Chapter 18: North God’s Three Swordsmen

『I’ve taught you about all I could pass down, so I thought I should speak with you before we part ways. Well, unlike with your mother, I can’t really call myself your master…』

『You have nothing to apologize for. I merely grew greedy, thinking I could pass the North God Style on to my disciple’s daughter as well. But… in time, you will walk the path of the North God Style yourself. Even knowing now that your way doesn’t mesh with the “current North God Style,” that alone is a valuable lesson.』

『There’s nothing strange about it. Your sword carries neither thought of victory nor concern for your own survival, does it? The Sword God and the Water God each tried in their own ways to correct that mindset, but they won’t succeed.』

『That child spoke cruelly. To demand that you “protect your younger siblings as the eldest” when you couldn’t even live among people without shaving your head… Perhaps because of that, your sword became one that sacrifices your own life to save another’s. No matter how much you polish the Sword God or Water God styles, both born from founders with clear answers, your sword will never be complete. Which means the path you will reach in the end can only be the North God Style.』

『Yes… the North God Style is the only one among the three great schools without a definitive answer. Its origin lies in inheriting the first generation’s noble spirit and survival techniques. Yet, in raw combat power, the second generation already surpassed the founder. And when that second generation cast aside the Dragon King Sword—the weapon that made the North God strongest—and entrusted everything to the third, the North God Style became a school that inherits whatever answers its practitioners discover.』

『When your sword, belonging to no one school, becomes an answer, that will be the birth of a new North God Style. And you, as its head, must pass it down to the next generation. Not a sword that dies just to keep others alive… but a sword that survives, endures, and continues to protect. You must leave such a sword behind for those you guard, and for your disciples of the next generation.』

『That child did not tell you such words because she wished you dead. She showed you those you must protect so that, in a life full of enemies, you could live strong. Should you mistake the means for the end, then like me, the very answer you discovered will be tainted with disgrace. Don’t become as I did.』

『I look forward to the day your discovered answer leaves its mark upon the name of the North God Style… Edith.』

────Rudeus’s Perspective────

The armored dwarf who called himself Wii Taa stood at the front and bellowed his declaration—not an ambush, but as if to say righteousness itself stood with him.

"Princess Ariel and her faction!! You trampled upon the devotion of my lord Pilemon and cast him away to the Black Wolf Ghislaine, you honorless princess!! Hand over Lord Luke, second son of House Notos, and turn back for Ranoa at once!! This is my first and last mercy, as one who once served you!!"

"Don’t make me laugh! I don’t know who you betrayed Ariel-sama for, but to force the burden of your own shame onto her and send assassins against her—that’s unforgivable! Withdraw your troops and face judgment!!"

While Luke was left speechless by Wii Taa’s words, Sylphy—now in her Fitz persona—answered with a dignified voice, engaging in a war of words. I had planned from the start to assume Pilemon was a traitor, but Wii Taa’s accusations were too much. That was an outright admission of betrayal. …Wait, I see.

Ariel’s group admitted they indirectly played a role in Sauros’s execution. With Ghislaine choosing to support Ariel, the traitor Pilemon must have grown paranoid, convinced he was made the scapegoat. If this information reached them inside the Asuran Kingdom, then either Wii Taa or Pilemon is an Apostle of Hitogami.

"I see… how unfortunate!"

"So, there’s no avoiding a clash, Eris!"
"Auber… it’s been a long time!!"

With that signal of failed negotiations, three swordsmen leapt down from the trees. The man whose appearance and clothes matched Orsted’s description, and two mirror-image rabbit-eared swordsmen.

"I too am one of the North God’s Three Swordsmen, and their leader… North Emperor, Auber Corbett, the ‘Peacock Blade.’"

"And I as well, one of the Three Swordsmen. North King, Knuckle Guard the ‘Twin Blades.’"

──I hadn’t heard this. None of this.

I’d been told to prepare for strong enemies in direct combat, but with the premise that we’d have the advantage of ambush.

I’d misunderstood. The future Orsted knows isn’t absolute. Edith and I were never supposed to be born. The teleportation incident should never have happened. Those impossible factors linked people who were never meant to meet—and warped the future itself.

"Rudeus of the ‘Quagmire’ and your companions! Now—fight us honorably!!!"

A full-on confrontation, with no holding back, nothing like what Orsted had warned me about, was about to begin.