Swordmeister of Rome

Sian and Stiel arrived at the place where they had promised to meet with Dekaron, but he did not turn up. They waited for some time, thinking he was running late, but it proved fruitless.

Sian knew the boy wasn't the type to renege on his promise, so he became bitter as he commented, "I guess he ate it…"

"Yeah, but you did what you could. Don't mind it too much."

The stone had the effect of luring a man with a certain level of power. They weren't sure what it was created for, but it was certain that a stone with luring power was not something good. That was why Sian had quickly altered the stone to lessen the luring effect.

Since that was the case, it was probably Dekaron's choice to eat it. Therefore, it was out of his hands.

"Well, since we don't have our guide anymore, I guess we can enjoy our date. Hehe."

"Ugh."

"So our next stop… is the city plaza where Sun Sword Liviath's weapon is stuck?"

"Hmm. The sword from him… was it <Granzod>? It was so-so. Not as good as mine though."

"Granzod… It must be a good weapon if you say that."

It was a weapon that Sun Sword Liviath had left with when he disappeared from his family. It didn't have any special power, but it was made out of an ore called <Coran> from a meteor, which allowed it to store the power of its user. That was why it was able to use Liviath's energy, which was already powerful when Liviath was a Grand Bander and became famous.

Nobody expected to see the weapon as Ra-Banders who left society never returned. However, it was found stuck in the middle of the city plaza one hundred years ago. What was interesting was that it was placed right in the middle of the plaza, but nobody saw it happen.

The only certain thing was that Sun Sword Liviath did it.

All of Broshan was excited. They figured it meant the great Sun Sword Liviath was still looking after them. All the Grand Banders knew that it certainly wasn't the case, but they did not know what the meaning was behind it and it seemed terrible to spill the truth and crush their hopes.

There were attempts to steal it; however, they all failed. Nobody was able to remove it. Even the Grand Bander <Taguron> tried and failed.

As Sian walked to the plaza, he felt something strange. The people in the plaza seemed agitated also. Stiel also sensed it and concentrated to hear what was going on.

"Oh… Sian, it seems like <Granzod> has been stolen. Or gone. I wonder who took it?"

"What?"

Sian felt disappointed. Everything he wanted to see was now gone.

"Don't be too disappointed. I'll tell you all about him."

"Ugh… I still wanted to see it. But what can I do? Let's move on to the next destination."

Sian took out a map from <Nitzmatan> and pointed to <Harangel's Tower>. However, Stiel looked uninterested.

"Can't you see the whole city easily without going to the tower? It's a bit hard for me, but I'm sure you can do it easily."

"Yeah, but it's for fun. Don't you understand that?"

'So, he can really do it,' she thought.

Sian could not reveal his true intention, that he expected a romantic meeting like in the novel he read, and quickly walked away. Stiel shrugged at Sian's answer and just followed.

After Sian returned to his room, he turned to Stiel, who was not going back to her separate room.

"So, what was Liviath like?"

"Hm… I don't think you need to mind that perverted old man. He's weaker than you."

"How do you know that? Didn't he live long?"

"Yeah, but he lost to me… so."

"What?"

Sian was confused. Stiel was very young when Sun Sword Liviath had become a Ra-Bander. Sian automatically assumed that Liviath, who was much older, was probably stronger than Sian. Stiel grew excited and began talking,

"Yeah. About a hundr… uh while ago, I fought him at Sky Mountain."

Sian remembered coming across a report of fallen meteors at Sky Mountain about 150 years ago but decided not to mention it.

"Why did you fight?"

"Because he wanted my well. I didn't want to give it to him, so we fought."

"Ugh, why couldn't you guys share it? The well had no owner."

Sian shook his head.

"I never let anyone take my stuff or stuff I want. No one."

Stiel looked Sian up and down as she spoke, giving him the chills. He changed the subject.

"So, you won. Okay, what happened to him after?"

"I don't know. He took a bucket of the well water and ran. I'm the slowest of the Ra-Banders so I couldn't catch him. He might be dead… or alive. Ra-Banders are difficult to find if they decide to hide. I thought there were only two Ra-Banders left before I met you and then I met those other two a while ago since I heard Sun Sword Liviath was dead."

"I see."

"We are strong, but we cannot know everything that happens in the entire continent."

That was true. Ra-Banders had enhanced senses that allowed them to detect a wide range, but the number of such superhumans was too rare. They also chose to fight in extremely remote parts of the world which made news about them more obscure.

"I guess that's true."

"Yeah, so you understand why I was so excited when I met you? You should be nicer to me. I believe there's only five of us left now."

She counted herself, Sian, the two from the Lagran, and Groyn from the Great North Wall. However…

"Who knows? We don't know if some are hiding out there. As you said, they are hard to find if they decide to hide."

"Yeah, but if we don't know they exist, then it's as same as not existing."

Stiel smiled as she spoke, and Sian sighed. He then asked a different question, "So… what was his <Way> like?"

"Oh. Yeah, he had some talent in that. It worked well with his <Granzod> too. The energy he had was one of a kind. I… I won because I had the upper hand in some parts."

"Was he that strong?"

"Yeah. It was a long time ago, so it was around after I barely had become a Ra-Bander. I still feel the burns from it back then. You want to see it?"

"UGH!"

Sian jumped back as Stiel posed to take off her shirt. She cackled, and Sian realized she was teasing him as there was no way for wounds to be still left on a Ra-Bander's body.

"What are you doing?! I won't fall for your prank!"

"Haha, I know you want to see it. I felt you were trying to take a look by using your Bander."

"N-no. I'm an educated gentleman from a noble family."

"Haha, okay, okay."

Sian felt his travels would become even harder as he looked at Stiel.

"Ha… it's very uncomfortable. How many years have passed? I feel like I have become an idiot."

Dekaron de Roland, or what used to be him, was shaking off the dust from his sword as he walked on the road continuously ranting.

"That idiot stuck it in too deep. Nobody could have stolen it anyway. It would've burned them to death."

The sword contained his full power and would've burned alive anyone trying to steal it, but the man sealed it in the center of the plaza.

'It's really unexpected that Stahntal is still alive.'

Even though the demeanor had changed, he retained the memory of the Dekaron boy. That was why he was surprised. He remembered getting beaten up by that beautiful woman. It had been 220 years after his disappearance according to the boy's memory, so Stahntal was probably over 230 years old.

Ra-Banders had an increased lifespan, so it wasn't impossible, but…

'So <he> did not visit her in all this time…'

Stahntal's location was well known among all the Ra-Banders. However, <he> was so unpredictable that it was useless to try and understand him.

'Dammit, so he only killed me?'

Dekaron swung his sword to the left. At once, all the trees on that side burned and quickly became ashes. A man walked out from it.

"Why are you hiding? It's me."

"Haha, long time no see, Liviath. I ran here since I sensed the seal being broken, but you looked too weak to be real."

The man addressed Dekaron as Livaith and taunted him for being weak.

"…I didn't expect my bloodline to be this weak. After a hundred years of idiots, I still revived through a stupid kid."

He made sure that the stone only worked on beings with above-average talent, but he still didn't understand why such an ordinary kid ate it. That was why even with his full power from his sword didn't wholly restore him to his old self.

"But wasn't it good to have insurance?"

"Yeah… I guess so. Thank you for that. It made it easy to get my sword back too."

"Then it's time to pay the debt."

"Sure. Lead the way."

The man smiled and jumped into the void; Dekaron, or rather the reborn Liviath, followed.

'Oh… I left that back there. Hm, it won't matter.'

The man pondered for a bit and then dismissed it, leading Liviath toward their destination.