Chapter 7 - The Fallen Saint

It had been a month since I became the Spirit Sword's disciple.

[Your body seems to have developed quite well? Your lower body especially seems perfect now.]

During that time, I trained diligently. Running, climbing mountains with weights, swimming in dry air, lifting and dropping huge boulders, and so on. The training I did was mostly about conditioning my body.

As a result, Davian's originally soft body had become quite muscular.

Such results in just a month.

It was quite surprising. The Spirit Sword has certainly been a great help. Normally, it wouldn't be possible to achieve such results in just a month.

Given muscle recovery time and stamina issues, it should be impossible to build a body like this in a month. But thanks to the Spirit Sword's constant recovery with overflowing mana, I was able to complete my body this quickly. It was possible because I could exercise without getting tired.

The results were quite satisfactory. But there was one thing I wasn't happy about.

"Um, Master? Isn't it about time you taught me swordsmanship?"

For a month, the Spirit Sword only made me do physical training. It didn't teach me anything else. It was good that I had built my body, but shouldn't it start teaching swordsmanship soon?

I couldn't help but feel a bit dissatisfied about that part. But even after hearing my complaint, the Spirit Sword didn't seem to want to teach me yet.

[No, you're still incomplete. Let's perfect it a bit more. If you truly want to soar high, you need to build a perfect foundation first.]

The Spirit Sword said it wouldn't teach me until I completed the basics.

I know that, but...

I understand the importance of basics. I heard similar things in my previous life too. Her words weren't wrong.

But there was one problem.

Is it trying to make me a hero...?

The point was, I didn't need to become that strong. After all, as someone who stole the protagonist's Spirit Sword, I just needed to act as a stepping stone until the protagonist got the Holy Sword, right? I was a bit worried seeing her trying to make me too perfect.

Well, it's not bad though.

Still, I decided not to say anything. The current situation wasn't extremely urgent or bad. I focused on training again, climbing the mountain.

Then.

"Hmm?"

I happened to discover the charred carcass of a wild boar. Black marks spread from its bitten neck.

[Seems like something unusual.]

"It does look that way."

As the Spirit Sword said, these were wounds inflicted by a magic beast with demonic energy. In other words, it meant a magic beast was roaming this mountain.

Is it time for the first episode to start?

Has the date already come to this? It seems like it's time for the protagonist's first formidable enemy to appear.

#

I headed straight to the church. The church where Levia and my child were waiting was as quiet and peaceful as always. Levia greeted me with a smile, her blonde hair swaying.

I nodded and naturally sat across from her.

"Brother. Did you come back from training hard today too?"

"Yes, I worked hard."

"It's wonderful to see you putting in such effort."

"Thank you. How is Eleana doing?"

"She's doing well here."

Eleana was the name we recently gave to the child. Levia showed me Eleana. Seeing the child giggling at the sight of me, I felt satisfied.

Really, whose child is this to be so cute... 

As I was looking at the baby and enjoying this peaceful moment.

"By the way, Brother. Did you happen to see any charred corpses on the mountain?" Levia asked me. 

Her tone suggested she had something to worry about. If she was talking about corpses, I did see one.

"I did see one. It was a wild boar carcass with charred wounds."

"I see."

I told her what I had seen on the mountain. It was undoubtedly the carcass of an animal that had fallen victim to a magic beast. Hearing my words, she sighed with an “as I thought” attitude.

"They say there's a dangerous magic beast roaming around now."

"A magic beast?"

"Yes. There have been continuous sightings of a wolf-type magic beast. Although there hasn't been any direct damage yet, hunters say they've found charred carcasses of unidentified beasts in the forest."

If it was a wolf-type magic beast, it was undoubtedly the first enemy the protagonist defeated. Did it attack the neighboring village after eating animals in the mountains? It was quite a strong enemy in the early stages.

But at this point, the magic beast hadn't been subjugated yet, and Levia was very worried.

"At times like this, I wish the Empire's Silver Knight Order or the Church's Holy Knight Order would come to investigate..."

Originally, the subjugation of magic beasts was handled by the Empire or the Church in this world, but currently, they were in a very busy situation.

"We requested support, but they said the Knight Order couldn't come."

"They must be busy."

"Yes. They say there's an ominous feeling coming from the north. So most of their forces have moved there. They say they don't have time to worry about small villages..."

It must be the Demon King. If it was an ominous feeling from the north, it must be the Demon King. He must be about to start his activities.

The sudden appearance of magic beasts was probably due to the Demon King's demonic energy. The Demon King's mere existence spreads a massive amount of demonic energy. That demonic energy caused demons and magic beasts to appear in the world.

"I want to advise the villagers to evacuate, but it's not easy due to practical issues."

Anyway, looking at the current situation alone, it wasn’t very good.

"Farmers can't abandon their fields, and many people have families to take care of. Plus, many people are letting their guard down because there hasn't been any direct damage yet."

The magic beast might attack the village. Levia was extremely worried.

"And in the neighboring village, my si... no... never mind."

She was especially worried about the neighboring village. She stopped mid-sentence, but I knew what she was going to say. Her younger sister was in the neighboring village.

She was also staying at the church in the neighboring village as a nun.

"Anyway, Brother, if you ever encounter the magic beast, please immediately leave the area."

"Yes, I'll be careful."

Levia earnestly implored me. I nodded appropriately and left the church.

Hmm... What should I do now?

As I left the church, I fell into contemplation for a moment. The subject of my contemplation was, of course, whether I should deal with the wolf magic beast or not.

Originally, the protagonist would defeat it.

The wolf magical beast was quite strong as the protagonist's first enemy. But in the end, the protagonist was the protagonist, right? Although there was some crisis, it was an entity that was eventually defeated.

I don't really want to mess with the story, but...

If I defeated the wolf magic beast, the story would naturally get twisted. It might be highly illogical to worry about twisting the story after already taking the Spirit Sword, but still, I wanted to avoid interfering as much as possible.

In that sense, objectively thinking, it would be right for me not to intervene here, but...

I should interfere, right?

I thought it was better to interfere after all.

If I leave it alone, she'll surely die.

Because if I didn't interfere, Levia's sister, who worked as a nun in the neighboring village, would definitely die. The magic beasts that the protagonist couldn't handle in time would come down to the village and start killing people. In the process, she, who was protecting the villagers, would die too.

The protagonist is weak right now.

It couldn't be helped. Although the protagonist had the skills to easily defeat an ordinary knight, in terms of overall balance, they were still just a novice. Naturally, such a protagonist couldn't defeat the magic beast in one go.

A magic beast too strong for humans to handle. The protagonist failed at first and ran away, then came back with courage and barely managed to defeat the beast, but...

The first damage couldn't be undone.

"I should help."

The sister eventually died, and Levia became very sad upon hearing the news. And that became the starting point of her fall. It was a very important event in many ways.

I can't let her fall.

I planned to try to prevent that for now.