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[Translator - Kiteretsu]
[Proofreader - Kyros]
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Chapter 20
[…Thank you. Really….]
The Banshee smiled. For a ghost, it was almost as if she was about to shed a tear.
It wasn’t real tears, though, more like a faint afterimage.
[This is the first time… before dying, and after dying… that I’ve received such a gift.]
It was just a cheap gift given on a whim, yet she seemed so grateful that it made me feel awkward.
“So, what’s your name? You must have had one before, right?”
It felt strange to keep calling her "Banshee."
We were going to be stuck together for a while, it seemed.
[…….]
The Banshee remained silent.
She seemed troubled, and Chris realized with a start.
‘Ah, right. Being a ghost, she probably doesn’t want to remember the past.’
Ghosts are those who can’t pass on due to lingering regrets or unfinished business.
The more intense the regret, the more powerful the ghost becomes.
And the servant before him, Banshee, was a high-ranking spirit. In other words, she must have had some deep, unresolved regret.
[That is…]
“No, forget it. It’s not important what your old name was.”
Chris quickly tried to change the subject.
“You’re my servant now, so I’ll give you a new name.”
[A name…?]
“Yeah. How about Marie?”
It wasn’t a particularly meaningful name.
It was just that, in his previous life, most of the maids he met in various mansions had been named Marie, so it was the first name that came to mind.
‘Like how dogs are named Happy, butlers are named Sebastian, and servants are named Marie.’
It was a thoughtless name, but Banshee, or Marie, looked touched.
[Marie… Marie… It’s a beautiful name. Thank you, Master.]
Somewhere along the way, without Chris realizing, the form of address had changed.
From "Young Master" to "Master".
She had truly acknowledged him as her master.
[In gratitude… I’ll make even more delicious virgin’s blood juice… and offer it to you.]
“…I told you, I’m not drinking virgin’s blood juice.”
[But the strawberry juice you’ve been drinking all this time… had a virgin's blood as a topping, didn’t it?]
“…Can you stop with the awful jokes?”
Banshee, Marie, giggled.
Chris climbed into the carriage with an irritated expression.
His business here was done, so it was time to return to the mansion.
‘But… I feel like I forgot something. What was it?’
Chris tilted his head in confusion.
* * *
“Brother!!!!!”
‘Ah.’ Chris suddenly remembered what he had forgotten.
It was Teren.
The next day, he came to confront him with a red face.
“Why did you abandon me and leave?!”
From what Chris gathered, he’d gone through quite a lot of hardship.
He couldn’t reveal his true identity because he couldn’t disgrace his family’s honor, he had no money, and was on the verge of being sold into slavery. Fortunately, someone had recognized him, and he barely managed to escape.
Chris felt a bit guilty and apologized.
“I’m sorry, I forgot.”
“What—what did you just say?”
“By the way, your way of addressing me is a bit off. Didn’t we have a bet yesterday? From now on, when you call me, it’s ‘Respected King Emperor Majesty, Older Brother.’”
“……!”
Chris said it with a friendly older brother tone.
“Now, my dear younger brother. Want to try saying it?”
“…….”
Teren’s fist, clenched tightly, trembled.
“R… Respected Older Brother.”
“Exactly.”
“…Respected King Emperor Majesty, Older Brother.”
“Good, that’s it! From now on, do well and show respect to your older brother.”
“!!”
Teren shouted out with a red face.
“I… I will show you proper respect someday! Be prepared!!”
Then Teren ran off as if fleeing.
Chris chuckled to himself.
‘Why is he so cute?’
It was hard to believe that someone as adorable as him would eventually be the one to bring about my death in the original history.
‘It must have been because of that Ashid guy.’
Chris’s expression turned serious.
Ashid.
The rightful heir of the family. And the one opposing him.
In truth, Chris didn’t hold much of a grudge against Ashid. After all, he wasn’t Christian.
But.
‘Still, he must be crushed.’
Ashid was someone Chris would have to step over in order to achieve his goals.
‘And for that, the upcoming duel with Melin is crucial.’
No matter how much of a genius Ashid was, he couldn’t obtain the Dark Magus on his own.
He would need help.
Chris planned to make Melin his ally through this duel.
‘For that, I’ll need to be able to use this Grunade.’
Chris looked at the old-fashioned, antique-looking Grunade.
‘The holy sword used by the fallen hero.’
The Grunade was a very special holy sword.
Even after its original master, the hero, sacrificed his soul to the demon and fell, it had continued to be used as a holy sword.
In other words, this holy sword had an unusual history—it had been used by a demon once.
‘That’s why countless demons have targeted the Grunade. Holy swords are like natural enemies to demons.’
Who, then, was the main enemy of the demons?
Of course, the primary enemy of the demons is the forces of light, the Crusade Union.
However, battles with the Union don’t happen often.
The demons most commonly fight each other.
‘Although it’s called the Magus Empire, in reality, if you look deeper, it’s divided into many factions.’
At the top, there is the Lord of the Demon Kings—the most powerful of all demons, the Demon Emperor.
The lands directly ruled by the Demon Emperor are located at the very center of the Magus Empire.
Then, there are four Magus Kingdoms in the four cardinal directions—North, South, East, and West.
Each of these four kingdoms is ruled by a different Demon King, and the Dark Demonic House that Chris belongs to is part of the Southern Magus Kingdom.
‘The Demon Emperor is like an emperor, and the Demon Kings below him are like the monarchs of kingdoms who serve the emperor.’
By the way, the Blood-Drenched Demon King, who would later cause the Age of Ruins, was the ruler of the Eastern Magus Kingdom.
‘But that’s not now. Maybe by now, he’s the Grand Duchess of the Blood Sword Demonic House.’
The Blood Sword Demonic House.
One of the Twelve Demonic Houses, it was a prestigious family under the Eastern Magus Kingdom.
The Twelve Demonic Houses were scattered across the four Magus Kingdoms.
In any case, as can be seen from these relationships, demons fought endlessly among themselves.
Thus, the holy sword was a highly coveted weapon among demons.
It was the easiest way to inflict fatal wounds on an opponent.
‘And there’s also the allure. The romance of conquering the cursed holy sword.’
A holy sword is a symbol of a hero.
How thrilling it must be to conquer such a holy sword?
That’s why countless demons challenged the Grunade in hopes of conquering it.
‘But all of them failed.’
The rejection was the cause.
The moment a demon touched the holy sword, Grunade, it rejected them violently.
Only the original owner, the fallen hero, could wield the holy sword Grunade.
Because of this, Grunade became a worthless relic that no one wanted, eventually ending up in the hands of the merchant Grantel.
“Should I try it? Let’s see what happens.”
Chris grabbed the holy sword Grunade.
It was fine for now.
The intense sealing force on the sword was keeping its power suppressed.
However, as it was, the holy sword couldn’t unleash any of its power.
He released the seal.
And then,
“!!”
Crack!
It felt as if he had grabbed a hot branding iron with his bare hand—an intense, burning sensation made him quickly let go.
The sword rejected his magical energy.
Fortunately, he avoided a burn, but if he had been even a second slower, his hand would’ve melted.
‘As expected, it doesn’t work.’
But Chris wasn’t shaken.
He had expected this.
Even so, he had brought the sword here because he was confident that he could handle it.
"It's just a holy sword, after all. Ultimately, it's just a weapon. An artifact enchanted with magic that allows the user to harness the 'Radiant Mana,' the holy power."
The meaning of that statement was clear.
If one could analyze the principle behind the artifact engraved on the holy sword—specifically, the principle that causes a rejection of magic—it might be possible to find a flaw in the holy sword.
Of course, this was only theoretically possible, and no one had ever dared to try.
There were several reasons for this.
Even if one were to find a flaw in the holy sword, it was unlikely that it would be a convenient flaw that anyone could exploit.
If such a flaw did exist, it would likely be a minuscule crack—like the eye of a needle. If one missed the opportunity, they would fail.
It was also dangerous.
One small mistake, and the holy sword would immediately burn the user’s body.
But Chris thought to himself.
‘There must be a flaw in this holy sword. That’s why even the fallen hero was able to use it. I need to find that flaw.’
And he felt something.
‘Somehow, I think it will work.’
His instincts were usually very accurate.
Chris took something out of the bag he had retrieved from the castle.
It was a hammer imbued with magic.
Chris raised the hammer and struck the holy sword with it.
Clang!
A loud sound rang out, and the holy sword crackled as its holy energy surged.
Chris focused on the pattern of mana circuits in his mind—the ones that responded to magic and caused the holy energy to manifest—and repeated the action.
Clang! Clang!!
The hammer ruthlessly struck the holy sword.
Each time, the holy sword crackled as if it were resisting, almost as though it were saying “Stop!”
‘It doesn’t like it?’
Eventually, the hammer couldn’t withstand the holy energy and shattered into pieces.
The holy sword crackled once more, almost as if it were scoffing at Chris.
But Chris smiled to himself.
He shook out the bag, and a pile of magical tools fell to the ground.
Saws, knives, rulers, hammers, and furnaces—there were countless items.
All of them were magical tools imbued with magic to strike at the holy sword.
Was it just a feeling?
It almost seemed as though the holy sword was silent, as if it were waiting.
"Alright then, let's do this properly."
Chris said with a mocking tone.
"If you don’t like it, then just surrender to me already."
* * *
How many days had passed?
Chris had locked himself in his room, tormenting the holy sword all day long.
If the holy sword had a consciousness, it would have likely begged him to stop, desperate to comply with anything he asked, in a cruel (and perhaps) amusing form of torment.
‘Hmm, this isn’t easy.’
Chris crossed his arms, looking at the countless broken magical tools that had been shattered beside the holy sword.
As expected, it was a holy sword after all.
Even Chris found it difficult to figure out the artifact pattern of the Holy Sword.
But.
"Still, I understand."
Chris gave a sly smile.
He had discovered the Holy Sword's blind spot?!
It was an astonishing story.
'It was possible because the Holy Sword was broken. Many of the security spells were damaged.'
If not for that, even Chris wouldn't have been able to figure it out in such a short time.
'The problem is handling the Holy Sword using this blind spot.'
Here's the question.
Could the demons who had previously tried to handle Grunade not have found the blind spot Chris discovered?
It’s unlikely.
Even so, the reason they failed to subdue Grunade was that it was impossible to use that blind spot.
'A Holy Sword created by a constellation couldn't have been designed so easily.'
Chris had faced the same challenge.
"I think I can do it."
It was an unbelievable statement.
Mighty demons had probably challenged Grunade.
And yet, is it possible that such demons all failed?
'Even high-ranking demons wouldn't be able to handle Grunade, but I can.'
To be precise.
Only Chris could.
'This Holy Sword is for me.'
It was at that moment.
The door opened.
"Are you ready?"
A woman with a radiant smile.
"The promised time has come, young master."
Melin's blue eyes were gleaming with anticipation.
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[Translator - Kiteretsu]
[Proofreader - Kyros]
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