Chapter 81: The Sword’s Sorrowful Memory

At some point, Epio opened his eyes.

Then he collapsed to his knees.

“…Ugh!”

[Damn it! What the hell did you see?]

Plebelziam’s telepathy was laced with an unusually strong displeasure.

I approached Epio as he caught his breath.

Cold sweat poured down his cheeks like rain.

“Epio. What did you see inside Plebelziam?”

“…Clara was there.”

“What?”

“I mean… I saw Ple stabbing Clara through the heart and killing her.”

“…Can you explain in detail?”

Epio nodded and slowly described the scene he had seen.

A girl with long silver hair and golden eyes, who looked exactly like Clara, was stabbed to death by the dragon-slaying sword. And right after, Plebelziam let out a horrific scream.

Plebelziam snorted.

[Hmph, me killing that wench myself? Sounds utterly gratifying.]

“Do you hate me that much, Ple?”

[Are you seriously asking that now…!]

Plebelziam growled at Clara’s innocent question.

But even to that reaction laced with killing intent, she only showed a faint smile.

In the original or here now, Clara inexplicably sent one-sided goodwill toward that ego sword guy who antagonized her.

Unable to watch anymore, Linia hurriedly raised her hand.

“B-But that must be something from the past, right? Clara is perfectly alive right in front of us!”

“Just because she had silver hair and wore priestly robes doesn’t mean it has to be Clara herself. It’s the memory of an ego sword that’s lived nearly a thousand years, so maybe that person was a priestess from a distant previous generation?”

That was Chesa speaking. Even for someone as sharp as her, that level of speculation was the best with the current information.

Epio, who had been thinking for a moment, shook his head.

“No. The one I saw was Clara.”

“Why do you think that, Epio?”

“Just a feeling.”

Linia looked dumbfounded at that declaration without any basis. But chills ran all over my body.

…As expected, Epio’s intuition is spot on.

There was a phrase like this in the original.

「The girls who are the dragon’s proxies reach the end of their lifespan before their youth withers, and soon bloom again.」

Contextually, that meaningful sentence clearly hinted that the souls of the four dragon priestesses repeated reincarnation, and considering the circumstances, this speculation is considered canon. It wouldn’t be impossible with the Dragon God’s immense power to erase any records from the world at will.

In other words, the previous Priestess of the Sun was Clara’s previous life.

In a sense, she was Clara herself.

Back to the main point, the core of this story is that the dragon-slaying sword Plebelziam greatly grieved after killing the previous Priestess of the Sun.

No matter how I think about it, it’s strange.

I wonder why that ego in the dragon-slaying sword felt sorrow at Clara’s death.

If he was going to grieve that much, wouldn’t it have been fine not to kill her in the first place?

“…The important thing is that killing the Priestess of the Sun is the ‘most core memory’ for the demonic sword Plebelziam.”

“Right, that’s what Bernhard’s Stream Orgel is capable of.”

Chesa and I looked at Plebelziam.

At this point, that demonic sword guy has forgotten all memories from before the Five Heroes era, over 500 years ago.

The sole exception is hatred for the Dragon God.

He forgot the reason but not the emotion.

Even though the Dragon God vanished long before the era where Plebelziam’s last memories remain, a thousand years ago.

Thus, the representative element engraved in Plebelziam’s deep psyche,

「The cause of hating the Dragon God.」

「The act of killing the Priestess of the Sun.」

These two are highly likely to be closely related.

And the moment my thoughts reached there.

A certain idea flashed through my mind like lightning.

“………”

Up to now, readers of Reca Chronicles, including me, had based assumptions on the traitors like the Schnifelt family rebelling because they hated the Dragon God. Since little was revealed about the great event a thousand years ago, this was the natural flow of thought.

According to Bernhard’s testimony, the dragon ego supposedly dwelling in Plebelziam was also one of the traitors, which added more certainty.

But what if.

The order was reversed?

Not stabbing the Priestess of the Sun because he hated the Dragon God, but coming to hate the Dragon God because he stabbed her for some reason?

Then it all fits perfectly.

That’s why killing the Priestess of the Sun is the most important memory forming the current Plebelziam, and why the guy screamed.

Come to think of it, in the original, Plebelziam showed peculiar reactions only when facing Clara, the Priestess of the Sun.

Purely subjective, but while expressing pure rage or hostility toward the Priestesses of the Sea or Earth, the emotion shown toward Clara felt like love-hate.

Right after I inwardly gained a certain conviction.

MacGuffin No.101 / You have collected the demonic sword and the Priestess of the Sun.

[Achievement Points +5,000]

“…Ha.”

A MacGuffin collection message appeared before my eyes.

A hollow laugh escaped involuntarily.

But this is something I have to keep to myself for now. The message proved my speculation is fact, but it’s literally a lucky guess, with no evidence to convince the party.

Moreover, it’s not an achievement to boast about.

Doubts didn’t decrease; they multiplied.

First, the identity of the dragon mixed among the traitors.

If that guy, never mentioned in main story or setting book, is really the ego dwelling in Plebelziam, then suddenly there’s another dragon besides the Dragon God.

In future travels, investigating that dragon… commonly called the ‘demonic dragon’s’ identity will be important.

Second, the relationship between the traitor demonic dragon and the Priestess of the Sun.

Why the demonic dragon harbored goodwill toward Clara, a Dragon God follower, and why he killed her after becoming a sword.

The question of why the demonic dragon joined the traitors to fight the Dragon God is so obvious I didn’t bother mentioning it.

…It’s a mountain of obstacles.

Pondering now won’t yield answers.

Fortunately, neither is a problem without any visible solutions. Several promising ways to collect related MacGuffins come to mind right away.

I shook my head vigorously.

And approached Bernhard.

He was clutching his head from the backlash of using Stream Orgel (U).

“Bernhard.”

“…Ugh, from the looks, I wasn’t much help.”

“No. It was tremendously helpful. More importantly, I have a personal request.”

“A request?”

Now, the second purpose for coming here.

Time to recruit a blacksmith.

Curly light brown hair and a build larger than his peers.

The boy Bernhard brought was one who looked Epio’s age, none other than his grandson Kurt.

“Greet them, Kurt.”

“…Hello.”

I looked at the boy, one of Part 3’s key figures, and inwardly recited.

Character sheet.

<Kurt Schlegel>

[Level: 14/52] [HP: 08] [STR: 06] [AGI: 03]

[MP: 06] [Spirit: 10] [Sense: 09]

[Divinity: 00]

[Traits: Mythic Forgemaster’s Bloodline (A), Forging Genius (A), Alchemy Genius (A), Weapon Prodigy (B), Ultra-Precise Structural Analysis (S), and 3 others]

[Skills: Schlegel Family Metallurgy (A), Grand Valley Comprehensive Blacksmithing (A), Alpanium Advanced Alchemy (B), Agrand Elite Mercenary Heart Method (B), and 4 others]

[Description: Age 13, human race. Resident born and raised in the artisans’ village Grand Valley, direct descendant of blacksmith Ernst Schlegel who made the demonic sword Plebelziam. However, in conflict with his grandfather.]

Quite a high level for his age.

Even in an environment relatively easy to raise [Spirit], a value of 10 isn’t to be taken lightly.

Kurt was on an elite track in Grand Valley, so unlike rich soil spoons with abundant potential, his skills were flashy too.

Hasn’t acquired the unique skill Dismixer (U) shown in the main story yet.

It manifested around this age, but apparently we came a bit early, as it’s not showing.

I well knew this guy yearned for the outside world in childhood. So as long as I could make contact, bringing him wasn’t a big issue.

“Grandpa, if I go under this guy, is it really okay to leave Grand Valley?”

“Yes. With Plebelziam coming in my generation, there’s no need for you, the heir, to inherit the family tradition. Moreover, Ernst’s will was to grant any request if the legitimate user of the demonic sword appeared before us.”

“Hmm….”

The guy looked at me with seemingly indifferent eyes.

Kurt is a great prospect, but blacksmiths of his current level are plentiful in Grand Valley. But this kid will soon manifest Dismixer (U), undoubtedly top-tier among production unique skills. If I can properly utilize that, Kurt will become more valuable than all Grand Valley artisans combined.

And for good reason— in the main story, he used that skill to reinforce and remodel Plebelziam itself.

That demonic sword unscratched through a thousand years!

Even excluding forging prowess, Dismixer shows tremendous efficiency in anti-Machine God Tribe battles.

Endless potential for future contributions.

“Okay, specially, this body will follow… Ow!”

Kurt, who had been speaking with chest puffed, got bonked by his grandfather.

“What manners to the owner of the Seal of Struggle, you rascal! You should be bowing in thanks for taking you in!”

“Damn, that’s just because of age! I’m better than most blacksmiths! Once outside, I’ll definitely be national treasure level!”

“You brat still!”

The grandfather-grandson started bickering.

Alpanium Library is quite sensitive to talent outflow from Grand Valley, but won’t be wary of a kid like this leaving. No room for issues.

I recalled Machine God Tribe Melkina.

The Dragon Horse Cult headquarters passing nearby soon.

To thoroughly rake in from there, this Kurt guy needs to acquire Dismixer (U) quickly.

“Apparently, the Melkina we’re aboard will soon approach near Grand Valley.”

Dragon Horse Cult vice-leader, dwarf warrior Tikus Pebbleforge said that.

Hagel Vinter heard his aide and looked at his left arm. There, instead of the original arm severed by the Sword Saint, was a prosthetic of mechanisms and springs.

To fully regenerate a severed body part, one needs a single top-tier healing magic from a Life Church pope-level priest. If impossible, multiple upper-tier healings from an archbishop-level slightly below the pope.

But for Hagel leading the Dragon Horse Cult, building ties with the Life Church wasn’t easy.

As a next best, he approached a shady alchemist who does anything for money.

This precise prosthetic arm was the result.

But moving his left arm around, Hagel couldn’t help frowning.

“There’s a slight gap between movement and the prosthetic’s response speed. Clearly fatal against equals.”

“If we can connect with a specialist artisan in Grand Valley using my contacts, fine-tuning the arm should be possible. So no worries, leader.”

“Hm…”

Meanwhile, Aiden was facing the dwarf village chief of Grand Valley, presenting the Seal of Struggle.

“Inheritor. What business brings you to this old one?”

“I’ve heard the chief has ties to core figures of great nations. I’d like you to send these letters directly to the people I want.”

The chief narrowed his eyes at Aiden.

“As I know, you’re the second son of the Stroke Principality. If it’s aboveboard, couldn’t you send missives formally using your own identity?”

“That’d work too, but formal procedures are quite cumbersome. And I have time-sensitive matters ahead.”

In the end, that day, messenger birds stamped with the Seal of Struggle flew to five forces, including the Wibler Empire’s imperial family.

‘The stage for the new comrade to shine is set.’

Aiden hardened his expression.