Chapter 3: Kennan III (Encounter with the Sword Saint)
“I can’t find a teacher suited for me.”
Since their reunion, Simmons had frequently visited Orphelia.
“That’s a common worry for those with talent,” he said, settling down on the roots of a tree in the courtyard.
“But those with talent overcome it and grow stronger.”
“How do they do that?” Orphelia asked.
Instead of answering, Simmons turned the question back to her. “Are you doing what you can?”
She couldn’t immediately say that she was.
“Have you mastered the forms your teacher taught you?”
“…I don’t need to.”
Simmons let out a sigh, trying to calm himself. “Do you know Elise Gladius?”
“I don’t.”
“You don’t know her?”
“No.”
“That’s not true. It’s not that you don’t know; you just have no interest. You don’t care about others.”
“Because everyone is weak.”
“Is everything about strength? Huh? Are your parents strong?”
“They’re not strong.”
“Then you should understand. A person’s worth isn’t determined solely by strength, you idiot.”
Simmons cleared his throat, “Well, that’s enough of that,” and redirected the conversation.
“That Elise Gladius is a monster, just like you, born in the same year.”
“A monster?”
Orphelia repeated the word as if trying to digest it.
“She’s the hidden gem of the Order of Knights. A once-in-a-generation genius. It’s like she’s living her second life. There are countless words to describe her. Despite being a genius, she never slacks off. At just ten years old, she’s a beast in basic training.”
“Is she really that strong?”
“Strong. After all, I’ve lost to her.”
Orphelia was left speechless.
The fact that the only swordsman who had defeated her was surpassed by a girl of the same age was something she struggled to accept.
“You just said you don’t need basics or forms.”
Suddenly, Orphelia felt embarrassed for some reason. She realized she might have been too arrogant.
“Whether you need them or not isn’t for you to decide. The results will determine that.”
Simmons sternly stated that the conversation would continue from there.
He thought he might have said too much to a ten-year-old girl, but then Orphelia, unfazed, declared, “I get it! If I master the forms and clear your challenges, then let me skip ahead!”
She was completely unscathed by the earlier conversation. In fact, she was now proposing conditions.
Simmons was momentarily taken aback by her suggestion, but he responded in kind, “Alright! I got it! Do it, absolutely! Just as I said! If you do, then I’ll consider the skipping ahead!”
Thanks to this exchange, Orphelia graduated at the age of seventeen, the typical age for knight school, as the top of her class at just twelve years old.
After her graduation, she received an invitation from the kingdom to become a guardian knight serving the royal family. Without a second thought, she declined, stating her intention to become a Seeker.
Surprisingly, given her abilities, it was believed that becoming a Seeker would benefit the kingdom and the world more than becoming a knight, so she was not persistently held back.
On the contrary, the brawny King Lande, often mocked for his autocratic rule, took a particular liking to her. He summoned her to the royal palace as a graduation gift and presented her with one of the treasures managed by the royal family throughout the generations.
The weapon she received that day was the Twin Swords Yin-Yang—a legendary weapon that would become synonymous with her as a Sword Dancer, a special class of twin sword users.
At the age of twelve, she immediately joined a renowned clan after her graduation. Her subsequent achievements could only be described as a rapid and unstoppable rise.
Years later, one day, she was called upon for a monster culling job. It was a group of moderately leveled monsters, and the clan’s ace candidate, Orphelia, was summoned. This time, she would work alongside the girl who had defeated Simmons at the tender age of ten—Elise Gladius.
After completing the extermination job, Orphelia reflected on Elise’s movements. To be honest, she didn’t feel a significant threat from Elise’s strength. There was hesitation in her movements. Hesitation clouds everything.
Certainly, Elise might have been technically superior, but skill and strength do not always correlate perfectly.
There was something primal about the ruthlessness and survival instinct inherent in humans, a quality that emerges when one is cornered—Elise possessed a beauty in that instinct, captivating yet as fragile as delicate glass.
Orphelia was confident that, in terms of overall strength, particularly pure strength, she would not lose to Elise at this point.
The next time she saw Elise was at a Guild Training Grounds. On that day, Orphelia’s confidence would be shattered.
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