"...Young master? Were you speaking to me?"
The old man, who had been trimming a clover-shaped tree with garden shears, paused and looked up.
"Yes. Do you have a moment?"
"Haha, of course. Please, come this way."
With a hearty laugh, he led me past the garden to a modest house on the outer edge. I had walked through this garden every day yet never noticed the house.
"Mm…"
He went inside to brew tea while I looked around. The place was spotless, not a speck of dust.
"You don't live in the servants' quarters?"
"No, I live here alone. I only eat there. Ah, please speak comfortably."
"I see."
[Creator's Eye has activated.]
[Name: Polein Rox]
[Traits: Swift Sword lv4, Aura Transformation lv4, Sword Cry]
[Affinity: 56 (Considerable Favor)]
[Current Mood: Slightly Flustered]
The person I had come to see was the elderly gardener I had spotted during my first outing. After returning, I had dug through the records and finally learned who he was.
"This is tea made from Taein flowers I dried from the garden. I hope it suits your taste."
"Thank you."
A warm, gentle scent like sunlight rose from the cup.
"What did you wish to speak with me about?"
When I stayed silent, Polein spoke first.
"...You're my granduncle, aren't you?"
"..."
Polein's smiling face stiffened. He slowly set down the teacup he had been raising to his lips.
"Did Wilington tell you?"
The atmosphere changed in an instant. From the kind old gardener, an overwhelming aura capable of crushing the world surged forth.
I knew it clearly.
It wasn't Marquis Wilington.
This man—Polein Rox—was the strongest swordsman of the Rox family.
"No. I found out myself, Granduncle."
His pressure was incredibly heavy, yet I didn't waver.
After everything I had consumed, there was no way I would yield to mere aura. If I backed down here, the Sichuan Tang Clan would weep.
"Haha, I tried to play a little prank on this old man whose identity was exposed, but your expression didn't change at all. You really have changed. No one your age could match you."
Polein withdrew his aura and returned to his gentle grandfatherly face.
"When we met before, you seemed completely different overnight. I was so shocked I unconsciously leaked my aura. So you noticed it then."
He was referring to the time I had reached the intermediate stage of the Ten Thousand Poison Immunity Technique.
"Yes. I realized you were no ordinary person and investigated. That's how I learned about my missing granduncle."
"That alone shouldn't have been enough to figure it out?"
"I did quite a lot of digging."
In truth, I had only seen his name with Creator's Eye and checked the Rox family records.
"Hoho, you continue to surprise me in many ways."
Polein, who had seemed slightly flustered, now smiled leisurely and brought the teacup to his lips.
"Why are you working as a gardener here?"
I couldn't understand why someone who could live comfortably anywhere would choose to live alone tending the garden.
"If a dead old man suddenly reappears, everyone would obviously find it troublesome. I only told your father and am simply enjoying gardening as a hobby."
"Did the Marquis not stop you?"
"Of course he tried. But I'm more stubborn than Wilington. Hoho."
"Then during the time you were missing…"
"I was in the Empire."
Recalling the past, Polein's eyes grew slightly somber as he stared into space.
"Your generation turned out a bit special, but the Rox family has always had the eldest son succeed. No matter what I did, the Marquis title would go to my brother, so I decided to leave. I didn't want to stay in the kingdom either, so I traveled and happened to befriend an imperial noble."
"I see."
"Things are peaceful now, but back then the Empire was at war with the Meril Kingdom. At my friend's persuasion, I joined the war. I killed countless people and gained money, honor, and status. At the time, I was excited about becoming an imperial marquis and returning to see my brother."
Speaking in a heavy tone, Polein sighed and leaned back in his chair.
"After the Empire captured the Meril capital, they massacred thousands of civilians who didn't need to die. That was when I thought, 'What the hell am I doing?' Hoho… it was far too late for regret. I quit everything and left the Empire. Fortunately, I had never married, so there were no lingering attachments."
His eyes were still filled with remorse for that time.
"Quite a boring story, isn't it? I never even told Wilington, yet here I am telling you. How strange."
"Not at all. Thank you for sharing."
I stood up and bowed deeply to Polein. It wasn't easy to reveal such inner thoughts, so I felt truly grateful.
"Now, let's get to the main point. What is it you really wanted to say?"
"Do you happen to know someone named Kabol?"
"Kabol? I don't know anyone by that name."
"He is the author of this swordsmanship manual."
Polein took the manual I handed over, opened it, and nodded.
"Ah, this is the book I left in the library."
"Oh!"
I had hoped, but to think he really was connected—my heart pounded with anticipation.
"Where did you get this book?"
"Long ago, a child kept begging at the marquisate's main gate, saying he wanted to sell books. I don't know the circumstances, but he looked desperate, so I bought it."
"A child?"
"Yes. He would be about your age now."
A child the same age as me selling books—it didn't feel like coincidence.
"I bought it because the child seemed pitiful, but since I didn't need it, I left it in the library."
Polein had coincidentally bought the book, the Marquis had coincidentally found it and given it to me. And this book was something only I could recognize as special?
Unless someone had shot me in the head, this was no coincidence. Especially with the sword I had recently obtained, it felt even less so.
"Do you remember anything about that child?"
"Hmm, it's been so long I don't remember much. But I do recall his hair was black."
"Black…"
In this fantasy world, black hair was actually uncommon. It was a distinctive feature.
Someone my age with black hair.
One person flashed through my mind.
"No way…"
**
After finishing my conversation with Polein, I returned to my room and organized my thoughts.
"What I have are the Incomplete Emperor Sword and the sealed Forgotten Emperor Sword—two in total."
The Incomplete Emperor Sword was one I had created, but the Forgotten Emperor Sword was not.
"Since I made it incomplete, did this world automatically complete the Emperor Sword to match the setting?"
I had named it 'Incomplete' simply because it sounded cool. But this world seemed to think there was a reason, so it created the completed version and demanded I find it.
However, to unseal the Emperor Sword, I needed to collect 16 basic swordsmanship manuals from various countries—something I had no idea where to find. The difficulty was ridiculously high.
"Sigh, whatever. If I can get the books, great. If not, then not. Being impatient is poison."
Honestly, with the Sichuan Tang Clan, I wouldn't be too disappointed even if I couldn't obtain them.
"The technique I really want to use isn't the Emperor Sword anyway—it's Mancheon Hwawoo (Full Sky Flower Rain)."
With a hint of regret, I glanced at the still-locked Mancheon Hwawoo, then remembered I hadn't checked the information on the evolved Hwagol Mountain yet.
Anyone who had read wuxia novels knew Hwagol Mountain.
It was a classic scene: after killing someone, sprinkling Hwagol Mountain on the corpse to dissolve it and hide the evidence.
I had always wondered why such a good item was only used for body disposal.
"What a waste. If it can melt a corpse, spraying it directly should make it a powerful weapon."
Something that could melt flesh and bone—if sprayed normally or through a tool—would be an incredibly threatening weapon. It was frustrating that it was only ever used for cleanup.
"Let's see…"
[Evolved Hwagol Mountain (True Bone Dissolving Powder)] (Special)
An improved version of Hwagol Mountain with powerful effects that dissolve not only the body but even the soul. No need for blood contact; simply sprinkle on a corpse and within 5 seconds, flesh and bone melt away completely. Effective only on corpses.
"True version, huh? So it only takes 5 seconds to melt. Huh? Only effective on corpses? What kind of shitty poison is this!"
I sighed at how much worse the evolved version seemed than expected—until I remembered this was a fantasy world.
"Only on corpses… dissolves the soul… If this applies exactly as written…"
The ultimate way to use Hwagol Mountain flashed through my mind.
"This is a jackpot!"
**
The one-week break the Marquis had given also applied to me, but I spent every single day training.
In the morning, I operated the Ten Thousand Poison Immunity Technique to raise my proficiency. After lunch, I practiced throwing hidden weapons to increase mastery. In the evening, I swung my sword.
"Seeing visible progress makes it impossible not to train hard."
Results appeared immediately, even if small, so training time was genuinely enjoyable.
"Besides, I don't know what will happen next, so I need to get stronger while I still can."
The story of this world was already going off the rails. I had to prepare in advance while I still had the leeway to survive whatever came.
"Young master."
"Peru?"
After finishing evening training and wiping off sweat, Peru—who should have been at the mansion—came running, panting heavily.
"Huff, huff! M-Marquis…!"
"Slow down."
"Haa… The Marquis has summoned you."
"Then why did you run? You could have just walked."
"The butler said it was urgent."
A peaceful period was supposed to last for a while now. As I walked to see the Marquis, I thought of various possibilities, but nothing came to mind.
"I heard you called for me."
"Sorry to interrupt your break. It's urgent."
"It's fine. The break is over anyway."
The Marquis's face was as stiff as tree bark. Something big had clearly happened.
"What is it?"
"Sigh…"
The Marquis hesitated, as if something was weighing on him.
"Marquis?"
"The northern wall defended by the Elion Ducal House was breached yesterday."
My heart sank.
I knew the Elion Ducal House, which defended the north, would eventually be pushed back—that was part of my story. But the wall being breached was not in my novel.
In the original story, the protagonist and his allies appeared before the wall fell and resolved everything.
"Ha…"
Now even the protagonist was neglecting his duties.
"The monsters descending from the north are said to be different from before."
I knew. Normally, northern monsters were large ones like ogres, but this time undying monsters would appear as well.
"They abandoned the First Defensive Wall closest to the northern wall and are concentrating all forces at the Second Defensive Wall to push back in one go."
There was only one reason the Marquis was telling me such details.
"A request for support has come to us as well. I'd like you to go."
Thanks to the protagonist slacking off somewhere, the time to show off the broken ability of Evolved Hwagol Mountain had come much sooner.
"Understood."