Swordmeister of Rome

pαndα`noνɐ1--сoМ

"Look who's here! You two sure are a fine couple!"

Pheriknoa turned to the voice that was calling him. There was a large man with a scruffy beard smiling brightly as he walked over to Pheriknoa. Lagaope could feel what his body felt toward the man. It was filled with trust and deep friendship.

'They must have been really close.'

Pheriknoa replied excitedly.

"Heh, Kenorod. You should find a girlfriend too."

Pheriknoa hugged Seriana hard as he spoke. Lagaope felt the feelings again. Deep love and affection. He could feel the will to not let go and it seemed that Seriana felt the same way. Lagaope could not feel her feelings but her expressions made it obvious.

'He really was a man.'

Lagaope liked his former self even more. He had lived a very happy life. It seemed like there was more to just the destruction of the Divine Nation that changed him.

The three of them spoke with each other until someone from <Chrona> shouted.

"Everyone! Aboard the ship!"

Pheriknoa, Seriana, and Kenorod glanced at each other and teleported into the ship. Their destination exceeded the limit of their teleportation range so they were going to use the ship's <Solacore> jump system to get there fast.

As everyone boarded the ship, the ships began jumping into the space with bright lights. With the help of Solacore, it would not take long for them to arrive at the destination.

Pheriknoa mumbled inside the ship.

"Isn't it best if we can just look over it from the sky? Why do we have to crawl on land just because of some weird fools throwing lightning?"

The ship had the ability to fly but it could not bring them above the clouds. Kenorod laughed.

"God himself prohibited that. You know it."

"Hah…"

Pheriknoa nodded.

'Can't he just wipe them out?'

But he shook away his thoughts. Broxian was the almighty. Whatever he said was the truth and the law. Pheriknoa then asked Kenorod, "Say, didn't you meet with him recently?"

Kenorod nodded as he stroked his beard.

"I did."

"Wow, that must've been so nice. I wish I could be reborn as his daughter."

It was hard to meet Broxian, even for the Divine Bloods. He hated being bothered. Lagaope laughed as he saw Seriana looking envious. She looked like she was a very innocent person, or at least until he heard the next part.

"It's the best luxury you can have. I would do whatever I want."

It was a guaranteed life of luxury if one was born as Broxian's daughter. Even Divine Bloods, the top officials of Divine Nation, weren't direct descendants of Broxian. Even then, it provided them with a lot of power. If one were the direct daughter of the God, she would be unstoppable.

Kenorod laughed.

"Haha, you first need to die and be reborn again. Besides, the God needs to marry again if that were to happen."

"Right."

Seriana nodded. Both were close to impossible.

The sorcerers of the Divine Nation did manage to prove that it was possible to be reborn. But it was impossible to be born as Broxian's daughter anyway.

Also, the second problem was worse. Everything, including the women in the Divine Nation belonged to Broxian. He had claimed many women as his own but after his last woman, Stanatiel died, he did not want any woman at all. This brought questions as to what kind of woman Stanatiel was.

To conclude, wishing to be born as Broxian's daughter was impossible.

"Haha, but he's too modest. If I were him… ugh."

"You've got something to say?"

Seriana pinched Pheriknoa's flank and Kenorod laughed.

"Haha, but he sure is modest."

"Oh, and what did he do when you went to him?" Seriana asked. People did not know much about Broxian. Most of the people did not even know what he looked like. They just knew he lived in the middle of the nation. Kenorod met him coincidentally because God needed a Magic-Engineer to fix one of his machines.

"Well, he was training."

"…Training?"

"Yeah, but he didn't seem to like doing it. He kept on talking to me."

Kenorod laughed as he thought about what he saw. Broxian swung once and sighed, then came to munch on some snacks, spoke to Kenorod, then went back to swing another time. Broxian kept on talking to Kenorod and it made Kenorod curious.

<Why are you keep training if you hate it so much, oh dear God? There's nothing in this world that can even come close to your almighty power.>

He couldn't understand Broxian trying to become stronger when he did not need to. Broxian laughed.

<Haha… that's not true. There can be no almighty person.>

<I beg your pardon?>

<I can see a few things that others can't… there's always one of equal power to one great power. But this is top secret. I don't want people panicking.>

Kenorod wasn't convinced, but if God said it was secret, he had to keep it a secret.

As three of them spoke to each other, they felt the light outside <Chrona> fading. It seemed the ship had come to a stop. Yet it was weird because it wasn't time to arrive yet. As they looked outside, they saw a great mountain blocking their path.

"What is it?"

The three of them became curious as they had never seen the mountain but Lagaope knew what it was.

'Mountain of Extreme…'

He moaned. So he had visited the mountain before. That was when three of them were ordered through a telepathic message.

<Everyone step outside. The mysterious barrier coming from the mountain blocks the ship's ability to jump. We will investigate this mountain before we move further south.>

The three of them looked at each other and shrugged. They teleported out of the ship. Then they realized the mountain wasn't a normal mountain. There was no living thing on it. The dense forest that covered the surrounding mountain stopped existing at a certain level.

"This doesn't feel so good."

It seemed other ships had been blocked off as well. The Divine Bloods then made a decision.

<We can't just let this suspicious mountain be. Dragona and Liona will go around to continue their journey to the south.>

Everyone nodded. This seemed reasonable. The mountain seemed large but it was a naked mountain with nothing on it. It seemed like it wouldn't take a long time to investigate.

Dragona turned west around the mountain while Liona decided to go through the sea.

Chrona decided to leave a portion of the team to investigate the mountain and then headed east.

The three ships moved out after leaving the few members to investigate. Magic-Engineer Kenorod, Bio-Engineer Pheriknoa, and Editor Seriana were chosen.

They soon realized their task wasn't as easy as they thought.

"Dammit…"

Kenorod moaned as he felt his body rating fluctuate as they walked up to the mountain. Pheriknoa and Seriana seemed to experience the same thing. The scouts who checked the mountain before leaving with the ship did warn them, but this was more than they imagined.

It was bearable until now but it got worse as they walked up. They'd die if they proceeded any further.

'Come on, go back.'

Lagaope thought as he looked at them. He couldn't remember so he did not know what happened then, but it surely didn't end up well.

"You guys go back down. I'll go further to check."

"Hey, don't be stupid."

Kenorod tried to stop Pheriknoa. He knew why Pheriknoa was so eager. He had been saying he wanted to marry Seriana and give her the best. Seriana always wanted to live in Broxianel and the payment of this expedition would decide the results. If Pheriknoa were to unravel the mystery of the mountain, it was obvious that he would be awarded with a handsome payment. It would even allow them to move into Broxianel, the land of the Divine Blood.

Kenorod realized he could not stop Pheriknoa.

"You fool."

Pheriknoa did not stop and Kenorod and Seriana decided to follow.

"You guys don't need to come."

"Shut up. I won't let you take all the glory."

Kenorod smiled. Pheriknoa did not want to put his friend and his lover at risk.

'Yeah… there won't be anything over there.'

He quickly shook his head. The mountain did not have anything. Besides, if things went wrong, there was a way for them to get out.