🔊 TTS Settings
GMWB 95
Mas and Femina had been with the Sisto Empire throughout its thousand-year history.
“When the empire was founded, the knight who protected the first emperor was the progenitor of the Pieta family. And the two swords he wielded back then…”
“…You mean the twin swords we’re holding as a married couple.”
Leto glanced down subtly.
Femina, now in his hands, no longer seemed like merely a mysterious and extraordinary object.
The heavy weight corresponded to the countless enemies that the Pieta family might have slain to protect the empire over the years.
The power that could be felt beneath her skin was the thousand-year-old honor and sacrifice accumulated by the Pieta family.
“But what do you mean by saying the empire is about to fall?”
“There’s an inscription on the blade.”
Noah, having drawn Mas, showed the engraved characters at the center of the sword’s blade.
Leto forced himself to ignore the strong power emanating from the sword and carefully read the engraved words.
“…Slay the wicked.”
What is considered wicked?
Leto’s curiosity arose first.
Fortunately, Noah immediately provided the answer.
“They say the progenitor engraved it himself, but that’s not the important part.”
“This wickedness probably refers to beings that threaten the empire, right?”
“Yes. It’s a kind of oath of loyalty….”
Noah trailed off. Leto could guess why she suddenly stopped speaking.
Since its founding, the Sisto Empire had possessed such immense national power that its influence reached across the continent and even to Adlabor.
There were times when the Sisto Empire was synonymous with peace, and successive emperors were praised as virtuous rulers.
It was truly a country favored by the gods.
But at some point, the empire began to rot from within.
“The empire began to pursue only the interests of the privileged, and the number of suffering citizens steadily increased.”
“Such an era existed in Adlabor as well.”
“Yes, in its thousand-year history, the empire had faced such periods multiple times.”
Each time, Mas and Femina had restored great history, and the empire regained peace.
However…
“…not in the past hundred years.”
The exact reason was unknown.
From that time onward, Mas and Femina began rejecting Aura.
To be precise, they did so only when carrying out missions under orders from the imperial family.
As a result, Aura effectively ceased to exist publicly.
Aura had not vanished entirely, and the Pieta family was strong enough even without using it.
However, the empire viewed this as an ominous sign.
“Isn’t it ridiculous?”
Noah let out a short laugh.
“Adlabor began its brilliant leap a hundred years ago when the Mana Tower exploded. Meanwhile, Sisto began to decline, ignored by the honorable sacred swords.”
“So, what you’re hoping for…”
Leto asked.
“To find a reason? Why the two swords suddenly changed….”
“No.”
Noah’s hand, gripping Mas, trembled. She held the sword so tightly that the hilt creaked, and the Aura covering the blade surged violently.
Every time the Aura dropped onto the ground, it left marks on the training hall floor.
Each time, Leto felt the ferocity of the Aura so intensely that a cold sweat ran down his face.
“…That doesn’t matter anymore.”
Noah finally took a deep breath.
Her blue eyes calmed once more.
“I don’t care anymore. But I can now clearly understand why the swords suddenly turned against the empire.”
“What is it?”
“The empire itself has become the ‘wicked.’”
The Pieta family’s choice to go into exile was, paradoxically, their final act of consideration for the empire.
“My biological parents and all of Pieta’s ancestors over the past hundred years reached the same conclusion.”
Mas and Femina could no longer slay the wicked that threatened the empire.
Because the empire itself had become the wicked that threatened their existence.
“So exile was…?”
Leto asked.
“To prevent Pieta from destroying the empire?”
“Though in the process, Pieta nearly wiped itself out first.”
Noah said with a tinge of sorrow.
Recalling something, she closed her eyes and stood silently for a long while.
“My goal is—”
And when Noah opened her eyes again, a bright white flash streaked across the sky.
“The will of my ancestors continues.”
Her blue eyes, reflected in the lightning, briefly turned pure white, then, as the light vanished, they became as deep and dark as the abyss.
“With the sacred swords of Pieta, I will slay the wicked.”
Thunder rolled across the heavens. The lightning had struck nearby, and the sound reverberated through the valley, immense and deafening.
As if echoing Noah’s determination.
Until now, Leto had always considered the day he first met Aitra as the turning point of his life.
It was thanks to her that the young, starving boy, ready to eat dirt from hunger, could live a life of unexpected comfort and privilege.
But today…
‘I’ve learned something incredible.’
Leto once again felt his life shift dramatically.
The story Noah told surpassed all his expectations.
And most of it still defied his common sense.
The Aura he could feel in his hands, the legendary mineral Aura, even the sentient swords.
‘It feels like I’ve been transported into a novel.’
He had thought these things existed only in imagination, yet they all now manifested right before his eyes.
Every glance made his head spin.
At least one thing was clear:
‘They’re going to destroy the empire with my hands, right?’
Leto perfectly understood the unambiguous fact that Noah intended revenge on the empire.
Though even that didn’t feel like mere revenge—it was too solemn.
And so, Leto’s first training began.
“What should I do?”
“Let’s start by training your adaptation to Aura.”
“Isn’t it supposed to be something I can just use like a battery?”
Leto deliberately teased Femina, seeing Noah’s previously sorrowful expression while explaining her secret.
“You call her that again.”
Knowing her husband’s true feelings, Noah only smiled lightly instead of scolding him.
Though that wasn’t the only reason.
“You’ll regret that mouth of yours soon enough.”
“Huh?”
Before Leto could ask what she meant,
“…Ugh!”
Femina released an enormous surge of Aura.
Startled by the cutting pain, Leto barely let go of the sword, as the blue Aura whipped at his hand and cheek like a lash.
“Oh my.”
Thankfully, Noah swung Mas to block it.
“…!”
More than the fact that the Aura had attacked him, Leto was shocked by Noah’s hand movements, which were too fast for his eyes to follow.
“How did you do that?”
He asked desperately.
Noah clearly possessed extraordinary swordsmanship, but she had never once defeated him in combat.
“Were you hiding your skill all this time?”
“If I were, do you think I’d have lost to you every time?”
Noah said irritably, inspecting Leto’s hand.
Luckily, Leto’s hand wasn’t badly injured, though the skin was reddened.
“Grandmother.”
Gloria clicked her tongue and gathered cold energy in one hand to cool Leto’s palm. Ice magic.
“You make such a foolish mistake after just hearing that?”
Gloria lightly scolded Leto.
“You already confirmed that these swords have willpower.”
“Are you saying it’s similar to a human’s level?”
“Not quite.”
Noah handed Femina back to him.
“It’s hard to explain….”
Even Noah had never fully handled Mas and Femina before. She had only seen her late parents wield the swords and touched them during training a few times.
Still, she had a clear impression each time:
“I think the swords hold the will of the progenitor, that’s all.”
“This story is becoming less realistic by the minute.”
Leto laughed.
But he quickly composed himself and reached out again. Noah handed Femina back. Determined not to drop her this time, Leto gripped the sword tightly.
“If it’s just pure swordsmanship, I can’t beat you, Leto,”
Noah said.
“But if you fight while controlling Aura in your body, there’s no one in this kingdom who can beat me.”
Noah’s confident statement was neither arrogance nor bluff.
It was as natural as the eternal truth that air exists and the sun rises in the east and sets in the west.
“So you’ll become as strong as me.”
Perhaps even stronger.
Though she didn’t explicitly say the rest, Leto already understood her meaning.
“Excuse me for saying this…”
Leto curled one corner of his mouth slightly.
“I’m so thrilled!”
The martial spirit in him surged after a long time.
“…Crazy man.”
Gloria, observing them, quietly made the sign of the cross.
“He’s going to die today.”
“Brother-in-law!”
Good heavens!
Clare, wearing a paper crown made at school, jumped in surprise at seeing him.
Even then, the crown stubbornly stayed on her head.
“Ugh…”
As soon as Leto entered the doorway, a strange groan escaped his lips.
“Brother-in-law, are you okay? What’s wrong?”
Worried, Clare approached his face.
“…”
“Huh? What did you say?”
“Ugh… I’m going to vomit…”
Clare quickly stepped back.
“Oh, stop exaggerating.”
Noah, entering after him, lifted the collapsed Leto in her arms.
Cradled like a princess, Leto could barely open his eyes and wobbled weakly.
“Oh, like a princess!”
Clare giggled as if she were watching something amusing.
“You two are here, goodness.”
As As wiped her wet hands on her apron and came out, she lifted the apron to shield her view.
But seeing Leto’s abnormal condition, she hurried over.
“What’s happening? Is the young master okay?”
“Ugh, ugh…!”
Leto, lying on the bed, barely continued speaking.
“Ch, cha…”
“Cha?”
“Noah….”
“The young mistress?”
“Noah drove the….”
Ugh.
Unable to hold back nausea, Leto hurried toward the bathroom.
Through the slightly open door, the sound of vomiting could be heard.
“…I feel like I’m going to throw up too.”
Clare’s stomach churned as well.
