The Most Famous Swordsmanship

In a world devoid of dungeons to explore, Riezel felt the need to grow rapidly, and practicing swordsmanship became a necessary task for him.

Otherwise, if he wanted quick growth, he would have to enter the battlefield to have numerous enemies to confront.

This made him realize that perhaps, in the future when he travels to other worlds, he might encounter similar situations. Not every world was like Danmachi, where there were plenty of monsters posing a threat to humanity that he could confront.

If in the future, he traveled to more peaceful worlds without enough enemies to confront, his growth would stagnate.

This was something that must be avoided.

Therefore, he felt that his immediate priority was to find swordsmanship to practice, ensuring that his growth would not come to a standstill.

As long as there was swordsmanship to practice, he wouldn't have to worry about his growth stagnating, no matter which world he traveled to in the future.

Among the many swordsmanships, the unquestionably fastest-growing one after practice was special swordsmanship.

Therefore, he decided to find a special swordsmanship to practice.

Originally, the Holy Dragon Sword Style completely met his requirements, but unfortunately, this swordsmanship lacked the crucial breathing style. While he intended to persist in practicing the existing part first, for his future growth, he still needed to find a complete special swordsmanship to practice.

In this situation, he was thinking that maybe he could find a special swordsmanship to practice in the Royal Market. But the reality proved that even in this upper-class society market open only to nobles and wealthy merchants, it was still challenging to find special swordsmanship.

'An auction, huh?' Riezel pondered for a moment before asking the store owner. "When is the next auction?"

In the Royal Market, auctions were held every once in a while, and many people knew about it.

The auction was organized by the supporters behind the Royal Market, and the items appearing in the auction were generally precious things not found in the market. Sometimes, even rare treasures would appear, attracting the competition of various nobles.

It was said that during the auction, even dukes and members of the royal family might attend.

Since the store owner mentioned that special swordsmanship would only appear in auctions, Riezel naturally wanted to take a look.

But—

"Not every auction will have special swordsmanship." Ain was as sudden as ever, speaking without any warning.

"Is that so...?" Riezel was momentarily stunned.

"Yes." Ian nodded seriously. "There aren't many special swordsmanship on sale to begin with. Royal families and major nobles of various countries hold most of them. Some particularly powerful special swordsmanships are even considered important legacies by them, such as the War King Sword Style of Jinas's royal family."

The War King Sword Style was the legacy swordsmanship of Jinas's royal family, allowing the practitioner to evoke spiritual power and use it against their enemies.

The power of this swordsmanship was formidable, much more potent than ordinary special swordsmanship. As a result, Jinas's royal family considered it a legacy, proving the uniqueness of this swordsmanship as it has been passed down through generations.

Special swordsmanship like this, highly valued by royal families and major nobles of various countries, was usually more powerful than ordinary special swordsmanship.

However, this did not imply that other special swordsmanship was unremarkable.

Generally, even minor nobles could not possess special swordsmanship. Only royal families and major nobles had the possession of special swordsmanship; they even possessed multiple special swordsmanship as backup.

After all, swordsmanship sometimes demanded compatibility, and not everyone was suitable for its practice.

The Holy Dragon Sword Style was a prime example.

Not only was it extremely challenging to learn, but it also required a naturally large amount of magical energy within one's body. The conditions were strict, and even if someone wished to pass it down as a legacy, finding a suitable practitioner from their descendants was not guaranteed.

The same applied to special swordsmanship inherited by royal families and major nobles in various countries. It might not be suitable for all descendants to practice.

At this point, having additional special swordsmanship available for practice within the family became crucial. Without it, many descendants who didn't meet the conditions for inheriting the swordsmanship might be left with no choice but to practice advanced swordsmanship, struggling to achieve success throughout their lives.

For this reason, royal families and major nobles in various countries had a habit of collecting special swordsmanship as much as possible. Whenever new special swordsmanship emerged, they competed to obtain it, intending to leave it for suitable descendants.

As a result, special swordsmanship was essentially monopolized by royal families and major nobles. The few instances of special swordsmanship that ended up outside were extremely rare, and people with special swordsmanship were reluctant to sell them easily as they were considered precious.

"If you want to acquire special swordsmanship at the auction, it might truly depend on luck, sir."

"Perhaps someone outside has luckily obtained a special swordsmanship but, due to a lack of money or personal need, decided to auction it here."

"Or maybe some noble family has fallen on hard times and has to auction off the special swordsmanship in their collection to survive."

The store owner explained to Riezel several possibilities.

"Such situations are not so common, though. So, even in the Royal Market's auction, it's not guaranteed that special swordsmanship will be auctioned. Sometimes, it might not appear for a decade or even several decades."

In other words, Riezel's plan to obtain special swordsmanship from the auction has also hit a dead end.

"Hahh... this is getting troublesome..."

Riezel rubbed his forehead tiredly, while Ain and Ian, standing behind him, fell into silence. However, just when he was at a loss, the store owner seemed to think of something and hesitated.

"Actually... I do have a somewhat damaged special swordsmanship. Would you like to take a look, sir?"

The store owner made a surprising offer.

"Damaged special swordsmanship?" Riezel became more attentive. "Bring it here; I'd like to see it."

The store owner acknowledged and quickly ran inside the store. Shortly afterward, he returned with a book.

"This one."

The store owner handed the book to Riezel.

Riezel took it and glanced at the title on the cover, but the moment he read the title, his eyes widened.

Clearly and distinctly, the cover of this swordsmanship book displayed a name—Holy Dragon Sword Style.

Yes, it was the very Holy Dragon Sword Style that he was familiar with.

"Wh-What the heck?"

Riezel was dumbfounded.

On the other hand, perhaps intrigued, Ain and Ian leaned over for a look, both wearing expressions of sudden realization.

"I see, this is indeed that special swordsmanship..."

"No wonder, the only special swordsmanship that would appear in the store is probably only this one."

The two female knights remarked one after another.

"Do you know this swordsmanship?" Riezel, regaining composure, looked at Ain and Ian.

"We do." Ain replied briefly.

"This is the special swordsmanship created by the Dragon Sword Saint, Efastin Tussanlo, hailed as the strongest Sword Saint four hundred years ago." Ian explained attentively. "The reputation of this swordsmanship is extremely high. It's not an exaggeration to say it's the most famous swordsmanship on the continent." 

Unfortunately, upon hearing that explanation, Riezel was only getting confused.

"You don't know?"

Seeing his confusion, Ian was astonished and decided to continue her explanation.

"Four hundred years ago, the Holy Dragon Sword Style sparked a big conflict, resulting in the deaths of several Sword Saints. Numerous groups fought bitterly, creating deep-seated grudges that persist until today, leading to ongoing deadly conflicts."

Seemingly a well-documented historical event, many people were aware of it.

Riezel, however, remained oblivious, mainly because the original Riezel had no interest in history and hailed from a rural background, lacking broad knowledge.

It was only now, after hearing Ian's explanation, that Riezel finally understood why the Holy Dragon Sword Style was the most famous swordsmanship on the continent.

Firstly, it was obviously powerful.

Secondly, the conflict it triggered four hundred years ago had a profound impact on the world.

Thanks to this, he also understood why the Holy Dragon Sword Style was incomplete—not because Yuri took away the breathing style from it and stored it separately, but because of the intense conflict four hundred years ago.

"Four hundred years ago, after the death of the Dragon Sword Saint, the Holy Dragon Sword Style he created became the subject of intense conflict due to its overwhelming power, attracting many greedy individuals."

"The conflict was intense, involving not only various forces from across the continent but also numerous interventions from other Sword Saints."

"As a result, many lives were lost, leading to enmities among major forces. The book of the Holy Dragon Sword Style also suffered destruction in this chaotic conflict, and its essential breathing style was destroyed, leaving only the swordsmanship itself."

Ian shared what she knew.

"Four hundred years later, the swordsmanship fragment of the Holy Dragon Sword Style has become spread widely. It's not only present in Yeluvia but is also collected by some people in larger cities."

Coincidentally, Yuri's library possessed a fragment of this swordsmanship, which Riezel happened to come across. Clearly, he had previously misunderstood; this swordsmanship was not intentionally left for him to practice by Yuri but was merely a preserved fragment in her library.

Many such fragments existed, even in this store.

Yuri indeed contemplated whether he would be interested in learning swordsmanship, but she was not at the point of casually presenting him with a special swordsmanship for practice.

"The Frenzel family was once in decline and had only recently risen under the control of the Lady. So, there is no legacy of special swordsmanship within the family. If Mr. Riezel wishes to practice special swordsmanship, it won't be as simple as it seems..." Ian added.

Upon hearing her words, Riezel's heart quickly sank to the bottom of the valley.

It seemed that this matter of swordsmanship was indeed troublesome.