The Sword Master’s Son-in-Law

– The Hero’s Whereabouts

Escaping from the Count’s study, I went directly to find Asia.

“What did Father say to you?”

What did he say, indeed….

“I was unable to confess the truth of this… false arrangement.”

“Why would you do that?”

To speak the truth would be to die.

The look in Count Messiah’s eyes at that moment seemed utterly serious.

He was more than capable of trying to kill me if the betrothal was truly a lie.

Therefore, I had no choice but to speak a falsehood.

So, while Asia was guiltless, she had to participate in my lie.

For the sake of my life.

“To be honest, it seemed like you might kill me if I told the truth? So I just said that I wanted to be betrothed to Lady Asia, that I asked the Sword Saint to make it happen.”

Asia’s expression, after a moment of contemplation, hardened in an instant.

“Y-you don’t mean that’s actually…the truth?!”

“No! Don’t you know, the Sword Saint is against political marriages.”

“Y-yes, of course. But my father knows that too…”

Asia’s question of why he didn’t suspect the Sword Saint was a natural one.

I felt the same way.

But the answer remained elusive.

He simply glossed over it.

“He didn’t exactly ask about that specifically. It’s a welcome story, really. For now, I’ll think of some excuse to explain that part.”

I cut to the chase, revealing the reason I had urgently sought out Asia.

“Listen closely… I think it’s best if we proceed with something like this…”

I had said all I needed to say.

Now it was Asia’s moment to perform well.

I presented Asia with a method to deceive Count Messiah.

And Asia, silently listening to the plan, nodded, affirming her agreement.

“That’s definitely the only way.”

*

In the order of questioning, Andrew Messiah summoned Asia after Arthurs.

“Asia, what do you think of this man, Arthurs?”

“I don’t know him well yet. But it’s clear he isn’t a bad person.”

Count Messiah had expected his daughter to reject him outright.

But contrary to Count Messiah’s expectations, Asia left a somewhat open-ended statement.

Count Messiah asked Asia,

“So, are you saying you want to be betrothed to him?”

“…Father, I would like to start with courtship first.”

A vein pulsed slightly on Count Messiah’s forehead.

The word ‘courtship’ from his daughter’s lips made his blood boil.

“C-courtship? Are you saying you’re going to court with that scoundrel?”

“That’s not it at all. I’m talking about the preliminary stages of courtship. I believe we should start by getting to know each other.”

“Ahem… I see.”

“And hastily agreeing to a betrothal without truly knowing each other could cause problems later when breaking the engagement. However, I can’t exactly refuse either, since I still don’t know him well.”

Asia’s gaze fell downwards.

Count Messiah seemed to take this as embarrassment, a spur to his ire.

But in truth, Asia averted her gaze from the guilt of lying to her father.

Clearing her throat once, she continued.

“Hmm! It seems I should consider it more, at least until my coming-of-age ceremony.”

“Ceremony?”

“Yes. And more to the point, I wish for you to recognize him as a candidate for betrothal.”

“Why is that? Did you not say you were still unsure?”

“You know of the rumors between the First Prince and myself.”

A countermeasure against the malicious rumors spread by the First Prince.

This was the betrothal candidate’s purpose.

Without making an actual engagement, to imply the existence of a fiancé.

This was the crux of the plan Arthur had devised.

And another reason to persuade him.

“And furthermore…a fiancé undergoing trials set by the father for his woman? How romantic. All the young ladies of my age will envy me, I’m sure?”

Rumors of Count Messiah did not spread amongst the common folk.

But among the nobility, information about him was well known.

Lacking talent with the sword, yet reaching the apex of Expert rank through sheer effort, a relentless man.

A rough temperament, befitting his relentless nature, and his affection for his daughter.

A man who would challenge such a figure for her hand in marriage.

It was enough to inspire envy in the young ladies.

At the same time, it would silence the First Prince’s unfounded rumors.

This was the conclusion Arthur had reached.

“Ahem, I understand. I shall do as you ask. However…!”

“However?”

“If he fails the trials, he will be immediately dismissed as a candidate.”

“Hmm….”

Asia furrowed her brow.

If he fails the trials…

‘I must trust in that man.’

That man was a disciple of her grandfather, who was known as the Sword Saint.

He would surely pass whatever trials her father set with ease.

“But what sort of trials do you intend to give him?”

“What sort of trials… many trials, I imagine.”

“M-Many trials?”

“Indeed.”

Count Messiah wore a sly smile.

“I never said there would only be one trial.”

Asia felt a shiver run down her spine, a sudden awareness of her father’s protectiveness.

‘…Even if this charade ends successfully, won’t my father make it impossible for me to have a fiancé, let alone a lover?’

The thought occurred to Asia unbidden.

*

Perhaps this is how they treat all fiancé candidates.

My quarters became the Messiah Count’s mansion.

Though, of course, I was assigned a room quite distant from Asia’s.

“Well, to be frank, that suits me just fine.”

Asia and I had only promised a false engagement, after all.

There was no need to grow closer than necessary, and naturally, no need for rooms to be nearby.

In any case, the Count Messiah seemed a fearsome man on the surface.

But he wasn’t a bad person, it appeared.

Gratefully, he even assigned a valet to me, a commoner.

However.

“Ahem, I’m sorry, but a valet is unnecessary. It feels a bit…much.”

I declined the valet’s services.

I am a commoner.

Born a commoner, and I’ve lived as one.

What need would someone like me have for a valet?

It felt awkward, even, this commoner employing another commoner.

Except…

“Just… some help with directions, if you please.”

Lost as I was, I only requested to be shown around the mansion.

And so, the first place I asked the valet to lead me to was the bathhouse.

‘I’ve always wanted to bathe in a large bath like this.’

Living in the mountains, I’d only ever washed in streams.

Frankly, I’d never experienced a proper bathhouse.

So, I’d always longed to visit a place like this.

‘Come to think of it, in my past life, I frequented public bathhouses.’

The sight of the Count’s expansive bath reminded me of those communal spaces.

I had loved public bathhouses in my previous life.

Perhaps that was why I felt a warmth spreading through me even before entering the water.

‘Quickly, let’s wash and then soak!’

First, I decided to wash thoroughly before entering the bath.

I was scrubbing carefully for quite some time.

“What is this?”

My reflection in the mirror as I washed my back.

Something strange was visible there.

On my back.

Specifically, just below my shoulder blade.

There was a strangely shaped mole there.

“Can a mole even *be* shaped like this?”

Not a simple, round spot, but a mark that resembled two crossed swords.

I could only describe the nature of that mark as inexplicable.

“It’s… dirt!”

Concluding the crossed-sword shape was just a smudge, I began to scrub at it with fervor.

*

The Church of Rhea, the singular deity venerated in the Holy Kingdom of Hevis.

The Rhea Central Cathedral, the very heart of that Church.

Before a stone effigy of Rhea herself, there.

A woman, clad in the habit of a sister, offered her prayers.

“Rhea, hear me…”

The woman was Lettie, the Saint of the Rhea Order, and not quite the picture one might expect.

Though her sister’s robes concealed her form, an undeniable sensuality radiated through the fabric.

Bright blonde hair, a mole beneath her eye said to ensnare men’s hearts.

Less a saint, more a bewitching succubus.

Perhaps it was this very image that led her to be known in the world as the Enchanting Saint.

“Rhea… I beseech you, a sign…”

Lettie prayed to Rhea for a long while.

As time trickled by, her body gradually began to glow with an ethereal light.

Simultaneously, a faint smile graced her lips.

“Fi-Finally… a sign has been granted.”

Exactly ten years prior, when Lettie had first been appointed Saint,

She had received a prophecy from Rhea.

A prophecy of the Demon King and the Hero’s emergence,

And of their clash, fifteen years hence.

‘At long last, perhaps I can find the Hero…!’

With fifteen years stretching ahead, there had been a sense of composure.

Yet, as the years dwindled, complications mounted.

First and foremost, the Hero remained unfound.

It was said that the Hero would bear a mark upon their skin.

But the Order had yet to discover such a person.

The second issue lay with the signs themselves.

Rhea offered no guidance in locating the Hero, that was the problem.

So the years passed without illumination, a decade fading away.

Naturally, the Hero had not been found.

‘There’s so little time left now.’

A mere five years remained before the Demon King crossed over from the Demon Continent, staining the land with blood.

‘Ten years…! Several signs have been given, but none spoke of the Hero. But this time, surely…’

To maintain societal calm, the false word had been spread that the Hero had been located.

Even though they hadn’t found him yet.

Calling it stability felt wrong; it was more like the Order was concealing its incompetence.

And so, they had to find him quickly, right now, this very instant.

It was then that a new revelation descended upon Leti.

Leti declared this revelation concerned the Hero’s location.

And, in truth, she was right.

But…

[North of the place filled with Holiness, there you will find the Hero cradled…]

This revelation, this time, was maddeningly broad.

“If ‘a place filled with Holiness’ means the Holy Nation of Hevis, the only one on the continent…”

According to the revelation, the Hero was in the northern part of Hevis.

But the problem was…

“There aren’t any nations below Hevis…”

Hevis was situated at the southernmost point of the continent.

Which meant the revelation included every single nation.

Broad didn’t even begin to cover it.

In a word, they had to search the entire continent.

“Ah… Lady Leah… why do you only grant such strange revelations?”

Frustrated, Leti thumped her own chest.

Each time, her ample bosom trembled.

“Hero… please, appear quickly.”

As she said those words, Leti’s cheeks flushed crimson.

*

Arthur was currently scrubbing himself raw in the bathhouse of the Messiah Earldom.

Scrubbing himself very, very rough.

“Ugh, it won’t come off.”

Arthur finally conceded.

It wasn’t dirt, but a mole.

In this life, Arthur had never bathed in a bathhouse with such a large mirror.

He’d never noticed the existence of this mark.

Today, Arthur realized for the first time that he had a strange patterned mole on his back.

Gazing at the bizarre marking on his reddened skin, Arthur sighed.

“Ugh, what a waste of time. I should just get in the bath.”

Arthur immediately stepped into the water.

A warm, body-soothing heat.

That heat drew an involuntary exclamation from Arthur’s lips.

“Uhhh! That’s the stuff!”

Arthas retreated to his own room.

He went straight to his bed, intending to fall asleep.

But as he sought slumber, a thought struck him.

“Come to think of it, the Messiah family has produced many Sword Saints, haven’t they?”

A family that produces Sword Saints, the Messiah family.

Arthas believed their bloodline must hold some hidden, special power.

“Hmm, could it be that Asia will become the next Sword Saint?”

With that final thought, Arthas drifted off to sleep.

The room where he sought rest was located on the north side of the Messiah Count’s mansion.