For all the years it had held out, Han fell in an instant. The 「Guardian Dragon」, known only from the legend of the nation's founding, appeared like a savior, but the Khan's descendant dragged the dragon out of the sky like a god of war descended to earth. With the Guardian Dragon bleeding to death, the insignificant peninsula's walls were at last utterly destroyed. Having finally entered Han, the conquering army of the 「Great Land」 ran wild, as though determined to repay every humiliation it had suffered. Everything burned, from the capital to the villages on the outskirts. Their blades spared neither the elderly nor children nor women. Death came equally to them all.

Mercenaries dispatched by the Red Bank of the avaricious 「Black Peninsula」 joined them, as did the Steel Legion of the Iron Kingdom of Chervil, which took part in any war, without distinction. They busied themselves squeezing every last bit of profit from the fallen nation. Ironically, their participation was a stroke of luck for Han's people. Unlike the conquering army, which slaughtered indiscriminately, the foreign soldiers who arrived under the guise of reinforcements took women and children prisoner. And so the survivors looked at the banners and chose: flee, or raise both hands and be captured.

["You must live, child."]

That was how the defeated soldier showed Seolyun, who knew nothing, a way to survive. Visibly emaciated, he never spoke of the war. He did not recount how fierce it had been, or how bravely the soldiers had fought. He merely apologized, matter-of-factly, as he witnessed the consequences of their defeat before his very eyes.

Once, Seolyun had looked at him with hollow eyes and asked:

["Could you teach me swordsmanship?"]

She then told him the legend of immortals she had heard from her father. Sitting before the blazing campfire, the defeated soldier smiled at the fanciful tale. He did not tell her that immortals did not exist, or that it was nothing more than a made-up story.

["My swordsmanship is dreadful. I survived not because I was strong, but because I was afraid."]

["..."]

["But, well, if I can give you even a scrap of swordsmanship, you are welcome to it. If anything I have can help you, I'll give it to you, whatever it may be. Perhaps it will count as atonement."]

His swordsmanship truly was dreadful.

He said:

["A paradise with the people you loved and the days you long for. How wonderful. A far finer world than any heaven promised by the nine goddesses and seven chief gods."]

The defeated soldier was an optimist.

He said that, had war not broken out, he would have liked to become a scholar. A scholar who leisurely recited poetry while admiring nature's beauty. During their aimless wandering, Seolyun once saw him washing himself. His body bore many wounds, but those were not what caught her eye. His body was grotesque. It was not the result of wounds from swords or spears. Like spoiled food, parts of him had rotted away. Without trying to hide it, he explained his condition.

["Leprosy. They call people like me lepers."]

["..."]

["I hid in a den of lepers to survive and caught it there. It may be why I'm still alive. Even the brave warriors of the Great Land were afraid of lepers. Heh heh."]

The defeated soldier was ill.

He only told her belatedly, and only then did Seolyun begin to see how unwell he was. She did not mind touching him. The soldier who had served as her guide grew weaker with each passing day. His voice was that of a young man, but his face came to resemble an old man's, and his body, too, gradually aged.

He would habitually say:

["However hard it gets, however cruel the world is, you must live."]\n

It was a refrain always on his lips.

["If you survive, you can see, tomorrow."]

["..."]

["No one knows, what tomorrow, might hold. If you want to reach that paradise you spoke of, if you want to become an immortal, you have to be alive first..."]

Seolyun cared for the defeated soldier as he grew weaker by the day. For the first time in her life, she watched the process of a human being dying. She saw, in excruciating detail, the destruction of the man who had pulled her out of a ruined world.

From that day on, she could no longer simply walk past someone who was ill. A person on the brink of destruction in body and mind was such a pitiful thing. Yes, such a pitiful thing.

Yet even as he fell apart, the defeated soldier kept telling Seolyun he was sorry. Sometimes he sobbed like a child. She did not find him repulsive. She did not hate him, either. The more he suffered, the more she hated the world instead. The world that drove them so mercilessly.

How much time had passed like that?

An army appeared before Seolyun and the defeated soldier.

The banner it flew was not that of the 「Great Land」.

The Iron Kingdom of Chervil.

It was the Steel Legion.

* * *

The reason the 「Great Land」's conquering army ranks among the strongest land forces is simple. Possessing most of the eastern continent's territory, the 「Great Land」 boasts a population as enormous as its domain. And that population supports an army of tremendous size. Those who have witnessed the Great Land's advance describe it as a passing wave made of human beings.

Moreover, that vast army moves in perfect unison at the command of one absolute leader. The Khan's descendant. A godlike figure to them, the Khan's descendant can maneuver those immense forces at will with a single word. Those forces do not even fear death.

Thus, the Khan's descendant is also the reason the 「Great Land」's conquering army is truly terrifying. Yet even without that descendant, they are threatening enough. Overwhelming numbers, and the grassland champions scattered among the ordinary cavalry.

"Whew!"

We had to deal with those champions to preserve any semblance of formation. Summoning the 「Guardian Dragon」 would make short work of them, but using up a summon here would be unwise. There was still far too much time left. Besides, I could handle a crisis of this magnitude myself.

'I'd better take care of them quickly while Maia keeps Seolyun occupied.'

One breath.

With it, I moved like a wisp of wind along the 「paths」 that unfolded. My blade traced an unbroken course, taking enemy lives. Countless troops advanced toward me. I alone ran the other way through their gaps. Each sweep of a whirlwind sent soldiers tumbling in heaps.

"You!"

They seemed unwilling to leave a nuisance like me unchecked any longer. A spear shot toward me with vicious speed. I barely dodged it before arrows came flying. A body granted superhuman strength can move beyond human limits. I avoided the arrows with an acrobatic backward somersault. While airborne, I heard chanting in the distance. Sorcery. I could not tell what kind. But it would not work on me. Fighting the dark mage Jerry Selpit had taught me how to resist magic.

"Whew."

I severed the sorcery's 「path」. The arcane power unfolding around me vanished, and bewilderment filled the enemy's eyes. Awakening 「Wildness」, I swept my sword in a broad circle, cutting down the foes around me. I kicked a fallen spear up with the tip of my foot, caught it as it spun, and hurled it into the distance. An animalistic way of fighting that used everything on the chaotic battlefield. This, too, was 「Wildness」.

One enemy died with a heavy thud. A wide-eyed champion charged at me. I awakened 「Gale」. My target was not the champion, but his horse. Disrupting the rhythm of its gallop would be enough to unseat him. But his spear was faster than I could summon the wind.

"Hup!"

I barely managed to block the spear with my blade. Even then, I could not fully deflect the impact, and my body went flying backward. I heard the champion snort.

"They called yours a haunted blade! Is this all a ghost amounts to?"

I spat out blood.

'He's insanely fast.'

The champion's spear was not the problem. It was the warhorse in blue armor beneath him. That horse was fast enough to be practically a monster. It was not merely galloping; its speed rivaled an arrow loosed from a bow. And the spear thrust with the full force of that speed was absurdly powerful. Had my sword not been made of winter steel, its blade would have snapped at once...

'How should I counter him?'

He was a difficult opponent.

As I pondered that question, the Dragon Sword vibrated again.

『...ee...』

It was difficult to make out what it was saying.

Yet the Dragon Sword kept calling out, as though desperate to make its words understood.

『The stars...』

I had no attention to spare for it.

Suspicion opened its eyes. It assigned meaning to every movement the champion made and predicted the action that would follow. I swung my sword along the 「path」 it drew.

CLANG!

Sword and spear collided head-on. Under normal circumstances, I should have been driven back. But...

『I once... read a book... from the West.』

My heart is made of steel. Unless the difference in strength is truly vast, my sword always has an overwhelming advantage in a clash like this. Bewilderment appeared on the champion's face. The blow must have been heavier than he expected.

『One passage written upon its white pages... was magnificent, as though it spoke for my own life.』

I lowered my stance and swung. The blue-armored horse's legs were severed, and it pitched forward as blood spurted like a fountain. A screaming neigh rang out, and the champion lost his balance. I drove my sword into the head hurtling toward me. It shattered his skull and took the life of the man who had charged at me with such imposing confidence.

"You bastard!"

But it was not over.

There were far too many enemies.

I raised my sword.

Yet one sword could not contend with them all.

With a sharp hiss, a cut opened on the back of my neck. Wounds multiplied wherever my armor offered no protection. All the while, the Dragon Sword continued to speak. Its voice was now clear enough to understand. Truly clear.

『This is what it said.』

The voice was solemn, deep, and gentle.

Countless murderous intentions were directed at me.

At the same time, my chest grew hot, as though my heart had caught fire.

And in the next instant:

『How happy was the age when one could look upon the starry heavens and read the map of the paths one could—and must—travel?』

Before I knew it, I had drawn the Dragon Sword from its sheath.

『And how happy was the age when starlight illuminated those paths?』

As though the sword itself had guided me.

『I longed for the age of stars. Not some Age of War.』

* * *

Valkyries.

Seolyun knew of them, too. A name bestowed only upon the greatest warrior women among the northern barbarians. Even if a warrior had reached the pinnacle among barbarians, a pinnacle was still a pinnacle. And those who reached the top of any group were invariably called heaven-born prodigies.

This Valkyrie was probably one as well.

She would have been singled out for her dazzling talent since childhood, distinguished herself at an early age, and, through steady effort, become the accomplished warrior she was today.

Seolyun believed a conversation held with swords came closer to the truth than one held with words. And the fighting spirit and life she sensed through the Valkyrie's sword had been fierce enough. This Valkyrie could never have been idle, not for a moment. She must always have lived giving her utmost.

So...

"... It seems the name Valkyrie suits you better!"

This outcome was purely a difference in talent.

"Incredible. To think I knew so little of the world. I've been called a prodigy more times than I can count. They even told me that no one else my age had become a Valkyrie in the Lakota Mountains for hundreds of years."

"... Really?"

"But it was all an illusion. I was no prodigy. That word was meant for someone like you..."

Maia the Valkyrie gave a hollow laugh.

"I envy you. A sword chosen by heaven."

Maia's left hand lay on the dirt.

Crimson blood poured endlessly from the end of her wrist.

Seolyun spoke in an impassive voice.

"There's nothing to envy."

There was not so much as a scratch on Seolyun's body.

"... It's the one thing I received in exchange for having everything taken from me."

Not a single scratch.

* * *