At the sound of "kong, kong, kong," I turned around. Outside the window, a pigeon made of chains was beating its beak against the window.

There are no other tall buildings around the clan house in Footprints of the Beginning. That's why we chose this place to build the clan house.
Unlike the lounge, the Clan Master's office on the top floor is difficult to shoot from the outside, and the windows have been replaced with biological glass (a special material strengthened with mana material), which is the strongest and most expensive glass available. Even so, a high-level hunter could destroy it if he wanted to, but a criminal wouldn't stand out that much on such a main street. They threw explosives at me. .......

If you turn the handle and open the window a little, you'll see the Pigeon's Chain flapping its wings frantically outside the window.
It is from Mr. Marches' collection. Among the many chain-shaped treasures that exist, those with the ability to fly are rare, and I do not have one. The Pigeon's Chain is one of the most convenient chain-type treasures, as it is wise enough to protect you from enemies, can be used as a carrier pigeon, and is quite fuel-efficient due to its small size.

You quickly untie the tube around your ankle and take out the letter from inside.

I check the contents briefly. As expected, the letter was from Mr. Murchis.
Apparently, he would not be able to make on-site appraisals for a while. I guess even a treasure appraiser with a boundless love for treasures can't beat the advancing years.
Well, I don't want Mr. Murchis to get involved. He is my master in the field of treasure, but at the same time, he is as much a non-combatant as I am.

I was frowning as I read the chaotic text, which included a complaint about being scolded by my son and daughter-in-law while preparing for an on-site appraisal, my grandson's infatuation, outside gossip, and other situations, when Luke, today's guard who was polishing his brand-new wooden sword on the sofa, spoke up.

'So, Cry. When are you going to go bleed him?'

'............?'

'The master who heard about the attack, I don't know what it is, but he says don't cut, don't cut at all. This means that I should slash ......, right?''

'Hmm?

'I'm not going to cut them. They're going to cut themselves. First-class swordsmen come to be cut by their opponents.'

I have no idea what you're saying or what you're trying to say, but ...... it seems you're up for it.
It's not as easy for Luke to lose his temper as Liz, but he's just as belligerent as Liz. It is possible that he is worse than Liz because he is belligerent without being mad.

'I discovered a side effect of the Thunder God Sword. The cut wounds will be charred, which means less chance of bleeding to death. That means you can kill a lot of people. I'm ready to go. That's right! I'll cut down Lies and the others as well!

What do you think about the fact that when you hit them with lightning, you're doing a lot of damage to both them and yourself? And it seems that the story of how I stopped Liz has not been conveyed at all.
A chain of pigeons is hovering in front of me as if to tell me to hurry up and answer. I looked alternately at Luke and the pigeon, and said something appropriate.

'No, it's not time yet. I'm busy, too, and you need to be quiet for a while. I'm sure something good will come out of it.'

There hasn't been a second attack so far. There's a chance there won't be.

If you think about it, the attacker made one big mistake this time.

He involved Mr. Gark, the head of the Explorers Society. He's a powerful man. In this heyday of treasure hunters, you can't survive if you make enemies with the Explorers Society.
I'm sure Mr. Gark is scrambling to find the attacker right now. We have to wait.

'd*mn, still no luck? ...... It's Kry's bad habit to be vain. Yeah, my demon sword wants to suck my blood. ......'

I'm sure that the sword, which has just been rebuilt after being charred by lightning, doesn't want to suck blood either.
Luke mutters to himself.

'I want to go slash, slash ......'.

............ Well, you're pretty bored, aren't you?

I'm not sure what to do. I was just about to get up to think about that when there was an unexpected knock on the door.
Luke suddenly stopped cleaning his sword and looked at you.

'It's Eva.

'? Yeah, I know.'

Even though I know, there's a danger I might slash at her.

As I reply, Eva walks in, dressed from head to toe as usual.
She looked exactly the same as before the attack. Normally, an explosion at close range would send you into a state of shock from which you would not be able to recover for a while, but Eva was back to normal the next day. Her courage was also tremendous.
But that's why we have to avoid any damage to Eva or the general staff of the clan.

'How are you doing?

'Thanks to you, there are no problems. We were unharmed to begin with, thanks to Mr. Cry. It's going to take a while to repair the lounge, but--'

'You can take a break from work for a while. It's dangerous and Luke can take care of the paperwork.'

'Oh! Eva, I'm on it! I can feel my arms around you!'

Luke, who can't do paperwork, shouts confidently in response to the little joke.
Ava's brow twists in disgust for a moment, and she clears her throat.

'Don't worry. I've absorbed a certain amount of mana material for times like this. ...... Besides, I'll be staying at the Clan House for a while. It's the safest place to be.


...... You seem to be very busy, when have you been absorbing?

And maybe Eva is ............ stronger than me? I'm sure you've got some talent,......, but life is usually unequal.

It's a strange idea to stay in a clan house. There are plenty of substitutes for guards, as well as provisions for a short siege.

'Do you want to have a slumber party?

'...... No, I'm not. We've heard about the attack on Krai and have received many letters and gifts of sympathy, what should we do? I've refused all visits, but--'

'That's very popular.

'Mr. Cry doesn't usually appear in public, so he must have thought it was a good opportunity. There's a lot of talk about him right now.

'............'

Eva looked at me with a stare. However, the fact that she's acting so normal even though she's about to be caught in an explosion makes me uneasy.
No matter how much mana material she's absorbed, she's still a non-combatant. She still needs to be prepared.



I pulled out the warding finger I had on my right pinky finger and threw it towards Eva. I've got a lot of warding fingers anyway, so it doesn't matter if I lose one.

Eva catches the ring and looks at me quizzically.

'Well, ...... this is--?

'It's a warding finger, you can have it. Sorry it's secondhand, but you can keep it.

'? A warding finger? Such an expensive-- No, wait! Why is it suddenly coming to me now?

'No, wait, ............?

Then, for no particular reason at all, I suddenly had an epiphany.

I crossed my arms and looked at the chain of pigeons pecking at the desk with their beaks.


If Mr. Marchese can't make an on-site appraisal, why don't we just send the item to him? If you ask Tino to bring it to you, Mr. Marchese will not shake his head.

Tino is a member of the clan and has always frequented the clan house. It's not unnatural. Today I'm--I'm brilliant. I mean, how could I not have noticed this before?

I point my finger out the window, and a chain of pigeons fly away, as if they've decided there's no answer. Eva's eyes blinked frequently as she looked alternately at me and the pigeons that had flown away.

'Hmmm ............, thanks to Eva, I've got a good idea.'

'Eh! Huh? What's that? No, what about the pigeons in the chain now? What are you doing again? What did you notice?

You don't have to be in such a hurry. ...... It's funny to see the always calm and collected Eva panicking. It's kind of soothing.

'It's nothing. Everything is fine, everything is fine.

'Is it okay that Tino-san is secretly telling the clan that Mastaa is going to kill everyone in the clan?

That's ...... not okay at all.
Even high level hunters are not allowed to kill everyone in the clan, and of course hanging the corpses of criminals on the gates of the imperial capital is also not allowed. Well, I'm sure he won't do such a thing, since Liz gave him a good reason to stop him, but his reputation will be ruined again.

Recently, I feel that Tino's trust in me is declining.

'The clan members are also shaken. Apparently, there is a movement to strike before the tragedy occurs.

I'm ...... not saying anything, but the situation is progressing on its own. .......
It's true that the clanhouse was attacked, and you can go out and do whatever you want, but if something happens, please don't blame me.

'............ The world is a noisy place.

I'm not sure if you're going to let that be the end of it.

I've been in a lot of trouble lately, even if I move just a little. ...... I think the right thing to do is to stay put for a while.



'Oh, by the way, Kry, Master said to show up if you're free. There's something he wants to discuss with you.

'That Sword Saint? Even though the times are changing, Krai-san, you really have a wide network of contacts.

It's probably just another complaint. Most of them come to me.
Especially Liz and Luke's mentor, the call rate and complaint rate is much higher. I can't stand it when they complain in the name of consultation.
In addition, the calls from Citrie, Lucia, and Anthem are often given VIP treatment and asked for their opinions, but that's a problem.

'.................. Do you have any idea what's going on?

'Hmm, no.'

How could I not? Remember! You're too oblivious.

Eva is also looking at Luke with a worried look in her eyes. When I prompted him with a look, Luke frowned and groaned for a while, then suddenly said as if he remembered something.

'............ Ah, maybe it's that. The other day, there are two swords that the master always uses, and I was wondering which one is the stronger sword, so I asked him.

Luke's master, the Sword Saint, unlike Luke, is a swordsman among swordsmen with a complete mind, technique and body. He is both strong and honorable, and has earned the respect of the swordsmen of the Imperial City, and owns many famous swords as a sword collector.
Although he is forbidden to wear a sword, Luke loves swords as well. He remembers that when he first came face to face with the Sword Saint, he looked at the sword in his hand with a twinkle in his eye.

'Then my master said he didn't know, so I secretly tried to see which one was stronger, and it kind of--broke both of them.

'............!

'In other words, the Red Heavenly Sword and the Blue Spirit Sword were both equally strong swords. They're also the same length, so they work well together as two swords.''

...... Yeah, yeah, that's right.



I'm afraid of the power of high-level hunters who have absorbed mana material.

You can find a lot more information on the web at ............. In the event that you have a lot of time and money, you may want to take a look at the following

So Luke crossed his arms and narrowed his eyes.

'...... No, wait, what? A wooden sword will turn to dust no matter how many times you try. ......'

How many swords do you have to break before you feel better? The Thunder God Sword is a recent development! That's definitely the reason for the call.

Armor is not cheap. Unless you're casting, the price of weapons is sky-high. You'll be able to get a lot more than that. If it's a work of art like the one held by the Sage of Swords, you have no idea how much it's worth in monetary terms - to begin with, a sword is like a soul to a swordsman. Luke, who uses a wooden sword, may not understand this.

I have no idea why Luke hasn't been excommunicated yet. Eva is stunned too.

I'm not sure what would happen if I answered the call ...... The Kensei is not as unprincipled as Luke, but he is a feared swordsman in the Imperial City. You will find a lot of things that you can do to make your life easier.
I don't want to meet him if I can help it, and there's no way I'm going to expose myself to an angry swordsman.

There's no way to get Luke to forgive you for your brutality. ...... Instead of a broken sword, give him a sword with some rare treasure to put him in a good mood.

So I looked at the box at my feet. It was a box containing a gift from Eliza.
I take a deep breath and lift up the sword wrapped in black cloth that I've been eyeing.

I remove the cloth. What came out of the box was a straight sword with a crimson blade. Gilbert's Purgatory Sword also had a crimson blade, but the red of this sword was even darker and deeper.



'Whoa! What's that sword--'

I ran it through my treasure trove catalog, but in the end I couldn't figure out what it was. There's been a lot of research into sword-shaped treasures, but since I couldn't figure it out even with that, it must be a very rare treasure. I was going to ask Mr. Marchese to appraise it, but I couldn't turn my back on him.

I don't know if it will be able to replace the sword Luke broke, but I guess it's fate. Besides, I just recently had a bad experience with a sword treasure at the Emperor's Festival.
Taking another deep breath, he wrapped the sword in a cloth and placed it on the desk.

'I can't go, but you can take this to your master instead. It's quite rare.

I don't know how it works, but it's a beautiful sword. I'm sure it'll make the Sage a little happier.
If you know the power it has, please let me know. .......