack again and again. And our clash had told me that I could not defend against it forever. A 「sword runner」’s sword was far too heavy.

If we kept exchanging blows, my body would break first.

Then what should I do?

Fortunately, I did not have to think long.

“Whew...”

My Master had already made it clear what I must do.

I recalled what he had said earlier.

Put as much of my hardness as possible into the first three exchanges.

“Ha.”

I had missed the timing on the first attack and failed to harden myself properly. Yet Meken had not broken through my defense. That meant the Caravan heart was astonishingly hard—and that Meken’s sword was not particularly powerful for a 「sword runner」.

‘I missed the timing at first and took damage. But danger can become opportunity.’

Fighting the same way while injured would lead straight to defeat through a foolish mistake. To win, I had to turn this into an opportunity and use it.

Meken sneered at how foolishly I had been struck. The surrounding knights’ eyes brimmed with pity. Everyone was already picturing my defeat. In such an atmosphere, any human would naturally begin to let their guard down somewhere deep inside.

Even the most meticulous knight was human in the end.

I raised Twilight.

And recalled our earlier exchange.

[“Then how must I fight to win?”]

[“You must break his wings.”]

Break his wings.

Words that were terribly difficult to understand.

Fortunately, though, I had long since found my own answer to Liam’s next words. I opened my mouth and breathed deeply. So deeply that my chest swelled as though it would burst.

At the same time, my 「mana heart」 beat with a shudder.

THUMP!

“Try blocking again.”

Meken raised his sword once more.

Instead of glaring at him, I closed my eyes.

Then I surrendered myself to my sharpening senses and recalled Liam’s words.

[“Become steel, young descendant.”]

My heart pounded as though it would burst through my ribs. Along with my body, even 「Twilight」 in my hand began to tremble violently. Its blade quivered, and soon a blue path extended from its tip like a slender thread. A line.

The violent 「path」 unique to the Caravans.

I felt the long line give a sudden twitch.

At once, the same sense of danger I had felt before swept over me.

The sensation of a lightning strike.

With that sensation, Petel’s memories surged through the blade.

『I had no thought of winning that duel of honor.』

『It was not a duel for my pride or my reputation.』

At that moment, my second heart pulsed fiercely.

Countless slender 「paths」 spread from within my chest.

Like blood vessels.

『It was a duel for you.』

『It was not that I wanted to win. I could not lose.』

『The man who wavered, compromised, bent, and bowed to survive in this cold, harsh world vanished in that moment.』

.

.

.

『Because you said those words to me, I decided to truly become Petel the Loyal.』

The 「paths」 spreading inside me were far thinner than those of ordinary 「sword walkers」. The unique Caravan paths: lines. Countless lines began to fill my body, densely packed without a single gap.

『An uncompromising, unwavering, unbending knight, always so upright that it was exasperating.』

They granted my body superhuman strength.

My blade swung with a speed that surprised even me. The next instant, Meken appeared as though through a mage’s teleportation, his sword striking downward.

My sword met Meken’s head-on.

CLANG!

A thunderous sound rang out.

And...

“... What?”

Meken’s relaxed expression twisted.

『A hero for you, harder than anyone, who would neither break nor bend.』

My blade did not give ground.

Instead, Meken was the one being pushed back.

Pouring out my explosive strength without restraint, I grinned.

“Do you understand now how vast the world is?”

I threw his own words back at him.

His eyes filled with fury. But what could he do?

My attack was not over yet.

Sorry, but...

“...?!”

No one could obstruct a Caravan’s line of steel.

“This is—I've never heard of anything like—”

Twilight began to eat away at Meken’s blade, like insects gnawing through grain.

A spark spat out.

With our blades locked together, I kept my focus. This was the best position Petel’s orthodox swordsmanship could create. But I could not stop there.

Petel’s sword was not the only one I possessed.

There was another sword suited to a situation like this.

I subtly twisted the angle of my sword wrist. With that tiny movement, Twilight’s blade abruptly turned and drove deeper, as though sliding.

Meken hastily withdrew his sword, perhaps intending to retreat again with that bizarre movement. But I was just a fraction faster. After all, I had neither swung my sword nor aimed directly at his body.

The tip slid forward in a flash, piercing the point I had aimed for.

Like threading a needle.

『Whether you swing or thrust, isn’t it enough that you can aim it?』

It was an unconventional attack I never would have thought of had Seolyun not turned it against me in the 「Arena」. A thrust that slid forward with a bend of the wrist while our swords clashed.

“Whew...”

Immediately after the attack, Meken vanished like smoke again and reappeared far away.

But...

“Hck, khack.”

He was far from unharmed.

I glared at Meken and said,

“Let me return what you said earlier.”

The pair of wings sprouting from Meken’s back...

Of those two outspread wings, the left had been broken.

Grievously.

“You will regret this. Bitterly.”