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Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: Cyno
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The countless relics lining the display shelves remained silent, indifferent to my presence. Hundreds of artifacts, yet none welcomed me. It seemed I had no luck with lotteries, whether in my past life or this one.
Scratching the back of my neck, I slowly made my way to the far corner of the Bronze Chamber. My gaze was fixed on an oak barrel there. Inside, Yojo lay discarded among broken and obsolete relics.
I was afraid. Terrified that Yojo might reject me. Even though I’d come this far, the circumstances were different from my past life. The timing was off, and instead of an old high priest, I had Princess Ignis with me.
Standing before the barrel, I closed my eyes.
Buzz. Buzz.
The barrel rattled loudly. Yojo was calling me. Even in this life, Yojo had chosen me as its master. Still keeping my eyes shut, I reached inside and gripped Yojo’s hilt.
‘Yojo…’
When I opened my eyes again, I was grinning from ear to ear as I stared at the blade. A double-edged sword, unremarkable in size—yet unmistakably the same Yojo I had lost in death in my past life.
Yojo hummed in my hand. My fingers trembled. Just as I hadn’t forgotten Yojo, Yojo hadn’t forgotten me.
I wrapped my arms around the blade, overwhelmed, and sank to my knees. I wasn’t alone in this life either.
“Um… are you crying?”
I turned away from Ignis’s voice.
“No!”
Wiping my eyes, I slung Yojo over my shoulder. With Yojo by my side again, I had nothing left to fear.
As I strode confidently toward the exit, Ignis suddenly blocked my path.
“You can’t!”
“Why not?”
“If you don’t keep me as a hostage, the moment you step out, you’ll be killed!”
“Heh. Doesn’t matter. With Yojo in my hand, no one can kill me.”
I pushed past her and stepped outside. The blinding noon sun revealed a plaza packed with knights and paladins.
At least a thousand guards had their spears trained on me, with even more archers drawing their bows behind them. If Ignis hadn’t been following so closely, a storm of arrows would have filled the sky.
Smirking, I sat down on the steps.
How satisfying.
During the Age of Ruin, no matter how much I raged, everyone was too busy ignoring me. Now, in this life, I already had thousands of die-hard anti-fans. Truly, even causing trouble requires the right audience to appreciate it.
“Ah, my popularity just won’t quit.”
“This is no time for jokes! You need to escape now! If you leave the holy grounds, come to Lumen Kingdom. We’ll protect you.”
Ignis sounded desperate. She really wanted to save me.
I tilted my head up to look at her. Come to think of it, she was famous as a songstress too.
“Hey, you’re good at singing, right?”
“Huh?”
“With such a big crowd gathered, how about a grand funeral dirge?”
Ignis’s eyes widened. A dirge was a song to console the souls of the dead.
“A-Are you planning to die here?!”
“No!”
“Then why ask for a dirge…?”
I awkwardly scratched my head with Yojo’s pommel. After hesitating, I finally answered.
“Someday… way, way in the future… I’ll die on some nameless patch of land, and no one will sing a dirge for me. So I want to hear one in advance. Don’t like it? Fine.”
Ignis stared at me with a distant gaze, lost in thought. I had no idea what she was thinking—nor did I care. Women’s hearts were beyond me.
“…Alright.”
“Great.”
Soon, Ignis’s voice carried through the air in a soft, melancholic melody. It was a dirge for an unnamed soldier’s grave, titled The Rusted Sword. The lyrics were simple, but the tune flowed like a lullaby—gentle yet sorrowful, like a tragic fairy tale.
“When will I return to my family…? When will I return to her…? Oh wind, carry my plea far away… Tell them I’ll return soon.”
Ignis’s emotional voice brushed past me, reaching even the hostile paladins.
The guards exchanged confused glances, looking to their commanders for guidance. They had no idea what was happening.
Then, a radiant hexagonal light burst from Shaya in Ignis’s hands, showering the plaza in divine brilliance.
A guard gasped, his eyes wide.
“I-Is that… Shaya, the Divine Staff of Radiance?!”
“It’s Shaya! The Saintess of Light has descended!”
Overwhelmed, the guards dropped to their knees in reverence. Even the paladins bowed without hesitation. A Saintess had been born—to show disrespect would be blasphemy.
“If I am born again… If I live once more… Let me be a nameless weed under the sky…”
Ignis stretched her hands toward the distant heavens as she sang the final verse.
“Bravo!”
I clapped wildly. Truly, Ignis. The best dirge I’d ever heard.
“Glory to the Saintess of Light!”
But my admiration was short-lived. The soldiers surrounding me were behaving absurdly. What kind of idiots knelt in worship when they were supposed to be capturing a hostage-taker?
“Why are they like this? Pathetic.”
Ignis gave a small smile.
“They’re paying homage to Shaya’s descent.”
“Oh? Another one’s coming tomorrow. Will they do this again?”
“What?”
“Tomorrow, another will appear.”
Ignis stared at me in shock.
“Who? Which relic will they receive?”
“Some blockhead girl will get a blockhead relic. Bermont, the Annihilation Hammer of the Earth God.”
“Really?”
“Oh, one last request.”
“What is it?”
“My fiancée, Princess Sierra, will arrive here tomorrow morning. If you see her, tell her I broke off the engagement. Be direct—she’s dense, so if you beat around the bush, she won’t get it.”
“O-Oh… okay.”
Ignis nodded hesitantly.
With that settled, I gripped Yojo and surveyed my surroundings. When the blade trembled slightly, I smirked. Yojo was pointing east—toward the wall. That was my path.
“Well, live well.”
“You’re leaving?”
“Yep. See ya.”
I leapt away, leaving Ignis behind. Everyone was too busy fawning over Shaya to notice. Now was the perfect time to escape.
“The heretic is fleeing!”
“The villain who kidnapped the Saintess is getting away!”
As I ran, guards raised their spears, and archers nocked arrows. But it was pointless. I was already breaking through the encirclement, vaulting over the eastern wall.
Heh heh heh. Idiots—
My smirk froze.
On the other side of the wall, a red-haired woman with curly locks was walking down the street, munching on an apple from a basket. She glanced up at me with an odd expression.
It was Catrianne—wielder of Idrun and the Flaming Valkyrie.
My eyes darted to Yojo.
‘Yojo, this isn’t the way, is it?!’
Landing on the street, I bolted forward. I prayed Catrianne would pretend not to see me. No matter how fast I was, I couldn’t outrun a Valkyrie.
I ducked into an alley, weaving through pedestrians in a zigzag pattern.
“The intruder is escaping! After him!”
A paladin’s shout rang out just as a red-haired figure materialized beside me. Catrianne had caught up instantly.
“Hey, kid. You’re the one who broke into the Grand Divinum Temple, aren’t you?”
“Mind your own business and scram!”
I spun sharply, cutting into a side alley, then scaled a building and leapt onto a fabric shop’s rooftop.
But I had to stop. Catrianne was already blocking my path again.
“You’re the brat who badmouthed me in the carriage, aren’t you? That voice is unmistakable.”
I shuffled my feet, pointing at her accusingly.
“Hey! You flame-haired hag! What grudge do you have against me from a past life to keep harassing me like this?!”
Catrianne swept back her wind-tossed red hair and glared. “Flame-haired” was slang for the Flaming Valkyrie—and an insult.
“Shut your mouth.”
“Don’t like it? Then leave! I’ll quietly go my own way.”
“Can’t do that.”
“Why?”
“As a Valkyrie serving divine will, I can’t let a blasphemer like you walk free.”
I pointed indignantly at the Grand Divinum Temple.
“There are plenty of those inside! So why just me?”
Catrianne grinned sharply.
“They’ll get what’s coming to them in hell. But you? You’re useful.”
“Useful how?”
“You’re a Master Swordsman, aren’t you? Fast, too. You’d make a decent underling.”
I wiped my face. Was she treating me like some errand boy?
“So you want me as your lackey?”
“I wouldn’t say no. I’ve got a lot on my plate lately. Help me out, and I’ll give you a nice reward.”
“What reward?”
“A pardon. One ticket straight to heaven.”
“What nonsense.”
“Huh?”
I snorted.
“Seriously. Even Valkyries are scamming now. Where’d you learn to lie? I’ve been around—I’ve never seen heaven or hell.”
“Of course you haven’t. Those are places mortals go after death.”
“Exactly.”
Catrianne stared at me.
“Are you insane?”
“I’m this close to losing it. So please, just go your own way.”
“Looks like I’ll have to discipline you first.”
I tightened my grip on Yojo’s hilt.
“Oh? Think you can?”
“Oh my. Listen to you. You know who I am, right?”
“So? Can you drop a meteor on this city?”
“No.”
“Can you slaughter every civilian here?”
“No. The old hags upstairs would throw a fit.”
I composed myself.
“Then you can’t catch me. Even if you’re a Valkyrie, with all these restrictions, what can you do?”
“Oho~ Confident, aren’t you?”
Suddenly, Catrianne flinched and drew Idrun from its cloth wrapping. The two relics resonated with a dull hum. I immediately swung Yojo low, aiming a kick at her stomach.
But Catrianne dodged effortlessly, and I used the momentum to leap off the roof, diving into the crowd below to escape.
As I fled, Catrianne watched blankly before taking a deep breath and giving chase again.
She caught up instantly.
“Kid, I said no.”
“So you caught me?”
I swung Yojo with all my strength, but Idrun blocked it easily. Using the recoil, I veered into another alley.
Catrianne was undeniably faster. But in tight corners, I had the advantage. In an open field, she’d win—but in the cramped streets of Divinum City, I could hold my own.
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