Chapter 688

“Father…”

Jin poured himself a drink and gazed at the distant sky.

When he recalled his father, his elder sister, and the Black Sea Expedition team composed of the strongest Black Knights of the Family, a wave of anger seemed to boil within him.

The reason Jin hadn’t gone in search of the expeditionary force until now was simple.

The Greatest Sword in the World, along with the strongest warriors of the current era, embarked on an incomprehensible journey to find the end of the Black Sea.

Pursuing them was almost impossible, and Tikan, or rather the human world, was not in a situation where it could afford to be calm even in their absence.

Zed resisted Rosa’s tyranny and set out in search of Cyron, and Nameless had promised to send reinforcements to the Black Sea once the matter with Yona was resolved…

Jin had a strong intuition that news of the expedition would only reach the human world if one of its members returned in person.

“The day we met in the Sota Desert, I felt you respected my father.”

“Respect… that’s not entirely wrong. If I had to correct it, it would be closer to fear.”

“Did you ever lose to my Father in the Black Sea?”

Hedo let out an ironic smile.

“It’s a natural question. Is there anyone who faces Sir Cyron and isn’t defeated? When I first saw Sir Cyron, I couldn’t even share a single sword strike.”

“How long had you been in the Black Sea at that time?”

“It was about ten years ago. During those 10 years, I faced life or death situations not only with monsters but also with numerous other warriors who came to the Black Sea like me. I chose the Black Sea as a refuge, but there were many more warriors than I expected who came to train there. I must have met over five hundred of them.”

“Five hundred? Were there that many warriors who chose the Black Sea as a training ground?”

“There was no better training ground than a closed-door training center. And I only found out after leaving the Black Sea. At that time, the perception was strong that the Black Sea was Sir Cyron’s territory among the warriors.”

From a very young age, Cyron frequently left the confines of the Garden of Swords and ventured into the Black Sea.

The fact that he actually mapped the Black Sea with his knights remained highly classified, but it was common knowledge that he had trained there for a long time.

“Currently, in your era, no one has dared to challenge Sir Cyron. But it was different back then. Not only the Hidden Palace Master and the Sword Emperor, but also the warriors, magicians, and masters, who were said to be the leaders of each faction, were all eager to cross swords with Sir Cyron.”

As the account of the earlier era began, Jin suddenly realized Hedo’s age.

He had incredibly large muscles, but he was roughly the same age as Cyron.

“It was a romantic era.”

“For the warriors of this era, it might seem that way. However, those who directly challenged Sir Cyron at that time would not have found any romance anywhere. Their lifetime achievements would have been nothing but insignificant feats in front of Sir Cyron.”

Countless giants had turned to dust in the presence of Cyron’s sword, becoming nothing more than specks of dust in the Black Sea.

Even those who freed themselves from their fate and those who were on a higher level than the unknown.

“Most of the aspirants didn’t even get the chance to fight, and those who had significant battles fell into despair and became crippled or disappeared. Among them were figures like the Sword Emperor, the Hidden Palace Master… I think it would be appropriate to have a drink for the Sword Emperor.” ꭆ�

The two raised their glasses to the sky and emptied them.

“You’re included in that too.”

“It wasn’t until later that I realized I was in the midst of that turbulent era. At that time, I had no knowledge of what was happening outside, nor did I know that the Greatest Sword in the World existed in my refuge. The reason I learned Sir Cyron’s name was that occasionally the warriors who came to the Black Sea mistook me for him.”

“They mistook you for my father?”

“Many challengers came, but the Black Sea is infinitely vast. And the terrain changes abruptly. Those who managed to meet Sir Cyron by chance were considered lucky. There were also many who spent a long time searching for Sir Cyron in the Black Sea but ended up losing their lives because they couldn’t find their way back.”

“Likely.”

“You haven’t been alone in the Black Sea yet. If you walk through that dark land alone… in most cases, you’re destined to go mad. The challengers who wandered through the Black Sea drew their swords at anything they encountered, whether it was a person or a monster. However, I was quite strong among those who visited the Black Sea at that time, so I was misunderstood as Sir Cyron.”

“Among them, was there anyone who defeated you?”

“No. Perhaps it was because I didn’t encounter figures like the Hidden Palace Master or the Sword Emperor. At that time, I was obviously weaker than them.”

Though he is a man with a body granted for war by the heavens, all of Hedo’s skills were purely self-taught.

He could only be weaker than those who inherited techniques and traditions passed down through generations.

Hedo knew this better than anyone at that time.

He had fought numerous opponents who were completely insignificant in terms of physicality.

The swordsmanship Hedo practiced then was wild and destructive, but it lacked depth.

“However, there were those who didn’t challenge me but pushed me to the brink of death.”

“The former Black Knights, my Father’s knights, I suppose. The first was Vanessa-nim.”

“Yes. In the meantime, I met and dueled those who attempted to challenge Sir Cyron. But Vanessa came to find me with a purpose.”

“The crime of impersonating the patriarch is significant, whether intentional or not.

-Who are you?

-However, if you have superior skills, you could survive and meet the patriarch.

-What nonsense are you saying?

As Hedo explained his conversation with Vanessa at that time, Jin’s pupils widened.

“It seems my father was trying to recruit you, Tower Guardian. If Vanessa-nim had found your skills impressive and if you were able to communicate, she would have brought you before my father.”

“That might have been so.”

Although unknown to the public, Hedo had gained enough reputation in the Black Sea to attract Cyron’s attention.

It was truly an unusual fact.

Moreover, had he been recruited at that time, Hedo would have become a Runcandel Knight instead of being the Zipple’s butler.

“I couldn’t last more than fifteen minutes against Vanessa and was defeated. It was the first time I experienced such a clash.”

“Somehow I felt a sense of relief.”

“And I fled like a dog. Just like the monsters that fled from me, I showed all kinds of shameful behavior.”

“It’s hard to imagine you acting like that.”

“Think again. Imagine what a human would be like who had never received an education and had not left the Black Sea since he was fifteen.”

Then it was easy to imagine.

“…It seems like a state akin to a beast or a monster.”

The current Hedo, who always wore immaculate shirts and suits and behaved politely, was completely different from the Hedo of that time.

“I screamed and ran. I threw everything within reach and even urinated. I didn’t even think about being ashamed. I only had the thought of surviving.”

“What happened after that?”

“As I knew the Black Sea a little better than Vanessa, I managed to escape. I hid and focused on recovering, but a feeling I had never experienced before tormented me. Shame and a sense of defeat. It was then that I first realized those ordinary emotions. Along with the desire for revenge.”

From that day on, Hedo dedicated himself to training to defeat Vanessa.

In fact, merely surviving in the Black Sea itself was a form of training, so his daily life didn’t change much, but now he had a goal.

“I searched deeper areas of the Black Sea to find stronger monsters and fought against wandering challengers for several more years. The sword… which I called Bale…”

Hedo paused for a moment.

That wasn’t the original name of the long sword he called Bale.

The real Bale, who came to be part of Sandra’s entourage, called the sword “Shakan.”

Hedo didn’t retrieve the Shakan from Bale. It would have been an easy task if Sandra had given an order, but Bale couldn’t unleash his true power without Shakan.

“…I obtained it at that time. The one who had Shakan was a core monster that used the power of chaos. I don’t know why he had the sword of the ten great knights of the ancient Runcandel.”

“Hmm, you can ask Bale directly. Wait a moment, it seems we’ve run out of alcohol.”

Jin went back to the restaurant and brought new drinks.

“He said that before being sealed, he got lost in a battle with the former ten great knights in the Black Sea. Losing the sword was decisive for the sealing. The monster probably acquired it by chance.”

Glug, glug, glug… The glasses were filled again.

“I never expected to hear these stories suddenly. I’ll make sure to create a new sword that you really like. My third sister will soon bring an amazing blacksmith from Hufester. His name is Vin Branche.”

“It’s a name I hadn’t heard before.”

“He is a manifestation of Picon Minche, so you can expect. So, after obtaining the sword, did you challenge Vanessa-nim again?”

“I challenged her again but couldn’t defeat her. Even though I had acquired a power even greater than Vanessa’s. It wasn’t until after three more battles that I finally won once. It took nearly a year each time to find her, so I spent several years continually ambushing Sir Cyron and his knights.”

“Did you fight with other knights besides Vanessa-nim?”

“I fought almost all the Black Knights of the Black Sea.”

“And still managed to survive.”

“Sir Cyron considered me a cute wild animal, so I could survive.”

“Considered you a cute wild animal?”

“In the dark and desolate land with only monsters and a terrible landscape… I was a challenger who showed no courtesy. Sir Cyron always took humans who came to that land to challenge seriously, but he treated me like a stray cat.”

Jin simultaneously imagined Hedo and a cat, but naturally, he couldn’t find any similarity.

“A cat, huh? How can that be?”

“At that time, I was already eyeing the 10-star level just by the magnitude of my power. I never thought that Sir Cyron, who considered me so insignificant, would die in the Black Sea. Moreover, the White Whale and the Black Knights of that time would also be there, so you should stop worrying about your father.”

Jin’s pupils widened.

Since the first time Cyron’s story was mentioned, Jin had unknowingly kept the conversation somewhat inert.

Hedo noticed this and showed consideration for him.

“Thank you. But, Tower Guardian, why didn’t you become my father’s knight at that time?”

/SHADOWK

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