There were three moments Bella could never forget in her entire life.
The first moment.
The moment Sword King Barad defied everyone’s expectations and raised her, when she was only eighteen years old, to the position of deputy knight commander.
Cries spread from every corner that someone still young, and nothing more than a woman, could not command the knight order, but Sword King Barad ended it with a single statement.
“Face Bella and defeat her. If you win, I’ll make you deputy knight commander.”
The second moment.
On the day Bella, afflicted with a rare disease, was dying, a man came to her.
His name was Hyun.
He brought Saintess Aria with him and gave Bella new life.
That day, she saw a second sun.
The final moment.
Bella felt a sense of self-loathing.
Why? I work harder than Sir Luxiu and train harder than Sir Akao, so why......!
Why could she not grow?
She looked at her own thin frame.
She knew that even when she trained for the same length of time, muscle did not build onto her body.
It was an inborn nature that could not be defied.
Before that wall, she sank deeper and deeper into despair.
She knew.
Now that her growth had stagnated.
She would be pushed back further and further. She struggled to find a way somehow.
But she could not find one, and with those below her rising up, she made a decision and went to Hyunsoo.
“I believe the position of Deputy Commander should be bestowed upon Sir Borne.”
“......Why?”
“My growth has stagnated, and I believe I will be unable to grow further in the future. In contrast, if Sir Borne, who has abundant battlefield experience and is a master of horsemanship, takes the post, I believe you will gain a much stronger nation of Hyun.”
“.......”
Bella always did her utmost for the nation and for Hyun.
Rather than stubbornly clinging to the post, this would give the troops a better system.
Hyunsoo asked,
“What do you mean, your growth has stagnated?”
Hyunsoo had also sensed that her growth had stagnated.
She already climbed to a place others could never reach at her age, though.
It was a side effect.
Because she had grown too suddenly when she was young, she now felt as though she was slow.
“Because I am a woman.”
Hyunsoo also faced that truth.
Just looking at her stat window, her Strength and Stamina stats fell far short of Luxiu, Borne, Akao, and the others.
What surpassed them was her Agility and her skills, and there was clearly a limit to how much those could compensate.
“Inborn nature cannot be changed, so please grant your approval.”
Bella smiled brightly.
She was saying she was fine, so he should choose the method that was best for the nation.
If that was the right path, he should do exactly that.
To her words, spoken with a radiant smile like a spring flower, Hyunsoo answered,
“No.”
“......Eh? Why?”
Bella could not understand, and Hyunsoo smiled faintly.
“I am a Monarch.”
“.......”
It was a fact she knew better than anyone, and he was not saying it out of overconfidence.
There were things he had seen through the eyes of a Monarch.
“Soldiers who say they want to become like you are volunteering to train. Boys and girls in the streets shout, ‘Bella’s swordsmanship!’ while playing with swords. Children at the Academy dream of becoming like Lady Bella. And the nation of Hyun’s Commander Luxiu says this.”
“.......”
“I want to rest from training, but I cannot. A monster named Bella is chasing me.”
Hyunsoo’s gaze swept over the nation of Hyun beyond the forge.
“And Akao, who is already a legend, goes out to sea even one more time because of you. The knights who followed you in Goyad grow stronger to protect you. The people, who feared every day, see you going into the forest alone and training every day, and they think, Ah, Lady Bella will protect us. You are the idol of the nation of Hyun, its guide, and the pillar of its people. That is why. Because I am a Monarch, I reject your proposal.”
Her head dropped low, and tears flowed.
“But inborn nature cannot be defied.......”
That was why it was even more despairing.
Because she knew she would disappoint them.
Because she knew their idol would now change into someone else.
Then Hyunsoo’s voice pierced into her.
“Your inborn nature is that of a knight.”
Those words gave her a tremendous resonance.
Leaving aside physical discomfort.
Leaving aside what she had been born naturally good at.
She had been born as a knight and had lived as a knight.
And the inborn nature Hyunsoo saw in her was not biological.
Her inborn nature was that of a knight.
As he smiled, Bella said,
“Please help me, Your Majesty.......”
Those were harder for her to say than anything else.
Hyunsoo, who had somehow begun to fully embody the presence of a Monarch, entered the forge and said,
“I’ll accept the commission.”
Then he said,
“I already understand you, and I know what you lack.”
Hyunsoo knew how difficult it had been for her to say those words.
And though she did not know it, through things such as a vassal’s “status window,” he had observed what she lacked.
As a Monarch.
[You access the auction house.]
He spent his own money to purchase minerals, studied them, and stoked the forge’s fire.
Ruuuuumble—
Bella watched him fail over and over for more than ten days.
Claaang! Claaang! Claaang!
Even after hundreds upon hundreds of hammer strikes, he did not tire.
Hissssss—
When he was quenching it in water and shaping its form, he decided he did not like it and put it back into the furnace, still calm.
And also.
Seeing him standing with both arms crossed, lost in thought, Bella smiled, wondering when her lord had grown so much.
[You sink into an extreme state of selflessness.]
[You sink into an extreme state of selflessness.]
But making someone “unable to grow” grow was not easy.
He sank deeply into focus, only to realize, “This isn’t it,” and wake from it.
“It’s been a long time since I saw His Majesty so passionate like that.......”
“Wow.......”
“How deeply focused is he?”
“.......”
Listening to the blacksmiths’ words, Bella felt his heart.
And also.
“To be able to focus that intensely and create for someone else is rare for a blacksmith. Because Hyunsoo cherishes you, he will create the most perfect artifact.”
Takashi’s assurance made her heart pound.
She, too, had wanted it.
An artifact made only for her.
Even if it could not be as great as the Twin Dragon Sword.
Even if it could not be as powerful as Throne Sword.
Even if it could not be as special as Full Bloom.
She had wanted an artifact of her own, one that Hyun had made only for her.
At the end of that long production process, the artifact she had longed for finally appeared in the world.
[You have completed the crafting.]
[It is Transcendent-grade.]
[You acquire Dexterity 200.]
[You acquire Fame 500.]
[It is a Bella-exclusive artifact.]
The gauntlet handed to her was only one piece, and like Bella herself, it was silver.
Seen from the outside, it felt cold, yet Bella felt it was warmer than any other artifact.
And Hyunsoo, showing his teeth in a bright smile, personally placed that gauntlet onto her hand.
Clack—!
“This artifact’s name is Weight. It’s an artifact made only for you.”
That was the third moment she would never forget.
(Weight.)
Grade: Transcendent.
Durability: Infinite.
Defense: 564
Restriction: Bella.
Special Abilities:
·Potential increases by 25%.
·Weight may be set from a minimum of 10 kg to 500 kg and will be applied evenly across the entire body.
·Depending on the applied weight, movement speed and attack speed decrease, and stamina consumption increases.
·Through the Passive Skill Endurer, the more the wearer raises the weight and withstands it, the more the wearer will be able to grow.
·Passive Skill Endurer.
Description: A gauntlet painstakingly crafted by Master Blacksmith Hyun after hearing Bella’s troubles. It assists growth. However, the wearer’s effort must support that growth.
(Endurer.)
Passive Skill.
Level: None
Effect:
·Depending on the set weight, the growth rate of the things composing the body greatly accelerates.
Only six months ago.
After facing the third moment she would never forget, Bella had increased Weight endlessly.
At first, even 30 kg had been difficult, but through Endurer, her Stamina, Strength, and other attributes had risen, making it lighter.
Each time, she added 20 kg, and before she knew it, she had arrived here.
That was why Bella did not know.
Because from that moment until now, she had never once removed this gauntlet, nor had she ever lowered the weight.
She did not know how much weight had restricted her, or what she would be like once freed from that weight.
Kuwaaaaaaaang—!!!
And the weight of the gauntlet that had fallen to the ground.
It exceeded common sense.
[You have removed 200 kg of weight.]
[Movement speed and attack speed return.]
[Movement speed increases by 75%, and attack speed increases by 80%.]
Ttring!
[By removing “Weight,” your accumulated growth is calculated.]
[Strength has grown by 19%, Stamina by 21%, and Agility by 32%.]
Her body was as light as a feather, and enormous power surged through it.
Bardan was flustered as well.
Her Monarch had supposedly called her “inborn nature” that of a knight.
He must have known.
The limits possessed by a woman, that was.
And yet her Monarch had called her a knight and allowed her to break through her impossibility.
Danger—!
He could not finish that thought.
Paaaaang—!
He realized that the horribly slow speed from moments ago had been due to her restrictions.
Using dual swords and cornering enemies through “speed” just like Bella, Bardan panicked at the sword stabbing in from beside him.
Chaeaaang—!
The instant he believed he had barely blocked it, his cheek split open and blood surged.
How can a gauntlet like that exist?
What flustered Bardan even more was that it was not only her speed that had grown faster.
Of course she would become faster than when she had been carrying something heavy.
Paaaaang—!
“Khah!”
But the damage itself had also risen sharply.
The force carried by the tip of the thrusting sword made Bardan, who had been a Sword King, scream.
And the important fact was.
Puk, puk—!
This current situation was two against one.
Even so, she stabbed Ban several times.
At last, as Ban fell into danger, Bardan unleashed it.
“Sword King’s swordsmanship, Chapter Three. Tear Apart.”
Kwa-rururururuk—!
His two dual swords crossed and were about to begin a crazed flurry of slashes.
At that moment.
“Knight’s swordsmanship.”
Believing her own inborn nature to be that of a knight, she activated the power she had created by taking the Sword King’s swordsmanship she had learned from Barad and reshaping it into something easier for herself to use.
She was born a knight, and she was a genius. Once she surpassed her physical limits, this was a power created by a woman who could now rival even the present Barad.
“Final Chapter. Knight of Flash.”
Kwa-rururururuk—!
As hundreds of dual-sword slashes extended toward her, she became wreathed in light and neutralized them.
Fit, fi-fit, fi-fit—!
It was Bardan’s principle, swinging at four times his usual speed, but Knight of Flash was superior.
Flash, flash! Flash!!!
Each time she was wrapped in light like lightning, large and small wounds increased across Bardan’s body.
Fi-fi-fi-fi-fit!!
“How?”
Bardan was shocked, and at the same time, delighted.
A descendant who had inherited their lineage.
According to Ban, this woman had originally been one of the Sword King’s people.
In truth, the foundation of her sword originated from theirs.
But to think such a genius existed in a later generation?
He was delighted, and chills ran through him.
However, those chills soon changed into anger.
“Why did you abandon the Sword King family!”
Pupupupupupung—!
The endless exchange between the two.
Bardan was enraged, but he could not surpass the genius of the current era.
And Ban, watching him, was flustered.
Is that really the Lady Bella I know?
What had happened all this time?
She had become several times stronger than when he had known her.
No.......
And if this continued, Bardan would return to the tomb again.
Then he would be unable to avenge his father upon the nation of Hyun.
Just as he was thinking that.
“......What an amusing child.”
An old man’s voice spread.
It was the voice of First Sword King Baman.
“What a pity. Had you not made such a choice, the present Sword King Barad may well have passed the country on to you.”
The voice that reached them was chilly and cold.
“Genius born of the Sword King family, and betrayer who abandoned the Sword King family.”
He merely walked toward her at ease, yet he was different.
The reason First Sword King Baman had been able to found a nation came from the fact that he had been peerless.
And that peerlessness had not changed even after long years had passed.
“Sword King’s swordsmanship.”
The old man holding a longsword aimed at Bella.
“Wait......!”
Ban panicked.
Now that the woman Bella, who had actually shared life and hardship with him, was about to die, an inexplicable feeling came over him.
She would die.
She possessed sufficient strength, but the wounds she had received from Bardan already showed that she had suffered quite serious injuries.
“Wolf Pack.”
But it was too late to stop him.
Kwa-rurururururuk—!!!
A storm of sword energy incomparable to the likes of Bardan stretched out.
Kukwakakakakakak—!
The power ripped through the ground as it extended, aiming precisely for Bella.
No matter how much faster she had become, the range of First Sword King Baman’s power spanned dozens of meters.
It could not be stopped.
“.......”
Before Bella’s death, Ban felt a brief sorrow, though she was a betrayer.
Then why, why in the world did you do it!
As he suffered.
“Absolute Invincibility.”
Paaaaaaaang—!!
A man wrapped in a streak of light took not the slightest damage from that attack as he blocked the path of the rampaging wolf pack.
Then.
He vanished completely from sight.
Hwarururuk—!
The sound of burning?
They saw a firebird feather fluttering before their eyes.
And soon.
“Who are you?”
Sword King Baman realized it fastest and looked up at the sky.
There, a man holding Bella was descending with flames.
That man’s name was Hyunsoo.
“Shut up.”
Twisting his lips, he answered by bringing down the sword he had raised toward the sky.
“Sword King’s swordsmanship.”
“......What!?”
“What the—!?”
“Who in the world are you!”
They were shocked that the secret technique they had left behind was stirring from a man they had seen for the first time.
And then.
“Sword Rampage.”
Kwajajajajajajajak—!!
What they had left behind swept over them.
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