Only I Am A Reader

'A smiling cat?'

The mask's image didn't coincide with anything in Ray's memory, but the ambient Sword Breath that always showed him to way seemed to be pointing at the mask's owner. Unfortunately for Ray, by the time he finally understood what was happening, all of the Swordsmen had already run into the garden by now, including the masked man.

"We should also go."

Seeing him lost in thought, Jade pulled at Ray to shake him awake. Naturally, this wasn't the time to be absentminded.

"Right."

Pushing away his instinctual reaction, Ray quickly started following the rest of the 'horde' into the garden. He was here for a reason, and he couldn't give that up.

Unlike what the Sword Garden Trial appeared to be, it was no easy gift from the Empire to those who have spent countless efforts reaching the upper end of the mid-grades. Just like its name indicated, it was a trial, and it was one for choosing those who would become a new part of the Empire's strength.

Since the Empire simply couldn't keep everything to itself, the Sword Garden Trial was exactly the sort of accepted deception that they could rely on to keep the profit running through the same cycle.

"That's one."

It hadn't even been 10 minutes since he dashed into the Garden alongside Jade, but Ray's Sword Heart immediately sensed a flower that had a great concentration of Sword Breath, it was obviously an 'elixir'.

"Watch out!"

Not wasting a breath, a lightly armored man appeared out of nowhere, slashing at Ray's neck as he bent to pick up the flower, but…

"I got this."

Klang! Swish!

Ray's hand was already at his sword's hilt, he easily pulled it to deflect the incoming sword, splitting the man's neck in return!

This was the true identity of the Sword Garden Trial! A killing fest that allowed the Empire to keep the lid on the Swordsmen's numbers, one from which only the strongest or the luckiest would manage to survive! Even just a low-leveled 'Elixir' started a death battle like this!

"Munch… It's not much, but it really does help."

Ignoring the corpse of the attacker who fell to the ground, Ray removed the edible part of the flower before throwing it into his mouth. The Elixirs in this garden were special enough to directly increase one's Sword Breath accumulation upon consumption!

When finding such an item in a place like this, a Swordsman only had two choices… they could either consume it in hope to 'ascend' as earlier as possible, or just hoard their gains before handing them to the joint management of the Empire and the Association. In both cases, the Empire lost nothing.

Regardless of a Swordsman's choice, joining the Sword Garden Trial meant that one would belong to the Empire's forces by its end. While the Empire tempted the trial takers with higher positions if they surrendered their 'harvest' for the sake of selectivity, it didn't really matter if they did so or not as any increase in the trial takers' strength meant an increase in their own.

However, to Ray, what followed the trial was what really mattered!

'I need to get there…'

It wasn't like he was okay with being under someone's command, but Ray's eyes were on something else, he had a call that he had to answer!

Despite its underhanded theme, the trial did it have its merits other than the elixirs themselves; those who survived till the end would get the chance to visit the Imperial Family's forbidden ground!

No matter the cost, Ray felt that he needed to come into contact with the towering sword hidden there; he would handle the problem after he reached that point. In any case, it wasn't like the trial's survivors had to 'serve' the Empire before they were granted their promised visit almost a year later.

"Let's go."

After collecting his thoughts, Leo exchanged looks with Jade before they dashed forward. If they didn't want to lose the 'race', they needed to stay on the move to keep up the pace…

'Wait… this is?'

`~~~`~~~`~~~`

'Did his cheat senses activate again?'

Constantly moving with the garden, cold sweat ran on the back of Leo's head as he remembered Ray's glance at him. Was he still able to 'sense' after all of this?

Although Leo knew he had to participate in this trial to achieve the results he wanted and gain an access ticket to the Epilogue, the one thing he couldn't do was join up with the protagonist!

As strong as Ray and his cheat ability were, he was simply the worst companion to pick in an event like this. Following the natural trend, sooner or later he would become the main target of the trial takers due to a past action of his.

Without a doubt, Ray was guaranteed to survive, but those who accompanied him wouldn't be so lucky, especially if they weren't an important character like a heroine…

In order to avoid this situation, Leo had to stay as far as possible. However, considering Ray's own network this wouldn't work easily. Thankfully, while Leo was still brewing a few plans to hide his presence, he ended up receiving a 'favor' from the Gigant Sword Association!

The Association's people were just the ones handling the event, but even that was enough to grant them some privileges. During every Sword Garden Trial, their most precious 'true' members would participate anonymously in masks, and that was the kind of treatment that Leo had asked for as a favor!

Yet, even with a mask on, Ray seemed to sense something. In contrast to what one would believe, seeing a cheat ability in action was even more absurd than reading about it, Leo got to experience that first hand.

'At least… it doesn't seem like he is following me.'

Putting his worry aside for now, Leo completely focused his 'Sword Breath' senses in the area around him in hope of getting what he came here for, but it didn't seem like it would be easy.

'I wonder…'

Suddenly stopping, Leo bent down in anticipation. Would this method really work?

[ Hidden Event occurrence has been detected… ]