Someone among the Coachmen behind me shouted. A Sword Expert! It was a setting that appeared often in fantasy.
“Slot is at the level of a Sword Expert?”
If you start learning the sword like me, a Sword User is a level that anyone who learns the sword can reach. Since all you need to know is how to use a sword.
That refers to a beginner Sword User. Sword Users are divided into beginner, intermediate, and advanced levels. If compared to martial arts novels, it seems like third-rate, second-rate, and first-rate.
From the moment one transcends being a Sword User, they are classified as superhuman.
A Sword Expert is a professional who is proficient in Swordsmanship. A Sword Expert is at the stage where they can create Sword Qi and manifest energy into a tangible form.
Of course, the Sword Expert level also has beginner, intermediate, and advanced stages. Transcending the advanced stage leads to the level where one can handle the sword to its ultimate extremity. One evolves into a Sword Master.
A Sword Master can cut anything with Aura, does not fall behind in a one-on-one Duel with a Mage, and is classified among the few strong individuals in each country.
A blue haze gathered on Slot’s sword.
I heard that one beginner Sword Expert could handle 100 ordinary advanced Sword Users.
Good luck, my SSS-grade mercenary.
“Monk, you’re dead!”
“Look… Look over there… Energy is gathering there too.”
Hyde also closed his eyes for a moment and began to mutter.
What is it? Is he praying?
Green energy rose from Hyde’s body.
While Slot had a blue haze on his sword, Hyde looked like he was covered in a thin protective barrier across his entire body.
Both were at a stage where they could manifest their energy.
I didn’t know much, but in this Otherworld, Sword Qi wasn’t something just anyone could use.
Considering both were of a similar age, they were both geniuses.
The two prepared their next move with serious expressions. The probing phase was over, and now the full-scale Duel would begin.
Perhaps someone might get seriously hurt. Both the Coachmen and I held our breath and watched. Soon, a Duel involving life and death would unfold.
“What are you doing here?”
A woman’s voice was heard from somewhere. When everyone looked in the direction of the sound at once, a woman wearing glasses was looking at us as if she found the situation absurd.
“Hyde?”
“Si… Sister?”
Hyde. His full name was Hyde Taylor.
***
Juli Taylor’s father, who was a Veterinarian, founded the Sena Horse Ranch.
However, while struggling to run the ranch, he suffered a sudden accident. Everyone believed he had been kicked by the hind legs of a crazed horse, but in reality, that wasn’t the case.
Only his younger brother, Hyde, knew that fact.
One day, a masked man came to Juli Taylor’s father.
Saying he had heard the rumors, he agreed to purchase horses in large quantities from then on. Instead, there was a condition.
What he held out was a black medicine bottle. The condition was to feed the horses hay mixed with this medicine every day.
Since operations were difficult at the time, Juli Taylor’s father agonized over it but ultimately refused. It was because the contents of that black bottle seemed like a suspicious drug that would harm the horses.
The masked man became enraged at him for refusing the offer. Ultimately, the father, who was overpowered, was forced to open his mouth and drink the medicine in the bottle.
The father never woke up from that point on.
Hyde had witnessed this scene while he was on the roof, avoiding the work his father had assigned him to play around.
At the moment he was about to rush out to save his father, the masked man took off his mask.
And Hyde froze on the spot.
Cold, smooth gray skin. Sharp, pointed ears. Gray pupils. And red eyes.
No human had such an appearance. However, Hyde knew that existence. It was the Demon race.
Fortunately, the Demon race did not notice Hyde’s presence and left the ranch without harming his father further.
Fortunately, his father did not die. However, he lay in bed for a long time without waking up.
“I must have my revenge…”
Hyde Taylor ran away from home right then.
After that, while nursing her father, Juli Taylor took over the Sena Horse Ranch.
One year later, Hyde Taylor appeared before Juli Taylor as a Monk serving a god.
He said he had learned Divine Power by inheriting the lineage of a certain Monk sect.
His father still lay unconscious. He believed that since he now had the Divine Power of a Monk, he could heal his father.
Since his father had been poisoned by the Demon race… He channeled Divine Power into his father, but his father still did not wake up.
Hyde, saying his training was insufficient, ran away from home again.
Two years later, he returned even stronger. He displayed his Divine Power again, but his father still did not wake up.
Hyde Taylor was walking the path of a Guardian Monk. And he believed that someday, he would be able to wake his father.
And he vowed revenge against the Demon race member who attacked his father.
However, the Demon race could not be encountered easily. He mostly encountered lowly creatures.
But then… he discovered traces of the Demon race in a Village he happened to visit. Equipment belonging to the Demon race was mixed in with some luggage.
The Coachmen seemed to have been brainwashed, as they did not recognize the existence of the items.
After interrogating the Coachmen, it turned out they were people who had been Coachmen in Grunvalt before being hired by a certain Sangdan on the outskirts.
Hyde returned to Grunvalt to track them down.
***
“Hyde Taylor!”
“Why… Why is sister here?”
“Julie? And ‘sister’?”
Just before Slot and Hyde had their life-or-death struggle, a third party suddenly intruded.
It was the owner of the Sena Horse Ranch, Juli Taylor. She looked at the two confronting each other as if it were absurd.
“Hyde! What are you doing right now?”
“Why did you come to this dangerous place, sister?”
“I heard that Sir William was in a confrontation with the Coachmen and came to save him… But why are you here?”
“Well. I came to punish a swindler.”
Then Hyde looked at Slot and me.
“A swindler? Sir William? He isn’t.”
Based on the circumstances, it seemed Juli Taylor was the older sister of this simple and ignorantly strong fellow.
But this guy was someone who remained stubborn no matter how much I or the old Coachman tried to persuade him.
Would it be different just because she was his sister?
Julie spoke once more with emphasis.
“Hyde. As far as your sister is concerned, he’s not.”
“He’s not?”
“Mm. He’s not.”
Amazingly, the green energy surrounding Hyde’s body subsided.
What, he gives up that easily?
“If sister says he’s not, then he’s not. Sorry for the misunderstanding.”
Hyde bowed his head like a hoodlum. It was an absurd ending, but it seemed the dangerous situation had been avoided. Slot also saw the situation and put his sword back into the scabbard on his back.
“Haha… Fortunately, it seems to have ended well.”
Right, as long as neither of them got hurt, it was fine.
“Master Hyde, didn’t I tell you several times that I wasn’t the one?”
“Did you? I didn’t hear you…”
This guy was the type to only hear what he wanted to hear.
It was somewhat anticlimactic, but the situation was over. Meat was released, and I was able to conclude the talk with the Coachmen.
The Coachmen asked for some time to think. Giving them plenty of time, two hours should be enough, right?
“Now, now… Then, in two hours from now, at five o’clock in the evening, I will host exactly 50 people. As I mentioned, the deposit is 2 gold coins.”
“Also, there is an important announcement. As this is a brand-new business, it will be difficult for those without experience to participate.”
“Employment by a Noble is fine, and traveling with a Sangdan is also fine. Please write down what kind of work you have done, and I’m sorry, but for Coachmen who have no driving experience yet, I will host you when there is a good opportunity next time.”
Fortunately, the Coachmen gathered here all seemed to have driving experience, as there wasn’t much of a stir.
The Coachmen said they needed to hear more explanations and dragged Meat away with their arms around his shoulders.
The way they put their arms around him was more friendly than before, but for some reason, their backs looked like they were going to get a drink.
Right… This time, don’t get caught and kneel; talk things out well.
Since about two hours remained until the scheduled Agreement, we headed to a pub with Juli Taylor and Hyde Taylor.
***
Bang!
“Kuaaa!”
Julie, Hyde, and I ordered Beer. For reference, in this world, anyone 15 or older can drink Beer.
And while Slot was also of an age where he could drink Beer, he ordered milk.
When the three of us who ordered Beer stared, Slot smiled awkwardly.
“Haha. I don’t like bitter things.”
Hyde naturally gulped down his Beer.
By the way, is a Monk allowed to drink Beer?
When I asked out of curiosity, he said he was a Monk allowed to drink alcohol.
He said marriage was also possible and there were no special restrictions. It seemed he served a generous heavenly god.
They both seemed like monsters when fighting, but now one seemed like a neighborhood idiot brother and the other like a cute younger brother.
“I’m sorry. When my brother thinks something is right, he has a personality that lunges forward regardless of the circumstances.”
“Haha. Lady Julie. It’s fine. Still, he listens to his sister well.”
“Well. Because she’s my sister.”
I could feel his blind trust toward his sister. Various stories were exchanged, and I even heard the story about their father lying in bed.
“Then Lady Juli Taylor has protected the ranch alone for a long time.”
“I wasn’t alone. There were still many people around who helped me. Especially the Coachmen, who would come by occasionally to check on the horses’ condition or introduce customers. There were many who mocked and harassed me, but those decreased a lot after Hyde became a Monk.”
“Well. That’s because every time I came by, I would stir up the whole neighborhood…”
“Fufu. Hyde is a bit rough, but his heart is upright.”
“Thanks to you, I learned a good lesson. I realized many of my shortcomings through the Duel with Master Hyde.”
“Me too… It was a battle that really loosened up my body for the first time in a while.”
The two grinned.
“Organization Leader, let’s have more intensive training starting tomorrow.”
Slot beamed with an innocent smile.
No… Why is the spark suddenly flying toward me… I was about to answer, but Hyde cut me off.
“Haha, Slot. Seeing as I’m a bit older, can I speak informally? What’s with this ‘Master Hyde’? Just call me Hyde… I thought I was strong too, but you’re so young, how are you that strong? Aside from my master, I think you’re the strongest person I’ve met so far. My muscles are still tingling.”
The two continued with heartwarming compliments. At Hyde’s repeated suggestion, we decided to speak informally to each other.
I suddenly had something I was curious about, so I asked.
“By the way, Hyde, I have a question.”
“What is it?”
“I heard that for Monks, there are various paths depending on the way they walk. What kind of path are you walking, Hyde?”
“Huh? How did you know that Monks have paths they walk? Well… some Monks say they keep the path they walk a secret… My master serves a somewhat low-grade god, and he said I’m a ‘Monk walking the Dark-Opposing Path’.”
“Hmm? Then you don’t know exactly which god you serve?”
“Is that possible? I understand that Monks borrow and use divine power through the power of faith.”
Slot and I asked, feeling puzzled.
“Actually, there is faith. My mission is to execute the Demon race. Since I can feel the Divine Power coming out of me when I do what I believe is justice… even if I can’t see them, I believe in them properly.”
“I see.”
Hyde was a strange Monk who used Divine Power without even knowing which god he served.