The Hero’s Disciple Has Returned

Today, three months after Sera left, I’m still hunting to earn money.

“You came again today?”
“Yes, it’s top quality.”
“You’re amazing, old man.”

I’m not an old man….

Perhaps due to the aftereffects of losing my Aura Heart

My ashen gray hair is gone, replaced by white hair that looks frail and powerless like an old man’s. In this state, with my body covered by a cloak and my face hidden behind a hood and cloth, it’s not strange to be mistaken for an old man. The reason for hiding my identity like this is simple.

Being a mercenary is a profession with many sins. It’s not that I got drunk on my power and did bad things or abused it. But as a mercenary, I had to carry out the missions I was given, and in the conflicts or fights that arose to achieve those goals, I often had to get my hands bloody. Blood calls for blood. No matter how much I didn’t intend it, I never knew when the blood I spilled might come to claim my own.

Above all, the biggest problem was that I no longer had the strength of my A-rank mercenary days as ‘Jade of Steel’. Those who couldn’t even think of touching me because of that name could now come at me.

‘Thanks to the elven breathing method, it’s gotten better, but it’s just better, that’s all.’

Three months have passed since my disciple left.

During that time, what I’ve learned is that the elven breathing method only optimizes the body’s condition. I could fully understand that was its limit. If I had an Aura Heart, the elven breathing method would be the greatest treasure for a martial artist, potentially advancing their abilities by several levels, but for me now without an Aura Heart, there’s bound to be a limit.

“Cough! Cough! Haa. At least I’m not coughing up blood anymore, even if the cough is still bad, that’s fortunate.”

In a situation where I need to save every bit of money, there’s no more regrettable expense than throwing away clothes. Isn’t it truly fortunate that it’s no longer like that? It also means I’ve become that much healthier. So I’ll surely manage well until my disciple returns.

“So come back safely.”

Today too, this incompetent master could do nothing but pray for his disciple’s well-being.

♧♧♧

Great Magician William Laswell

“Damn it!!!”

He was in a situation where he could die at any moment.

Moreover, he was enduring an enormous energy in his body that could blow away the imperial capital, the heart of the empire, if unleashed.

“I must endure! I can’t die in a place like this!”

The Emperor was a person who couldn’t easily feel at ease. Because he couldn’t feel at ease, he was someone who would use any means necessary to feel secure. As a result, not satisfied with just making hero candidates become disciples of superhumans and masters, he wanted to get his hands on a weapon to use against the Demon King. However, even for the Empire, there was a limit to gathering information about the Demon King who had appeared in the distant past. As a result, the so-called weapon against the Demon King ended up meaning creating an unprecedented, overwhelmingly powerful weapon.

But how could such a thing be created overnight? Isn’t there obviously a reason why it hasn’t been made until now? In the end, unreasonable greed and recklessness caused the problem.

The massive energy gathered to create an overwhelmingly powerful weapon finally went out of control, to the point of nearly blowing away the imperial capital.

Great Magician William, who had no choice but to join this project belatedly to get his hands on the elixir that could cure his only daughter’s incurable disease, which happened to be in the Emperor’s possession, felt utterly wronged to be swept up in this situation as soon as he joined. But he couldn’t just watch the imperial capital being blown away, could he? Above all, his daughter was also in this capital.

He had to stop this somehow, even at the cost of his own life

For his daughter’s sake.

The problem was that even if he died here and the Emperor gave the elixir to his daughter as promised, it would be impossible to create the cure. Because only William could create that cure. Before that, there was also the possibility that if he died, the Emperor might not give the elixir, saying there was no one left to keep the promise to.

He couldn’t die.

He couldn’t die, but

Kuuuuuuuggg!!!!

“I’ve reached my limit!!!!!!”

In the end, the only option left was to… sacrifice this life… to use the explosive magic power created momentarily by releasing his limiter to direct this massive energy towards the sky.

“I’m sorry, Ellie.”

I promised to bring back something delicious…

It seems I won’t be able to keep that promise.

“If you want to apologize, it might be better to do it to her in person.”
“W-Who are you?”
“Is this the time to ask such things?”

He didn’t know how long she had been there, but a silver-haired girl in a white cloak was right behind him.

“K-Kid! In such a dangerous place…!”
“Sera”
“What?”
“There’s only one person in this world who can call me ‘kid’. I’d appreciate it if you didn’t call me that.”

The kid was saying such things leisurely with an expressionless face. At that moment, William recalled how absurdly impossible this situation was. Right now, in front of William, massive energy was raging. William was somehow suppressing it, but even so, its influence was so tremendous that if an ordinary person approached closely, it wouldn’t be strange if they fainted or died. Yet this girl was naturally standing here as if nothing was wrong.

That meant…

‘This girl is such a skilled person?!’

He had seen all sorts of superhumans, but no superhuman had ever reached that level at such a young age. That’s why at this moment, William couldn’t properly accept the existence of this girl named Sera.

But whether he could accept it or not, the reality that Sera was here now didn’t change at all, and neither did the fact that she was leisurely drawing her sword.

“Great Magician William, I will save you and consequently ensure that your daughter doesn’t die ‘this time’ either. In return, I demand the ‘Mana Oath’.”
“……”

Mana Oath

Literally an oath sworn on mana. It was something magicians did when they promised to absolutely keep a promise or when they pledged their complete loyalty to a lord they had chosen.

It was known to have been created by an emperor who feared the overwhelming power of the great magicians in ancient civilizations. Everyone thought it was one of the forgotten technologies of ancient times, but there was only one person who knew about it, and that was Great Magician William. And William had never told anyone about this fact. Not even to his close friend, not even to his daughter to whom he was willing to tell everything if she wanted to know. Yet this girl had this information that no one should know.

“Sigh. There’s nothing more foolish than thinking something strange is strange.”

The fact that this girl was calmly standing here in this situation was already strange. There’s nothing strange about even stranger things happening. Therefore, this incredibly strange girl has the potential to accomplish something extremely strange by his standards. That was the most important premise for William at this moment. So he decided to bet on this girl.

“If I can escape this crisis, I’ll do anything.”
“As much as I’d like to receive the oath right now, that seems unreasonable.”

William couldn’t help but think that this girl seemed to be a terminal patient of paranoia to an extent that she couldn’t be considered a child.

That leisurely thought ended there.

Because in the next moment, William couldn’t help but doubt his eyes at the phenomenon that occurred.

‘The massive energy is avoiding the girl on its own? No. Is the aura coming from the girl blocking the approach of the massive energy?’

At that moment, aura condensed on the girl’s sword. It wasn’t simply handling aura. It was the realm of completely containing aura in the sword by dominating it, Aura Blade. This girl had already reached this transcendent realm that could be said to be absolutely unreachable at such a young age. That fact was of course shocking, but the most shocking thing was…

‘What on earth is that…?’

What he felt from that Aura Blade was the unknown itself. Despite being at the transcendent level of a great magician, he couldn’t understand at all, not even a bit, completely, the phenomenon that this Aura Blade was causing.

But regardless of what he thought, the fact that her Aura Blade was ‘annihilating’ the massive energy didn’t change.

It was literally annihilating it.

It’s not like the obvious concept of putting out fire with water. It was as if the water itself was self-annihilating. It was literally erasing the water itself. This is an anomaly that’s absolutely impossible by both the laws of nature and the laws of magic. It was a sight that religious believers could call a miracle without exaggeration.

At that moment, William could reach a certain inference.

“Hero…”
“I have no desire to become a hero, but I have more than enough desire to eliminate the Demon King.”

The light of the Aura Blade grew larger and larger, and the massive energy began to annihilate as if it were darkness touched by light.

“If the one who defeats the Demon King is a hero, then I’ll gladly become one.”

With those words, her Aura Blade began to dance.

What should have been recorded as a great tragedy for the Empire clearly happened, but became as if it never did.