‘Just a little more. Just hold on a little longer…!’

As the strength in her hand holding the reins faded, Yuriella wrapped the rope around her wrist to endure. Her white, translucent skin with visible veins quickly burst and bled.

‘One on the yellow roof. One on top of the church spire.’

Yuriella quickly identified the locations of the hidden assassins.

The assassins, once numbering ten, were now reduced to two. If it had been just the Grand Duke alone, it would have been an easy number and skill level to finish off by now.

‘Because of me…’

Blood spread from Yuriella’s tightly clenched lips.

‘Because I can’t even handle a horse properly…’

The Grand Duke was spending more time and effort on defense rather than offense in order to protect Yuriella.

‘Because I can’t even protect myself…’

She had always been in the position of protecting and guarding others.

Today, Yuriella learned for the first time what it felt like to be cared for and to be a burden. How humiliating and guilt-inducing it was…

“Yuriella! On your right!”

Frost detected the arrow flying towards Yuriella before she did and shouted.

Dodging the arrow by swerving her body, Yuriella couldn’t hold back and yelled at Frost.

“Please stop looking at me and take care of yourself, Your Grace!”

She was uneasy seeing Frost’s movements slowing down compared to earlier.

The Grand Duke was a patient. Moreover, he was terminally ill, poisoned by a magical toxin that still had no cure. Who was protecting and worrying about whom?

Frost lightly kicked off the awning draped over a fruit stand, used the building wall as a foothold to launch himself, and sliced the neck of an assassin who was about to draw his bow at him. Then he smiled at Yuriella.

“Do you think I’m incapable of protecting even just you?”

“It seems you still haven’t realized, but you’re a patient, Your Grace!”

Yuriella shouted with an angry face while dodging arrows fired by the assassin on the church spire.

Frost looked down at Yuriella, who was tenaciously gripping the reins and enduring, and thought she was admirable.

‘What a shame. If she were a man, I would have recruited her as an apprentice knight in our Angelus Order. Though her stamina is poor, if we train her from the basics step by step while building up her strength, she could become a knight who fulfills her duties.’

The foundation of a knight, like any other profession, is mentality.

‘Didn’t they say that failing to protect the Empire’s people is also treason?’

Though it was regrettable that Yuriella had a negative view of Solas, it was commendable and surprising that her character was very upright and firm.

A sword should be wielded by such a person.

One who can rightly discern who the tip of my sword is pointing at. A heart that cherishes and loves those the sword must protect. The tenacity to keep that heart until the end.

How could such noble thoughts be contained in that small head?

If such a new knight were to join the Angelus Order, I wouldn’t spare any time to spar with her and talk about the proper posture and path of one who wields a sword. That would be truly rewarding and enjoyable.

It was something that would make Leo Dominici, the Captain of the Angelus Order, faint if he heard it.

Even when apprentice knights who admired the Grand Duke came from all over the North, begging for just one sparring match or even just a glimpse of his face, following him around and pleading, the Grand Duke never once obliged them.

As a genius chosen by the holy sword from birth, he couldn’t understand the struggles of ordinary people grappling with swords. Even if he did understand, he wasn’t in a position leisurely enough to spare time for sparring with mere apprentice knights.

Frost went on to think of something that would shock the entire knighthood.

‘Is there a law that says women can’t wield swords? Anyone with the right mindset and will can do it. Of course. How can there be a distinction between men and women in loving the country and protecting the people? They are all equal subjects of the Empire.’

In that brief moment of deflecting the rain of arrows, Frost even thought of creating a small training ground just for Yuriella. No, why does it need to be small?

As spouses are equals, it would be right to build it with the same structure and design as his personal training ground.

The dark stone wouldn’t suit the bride, so using white and gray marble, and making the windows and doors with red oak from Drea Mountain and pure silver from the Matia mine would be a sufficient wedding gift.

Though she had repeatedly baffled him by being the complete opposite of his expectations, for some reason he was certain that this time she wouldn’t refuse his gift. No, he was convinced that she would be very pleased.

The soft smile in Frost’s eyes as he looked back at Yuriella lasted only for a moment.

His face hardened when he saw blood flowing from her wrist, which was wrapped tightly with the reins.

It was then.

An arrow from the assassin hiding on top of the church spire was shot towards the Grand Duke’s chest in that brief moment of vulnerability!

“Your Grace!”

Yuriella screamed as she saw Frost falling with the arrow lodged in him.

Frost’s body was falling to the ground slowly, like flower petals descending with time held in check.

Yuriella’s heart sank with a thud as she watched with wide eyes.

As if not wanting to miss the opportunity, the assassin on the spire swooped down, black cloak fluttering, like a beast that had spotted its prey. Throwing the bow he was holding to the ground, he swung a long sword at Frost who was staggering to his feet.

Yuriella gritted her teeth and pulled on the reins.

“Mars! Pull yourself together!”

The horse, its stamina depleted to the limit, panted with foam at its mouth.

“You can do it. We can do it!”

Yuriella clenched her teeth and kicked Mars’ side hard as she charged towards the assassin.

She no longer had the martial prowess of when she was Solas, nor the Sword of Fire that had always been with her.

But she still had a little bit of power borrowed from Aery left in her.

She didn’t think about whether this would be enough.

She had never put down her sword thinking something was impossible, nor had she gone to war guaranteeing victory.

Even the master of a holy sword is not immortal. If that were the case, the histories wouldn’t have recorded how the previous masters met their ends on various battlefields.

‘Though there probably wasn’t anyone who lost their holy sword as ridiculously as I did…’

Yuriella gripped the reins tightly and charged forward, gathering every last bit of wind energy remaining in her body.

The green aura in her hand gradually took the shape of a long spear.

“Hey, you bastard!”

The assassin turned his head slightly towards the sound, then narrowed his eyes at the bright green light shooting towards him. Before his surprised mouth could fully open, an intense pain pierced his chest.

‘What is this…’

The assassin collapsed to the ground with his eyes wide open, unable to even scream.

Frost’s blurring vision was filled entirely with Yuriella.

The woman’s eyes were cold as she sat steadily on the horse’s saddle, her long hair fluttering in the shaking wind.

‘To think I thought it would be good to bring her in as just an apprentice knight.’

She could potentially become the master of the long-lost holy sword Aery.

“Your Grace!”

Yuriella leapt down from Mars’ back and ran towards Frost.

“Your Grace. Wake up. Your Grace!”

Her lips, stained with blood, called out to him pitifully.

‘Yuriella. Just who are you…’

Frost tried to move his lips, but no words came out.

“Your Grace!”

Frost stared at the woman calling out to him anxiously, struggling to keep his fading eyes open.

Could it really be?

The same energy that remained on the icy rock halfway up Mount Jenis where he had chased after Yuriella when she disappeared from the Grand Duke’s residence.

The green energy she just fired at the assassin was undoubtedly that of the holy sword Aery, which had not shown itself for five hundred years.

Fire and ice, earth and wind were originally one. Though their forms and properties differ, they are parts of the universe and nature shaped by the goddess’s delicate hand.

The holy swords that fully embody those properties and the masters who wield them can naturally sense each other’s existence.

Frost’s gaze turned to the assassin, now a cold corpse.

Aery is widely known as the holy sword with the power of healing and life. It is said that when Aery breathes the breath of life, there is no disease it cannot cure, and even humans who have already passed on can be revived.

But that is only one aspect of the holy sword Aery.

Originally free and capricious like the wind, and sometimes impulsive, Aery can go mad at any moment, violently tearing up the earth and overturning the sea.

If it can do that to nature itself, what of humans? According to historical records, the Sword of Wind was said to be so destructive that it could wipe out even an army of a million in an instant.

Thus, opinions were divided on why the holy sword Aery had disappeared for five hundred years.

Some said it had chosen to vanish itself, disillusioned with the task of protecting the human world. Others said it was wandering the earth, unable to find a master worthy of its acknowledgment.

Whatever the reason, the disappearance of the holy sword Aery aroused a thirsty longing and vain hope in those who wielded swords. That the fortune of becoming Aery’s next master might come to them.

But as the period of disappearance stretched beyond five hundred years, people began to lean towards the idea that the holy sword Aery had ceased to exist. No matter how difficult it was to find a master, it shouldn’t take that long.

Even the holy sword Gaius, which prided itself on its prudence, had never been without a master for more than a hundred years.

Frost exhaled deeply and stared at the green aura enveloping Yuriella’s body.

The four holy swords that protect the continent had never appeared simultaneously in the same era. So he had thought he would never encounter the holy sword Aery…

‘How can a frail lady who has never even held a sword summon the aura of the holy sword Aery and moreover, gather that energy to launch an attack?’

Judging by the faint aura of the holy sword, it doesn’t seem she has made a contract with it yet…

But with this level of tenacity, she would surely grasp Aery in her hand someday, no matter when.

Perhaps he had ended up with a fake companion far more extraordinary than he thought, Frost mused as he lost consciousness.

“Your Grace!”

– Neigh!

Mars licked his fallen master’s face and neighed loudly, urging him to get up.

The yellow parrot that had been fidgeting restlessly on a nearby tree branch flew down and pecked fiercely at the assassin with its beak.

*

“Rion! Rion! Help me.”

Rion, who was unloading boxes of medicinal herbs from the medicine peddler’s wagon, turned pale when he saw the blood soaking my dress.

“Yuriella! What happened? Are you hurt?”

“No. The Grand Duke… The Grand Duke…”

Only then did Rion’s gaze turn to the Grand Duke slumped on Mars’ back.

“Quickly. Quickly to the room…”

Rion lifted the Grand Duke off Mars onto his back and hurried up the stairs, almost running.

“What happened?”

While Rion was moving the Grand Duke to the room, I couldn’t answer and had to stop walking several times as my legs trembled uncontrollably.

“Sit down on that chair over there. I’ll go call a physician.”

I barely managed to nod, and Rion left the room, looking back at me several times as if he couldn’t put his mind at ease.

I approached the Grand Duke lying pale-faced on the bed and unbuttoned his coat and shirt with trembling hands.

“…”

There was a long sword wound above the injury from the magical poison. The cut wasn’t deep, but the wound that had barely been treated with acupuncture was now swollen and dark red as the magical poison spread.

I wiped the blood from the wound with a clean cloth, poured alcohol to disinfect it, and then took out the silver needle set placed on the shelf.

I tried to infuse the needles with healing aura, but it seemed I had used it all on the assassin, as not even a small green light gathered at the needle tips.

“Huu…”

The needles without healing energy didn’t seem to have much effect.

Frost’s body, convulsing with fever, was as hot as a fireball.

His breathing became increasingly labored, seeming to indicate that Plama’s magical poison was rapidly eating away at his life, making my fingertips tremble.

‘If only I had left some of Aery’s energy…’

Then I could have somehow calmed the magical poison…

Wondering if Aery might be nearby, I opened the window and leaned out, but Aery was nowhere to be seen.

This damn thing…! It flies in so well to annoy me when I don’t call, but now…

“Aery! Aery!”

Aery did not appear.

– Solas-nim! You’re the best! Frost-nim! You’re so cool! Solas-nim! You’re the best!

Only the yellow parrot that had followed from the Duke’s residence was noisily chattering.

‘Aery! Just you wait till you show up! I’ll pluck all your feathers!’

*

Rion, who had been leaning against the wall next to the door, let out a shallow sigh.

He had not gone to call a physician. The Grand Duke’s life was not something that could be cured by a physician’s power.

“Aery.”

Rion quietly called the name of the spirit that Yuriella was desperately searching for.

“I know you’re there, come out.”

The air rippled and a gentle breeze blew, then Aery revealed itself in front of Rion.

A wooden sword in the shape of a staff rushed towards Aery, who was turning away sulkily while fluttering its transparent wings no bigger than a thumbnail.

It was Gaius, one of the four holy swords protecting the continent, the Sword of Earth.

The medicine peddler’s coachman Rion. No, Ricarion Greco, the master of Gaius and a reclusive Tower Master, coldly rebuked Aery.

“If you don’t want to die, you should stop playing around now, shouldn’t you?”