Chapter 10

Reiner Einhard was crazy about swords.

“Look! That man is close to becoming a Sword Expert. You know what a Sword Expert is, right? Sword Expert is a title given to someone who can release their aura from their body, therefore...”

“Auras are the power nature grants to humans. They’re mainly made from mana. Mana is nature itself, therefore it doesn’t cause any harm to humans. However, if a skilled swordsman infuses their aura with a will to kill, then...”

“The criteria for a good sword include the type of iron it’s made of, its origin, the skill of the swordsmith, how the steel was tempered, and the presence or absence of magic. And the region that produces the best iron is...”

Put nicely, he was a man who was passionate about his profession. Put more bluntly, he was a sword nut. As a knights’ commander, he was usually stern and serious, but he would turn into a fact-spewing machine when the topic of swords or sword fighting came up.

Many Fairy Night readers found that side of him endearing, so he had quite a fan following. When I read the novel, I’d also thought it was quite cute. I remember thinking, If I ever met him in person, as a Sword Master...

“Sorry, do you have time for a chat?” he asked.

I had to get out of here.

His footsteps stopped right behind me. I couldn’t turn around to face him, not when I could hear the madness in his voice. Reiner Einhard, the sword geek, never let someone more skilled than him go without a very long conversation first. That was the problem.

It’s okay... I’ll just make a run for it. I tried to calm myself. If it was later in the novel, after he’d awakened and become a Sword Master himself, I would have been more worried. But right now he was just a Sword Expert. I could subdue him if I had to.

I took a few breaths, then turned around. “Can I help you?”

Reiner and I were face-to-face, not even a foot apart from each other. Because of our height difference, I had to look up to meet his eyes.

His silver hair shone like the moon at night, and his golden eyes stared at me like a predator zeroed in on its prey. He had an upright yet weary look on his face. And just as anyone would expect from a fantasy’s male protagonist, he was darn handsome.

He might be as good-looking as Deedee. My brow furrowed as I recalled the brunet’s gorgeous face.

Facing such extreme beauty so suddenly, my eyes lost focus for a moment.

“I happened to see your aura while passing by.” Just as I’d feared, Reiner’s golden eyes lit up as he mentioned a sword-related topic. They were positively brimming with excitement.

Was he supposed to be this intense? In the novel, he was indifferent toward everyone except the person he loved. But the look in his eyes at the moment bordered on insanity.

“And...?” I tried to suppress the anxiety that was creeping up on me.

He opened and closed his mouth a few times as if he was preparing his words. Then he grinned. I was getting nervous.

“Are you Mire, the Dark Disaster and King of Mercenaries, by any chance?”

Damn it... Finally, the question I was dreading had come up.

I let out a heavy sigh. It was natural that he’d recognize me, but that didn’t mean it wasn’t a headache. It’s because my black aura has become famous. I facepalmed internally.

Official Sword Masters were named after the color of their aura. For example, Caesar Crisis was the Red Phantom and Mire was the Dark Disaster. Those names spread across the empire, but I had never intended to get that far. I just worked my butt off, and before I knew it, I’d become a Sword Master!

The reason I’d started hiding my face and going by the name of Mire was so my true identity as a young girl couldn’t be held against me. And people always mistook me for a guy when I put on my cloak anyway. My short stature posed a problem at first, but the issue was quickly put to rest when I made those who looked down on me get on their knees so they had to look up.

After years of slaying beasts for coin, one thing led to another, and I became famous.

“Thank you, thank you, Mire! Our village would’ve been destroyed by the beasts if it weren’t for you. We’re so grateful you came to us. Other mercenaries refused because the reward was too low...”

“Mr. Mire! Thank you for saving our town! When I grow up, I want to be just like you!”

“Our village will always welcome you. If you need anything, please don’t hesitate to return. We’ll help you even if we have to sell the village’s most prized possessions!”

I’d become well known after becoming an official Sword Master, but my initial fame had come from slaying beasts to help villages that mercenaries typically ignored. Others hadn’t been willing to do such tough work for low pay.

I couldn’t just leave them to their fates... I always thought I didn’t care about the misery, poverty, or welfare of strangers. But becoming a mercenary changed that. I saw poor villages destroyed by beast attacks before my very eyes.

“Ahh! Somebody, anybody, help me!”

“Mommy! Daddy! Wake up!”

“Mire! Please! Please help us. If you don’t, our whole village will be annihilated!”

I’d witnessed people pleading for help and children crying over their dead parents. Once I’d seen the destruction in person, I couldn’t just ignore it. I guess I was naturally soft.

But I can’t afford to just do nonprofit work. I was no hero. The most important thing to me was being able to afford elixirs from the Fairy Forest. Therefore, I’d set a rule for myself: Each time I took on a high-paying job, I’d do my part to help villages in danger, even if the pay was low. And then, at some point, they started calling me the King of Mercenaries.

After that, I became an official Sword Master and was given the title of “the Dark Disaster.” People started looking up to me, saying I was a mysterious hero whose real identity was unknown.

After I made a name for myself, more work came in, which was great, but... There was still a problem. Gossips had started trying to uncover my identity. I don’t care if my identity is revealed, but if someone uses it to take Aria hostage... Just thinking about it made me sick.

I didn’t go around making enemies, but I’d turned down a ton of employment offers from different organizations shortly after becoming a Sword Master. Not only would I have to reveal my identity if I worked officially, but I’d also inherit whatever enemies my new employer had. But plenty of people now resented me for rejecting them so bluntly.

What if Reiner has a grudge, too? The Einhard family had never contacted me directly, but I was startled by some of the memories that came to mind. I turned down the offer to join the imperial knights... five times. Reiner was the Commander of the Second Imperial Guard, so maybe he held some animosity toward me.

He wasn’t such an unforgiving character in the novel, but... I couldn’t be sure, which made me nervous. I looked up at him. His eyes sparkled at me without a hint of malice. He doesn’t seem to have bad intentions, though.

“If I said I wasn’t Mire, would you believe me?”

“No.” His answer was firm.

I was dumbfounded. “Isn’t it a bit rude to ask for someone’s name before you provide your own?”

All else aside, he was standing far too close. I backed away as I pointed out his rudeness, and as I did so, his shoulders twitched. As much as he was described as a sword nut, he was also an honorable knight who valued respect.

“I am Reiner Einhard, Commander of the Second Imperial Guard. Pardon my rudeness.” He folded his tall body into a polite bow as he introduced himself.

Nodding, I gestured toward Llewellyn and the drunk man, who were both unconscious on the ground. “If you’re the commander of the knights, could I leave these two with you? Miss Llewellyn Decardo here was almost hurt by that man.”

Reiner had an odd look in his eyes as he peered back and forth between them and I.

I turned away from his piercing gaze. I’d rather not mess with the flow of the novel. Because of my intervention, Llewellyn Decardo and Reiner Einhard’s first meeting had been disturbed. If Llewellyn didn’t fall for Reiner, the novel’s plot would end up going in a completely different direction.

It bothers me that Llewellyn tried to grab me, but... If she woke up and saw Reiner, wouldn’t she fall in love with him as the novel intended? I wanted to follow the course of the novel as closely as possible. I don’t want her to bully Aria, but if that doesn’t happen, and causes a ripple effect... Like a dog turned loose on its own, the future might bring me something I wouldn’t be able to predict. I had to be wary of that.

“Now you should introduce yourself as well,” Reiner said.

I’d started dragging the drunk man over to the commander’s feet and was poking him with my iron pipe. Truthfully, I was trying to avoid paying any attention to Reiner. But he showed no sign of leaving.

Ugh... Can’t you just go away? “My name is Cass.”

“It’s clearly not.” As soon as I used my go-to nickname, he immediately shut it down.

“But it is.” Even if you don’t believe me, what are you going to do about it? I lifted my chin shamelessly.

Though his face seemed indifferent, his eyes had an odd glisten. He stared at me intently. “Aren’t you Mire?”

“I’m not sure why you think that.”

If he does find out I’m Mire, he’ll never let me go. That was what my gut was telling me. Reiner was an annoying obstacle preventing me from returning to Aria, who was still waiting for me at the cafe.

“Your aura was black,” he said, pointing to the iron pipe in my hand. The weapon had been stained black after enduring my aura.

“There are plenty of people with black auras.”

The commander brushed off my rebuttal. “Theirs are just dark. The only one with a pitch-black aura is the Dark Disaster.”

He’s right. An aura was a swordsman’s calling card. Although the theory wasn’t officially recognized, it was true that each swordsman’s aura was a subtly different color.

There are a lot of people with dark auras but none as black as mine. I’d met numerous swordsmen but had yet to come across someone with an identical aura. Because of the trials I had faced, my aura just turned out to be that dark.

“What do you want?” I asked. He was too confident about my identity. Dragging this on would just be a waste of time. I decided to give up on the truth and be direct.

His eyes were sparkling more and more. His face was totally void of emotion, yet his eyes were like he was a child meeting their favorite superhero. It was a little unsettling.

“I want to know who you really are,” he responded.

Don’t you know already? “Okay. I’m Mire the mercenary. You happy now?” I said, frowning.

“No, not that.” He took a long step toward me. Overflowing with excitement, his smile was so large that he was squinting.

I thought he was described as a cold commander who never showed his smile to anyone but Aria. But he was smiling, so brilliantly that it made this dirty alleyway seem like a paradise filled with the music of bugle-playing cherubs.

For some reason, I felt a bit betrayed. As I was racking my brain for some hint from the novel that would explain this behavior, he slowly began to speak.

“I want to know your real name.”

His voice was as sweet as honey. Only one thought ran through my mind as I listened to his soft and low question: You idiot. That sweetness belongs to my sister, not to me.