Swordmeister of Rome

The Armory of Arankal was divided into four stages.

First, the Defensive Area was comprised of all sorts of weapons and supplies for soldiers at war. Rianna's sword, Talic Stones, and elixir were all from this primary stage.

Items from the First Stage were all crafted with technology and magical sciences of the Old Empire and were proven to have some value. It was what helped Kulan Province rise to its current power and allowed them to fight against Logadis.

But the First Stage resembled that of a storage rather than an armory. Its true nature would be revealed in the Second Stage.

Kurandas, who had been taking care of the Usharan Kingdom's armory for a long time, knew of this and quickly moved through it while slashing all mechanical dogs called <Pavlocks>.

He did it with ease, but these Pavlocks were powerful as they had been created to fight and oppress civilians and soldiers. It looked like Phareon pondered about using these machine dogs, but he figured it would draw too much attention and gave up on using them.

Kurandas reached the front of the Second Stage and sensed some kind of energy.

'He's here.'

It must be the owner of the armory that had arrived using teleportation.

Even with the age of the Empire, making such a small teleportation rune was a great feat, but they did manage to make it so that the person in charge of the armory could easily teleport in and out of it.

Managing the armory required its administrator to work, which required such easy access.

'But what can you do?'

Kurandas grinned. It was as he expected.

The owner of this armory had come alone. If he brought an army, it meant a massacre and it would be hard to avoid attention from the Kingdom. But he came alone and it was easy to ignore him.

If he had full control of this place, it would've been dangerous, even for Kurandas. However, the Phareon definitely did not have such control. If he had the access to the Second Stage, the area would've been cleaned already.

Kurandas began slamming the door to the Second Stage. It was a durable door, but it wasn't strong enough to withstand the attack of a Grand Bander.

As it broke down, Kurandas walked in. As expected, the place was not activated.

If Phareon had access to the place, the <Kanuans> placed inside should've attacked him at once. The Second Stage contained weapons that could protect themselves.

Kurandas glanced over at the countless number of Anti-Bander war machines, or <Kanuans>, lined up in the room and began to activate the <Void space of Nitzmatan>.

This artifact, which required 5% of all the Kingdom's Talic Stone power and tens of first-class Magic Priests to create, was given to him for this special mission.

The Great Magic Priest of the Empire, Nitzmatan, first created it and left a blueprint, of which it was named thereafter. It had one function.

<Creation of void space>

It distorted the dimension and allowed the storage of non-living things. It wasn't just some normal storage magic. After thorough testing, it proved to be able to store a huge amount of war supplies that would keep a hundred thousand soldiers fed and supplied for one full year.

And this was where it will shine.

Kurandas placed the artifact in the empty air in front of him and stepped back.

The artifact floated in the air and began twirling itself, making bright lights. The blue light that came out from the artifact began expanding, then touched the <Kanuans>. All the Kanuans that were touched by the light began disappearing and were absorbed into the void.

'It's always amazing to see,' Kurandas thought as he watched. Thousands of <Kanuans> were already gone. It was time for him to move further and onto the Third Stage.

That was when he thought something was off. It was too quiet.

He was preparing to defend himself since he felt that the owner was teleporting in. Even if he did not have access yet, he would've been able to see what was going on, even with basic access.

'Did he give up? That Phareon boy?'

Maybe he didn't know the true potential of the weapons inside the Second and Third Stages.

'I guess he was just a fool.'

He shrugged and began walking in.

Phareon, on the other hand, did not give up and knew the potentials of these weapons. That was why he was doing his best to block Kurandas from elsewhere.

'Where did he come from…?'

Phareon moaned as he investigated the armory by using <Kranga>.

The <Pavlocks> that he stored aside for the time being were all smashed into pieces and the Second Stage had been broken through. This man was a Grand Bander.

He used teleportation to move closer to the armory, but it was good that he did not bring his men. They were no match against this man anyway.

He did not have high enough access to fight the man either. If he had just one more year… that would've allowed him to unlock the Second, or even the Third Stage lock. Then he could have stopped him.

Phareon groaned.

'If I just had more time…'

He was very careful. Nobody knew the location of the armory. But the man knew the location and broke in.

<Infiltration-Approaching Third Stage.>

Phareon could not do anything.

The items that he moved to his land from the First Stage was amazing in itself. If the items in the First Stage were enough to make him a powerful noble, the ones in the Second and Third Stages would be enough to make him the King and the Emperor.

But it was all being swallowed up by some unknown intruder.

That was when he heard Ra-Kadum's advice.

<When you are faced with a desperate situation, go to A-13. I am not sure what this means, but you would know.>

He didn't know what that meant, but he knew now.

"Kranga! Send me to A-13!"

Phareon shouted at his wrist.

<…Accepted. Moving to A-13. Activating Ra-Shar-Roa>

Phareon was swept up by the bright light and was teleported inside the armory, into A-13.

"Huh? How did you get here?"

When Phareon opened his eyes, Sian was standing in front of him with a surprised look.

"What…"

Phareon was dumbfounded. This was the Guarran-Tia that Ra-Kadum warned him about. But why was he here? In the middle of the night, inside his armory?

He was concerned that this man was with the invader, but that was unlikely.

Even if he was, it could not be any worse and Ra-Kadum would not have sent him here. His advice was never wrong.

"Aren't you Sian? Why are you here?"

Sian then turned awkward and smiled.

"Oh... haha. I just came to watch."

"Watch?"

"Yeah. I came here a while ago but it was blocked by some steel doors. I can't just break them and trespass without permission, right? But I felt some man breaking in, so I thought it was a chance to take a peek… But this place sure has some fascinating stuff! Just as expected. That blue light absorbing everything was especially amazing."

Phareon wasn't sure what to do about this boy.

He heard he was staying within the castle, but he felt the door being broken down? It was over fifteen miles from here to the castle. Phareon teleported right after he felt the intrusion, but it seemed like this man got here about the same time, meaning that he had come here instantly.

And he came to watch the storage being robbed.

However, that was not the issue. The intruder was approaching the Third Stage at the moment. The defense system would hold him back for a while, but it was only a matter of time.

The advice given by Ra-Kadum surely meant that Sian had way to help him.

"We don't have time to do this! I must block him!"

"Right, you don't have time to waste here. You should go. Isn't this place yours? What are you doing?"

Phareon was lost for words. He was correct. There was no reason for Sian to protect the place.

"Uh… erm… aren't you Guarran-Tia?"

"Hm. Yes?"

"Isn't… isn't it your duty to protect in these kinds of situations? A Guarran-Tia's duty is to arrest criminals, right?"

Phareon felt his face blushing from shame. But he had no choice.

"My shift is over, and this isn't my area to patrol. Besides, I'm on inspection duty and this is yours. You surely didn't give this to the country right? I guess not, because you were hiding it. It's not my duty to protect personal property."

And it didn't work. Phareon could not continue as he was being pointed out of his undoings. As he calmed down, he remembered Ra-Kadum's words again.

<Whatever you say, it will not work. You should say this… and don't forget. Lose your greed.>

Phareon hesitated. He wasn't sure if it would work, but if he didn't, the intruder would steal all the weapons within the armory. He had no choice.

<The infiltrator has broken all the Third Stage defense systems. The entrance has been destroyed.>

"Oh, no. I can't miss all the fun! Good luck! I will go and watch now."

<Kranga> and Sian both spoke to Phareon and he made his choice. He shouted as Ra-Kadum told him to do.

"I will have all of this presented to the Tian Kingdom! I request the exercise of Guarran-Tia's Chapter 3 Section 7!!"

Sian flinched and began remembering what Chapter 3 Section 7 was about. After he remembered what it was, he scowled.

After looking at the change in expression, Phareon sighed in relief.