Listening to Lucius describe this greatsword's origins, Ciel's eyes widened with astonishment. When he first saw the sword, he'd known it was definitely goblin craftsmanship. After all, during the Forbidden Forest trials, he had personally wielded Gryffindor's sword, leaving him with deep impressions of goblin weapons' style—that distinctive blend of magnificence and durability.
Even so, he hadn't expected this greatsword's origins to be so significant. He had learnt about goblin rebellions from magical history. The earliest goblin rebellion was supposedly in 1612, though "rebellion" only applied to already-subjugated subordinates. In fact, goblins hadn't submitted to wizards from the beginning.
In ages far earlier than the first goblin rebellion, these two races had engaged in several prolonged wars. The first wizard-goblin war Lucius mentioned would have bordered the Olympian age. If this sword named Grønir truly was war spoils from that time, it would be even more ancient than Gryffindor's sword—its value almost immeasurable.
He hadn't expected Lucius to give him such a precious gift. But before he could speak, Lucius sighed, "Ciel, though Grønir's Blade has been secretly collected by our Malfoy family for so long, all these years it could only hang on the wall as a collectible. Only when Hogwarts was first established, when wizards still had a fashion for wearing longswords and disguising as knights, did our ancestors occasionally polish it. After that, no one showed interest. If not for goblin weapons never gathering dust, such a large sword would be covered in it."
"Moreover, everyone knows goblin greed is bone-deep. Legend says they unanimously believe that even though Gryffindor commissioned goblins to forge Gryffindor's sword, ownership should belong to goblins—Gryffindor only had usage rights. By passing it down, he was practically a thief."
Lucius looked helpless, "If not for Hogwarts Castle's extremely tight protection and Gryffindor's sword being difficult to access, goblins would probably infiltrate Hogwarts Castle daily, trying every method to steal it. If news of our Malfoy family possessing Grønir's Blade leaked, goblins would go mad. We couldn't bear such trouble. If you can take it away, Ciel, you'd actually be doing our Malfoy family a huge favour."
He took a deep breath. He naturally knew Lucius spoke this way, hoping he wouldn't feel burdened accepting the sword. After all, regardless of potential troubles, who would refuse such an ancient, precious weapon? Especially now when goblins still belonged to wizard-ruled races, far less powerful than in ancient times.
However, looking at this greatsword, he felt quite tempted. When first entering Hogwarts, he had possessed a weapon—a Beater's bat obtained from Cedric. The Weasley twins had supposedly enchanted it with magic, greatly increasing durability. This bat had truly helped him considerably in combat.
But later, as his Legendary Strength gradually increased, especially after the ability sublimated, expecting that bat to bear his physical power was too demanding. He even felt slight exertion might shatter it. Therefore, in current combat, his strongest trump card—Legendary Strength—could only be deployed bare-handed.
As for Gryffindor's sword, firstly, he lacked ownership, needing to extract it from the Sorting Hat each time—too unstable as a weapon. Secondly, the sword felt too light with poor grip feel. With his physical strength, he preferred heavier weapons.
This Grønir's Blade before him—he felt from first sight it perfectly matched his Legendary Strength. Therefore, after pondering briefly, he didn't refuse Lucius.
Seeing him agree to accept Grønir's Blade, Lucius showed irrepressible joy. This gift had truly touched his heart. After all, what youth hadn't fantasised about owning his own sword—especially goblin-crafted weapons? King Arthur's story was deeply rooted in people's hearts!
Then Lucius indicated he could later transport the sword to the Sprout estate by carriage. But his eyes showed strange light, "No need, Mr Malfoy. I think I can try first."
Hearing this, Lucius paused in confusion. Try what? Then he saw Ciel leap up, reaching almost level with Grønir's Blade's hilt in mid-air. He extended his hand toward the greatsword.
Lucius cried out, "Ciel? Careful! This sword is too heavy!"
But the next second, accompanied by a resonant hum, he removed Grønir's Blade from the wall. The nearly three-metre-long massive blade was thus grasped and effortlessly lifted. He even casually swung it twice, bringing fierce air currents through the atmosphere.
Lucius couldn't help stepping back two paces, eyes full of shock. A young wizard could easily wield Grønir's Blade? What monstrous strength!
Though Lucius had previously witnessed his violent performance on the Quidditch pitch, it was far less impactful than this close-range, personal observation.
While Lucius stood shocked, Ciel had already stopped swinging, looking at Grønir's Blade with considerable satisfaction. Truly worthy of the Goblin King's collection from ancient times. Though his swings hadn't used full force, he could still feel this weapon could support his strength's expression.
Even if he triggered Legendary Strength's sublimation characteristic, briefly elevating power to secondary sublimation levels, Grønir's Blade could still easily bear it.
"Should be enough until Legendary Strength's third sublimation. The goblin's peak masterpiece truly lives up to its reputation. Now, Legendary Strength, already my strongest trump card, combined with this weapon, has incomparable killing power."
Moreover, while wielding this greatsword, he sensed ancient, mysterious magic flowing through the dust-sealed blade for many years. "Is this goblin weapon characteristic? Legend says every goblin weapon possesses traits like never gathering dust, never rusting, and extreme durability. But these are the most basic. Some weapons receive unique characteristics. For instance, Gryffindor's sword can absorb special substances to strengthen itself. This Grønir's Blade also seems to possess mysterious traits."
Though he couldn't immediately explore what this characteristic was, every goblin weapon's unique trait was extraordinary. His eyes showed anticipation—perhaps this would surprise him.
However, looking at massive Grønir's Blade, he felt somewhat troubled. This thing truly matched his Legendary Strength—used in combat, its power would definitely be extremely terrifying. But it was too large. He couldn't carry it around constantly, right?
Lucius also realised this point now, wiping his forehead's cold sweat with strange feelings. He'd only wanted to give Ciel a sufficiently precious, pleasing memento—never expecting he could actually wield this greatsword in battle!
Then the recovered Lucius hurriedly rummaged in a nearby chest, finding a black scabbard seemingly made from dragon hide and strange metals. The overall presentation showed a black matte finish of extremely high grade.
"This is a scabbard a Malfoy ancestor specially crafted for this sword, enchanted with the Extension Charm to perfectly store Grønir's Blade. This way it looks like just an ordinary-length short sword."
He showed a delighted expression. This could solve Grønir's Blade's inconvenient portability problem. He tried the scabbard—quite peculiar. The nearly three-metre greatsword could truly be sheathed, becoming what looked like a decorative shortsword at first glance.
Unless someone had seen this greatsword unsheathed, they'd probably never know what fierce weapon hid in this scabbard.
"If someday I encounter a powerful enemy requiring Legendary Strength, perhaps I can use this for surprise attacks. The only problem is weight hasn't decreased due to the scabbard—but for me, that's actually not a problem. Carrying it won't affect movement."
Then Lucius pulled out a yellowed parchment scroll from the chest. He curiously glanced and discovered this was actually a book from the non-magical world, vividly depicting a knight wielding a greatsword—an ancient swordsmanship manual!
He couldn't help showing an astonished expression. The Malfoy family always looked down on non-magical things—why would they collect swordsmanship from that world?
Seeming to notice his surprise, Lucius somewhat embarrassedly averted his gaze, coughing softly, "This was a Malfoy ancestor's collection from over a thousand years ago. Ahem. Back then, the magical world was in constant danger. Many wizards felt the magical world might be destroyed by the Inquisition. Our Malfoy family's ancestor, considering family preservation and avoiding unnecessary sacrifice, believed that when necessary, we could abandon darkness for light—ah no, I mean endure humiliation, preserving wizard fire within the Inquisition. History always needs recorders, after all—"
Through Lucius's embarrassed explanation, his cheek couldn't help twitching. Good heavens—by this appearance, if the Four Founders hadn't established Hogwarts along with many other magical schools then established, allowing the magical world to preserve vitality and recuperate, the Malfoy family would have become collaborators for the Inquisition?
Well, this truly was the Malfoy family's consistent style. Events from a thousand years ago—he truly found it difficult to comment.
But compared to teasing the Malfoy family, he felt quite curious about another matter, "So the Malfoy family contacted the Inquisition back then. How powerful was the Inquisition? Why could an organisation from the non-magical world push the magical world to the brink?"
Hearing his question, Lucius shook his head, indicating he also didn't know such things, "Records from that time weren't preserved. Our ancestor seemingly deliberately prevented us from accessing that information, only leaving us a warning: don't investigate Inquisition-related matters; don't approach the Church. Hide and maintain mystery—this is wizards' only survival method. Otherwise, even the most powerful wizard, once attracting Church attention, ultimately cannot escape death."
Clearly, Lucius regarded his ancestor's warning with some disdain. But hearing this, his eyes flickered strangely. These words were quite similar to Lady Hufflepuff's warning to him. Hide and maintain mystery—wasn't this the International Statute of Secrecy's purpose? Letting the entire magical world hide within the non-magical world, strictly limiting wizards from casting spells before non-magical folk.
Except for extremely few people from the non-magical world, no one knew wizards existed as a group. Lady Hufflepuff had told him to ensure the International Statute wasn't overturned, or the entire magical world would face catastrophic disaster.
Could the Inquisition still exist? Impossible, right?
Various doubts churned in his mind, but moments later, he suppressed these confusions. These weren't matters for his concern. However, this ancient swordsmanship from the Inquisition sparked his curiosity.
He took the swordsmanship manual from Lucius. In one corner of the ancient parchment, he could see the knight who left this swordsmanship's name: "Inquisition Knight Gus—White Eagle Swordsmanship—"
He opened the parchment, carefully observing each movement. Though ancient, the drawings remained extremely complete. One could tell the artist was definitely a master—every movement, every bone and muscle motion seemed clearly expressed in the painting. Each sword technique displayed extremely fierce momentum.
"Should be very impressive swordsmanship. If I could master it, I could use Grønir's Blade better. Legendary Strength might also demonstrate stronger performance in actual combat."
However, compared to his magical and herbology mastery, whether past or present life, sports and such—he was completely inexperienced. Let alone cold weapon swordsmanship.
Without anyone's guidance, just relying on this ancient parchment scroll to learn so-called Inquisition White Eagle swordsmanship would be pure fantasy. From his system panel showing no text yet, one could judge he was still miles from entry level.
In the magical world, finding any master—even alchemy masters—he now had connections. Only swordsmanship masters, especially Inquisition swordsmanship, probably didn't exist in the entire magical world.
He frowned slightly. Should he fumble through practice himself? Regardless of mastering essence, expressing even slightly more Legendary Strength than before would suffice.
Just as he planned this, a thought suddenly surfaced in his mind. His gaze fell sharply on his system panel—on one reward he still hadn't completely received: Defence Against the Dark Arts insight.
This reward used near-realistic illusionary combat to instil knowledge. Even so, many Acromantulas' movements could be simulated by the system.
Then he looked at the parchment before him—that knight wielding a longsword with minutely detailed movements—his eyes gradually brightening.
"Perhaps—I could try?"