Chapter 23. I burned it.

Crackle, snap.

The book that had caught fire didn't burn as well as I had thought.

At least, compared to what I had thought.

The improvised swordsmanship manual I had made thus disappeared from the world.

“It's a bit of a waste.”

“What is.”

As I stamped out the remaining embers, only pitch-black ash was left.

“You said swordsmanship manuals are valuable enough to make mercenaries go crazy over them, right? Then couldn't you have just sold it instead of burning it?”

“Ooh. What's gotten into you, using your head for once?”

And about money, no less.

Wonders never cease.

Of course, it wasn't a particularly nutritious thought.

“Wouldn't it be more profitable to make several copies and sell them? Right?”

“That's true……?”

“You think other people haven't had that thought? Copying a book is hard, but it's not impossible, you know?”

As printing technology was not developed, text had to be transcribed by hand and pictures had to be traced by eye.

This meant that each book had to be made manually.

However, considering the value of a swordsmanship manual, that much effort was barely a hassle.

“Especially copying a thin book like this is no big deal.”

In fact, it had only taken me a dozen or so minutes to make the swordsmanship manual myself.

Though that was thanks to the fact that a significant portion was filled with meaningless rhetoric written down following the stream of consciousness just to fill the pages.

Anyway, it was in the style of [A Collection of Swordsmanship Honey Tips.zip], with wide line spacing and large letters, amounting to maybe three or four sentences per page.

It was less than a slim notebook, closer to a memo than a proper book.

If I were to seriously create a swordsmanship manual, it might take a long time, but if one were to just copy it without thinking, it would take less time than it took me to make it, not more.

“Heh-.”

As the story showed signs of getting a bit long, Pol's eyes glazed over.

What an amazing attention span.

A monkey would probably have a better one.

“It's because if you sell them openly, the knights will come after you and flip everything over.”

Knights enjoyed privileges for the sole reason that they possessed swordsmanship.

In other words, if swordsmanship were to spread widely in the world, the justification for their privilege would disappear.

Therefore, to maintain the ‘order’ that was advantageous to the knights, swordsmanship had to remain a skill of a limited number of people.

They couldn't catch every single one or two copies circulating secretly, but if someone tried to distribute them openly, it would inevitably become a serious threat.

Lord Tober had only acquiesced to me learning swordsmanship from the manual.

If he were to find out that the swordsmanship manual had fallen into someone else's hands, Lord Tober would be the first one to come after me with a sword.

What was it again, he had a bloody nickname like ‘Blood Knight’ or something, so it would be difficult for it to end well.

There were occasional exceptions, but there was a reason for things people didn't do.

“Besides, this is the ‘Celestial Sword’. If the swordsmanship manual gets around and falls into the hands of someone who can recognize it, there's a chance they could trace it back to me.”

I couldn't explain a swordsmanship I had never learned.

That's why what was written in the swordsmanship manual was also the ‘Celestial Sword’.

The swordsmanship of the famous Sword Saint, and the one learned by the emperor-slayer, Luke Ivers.

If someone who recognized it were to appear, things would get complicated beyond control.

“Therefore, it is right to properly dispose of items that shouldn't be out in the world.”

“Wow- I learned something new again today.”

Why did I, a transmigrator, have to explain the workings of this world?

Isn't it a cliché for the transmigrator to be flustered by the clash between modern common sense and local circumstances?

‘No matter how I look at it, this is a peculiar form of transmigration.’

My knowledge was not completely intact.

It was more like detailed information would slowly come to mind only after hearing a keyword.

Even that was heavily skewed, so there were times when I became a person lacking common sense, but it was still better than having to learn everything from scratch one by one.

“In that sense-”

I turned my body and approached the ‘corpses’ rolling on the road.

“Let's dispose of these guys for sure too.”

Three men.

Probably the ones who had followed us from Dejong.

They were morons who stubbornly followed us even though we had left in a hurry to tell them not to.

They demanded the swordsmanship manual and said they would spare our lives if we meekly complied.

Realistically, who would believe that?

The way they ambushed us in a secluded place, the way they brandished their weapons from the start. I could feel their intent to kill.

It looked like they were only worried about the swordsmanship manual getting stained with blood.

Anyway, so we also decided to kill them.

Thus, three corpses were born.

“Should we bury them?”

“How are you going to dig the ground without a shovel? Just cover them with some fallen leaves.”

Burning was indeed the best way to destroy evidence, but unlike burning one small book, burning three corpses would require a much larger fire. If the fire were to spread by mistake, the aftermath would be unmanageable.

On the other hand, it was a relief that we were in a forest.

Even if we handled it somewhat sloppily, the beasts would chew, tear, taste, and enjoy, cleaning up after us.

Even if someone were to discover the bodies by some unlucky chance, there would be no problem.

This was a world where people died easily for various reasons.

The death of two or three mercenaries wouldn't even be gossip.

I doubted there would be any effort to find the culprit.

“Ah- surviving is really tough.”

To live, I had killed people again.

It was self-defense, but I truly felt no emotion whatsoever.

My steps were light.

We were now close to the ‘ranch’ that the Guild Master had introduced us to.

* * *

“My squire made a mistake. I apologize.”

The Blood Knight, Tober, bowed his waist deeply.

“Goodness, why are you doing this, sir? You're making me uncomfortable.”

The Guild Master's waist bent along with his.

Among mercenaries, he was respected for his long career as a mercenary and his position as Guild Master, but in front of a knight, he couldn't help but feel small.

“I only told him to deliver it and didn't specify the type of item, leading to such an accident…….”

Tober let out a sigh.

He had sent the swordsmanship manual via his squire, and now rumors of it had spread throughout the city.

The names ‘Green’ and ‘Ben’ were constantly on the mercenaries' lips.

There were also some mentions of ‘Bloodstained’ and ‘Pol’ mixed in.

Tober liked Ben.

It was Ben and Pol who had handled the matter that could have escalated.

Although they were mercenaries, they didn't seem to be tainted by the world yet.

He was pleased with their proactiveness in even visiting the back-alley criminals, which could have been awkward, and their loyalty in staying by their injured comrade's side.

He thought that if they were well-polished, they might become ‘decent’ mercenaries who understood chivalry, something extremely rare in this world.

That was why he had handed over the swordsmanship manual, as if taking on another disciple.

He had not expected the mercenaries to be so obsessed with swordsmanship.

“Well, Ben also made a mistake. He should have hidden it right away, but he revealed it in front of the mercenaries, which led to…….”

Of course, if he had hidden it, it would have attracted attention in its own way.

In any case, he didn't have the guts to say to the knight, ‘Yes, it's your squire's fault!’

A back-and-forth, a fruitless conversation where they each claimed responsibility, continued.

It was like a picture of parents meeting and apologizing to each other over their children's fight.

“Ahem.”

After the task of saving each other's faces was suitably finished, Tober cleared his throat and got to the main point.

“But I heard that the friends in question disappeared right away.”

“Yes.”

Ben and Pol. The two at the center of the topic had vanished from Dejong like smoke.

Truly cleanly, without a trace.

“I am concerned that someone may have harmed the two of them and stolen the swordsmanship manual.”

If someone disappeared without a sound, in the past on the Korean peninsula, one would have thought of a tiger attack, but here, crime came to mind first.

Basically, guys who routinely commit petty crimes were hiding in every corner of the city, and there were plenty of mercenaries who hadn't become criminals yet but were teetering on the edge.

The problem was that there were too many suspicious individuals to specify any one person.

In response to Tober's reasonable concern, the Guild Master first looked around.

Only after confirming that there was no one to eavesdrop did he open his mouth in a low voice.

“That's alright. By now, they should be in a quiet place focusing on their swordsmanship training.”

“Hoh. How do you know that…….”

“Would it be right for the Guild Master to stand still when things have come to this? I've sent them to an acquaintance of mine.”

It wasn't something the Guild Master himself had proposed, though.

Originally, a little bit of seasoning should be seen as charming.

“An excellent response. Having you in charge of Dejong's Mercenary Guild is very reassuring.”

“You praise me too much. It's a drop in the bucket compared to Lord Tober's efforts for Dejong's security.”

This time, they began to gild each other's faces.

It was a perfect social life for adults.

“Would you care to have a meal with me? There is a very delicious restaurant in this vicinity.”

“Hmm hmm. It is not good for us to be seen meeting privately. I shall extend an invitation from my side sometime.”

Tober politely declined the Guild Master's offer.

‘Not easy.’

The Guild Master inwardly clicked his tongue.

How did he know that he was trying to start a rumor that he had connections with a knight?

It wasn't a big ambition.

He was just trying to slightly increase his backing.

Although Tober looked like he would demand a bribe from his appearance, he always acted with a clear line drawn.

It was an exemplary attitude, but from the perspective of someone trying to get closer, it was frustrating.

“I shall be on my way now.”

“Take care, sir.”

Just as they were about to part ways with no results-

“Excuse meee. Is this Thorn Shield? The Mercenary Guild, is that right?”

A strangely listless voice was heard.

In the direction the voice came from, there was a young man with light-colored, curly hair.

His light smile and soft eyes gave the impression that he was trying his best to assert his harmlessness.

However, contrary to that, the armor engraved with a red dragon crest that exuded a chilling aura created a sense of disharmony.

The red dragon was the symbol of the emperor.

Those who could decorate their armor with a red dragon were designated.

Directly under the emperor-

“The Imperial Central Knight Order……!”

* * *

Tober, who recognized the armor, tensed up.

Not all who were called knights were the same.

The knights who received a salary under a lord or had their own fiefdoms were qualitatively different from the knights who belonged to a knight order.

If ordinary knights were close to ‘managers with military power,’ the knight orders were beings that supported the empire as the ‘military power itself’.

At its pinnacle, the knights belonging to the Imperial Central Knight Order, directly under the emperor, were monsters who could wipe out an entire fiefdom on their own.

Befitting that, though they were called knights, their actual status was higher than that of high-ranking nobles, represented by counts.

“I am Simon Liatro, of the Imperial Central Knight Orderrr.”

Simon introduced himself brightly.

At the sudden appearance of a big shot, the Guild Master's mind went blank.

‘Why? Why the Central Knight Order? The emperor is dead, so there's no one to give orders, is there?’

As they were a knight order with powerful military might, they also had many restrictions.

Especially for the likes of the Imperial Central Knight Order, they shouldn't be able to move freely without the emperor's command.

“I heard there was a suspicion that Luke Ivers was here, is that righttt?”

Simon continued to speak with the same smile.

“Since it's a matter related to my ‘Fellow Disciple,’ I couldn't just let it pass. Could I hear in detail what happened?”

Simon Liatro.

He was a knight belonging to the Imperial Central Knight Order- and one of the Sword Saint's disciples.

He was Luke Ivers's senior disciple.

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