Sword Master With One Strike Kill - Chapter 97

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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One-Strike Kill Swordmaster Episode 97

Episode 97. The Calm Before the Storm (4)

The Feather Sword.

The “True Name Revelation” form of this divine weapon had always received the highest evaluations.

It even ranked first in the sword-type item rankings.

However, if there was one drawback, it was that the Feather Sword was an ‘extremely late-blooming’ equipment.

Until certain conditions were met, it was nothing more than a sturdy and light sword—nothing more, nothing less.

‘But…’

The map and key that Selena handed over.

These two items served as crucial clues that could instantly advance the “True Name Revelation” conditions of the Feather Sword.

Since it was a completely unexpected reward, the surprise was doubled.

“…”

Swish—.

I silently ran my hand over the map. The texture of the paper was rough.

‘The Ruins of Rashutku.’

The hidden area that could be unlocked through this map and key.

Originally, these items could only be obtained through the Ruin Guild’s auction.

Even that wasn’t a simple task. If the timing was even slightly off, the Relic Exploration Society would reclaim them.

The Relic Exploration Society was obsessed with these items and would reappear at the auction house to buy them back at ridiculous prices.

‘…But to think these were in Selena’s hands in the very early stages.’

It was a fact I had no idea about.

Of course, in the game, there was no reason to get involved with the Shadow Sect from this point on.

‘Whatever the case, this is a tremendous benefit for me.’

I’ll need to modify my plans a bit.

Originally, I planned to head elsewhere after changing Middle Temple’s power structure…

But now that I’ve been given the key to reach the Ruins of Rashutku, it would be best to visit there as soon as possible.

‘Of course, that’s something I’ll have to do after resolving everything at Middle Temple.’

As I was carefully formulating my next plan in my head.

“Lord Gaon…?”

At that very moment.

Selena cautiously called out to me, reading the atmosphere.

Had the silence gone on too long?

I emerged from my solitary thoughts and looked at Selena.

For some reason, she wore a slightly anxious expression.

“I apologize.”

“…?”

Then, Selena suddenly offered an apology out of nowhere.

“If my gift has displeased you in any way, I apologize.”

Huh?

What’s she talking about?

‘…What reason would I have to be displeased?’

I looked at Selena with a slightly furrowed brow.

Her sudden apology was bewildering.

What kind of misunderstanding did she come up with on her own while I was lost in thought?

“Please don’t misunderstand. The reason we’re giving you this map and key isn’t because we judged them useless to us.”

“…”

“Rather, it’s the opposite. Our organization has long recognized the true value of these items, which is why we’ve been fighting with the Relic Exploration Society for over a decade to protect these relics.”

Upon hearing Selena’s subsequent explanation, I realized what she had been worried about.

‘Ah.’

She was worried that handing over these relics might seem like dumping useless baggage on me.

And she was concerned that this might inadvertently wound my pride.

When I delayed my reaction without saying anything, she might have interpreted even that as displeasure.

‘…It wasn’t anything like that though.’

I was simply surprised by the unexpected reward.

Anyway.

The fact that Selena was being so careful about my every reaction meant she was both wary of me and acknowledged my worth.

For me, this wasn’t a bad situation at all.

Swoosh—.

As I was thinking this, Selena’s gaze turned toward me again.

Her eyes carried the weight of carefully chosen words, not mere excuses.

“Lord Gaon, who defeated the Adversary and met Demarion the Great Sage… I believe you will surely realize something that we failed to notice.”

“…”

“These two relics are a gift to demonstrate my devotion to the Great Ones. What were merely old keys and maps to our organization will surely become great tools to save the world in the hands of a Sword Master.”

Hearing Selena’s continued words, I almost let out a hollow laugh.

Well, her words certainly flow like water.

“From what you’re saying, it seems the Shadow Sect’s deciphering efforts haven’t made much progress.”

“That’s…”

Upon hearing my pointed remark, Selena trailed off with a sheepish expression.

“Yes. We tried for years, but we could only decipher parts of the ancient script. Even that was woefully insufficient to pinpoint the ruins’ location.”

“…”

“Since they’re records from such an ancient civilization, we had an absolute lack of reference materials. Even the clues we managed to find only led us deeper into a maze.”

That was expected.

Indeed, these relics couldn’t be deciphered through ‘conventional methods.’

No matter how brilliant the mages and scholars who tackled it, they couldn’t possibly understand the meaning of this map.

Even specialists like the Relic Exploration Society, who specialized in ancient languages and civilizations, had failed to decipher it for decades—that says it all.

“To be honest… we had half-given up on deciphering it. So our organization tried to utilize these relics in a different way.”

“A different way?”

“We planned to hand these relics over to the Ruin Guild through Brother Beriloff.”

“…”

“We judged it would help solidify his position within the Ruin Guild as a double agent.”

In other words, rather than stubbornly clinging to useless relics, they wanted to use them to penetrate deeper into the Ruin Guild.

‘So that’s how it was.’

Now everything made sense.

The reason why this map and key appeared at the Ruin Guild’s auction when I played the game.

The circumstances of how those two items in Selena’s possession ended up in the Ruin Guild’s hands had been revealed.

“And if the Ruin Guild succeeded in deciphering them, you planned to steal that information through Isaac Beriloff and get ahead of them?”

“…Yes.”

Selena nodded and readily admitted to my words.

Cunning bastard.

Not content with just raising the double agent’s standing, she even planned to backstab the Ruin Guild.

‘But seeing that the Ruin Guild put these two items up for auction in the original game, they must have failed at deciphering them too.’

Anyway.

Selena had given up all these potential benefits and gifted me these relics.

She had handed over to me the relics they had protected for decades, abandoning all the political advantages they could have gained through them.

If they had just used these relics to embed Isaac Beriloff deeper into the Ruin Guild, they would have gained a golden pipeline to extract their information long-term.

Abandoning all of that meant I had proven my worth to Selena beyond all those benefits.

‘Should I take this as meaning she now completely trusts me?’

Well.

I had overlooked her numerous attempts to desperately use me, so it wouldn’t be strange for her to show loyalty to me at this point.

Many things were changing indeed.

Through an unexpected reward, who would have thought I could advance the Feather Sword’s “Jinmyeong Geopbang” this early.

In a way, it was thanks to Selena, but what enabled her to make such a choice was ultimately the overwhelming ability I had demonstrated.

Subduing two of the Five Nightmares, eliminating The Adversary, and entering Demarion the Great Sage’s chamber.

That was what made Selena decide on such a bold course of action.

‘Everything is going according to plan.’

Swoosh-.

I looked down at my waist.

Gazing at the softly glowing Feather Sword, I made a promise in my heart.

‘Wait just a little longer. I’ll call you by your true name soon.’

* * *

My conversation with Selena Servich had ended.

I headed toward the hospital room where Strawberry Latte was staying.

Before leaving Wintershield Magic Academy, I wanted to finalize our plans with him one last time.

“Wait here for a moment.”

“Yes.”

Like before, I had Adelia wait outside the door.

Having a comfortable conversation with Strawberry Latte would be difficult with her present.

Knock knock-.

After lightly knocking, I opened the door to the special ward and entered.

Strawberry Latte was blankly staring out the window.

“I’ve decided on Taragon.”

“…?”

…What’s that supposed to mean?

As I slightly frowned at Strawberry Latte’s sudden remark, he added an explanation.

“It’s my name. Just like how you chose ‘Gaon,’ I tried making one too.”

“….”

“I can’t very well be called Strawberry Latte, can I? Using my real name in this world is… a bit unsettling for ‘that reason.'”

Did he choose the name Taragon because it sounds similar to Strawberry Latte?

Honestly, I’m not sure if it’s a good name.

But well, as he said, using a proper name would be better than constantly calling him Strawberry Latte.

Swoosh-.

While I was having such thoughts to myself.

Strawberry Latte… no, Taragon shrugged his shoulders and turned his gaze toward me.

“So, was the first plan successful?”

The first plan I had explained to Taragon.

That was to gain entry into Demarion the Great Sage’s chamber.

“It was successful. I also learned Pean’s true name.”

“Oh?”

Taragon’s eyes widened.

“Crazy. That actually worked… wait a minute.”

Suddenly, his excited expression hardened.

He looked at the map and key in my hand and asked.

“Wh-what’s that?”

“This? The ‘Opener’ for the Rashutku Ruins.”

“….”

A rather bewildered expression crossed Taragon’s face.

“No, who doesn’t know what that is? I’m asking how you acquired it at this point!”

“Selena had it. She gave it to me.”

“…What?”

While Taragon was flustered and couldn’t speak properly, I posed a surprise quiz.

“What do you think I should do with this?”

“I would….”

After thinking for a moment, Taragon answered.

“Since you have the Feather Sword too, wouldn’t it be right to just go straight to the Rashutku Ruins and attempt ‘Jinmyeong Geopbang’?”

“No.”

We shouldn’t approach it so one-dimensionally.

The fact that this item came into my hands at this point means the original story’s flow has already been altered.

This item will no longer appear at the Ruin Guild’s auction, and the side quest that would have resulted from that will disappear entirely.

Conversely, it also meant we could now ‘create’ stories that never appeared in the original flow.

It meant much broader possibilities had opened up than simply strengthening the Feather Sword.

“The Rashutku Ruins are a place of tremendous value. Holding the key to enter there could become an enormous negotiating card with other factions.”

“….”

“It means we can proactively deal with the Relic Exploration Society or other major factions using this as bait.”

“…Ah.”

Taragon’s eyes gradually changed. His expression now brightened as if he completely understood my explanation.

“You’re aiming for a snowball effect.”

“That’s right.”

It’s what I had been doing all along.

A method where one benefit creates another, which in turn brings even greater benefits.

This relic is the same.

Rather than simply using it to strengthen the Feather Sword and ending there, I need to paint a bigger picture through this.

“What I’m planning for now is….”

Murmur murmur-.

I briefly explained what I had in mind to Taragon.

And Taragon, having heard my explanation….

“…Bro, are you insane?”

As always, he just looked at me with the eyes of someone viewing a madman.

* * *

Creak-.

Along with footsteps heard from afar, the door burst open.

Arwen von Goldhart raised his head and looked at the visitor.

Instantly, he raised his eyebrows as if surprised.

“Hiverun Lord.”

The one who had come to his office was none other than Jaque von Haibrunn.

“It seems you’ve forgotten the courtesy of knocking on doors.”

Jaque ignored the sarcastic greeting and strode forward boldly.

“Let me get straight to the point.”

“….”

“Aiter’s Retrospective Eye has disappeared.”

Arwen asked in a calm voice.

“Surely both pairs haven’t disappeared entirely?”

“No, the thief seemed to have some conscience. They left one behind.”

“Fortunate in misfortune. Then there should be no problem if we find the culprit by looking back at the past with the remaining one….”

“I already did that.”

Thud-.

Jark von Haibrunn answered coldly.

His eyes remained fixed on Arwen’s face throughout.

“So now, I’ve come to find the culprit like this.”

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