By Zephyria 
Arthur was the winner of the hunting contest.
It wasn’t surprising. Arthur was truly exceptional at things like hunting and fishing. He had a remarkable talent for waiting patiently and seizing opportunities.
As it was a hunting contest hosted by the Emperor, it was his role to present the award for first place.
The young Emperor, dressed in light attire suitable for a hunting contest, personally bestowed the first-place prize upon Arthur with a smiling face.
The prize for first place in the hunting contest was a bow crafted directly by the Imperial family. Outwardly, it appeared to be a simple bow without any special decorations, but it was a precious item engraved with the Imperial family’s emblem through Sorcery and imbued with various auxiliary Sorcery spells suitable for hunting for the user.
Arthur accepted the bow with a confident expression.
The unexpected event occurred just as the award ceremony for the hunting contest was nearing its end with Arthur receiving the bow.
Boram, who was trying to console the men of the Marquis Evans family for failing to catch even a single small animal, noticed a man approaching Arthur.
It was a man familiar to Boram.
Marquis Rodrigo.
The leader of the Noble faction, a long-time rival of the young Emperor, and someone who had been strangely quiet amidst the ongoing silent purge.
After a period of silence, he had suddenly appeared.
“Hmm? I thought he wasn’t even participating,” Marquis Evans said, stroking his beard.
“…”
Boram had thought so too. She had expected him to express his displeasure by not attending the Emperor’s event, using various excuses, as he was engaged in a silent war with the young Emperor. But surprisingly, he had shown up.
“Your Majesty,” Marquis Rodrigo called out to the Emperor, and the surroundings, which had been noisy after the end of the contest, instantly fell silent.
However, the silence was brief, and people immediately exchanged meaningful glances with those around them or whispered quietly.
The animosity between the Emperor faction and the Noble faction was nothing new, and the Noble faction had been pressuring the young Emperor in alliance with the temple for over a decade.
In fact, it was a bad relationship that had continued since the late Emperor’s passing and the current Emperor’s hasty ascension to the throne.
The Noble faction’s actions against the Emperor were outrageous, but the young Emperor was no pushover either. No one was unaware that the Emperor was behind the recent large-scale purge.
Of course, no one had figured out how the Emperor was dealing with his political enemies, which meant that no one had direct evidence that the Emperor was the culprit, so it was all just speculation. But it was clear to anyone that only key figures of the Noble faction were being eliminated.
The Emperor didn’t seem to be trying to hide it. Rather, he was being deliberately blatant, as if he had made up his mind, so no one failed to understand the Emperor’s intentions.
Be observant and keep a low profile.
When Marquis Meggin, Marquis Rodrigo’s right-hand man, was assassinated, and his successor, Count Almeida, was also killed, the Noble faction shrunk swiftly.
Even so, everyone expected that the unyielding Marquis Rodrigo would somehow make a move.
He was the kind of person who would have resorted to drastic measures, even if it meant using force, especially now that the Imperial family had only one direct descendant, the Emperor.
Yet, he had been strangely quiet lately. Despite losing all his limbs, he had taken no action, and then suddenly he appeared at the hunting contest.
Even in this situation, where rumors were openly spreading that “Marquis Rodrigo is next.”
Marquis Rodrigo paid no attention to the gazes of the people whispering about him. The middle-aged man, with a stiff face, turned to the Emperor, who was looking at him with a hardened expression, and requested with a benevolent smile.
“I have a personal gift I would like to give to the Hero. It seems like a good excuse has arisen, so may I take this opportunity?”
Moreover, the request was so unexpected that murmurs quickly spread. “The Hero? A gift?” Along with those words, attention naturally turned to Arthur.
Arthur reflexively looked towards Boram, and Boram shook her head slightly. She couldn’t understand what was happening either.
Arthur and Marquis Rodrigo’s connection? There was none.
After receiving his title, Arthur resided in the Imperial Palace and didn’t prevent Nobles from visiting, but most of them were useless except for Count Almeida’s attempt to win him over. Moreover, that attempt was rejected, and the subsequent uproar over his assassination had made the whole thing fizzle out.
Marquis Rodrigo wasn’t the kind of petty person to hold a grudge for being rejected.
What on earth is going on?
Marquis Rodrigo was looking at the Emperor with unwavering eyes, as if he knew that the Emperor wouldn’t refuse this request.
It was difficult for the Emperor to refuse a request to give a gift to the Hero who saved the world in commemoration of his first-place win in the hunting contest, especially since it wasn’t for Count Fontain.
The Emperor nodded.
Then, Marquis Rodrigo gestured, and a man, as if he had been prepared in advance, approached Arthur carrying something covered with cloth.
It was quite large and long. Even though it was covered with cloth, it seemed to radiate light, making it clear that it was made of metal or something similar.
The man carrying the object and approaching Arthur had a pale complexion. What was certain was that he wasn’t Marquis Rodrigo’s son.
It was a completely unfamiliar face, but for some reason, Boram thought she had seen the man’s face somewhere.
Moreover, she felt a strangely unsettling feeling.
The man, stepping forward without hesitation, lowered his body in a reverent posture, as if he were standing before the Emperor, and presented what he had brought to Arthur.
Even so, his attitude was so dignified that he didn’t seem to be groveling, giving off a strange feeling.
Arthur, who had been quietly looking at the object the man presented, reached out his hand.
As he unhesitatingly removed the cloth covering the object, exclamations erupted from the surroundings.
“Goodness.”
Boram’s older brother, who was standing next to her, let out a gasp of admiration. It was an object that would make even a Sorcery caster with no interest in swords exclaim in wonder.
Boram’s eyes widened.
Of course, it wasn’t because the object was so radiant that it gripped even her heart as a Sorcery caster.
It was the Holy Sword.
No, it was a sword that looked astonishingly like the Holy Sword.
As if it had been made from the same mold with the same materials, it had the exact same appearance as the Holy Sword she knew, and the unique sacred aura flowed from it as if overflowing. That sword was now revealed at this moment.
The sword that Arthur had claimed to have lost during the battle with the Demon King.
The brilliant sword that Arthur had wanted to possess his entire life.
The man said with a smiling face.
“This is what you lost. It took some time to restore it, so I am only returning it to you now.”
No.
Boram unconsciously denied it in her mind.
That’s a sword that Arthur never lost. In the first place, the Holy Sword never chose Arthur, and that noble sword would not even allow someone it hadn’t chosen to touch it, let alone lift it.
Above all, Ketron currently possessed the real Holy Sword. Although it was wrapped in cloth, she had seen Ketron holding the sword on the day of the tournament.
No matter how similar it was, that was definitely not the Holy Sword.
But how?
Everyone knew about the existence of the Holy Sword, which symbolized the Hero, but the special characteristics that only its owner could lift it and its appearance had been forgotten by everyone due to the Sorcery on that day.
But how could Marquis Rodrigo create a sword that was so perfectly similar to the Holy Sword?
More than that… why?
“…”
Arthur remained as stiff as a stone for a while, simply staring down at the Holy Sword.
His face seemed bewildered, joyful, and confused.
But Boram could tell what choice Arthur would make. She couldn’t not know.
No.
Boram unconsciously wanted to rush out and stop Arthur, but it wasn’t a situation where she could do that.
“…Right. That’s right.”
Arthur finally nodded in affirmation. Then, as if worried that it would be taken away, he said once again with emphasis.
“It’s my sword.”
His face seemed completely entranced, by the magic of that sword.
The man holding the sword offered the Holy Sword closer to Arthur with a smiling face, and Arthur finally lifted the sword.
People exclaimed in awe at the scene of the Hero reclaiming the Holy Sword.
Perhaps, if time passed without any problems, this day would be recorded somewhere as the special day when the Hero reclaimed the Holy Sword.
However, Boram thought that such a thing was unlikely to happen.
The Emperor’s expression was stiff. She saw him giving orders to his close aide standing beside him, and Marquis Rivalt, who nodded, quietly left his seat.
Something was happening. It was a flow that Arthur could never handle, in Boram’s opinion.
Boram’s gaze followed the man who had presented the Holy Sword to Arthur.
At that moment, the pale-faced man and Boram’s eyes met.
“…!”
Feeling a sudden chill, Boram quickly averted her gaze. As a member of the Hero’s party and one of the most powerful archmages, she had felt intimidated by someone’s gaze alone.
He was definitely a man she had never seen before. She vaguely felt like she had seen him somewhere, but she had never seen a man who looked like that before.
Objectively speaking, he had a smooth and handsome face, but other thoughts came to her mind before the thought that he was handsome.
If she were asked to describe what kind of face it was, Boram wouldn’t be able to describe that face.
She just had that thought.
The thought that he was like a snake.