Chapter 11 TRG Vol. 1 Interlude

Interlude – Those Who Chase His Shadow

After meeting up with Arche and Norn, we decided to stay in town for a little while, partly to gather more information on their master’s whereabouts. If it were just about gathering intel, Thorn and I already had enough from the merchants. It would have been better to leave town immediately.

But, there was a reason we couldn’t just do that.

“Chasing after the Master is important,” Thorn had said, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world, “but making sure we can leave this town in a stable condition is just as important, right?”

He’d said that, and then promptly registered as an adventurer at the local guild.

“Master would never abandon people suffering from monsters,” he’d said. “As his disciples, we should do the same.”

“We can’t just abandon this town, either,” Arche agreed.

“The guild master here… he sponsored us, even knowing I was an ‘abominable child.’ I’m grateful to him,” Norn added.

If the three of them—who I knew were itching to find their master—were all in agreement, I had no reason to object. And besides, I had my own personal reason: I wanted to investigate that miasma patch near the town.

“The guild is happy to have more skilled adventurers,” the guild master told us when we registered. “Even if you plan on leaving eventually.”

That’s what the guild master who handled our registration told us.

“The disciples of that sword-maniac, and the ‘Genius Mage’ who’s the talk of the Capital? My, my, our little guild has gotten quite luxurious,” the guild master said with a small laugh as he looked at our names.

“The ‘Genius Mage,’ huh?” Thorn said, hearing the guild master’s words. “Rimi, are you really that amazing?”

He said it with such a clueless look that I couldn’t help but glare at him and jab him in the ribs.

“Yes, I am!” I huffed. “There aren’t many mages my age who get assigned investigation requests directly from the Capital, you know!”

Thorn yelped, “Sorry, sorry!” trying to squirm away from my finger. We’ve been partners this whole time, traveling all this way, and now he’s realizing this? Did this man not trust me at all?

“Ahem… if you two are finished, may I discuss the request?”

“Ah, sorry…”

The guild master’s “I’m-watching-something-pitiful” look was so intense, I couldn’t help but shrink back.

This town, unlike Thorn’s, actually had mages and even adventurer clans capable of fighting monsters. They had the funding and equipment to conduct regular subjugations, which was only possible for a town of this size. It meant they had high-quality adventurers and were diligent about gathering intel.

And yet, the request the guild master gave us was deeply unsettling.

“Norn and I have been hunting the monsters in this area,” Arche began to explain.

“We think the monster numbers have been dropping ever since Master was here,” Norn added. “But… adventurer clans have been disappearing.”

We were in the forest outside of town, being led by the twins to the place they used as their hunting and training ground, and I was recalling the guild master’s words.

“It’s a recent development, but adventurers who go into the forest to investigate… have been vanishing.”

Apparently, a party of adventurers that had gone to explore the deeper woods had gone missing. Not just one party, but two.

“They may be louts who drink all day,” Arche said, “but the adventurers in this town are competent.”

“They go on investigations in parties of at least four,” Norn finished. “For an entire party to not come back… it’s unnatural.”

According to the twins, both missing parties were experienced, always included a mage, and had been on countless investigation quests before. For two such parties to vanish back-to-back… I could understand the guild master’s anxiety.

“Is it just an accident, or a powerful monster?” Thorn asked, looking over at me. “Rimi, you said the miasma patch here was weak, right?”

Thorn asked me that as we walked, after hearing the twins’ story. I nodded, extending my senses again to feel the ley lines in the earth.

“It’s definitely weak… or at least, it should be. For a powerful monster to be born from this…”

It seemed highly unlikely. Especially not in a town like this, with the forces to cull them regularly.

“I see…” Thorn said. “Well, no use just thinking about it. Let’s find a place to camp for the night.”

At his words, I realized the sun was setting and the woods were growing dim. This was as far as we’d go today.

That night, around the campfire, I asked Arche and Norn to tell me about their master. This person who had trained not only Thorn, but these two, into master swordsmen. A man who could, himself, kill monsters alone. For someone like that to just… appear, without any rumors in the Capital… my intellectual curiosity was going crazy.

“Master… he could cut monsters harder than armor with just a mass-produced sword,” Arche said.

The stories the twins told were… beyond my comprehension. I’d had the same thought with Thorn, but… was this ‘master’ of theirs actually human?

“His sword,” Norn said quietly. “It holds mana.”

“That blade of mana… it’s what cut the monsters.”

“A mana blade, eh?” Thorn said, nodding thoughtfully. “So he’s gotten even stronger than when I knew him.”

Thorn was just nodding along, but I had to physically restrain myself from screaming at him, “Do you even understand what that means?” I took a breath to calm my racing heart.

“Mana?” I asked. “You don’t mean… magic?”

“Not magic,” Norn said. “It wasn’t fire, or water. It was a… a faint, silver light.”

“Arche and I both have mana,” she continued. “That’s why we could see it.”

Thorn had told me his master didn’t have mana.

And yet, his sword held mana. If the twins were right… it was pure mana, not an enchantment.

I’ve heard of adventurers and knights who imbue their weapons with magic, with a mage’s help. Thorn and I do something similar. But this… this was completely different.

Using raw, pure mana… normal humans can’t do that.

The only ones who were ever said to be able to… were the legendary Hero and his bloodline. The ones who possessed the ‘Silver Mana.’

But the Hero’s bloodline all had, without exception, silver hair, like moonlight. According to Thorn and the twins, their master had black hair. He couldn’t be one of them.

So how… how could he wrap his sword in raw mana?

“Norn and I… we’ve been training, trying to get closer to Master’s sword.”

“It’s… not perfect, yet.”

In front of Thorn and me, Norn, the white-haired twin, raised her sword.

Slowly, a faint, white-glowing mana began to cling to the blade.

“I… I can’t maintain it on my own yet,” Arche said. “So I borrow Norn’s power.”

As she spoke, she crossed her own sword with her sister’s. The mana on Norn’s blade… flowed onto Arche’s.

“I use Norn’s mana as a catalyst.”

“Whoa,” Thorn said. “I have no idea what’s happening, but…”

I ignored Thorn’s clueless comment, my eyes glued to their swords.

“It’s… beautiful…”

The word slipped out. Their blades seemed to be clad in moonlight. Only someone with the aptitude could even see it, but… it was breathtaking.

“If you two can do that, then I’ve got to train, too!”

Inspired by their story, Thorn grabbed his sword and stood up. Is he going to start his daily training… now? When we first met, I’d told him to stop, but now I just… gave up. I knew he was still aware of his surroundings, and he knew his own limits.

But… I had forgotten.

I had forgotten that Thorn wasn’t the only one raised by a man people called a ‘sword-freak’ or a ‘sword-demon.’ So were the two girls sitting right in front of me.

“Training?” Arche said, a dangerous glint in her eye. “Then… why don’t you train with us today?”

“When we first met,” Norn added, her voice chillingly sweet, “you seemed a little… sloppy.”

In response to Thorn’s words, the two girls also stood up, swords in hand.

“I was just about to ask,” Thorn said, accepting their words with the same battle-hungry smile he gets when he’s facing a monster. “I’ll be happy to learn the parts of our Master’s sword that I don’t know.”

That’s right… if Thorn is a training-maniac, then of course these two, who were raised by the same person, would be as well…!

“Can you three please try not to… you know… pull a muscle for tomorrow?” I pleaded, holding on to a sliver of hope.

All three of them just turned to look at me with the same, baffled expression.

“Of course,” Thorn said. “It’s just training.”

“We’ll remain aware of our surroundings, since we’re camped.”

“We’re not going to wear ourselves out completely. Obviously.”

Watching Thorn, who I know trains until his hands are bloody, say this with a straight face—and the other two agreeing—I didn’t believe a single word of it.

Seriously, when I finally meet this ‘Master,’ I’m going to have a word with him about his educational policies!

“Ready?” the twins asked in unison.

“Any time,” Thorn replied.

In the dim light of the campfire, the three of them took their stances, separated by a good three or four paces.

Thorn wielded a wide, long, double-edged sword designed for two-handed use. The twins’ swords were shorter, with a slight curve, fashioned to be used with either one or two hands. But the one thing they all had in common was their unique stance: two hands on the sword, and no shield.

I leaned against a nearby tree to watch. All three stood perfectly still, swords raised. The only sound was the crackling of the fire.

The silence was so tense it was hard to even breathe. It was finally broken the instant the fire let out a particularly loud pop.

“Tch, fast!”

Thorn made the first move. He closed the distance to Arche in a single bound, his longsword, still in its scabbard, swinging in a wide horizontal arc. I could only follow it because I was watching from a distance; if I’d been his target, it would have looked like he’d just teleported in front of me.

Arche dodged by leaping backward. In that same instant, Norn slipped behind Thorn, and the two of them initiated their own attack.

They moved like mirror images, closing in to flank him from the front and back. With no signal whatsoever, their swords came down on him at the exact same time.

“This is fun!”

But Thorn, far from being cornered, just laughed. He dropped into a low stance and… blocked both their swords at once. A dull thud echoed as the sheathed blades collided.

“Good instincts,” Norn said.

“It’s like he has eyes in the back of his head,” Arche added.

“It’s easy when your movements are that perfectly synced!” Thorn shot back.

As if responding to Thorn, the twins’ lips curled into the same, faint, battle-hungry smile.

They immediately broke away, then came at him again, this time from the left and right, their timing just slightly off from one another. As for me… I was so focused on just tracking the fight that I couldn’t even make a sound. I just watched, holding my breath.

“That’s a nasty trick!”

Thorn swung his own sword in a huge, clearing arc to parry both of them. The two leaped out of his range, and then, their real offensive began.

One moment, they’d attack with perfect timing; the next, they’d stagger their strikes to throw off his dodge. And one of them—either Arche or Norn—was always moving to position themselves in Thorn’s blind spot.

As I watched the three of them, I noticed something strange. Aside from the occasional, cheerful taunt they exchanged, the only sound was the dull thud of their sheathed weapons. The twins weren’t calling out to each other at all. Not only that…

“Arche… Norn… how are they doing that? They’re perfectly in sync without even a single glance…”

Arche’s attack, aimed at breaking Thorn’s stance, couldn’t have been planned. And yet, Norn matched her timing to the millisecond. It was… like they were a single living being.

But as insane as their coordination was, my partner, who was fending off both of them with a single sword, was just as ridiculous.

“I’m serious, I think he actually has eyes in the back of his head.”

Just like that. He was locked in a bind with Arche, and as Norn closed in from behind, he broke away at the last possible second, redirecting Arche’s momentum so that she and Norn almost struck each other. Of course, the twins were too good to make a clumsy mistake like that, and they both leaped back, resetting their stances.

“Thorn… you really are our senior.”

“Your methods… they’re just like Master’s.”

“I’ll take that as a compliment!”

After that brief exchange to catch their breath, they clashed again. This time, their movements were even sharper, so fast I could barely follow.

In the end, their mock battle never reached a conclusion. It just continued… until I finally yelled at them to stop.

The next day, we ventured deeper into the forest, searching for any trace of the missing adventurers.

“How come the guild didn’t give this investigation request to you two in the first place?” Thorn asked them as we walked.

“We were away for a while,” Arche replied. “Visiting a nearby village.”

“This town can protect itself,” Norn added. “But the villages can’t.”

The twins, it turned out, often left town to patrol the surrounding villages. The reason, apparently, was tied to what they’d told me about their childhood.

“A town or village without an adventurer party can be wiped out by a single monster,” Arche said. “And small villages that can’t offer a decent reward are even more vulnerable.”

“So, Arche and I go on expeditions, just the two of us. Our expenses are low.”

Their home village had been destroyed by monsters when they were young. Not that they had any love for the village itself, given how they were treated, but they wanted to reduce the number of people who had to suffer that same irrational disaster.

“It’s probably… what our Master would do,” Arche said, her expression softening just a little.

“Between you three… you’re all just like heroes from a story, aren’t you?”

The words just slipped out of me. I could never do that. I could never just… unhesitatingly face down a disaster like a monster, all for a stranger.

Most adventurers I know are blunt about it: they fight to protect their own town, or for the huge bounties and fame. And no one blames them. Monsters are just that terrifying, and the adventurers who can actually kill them are just that valuable.

“We’re just… following the path he walked,” Thorn said with a shrug, as if it were nothing.

That, right there… that’s exactly what a protagonist from a story would say. But I kept that thought to myself.

I don’t know how long we’d been walking, but the trees around us had grown denser and more oppressive when Arche and Norn, who were leading, suddenly stopped. Thorn, beside me, halted as well. I gripped my staff tightly with both hands.

An unnatural stench hit my nose. It was a mix of rot, iron rust, and a distinct, raw reek of blood.

“Looks like we hit the jackpot,” Thorn said. He swung the longsword off his back, gripping it with both hands, his eyes sharp as he scanned our surroundings.

“This presence… it’s different from the usual monsters in this area,” Arche said.

“I have a bad feeling,” Norn added.

Arche and Norn already had their swords drawn. The faint, white-glowing mana we’d seen last night was already clinging to their blades.

I, too, began to form an image in my mind, preparing to cast a spell at any moment.

I envisioned a wall of fire, rising up to encircle the four of us. When you don’t know where the enemy is, the iron-clad rule for a mage is to prepare a spell that can defend from all directions.

“Rimi,” Thorn said, his voice suddenly sharp. “You should probably prepare a different spell.”

His unexpected words shattered my concentration. I was about to ask him what he meant… but then I realized I didn’t need to.

It stood on four legs, yet its eyes were level with mine, Arche’s, Norn’s, and even Thorn’s. If it stood on two, we’d all have to crane our necks to look at it. Its body was covered in copper-red fur, and its powerful limbs were tipped with equally vicious talons. Its mouth, which revealed fangs just as sharp, was caked with the same reddish-brown something as its claws. It was probably what was left of the missing adventurers.

And, of course, the single horn on its forehead. Twisted from the root, a dark, reddish-black, with veins pulsing through it. The mark of a true monster.

“So this is what’s been eating the adventurers,” Thorn said.

“I’ve never seen one before,” Arche said.

It was a new opponent for me, too. And more importantly…

“All of you, be careful,” I warned. “The miasma I’m sensing from this thing… it’s on a completely different level from the others.”

The sheer density of the miasma was in a class of its own. It was as if this one creature had sucked the entire miasma patch dry.

“So,” Thorn said, “this is the ‘master’ of this area, then?”

“I don’t know for sure, but I think the patch seemed weak because this thing was hoarding all the miasma. On the bright side, if we kill it, the monster spawns should calm down for a while.”

As I answered Thorn’s question, I activated the spell I’d been preparing.

I still envisioned fire, but not as a wall around us. This was something more limited. A spell to let Thorn and me fight the way we were most used to.

“Thanks, Rimi. You’re a lifesaver, as always.”

“Just don’t get careless.”

Thorn’s blade ignited with my magic, and the wild, feral grin he wore deepened.

“Our first joint operation, isn’t it,” Arche noted.

“Don’t worry about us,” Norn said.

“We’ll match you.”

“That helps a lot!” Thorn yelled, and with that, he charged.

The monster rose on its hind legs to meet him, raised its sharp-taloned forelegs, and roared.

A high-pitched shriek of metal and a low rumble like an earthquake echoed through the forest.

Those were the sounds of Thorn, Arche, and Norn’s blades striking the monster’s hide, and the sound of the monster’s thundering counter-attack.

“Fire!”

As the three of them darted in and out, trading blows to confuse it, I cast my own support magic.

The ‘Words of Power,’ said to have been used by the ancient Long-Eared-Tribe. Most have been lost, but even a single-verse incantation can easily invoke a powerful spell.

At my word, a volley of fire arrows shot out, swarming the monster’s face to blind it. I knew it wasn’t doing much damage, but it was enough.

“HRAAAGH!”

Thorn’s flaming sword slammed into the monster’s knee. A normal steel blade would have shattered against that hide, but wreathed in my flames, it burned the monster’s flesh, letting out a screeching sound and carving a shallow wound.

“We’ll gladly use that wound,” Arche said.

As if she’d been waiting for it, her own blade struck the exact same spot. And, at the same instant, with no signal, Norn’s blade hit it, too.

The wound on the monster widened, just slightly.

Enraged by our attacks, the monster roared and began to swing its massive forelegs wildly, sending a whooshing sound through the air. If one of those even grazed us, it would tear an arm clean off.

“Tch! This thing’s tough!” Thorn cursed, leaping back to gain distance.

“Rimi, you should move back further,” Arche called out, also retreating.

“If it charges, we can’t protect you from here,” Norn added.

The three of them—Thorn, Arche, and Norn—were, without a doubt, top-tier adventurers. For a monster to be able to push all three of them back like this… it meant the parties that came before us… they hadn’t even had a chance to run.

I did as they said, moving further back and raising my staff to take aim. My previous spells hadn’t been enough. I had to focus.

Sharper. Faster. Enough power to pierce that hide. Condense all the mana to a single point…

“…Now!”

The image in my mind became so clear I could almost see it in front of me.

At that instant, I felt the mana drain from my body, and a volley of small, orange-red bullets shot toward the monster.

They were faster than my fire arrows, and they were solid—hardened, heavy pellets of pure flame.

When this spell hit, I felt the impact. The monster, though it still had no visible injuries, groaned in pain.

“Nice one, Rimi!”

And Thorn was not the type to miss an opening. He instantly closed the distance on the staggered monster and kicked off the ground, leaping high.

“Your head’s too high!”

With that shout, his flaming sword came crashing down on the monster’s neck, ringing out with a dull, heavy thud.

It wasn’t a fatal blow, but the impact on such a vital spot was too much for it to ignore. The monster finally lowered its head, dropping back to all fours.

“Now that its head is down…” Arche said.

“…we won’t hesitate,” Norn finished.

As a follow-up, the twins slashed at the exact spot Thorn had just struck. Between my enchanted fire on Thorn’s blade and the twins’ own mana-wreathed attacks, a single, deep gash finally opened on the monster’s neck.

You’d think they’d be discouraged, that after all that, all they could manage was a single cut. But they didn’t show a trace of despair.

“Finally. It’s bleeding.”

“Now it’s simple.”

“We just repeat.”

With those words, the three of them swarmed the monster again, moving as one.

Thorn and I… we’d been partners for a long time. I can read his movements, and I know how to best support him.

But this was the first time Thorn and the twins had ever fought together. And yet… they were reading each other’s movements perfectly. Had that sparring match last night really been that intense? I felt a strange, complicated twinge in my chest.

“Rimi!”

“Got it!”

Thorn’s shout over his shoulder snapped me back. Right. Focus on the enemy!

“This… is the END!”

With that final roar, Thorn’s sword cut the monster’s head clean off.

A fountain of blood erupted, and the monster’s head, its face frozen in a mask of rage, hit the ground with a wet thud.

“Hah… hah… is it… over?”

As I watched it fall, the reality of it finally hit me. The strength drained from my body, and I collapsed to the ground.

“Rimi? Are you okay?”

Norn came over, worried, and tried to offer me her shoulder, but she gave up halfway and just sat down next to me. She was panting, too, and she let her sword clatter to the ground as if it was too heavy to hold.

“That one… it was in a different league from the others,” she said.

“I’ve never seen a monster like that, not even near the Capital,” I replied, staring at the corpse.

For a beast to be corrupted by miasma and become that strong… it was abnormal. The sun had already set; it had taken that long. Even with all four of us.

“We could see, thanks to your magic,” Thorn said. “You saved us.”

I just then realized… I’d kept his spell active the whole time.

Thorn’s sword… it was still glowing, illuminating the dark forest like a torch. But…

“That’s… my limit…”

I said, and just lay back on the ground. I’d been maintaining his fire-enchant while simultaneously blasting the monster. My mana was completely empty.

“…Good work.”

Norn smiled, patting my shoulder, and leaned her body against mine.

I rested my head on her shoulder. Her white hair, the hair she was so proud of, came into view. It was shimmering in the moonlight, like threads of gemstone.

“…It’s beautiful.”

“It’s my pride,” she said. “Your hair is beautiful, too, Rimi.”

We watched Arche and Thorn start to butcher the monster and set up camp, and we just… smiled at each other.

“Norn, break’s over.”

“Rimi, bring her over here.”

Thorn and Arche were waving at us. Norn helped me to my feet, and we walked over.

“Brother Thorn was amazing,” Norn said.

“‘Brother’… Thorn?”

That one word snagged in my brain. I repeated it back to her.

“What’s this ‘Brother Thorn’?”

Norn just looked at me, confused.

“He was our Master’s disciple before us. So he is our senior disciple. And his skill is undeniable. So… ‘Brother Thorn.'”

“Oh… that’s what you mean…”

I shook my head, trying to clear out the… other… implications that had popped into my mind.

“What other meaning could there be?”

“Ah, no, it’s nothing!”

I couldn’t meet her innocent gaze, so I just looked away. For now, I’ll just be happy that our traveling party has gained such reliable allies.