Chapter 143
“Uaaaaah!”
Golden Beard screamed as he swung the Anari Stick.
The royal sword, only wielded by those of Anari blood, radiated tremendous magical power as it defended the pirate ship.
Kwa—aaang!!
But defense was all it could do.
The Kraken’s tentacles relentlessly pounded the protective barrier, and each time, the surface of the Anari Stick flushed red with heat.
“Ugh, uuh…!!”
I can’t hold on.
No matter how powerful the Anari Stick was called the greatest weapon in the principality, it was not comparable to the ‘Holy Sword’ from that empire.
It was merely a sword imbued with considerable magical power.
It flaunted its history and tradition, but it was utterly insufficient to withstand the grasp of the Kraken, one of the Demon King’s minions from the legends.
“Captain! Please, you must escape!”
“No way…! This pirate ship is the kingdom’s last piece of land! Are you suggesting the king abandon the country and run away?!”
“If the entire kingdom is overthrown, it will be too late! Right now, we must do something with this!!”
The subordinate pirate—no, the fallen noble knight, pulled out a scroll from his bosom.
“It’s a teleport scroll! Tear it and escape!”
“How many people can use it?”
“…One!”
The knight shouted with a determined look, causing Golden Beard’s eyes to widen.
Flap.
At the same moment, the ship lurched violently, and a wave swept the deck, brushing her beard aside.
“This…!!”
Now no longer Golden Beard, the captain grit her teeth and tightly squeezed the Anari Stick upwards.
“I will not retreat! I am the princess of the Anari Kingdom…!! I will not let our royal family fall—”
In that instant.
The Kraken’s attacks halted.
Tentacles that had been reaching upward stood still towards the sky, and the princess stared up at them in a daze.
“Uh…?”
Was it an illusion?
The tentacles that had been so grotesquely hammering the barrier just moments ago seemed strangely blurry.
Like a mirage or an illusion, the princess was momentarily taken aback.
“What is that…?”
“Graaaah!!”
A scream echoed from somewhere.
Definitely behind the princess, at the stern.
“Something is coming inside the barrier?!”
“Wha-What is that?!”
“…….”
The princess swallowed hard.
A golden object was completely devoid of seawater.
The golden armor clung tightly to its body, resembling a snake’s skin but also resembling the scales of a legendary dragon.
Its face was obscured.
It wore a helmet reminiscent of a dragon and seemed to gaze through golden, glass-like sections—probably its eyes.
What was clear, however, was that it was an enemy of the pirate ship.
Thud!
It held something tightly in its hand, and beneath its feet lay a knight, lying unconscious with eyes rolled back.
“This person…!!”
“Wait! Perhaps it wants to help us defeat the Kraken—”
Pow!
The golden figure swiftly closed the distance to the princess and thrust its fist into her belly.
“Guh, huff…?!”
Everything in front of her turned white.
At the same time, the grip on the Anari Stick weakened, and the princess slowly began to lose consciousness.
“N-no….”
Thud.
Just before losing consciousness.
She saw figures resembling the golden entity landing on the deck behind it and desperately tried to move the Anari Stick.
But.
Crack!
One tentacle ripped through the Anari Stick’s barrier and swiftly snatched it away.
The Kraken’s tentacle showed no interest in attacking those strange beings, and the princess closed her eyes.
She sensed the end of the kingdom.
*
“Heh. Interesting. The last remnants of a fallen kingdom are resorting to piracy.”
I was curious about what they might be discussing while diligently wielding their protective barrier, and it turned out to be a more entertaining story than expected.
“Princess. Knight. Kingdom. A vivid picture emerges. These folks are resorting to piracy to rebuild their kingdom.”
It’s a common occurrence.
If I were to speculate, it resembles something like ‘the Resistance.’
A fallen kingdom turned principality due to a duke sent by the empire or a traitor, and the former royal family forming an organization to reclaim the country—this had been the case even 500 years ago.
“I miss it.”
In my case, I once operated within a Resistance organization and conquered kingdoms 500 years ago.
Then, I chased away all those who had trusted me from the royal family using the demon race, turning that place into a base for the Demon King’s army.
Although a hero came and destroyed all my strongholds while I was away, the process of taking that castle evoked a strong sense of patriotism for me.
However.
For a country seized by a great power to become truly independent, it requires the people of that country to genuinely wish for independence with one heart and one mind.
The case of a kingdom that committed tyranny and the royal family collapsing usually ends with their downfall, regardless of how hard they fight the Resistance.
“…For now, killing them will be postponed.”
I seriously contemplated tossing them into the sea to become fish food if necessary, but I decided to put that off for later.
If this really is a descendant of the Anari Kingdom, then I’d be severing the line of my own apprentice.
‘Even if I don’t lift a finger, a doomed organization will fizzle out on its own.’
Honestly, even if they were descendants, it has been 500 years, so humans have gone through dozens of generations and can be considered virtually strangers.
The only thing that concerns me is that Anari Stick they claimed to have used.
Wooing.
“Ugh, it really looks unpleasant to touch.”
The Anari Stick, brought up to the Bride Ship’s command room by the Kraken’s tentacles, was in a truly horrific form.
The appearance?
No.
The form of the barrier enveloping it was tremendously vile.
“To seal a famous sword like this. Who would think this is a famous sword?”
As expected, my prediction was correct.
Inside this Anari Stick lay the famous sword I made for Hoot Anari 500 years ago.
“…But this isn’t ordinary.”
It’s remarkably similar to how I sealed the Holy Wind Sword.
Concealing the shape of the sword with a completely different form on the surface, the true purpose of the sealing is disguised by the magical power clinging to the sword—this is no ordinary craftsmanship.
Of course, their malice surpassed mine.
I have no idea when this seal was created, but it likely embodies the Anari royal family’s hatred.
“To package something created by someone else like this. Unforgivable.”
Barrier release.
No matter how it was sealed, in front of my mana control, it was just a lock that couldn’t be particularly difficult to break.
Click.
As soon as I unraveled the connection tightly bound by mana, the outer barrier transformed into a sticky form of mana.
“Ugh.”
I enveloped it with mana and ejected it outside the Bride Ship.
Dealing with that sticky, abnormal barrier took precedence over the object inside the Anari Stick.
“With the tide, it should drift away. Farewell, dreadful barrier.”
What was once the Anari Stick began to drift away with the flow of the seawater.
It flowed sloppily, resembling a hollow skin, but I would never see it again.
“The real one… is this.”
Inside the Anari Stick, the hidden famous sword was revealed.
“…Kuh.”
It resembled it.
The pure white form was strikingly similar to the ‘Holy Sword of Light.’
Of course.
This was a replica of the Holy Sword.
Since it couldn’t produce the power of the Holy Sword, it was made to house the functions of the Holy Sword inside an ordinary sword.
If it were to be named…
“Replica.”
That name seems most fitting.
It wasn’t something that was originally named; it was merely one of the numerous swords given to Hoot Anari.
It was probably the only sword passed down in the royal family.
“…I miss it.”
While I miss Hoot Anari, looking at the Holy Sword of Light reminds me of the hero who wielded the Holy Sword of Light.
Leberced Arpe.
The woman who almost brought me down once when I had lowered my guard after securing victory.
Fortunately, she too let her guard down, allowing me to pull a trick and claim victory, but the wounds from that time still run deep in my heart.
If she’s still alive in this world…
“Extremely dangerous.”
Not just casually dangerous.
If I’m not careful, history from 500 years ago could repeat itself.
Though I am in a woman’s body now, this is the Dragon Lift.
Considering Hoot Anari’s precedent, she might do something unthinkable.
“…No way.”
No matter how much of a hero she may be, after about 500 years, she might have grown weary of her life and laid down the Holy Sword.
Unless there’s some sort of overwhelming obsession, she’s likely either died and entered the cycle of reincarnation or has been reborn as a new existence.
But, if she truly is still clinging to the Holy Sword of Light…
“I may need to seal her spirit.”
The Hero of Wind ultimately betrayed too.
If the Hero of Light is alive, she might try to stab me.
The only one I can trust is Lucius.
Only the hero whom I’ve raised from a child, the one I gave the Holy Sword to before he became a hero, is reliable.
“…Then I guess it’s time for me to head up.”
It seems the situation above has been sorted out, so it’s my turn to leave the Bride Ship.
“Teleport.”
I used the mana contained within the Replica to teleport instantly above the pirate ship.
“Master?”
At my appearance, Lucius was taken aback and surprised again by the sword I was holding.
“What is that…?”
“I pulled it out from the Anari Stick.”
“…That thing was inside that?!”
“Yeah. Surprising, right?”
“……You didn’t touch it directly, did you?”
“Why would I touch that? It’s easy to do from a distance with just mana.”
“…With mana.”
Lucius nodded and removed his helmet.
“What about the others?”
“They’re checking the inside. The pirates… No, the knights, are all bound by ropes.”
“Well done. But ropes alone won’t be sufficient, so I’ll cast binding on them.”
Swish.
I extended the Replica upwards and radiated mana.
A wave of pearly white light erupted across the deck, filling the hands, feet, and mouths of the bound pirates with white restraint.
“What’s up? Lucius?”
“……No. It’s just… I’m really amazed at how you can bind people like that in an instant, Master.”
Lucius turned to me with sparkling eyes.
“Is there any chance that my Holy Sword can also produce some binding magic similar to that?”
“Of course. Want me to teach you later?”
“Yes.”
Lucius’s gaze was fixed on the restraints.
“Please make sure to teach me.”
