"Bang~" a soft sound.

The sword is unsheathed.

"Sure enough, it's ......" The old man looked at the sword in Ellie's hand and pronounced its name: "Lonely City (Blade_of_the_Last_Citadel)." ”

Elle stood with her sword in hand, silent.

The old man obviously has an unusual relationship with this sword, and the more he talks about it before he understands his relationship with William, the more wrong he is.

Ellie waited silently for his question.

However, without asking any questions, the old man with white hair just nodded: "In that case, take me a sword." ”

What the?

As soon as the thought arose in Ellie's mind, the old man flashed in front of him, and his right hand was pointed at his eyebrows.

How could it be so fast? The maid, who had always been known for her agility, instantly stood on end, and the intuition of a martial artist formed over many years of training was frantically sounding the alarm.

It's too late, it's completely too late to dodge...... At this moment, Elle subconsciously activated her own power, Flicker, this power that had awakened in the night of blood and fire four years ago, had saved her life countless times.

Seeing that Ellie's figure disappeared in an instant, the old man sighed lightly, as if he was a little surprised.

But surprise to surprise, after losing the target, the old man's movements did not stop in the slightest, and without even looking back, he folded his body and shot accurately at Ellie, who flashed 20 feet behind him.

Luckily, Elle wasn't a newcomer to battle, and the reaction of panic was not present to her.

From the moment she used the flicker to dodge the old man's inevitable blow, she was already thinking about how to fight back.

Seeing that the old man was once again attacking him at a speed far beyond that of ordinary high-level professionals, Ellie held the lonely city in her right hand, bowed her body, and waited in vain, while her left hand touched her waist.

"Bell~" The long sword that swung towards the old man was pointed at the spine of the sword by the old man, and suddenly, a strong force came from Pei Mo Yu, and the long sword lonely city flew up.

But Ellie seemed to be prepared, and her left hand had already drawn the nonsense sword from her waist, and slashed at the old man's body from a hidden corner of sight.

"My Uncle Lila Cole is back again~~" However, the shout of the sword instantly destroyed Ellie's long-planned raid......

Ellie didn't waver, her hand was steady, and the sword she swung out slashed at the old man's ribs with swift speed, and the old man who had just swung his sword away with one finger didn't seem to be able to retract his stance.

Going to hit?

Thinking so, Ai Li found that the old man in front of her had no time to observe the exact direction of her sword, but he was still able to turn over and dodge in the direction of the sword.

The bottom of her heart sank slightly, but Elle still didn't give up, because she still had one last killer move.

At the same time that the old man turned over to avoid Lilla Col, behind him, the pure gold long sword that had been bounced into the air, Lonely City, flipped the sword body in a posture that violated the laws of physics and stabbed the old man fiercely at the back of the neck.

One of the sword dancers' stunts, Ellie, who has been in tune with the Lonely City, has finally sacrificed her killer weapon.

Just as Elle was watching expectantly, some old men who had lost their balance smiled at Elle, just twisted their necks, and passed by the sneak attack of the lonely city...... Really rub the "shoulders" by.

Ellie's heart sank to the bottom.

......

Sally withdrew her gaze from the window.

It has been more than ten days since the eldest lady left, but the snow in the city of St. Valentine has not stopped.

In the bedroom on the second floor of the castle, the warm fire was blazing, and Sally glanced at the hostess who was lying on the bed, squinting and resting, and couldn't help but think: What are the chief maid and the eldest lady doing now?

"Guess what they're doing now?"

Sally was startled by the sudden questioning, and the woman on the bed opened her eyes with a narrow smile on her face.

"Uh...... Miss, Miss, they must be in the palace of the royal capital, enjoying a luxurious dinner, right?"

The blonde woman did not reply, and the flickering fire made the woman's face flicker and brighter, like the moon under the clouds.

Strange to herself, why did she think of the moon? Apparently she had never seen a real moon except for her master's paintings, Sally reflected, probably because the strange hostess always liked to explain things to herself.

"How's the tune with the sword?"

Hearing the hostess's question, Sally was a little embarrassed: "Maybe I don't have a good talent, and I can't always feel the sword sound of the maid chief." ”

"I'm not going to give up, though. Sally clenched her little fist and added earnestly.

"What a patient child. The blonde woman smiled.

The girl standing at the window held the amulet on her chest, the warm touch reminded her a lot, yes, Sally can wait, she said to herself.

......

Elle stared at the calm old man opposite, and her heart had sunk to the bottom.

Under his strongest attack, the old man was still unscathed, and it seemed that he had no intention of pulling out the thin sword at his waist at all.

Damn, white clothes and white hair, such high speed, such ghosts, Ellie gritted her teeth, she finally remembered, remembered a name, a name that she had heard in childhood.

The sword ghost - Velon, this nickname full of Karatu continental style, has been the childhood nightmare of children in the Northland for many years.

No one can say whether the sword ghost is a ghost of a sword or a swordsman like a ghost, but this does not prevent many Northland parents from using him to scare their disobedient children.

Ellie didn't know if the other party was human or not, but the legend about him had undoubtedly been circulating in the Northland for many years, and by the way, judging from his previous self-report, maybe it started almost 50 years ago......, right? Was once a member of the royal family of a kingdom?

He is best known for his deed that he once appeared in a battlefield where a single sword was in full swing, slashing the soldiers and generals who stood in his way one by one, and then calmly left.

The real significance of this event is to confirm his existence to everyone, because before that, in many legends about him, there was always a strange phenomenon that some people could see him, but others present were unaware.

In folklore, some say he was a kind old man, some say he was as fierce as the devil, and for decades, there seem to be people who have seen him in dozens of countries that have existed throughout the Northland, and there have been legends about him, and he wanders in this chaotic land of the North, and no one knows his past, no one knows his purpose, and no one even knows whether he is still alive.

Not to mention folk legends, among the upper-class people in the Northland, the understanding of him is that he is a super strong martial artist with some spiritual problems. Many people speculate whether he has crossed that threshold and reached the legendary realm, but in any case, it is only speculation.

As soon as he returned to the Northland, he was targeted by such a mysterious powerhouse who didn't know whether he was dead or alive, and the worst thing was that he seemed to have some connection with William of the Gun Flower Mercenary Group.

Lots of thoughts raced through Ellie's mind, and she thought about what to do.

－－－－－－－－－－－－－

PS: Each move and style of the fight is based on the various moves in the Nine Swords expansion.

Old Man: Steel Soul Flow: Shrinking the ground

Elle: Might: Flickering

Old man: Steel Soul Flow: Auditor, 30ft blindness

Old Man: Steel Soul Flow: Catapult Slash

Ellie: Take the opportunity to attack ......

Old Man: Stone Dragon Flow: Stone Dragon Strike (Breaking Weapon)

Ellie: Take the opportunity to attack ......

Old Man: Steel Soul Flow: Before you care, dodge

Ellie: Dancing Sword (Lonely City)

Old Man: Nine Swords Grandmaster, Dealing with Potential (Ex): Steel Soul Flow: Doubt Pearl, continuous dodge.

......

I'm not sure if it's a good idea to add these things in parentheses to the fights above, although it would seem more "flavorful" of DND, but my book is not an online game after all, with a system, so forget it. Having said all that, I actually want to say that I will try my best to make the fights as interesting as possible.

In other words, when I wrote this fight, I always couldn't help but think that if I were the protagonist in a traditional martial arts novel, I would have shouted a long time ago when I encountered this situation: Senior, there is more than one sword!

However, it is not possible for the taciturn maid lady to say such a thing (covering her face