

HIATUS

 

Chapter 3 : The Sword of the Empire

I was sitting in the carriage thinking about what to do.

Now that I have exited myself, Duchess Vaveloa will pursue the marriage between Lenox and Sheria with great success.

But you never know. The Duchess may try to get rid of me completely.

‘Hm. It’s a possibility.’

I nodded, remembering what she had done to Meldenique.

So before opening the stationery store, it was necessary to select the best escort immediately.

So the first thing I chose to do, in order to avoid death, was to meet Dominique, the sword of the Empire who was called a hero.

Inside the somewhat rattling carriage, I specifically recalled the hero, Dominique, the sword.

Dominique, a boy who saved the Empire at the age of seventeen.

A long time ago, heroic and epic stories about him covered the whole Empire.

About a thousand years ago, Demons exiled from the divine world tried to summon the devil to conquer the human race, and as a result, the imperial system was in turmoil.

Then a young knight suddenly appeared on the battlefield.

He found a way to seal the demons at his own expense, which was to seal them with his magic sword and so the Empire regained peace through Dominic’s sacrifice.

Of course, Dominique had to survive a thousand years in the sword. Looking forward to having someone summon him and to release the seal that held him in.

‘In the original work, Lenox got more praise than Dominique.’

The great hero was summoned from the old sword, and when he was crowned Emperor, it was almost unseemly treason.

So much so, that Dominique was a powerful and symbolic figure.

If I let it be, it would be a chance for Dominique to become a true hero and guardian of the Empire….

‘But now, that Dominique is mine.’

I hummed.

‘If you summon Dominique, who was the strongest knight in the Empire, I won’t die so easily by Hildegart.‘

It’s none of my business whether the glorious future of an infidelity disappears or not.

I have to survive first, don’t I?

Meanwhile, my carriage finally reached the slums.

I grinned inwardly as I saw the space filled with a chilly atmosphere.

Then I tapped on the window of the carriage.’

“I’ll get off here.”

“What?”

When I said ‘I’ll get off here,’ the coachman stopped the carriage, but he seemed flustered.

Standing in front of the window of the carriage, leaving the horse unattended, he whispered with a restless face.

“Lady, do you really want to get off here?”

“Yes.”

“However this is the most humble cemetery, even in the slums……”

It surely was not a place for aristocratic spirits to stop by in the middle of the night. But I grinned at him and looked out the window of the carriage.

A chill that sticks to your cheek, and even weeds that mess up your dress.

“I came perfectly.”

“What?”

This was a cemetery in the slums that had been abandoned due to the famous rumors of ghosts appearing and if my memory is correct, there will be a big mausoleum with the name ‘Dominic’ in front of the tombstone.

“I know.”

I gave the horseman a chic answer and got off the carriage.

I gave the coachman a wink as if I were great.

“I-It’s already dinner, so…… g-g-ghosts might appear. B-Be careful.”

The coachman got worried again as he drove back.

Seeing the back of the fast-moving carriage, I lifted up my light load on my shoulder.

‘I died and possessed this body, there’s no way I’m afraid of ghosts.’

I’m a ghost too.

I walked into the cemetery with my luggage in both hands.

Every step of the way, a chill permeated my dress. However, I already died, so the cold was not a big deal.

I enjoyed this gruesome situation and took a leisurely look around.

‘Where are you, Hero Dominique?’

No one would have thought that the sword that sealed the hero was stuck in the cemetery.

Perhaps that’s why in the original version, Dominique’s contract, Lenox, also discovered the sword late.

‘Even after the discovery, it took a long time to summon the sword.’

People think that great things should be gained with difficulty. However, sometimes the easiest and simplest solution was the most deliberate solution.

In fact, there was nothing much to do with summoning Dominique for a contract.

‘To summon Dominique from the sword, just pull the sword out.’

You just had to pull the sword out, but Lenox wandered for a long time after learning its location because he didn’t know how to summon Dominique in it.

I, who briefly mourned him in the original, walked through a cold cemetery with no one else in it.

By the time my fingertips got cold and a few laps, I was finally able to stand in front of the biggest tombstone.

‘I found it’

A moss-covered sword was placed in front of the tombstone.

I didn’t care about the moss, so I put my hand on the handle of the sword. Perhaps because of my mood, it felt like there was a mysterious force on my hand.

And I pulled the sword at once without much thought. I had a slight sore wrist, but it was eventually pulled straight out of the black ground.

Before I knew it, a white light began to dominate my vision.

The light that dominated my field of vision turned white in front of my eyes because I couldn’t see anything. I closed my eyes tightly and then opened them again. In front of the tombstone, without a sound, there was a young man who was taller than me.

‘Was the summon successful?’

I handed him the sword I was holding in my hand.

He took up the sword with a displeased face. The sword disappeared from his hand as if it had been weathered.

“Who are you?”

Listening to his half-locked voice, I was convinced that the summon was successful.

What was in front of me was the appearance of Dominique depicted in the novel.

A handsome man with black hair and blue jewels. He was a young man with a very high nose and soft hair, but he also looked rebellious at first glance because of his stern eyes.

‘Exactly like how the original described him.’

Confident that the man in front of me was Dominique, I opened my mouth.

“I’m Meldenique Vaveloa, Mel for short. You’re Dominique, called the Sword of Heroes, right? The great hero who sealed the devil.”

His expression, which seemed interesting at first glance,had cooled down.

“So you know me. You called me for something you want, Mel.”

“Make a contract with me.”

But as soon as Dominique heard the word contract, he lost interest and sat down in front of the large tombstone.

“A contract…… It’s so obvious and boring. You’re obvious too. You’ll try to use me to satisfy your self-interest.”

Dominique was unexpectedly cynical.

I shrugged at him and spoke.

“You’re right.”

“……you’re admitting it right away like this?”

“Yeah.”

Because he’s right that I’m trying to satisfy my self-interests.

Dominique looked up at me with a puzzled look.

“……fine. What’s your wish? I’ll decide whether to make the contract or not.”

Dominique spoke with a puzzled look.

“Protect my life.”

I answered quickly as if I had waited. Protect me from Hildegardt!

“……of course I’ll risk my life to protect the contracted person. Other than that? What can I give you?”

That was all of my terms and conditions.

“Other than that……”

I tilted my head.

What else do I need?

“Nothing really.”

“……nothing really? Why? You said you were going to satisfy your self-interest.”

He seemed speechless.

It’s no wonder. So far, most of the people who wanted to make a contract with him wanted to conquer the entire continent but I want to live a quiet life.

“Yeah. That’s why I asked you to protect me, you know?”

He asked, looking at me with a puzzled look.

“What’s with you? You want me to protect you? From who? Is it that you can’t tell me you want to conquer the Empire?”

“No, I don’t need an Empire.”

He looked at me with a glare in his eyes at my decisive answer.

“T-then, what do you want?”

I suddenly thought I had something I wanted.

Come to think of it, there is something I did want.

“In fact, I am rather ambitious.”

He laughed cynically as if he knew.

Looking down at Dominique, I delivered what I told my maid earlier.

“I’m going to run a stationery store in front of the Academy. Please be the escort who will protect me at my stationery store.”

A really strong escort.

I smiled with a twinkle.

The boy, who was staring at my smile, soon nodded vigorously.

“A stationery store……? Ah, I see now.”

Oh, as expected. Is it because you’ve lived a long life as a sword, you know what a stationary store is?

I looked at him with glistening eyes of hope.

“I guess you're going to call a newly built Empire a ‘Stationery Store.’ You have a good sense of naming. Do you have any other name?”

What is he talking about?

You’ve been stuck in a sword for so long you’ve gone crazy. I want to be a stationery store owner, not an Emperor!

Of course, my dream is to be a stationery store owner who will command children from all over the continent.

However, Dominique had a force-oriented ability, so except for basic magic, he had zero points in the sales category.

So even if I make a wish to become God, I won’t be able to achieve it through Dominic.

All I want from his one thing: to save my life!

I answered him with a bright smile.

“A stationery store is like a grocery store. What’s different from a grocery store is that it sells food for children, school supplies for children, and miscellaneous goods. Sounds fun, right?”

“Fun?”

“Yeah.”

I nodded vigorously at him.

“It’s a very easy job for you and you’ve always wanted to get away from the sword.”

The sword of heroes, Dominique’s dream was to escape the sword and there was only one condition that let Dominique escape from the sword.

To grant a contractor’s wish perfectly.

“I know that if you grant the contractor’s wish perfectly, you can get out of the sword and live as a real human being.”

Dominique asked back with a frown.

“How do you know that?”

……this sword, he’s sharp?

But I can’t say that I read it in the original novel.

I made up my mind to change the subject quickly.