Chapter 19_ Sword Saint

"Your highness, is there something that caught your attention that needed your presence in Winston?"

Closing the thick book in his grasp, Lexus turned his gaze towards the front and a pink-haired beauty entered his vision.

'Honorifics, huh...I still can't get used to this.'

Lexus nonchalantly thought in his mind. Even though he had been addressed with such honorifics that royalties had taken for granted, Lexus who had lived in the modern Earth of 21st century, was not used to this kind of treatment.

Well, he still preferred to communicate casually, but knowing very well his status, Lexus didn't want to push it too much. It was meaningless to do anyway.

"Well....There's someone I want to meet in there."

Lexus replied to Dovie who was following him as his bodyguard. As she was the daughter of the Great Swordsman who was directly serving the king, it was her duty to protect the next in line of the throne, being the daughter of the Royal Knight's commander.

Having been trained as a knight since she was young, she wore a soft inner armor in a silver color, which sparkled slightly with a golden hue. She also had a long sword hung around her waist.

Even though her equipment wasn't of the highest quality in Lexus' eyes or for the standards of a legendary blacksmith, the equipment was definitely more appealing and attractive when she wore it.

(#A/N: Yoooh! Just make an image in your mind of someone like Shikimori who's wearing a fitted cool looking armor.)

"Is it someone special?"

She asked with pure curiosity. As they had been traveling for 3 days already since they left Reinhardt, if she wouldn't take the iniative to start a conversation, feeling an intense boredom because of the silence is unavoidable.

"Yeah. He is some sort of unique and special."

His smile didn't fade, and his tone was filled with eagerness and excitement. Seeing his smile, Dovie unconsciously averted her gaze, and her cheeks slightly turned red. It was unavoidable for her.

The snow-white haired prince with scarlet red eyes possessed a high level of charm, far exceeding that of any other person. His special stat, Charm surpassing 1000, made it nearly impossible for others to avoid being charmed or enchanted by him. (A/N: Well, probably excluding the legends who could resist an abnormal status effect of charm.)

"I~I....I understand."

Dovie meekly stuttered as she lowered her head. Of course, Lexus wasn't so dense to not notice her reactions, but he knew that this was the effect of his charisma. However, he didn't think much of it, as he assumed she would eventually get used to it.

What he didn't know was that it wasn't just due to his high charm. Though Lexus didn't seem to place much importance on it, his appearance alone was enough to attract Dovie, not to mention that Dovie had witnessed for herself that he had a good personality.

Unlike what she had seen from his brothers, he didn't treat anyone with arrogance, disdain, or even the slightest hint of an abusive attitude. He treated everyone with respect, for doing a job well done, and spoke to them casually without any harsh words coming out of his mouth.

Just this alone was enough to earn his respect, but of course, it wasn't enough for her to develop romantic feelings toward him; she only had pure respect. Aside from being a difficult woman, she herself was extremely talented, excelling in various fields since she was a child, and holding the chivalric code of a knight.

'I should finish reading the rest.'

Lexus thought as just like what he had been doing since they had left Reinhardt, he intended to spend the next hours flipping through the pages of the books he had. Looking at Lexus who was reading a book again, she couldn't believe how fast he could finish or more like she couldn't believe he was reading the books in the first place.

Also, if anyone walked in and saw what he had been doing, they would shake their heads and mock him. He would grab a book from his inventory, swiftly flipping through all of its pages and then tossing it back into his inventory. To an outside observer, it appeared as though he was just skimming through the pages without truly reading or comprehending the content.

Due to Great Sage and with his now high intelligence, Lexus could retain the information from the books just by seeing them one time and his reading speed is atleast 1000 times faster than normal.

Therefore, all he had to do was flip through each page and quickly scan them with his eyes. However, although he considered this as "reading," it would obviously look ridiculous from an outsider's perspective since this method could only be done by him alone, as far as he knew.

'Well...I don't know why but I got the feeling that his highness will be someone great in the future.'

Dovie thought in her mind as she observed Lexus' action as she also had nothing to do anyway.

•~~~•

Winston is a large village located within the Eternal Kingdom, and despite its name, it is comparable in size to the fortified city of Patrian. Originally, it was a small village. However, there are many places suitable for both beginner and intermediate-level travelers nearby.

As these places became famous, the number of visitors gradually increased. There is a rumor that it will be upgraded to a city in the near future if this trend continues. Leaving the carriage behind, Lexus headed towards the square. Of course, he wasn't alone; he had two people following him from a distance, as he requested that he wanted to tour for a while all by himself.

Dovie was in charge of protecting him in case something dangerous happened, while the other was Sera, the maid who was in charge of the chores and was meekly walking at his side while maintaining a little bit of distance from Lexus.

There was a wide range of people in the square, from newbies who had just created their characters to users wearing level 100 equipment.

People moved around within the virtual reality. Some sought parties, others bought or sold goods, shared quests, begged, coupled up, or simply enjoyed the scenery. Every type of person was visible.

As he moved around, Lexus curiously observed them.

Beginner users primarily used East Street, while average-level users preferred South Street. Both East and West Streets were popular among all levels.

East Street contained NPCs who gave beginner quests and led to the most suitable hunting grounds for them. Meanwhile, the south had the suitable quests and hunting grounds for average-level users. The west and north were areas which covered all levels, or in other words, they were crowded with stores.

"The blacksmiths area is likely to be in the west or north."

Lexus murmured to himself but then, he heard the players, mumbling and sharing to themselves.

"Wow! Tzedakah Guild has really taken down a Yatan's Servant? Even I can't beat an ordinary Yatan Believer."

"Yeah, its said that even though they had casualties, they still managed to pull it off.".

....

....

Many people were talking in the streets but the topic were mostly the same. It was about the fall of a Yatan Believer. A notorious group that people would agree that they were criminals.

Thanks to them, Lexus received a good information and now knew what's the current timeline in the novel.

"Where was Khan's smithy again?"

"Sob sob sob sob~!!"

As Lexus was moving around Winston to look for the smithy that he had in mind, he saw a black haired man who had an ordinary look sobbing and crying to his heart content.

"I'll never love again. Women… I'm really scared of women. I don't like them."

Ignoring the matter that he was crying, Lexus recognized him. The protagonist, Greed.

"I have to work...I have to repay the debt...Do I just need to earn the money?....Just constantly...pointlessly....."

Seeing him so downcasted, Lexus held his chin and thought.

'At this time....this should be before he joined Tzedakah Guild, right?'

Greed was sobbing outside of a building on East Street. It was a two-story building and the exterior of the building was huge. This smithy seemed like it would have dozens of blacksmiths working together but Lexus knew what's the situation of this smithy.

Looking at Greed, who was the original Pagma's Successor, he sighed looking at his crying figure.

(#A/N: At this time, Greed was so heartbroken because he was insulted or something like that by his crush during their date.)

He knew that the current Greed lives and dies for money. This personality comes mainly from him having an insane debt and also living life insanely cheaply.

Besides that, he cares deeply about his sister and parents. He also doesn't discriminate against the NPCs of Satisfy and treats them as if they were real humans, even forming a familial and friendly relationship with some of them. This makes him loved and adored by NPCs, quickly forming ties and respect with them.

As his character growth has still not really began, Lexus was aware that he currently has a somewhat wicked personality. He won't save a village from destruction but if there's a benefit involved or if his belongings and his people are affected he will act accordingly.

Most of the time even though he is acting out of his own benefit, others misunderstand and think he is benevolent and heroic. It is only after watching Greed more closely that they eventually realize his true nature.

But despite that, Lexus didn't mind much. He knew that his personality changes in the future and overall, he is a good person. As Greed was regaining his composure while internally motivating himself, he saw a man appeared before him then the white haired man called out to him. "I have a favor to ask of you."

'This person…!'

Greed narrowed his eyed and belatedly focused his attention above the man's head. Then he confirmed the name.

'Lexus.'

He didn't know who he was, but he was clearly an NPC. The fact that the NPC approached him first must be related to a quest! Then Lexus spoke.

"There is no need for any pretenses. I don't want to talk to you for too long, so I will cut to the chase."

Pausing for a while, Lexus thought that he should say something cool to make things more mysterious but he still had to keep his act as a mysterious NPC.

"I have always dreamed of a confrontation with a strong person like you. I wish to achieve the status of sword saint. Compete with me."

Ttiring~

There was a familiar sound and the quest notification window popped up.

[The Mysterious Intention]

★ Hidden Quest ★

Difficulty: A

An unknown person has set his eyes on you because he saw something from you that interested him.

Quest Clear Conditions: Withstand the mysterious man's assault until he stopped.

Quest Clear Reward: 5 levels, 2 unique items.

Quest Failure: Level -10.]

Before Greed could process what's happening, Lexus smiled and a red sword appeared in his grasp then it moved in a line.

[The quest has been accepted.]

Because Lexus took the iniative to attack first, the quest was forced upon on Greed. Some might say this was unlucky. No, it was more accurate to say that Greed had no luck.

But as Lexus purposely lowered his speed, it gave Greed the time to be able to pull out a greatsword around 3m and 20cm in length. Its appearance was overwhelming. The blade made of black iron expressed elegance and strength at the same time. While the silver handle made of mithril wasn't much to boast of, it made a subtle and elegant combination of black and silver.

Recognizing it, Lexus murmured.

"Dainsleif, huh..."

A work created by Albatino, the first human to receive the nickname of 'craftsman' before Pagma's era. He attempted to reproduce the mythical weapon, Dainsleif that was crafted by a god.

He smiled seeing Greed pulling out a weapon. Though Greed might have a negative impression about him, Lexus didn't really mind.

He wanted to fight Greed in the first place so how can he let this chance to obtain the rewards of winning against him? The only legend beside him.