Episode 36
“Who came to visit?”
“That’s… His name is Logan McLane, and he came to me without a prior appointment and tried to force me to mention it to His Excellency…”
Felix’s expression noticeably hardened when he heard those words, and the knight who saw that said that. The expression on his face also became more stern.
“I’m sorry! I’ll send it back right away.”
“No, it’s okay. Let them in.”
“…yes?”
The knight’s eyes widened at the completely unexpected answer.
* * *
– Let them in.
With a low voice ringing, Logan was able to enter the simple-looking office.
There were no paintings, ceramics, ornate decorations that were commonly seen in a nobleman’s office, and plain furniture took their place.
One person was sitting by a window with sunlight streaming in beyond the long conference table.
A handsome middle-aged man with a golden beard that extends down to his chin and gentle eyes.
As soon as Logan saw him, he lowered his head.
“Meet the Swordsman. I am Logan McLane, the eldest son of the McLane family.”
“Isn’t McLane a territory in the southwest? What happened to the son there?”
A deep voice that matches her appearance.
Noh Geom-ho looked like he was only in his 40s or 50s, but that was only because he was suppressing aging with his powerful force. His actual age was close to 70.
It was Felix Esperanza, a swordsman praised as the strongest swordsman in the Kingdom of Grandia.
As his eyes gazed heavily at Logan, Logan remembered Philip’s voice speaking to me before he came here.
– Anyway, I’m not going. Never! Even if a problem arises, Logan, I will pretend not to notice. You know, right?!
Philip did not understand Logan’s confidence in going straight to the swordsmith.
To put it in an extreme way, what Logan wants to do now is go to the house of one of the most powerful people in the kingdom and a superhuman, and ask – Are you trying to talk to him? And you stole something from me yesterday, right? lol.
Because the story was about saying…
– It’s a scrape. All we have to do is pretend not to notice… If something goes wrong, we’re screwed!
Philip’s concerns weren’t particularly wrong.
However, if the person yesterday was a swordsman, this could be an opportunity not to be missed.
A chance to form a good relationship with one of the most powerful people in this country.
That was well worth the gamble.
‘There’s no need to bring up yesterday. If he is a swordsman, that means the rumors are true, and if the rumors are true…’
Logan had a way to fix that.
Philip thought it was an exaggerated advertisement, but the effects of Imporic were absolutely not a lie.
Of course, the two pills he took yesterday may not have been effective.
‘The problem was whether the thief yesterday was really a swordsman…’
Even now, even when I was looking at him face to face, I wasn’t completely sure.
Because I couldn’t even guess why a person as skilled as a swordsman would ‘directly’ do something like that.
However, the fact that Felix the Swordsman immediately accepted a request for a meeting from a country bumpkin who had come to visit at random times seemed to add more confidence to his assumption.
And Logan prepared the perfect gift, assuming all his assumptions were correct.
“It’s an honor to meet you. And this…”
As soon as the swordsman finished speaking, Logan took out a box from his pocket.
“I recently started a business in the capital, and I brought the product as a gift on my way to see the Duke of Swords.”
He could have said something, but the swordsman didn’t say anything.
There was no emotion in his eyes as he looked at Logan and the box.
But Logan didn’t care at all and confidently walked towards him.
“The product I am selling is a tonic called Imporic. Its efficacy has been proven by several nobles, so I think it is already guaranteed that it is an excellent medicine for men.”
“…is it.”
Felix’s calm voice was unsettling to anyone who saw it.
However, the swordsmith’s blue eyes slightly wavered at Logan’s next words.
“But these are not necessarily things that your Excellency, a superhuman, needs, so I prepared something more special.”
And looking at that, Logan internally cheered.
‘That’s right!’
Perhaps the grumpy expression was due to the fact that using Imporic had no effect.
Considering the principle of how imporics work, it was bound to happen.
The meat of the monster Karok is toxic, and the cost-effective neutralizer ‘reduces’ the toxicity to a level that does not cause harm to people.
However, slight toxicity still remained, and the toxicity mixed with the ingredients of the meat served as an aphrodisiac and treatment for sexual dysfunction.
The function is so powerful that it even produces an effect close to regeneration limited to that area.
But what if you meet a superhuman among superhumans called an Auror user?
That slight toxicity would not have had the slightest effect on the body of a superhuman.
So the solution was also simple.
‘You just need to concentrate the poison extremely.’
Sweet.
Logan smiled and opened the lid of the small box.
“This is it…”
Inside was a fancy-looking pill wrapped in gold leaf.
“This is a special limited edition.”
“…her.”
Felix let out a single exclamation filled with complex emotions.
How would they react if they found out that the special limited edition was just a concentrated version of 50 pills?
The gold leaf was just a packaging to make it look nice.
‘I too suffered through eating and drinking, but…’
A place where my internal organs were twisted with pain and I could not calm down at all.
Logan briefly broke into a cold sweat as he remembered the double hardship he had experienced due to the experiment he had performed on his body just before his arrival.
Since he had the Force Core to that extent, a normal person would have died.
‘But if you’re an Auror user…’
Your internal organs won’t hurt from that level of toxicity.
Then all that remained was the effect.
A miraculous effect created by the meat of a monster, a foreign creature that was not clearly revealed even in its past life.
That’s why Logan was able to reach out with confidence.
“It may not be noticeable, but please accept it as my sincere concern for your health.”
“Is that the end of the business? Is there nothing more you want?”
“of course.”
If you want something, just say it.
It was a question that seemed to have a different meaning, but there was no hesitation in Logan’s answer.
‘If you mention what happened last night here or put any conditions on it, you’ll ruin everything.’
For now, just continuing the relationship with the swordsmith is enough.
With that in mind, Logan simply lowered his head.
“Hmm…”
Even with his head down, he could feel the swordsman’s agitation.
A moment of silence. After that short but long time has passed.
“Hehe. Yes, it is said to be a medicine for my health, so I will be grateful.”
It was a moment when Logan’s fist clenched.
‘For now, the hurdle has been passed.’
We implicitly confirmed that we both knew what happened yesterday, and yet we created a new kite without mentioning it at all.
Now all that was left was to wait for the results.
“If you have tried it and are satisfied with it, please let me know. I am willing to supply it as much as you need on a regular basis. Of course, while maintaining strict security.”
The swordsman’s expression did not look very positive until he left his final greeting.
But…
it was the very next day that the swordsmith’s messenger came to visit Logan.
* * * The expression on the swordsman’s face changed so brightly that I met him in the same place, same time, and on a different day.
The moment when Logan smiles at his expression, which contrasts so much with the previous day.
“What do you wish for?”
Before I could even say hello, the swordsman said his first unconventional words.
“…yes?”
“Is there anything you want? I’ll do anything I can.”
The swordsman with a slightly excited voice gave a favorable look that felt excessive.
When Logan is a little embarrassed by the aggressiveness that goes far beyond what was expected.
Geomgong was still vividly feeling the unfamiliar feeling of this morning.
‘It works… it works. still.’
Auror users are masters of martial arts that move the body and masters of the Force, the power of life.
So I knew for sure.
This medicine with an unknown ingredient gave positive stimulation to an area of his body that had not changed for decades.
And what changes will occur at the end of that stimulation.
If things continue like this, within about 30 more times…
‘I can recover!’
I’ve thought about this dozens of times since morning, but each time my hands were shaking.
The joy of being able to resolve one’s old regrets and the resentment that was deeply embedded in one’s heart.
There was no need for the immovable mind created by decades of training.
I fully enjoyed the joy that hope brings to my racing heart.
So I couldn’t help but feel grateful for the young man in front of me.
‘It’s also the case that I don’t mention my mistakes…’
A young man who is so thoughtful that he comes to him with only meager evidence and doesn’t show it, but instead brings a gift.
Additionally, the swordsmanship skills I saw that day were at a level that was hard to believe for someone of that age.
Isn’t he truly a young talent who can become the owner of the ‘miracle medicine’?
“It’s difficult to accept too many words. Please tell me the reason.”
Moreover, even with such talent, he was humble.
‘Great!’
I felt even more delighted because he originally cared about outstanding young people.
“Haha. I guess I was in a hurry. Yes, the gift you gave me yesterday showed the possibility of curing my long-standing pain. So, I will repay you for it.”
A gift I gave you yesterday. Considering the efficacy of the drug, it might have been embarrassing to mention it directly.
Especially if you are a person with a social status like a swordsman.
But the face that said those words looked really bright.
Looking at the swordsman’s face like that, Logan gained another confidence.
‘I guess the rumor was really true.’
In fact, even though Logan was selling Imporic, he also harbored a feeling of pity for the nobles who went crazy over it.
I thought that only those who have led a promiscuous lifestyle or plan to lead a promiscuous life would buy this drug.
But it struck me once again that it might actually be for therapeutic purposes.
“Okay. Is there anything you want from me? “Tell me openly.”
Logan, who had been immersed in a strange feeling, finally regained his sense of reality when he heard the swordsman’s urging voice.
‘This is something a swordsman can do.’
Just thinking about it, there was an incredible amount of things he could do.
It was truly a jackpot, and Logan’s fists clenched at the thought.
‘But it’s too much of a reward to get for just giving Imporic.’
And that’s why he shouldn’t have responded unconditionally here.
Logan calmed down his excited mind.
What he wanted was a permanent relationship with the swordsman.
Someone who would maintain his position as the highest-ranking noble even after the civil war ended.
And in the war with the Empire, he The strongest sword in the kingdom, who held off the empire’s 100,000-strong army for more than a week with only himself and his knights, and eventually split off
. What Logan wanted was the highest-ranking noble in the current kingdom and the strongest auror user, the swordsman himself.
So here….
‘Just in case. ‘That’s all I thought about.’
In order to build a lasting relationship, it was better to take a moderate amount of damage.
Logan brought up a proposal that he had been thinking about the whole way.
“If you really want to do that, could you take at least one useless swordsmanship book?”
“…What?”
The moment the swordsman heard it, he could not believe his ears.
“I guess I said intermediate swordsmanship incorrectly, right?”
“I said it was a useless swordsmanship book. Even low-level swordsmanship is acceptable. However, I hope there is at least a confirmation from the duke attached to it.”
“Huh?”
As a swordsman, I couldn’t help but feel absurd.
That’s right, the low-level swordsmanship that trains the body and strengthens the basics, and the intermediate swordsmanship used by force users who have mastered the force. The difference was indescribable.
If you wanted intermediate swordsmanship, he would have understood.
Even though he couldn’t teach you the secret swordsmanship of the Knights of Esperanza, among the swordsmanship he collected, there were a few intermediate swordsmanships that were quite usable.
However, the low-level swordsmanship Swordsmanship?
‘Even if you asked for any kind of request or money, I would have granted it. Although I would have been disappointed…’
But this was a request that went beyond his expectations.
However, it didn’t feel that bad.
“…Why? ”
“I’m just planning to leave it as evidence that my family has a connection to swordsmanship.” ”
Oh, heh, a connection.”
To him, those words were just as absurd.
What kind of special relationship does it have to have a swordsmanship book that he gave me? It was not possible.
There were many people who learned the sword through the sword techniques he collected and the basic sword techniques he created during his life.
Even the sword techniques of the Kingdom of Grandia, which are said to be the most basic for trainees of the kingdom’s knights, had parts that were modified by his touch.
Just one sword technique book. If he claimed to be related to him, most of the knights in this country could claim to be his students.
So he just felt sorry.
“I’ll just give you a proper intermediate swordsmanship. If you want, I can teach you myself.” I can give it to you.”
It was truly an unconventional offer, and Logan, who seemed to have his eyes shaking for a moment, continued speaking again.
“If it’s an intermediate level of swordsmanship, I don’t think the McLane family’s swordsmanship is that bad.”
It was bravado.