* * *
VIP room.
The top floor of the underground arena, with a panoramic view of the stadium.
A man wearing an eagle mask was looking down at the stadium with a dull look in his eyes.
His name is Malrikon.
He was the owner of the "Ruined Merchant Group" that dominated the black market, and the headmaster who oversaw the underground fighting arena.
'It's a predictable game with nothing to see.'
Malrikon clicked his tongue.
The game was designed from the beginning so that the slaves could not win.
Slaves starve for days in prison, and all they are given are rusted weapons.
The chances of these slaves surviving the butcher jenkoid were close to zero.
'The audience also knows that and watches the game.'
The underdog effect?
No, in the first place, no one watching this game is rooting for the slaves.
What the audience wants is a one-sided slaughter, where the slaves serve merely as living, moving targets.
─Four! Now only four slave gladiators remain! How will jenkoid deal with these slaves…?
Kwaaaa ...
Was that why?
The moment when an unexpected change occurred.
─… … Huh?
The stadium was suddenly filled with silence.
"what...!"
Udangtang-!
Malrikon jumped up from his seat.
Malrikon, his eyes wide open, stared at the stadium with an expression of utter disbelief.
Slowly rising sand dust.
In the center of it all, a skinny slave stood still, holding a one-handed sword.
Duk, duk-.
And one step ahead of the slave.
The corpse of the human butcher jenkoid, with the entire upper part of his neck missing.
Slurp.
Kuuuung-!
The stadium froze for a moment as the giant's body fell limply to the dirt floor.
The audience was left breathless by the shocking and completely unexpected situation.
The terrible silence created the illusion that time had stopped.
"...."
What on earth is going on?
No one understood what had just happened.
Something flashed.
A strong gust of wind swept across the stadium, and when I opened my eyes, which had been closed by the strong wind pressure, I saw that jenkoid was already dead.
okay.
That was all.
The audience looked down at the stadium with bewildered expressions at the unrealistic situation that defied logical explanation.
Degururu.
puck-!
At that moment, a dull, hollow sound echoed throughout the stadium.
It was the sound of jenkoid's head hitting the outer wall of the stadium as he rolled on the dirt floor.
"ah...."
Only then was Malrikon able to accept the current situation.
'… …jenkoid, is dead.'
So empty. Without any reaction.
"...."
Swish-.
Malrikon turned his gaze silently towards the slave who had killed jenkoid.
A very thin body. Even the eyes were dull and unfocused.
He was clearly a man who appeared no different from any other slave.
But the movements he had just shown were by no means those of an ordinary slave.
An abnormal speed that creates the illusion that the body has disappeared.
It was a movement that only a high-level knight, called a superhuman, or someone of a higher level of strength could show.
'… … But why on earth was such a skilled person dragged into the underground arena as a slave?'
I couldn't understand.
The slaves of the underground arena are debtors who were brought in because they could not pay their debts in the upper part of the ruins.
Most of them were people who were addicted to drugs or gambling, borrowed money without being able to tell right from wrong, and ended up ruined.
But that man was different from those scumbags.
'A person with skills comparable to that of a high-ranking knight.'
With that power, I could secure a spot anywhere on the continent.
There is no way he could not pay his debt.
No, there was no reason to owe anything to the ruins in the first place.
In a world where strength is everything, how could someone that strong be short on money?
'And even if for some reason that man really owes a debt to the Ruins Merchant Group... ... .'
It also didn't make sense that he was dragged there obediently as a slave to the underworld arena.
That would be the case, since a skilled man who could kill even Barba in one blow would not be defeated by the loan sharks of the Ruins Merchant Association.
'then....'
Gulp-.
A dry swallow slid down Malrikon's throat.
This situation meant only one thing.
'… … That man was deliberately dragged into the underground arena.'
But for what purpose?
"...."
Malrikon, who had been pondering for a moment, soon muttered in a quiet voice.
"Lauren."
"...Yes, my lord."
As soon as Malrikon called out someone's name, a figure suddenly appeared from the shadows.
"What did it look like to you?"
The man in the dark robe hesitated for a moment to answer that short question.
Soon after, a man named Lauren muttered in a confused voice.
"...I couldn't react at all either."
Karajan's expression darkened when he heard the answer.
Escort warrior Lauren.
He was the highest-ranking swordsman in the ruins.
He was a skilled swordsman who had lasted four minutes against the "Sword Master of the Fierce Dragon", one of the twelve sword masters of the continent, so there was absolutely no need to doubt his skills.
However, it is said that even Lauren could not keep up with the man's speed with her eyes.
"her...."
Malrikon let out a hollow laugh.
The reputation of the man who killed the human butcher, jenkoid, rose sharply.
After a moment of hesitation, Malrikon opened his mouth.
"...Prepare a seat, Lauren. I think we need to speak with the mastermind directly."
* * *
Inside the waiting room after the game.
I glanced ahead and saw a full-length mirror.
On the surface of the mirror, my appearance, which I had not had time to examine until now, was revealed.
I breathed a sigh of relief as I faced my own face for the first time.
"Phew...."
Dark white hair that slightly covers the eyes.
blue eyes that reveal their presence faintly between them.
And even skin that feels pale, if not white.
This was the basic appearance of the Villain in the title of the original Novel.
Although he was now thin and had sunken eyes, giving him a slightly creepy impression, I knew that as the main Villan character, he had a handsome face with a boyish charm.
'By the way... ... .'
I clenched my fists with a bewildered expression.
'… … That feeling from a little while ago.'
It still felt vivid.
That thrilling feeling of power that enveloped my entire body immediately after using the skill.
What should I say?
It really felt like I could do anything with a sword.
To the point where I feel like I can cut down everything in this world as far as my will goes.
… … The problem was that the duration was only 0.01 seconds.
━━━━━━━━━━━━
[Active Effects]
Reach extreme levels while the skill is active.
━━━━━━━━━━━━
'Anyway, with this I can clearly see the effect of the skill.'
At first, I couldn't really grasp what the effect was because of the abstract skill name and description.
"Sword Master's Soul," "Extreme Realm," and so on. There's no way I could possibly understand the skill's effectiveness with such explanations.
But when I actually tried using the skill, I could immediately tell its effectiveness.
'While the skill is activated, I become a sword master.'
Sword Master.
The highest level that humans can reach.
According to the original setting, there are currently only twelve people who have reached this level.
Swordmasters were that rare.
It was a realm that could only be reached by a knight born with a talent that only comes once in a hundred years, and who had to work to the death to achieve it, so it goes without saying.
━━━━━━━━━━━━
You are the most talented of the tens of millions, no… hundreds of millions of Sword Masters.
━━━━━━━━━━━━
… … And I was, even among those sword masters, a unique existence.
'A talent that only comes from among the hundreds of millions of sword masters.'
At least, at the moment I activate the [Soul of the Sword Master], it means that I will become the strongest in this world.
The problem was that the time was only 0.01 seconds... ... Ah, let's just throw it away. I'm tired of saying this over and over again.
[Lv. 1]
'… … But even if I kill jenkoid, I still don't level up.'
but.
Considering the 'Plot' of forgotten ancients, it was unusual.
To be exact… … .
dripping-.
"...?"
That was the moment.
A knocking sound is heard from outside the waiting room.
Soon after, a woman dressed in a maid's outfit cautiously opened the door and entered the room.
"The Lord of the Ruins is calling."
Ruined merchant.
So, the headmaster who runs this underground arena summoned me.
'Yeah. So that's how it turns out.'
It was somewhat expected.
I got up from my seat and followed the maid who was guiding me along the way.
Towards the top floor of the ruins, where monsters lurked that could take my life with just a single snap of a finger.
"...."
Even in this terrifying situation, I was able to remain calm because…
━━━━━━━━━━━━
[Passive Effect]
The stat value of 'Mental Strength' will always be 'MAX'.
━━━━━━━━━━━━
… … I think it was probably thanks to the [Soul of the Sword Master].
* * *
Was it because he had a bloody match while locked in prison for three days?
I looked worse than a rat in a gutter.
A terrible smell emanated from the body, which was covered in dirt and blood.
The maid also seemed to have decided that it would be difficult to meet the owner of the ruined merchant house like this, so she took me to the makeshift bathroom first.
Swaaaaaaah-.
After a quick shower and changing into clean clothes, I followed the maid.
As I was walking through the dark hallways of the underground arena, the Plot of this novel suddenly came to mind.
Ruined Merchants
These were the names of the people I was going to meet now.
They were an illegal guild that dominated the continent's black market.
Even if we make a hundred concessions, the Ruins of the Upper Class can never be said to be good guys.
Because they were a group that only pursued 'money', engaging in various illegal activities, from human trafficking to drugs.
Just by looking at the underground arena run by the Ruined Merchant Group, you could tell just how vicious a guild they were.
'The headmaster of this guild is a man named Malrikon.'
He was a tycoon who dominated the continent's black market with his innate insight and business acumen.
In the world of Shav, where power is the key to wealth, he was the only great merchant who grew his power through wealth.
'This is the official Plot known to Shav readers.'
As I walked with that thought in mind, I soon arrived at my destination.
"We have arrived."
The maid stopped walking and carefully opened the door.
Squeak-.
The door opened with the sound of worn hinges. The first thing I saw was a translucent level window.
[Lv.84]
Level 84.
It meant that he was one of the most skilled people on this continent.
I looked down a little further.
A man wearing an eagle mask was sitting on a chair, staring intently at me.
"So."
"...."
"Are you the gladiator who killed jenkoid?"
A man's voice flowed out through the mask.
The servants in the room flinched and trembled at the eerie voice that had a hint of charisma.
But why is that?
Despite the fact that it was clearly a tense situation, my mind was infinitely calm.
Maybe it was because Malrikon moved exactly as I expected.
"I have no desire to talk to a puppet."
"...what?"
As soon as I finished speaking, a bewildered voice leaked out from the mouth of the eagle mask.
Regardless, I looked again at the level window that had risen above the eagle mask's head.
[Lv.84]
Didn't I say that earlier?
Malrikon was a merchant who rose to the high position of the owner of the Ruins Trading Company solely through his innate insight and business acumen.
'Malrikon's power is never high.'
Malrikon's level was just that of an ordinary person.
He was able to rise to the top of the ruins thanks to his excellent sense of how money flows.
So the level 84 monster sitting there wasn't Malrikon.
'Considering the circumstances, it's most likely Malrikon's escort, Shadow Knight Loren.'
There was nothing particularly strange.
Malrikon always hid behind his puppet in the original Novel.
And above all… … .
"If you invite a guest, show him the courtesy he deserves, Malrikon."
"...."
"Don't listen to the puppet's mouth, step forward yourself."
… … Having read more than 10 times Shav , I knew Malrikon's true identity hidden behind a veil.
Swish-.
After I finished speaking, I turned my head towards the back.
To be exact, towards the 'maid' who guided me here.
"Surely you don't intend to just sit back and do nothing after saying all this, do you?"
"...!"
"...!"
As soon as I finished speaking, the pupils of everyone in the room began to shake.