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No one said anything, but their expressions fiercely demanded an explanation.

“What’s going on?”

Karnak frowned.

“What do you all think I did?”

Jiken averted his gaze awkwardly.

“No, no, that’s not it.”

Truthfully, Karnak hadn’t done anything. He hadn’t even finished reciting the spell.

“The situation is just so absurd that I had to say something.”

Trib and Harris chimed in as well.

“Maybe it’s just a coincidence?”

“It seems the timing just happened to align when Lord Karnak joined us.”

The suspicion dissipated quickly. There was no real reason to doubt him, after all.

Of course, this was only the perspective of those who didn’t know the full story. Baros and Serati, on the other hand, were still tenaciously skeptical.

[Come on, Young Master.]

[Confess the truth.]

[What did you do?]

[If you had such a trick, you should’ve told us in advance!]

Karnak, flaring up, protested.

[I swear, I didn’t do anything!]

Yet, for someone protesting, his expression wasn’t exactly one of pure injustice.

To be honest, Karnak himself was feeling uneasy.

An unidentified cursed sword fleeing the moment it saw the former Death King? Was it really just a coincidence? It seemed a bit of a stretch.

‘Damn, what did I do? Even I find this suspicious.’

***

The cursed sword’s girl fled. She was also properly surrounded, but she was lost in vain.

But Jiken didn’t blame the King’s Order members.

He had no right to blame anyone. He had been caught off guard himself.

“Man, I never imagined she would run away….”

The fact that something like a cursed sword even had the concept of retreat was astonishing in itself.

Swords of that type turn their hosts into berserkers.

Retreat because things aren’t going well? Such a sword shouldn’t even be capable of recognizing that things aren’t going in its favor.

Back in Archenbart City, it had supposedly fled after massacring until its strength ran out, but the truth was, it had killed enough to be satisfied and left to rest.

That’s just what they had written in the report.

Regardless, now they had to track the cursed sword again. Priestess Meili and Millia took the lead.

As usual, they advanced through the forest, sensing the traces of darkness.

“Oh?”

Suddenly, Meili’s expression darkened. Jiken asked,

“What’s wrong?”

“The pattern has changed.”

The cursed sword was no longer leaving traces of darkness everywhere. The trail was abruptly breaking off in places.

And the distances between the traces were growing wider and wider.

After about an hour of wandering through the forest, Meili sighed and raised her hands.

“We’ve lost it. The trail has completely vanished.”

Feeling troubled, Harris asked,

“What should we do now, Captain Jiken?”

***

They continued the search for a long time, but they couldn’t find any trace of the cursed sword.

The sun was slowly setting. Shadows spread thickly across the forest, and the trees and bushes began to fade into the darkness.

Jiken made a decision.

“It’s better to withdraw for now and come up with a new plan.”

Even though they had brought camping gear, there was no reason to stay in the forest after losing track of their target.

Moreover, since they couldn’t pinpoint the location of the cursed sword Mareda, they had to consider the possibility of a counterattack.

“In a situation like this, the right decision is to regroup and rearm in a safe place.”

The closest city to their current position was Archenbart City.

The 1st and 7th battalions left the forest and headed there.

Even with a large group of around 40 people combined, finding lodging wasn’t a problem.

Due to the chaos caused by the rampaging cursed sword Mareda, nearby trade had temporarily halted. As a result, the inns in Archenbart were nearly empty, making it easy to secure rooms for the entire King’s Order.

“Tonight, everyone can relax. Drinking is permitted, as long as it’s not excessive.”

After all, they would have to restart the pursuit of the cursed sword from the beginning.

Considering they would be on a forced march for some time, it was wise to let everyone rest tonight.

Once the dismissal order was given, the members dispersed.

Karnak’s group also headed to their respective lodgings.

As usual, Karnak, Baros, Serati, and Millia shared a room.

Exhausted from chasing the cursed sword, Millia soon fell fast asleep, and Serati, who hadn’t done much and wasn’t particularly tired, unpacked her things and headed to Karnak’s room.

Upon entering, she found Karnak and Baros still pondering the earlier incident.

“What do you think happened, Young Master? It couldn’t have just been a coincidence, right?”

“I don’t know. If it’s just a coincidence, I’ve probably committed too many sins for that.”

Serati, sitting on the bed, joined the conversation.

“Do you have no idea at all, Lord Karnak?”

Baros answered in his place.

“Honestly, there are some ideas.”

As the old saying goes, when you stare into the abyss, the abyss also stares back at you.

“Maybe the evil spirit inside the cursed sword had a fit when it saw the Young Master?”

“Why are you saying I’m the abyss?!”

Karnak glared at them in frustration.

However, he couldn’t completely dismiss the idea. Even he found parts of it unsettling.

“…Am I really the abyss?”

It wasn’t an entirely baseless theory.

What is a cursed sword?

A sword possessed by an evil spirit, luring its host into all sorts of bizarre phenomena—a sword haunted by an evil spirit, to put it simply.

And not just any evil spirit, but one in a very bad state.

An evil spirit being terrified at the sight of the king of evil spirits?

“When you put it that way, it kind of makes sense…”

Karnak mumbled but then shook his head.

“No, something still doesn’t add up.”

He wasn’t the Death King he once was.

“How would the sword’s spirit even know I was a king in the first place?”

Even if he had once been a tyrant, would an evil spirit that encountered him now, in ragged clothes wandering the streets, instantly recognize him and tremble in fear?

“If the spirit in the cursed sword can see through space and time into my past, that would be even stranger.”

After pondering for a while, Karnak irritably scratched his head.

“Ugh, I don’t know.”

There wasn’t enough information for now. Until they could capture the cursed sword and study it, there would be no answers.

“I’m hungry. Let’s eat.”

As if waiting for the cue, Baros spoke up.

“Let’s go. I found a decent tavern near the inn. The innkeeper recommended it.”

“Is it good?”

“They say they’re good at cooking lamb. The special sauce is supposed to be amazing. The innkeeper insisted we try it.”

“Oh, let’s check it out.”

As if they had never been pondering the issue, Karnak and Baros began smacking their lips, savoring the thought of food.

Serati, watching them, remarked in disbelief.

“You two still prioritize food above all else, don’t you?”

Well, considering why they had turned back time, it made perfect sense.

“So, are you not coming, Serati?”

Of course, there was no way she would refuse something delicious.

“Of course I’m going.”

Karnak grinned as he stood up.

“Then let’s keep thinking while we eat. After all, everything we do is so we can keep living, right?”

It was a common phrase everyone used, but for him right now, it was the clearest mission of all.

***

Unlike the generally desolate atmosphere in the inns, the taverns were quite bustling by dinnertime.

Inns mostly housed outsiders, but taverns were frequented by locals. And no matter how much havoc the cursed sword Mareda caused, it wouldn’t appear in the heart of the city.

It wasn’t that it couldn’t enter the city—it had no reason to.

A cursed sword is like a ferocious bear that just woke from hibernation. Its evil spirit is always hungry, and it’s never satisfied.

There’s no way such a sword would pass by a human without acting. Before even reaching the city, it would run wild on the outskirts.

In fact, the cursed sword Mareda had appeared near Archenbart City’s walls, slaughtering there before disappearing.

Since the city itself was safe, people moved around without much worry.

Thanks to this, the members of the King’s Order also scattered in small groups, enjoying their rest. Wallace and Beric from the 7th Battalion were no exception.

They found a spot, sat down, and quietly talked over blackcurrant brandy.

“What do you think happened?”

“I don’t know, but it’s not all that strange, really.”

Mareda’s sudden retreat had surprised them too.

But not as much as it had the 1st Battalion. The 7th had long grown accustomed to Karnak’s strange antics.

“Our captain has always been a mysterious person, right?”

“And Sir Baros is quite an odd one too. How is he so strong when he’s not even an aura user?”

“Exactly. He doesn’t seem all that fast, but before you know it, you’re already subdued.”

A nail hidden in a pocket eventually pokes through.

Karnak and Baros had tried to be cautious in their own way, but most of the 7th Battalion members felt some sense of unease, whether big or small.

The only one who wasn’t particularly odd was Serati.

She was a reasonably skilled aura user, after all.

It was impressive that such a beauty had become an aura user, but not beyond understanding.

However, she was a bit strange in her own way.

“Do you know what’s funny about those guys?”

“What?”

“The way they suddenly go silent and have intense staring contests with each other.”

“Yeah, I saw that too. I have no idea what they’re up to.”

With that, the two happily drank and filled up on food.

Starting tomorrow, they will resume the dangerous pursuit. This was their only chance to relax and drink.

“We’ve had quite a bit.”

“Shall we head back?”

“Yeah, we should call it a night since we have to move tomorrow.”

With a pleasant buzz, Wallace and Beric left the tavern.

The sharp autumn wind cut around the corners, brushing against their skin.

As they left the alley, they emerged into the closed market. The merchants had long packed up, leaving the place completely deserted.

There, she stood.

A small girl with dirty, matted ash-gray hair and a bizarrely large, grotesque two-handed sword.

Beric’s expression turned blank.

“…Huh?”

It was a familiar face and a familiar sword. After all, it was the face they had seen that very morning. How could it not be familiar?

But it didn’t make any sense.

There had been no commotion. No screams were heard.

Yet, how could that be here, right in the middle of the city?

The smile on the lips of the girl gripping the cursed sword grew wider.

A giggle…

Her faint sneer was followed by two chilling screams.

***

Standing on the street in the deep night, where even the moonlight was dim, Jiken let out a sigh.

“My God…”

Trib and Harris echoed in grim tones.

“How in the world…”

“For something like this to happen in the heart of the city…”

It had all happened about three or four hours earlier.

Since it was late, they did a routine headcount before heading to bed.

The 1st Battalion had returned to the inn in full, but two members of the 7th Battalion were missing.

It was an embarrassing situation for the 7th Battalion, especially for Serati, who was part of the leadership.

“They’ve probably just had too much to drink and are stumbling around somewhere!”

For the record, Karnak and Baros didn’t think much of it. Neither of them had much sense of shame to begin with.

But Serati, who had a much more sensible and reasonable perspective, was naturally furious and set out to search for them immediately.

And that’s when she found them.

The dried-up, shriveled corpses of Wallace and Beric lying in the middle of the street.

Everyone stared at the bodies in shock. Even Karnak.

‘Uh, even I’m a little shaken by this.’