Delvers' Guild. Training Grounds. Training Ground No. 19.
Axe closed in fast, leaped, and brought her greatsword down on the blue dog with its sword slung across its back.
Unlike the first and second times, this slash carried not a shred of hesitation.
"GRAAAAAH!"
"………"
The blue dog, with zero tell, swung up a wooden sword in its mouth and caught it.
"Grrrr…?"
It was a bizarre sight.
The blue dog sat there primly, a training wooden sword clamped lightly in its jaws.
And with it, it received Axe's wooden sword as though it weighed nothing.
Axe pulled back immediately and rushed in again.
She went on the offensive, pressing hard with a relentless flurry.
"Ha! Ya! Hee! Ti-ti-teei!"
From all directions—up, down, left, right—she swung her sword. Wild, heavy, vicious consecutive slashes.
But every last one was parried by the wooden sword in the mouth of the big blue dog, still sitting there primly.
What's more, the blue dog hadn't moved a single step since the start. It just sat there, prim as you please.
"……"
The blue dog flicked the wooden sword lightly.
As if it were nothing, Axe was simply sent tumbling. She didn't fall, though—she staggered and that was all.
"……haah... haah... wh-what is that dog...!?"
"I wonder what it is."
"What is it, d'ya think?"
"..."
I watched this mock battle unfold and glanced at Emmy, who was sitting in a chair behind me.
Emmy was rubbing her belly, watching Axe in silence.
By the way, Axe and the others
had taken the Strongest Hangover Cure,
so there was zero alcohol involved.
Emmy looked pretty surprised.
Axe drove a brute-force power slash straight into the dog.
But the blue dog effortlessly deflected it, sending the blade bouncing away.
It was like she wasn't even a match.
That dog. I knew it. It was the one Celeste had been looking for.
Celeste was a disciple of the First-Rank Delver, "Sword of Swords."
So that dog must have had some kind of connection too. It was carrying a greatsword on its back, after all.
But how did things end up like this again?
If I recalled correctly... we'd rented the VIP room on the second floor because it would stand out too much on the first.
And then we all moved together.
The VIP room.
Across the table, Axe and his mother Emmy sat down.
"What a nice room."
"...Well, it's the VIP room, after all. Never been in one before."
"Axe. Is it all right for us to be here?"
"Kinda feels like we shouldn't be here, y'know."
"Me too."
"...Sorry about that. Just stay, will you?"
"I'm sorry about that."
Emmy apologized, looking genuinely sorry.
We went along with it. The two of them would've run out of things to say on their own, and we knew it.
The VIP room had two table seating areas—one on the left, one on the right.
Axe and Emmy took the right side. We took the left.
After we'd each ordered non-alcoholic drinks and whatnot.
"Come to think of it, we haven't introduced ourselves yet. I'm Emmy Hyrant, Axe's mother."
"Rel Tassan."
"Hoss."
"I'm Wof."
"Rel and Hoss are both with 'Thunder Fang,' right, dears?"
"Dears... yeah, that's right."
"Yeah, that's us."
"Is little Wof the same way?"
"No, I'm Axe's friend."
"Oh, nice to meet you."
With that, the introductions were over, and Axe spoke up.
"So our letters were being ignored... because they were sent to the house?"
"Yes, I'm sorry. I couldn't come back."
"Even so. A quick note about the pregnancy or about the old man would've been fine. If you'd done that, at least Mineha and I wouldn't have had this kind of reaction."
Everyone present had felt and thought the same thing.
That's right. If even a single letter had been sent, things wouldn't have gotten this bad.
"I'm sorry. I couldn't do that."
Emmy bowed her head.
"Mom. I want to know the reason."
"It's all over now, so I suppose it's fine to tell you, but there was a confidentiality obligation."
"...Confidentiality... obligation...?"
Axe furrowed his brow.
He never expected to hear those words in this world.
A confidentiality obligation. Or more precisely, an obligation to keep information secret.
A measure to prevent important information from being disclosed to outside parties, based on contracts or similar agreements.
"I'm truly sorry for keeping everything about your father from you all this time. It was my selfish choice."
"Y-yeah... I didn't know anything about the old man... What happened to him?"
"Ense received a commission directly from the royal family not long after becoming a first-class delver. It was to explore a high-difficulty dungeon called the End of Snow."
"That's where he went missing, right? Wait—the royal family?"
"That's right. But that matter is already closed."
She clearly had no intention of discussing that part.
Axe urged her to continue.
"I couldn't give it up. I kept going back to that dungeon every year, calling it a grave visit."
"You were doing that all this time?"
"It took fifteen years, but I finally found them. Ense's companions, frozen in ice on the lowest floor."
His companions had been frozen in ice too?
"So you thawed them out?"
"No. They couldn't be thawed easily. That ice wasn't ordinary. It was a legendary-tier special ice known as magic frost. Honestly, I didn't know whether Ense and the others were still alive in there. But I couldn't just leave them be. So I decided to find a way to thaw them. But no matter how you look at it, there's a limit to what one person can do, even if you're second-class. So I relied on the witch and had her introduce me to the Steelland baronial family."
"Steelland!?"
The name slipped out of my mouth before I could stop it.
Everyone's eyes turned to me.
"What's wrong?"
"Something up?"
"Sorry. That name just caught me off guard—it's one I know."
The Steelland baronial family.
Their third son had once been the boss of a clan called "Dragon Fang Rou" or something like that.
They were supposed to have been dismantled after we found the dangerous documents in their safe.
They were a thoroughly unscrupulous, shady noble family. And the witch was the one who connected you to them?
By the way, the only reason I knew that name was because Mineha had told me.
"Let me continue the story. We managed to negotiate several conditions and obtained information and funding from Steelland. But there were strict confidentiality agreements. A clause prohibiting the leak of any information related to the Magic Frost. That's why I couldn't tell you about Ence or the pregnancy, and I couldn't send any letters either."
"I see."
"So what happened next?"
"From that information, we finally got our hands on a legendary that could thaw the Magic Frost. We were able to unfreeze it and get Ence and the others out. We'd almost given up, but they were alive. They'd been asleep inside the Magic Frost for over twenty years."
"Frozen solid and sleeping for that long... That's a pretty hard story to swallow."
"But it's the truth."
"Yeah. I mean, Ence is right here, after all."
Axe and the others murmured in agreement.
From my past life's memories, the phrase "cold sleep" came to mind.
By putting subjects into cryogenic preservation, you could put them into a state of suspended animation and bridge an almost infinite span of time.
But in practice, there were countless challenges. It wasn't as simple as just freezing something.
The Magic Frost was a perfect example of true "cold sleep."
"After that, it took a long time to run tests and prove they were really Ence and the others. Someone like that could easily have had their insides swapped out for something else, turned into a monster... that wouldn't have been unusual at all."
"Yeah, that's fair."
"Reuniting with him was like living in a dream. I got to spend all that time with the person I love, the person I thought I'd never see again... But then it all came crashing down. Steelland, who had helped us with the thawing, betrayed us. We were caught completely off guard by the sudden turn of events and locked up at their base. We tried to resist, but one of the companions we'd unfrozen was being held hostage, and even though we wanted to do something about it... we couldn't manage it. Even so, we never gave up. Then, just a few weeks ago from now, the Delvers' Knights raided their base. The client is unknown. Well, we all know who it was, though. That's how we were rescued and set free. After that, we got our weakened companions into the hospital, went home, found out about the letter, and immediately took a carriage to Hydrangea. We were in such a hurry, and since getting here would have us arriving before the letter could even reach you... I'm sorry. That's why I couldn't explain what had happened."
"Um... Mom, you didn't need to be hospitalized or anything, right? You were okay?"
"Yes, I was pregnant, so even under house arrest, my treatment was decent enough. Thank you for worrying about me."
"I see. Then... that's fine. I understand why you couldn't send the letter. And I understand that it was hard for you."
"Oh, I'm glad we were able to talk properly."
Emmy let out a sigh of relief and took a sip of her drink.
I apologized.
"Um, I'm sorry about the witch."
"Why are you the one apologizing?"
Emmy blinked at me in surprise.
"Um, sorry. I forgot to mention. I'm the witch's apprentice."
"Oh, right, the witch's apprentice. You're Wof, aren't you? So *that* Wof."
"That Wof, he is."
"That Wof, yeah."
"That Wof."
"Y-yes."
That Wof. Yes.
"I'm terribly sorry for all the trouble my master caused this time."
I bowed my head again to apologize, and Emmy let out a soft chuckle.
"Don't worry about it. The one who introduced me was indeed the witch, but she was deceived too, it seems."
"Deceived? Why would the witch make a deal with people like that?"
Well, the witch being the type to make deals with shady people wasn't exactly surprising.
But stepping on an obvious landmine wasn't very witch-like.
"She was just one of many regular clients, and the witch had maintained a trustworthy business relationship with her. The witch knew she had a shady side or two, but it seems she never thought the woman would turn around and hurt the person who introduced her. And since you're her apprentice, you already know she's not the type to just sit there and be duped, I imagine."
"She wrapped things up neatly, didn't she?"
"Yeah, I'd say so."
That's what a witch would do. I would too.
Oh, wait — the employer, you mean.
"Well, if she's a witch, that figures."
"No offense to Wof, but if someone crossed her, I'd bet she'd pay them back a hundredfold."
"That's exactly what she'd do."
"A witch is a witch."
"Her place got taken down, but that doesn't bother that witch one bit. Or maybe the witch was behind the takedown herself. She's the type who could pull that off."
Well, uh, the takedown happened in Leorld, and that was mostly my doing.
But I figured it was justified, so I don't feel a shred of regret.
"That's our witch for you."
"A witch through and through."
"Yep, she's a witch alright."
Well, that's the witch for you. Everyone could agree on that.
Right on cue, drinks and food showed up.
We ate and drank, and once Axe had finished off his extra-large mug, he asked quietly.
"Hey, Ma. About Ence — why'd he do that?"
"The exhibition match. He kept saying he just couldn't bring himself to treat you as his son, no matter what. He knows full well you're his real child, but…"
"Yeah, honestly… that's a tough one."
"Especially since his son is older than him."
"There's no way he can treat you like a normal parent and child."
That was true.
Such an unusual case, after all.
"That's right. I can't really say anything about this either."
"Yeah, that's fine. I can't see him as my old man either. Having a younger biological father makes no sense."
Yeah, that was right. Even hearing about it, it made no sense.
Emmy smiled wryly, still holding her cup. Was it a sweet rice drink inside?
"Still, in his own way, he really does want to get closer to you."
"Yeah, well, that's... I don't like it, and it's complicated, but I'm not looking to make enemies of him."
"It's just that he's so clumsy..."
And that clumsiness had come out as an exhibition match.
"What kind of clumsiness is that, though?"
"The same absurd kind of clumsiness as the seventh sister."
"Also, I don't know why Axe wants to hit him, but at this rate, he won't land a single blow."
"I know. He's a first-class. Actually, from Mom's perspective, is it really okay to hit him...?"
"If it were anyone but Axe, I'd stop them."
A family squabble — well, that did seem about right.
"...I see."
"That's why I'll be your sparring partner."
"…I can't very well have you spar with my mom right now, can I?"
"Oh? Why not?"
"She's pregnant, isn't she?"
"If that's the case, she's already past the critical period, so as long as she doesn't do anything too strenuous, it should be fine."
"Is that really the issue here?"
"I don't think that's really the point."
"Um, Emmy. I really think you should stop."
I couldn't help but speak up. Emmy tilted her head in confusion.
"It's fine. Something like that wouldn't even count as strenuous exercise. A little light movement like simulated combat is perfectly okay."
"Is simulated combat light exercise?"
"I'm pretty sure it's not light exercise."
"It is not light exercise."
"Mom… please, I'm begging you, stop…"
Axe pleaded desperately. Emmy gave a wry smile and nodded.
"If you're all that against it, fine. Let me think… Oh, I know! There was an acquaintance of mine on the first floor just now. I'll go ask them real quick."
With that, Emmy left the VIP room.
We were all left speechless. Watching us like that, Axe said with feeling:
"Sorry… my mom caused you all trouble."
"I can tell you love her, but she's definitely a handful."
"It's not exactly a burden, but… well, you know. She's something."
"You've got a real energetic mother there."
"…My mom's 340 this year."
"Over 300, huh."
"Still considered pretty young, I'd say."
"Definitely young by elf standards."
Coming from Rel, who was also an elf and hadn't even hit 100 yet, that carried weight.
If you're gonna live to a thousand, then yeah, 340 is still young… right?
"That's true, but… watching my mom get all excited like that is rough."
"Ah, I get that."
"Right?"
"But she's cute, isn't she?"
"On the outside, yeah. And honestly, the fact that you can call your own mom cute — that's what makes you impressive, Wof."
"Huh?"
"Sorry to keep you waiting. I got the okay."
When Emmy came back, the one standing beside her was a blue dog carrying a greatsword on its back.
Axe's expression at that moment was probably something Wof wouldn't forget for about three days.
Axe did a half-spin and went flying.
That blue dog had neatly thrust into the flat side of Axe's sword, and that was the result.
It looked like just a light little tap, so where did all that power come from?
"You're not even in the same league, are you."
"What is that dog?"
"What *is* it, really?"
Seriously, what *is* that bizarre strength?
On par with Alveld—no, beyond that... That's ridiculous.
"It can't be helped. Well, given who the opponent was, there's nothing you could do."
Emmy's words gave me the opening to voice a question I'd been harboring for a while.
"Could that dog possibly be—"
"But you got lucky. Having the 'Sword of Swords' train you — that's something, Axe."
"…………"
"……"
"……"
Everyone went quiet.
Yeah. Yep. That's what it is after all.
So *that's* the "Sword of Swords"... or more like a sword dog?
"Well, well. You're all at it, aren't you."
A man suddenly appeared beside me. I looked and was taken aback.
Because he was a young man who was the spitting image of Axe.
I figured it out right away.
"Are you Enns?"
"Yeah, Enns Hyland. 'Sword of Swords,' huh. Yep — looks like Axe found herself a good training partner."
"Oh, you."
Emmy smiled and gave a small wave.
Enns responded in kind.
"Hey. Emmy. Take care of Axe for me, will you? I've got something I've been asked to do. You must be Wof."
"Yes."
"I've been asked by the witch to look after you. Mind if we head to the training grounds next door?"
"O-of course."
The witch?
Puzzled, I followed along obediently.
Behind us, Axe was pulling off spinning aerial flips — three in a row.
Impressive.