Countless numbers of sacred weapons on the display stand ignored me in silence. No one was welcoming me. Perhaps I wasn’t a person who could win a lottery both in his past and current life.
Scratching the back of my neck, I slowly headed to the corner of the Bronze Room. My eyes kept fixed on an oak barrel in that corner. Yojo was in that barrel with other dysfunctional sacred weapons or those of which blades were worn out.
I got scared. I was afraid if Yojo would ignore me. After all the hardship, I finally came to this place but it’s a very different situation compared to the one in my past life. The time I entered here was different and I entered here with a different person. It was an old grand priest, not Princess Ignes like right now.
Once I stood in front of the oak barrel, I gently closed my eyes.
Brrr. Brrr.
The oak barrel was crying loudly. Yojo was calling me. Yojo chose me as its owner again in this life as well. With my eyes still closed, I put my hand in the oak barrel and grabbed the hilt of Yojo.
‘Yojo…’
Soon, with my eyes wide open, I grinned brightly and stared softly at Yojo. A double-edged sword with a width of a little finger. It was the same Yojo that I got separated from after my death in my past life.
Yojo kept crying in my hand which was also trembling. Just as I didn’t forget about Yojo, it didn’t forget me either.
I hugged Yojo in my arms and squatted on the ground with a furor. In this life as well, I was not alone.
“Hello…? Are you crying?”
Although she was talking to me, I turned my head and ignored her.
“No, I am not!”
I wiped my tears and put Yojo on my shoulder. In this life too, I was with Yojo. I got nothing to be afraid of now. With confidence, I stepped towards the exit door. Then Princess Ignes, who was startled, blocked my way.
“No, stop!”
“Why are you stopping me?”
“If you don’t take me as your hostage, you would be dead as soon as you walk out that door.”
”Haha. It’s over now. Since I’ve got Yojo, no one can kill me.”
I shrugged away and went outside. Not long after, I could see strong sunlight at midday. Down the stairs, a plaza was full of cavalry and the Holy Soldiers.
Nearly over a thousand of the Holy Soldiers were drawing their spears and surrounding me. Behind them, archers were pulling their string towards me. If Princess Ignes didn’t follow me closely, countless numbers of arrows would’ve filled in the air and fallen down on me.
I smiled slightly and perched on the stairs since I felt so delighted.
During the Era of Destruction, all people were busy turning away from me no matter how strongly I requested. But in this life, I already got thousands of my diehard fans. Even when causing huge trouble, a person should act in accordance with his or her circumstances. Then others would also recognize that person, either in a good or bad way.
“Why am I so popular everywhere I go?”
“It is not time to crack a joke! Please run away quickly right now. And once you get out of the Holy Land, please come to our Lumen Kingdom. We will protect you.”
She spoke in haste. She probably wanted to save my life anyhow.
I raised my chin and looked up at her. In fact, she was well known as a great singer.
“You are a good singer, aren’t you?”
“What?”
“Since a huge audience has gathered around, why don’t you sing a melodious requiem?”
She opened her eyes wide. A requiem was usually sung to comfort the souls of the dead people.
“No way! Are you trying to end your life here?”
“Hell no!”
“Then why do you ask me to sing a requiem…?”
Feeling a little embarrassed, I scratched my head with the back of Yojo. I paused on my word for a while and eventually, I said.
“In the distant future… a very distant future, when I die in some kind of nameless field, no one would sing a requiem for me. So, I want to hear it in advance. If you don’t want to sing it for me, just forget it.”
With her sentimental eyes, Princess Igness stared at me for a long time. And I had no idea what she was thinking. I didn’t know about women’s minds and was not interested in them as well.
“Alright. I got it.”
“Good.”
Soon, her voice in a soft tone was flowing and spreading around. The requiem’s title was ‘A Rusty Sword’ which was dedicated to some nameless soldier’s tomb. Its lyrics were banal but its melody was calm like a lullaby. Like a sad fairy tale, this song was full of heartrending sadness.
“When I’d be back to my family~ When I’d be back to her~ Wish the wind can deliver my message far, far away~ That I’d be back soon.”
Her emotional song grazed through my ears and those angry Holy Soldiers could hear it as well. They were dumbfounded and looked at the Holy Knights who were their commanders. They had no idea what was happening in front of their eyes. They’re totally puzzled.
Then Shia, held in Princess Ignes hand, was spurting the light of the Star of David brightly. And those lights started pouring down on the ground where the Holy Soldiers were standing.
Feeling a cozy, warm, and holy atmosphere, one Holy Soldier eyeballed and stuttered in a surprise. Even brighter than the sun at midday, Shia brightened up the whole land. And this kind of holy light could only be emitted from Shia.
“Is that… is that really Shia, the Great Wand of Luminosity?”
“It’s Shia! The Great Saintess of Light has descended!”
Deeply touched, the Holy Soldiers laid down flat at once. Also, all the Holy Knights knelt their knees and prostrated themselves. The Great Saintess of Light had descended. If they didn’t show respect in front of her, it would be a sacrilege.
“If I were reborn~ If I were reborn again~ I would become a nameless weed under the sky…”
Princess Ignes softly stretched her hands up to the distant sky and finished the final lyrics of the requiem.
“Bravo!”
I kept clapping my hands. She’s surely Princess Ignes. It was the best requiem I had ever heard.
“Glory to the Great Saintess of Light!”
But my admiration didn’t last long because those soldiers who surrounded me were acting very bizarre. They were supposed to capture a hostage-taker in front of them but instead, they behaved so strangely.
“Why are they doing that kind of stuff? Their knees would burn out.
Princess Ignes was giggling.
“They’re worshipping for the advent of Shia.”
“Really? One more will come out tomorrow. So they’re going to do the same thing again?”
“What?”
“One more of the Seven Sacred Weapons will come out tomorrow.”
She was so surprised and looked at me.
“What? Who will get another one of the Seven Sacred Weapons?”
“A stupid woman gets a stupid sacred weapon which is Vermont, the Soul Destruction Pendulum of the God of the Earth.”
“Is it really true?”
“Oh, by the way, I’ve got my last favor from you.”
“What favor?”
“I have a fiancee. She’s Princess Sierra. She will arrive here tomorrow before noon. If you meet her, please tell her that I break off my engagement. You gotta be straightforward though. She’s stupid so if you beat around the bush, she will not understand.”
“Oh, I see…”
She nodded her head back and forth.
Once I got her promise, I grabbed Yojo in my hand and wielded it around. Soon after, Yojo shook its body and I gently smiled. The direction Yojo pointed to was the east wall. So, the road over that wall was the way I should head.
“Well then, take care of yourself.”
“Are you leaving?”
“Yeah. I am leaving now. Goodbye.”
I left Princess Ignes behind and launched myself. Everyone was acting all weird because Shia had descended. It would be much better to run away quickly at this moment.
“The heretic is running away!”
“That evil bastard who took the Great Saintess of Light as a hostage is running way!”
As I was running away, the Holy Soldiers quickly grabbed their spears and archers pulled their strings again. But it was a meaningless effort. I had already got out of their siege and was climbing over the east wall.
‘Hehehe. Stupid assholes… Oh wait, what the f***!’
At that moment, my jeering lips got lean. In an alley over the wall, a woman with curly red hair was holding a basket, eating an apple, and walking. She looked up at me with her weird eyes.
She was the Flaming Valkyrie Katrianne who was the owner of Idron.
Spontaneously, my eyes were on Yojo.
‘Hey, Yojo. I don’t think that is the right way. Are you really sure?’
I landed on the roadside and immediately launched myself forward. I wished she would ignore me and walk away. No matter how fast I was, I couldn’t be faster than Valkyrie.
After I jumped into an alley on the other side, I zigzagged through the passersby.
“The intruder is running away! Chase him!”
As soon as the Holy Knight shouted, the shade of a person with red hair appeared right next to me. In fact, Katrianne caught up with me instantly.
“Hey, kid. Did you really intrude inside the Great Temple of Divinum?”
“It’s none of your business. Just go away!”
I turned my body very quickly and I ran away to the alley on the right side after the next crossway. Then I climbed over a building, kept running, and landed on a roof of an inn. After that, I jumped to a rooftop of a linen shop on the opposite side.
However, I could not keep running away and had to stop because Katrianne was blocking my way again.
“You are the one who was bad-mouthing about me in that carriage, right? I can totally recognize your voice.”
I stamped my feet and shook my finger at her.
“Hey! You firefly bitch! Why the hell do you keep bothering me? What did I do so wrong in my past life?!”
Katrianne swept up her red hair which was fluttering in the wind. And she scowled at me. Firefly meant Flaming Valkyrie and it was a disrespectful word. So, she felt insulted.
“You shut your mouth.”
“If you don’t want to listen, then just leave! Then I will also go my own way in silence.”
“I can’t let that happen.”
“Why?”
“I am the one who has received orders from God. How could I let you leave? You have defiled God’s divinity.”
I made a resentful face and pointed to the Great Temple of Divinum.
“There are a lot of corrupted people inside that temple. Why are you bothering me only?”
Katrianne made a little smile.
“Those people will go to hell after they die but you have the ability to be forgiven.”
“What kind of ability?”
“It seems that you’re a swordsman at the master level. Also, you are pretty fast. I think I can make use of your abilities.”
I smoothed down my face. This woman was treating me like one of her vassals.
“So, you want to make me one of your vassals?”
“I won’t deny it. Lately, I’ve got a lot of work to do. Anyways, if you help me, I will give me a nice gift.”
“What gift?”
“I will give you indulgence once. With that, you can go straight to Heaven.”
“That’s such stupid nonsense.”
“What did you say?”
I snorted with laughter.
“Wow, now even Valkyrie is trying to rip off people. Hey you, don’t try to deceive me. I haven’t seen anything like Heaven or Hell on my way until here.”
“Of course, you couldn’t. Heaven and Hell are places where mortal ones like you guys will go after death.”
“Yeah, I know that too.”
Katrianne stared at me.
“You are crazy, aren’t you?”
“Actually, I am really about to go nuts right now. So please go your own way and leave me alone.”
“I think you need a punishment. Then you will listen.”
I tightly held my sword by the hilt.
“Wow. Can you?”
“Oh my gosh. Are you kidding me? You know how I am, don’t you?”
“So, can you use large scale magic like ‘Meteor Smash’ over this city?
“That is something I won’t do.”
“Then can you murder all these citizens here?”
“I can’t because our old stubborn lady would make a fuss if I do.”
I calmly straightened up my face.
“Then you can’t catch me. Even though you’re Valkyrie, if you have so many restrictions like that, how can you catch me?”
“Haha. Where does your confidence come from?”
At that moment, Katrianne with a flinch pulled out her Idron which was wrapped in a cloth. Soon two sacred weapons, making a dull thud, collided with each other. Then, I slid my Yojo away and kicked with my foot towards her stomach.
However, she stepped back and easily dodged my kick. Meantime I jumped down on the ground, quickly passed through the passersby, and ran away.
She stared at me blankly from a distance and took a deep breath. Then she started chasing me again.
Soon she caught up with me.
“Hey, kid. I’ve said you can’t run away.”
“So, can you catch me?”
I wielded Yojo against her as far as I could. But still, she could easily defend my attack with her Idron. Using its repulsive power, I turned in another direction to a different alley.
Certainly, she was faster than me. But I could make a turn much faster. If it was an open field, it would be a different story. But in the Castle of Divinum which was full of buildings, it seemed that I had a fair chance to run away from her.