I Obtained Sword God Level Talent

45 – 045. Winds of Change (1)

A mountain village inn is usually a quiet place.

But today, that rule was broken. It was all because a noble from the capital had come to visit the inn.

*Clang!*

“This swill tastes like trash. Selling this kind of stuff for money?”

“I-I’m so sorry!”

The old innkeeper bowed hastily.

To a simple villager like him, the fear that the title of a noble from the capital brought was beyond imagination.

Even though a valuable wine glass shattered and rolled across the floor, he couldn’t even bring himself to say a word.

“Damn it. So, when is that old village chief coming? A noble person like me, wasting time in this backwater, is a national loss!”

Tsk, the noble grumbled in a displeased voice.

With each word, his thick belly jiggled, and that alone was enough to show what kind of person he was.

“S-sorry, I don’t know either!”

“You bunch of useless b*stards.”

The innkeeper’s cautious reply came back. The nobleman’s face twisted in a scowl. Nothing about this situation was to his liking.

Right then.

“H-hey! The inn is currently off limits!”

“Wait a minute!”

Crash! Thud!

“Uhh…?”

The nobleman’s bleary eyes turned towards the inn entrance.

A sudden commotion from outside. It sounded like someone was trying to force their way into the inn, which, from the nobleman’s perspective, was utterly absurd.

“Ha! What lowlife is that?”

Screeeak!

The nobleman awkwardly rose from his seat. His red face was twisted with irritation. He looked like he’d happily beat the living daylights out of the intruder.

“It’s because this place is a backwater, they’ve got no respect for nobles.”

The nobleman rubbed his arm absentmindedly, glaring at the inn’s entrance. Any sensible person would think twice about entering and just turn around. That was the ‘common sense’ as he saw it.

But then.

Screeeaaak….

Reality defied his logic. The inn door swung open and a man with a dark expression appeared.

“……Y-you, you?!”

The nobleman’s face paled as he recognized the man.

The face seared in his memory, brought back a very recent terror.

“So, it was you.”

That short word, ‘you,’ sounded unimaginably terrifying.

The nobleman couldn’t answer. His knees were so weak he couldn’t even open his mouth.

“Pig Knight, Gler. I asked if you were the one who beat the children.”

“……G-ggh, gghh!”

The nobleman, Gler, his face ashen, raised his hands and clutched at his own throat.

He couldn’t breathe, couldn’t get any air. Instinctively, he knew this strange phenomenon was because of an intangible bloodlust.

Thud, thud.

Frey, who’d stormed into the inn, moved at a slow pace.

At the end of that stride was a nobleman, trembling in fear… Gler. He had a face like he’d seen a ghost from the beginning, unable to utter a single word.

“First a duel, then an assassin. Now it’s the children I had my eye on.”

Was this monster the guardian of those brats?!

Gler was backing away without realizing it. Like a herbivore in front of the king of beasts, it was a pathetic sight even to himself.

*Thud!*

“Ugh, ughhh!”

It was at that moment that Gler’s fear-stricken leg bumped into a chair.

Like a worn-out rag doll, he landed on his backside with a pathetic thud on the inn floor.

“He, help! Someone! Is anyone there?!”

Gler, meeting a chilling gaze, barely managed to shout loudly.

In his memory, there should have been five conscripted soldiers and one knight at the inn entrance.

“No one’s coming.”

“Wh, what…?”

“It means it’s just you and me here.”

“Gr, grrraaah!”

*Thump!*

Grasping the reality, Gler scrambled to his feet. And immediately he threw himself towards the kitchen, where the innkeeper was. His plan was to flee the inn without looking back.

*Crash!*

“Ughhh!”

He shoved the dazed innkeeper aside. The innkeeper slammed into the kitchen wall with a scream and collapsed. But Gler didn’t stop his desperate run.

‘Th, that guy! He’s mastered mana! He’s a master swordsman who uses sword aura!’

It was what the mercenary he hired for the assassination had blurted out in the past. At the time, Gler thought it was nonsense.

In his memory, that Frey guy hadn’t even mastered mana. For such a guy to suddenly awaken his mana and wield sword aura? He’d thought that was the biggest load of bull.

But.

‘I’m going to die. I might really die…!’

He could sense firsthand that the person he was facing wasn’t just someone who could wield ‘sword aura’. Faced with an overwhelming difference in power, his brain chose the option to run.

*Sssshh!* *Thud!*

“Ugh, uhhh!”

Just as he was throwing himself through the back door of the inn.

*Thud,* Gler’s body rolled onto the dirt floor outside, struck with an inexplicable pain.

“Kyahhh-!”

Gler, his gaze dropping to his lower body, let out a pig-like scream. His eyes had found them – his own two severed legs.

Thud.

“I tried not to kill anyone, if I could help it.”

Frey’s face, with each slow step he took, was colder than ever. It was a rage unlike anything anyone had ever seen from him, a raw, unfiltered fury. A quality no one around him had witnessed before.

“Kuhhh… kk!”

Gler, groaning like a hog, crawled on the ground.

His proud, high-quality silk clothes were instantly dirtied. But, perhaps not even realizing the reality of the situation, he desperately pulled himself toward the carriage parked outside the inn.

Swish.

“Ugh, uaaah!”

It was then that Frey’s sword sliced past in front of him.

Gler realized. After that blade swept across the earth, his arm had lost its owner and fallen off.

“But, you would be better off gone from this world.”

“N-no! No!”

His plump cheeks trembled.

Death? Was this how he would die? He, the noble heir of the DuPont, Gler?

“The, the contents of the commission were the problem! You’re going to kill me just for hitting some little brat?”

“I see.”

“W-what?”

“My suspicions were correct.”

Swish!

The merciless blade fell again. The gleaming edge cleaved through Gler’s neck. He died with his eyes wide open, not even realizing his windpipe had been severed.

“Tsk.”

Frey looked down at Gler with conflicted emotions.

Killing one ‘evil-doer’ wasn’t a problem. He felt no guilt. After all, his heart was protected by countless blessings, including ＜Cold-Bloodedness＞ and ＜Calmness＞.

However.

The target was a noble sent here on a ‘Central’ mission. Unlike Martis of the Armand Count’s family, this could become a pretty big problem.

Screech.

He sheathed his sword, wiping off the blood. At the same time, Frey thought.

‘…This is my justice.’

A flash of irritation, that was all. There was no fear in enacting justice. If the world turned its back on him for this, then he would simply fight the world.

“Frey-nim.”

“……Yes.”

Was it possible she knew what he was thinking?

Maria, who had arrived at the inn before he knew it, called to Frey in a low voice.

“I showed you an embarrassing sight.”

“……No, it’s not.”

Maria shook her head at Frey’s quiet response. Then, without hesitation, she said,

“I think you did the right thing.”

“……Yes?”

“If Frey-nim hadn’t stepped in, I would have been disappointed in you. And my sword would have cut this man down.”

…He had forgotten for a moment.

Maria Teresa, her sword doesn’t discriminate by status. It simply cuts down anyone who deviates from the righteous path as she sees it. That was Maria’s justice.

“And.”

Maria paused for a moment, before continuing.

“The older child’s condition is not good. It seems the wound has become infected, and they have quite a high fever.”

“……!”

The following explanation was urgent.

The boy had looked unwell, even at a glance. And now with a fever on top of that, he clearly needed treatment right away.

“For now, it’s better to return to the Holy Nation.”

Organizing his thoughts in an instant, he took a step. Maria seemed to agree, as she gave a small nod.

* * *

I carried the brother, while Maria carried the sister, and we ran along the road.

Naturally, legs brimming with mana transcended space and time. However, unlike before, when he was cheerful, only a low groan of pain came from the boy’s lips.

“O, Oppa…”

*Thump!*

The girl’s tear-filled gaze was directed at the boy. Feeling a sudden rush of unease, he increased his speed. If it was the Papal Palace, with its abundant high priests, they should be able to easily treat an injury of this level.

*Swish!*

Was it because he had drawn upon his mana to its limit?

The time it took to go from the nameless village to the Papal Palace was only about two hours.

“F-Frey-nim!”

“……?”

But the atmosphere at the returning Papal States was a bit peculiar.

I was about to ask for the child’s treatment immediately, but Bishop Cleo practically leaped out barefoot, as if he’d been waiting for me.

“O-oh? These children are…?”

“They are sick children, please heal them.”

“Ah! Don’t worry about the healing. More importantly, something very important has come up!”

“Important matter?”

The atmosphere at the entrance of the Papal States seemed more solemn than usual.

“A distinguished guest has arrived. Someone has come from the Imperial City, to meet Frey-nim and Ariel-nim!”

“……The Imperial City? Who came from the Imperial City?”

It was something I couldn’t help but tilt my head at.

I couldn’t grasp the meaning of it. Wasn’t the speed of rumors too fast?

And.

Considering the social influence of the Papal States, that is, the Holy Nation… it seemed unlikely that Bishop Cleo would be in such a fuss over anyone other than a truly important figure.

“The Imperial Prince! His Highness Friedrich has arrived…!”

Cleo’s voice, oddly excited, echoed through the entrance of the Papal States.