After nearly three days being unconscious, Logan finally woke up. What he found was not the stormy sky but the ceiling of a hospital.
As his vision cleared he began to feel his body which began to hurt. The pain naturally accelerated his heart and alerted doctors who quickly came over to see him.
“It’s okay, don’t worry you are safe now.” the doctor said.
“Where… am I?” Logan asked, feeling his voice dry.
“You are in one of the major Eshen Military camps. You were found unconscious at a cliff near Thunder forest’s borders. Can you explain what happened to you?” the doctor asked.
Logan blinked and probably thinking of this as a release he began to recount all the danger and fear he felt. Half way through when he said his mother went with other mothers to distract the men and his sister as well he was crying heavily.
Several nurses came to comfort him and after he spoke he just said that lightning fell and the sword fell in his hand. He explained that it was his grandfather's but he didn’t know much else.
After feeling the burden fall off he seemed very sleepy. Although he wanted to sleep a nurse brought him food, which is when he felt hungry.
Still after eating he fell almost immediately asleep. Until that point his body still had cuts, bruises and injuries from his run away. Especially his feet that had to have a few rocks removed from his soles but the day following him awaking, the doctors were shocked to find all shallow wounds were gone, all wounds on his feet that hadn’t just scabbed over had scarred and was drying and flaking already.
The day after almost his entire body was almost healed and he just had some discomfort from his feet due to the deeper injuries.
All said and done though, he never once let go of his grandfather’s sword. For some reason he did not want to let it go like it would be taken from him if he so much as opened his grip.
He was given some soft slippers to walk around as that would protect his feet and he was allowed to walk around. He did go outside but he saw the huge army and weapons. The sounds of guns and everything that was blocked by a magic barrier and it brought back bad memories making him return to his room where he just sat there with his sword.
On the third day he was finally cleared with a more than perfect bill of health to the amazement of the doctors who said that only high level healing magic could induce such great healing effects.
That said, even if he was healthy there weren’t many places they could put him, especially not with how the nation was at war at this time.
That said, the very same day an order for all children in the western area of Eshen to be moved to either the Archipelago or the eastern region was given.
Those who lost parents or family will have to be sent to orphanages. This is a protection method to prevent the nation’s future from being cut and removed.
The evacuation began soon after the order was given. Entire towns had the children and young adult population moved either to the eastern zone where it was safe or the archipelago which had the sea as a barrier as well as the navy.
Logan was sent behind the mountain barrier.
As for the remaining adults, they were eventually evacuated to the archipelago. Farms were pretty much abandoned to not leave any risks that could distract the military. Also most of the adults went to the archipelago to expand the amount of land cultivated out at sea which was only partially cultivated. Both sea produce and farm produce would eventually come from there but to Logan he didn’t care, he simply wanted his lost family back.
In the orphanage it was rather rough, although they wanted to take the sword he didn’t allow them to and no one could actually touch the sword without getting shocked besides him.
They eventually gave up since the edge of the sword was pretty much ruined and couldn’t hurt anyone anymore than a wooden stick or stone.
Logan eventually just began to sleep with it and during the day he just hid the sword under his bed for safety.
It was pretty good during the first few days but very quickly trouble began to appear. The number of orphanages filled with children were by no means small and this had to be sustained by the nation and very quickly it became a very heavy load for orphanages and even the nation to sustain the army and all the children without parents.
This began to cut into the joy of the children as they noticed the worry of the adults.
When Logan saw this, he felt so weak and looking at the sword that was able to survive a bolt of lightning he thought it could be a famous magic sword that magic knight used which acted like staff that mage use.
Besides also being his only thing to remember his family, he took the ruined sword and during the day he began to look for blacksmiths who could repair it but when he reached the first one he felt like he was in a dark pit by the words of the man.
“What the hell is this?” the blacksmith asked.
“It is my grandfather’s sword… it was… it was hit by lightning.” Logan said.
“Lightning! Bloody hell, what do you want to do with this?” he asked.
“Is it possible to fix?” Logan asked.
The blacksmith looked at him in surprise before he burst out laughing, “Fix it? This? Ahahahaha! Good one kid.” the smith laughed, “Let me tell you something kid, although I can see that some strong monster bone was reforged into this sword it the only surviving part that is worth of this sword but because it was struck by lightning, this sword can be called only one thing and that is scrap metal.” He said.
Logan felt that it was not true but the smith would not do anything so he took the sword and went to another smith.
For a whole week he looked for all the blacksmith in the city his orphanage was in but everyone said the same thing and that it was scrap and could not be repaired.
Logan had long begun to cry as he carried the sword to look for another smithy when he passed through an alleyway to look for some hidden shops when he found an elder sitting in front of the door. The strange thing about this old man was that he had pointed ears.
Logan looked at the building and found the two story building looking like a smithy with the chimney looking far from normal.
“Sir… is this a smithy?” He asked.
The bags under his eyes had turned swollen from crying and he was already giving up hope.
“That depends. I am retired but I do some work depending on the job.” He replied.
Logan lifted the sword blade and held it parallel to the ground with both hands, “Can you fix this?” he asked.
The old man nonchalantly looked at it but slowly his eyes widened. He sat up in his seat and waved for the boy to approach before just using a finger to touch the side which resulted in a very weak hum.
Seeing this reaction the eyes of the old pointy eared elder widened and his face turned into a gentle smile as he carefully lifted the sword much to the shock of the boy.
“How can you hold it? It shocks anyone who touches it?” Logan asked.
The old man laughed, “It is expected that an old elf like me can hold a sword charged with only this much mana from a lightning strike.” He said and got up. “Come inside.” He turned to the door and opened the door.
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The inside was very simple and the back was blocked by a wall with a closed door. He placed the sword blade on the counter and he turned to Logan. “Child, let me see your hands.” he said.
Logan timidly showed the palms of his hand. “Like this?” he asked.
The elder looked at it, “Turn them around.” he said.
Logan turned it around and when the old man looked he smiled like an old grandfather and gently took the boy’s right hand and looked at the lightning shaped scar.
“That is the scar I got from the sword.” Logan said.
“It isn’t a scar.” the old man said and gently touched it passing his index finger over the length of the scar which suddenly caused it to start shining and a circle formed around followed by another just around that one. Magical runes began to appear while the scar began to shrink and change as a new line formed an image similar to the sword and behind it was a bolt of lightning at the center.
Lastly there was a star connected pentagram that formed around the now shrunken scar marking. Once it ended the glowing dulled greatly but the mark was now like a brand instead of a scar and it didn’t stop glowing.
“There, now you don’t have to worry that you will lose your sword ever.” the old elf said.
“What did you do?” Logan asked in awe.
“Just a little magic.” he winked. “That said, this little mark is something you cannot show anyone no matter what.” he said and walked behind the counter and pulled out a skin color piece of cloth. He called Logan over and wrapped his hand. Amazingly after three wraps and cutting a piece of cloth the cloth firmly wrapped his hand and seemed to melt into his hand and vanished.
“Woah!” Logan exclaimed and began to try to find it.
“You don’t need to worry about that cloth. It is special and won’t get in the way of anything you do or any movement or even your growth. Now, about this sword of yours.” he said, picking up the sword blade, “This poor thing was quite abused but thanks to the fact that it has thunder dragon bones forged into it’s blade it survived and can be fixed.” he said.
“Really!” Logan exclaimed.
“Yes but not right now.” he said.
“Huh?” Logan exclaimed, confused. “Why not?”
“This is no longer a normal sword, you can tell just by the fact that it doesn’t let anyone besides us two touch it because I can fix it and you are its chosen master.” He said.
“Chosen master?” Logan tilted his head.
“In this world, there is a special type of sword that picks its own master. It is a very rare type of sword but every last one of them is famous and has a name of its own. That said, this one has only just become a sword like that because it was hit by lightning and became special.” He explained.
“Um… so how do I fix it?” Logan asked.
“Well first off I will repair this hilt and make you a sheath, this way you can safely transport it without being embarrassed or injure someone.” he said.
“That sword can still cut?” Logan asked.
The old elf laughed and handed him the sword. “Just hold it there.” He said making the boy hold it with the edge faced up.
He looked around and took a block of wood and casually touched it onto the blade.
To the shock of the boy, the dull and charred scrap metal blade ripped through the block and furthermore left a serious burn mark from the discharge of electricity it released.
“See, this is not a normal sword, it is very dangerous to leave it unsheathed. Now about how to repair it. It is very dangerous, this sword, just like you and me, is alive and it can eat and grow. For this one, because it seems to be based off of lightning it needs you to hunt monsters with lightning magic. You will quickly discover what you need to gather for the sword as you hunt. Besides that, you need to charge it.” He said.
“Charge?” Logan was even more stumped.
“That means when the sword has eaten its fill you need to stand under a thunderstorm and get struck by lightning. The sword needs to eat lightning to fill up the energy it needs. Only when you satisfy its thirst and hunger can I repair it.” the old elf said.
“So… I need to train and become a really strong adventurer to do this.” Logan asked.
"I guess that is one method.” he said and placed the blade on the table and began to look around and grab different types of wood and place the sword against it. Several of them were burned until one did not have a reaction to which the old elf nodded and smiled.
He removed the blade from it and began to change it using magic. The wood began to extend and change shape and became a hilt perfectly sized for the tang while the sheath had to be shaped and sized.
He built the hilt and gave it a few swings and nodded. It was guardless and had only the hilt. The sheath was soon shaped and the space for the sword tang was formed before the two halves were melted and the sword placed inside. The final adjustments were done while he just used a tiny bit of magic to straighten sharp bits on the swords side so that it would slide smoothly in the sheath but it did barely anything to fix it besides change the shape a little bit.
“There child.” He said.
“How much does it cost?” Logan asked, not taking the sword.
The old man laughed, “Don’t worry about it, I did say I was retired and only take jobs depending on what they were. I didn’t fix your sword and simply refit the hilt is all, so take it.” He said and tossed the sword into the boy’s hand.
The sword now looked only like a curved stick as the hilt and sheath connected almost seamlessly.
“Oh and one more thing you must remember. If you desire to see that brand on your hand you simply need to think about it and the cloth covering it will let you see it. You need to pay attention to it because when it glows pure white the sword is ready to be repaired and you should bring it to me.”
Logan was confused for a long time before bowing and thanking the old elf who at least repaired it partially and gave him hope.
The following month came with a slightly grim decision as the older children in the orphanage had to help remove the pressure from the government by doing jobs to help pay for the food and water.
Being 7, Logan wasn’t made to work for money but chores were a requirement he had to do to help remove a lot of load including raising animals like chicken for food.
That said, this did not last very long as one morning when the children were waking up, the door opened to one of the workers and following her was a middle aged man with wild black but greying hair.
The most defining feature was the wall of muscle.
“This way sir, these are the children between 5 and 10 which is the range you asked.” The worker said a little afraid before turning to the children. “Come on children please get up, there is no need to worry, this gentleman is looking to adopt a few children.” She said in as cheerful a voice she could make.
The half awake children got up and lined up in front of their beds.
Logan, like normal, slept with his sword so naturally as he lined up he never let go of the sword and this made the man raise his brow and draw near.
“You sure like that sword kid? Something special about it?” He asked.
“It’s mine.” Logan said looking up at the man.
He chuckled hearing that response, "I didn’t know orphanages allowed children to walk around armed.” He looked sideways at the worker.
“That is a ruined sword. It was struck by lightning and is also the only thing that remained of the child’s family and things.” She explained quickly.
“Ah~! That makes more sense.” He said grinning and nodding.
He turned to Logan and suddenly his eyes shone brightly like two lanterns and Logan felt like his entire being was looked at giving him the creeps and making him take a step back.
This actually made the man grin and nod. “You have quite the magical talent for a brat. Furthermore, you have quite a good body structure for using the sword. Alright, get your things and wait with the lady.” He said simply and turned to continue looking at other children.
Logan blinked stunned that such a strange string of questions and events made him get adopted by this monster of a man.
Every child he would look at with those glowing eyes and only one other girl was picked.
She was 8 year and called Olivia. She was one of the most tomboyish of the girls and actually very strong and that was exactly what the man laughed at when he saw her.
He shouted that she is perfect to inherit his sword arts and picked her and Logan only.
When he finished the legal paperwork the two finally learned who he was. His name is Maxwell McEwan, a recently retired mercenary group leader. He is B rank in strength but is in his mid 50s with no wife or children so he retired in hopes of settling down and passing on his famous sword art to continue the lineage.
As for the children’s names, they didn’t do away with their family name. They made it their middle name and added McEwan.
Following their adoption he purchased some clothing, both casual and training clothes. Mostly training which would not impede their movements before purchasing several real edged swords.
Surprisingly they were similar to katana with their curve but it was almost at the height of the children.
“These swords are called nodachi. It is similar to the katana the boy is holding but where the katana just refers to a sword more or less between 60 and 80 cm length of blade. This one is over 1 meter. These reduced sizes are specially made for training children and every year until adulthood you two will switch to a heavier and longer sword.” He said.
“Your sword style is something from the eastern continent?” Logan asked.
“Yes, these are some of the best swords and in my youth I trained to use several different eastern weapons and found my love in the nodachi. That doesn’t mean you will also be forced to train with it. If you aren’t talented with great swords we will try out other sizes. It will cause only a small adjustment in training the style is all.” He said.
Like that he spent several thousand on low grade eastern swords to be used as training swords and a boarding ticket to a large poorly populated island with dangerous monster life.
“Why are we going to this place?” Olivia asked.
“As a part time job to get some money I agreed to periodically help the development of the island through killing dangerous C and B rank monsters if any appear.” he said.
The two gulped when they heard that and felt something bad but as their legal parent they were now his kids.
Eventually their boat arrived and their luggage was pulled aboard before they set off.