Chapter 6. Divine Artifact (2)
“W-What…?”
Lea de Karayan stared at me in disbelief.
It must have looked like I suddenly threw the sword away.
‘That’s not it.’
…I just dropped it because it was too heavy.
[Strength: 1]
‘Damn Strength stat…’
I clicked my tongue internally.
Damn it. How weak is this body supposed to be?
According to the game’s settings, Frostglow wasn’t even considered a heavy sword, but I couldn’t even lift it?
Seriously, this body was utterly worthless.
‘…Well, I guess it makes sense. I could barely lift that rusty one-handed sword earlier. How could I possibly carry around a massive longsword like this?’
I sighed in disappointment.
I was hoping to find a weapon that could handle my skill, but I couldn’t even lift the damn thing myself.
No helping it, I guess. I’ll just have to give up on Frostglow…
‘…Wait a second.’
I froze.
At that moment, a thought crossed my mind and I narrowed my eyes.
As I silently stared at Frostglow lying on the ground, Karayan, finally regaining her senses, asked in a panic:
“Y-Your Grace? I-Is something wrong…?”
“Be quiet for a moment.”
“…Yes.”
I silenced Karayan first.
She shut her mouth tightly, clearly confused, her eyes darting nervously.
I ignored her and followed my train of thought.
‘No matter how I think about it, this doesn’t make sense.’
At first, I’d been stunned by the unexpected appearance of Frostglow.
But the more I thought about it, the more something felt off.
Frostglow.
According to the original game’s storyline, this weapon wasn’t supposed to be in the possession of the Ruin Merchants at this point in time.
Sure, Karayan does eventually acquire it—but that’s far off in the future.
‘Then the Frostglow in this room must be…’
I reached the end of my thoughts and spoke.
“It’s a fake.”
“…Excuse me?”
Karayan’s voice wavered with shock.
“A f-fake?”
“That’s right.”
“I-I’m sorry, but the chances of that are extremely low.”
Karayan began to ramble, flustered.
“This sword was definitely crafted by the ‘Master of Flame and Forge.’ That much has already been verified—”
I cut her off.
“You said you acquired the weapon only a few days ago, didn’t you?”
“…”
“Then you haven’t completed the full appraisal process yet.”
After a moment’s hesitation, Karayan nodded.
“We’ve only completed the preliminary inspection so far. But even so, the likelihood of Frostglow being a fake was deemed very low—”
“I won’t say it again. Have it reappraised.”
“…”
“What’s there to think about? Cross-checking should be standard procedure anyway.”
Faced with my firm tone, Karayan fell silent.
Then, without a word of protest, she nodded.
“Yes. I’ll contact the appraiser immediately.”
“Make sure they conduct the inspection under the assumption it’s a fake.”
“…I’ll be sure to pass that on.”
Good.
With this, the Ruin Merchants now owe me another debt.
That one remark of mine will surely return to me tenfold in the future.
‘It’s a bit disappointing that I couldn’t get the real Frostglow here…’
But even if it was real, I couldn’t carry it anyway. So what’s the point?
I shook off my lingering disappointment.
‘And it’s not like I have to get a high-effect divine weapon anyway.’
After all, I had the skill 【Soul of the Swordmaster】.
There was no need to obsess over powerful weapon effects.
‘…Let’s just stick to the original plan.’
A sword that’s durable enough to withstand my skill and light enough for me to carry.
A weapon good enough to last me until endgame.
And most importantly—
‘…The sword I had my eye on from the moment I entered this place.’
Swish—
With that thought, I turned my gaze to a sword resting in the corner of the secret vault.
A white scabbard.
And next to it, a slim blade lying quietly.
I murmured its name in my mind.
Feather Sword.
Isn’t that name intuitive?
True to its name, it was the only sword in the game with a weight stat of zero.
It had no other effect—but for that very reason, it had once been considered the lowest-tier divine weapon.
‘…But for me right now, it’s the perfect weapon.’
A weapon with zero weight.
It meant that even someone with my abysmal Strength stat could carry it around.
Moreover, despite its status, it was still a divine weapon—its durability far exceeded that of ordinary swords.
Unlike the cheap sword that crumbled into dust as soon as I used Soul of the Swordmaster, this one would be able to withstand the 12-star transcendence-grade skill for quite some time.
“…”
Shing—!
I picked up the Feather Sword.
Sure enough, it felt light even to me.
With a satisfied smile, I turned to Karayan.
“I’ll take this one.”
“…Excuse me?”
The Ruin Merchant Leader, Karayan, replied in utter disbelief.
“Th-The Feather Sword? Out of all the items in this vault, you’re picking that one?”
I replied indifferently, looking her in the eye.
“Is that a problem?”
“N-No. Not exactly…”
Karayan trailed off, wearing a conflicted expression.
She looked at the Feather Sword in my hand like it was garbage.
“…”
Well.
Honestly, her reaction was understandable.
Aside from its weight of zero, the Feather Sword was no different from a sturdy, ordinary sword.
In fact, the total lack of weight was so disorienting that most swordsmen in the game outright avoided it.
You couldn’t use weight-based sword techniques, and the grip and feel were completely different from other swords—it created a strong sense of discomfort.
‘It’s a trash weapon, divine name or not.’
That’s why, as I mentioned, the Feather Sword was once considered the lowest-tier divine weapon among Roel players.
‘…But that was once.’
Over time, players discovered the Feather Sword’s true potential.
They realized something.
That the Feather Sword wasn’t called a divine weapon for no reason.
‘The Feather Sword awakens under certain conditions.’
The original game had several easter eggs.
The most famous was the True Name Unsealing system, where some trash-tier items gained broken effects if specific requirements were met.
The Feather Sword was one such awakening-type weapon.
Its awakened form received top-tier ratings among all in-game equipment.
Eventually, it even overtook Frostglow to claim the #1 spot among sword-type weapons.
‘If Karayan knew about the Feather Sword’s awakened effects…’
She probably would’ve been willing to give up Frostglow—but never this.
If she ever found out the truth behind the Feather Sword…
It was obvious.
She’d pay a fortune to get it back.
Smiling to myself at the thought, I nodded.
‘Perfect.’
…So far, this was the smoothest start out of any playthrough I’ve ever done.
* * **
“Here you are.”
Rustle—
As soon as we stepped out of the secret vault, Karayan handed me something.
A lightweight spatial pouch, enchanted for portability.
I looked at her with a puzzled expression.
She shrugged.
“One hundred million shillings.”
“…?”
Shilling.
The in-game currency of the original title.
The exchange rate was roughly the same as the Korean won—about 1 shilling to 1 won.
That led to theories among players that the mystery game devs were secretly a Korean company.
‘Well, the game’s set in a post-apocalyptic world, so the economy’s a mess…’
Even so, a hundred million shillings was no small sum.
This money would help me tremendously as I made my way through this world.
‘…Wait. Why is she giving me this huge sum so suddenly?’
Just because I saved her again?
As I stared at Karayan in confusion, she calmly explained.
“It’s the reward for defeating the Underground Arena Champion.”
“…Ah.”
Her words reminded me of something I’d forgotten.
—Anyone who survives this match will have all debts erased and receive a hundred million shillings from the Ruin Merchants.
Right.
The arena host had said something like that.
I’d been so distracted I’d completely forgotten.
“We also gave the surviving slaves one hundred million shillings and their freedom. For the first time, our Underground Arena actually posted a loss.”
“…”
“Well, technically, that butcher Barba had been champion for far too long. We were due for a new face anyway.”
She stopped.
Karayan, who had been uncharacteristically chatty, suddenly went quiet.
Staring at me with an unreadable expression, she asked:
“But unfortunately, that new face won’t be appearing in the arena again… will he?”
“…”
“Because Your Grace intends to leave this place. Isn’t that right?”
I nodded.
As I’ve said before, I needed to keep a healthy distance from the Ruin Merchants.
Staying attached to them might make things easier for now.
But long-term? It wouldn’t benefit me at all.
‘More importantly…’
If—just if—they discovered I wasn’t really their savior?
‘…That would be a nightmare.’
So I had to leave the Ruin Merchants as soon as possible.
Maybe Karayan sensed it too.
She spoke again, her tone subdued.
“Then, before you go… may I at least know your name?”
My name…
After a moment of thought, I answered.
“Not sure. I forgot it.”
“…What?”
“It’s been so long since I last used it.”
Karayan stared at me, bewildered.
She looked like she didn’t know what the hell I was saying.
But I didn’t care. As I said—I needed to keep our ties to a minimum.
“You’re quite the mysterious one, Your Grace.”
In the end, Karayan gave me a reluctant nod.
“Very well. Then I won’t press you further.”
“…”
“But just one thing… Please answer me this one question.”
Rustle—
After a moment’s pause, she looked at me and asked:
“You’ll visit the Ruin Merchants again someday, won’t you?”
I nodded.
Then, without hesitation, I replied:
“Yeah. Someday.”
This world was brutal.
I’d just hooked a useful fool—of course I wasn’t going to waste it.
If the day ever came when I needed their help…
I’d be back. Without question.
