The incomplete Holy Sword needed another Holy Sword as material--
The first thing Iver thought of was Arondight.
After all, the Arondight dagger preserved by the Avalon royal family was no longer needed as the key to activate the Shadow of Avalon Ritual. Aside from its ritual and collectible value, it no longer had any practical use--the royal family could hardly go around hacking people with a short sword.
But he soon gave up on the idea.
After all, the other Arondight dagger was currently with Hai Na.
Although Vivian had placed it on her, it had indeed accompanied Hai Na as she grew up. It was her precious personal property, as well as a memory of her childhood, and might even be a part of her soul. If Iver only intended to borrow it for a while, that would be fine, but he needed to smash it and melt it down...
And the only Holy Sword that legally belonged entirely to Iver was, in fact, just one.
That was Mordred's Holy Sword Clarent.
Back when Iver was still Aleister, he had used his mirror-image ability to disguise himself as Bayard and meet with Pengbo Naqi, the First Red Prime Minister.
At the time, Pengbo Naqi had explained the true nature of the Bayard Family.
The Bayard Conglomerate had indeed risen from nothing and was not some noble family. But they had not gained their wealth through commercial means, either. Instead, they had relied on more violent and aggressive methods.
To be precise, it was "business warfare."
The Bayard Family was a Ritual Mage family that followed both the Path of Transcendence and the Path of Love. They might even have been the inventors of the Ritual Mage profession.
The ritualists of Astute were originally pure ritualists, just as the