The Sword Master’s Beginning

He nodded slyly as he spoke.

‘How is it that none of these male leads are sane?’

To think I have to court someone like this to see the ending. The future already looked bleak.

“You’re holding my hand quite tightly, aren’t you?”

“Ah.”

The man spoke mischievously with a playful tone. It seemed I had been gripping his hand with quite a lot of force without realizing it.

I loosened my grip and followed him. As I followed his lead, we eventually arrived at a house nestled between the alleys. Its exterior was so shabby it looked like it might collapse at any moment.

“……Um, well.”

He had been so bold leading me here, but now that we were in front of the door, he seemed to hesitate.

Is he embarrassed to show me his home? It didn’t seem to be that.

“What’s wrong?”

“…….”

The man’s lips flickered as he hesitated.

“There are many younger siblings, so be caref—”

“Big Brother!”

“It’s Oppa!”

Before he could even finish, the door burst open and a swarm of small children came rushing out.

There appeared to be at least five of them.

“Big Brother, did you bring food?”

“Who is this Unnie?”

“I’m hungry!”

“Whoa, whoa, get inside. Get inside.”

The man pushed the children’s backs, ushering them into the house.

“Nuna, why are you here?”

“Huh?”

A little boy asked with a pure expression. As I hesitated to answer, the man cut in.

“This Nuna is Brother’s guest. What did I say we should do when a guest arrives?”

“We have to act politely!”

“Right?”

He ruffled the little boy’s hair, messing it up playfully.

Is this a house with many siblings? However, they didn’t look like siblings at all.

‘Come to think of it, he’s the final male lead, but I haven’t checked his character info yet.’

Activate character info….

At that moment, he spoke to me again.

“It’ll be hard to sleep in those clothes, right?”

“Pardon? Oh, yes.”

The clothes I was wearing were a light day dress.

It was much simpler than my usual attire, but not exactly something I could use as pajamas.

While I could manage to put it on and take it off alone, it was, shall we say, unsuitable for lying down. It was, after all, an outdoor outfit.

“Wait here for a moment.”

“Pardon?”

The man went into a room and came out with some clothes.

“Wear this.”

“……It’s not your clothes, is it?”

“Are you joking? It’s a dress.”

The clothes the man brought out were a yellow one-piece dress that anyone could wear comfortably.

It wasn’t luxury fabric, but the material wasn’t bad for a one-night stay.

I carefully rubbed the fabric with my hand. I could feel the soft texture of the cloth.

“You can change in that room.”

“I’ll wash it and return it to you.”

“Are you planning to see me again?”

He grinned, showing his fangs.

Normally, a woman’s heart would flutter at words from such a handsome man.

But.

“Of course.”

“Pardon?”

“I have to see you again.”

I’m sorry, but that didn’t apply to me. Meeting him a second time wasn’t a choice; it was a necessity.

From the perspective of someone who has to court this man as if my life depends on it, feelings like heart-fluttering were a luxury.

“Just because. I feel like we’ll be meeting often.”

Hiding my true intentions behind my tongue, I entered the room he pointed to. The bright, cheerful yellow felt out of place here.

Let’s change quickly and go out to talk. With that thought, I quickly fastened the buttons of the dress.

“What about the kids?”

“They went to sleep.”

“They seemed so energetic just a moment ago.”

“They were probably forcing themselves to stay up. They only sleep once I’m home. Until then, they can’t sleep because they’re worried.”

“Ah……”

Living in a slum like this with so many young children couldn’t be easy. Sensing my questioning gaze, he let out a light chuckle and spoke.

“I just ended up living with kids who didn’t have homes one by one, and now I have a huge family.”

“They aren’t your biological siblings?”

The man nodded slowly.

Unlike the eldest son of a Ducal house or the Imperial bloodline, he seemed to be a character with a tragic backstory of his own.

Perhaps he was in the most similar situation to the real Evelyn.

The man asked.

“How did you end up all the way here? As you can see, it’s a dangerous place.”

“…….”

After a moment of hesitation, I answered.

“I took a wrong turn.”

“A wrong turn?”

He asked back as if he hadn’t heard correctly. When I nodded, he clutched his stomach and burst into laughter.

There were parts I left out, but it wasn’t a complete lie.

After taking a wrong turn and running into Johann, I got caught up in various events and ended up here.

Let’s not mention the part about losing my wallet and being kicked out of a carriage.

“Is it funny?”

“Ah…… haha. I’m done laughing.”

The man pretended to wipe a tear from his eye.

“I guess you really are a princess who knows nothing of the world.”

“I am not.”

At that moment.

Bang, bang, bang.

Someone pounded violently on the door. The old wooden door shook as if it might break.

“Who is it?”

“……Stay in the room.”

The man’s expression turned rock hard. He stood up with a stiff face and opened the door.

“Hey, Enoch. We heard you took in the woman who entered the village?”

“Did you forget our promise already?”

About five or six men were standing in front of the door.

Their ages varied. From young men to middle-aged men who looked like they could be fathers, to even an old man.

“Where is the woman?”

One strange thing was that they were looking for me.

“Didn’t we agree not to hide outsiders?”

“We heard you knocked Arthur down; is that true?”

Arthur seemed to refer to the drunkard abuser from earlier.

“Enoch, if you keep this up……. Oh, there’s the woman!”

“The woman?”

Meanwhile, one man spotted me and shouted at the top of his lungs.

The men’s attention focused on me.

“…….”

Enoch turned his head to look at me. His eyes seemed to say, ‘I told you to stay in the room.’

“Hand her over now, Enoch.”

“If you’re going to be this uncooperative, we’ll have no choice but to kick you out of the village.”

Why are these people looking for me? Amidst the confusion, Enoch grabbed the door with both arms and blocked the way.

“I believe I told you clearly that I have no intention of cooperating with such things.”

As he blocked the entrance with his body, there wasn’t even a gap to squeeze through.

The gazes of the men felt through the cracks were completely blocked. It was a perfect iron-clad defense.

“Go away while I’m being nice, everyone.”

“Why, you……!”

Then, the men began to lung at Enoch one by one.

“Give us the woman!”

A man who looked relatively young and healthy among the group lunged forward boldly.

However, with a single light punch, he was sent flying all the way to a tree.

“How bothersome.”

After that, three more men lunged at him, but the result was the same. They all were sent flying like paper dolls without being able to use any strength.

It was a monstrous strength that was hard to believe for an ordinary human.

“H-hiieek!”

The old man leaning on a cane scurried away in a hurry. The situation was settled in an instant.

‘Is that even possible?’

Settling four adult men in one minute. No matter how insignificant the extras were, it was logically impossible.

‘……Could it be?’

At that moment, the system window I had set aside came to mind. I hurriedly activated the character info.

◎ Name: Enoch Helios ◎

◎ Occupation: – ◎

◎ Characteristic: Can follow the ‘Path of the Sword Master’ ◎

‘Wait. If he’s a Sword Master…….’

A Sword Master is a gifted person and a superhuman who appears once every hundred years.

I think I recall hearing that the Imperial Knight Commander from several hundred years ago in the game’s lore was a Sword Master.

Over a span of nearly a thousand years, those who received that title were few enough to be counted on one hand.

‘Well, of course. They wouldn’t give Amy an insignificant man.’

He wasn’t just a handsome young man from the slums.

‘Then when does he become a Sword Master?’

Usually, this kind of growth-type male lead develops by meeting the female protagonist.

However, Enoch has not yet appeared in the original story. Furthermore, Amy is already with Johann.

To walk the ‘Path of the Sword Master,’ he needed a moment of self-awareness or someone’s help.

‘……!’

At that moment, a thought suddenly flashed through my mind.

‘I can just help him.’

It wasn’t impossible. I just had to make sure he learned swordsmanship somehow.

Besides, in cases like this, nine times out of ten, he falls for the woman who acts as his helper.

For me, who has to court him to see the ending, there was no better option than this.

Enoch slammed the door shut and came back in.

“Sorry for the noise. Go to sleep quickly.”

He shrugged his shoulders, looking embarrassed to have shown such a scene in front of me.

“Excuse me.”

After a brief deliberation, I boldly grabbed his wrist.

“Do you want to come with me?”

“Pardon?”

He tilted his head as if asking what that meant. I spoke once more.

“Become my knight.”

“…….”

Ding.

At that moment, Enoch’s likability gauge flashed red. Why, when I hadn’t even activated it yet?

I hurriedly turned my gaze to the system window.

◎ Likability gauge automatically activates due to a change in likability. ◎

◎ Likability decreased by 3%! ◎

◎ Enoch’s current likability is -3%. ◎

‘……What?’

Out of nowhere, his likability dropped by 3%.