Chapter 8: Sword Talent

“Ian. Young Lady Philia is calling for you.”

The butler called me with a grumbling voice.

Since yesterday.

Philia had started looking for me unusually often.

Leaving the butler behind, I headed to the room where she was confined.

Inside the room, Philia was waiting for me along with Lucy.

Philia glanced over my body once and then spoke.

“Ian. Are you alright?”

“Yes. I’m perfectly fine.”

“Don’t push yourself too hard if you’re in pain. I’ll talk to the butler.”

“…Understood.”

Such kindness and concern might be appealing to someone, but it made me a little uneasy.

Her previously cold attitude had changed, and what bothered me more was…

‘It feels like she’s treating someone else, not me.’

Unlike her expressionless self from yesterday, today’s Philia was clearly showing concern.

A little, almost too overtly.

Seeing Philia approach so close, I felt burdened and took a slight step back.

However, in response, Philia stepped forward again.

“……”

In the end, it was back to square one.

‘···When did we even see each other?’

In the first place, there had been no proper conversation or emotional exchange between me and Philia until now.

‘I did try to please Philia a few times though…’

Naturally, that alone couldn’t make us close.

Considering yesterday’s events as well, the hypothesis I had come up with seemed to be fitting more and more.

‘As expected, did I fail once already?’

The conclusion reached after countless variables.

It seems the current world is the ‘second playthrough’.

***

Second playthrough.

Then everything was explained.

From the change in Philia’s and Aria’s attitudes to the reason they were looking for me.

All of it could be explained.

They already knew.

What would happen in the future.

‘The problem is…’

Fundamentally, it was about ‘why’ I failed.

Surely, in the first playthrough, I was also a servant like now, but I would have tried my best to prevent the destruction.

In the previous playthrough, I should have persuaded Philia and stopped Aria’s corruption…

Seeing Aria’s current state, it seemed I had failed.

‘What in the world happened in the first playthrough?’

The fact that the main characters of the original were looking for me or were interested in me meant that I had at least survived until the mid-to-late game and left a strong impression… but I still couldn’t prevent the destruction?

What also complicated my thoughts was how many people retained their ‘memories’.

‘Did most of the main and supporting characters return with their memories?’

Surely not everyone remembered the first playthrough.

If that were the case, the world would have been in chaos long ago.

‘Then, is it perhaps only those who survived until the very end?’

In the final chapter of the original, most races are already extinct, and the continent’s land has become a hell where no living creature can survive for even a moment.

Except for a few superhumans, most are gods and demons, so if this is the condition, there wouldn’t be many who could regress.

Actually, ‘regression’ itself might be a good thing.

Of course, it’s a bit disappointing that I don’t have my memories, but wouldn’t the people around me be able to prevent the destruction instead?

The best-case scenario is that the protagonist returns with his memories.

And the worst-case scenario is…

‘Even those who will become enemies in the future remember the first playthrough.’

Thinking about some existences that were utterly beyond salvation, I agonized.

The only advantage I had was the information from the original story, but because of the people who were already in their second playthrough, the advantage of that information was gone.

In other words, the enemies I have to face from now on are genuine monsters who have already experienced regression once.

‘Fck…’

A difficulty so terrible that curses came out automatically.

I could only hope that the protagonist had definitely regressed.

While organizing my increasingly complex thoughts.

Philia looked at me with unreadable eyes and then said to Lucy, who was beside her.

“Lucy. Could you step out for a moment? I have something I want Ian to try.”

“…..Yes?”

Lucy’s pupils visibly trembled.

“What is it you want him to do…?”

“It’s a bit difficult to say here, but if you insist, Lucy, you can stay…”

“I-I’ll go out right now!”

Lucy couldn’t control her trembling hands, glanced at me, and quickly went outside.

‘What’s wrong with her…?’

It was a bit of an overreaction.

***

Lucy paced around in front of the door with a reddened face.

‘Wh-what on earth is the young lady planning to do alone with Ian…?’

If a man and a woman are alone in a room.

Surely, it must be for some secret activity, right?

‘Could the reason the young lady broke off her engagement be…?’

Just as Lucy’s delusions were running wild.

Philia, after confirming Lucy had left, naturally pulled out a sword from under the bed.

‘Why is a sword coming out from under the bed?’

He couldn’t understand, but Ian didn’t bother to question it.

What she took out was an ordinary longsword.

It was sharply bladed, but otherwise, it was an iron sword with no other distinguishing features.

“Ian. Try swinging the sword here once.”

“…Here, Young Lady? I’ve never used a sword in my life.”

Ian was flustered seeing Philia casually hand him the sword.

‘This is too sudden.’

He had never even held a sword before, but should he really swing it here, not in the training grounds where knights practiced?

“Yes, I know. It’s alright.”

Of course, unlike Ian’s thoughts, Philia intended to awaken his talent today.

The reason he, a mere mortal, could slaughter gods and demons.

Regarding the sword, it was thanks to his swordsmanship that reached beyond the heavens, so much so that even Andrew, who would be called the continent’s strongest in the future, marveled at it.

If only he hadn’t realized his talent so late, he might have truly been able to prevent the destruction.

‘I don’t care if the world is destroyed or not though…’

In the first place, Philia didn’t care even if the world was destroyed, as long as Ian was there.

However, considering the future threats, Ian’s combat power was essential.

Philia still couldn’t forget.

The clean trajectory of his sword, which even had a beauty to it.

Hoping to see that sword recreated, Philia’s eyes shone.

It might be clumsy since it was his first time swinging a sword in this life, but it was clear that he would soon reveal his brilliant talent.

“Now, swing it to your heart’s content.”

“…Understood.”

He didn’t understand Philia’s intentions, but Ian swung the sword with all his might.

An hour later.

Swish- Flail-

“???”

Swordsmanship so terrible that it was impossible to watch with open eyes.

Philia was flustered.

***

‘···How long do I have to swing this?’

She told me to try, so I was swinging the sword as plausibly as I could, but perhaps because my body was young, my stamina was already reaching its limit.

‘Still, this is kind of fun, isn’t it?’

Even if it seemed like meaningless, simple movements, there was something I could feel.

How to move a little more efficiently, it was as if I could feel it instinctively.

‘Do I have a talent for the sword?’

As I even gained a silent confidence and swung the sword even more diligently.

“Stop.”

“…Phew. How was it?”

I was drenched in sweat, but I was confident.

With this kind of swordsmanship demonstration, Philia must have been quite impressed.

“…Terrible.”

“Yes?”

I thought I had misheard, but Philia coldly dismissed it.

“It’s horrifically terrible.”

‘Fck…?’

Philia, unusually angry, nagged at me.

“Why are there so many distracting thoughts when you move the sword? No, even if you can’t improve, why are you getting progressively worse?”

‘Well, it’s because it’s my first time…’

If you throw a book at someone who doesn’t know how to read, can they read it?

I wondered if I really needed to state such a fundamental and obvious thing, but Philia seemed genuinely angry, so I just bowed my head.

“I’m sorry, Young Lady. It seems I have no talent for swordsmanship.”

“What do you mean by that…!”

Seeing Philia patting her chest as if frustrated, I felt a little puzzled.

‘Why did she even tell me to use a sword?’

Philia surely wouldn’t have made me do something useless.

Was the sword the main weapon ‘I’ used in the first playthrough?

‘Even so, I think she set the standards too strictly…’

I haven’t learned a speck about swordsmanship, so how could I use a sword proficiently right away?

I don’t know how the ‘me’ of the first playthrough used a sword, but the current me wasn’t a genius enough to realize something without any instruction.

‘If I had that kind of talent, I would have prevented the destruction myself.’

Naturally, that could never happen.

***

The beast of disaster, Behemoth.

That existence was something even gods dared not kill.

Its own hierarchy was not to be trifled with, but,

It also bore the original sin of gluttony, one of the Seven Deadly Sins, so it could eat ‘everything’ around it.

Demons, of course, and even gods were nothing but mere food to it.

If Behemoth was left alone like this, it was clear it would devour everything on the continent.

The man, too, naturally could not kill Behemoth.

A fact he himself knew painfully well.

However…

“Even if I can’t kill it, it doesn’t mean I can’t cut it.”

The moment the man drew his sword.

The sky split apart.