Sword Master With One Strike Kill - Chapter 7

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————

One-Strike Kill Swordmaster Episode 7

Episode 7. Divine Artifact (3)

“Then I’ll personally guide you to the exit…”

“No need to see me off. I’ll be going now.”

Swish-.

Karayan tried to guide me outside the Underworld Arena, but I declined her courtesy and turned around.

I never knew that constantly acting tough in front of someone could be this exhausting.

‘…It’s been so long since I’ve acted that I’m really running out of breath.’

Now that my business was finished, I wanted to get out of Karayan’s sight as quickly as possible.

‘Huh.’

But I soon came to regret my choice after not going very far.

‘…Where was the exit again?’

This is driving me crazy.

I definitely memorized the entire map of the Underworld Arena…

But now that the graphics from the monitor have become reality, it’s quite confusing.

* * *

“Phew.”

Karayan, now alone, let out a deep sigh.

Her benefactor had left the Ruin Guild.

Just as their encounter had been sudden, so too was their parting.

‘I should have seen him off…’

Karayan clicked her tongue and swallowed her regret.

She had tried to escort her benefactor to the main entrance of the Underworld Arena, but she couldn’t bring herself to disobey his words telling her not to follow.

In the end, after giving her benefactor the money pouch as her final act, Karayan had returned to the upper floor.

“…”

Swish-.

As she lowered her gaze, the entire view of the Underworld Arena spread out before her.

Dried and twisted bloodstains clung to the empty dirt floor, as if proving the cruelty of the match that had just taken place.

That’s right.

Right there, her benefactor had killed Barbarian the Slayer of Men with a single strike.

Just like when he had slain the monster that tried to kill her in the Uncharted Wilderness.

Thump thump-.

Lea de Karayan’s heart trembled.

In the midst of tedious days, who could have known she would meet her benefactor so suddenly?

The swordsman who had saved her from being killed by a monster in the Uncharted Wilderness.

To Karayan, that person was no different from a prince on a white horse.

The memory of that day was the only moment that shone brilliantly in Karayan’s bleak, gray life.

His appearance and voice had been growing fainter, so she was deeply moved to reunite with him like this.

‘Of course, none of my questions were answered.’

She had achieved the reunion she had longed for so much.

But her benefactor’s true identity remained shrouded in mystery.

She knew neither his real identity nor even his name.

Nothing had changed from before she met her benefactor.

“…”

Chuckle-.

As she recalled this fact, a bitter laugh escaped her without realizing it.

But it was fine.

Her benefactor had promised to visit the Ruin Guild again someday.

‘Though part of it was to repay a debt from childhood…’

All of this had been a calculated action.

Her benefactor was an incredibly powerful person. So much so that even her guard knight Roren couldn’t react to his movements.

So if she could earn his favor with just 100 million shillings and a feather sword.

It could hardly be called a losing deal.

“…Hah.”

Well, at least Karayan wanted to rationalize her actions that way.

This was the first time she had ever given so much to someone.

Knock knock-.

How many hours had passed like this?

The sound of someone knocking on the door came from outside the VIP room.

Hearing this, Karayan slightly furrowed her brow and moved her lips.

“Who is it?”

Then the guard knight Roren beside her carefully provided an answer.

“It’s the item appraiser, Master.”

“…Appraiser?”

“Yes. Meister Gob, whom you asked to re-appraise Seorineul.”

“Ah.”

Karayan nodded briefly.

As her benefactor had requested, she had commissioned the re-appraisal of Seorineul, and it seemed the work had been completed in the meantime.

‘Wait a minute.’

But the detailed appraisal finished this quickly?

Sensing something unusual, Karayan made a tense expression.

“Open the door.”

“Yes.”

Slide-.

As soon as Karayan’s order was given, shadows began moving stealthily toward the door.

Before long, the tightly closed door slowly opened.

Soon after, the white-haired old man standing outside the door bowed his head and revealed the purpose of his visit.

“Excuse me, Master. The thing is…”

The appraiser trailed off.

His wrinkled eyes, visible through his monocle, were shaking violently.

Seeing this, Karayan slightly frowned.

“Why are you hesitating, Meister Gob? Don’t tell me Seorineul got scratched?”

“No. Even though you said Seorineul had fallen to the floor, when I examined its condition closely, the sword had no scratches or even dust on it. However…”

Gulp-.

The appraiser swallowed dryly and made an extremely tense expression.

And his following words were shocking enough to turn Karayan’s mind completely blank.

“It seems that Seorineul is not authentic.”

“…What?”

* * *

Step step-.

Lea de Karayan hurriedly went down to the secret warehouse.

Soon after, she stood in front of Seorineul’s display case and narrowed her eyes.

The sword was of too high quality to be called inauthentic.

Above all, Lea de Karayan’s ‘ability’ was proving that this weapon was genuine.

“….”

Lea de Karayan squinted her eyes and focused her gaze on Seorineul.

Soon, along with a sharp headache, a translucent window began to flicker in her vision.

━━━━━━━━━━━━

【??】

Creator : ■■□ ■■■■□ ■■

Equipment Grade : ??

[Equipment Description]

A weapon crafted by a master craftsman who belongs to the Pantheon and represents those who regulate the balance of the world.

Perhaps to obtain this fearsome sword, a greedy storm of blood may blow among humans□ or □ight□□….

[Equipment Effects]

??

━━━━━━━━━━━━

Skills.

These were rare supernatural abilities that manifested with very low probability depending on the individual.

And the skill that Karayan was born with was as follows.

【Gold-Seeking Eye 】

Gold-Seeking Eye.

Literally, an ability that meant having an eye for finding gold … in other words, things that could make money.

That’s right.

Karayan could obtain limited information about an object by concentrating all her attention on it.

Through this skill, she had discovered many pearls buried in mud. With the profits from those, she was able to quickly grow into a merchant who dominated the underworld.

The Seorineul before Karayan’s eyes was also one of the pearls she had discovered.

‘What is this…?’

Karayan slightly furrowed her brow.

‘…This absolutely cannot be a fake?’

Karayan read through the description shown by her 【Gold-Seeking Eye】.

Since it was an ability that had brought her countless benefits so far, she had no doubt in trusting this skill.

According to the skill’s description, this weapon was definitely a sword crafted by “The Forge and the Flame.”

The number of characters in the creator’s name, belonging to the Pantheon, a master craftsman representing the gods, and so on….

Although various information was restricted, it wasn’t difficult to grasp the reality from the facts revealed so far.

‘Above all, the appearance is completely identical to Seorineul.’

A sword that started with a blue blade and gradually contained reddish metal.

Although it was covered in rust when first obtained, the sword’s appearance after restoration was identical to the Seorineul described in legends.

After examining the weapon carefully for a while, Karayan spoke.

“This is a fake?”

“…Actually, it’s a bit ambiguous to call it a fake.”

“What?”

Karayan sharply furrowed her brow at the appraiser’s vague answer.

The appraiser then hurriedly waved his hands and added an explanation.

“Of course, the creator is definitely the great “The Forge and the Flame.” But….”

“But?”

“…This weapon itself is not Seorineul.”

Pause-.

A cold silence flowed through the secret warehouse once again.

The creator was indeed The Forge and the Flame, but the weapon itself was not Seorineul.

What kind of nonsense was this supposed to be?

As if reading her inner thoughts from Lea de Karayan’s expression, the appraiser continued his explanation.

“Originally, divine weapons created by the great The Forge and the Flame have numbering engraved on them. Of course, traces of engraving remain on this weapon as well.”

“….”

“However, since Master thought it was a fake and ordered me to investigate, when I examined the sword closely, there was something strange….”

“Just tell me the conclusion, just the conclusion.”

“…I’m sorry.”

At Karayan’s irritated voice, the appraiser who had been rambling stopped speaking for a moment.

Soon, the appraiser calmly presented his analysis of Seorineul.

“It seems this sword is a practice piece that the great The Forge and the Flame made for practice before actually creating Seorineul.”

And upon hearing those words, Karayan couldn’t help but let out a sigh.

“…A practice piece?”

A practice piece.

A practice piece made for practice before creating Seorineul.

Right. This way, the contradictory explanation the appraiser had given earlier made sense.

The explanation from her 【Gold-Seeking Eye】 also matched this completely.

‘It’s shocking, but it’s not an unreasonable hypothesis.’

That old man was the most skilled among the appraisers under the Ruin Guild.

As such, the probability of his appraisal being wrong was slim.

Of course, additional cross-verification was essential, but Karayan decided to accept the appraiser’s words as truth for now.

“So this sword is a replica of Seorineul?”

“Rather than a replica, prototype would be… a more accurate expression.”

Lea de Karayan sighed with complexity seeping through and answered.

“Phew, anyway, if we had put this Seorineul up for auction claiming it was genuine, it would have definitely dealt a huge blow to the Ruin Guild’s reputation.”

“…It’s my oversight. I’m truly sorry.”

The appraiser bowed deeply.

He seemed to feel responsible for not recognizing that Seorineul was a prototype during the initial appraisal.

However, Lea de Karayan had no intention of particularly blaming him.

A prototype made directly by The Forge and the Flame.

When there wasn’t even an original version of Seorineul, how could anyone distinguish this in just the first appraisal?

She should just be grateful that they discovered Seorineul wasn’t genuine before the auction started.

‘No, but….’

Right at that moment.

One question flashed through Karayan’s mind.

‘…How did my benefactor figure out that this wasn’t genuine?’

The benefactor hadn’t spent hours examining the weapon like the appraiser.

He had simply glanced at it and seen through Seorineul’s true nature.

Having finished that thought, Karayan immediately asked the appraiser a question.

“Meister Gob.”

“…Yes.”

“If someone recognized at a glance that Seorineul was a prototype, would you believe it?”

“At a glance…?”

“I mean just briefly looking it over for a few seconds.”

At those words, the appraiser widened his eyes and waved his hands.

“That would be absolutely impossible. Though it’s irreverent to say, even the great “The Forge and the Flame” couldn’t distinguish between the genuine and prototype in just a few seconds.”

“….”

“It’s a prototype with that high level of completion. If Master hadn’t suspected it was fake and ordered me to approach the appraisal critically, I would have inevitably judged it as genuine too.”

Even the creator couldn’t distinguish between the genuine and prototype at a glance.

It meant that recognizing Seorineul wasn’t genuine in a short time was impossible.

Well, at least that’s what it meant by the standards of the Ruin Guild’s most skilled appraiser.

‘…Then what exactly is the Benefactor’s true identity?’

The Benefactor had instantly recognized that Seorineul was not genuine.

Even though he could have made a big deal out of it, he maintained an indifferent attitude throughout.

And that wasn’t all? Despite possessing such exceptional insight, the only weapon the Benefactor had taken from the Secret Warehouse was merely the Feather Sword.

Right. That piece of junk that was only impressive in appearance.

“Huu.”

I don’t understand.

In the end, once again he had only received help from the Benefactor without any compensation.

That fact only made Karayan’s heart feel heavier.

* * *

〔Hidden Message : You have perfectly cleared the tutorial for the first time.〕

〔Hidden Message : You have avoided inevitable death.〕

〔Hidden Message : Causality is being twisted.〕

….

〔Hidden Message : An unprecedented Achievement that has shocked the Pantheon. The forgotten Harmonizers are taking notice of your actions.〕

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————