‘Riley?’
Riley that Ryan knew was the kind of person who refused to leave the library during the winter and stayed right next to the fireplace and cocoa. However, Riley was in the forest near Romella Village. Ryan couldn’t figure out why Riley was here.
‘Why is he here?’
Before Ryan had the time to think about it some more, Riley tried swinging the sword left to right. He snorted through his nose and looked at its old edge.
“I really am so sick of it.”
It truly had been a long time. He was wielding the sword only after dying and being revived. He peeked a smile and looked at the black hands that were coming toward him.
“Step back for a moment.”
Inaril had taken a knee to the ground in a respectful pose. Having heard his voice from above, she nodded lightly and got up.
“I delivered the sword to the successor.”
“All right. I said I got it.”
Wielding the sword, he swung his shoulder as he responded and Inaril suddenly disappeared as if she had suddenly sunk to the ground.
“… Master.”
“… Grandmother.”
After being thrown to the sky, Iril and Ryan landed on the ground. They were trying to find where Inaril went. They felt a presence behind themselves, so they turned their heads.
“Both of you watch carefully.”
To her granddaughter and the pupil she had taken in not long ago, Inaril told them to watch the boy who was swinging the sword. She turned her face toward the boy and added,
“He is the master of the sword.”
“The master…of the sword?”
“Riley is?”
It looked like her pupil knew who Riley was. Inaril tilted her head to the side for a moment. However, she was not able to ask him if he knew Riley well.
“Ah.”
Suddenly, flames started to catch onto the bandages that wrapped the sword.
“Flames on the sword…”
Inaril was not able to see this. Instead, Iril watched the bandages burning up in flames. She muttered with a look of disbelief.
Wharurururu
Ryan also vacantly stared at the sword burning up in flames. Now, the bandages were all completely gone. They had become dust. Ryan finally got a grip and looked at Riley.
“The bandages are gone…”
Now, there were just the blade edge and the handle on the sword. Iril observed the sword, snapped out of her shock and looked at Riley.
“… I don’t know who you are trying to please, but…”
After burning away the bandages by setting his sword in flames, Riley swung the sword at the black hand that was almost right in front of his face.
‘W… What the…?’
It was literally in a blink of an eye.
‘What just happened?’
Riley looked like he was still standing in the same spot. His clothes waved lightly in the air. It felt like a sharp light had just swept through the area. That was all that others could feel.
“The arm… is cut off.”
The black hands were unstoppable. So far, it didn’t matter how they swung their swords at it. However, this time, without any sound, a thin line was drawn on the black arm and the cut off part fell to the ground.
‘It’s working!’
Until now, cutting it or trying to deal blunt damage to it only resulted in a sensation of passing through the empty air. This time the black hand had been cut in half by Riley’s sword and fell to the ground.
Iril and Ryan saw a glimmer of hope. With hope in their eyes, they started to follow Riley’s movements.
Not as a girl and a young man, but as swordsmen… their desire to witness and remember Riley’s movement was more important than everything else.
“…”
Again, Riley swung the sword.
He was trying to cut down the other black hand that was coming from the back.
Whal… whal…
Even after all bandages had burned away, the sword was still burning in white flames. The swing of the sword looked like a flag was flowing through the air. The sword grazed past the second black hand.
“Ah.”
It seemed Iril and Ryan were not able to follow his movements again. They just had their mouth open vacantly.
“… Tsk.”
Now, both the black hands were on the ground. Riley clicked his tongue big time all of the sudden and quickly turned his body around.
Dragging the tip of his foot on the ground, he made a circle with it and swung the sword at the black space that was still floating next to him.