CHAPTER 60: THE SHATTERED SWORDMAIDEN [4]

"You kids have balls."

Alice blinked at the voice. Her hands were still clutching the blood-slicked shaft of her scythe.

"...What the hell just—?"

She looked across the bloody field.

Leon stayed silent; his smirk faded. He wasn’t surprised or anything.

"..."

Leon shifted his gaze upward.

Following his line of sight, Alice spotted her too.

A lone figure seated on a dried, crooked tree branch jutting from the ice-cliff wall like a bone.

The branch itself looked brittle, ready to snap under a feather’s weight, yet the woman resting there sat with perfect balance.

Her legs crossed loosely over each other, one arm draped over her knee. The faint shine of a blade rested across her waist, catching the light of the ice.

Strands of pale silver hair spilt from beneath her black hood, brushing her shoulders. Even from this distance, those crimson eyes of hers cut through Leon and Alice like a sharp blade.

Leon put back his sword. He recognized the person.

"The Swordmaiden..." he murmured.

Alice’s brows pinched together.

"Wait, that’s her?"

The woman on the branch smiled faintly before jumping off.

Poof–!

She landed on the bloody snow, just in front of Leon and Alice.

"You two don’t seem to be local." Her tone was overly calm, flat, almost dead. "Are both of you lost?"

"Wow... she doesn’t look that old."

The words slipped out of Alice’s mouth before she could stop herself.

Leon, however, said nothing, his focus locked on the woman.

A faint chuckle left her lips.

"Not old, hm? I’m thirty-seven. Of course I’m not."

Alice blinked, caught off guard.

Thirty-seven was not... old? she thought, but wisely chose not to argue.

The Swordmaiden slipped her hood back further, tilting her head slightly. Despite the silver-white hair spilling past her shoulders, her figure was anything but frail.

The cloak shifted, revealing the sharp outline of a navy-blue military uniform; it was old, worn out, and faintly stained with blood that the fabric failed to fully hide.

A silver sword, adorned with a golden gem, rested at her waist. As she untied the hood and knotted it around her belt, Leon’s gaze remained fixed on the weapon. Even from here, he could feel the amount of mana pulsing inside it.

"Hm?"

The Swordmaiden’s crimson eyes followed his stare.

"I don’t like men staring at me." Her voice cut through the air. "Especially not like that."

Alice stiffened; she nearly choked for air.

Leon exhaled slowly, unbothered.

"I was looking at your sword," he said evenly. "Not you."

She tapped her finger against the sheath resting at her waist.

"Quite the eye you have." She unsheathed the blade in the open, letting the light reflect off its silver surface.

The surface of the blade was so white, as if it were made from the moon itself.

"This one is called the Moonblade; it is a blade crafted under the moon’s light continuously, absorbing the mana emitted by it. With one slash, this blade could perish even the mountains."

It was the same weapon Leon had his eyes set on. A legendary weapon known as the Moonblade. Lost in history, it was once wielded by the Swordmaiden.

And after the Swordmaiden perished, the sword was nowhere to be found. The only clue that could lead to the sword was clearing this book.

In the game, Ethan was rewarded with a teleportation coordinate that would lead him directly to the Moonblade hidden in the real world.

Though the weapon was quite powerful, it had some side effects.

But despite that, the Swordmaiden was able to wield it. And the side effects did not bother her.

What exactly did she do differently?

She never disclosed it to anyone; even Ethan was unaware of it in the game, and because of that, the game didn’t explain it either.

Leon wanted to know why she was not affected by it. Was it her skill? Was it due to some artifact?

Leon would get his hands on it anyhow.

A Moonblade was a catastrophe engraved in the form of a weapon itself. Getting his hands on it was like having a nuke at his disposal.

"So. Where are you two from?" Her voice was even. "Not many outsiders end up on this frozen desert. Certainly not... children of your age...hmm..."

She carefully studied both Alice and Leon.

"From your clothes, you don’t look like commoners. Are you perhaps foreigners?"

At those words, Leon coughed before replying,

"And we don’t know where we are either, and we didn’t come here by choice."

"What is that supposed to mean?" the Swordmaiden whispered.

Alice shut her mouth; she let Leon deal with her. If anything went wrong, she would gladly blame it all on him.

Leon didn’t try to lie outright because if he did, then the Swordmaiden would see right through it.

"We don’t know," Leon said calmly. "After we both woke up, we found ourselves in this snowland, surrounded by chimeras."

"And, you both knew each other before?"

They both nodded.

"...Yes."

The Swordmaiden crossed her arms. After racking her brain for two minutes, she offered,

"If you are lost, we could help you two get to the nearest town. I know a person there; you might find your way home from him."

Leon and Alice exchanged looks, and then Alice whispered to Leon,

"Hey, why did you go silent? Answer her."

Sighing, Leon finally spoke.

"While we appreciate your offer, but... I don’t know everything that has happened to us, and neither do I have any idea of who you are. Sure, after what I’ve seen, I can say that we both could be in safe hands if we stick with you. But I must humbly reject the offer."

The Swordmaiden blinked at him.

"Are you afraid that I might do something to you two?"

Alice immediately nodded.

"Precisely. I mean, why did you save us from all those chimeras only when we were about to get slaughtered? You could’ve saved us from the start. And now you suddenly offer help—it’s kind of weird."

The Swordmaiden let out a faint sigh, her crimson eyes softening.

"I wanted to see how much you two could handle on your own. That’s all. Had you been powerless, I would’ve stepped in much earlier. But I don’t believe in protecting people who can’t at least fight for themselves."

Her words struck both of them quiet for a moment.

Leon exhaled slowly.

"So, that was a test?"

"Think of it that way if you wish." Her tone was calm, without malice. "But I meant what I said. If you follow me to town, you’ll at least have food, shelter, and information. You don’t have to trust me fully. But wandering this land without direction is the same as choosing death."

Alice glanced at Leon.

"...She’s right. We’ll end up dead if we keep walking around blind."

Alice rubbed the back of his neck, staring at the blood-stained snow. She wasn’t fully convinced about what Leon was trying to pull right now. But, she played along either way.

Finally, he nodded.

"Fine. We’ll go with you. But don’t expect blind trust from us just yet."

The Swordmaiden smiled faintly, almost approvingly.

"That’s good. Blind trust only leads to betrayal. Keep your doubts... it means you’ll survive longer."

Alice muttered under her breath, "Tch... wise old hag."

"I heard that," the Swordmaiden said flatly.

Alice froze, then awkwardly looked away.

Leon glanced at both of them.

’Damn, I didn’t expect Alice to play along.’

In truth, he wasn’t being honest. He was trying to gaslight the swordmaiden, crafting a persona that looked cautious, sceptical, and grounded. Someone who wouldn’t blindly trust strangers but also wasn’t hostile. A middle ground. The more reasonable he appeared, the more trust she would eventually place in him. And that was exactly what he wanted.

The three of them started walking through the blood-stained snow. Only the sound of their boots pressed against the ice broke the silence.

Then came the sound, a low, guttural growl.

Alice froze first, her grip tightening around the scythe. It wasn’t one or two. The sound was coming from everywhere.

Leon narrowed his eyes. From the ridges above, from behind the frozen rocks, from the cracks in the snowfield, they came. Dozens, no, hundreds of chimeras.

"...Is this world owned by these things or what?" Alice spat, clicking her tongue. This was the third time she had seen these disgusting creatures, and her stomach still turned.

"Oh my," the swordmaiden said, her crimson eyes calmly surveying the horde.

Leon glanced at her sharply. "Is there no way to deal with them besides cutting them down one by one?"

"Yes," she replied without hesitation, "just cut off their heads, and they are all good as dead."

Alice twitched. "Easy for you to say, there’s like a hundred of them!"

Leon grit his teeth. "No, I mean, isn’t there a faster way to kill them?"

The swordmaiden tilted her head, thought for a moment, then shook it. "Not that I’ve ever heard of."

Leon and Alice looked at each other, both in disbelief.

’Then... is she going to take them all on her own?’ Leon thought. She could do it, no doubt, but imagining it was another matter. A hundred chimeras—that was ridiculous.

The swordmaiden pulled her hood back over her silver hair. Her thumb rested on the hilt of her blade.

"Stay still.. This won’t take more than a breath."

Click–!