Sword Pilgrim – Chapter 1

“Three years.”

Under the heavy rain pouring down like the tears of a God, I press my hood down and walk with hurried steps.

Three years.

That much time has already passed since I started living here.

If you say it’s short, it’s short; if you say it’s long, it’s long.

But I can assure you.

These three years have never left me with any happy memories.

“For Valtherus!!”

“For our God Lactus!”

A sharp sword creates death, and death piles up the corpses like a mountain.

And then those corpses, again –

Are refined into new swords.

Three years ago.

I became a pilgrim in such a cruel world.

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Caw! Caw!

Shoo!

Feeling a presence, the crow that was feeding on the flesh of the corpses stirred its wings and flew away.

The green meadows were stained with blood and devastated by the aftermath of the war.

A scenery that was unforgivingly bleak.

The corpses piled over it had become as a mountain; and the hungry beasts as well as the humans who were no better glared at each other as they took advantage of it.

“Uh, hey. Hey. Look over there. It’s a pilgrim.”

“It’s true. The rosary of the sword hanging from his neck and the stigma on the back of his hand… He’s a real pilgrim.”

Unlike the wild beasts that dug up corpses only to fill their stomachs, the figures of the children who came in search of loot were being reflected in those grey pupils.

“… A pilgrim of the sword.”

He wore a pure white hood, but an impressive shock of jet-black hair could be glimpsed under it. The sharp grey eyes looked like they didn’t belong to an ordinary human being.

The necklace hanging from his neck was a rosary.

The stigma of a God in the shape of a sword was on the back of his right hand.

These people were often seen on battlefields.

Followers of Valtherus.

Pilgrims who wandered around in search of a sword at the call of their God.

Or –

“Sword madman.”

A child who’d been rummaging through the bodies quickly threw a stone.

It flew in a long parabolic arc, but the stone thrown with the power of a child fell helplessly at the feet of the pilgrim.

“Get out of here, you damned swordsman!”

Famine and poverty caused by war inherit its violence. The resentful gazes that had no choice but to blame someone else in order to survive turned towards the pilgrim.

The children’s faces were furious with hateful frowns, but their faltering legs were mired in fear.

They flinched as those indifferent grey eyes stared back at them.

“This war happened because of you crazy people, who turned the princess into a sword!!”

“Yeah, that’s right! Get out of here!”

“It’s all because of you!”

Pilgrims were devotees of swordsmanship, who worshipped only swords and the God Valtherus.

Only one thing mattered to them.

The divine power that grants miracles.

“We don’t have a body to offer someone like you!!”

“Fuck off right now!!”

To draw the soul out of a body that has lost its warmth, and turn it into a sword.

That is the power of their God.

The only power that Valtherus gave them.

Carcass Sword (주검) – Resident Sword (駐劍).^[1] It was called a divine miracle.

Sword pilgrims –

Were priests who performed miracles by turning the corpses of the dead into swords.

That was what it means to be a pilgrim of the sword.

“You guys turned people into swords and this is what happened!”

God’s miracle is exceptionally discriminatory, so the power of the sword would differ depending on its origin.

There were many pilgrims who secretly killed people with great potential and turned them into weapons. Whenever a neighbor disappeared without a sound, some would always suspect it to be the work of a pilgrim…

Those who’d heard of the notoriety of the pilgrims, or whose family had been taken away like that, naturally had no liking for the people who performed such divine miracles.

Rather, they –

“Demon!!”

They called the pilgrims demons and despised them.

A follower of God being called a demon, what could be more contemptuous than this?

However, this pilgrim merely continued on his way without responding, as if he was long used to such insults.

The children, who’d been staring at him as if he was not even human, finally returned to searching the mountain of corpses.

It was then.

Clop, clop, clop!

The harsh sound of horseshoes rumbled across the ground.

“O pilgrim, servant of the great Valtherus! Stop for a moment!”

The knight in the vanguard stopped near the pilgrim’s feet and said with a loud voice.

Not even bothering to get off his horse, the knight spoke with a dignified posture.

“O son of the great Valtherus, you who have entered the territory of Lutens. In the name of the Lord of the Western Provinces, Quardal de Lutens, you are invited to the castle.”

The pilgrim’s gaze rested upon the lance of knights.

They looked like veterans, and their spirits were high enough to pierce the skies. Perhaps they were returning victorious from some war.

They behaved like one had no choice but to follow their order.

The pilgrim’s eyes narrowed coldly. Dry lips parted.

“Only Divine Valtherus can block a pilgrim’s way. Move aside.”

An obvious refusal.

The knights immediately drew their swords as if they’d anticipated this in advance.

Schwing!

“We truly need a pilgrim.”

“You don’t need a pilgrim, but a miracle from God.”

“That’s right. The lord wants to turn all the corpses here into swords.”

“Are you going to start another war just after all this killing? You’re crazy.”

Taking someone’s life means also creating a thread of resentment.

‘Blood calls for more blood.’

A new war will cause nothing but that.

The pilgrim shook his head.

“I’m sorry, but we are desperate, too. I can’t accept your refusal.”

A huge amount of money had been spent to prepare for this war.

To make up for that –

The lord was now trying to catch any pilgrims passing through his lands.

To turn the corpses piled up like a mountain into swords with the miracle of Valtherus!

As long as he had pilgrims working for him, it was a feasible idea.

“You’re doing something that deserves punishment. Aren’t you afraid of God’s wrath?”

“For us, the enemy before our eyes takes precedence over the wrath of God.”

The pilgrim fell silent.

The status of the God worshipped by this kingdom on the road to ruin had long since fallen to the gutter.

Looking at him standing in silence, the knight at the vanguard poured out more unanswered words.

“Of course, we will treat you with the utmost respect. With the war approaching, amenities may be a bit lacking, but we will do our best to serve you. Aren’t you tired of your long pilgrimage? It wouldn’t be bad to settle down for a while and then leave again.

“Pilgrim, your divine power is not infinite, correct? It’d be better if you don’t have to use it too much.”

The moment the pilgrim was about to disregard the man and take another step –

Thump.

Claanggg, clang!

An iron helmet rolled down from the mountain of corpses.

“Who!

“A thief?”

The knight’s gaze, cold as frost, pierced the child hiding among the corpses.

“Ugh!”

It was the child who’d spoken contemptuous words to the pilgrim earlier. He was frozen in place and mentally crushed by the knight’s surging aura, and had no chance to escape.

“The bounty here belongs to Lutens. Pay for the crime of theft with your life.”

The knight took out his bow, pulled on the bowstring and fired an arrow.

The arrow cut through the wind and pierced the child’s heart.

The eyes of the child who died without a single scream, reached the pilgrim.

It was a futile death.

However, there was no emotion in the pilgrim’s eyes.

Children die and old people die.

It’s just a matter of being late or early.

But just as he was about to quietly look away –

The pilgrim’s eyes changed completely.

The body of the dead child gleamed with a silvery light that only he could recognize.

“Pilgrim…”

The gaze of the knight who’d shot the arrow turned back to the pilgrim.

But the pilgrim was nowhere to be found.

When the knight searched for his whereabouts, he’d already neared the slowly cooling corpse of the child.

The moment the knights were about to move –

The man who appeared to be their leader raised his hand and blocked them.

“It’s a miracle of God.”

Ssssss.

Grains of silver light flowed from the body of the dead child. The light which gathered at the pilgrim’s fingertips soon condensed and formed a single shape.

A double-edged sword.

However, it was different from a normal sword.

The edge of its blade was shining a faint blue.

The knights knew.

That was the miracle of Valtherus for which they had displayed such cynic anticipation.

The only power He bestowed.

A carcass sword!

The gaze of the knights who witnessed the light of miracle became sharp.

“If only that miracle…”

If you could arm the soldiers with carcass swords that were stronger than steel, victory in the upcoming war could be guaranteed. The knights’ eyes were dyed with greed.

“Pilgrim!”

However, the pilgrim did not answer their call.

He was still looking at the sword emitting a soft light.

And when the light faded –

The pilgrim spoke.

“Obviously, it’s a grudge?”

The knight-captain’s eyebrows furrowed.

Grudge? What grudge was the man talking about?

He wanted to speak up and ask, but couldn’t.

Because that was then –

Rustle. The figure of the pilgrim disappeared with the light sound of the wind.

“Huh?!”

The knight-captain was momentarily surprised.

“Uh…”

His gaze rotated.

He saw his own body atop his horse, and then he fell to the floor.

“Ah!”

“Captain!”

The head of the knight-captain had been cut off.

The startled cries of the knights and the whinnies of their horses resounded across the plains.

“Avenge the captain!”

“Kill that pilgrim!”

Schwiinggg–!

The pilgrim’s sword swung.

The carcass sword in his hand broke a knight’s weapon in two and ripped apart his steel armour like butter.

There was an overwhelming difference between the quality of their weapons.

The pilgrim thought so, cynically.

After a while –

Drip, drip.

The drops of blood running down the pilgrim’s carcass sword were falling to the ground. That was the only sound that could be heard across the calm and desolate plain.

Sssssss.

A silver light leaked from the sword held by the pilgrim. Soon, the shape of the sword dissolved, as if it was crumbling into ashes, and disappeared.

The pilgrim left the vanishing sword behind him as if nothing had happened and quietly continued walking along the road.

Light shone through the stigma on the back of his hand, which symbolized his status as a pilgrim of Valtherus.

[Cente’s Grudge]

[Strength +1]

A faint smile spread across the pilgrim’s lips and then disappeared.

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Editor’s Notes:

[1] 주검 (lit. corpse sword), translated as ‘carcass sword’. ‘Carcass’ will also be used to describe the base grade of such swords.

Chapters 1-50 are being cleaned up, so the readers might notice inconsistent capitalization rules and other changes. This message will be removed once it’s complete.

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