I Tried To Be Her Loyal Sword

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10 Chapter

‘The author is a swordsman before becoming a Sword Expert. The stage of a Sword Expert is typically determined when one can release their aura…

‘Aura is the power given to humans by nature, based on mana. Since mana is nature itself, it doesn’t inherently harm humans. However, those who reach a level of mastery embed their aura with their spirit, making it a supreme weapon of massacre…

‘When choosing a good sword, the criteria include the type of iron, origin, the skill of the blacksmith, the number of tempering processes, and whether it possesses magical properties, typically found in regions that supply quality steel.’

He was, to put it nicely, a person committed to his profession, and to put it harshly, a sword-obsessed lunatic.

He maintained the position of a taciturn captain but transformed into a chatterbox whenever a sword-related debate arose. That change of demeanor was funny and endearing, making him a popular male lead in ‘Night of the Fairies.’

I found that charming while reading, and I had developed some fondness for Rainer.

‘If I were to meet such a person as a Sword Master…’

“Excuse me, may I have a moment of conversation?”

The situation escalated.

Thud.

His footsteps halted just behind me. His voice, tinged with what felt like madness, made it hard to turn my body easily.

Rainer Ainheart, this sword-obsessed guy, never let go of anyone stronger than himself. That was the problem.

‘…It’s fine.’

If things went south, I could just hit and run. I worked hard to calm my mind.

Unless he had truly awakened as a Sword Master in the later stages, I was confident I could overpower him at his current Sword Expert level.

After a few deep breaths, I turned my body.

“What is it?”

I faced Rainer, who had moved up close. Our distance was hardly a hand’s breadth apart. I had to look up sharply to meet his eyes due to our height difference. I momentarily held my breath.

‘His hair, silver with chill like the moonlight in the midnight sky. His golden eyes gleamed lazily, resembling those of a top predator in the food chain. The predatory gaze pierced through me, presenting both intensity and a languid demeanor. A nonchalant expression.’

Rainer was, as befitting a male lead, absurdly handsome.

‘He’s on par with Didi.’

I narrowed my brows at the thought of Didi’s familiar face. Suddenly, the overwhelming beauty blurred my vision as it took a moment to regain focus.

“I happened to see your aura while passing by.”

Just as I expected, Rainer, starting the conversation about swords, had his eyes sparkling. His eyes, resembling those of a beast, gleamed with an almost manic excitement.

‘This guy was the type to obsess over keywords.’

I clearly remembered him being indifferent to everything but kind to my girl. Yet, his gaze was now seemingly unhinged.

“But…?”

I desperately suppressed the rising anxiety. Rainer’s eyes gleamed again.

They opened and closed repeatedly, and soon his lips curled up into a smirk. I was in awe of his suddenly blooming beauty, but my tension skyrocketed at the sight of his coral pink lips slowly parting.

“Are you perhaps the Mercenary King, Black Calamity Mir?”

‘Damn it…’

I let out a deep sigh. Once the mad sword geek laid his eyes on my aura, I knew I couldn’t hide anymore, but that realization gave me a splitting headache.

The original male lead knew who I was.

‘It’s probably because I’ve become too famous.’

I pressed my forehead with my palm. Those officially recognized as Sword Masters had received names attributed to the color of their aura. For the Caesar Crisis, it was ‘The Red Sword Demon,’ and for the Mercenary Mir, it was ‘The Black Calamity.’

I never intended to become so famous as “The Black Calamity Mir.”

‘What am I supposed to do? I just happened to work like a dog and became a Sword Master!’

Initiating my disguise as ‘Mir’ was simply to avoid being dismissed for being a young girl.

‘People often mistook me for a young man when I dressed up enough.’

Sure, my short stature was a problem, but by brushing off that concern, I quickly overcame any discussions, and the controversy died down.

I worked as a mercenary named Mir and wildly slashed through monsters. Before I realized it, I had become famous.

‘Seriously… thank you… If you hadn’t shown up, our village would have been turned to ruins by the monsters. I’m sorry and grateful that you came even though our token of thanks is minimal. Other mercenaries refused to come because we couldn’t offer enough rewards…’

‘Mir! Thank you for saving our village! I will definitely become someone like you when I grow up!’

‘Our village will always welcome you, Mir! Should you ever need help, don’t hesitate to look for us! I will sell our village’s treasures to help you!’

I gained fame for having reached the level of Sword Master, but more than that, I started earning a reputation by assisting poor villages too hazardous for ordinary mercenaries to visit.

‘…I couldn’t just leave them alone.’

I wasn’t oblivious to the suffering and poverty of obscure individuals; I thought they weren’t any of my concern. However, I had to see the destruction of impoverished villages invaded by monsters with my own eyes.

‘Aaaah! Save me!’

‘Mooom! Dadddy! Wake up!’

‘Mir! Please, please help us. If you don’t help us, our village will be finished!’

Children sobbing after losing their parents to monsters, and the pleas for assistance from those in need.

Having witnessed it firsthand, I couldn’t ignore their plight. I couldn’t turn my back. That was just weak—my inherent softness.

‘That said, I couldn’t just stop earning money.’

I wasn’t a hero. The most important thing for me was acquiring the fairy forest’s magical elixir.

So, I made a rule for myself. After earning some money, I would make a point to help those low-paying and perilous villages.

‘Then, at some point, they began calling me the Mercenary King…

I established myself as one of the Empire’s official Sword Masters and gained the moniker ‘The Black Calamity.’ People began to look up to me as a mysterious hero whose identity they couldn’t unravel.

‘Things were going well after gaining fame…

But then problems arose. Gossip-loving folks began tracking my identity.

‘It wouldn’t bother me if my identity were revealed, but if they capture Aria as my weakness…

I shuddered at the horrific thought.

While I didn’t do anything wrong, after becoming a Sword Master, I had previously turned down countless offers from various organizations pouring in like a waterfall. Joining an organization meant revealing my identity, and as a Sword Master, I had many enemies.

Because I had unceremoniously rejected their advances, I had quite a few who bore grudges against me.

‘Could Rainer also… hold a grudge against me?’

As far as I remember, there had never been an offer from the Ainheart family. I felt relieved, thinking Rainer wouldn’t hold any ill will toward me, but that relief was abruptly pierced by a fleeting memory.

‘I rejected offers from the Imperial Knights five times…

Rainer was the captain of the Royal Second Knights Order. He might harbor resentment toward me for turning down their invitation.

‘Of course, that character isn’t supposed to exist in the original story.

But indeed, since I didn’t know him well, I felt on edge. I cautiously eyed Rainer, only to see his eyes sparkling innocently without a hint of malice.

‘He seems devoid of any ulterior motives…’

“Will you believe me if I say I’m not Mir?”

“No.”

His firm answer came immediately. The golden eyes sparkling with interest left me with no choice but to grin in disbelief.

“By the way, how rude of you to ask questions without introducing yourself first.”

Setting aside everything else, the close range was too overwhelming. As I subtly stepped backward to point out the lack of manners, Rainer flinched slightly.

Though he was often depicted as a madman whenever swords were involved, Rainer was fundamentally a knight who respected decorum.

“…Captain of the Royal Second Knights Order, Rainer Ainheart. Please forgive my rudeness.”

The familiar introduction rolled off his tongue. He nodded slightly, then pointed to the collapsed Lewellin and the unconscious man.

“As the leaders of the Royal Knights, you can entrust the treatment of those two to us. Lady Lewellin Deckardo was in danger due to the assailant. I request severe punishment for the perpetrator and a gentle treatment for the victim.”

Rainer cast a peculiar look between them and me. I averted my gaze from his intense stare.

‘As much as I hope the original story doesn’t get tangled up, it seems I’ve disrupted the first meeting between Lewellin Deckardo and Rainer Ainheart.

If Lewellin doesn’t fall for Rainer, then the original will be in serious trouble.

‘Though Lewellin was there to capture me.’

If Rainer were there when she woke up, following the logic of the original, wouldn’t she fall for Rainer instead? That was what I thought.

‘There’s such a thing as the butterfly effect.

A butterfly’s wings might create a small breeze but could also stir up a storm.

‘I dislike the idea of Lewellin bothering Aria, but if all the events that may arise from that vanish…

Once a leash is slipped from a dog, it becomes impossible to catch it again; I feared that the future might veer in a direction I couldn’t control.

“Now, you should introduce yourself as well.”

I had been idly dragging the guy crammed in that corner while he looked away, yet Rainer showed no signs of leaving.

‘Kid. Just go already.’

“I’m Shushu.”

“No, you’re not.”

Once I mentioned the name I was pushing with as a pseudo, an immediate refutation came.

“That’s correct, though.”

‘What’re you gonna do if I say it’s true?’

I boldly held my head high. Rainer, his eyes sparkling with an odd hue, gazed at me fixedly.

“Aren’t you Mir?”

“I don’t know why you think that.”

‘This guy will never let me go if he figures out I’m Mir.’

My intuition screamed so. I needed to hurry to Aria, and Rainer had become an irritating obstacle.

“Your aura was black.”

Rainer retracted his grip on the iron pipe in hand. The iron pipe had turned pitch black as a result of absorbing aura.

“There are plenty of people with black auras.”

“They’re just on the black spectrum; the only one who uses a completely black aura is the Black Calamity Mir.”

Rainer easily countered my rebuttal. I fell silent.

‘That’s a fair point.’

Aura is a knight’s identity. Though it’s not an officially recognized theory, many don’t know it, but in ‘Night of the Fairies’, every knight’s aura differs subtly in color.

‘There are many black auras, but none are as dark as mine.’

I might boast of having encountered plenty of knights, yet I had never seen anyone with an aura as dark as mine.

The answer I had stumbled upon when I hit my limit was that dark.

“…What do you want?”

Since Rainer already had certainty about my identity, dragging this out would only waste time. I gave up my rebuttal and sharply inquired. His eyes shimmered with an unusual brilliance.

His expression remained distinctly stoic, yet his eyes sparkled like a child meeting a hero.

“I want to know who you are.”

‘You already know who it is.’

I frowned slightly, expressing my annoyance.

“I’m the Mercenary Mir. Are you satisfied now?”

“Not that.”

Rainer stepped forward. His eyes, filled with excitement, drew a slow smile that crinkled at the corners.

‘Wasn’t he supposed to be a cold-blooded knight who never smiled at anyone other than Aria?’

His radiant smile was so overwhelmingly sweet that it made the filthy alleyway feel like a paradise serenaded by cherubic trumpeters.

While still reeling from a defeat in the quest for a precious memory, his lips parted slowly.

“I want to know Mir’s real name.”

His voice was sweet, like honey, bubbling with charm. The low and gentle tone tickled my ear, paving the way for only one thought.

‘Why is this guy acting like this?’