Yuri, as soon as morning came, left the village. He did not particularly try to find out what had happened to the fugitives.
Before crossing over to the grasslands, Yuri planned to stop by Liberda to briefly meet Moyong Chan. Although the road to Balshad was urgent, it was still necessary to visit Liberda as he had planned.
He had to meet Moyong Chan and talk about what had happened, and about the heart demon.
The four of them rode swiftly.
"Oh my, take a break before you go…"
"Rest in the grave."
Francesco kept whining at regular intervals, but Yuri did not indulge him.
Of course, Francesco was not always complaining.
From time to time, whenever they stopped, he would sit alone and operate the mana method.
It was an amount of energy far too small to be called that of a knight, but he persistently continued his training. Believing that he could recover one day, he continued to search for a way.
"As expected from someone who was once one of the ten strongest."
"That's right."
At Jared's admiration, Yuri nodded.
Operating a small amount of mana was an extremely difficult task. One had to maintain and circulate that faint energy through the whole body without letting it slip away.
Yet, Francesco did not stop running the mana method even as he sweated.
"If he regains his mana, he might become even stronger than before."
"He surely will."
"But, is it okay for you to keep scolding him like that?"
"It's fine."
The training Francesco was doing was something Yuri had also done in his past life.
While training the Briol Method in depth, he had explored various ways of working with the mana method, and in the process, he had practiced handling very small amounts of mana to hone his mana control.
"I'm good even without training like that."
"Ah, yes…"
"We have to leave soon, so wake him up."
"Understood."
Jared went over to Francesco, while Yuri called out to Simon and Guinness, who were sparring.
"Hey, let's go!"
"Yes!"
"Yes!"
Unlike Francesco, who trained his mana alone, Simon and Guinness spent their rest time sparring together.
Perhaps the time they had spent traveling around Liberda with Moyong Chan had paid off, as the two of them clearly handled their swords much better than before.
As their horses approached, Yuri gave each of them a passing remark.
"Simon."
"Yes."
"Don't just wait for an opening, try to create one yourself."
"Ah, yes!"
"Guinness, your mana is too unstable. Practice keeping it steady."
"Understood!"
The two expressed their thanks for Yuri's advice.
Francesco chuckled and said,
"Our Prince of Briol has a keen eye. Not like his age at all."
"I also have some advice for you, Sir Francesco."
"Oh?"
"Straighten your back when you sit. Your spine will break like that."
"Ah, I see…"
"Let's go."
The five horses began to run.
"What's that?"
"You'll see when we get there."
Following a rough road, Yuri's party encountered an unexpected group.
While traveling along roads, it was common to meet merchants or travelers, but this time, a group of knights appeared.
When the knights held out a hand to stop them, Yuri's party gradually slowed down.
"Who are you?"
Judging by the emblem on their chest, they were knights of Liberda.
"I am Yuri Briol, Prince of Briol. I have come to see my teacher, the great swordsman Moyong Chan."
"Hmm?"
At Yuri's words, the knight's eyes widened.
"Uh…"
His gaze shifted. First, he looked at Yuri's black hair, then checked the general appearance of the party with him.
"Is there a way to confirm your identity?"
Yuri showed his identification plaque.
The knight examined it, but still tilted his head. Since they were from different countries, he had no eye for distinguishing such things, and besides, an identification plaque was something that could be forged if one really tried.
Yuri smirked.
"There's nothing for me to gain from deceiving you out of the blue. Or, if you want, I could show you if Yuri Briol is truly as good with a sword as the rumors say?"
"No, no. I was just momentarily taken aback. By the way, did you say you're going to meet Sir Moyong Chan?"
"That's right."
"Then we'll guide you."
"You also have business with my teacher?"
"Yes."
The knight jerked his chin toward the rest of his group.
"We were on our way to training."
"Training?"
"Yes. Sir Moyong Chan travels around Liberda conducting knight training. He watches our swordsmanship and passes down useful training methods. Fortunately, it's our turn this time."
He grinned, showing his teeth. Apparently, Moyong Chan's training sessions were quite popular.
"That works out well. Let's go together."
"Yes."
Thus, Yuri's party traveled alongside the knights of Liberda.
***
The knight order that had joined Yuri was called the Swift Gale Knight Order, a group formed by young knights banding together.
As expected, most of them were young, and their skill level was not very high.
They rode hard to reach a village on the outskirts of Liberda.
"Is that it?"
"Yes."
However, instead of entering the village, the knights circled around it.
"Sir Moyong Chan is… Ah!"
The knight pointed in one direction.
"There he is."
Yuri soon saw a single flag fluttering high in the sky over the field outside the village.
It was written in the Eastern language, and though he could not understand the exact meaning, he could feel the strength in the brushstrokes.
And under that flag stood Moyong Chan.
"Ah…"
"It's been a while since you last met, hasn't it?"
"Yes."
The knight, who had come to believe Yuri's identity during their conversations on the way, smiled.
"Go ahead and greet him first. We'll come slowly."
"It's fine…"
He seemed to be expecting a touching reunion between teacher and student.
"You should greet your teacher first. We'll circle around once more."
He subtly slowed his pace.
Though he didn't feel like it, Yuri went on ahead alone, riding toward Moyong Chan.
Moyong Chan, standing beneath the flag, suddenly opened his eyes.
Yuri had thought he would feel nothing, but upon seeing Moyong Chan for the first time in a while, he was overcome by a faint, strange emotion.
Yuri quickly dismounted and approached him.
It had been quite some time since they last met, and many events had taken place since then. Yet, Moyong Chan looked exactly as he did in Yuri's memory, unchanged.
"Teacher."
"Yuri."
The two looked at each other.
And then.
They swung their swords.
"Your eyes are as rude as ever."
"And you, Teacher, your pronunciation still hasn't improved."
"My pronunciation is wasted on you!"
The two clashed their swords in succession, each trying to cut the other down. In an instant, both of their mana flared, kicking up clouds of dust around them.
Yuri could sense the knight order circling them in confusion.
But neither stopped.
"Oh-ho, you've grown quite a bit stronger during that time. You've gotten big."
"I was always taller than you, wasn't I."
"You little brat!"
They glared at each other, probing the other's aura.
Soon, both of them wore expressions of admiration.
"Teacher, you've become stronger."
"And you as well."
Yuri smirked as he looked at the pure and refined aura rolling from Moyong Chan's body.
When he had heard from the Shadowless Sword about the Demonic Cult, Yuri had thought they might be the strongest force in the East, but it seemed he was mistaken. Moyong Chan was in no way inferior to them.
"I met someone called the Shadowless Sword."
"One of the ten strongest."
"Yes. He was strong, and he was from the East."
Moyong Chan's eyebrow twitched.
"From the East?"
"Yes. He called himself the Heavenly Demon."
His eyebrow rose even higher.
Then, swinging his sword at Yuri, he said,
"Keep going."
While trading blows with him, Yuri explained what had happened.
When he heard that Cedric was a feral beast, and that Fiore and Laurent had disappeared, Moyong Chan also could not hide his bitter expression.
"The Demon's Grimoire, I never knew such a thing existed."
By now, Moyong Chan was speaking in perfectly proper pronunciation.
Yuri grew suspicious. Perhaps Moyong Chan wasn't actually bad at the continental common tongue at all. Perhaps he could speak it perfectly well, but deliberately slurred his words just to tease others, and when distracted, he slipped into speaking it properly.
"I'll find out one day."
Yuri stopped his speculation when Moyong Chan's sword came flying at him with venom.
"Yes, it seems the Shadowless Sword also follows Cedric because of it."
"Of course. In the Demonic Cult, divine relics hold absolute authority."
"A man who absorbs the power of the Demon's Grimoire transforms into something inhuman, and grows far stronger."
"Is that so. Truly bizarre and grotesque."
"That's quite a complicated word to pronounce so smoothly…"
"Anyway!"
Even before, Moyong Chan had spoken normally in front of Fiore, but now he seemed even more fluent than before.
"Cedric, he seemed like a decent fellow… So it was as I suspected."
"How can you say 'as I suspected' right after saying he seemed decent?"
"Because most humans aren't decent. If someone suddenly seems like a good guy, you should be suspicious."
"Are you sure you're part of the righteous sects?"
Moyong Chan's worldview was far from normal.
While the two traded words and blows, the rest of the party and the Swift Gale Knight Order had dismounted and were watching their match from a distance.
Each time the flash of sword aura overturned the field, exclamations burst forth.
"Yuri, your disciples are watching. Are you going to show them something disgraceful?"
"My disciples are watching, so you should be the one worried, Teacher."
"You insolent brat."
"My honorable master."
They looked at each other and laughed.
Though unspoken, Moyong Chan could feel it—his disciple had grown tremendously.
Not only his aura, but even the energy emanating from him had changed. The mana method called Heart-Soul Slash had once radiated refined energy, but now, it was strangely turbid.
Chaos.
The disciple had embraced it.
But the quality of his mana had not diminished. Quite the opposite.
Now, even Moyong Chan dared not look too deeply within.
High-grade, low-grade, things he could never dare to touch—all of it was interwoven within him in a random, lawless manner.
Thus, the one called Yuri Briol now stood in a realm no one else had ever reached.
Moyong Chan's eyes narrowed slightly as he imagined what his disciple must have endured to reach this point.
For anyone else, it was a path they would never have dared to start down. But this disciple walked it with confidence. His resolve was admirable, and yet heartbreaking.
There was no way to overcome a heart demon.
Therefore—
There was only one way to handle chaos.
"You've made madness your companion."
Simply to live alongside the heart demon.
"Yes."
Yuri grinned.
He had accepted the heart demon that pressed on him in his dreams every night as a part of himself.
This life was his second chance.
Therefore, he had no intention of worrying about safety.
If he broke, then he would simply move forward in that broken state. If by doing so he could kill Cedric and completely eradicate black magic from the world, he would endure anything.
"Good."
Moyong Chan spread his arms.
"Now that I know your resolve, show me. Have you gained power befitting that mindset, or is it all just empty bravado? I'll judge for myself."
"I feel the same."
Yuri raised Guilty. Chaos rolled across its blade.
"Teacher, you should also show me once and for all."
"Show you what?"
"That speaking with proper pronunciation is your normal state, and that you've been twisting your tongue on purpose."
"N-no, that's not—"
"Good. I'll knock you out and pour cold water on you, and we'll find out."
"How?"
"When you lose consciousness, you'll react naturally. If you say 'Ah, that's cold!' then I'm right, but if you say, 'Oh, th'ts cowd!' then you're right."
"Can you even knock me out?"
"Teacher."
Yuri took a step forward.
"If you look unsightly while sleeping, I'll cover you up."
"Fine. And I'll pick up every tooth you drop and keep them for you."
The two master and disciple hurled insults at each other as they raised their auras.
Yuri lifted Guilty.
Suddenly, the wind rose.
This was a vast plain. The spectators were keeping a good distance, and all of them were knights capable of at least protecting themselves.
This meant—it was fine to destroy everything around them.
The wind grew stronger. Soon, it formed into a complete vortex.
Serrated wheels made of sword aura began to interlock and turn.
Small cogs into larger cogs, larger cogs into even greater cogs.
Thus, a fractal vortex that destroyed everything caught within its gears appeared on the plains of Liberda.
But Moyong Chan did not stand idly by.
A straight, smooth sword aura that stilled all chaos rose gracefully before the vortex.
Two swordsmen.
Two monsters of their own making.
The Swift Gale Knight Order could only watch with mouths agape.
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