The Verdi region lay in the south of the 「Iron Kingdom of Chervil」.

More often called “the rural backwaters” or “the outlying provinces” than by its actual name, it had a small population scattered across vast tracts of land. Its young people flocked to the capital, leaving the average resident elderly. Education levels were low, and a lack of development meant poor infrastructure.

“Rural backwaters” described it perfectly.

The old, poorly educated residents of Verdi mostly led much the same lives. They farmed, raised livestock, made milk and cheese, while a few produced wines worthy of becoming local specialties and spreading the region’s name...

A backwater no one cared about, where someone might occasionally go for a holiday.

On the remotest outskirts of even this backwater lay the 「Caravan」 domain where Arhan lived, with not a single sight to see or specialty to offer. In truth, even calling it a domain was laughable.

It was a small, nameless village. When Arhan’s parents were alive, the villagers had regarded them not as imposing feudal lords, but as something more like village headmen.

Everyone worked together, naturally no taxes were collected, and they always joined forces to overcome hardship. The villagers considered Arhan’s father, with his distinctly aristocratic speech and mannerisms, a fallen noble. They knew he had neither the right to collect taxes nor the ability to exercise any authority as a lord.

If he had, there would have been knights guarding the manor, or other nobles would at least have visited the domain occasionally.

To the villagers, the Caravan family was an obscure, fallen noble house: a wealthy family with ample riches and an impressive manor that looked out of place in their village.

They were just one of the many fallen noble families commonly found on the fringes of the Iron Kingdom.

What made the Caravans different was that they did not flaunt their aristocratic pride. They lived alongside the villagers, warmly and cheerfully, loving one another.

Well, it was a common enough scene in an out-of-the-way country village, so the story never spread far. Most people had never even heard of the village in the first place.

An ordinary country village.

Only recently had that village begun attracting attention.

“Heard the rumors? They say everyone in the village to the west has vanished. Like smoke.”

All sorts of bizarre rumors spread.

Every villager had been sacrificed to an evil black mage’s spell. Remnants of a monster wave (Monster Wave) that the northern watchers had failed to catch had swept through the village. A terrible, unknown plague had killed everyone...

All those rumors carried the same message.

Do not enter the village to the west.

Of course, some interpreted the rumors differently. Barbarians looking for a hideout, fearless youths from the slums who feared neither plagues nor black mages.

They went there in droves, and not a single one returned.

Arhan’s Needle had killed them all, but people drew a different conclusion.

“There’s something there. You must never go in.”

The rumors grew ever more exaggerated.

And exaggerated rumors have a way of spreading far and wide.

Thus, word of the “village no one must enter” reached a certain man’s ears.

“... A village where anyone who enters dies.”

A man who did not belong in the southern region of Verdi.

“There won’t be anyone there, then. That’s where I’ll go.”

* * *

Repeatedly hanging from the cliff had brought some changes.

For one thing, my senses had grown noticeably keener. They had always been sharper than an ordinary person’s, but now they were far more acute.

What I saw, what I heard, the smells, the things I touched with my fingertips—all felt different.

「It seems you are beginning to sense mana, little by little.」

That was Liam’s simple assessment of the change in me.

The changes did not end there. My ability to concentrate had also developed to an entirely different level.

When I held Needle and stared intently at something, I felt as though time slowed, however briefly.

These changes would prove extremely useful in combat.

As I reaped these benefits, I thought:

‘This is only the process of approaching sword beginner, and already it’s doing this much.’

I had barely touched the realm of the superhuman, yet I could feel the difference from before. I had not even fully become a sword beginner yet.

It made me feel just how distant my goal of becoming a swordmaster was. What sort of world did those beings, called godlike, live in? How high was the realm I had to reach...?

The prospect was daunting, but I did not feel discouraged.

It was something I had to do.

I would not give up.

Instead, I would simply keep hanging from the cliff and endure.

Then I felt a peculiar sensation. As I breathed in, it felt as though something “else,” besides air, was entering through my nostrils.

It reminded me of playing in a valley stream with Father when I was little—the unfamiliar, unpleasant feeling of water rushing up my nose when I went under.

The difference, perhaps, was that this time it was unfamiliar but not unpleasant. For a fleeting moment, it felt as though my belly had been filled to the brim.

The instant I felt it, I looked at Liam.

“Master, I just...”

「Yes. You breathed in mana.」

I had breathed in mana.

The moment I heard Liam’s words, I broke into a radiant smile.

But Liam shook his head.

「But that is all you did. It does not mean you have accumulated even a handful of mana.」

“Oh...”

「A mana heart has not formed in your body.」

That meant I had yet to reach sword beginner.

When my face fell at those words that dashed my hopes, Liam said:

「Still, it will not be long now. Sensing mana means you are almost there.」

His words made me smile again.

As I had said before, he did not lie about the sword.

That was no empty encouragement, but the plain truth. My heart pounded.

It was after I had hung from the cliff for another three hours and climbed back up.

“... Hm?”

Far away, I saw an unfamiliar visitor walking in through the village entrance.

A visitor who might become a neighbor—or an unwelcome guest.

For once, I hoped he was not unwelcome.

Because...

「That fellow is at least a sword walker.」

Today’s visitor was no pest I could drive away.

I kept my mouth shut for a moment before asking, my habitual curiosity getting the better of me:

“Can I take him on?”

Liam answered without mercy.

「You would die within 1.2 seconds.」

As always, Master did not lie when it came to the sword.

* * *

「What will you do?」

Liam never provided a clear-cut answer. Instead, he questioned me, and I would always tell him what I thought.

“For now, I intend to watch him.”

Liam had said the man who entered this domain was at least a “sword walker.”

In that case, I had no chance of winning. A novice who had not even become a sword beginner had no hope of defeating a sword walker who had reached the realm of the superhuman. What about appearing before him and giving him a warning, as I had before?

That was impossible too.

Even though I ran around the domain every day to build my stamina, I could never win a race against a sword walker who had formed a 「path」. Never.

「A wise decision.」

Liam nodded at my words.

I answered bitterly, “To be honest, it wasn’t so much a wise decision as my only option.”

「Why? You could also have chosen to abandon everything and flee the instant you spotted him.」

“... That wasn’t an option I could choose, either.”

Dealing with all those unwelcome guests had made me realize something about myself.

I could not abandon this domain. The village where memories still flickered, the desolate streets, the silent manor. The people I loved were gone, but this place was precious to me. So very precious.

「I see.」

Liam’s reply was brief. After a moment of silence, he added:

「You do realize that, at your current level, that is asking too much.」

“I do.”

「On this continent, strength is law. The strong can do anything, but the weak have no choice but to flee or crawl of their own accord. And right now, you are weak, at the very bottom.」

The very bottom.

It was exactly the right phrase.

However lucky I had been in dealing with insignificant intruders so far, on the scale of the entire continent I was no different from a speck of dust. That fact struck me painfully anew.

「If you wish to protect what is precious to you, you must grow strong.」

Liam was right.

If I had been a swordmaster, my parents would not have died.

If I had been a swordmaster, this village would not have been destroyed.

「So hang from the cliff, my young descendant.」

I did not want to lose anything anymore.

To make that possible, I had to grow stronger.

Stronger than anyone else in this world.

“Understood.”

An unfamiliar visitor had arrived, but nothing had changed.

In the end, I would simply keep walking the same path as before.

Let’s climb to that lofty place.

“Whew.”

The grip of my hand on the jutting rock had grown astonishingly strong. Now I could support my body not just with one hand, but with only two fingers.

I was growing far too quickly.

Even orcs, said to be born for battle, could not grow strong this fast. It was probably the effect of devouring the swordswoman Mary’s sword.

As the sword was digested in my belly and her memories and experience melted into my frail body, I was gradually being hardened and honed to a sharp edge.

Just as Master had said.

Like steel.

“Whew.”

Even after the visitor arrived unannounced, my daily routine did not change.

The incident occurred a week later.

* * *

Besides training to become a sword beginner, I had one more daily task.

Watching the unknown visitor believed to be at least a “sword walker.” More precisely, determining whether he was someone who could become my neighbor, or a dangerous man I should classify as an unwelcome guest.

After that tedious observation, my provisional conclusion was this.

“He doesn’t seem dangerous.”

「He does not look likely to suddenly swing his sword and kill you, to my eyes either.」

From morning until sunset, the visitor walked around the village as though taking a leisurely stroll. Then, as the sun set, he sat on a hill and gazed at the vermilion sky. His eyes grew moist as he watched, as though recalling some wistful memory.

「Seeing him like that, he seems more like a sentimental bard than a swordsman.」

After watching the sunset, the visitor opened the large bundle he had brought and prepared a meal. He was a good cook; even the aroma drifting from afar made my mouth water.

Curiously, he never entered any of the village’s empty houses. He did not open their creaking wooden doors or take any of the grain or vegetables lying about.

Perhaps he thought they all still had owners, for he never touched them and lived solely on what he had brought himself. There was a dignity to that behavior.

「An inflexible fellow. He observes the rules and proprieties to the letter, even though he must think no one is watching.」

“... Seeing him behave that way gives me some idea of who he is.”

「Oh? Can you tell me what you suspect?」

Liam questioned my opinion. As always, I answered immediately.

“A swordsman with discipline and etiquette ingrained in him... There’s only one possibility, isn’t there?”

「Indeed.」

Liam agreed with me. He had probably been thinking the same thing.

「That fellow is a knight.」

The stranger’s identity had begun to come into view.

A knight.

Loyal men who prized honor and obeyed the rules of their knightly orders absolutely.

“Wouldn’t a knight make a good neighbor?”

「Why do you think so?」

“Well, knights are honorable, righteous men who protect the weak...”

「Ha ha, child. I think you have read too many chivalric novels.」

Liam burst out laughing at my words.

「It is true that knights value honor, but I cannot say they are righteous. Their honor is far too subjective, and the people they protect are those of high status who can keep supplying them with renown and valuable riches.」

“...”

「Honor and justice are inherently far too arbitrary. With that in mind, let me explain objectively what a ‘knight’ is.」

Liam’s eyes gleamed coldly.

「Swordsmen who band together and inflict violence through strength of numbers under the pretext of honor. Executioners who know how to break human beings efficiently, using swordsmanship handed down through generations.」

“...”

「Above all, thanks to the wealth they have amassed wiping nobles’ asses, they are bastards armed with needlessly fine weapons and armor who are damned hard to kill. Those are knights.」

Liam looked straight at me as he spoke.

「Do not be blinded by the grand ring of the title ‘knight.’ Do not focus on the word; look at the person and judge him for himself. Do what you do best. Never be certain. Keep questioning.」

Keep questioning.

Those words lodged in my mind.

“Understood.”

After that, I continued watching the visitor.

I discovered a few more peculiar habits. At the same time every night, he gazed up at the moon and bowed his head. He also pressed his palms together and muttered something, and before eating he traced something in the air with his index finger, like a religious ritual.

What most convinced me that he was a good person was his attitude toward living things. He did not pluck so much as a single flower growing by the road, stepped around the weeds, and when a rabbit or deer emerged, he waited a moment before moving so as not to frighten it.

Like priests of a church that practiced non-killing.

And so, a week after I began observing him, I decided it was time to approach him myself and ask whether he was willing to become my neighbor.

I had no right to drive him away simply for staying in this deserted domain, and if someone new wanted to settle here, I intended to help him however I could.

Well.

“... I knew you had been watching me all along.”

I had never imagined he would draw his sword the instant I approached him, though.

“Do not even think of turning your back and running.”

I had spoken to him from quite a distance, in case he suddenly turned into a murderer. But the distance I had judged “safe enough” was not safe at all.

Of that, I was certain.

If that man chose to, he could sever my head with a single stroke right now.

“You are already within my 「path」.”

That was my first experience of the superhuman realm.

The sword of a 「sword walker」.

And...

‘It’s pounding like mad—my heart.’

My first encounter with a superhuman sword was a new kind of danger, an unfamiliar terror.

A death far, far greater and more tangible than hanging from a cliff.

In other words...

‘As though another heart has formed inside my chest...’

More than enough to make my body feel that it needed a 「mana heart」.