The Lazy Swordmaster

“… Isn’t that right?”

Lightly swinging the sword that was on fire, Riley asked. However, no response could be heard from the black space, which only had a cut off arm coming out from it.

“All right. Don’t bother responding…For now that is.”

Riley causally rolled his eyes and looked at Nainiae. With his glance, he gave her a different order. He then cut off another black hand that was coming from behind.

“We might as well talk face to face, so…”

Although it looked like Riley had his feet planted on the ground, his body slid forward. The group who was watching this opened their eyes wide.

‘That is Riley?’

His speed was so incredible that Ryan could barely follow Riley’s afterimages. He thought he knew Riley well, but now, Ryan felt like he had just gotten struck by a hammer on his head. He had a vacant look on his face.

‘This is unbelievable.’

With the group behind him, Riley was cutting off every black hand that was coming toward them and burned them with the white flames. Before he realized, Nainiae came to stand next to Riley through teleportation. Riley muttered toward Nainiae,

“Will it be possible?”

“I won’t know for certain until I try.”

Having noticed Nainiae suddenly appearing next to Riley, Iril rubbed her eyes and checked where Nainiae was standing only a moment ago.

‘W… When?’

She could only figure that Nainiae must have used magic. Iril thought,

‘As I thought… She is a dragon.’

Nainiae was a beautiful girl, but Iril thought Nainiae must be Andal the dragon who she had run into on Andal’s mountain. She gulped and looked at Riley who was with Nainiae.

‘In that case, who is he?’

The boy appeared to be three to four years older than her. He was swinging her grandmother’s sword. Iril’s eyes were gleaming as if she was mesmerized.

‘He could be a dragon, or someone who can handle a dragon?’

Ian also looked surprised, not so different from Ryan or Iril. Ian was blinking his eyes. However…He was not sobbing or seriously agitated.

He looked calm.

He narrowed his wide open eyes and watched Riley’s movements and Nainiae supporting Riley. That’s all he did.

‘Young Master…”

Just like how he wrote in his journal once, just like he expected, speculated… the Young Master of a certain Count family that he served was swing the sword in a way that was more magnificent than Ian had ever expected.

‘Does that one make the total count 20?’

Riley thought about how many black hands he had cut down so far and mumbled.

There were 27 black spaces.

Initially, there was just one black space with an arm. Now, there had increased to 27.

‘I think it was about this much.’

Riley estimated that the one responsible for these black spaces must be running out. Nainiae was supporting Riley from the back by shooting magic to keep the hands in check. Riley signaled Nainiae with his eyes.

‘I’ll try it.’

Nainiae read Riley’s eyes, lightly nodded and swung her right hand.

“Huh?”

Because Nainiae was speaking in Dragon’s language that she had learned from Andal, as Iril watched Nainiae floating several rounds of flames in the air, she opened her eyes big and said,

“That is…”

It wasn’t the flames that made her mutter. It was the black spaces. They were disappearing one after the other.

“It’s done. All 27 of them…”

Nainiae had a serious look on her face. It seemed that she had just used another magic. Nainiae put forth her right arm toward the direction where Riley was looking at and said,

“I gathered them all.”

<… What?>

Having heard Nainiae, the one beyond the black space realized that something was off. He sounded like he was panicking.

“It looks like you never ran into any mage who could do this.”

Nainiae asked the question to the one beyond the space and started to explain what it was that she had just done.

“It’s dimensional distortion.”

Looking at the black spaces that were coming together, she explained that she compiled all black spaces that were scattered about by folding and opening spaces.

“Well, I guess you would not know about it. Magic did not exist in the world that Young Master came from…”

Even in this world where magic did exist, there probably wasn’t any other human mage who could manipulate space.

<You…>

 The scattered spaces started to come together as if they were drawn to each other like magnets.

<You arrogant fools…>

Before the voice had echoed throughout the area because it had come through multiple sources from the scattered spaces. Now, the spaces had been collected into one and the echo had been subdued quite a bit.

<How dare you. You dare to toy with the power bestowed by the great one… This power…. This power is something only I … can handle.>

Riley didn’t give a damn about what the voice said. He just observed the size of the space that was combining. When it completely combined, Riley was certain that the size was identical to the one he had seen in Lower Solia. Riley tightened his grip on the sword.

“Come out.”

Riley spoke to the one beyond the space.

“I said come out.”

It seemed Riley’s provocation worked. The black arms that had been cut off by his sword earlier all twitched around like earth-worms. They also started to combine into one like the black space.

<Even not knowing your place has its limits.>

With lightning sparks, the hands combined into one. It was the same hand that had smacked Riley in Lower Solia last time.

“It is your master who does not know.”

The hand in front of him was the one he had seen last time. However, the voice was not. Riley narrowed his eyes and to get information out of him, said

“About the leader of the bastard that you serve… I’m certain I squashed him like a bug before coming here? Is a fox pretending to be the tiger of a cave that’s missing its original master?”

Riley thought about the Demon Lord that he had ended by making him fall to the ground after a life long struggle in his past life. He thought about who could be causing this ruckus from the other world.

“I must admit that it was my mistake to not clean up the rest completely. I assumed everything would have been solved if I just killed the Demon Lord.”

It seemed the one behind the space was agitated to hear this. The black hand, which was exuding a violent energy, flinched.

“Now that I think about it, that lass Reutrina… Was her power being able to read people’s mind? I heard that she is the Head? I’m certain?”

At the Duke Philisneon family’s mansion, when Riley was having nightmares during the long winter hibernation, Reutrina had peaked at his memories. Now… Reutrina had become a fool.

“After peaking on my memories… What do you think happened to her?”

<You runt. Just what are you talking about…>

“You know what happened to her, don’t you? I’m sure you checked.”

The black hand stopped moving. Riley took a step forward and continued to ask.

“The bastard who is controlling you all from behind… What’s the bastard’s name? There must be a proper name, right? I’m sure you are not just worshiping this bastard because of the power.”

Riley figured that the Demon Lord that he defeated was not the type to do this kind of thing, so… Riley was certain it could not be the Demon Lord who was behind this. He narrowed his eyes and asked,

“Is it Agara? Wiciel? If not, is it Kiladiac? Nemophila? Is it one of those bastards? If not, then who is it?”

Riley listed the names of demons he knew from his past life. Inaril, who was standing outside the isolation barrier, answered the question.

“The name is Helena.”

Riley opened his eyes big and glared at Inaril.

“… What?”

“Helena is the name of the being who was captured and enticed into six beings from this world to do her bidding as the Six Parts. She granted them the abilities. She is the one who is trying to reveal the world below to this side.”

“…”

Riley was glaring at where Inaril was with a piercing gaze. The one beyond the space started to curse at Inaril with a voice full of fury.

<You bitch… You are just a corpse who betrayed the Six Parts, yet you dare! You dare to utter the great one’s name so carelessly?!>

The black hand was overwhelmed by Riley’s deadly aura. However, it quickly turned its direction and extended toward Inaril. However… it was blocked by the isolation barrier that Nainiae engaged. After that, the hand was cut off in half by Riley’s sword.

“Young Master, Helena is…”

Nainiae was standing next to Riley to support him. With a concerned look, Nainiae looked at Riley.

‘Only the Brave Hero can. This world… please save this world.’

The name of the Priestess who asked Riley to save the world in his past life was none other than Helena.

“Helena…”

Riley pulled his chin and gritted his teeth as he muttered the name. The one beyond the black space thought Riley had let his guard down. The one beyond the space finally revealed himself.

“Now that it has come to this…”

The one who came out from the black space was a handsome young boy with blonde hair.

“I, Rebethra shall judge you all for the great one’s sake and wash away the disgrace created up to this point.”

The boy called himself Rebethra. It was not just Riley and Nainiae who were shocked. Ian and Priesia who were watching this from outside the isolation barrier also opened their eyes big.

“That’s …Rebethra?”

“How come Rebethra is…?”

He was supposed to be an old man with old white hair and long beard who worked as the Archbishop of the Holy Temple. However… for some reason, he was now a handsome boy with blonde hair.

“Really…”

Priesia already had her eyes turned to golden color. She was looking into the area inside the isolation barrier. Having confirmed that this was true, she muttered vacantly.

“That’s…! He is really Rebethra!”

Iril and Ryan were shocked. They turned to look at Priesia who shouted from the back.

‘Why is the Priestess here? Now that I think about it, isn’t Rebethra… the one who is the Archbishop of the Holy Temple?’

Ryan remembered the Archbishop who had come to the mansion as Riley’s guest. The situation was unfolding with surprise after surprise. In disbelief, he was not able to close his mouth.

‘Riley… just who…’

Riley still didn’t notice Ryan. Riley was glaring at Rebethra with a piercing gaze. Rebethra was still walking out of the space. Riley muttered quietly,

“Helena…”

Nainiae watched him mutter. She soon felt the deadly aura that was making her skin feel like it was getting burned. She held her breath.

Riley must be enraged.

Nainiae was well aware what kind of hardship Riley had been subjected to in his past life. Nainiae could tell how Riley must have been feeling. She bit her lips and took a step back.

“Young Master Riley, please excuse me for everything so far. I only intended to take that corpse bitch’s right hand, but it seems that now you know our great one’s name… So, I have things I would like to ask you.”

“…”

“I think I might have to resort to more regrettable actions. Well, if you answer willingly, then I won’t have to go that far.”

The blonde boy opened his arms wide and walked toward Riley. The boy’s refreshing smile felt like it could make anyone who saw it feel at ease and feel safe.

“All right.”

However, it didn’t seem to work on Riley.

“I now have a few things I would like to ask.”

As he said those words, Nainiae, who was standing behind Riley, used telekinesis to place a spare sword on his waist. It was the sword had she brought out of the dimensional space earlier. She lowered her head and asked,

“Shall I step back?”

“No.”

Riley took a short breath to maintain his composure and told Nainiae,

“It will end quickly anyway.”

“…”

Rebethra was smiling with his eyes. Now, with narrowly open eyes, he stared at Riley and Nainiae.

“You make sure that bastard doesn’t run off with his ass.”

Concerned that Rebethra might escape, Riley stared at him, even forgetting to blink. Riley quietly said,

“Watch him carefully.”

Nainiae would have swung her sword in fury if she was in Riley’s position. Instead, Riley was calmly trying to get information out of the opponent. Nainiae was impressed. She nodded to respond.

“That bastard’s memory, clues about Helena, reason for looking rejuvenated and everything else… even his soul… I need to shake him down completely.”

“…”

“I’ll make sure he isn’t dead. I’ll be careful so that he will be left barely alive and breathing, so… Have Priesia ready to come too.”

Riley was saying all that while tightly gritting his teeth. Having heard the voice, Nainiae wondered if she should take back her thought about feeling impressed earlier at Riley’s composure. She nodded again.

“… Yes.