The Dark Side

"My Home" Tavern fell silent, so quiet that one could hear a pin drop.

Every mercenary in the tavern—or rather, every Blade of Calamity—stared incredulously at the fair-skinned man who had just uttered those shocking words.

"The heir to the Starfall Kingdom..."

Amid countless gasps, the mercenary Sunny behind Marina snorted:

"I thought trying to break into prison was crazy enough."

Tales saw Ricky, in the guise of "Krasu," furrow his brows to an unprecedented degree after Fuse revealed that astonishing target. Beside him, the Northlander Clay stopped polishing his scabbard, while the cold glint in the masked man's eyes grew even more threatening.

Tales had heard of the Blades of Calamity as well.

But he had heard another name even more often: Terminus Tower.

For millennia after the Ending War, it had been a legendary holy ground that tirelessly trained all kinds of warriors for humanity and passed down their techniques, preparing them for war.

Among the people Tales knew, Kohn, Miranda, and Wyatt had all spent a considerable amount of time at Terminus Tower, learning their skills there. Over the years, the place had become so famous that people had grown accustomed to calling swordsmen who possessed Ending Power and wielded the signature longswords favored by nobles "Terminus Swordsmen." Whether in frontier mercenary camps or local City Guard units, anyone who had "spent time at Terminus Tower" would soon become highly sought after by employers.

As for the Blades of Calamity—at least, that was what Fuse called them, and the name made Tales extremely uneasy—according to what Wyatt had heard through the grapevine, they were the mortal enemies of Terminus Tower.

So...

Tales sighed inwardly. No wonder they could plan a prison break without hesitation in Bladefang Camp, and even make contact with the forbidden Shadow Shield.

"Damn