Chapter Summaries

Riezel attended the royal investiture and received the Sword Saint Medal from King Hermulin, becoming the Ginas Kingdom’s seventh Sword Saint. The ceremony ended with Riezel and Yuri sharing a smile as his new title was set to spread across the continent.

• Riezel arrived at the Royal Palace with Yuri, Marilyn, and Liz for the investiture, while Ain and Ian stayed behind with the carriage.
• Yuri explained that the Sword Saint Medal would help Riezel establish his status and avoid trouble during future travels.
• Marilyn guided Liz on her duties as an attendant before Riezel led the group into the Audience Chamber.
• King Hermulin welcomed Riezel and conferred the Sword Saint Medal upon him before the gathered nobles.
• Riezel and Yuri exchanged smiles as the ceremony ended and Riezel became the seventh Sword Saint of the Ginas Kingdom.

After Riezel’s Investiture Ceremony, nobles crowded around him and Yuri, speculating about their relationship and seeking their favor. The Third Prince Sorok Ginas arrived and, after acknowledging Riezel’s strength, asked him to pledge loyalty and join his side.

• After the king left the ceremony, nobles gathered around Riezel to greet him and build connections.
• Yuri took Riezel’s arm, prompting nobles to speculate that they were a couple and to seek favor with both of them.
• Sorok Ginas entered after the ceremony and approached Riezel and Yuri, drawing uneasy reactions from Duke Faction supporters.
• Sorok mocked Riezel’s title and accomplishments before admitting that he had underestimated him.
• Sorok asked Riezel to pledge loyalty to him, promising he would become the greatest person in the country besides Sorok.

Riezel rejected Sorok’s attempt to recruit him and warned him not to provoke him, driving the prince from the audience chamber in humiliation. Sorok’s rage and old resentment resurfaced, and he decided to stop at nothing.

• Riezel privately told Sorok he would never serve him and reminded him of the Shadow attack that had nearly killed him.
• Sorok threatened Riezel, but Riezel calmly answered, “You can try,” making Sorok recoil before leaving the audience chamber.
• Yuri worried that Sorok might cause another crisis, and Riezel said he hoped the prince would dare provoke him.
• Sorok struck a corridor wall and raged over Riezel’s contempt and his own fading influence after the eldest young master of the Corderion Family appeared.
• Sorok’s agitation returned, and he decided to stop at nothing.

After becoming Liz’s retainer, Liz stopped challenging Riezel in public, and her awkward explanation to the disappointed swordsmen led them to misunderstand her nighttime training. Later, Riezel offered to help her unpack her treasured belongings, and a Scroll fell from her box.

• Liz became Riezel’s retainer, stopped challenging him in the arena, and followed him at Franzer Villa.
• The swordsmen mourned Liz’s departure from the arena, while others hoped they could become Riezel’s retainers by impressing him.
• Liz apologized to the swordsmen and said she could only do certain things with her master at night, prompting them to misunderstand her and cry even louder.
• Riezel noticed challengers making strange pleas about how he treated Liz, but he did not understand what they meant.
• Liz told Riezel that the Royal Palace had sent her belongings and that the small box held treasured things from Grandma Mia.
• Riezel took the box to help Liz organize her room, and a Scroll fell out onto the corridor floor.

Riezel discovered that he could see a hidden image on Liz’s animal-hide scroll and learned that her grandmother had once told her to take it to the Hidden World. Liz gave the scroll to Riezel, who recognized the image’s altar and cube-like object but remained silent as he examined it.

• Liz explained that she had always seen strange patterns on the animal hide, though everyone else thought it was blank.
• Riezel opened the hide and saw an image appear, confirming that Liz had not been lying.
• Liz recalled that her grandmother had once suggested taking the hide to the Hidden World but had said nothing more about it.
• Liz agreed to let Riezel keep the hide because he was her master.
• Riezel examined an image of a crowned Queen leading worshippers at an altar, where a cube-like object floated, and fell silent.

Riezel visited Yuri late at night, where they discussed nobles probing their relationship and Yuri agreed to investigate the Hidden World and Liz’s Sword of Moslo. After Yuri revealed that Carly Lyatt’s latest letter concerned the Third Prince, Riezel decided to meet with her.

• Riezel found Yuri working late and talked with her about nobles trying to determine whether they were a couple.
• Yuri admitted she had brushed aside the nobles’ questions, then asked Riezel how he would have replied; he said he would not explain his private life.
• Riezel asked Yuri to investigate whether the Hidden World existed anywhere on the Akasha Continent, and she agreed.
• Riezel also asked Yuri to look into Liz’s Sword of Moslo, whose appearance and aura reminded him of a sword on the Beast Hide Scroll.
• Yuri gave Riezel Carly Lyatt’s letter about the Third Prince, and Riezel agreed to meet with her.

Riezel went to the Honey Wine Restaurant to meet Carly, who had asked him to come because she had information about the Mad Dog Prince. There, Carly introduced him to Sharia Corderion, the gifted daughter of the Corderion Family.

• Riezel and Liz arrived at the Honey Wine Restaurant, where the guards and guests recognized Riezel as the Lightning Sword Saint.
• The restaurant manager escorted Riezel and Liz to Carly’s private room on the third floor.
• Riezel reunited with Carly and Stephanie, and Carly thanked him for coming.
• Riezel asked whether Carly’s mention of the Mad Dog Prince had only been an excuse to meet him, and she assured him it had not.
• Carly introduced the third guest as Sharia Corderion, the gifted daughter of the Corderion Family.

Riezel met Sharia Corderion, who tried to arrange a meeting between him and her brother, Saint Nidor, but Riezel declined and invited Nidor to challenge him at his arena instead. At a private meal, Sharia called Liz a princess, shocking Carly and Stephanie.

• Riezel greeted Sharia and accepted her thanks for guiding the Les Brothers.
• Sharia invited Riezel to visit her family and meet her brother, Saint Nidor, but Riezel declined noble socializing.
• Sharia suggested Nidor might prefer to make friends through swordplay, and Riezel told her to send him to his arena.
• Carly arranged a lavish meal, and Riezel invited Liz to sit and eat with the group.
• Sharia addressed Liz as Princess Liz, leaving Carly and Stephanie shocked.

Riezel learned that Third Prince Sorok had sent people to the Barony of Caferde to seize his family and use them as leverage. He asked Sharia to alert him if she found where they were being held, then declared that he would deal with Sorok himself.

• Riezel directed Liz to sit with him, and the Retainer Contract compelled her to obey.
• Riezel asked Sharia what Sorok had done, and she explained that her family had tracked the prince’s movements.
• Sharia revealed that Sorok had sent people to the Barony of Caferde to capture Riezel’s parents, grandfather, and Baron Kafeld.
• Sharia said Sorok’s people had left five days earlier and that the Corderion Family was trying to locate the captives.
• Riezel asked Sharia to notify him if she found the captives and said he would handle Sorok by his own methods.

After the banquet, Riezel exchanged Communication Magic Crystal wavelengths with Sharia and Carly, then left with Liz. Sharia and Carly discussed Riezel’s changed feelings toward Carly, and Sharia grew angry when Carly suggested he might like Yuri Franzer.

• Liz was embarrassed after eating around sixty of the banquet’s more than eighty dishes, so Riezel took her away and bid farewell to Sharia, Carly, and Stephanie.
• Sharia and Carly exchanged Communication Magic Crystal wavelengths with Riezel before he left with Liz.
• After Riezel departed, Sharia asked Carly whether she still had complicated feelings about his rise to become a Sword Saint.
• Sharia and Carly agreed that Riezel no longer showed Carly the affection he had once displayed, leaving Carly feeling regretful.
• Carly suggested that Riezel might truly like Yuri Franzer, prompting Sharia to angrily accuse Yuri of bewitching him.

Riezel learned that Sorok was holding Baron Kafeld and a farming family in an abandoned house near Royal Capital Yeluf, which might also conceal the prince’s private soldiers. As night fell, Sorok arrived at the house and attacked Baron Kafeld, leaving Riezel’s impending response unresolved.

• Sharia told Riezel that Sorok’s men had brought Baron Kafeld and others to an abandoned house near the city walls.
• Sharia explained that the house might also serve as Sorok’s base for secretly trained private soldiers.
• Riezel ended the call and remarked that the night was suited for murder and arson.
• Sorok disobeyed the king’s order and arrived at the abandoned house, where knights and captives awaited him.
• Sorok confronted Baron Kafeld and kicked him to the floor, making him cough up blood.

Sorok beat Baron Kafeld and forced the Brihaut Family to agree to poison Riezel with a magic potion in exchange for their lives and promised riches. As they accepted, a figure named December approached from outside.

• Sorok accused Baron Kafeld of letting Riezel escape and beat him nearly to death.
• Sorok questioned Riezel’s grandfather and parents, who disowned Riezel and blamed him for their misfortunes.
• Sorok revealed that Riezel had become the kingdom’s seventh Sword Saint and a Tactical Class Mage.
• Sorok offered the Brihaut Family wealth and safety if they made Riezel drink a magic potion, and they eagerly agreed.
• A figure named December slowly approached from outside.

Sorok’s hidden estate was attacked by a force of Combat Mechanical Dolls, and a mysterious swordsman called Mist wounded him. Mist left Sorok facing the attack with his identity revealed but his purpose still unknown.

• Sorok heard screams outside, realized the estate was under attack, and ordered the knights to draw their swords.
• About a hundred masked Combat Mechanical Dolls burst through the windows and attacked Sorok’s knights, rapidly overwhelming them.
• Sorok discovered that the attackers were Dolls when his powerful sword strike bounced off one of them.
• Mist appeared from a thin concealing mist, glanced at the hiding members of the Brihaut Family, and attacked Sorok with Mist Breathing’s Fourth Form: Straight-Flow Slash.
• Sorok drank a healing potion to recover from the wound in his chest, demanded Mist’s identity, and heard Mist name himself.

Riezel, disguised as a mist-wielding swordsman, confronted Sorok in the prince’s hidden armory and wounded him with techniques adapted from the Shadow Strike Sword Skill. Sorok unleashed the War King Sword Skill’s Spiritual Power to break Riezel’s concealment and launched a counterattack.

• Riezel confronted Sorok at the hidden armory, and Sorok mistakenly suspected that another faction had sent the swordsman after him.
• Riezel used Mist Breathing infused with insights from Rom’s Shadow Strike Sword Skill to disappear into mist and haze.
• Riezel struck Sorok with Low Clouds, Distant Haze and Eight-Layered Mist, inflicting numerous wounds.
• Sorok released the Spiritual Power of the War King Sword Skill, dispelled the mist, and halted Riezel’s attack.
• Sorok slashed his sword toward Riezel’s head.

Riezel defeated Sorok, but the Third Prince escaped using a Transfer Magic Crystal. Afterward, Riezel left the hall as the mechanical Dolls burned it down.

• Sorok unleashed his Spiritual Power and struck at Riezel, but his target was a mist double, and Riezel stabbed him from behind.
• Riezel mocked Sorok and pulled out his blade, but Sorok activated a Magic Circle and escaped, leaving behind a shattered Transfer Magic Crystal.
• Riezel recognized the crystal and concluded that his assassination attempt had failed, though he considered forcing Sorok to use the precious item worthwhile.
• Riezel recalled the Brihaut Family's miserable conduct and left without acknowledging them as family.
• The mechanical Dolls set the hall ablaze, and the isolated house burned beneath the moonlit night.

Riezel returned to Franzer Villa after leaving the severely wounded Sorok in the Royal Palace, where knights found him and called for the Court Mages. Liz waited for Riezel, troubled by his attack on her half-brother, and he reassured her and warned her to keep the incident secret.

• Knights patrolling the Central Garden found Sorok after a Magic Circle deposited him there, bleeding and gravely injured, and summoned the Court Mages.
• Riezel returned to his room at Franzer Villa and found Liz waiting for him because their Retainer Contract let her sense when he left.
• Liz admitted she cared about Sorok, and Riezel reassured her that he understood and did not doubt her loyalty.
• Riezel told Liz that Sorok had escaped but was badly wounded and likely to be rescued at the Royal Palace.
• Riezel warned Liz that the royal family would investigate and instructed her not to discuss the incident or reveal their contact with the Corderion Family; Liz promised to keep quiet.

After Riezel nearly killed Third Prince Sorok, King Hermulin’s forces investigated the attack while the Corderion siblings weighed the danger of being implicated. Rom’s report confirmed that Sorok had secretly brought the Brihaut Family to the capital and been attacked by someone calling himself Mist, leaving King Hermulin to question whether the Corderion Family or Riezel was responsible.

• News spread that Third Prince Sorok had been attacked and nearly killed, prompting King Hermulin to send knights, Court Mages, and Shadow Knights to investigate.
• Sharia brought Saint Nidor intelligence about Sorok’s injuries, and the siblings recognized that Riezel had attacked him with their help as accomplices.
• Saint Nidor anticipated that the Corderion Family would be suspected and resolved to cover for Riezel while turning the crisis to their advantage.
• Rom reported that Sorok had broken his confinement, hidden troops, and brought Baron Kafeld and the Brihaut Family to the capital before being struck through the chest by Mist.
• King Hermulin condemned Sorok’s misconduct and asked whether the Corderion Family or Riezel had arranged the attack.

King Hermulin and Rom examined the evidence implicating Riezel Brihaut in Sorok’s attack but found contradictions and considered the possibility of a frame-up. King Hermulin ordered Rom to investigate thoroughly and barred the Royal Faction from approaching Riezel until the culprit was identified.

• Rom reported that Riezel had visited a restaurant with members of the Lyatt Family, leading King Hermulin to suspect the Corderion Family had incited him against Sorok.
• King Hermulin and Rom considered whether Riezel and the Franzer Family could have arranged the attack, including whether Riezel was secretly Mist.
• Rom pointed out that Mist had left the Brihaut Family in the burning building, which seemed inconsistent with Riezel attacking Sorok to avenge them.
• Rom warned that the Corderion Family, the Duke Faction, or foreign agents might have framed Riezel to turn him against the royal family.
• King Hermulin assigned Rom to investigate and ordered the Royal Faction not to approach Riezel until they knew who had attacked Sorok.

After Third Prince Sorok was nearly killed, Yuri confronted Riezel about the attack and explained that the royal family was interrogating nobles and searching the capital. Confident that his identity would remain hidden, Riezel joined Yuri in protesting Sorok’s crimes to the palace, stirring up further turmoil.

• Yuri accused Riezel of attacking Sorok and told him the royal family was questioning nobles while the Kingdom Knight Order searched homes across the capital.
• Riezel reassured Yuri that neither the royal family nor magic could uncover his involvement, and Yuri agreed to withhold what she knew.
• Yuri proposed that she and Riezel file a joint complaint against Sorok for kidnapping people and leaving the palace at night.
• Riezel and Yuri sent a fierce protest letter to the palace, setting off another wave of turmoil in the capital.

After Third Prince Sorok abducted Riezel Brihaut’s relative, Riezel and Yuri’s joint protest drew support from nobles and other Sword Saints, putting King Hermulin under pressure to punish Sorok. King Hermulin remained determined to protect his son, leaving the conflict unresolved.

• Riezel and Yuri protested to the royal family over Sorok’s secret abduction of Riezel’s relative, and nobles began discussing the scandal.
• Saint Nidor ordered Sharia to write a letter condemning Sorok’s actions, prompting the Duke Faction to join the protests.
• The Border Guard Sword Saint, the Meteor Sword Saint, and the Sword Saint of the Borley Family sent letters demanding Sorok be punished.
• Riezel and Yuri recognized that the other Sword Saints were defending their own families and status, while their support strengthened Riezel’s protest.
• King Hermulin and Rom discussed the danger of a wider conflict, but King Hermulin argued that Sorok was already gravely injured and continued to support him.