Chapter 95: Weapon Mastery

A hologram message suddenly popped up before my eyes.

It felt a bit different from usual.

Normally, it should say a skill had been created.

But I’d definitely seen this phrasing before. Back when I first fought in this world.

When I used Beast’s Heart.

Ah, so this is a skill Abel Carius already had?

Come to think of it, I could guess why it appeared now.

Until today, I’d never held a proper weapon besides the communication rod.

Soon, info on the unlocked skill appeared.

<Skill Information>

Name: Weapon Mastery

Effect: Overall ability increase when handling the weapon.

Types: Greatsword (999), Communication Rod (49)

Wait, what? 999?

It was a shocking number.

I’d known Abel Carius’s main weapon was the greatsword.

But for there to be such a massive difference?

Well, whatever. This is pure honey, right?

It was a moment thick with crisis anyway.

And I couldn’t use Destructive Retribution here.

Firing off that insane skill would collapse the cave and bury us all.

In this situation, Weapon Mastery was the perfect solution.

“Ah, get out of the way if you’re just in the road!”

I zipped past Cordell McNeil in an instant.

Thanks to the greatsword mastery’s effect, my steps felt incredibly light.

As I flowed forward like water and clashed with the charging enemy.

I realized one thing.

Huh? I could just overpower this?

Their movements were crystal clear, and I could even predict their actions.

In that case, disrupting their balance was easy.

Clang! Dash—! Thud!

“Ugh?”

After smacking their sword, I lightly kicked their ankle.

The knight staggered wildly and crashed down.

I glanced back and said.

“You know what to do? Bind him yourself.”

“Whoa!”

Cordell McNeil let out a hollow laugh.

He must have found it absurd that I’d felled a veteran knight in one blow.

It was understandable.

To take down someone like that, you’d normally need dozens of exchanges.

Like Cordell, the enemies seemed quite shocked too.

Their aggressive momentum vanished, replaced by hesitation.

“Now, now, come at me however many you want.”

I smiled faintly and waggled the greatsword, provoking an immediate fierce reaction.

My expression must have been seriously irritating.

“Th-That bastard?”

“Don’t get riled up—stick to the order!”

But the commander’s single word restored the disrupted atmosphere.

Ah, that’s a shame.

I could have seized victory in an instant.

But it didn’t matter much.

With the greatsword in hand, I was a true northern berserker.

No, actually, it wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say I was far stronger than back then.

Thanks to Extreme Choice, I didn’t have to hold back my body.

I need to end this before the skill effect wears off.

No clear duration was shown, but it couldn’t be infinite.

Step!

I took a step forward, gripping the greatsword.

It was my first time holding one, even counting my previous life, but it felt utterly familiar.

Like a knight who’d trained day and night for decades.

Whoosh! Clang!

The enemy’s strikes kept coming.

Knights repeating attacks and retreats like precise machinery.

Probably no one standing here could avoid trouble.

Yet I felt no doubt of defeat.

“Complex structures break easily. Like this.”

Spin—! Clang!

After just deflecting the swarm, I suddenly thrust the greatsword in.

One knight attacking and retreating got caught perfectly.

It wasn’t some grand strike.

More like tossing a pebble into a storming flow?

The blade wasn’t even infused with aura.

Yet, astonishingly, a massive result erupted.

“Urk!”

Hit square in the side, the knight’s knees buckled.

Even with armor, ribs were a weak spot.

Anyway, falling wasn’t a big blow.

He could just get up.

But the problem started right after.

“Huh?”

Thud! Crash!

Unexpecting the front man to fall, the following knight tripped over him.

As two crashed down with a racket, the linked assault lost power.

Two burly men sprawled in the space meant for hit-and-run.

Meanwhile, I steadily reduced their numbers.

I didn’t hack them to pieces—just beat them unconscious.

How, when they were all armored?

What’s hard about it? Just hit hard. Like this.

Swoosh! Boom!

“Guak!”

Smacking the back of the head with the greatsword’s flat, a pig-squeal noise burst out.

And the knight passed out instantly.

I deftly gifted the next one a tasty blow too.

Boom!

“Kweee!”

“Th-This!”

With two down in a flash, the enemies visibly panicked.

What I’d done wasn’t some grand technique.

Just a poke to knock down and smack.

To them, I must have seemed like an insane master.

They knew the fallen ones’ skills well.

I smirked and waggled the greatsword.

“Can’t even handle this? The Yates Marquisate’s knights are pretty low-level.”

Provocation worked best when casual.

Sure enough, the commander, who’d been yapping, took the bait.

“Go all out!”

He must have felt immense crisis.

At this rate, his subordinates would all drop, and it’d be his turn soon.

So he joined the linked assault himself.

But I’d been waiting for exactly this.

Can I switch though?

No need to maintain Extreme Choice anymore.

Thanks to the massive stat boost from greatsword mastery.

I was confident I wouldn’t get hit now.

So why keep attack power low?

But the hologram that followed was a bit disappointing.

「To change Extreme Choice’s selection, you must reuse it.」

If I could swap traits freely, it’d be way more broken.

Attack in ‘glass body’ state, defend in ‘water punch.’

That’d be near invincible.

Deactivate.

「Extreme Choice Deactivation」

Fwoosh—.

With a deflating sound, the skill ended.

This guy’s getting hit harder.

He was the boss; deserved fitting treatment.

Despite numerical disadvantage, I charged in instead.

Dash!

“Hraah!”

A booming shout, and the commander’s assault poured in.

Not just him—knights on both sides unleashed sword arts too.

Veterans through countless battles.

Even with disrupted formation, their coordination was spot on.

But the fight ended the moment I gripped the greatsword.

Whoosh! Bang! Ting!

I smacked the commander’s strike, sending it flying left.

The deflected sword headed for a subordinate’s neck.

“Gasp!”

While they retracted in shock, I handled the right-side charger.

Menacing aura neared, but no crisis felt.

Just redirect the trajectory.

Clang!

“Urk! Gah!”

With full intent, crimson flames surged instantly.

Beast’s Heart swelled like it’d devour the foe.

Soon, he collapsed vomiting blood.

Internal injury from the massive shock.

He was combat ineffective; the commander floundered at the sudden path change.

Nearly killing his own subordinate, he must have been stunned.

Plus, his sword caught in armor seams, immobilizing him.

I held the greatsword to his throat and said.

“Checkmate.”

“Ah, sorry. That term doesn’t exist here, right?”

Chess didn’t even exist in this world.

Time for language adjustment.

“If you don’t want to die getting arrested red-handed, behave?”

Of course, I had no real intent to kill.

But lines like this would scare him into stopping resistance.

Clang!

Sure enough, as the commander dropped his sword and backed off, the situation finally ended.

***

The corruption in the Yates Marquisate had been going on for quite a while.

Actually, it started right when the marquis got his assembly seat.

With the master uninterested in the territory, subordinates ran wild.

“Really impressive.”

The assets secured from the hideout were a staggering amount.

Even I, with my wealth, was surprised.

“Eight years of full-on siphoning.”

“Normally, they’d appoint a son as proxy lord and manage well, right?”

“That’s standard, but Marquis Yates has a concubine.”

“Doesn’t seem related to this.”

No, it was.

According to Cordell McNeil’s investigation, there was a nasty backstory.

“Between Marquis Yates and his capital concubine, there’s a bastard child. He probably wants to pass the title and assets to him.”

“Huh? Then surely…”

“Probably why they siphoned the territory vault too?”

Yeah, it had seemed off.

What power did a few tax officials have to manipulate the whole knight order?

If it was the marquis’s order from the start, it all made sense.

Come to think of it, that’s seriously infuriating.

Marquis Hugo Yates probably knew tax day would come eventually.

He’d pass the title to the bastard, then go ‘screw you’ on the taxes.

Or blame the wife and proxy lord.

After all, the proxy had been ruling the Yates Marquisate until now.

Then the conclusion was clear.

We have to set everything back to original.

Returning to the capital immediately, I held a trial on the Yates Marquisate tax collection.

Once I issued the ruling, no escaping.

“I hereby sentence. The tax officials and knights who led this incident are each sentenced to 5 years imprisonment. Additionally, the unpaid taxes for 3 years are imposed as is.”

Normally, the sentencing would end here.

But I still had more to say.

Marquis Yates, it won’t go your way.

I’d said it.

I’d correct the wrongs.

“Furthermore, the corrupt funds found in the Yates Marquisate will return to where they belong.”

“Question, Your Honor.”

The lawyer attending for Marquis Yates raised a hand.

Understandable.

Where the money went was crucial.

“Speak.”

“May I know exactly where ‘where they belong’ is?”

At the lawyer’s question, all eyes focused on me.

The judge’s word decided where millions of goldens went.

Simply, if I said Marquis Yates owned it, the concubine and bastard would cheer.

But if the opposite.

The neglected wife and proxy lord would rejoice.

I curled my lips and said.

“May I ask one thing?”

“Yes, of course.”

“The funds the tax officials and knights siphoned—where were they originally?”

“The territory vault, of course.”

“Then isn’t the answer obvious?”

The lawyer looked speechless.

He seemed lost on where to get his fee.

Not my problem.

I just needed to uphold justice.