Swordmeister of Rome

The ceremony of Lagaope.

It wasn't just a regular ceremony.

There were plenty of Talic Stones on the pedestal at the top of the hill by the coast. Below the pedestal were merchants, politicians, and nobles of Margaran wishing for safe passage for another year.

They were all who had profited from Lagaopora.

Everyone in Margaran made profits from the route, but these people especially so.

As people gathered to activate the shrine, the Exar began flowing through Talic Stones that were piled up on the pedestal.

Sian and Stiel were sitting on the closest seats that allowed them to witness it closely.

"So, it wasn't only for memorial purposes. Let's see… <The route will not close if the shrine is supplied with enough Talic Stones every year, said Lagaope>. That's what the booklet says."

"He could've been a Magic Priest. The ceremony looks similar to their ways."

"I think offerings might work better. Those Talic Stones…"

"I'm sure there were others who thought like you before."

Some people in Margaran thought the same. They wanted to save using Talic Stones, and under one merchant's strong persuasion, they decided to do the festival without Talic Stones. After the ceremony, the route was safe for almost a week, and there were no Harijans. Merchants became proud and shouted,

<Look! After tens of years, no more Harijans are trying to attack!>

And until the news that all ships had been sunk reached Margaran and Kiara, a total of 930 ships that had set sail had been destroyed. It was the time before communication artifacts that resulted in such large scale damage.

The cost of the damages were thousands of times more than the use of Talic Stones.

People were infuriated at the result of not listening to Lagaope and burned the merchants alive, seizing their properties to restart the ceremony.

After that, no one brought up the idea again.

"So that opens up the sea route somehow."

"I guess so, but no one knows how."

"I see. Let's see if there's anything in the booklet."

Stiel looked at Sian, who was scanning through the pages and remembered the report she read about Sian before coming here.

<Always reads his manual when working.>

'That's interesting.'

He didn't seem to be the type to like reading.

"Sian, do you like reading?"

"Huh? No. I just don't have to memorize things if I have this handy. It's perfect for me. Haha."

'…I see.'

Stiel began to realize that she was overcomplicating the things that Sian did.

"Hey, stop looking at it and watch at the ceremony. It's starting."

"Oh."

Sian put away his booklet and turned to the front.

Exar that was spilling out of the Talic Stones began collecting in the front of the pedestal as it swallowed the Exar while emitting a weird light. Then, the pedestal began to shake…

"…? Nothing happened."

"Right… but it is interesting."

It looked like nothing happened, but the pedestal was emanating a massive flow of Exar. The flow, however, was not headed toward the land as it went down underground and out to the sea.

"So that is what drives away the Harijans, I guess. I'm not sure though."

"I don't think that's enough to go all the way to Kiara."

No Magic Priest was able to discover what made it work. It would need a complete breakdown to actually understand what it did, but obviously, the people of Margaran wouldn't allow that to happen. They could not risk it being torn down and losing its power.

That was why the power of the pedestal remained a mystery, and yet no one complained. It provided enough power for Margaran. It allowed Margaran to be the only one with <Lagaopora>, so the mystery actually helped them anyway.

"But it's so boring! I thought some beam would shoot out and kill all the Harijans on the route or something."

"That's not something even you can do."

The route was very long; it ranged over thousands of miles. No top grade magic had such a great range of attack, save one.

The magic that destroyed the Empire.

The magic that was activated by fifteen Great Magic Priests of the Empire destroyed the entire Empire. It also killed all the Harijans and Kal-Guls that had invaded the land as intended.

However, that was just a legend. No one was left to prove it.

It was now considered a hoax or fairytale.

"Huh? You can't do it too. No one can…"

"I can do it."

"WHAT? Really?"

Stiel was shocked. She couldn't believe that Sian was able to divide the sea from here to Kiara with a strike. That wasn't at the level of a superhuman, that would make him a god.

'What… so the <Way> can be used for such a thing?'

Sian's claim froze Stiel.

"I'm just joking."

"…"

"Haha, it's my revenge for a while ago."

Stiel blamed Sian's power, making such claim sound possible.

After they finished watching the ceremony until the end, it was already night time. Today was only the beginning, and the wave was going to shoot out to sea for ten more days. That was how long the festival would last.

"Let's go back. You don't have anywhere else to go, right?"

"Yeah. It's been a good day."

"So, we're heading to <Scent of La-Jeanne> for lunch?"

Sian looked at the map and headed to <Scent of La-Jeanne> which was listed in the <Ten Best Restaurants in Margaran.>

This restaurant used a special, costly spice called La-Jeanne to flavor its seafood and earned its fame. The food was so popular that a lot of nobles made reservations.

A mansion employee had already made a reservation, so Sian and Stiel casually walked towards the place.

"I should make a 'kid' I know somewhere. It's convenient.'

"Yeah, it does make things convenient for sure."

'I do have an 'old man' I know…'

He thought about King Narasha, but it didn't feel right to ask for such a petty request, so he shook it away.

The restaurant was located at a high part of the city, towards the north where the coast was visible, and that helped with it also famous. It was a great place to enjoy lunch and the view at once.

The road to the place was through the bazaar, so Sian and Stiel bought some snacks to eat along the way. As they walked through, Sian noticed people gathered around something. They looked like they were avoiding what was inside. He wanted to ignore it, but he had to pass it to head to his destination when he saw some familiar faces.

"Bastards… how dare you attack our friends?"

"You sirs tried to harass my friend first."

"But how can you beat up a man like that? Hehe… now you should feel how to get beaten up!"

Sian looked inside. There were familiar faces on both sides.