Chapter 13: Departure

Lucius is a hunter.

What he learned from his guardian who picked him up was how to hunt beasts, and sometimes how to deal with demons.

When dealing with demons, you must be quiet, quick, and fast.

You must never move loudly.

When asked why, the old man said,

-Because humans are weaker than demons.

Then what if someone with a lot of strength is doing?

When asked that, the old man laughed heartily and said,

-You can just beat them all up.

What do you have to worry about when you have such great strength?

“Eww!!”

Power overflows.

The golden wind becomes one with him, tearing the goblin to pieces.

Kiik!!

A goblin rushes in from the side and swings his club.

It was an attack that hit Lucius’s arm joint exactly, but it was useless.

Kaa-ang!

Lucius instead hit the goblin’s club with his elbow.

The soft golden light standing on the tip of his elbow was like a solid spear, and the goblin’s wooden club broke against Lucius’s elbow.

“Keeeeeet!!”

The goblin threatened Lucius, swinging what little club he had left.

However, Lucius easily dodged the club, and swung his sword in a large swing, just as he was dodging,

Bwoooow!

As he swung his sword as if his entire body was falling to the ground, a golden whirlwind began to blow around him.

The goblins who tried to attack Lucius from all sides were torn apart by the blade, and thanks to the power of the holy sword, Lucius was able to turn his body around and land safely just from the wind pressure from swinging his sword.

“Haa, haa.”

His breathing was rapid.

It wasn’t because he was out of breath, but because of the excitement of slicing through the goblins.

Pleasure.

A sense of accomplishment.

While he was intoxicated by the overwhelming power, Lucius learned how to gradually reduce his strength.

‘Don’t mess with me, Arthur.’

Lucius repeated to himself.

“Master is watching.”

While everyone else was unable to follow Lucius, only the witch was staring at Lucius clearly from afar.

Despite the village chief and unbelievable villagers nearby who were trying to catch the witch right away, the witch was only looking at Lucius… and grinning.

As if she was proud, the corners of her mouth went up a little every time he defeated a goblin with the power of the holy sword.

It seemed like she was worried about Lucius using his power too much, relieved that he was gradually learning how to use it more efficiently, and proud of Lucius’s performance itself.

“Ke, keruk…! Enough! I’ll step back! Enough!!”

The green goblin fell to the ground, waving his hands and pleading.

“Magic stones, I’ll give you magic stones! I’ve saved them! Keruk! At least my life, please!!”

The desperate look on the goblin’s face made his sword hesitate for a moment, but Lucius pulled himself together.

“If I kill you, I’ll get a magic stone, right?”

“A, a magic stone…? I’ll give it to you if you need it! Here it is!”

The green goblin held out a magic stone.

There were a considerable amount of magic stones in the leather pouch, and Lucius used the blade of the holy sword to take out the leather pouch.

“…What should I do?”

Lucius’s gaze turned to the witch.

Soon, the witch began to walk toward Lucius, and the villagers gulped and began to step aside.

“…I need at least one person to tell you.

Hmm, okay.”

The witch grabbed the magic stone in her pouch and aimed a tree branch at the green goblin.

“Go and tell the Demon King, I, the magician of the red lotus, have awakened from my long sleep to seal you again.”

“A, Demon King…?”

“Get out.”

Hwaruk!

As soon as the small spark flew, the green goblin turned around in fright.

“Do I not have to kill you?”

“Why? Are you afraid that you’ll leave trouble behind?”

“I’m not afraid. It’s just.”

“It’s okay. We have the Holy Sword’s hero, so what if the goblin brings a stronger demon from there?”

The witch lightly patted Lucius on the back.

“I trust you, Lucius. My hero, and my disciple.”

“Yes, Master!”

The smiling witch was sending Lucius her infinite trust.

Lucius thought.

After the battle was over, I instructed Lucius to retrieve the magic stones from the goblins’ corpses, and then distanced myself from the village chief and spoke to him again.

“You have two sins.

One is the sin of not believing what I, the Crimson Magician, said.”

She tried to kill me by accusing me of being a witch for coming to this village to break the seal on the Holy Sword.

“And…”

“…”

The original sin that cannot be spoken of in front of others, and if spoken of, the village chief’s prestige would be destroyed.

The dark ‘sin of lust’ that kidnapped me at night and tried to do something to me.

“I forgive your sins.”

“Yes…?”

“What did you hear? I said I would forgive your sins.”

“Th, that’s it…?”

The village chief began to get confused.

I’m not a fool like Lucius, and I’m just going to let the crime the village chief was about to commit go away?

“Humans can make mistakes. Thank you. Thanks to you, I’ve come to the realization that I need to be careful when introducing myself in the future. I, the Crimson Magician, will go on a journey to seal the Demon King, considering someone like you to be average.”

“Th, that’s it…”

“Well, think of it as the price for showing me how the world sees me. I forgive your original sins. However, there will be no more mercy.”

He gave me a peck and forgave me at the same time.

The elder knelt down in tears.

“Kuuuk…! Thank you so much! I, Nerotian!! I sincerely thank you for your generous consideration, magician!!”

“I don’t care about your name.”

I waved my hand and stepped back.

In fact, the reason I forgave him was because I wanted to leave this town quickly more than anything else.

‘If you stay, you’ll attract flies.’

The owner of the one and only seven holy swords on the continent has appeared.

Those who are looking for the holy sword will gather here, regardless of whether they are humans, celestials, or demons.

“In return, I’ll have to give you some trouble. While I stay here and praise the magician of the red lotus, I want you to take care of the annoying things, like meeting the demons who came to avenge the goblins or dealing with the knights from the sect. That’s why I’m letting those beggars live.

“I don’t even want to waste my mana on killing them. Anyway, they’ll die in a month even if I don’t kill them.

“Then we’ll leave right after we finish taking care of the goblins. You can take care of the rest.”

“Thank you!!”

If there’s any empty-headed woman among them who says she’ll follow the owner of the holy sword…

“Lucius!!”

There is.

“Really.

“Are you leaving?”

A country girl who looks weak at first glance and has nothing to brag about except her breasts that could fill a tin milk jug wags her tail at Lucius who is collecting magic stones.

“That girl?”

Where did she come from to tempt my fool with her body?

“Are you really just going to leave?”

“Stop.”

As I stepped between the two, the woman immediately changed her expression.

Lucius could clearly see her cursing with her eyes, at an angle he couldn’t see.

“Women.”

Since he was in a woman’s body, he was more sensitive to a woman’s hostility.

In particular, a woman’s ‘jealousy’ was even more so.

“Don’t block the path of the hero. Woman.”

“Woman…?”

“Master.”

Lucius called me from behind.

I didn’t like the look in his eyes, but I obediently stepped aside.

“Goodbye. Thank you.”

“How…”

Lucius was trying to say goodbye nicely.

However, that woman was clinging to Lucius, trying to somehow appeal to him.

“Damn it, I have to retrieve the magic stone from the goblin’s corpse, right?”

While Lucius was possessed by that woman, of course, Lucius couldn’t retrieve the magic stone from the goblin’s corpse.

Does that mean I have to rummage through the goblin’s corpse like a fool?

Never.

“…..”

I quietly crossed my arms and glared at Lucius.

I kept giving Lucius hints with my fierce eyes and determination, telling him to quickly shake off the woman and collect the magic stone from the goblin corpse.

Whoa!!

The woman left while crying sadly.

The eyes that glared at me while crying in the middle of the cry were definitely fake.

“I’m sorry, Master.”

“Be careful with women.”

“Huh?”

“There are so many women in the world. Some of them will use you. I’m sure…”

Ah.

Could this be seen as what I’m saying now?

“…Ahem. I’m not going to misunderstand, so let me be clear. I’m not trying to use you.”

“It’s okay, Master.”

Lucius placed his hand on the hilt of the holy sword.

“You can use me as much as you want.”

“What?”

“I’m your sword, Master.”

Soon, the holy sword disappeared with the wind, and a golden wind began to linger on the fourth finger of his left hand.

“I became a hero thanks to my master. I will never betray my master after obtaining the power of the holy sword, nor will I abandon my master and have my eyes set on someone else.”

“_____”

Although something felt off, Lucius’s eyes were sincere.

“What kind of conversation does he have with his eyes? Does he have a gaze fetish?”

I felt a chill at Lucius’s strange attempt to clearly express his will with his eyes, but I decided not to ignore him out of fear that he might betray him.

“…Yes, yes. Never betray me.”

“Of course, master. Oh, but…”

Lucius glanced at the village and asked me.

“Are the two of us going on this trip alone?”

“Then?”

“Yes?”

“You and I. The two of us are enough.”

The holy sword you hold is the one that split the heart of the Great Demon King Belphegor into four, so you alone are enough.

“… With your strength, we can overcome any obstacle.”

I tried to swallow the words that were welling up under my chin.

If you bring up the name Belphegor in this world for no reason, someone like the village chief might start a fight.

“Or what? Do you think I’ll increase the number of my party?”

“… Weren’t you trying to gather the warriors of the Holy Sword?”

“Huh?”

“There are seven Holy Swords, aren’t there?”

“That’s true.”

Fire, water, wind, earth, light, darkness, and dusk.

“Should we go find that Holy Sword?”

“… The other Holy Swords all have owners.”

“Oh, really?”

That’s good news.

“Then while those guys are distracted, we can move on our own.”

“Are you two really hanging out together?”

“Why? I need a man I can talk to-”

“No.”

For the first time, I heard Lucius’ serious voice.

“I’ll do my best.”

“____.”

Well, there’s no need for a hero of the Holy Sword to bring in male companions.

That’s how it was historically.

“Hehe, you really are a man, huh?”

Trying to fill a harem with just one of his companions.

As expected, he is the Hero of the Holy Sword.

“Enough of the jokes, while I’m looking at the map, go retrieve the magic stones from the goblins. I’ll be waiting.”

“Yes!!”

Lucius grinned and left to collect the remaining corpses.

“You little brat, do you really like harems that much?”

He’s so happy about the thought of already dating several women.

“You definitely have the makings of a hero.”