The Swordsman Genius Returnee Even Swallows Immortality

22

While Arthur looked gloomy.

Havell looked back at the old butler.

“Butler, what is the relationship between Sir Arthur and this Levy person?”

Judging by Arthur’s reaction, they seemed pretty close.

He wondered why he was being treated like this.

“They are old friends. The Mayrin family and the Banpelians have always been close.”

Close with Mayrin.

Habell was a little puzzled.

It wasn’t like that when he was around.

“Long ago, after the Sword Saint failed to return from the Demon Palace, the Mayrin family’s daughter helped the Lord of the time a great deal.”

The old butler added that the connection had continued since then.

‘If it’s a daughter, then maybe…’

Was it the Mayrin family’s daughter who had been following him around?

Habell briefly touched the back of his head as if he were embarrassed.

He had never once accepted her advances.

She must have helped his sister while he was away.

He had unknowingly begun a debt.

“Anyway, you’re saying they’re friends?”

“Yes, that’s right. And they’re very close at that.”

The old butler looked back at the depressed Arthur.

“And I think I know why Lady Levy is acting like this.”

“Do you know the reason?”

“Yes, Your Grace doesn’t seem to have noticed, but Lady Levy seemed to have feelings for you.”

The two were barely in their teens.

Of course, the old butler would have seen their puppy love.

‘Do the Mayrin family’s daughters have a thing for Banpelians?’

He couldn’t help but feel a sense of irony as he thought about the past.

“But Your Grace is a little oblivious.”

However, the old butler looked at Arthur with pity.

Looking at that, I roughly understood the situation.

“…Looks like the daughter named Levy got dumped or something.”

“I think that’s probably it.”

Habel also roughly grasped the situation.

To think of it, his younger sister, Aria, was also rather oblivious.

That part was probably passed down the bloodline, so Arthur would be the same.

“What should we do?”

Dante asked Habel.

We needed a torchbearer to go to the 5th hierarchy.

We couldn’t go back empty-handed like this.

“We figure out the cause and solve it.”

Habel approached Arthur.

At the end of the day, it’s just a kid’s romance.

If he got dumped, we just had to let him go.

“Sir Arthur, Miss Levy didn’t keep her promise, is there anything you can think of?”

“Uuuuuum.”

Arthur groaned at Habel’s question.

It seemed like he didn’t have any idea, judging by his reaction.

“Even what you last talked about is fine.”

“Last?”

Arthur fell into deep thought for a long time.

Then, he suddenly raised his head.

“Come to think of it…”

His expression suggested he remembered something.

“…But is that right?”

But his reaction lacked certainty.

Habel had a feeling that it was definitely that.

“Tell me what it is first.”

“Well, you see. I once jokingly said that if I can’t revive Banpelion, I’ll become a son-in-law to the Mayerin family.”

Arthur made an ambiguous expression.

“Levy heard that and boldly said that she’d feed me then. So we made a promise.”

Arthur made a gloomy expression.

“That’s it.”

Habel was certain that Arthur had said the correct answer.

“But that was definitely a joke.”

To think that he would take it seriously when I was just trying to beat around the bush because I was embarrassed.

Habel sighed at Arthur’s expression.

‘And somehow, Arthur broke that engagement promise.’

Ironically, the culprit who broke the promise was Habel.

Banpelion is a trending family right now.

It’s obvious to everyone that he’s clearly getting back on his feet again.

Levi realized that his promise with Aslan couldn’t be fulfilled, and he was depressed.

Habell stood with his arms crossed for a moment.

Then he looked back at Aslan.

“Just go back and tell her you want to see her again.”

“Huh, but she just said she didn’t want to see me a little while ago.”

“If you tell her you want to see her again, she’ll see you.”

Even the old butler nodded his head in agreement.

Both of them had noticed that it was just a tantrum that he had just thrown.

Aslan eventually gave in to the old butler and Habell and went back to the inn where Aslan was staying.

“Come in.”

After a while, the attendant came in and gave permission to enter.

As Aslan was about to walk in with a bright face, Habell grabbed his shoulder.

“Aslan-nim.”

“Yeah?”

“Don’t go in there and start talking about the lantern right away.”

Judging by Aslan’s personality, he’d probably start talking about the main topic right away.

“Talk about recent events first. Say that you really wanted to tell Lady Levi.”

Aslan didn’t understand very well, but he nodded and said he would.

“That’ll do.”

They wouldn’t expect much over there anyway.

Aslan entered the inn with Habell’s advice in mind.

Habell gave a wry smile as he watched him go.

For some reason, he felt like he was giving relationship advice to his distant child.

“My advice wasn’t very helpful because Master Aslan didn’t understand it very well. Thank you, Habell-nim.”

The old butler thanked him.

After all, there was a limit to how much advice he could give as a butler.

Habell understood that too.

“Will this really solve anything?”

Dante, the person in question, responded as if he didn’t understand the situation at all.

That was because he was in the same grade as Aslan.

One of them was only interested in raising and establishing his family, and the other was only interested in training his sword.

‘I’m not much different, though.’

He had lived long enough to see what was going on.

“It’ll be resolved soon.”

As Habell added that, Aslan came out a little later.

Aslan was holding a round bottle.

Inside it was none other than a lantern bug.

The green lantern bug was wriggling around as if it were alive.

“Well, that went well.”

Dante wore a dazed expression.

Arthur’s was the same.

“Why isn’t Levi angry?”

Arthur looked at Habell with respect.

“His Highness has already retired to his room.”

Habell clicked his tongue at the butler’s remark.

He figured Levi must be feeling a little sick.

“Dante, take this.”

“Yes, Your Highness. You’ve worked hard.”

Dante took the candle from Arthur.

With that, the groundwork was complete.

Now, all that remained was to climb the 5th stage.

“Let’s go at once.”

“Yes, Your Highness, we’ll take our leave.”

Dante bowed his head.

“Arthur!”

At that moment, the window of the inn suddenly opened with a crash.

There, a girl with curly emerald hair stood.

She looked down at Arthur and admired, her eyes narrowed.

“If you restore Banpelion, you absolutely have to keep your promise to marry me!”

Her voice echoed loudly.

Her bold declaration in front of everyone was admirable.

Habell, Dante, and the butler all looked at Arthur.

Arthur scratched the back of his neck, looking embarrassed.

“That’s right.”

I thought it was a long shot, but surprisingly, he came through when it was counted.

“My Lord Arthur, you’ve grown up.”

The butler wiped away a tear.

Meanwhile, Levi slammed the window shut.

She seemed embarrassed too.

Habell looked at her and recalled the daughter of the Mayrin family.

‘They act exactly the same.’

I guess blood will tell.

100 years have passed.

In a way, you could say she achieved her goal.

‘Wow, that was a long-term, long-term goal.’

A chuckle escaped Habell as he turned away.

It’s been a while since he’d reminisced about old times.

* * *

5th Hierarchy, the Dark Zone.

Habell and Dante finally entered the 51st floor of the middle floor.

As soon as they entered, all they could see was pitch-black darkness.

As the name, the Dark Zone, suggests, it was a place where you couldn’t see an inch in front of you.

The darkness that filled the place was the primal fear of humans.

“I’ll use the lantern.”

Dante took out a lantern in a glass bottle.

Then, the lantern slowly floated up above the Dark Zone.

The lantern swallowed some of the darkness as its flame flickered.

Accordingly, some of the darkness disappeared.

Thanks to that, they could finally start to see the floor.

It wasn’t enough to dispel all the darkness.

However, it was enough to dispel some of the darkness around them.

“I heard that the Dark Zone is like a huge maze.”

“I guess the key is finding our way.”

“Yes, but fortunately, it’s been cleared before, so we have a map up to the 55th floor.”

However, the map becomes useless from the 55th hierarchy.

That’s because the path changes on its own every day.

From that point on, they would have to rely solely on their instincts to move.

“Hmm.”

Habell looked at the Dark Zone after hearing those words.

‘If I put it to my mind, I think I could blow away even the dawn.’

Dante’s training was also necessary.

He hadn’t been able to train Dante properly on the previous floor.

‘Maybe I should hold back this time.’

Dante’s training was just as necessary as climbing the tower.

‘If we continue like this…’

Dante wouldn’t even be able to follow him anymore.

The higher they climbed, the stronger the tower’s pressure became.

Squirm.

The evil energy within Habell’s body also reacted more strongly with each passing day.

As if it were resisting the tower.

Would Dante be able to stay by Habell’s side under such circumstances?

Habell shook his head.

The tower’s trials, which grew stronger with each passing day, were too much for the current Dante to handle.

‘I think it’s about time I got some elixir.’

If he gave him the elixir, Dante would be able to get stronger more easily.

‘I wonder what modern alchemy is like.’

He thought he should look into it after they finished this floor.

The next moment, Habell felt a suspicious presence and turned his gaze back.

“Mr. Habell?”

Dante, who was walking while looking at the map with the lamplighter, looked back at Habell.

It was because he had stopped walking.

“Is it a bad omen?”

Dante immediately puts his hand on his sword, and Habell makes a sullen expression.

“It’s a person.”

Even though he said it was a person, Dante didn’t take his hand off his sword.

The tower is a place far from the law.

In other words, it is a place where accidents happen every day.

There are rules among climbers, but they are only unwritten rules.

There are those who don’t follow them.

So, robberies often occur in the tower.

It is very easy for the upper climbers to rob the beginner climbers.

And the dark zone was the perfect place for such robbers to operate.

Thanks to that, there was actually a criminal group hiding in the dark zone.

They couldn’t survive outside because of their criminal records.

However, there was a criminal group made up of those who were excellent in terms of ability.

The name of that group was Gehenna.

It was a criminal group that even the knights of the Five Great Families could not catch due to their hierarchical nature.

“Is it Gehenna?”

Gehenna’s specialty is robbing climbers.

So when Dante asked with a nervous expression, Habell shook his head.

“No, it’s different.”

Soon, people appeared with several lamplighters.

They were quite a large group, and they widened their eyes when they saw Dante and Habell.

“We found you! I knew it!”

Dante’s eyes were filled with doubt.

It was because they were unusually happy.

“Lord Dante and Lord Habell, am I right?”

“Yes, that’s right.”

When Dante answered instead of Habell, they quickly bowed their heads.

“Please accept us into Panpelion!”

And a completely unexpected word came out of their mouths.