Chapter 67

Garosh flicked his hand toward the air.

After providing first aid to stop further bleeding, he intended to take this sword demon to the Berkeley Grayton family.

However, the knights who were supposed to jump down from above the waterfall showed no reaction.

Only then did Garosh realize how eerily quiet the surroundings were.

Someone was nearby.

'Are all the knights dead?'

So silently?

His contemplation was brief. He first carried the sword demon to the shore and then tore his sleeve to stop the bleeding on the shoulder.

As the white skin hidden by the clothing was revealed, Garosh faced his second confusion.

This is not the hand of someone who wields a sword.

The woman had firm muscles, and even well-defined ones, but that alone was not enough to wield a sword.

'What is this sword demon, anyway?'

Confronting the doubts he had tried to ignore, questions cascaded like a dam breaking.

At first, he simply intended to deal with the dangerous element that had crawled out of the vault.

He had been given an important secret mission by the Sword Saint.

During the mission, he received a report from the rear guard that an intruder had appeared, and he was waiting for the intruder to escape in the vicinity of the report.

However.

"Let's see. There's a mole above our Garosh's collarbone? You have a sun allergy, which is quite unbecoming? Or that you suffer from stomachaches for a while after drinking milk? I think I know you pretty well now. So, you must be curious about how I know, right?"

Yes, all of it is correct. It was an accurate and complete fact.

'I'm speechless.'

This made him even more curious about the woman's identity.

Surprisingly, as soon as he recognized the feeling of curiosity, a long-forgotten desire began to stir restlessly.

The desire to find his forgotten past.

'Damn woman. I've been suppressing it all this time.'

To accept the new life of Garosh Berkeley Grayton, he had clenched his teeth and forcibly ignored it.

Garosh tightly bound the sword demon's left shoulder with the torn sleeve. Just as he was about to tear the other sleeve,

"Enough."

He lifted his head at the unfamiliar voice.

A tall man was sitting cross-legged opposite the sword demon.

Blue hair.

And surprisingly, he was in his pajamas.

'Is this the blue-haired man the sword demon mentioned?'

Judging by his appearance, which seemed half-crazed, it was certain.

However, Garosh was more surprised by the luxurious features below the blue hair.

He had never seen a face as breathtakingly beautiful and melancholic in his life. He felt no shame in being stunned by a man.

The man's pajamas and even the pink slippers didn't even register in his eyes.

"Sit down."

What, this guy is crazy.

Today, many surprising things have happened to him.

Similarly, he couldn't resist the man's 'command' and plopped down on the ground.

'Mage?'

Garosh tried to muster his will to resist the magic.

But it was useless. He usually broke through ordinary magic with his will, but this man's magic was unbreakable.

"Ha."

Damn. Only bad things keep happening.

The feeling of powerlessness was unfamiliar.

So, it was unpleasant. Even more so because the blue-haired mage was scrutinizing his face with a disinterested look. This made him even more irritated.

"Do you see a resemblance? No, not really... it doesn't ring a bell."

The sword demon and the crazy mage. A fitting combination.

Garosh, who had half-given up and settled comfortably, noticed something dangling from the man's left hand.

Dian Ket's diary.

His eyes narrowed.

The item he had brought back as a report according to the Sword Saint's order was now in this man's possession.

'Was the sword demon's goal this diary?'

The mage tore the long robe he was wearing and used it to stop the bleeding on the sword demon's right shoulder. His expression was cold.

Surprisingly, the blood that had been gushing out stopped quickly with a few gestures.

"Who are you?"

No answer.

"Was this item your goal? Did you kill the others?"

Still no answer.

"Damn, give some answer. You talk a lot on your own, but can't answer questions?"

The mage finally muttered with a slightly understanding look.

"Hmm. Maybe the personality is a bit similar."

"You also resemble this sword demon. You talk like a madman. Really?"

The mage chuckled.

"Now that I look at you, you're quite a capable person. But if you keep going like this, you'll be stopped at the Master's threshold. Forever."

"Are you a fortune-telling charlatan?"

"Controlling the sword and being controlled by the sword is a fine line. A Master is at the level of maintaining balance between the two. That is, the level of becoming one with the sword. People call this resonance or assimilation."

For a mage to talk about swords. It's like a cat talking about a dog's bone.

"Can you still say that after seeing this sword demon?"

Garosh lightly nodded toward the sword demon lying like a corpse in front of him.

"Hey, mage. Resonance is wrong. A swordsman is instinctively drawn to the voice of the sword. It's hard to resist. The stronger and longer the resonance, the more the swordsman loses control over the sword. They become a sword demon."

And when they completely lose control over the sword, they experience full assimilation.

Garosh thought of Jin.

Jin was an excellent specimen showing how a swordsman becomes a sword demon.

The Sword Saint had warned Jin multiple times.

If you don't give up the sword, you will always end up as a sword demon. So, if you don't plan to give up the sword, don't walk the path of the sword demon.

In the end, Jin ignored the warnings and left home.

"Is your world only black and white?"

The mage, who chuckled, raised his right index finger.

"Power is balance."

Two spheres, slightly larger than pearls, floated from the neatly trimmed fingernail. One was white, the other black.

'Silent magic.'

Indeed, he was not an ordinary mage.

His hair stood on end with tension.

"Something that is perfectly black cannot contain white. And something that is perfectly white cannot contain black. Therefore, those who only pursue black only find black, and those who only pursue white only find white. How can they be perfect if they only get one and not both? That's not perfect. It's precarious."

The black sphere and the white sphere overlapped. The merged sphere turned gray.

"Black and white. Balance is achieved when both are pursued. Power is the same. You must wield the sword and be wielded by the sword."

Controlling the sword and being controlled by the sword.

"...You're talking in riddles."

Not just the words.

Garosh found it difficult to understand the situation he was in. What was he doing, facing off with a nameless charlatan?

Still, he couldn't take his eyes off the mage.

Surprisingly, the man's arguments were quite intriguing.

Power and balance. It was a logical argument.

But it also contradicted the teachings of the Sword Saint that he had learned.

"Anyone can talk. In short, you're saying don't become a sword demon and get consumed by the sword, right?"

"Anyone can talk? Does the woman you call a sword demon seem that way to you?"

"..."

"This woman became a sword demon as you said, but she wasn't consumed by the sword. She wields the sword and is wielded by the sword. She can claim to know the sword perfectly, and no one would object. But what about you?"

"..."

"Have you ever listened to what your sword is saying?"

"No. My sword doesn't resonate."

"Then you don't know your sword."

It didn't seem like a wrong statement.

Garosh, who had forgotten his own predicament as a hostage, silently stared at the gray sphere floating in the air.

The mage's words strangely calmed him.

The mage, who had been looking at the sky as if gauging time, slowly spoke.

"You may go."

His stiff body magically became free.

However, Garosh didn't move. It felt uncomfortable.

He couldn't leave Dian Ket's diary behind. But he also had no confidence that he could reclaim it by attacking the mage.

'When have I ever acted with confidence?'

Regardless, retrieving the artifact was his mission. Therefore, he had to take it, even if it seemed impossible.

Just as Garosh was about to stand up,

"If you're not in a hurry, you can stay and watch this sword demon."

"Watch...?"

"Yes. It's a rare and interesting spectacle you won't see often in your life."

A spectacle.

In fact, the mage had been looking at the sword demon the whole time.

It was surprising that he was giving advice about swords when the sword demon's existence was of no concern to him.

'He means to watch the sword demon.'

Garosh, who had been about to stand, sat down again opposite the man.

Yes.

If he was destined to die here, it wouldn't matter if he died a little later.

Like the mage, he fixed his gaze on the sword demon's face.