Tale Of A Knight

There hasn"t been a Sword Saint since the Demon Invasion; he chose to sacrifice his life, allowing the injured soldiers to flee. But no matter how strong he was, he was soon overwhelmed by the sheer number of demons, and in the end died due to mana overexertion.

That man"s name was Aristan Leonhard, twin brother of the current patriarch of Aristan Family, and father of Aristan Leon.

Following in the footsteps of his father, Aristan Leon strived to become a man worthy of wielding the Sword of the Sword Saint, but the family rule dictated that only the strongest in the Aristan family is allowed to wield it.

When he was young, he personally witnessed the talent of his cousin, Aristan Jansulu, the gap between their abilities was enormous, almost like the distance between the low ground and the mountain top. Not willing to give up, he persisted in training himself.

To that end, he strived to exceed Jansulu to no avail. When she joined the Holy Swords and became the 5th seat by a process of duel, he only managed to become the 10th seat, the weakest member of the Holy Swords.

Any human being can become a member of Holy Swords, a group constructed long time ago to protect the kingdom, the elite group which many warriors and knights wanted to be part of. Just being a member meant the person exceeded the humanity, they were the peak of what meant to be strong.

However, there is one who is above them all, the one called the Sword Lord. Unlike the Sword Saint who lost his life during the Demon Invasion, Sword Lord single-handedly drove off the demons and led them to victory.

The order of the Sword Lord, not much is known about it, other than the fact that it has been active for more than several hundred years. There is only one Sword Lord, who pa.s.ses his mantle down to a single worthy successor who continues on the legacy of the Sword Lord.

It is a miracle the Order of Sword Lord survived until this age, but it sure means that it is a matter of quality of quality over quant.i.ty. Aristan family"s long time goal was to raise someone who could become or potentially surpa.s.s the Sword Lord, but currently no member managed to do so, yet.

Aristan Leon knew that with his current strength he stood no chance against Sword Lord, that man, he is on a completely different level. To make the matters worse, his path to becoming Sword Saint was completely blocked by none other than his cousin, Jansulu.

Although she was only younger than him by a year, her talent was at least several times higher than his own. This he was finally forced to accept after challenging her to a duel countless times. Not a single win, not even after challenging her almost every day for the last several years.

He could only hope that the talent that lies inside him would bloom one day, allowing him to exceed Jansulu.

One day, he heard a rumor that Jansulu was defeated in a combat.

The family tradition upheld that members had to be challenged in combat when they reach the marriageable age, and the one who defeats them shall become their spouse. Such is the policy of Aristan family, whose goal was to have heirs who are stronger than the generation before, that was one of the reasons Jansulu is as powerful as she is today, many of her ancestors married strong, thus producing strong children. Such was the case for Jansulu"s father, who married a woman who managed to defeat him in a single combat.

As for, Leon, his father did not marry a strong woman, going against the family tradition, he married for love, resulting in birth of Leon. But his mother did not survive the childbirth, leaving him to be raised by his father for the nine years of his early life, but then his father went to war and never came back.

Ever since then, he has been raised by his grandfather, the former Sword Saint before his father. The reason that Jansulu"s father did not become the Sword Saint, despite being twin brother of Leonhard, was because he had next to no talent with the sword. It is not an unusual phenomenon, when twins are born; one tends to inherit all the talent while the other one is left with leftovers.

That might be the reason why no matter how much he trained; Jansulu"s father never reached the level of Leonhard, which is why he chose to follow the family tradition, thus marrying the woman who defeated him in combat.

Marrying after a defeat during a combat might be normal, at least by Aristan family"s standards, but Leon couldn"t believe that Jansulu, of all people, could be defeated in a single one-on-one combat. According to his grandfather, she has more talent that any Sword Saint before her, even potentially exceeding Leonhard, his honorable father.

She was the hurdle he had to overcome, the peak he needed to reach, and the mountain he had to topple. Defeating her meant everything to him. However, to her, he was a mere fly.

It must have been a fluke, none can defeat her, she is too powerful, if anyone has a chance of surpa.s.sing the Sword Lord, it"s her!

Stupidly enough, after announcing her defeat, Jansulu went on a quest to find her fiancée which lasted a couple of month. Leon heard that she has been annihilating any monsters or enemies that came in her way, even managing to kill a centaur chieftain, most likely because it annoyed her. Leon couldn"t help but shudder.

And today, she came back, with an unusually happy expression on her face.

"What makes you so cheerful? Finally managed to find a sword that wouldn"t break so easily?" Leon asked, Jansulu was infamous with the blacksmith for the amount of swords she has broken, which numbered in the low hundreds. While Aristan family can afford the price of swords, the blacksmith started to worry that his hands might not be able to handle her nearly constant need for a replacement sword.

Leon could clearly remember blacksmith screaming "Give me a break!" after Jansulu ended up turning his best sword into sc.r.a.p metal within less than a day.

Maybe the blacksmith finally managed to make a weapon that can handle this monster.

"No, the sword is still intact, though maybe bent just a little. But I have finally found the one I am looking for…" she looked out the window with an expression that resembled a love-sick schoolgirl. "Now, I even know his name."

"What are you talking about?" Leon cautiously asked, fearing the worst.

"My fiancée, of course."

"You mean, you actually found him?! He is not a figment of your imagination?"

"How rude! Did you think I was lying when I told you he defeated me?"

"Bu-bu-but, that means he is…."

"I know! He is so much stronger than me! And to think he has been so close all this time! I searched him in nearly every corner of the kingdom, but then I find him here, the place where I met him originally! This must be fate."

Leon couldn"t conceal the ire he felt in his heart. He was well aware that he was the weakest of the Holy Swords, but in time he knew he could overcome them, but Jansulu, she had the potential to rise higher than anyone else. She was his rival, his goal; his dream was to surpa.s.s her. That was his life"s goal, and to think someone managed to accomplish what he could not, even after trying countless time, in a single try…Leon didn"t know what to think.

"What is his name and occupation?" Leon asked, now his eyes looking murderous, but Jansulu in her cheerful demeanor did not notice.

"His name is Bakit, he works as Sala"s errand boy."

Bakit, huh, this man might be another hurdle for Leon to overcome.

He honestly did not believe that Bakit defeated Jansulu, no, that was impossible. In order to quench the flame in his soul, he had to confront this Bakit person and challenge him to a duel. He will prove that there is no way Bakit could have defeated Jansulu before he did, achieving a victory that eluded him for so many years…

"Bakit…There is no way I am letting you become my brother in law!" Leon shouted out as soon as Jansulu was out of ears reach.