Volume 6 Chapter 90-2 Everyone Has a History
The two of them, smiling, spoke of how they had known each other over 20 years ago when Alan was an adventurer.
"You mean to tell me you don't know of the great Grey? He's well-known enough to be summoned here. I thought you were familiar with him,"
Lionel asked with a raised brow. Cedric turned to Lucian, who simply shook his head.
"It can't be helped, I suppose. I had the former Grand Duke──His Excellency──and the Guild wipe all my records. I hate unnecessary complications."
Alan sighed. Lionel burst into a hearty laugh. "Typical of you, Alan."
"Well, allow me to enlighten you then. An adventurer named Grey. Ever heard the name?"
Lionel glanced back, and Lucian muttered, "Grey... 20 years ago, in the Empire's..." His eyes widened as if he had just realized something.
"You've caught on. The adventurer Grey. He was the hero who drove a dragon back to the northeastern part of the Empire with a single sword. His exploits and his god-like swordsmanship earned him a nickname──"
"Sword Saint..."
Lionel nodded, "──Indeed."
"[Sword Saint] Grey. That was his name in the past."
Lionel said with a grin. Gripping his halberd, Lionel laughed and declared that he was one of the witnesses who had seen Alan's heroics firsthand.
"Would you believe it? To cross blades with my old friend, the [Sword Saint], in a foreign land..."
Lionel chuckled, while Alan placed his hand on the hilt of his sword and sighed. "That's a name I've left behind."
"That day... The day I sold my sword, I truly became Alan Victor, nothing more than a Viscount."
Alan gave a small smile, then subtly lowered his gaze.
"It's a sorry tale, Lionel... Since then, I've decided to use these hands to nurture life, not take it..."
As Alan let out a soft sigh, the gravity in the room seemed to intensify, the pressure almost overwhelming everyone present.
"...Wha── This is..."
Even Cedric and Miranda had never felt such pressure.
When he realized it was coming from Alan, Cedric finally understood.
It wasn't that he felt nothing.
It was that he was enveloped in a calm so vast, it was imperceptible.
It's only natural that they can't grasp strength.
After all, who can truly fathom the vastness of the earth beneath their feet?
"This is... the man that Sir Randolph, Lord Walker, and Lucas the former prince have been pursuing──"
Cedric was dizzy from the absurd presence emanating from Alan.
Of course, it wasn't just Cedric.
Only Lionel could stand true and tall before this unconventional pressure, this aura of the sword.
"It's far easier to take a life than to nurture one... How pitiful my own weakness is."
Left hand on the hilt... yet, the aura Alan emitted made everyone but Lionel feel like they were about to be crushed.
"But... to protect the children's future, I shall once again take up my sword to take lives."
The left hand that was on the hilt now gripped the sheath, and his thumb hooked over the pommel.
"Can you finally taste my sincerity?!"
Lionel looked delighted as Alan let out a derisive "Hmph."
"Your sword is different from back then, isn't it? Can it even be called your true strength?"
"You can joke around, but if you've reached enlightenment with a single sword, you must have grasped the principles of that blade as well."
Lionel flashed a fierce grin, "That's why I brought this."
"...I thought you might let your guard down."
"You release such a sword aura and then I make light of it? No way."
Lionel's smile never faded, yet cold sweat traced his cheek.
"And your son..."
Alan took a step forward, muttering.
"...is foolishly chasing after you. As a parent, you must keep showing him your back, right?"
Lionel laughed, "Hah, hahaha," at the smiling Alan.
"Fascinating! The reason you've grown stronger since that day is very you!"
In response to Lionel's gathering strength, his body was enveloped in a pure white fighting spirit.
"The irritation of not surpassing you, of being called the strongest... today, that ends!"
"You want the title of the strongest? Fine, I'll grant it. But this fight... I won't lose."
The two fierce grins faded as they slowly lowered themselves into a crouch.
A gust of wind swept past, and their feet exploded in a burst, the impossible impact rippling through everyone present──
The sun-eclipsed moon still cast a dark shadow over the battlefield.
Alan Victor──or rather, Alan Grey.
After a well-placed kick to a nobleman who had designs on a noble's daughter, he had the Grand Duke cover his compensation.
Thanks to his scheme, he crossed over to the Empire as an adventurer.
There, the man who drove back the dragon and was even called the [Sword Saint], returned triumphantly to the dukedom with a massive reward and a certain technology in hand.
He used that reward to repay the Grand Duke and, with the improved wheat breed granted by the Empire, boosted the dukedom's grain harvest.
For his achievements, he was granted the title of Baron for a generation and married his childhood friend, Grace Victor, whom he had long cherished.
In the official history, he would then turn his focus to agriculture and never again wield the sword he had retired.
Yet, despite warnings from Eleonora, he continued to forestall the dukedom's encroachment with a blade technique that left no room for doubt, truly a hero of the shadows he was.
But this hero of the shadows, in this world, kept his sword due to Randy's relentless pursuit from behind at breakneck speed.
...For he was the son who, since his youth, had been called a mountain hermit, immersed himself in the Beast Forest, formed an [expedition team], transformed Alan's friends' sons into berserkers, and at the age of ten, delivered a drop kick to a high noble.
Alan thought to himself.
"This kid... he's no ordinary talent," he mused.
He needs someone to rein him in, he concluded.
From then on, he worked harder than ever.
Harder than his days as an adventurer.
And thus was born the ultimate father, ALAN VICTOR.
Because he was closest to the singularity named Randy, the one most driven to evolve, Alan Victor.
Because of the Singularity, evolution began.
And that evolution, in turn, poked the Singularity even harder.
So began a terrifying chain reaction──one that all traced back, perhaps fatefully, to a single man.
He was the trigger, the root of it all.
Now, as if the gods themselves were playing dice, history's blank slate found him yet again, a sword in his hand.
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