Volume 9 Chapter 0 : V9 Prologue

Having completed my training as an aristocrat, I, [Liam Sera Banfield], have returned to my territory over the age of 100.

To be honest, I wanted to spend some more time at the Capital playing around.

With me being the faction leader, and Cleo its figurehead, I still have the long-established luxury hotel rented under my name.

I haven’t let go of my accommodation in the Capital because I plan on visiting again in the future.

I knew I should’ve acquired a mansion or something—hmm? Is it just me, or have I done that already?

I’m currently thinking about various things inside a certain facility located within the courtyard of my oversized mansion.

It’s called a courtyard, but due to the sheer size of the mansion itself, it feels no different from being outside.

The facility I’m in is a training room that’s dedicated to me.

“—Come.”

Clad in a black armor, I point my weapon that looks like a wooden sword at my junior disciples.

[Shishigami Fuuka], her orange hair tied up in a flower bun, smacks her lips.

“Try not to get yerself killed!”

Contrary to her words, she doesn’t seem concerned for my safety at all.

Instead, she looks excited.

With this junior disciple of mine gleefully wielding both her swords, and slashing them towards me, I quickly retaliate by swinging the wooden sword in my right hand.

This practice equipment that looks like a wooden sword has an extremely high performance, and the same goes for my armor.

[Satsuki Rinho] also pulls out her sword with a smile at the corners of her lips, her long, dark blue hair swinging from side to side.

The swords that they’re using are the real deal.

“AHAHA! DIE!”

Where’s their respect for their senior?

Then again, as swordsmen of the same school, it’s a given that they’re being serious.

Sparks fly as I block the two girls’ attacks with my wooden sword, and scratch marks appear all over the armor that I’m wearing.

Most of these scratch marks are from attacks that I’ve failed to parry or avoid, while the rest are from the aftermath of the clash.

Fuuka jumps up into the air and plants her feet on the ceiling.

We’re not in some zero-gravity environment, but she bends her knees while standing on the ceiling and shoots towards me with great momentum.

“Chop, chop.”

Fuuka’s coming at me with bloodthirsty eyes, but she seems to be a decoy.

Turning back to look, I notice Rinho, who’s arrived right before me preparing to draw her sword.

Fuuka with her flurry of attacks and Rinho with her sure-kill technique.

Slowing me down with the former’s attacks and finishing me off with the latter’s deadly blow.

“Ku!”

—Dealing with them isn’t an easy task.

Not only is Fuuka’s attack numerous, each blow can be fatal.

She’s unleashing such an attack on both Rinho and me, intending to kill us both.

On the other hand, Rinho’s trying to strike the two of us with devastating attacks, attacks that can be described as overkill.

Out of desperation, I grab the handle of Rinho’s sword with my left hand, sealing her sword-drawing technique.

Then, I perform a slash with my wooden sword to shoot Fuuka down from above.

Rinho tackles me with a sweep and thrusts her sword while I’m down.

“I’ll be the one to finish him off!”

I avoid the thrust by rolling on the ground and stand back up with sweat running down my back.

Fuuka, who’s managed to get behind me, tries to chop my head off with her twin swords.

Turning back, I make an upward slash with my wooden sword to deflect Fuuka’s blades and land a kick to her abdomen.

I was in too much of a hurry to adjust my strength, so she was flung all the way to the wall.

“*Cough* I-I’ll be the one to kill him! Senior brother’s life is mine!”

Despite being slammed against the wall, and spitting out blood, Fuuka isn’t showing any sign of giving up.

I turn around and look away from her.

Immediately afterwards, I swing my sword horizontally in order to block a slash that’s come my way.

Sparks fly once more.

A short distance away, I find Rinho in her sword stance.

With One-Flash, the secret technique of our school, she shoots out a storm of slashes.

“Let’s see who can hold out longer! Show me how long you can last!”

Her slashes are stronger and more numerous than mine.

Rinho, who’s attacking with a smirk on her face, doesn’t show any sign of letting up.

There’s a 10-meter distance between the two of us, but sparks are flying 3 meters away from me.

From this, it’s obvious that I’m being pushed.

“You too?!”

Several slashes are thrown my way from behind as I’m fending off the attacks from Rinho.

Rinho, Fuuka, and I are now standing in a straight line with me at the center.

Sparks appear all around me as I continue to parry the One-Flash that they shoot out.

Fuuka takes a step forward and closes in on me.

“This is the end of the line for ya, Senior Brother! But rest assured, for I’ll succeed the school in yer stead! I’ll take good care of Ellen as well!”

She speaks as if she’s already won.

Rinho, who’s on the other side, also starts approaching me one step at a time.

“This is what you get for underestimating us. I didn’t despise Senior Brother, so you’ll at least live on within our memories!”

From their appearances alone, they look no different from your average high school girls.

To the untrained eye, it looks as if they’re simply approaching me with their swords.

The only thing they’ll find peculiar are the sparks being scattered around us.

While wearing my helmet, I mutter, “A little more, just a little more.”

My body’s already screaming for help.

However, it’s the tools that fail me first.

The swords in Rinho and Fuuka’s hands shatter, and so does my wooden sword.

The armor makes an announcement with its electronic voice.

[The training armor has reached its limit. Forced shutdown.]

“No, wait!”

Ignoring my command, the armor pops off all at once after making its statement, leaving me in just my inner suit.

I’m soaked in sweat and breathing roughly. Not only that, there are scratches all over my body.

“Damn it!”

I plop down onto the floor.

I was just about to feel something!

Rinho stares at the shattered swords.

“Really, how many does this make?”

Fuuka tosses her swords away, and the cleaning robots collect them.

“Who knows?”

The two girls walk over to me as I look at the shattered wooden sword and my armor.

“So, money isn’t enough to solve this issue.”

Neither the armor, nor the wooden sword, have been able to improve my abilities.

In fact, it’s the opposite. They’re exceptionally good tools for limiting their user’s abilities.

The armor places a heavy burden on the user’s body, and the wooden sword is extremely difficult to swing.

After limiting my abilities, I told my junior disciples to “Come at me with the intention to kill.”

Otherwise, I won’t be able to push myself beyond my limits.

I open my quivering right hand and stare at it.

“Why can’t I reach him? Why can’t I reach the level of our Master?”

I’m starting to feel hopeless and pathetic.

Regardless of how much training I go through, and how much practical experience I gain, I can’t seem to enter the realm of our Master.

I’m still incapable of reproducing the ‘slash that appears as if the sword has never been drawn’ that I saw as a kid.

Fuuka tries to comfort me while wiping off the blood near her mouth.

“Senior Brother’s stronger than the both of us. Yer bound to reach him one day, right?”

“Idiot. There’s no point in comforting Senior Brother. To begin with, what we say doesn’t matter. —You’ve also seen Master Yasushi’s skill first hand. How does it compare to Senior Brother’s?”

Indeed, words of comfort are pointless. As people who’ve witnessed Master’s abilities, they’re nothing more than an insult.

Fuuka looks away awkwardly.

“T-that wasn’t what I was trynna say!”

She turned her eyes away from me since she also realizes the massive chasm that exists between Master and me.

“I-I know full well that Senior Brother’s lacking compared to Master Yasushi. I mean, I can’t even begin to fathom the extent of Master’s abilities. It should be the same for ya.”

Rinho pouts.

“You don’t have to tell me that, I know already. That just goes to show how awesome Master Yasushi truly is.”

Yes, Master is amazing.

The difference between us is so great that we can’t even tell how great he is.

Normally, it seems like he’ll lose to amateurs, but when he draws his sword, no one in the world can hold a candle against him.

I’ve imagined fighting against Master Yasushi many times, but never have I ever emerged as the victor.

This didn’t change even after I defeated the so called Sword Saints of the Empire.

“I’m missing something. What am I missing? Have I—Have I already reached my limit?”

Can I no longer become stronger?

The anxiety is about to crush me.

As an evil lord, I’ve obtained the strongest means of violence, One-Flash, yet my journey is about to end midway due to a lack of talent.

If I’m just trying to be some bad guy, I’d be fine with that.

However, I want to become even stronger, not only as an evil lord, but as Master’s student.

I want to properly inherit the One-Flash that Master has shown me.

Ellen, who has grown quite a bit, runs up to me as I’m wiping off my sweat.

She was so small when we first met, but now she looks like she has almost reached ten years of age.

“Master, please allow me to wipe your sweat!”

“Sure.”

I receive the drink that Ellen has brought and allow her to wipe my body.

While gulping down the supplemental nutrition drink, I think about various things…

“Ellen, how old are you again?”

…and end up wondering how old my disciple is.

Rinho and Fuuka, who are also sweaty and out of breath, remain silent as they also realize what I’m getting at.

“I-I’m around thirty years old.”

Someone in their thirties would be considered an adult in my previous world, but they’re still considered a child in this one.

Fuuka shrugs before looking over at me.

“Senior Brother’s really overprotective about her.”

Rinho whisks out her device and starts updating her blog as if she’s lost interest in our conversation.

“Ellen’s under Senior Brother’s care, so it’s not our place to say anything, but at this rate she’ll never become a proper swordswoman of One-Flash.”

A look of surprise appears on Ellen’s face for a moment when she hears what the two girls have to say, but she immediately argues back.

“Please don’t look down on me! I’ve been training under Master for over 10 years and can do the basics. W-well, I can’t perform a One-Flash, but…”

Although she has a solid foundation, Ellen hasn’t been able to unleash a One-Flash.

There’s no helping it though.

After all, it took me more than 20.

Rinho takes her eyes off her terminal and stares at Ellen with cold eyes.

Sensing the killing intent, Ellen becomes frightened, but Rinho takes no heed of that and speaks her mind.

“That’s not the point. We’re talking about something much more important.”

Ellen looks back and forth between Rinho, and I, while still shivering in fear.

“Something much more important?”

Fuuka replies in my stead.

“You haven’t killed anyone yet, have you? No, I’m certain you haven’t.”

Ellen’s eyes widen.

—For her to become a swordswoman, she must first take someone’s life.

It may sound strange in a world where intergalactic nations exist.

Spaceships and humanoid weapons exist, but sword fights still occur.

Killing someone isn’t an easy thing to do. For us, who’ve chosen this path, it’s something inevitable.

I stand up and place my hand on Ellen’s shoulder.

“I’ll find an appropriate opponent for you in the near future.”

Ellen stares at the ground as if in shock, but as she can’t go against her Master, she replies in a small voice.

“—Understood.”